"Delay is the deadliest form of denial."

C. Northcote Parkinson

"This isn't a petition," I said firmly. I had called the meeting at Billy's house, if only because the members of the Elders wouldn't fit in my own kitchen. As with previous meeting, it included only the male decedents of Taha Aki's line: Billy, Henry, and Quil. If my father had been around, he would have been there too. "I'm here to state my intentions."

Quil, sharp as ever, narrowed his aged eyes at me. "Then state them, Chiefling."

Looking down at him from the head of the table, I spoke clearly as I laid my claim. "It is my intent to release the legend bonds to both Charlie Swan and Michelle Call. I'm amending the rule to include mothers, all mothers, of this and future packs."

Billy's eyes sparkled with both pride and trepidation. He would be nervous; telling Charlie wasn't going to be easy.

"We've already voted against this," Old Quil argued, waving his grizzled hand at me. "It has been done."

I slapped my hand on the table, startling every man who sat at it. "It has been done wrongly! That vote was a curiosity, one I respected up until now. Things have changed. Both Charlie Swan and his daughter are in danger. It is my duty to protect both of them. Withholding this information hinders my ability and I won't have it."

"Sam," Henry said in his most reasonable of voices. "We understand, to a point; the necessity of telling Michelle, too? This law is in place to protect the mothers."

"But it doesn't," I said, more gently. "Michelle is suffering, as is Embry. I know that Michelle isn't a member of our tribe, but Embry is. Undeniably so, Taha Aki himself claims him. You do him an injustice by refusing him equal rights."

"The legends must be protected," Quil argued, leaning back in his chair. "The Secret must be kept."

"These are mothers," I said, breathing out slowly. "Michelle Call has stood by Embry through everything, even without knowing. You know what turning does to us. She went through his anger, and his hunger, and his sudden disappearances right a long with him, without every really understanding. She thought he was on drugs, she still does. Embry, Embry Call who is probably the most upstanding citizen in this Tribe. And he has to let her believe this; he has to encourage this lie. He doesn't deserve to suffer." I paused. "If we can prepare the parents, we can avoid incidents like mine," I added quietly. "You don't know how badly I fear one of my pups hurting their own. We know the signs, we know who will change. If we can prepare the parents, it could ease the transition."

"Why the blanket-release?" Billy asked, brow furrowed in question. "Why all mothers?"

"This pack is unlike any others," I explained myself. "We're bigger, faster, and younger. These are not grown men phasing, as it has been before. These are high-schoolers. While physically older, they are children. They are reliant on their parents. As the Pack changes, so must we too."

"Can I propose an amendment?" Billy offered, hesitantly. "Pack members who phase under the age of seventeen can tell their mothers."

"Parents, not mothers," Henry suggested. "Paul carries the gene through his mother's side, but as she isn't here, his father should have been told. He's old enough now under Billy's suggested amendment it's moot, but for future pack members, wolves who phase under the age of seventeen should be given leave to tell their parents."

"One parent," Quil argued. "The wolf in question may tell one parent. We must protect the secret."

"Will you take the amendment into consideration?" Billy queried, turning to look at me properly.

"I will."

Quil looked entirely railroaded, tight-lipped and scowling at the end of the table, but he did not test me. It was done.

That evening I sat at Billy's table, beer clutched in my hand. "What is this about Sam? Billy said it was important," Charlie asked, sitting opposite me. Billy had made himself scarce for the moment, but I didn't doubt he was out of ear shot.

"It's about your daughter," I began cautiously, watching familiar brown eyes narrow. "Charlie I don't know how to tell you this-"

Charlie's gaze never wavered. "If you knocked her up, I'm going to cut your balls off."

I blinked at him, choking on my beer. "What!"Dear God, he could not possibly know that I had sex with his daughter. They weren't that close, were they?

He leaned back in chair, arms crossed over his chest. "I got a bill in the mail for a clinic in Port Angeles. Couldn't think of any reason Bella would go all the way there to see a doc, unless it was something she didn't want getting around. I haven't asked her, figured she'd tell me in time. Did you knock my daughter up Sam?"

"Christ," I sucked in a breath and drained my beer. I was going to leave out the part where I might have, but she'd been smart enough to go to the clinic. "She's not pregnant, Charlie."

"You sleeping with my girl, Sam?" Charlie asked, derailing me once again. We were steering way too far off topic, and really I just wanted to get back to telling him about vampires and werewolves. Talking about my relationship with his daughter was far scarier.

"No," I said shortly because actively? I wasn't. As an alpha, I was pretty much an expert on specific phrasing. Had he asked if I'd slept with Red, I would have told him the truth.

Charlie barked out a laugh then, and shook his head. "Huh. Figured you two were datin' or something. She sure does talk a lot about you. Think my Bella's got a bit of a crush on you, chief."

"Wait, what?" Vampires and werewolves were suddenly sounding less interesting. "When?"

"Eh. Talking might not be the best term. Bitchin' is more like it. Non-stop too, I gotta tell ya. And it ain't just to me. I kind of pity Jake, but the boy seems to take it with a grain of salt. Hell, I think he's on her case half the time about all the shit she talks."

"She hates me," I said, wiping a hand down my face. I really didn't care to have this conversation with her dad. If he knew half the shit I'd said to her he'd probably cut my balls off anyway.

"Don't know about that," Charlie argued. "Anyway, what's this all about Sam? What's Bells done this time?"

I blinked again, taking a deep breath. "What I'm about to tell you is going to be hard to believe, but I'm asking you to keep an open mind."

"Just spit it out Sam," Charlie said with a laugh. "It can't be any harder then telling me you slept with my daughter."

"I didn't tell you I slept with your daughter," I argued, feeling uncomfortable.

He gave me a look that just screamed disbelief. "I am not an idiot. I've seen ya looking. You look at her like you want to eat her. Frankly, it makes me seriously uncomfortable."

"Charlie-"

"Tell me what you gotta tell me, kid. As long as it isn't 'you're gonna be a grandpa', I think I can take it. So, spit it out or we can go back to talkin' about you screwin' around with my daughter, cause' honestly, I wasn't really done on the subject."

"Vampires are real," I said flatly. "And so are werewolves. I'm a werewolf. So is Jake, and the rest of my crew. "

"What?" Charlie asked, looking nothing short of baffled. "Is this Billy's idea of a joke?"

"I'm kind of offended you think I couldn't come up with something better, old man," Billy said from the back porch. "Why don't you come out back, Charlie? Jake's got something to show you."

"Go on," I said, pushing up from the table. Charlie pushed open the door to the porch, only to shout in surprise. "Shit," he breathed, going for his gun on pure instinct.

I grabbed his arm, pinning it where he had his hand curled over the grip of the pistol, still in the holster. "Yeah, I'm going to have to ask you not to shoot Jacob. Jake! Phase back."

Jacob gave me a baleful look through his wolf eyes, an expression I was more or less use to from the rest of the pack. He walked around the shed and out of sight. The air shimmered in a way only I could see, and I let Charlie's arm go.

Stepping out from behind the shed, Jacob was still buttoning up his shorts. "Hey chief," he said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "Thanks for not shooting me."

"Shit," Charlie said again. "Holy shit."

"Goddamn I've been waitin' a long time to see that look on your face," Billy said, slapping Charlie on the back. "Park your ass," he said, pointing to the old wooden deck chairs, "'cause boy do we have a story for you."

Jacob stuck around to shove fresh beers in Charlie's hand as Billy and I spun the whole big tale. He was halfway to tipsy by the time we'd finished, leaning back in his chair, quiet and contemplative. Suddenly, he pushed to a stand, leaning over the porch railing and puking three cans of beer onto the muddy grass below.

Turning back to me, Charlie wiped his mouth and cracked open another cold one, procured again by Jacob. "So what you're telling me is that you and the Cullens are mortal enemies and that my daughter dated a vampire for eight months?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Another vampire, one that doesn't feed as the Cullens do, appears to have taken an interest in Bella. We need both you and Bella to stay on the Rez until we take care of it."

"What about work? I have a job, I'm chief! I can't just call off work for however fucking long it takes to kill this...this vampire! Hell, I need to be on guard more often, if anything."

"Charlie," I said as reasonably as I could. "We need you here, where we can protect you. If this vampire is coming after Bella, she could use you as bait."

"Sam, I can't abandon my people just cause' I'm in danger," he argued, looking me right in the eye. "You gotta understand that."

And I did. More than most maybe. Charlie was the protection in Forks. "I do Charlie, I really do, but I promised Bella-"

"What about a work-study?" Jacob cut me off, earning my glare. "No, no listen. What if one of the Pack went to work with Charlie? Under the guise of a work-study? Everyone knows Charlie's tight with the Rez, it can't be that crazy of an idea."

It wasn't. It was a fantastic idea, the kind of idea an Alpha would think of, and I couldn't help but be proud of Jacob in that moment. The kid was going to do wonders when he was ready. "No Jacob, you're right. It'll also keep one of our wolves where we need them, just in case Charlie gets called for anything suspicious. What do you say, Charlie?"

"My own personal bodyguard?' Charlie asked with a bark of a laugh. "I think I can handle that. And hell, you know any of your boys would be welcomed at the station if they ever really did want to get into law enforcement." His declaration made me smile with no small amount of hope for my boys; Jared especially, who had the prefect rational demeanor for law enforcement.

"I'll let em' know," I said with a grin. "Now, I'm guessing you're fine crashing with Bil-"

"Speaking of which," Charlie said suddenly, "where's my kid?"

"She'll be staying with my mother," I answered honestly, feeling his eyes burn through me. "My momma's happy to have her. You want the number? 'Cause I'm sure she'd like to hear from you." And well, that was a huge lie. I was pretty sure Red was going to shit a brick once Charlie got her cornered.

"You know what? Why don't you take me over there? I'd really like to have a heart-to-heart with my girl. I think it's about time we had a little daddy-daughter sit-down about boys. Seem's I might'a missed a few things when we had The Talk. Now, I ain't plannin' on telling her who she can or can't date," he added, so obviously for my benefit, both Jacob and Billy laughed at my expense. "But I think I'll probably be asking better questions next time. What's his name? What are his parents like? Do any of his friends want to eat you? Basics never did cut it when it came to Bella."