Leah's POV

I had clearly forgotten to draw the curtains; it didn't matter how tight I screwed my eyes shut, the sunlight was still seeking its way through my eye lids and irritating me.

Blindly, I felt for my blanket to hide from the day. When I couldn't reach it, I assumed it had fallen off the bed in the night. I gave up (being too lazy to move) and reluctantly threw an arm across my face instead.

As I tried to ignore the bright day that was mocking me, I felt my body waking up. My muscles started to come alive and my other senses gradually took in the new day.

The first thing I noticed was how dehydrated I was. My mouth felt stale and I was sure my tongue had grown fur; it was both disgusting and torturous. To top it all off, there was a pounding beat coursing through my brain. If I didn't know any better, I would swear I'd taken a blow to the head from Emmett.

As soon as I stretched, I was confused as to why my bed was so hard. If Seth had been changing things around again, he had better start digging his grave - and quickly! I growled.

I was debating the best torture methods for my little brother, when my ears were assaulted with the harsh crowing of a bird. It wasn't even a sweet melody to raise me from my slumber - no, it was a sharp cruel noise that went right through my head and added to the throbbing headache.

Why the hell was it making such a racket?

I was about to yell at Seth to shut it up, but I registered that the noise was coming from directly above my head. My eyes flew open immediately and were met with a large raven perched on a branch above my head. It was looking down at me with curiosity. It was at this point, I freaked out about where I was.

I lurched upright and left my stomach behind on the ground.

To my horror, I found I was stilloutside the Cullen's house.

To my distaste, I was also still wearing last night's clothes. The only difference, was that my white dress was no longer white; the material was in fact smeared green from the damp grass and my sandals were hanging off my feet. Putting a hand to my long knotted hair, I pulled out several leaves.

It only took a minute for me to get a grasp of reality. However, I soon wished I never had because reality felt like shit. Bits and pieces of the night eventually started to come together and I tried to place them in order.

I remembered Sam and the baby; the thought alone was enough to make me wretch. I groaned in pain and forced myself to think back further. Sam had caught up with me about the wolf-spawn which was pretty shitty. I felt the same pang I always got, but forced it out of mind. I tried to concentrate on what happened next.

There was drinking, lots of drinking. As if to confirm this, the cups from last night and several empty bottles surrounded me. My fuzzy brain recollected that there was a guy here as well…he'd disappeared.

I tried to think harder, but there were several blank spots.

Finally, I remembered shouting at and shoving Jake. I was sure that can't have gone down well with my alpha.

I felt totally mortified by all of last night's events and wished I could crawl into a hole and die. I should have never left the house. Correct that - I should never have come home.

I decided to move because I had to get away before someone saw me doing the walk of shame. With my stomach churning, I stood up slowly and tried to hold on to its contents.

Where was the car?

I realised it was by the garage and through my pain I smiled; the guys ran everywhere, but I still loved some human things. Driving was one of them and my car was precious to me. Seth wanted me to get a new one. Well, not new as such, but younger. However, it wasn't going to happen. I knew it was ancient and I was always getting pulled over, (for one part or another falling off), but it was a fighter like me. Plus, Embry and Jake had spent too many hours underneath it, trying to keep it on the road for me.

I decided to try and move towards it. Brushing myself down, I sighed. There was no way these stains were coming out. I swayed forward and regained my balance, still feeling half drunk. I was normally very gracious in my movements, but today was turning out not to be one of those days.

Bending over, I placed my hands on my knees for support and after taking several deep breaths, I tried to gather myself.

As I took the air in a smell hit me. It was a rusty metallic scent that my wolf nose hadn't registered in ages; it was blood - fresh blood.

I looked up immediately, to see the source metres from where I had been passed out.

For the first time in what felt like forever, I was actually scared. I couldn't help it; I automatically screamed and then turned to let my stomach gladly relieve itself.

Cris's POV

I looked up at the overcast sky from my double bed; the fancy glass walls were fantastic. I'd been awake for a while, but I hadn't moved yet because I'd been too busy thinking about last night and enjoying the view.

I never was one for crowds, but I wanted the guys to have fun at the house party. I therefore decided to stay out of the way.

I had been, (and still was), worried about Lee. He couldn't track his cousin and something didn't feel right. I should have gone home the minute he told me. As alpha, it was my responsibility to support each member of the pack. I only stayed because Lee insisted I should keep honing my skills. He assured me that Dylan and Alex were helping him and that they were all fine.

Of course, Corey agreed with Lee and wasn't worried at all. He just wanted to lark about and kept trying to get me to join him. However, I wasn't interested. I understood that last night was important for him, but it didn't mean it was for me. His insistence that I should have fun was annoying. Fortunately for him, I recognised that he had never had a house party in Barrow, and I wasn't going to ruin his night. His attitude had been inappropriate nonetheless.

Maybe I was boring. Corey had told me so last night while he was drinking, but I reckoned he would have said it sober as well. I told myself he wasn't disrespecting me and that I had to draw a line between brother talk and pack stuff. I'm sure Corey didn't mean anything offensive, but I'm an Alpha and it was hard to just switch that off. I didn't understand why he couldn't comprehend that.

It had all brought up my old worries about his ability as beta. I wondered if he would be better off to step down. He could then have all the fun he wanted. I knew he thought being beta was great because to him we were brothers and we were in charge. There was never ever any doubt he had my back, but we weren't ever a team. Last night proved it. He was still young and I expected too much.

Becoming alpha wasn't a hard decision for me. It fell upon me without discussion, but I didn't fight it. It meant my life was never easy and I had to make hard decisions on my own, but it gave me a purpose.

I took the role seriously and spent years studying the pack mind. There was a fine balance to maintain as alpha. If the others sensed weakness or erratic behaviour, then the whole group would fall into disarray. It was my job to lead, protect, and support everyone, keeping this balance. Unfortunately, Corey often had the opposite effect. I hated picking faults in him because he was a good brother and friend, but we had gotten lost lately and our relationship was becoming strained.

Distracting myself from my brother, I started to think over what we had learnt about the La Push packs over the last week. There was certainly a lot of rivalry and division between them. The fact that they had two split packs was evidence enough. It was hard not to respect them though. They had been doing the shape shifting thing longer and had so much more experience than us. I was just worried because it seemed that more often than not, no one here took things seriously, and nothing was ever thought out properly.

I thought about the imprinted ones, in particular the two alphas. It was clear they viewed things differently because their focus revolved around their loved ones.

There was nothing wrong with that as such. I fully acknowledged that I would protect my family and loved ones with my life, but it was a distraction to the job. Besides, I had to admit, when they explained imprinting last night I wasn't impressed. Having your future out of your control was horrible; I didn't ever want to be told who to love. It wasn't like anyone here was a good promotion for imprinting either. They became erratic and irrational if they didn't see them regularly which meant it clouded their judgment. Their behavior then altered even further the minute their imprint was around.

How could you focus under that pressure and support your pack?

Was that even love, or just genetics?

I had, and always would, believe in choices and free will.

Coming away from the imprinting side of things, I also worried about how relaxed the packs had become. The cubs thought being a wolf was a joke, and the rest of the packs felt like they'd done their time as protectors. I understood the want to stop phasing, but I couldn't support it, not unless there was a clear plan forward. There had to be someone reliable to leave in charge.

I groaned as a wave of nausea hit me again. I'd decided to use last night to reflect on things. I rarely got any privacy and it seemed the perfect opportunity. However, I had ended up outside with something similar to paint stripper. Unfortunately, the result of my own isolation was I that I felt quite down.

It was a diversion from my own self pity when 'she' came out. By the woman's mood, it looked like her night was going as well as mine. I watched as her white dress flowed around her and she strolled across the garden. I was transfixed.

If my wolf eyes didn't have night vision, I would have seen only a white dress floating across the lawn like a ghost. Instead, I saw that her long copper body and ebony hair contrasted perfectly against the white material and the night.

My mood returned when she dropped down on to the grass in a defeated manner. I noticed she held two large bottles of drink.

Clearly, she didn't know I was there because she started to talk to herself. "God, I hate parties!"

I saw her down her drink and cringe. Shortly after, her head perked up and swiftly turned to face me. She stared right at me, but her eyes looked empty.

My stupid lips could only ask, "Bad night?"

"Something like that," she muttered sarcastically.

I was lonely and walked over to sit down beside her. I saw the bottles again and pointed my cup at her. "You got anymore? I'm out."

She ignored me.

"So?" I questioned again, looking at the bottles in a more obvious manner.

She appeared to snap out of it and handed me some. "Yeah, here. Sorry."

I didn't feel any need to talk further; we were just two strangers dwelling on our own existence.

Sometime later, I reached the bottom of my bottle. "I think… I might be empty!" I hadn't realised the amount I'd drunk and had to shake the bottle to prove it to myself. I hiccupped accidentally.

I didn't expect her to speak, seeing as she hadn't so far, but I heard her say, "Yup… Me too." She stood too quickly and fell into my shoulder.

It was easy to remember how she had smelt like home; there was the faintest trace of sea salt on her skin, which I found comforting.

I waited for a while, but the mystery woman didn't return. I decided to go to bed. It was in my best interests because no doubt one member of my pack would have to be on form tomorrow and as usual that would probably be me.

I looked for her in the house, but couldn't see much with my now blurred vision. Instead, I headed upstairs and fell over when my footing missed a step. My body felt heavier than normal, but I picked myself up and dragged my butt to bed where I crashed out.

I had to say that for an alcohol induced sleep, I felt well rested this morning. Judging by the clock, I could even get a few more hours sleep in before the house came to life. I pulled the duvet over my head to block out the light and was just settling into a nice dream when my mind was penetrated by a woman screaming.

Instinctually, I flew out of bed in my boxers and down the stairs. I immediately saw that the other guys in the house had the same reaction and heard Jake shout the name 'Leah'. Panic was clear in his voice.

A scramble of overgrown bodies fell out the front door ready to attack, but all we found was my companion from last night throwing up.

Shay was already phased and checking the perimeters. I didn't know what was happening, but Shay had priority one covered. My sober eyes were now able to see the girl clearly and I took her in properly for the first time. She was definitely pretty, but the scene of her vomiting and cursing wasn't. The woman looked to be in a miserable state, with her hair messed up and her dress covered in filth.

Jake immediately went to her side; Seth tried to follow, but got a warning look from his alpha. Everyone else seemed more cautious.

As the morning breeze blew across the garden, I started to pick up several scents. Two stood out in particular:

The first was blood, which made my nostrils flare.

The second was the woman. I hadn't picked up on it last night, but underneath the smell of ocean and cherry there was another scent; it was a wolf scent.

Stunned and trying to comprehend what this meant, I watched on as Jake touched her gently. The woman looked up at him with the most beautiful, yet sorrowful eyes before shifting her position. Instantly, we all saw the cause of her scream.

A large patch of grass was smeared red, much like an ink blot. To my disbelief, there was a large distorted shape lying in the middle of the crimson mess. I stepped closer and confirmed the colour and smell was blood, and the source of the smell.

Unintentionally, my mouth dropped open as I comprehended the scene:

In the middle of the lawn, lay the body of an animal. The carcass was whole, but its flesh and muscle were completely exposed. I dragged my eyes away from the body and followed the trail of blood to a spot further back on the lawn. Immediately, I made out the creature's pelt at the end of the trail, it was laid out flat in one piece, as if on display.

Finally, I brought my eyes back to the carcass and tilted my head to fully understand the shape of the creature. With absolute revulsion, I realised it was the skinned body of a female wolf.