A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys! Please keep up the feedback as it is a huge motivator. Now, hold on to your hats. This is going to be a rocky ride.

Suggested listening: "Strong" by London Grammar, "The Wolf" by Fever Ray and "Birds" by Anouk.

2. Tough Love

It was late in the afternoon when Leah arrived at the edge of the backyard of the Clearwater family home. She had been running for days - from the icy hinterlands of northern Canada to the rainy forests of the Olympic Peninsula - and now that she had reached her destination, she found herself hesitating.

She hadn't showered in months. There had been rivers, snow and rainfall – but it wasn't the same. She was grubby. Her hair was shaggy and there was grit beneath her nails and ingrained on her flesh. She didn't have any clothes and she thanked the universe that her house bordered woodland.

She crept slowly behind the old shed where her father used to keep his tools and sighted the clothesline. After so many weeks of nothing but the orange and brown of autumn, the range of colour was almost dizzying. She flicked past some unusually small tops and pants until she spotted a large men's shirt. She yanked it down quickly and pulled it on.

It felt odd to be dressed. The fabric was restrictive and uncomfortable against skin that was used to being bare.

She tiptoed towards the back door, pausing as she positioned her hand on the handle. This was her place, she'd always just barged in...

But she'd never been away from it for so long before.

She pushed through the entrance, rapping her knuckles across the frame and calling out as she did.

"H-Hello? Anybody home?"

The words almost stuck in her throat. Other than an entirely surreal brief conversation with a thousand year old shape shifter, she hadn't talked in as long as she could remember.

She padded forward into the kitchen, pleased by the familiarity of the orange and green formica surfaces that had been picked out by her parents long before she was born. She opened the top left cupboard and pulled out a glass, filling it quickly at the sink.

"Leah?"

She stilled. She knew that voice. She placed the tumbler down and turned slowly, not prepared for how much she would be affected by the sound and smell of someone she loved so much.

"Seth!" She threw herself towards him and he caught her, wrapping his arms around her in a fierce hug.

"Hey, sis."

It had been so long since she had allowed anyone to provide her with any kind of comfort. His arms were warm and home. She didn't want to move and he didn't make her. She choked back a sob as he patted her shoulder.

How had she gone so many years without seeing him?

Eventually she drew back, blinking rapidly to offset the watering at the edges of her eyes. She hadn't taken a proper look at him before – she'd greeted him with instinct driving her – but now she found herself taking in his full height and solid features.

The baby-face that followed him into his werewolf growth spurt had hollowed out and been replaced by angular, chiselled features that were all the more prominent because of his closely-shaved haircut. He was at least six-foot-seven, rivalling even Jacob's height.

She gaped at him. Her little brother was anything but little now.

"I've been expecting you," Seth said softy when her gawking made her forget to respond to his earlier greeting.

Leah frowned. "You have?"

Seth's lips quirked at the edges and for a moment she saw a glimpse of the young boy she had known so well. "Yep. Jacob's been calling every day - sometimes twice a day - since February. I figured it was only a matter of time before you found your way here."

Leah didn't know what to make of that. She hadn't imagined that Jacob would do much more than try and reach out to her when he was in wolf form.

"What happened?" Seth asked.

Leah blinked again. Words and human thoughts were harder than she remembered them being. Everything felt too loud and artificial. She'd been a wolf for so long that that form felt like the norm. Being on two legs was the exception that drained her energy.

"Lee?" Seth prodded.

"Nothing," she replied automatically, realising as she said the words that it was true. Nothing had happened with Jacob. Nothing out of the ordinary or unexpected, just exactly what she'd always known would come to pass.

It was Seth's turn to be silent now. He leaned back against the counter, scrutinising his older sister. "When's the last time you ate something?"

Leah's stomach verged on rumbling at the mere mention of food. "Human stuff or raw?"

Seth's eyes widened. "You hate eating raw, Lee."

She shrugged her shoulders. "It has its perks." Like being able to live completely like an animal.

Seth smiled. "I could have made some good money off the rest of the pack if I made a bet with them about whether you would."

Leah felt her own face grinning back in response. "Do it. I won't tell them we rigged it."

Seth leaned forward to pluck a leaf out of her hair and he grimaced as he caught sight of the clock behind her.

"Are you staying long?"

Leah paused. It was a reasonable enough question, but she didn't know the answer. She hadn't expected to return in the first place.

"Maybe... maybe we could talk about everything after I have a nap?" She was so tired and a good sleep in her own bed was the closest thing to paradise she could imagine.

"Okay," Seth agreed. "I'll call Quil. He's got a spare room."

He reached out to grab the receiver and Leah blocked his hand, her face marred with confusion.

"Why would I stay with Quil? I'll just go upstairs and we'll have a chat in a few hours."

Seth sighed, shaking her hand away. "I've got roommates. There are four people living in this house and we're already packed to the rafters. Quil's the only person with enough space."

He dialled the number as Leah tried to process what he was saying. Her mother had moved in with Charlie Swan years ago, so who was living in her house?

"It's me," Seth barked into the receiver. "Leah's here and needs a place to stay. You need to come and get her now." He hung up the phone without as much as a goodbye and Leah's jaw dropped.

She knew that tone of voice.

It was a timbre that she herself had used on many occasions before she and Jake had left with the Cullens.

The sound of the second in command.

Seth's eyes flicked back to the clock again and Leah observed that he was nervous.

"Wha-... How?" She had a thousand questions and no strategy for how to ask any of them.

"Quil will be here any minute," Seth announced, ignoring her astonishment. "I'm assuming you don't have any belongings with you?" He opened the storage space under the stairs and began rifling through it.

Leah shook her head, although with his back to her Seth couldn't see it. She literally had nothing. "I sort of helped myself to your shirt."

Seth froze. "It's not mine," he responded before turning around with a cardboard box in his arms. He opened the flap and Leah recognised the garments folded neatly in the carton. "You took most of your stuff with you, but you left these."

He passed the container to her and she accepted it dumbly. Everything was moving so quickly and she had no idea what was going on.

"Y-you... you don't want me here?" It was all she could think to ask. She had just arrived and Seth seemed desperate to hurry her out the door.

His face softened. "I can't have you here. There is a difference, Leah. We'll talk more about it after you've had a rest, just like you asked. Okay?"

Leah nodded uncertainly. He sounded reasonable, but everything felt all wrong.

"Someone called a she-wolf ferry service?" Quil's voice cut through their discussion and she twisted to see the familiar burly figure.

Leah was relieved that he looked just as she remembered. His wavy hair was a little longer than before, but otherwise he was the same Quil; goofy expression plastered on his face and meaty limbs swinging as he walked.

"Quil," she squeaked, surprised to realise she had missed him.

"Hi Leah. Never thought we'd be roomies, but me casa su casa." Leah smirked at Quil's terrible Spanish. His accent was hard on the ears, but had the effect of easing the tension. He tossed an arm around her shoulder and hugged her awkwardly with the box in between them. "Where you been, chica?" Seth gave Quil a pointed look and before she could answer the older wolf continued prattling. "Actually, tell me after we get you home and cleaned up. I don't mean to be rude, but you stink worse than a men's locker room." He pulled her to him and Leah felt herself being guided out the door and towards the rusted pick-up parked haphazardly on the lawn.

She stopped at the exit, casting a glace back at the stranger her brother had turned into. "Sh-should I come back?" she stammered as she asked him, not sure that she would be able to cope with his answer.

Quil and Seth exchanged another look over her head and she almost stamped her foot in frustration.

"Of course," Seth replied. "Collin's birthday party is tomorrow. We'll see you at that, right?"

Quil didn't wait for Leah to react before shepherding her into the passenger seat of his truck and slamming the door. Instead of coming around to the driver's side, he edged back towards Seth.

"What does she know?" he hissed.

Seth responded under his breath, "Other than that I gave you an order? Nothing."

Leah had been a feral wolf for so long that she heard every word they said, even though normally such soft tones would escape even the sharpest of supernatural ears.

"How the fuck am I supposed to have her stay with me if I can't tell her anything? What do I do when she starts asking questions?" Quil snuck a glance back at her and Leah pretended to fiddle with the dials on the car radio. "What are you going to do when Jake calls again?"

Seth threw up his hands in annoyance. "I don't know. We literally can't do anything while the order stands, so just do your best and improvise - and for god's sake, get her out of here before anybody gets home!"

"Alright, alright," Quil backed up with his palms in front of him in submission. "Ring me when they get back? The rules have to change now."

"I will and I know," Seth murmured.

Quil was almost back at the truck when Seth called to him again.

"Look after my sister, okay?"

Quil tipped his head in agreement and before Leah knew it they were driving further into the reservation. She peeked through the rear-vision mirror, watching as the outline of her brother grew smaller and smaller.

"Seth's different now," she said, almost to herself.

Quil exhaled heavily. "Everything's different now."

~~~TAC~~~

Quil's apartment was much cleaner than Leah would have expected. She'd spent years living with Jake and he seemed to trail a mess in every direction just by inhabiting a space, but Quil had a sparsely furnished combined living-dining area and three small rooms adjoining it.

"That's the bathroom," Quil pointed to the middle door. "I'll make us some food while you freshen up. I've got patrol in a few hours."

Leah glared at him. She'd had enough of wolves that used to tremble at her orders pushing her around.

"Seth commanded you to come and get me... When the fuck did my little brother get given Jared's role?" It made no sense. Seth had always hated Sam and Sam thought of Seth as Leah's pesky little brother.

Quil looked at her helplessly. "Ever had a secret that wasn't yours to tell?"

Leah rolled her eyes. "I'm a wolf. You can tell me anything."

He shook his head. "You're not in my pack. You know it doesn't work that way."

Her mind raced as she considered the possibilities. Maybe something had happened to Jared or he'd gone away to College. Maybe Seth had simply gotten so big that they'd had to acknowledge him as a better candidate.

Or maybe Sam wasn't the Alpha anymore. Maybe they had realised there was a better candidate for that too.

"Is Embry the Alpha?" Leah pressed.

Quil's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Why would you say that?"

She didn't bother responding. Quil might not be allowed to tell her things, but he didn't have a very good poker face.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" she exclaimed.

Quil gripped her shoulders. "Leah, will you die if we can't have this discussion right now?"

She released a ragged breath. "No."

"Good. Then go have a shower and we will talk after."

She considered his words before flouncing off into the bathroom. How long ago had this happened? The hot water cleansed her body but did nothing to eradicate the confusion. She might not have visited home, but she had maintained telephone and email contact with her mother and Seth. Jacob had seen his family in Hawaii more than four times when he had gone to visit Rebecca after the birth of each of her children and for two separate Christmases. Billy, Paul and Rachel had all been there.

So how could something like this have been kept under wraps?

She scrubbed her skin until it was red, peeling away layer after layer of dead flesh. She clipped her nails, shaved her legs and applied liberal amounts of moisturiser. By the end of her extensive grooming ritual she felt like she vaguely resembled a human girl again, albeit a very perplexed and shaken one. Her hair still looked crazy, but there was nothing in Quil's bathroom cabinets that would help her fix that.

She poked her head out of the washroom just as Quil was hanging up the phone.

"Hi," she said nervously, running a hand along the fluffy bathrobe that she hadn't been able to resist putting on. It had occurred to her that she was homeless and he was doing her a favour. It wasn't going to do her any good to be her bitchiest self.

"Hi," he replied. "You look much better. I know as wolves we say that we prefer au natural, but that was something else, Leah."

She was grateful for a chance to slip back into the good natured bickering that had characterised their relationship all those years ago. "Really Ateara? You pretty much look like a hobo all the time, who are you to judge?"

His eyes twinkled. "Hobos aren't usually landlords, Leah."

"Touché." She cocked her head to one side. "Do you have any scissors? I still need to do my hair."

He opened a few drawers in the kitchen before following her back into the bathroom. "I can do it for you if you like?"

Leah clutched the back of her hair. "I thought we were trying to make me look less freaky?"

He snorted. "I've done Claire's a few times you know. You won't be my first victim."

"Ok Ateara, but mark my words, I'll gut you like a fish if you fuck it up."

"Noted."

He was surprisingly gentle as he drew the threads of her hair back, brushing it to remove all the tangles.

"How is Claire?" she asked as he began clipping the scraggly ends to a sharp line at her shoulders.

"She's good. She's in third grade now. She comes and visits Emily most weekends and I hang out with her then."

"Is that enough?" Leah couldn't imagine such irregular contact between an imprinted wolf and his imprint. Jacob needed daily time with Renesmee to satisfy the pull.

"For us? Yes. Not all the imprints would be able to work that way."

Leah took a deep breath before asking the real question, the one she hadn't been able to get out of her head ever since she had arrived at Quil's.

"When did Embry become Alpha?" Quil stilled, making eye contact with her through the lens of the mirror. "Seth called you while I was cleaning up, right?" Leah continued. "Surely you can give me that one."

Quil snipped another lock of her hair. "More than three and a half years ago."

Leah gasped. "How is it possible that no one told Jake or me in all that time?"

Quil pursed his lips. "I dunno Leah. How is it possible that neither you or Jake came back in all that time to ask the question?"

"How did he find out? Did Billy tell him? Why haven't they told Jake? How long has Seth been Beta? Tell me everything."

"Woah. Easy there. I won't be able to tell you everything because there are restrictions that still apply to what I can say... and maybe I want you to answer a few questions before I tell you anything anyway. Just because I can tell you something doesn't mean I will." He snipped a final wisp of hair. "Done," he announced.

Leah turned her head from side to side. "Not bad, Quil." It was neat and even, which was far better that what she would have been able to achieve herself.

He guided her back towards the sofa and plonked down next to her in an armchair. "You knew Embry could be Alpha before I confirmed that he was. How?"

Leah took her time answering him. Knowledge was clearly a valuable currency at the moment and it would be important to keep some things in reserve. "We're not the only shifters in the world."

Quil clapped his hands. "You've met others too? I knew that if we had, you would as well!" He narrowed his eyes. "Wait a minute! Why didn't you and Jake tell us when you met others?"

Leah made a face. "Settle down tiger. Jake's been too busy watching his imprint shit rainbows to seek out other packs. I ran into a very old shifter a few days ago. He's the one that made me realise that Embry had to be Billy's son."

Quil furrowed his brow. "You met a lone wolf?" For some reason he looked worried.

"No, he had a pack. Twelve people, including a woman who I also met." The tension in Quil's face eased and Leah smiled just think of Eira. She was no longer the only female wolf in the history of forever. She was just one of many.

"I've done a lot of talking," she complained to Quil. "You need to answer my questions. How did Embry become Alpha?"

Quil stayed silent and Leah realised that that question was squarely in the can't/won't category.

"Okay. How long has Seth been Beta?"

Quil bit his lower lip. "For as long as Embry's been Alpha. They're best friends and roommates. You know first-hand how tight the bond is."

Leah put her hand to her chest. It physically hurt to think that she was so out of touch with her own brother's life. Another thought crept into her head: roommates. Seth had said she wasn't wearing his shirt... Did that mean she had inadvertently grabbed Embry's clothing? For some strange reason, the idea that she might have something of his was a comfort to her.

"Listen, Leah, I gotta go on patrol now, but I set up the sofa bed in the spare room while you were in the shower and there's food on the counter, along with a spare key. I've got work first thing tomorrow, but I'll meet you at Collin's birthday bash, okay? It starts at noon."

Leah didn't answer him. She was too busy replaying all her conversations with Seth in her mind.

"Leah?"

She shook her head. "Sure, sure. Collin's birthday party at noon. Where is it again?"

"At your house. That's where most pack functions are these days."

"See you there then." She plastered a smile on her face and tried to look cheerful, but she was pretty sure she just looked demented. "Is there anything else I should know before I go to a wolf gathering?"

Quil grimaced. "Uhh... make sure you don't say anything wolf-related around Seth's girlfriend, Amanda. They haven't been together very long, so she doesn't know the secret."

Leah turned this new piece of information over in her mind. Seth had never mentioned a girlfriend when they spoke on the phone. "Is she his imprint?"

The younger wolf's face shifted into an impassive mask. "No."

Leah felt like she'd done something wrong but she couldn't work out what. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, waiting for Quil to either say something else or leave.

He rubbed his temples before reaching out to grab Leah's hand. "Leah, there's so much I would tell you if I had the opportunity. I'll talk to Embry about it, okay?"

"Okay," she said, repeating the words on autopilot as Quil rushed out the door.

It was only when she finally laid her head down to rest, after eating her first human meal in months, that she thought to ask herself.

How many more bombshells could there possibly be?

~~~TAC~~~

Leah was too tired to dream. Sleep claimed her the moment her head touched the pillow, but somewhere just beyond her conscious mind an accented voice slithered towards her.

"Leah," it whispered softly, while a blow horn sounded.

"Leah," it repeated itself while the horn resonated against the echoes of waves crashing against the seashore.

"Leah," it persisted, reaching out to the mind that was dead to the world.

"I shall not give up."

~~~TAC~~~

It was five minutes to twelve when Leah woke up. She'd slept for almost fourteen hours. To be fair, it was probably the first time she'd slept in half a week, but she was still surprised that she'd been out for that long.

She ate a hurried breakfast and had another blissful shower before rifling through the cardboard box Seth had given her. She found a pair of shorts and a tank top and threw them on before drinking half of the carton of milk that Quil had left in the fridge.

She stared at herself critically in the mirror for a long time. She had no make-up or shoes and for some reason a bit of lipstick and a pair of high heels was all she could think about. She wanted to look good when they all saw her. She wanted to look good when he saw her. She thought she had come home to tell him a huge secret, but now that she knew he was aware of his heritage already, she confessed to herself that it was more than that. She wanted to see him. She'd thought about him more over the years than she would ever admit. He had always been so kind to her, even when she was the worst version of herself. When she went over the things she had said the last time they had met, her heart filled with shame.

Still, she couldn't have done too much damage. He was the Alpha of a wolf pack, so things were clearly going reasonably well for him.

She licked her lips and pinched her cheeks before casting herself another disapproving stare. It would have to do, but it wasn't ideal.

She arrived at the front gate of her family home at the exact same time as an older-looking version of Jared's imprint.

"Kim?" Leah asked.

The girl's jaw dropped open. "Oh, wow! LEAH! It is true. Jared said something last night, but I didn't really believe it until I saw you just now. Not that I don't trust Jared because obviously he wouldn't tell me lies, but it doesn't feel real sometimes until you see it yourself in the flesh!"

Kim pulled Leah into an uncomfortable hug and Leah sighed internally. She'd forgotten how annoying Kim's incessant babbling was. She followed the young girl around the side of the house.

"C'mon. Everyone is going to be so stoked to see you. It's been years, right? How come you didn't come back? I guess you've been busy at College. Seth told us about how well things were going. Your mother must be so proud," Kim spoke without ever seeming to draw breath.

Leah was stunned to see how many people were packed into her back garden and she hung back a little, taking it all in before anyone noticed her. Sam and Emily were sitting on the cane sofa. There was a baby in Emily's arms and Sam was speaking to a boy who looked to be around four. Anna and Levi, Leah thought. Seth had told her about Sam's kids. Rachel and Paul looked to be setting up a jumping castle with the help of a much bigger version of the Claire she used to know.

Jared was tossing beers into a cooler while Collin and Brady stood in a loose circle with two girls Leah didn't recognise.

"Who are they?" she asked Kim, trying to make her pointing discreet.

Kim stopped mid-word, surprised that Leah had interrupted her stream of consciousness waffle. "That's Jenny and Mia, Collin and Brady's imprints. Collin and Jenny are getting married next weekend."

Leah couldn't hide her astonishment. "Isn't Collin having his eighteenth birthday today?"

"Yep. That's right," Kim confirmed. Leah realised that Kim wasn't hearing the unspoken question in her words. Unless you were Bella Swan, what kind of crazy person gets married at eighteen?

"Why don't you go help Jared?" she suggested. "He looks like he needs a hand."

At the mention of her wolf, Kim dashed off without a second thought and Leah took in the rest of her surroundings. There were a number of other vaguely familiar younger shifters in the yard, and girls she assumed were friends or partners. Close to ten other wolves had been part of Sam's pack by the time of the Volturi battle, but Leah had had very little contact with them then and struggled to remember their names all these years later. She was so distracted that she didn't notice the figure approaching her.

"You must be Leah. Hi!" Leah turned to see the prettiest girl she had ever met smiling at her with her hand outstretched. She was half a foot shorter than Leah with olive skin and almond shaped eyes the exact colour of her dark waist-length hair.

"Hi," Leah responded tentatively, grasping the small fingers and giving them a perfunctory squeeze.

"I'm Georgia. I'm so sorry about last night. We really need to get working on the extension, but there hasn't been much time in the past few years. Once we build above the garage, there'll be a proper spare bedroom for when you come to visit."

Leah realised that this must be another one of Seth's roommates, although why she was talking about renovating the Clearwater family home was a complete mystery.

"Do you want a soft drink or something?"

Leah nodded. "Coke, please." Her stomach flipped at the thought of something as indulgent as cola. It had been a long time since she had party food. She watched as Georgia sauntered back into the house. She almost wanted to call her back so that she could look at her some more. She was like a painting in a gallery, full lips and long lashes and a slight gap between her top front teeth that was oddly endearing.

She moved further into the shade of one of the trees bordering the yard to continue observing the pack. A little girl - who couldn't have been more than two - was clutching a bedraggled Barbie doll which she was using to bop Levi Uley on the head, even though the boy was almost twice her size. Leah chuckled to herself. There was something satisfying about watching the next generation of Uley men be kept in line.

The thud of the screen door swinging open and shut saw Leah glancing back towards the top of the yard. Her heart leapt in her chest as she sighted the very person that had unknowingly brought her back to La Push: Embry Call.

All seven feet of him.

Leah gasped. If she thought Seth had changed, he had nothing on Embry - who was now easily the biggest of the wolves. He had once been tall and lean, but his enormous body now carried more bulk. His hair framed his impossibly handsome face and sat messily at his shoulders, falling back as he tipped his head to take a swig of beer. He seemed to be surveying the yard in a manner not dissimilar to Leah's own review and as his head turned he spotted her huddling oddly under the sparse autumn foliage.

She wanted to run to him and squeeze him.

She wanted to ask him a million questions.

She wanted to glimpse those eyes again and say something happy to make up for that last time where she had been unnecessarily cruel.

She wanted so many things, but she stayed rooted to the spot and - after giving her a cursory nod of acknowledgment - he moved forward to where Paul was fiddling with the knobs on the barbeque.

"Are you Leah?" a voice called.

Leah didn't respond. Her eyes were locked on Embry. She wasn't sure what she had expected to happen when she encountered him, but nonchalance was not it.

"I'm Amanda," the voice persisted.

Slowly, slowly, Leah turned her head to the blonde girl smiling at her, two sodas in her hands.

"Seth did something weird to the cake and Georgia's trying to fix it. She asked me to bring you a drink."

"You're his girlfriend," Leah said numbly.

"Sure am," the girl responded eagerly. "I'm really excited to meet you. I've heard a lot about you!"

Really? I've heard absolutely nothing about you... For the first time in a while Leah's mind went to the snarky place it had occupied before she had left the reservation. Something about Embry's indifference made her want to yell and throw things, but he'd been perfectly polite and was clearly busy so she tried to convince herself to snap out of her funk.

"Thanks," she mumbled, taking a gulp of the drink. She guzzled too fast and the soda fizzed up her nose.

Amanda giggled and Leah bit back a nasty retort. Luckily, a shrieking sound distracted both women and they moved to see the toddler with the doll laughing as Paul sprayed her and Levi with the garden hose while they jumped up and down.

"Who is that girl?" Leah wondered, not realising she was speaking out loud.

"That's Victoria." Amanda said helpfully. "Embry and Georgia's little girl."

/

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A/N: Should I run and hide now?

Review if you like and let me know if you have questions. If I've done my job right, you should have dozens!