Leah's POV

It was well past sunrise when I called my pack to a halt. We'd been running all night and still found no trace of the girls. By my reckoning, we were currently somewhere along the Canadian Coast having followed the trail this far before it disappeared into the ocean.

Sam and Jared, along with their pack, were a bit further south, retracing our steps in case we had missed anything.

I knew that we had to stop and rest, however briefly. Seth and Embry were struggling to keep up with my pace and we were all running on empty. We also needed to evaluate the situation as we had come to the end of the trail. So, when we came across a sheltered clearing in some trees it seemed like the ideal place to stop.

"Ok, boys, take a 30 minute break - I'll keep watch."

Seth and Embry threw themselves down immediately and stretched out.

"Thanks, Leah, but shouldn't you rest too?" Seth asked feeling guilty.

"I'm fine. I had rested more than you before this all kicked off." I padded out of the clearing and as they slipped into a light sleep, I started making small circles around them while keeping my ears alert to any noise of danger.

Even if I was physically tired I was too strung out to even contemplate resting. Between my own fears and anxieties, Sam's mental state, Jacob's frustration, and Cris's absence, I had very little hope of ever winding down mentally. I also had to decide very quickly what would be our next move, and that was terrifying because lives literally weighed on me. If I made a wrong choice, someone could be killed.

If possible the situation made me wish for Cris even more. He was always so supportive and I was in no doubt he would have been able to help me focus. There was something incredibly soothing about being in his mind and even when miles apart his calm aura seemed to radiate through our alpha link. Unfortunately, despite being phased all night there was still no word from him and Jake had said the lines were still down in Barrow.

I was in no doubt that something was wrong; Corey's howl yesterday had been full of urgency and coincided with the attack on La Push, add to it that Cris had blocked me out ever since and it really didn't look good. There was something else that was been bugging me too. Not long before dawn, I could have sworn that I felt the alpha link quake. It was the strangest sensation and it was over in within a matter of seconds, but it left me with a nagging feeling that something very bad had happened somewhere.

When I tried to explain the feeling to Sam and Jake, they'd said that they had felt nothing and put it down to me being paranoid and tired. However, when I later considered that their concentration was elsewhere it seemed unlikely that they would have even picked up on it. After all, they weren't desperately listening for any other alphas phasing in.

I was well aware that what I had felt made no sense, but I was living proof that we didn't know everything about phasing. At the end of the day, the alpha link was a connection to another pack through their leader. Surely, then if something happened in that pack of significance it would reverberate through that link. At least, that was what my instinctwas telling me.

What scared me the most was there was only one thing I could think of that could shake the foundations of a pack and I just prayed to god that Cris contacted me soon to prove me wrong. I couldn't bear the thought of losing him. I didn't even care anymore if he decided to shut me out of his life. The last twenty fours had put everything in perspective and I just needed him and his pack to be ok.

As my paws went over their own tracks for the umpteenth time, I figured about twenty minutes had passed since we'd stopped. I was still no closer to deciding our next move, having got overwhelmed with my concern for Cris. I was by no means taking things lightly regarding the girls though. They were at the forefront of every thought and I wanted to find them, not only for my brothers, but because whether I liked them or not, I still cared for them, especially Emily. The girls were a part of my extended family, even if it was by default, and I wouldn't let anyone hurt them. I therefore had to get them back at any cost.

Just as I thought that, my nose picked up the disgustingly sweet stench of several leeches and I let loose a loud snarl as I realised they were heading directly towards my position at speed.

I immediately started to backtrack to the clearing in order to give us the best advantage in the impending fight. Unsurprisingly, Embry and Seth were on alert and waiting for me when I arrived having sensed the change in my mood. They quickly picked up on the incoming attack and started growling beside me. At the same time, I felt Sam and Jared pick up on the threat and also come charging our way.

"What's our stance?" Embry asked, as we all braced ourselves.

"Defensive and ready – we're in different territory remember." I confirmed, not wanting to order an attack until we saw what we were up against. I remembered all too well the conversation with Embry in the kitchen and planned to hold him to it if the need arose.

Seth, unaware of our conversation, ignored my thoughts and remained focused on the incoming bloodsuckers. Embry however, flinched beside me.

I didn't have time to worry about either of their reactions though, as I caught sight of movement up ahead. There were several figures weaving in and out of the thick trees with alarming precision. I eventually counted five individual shapes barrelling towards us.

I braced myself for impact, assuming that at their current speed they had no intention of stopping and as two unknown females came looming out of the woods, I prepared for the onslaught. Much to our surprise however, the two women appeared before us with hands raised in a gesture of peace and a look of relief, leaving me with no idea about how to react.

At first glance, the woman closest to me appeared to be the oldest of the pair and her kindly face reminded me of Carlisle in many ways. As well as a lean figure, she had long strawberry blonde hair and unlike the nomads we had come across before, she was well dressed in clean tidy clothes.

The other woman, although younger, was taller than her companion and had pale blonde hair thrown up in a long pony tail. Her clothes were also clean and tidy and her expression, although cautious, looked happy to see us.

I recognised them vaguely from somewhere, but I couldn't pin point where and since that wasn't a good enough reason for me to relax I remained where I was with my hackles raised and growling.

It wasn't long before I could hear the other members of their party circling around behind us which unsettled me, but my eyes remained fixed on the pair in front of me, trusting that Seth and Embry had my back.

To my utter surprise, an easily identifiable booming voice suddenly came from behind me.

"I told you it was them!"

I immediately turned around and saw three familiar faces. A part of me would have loved to be able to say that I was happy to see them, but I wasn't. They were the reason we were in this mess.

Despite my feelings, Seth was ecstatic. "It's the Cullens!" he immediately bounded forward towards Edward, Jasper and Emmett. Emmett looked just as happy to see him, but Edward and Jasper looked apprehensive.

"Seth, get your ass back here." I barked, unsure of their mood.

Seth reluctantly obeyed me and returned to my side whining. Meanwhile, I was watching Edward intently; he looked like a man on the edge and extremely dangerous.

He had also undoubtedly just read my thoughts as he met my eyes and frowned. "We don't mean to seem so unfriendly, but a lot has happened."

I stared back at the bronze haired leech, considering the basics of what Jake had told me. He looked like shit with his dark ringed eyes and forlorn expression.

"I'm going to phase back so we can talk." I directed at Edward.

He nodded before bluntly explaining it to everyone without telepathy. "Leah's going to phase."

I quickly backed into the bushes and changed form. After throwing on my clothes, I made my way back to the clearing.

"What are you all doing this far South?" I said, looking at the leeches around me. I knew the Cullens were our allies, but I wasn't fond of any bloodsucker at the moment, and I still didn't recognise the two women.

No one spoke, and instead Emmett crossed the distance between us and wrapped me up in a bone crushing hug. "I'm so glad to see my favourite wolf is ok!"

The movement caught me off guard and I pounded my hands angrily against his chest until he released me. "Get the fuck off me, you ape."

He looked disappointed by my reaction and reluctantly released me. I didn't want to fall back on old prejudices, but right now, this was business and I was still trying not to put them back on the enemy list. Any friendship we may have had in Forks felt like a millennia ago.

I tried to ignore his hurt expression as he made his way back to Edward.

In the meantime, I brushed myself down and I looked around once more. Who were the women?

Edward met my eyes in understanding. "This is Tanya and Kate. They are our family from Denali. I'm surprised you don't remember them?"

I eyed Tanya and Kate suspiciously before shrugging coldly. "You all smell the same to me."

The one he had pointed out as Tanya seemed to be either retarded or demented as she took a step forward and held out her hand. "Leah Clearwater, your reputation precedes you. The Cullens speak very highly of you."

I met her with a hard stare and looked at her hand in disgust. She finally took the hint and withdrew it. Her friend Kate seemed smarter and merely nodded at me. I looked to Jasper, the last member of the party to see if he felt the need to make any kind of greeting, but as always he kept his distance.

Strangely enough, Edward took my silence as his cue and moved towards me cautiously. "Leah, I understand you're looking for the girls. We think they took Bella too. I know that now that you're alpha you can make your own choices, and I know how you feel about me and my family, but will you please help us and tell us what you've found?"

Jake had already told me that Bella was missing and I tried to consider the situation as a whole. The Cullens had been a part of our lives for almost a decade. While I detested some of them and held them responsible for most of the shit that happened to the packs, I had to remind myself that we had an alliance. "There's not much to tell, we followed the trail from Forks, but it ended by the coast a few miles back. What about you? Where did you come from?"

Edward's normal calm posture was gone, even as a vampire his movements were anxious and fidgety.

"We've been following a scent which we picked up an hour outside of Denali, but that disappeared off a cliff edge and into the ocean. That's when we picked up your scent downwind. It seems like these vampires know we can't track them through the water..." He cocked his head to the side briefly and looked behind me. "...Sam's here."

Edward was right and I was suddenly uncertain of what would happen. Even in my human form I could feel the anger emanating from Sam and Jared's pack as they approached. It seemed to vibrate from their whole pack through the clearing and was accompanied by deep menacing growls. Sam's black form stalked into the clearing first and froze at the edge; everyone else fell in behind him and kept well away from the leeches.

Even after all these years, I knew that the other pack still hadn't adjusted to the Cullens as well as my pack had. It was an instinctual reaction though, and I had to admit that with their current state of mind they were handling themselves exceptionally well. I wouldn't have blamed them if they had attacked the Cullens out of pure instinct.

I couldn't help, but let a sneer cross my face as Tanya and Kate finally looked a little nervous and moved closer to Jasper. Emmett however, just frowned at the aggressive stance the wolves had taken.

"I'm sorry that you have all got involved in this." Edward offered out to them, but if possible, a louder snarl ripped through the pack.

I took another step forward, blocking Edwards view to them. "I really wouldn't talk to them right now. They want blood and they don't care whose it is."

The mind reader seemed to analyse me for a minute before stepping back.

"I'm really sorry." Edward repeated, only this time to me. "We all need to find the ones we love. Perhaps we can work together?"

I looked back to Embry and Seth. I knew Seth would be happy to comply, but I needed to speak with Embry and too the other wolves. I didn't like the idea of working with Edward, this kind of thing had always been handled through Jake, but truthfully I had no idea what our next move would be on our own.

"Look, Cullen, I will talk to the guys, but I need you to tell us everything you know first. Jake said you ran away with barely a word of what was happening. He might be able to work with that, but we can't and we won't."

"That is fair, and I will tell you everything that Nahuel told me." He gestured for me to sit on a nearby log, but I ignored him and merely signalled for him to continue.

"Well, Joham is the person responsible for all of this. He was Nahuel's biological father and what we call an incubus. In the past, Nahuel told us that Joham had seduced several women and impregnated them. These women had then died in child birth, giving Nahuel his three sisters. While that is disturbing, we never considered that Joham would ever pose a threat to us, but it seems that we were wrong."

I felt sick at the thought of the kind of monster we were dealing with and it made me worry even more for the girls. I prayed to god he hadn't touched them in any way and was immediately fearful for Emily's baby. "How so?" I gulped.

"Well, Nahuel seemed to think that Joham wants my daughter in order to create a hybrid race."

I could feel the wolves getting closer behind me, anxiously listening. "But why? Hybrids are weaker than normal vampires and they are more human. What purpose would a hybrid race even serve him?"

"I don't know - war, experiments, invading... whatever he fancies I guess, but I bet the fact that hybrids fit in with humans so well is why he prefers them. They are harder to detect, they can still be gifted and from what Jake has told me, the older ones are almost as strong as full vampires. The main problem is that Joham's been left unchecked by the Volturi, and as a result, he has grown extremely powerful. We thought that Nahuel and his sisters where the only other hybrids, but it turns out that he's been creating dozens of them. Even Nahuel didn't know how many hybrids actually exist. He only knew that they have been kept hidden until now."

"But aren't the Italian leeches supposed to prevent this kind of thing?" I asked confused. I thought the Volturi were interfering bloodsuckers if nothing else.

"We have already talked about this and if there is one thing the Volturi hate more than vampires who draw attention to themselves it's..."

"Let me guess - you and your family." I snorted, thinking once again how when Edward met Bella he fucked us all. They really were a load of selfish bastards.

"Leah, I know you think we don't deserve to be alive..."

"You're not alive." I pointed out. I was really trying not to hold what had happened against him, but the memory of Claire cowering in the bath tub and the image of a beaten and broken Quil made it hard not to. It was clear to me that because of the Cullens I nearly lost two members of my pack and was now a wolf down.

Edward flinched at my thought, but continued. "Look, I know that your family shouldn't have been put in harm's way because of us yet again, but that doesn't change the fact that they have been. The past connects us whether we like it or not, and because of that Joham's been studying all of us. He won't differentiate between us and he certainly doesn't care if we are friends or not. At the end of the day he has tarred us all with the same brush and threatened the people most important to us."

"When you say all of us? Who does this include?"

"Everyone - your pack, the Barrow pack, Sam's, my family... He knows exactly how and where to hit us and has already proven how easily he has infiltrated your boundaries - the skinned wolf and Claire's birthday are just two prime examples. The Barrow alpha also lost someone I believe?" he asked.

"His name's Cris." I hissed. "And yes. One of his pack's family members went missing and her body was found in the Olympic Peninsula. Carlisle and you looked at the original medical records."

"You are correct, but Joham didn't just kill her. We now know the reason her body was mutilated in such a way. It was because he impregnated her. It was revenge for Cris's pack killing Joham's daughter Emma. From what Nahuel said, Emma was more vampire than the other hybrids and I got the impression that Joham valued her highly. The poor Barrow girl never stood a chance. She didn't have anyone to help her like my Bella did." Edward looked genuinely sorry.

I however was disgusted by the thought of what Lee's cousin would have suffered. To have a demon rip its way out of her body must have been terrifying and so incredibly painful. The spawn should have been stopped before it got that far.

Edward must have heard my thoughts once more. "Leah, that 'spawn' is an innocent baby. That was Nessie once. It still haunts me that I wanted to kill her, but I was wrong to think that way and so are you. The hybrids are not born monsters. It is Joham who makes them that way."

I felt guilty as soon as I remembered Nessie. I wouldn't let anyone hurt the little brat, despite everything. "What happened to the baby?"

"As far as I know, Joham has her. I think she must be about three months now, although at the rate she'll grow she probably looks more like six. This information is all second hand of course and may not be accurate. Nahuel certainly believed everything he was telling me, but that doesn't mean Joham told him the truth. It seems he sent him to us to scare us," he confirmed.

My head was spinning, trying to take it all in. If possible the girls were in even more danger, and how the hell was I going to break this news to Cris? It would hurt him, let alone Lee when he found it. It was so unfair. Surely they had all been through enough? What would they even want to do about the hybrid?

Edward answered me out loud. "Leah, I know this is hard, I told you Joham has hit all of us, but don't put any more strain on yourself. The Barrow pack will have to decide about the baby when the time comes, she is part of their pack's family and no doubt she will mean something to them."

"I know, I know, but... God damn it! It just doesn't make sense – they've tried to take Claire, but failed. They've kidnapped Emily, Rachel, and Kim, and now Bella is missing. Why? They want Nessie, right? What does this big jumbled mess gain them?" I was desperately trying to see the bigger picture.

"I don't know. Leverage, maybe a diversion, it could just be another way of Joham showing us what he is capable of. He seems to have a thing for power and games. No doubt he gets some kind of sick enjoyment out of it.

The problem is that psychotic or not, Joham is incredibly clever and if we are to go on the basis that what he fed Nahuel was the truth, then he is trying to split us up and weaken us. For starters, with the imprints at risk, Sam's pack would not even consider helping us if he came after Nessie; the same applies to your pack if they had successfully snatched Claire.

It makes me wonder if anything else has happened in Barrow. I don't mean to pick through your thoughts, but at a time like this I can't be worrying about etiquette and I know you are worried about Cris's sudden disappearance.

Saying all of that, it could also all be one big trick to throw us off completely. Either way, we are weak right now, emotionally, physically and mentally. So, if the part about Joham wanting us all dead is true then he certainly has the upper hand. We are all vulnerable and torn between where we should be and with so many half breeds involved and Joham never getting his hands dirty it makes it even harder to find him." Edward's voice trailed off and he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

Jasper spoke up for the first time since he had arrived. "Don't forget, we also can't under estimate Nahuel sisters Anna and Sophia. They are both gifted – Anna heals incredibly fast, while Sophia has no scent."

"Well, that makes sense. I think I've met Anna a few times. She's an evil looking gothic bitch with an attitude to boot. She mentioned her sister Sophia once. That at least clears up who has been plaguing us." I tried to picture Anna in my mind so Edward could see. In doing so, I flashed an image of our last meeting.

"She's after you specifically?" He queried, catching the conversation Anna and I had in the forest.

I tried to back track. "Well, no not..."

A bark came from Embry, behind me. I shot him a death stare before turning back to Edward.

He was frowning. "Embry just said you're a candidate? Leah, if you want me to tell you everything, then you have to do the same!"

I swatted away the question not wanting to draw attention to myself. "I don't even know what that means. It could be a candidate for anything! It's not important - for now I'm more worried about if this Nahuel was given false information. What happened to him in the end?"

Edward stared at me as if deliberating whether to push the matter. I asked him not to in my mind and explained that the packs didn't need any more stress. It would only make our search more strained. After a second of consideration he nodded briefly.

"So? What happened to Nahuel?" I asked again.

Edward's eyes looked pained once more. "It wasn't pretty. His father killed his aunt, tortured him and then sent him to us as a warning. In the end, Carlisle and I helped him move onto a better place."

"Hang on. You mean to say you killed him? You killed the only source of information you had?" I snapped coldly. I couldn't believe it. This was war and they had just eradicated the only connection they had to our enemy.

"Leah, you may not think of us as human, but there are a few things that separate me and my family from being the monsters we are supposed to be. To have let him suffer for any reason would have been cruel and I trust that if my daughter, or any of my family, was in that kind of mental and physical pain someone would show them the same kindness. It's amazing how everyone seems to question my decision. I was the only person in his head and I wish that people would trust me a little more."

Despite Edwards's rant, I still couldn't feel sorry for Nahuel. I could however hate myself for what I was going to ask next. "Do you believe the girls and Bella are still alive?"

"Do you?" Edward threw back bitterly.

I considered the question. "If they snatched them, carried them for miles and covered their tracks then I think they are worth something to them. Otherwise, we would have four dead bodies on our hands."

"Yes, I have to also believe that is true. So, where does that leave us? I've told you everything I know and time is of the essence. Will you work with us to find them?" Edward looked not only at me, but all of the wolves.

I turned my head and looked at them too before turning back. "I will speak with the packs. I can't promise you more than that." I turned my back on Edward and retreated back to the undergrowth to phase. Opening my mind to the alpha link, Sam's thoughts came through and joined my pack.

His mood was dangerous and from the tone of his thoughts his sanity was walking a fine line. He also seemed to be hiding something from me as blank patches kept appearing in his mind. I didn't have time to worry about it though as I realised he had resumed as alpha of their pack and Jared had been demoted to beta again. I didn't question it under the circumstances and actually wondered if Jake would do the same to our pack. I hoped not because I didn't think I could be a beta after becoming an alpha. Unlike Jared I was not a submissive person.

"Sam, you heard all of that, so... will your pack work with the Cullens?" I asked hopefully.

"How can you even consider helping the bloodsuckers, Leah? I thought you of all people would be against it." He snarled angrily.

As much as I disliked working with the leeches, this alliance was for the best and so I tried to remain calm and prove my point logically. "It's not about me or you though, is it, Sam? There are no boundaries out here and no treaty. Don't you think that with their help there's a bigger chance of finding Emily and the girls?"

"Sam, I know everything about us makes us your enemy, but at least consider that your enemy's enemy is your friend," Edward added cautiously from behind us.

"It would boost numbers searching and if we need to fight." I added.

Sam frustratingly relented, as thoughts of Emily and his baby filled his mind. "Fine, but don't expect us to be civil or trust them. You may have forgotten what they are, Leah, but I still remember."

I turned to my own pack.

"I'll work with them. It's nothing new to me." Embry confirmed, while still turning his nose up at the sweet stench the Cullens gave off.

Seth merely nodded, pleased with the prospect of working with the leeches.

It was time to bring up something else that was worrying me, this I directed to all both packs. "We do have one other problem though."

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"You need to send two people home. It's undefended and vulnerable. You need to pull the boundaries in and guard our people till we can bring everyone home." I braced myself for his argument.

Sam scoffed in disbelief. "You really think I'm going to send any of my pack home when we have three imprints missing? It would take one hell of a command to send them away and I don't know that I could even mean it. Leah, you are right that we can't abandon home and I think you should go back with Seth and Embry. It would be better for you to be out of the line of fire anyway, being a candidate and all."

"Sam, think about it strategically. I know that the imprint pull overrules your instinct and logic right now, but you need to think about the bigger picture if you are going to get Emily back. My pack and I need to be out here. We're the only pack without an imprint missing and without us to mediate I don't trust that you or Jake would make the right decision. You have a precarious relationship on the best of days. Besides, you need my pack because we are stronger and more experienced than the cubs." I wasn't going to send my pack home under any circumstances. We were staying together and that was that. And, as for my safety, well, if I really was some kind of candidate then it didn't matter where I was.

"Leah..." Sam started.

I sighed. "Sam, stop wasting time and just decide which two are going home and quickly."

He blocked me out angrily, and while he did, I relayed the conversation to Seth and Embry. A few minutes later, we saw two of the youngest guys stalking off into the woods in their wolf form. Sam didn't reopen the link though and turned away from me.

Seeing two of the wolves leave, Edward approached me cautiously. "Thank you, I know that this isn't easy for any of you. How would you like to proceed?"

Edward's eyes flickered to Sam who seemed to be answering him of his own accord, although I couldn't hear him.

Edward then looked back to me. "Sam is going to go back to where the La Push trail ended and go over their tracks. What about you?"

I looked at him. "Well, you said the leeches went into the ocean so maybe it's time we went for a swim."

AN

Sorry for the wait for this update. I hope it was still enjoyable and as always I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

I just want to say a big thanks to dontcallmeleelee for helping me get the chapter ironed out! I feel I may have sent her over the edge with my comma placement so shes a star for hanging in there.

Just so you all know, I am working on the next chapter bit by bit and hopefully it won't take as long this time. Regardless of that, I need to say a thanks to those that have stuck with this story and are still reading and to the reviews I haven't managed to reply to - they have still been appreciated and encouraged me to keep writing.

Finally, hello to those that have added the story to their alerts recently. Thanks for reading.

xxx