A/N: Please, please, please try and read my one-shot 'Blood Bonds' before you read this chapter, or if you want to, then read it after, but a major event in this chapter will make MUCH more sense if you happen to read that first. As always, read away, and let me know what you think.

End of November

"So is Kaia still grounded?" asked Paul with a grin, as he helped Rachel unload the groceries from her truck. "Yeah… although I feel really weird grounding her," replied Rachel helplessly. "I mean, technically, I am just her guardian, but I'm the same age as her older brother. But after Carl and Hannah grounded Collin and Brady, I couldn't really leave her out. They DID get suspended from school after all. But I hate grounding her for doing something I would have done in her place. Arrghghghghhg… this is so frustrating," she continued.
Paul wrapped his large arms around her and soothed, "Babe, Collin's ex was WAY out of line with the stuff she was saying. She deserved a good punch in the face. I'm just glad Kaia gave it to her, not like any of us could do it."
Rachel plopped herself on the sofa and glared at Paul, before sighing, "Paul, a girl mouthed off to her and the twins, she left their table, walked over and punched her without saying a word. And this was HER side of the story. I don't even want to hear what that utter cow had to say. Remind me again why Collin dated her?"
Paul laughed and sat down next to her. "You realize that the way she stood up for him means any one of the pack would kill for her right. Well... not that we wouldn't have before, but now its more like, we would help her hide the body if she did it… that kind of thing."
"Paul… I just hope she isn't too mad at me… I mean, even though I grounded her, I know Jake has been sneaking in Guitar Hero, but I couldn't even bring myself to say anything. I feel so lousy… maybe a week's grounding is enough right? … But the twins got grounded for 2 months, and they were just bystanders… God this guardian crap sucks." She grumbled, cuddling into his side.

"You know what?" Paul spoke. "Lets just ignore the fact that she is supposed to be grounded. There's a bonfire tomorrow and you can just tell her about it like everything's fine. Don't even bring up grounding, ok? We can all go to the bonfire, chill out and just have a good time. Kaia has been missing Michelle even more since her birthday, and Ryan is about ready to be shipped off to the nuthouse, because of the same thing. We ALL need a break, his head isn't the pleasantest place to be right now."
He frowned, in worry for his brother's health. Miserable without his imprint, Ryan looked terrible, and the only times they saw him any different, was after he snuck out to Seattle and back. Michelle on the other hand, was beginning to show signs of proving Emily's theory that the imprints felt the pull as well. She had been getting sick lately, and just feeling terrible in general. Her parents were worried and a doctor's visit had proved there was nothing physically wrong with her.
Kaia had made sure she and Ryan had exchanged numbers, and texting had turned into IM and Emails now. Ironically, even though that helped a little, even she felt better every time Ryan was in Seattle and camped out, invisible, under her bedroom window.

The next night at the bonfire, even Leah had to smile to see how comfortable Kaia was, cuddled up next to Seth and sharing a blanket. He was extremely solicitous, offering her something warm to drink every little while, since she had seemed like she was coming down with a cold earlier. Listening to the legends as Billy told them, left her spellbound.
She leaned against Seth, sitting between his legs, her back against his chest, and was awestruck at the history of the tribe. When Billy related the story of Taha Aki and the spirit wolves, the shape-shifters that protected the tribe, Seth felt her start before she darted a nervous look at him through narrowed eyes. He raised an eyebrow at her, but she just shook her head. Still, he didn't miss her looking around at the others speculatively.
She suspected something, but he was sure she hadn't put her finger on it yet. True to form, by the end of the evening, she was half asleep, and was only too willing for Seth to carry her back to his truck so he could drive her home. She took this for granted, even though Paul and Rachel could have given her a ride, and Seth was thankful for this, because he had no idea what he would use for an excuse if she asked about it.
Climbing into the driver's seat, he looked over to the passenger seat, and was caught by surprise to see her staring back at him, wide-eyed. "Are you ok?" he asked, suddenly tense, wondering how much she had caught on to, from her intent listening.

"Just thinking," she mumbled back. "I remember talking to someone when I got to homeroom that first day at school." She shifted her gaze to the road. "They were surprised that I was hanging out with you guys… they said something about you being a gang, but another girl interrupted and said you guys called yourselves protectors… " she glanced at him sideways and he forced himself to loosen his grip on the steering wheel. "Sounds a lot like your ancestors huh?"
He swallowed convulsively, glad for the darkness in the cab of the truck. "You never know when protectors might come in handy though… lots of stuff out there. Especially when you have someone worth protecting." He chanced a glance at her, when he heard her heartbeat suddenly speed up.
"Yeah, I guess so," she murmured in reply, leaning against his arm, and getting drowsy again. She was asleep before they got to Rachel's and he paused for a moment, before taking her inside.

How much had she begun to guess?

The next day – Saturday

Rachel grabbed her jacket from the stand next to the door and gave Paul a quick kiss, telling him she was heading to the cliffs. "So Kaia is in the backyard, doing some home-work, I am going for a walk, so whenever you guys are done with your little pack meeting here, let me know ok, I'm carrying my cell phone. Why the urgent meeting though?" she asked. Paul paused, and then checking that Kaia was still safely in the backyard, sitting at the little picnic table out there, he told Rachel, "Seth thinks she has us figured out, most of it anyway, we just need to think about whether he should tell her immediately or if he can wait. If he decides to tell her right now, then the pack is here for support."

She nodded and then kissed him again before heading up to the cliffs. Paul watched her walk away, a small smile playing on his lips. A year ago, his sole emotion had been anger and sometimes a righteous fury at his fate. Now he couldn't imagine his life without Rachel in it. She was truly his everything.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, as if she could hear him, she turned and waved, before continuing on her way. He thought he saw her pulling out her phone, when she was blocked from view by the trees. He shook his head at how well she knew him, and then went back inside.

Leah and Jake walked in together, laughing at something, and Paul couldn't resist a jab at Leah. They still squabbled, - like children, as Rachel liked to point out – but without the earlier rancor. She rolled her eyes at him and opened her mouth to retort, when she froze, staring past him. Jake looked up at her sudden silence and Paul tried to see what she was staring at, but could see nothing of amazing interest in Rachel's laundry basket, perched on top of the counter behind him.
With no warning whatsoever, Leah dropped to her knees, holding her head in her hands, gasping for air. Worried now, Jake knelt next to her, while Seth leaned over his sister, wondering what had happened.
The room was dead silent now, and they could all hear her struggling for air. "Paul… PAUL" she finally rasped out; that particular wolf being the most surprised of them all to hear her calling his name. Crouching next to her, he tried to help her up when she grabbed the front of his shirt and stared at him with terror-filled eyes.
"What?" he snapped at her.
"Rachel… cliffs… get to Rachel," was all she managed to choke out before almost collapsing onto the floor, shaking.

The name of his imprint was all that was needed to snap Paul out of whatever surprised funk he was in. He just sprinted out the door, and phased, racing to the cliff-tops where he knew she was. Hers was the only scent he could smell, so he knew she wasn't in danger from a vampire.
A small part of his mind was angry with Leah for scaring him like that, when he noticed her expression. She was sitting awkwardly on an outcropping of rock, phone on the forest floor beside her, where it looked like it had fallen from her limp hand.
Hearing his approach, she turned to face him and that was when his heart plummeted. He had seen terror in people's eyes before, when they were hunting Laurent. He had seen confusion, when he had tried to explain to Rachel about imprinting on her. He had seen hurt, anger, upset and the whole gamut of human emotion thanks to the pack mind-link and shared memories.

But up until that exact moment, he had never looked in someone's eyes and saw such utter desolation.

Concentrating so hard on his imprint, he missed the soft footsteps that approached from behind, but the scent told him it was only one of his brothers. Whoever it was, stopped, dropped something at his forelegs, and then took off, back the way they had come. He supposed he should thank them for bringing him a pair of pants. Phasing back, he slipped them on, and then gathered up his stricken girl in his arms.
Once she was ensconced in his warm embrace, the tears broke loose. "Paul… God Paul…" she sobbed. "They found him. They found Jason." He tensed. These were not happy tears, so finding him was obviously not the best thing that could have happened. He needed to know exactly what happened, because the gut-wrenching misery he felt, wasn't coming from himself.
He was picking it up because of their connection. "Rach, baby, you need to tell me what happened, please baby… please…" he murmured into her hair.
"They killed him Paul… those bastards killed him. He did NOTHING… Nothing… and they killed him because they thought he was a threat… " and then her words became incoherent through the tears, but she had said enough.

Jason was dead, and now they had to tell his sister.

After Rachel had calmed enough to sit on her own for a minute, Paul quickly stripped and phased, staying wolf long enough to let Jake and the others know that she was physically fine. This came just in time because as he phased, he could sense Jake getting ready to come out after them, his concern for his sister overshadowing his Alpha instincts. Pulling on the borrowed shorts, he recognized Embry's scent and made a mental note to thank his brother.
Turning to Rachel, he hugged her, and then swung her into his arms to carry her back to the house. Once at their porch, she motioned for him to lower her to the ground, and resting her forehead on his chest, asked him in a low voice for the wolves to give them some privacy, by staying out of the backyard. He nodded and watched as she swallowed and then moved to the rear of the house.

Surprisingly, Kaia had stayed relatively unaware of everything that was going on. She was sitting at the table, home-work spread out in front of her, iPod blaring. She was used to this large group of people that wandered in and out of each other's houses like they did, so today was not really an exception. There was nothing for her to notice. She had no idea that her world was coming crashing down around her.

Paul watched as Rachel slowly approached the bench, and Kaia grinned up at her, pulling out the earphones. He saw Kaia's expression fade as she caught sight of Rachel's tear-stained face. Rachel said beside her, and even though Paul could have easily listened in, he struggled to not hear what they were saying. Even his heart felt like it was breaking as he saw Kaia's shoulders suddenly hunch – like she had been hit. He watched Rachel reach out to hug her, and then he saw her stand from the picnic table and murmur something before turning to walk away.
Despite Rachel's request, the pack couldn't ignore one of their own in pain. And she was definitely one of their own now. She was Seth's imprint, the twin's best friend and adopted by the rest of them in some capacity or the other. The way she had stood up for Collin in the diner had been just another instance of her unconditional induction into the pack. They all stood there, ranged together like the family they were.
Seth, tuned to put his imprint's needs first, knew that she didn't want any contact right then, but even he could only stop himself after he had taken one step towards her. The twins surged forward as well, but she just gazed beyond them and said in a quiet voice, "I'd like to be left alone… please… I just want to be alone right now." The broken tone coupled with the dry-eyed misery they saw before them was enough to melt the coldest of hearts. As she walked away, the wolves as one turned to each other. While Paul had tried not to listen in, the others now knew what had happened.
Leah broke away from Jared's supportive hold on her, and walked to Rachel, where she said nothing, just opened her arms and allowed the other girl to cling to her and finally sob to her heart's content. Paul knew he should do something, knew that his imprint needed him, but like the other males in the pack, he knew what she needed right now, was her best friend. He was just lucky that one of them was around to be of comfort.
Because that day, Rachel Black had lost her other best friend.

Seth POV

Her brother was dead? I had no idea how Kaia was even standing up, let alone walking completely normally, towards the beach. If I had just heard this about Leah, I bet I would have been closer to comatose with grief.
And why wasn't she crying?
Didn't girls do that when they got bad news? I could see Rachel crying hard on Leah's shoulder, I remember Leah herself crying a lot when she and Sam had broken up. I also remember the tears she thought she could hide from me when the phasing had begun. My mom had said it was healthy to cry, get your emotions out.
So why wasn't Kaia crying yet? Was she still in shock? I knew this had to be killing her; I knew how much she adored her brother. I was worried now, what should I do. I wasn't feeling the pull as much, so I knew her first need was to be left alone, but I couldn't just leave her out there.
What if something happened?
A vampire?
A human mugger?
Even a stray wave. I spun on my heel, determined to go get her, but Sam stepped in front of me. "Give her some time Seth, she needs to mourn." I nodded, but was determined not to let her stay there unprotected. I strode towards the tree-line, shedding my clothes as I went. Sam must have known what I was going to do, because he let me go. I didn't need my super-senses to know that the twins would be right behind me. If Kaia was my soul-mate, then she was the little sister the twins had always wanted. They were triplets now, their mother liked to joke.

I phased and headed straight for the beach. I knew a point where I could sit in the woods and see the entire beach without having to turn my head. I stopped there and was gratified to see her sitting not very far at all. If she spoke, I would even be able to hear her words. That was convenient. The twins flopped down on the ground beside me, and I felt every ounce of their sympathy and concern, both for Kaia and myself, like it was my own. They worried about her, a lot actually.
We stayed there, and I could see she hadn't moved at all since she had sat down. Not when dusk began to fall, and not even when the wind began to pick up off the water, probably chilling her to the bone. It was as if she didn't even feel it.
I couldn't stand waiting around anymore.
I got up, shook myself off, and told the twins to stay put. I went back home, grabbed some clothes for myself and stuffed them in a backpack, along with an old blanket I had. I then phased back, grabbing the backpack between my teeth, before heading back to the beach. When I got there, I knew that nothing had changed since my departure. Phasing, changing and then walking up to where she was seated in the sand, took me all of 3 minutes.
The stark whiteness of her face and the bluish tinge to her lips had me swearing at myself for waiting this long. She barely looked up, or even acknowledged that I was there. I sat down behind her, the way we had at the bonfire. Wrapping the blanket around us both, I felt her shiver before relaxing against my chest. Her icy hands folded around herself and once more I thanked the spirits for the high temperatures we wolves ran at. Leaning down I whispered, "I'm here Kaia… I'm here for you. I always will be."

I was met with silence until she finally whispered, "That's what he said too… when our parents died." The pain I heard in her voice was enough to knock me on my ass had I been standing. From behind us, in the trees, I heard 2 howls go up at the moon. Filled with pain, hurt, and love for their sister; the girl I held in my arms.

A/N: Go ahead and hate me for doing this. It definitely won't be as much as I hate myself. I have to go eat Oreos to feel better now.

Please review!
It will probably be the only thing making me feel better.
Sigh!