Nobody has reviewed yet, but someone did favorite and follow. I saw a few people expressed interest in this through my stats or whatever so I'm posting anyway because I know somebody's out there reading this and for that I say thank you. Hugs for you.

Chapter Two

To Be Angry

"To be angry is to revenge the faults of others on ourselves." - Alexander Pope

Taylor's wolf was absolutely certain that she had made the right choice in picking their mate. Taylor was... not so sure.

It was true that he was a handsome man. His hair was dark brown and cropped a bit longer than his friends, barely curling at the ends and not reaching past his ears. In the front it was swooped to the left with a messy bang that was almost the length of his forehead. His eyebrows were thick and masculine over deep brown eyes framed by long, feathery lashes. His cheekbones were high in that Native American way, his jawline strong like a man's should be. His nose was straight and narrow. His lips were a shade darker that dusty rose. His skin a few shades lighter than the others.

His face was very pretty, but his body (from what Taylor could see) was all masculine. From Embry's sitting position Taylor couldn't see his legs, but she got a good look at his torso. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt that could easily be counted as a second skin. It molded to his body and put on display every cut of every muscle on his chest. His arms were long and sinewy, packed with lean muscles. She could see them flex and coil every time he reached across the table to grab a condiment or his glass. Taylor could see the seemingly effortless ability he possessed in controlling his strength. She knew he had the capability to shatter the glass salt shaker with a simple pinch of his thumb and forefinger. Everything about his body screamed power. Strength. Dominance. Control.

Still, even with all that, he seemed shy… almost unsure of himself. He joked around with his pack, but he was slow to hassle them. He didn't return the friendly shoves or elbow any of the boys with suggestive winks towards attractive girls. When the waiter came to refill his drink he didn't look her in the eye and Taylor could swear his cheeks flushed just a little bit. He twitched nervously more often than not- biting his nails, pulling at his ear, awkwardly shifting in his seat. His wide shoulders were hunched in as if he was impossibly trying to make himself small. It was clear to Taylor that he was a boy in a man's body that lacked any kind of confidence.

Taylor had more confidence in her pinky toe than he did in his whole body and that simply would not do.

From the corners of her eyes she could see other girls ogling what belonged to her and that she would not stand for that. The only thing that kept her from claiming him right then and there in the diner or challenging every available woman within a ten mile radius was the fact that he was seemingly oblivious to their attention. And hers. She had been watching him ever since she sat down at the head of her table with Evan at her right and David at her left. She had the perfect view of every visible door in the dining area and of the pack across the room. He had to know she was watching him, it was impossible not to, but still he avoided her gaze. Taylor came to the conclusion that it could be one of several reasons. One being that he was too shy to acknowledge her again. Another was that he was a poor loser and was too proud to make eye contact again. The last was that he was simply uninterested in her. She didn't know how to feel about either one of those options.

As an alpha Taylor needed a mate who was strong and domineering. Obviously he wouldn't dominate her, but he did need the respect of her pack if he was going to be an acceptable alpha mate. Because her wolf had already chosen, and Taylor had learned quickly that there was no changing Killer's mind, she settled on worrying about her mate later. He wasn't the only wolf to peak her interest.

…

Leah did not like how the she wolf watched her. It wasn't the stranger's eyes on her that made her anxious. It was the nerve the other girl had, she made no attempts at hiding her assessments and Leah was not pleased by her boldness. Leah was bigger, probably older, and she doubted there was a creature alive faster than her. This other female should be cowering in fear of Leah and her pack- not smirking as if watching inept children trying to impress her.

And so because of that Leah felt anger.

Anger was not an unfamiliar emotion to the she wolf, in fact it was one of the only things she felt in so long. Most of her adult had been filled with so much anger and now it was easy to slip into. But she also felt… relieved.

It had been four years since she phased and all this time she thought she was an anomaly. She thought she was alone. Now, not even fifteen yards away, sat a girl that was just like her. A lone female wolf in a pack of big, stupid men. How had the girl fared? She obviously held her own amongst the boys, but was she bitter? Sad? Depressed? Was she living life through a blinding rage so thick that it would haze the girl's vision? Or maybe she adapted to this life as well as Seth had. Maybe she was happy, ecstatic even, to be apart of the supernatural world. Was she here with her parents? Her father? Maybe the other she wolf had been responsible for her own father's death as well. Though Leah highly doubted that.

Maybe she would get all the answers to her questions if Sam allowed this new pack to stay.

Sigh. Sam- No not that.

Growl. Sam. Much better. Leah refused to let him cloud her mind like she did all those years ago. Back when she was happy. When she didn't have to worry about protecting her little brother from monsters, only bullies. When her father was always there to give her awkward, but loving hugs that she always begrudgingly accepted. Back when she had a best friend whose ties to her were blood thick. Back when Sam loved her as much as she still loved him.

No. Not that. Leah hated Sam- that was all she could afford to feel for him now. Not only because he had imprinted on her cousin, but because there were eight guys in her head, reading her thoughts, almost all of the time. And one of those guys was Sam.

She knew (she just fucking new) that if she could get away from Sam, if she could not be surrounded by him every second of every day, that she would get over him. If she didn't have to feel him tickling the back of her skull in the way that only her alpha could. If she didn't have to hear him split his thoughts between pack, new memories of her cousin, and old memories of her. If he didn't cruelly keep her tethered to him with involuntary whispers in his mind of how much he loved her. It was too fucking bad that his love apparently wasn't strong enough.

God, she hated him with such a righteous fury that it almost blinded her on occasions. She wanted to slowly tear him to shreds with the sharp tips of her fangs and claws. She wanted to watch him bleed out on the forest floor in that same spot that he ripped her heart out and maybe if she watched him wallow in misery then she could finally go back to the girl she was, or at least someone like her. If she watched his blood flow out of him then maybe her anger would leave her and mix with crimson puddle that pooled at her feet.

She felt a tug at her scalp. She turned to her left to find Seth whistling quietly and looking up at the diner's ceiling as if he did not just pull his sister's hair. She rolled her eyes, but inside she was smiling. The little brat always seemed to know when she needed to be distracted from her thoughts so she thanked him with a swift kick in the shin.

"Ouch Leels," He complained with a smile. He had done his job as little brother and had gotten rid of that sad look on his sister's face, but Leah was too proud to accept it as courtesy. So he hid his brotherly duty under a layer of brotherly teasing.

It wasn't long after she was pulled out of her thoughts that everyone finished eating. They all paid for their food (at half price of course because Sue was Leah's mother and a member of the council after all) and walked into the woods. Leah stood behind a tree as she pulled off her simple sundress and flip flops so that the boys wouldn't see her nude before using a coil to secure the clothes to her upper thigh. She felt the wracking tremors of her body and saw the air shimmer magically around her while she phased into an unnatural, but beautiful beast. The she wolf shook out her fine coat of gray fur before joining her pack.

If there was one place Leah hated, it was the pack mind.

There was a constant buzz of activity. There was peace for no one unless you miraculously found that you were the only one phased and that never happened. There was always someone patrolling, or someone stretching their legs, or someone using their faster form to get from point A to point B. Having one other person in your head was bad enough, but when it was like this. When every single member of the pack has phased, it was nightmarous. There was a running stream of thought coming from every individual, some thoughts voluntary. Most involuntary. Of all the wolves only Sam and Jacob had been able to keep most of their thoughts to themselves. It must have been an alpha thing, but even they were known to slip every now and then. Leah both hated and loved when Sam's thoughts of her would slide through his tightly wound mental vault. It was equally heavenly and torturous for her hollow heart.

Are they being mean to her? Is she being mean to them? (A quick flickering image of smooth cooper skin underneath his large hands. The phantom feeling of sharp, human teeth biting into his fragile, human skin because he had laughed at her over something stupid.) LeeLee can be mean when she wants to.

That was her. That was all about her.

Mmm. That turkey sandwich was good.

I wonder if my mom will give me back my Xbox tonight if I promise to- oh hey look at that cool bird.

Rock, rock, rock, rock, tree. Tree, tree, tree- what's that? Nothing. Bird, rock, rock, rabbit, rock. I'm so bored, nothing happens here since the leech lover moved.

Is Claire really going to make me dress up for another tea party. Damn puppy dog eyes. She's so cute.

Fucking imprinting, Leah thought.

What's Connie up to tonight?

So tired. So sleepy. Want my bed.

Is Emily asleep, what is she doing right now?

Fucking. Imprinting.

Sam, Jared called mentally after gathering his bearings from the overload of thoughts. You will never guess what happened.

The rest of the pack attempted to quiet their inner voices as their beta relayed the news to their alpha. He got the story out with little to no interruption from the rest of the pack because as Second, it was Jared's duty to inform Sam. Still it was hard not to pitch in every now in then when he forgot a seemingly important point.

Don't forget to mention how huge that one guy was, Quil reminded Jared.

And how snarky that girl seemed, Brady added.

Sam listened as diligently as ever before calling a pack meeting at Emily's. They all made their way to Leah's cousin/sometimes-arch-enemy/ex-best friend's house. She broke formation and ran faster than the others so she could get a good seat as far away from Sam as possible. Her paws hit the rain softened earth so quickly and quietly that she could have been flying, but all too soon it was over. She was in Emily's backyard and yanking on her stupid sundress. Leah barged through the front door as rudely as possible and bypassed Emily, who was making her wait out of the kitchen, without saying a word to the girl. Sam and Paul were already there and sitting on opposite ends of Emily's large sectional so Leah choose to stand against the wall on the far side of the room. Emily handed Paul a plate of sandwiches and sat on Sam's lap.

Bitch, Leah thought. Sam glared at her as the others made their way into the room as if he could have heard her thoughts while they both were in human form. Who knows, maybe he could and wasn't telling any of them. He had always been the type to play his cards close to his chest. The wolves all piled in while Sam and Paul debated if there should be someone running patrol. Eventually it was decided that everyone needed to be present for the meeting and it started well, really it did, until all hell broke loose. The house was firmly divided into three groups.

Sam, Jared, Quil and Paul all thought that it would be best to exile the other pack. In La Push there were already nine fully able wolves that could protect the lands without the help of the outsiders. They had done so easily in the past with less members. Besides, they didn't know these strangers. What if they were dangerous to the people of La Push? What if they were dangerous to the imprints? It was better to act now than wait and find out.

Seth, Brady, Leah and Embry were in favor of keeping them around for different reasons. Seth wanted to get to know the new wolves, he thought that they might be able to learn something from them. And yeah, they were all keeping up patrols, but wouldn't it be much easier with more people. That way everyone would have more opportunities to work, sleep, or study. Brady was all for extra hours of sleep and if he could miss less classes then maybe next year he could make up all those courses he failed and graduate on time. He could picture the proud smiles on his parent's faces as he daydreamed about walking across the stage and collecting his diploma. Leah, well Leah was on any team that Sam wasn't on, but honestly, they had a she wolf. She knew that she hadn't exactly been nice to any of them, but still. Why would they deny her the opportunity of getting to understand herself better? And if the other woman knew as little as Leah… then hell, they could work it out together. Embry was keeping his reasons to himself so that only left Collin.

Collin was absolutely undecided. He was the lowest ranking wolf in the entire pack and no one ever asked his opinion on anything. He was usually able to coast through these pack meetings by sitting on the floor near Quil's or Embry's legs while eating potato chips and whatever it was that Emily was serving. And here he sat on the floor, next to Quil's leg, and every single eye was on him. He swallowed the bits of turkey sandwich down his suddenly dry throat and looked up at all the older, better wolves with wide eyes.

"Well Collin," Sam demanded. It wasn't an order to answer, so Collin didn't feel compelled to do anything but sit there like a fish out of water gaping at his alpha.

"Um…" He said. From across the room he saw Leah bury her head in her hands and he flushed with embarrassment. He looked around hoping that a clue as to what he should say would jump out at him, but all he saw was his best friend throwing him supportive looks of encouragement. So Collin did what he had been doing ever since he was ten years old, he just went along with whatever Brady was doing. "They should um, probably stay because um, school and shit."

He didn't even finish his less than eloquent statement before the yelling began.

"More than half of us want them to stay so unless you're completely full of shit-"

"More than half of you are making the wrong decision." Jared interrupted the screaming girl.

"Well if you were going to disregard whatever we decided on then maybe you shouldn't have asked us to fucking vote on it."

"I agree with Leah! This is bull shit, why should I flunk out just because all of you-"

"Fuck off Brady you weren't even-" Paul started.

"What the actual fuck Sam. Tell us, oh wise leader, why the flying fuck you would have us-"

"It just isn't safe LeeLee and I didn't ask anybody to vote for-"

"Don't you dare fucking call me that!" The she wolf yelled.

"Hey, watch who you're talking to bitch." Paul spat.

"Everybody quiet." Sam ordered and just like that you could hear a pin drop in the room.

"This isn't a democracy, it's a dictatorship and I am the alpha of this pack. The decision lies on me and me alone, I only wanted your opinions on the matter and now that I have them I'll make the decision myself." He was on the verge of dismissing them all when he heard Embry's near silent voice. It was hard to tell if he was so quiet because of the alpha order or because he was Embry and that was just what Embry did. He held his tongue and he listened until he felt that he had something so absolutely important to say that he couldn't withhold the information. Because of that trait Sam didn't even question letting the younger man speak.

"What was that Embry?" He asked.

"I said they can't leave," His voice was no louder than a whisper but every wolf in the room couldn't have heard him clearer if he was shouting.

"Why not?" Sam said with a little less patience. Getting information from Call was like pulling teeth.

"Because they're pack now. Or maybe it's the other way around."

"Just say what you mean Embry." Sam ordered while gritting his teeth.

"I mean," His voice dropped a little lower. "I imprinted on the girl."

Across the room Leah smashed a lamp with her bare hands as another wave of yelling swept the room. Imprinting. It was always fucking imprinting.

My Corner: I really liked writing Leah. Also Paul does not imprint on Rachel because that is another story for another time and also it would make the plot a LOT more complicated. I don't know how I would resolve the issue of Rachel, so I'm choosing not to. I know, it's cheating. If by some chance a magic solution comes to me, I'll work her into the story. Don't hold your breath.

And yes, I might have made up the word nightmarous. I'm not sure.

Picture of Taylor up on my profile.

Thanks for reading- Bre

Comments, questions, concerns, confusion?