A/N: Twilight and its characters are owned by Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended with the posting of this story.

A/N: I have tried to be true to S.M.'s characters, to the Native American people, and to myself. I have spent a lot of time with North East Native Americans. I have not spent time with any from the North West. So all information I give about Native's reflect that fact (though I have been doing research). Feed back would be great!

Chapter 3

Sam, that night;

Last night was incredible. Leah is always so giving with me. But that does not change my upbringing. I should have showed some self control and stopped things before they went so far. I have screwed everything up and brought dishonor to Leah, my family, and the tribe! How could I be so stupid! Harry and the other elders could kick me off the reservation for this and send me to the Makah tribe. It would serve me right.

I punch the wall in my room – there is no pain, no diminished my anger at myself for my loss of control with Leah. DAMN! She deserved better than losing her virginity to my self centered sorrow. Why didn't have the control to stop?! I punch the wall again. Now there are 2 holes I will have to repair. SHIT! My anger is becoming overwhelming. First anger at the dishonor I have brought and anger for destroying my home. What is wrong with me? Why can't I control this anger?

Waves of heat.

Stomach pains – The cramping causes me to double over. I straighten back up to standing and stumble out into the cool night air…

Pain is no less than I deserve but oddly it makes me angrier still.

I feel like something is trying to bust out, I don't believe in aliens but is it possible there is a parasite eating me from the inside out? I double over from the pain…

Pain. Like a million bee stings all at once on my skin. There is no area left un-stung. My eyes begin to water. I am shaking – I think it is from the pain. I fall to the ground and curl up in a ball. I think the pain can not get worse. The stinging stops. Suddenly the pain changes. It feels like the millions of bees have turned into needles and something is being drawn out of my body, pushing against my skin from the inside out.

Why am I alone??? The anger continues to take over all thought processes…

I jump up to run away. As I do I hear sounds of tearing. And I begin to pound through the woods. I am moving so fast the woods blur as I go. Screw this! I won't stay to be tossed out on my ass like a convict.

I run without stopping all night. Near dawn I pass out.

I dream about being a wolf and taking a deer down with my claws and teeth. I also dream about Taha Aki – I see him smile at me as he changes into a wolf. He looks at me over his shoulder. Without a second thought, I change and it doesn't hurt this time (more like tickles). As a wolf I hear Taha Aki in my head;

"You are one of my many great-grandchildren. You are the first to change in many moons. There are those in the village that can help you understand. Do not be afraid. The time of the wolf has come again."

I wake on the forest floor. I am not cold, I am warm. I am not stiff – I should be after all that running last night. I feel calmer. I can hear a river and I am thirsty so I go to it. As I look down into the river I see a wolf's reflection. Cautiously I turn to face the black beast. There is nothing there. I creep slowly away from the river, from the direction of the wolf…

I am still thirsty. Stupid wolf. I should have drank before I left the river. The woods are eerily quiet. I am cautious as I go through them looking for another river. Stupid. I am so stupid to run all night with out looking for landmarks or marking my path. Leah will be worried about me. It is late in the day – she is probably looking for me. CRAP!

Leah.

Oh god. I dishonored Leah. I can't go back! I must go back! FUCK! What am I going to do? I need to make reparations to Leah, her family, and the tribe. How? Shit! How could I be so stupid?

Where the fuck am I? Shit! I am lost. I need to get control over this anger so I can figure out where I am…

Screw it. I don't give a shit at this minute. I begin to run again…

Around midnight I fall asleep. Again I dream of Taha Aki and of being a wolf.

When I wake it is dawn. I can hear animals moving around. I stretch and all forest noises stop. I begin walking – looking for water. I find a river and plunge in – I must stink after 2 days of running. As I climb back out of the river, dripping water as I go, I hear, "quietly my son. Watch the black wolf but do not move. Wolves can teach us much. Quit now."

Where's the wolf? Another black wolf? WTF? Is it tailing me? Before I can move silently into the brush I have an urge. I begin to shake. It starts with my head and neck – moves down my back and ends at my ass. I hear a smothered chuckle.

"Quiet!" I hear the older mans voice in the tiniest whisper.

Whispered back even lower, "Sorry father. The wolf is so funny."

I walk back over to the water and look in. A black wolf stares back.

Shit.

I begin to run again. This time I do not stop. I let the anger consume me.

**

One week later…

I am still a black wolf. Black, why am I not surprised that I have been smeared with the color associated with sin? Why couldn't I be gray like the wolf on Leah's shawl? Once more I am angry and I run deeper into the woods. If I am doomed to be a wolf, I may as well act like one. I decide to run, to leave my responsibilities behind. What good were responsibilities when you fail to care for them. Leah. I ruined Leah. I run faster.

**

One week later…

I am a wolf. Two weeks of anger and self loathing and I am still a wolf. My ancestor's are testing me. I need to think. As I lay in the warm sun, I begin to dream. For the first time in 2 weeks it is not Taha Aki who is in my dreams…

"But Daddy these are stories. They are pretend like the Hansel and Gretel one that Mom tells me."

"Sam," my father was always so patient with me. "These are stories. Stories of our past. Our past is true. You saw the truth of it tonight in old Quill's eyes."

He leaves my bedroom and comes back.

"This was my father's. He gave it to me when I doubted our history. I am giving it to you, Sam. Please remember that I believe these things to be true. That my father believed them to be true also." He hands me a carved wolf. It is well done and sits on my open palm, too big for me to wrap my fingers around it. It is sitting on it's haunches and is howling.

"Thank you, Daddy. I will keep it safe for you."

"When my father gave this to me, he told me the stories were true. That he believed them to be true. My father and Old Quill were children together. I believed my father and you should believe Old Quill."

"yes sir."

Grandfather Quill. Maybe he has answers for me.

**

I watch Grandfather Quill's house from the shadow of the woods. At this moment I am thankful for the black fur. Grandfather finally comes to sit on his porch and smoke a pipe. I know that no one else is home.

I move slowly into the sun light and stop. I wait for Grandfather to notice me. After a few minutes Grandfather sees me but does not move or act alarmed. I creep a few paces closer (keeping my belly to the ground and my tail wagging) and stop again, never breaking eye contact with Grandfather. I repeat the process again and again. Going as slow as I can so I do not alarm him.

Grandfather leans forward, moving as slowly as I did. His sets his pipe down on the ashtray and stands VERY slowly. He moves closer and closer to me. I sit up and never break eye contact.

"Sam?"

Relief floods my body and I begin to shake. My whole body vibrates.

"Sam I am going to move bad. You need to phase, to transform into your human self." He begins to back away.

Does he think I can change back? Can I control this?

"Sam!" He calls my name sharply. "Focus, my son. Think about you as a human. Think about each body part. Concentrate. I am not leaving you. You are your father's son."

This last statement brings my father image to my head. I begin to shake so hard and fast it is more like a vibration. I concentrate on my father. Tall. Proud. Dark hair. Strait nose. I can see him and I concentrate hard. I feel a weird sensation. Complete with tingles.

"Sam you did it!" Come let's get you some clothes and talk." Grandfather leads me into his home and hands me a shirt and pair of pants. It almost feels wrong to be walking this way again. I look in the bathroom mirror I feel relief continuing to seep into my pores.

Grandfather indicates I should sit on the couch and he settles into the arm chair. He got straight to the point.

"When did you phase into a wolf? How long until you knew to come to me?"

"It happened 2 weeks ago. I did not know I could change back." Relief! I am not going crazy and he believes me with me saying a words. I stop shaking. "I have been having the same dream of Taha Aki telling me the time of the wolf has come again. I have had this dream every night for 2 weeks. Last night it was different. Last night I remembered my father giving me a wolf carving and telling me to trust you. That you knew the stories were real."

"This is grave news, Sam. That you are phasing means there is danger for the tribe. You have been chosen to protect us all." Grandfather pauses, gathers his thoughts and starts again, "Your father was a wise man, Sam, and I am sorry he is not here today. He would know how to help you even without ever having seen. I have a story for you and it too is our history and real." He settles into the chair more deeply, just like when I was a boy and he would tell me our tribe's stories.

"When I was a very young boy, no more than the age when you asked your father about our stories, that is when this story takes place. It is a child's memory but as you know, children learn from the world around them. I am now an old man and so it has been 65 or more years since this happened…

Your great grandfather, my father, and Ephraim Black were great warriors for our people. They would often disappear together and return in their hunting loincloths. This is the way it was. I had my wooden arrows and bow, I had my dull blade and I thought I could be a warrior too.

I decided I would lead my hunting group after our fathers. I had dreams of glory and not of well being for my tribe. This was wrong and I learned that lesson well. Learn it also and do not repeat my mistakes.

I gathered my group – your grandfather and Billy Black's father. We planned together to listen on our elders when our ears should not have been listening.

Many days later, we heard them planning to get rid of the cold ones. One we were far enough away from our fathers to speak we discussed what cold ones were. They were not whales for whales are warm like us, nor would they be a forest creature for deer and bear are warm too. We decided they were sharks and we would help our father's rid our waters of the beasts.

We knew they would leave after the drum ceremony that night. We plotted and were ready when the time came. We all had been practicing tracking and so that night we tracked our fathers. Not towards the ocean and the sharks but deep into the woods. We were unable to catch up with them, we thought our young legs were too slow. Finally we came to a clearing to see Ephraim flanked by 2 giant wolves speaking to a young blonde man. They shook hands and turned away from each other, Ephraim returning to our land and the other moved away followed by a man and a woman –they moved so quickly we did not actually see them leave.

One of the wolves whined and looked right at me. Ephraim followed his gaze and came to us.

"Boys, you should not have followed us. Come out and speak with us now."

There was only Ephraim, where were the other men? We walked out and hung our heads. We had shamed our fathers. I walked up to Ephraim, "Uncle, I am sorry. This was my fault. It was my plan and not theirs."

"Yes, Quill. I know that. But now you 3 are part of our history and you must promise to only share the knowledge we are about to give you with each other."

One wolf went into the woods and my father walked out. He and Ephraim placed their hands on our shoulders and turned the 3 of us towards the 3rd wolf. "Now my brother"

No sooner did Ephraim say this than did the 3rd wolf change! He changed into Waya.

Billy's father said. "We are shape-shifters, like our fathers before us."

"First my son, you need to know why we change. It is not something we knew we could do. We thought that our people no longer needed to do this in order to be safe. We were wrong.

Did you see the 2 men and the woman? They are Cold Ones. There are many of them outside of here, though these 3 were different. The others are hunters, but unlike our hunters they hunt people. Drink their life from their bodies. They do not care that it is wrong to kill like that. They have eyes that are as red as the life they drink from people. They are not people. Do you understand that boys?

We shape-shift into brother wolf so we may destroy that evil and protect they people. When we catch one of these demons we work together and tear it apart. Then we work quickly because it can put itself back together! We build a fire and burn it. Remember this always."

"Father, then why didn't you kill those demons?"

"Those are different, my son. They are not people like us but they say they do not feed off of people. Their eyes are golden, like a lions, and they have promised me that they will never hunt our people. We are letting them try this. They know if anyone from our village or the other villages is killed we will hunt them down and kill them. They understand this and they have given us their oath."

We all walked together back to the village together. We were told to never let anyone know that they could change. They told us about imprinting – a bond between the shape-shifter and his mate – like in the story were true. The bond, the love was so strong that if one dies, the other does not usually live more than a year. And if they do live more than a year that person is never whole again. I could see this had happened between my father and my mother. I had never seen such love between two people since.

We learned that you can not choose to be a shape-shifter. It only came if the need arises. We learned about the signs so we could watch for them in our selves. Heat. Pain. Shaking. Sometimes even extreme anger and rage. A sudden shape-shifting that can harm those around you as you change. We were told to never change in front of anyone other than the pack if we could change.

We learned all of this over many years. Because we knew our fathers did not hide from us what they were doing. But their wives began to age. We moved into our teens without our father's aging. One day Ephraim came and said the cold one's had moved away. They stopped changing. Then they began to age also. My father carved 3 wolves and gave one to each of us.

"Remember what we have taught you. You are now the history keepers. Watch for signs of the cold ones. Protect your people."

We did watch and wait. When it became obvious that we would never be shape-shifters we decided to tell our sons when they were 15. We did not want to leave the tribe unprotected. Your father died before he shared this with you.

Do you understand what this means?"

I think a long time. Grandfather does not interrupt my thoughts.

"The cold ones have returned. Anger caused me to change, I do not doubt that, Grandfather, so I must be careful." I pause. I could hurt Leah. I MUST learn control. If my great-grandfather could learn control enough to change in front of his son, then I could learn control to not hurt those that I love.

"I believe you are right, and yes, you must learn control. I will be here for you whenever you need me, as will Billy Black and Harry Clearwater. I will speak with them and let them know what has happened. But you, Sam, you have a far more dangerous path to follow for no one else has come to me. We believe that our 3 grandfathers were the only ones to carry the shape-shifting in their families. There are other boys. We must watch them and be ready. And you must go and see if there are Cold Ones. We must protect the people."

"Grandfather, the other boys… They are the boys that sit on the drum with me, aren't they?"

"You are very fast, Sam. Yes they are. I will help you watch for them to change. There have always been just 3 wolves. Usually the ages are 17 to 25 are when the change takes place. So we know who to watch."

Training is hard. I must learn to control my emotions. It is a struggle but I am getting better at it. At least there is no one at home if I do loose control instead. For once living alone is good. Also, repairing the damage I cause when I do loose control is teaching me patience faster – I hate to plaster!

Phasing (changing) becomes less painful over time. My control is good and I begin to learn to change when I want to – not just when I am angry. It feels like an explosion each time when I feel the fur burst out of my body, like rubbing your hair the wrong way – I always shiver when it occurs.

I can not speak with Leah about this. I am scared I will explode and hurt her. How would I explain it? I begin to spend less time with her.

Alone. I spend so much time alone these days…

"I want to tell Leah." It has been 2 months and I know Leah senses a change in me.

"You can not." This is said with finality by Billy. Even in a wheelchair he is the obvious leader of the group. Authority rings in his voice.

"She will not betray the secret."

"It is not to be. Come. Sit and listen. It will help to calm you." The elders see my hands shaking before I realize it. Their story will help me to relax. So I sit on the floor – I have already broken 3 chairs phasing unintentionally. I sit far away from the men. I do not want to hurt anyone if I change quickly due to lack of control.

Paul's father tells this story.

"After the 3rd wife passed into the spirit world to save Taha Aki and tribe life continued. The three surviving sons turned to wolves to protect the tribe when necessary as they had from the young age when their mother died. Their mother's sacrifice had added to their abilities. She had been Taha Aki's true wife, his other half. Do not forget this.

When the oldest was ready to take a wife, he decided to go to the Makah tribe. When Hemene got to the village many maids surrounded him for they knew why he had come to their village. He walked with them and spoke with them but everyone in the village could see he was unhappy. There was a feast, drumming, and dancing that night.

Hemene danced the Wolf dance for the Makah's. As he left the circle his eyes fell on a young maid, Nuttah. She was a new maid, maybe having had only 3 or 4 moon cycles, so she did not try to catch Hemene's eye. Hemene felt a pull to Nuttah. He walked over to her and as he approached she looked up. When their eyes met both of them felt everything leave them. It was as if only the two of them existed. The entire Makah tribe saw the change come over both Nuttah and Hemene. Those that thought Nuttah a plain woman saw the beauty of her reflected in Hemene's eyes.

Nuttah's father accepted 20 war ponies for her and the two were joined. Hemene continued to change to protect his people though there came a time when it was no longer necessary. Until Nuttah moved on to the spirit world, anyone near the two could see the connection that bound them together. Hemene's brother's found the same connections.

Many of the shape-shifters in our history have experienced this. This connection is called imprinting." The story abruptly ended here. Paul's father gives me a few minutes to think about this story.

"Sam – you and Leah are not connected like this. You can only share this secret with the Tribal elders, your wolf brothers as they become aware of the change, and whoever you imprint with. You

can not tell Leah."

I phase into my wolf form and run in the woods to think this through.

I can not share this with Leah. I am not allowed to tell her. This is the hardest part of my secret. I have never kept things from her before.

I know she can sense something, but she does not push.

(NOTE: Hemene is a Nez Perce name meaning "wolf" and Nuttah is an Algonquin name meaning "My heart" I thought it fit the story. The drum circle information (Male and female roles) I have learned from my "uncles" Bobby and Tim. Also Waya is a Cherokee word for wolf.)