This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All rights to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those rights nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.
AN: Okay, this chapter will transition us to Act 3 and a change in location. I promised 2 updates a month and I'm getting this in right under the gun, but still... I upheld my promise! In other news, I have created a website with another author, Essathetwerp called The Word Garden. It's a place to discus and post works of original fiction, fanfiction, poetry and non-fiction. We have a little bit of everything and if any of you are interested, the link is on my author page.
Okay, enough self promotion... on to the chapter!
Chapter Ten:
Seth woke up on a cold Tuesday morning, frost on his window, the last three weeks had been quiet, no vampires, no infighting among the pack. As much as it ever was, things were peaceful. Which of course, he thought as he pulled on a t-shirt, meant that it wouldn't last. His cellphone beeped and he read a text message from Leah that she would meet him for lunch after she finished up something with Paul. What that something was she didn't tell him. Downstairs he could smell eggs with extra sharp cheddar cheese and tomato. A good morning.
After he was washed and dressed in some semi ratty hanging around clothes he heard the tell-tale sounds of someone working on the outside of his house. Grinning he stuck his head out his bedroom window.
"You're here early Ing. It's only just 8 o'clock."
Ingrid turned to him, her hair stuffed into a beanie and her nose red in the brisk autumn air. She had pots of black, red, white and yellow paint next to her on the wooden bean she sat on. Several different types of paint brushes were in a stand to her left and her fingers were mottled and stained with paint.
"You're not so quick on the uptake." she said. "I've been here since 6:30, and by the way... you snore. I could hear you through your window."
She was almost done with the repainting on the Clearwater family crest symbol. It was particularly complicated because Sue was half Makah and once she had married into the Clearwater family they had gained access to her crest imagery. So it had been added to theirs. It was a highly stylized, highly dynamic design and Ingrid had been giving it all her attention for two weeks.
"I finished the whale." she continued as Seth climbed out to perch on the second floor scaffolding with her.
"You really like all the whale stuff around here don't you?" he asked.
"Well, yeah... I do. I've been taking some close up shots of a lot of the carvings and paintings of the whales around here. I'm actually thinking of traveling throughout the region and taking as many shots as I can. Maybe try to publish an art book of my Native whale photos. Who knows."
Seth just nodded, he liked that she was making plans. No one was really sure what Ingrid's ultimate decision would be once her three year exile was over. But it made life easier on everyone that she seemed to have decided to go about it with a modicum of grace. Her assistance with the cult had also changed things. She still wasn't pack and she was still the imprint least connected with her wolf, but Jake and the rest had begun treating her like a valuable ally. It had done wonders for the way Ingrid treated them in return.
He sat there and watched her for a while, Sue, eventually tiring of waiting for him to come downstairs and get his eggs, made a plate for him and handed it to him out his bedroom window. He gestured with his fork to Ingrid to see if she wanted any eggs, but she shook her head no. Finally Seth grew curious.
"Nobody's messed with that since my mother was pregnant with me. Is it hard to do?"
She moved her paints and patted the spot next to her. "Come here, I'll show you."
He moved next to her and she put her paint brush in his hand and then placed it against the wood of his house, exactly where she had left off painting. "Let me guide your hand, alright?"
Seth nodded, actually a little pleased to be doing something that was about his tribe but wasn't about hunting or killing something. This was important too and for a brief moment he wondered how he had forgotten that, he wondered if they all had forgotten that.
Ingrid held Seth's hand on the brush, letting him feel the movement as she used it to fill in the lines of his family's crest symbol.
"Feel how the stiffness of the brush helps you with the contour lines? It should be easy, just a flowing of the wrist. Once the form lines and the contour lines are done, you fill them in with the black. For that you use a thinner and more flexible brush."
Seth nodded and watched as she sat on the scaffolding in front of his house with her paints, her brushes and a look of complete concentration on her face. He could tell that the most important thing on Ingrid's mind right now was his crest. It felt good to have something of his be so important to her. It felt even better that she had so obviously studied his tribe's art forms.
"All this horror vaccui is amazing Seth. I did a lot of studying to paint it. This section is particularly complex, can you see all the different line work?"
"What does horror vaccui mean?" he asked.
"It's Latin, translated literally it means fear of empty spaces. But in art it means that all the empty spaces are filled in with design. It's a very stylized way to paint and draw and it's very hard to master. I would never be able to do this freehand, the only way I can do this at all is because I'm tracing over the work of the last person who painted it."
Smiling at her Seth asked her if she had had her morning coffee. "You don't smell as caffeinated as you usually do." he said.
She chuckled. "Nope, my coffee maker is on the fritz and Starbucks wasn't open yet when I drove by. I'm starting to get withdrawals you should know."
Seth jumped off the scaffolding to the ground. "I'll go inside and make you some, we wouldn't want you to get the shakes now would we?"
Ingrid watched him and laughed again. "Cheeky, very cheeky."
XXX XXX XXX XXX
Paul was watching Leah, they were in the nursery in Forks and Leah was looking over... compost. She was trying to get a community garden started on the rez to help the tribe deal with the fact that the majority of it's members could not afford fruits and vegetables at the retail prices in the supermarket in Forks. She'd gotten her plot of land for it, but there was a lot to do to turn it into arable soil. Which was why she was at the ironically named Sunshine Nursery.
"It's dirt Leah, how different could it be from the five other bags of dirt you decided weren't good enough? Just grab one... hell do yourself a favor and grab the cheapest and lets move on!"
Leah just looked at him witheringly. "It's not dirt, it's composted soil! And good soil means good food grown. And... just let me deal with this. Oh look Paul... they have a garden hose grip that looks like a gun... you ought to like that."
He stared at her and then walked up close enough to be invading her personal space just a bit. "Yeah... that's why I woke up at 7:30am to come to Garden Geeks R' Us... for the gun grip on the hose."
Then he looked down and grabbed a bag. "This is in your price range, and you said you wanted organic and it's organic. And it says on this handy sign here that they will deliver as much of this shit... which since it also says that it contains worm poop, is an appropriate way to describe it... to your garden as you want. So... let's buy it."
Leah just stood there blinking. "You were paying attention to what I said while we were driving here?"
"Why does everyone think I'm some sort of idiot? And Leah... I listen to what you have to say a hell of a lot more than you think I do."
She didn't know what to say to that, but she recognized the feeling deep in her belly. It was the same feeling that she had gotten those years ago when Sam had made the first concrete gestures of wanting more than friendship back in their high school years. She and Sam had had five great years till he imprinted on Emily. Then Leah had been alone. She had tried dating eventually, after the packs had split, after the Volturri had left. But, how do you date someone when you have to lie to them constantly? Her deceit doomed each and every relationship and she hadn't even bothered looking at a man in a year and a half. What was the point? If your mate wasn't your imprint, you weren't allowed to tell. Frankly she was starting to think that rule was a load of bull. It made it so that only the imprinted wolves got to have a life. Somehow she thought that their ancestors would have words with the council... if they could.
"I... I listen to what you have to say too."
Inwardly she winced. 'I listen to what you have to say too? Oh great Clearwater! While you're at it, why don't you walk into a wall to complete this moment of awkward?'
Paul just smirked and followed her around Sunshine Nursery, stepping in and just grabbing items when Leah's indecision stretched out the waiting too long. It took them about three or four hours, but they finally got everything, scheduled a delivery to Leah's garden and loaded up Paul's truck. After going through the Burger King drive thru, they headed back to the rez.
"Do do you need any help... tilling? Or whatever the hell it is that you call it when make dirt ready to plant stuff in it?"
Leah couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up at the way he talked about gardening. He could truly care less about it... but he seemed earnest in his desire to help out.
"Paul, you are many things, but eloquent is not one of them." she said.
"Not when it comes to gardening I'm not. For that matter, when did you start getting into plants? It seemed like you moved out, got your apartment and then the thing was swimming in plants like a week later."
She shrugged. "I needed a hobby, a distraction. Believe it or not, having something to do with my time helped me move on from Sam and Emily. I mean... I had to do something and I remember my father liked to grow vegetables and he talked to his plants... so I decided to give it try. It worked. It still works."
Paul turned on the radio and started down the dirt road to Leah's plot of land. "I'm glad you decided on this and not fishing. I'm not sure that the idea of you fishing with Billy and Charlie is very appealing."
"Way to ruin a moment Paul."
He laughed. "What can I say? It's a gift."
When they got there the whole thing was overgrown with weeds, the fence surrounding it was covered in wet rot and collapsing... and reeked of mildew. There was trash all over the place and a used condom hung from the gate like some sort of sad little attempt at a welcome to the neighborhood gift.
Paul was not impressed. "The council gave you this? You come up with a damn good plan to help feed the tribe nutrients they're lacking and they give you... this?"
Leah nodded and flicked the condom off her gate with a long stick. "No one's used it in generations, it was this or try to plant way to close to the beach. It was this or nothing and... and protecting our people has to mean more than just making sure they don't get eaten by vampires Paul. So... I'm trying to do more, and this is it."
Paul looked intently at her. Then without a word he kissed her lightly and started unloading the truck and putting the supplies in the dilapidated shed in the front corner of the plot.
"You helping or not?" he asked. "We have to meet Seth and Red for lunch in less than two hours."
"We?" Leah said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, we... got a problem with that?"
She absolutely studied him for a second. "Don't know... haven't decided yet."
"Well don't take too long making up your mind... or grabbing those rakes."
Leah was quiet as she helped unload everything and find it a home. Paul Wakeh, he could be a really good match for her... or he could be her next Sam Uley. The thought of going through that again had her stuck at a crossroads. It was one thing to to say take your chances and risk it all, what else was life for? It was another thing to say that after you have risked it all... and lost.
XXX XXX XXX XXX
Magnus Jarlsson sat in his rooms, staring into the fire that was lit in his bedroom. The smell of Yvanne calmed him a bit. She had begun spending more of her nights here ever since the confrontation with his father. For his part, Magnus had become more open about his attachment to her, appearing with her more and more in public. Both he and his wolf were tired of acting like they were made of stone, that they had no wish for a mate and partner in life.
The cold was everywhere, seeping in through every crack it could find. Shifters ran at 108 degrees, but the near arctic cold could penetrate even their fur and skin. The last of the evacuations of the northernmost villages of the Sami had taken place and the war had begun. It had already begun in autumn, the increased vampiric activity as they took advantage of the long nights and ever shorter days, the ever increasing dark. But with the start of the winter next week, and the last true sunrise his people would see for months... the war would begin in earnest.
Magnus looked at the flames licking at the stone and wondered how many of his people would die. There was a pattern to it, one he had begun to sense in his fourth year as a wolf. A measure of first years would always die, drunk on their new found strength they would rush at things they had no business taking on and some of them would inevitably die. The one's who survived would be far more cautious the next few years. Magnus noticed that they didn't lose as many second through seventh years, but when the eighth year rolled around the wolves began to think themselves experienced warriors, invincible because they had lasted nearly a decade as warriors. Here was where the next glut of casualties usually lay. Eighth through tenth years tended to die in large numbers, full of their opinions of themselves, all strength and and anger and ego, very little caution and tactics. He could already guess at who was likely to die from that group.
Then came the final knot of wolves likely to be killed in the ensuing war, the truly elderly. If a wolf survived their first year, and then what they all jokingly called their adolescence, they were fine for a long time. Short of bad luck, they tended to survive. Till they started finding it easier to clock their age in fifty year increments. Wolves over 300 years old started to want to die. Too many years watching loved ones age and pass on. Too many years outliving their wolfblooded children, sometimes of having their children die in combat. Too many times outliving a mate. There came a time when it got to be too much. This group was hallmarked by suicidal attacks on the enemy.
Fenrir did not commit overt suicide, they did not retire... but death in battle was a way out that brought no shame on them nor their line. So if a wolf was truly tired of their existence, it was acceptable to go to what the others called in an almost sacred sense 'the last battle'. It was honorable and honor was very nearly everything to the Fenrir.
Dagonet and Hilde belonged to this group, and as their mate Karolina would often say, their memories haunted them. Both of them were in their third century and being a longtime mated pair before Dagonet imprinted on Karolina, they had had children. They had outlived a portion of those children and as for any parent who outlives a child, it hurt them deeply. Two had simply died of old age and one had died in battle. A parent never forgets nor stops loving a child who has gone before them and even though all three had died before Karolina was born, her mates were a shadow of themselves on their birthdays and the anniversaries of their deaths.
Privately Magnus thought that Dagonet's imprinting on Karolina had given him and Hilde a new lease on life. They became the Jarl pack's only current threemating and Dagonet's booming laughter and Hilde's full toothed grin became a part of pack life again. The three of them became a family and Magnus was glad of it, he wasn't sure how he would have fared in his role of beta if he hadn't had the two older wolves to learn from and rely upon.
If a Fenrir lived past the five hundred mark, they started being called ancient, and the ancient ones went down hard. Too many years surviving, thinking tactically, killing and fighting made them extremely hard to kill. However... it was rare to live that long, the nature of their environment culled too many Fenrir of all ages from their ranks to have a large group of ancients to help them. Most of them eventually went to Freya's pack, something about the Eldest drew the old ones to her leadership. If the Jarl's pack was the most powerful, with some of the strongest wolves, the Eldest's pack was the most dangerous with the some of the oldest and wiliest wolves.
More than one Fenrir thought that that was to the good, that it was a sort of balance of power. The Jarl and the Eldest, and the nation of Fenrir in between, all facing the vampires and the dark and the cold.
Magnus held one of Yvanne's scarves in his hands as he thought on all of this. If everything went well, if he survived the winter, he would make his and his wolf's attachment to Yvanne official, he would properly claim her as his mate. He would make a home and a family with her. This winter would be his test, he could feel it. He was without his twin sister for the for the first winter of his life, he would have to rely upon his own strength to guide him. If he proved equal to the task, then he was worthy of having a mate.
No one held Magnus Jarlsson to a higher standard than he held himself.
XXX XXX XXX XXX
Ingrid was up to her elbows in dirt. She agreed with Paul, it didn't matter what Leah wanted to call this stuff, it was dirt and she was covered in it. She, Seth and Paul were helping Leah prepare the dirt, or soil as she called it, in her giant vegetable garden to sleep out the winter. Something about getting rid of all the weeds at seed level, making actual layered and composted beds and then they got to tarp the whole thing to sit in it's nutrients and marinate for the winter. According to the she-wolf, her garden would be full of "black gold" come spring if they did this properly and she would be able to plant a ton of vegetables and fruit for the tribe here.
She was also a complete tyrant and Ingrid had already threatened to shove a trowel up her ass if she came up to her one more time to demonstrate proper weed suffocation.
"Why did I agree to do this again?" she mused aloud.
"Because you're nuts?" Seth answered.
"If I'm nuts, what's your excuse?" Ingrid asked.
Leah interrupted them with a sharp and biting laugh. "He's my ever dedicated and dutiful younger brother and he wants his sister to always have success."
The she wolf got hit in the face with a clod of dirt and Seth went back to digging and whistling. His sister, however, growled at him and it wasn't long before the two siblings were rolling on the ground, laughing and demanding that the other call uncle.
As the other two watched them with smiles on their faces Paul asked Ingrid if she was coming to the barbeque at the Redclay's.
"I had planned on it. The whole pack plus family members will be there, right?"
"Usually." Paul said. "Only Embry and Sam won't be. They have patrol. It's sort of a tradition, soon it's going to get way too cold for us to have shirtless cookouts and all that without getting everyone suspicious. So this is like our last gasp before we have to really put on an act for a few months. Jake started it when he reunited the packs and took over."
"Seth told me all about what happened. Bella, Nessie, the Volturri. Sounds like it was quite the soap opera."
Paul laughed. "It was. And to tell you the truth no one really knows why the Cullens stay here. I mean, Nessie's nearly old enough to pass for an adult now and Jake and Bella aren't as close as they used to be. When Jake reunited us, he really became what we think an alpha is supposed to be. The tribe had to come first, not Bella. I mean I think he's still in love with her a bit, but it's more nostalgic than anything else."
Ingrid nodded. "First love you know, you never forget it. I still remember my first love. I'm not in love with him anymore, but I think of him with a smile I guess."
"Yeah, I get what you mean. My first love is off living in Chicago somewhere with a husband and a career. I'm not panting after her or anything... but when I see her in Forks when she comes to visit her mother, it makes me remember."
"Awww, lookit that, Paulie has a soft spot in there after all!"
The Clearwater siblings had declared their mock battle a draw and were looking at Paul and Ingrid... and mocking them. Soon that had all three La Push wolves mock fighting... and having a great time. Ingrid leaned against one of the only sturdy fence posts there was and drank a beer. Occasionally she would call out encouragement and it soon became clear that she had a favorite wolf. Leah. And then Paul and Seth declared it guys against girls and Ingrid was swept away from the fence, her beer bottle flying through the air like some sort of alcohol fueled rocket as she was pulled into the fray.
All in all, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
"Ya know Lee, when you said you wanted a plot of ground to make a community garden I didn't think that you were going to include mud wrestling. You should've said something, there are about five girls I'd love to see wrestle you or Ingrid."
Everyone stopped and looked sheepishly at their alpha. Today Paul was third and Leah was fourth, so Paul stepped forward and took the blame.
"It was fun? It seemed like a good idea at the time?"
Jake just laughed. "I can tell. In case you forgot the time kiddies, it's two hours till the cookout, so go home and clean up. Janice will deny me food if you track mud all over her place and she's cooking stew tonight. Stew. I'm not giving up her cooked over a fire pit stew for you four."
"The twin's mother has you so wrapped around her little finger Jake."
"Too true Lee, too true. If only she was single, I could have her and her tasty treats at the same time." Jake said.
Seth flicked some mud out of his eyes. "Dude, don't ever think that on patrol with Collin or Brady, they'll gag and maybe try and bite you."
"I was kidding Seth." the alpha replied. "I'm not after Mrs. Redclay. Her stew on the other hand, her stew has been catching my wandering eye lately."
Ingrid barked a laugh and keeping a respectful distance and body stance she poked fun at the alpha for the first time. "Some guys jerk off to porn, Jake jerks off to Janice Redclay's stew. That's a really specific kink there Jake."
Jake just blinked at her. Ingrid usually had little say to him, especially around other packmembers. He wasn't sure but he thought it had something to do with her father. Ingrid had learned at a young age that alphas were absolute in their strength and held the power of life and death over their packs. She had learned to fear alpha types in ways most people surrounding Jake hadn't. It made him hate Gunnar Jarlsson just a little bit more every time he thought of the man.
So he smiled at her and gave a soft laugh. Then he stood off to the side with her as she clapped the mud out of her shoes.
"You did a real good job on the Clearwater crest symbol. You're the first artist the pack has had around. None of us knew you knew how to paint."
"Well, I'm a photographer. Painting is something I can do, and I enjoy, but it's not my passion if you know what I mean. Photos are... but I like to keep my feet wet in the medium."
Jake shook his head in agreement. "I understand, but if you're willing, most of the pack's family crests could use some work and when you have the time, we'd like for you to be the one to do it. We'd pay you."
She shook her head. "I don't need the money and it wouldn't be right to take it anyway. We're allies, I'll do it for free... I'm not going to take your money."
What she didn't say was that she was well aware that none of the pack could afford her anyway. Ingrid was an academically trained photographer and painter, commissioning her was expensive and the pack had a hard enough time earning the money that they had to waste it on hiring her. To take their money for something she should be happy to do for free would be dishonorable and like all Fenrir, Ingrid found being dishonorable to be unacceptable.
Jake shook on it and soon everyone was going their separate ways to clean up and get ready for the cookout. Seth walked her to her car, both of them enjoying a companionable silence as they walked. There was an ease to their relationship now. They had come a long way from the regrets and recriminations that had been a hallmark of their attachment previously. Now they were friends. It might not be what the council wanted of them and it might not be what some of the other wolves and imprints wanted of them, but it was working for them. And as far as Jake was concerned, that was what was important. The rest could find some other way to occupy their time.
XXX XXX XXX XXX
Magnus was resting in Yvanne's office, watching his lover go over the checklist of the seemingly unending list of repairs that needed to be finished on the stone behemoth his pack called home when he smelled Enni. She smelled, nervous, not that that was altogether unusual. With the death of Sindre a little over a month prior, Enni had become the pack's omega. While she was brilliant, Enni was not dominant in the slightest, so she always had a small air of nerves in the presence of high ranking wolves. But this... this smelled different.
It smelled different enough that even Yvanne looked up. "Enni? Are you alright?" she asked.
Enni twisted her hands. "I... I think there's a problem, but I'm not sure what to do about it."
Yvanne stood up and got a chair for the nervous she wolf to sit in across from Magnus, then she stood back behind her desk to listen.
Magnus leaned forward, elbows on his knees and waited for Enni to begin.
"I made my last checks, all the Sami were evacuated and placed in towns further to the south. All except one group. The Northcape Sami. Our wolfblooded contact in the town they were supposed to go to said they never arrived. And I contacted all the other alphas. No one had orders to take them to safety. And none of our people went to Northcape this time. I think... I think they're still up there... waiting for us. And if they are..."
Magnus' voice was heavy. "If they are, they're sitting ducks. Did we have any people with them for the summer?"
Enni tilted her head. "Just Mika. But Mika makes the rounds of all the northern Sami to get the word out that we're coming. He's been back here for about a week."
The beta stood up, angry power rolling over him in waves. "Get Dagonet and Hilde, summon the pack... half of us will run with me to Northcape, the rest will stay here and defend our territory."
Yvanne closed her eyes. "Magnus if Dagmar botched the evacuations..."
His voice was very nearly an inarticulate growl. "If the bolverk screwed this up, not even my father will be able to protect her. Not anymore."
Then he turned to her and took a deep breath. "Yvanne, with Ingrid gone, you're the wolfblooded with the most experience. Gather them up and divide them into two groups, the ones going with me and the ones staying here."
"But Magnus... There are others more suited to that task than I!" she seemed shocked that he would ask her this. Her job had always kept her on the edge of pack politics, of Fenrir politics in general. It looked like that was coming to an end.
He held her shoulders. "What you've done previously doesn't matter. It's what I need you to do now that matters. Can you do this for me?"
She could tell that this was a turning point, the pivot point in their relationship. Could he, the future Jarl depend on her? Could he lean on her to help him along his path? It wasn't even a question, the answer wasn't even in doubt, not to her anyway.
"I'll get it done. The ones going with you will be waiting in the courtyard."
Twenty minutes later Magnus stood outside with Hilde. It had been determined that with the beta gone Dagonet had to stay at the hall. Hilde hadn't a shot in hell of keeping any sort of hold on the ever more unstable Jarl, but Dagonet had been Gunnar's beta before, knew him like the back of his hand. He could accomplish more than than his mate could. So though it made him uncomfortable in the extreme... he stayed and watched his mate and his imprint prepare to leave without him.
"The Northcape Sami were not evacuated. Those gathered here are the pack's fastest runners, quickest fighters, most enduring wolfblooded. We have to make quickest run we've ever made to the Northcape. Wolfblooded will each ride a wolf, we have no time to wait. Karolina, we may be looking at some pretty bad casualties, so you have to go with us. We'd leave you here but..."
Karolina shook her head at that beta. "I'm fine Magnus and I know my duty. I'll be fine."
Magnus jutted his chin towards Hilde. "You'll go with your mate then." Then he held the eyes of everyone else there. "If they're still up there they are depending on us to get them to safety. No faltering, do what you have to do get the job done. Understood?"
Then they were gone, running as fast as they could, trying to cover the most ground on the shortest route possible. They hoped for survivors, but were prepared for the worst.
XXX XXX XXX XXX
Ingrid sat on the Redclay's deck and watched and listened to Seth's pack. Contentious as they could be, they were family. She could tell who got along with who and who didn't. They were family, even the ones who weren't the best of friends would still kill and die for each other. Jared and Seth were a good example. They didn't really get along all that well and never hung out together outside of pack functions, but if the shit hit the fan, there was no question... they had each others backs.
All the imprints were there, including the one that had thrown Ingrid for a loop. Claire Penning, the seven year old imprint of Quil Atera Jr., when she had been told the story and how he had imprinted on her when she was two, Ingrid had been shocked speechless. She had never heard of anyone imprinting on a child before and when she said that there had been questions galore. Eventually everyone had to accept that fact that as far as anyone could tell... Quil's situation was unique.
When Quil had shown up to Ingrid's house that night and drank himself into a near stupor, quite an accomplishment for someone with his metabolism, Ingrid had just sat with him and listened. She hadn't really known what to say. Ingrid was a fixer, if you came to her with a problem, she would try and fix it for you. When people just wanted to rant or cry on her shoulder... she always felt a little bit lost and unsure of what she should do. However, listening had been what Quil had needed and at the end he had hugged the Norwegian, thanked her for her time and her alcohol and staggered home.
Claire was currently telling Quil a story about a boy in her class, his name was Jeff, and apparently she and Jeff played house a lot, though Claire wondered of they were getting too old for that now. And when they did play house, she liked for Jeff to be the dad and her to be the mom. It was very clear that Claire was deep in the grips of her first little girl crush. It was adorable. Even Quil thought so and was giving her hints on how to tell if Jeff liked her in return.
Then Emily interjected. "You know Claire, honey, you shouldn't play house with Jeff anymore."
"Why not?" Claire asked.
"Because your Quil's imprint, when you play house you should want Quil to be the dad." she replied.
Quil stood up, and gently took Emily's elbow. "Please don't say things like that to her Emily. Claire is a little girl and I want her to do all the things that little girls do, and teenagers do. Have crushes, play house, date when she's older. Have a life. Please don't tell her that she can't do those things. It upsets her and it bothers me."
Emily frowned and looked bothered. "But she's your imprint Quil, you have to protect your place in her life!"
"My place in her life is to protect it. That's what I'm doing."
Ingrid leaned closer to the conversation, they weren't that far away from her and she seemed to be the only one paying attention to them.
"That's not your place in her life Quil. You aren't taking your duty to her seriously, you're being just like Seth!" Her voice sounded a bit haughty, like she was the teacher trying to steer a misinformed youth back onto the right path.
Quil looked pissed off for just a moment. "What gives you the right to determine what Seth and I should do about our imprints?"
"I'm the beta's imprint."
She said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like her status was something no one should question. That that status made her... right. Made her correct in her judgments.
From above them Ingrid snorted out a laugh. "Good for you"
Emily looked up at her and tried to hold her gaze, but Ingrid's eyes bored into her and Emily broke the line of sight first. The La Push imprints were informally ranked by their wolf's rank. However it was no secret that Ingrid was far more dominant than any of the other imprints. If she had been part of the pack Jake had mused that she might have actually held a rank in it... and thus far out stripped any status the other imprints held.
It was something that upset Emily's static and well ordered world, and she had never been particularly good at dealing with anything that did that. But instead of saying anything to Ingrid, she just gave her a look and walked away.
Quil sighed. "Thanks Red."
Ingrid shook her head. "What is it with that nickname? Paul started it and the rest of you jumped right on. Well... the ones of you that like me that is. Jared, Sam and Brady call me Ingrid, they never abbreviate it."
Quil laughed once, a tired sound. "That's because they don't like you much."
Then he waved at her and went to get some plates for Claire's parents. Sometimes... sometimes it seemed like being a wolf took more away than it gave. Sometimes he thought that Ingrid and her kind were insane for thinking it was a gift. How could anything this complicated be a gift? Unless the giver was a sadist, no one wanted their gifts to cause as many problems as being a wolf caused.
A few hours later Seth found Ingrid sitting in a chair rubbing her temples.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I think something's up with my brother. I feel... like I'm stretched over too much space and something's pulling on the other end. That usually only happens when something is wrong with him."
Seth took the plate from her lap. "Do you want to call him?"
He was worried, she and her brother were so close and he didn't want to think about what might happen to his imprint if something happened to her twin while she was here. He knew she wasn't psychic, but his experiences with Collin and Brady had taught him how close wolf twins were. They were always aware of each other, they always knew if the other was hurt and how badly. Ingrid and Magnus seemed to be the same way. The pack was learning through Ingrid how far those bonds between wolf twins could stretch. While Seth was closer to Leah than anyone else in the pack, and perhaps had a deeper bond with her than anyone else save for Jake... he was glad his bond wasn't a twin bond. While useful, it also seemed to be a bit more trouble than it was worth.
"No." Ingrid replied. "He's not hurt, I can tell. It's an emotional thing and if it was really that bad, he would contact me. Regardless of what our father says."
Seth just wordlessly handed her a cup of coffee. He was well versed in women and their harmless addictions. When Leah was off kilter, he would get her chocolate, he had learned to get coffee for Ingrid. For his mother it was tea. Then he sat next to her and waited till she adjusted to the pull on her from her brother. As he sat there, Leah and Paul came out from the treeline.
"Do they..." Ingrid was looking at the two with a narrowed gaze. "They seem... disheveled."
Seth sniffed and then his eyes widened. "Oh man... this complicates things."
Ingrid just started to laugh softly. "They practically share a rank anyway, I guess they're going to share a bed now."
He didn't seem as amused as his imprint. "I can't believe she would put herself through this twice!"
"You mean the Sam thing?"
"Yeah." he replied. "What happens if he imprints? Or she does? Her heart already got ripped out of her chest once, I watched her nearly self destruct Ingrid... I can't sit by and watch it a second time."
He was staring at Paul like he wanted to rip his face right off, the animalistic side of him growling.
"Well, she won't imprint Seth, she wolves don't. Their heat cycle would screw up an imprinting bond so badly it would be hell on earth. They don't imprint and they don't get imprinted on because of that. Or so we think anyway. As for Paul... well, maybe he won't. Though I have to tell you, your pack has far more imprints than I've ever seen in a pack your size. My pack is fifteen strong right now, and we only have three imprinted wolves. In a pack your size it should only be one or two. It's weird."
Seth was staring at her. "What do you mean a heat cycle?"
Ingrid sat back and looked at him, looked around at the pack spread out around the yard. "Jesus... you really don't know much do you? You've lost so much of your history though that it's not surprising. Seth, she wolves become full grown sometime between four and six years after their first phase, they go into heat and that marks the end of their cub stage of life. If... crap... if Leah and Jake don't know about this, hell if Paul doesn't... I really need to talk to them after the cookout, I really..."
Whatever Ingrid would have said next was cut off as she keeled over face first into the dirt. It happened so fast that Seth didn't even catch her.
"INGRID!" he yelled.
She was trying to get up and coughing. "Seth... Magnus... so mad... can't think..." Then she began to speak rapid fire in Norwegian and Seth couldn't follow her. When she started to shake and and begin to crawl away from the cookout he started yelling for Jake.
His alpha was there in a second's time. "What the hell happened?"
"I don't KNOW!" Seth sounded panicked. "She was saying that something was bothering her brother and was sitting over here dealing with it... like Collin and Brady do. We were talking and then she fell over, said he was so mad and now she's babbling in Norwegian and shaking. What the HELL do I DO?"
Jake could only tell him the truth, as inadequate as it was. "I don't know Seth."
XXX XXX XXX XXX
When Magnus and his group hit Northcape there was nothing to save. The frozen bodies of the Sami were flung around the snow. Men, women, children... drained dry and tossed to the ground like so much trash. They spread out and looked for survivors, and at first it looked like a group had survived, but they hadn't gotten far before the cold and the injuries they had sustained killed them just as surely as the vampires would have. They found the small group huddled together and dead a mile away.
Magnus was barely holding it together. "Collect the dead... we'll burn them here. We will NOT leave their bodies open to the elements any longer."
Hilde picked up the body of a little boy, no more than four years old. "We cannot let this stand Magnus... these people were our responsibility. We failed them, she failed them. We have to stop this, it's clear your father won't. The Jarl is no longer fit to lead, not if he keeps his imprint."
Karolina had seen much death in her time as the pack medic... but the sheer and utter waste of this made her stomach turn and she retched in snow. This should never have happened.
One of the younger pack members, an adolescent named Sven began to make a pyre, the wolves kept bringing bodies to burn. Bodies that should have been alive and in a town far from this and safe.
Magnus turned to his fourth ranked wolf. "We're going to contact the thirteen, starting with Freya, all the alphas, we have to Gather. My father will repudiate Dagmar... or he will step down, those are his only choices now."
"It's during Winter War Magnus, can we Gather right now without giving the vampires too much of an advantage?" Hilde asked.
"It doesn't matter, this crime can't go unpunished... we have no choice... it has to happen now."
Hilde nodded. "What about Ingrid? She's in exile... but she's the most dominant of the wolfblooded, she has to represent them in a Gather."
Magnus took a deep breath. "I'll contact her, her exile is rescinded... she will come home."
XXX XXX XXX XXX
It was hours later, Ingrid was lying on the sofa in the Redclay's house, she had a splitting headache and had nearly chewed a bottle of Excedrin to take the edge off it. When she had finally regained the ability to speak in English, all she would say was that her brother was enraged like she had never felt before, that something was seriously wrong in her home and that he would contact her.
When the phone rang she grabbed with an almost snakelike quickness. She made no attempt to speak in English, and no one had any idea what was going on. When she covered her eyes and her body took on a posture of extreme grief, Seth and the rest assumed the worst.
Finally she looked at them. "My exile is over, I need to go home. All the alphas of the Fenrir nation are going to Gather. My father will be told to either repudiate his imprint or they will demand he step down and pass the title of Jarl to my brother. In a Gather I represent the wolfblooded. By law this rescinds my exile and I must return home or my kind will have no voice in the Gather."
Sam looked confused. "What did she do?"
"She caused the death of every single man, woman and child in our most northern protectorate." The rage in Ingrid's voice was nearly palpable.
"Jesus..." Leah whispered.
"You aren't going alone. I'm going with you." Seth interjected.
"I figured as much, as did my brother, he bought you a ticket along with me. Alpha Black, through my connection to Seth, and his presence in the Gather, you have a political stake in this. You will be allowed to send four members of your pack, of which Seth is one. Plane tickets will be provided by my family."
Ingrid's tone and speech was highly formal, Seth had the feeling that he was looking at the side of his imprint that had once been her father's bolverk. Someone who was used to speaking with authority.
Jake nodded. "I'll go and Leah, I want you in on this as well."
Ingrid held up her hand. "Alpha Black, you are a foreign alpha. Your presence on Fenrir soil before the formulation of a treaty between your pack and the Fenrir will be seen as an act of aggression. However, sending your beta will be seen as the act of a prudent and politically astute leader."
Jake looked like he had just sucked on a lemon. He did not like the idea of sending any of his pack into what was so obviously a powder keg of a situation without him there. But he could tell that he had no choice.
"Sam, you're going instead of me then. So that means you, Leah, Seth and..." he looked around at his pack and his eyes settled on Quil. "Quil, pack your bags. The four of you are going with Ingrid."
Paul immediately protested, his eyes repeatedly going to Leah. He had come to stand next to her and his hand was settled on the small of her back. "I should go instead of Quil, Jake."
"No." Jake said. "I need you here. I can't send all my wolves in leadership positions Paul. You need to stay here and help me run our territory. With Sam and Leah gone, you'll be the acting beta."
Ingrid nodded at Jake and began speaking in Norwegian again to her brother, then she hung up the phone. "Tickets in our names will be waiting for us. We fly out first thing tomorrow morning. May I recommend packing heavier clothes. Fenrir territory is quite cold and we're arctic wolves. I'm not sure your pelts will be thick enough to be entirely comfortable in the weather we have. So pack things to keep your human forms at least warm enough."
Sam sighed. "I need to go home and tell Emily I'm going to be gone for a while. I'll meet you guys at the airport tomorrow morning."
With that the beta left, they could already hear the gears grinding in his head as he walked away. In all honesty, he was far better suited to such a political firestorm as this had the potential to be than Jake was.
Quil said his goodbyes quickly and headed to his grandfather's house to let him know the situation. Keeping the council abreast of news was sort of his unofficial position in the pack due to his bloodline.
Paul and Leah exchanged an intense look and without a word left in the direction of her apartment, his arm wound around her waist tightly.
Soon only Jake, Seth and Ingrid were left in the room.
"Be careful." Jake said. "I'm sending you five over there. I expect to get all five of you back."
"Five?" Ingrid asked.
"Yeah, five Red. You come back, let me know you're okay and then you go where ever you need to go. Just let me know I didn't agree to send you to your death."
Then the alpha left and Seth and Ingrid began to walk to Ingrid's car.
"I'm not going to abandon you to this." Seth said, conviction radiating out from him.
"I never expected you to." She replied. "It's not the kind of man you are. But... my people are different from yours and we do things differently."
Seth slung an arm over her shoulders. "Trust me... I'm aware.
AN: From here on in we will be deep in the Fenrir storyline and Scandinavia. I hope you enojy it. Happy Halloween everyone. Eat, drink and be merry!