Freckles (Guest): Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, they are sweet and perfect for each other.

AN: This one is a necessary "meanwhile back with the pack"… This one starts right where chapter 17 ended, right after Jake has managed to phase back to human.

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Narrator POV

"Jake, this is my wife, Emily. Jared Cameron and his fiancée Kim. And you already know Paul Lahote."

"Sure, sure. I've only had those two in my head almost all week," Jake pointed to the other two wolves.

"Watch it," Sam growled softly. He might be willing to cut Jake a little slack given what he'd just been through, but there were limits to his tolerance.

"Em, this is Jake," the Alpha told his imprint.

"Hello, Jake. I'm sure I don't need to ask if you're hungry. We're pretty informal here—the only rule is no harming one another over food," Emily smiled warmly.

Kim nodded to him, but didn't say anything. Jared had his arms around her and was watching Jake intensely.

"Ladies first," Sam announced. Once both girls had filled their plates, Sam moved to follow them. No longer able to resist the lure of the food, Jake and Quil started toward the counter buffet.

"Wait your turn," Paul cut in.

"Why?" Jake wanted to know.

"Because we were here first, pup. Seniority rules."

"And a hungry young wolf is an upset wolf," Emily reminded him.

"We're always hungry, Em."

"And you've had real food a lot more recently than these two have, Jake here especially. Unless you're planning on having a dominance contest in my kitchen—which I'd rather you didn't—then I think they can go ahead this time."

Paul sneered but didn't argue with the Alpha's mate.

Jake found himself proving Paul right by clearing his plate in no time flat and going back for more. His stomach was actually a bit distended by the time he stopped.

"Okay, Jake, you should go home and see your dad. Get a shower and some sleep. I want you back here in the morning. Quil, you'll come out with me for a while. Jared, Paul, you're on your regular shift later."

"When can I see Bells?" Jake asked Sam.

"I don't know yet," the Alpha replied. "Billy, shower, and sleep need to come first. You've only just gotten back to human. Don't rush it. Bella isn't going anywhere."

Jake wanted to argue, but Sam's repetition of "Billy, shower, sleep," nixed that idea. Jared and Kim gave him a ride home, as it was on the way to their own place.

"Go easy on your dad," Jared advised when Jake opened the door to get out. "He hated having to keep the secret."

"Yeah, I bet he did—just as much as I hate that he still did it anyway," Jake slammed the door shut harder than he meant to and stalked toward the house he'd grown up in. His dad saying his name greeted the youth before he was all the way in the door.

"Why didn't you tell me? Warn me?" Jake's voice cracked embarrassingly.

"I couldn't. Tribal law—"

"You're the freaking chief of the tribe, Dad. You can break the rules if you really want to."

"That's exactly why I couldn't, Jake. If the chief doesn't obey, then why should anyone else?" Billy sighed heavily. "I wish there was anything I could say to make this better, but there really isn't. I know you're angry with me, and I accept that. Why don't I fix you something to eat while you grab a shower, and then we can talk—or you can yell—tomorrow?"

Jake started to say that he'd only just finished eating a ton over at Sam's before he realized that Paul had been right: wolves—or so it seemed—really were always hungry. "Sure, sure," he made an effort at his usual tone to go with his trademark phrase. Whether it was Sam's order from earlier, Jared's warning just now, or his own common sense, but he knew that talking to his dad right now wasn't a good idea. And he really did stink and feel pretty grubby.

The shower mostly finished the job that the food earlier had started. Jake felt a lot more human at the end of it. At least, he felt that way until he got a good look at himself in the bathroom mirror. He now had to duck down to see his head, his face was leaner and the bones more defined, and his hair… 'Rat's nest' was too kind a description. Yanking the comb through his hair brought pain and the welling blood when he pulled too hard. Jake stared in amazement as his scalp healed up almost instantly.

"You'll probably want that trimmed short," his dad spoke quietly from the doorway. "Keep it from tangling up all the time.

This matter-of-fact statement of something else that was changing whether he liked it or not made Jake's face contort in a visible struggle to rein in his temper.

"I can do it while you eat—I swear you won't end up like Rachel's Barbie doll did."

Unwillingly, Jake's mouth twitched. "Stupid spiky buzz cut," he muttered. Years ago, one of Jake's older twin sisters had tried to give her doll a haircut and ended up chopping all of its hair off.

"Yeah," Billy agreed.

"Okay." Jake still didn't like the idea, but he disliked the idea of going through this hair torture on a daily basis even more. Eating took part of his attention away from the awareness that his dad was chopping off the long hair they'd had in common.

"Go get some sleep, Jake," Billy said once he was done. "We can talk tomorrow if you want to."

Part of the teenager want to hash everything out now, but being clean, full, and warm had caught up with him and his eyelids now started to droop.

"Sure, sure," he mumbled, standing up and heading for his bedroom. There followed another rude awakening when his feet slammed into the footboard on his bed. Jake cursed, grabbed a blanket to use as padding, and stuck his feet out over the end. He barely had time to think Bella before he was sound asleep.

As Billy handled the broom and long-handled dust pan to sweep up the remnants of his son's once-long hair, Billy prayed that all would now be well.

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In the pitch black of the middle of the night, Paul and Jared made their circuits through the forest.

Kim still pissed at you?

Yeah.

Well, it is your fault, you know.

You think I wanted—Jared broke off, all-too-aware that just about anything he might say would likely offend his imprint, the spirits, or their ancestors.

You drive the toll way, you pay the toll.

Shut up, Paul, Jared wasn't amused.

Okay…Hey, you notice what Sam hasn't told him yet?

Huh?

Baby Alpha.

What?

Sheesh, your brain's a mess. You not getting any?

Shut up, Paul! What is it you think Sam hasn't told Jake?

About Bella.

Oh…crap.

Yep. All Sam's reasons to keep him away from her are only going to last for so long. And if it isn't Jake who imprints on the girl…

There's gonna be hell to pay.

That's what I figure. Best friends or not, I can just about see Jake ordering Quil to stay away from her or whatever, just to make sure it didn't happen.

You really think he'd be that cruel?

If it means he doesn't have to watch his best friend with his girl? Oh yeah, I'd believe it.

Shit, Jared upgraded his profanity.

Don't get me wrong—I don't blame Sam for not wanting to face it until he has to, but hell later versus hell now is still hell.

And maybe we can avoid it altogether and Jake'll imprint on her.

Maybe. But you really think we'll be that lucky?

I—Jared broke off abruptly. It's them! He dug his paws into the damp soil as he put on speed. Farther away, Paul did the same, after first throwing back his head to howl a warning for the rest of the pack. Sam phased in first, mind already alert and seeking out the information on the approaching threat from Jared's and Paul's thoughts. Quil and Jake joined the collective mind a few seconds later, both clearly shaking the fog of sleep from their heads.

What's going on? The new wolves asked.

Watch and run, Sam ordered. Instinct propelled them forward in the wake of the other wolves, seeing what they saw. It was both of them this time: the red-headed female and the Rastafarian-looking male.

A black vampire? Quil wondered. He shut up immediately when everyone else mentally shouted, Shut up, at him.

Quil, Jacob, back up Paul. Jared, with me, Sam ordered as the two running leeches suddenly split up. Chase them down, rip them up. Don't let them grab you and definitely don't let them bite you, the Alpha reminded the new wolves of the lessons they'd gotten in the past few days.

Instincts ran strong and true, more than making up for the fact that this was the first hunt for 2/5 of the pack. Massive wolves ran through the woods with a speed that belied their size. Sam and Jared chased the female, coming at her from two sides to try and pin her down this time. But she made a hard turn and sprinted off toward the edge of the cliff on the rez side of the river. With a massive kickoff, she launched herself into the void, easily clearing the span to land on the other side. Alpha and Beta skidded to a halt before they could shoot off the edge and take an unwanted plunge; they were nowhere near as aerodynamic as the vampire and couldn't manage the distance.

She's gone, Jared snarled.

Sam didn't reply to the obvious. He was now focused on the other chase. Three against one was better odds and this pincer move was more effective. Jake was quickly proving himself to be the fastest in the pack. He used a boulder as a launch pad, reaching out with his jaws to latch onto the bloodsucker's arm. The violent ripping yank flung the rest of the man's body through the air to crash against a tree. But somehow he managed to use his remaining hand to grip the tree's trunk and swing himself around it in a shower of bark before shooting upward to disappear into the shadows of the upper branches. Faint snaps, swishes, and the swaying of trees told of his aerial movements.

Follow, Paul told the others, leading the way. They tried for a while, but had to accept that both leeches had gotten away.

Think he'll come back for the arm? asked Quil.

If he does, we'll burn him like we will it. Being the only ones with intact clothes, Jared and Paul phased back and gathered wood for a fire.

"Better toss it on and not drop it," Paul advised Jake, who had dropped the severed arm from his mouth onto the ground. "Then you'll probably want to gargle a gallon of mouthwash to get rid of the taste."

Right after sending the limb sailing into the fire, Jake swiped his tongue over the grass—and then started hacking to get the blades out of his mouth.

"I said mouthwash, not grass," Paul groaned.

Highly flammable—due to being saturated with venom, the older wolves said—the arm quickly burnt to ashes, giving off a sickening dark smoke in the process. After extinguishing the flames with soil, Paul and Jared phased back.

Everyone is safe, Sam reminded them all. And thanks to Jake, one of them is now wounded.

But what do they want? Jake wanted to know.

Blood and death, same as they all do, Paul growled.

We're going to focus on catching them first, then we can see about keeping the heads intact long enough to question them, Sam decided. Okay, everyone back as you were. We'll meet for breakfast and go over everything.

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AN: So this is what happened while Embry and Bella were having their nice dreams. Next chapter may (I think) cover Jake's day while Bella and Embry are having their date (chapter 18-19), and perhaps our favorite couple as they process post-date. We'll see what my muse gives me.