There's so much blood everywhere.

By the time we'd evened the numbers, Matt and his friends had Ducalian pinned and a few from my own side went to help, holding off the wolves that fought to free their alpha.

Ducalian's death was somewhat disturbing for me. He was someone that I admired so much.

I phased to kill him.

He managed one last hit that got the left side of my face, three lines running from my hairline towards my nose. One of them goes right over my eye, but thankfully his claw didn't go deep enough to destroy the eye, so thankfully I'm not blind.

There was no hate, only a sick look of pride as he fell. His heart was still warm in my palm, blood gushing over the fur and dampening it to my skin. His was the first life that I'd knowingly taken and I felt a little sick.

Most of his pack followed what was suddenly my own in kneeling, and the few that didn't were chased down and killed.

So much blood.

The most blood is the blood running from my wrist, covering my entire hand. I guess that's what happens when you shove your hand through someone's chest.

There was shouting and applause when everyone phased back. I was slightly dazed, barely standing properly. A few of the guys run away, coming back with clothes, but most stay naked. I pull clothes on as soon as they're handed to me.

I call Kayden over and all noise stops. Everyone wants to know what my first official move as Alpha will be. "Spread the word of my victory. I trust you to stand as my beta, and as the pack's acting alpha when I fail to do so." I mutter, not all too sure even of what I'm saying. "Should you fail to do your duty out of anything such as ignorance, you shall be hunted by my guard who are yet to be appointed."

My mind isn't my own. These words, they're not mine. "Everything shall be discussed at a later date. No one shall bother me for the next week, after then I shall throw myself as fully as I can into my duty." And with that, my legs were moving. "Carlos, Gater, Thorn, you stand as my guard to fulfill any duty that I so wish to bestow upon you, your work will begin upon my command only."

I follow my nose.

No one comes for me.

No one follows me.

Everyone's much too shocked.

I feel like I'm going to explode.

The scent of the woods with a hint of motor oil calls to me, and I don't deny myself. I follow the scent until I find a tall block of abandoned apartments. I climb nine flights of stairs before the scent stops getting higher, so I follow the corridor that it runs down until I reach a room. The lock's been busted off the door, and there's a chorus of grunts and argumentative snarls in there. I walk in. "Knock, knock." I mutter, tapping my knuckles on the flaking walls as I go.

All noise stops, then suddenly starts again until Paul comes sprinting at me. Relief floods him as he stops. He makes to come towards me again, but Sam's there, hand on Paul's chest. "You can come through." He tells me, voice deep and thick.

I nod my thanks, not bothering with directions before I walk past the others and into the room where Jacob is lying. He's on an old single bed which is missing its headboard and covers, but there's a stinky pillow holding his head up.

"You can't leave him." Sam says, behind me in the doorway.

Sighing, I hang my head. "I'm bound by our laws to-"

"Laws that you didn't care about so much as two hours ago."

I nod. "You don't understand." I tell him, my voice so very broken. "I'm not just the alpha of San Francisco. Every area has an alpha, all of those alphas make an elite pack which is our royalty. They're our elders. The Elders have a single alpha who personally deals with any indiscretions committed by any wolf that isn't claimed by a pack. I killed the alpha of the alpha pack. Every werewolf in the U.S. is mine now. I can't leave them. He'll survive, they won't."

Sam sighed deeply behind me. "You're wrong." He mutters. "It'll cripple him. This is exactly what happened with Billy, only worse."

That snaps me. "Worse?" I snarl, spinning to face him. "Billy's wife died, I barely know Jacob-"

"You're his imprint!" Sam roars, not backing down. "There's nothing worse that the thought that someone is leaving you, at least Billy knew that Sarah was there to stay! And you, what do you do? You toy with him, it's killing all of us-"

"You don't have to worry about me anymore." I snarl, and in that second the most amazing idea springs to me. "Wait here," I mutter, shooting away and sprinting off before Sam or anyone else can stop me.

I knew two or three wolves would follow me, so I smirk as I see them rush round a corner to stay hidden. "C'mere," I say, stiff tone.

Two shapes emerge from the side of the block of apartments and both look at me sheepishly. One of them is a woman who looks in her twenties, and the other is Matthias Thorn. "Sorry," Matt says, his voice ashamed. "We were just worried after how you took off so quickly and-"

"Forgiven, on one condition. The two of you are pure-bloods, you know our stories, right?" They nod. "Great, come with me." I tell them, leading them back up to where Sam is snarling.

I lead them straight past the others and to Jacob. "Power transfers. Aside from a challenge, how could someone take my title?" I ask them, crossing my arms over my chest and staring them both down. They look away in respect.

"There are only two ways. Well, two for a male wolf and four for a female." The woman says. I barely recognise her as Matt's sister, though I don't know her name. I nod, motioning for her to continue. She does while Matt eyes the others in the room. Sam and his pack crowd the door. "Well, for a male there's either killing their alpha, or they're given the power. With females though such as yourself, there's mating, rape, death, and willingly handing it over."

"Rape?" Paul snarls, disgusted.

I nod. "Yeah, a female loses her status if she mates with a lower male. Obviously mating with a higher male would only giver her more power, but yeah, rape works. He'd gain her power and she'd be his property. In my case, I should be careful not to drop the soap." I mutter darkly. It's true that if I was raped that the male would become the alpha and that I would have to serve as his mate, but it'd be easier to kill me than to rape me. "You mentioned willing transfer, what's that?"

Matt shrugged. "We don't know. I mean, we know what the stories say, but no one's done it in centuries. The stories say that if you hold someone's arm like you'd shake their hand only higher up and both wolves extend their claws it starts a bond. Until the bond is broken everything is sacred."

"There's always blood sharing, everyone knows that works." The woman supplies with a shrug.

Matt visibly stiffens and bares his teeth. "It's filthy." He snarls, turning on her.

"What is it?" I interrupt.

She shrugs. "It's what it says on the tin. You pop open a vein with a wolf and they do the same. You both drink one another's-"

"It's like the mating ritual without the sex. It's wrong." Matt growls, staring her down.

They start bickering.

I snarl, deep and low. "Let's forget your morals. Tell me the quickest and easiest way to transfer my power, now."

"Blood sharing, but it's filthy." Matt said, glaring at the woman. I nodded, telling him to find me Carlos. They're gone and back within minutes, this time with my former alpha.

We lay out terms and conditions and the next thing I know his fangs are sunk so deep in my wrist that I'm worried he may be trying to drain me. The transfer's over in a matter of minutes and I feel the power that I didn't know I had slipping from me. Jacob wakes up half way through and is held down by Sam, Paul, Embry and Matt as he struggles to get 'that fucker's teeth out of his mate' as he so eloquently put it.

The werewolves leave quickly and quietly, leaving me with Jacob and his pack.

I watch the skin on my wrist as it begins to knit itself together right before my eyes, wishing that the taste of blood wasn't in my mouth.

"What does this mean?" He asks me, standing on shaky legs.

I smirk at him and wrap my arms around his middle to help him stay steady. "It means you're stuck with me, Black."

He grins. "Can't wait."

Since I woke up this morning I've been at war with my wolf. She says that Jacob looks too hot and would benefit from losing his pants, I say that's his decision and not hers. She also says I'm a fucking killjoy.

I've been stood in the corner of my living room all night since Sam and his pack moved from the old apartment block into my apartment. Jacob took my couch -probably thinking that I'd join him- while the others dotted around the floor and the other rooms. Since the second that Jacob's eyes closed I've been stood alert, ready to kill. He's only woken a few times, and each time he's looked at me questioningly before forcing his eyes shut once more and sleeping.

A light knock on the door has me bolting across the room. I yank the door open to see a few werewolves from last night. I immediately tense. "You'd best have a damn fine reason for being here." I snarl, so not in the mood today.

There are six of them, and they all flinch. Each of them looks just a little older then me. Four males and two females.

A deep groan of annoyance sounds behind me before there's a shallow thud followed by footsteps. They get closer and closer until there's a firm chest and set of solid abs against my back, arms curling around my waist. A not so subtle way of staking his claim.

The six of them smile faintly. "It's true then?" One of the females mutters, smiling. "That you've mated outside of pack, I mean?"

I shrug. "What of it?" I reply tightly. Some werewolves are extreme believers that you're scum for mating outside of our bloodlines, and there are a few that would hunt the wolf and their mate down to kill them. The six of them grin wider and my stomach clenches. "I'm still unmated, but I plan on mating outside of the pack, is there a problem?" I growl, angry vibrations rippling over my body.

They seem to finally get it, and all of them look mortified. "No!" One of the males exclaims, and I hear a few of Jacob's pack behind me rouse at the noise. "Sorry, we just- the six of us want to live like normal people, but all we've ever known is the pack. We were wondering if you could possibly-"

"We're sick of being animals. We've all got blood on our hands and we don't see any on yours." The second female mutters, crossing her arms petulantly over her chest.

"You're not looking hard enough." I snarl, ready to slam the door.

They all visibly flinch, all aside form the annoying female.

"And you want what from me? Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm having trouble trusting my own kind at the moment." I say as Jacob subtly pulls me into him, tensing his arms around me.

One of the males snaps his fingers, irritating me. I'm not a fucking dog and I sure as hell won't sit on command. "That's what we want!" He exclaims, grinning. "That attitude that you have. We wouldn't dream of talking about our own kind as if they-"

"As if they silvered you up all nice and pretty for the vamps?" I growl, my shoulders tensing against Jacob's chest. He presses his lips gently to my hair, and despite the fact that I wouldn't think it to be a calming gesture, it helps. "You think your alpha will be pleased when he hears this?"

"He's dead." Girl number two say. "You pulled his heart clean out with you hands."

I shrug. "After scarring my beautiful face, he simply had to go." I retort snarkily. "Now, tell me quickly what it is you want from me. It's early, I'm tired, and I'm losing the will to live."

One of them males steps forwards and offers his hand to shake. I don't take it. "My name's Dante. This is Jack, Harper, Lee, Danielle, and Kyla. We want you to train us. We want to be like you. We want to-"

"Sorry, I gave my title up last night, you-"

"We know, but you're still the wolf we want to follow. We've all agreed that our wolves respond to yours, like we're all meant to be." One of the females says, she's quieter that the other, nicer too.

Meant to be? Fucking weird. "Listen-"

"Of course she'll help you," Jacob says brightly from behind me. "I think what she means is that she's just completely drained right now, so you should come back in a few days."

Dante nods. "Of course. Thank you so much. I guess you've had a pretty tough couple of weeks, huh? Trouble with cops and pack." He mutters understandingly. Jacob tenses behind me before grabbing the door and swinging it shut in their faces.

"Trouble with the cops?"

I shrug. "Apparently it was wrong of me to beat the shit out of Stu."

Understanding crosses his face and he raises a brow, frowning. "You fought back?" He seems pleased, yet worried at the same time.

"All the way to ICU." I reply, half way between proud and disgusted with myself. "Only cost me a night on the in."

The others slowly rouse, and soon enough everyone's awake.

I find myself stood in my tiny kitchen, smiling lightly as I open my fridge and come face to face with a bag of bacon bigger than my head. Damn werewolves and their appetites.

Jacob and the others have had to go back to Forks after getting a call from Charlie to say that Bella's run away and only left a note to say that she's sorry, and he couldn't find her.

Naturally, the last person to leave my apartment is Jacob, after he crushed me to the door frame as the others descended the stairs. His lips were hot and persistent against my own as he promised that he'd be back. The irrational side of me and my wolf snarled inwardly as he was still running off to save her, but I knew that when it came to them that I was going to have to accept that they were friends and I would never make him choose between the two of us.

I keep replaying that last kiss through my head every time the silver chain crashes against the bare skin of my back. I scream every time, knowing that I can't be saved.

Not from this.

I know, a confusing ending which I'll hopefully be able to explain properly in the next chapter. Also, sorry for it being such a short chapter!