A/N: Any wolves you recognize from The Twilight Saga belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Basically everything else, including past and present wolf pack members, imprints, wolf families, and additional characters in this story belong to the universe created by the amazing, brilliant, and wonderfully talented yay4shanghai!

This chapter is dedicated to TexasWild for helping me out with the poker references. Thanks!

The Christmas present surprise I promised will be up first thing Christmas morning, so look for that! I hope you like it :)

As always I recommend you read the other spinoffs by liljenrocks, ari11990, AsagariMelody, Guzhong, and twihardcaligurl. They are fantastic and worth taking the time to read.

Thanks for being my beta yay4shangai, you are absolutely amazing!

Dog or a Fast Wolf Hand?

5 July 2041

How did I get myself into this mess? I can't believe this happened—this can't be happening! Please, please let me wake up to find this was a dream or—you know what? Ugh, never mind that… just kill me instead. That has to be easier solution. Why did this happen? Oh that's right, I played poker with three unscrupulously cheating fiends that set me up…

~x~*~x~

3 July 2041

That night when dinner was finally ready, I didn't ask if anything from our efforts had been salvageable or if they had found it necessary to simply start over from scratch. My parents didn't appear too ruffled or upset about our catastrophe which was good to see. They were even joking with us about it as we set the table.

The last plate of tortillas was being set out before we got started when a waterlogged Beth stomped in to join us. Her hair was soaked from the rain and large somewhat matted clumps were falling out of the messy bun she had arranged it in. She shrugged her dripping bright red raincoat off and dropped it on the floor beside her chair, revealing that even her paisley patterned peasant top had one or two spots near the hem and collar that were damp.

She looked pissed and didn't verbally acknowledge anyone as she roughly jerked her chair out and dramatically took her seat with an angry huff. She had been doing this all week, but I'm positive the theatrics were only enhanced by her current uncomfortably wet state and bedraggled appearance. Once seated, she aimed a glacial glare at our parents and her green eyes seemed to glow. Mom and dad stuck with there typical reaction, where dad ignored her and mom just shook her head a little. This only served to rile Beth up even more. She didn't touch the food when the rest of us got started, but no one seemed willing to speak first.

Her scowl was fierce as she stonily sat there pouting for a good five minutes before she took note of Melody's presence. I'm not sure how it took her so long, Melody is not exactly what one would describe as inconspicuous. It was amazing how rapidly her frosty demeanor thawed after that though, to be replaced with the charming little sister I used to know and love.

"Mel! Oh, I'm so glad you're here… you have to convince them," grabbing and pointing her fork at our parents sitting to her left then digging into the food with gusto as she went on to explain, "to let me take Tara's dance class with Chloe and Ava. Please, you know what an amazing teacher Tara is and the summer session starts next week so I have to convince them before then or it'll be too late." Melody looked uneasy for the first time since I met her, obviously not liking getting dragged into the middle of this on-going family dispute.

"Uh, well—," she started shifting in her seat nervously, her dark eyes rapidly scanning around the table before I cut her off to reprimand Beth.

"Beth! Leave Melody out of this… it's your own fault they aren't letting you… or are you forgetting that you don't even like dancing and quit not once, but twice before," I reminded her. This was the first time I weighed in on the subject and I was surprised that I did speak up.

"Kris, come on… I was too young then for it to count. I didn't think about what a useful skill it'll be to have when I move to New York or Chicago one day," she argued, almost begging me to understand and help her out while she re-fixed her hair like it was suddenly important for her to look presentable because she was talking about her future. It was impossible not to laugh over how life or death she was making this out to be.

"You know the instructor?" Mom chimed in asking Melody. It was the first interest she had shown with the topic. All previous discussions were cut short with flat out no's as soon as they started. Beth was enthusiastically bouncing in her seat for having made any progress at all, any thought of food forgotten for the moment.

"Yep, she's married to an uncle of sorts of mine and I watch her kids a lot. She's really nice," Melody informed us sweetly. She looked a lot more like her usual bubbly self when addressing the generic question than she had with the prior one.

"Is she anything like what Beth has described… in other words—a goddess in the dance world?" My mom inquired with a dramatic sigh and beseeching gaze that turned out to be a rather uncanny likeness to Beth's recent behavior causing the rest of us to laugh and Beth to cast a grimace our way again.

"Tara's great… she was an amazing dancer in Miami before she retired when she had her daughters. She's very dedicated and an encouraging teacher… I know another girl about Beth's age, Maddox, absolutely loved it." Melody praised and you could easily detect her personal affection for the woman.

I'm not quite sure what it was, but somehow Melody vouching for Tara did the trick. And that was after she destroyed the kitchen. Mom and dad looked at each other for a minute or so and Beth watched, scarcely moving or even breathing while she waited for the final decision to be made.

"Alright Beth here's the deal… one week, and only if your sister is willing to drive you. After that I'll talk to Tara and see if she thinks you are determined enough to stick with it this time. Got it?" Dad said sternly, giving her a quailing stare and waited for her to nod in agreement. A second later Beth was loudly squealing and dancing around the room hugging all of us.

"Kris, you will won't you?" Beth finally asked with a great deal of concern after sitting down, her head shooting up to look at me slightly panicked with the sudden realization that their might still be a snag in all her plans.

"What, you're asking?" I couldn't resist the sarcastic reply before laughing and promising I would.

The rest of dinner was filled with Beth gushing to our parents over how great dancing and Tara would be or how excited she was to hang out with Chloe more, but bummed Harley wouldn't be joining them. While they were occupied, Bree rather effectively grilled Melody for details about her own family. Melody kept her answers fairly general and even though they weren't specifically about Levi, I was fascinated and hung on every word she said.

I found out that her family lived in Seattle when she was born, but they were from La Push and moved back after having kids. Also that her parents got matching tattoos instead of wedding bands when they got married, which caught Beth's attention long enough for her to exclaim her approval of. Melody told us that her uncle Jordan, the one she mentioned earlier, lived in a cabin in the woods with his husband Mark and their son Eli who was also deaf like Levi, throwing in that the two of them were extremely close. Just as we finished up, she told us about how she had known Taylor her whole life and was deeply in love with him. Her entire being radiated happiness when she talked about him. I couldn't even find it in myself to be jealous, because listening to her left me with a delightfully pleasant feeling of warmth that was incredibly satisfying.

The time passed quicker than it had for me in a long time and dinner was over before I knew it. Afterwards, my mom declined our offer to help clean up the mess we created in the kitchen. I think she was afraid to see what would be left if we managed to get back in there again.

"Oh, and Beth, considering your attitude lately… the only way you're going to that party tomorrow, is if Krista goes with you," Mom called out, stopping Beth in her tracks. She was on the bottom step and I was in front of her, but looked back in time to see her eyes widen in distress before she spun around to see mom.

"But—," her incredulous complaint was cut short.

"And if you argue with any of us or complain about this at all… then you can forget about even trying the dance classes," dad added when he came up behind mom and wrapped an arm around her waist.

Beth was furious when the four of us headed upstairs with the intention of playing some poker in my room. We had a folding card table, but after that little chat we forgot it downstairs. When I mentioned this Melody volunteered to grab it and was gone before I could warn her about how heavy it was and returned before I could go help her. She maneuvered the table in and set it up like it weighed no more than a piece of paper and just shrugged before giving us an impish grin after noting all of our amazed stares. We arranged the table so that it was in the open area of my room in front of my bed and there was space to pull up chairs around it.

"Kris, you have to," Beth started and I could hear the anger still. I bit my lip trying to decide what to say, but didn't turn to look at her.

"Beth, drop it—okay," Bree told her, saving me like usual.

Beth was gone when I finally turned around, but came right back, rolling her black leather desk chair in to use and seeming calmer now. In fact she seemed almost unreasonably happy considering her attitude only a minute ago, as if she had secret knowledge the rest of us weren't privy to. I groaned to myself, she must be up to something. Everyone seemed to be up to something lately, and it always turned out to be interfering in my life somehow. I watched her grab the chips off my bookcase next to the door before I wheeled a matching roller chair from my desk over to Melody so she could use it. Bree wasted no time seating herself comfortably on my bed and already had her elbows propped up on the table shuffling a deck of cards.

I slide the stuffed jungle print reading chair from its usual position in the corner of my room next to the window, over to where the table was and across from Bree. The chair was pretty hideous looking and the seat padding was foam so over time it has been squashed to the point that now it doesn't return to its original state and you can feel a wooden board underneath. None of that mattered though, I got years ago at a garage sale and I was sitting in it when Angie first taught me how to play poker and I won every game that day. Ever since, if I was playing at home, which is basically the only time I played, I have used this chair.

I was just getting ready to sit down when Melody gasped and jerked the cards away from Bree. She only looked at them for a second before cracking up. I didn't need to see them to know why. It was a novelty deck featuring different sex positions, a Christmas gift from Bree last year. She constantly begged me to use them, claiming her only hope of winning was with them if she needed to beat me. Maintaining that those cards made me blush more and that it gave me away more easily than it did with regular cards, regardless of the fact that I still ended up the winner every time.

I suppose you could say I had unnaturally good luck at poker. That luck didn't carry over to other card games, but when I played poker, there was no stopping me. Personally, I didn't really think it had anything to do with luck, so much as I loved the game and all modesty aside, I was good. In fact, I was pretty damn great at it.

I took calculated risks. I planned ahead and considered the probability and bet accordingly, taking just enough chances to end up winning big. Nothing could compare to rush and exhilaration of a big wager when the stakes are high, but being confident things will go your way. Smart playing was only part of it though, more importantly, I was observant and that won me more games than luck ever could. I paid attention to the people around me and I was covert about it so they were caught off guard when I used what I saw. And it probably didn't hurt that I had a lot of practice.

"Well this certainly is unexpected!" Melody got out between giggles as she looked up at me from where she had fallen on the floor laughing and currently still was as she flipped through the deck.

"We are not using those." I directed this at Bree and she just smiled innocently while batting her wide grayish blue eyes.

"You're just afraid of losing," she shot back in a haughty tone, pretending to be all self-righteous by sitting up straight, pursing her pouty lips, and angling her nose up.

"No, I'm really not… I have no reason to be." I taunted as smugly as possible even though I could feel the heat pooling in my cheeks by the second. This caused Melody to start laughing as hard as she had been over the cards.

"We'll see," Bree concluded adding a cocky nod and obviously aiming to have the last word during our trash talking. Hearing that was apparently too much for Beth because she started giggling too as she got up to locate a real deck from my desk.

Sabrina had always sucked. There was no other way to describe it. She was a horrible player, as bad as I was good. A fish, always made the wrong move and took crazy risks. When she played, she either bet everything or nothing. Bree was also the easiest player in history to read. Every time, without fail, she went for pairs and when it worked she pulled on one of her blue or purple curls. One thing I've never understood about her, is that she always knows exactly what I'm feeling and more often than not what I'm thinking, but when we play she's at a total loss.

"If I do… it won't be to you." I mockingly retorted, secure in the knowledge of its validity. Smiling at her coyly and loving that I just prevented her from winning this round of mud slinging and that just saying those words helped get me in the proper mindset to play.

"Why not? Is she that bad?" Melody asked still amused by our antics, fluidly getting up from her reclined position on the floor then collapsing sideways into her chair with one leg draped over the armrest and making it roll back a little. I eagerly answered our newcomer before Bree could defend herself.

"You saw her earlier, right? Seriously, there's a reason Bree is always honest… the girl cannot lie—it's basically impossible for her." I explained dubiously while exasperatedly shaking my head to really get the point across.

"So true," Beth confirmed as she finally pulled out a deck and joined us at the table. Shuffling, she mischievously offered, "I'll deal."

"Umm… no," I said taking the deck and finally sitting down myself, ready to get started.

I loved the feel of the cards as I easily controlled their movements. It felt right, familiar, like a security blanket after a nightmare when you're five years old. There was a sense of confidence and strength that filled me when I held and manipulated them. It was something I only felt when playing cards and I marveled that I was able to draw it with a simple touch.

"Oh, yea… just so you know—Beth cheats… like every hand she can," Bree stage whispered to Melody.

That was why I wouldn't let her deal. Typically we switched each hand, rotating around the table, but Bree and I had gotten to the point where we always skipped Beth. My puckish little sister had gotten way too good at cheating; I had never seen a better mechanic than her. It was funny to listen to her try and convince us that we were falsely accusing her afterwards—she always had some elaborate explanation to proclaim her innocence or account for some unforeseen mistake that she had no hand in and left her blameless. Despite knowing the comedic value it would provide, we determined it was a better alternative just to limit the number of opportunities she had from the start.

"Hey!" Beth yelled and angrily smacked Bree's shoulder making all of us laugh more. "You weren't supposed to tell her about that!"

"Don't worry… I have a lot of practice with cheaters, Harley and surprisingly Annabelle both do—oh, she's a friend on the rez." She explained to our inquisitive looks.

I wondered if she did. I doubted it; she didn't seem like the cheating type. I couldn't wait to get started so I could see what kind of player she was. I had a feeling she would be good, but probably not aggressive enough to go for a win in a friendly game, just playing for fun instead. It would be interesting, trying to figure her out; a new challenge and good practice for studying Levi.

I couldn't help thinking about him when I thought of Melody. By this point, I'm usually completely focused on the game, but not tonight. Nope. Right now I'm just wondering how much more she'll talk about him and how I could encourage her without asking myself.

"Does your brother?" Bree asked and I glanced at her, catching her eye and letting her know how grateful I was for asking that, then tensing slightly while I waited for the answer.

"No, Levi's too good… doesn't need to." She watched me while saying it and I could feel the flush it caused me as well as my heart's sudden wild fluttering. I slowly took a deep breath to calm down even though her words made me want to leap up and spin around the room.

"Alright then… let's get started—five card draw, yea?" At the other's nods I dealt the cards then continued, "ante up," throwing my own chips in. Then the real fun began.

The next two hours or so were relaxing and unbelievably fun. We sat around casually joking and playing hand after hand. We didn't actually gamble with money. A few years ago Beth and I did once and it just happened to be one of the rare times our mom checked in on us and found out. So yea, she would flip, as we discovered then during the epic sit-down she gave us—dealing with her once was enough, thanks.

We talked about a number of subjects, but the only time I can truthfully claim listening to was when Melody captured my complete attention by mentioning Levi. Each and every time she did I was hooked. She knew it too, I'm sure of it considering how often she said his name at this point compared to earlier and how she watched me as she spoke about him. It was like she was judging my reaction and finding something about it that she approved of enough to continue. It was odd, but I didn't mention it because she held all the cards in this case. She was like a window that I could look though to catch a glimpse of him. I feared irritating her because she could easily board up the frame and shut me out, preventing any additional peaks of the real him instead of the imaginary him I was building in my mind.

The details filtered into my mind like a cool breeze of fresh air on a hot summer day. I relished each one. I found out he was seventeen, the same age as Melody, though they looked older, and I assumed they must be twins; that he goes to school in Port Angeles with Eli; he's single; extremely outdoorsy; and his favorite fruit is an orange—which I was delighted to know because they're my favorite too.

It was getting late when she was recounting a story about a recent event where he, Taylor, and Freddie were at a bar in Port Angeles when they were supposed to be doing some sort of work around the rez, but that was all she got out before Beth interrupted.

"Wait… are you trying to hook Kris up with your brother? It's a waste of time if you are. It won't work—I've been trying to hook her up with Natalie's brother for over a year now and she won't cooperate," Beth said matter-of-factly. I gasped, shocked she said that and about to die of mortification. My throat was sealed shut so no words could escape and my face was on fire.

"Do you like Natalie's brother?" Melody had that intimidating look back when she asked me and her dark mahogany eyes were piercing, but underneath that she looked scared. That revelation was startling.

"No! That's why I won't go out with him." I quickly denied, frantically shaking my head and staring at her stunned by the turn this conversation had taken.

"Then why are you trying to hook them up?" Melody asked, turning that same look on Beth, except she didn't cower like I did, in fact she just sighed as if she were about to explain something to a small child that she had already explained twenty times before.

"Because she's sixteen and she doesn't get out enough. I want her to have some fun, cut loose, enjoy life… and I want her to do that now, while she can. That way she doesn't look back one day and realize she's miserable because she wasted all this time now!" Beth heatedly exclaimed, getting louder with each word so she was yelling by the end. I was more surprised than I cared to admit hearing her say that, but it confirmed what I'd always believed. She might think of herself first and foremost, but that didn't mean she didn't also think of the people she cared about.

"Beth I swear… sometimes I can't help but love you." I told her with a shy smile.

"If you love me, then you'll go tomorrow," the little manipulator replied. I snorted, where on Earth did she learn to think logic and reason worked that way?

"Oh… that gives me an idea!" Melody lit up and leaned forward like she was sharing a juicy bit of gossip, "lets play one last hand—I have to leave soon anyways… but we'll change the stakes a little." I'm not sure if I was imagining it or not, but when I leaned in closer too, it seemed as if an exuberance filled her entire body creating a tangible aura of heat emanating from her.

"If it means going tomorrow I'm in," Beth agreed, not caring about the other details and eyeing the deck like a lion stalking its prey. If that was the case, then there was no way I would let her cheat this hand.

"It does," she confirmed with a playful wink at Bree.

"I'm in," Bree decided, grinning back at Melody. It was a damn conspiracy.

"Ugh… what are the terms?" I groaned in defeat.

"Excellent!" Melody laughed, "okay, so you win… you don't have to go, any of us win… well, I think you get the point," she added the last with a wicked smirk after pointing to Beth and Bree. I nodded in acceptance.

So far I had thoroughly trounced all three of them tonight. I had been right about Melody; she was more interested in talking and having fun than she was in playing and actually wasn't all that much better than Bree was. Knowing that, I was determined to watch Beth closely. She was the one most anxious to go and I knew she cheated.

Melody dealt the hand. She kept glancing out the window in the process. Curious, I turned around to look too, but didn't see anything. As I turned back I realized how stupid I just was considering the importance of this hand. Luckily it wasn't long enough for Beth to do anything since she hadn't moved at all.

I looked at my hand and was excited to see I had three fours, a queen, and a nine. This was looking good. I could trade the queen and the nine.

After we exchanged cards, Beth huffed and slammed her cards against the table before sinking back into her chair, not even bothering to make an effort to bluff. I felt bad and almost willingly agreed to take her tomorrow anyways, but I was in the game and I wanted to win first and then decide if I would.

I looked at my new cards, a king and a four. I had four of a kind, there was no way they were going to top that.

Melody was looking out the window again. Not worrying about Beth anymore, I turned again. Still nothing. I jerked back when I thought a flash of light copper skin belonging to Melody appeared in my peripheral vision and jerked back around, but she was in the same position as she was before—I had taken note of it. I was still eyeing her when she shrugged and folded.

Surprised, I looked to Bree. She was staring at her cards and I would say she appeared confused, but that didn't really make sense so maybe she was distressed. It seems her usual luck showed up for this hand. She tried to mask her face when she noticed me.

"Ready," she asked.

I nodded and we both showed our hands. Once hers were in my line of sight everything else fell away. It was all wrong, the cards were lying. There was no way she had a straight flush. The little red hearts mocked me from the faces of her six, seven, eight, nine, and ten all in a row. I didn't see or hear anything, just focused on what this meant.

I can't believe it. I lost. I have never been so sure of winning, then just—not… and to Bree of all people?! I know they cheated, they had to of, but I'll just look like a sore loser if I say anything. This was one of those moments where if someone else was watching, the outcome would be blatantly obvious and right now I felt that I should have seen it coming because it was glaringly apparent that this would happen, but the simple fact is—I hadn't.

The repercussions came to me a moment later, this means I'm going to the bonfire tomorrow. I'll see Levi… maybe something will happen. Then, like a premonition or perhaps the foresight I lacked during this game, I sensed that something would happen, but it might not be anything positive. I groaned and buried my face in my hands.

~x~*~x~

5 July 2041

Why did I let myself end up here and why the hell did I ever wish for this?

~*~ ∞ ~*~