Grace sat on the passenger side of the truck as Bella drove carefully through the rain slicked streets. It was really starting to come down on them. Bella was determined to confront Jake after school on Friday and Grace wasn't going to stop her-she had her own confronting to do.

When they crossed the line onto the reservation, Grace could feel a slight shudder run through her. She trained her eyes forward, determined to keep her edge. She heard an echoing of voices start around her as Bella continued to drive down the wet streets, unaware that flanked on either side of their rusted, red truck, wolves were powering through the trees. She could clearly sense Jake pull off and bolt toward his house to head them off.

The voices were faint, coming in and out like a bad radio signal. She was trying not to focus on them to quiet them, but they still broke through:

Shouldn't be here.

Can't believe.

But didn't Sam say?

Not to her face.

Grace.

Grace.

You doing?

He's gonna.

Oh yeah.

In for it.

Some of the voices were new, meaning new members had joined the pack. Something Sam had also conveniently not told her. Grace sank deeper into her resolve, seething, but still trying to stay level headed.

As Bella pulled into Jacob's driveway, the truck bouncing on the uneven ground, Jake passed by up ahead having transformed back into his human form. The rain burned off of him in a heady mist. Grace swallowed hard as she watched the broad receding figure. The muscles in his back were clearly distinguishable and she could feel the tension rolling off of him.

Bella looked over to Grace before hopping out of the truck and running toward Jake calling his name. He stopped once they were a little ways into the clearing. Grace was having a hard time seeing them with the rain falling in heavy sheets. When she tuned in though, she could clearly hear Jake's voice as if it was right by her. Sam was right to be worried about their connection-this was the line in that an Alpha and Spirit Bird should have to one another.

"Did Sam get to you?" she could hear Bella tell Jake through her connection to him.

"No. Don't blame Sam, he's trying to help me. If you need someone to blame, why don't you blame-"

"GRACE." she heard a booming call come at her from across the field. Her eyes shot up to the treeline and saw the pack emerging on the opposite side of the field in their human forms. Steam rose up in a dense cloud around them as the rain evaporated from their scorching bodies fresh from phasing. Her eyes landed on Sam and narrowed. She glanced to Jake and Bella, still talking, and quickly focused her vision on Sam, feeling that familiar pull apart and coming together of recasting.

She realized that being near Jake made it easier to catch that familiar pull to be able to recast on command.

Grace reappeared, arms crossed just behind the pack, covered by the tree line. Sam whipped around and stormed toward her.

"You seem to have a listening problem." Sam was stern but Grace could see he was trying to conceal anger brewing behind his eyes.

"And you don't seem to understand how this works. We. Are. A. Team. You playing this protect the protector game does not help us." Grace stated. "I can't do what I'm supposed to do if I can't even set foot here."

"You're not ready," Sam said quickly.

"You don't get to decide that!" Grace said.

"As long as you are on this land, you are my responsibility. Just like each of them is my responsibility. If you have a problem with that, and choose to disobey orders, then you're putting the entire pack at risk and I won't let that happen."

Grace was seething. "How dare you. How dare you say that I would ever put any of them in danger. Sam, this is not how we figure this out. This is not how we all stay safe."

"You don't have all of the information."

"Because you're keeping me out! How am I supposed to know what's going on!?" Grace could feel a trembling under her feet. The anger she was feeling was pulsing down and out of her feet and into the earth around her. The other members of the pack were uneasily looking around them. Sam didn't seem to notice.

"Grace, I'm not going to continue having this conversation, you're acting like a child."

A rumbling started and grew in sound. Grace could hear the sound culminating in her ears, her face was turning red and her fists were clenched.

"Don't push me Sam," Grace said between gritted teeth. The water from the rain started to shimmer and shake on the ground around them.

"Sam?" Jared said.

"Grace, calm down," Sam commanded. But she was too far gone or she was choosing not to listen to an Alpha command, she wasn't sure. The puddles of water gathered around them began to shake so hard that mud and water began splashing up onto their knees. A deep cracking sounded behind Grace. Sam, alarmed now, looked beyond her to see splinters of tree trunk splitting off of the immediate trees in shards.

"Grace?" Paul said looking up into the trees that were now rattling and shaking leaves and small tiny droplets of water mixing with the dense rain.

The sound was crashing around her now, her vision was blurring slightly and she couldn't seem to focus on any of them anymore. The ground started to roll up under them like someone was shaking out a sheet. The pack stumbled and lost their footing, some falling into the dark puddles and getting splashed with mud.

Sam lunged forward, reaching for Grace, but in a moment of defense or an unconscious trigger kicking in in Grace's brain, she threw her forearm up in front of her face like a shield. With energy she didn't know she had, she pulled up a pillar of energy in front of her that hardened and and rain poured down the front of it. Sam rocked backward after his hand collided with the shield and a loud crunch resulted. She pushed the shield forward with her right hand and widened and knocked the pack back a few feet.

Sam was cradling his hand. Grace's vision continued to blur as she lost control of the reality around her. She felt herself pulse in and out of her recasting form, there one minute and the next not. She pulsed on the spot and couldn't ground herself.

Then, an arm shot forward and this time, she didn't defend. The large hand wrapped around her forearm and pulled her forward. Her first step was on solid ground and the world came back into focus. She looked down at the hand holding onto her and then up to the face that was looking at her with concern.

"Grace?" Jake breathed. She took another step forward and placed her hand on his chest.

"Oh," she said. She looked around him to see Sam still sitting on the ground, stretching and holding his hand as it healed quickly and unevenly. The other members looked at her alarmed. She looked across the field to see Bella with her hand on the truck facing away from her.

"I have to go." Grace said dazed.

"Grace, wait!" Jake said. Grace recast quickly and reappeared on the other side of the field, jogging the rest of the way toward Bella. She was hunched over, holding around her stomach and sucking in air sharply. Grace came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

Bella's eyes were closed tightly as she tried to regain composure. "Yeah, I just-" she gasped for another breath.

"That didn't really go according to plan, did it?" Grace looked behind her and saw the pack running forward across the clearing toward them. "We need to go. I'll drive." Bella nodded and hopped into the driver seat. Just as she was pulling out of the drive, Paul reached the front of the truck and banged his open palm on the hood. She could see him yelling "Grace, stop!" through the windshield and over the intense rain. She couldn't tell if the look in his eye was one of betrayal or worry or pain.

But she peeled away anyway and barrelled her and barely together Bella back home. She was feeling foggy and wasn't entirely sure how she got caught in between recasting and reappearing. If she was honest, it scared her. But she knew for sure now that Sam keeping her away was making it worse and she wouldn't take it anymore.

Back home, the house was dark. Charlie must have been working late because when Grace got Bella inside, it didn't look like anyone had been home since this morning when they all left. Bella said she couldn't make it up the stairs and needed to rest so Grace put her on the couch and carried down her comforter and pillow to make her more comfortable.

Grace went upstairs and undressed in the bathroom. She turned on the water for the shower and waited for the steam to rise around in the cramped room before stepping in. She tried to wash away the tremors radiating through her lower arm and fingers. Everything in her felt displaced and she knew it had to do with the recasting. She sat under the heat of the shower for longer than she should have and when she got out, she felt dizzy and flushed. She wrapped a fluffy white towel around her and slowly walked to her room to change.

When she flipped on the light though, she was met by Jacob, spinning around and looking at her. His mouth fell open and then closed and then opened again as he looked her up and down, dripping and in a towel. Grace had gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from letting out a shriek and tightened her hold on the towel around her. She quickly shut the door behind her and Jacob held up his hands in surrender.

"Jake what the hell! You scared me half to death!" Grace went to stomp her foot in frustration but stopped before it hit the ground, not wanting to alert Bella.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, I was just worried and wanted to come and see if you were okay and-" Jake was still unable to keep his eyes on her face. "Do you want me to turn around?"

Grace gave him a confused look and then looked down at her toweled body and groaned.

"Oh god!" She nodded her head furiously and he quickly spun around to face the wall. She darted to her dresser and pulled on some sweats and a sweatshirt. "Okay." He slowly turned around and breathed out when he saw she was covered head to toe.

"Hey," he said softly. She couldn't help but smile. "What happened today?" he threw his arms out wide. Grace let her hands rest on her hips and looked down at the ground. She didn't know how to answer this question so she just bit her lip and bounced her leg nervously.

Jacob strode forward and cupped his hands under her face and gently lifted it so she was looking at him. She shook her head softly.

"Okay." he said and he wrapped her in a warm hug. She collapsed into his arms and wound her arms around his torso. Tears finally came and she pressed her face into his chest hoping the warmth of his body would burn them away. He rubbed her back and leaned his head on top of hers. She slowed her breathing and then stepped back from him.

"Is Sam okay?" she was able to muster. He rubbed his thumb against her cheek to wipe away the remaining tears. He laughed a little.

"Yeah, he's fine. It's not the first time one of us has broken a bone. He's more worried about you to be honest. What was that thing you put up and pushed them with?" Grace sucked in a deep breath.

"I honestly don't know. I think I did it in self defense when Sam reached for me. But I didn't mean to pull anything up. Everything else was kind of blur and then I got stuck when I was recasting until you showed up." Grace's hands shook and Jacob automatically took her hand in his. She let out a shaky breath. "It's never happened before."

Jacob just nodded looking at her with a contemplative stare.

"You have to tell Sam I have to come back to training. Being away from you-" she stopped and sucked in a breath, "Being away from the pack is making this worse." Jacob nodded and pulled her to him.

"I'll talk to him."

"And no more Alpha commands to shut me out." she muffled. He laughed again.

"That one might be a little more difficult to convince him of but I'll push it."

"I'm showing up tomorrow whether he likes it or not, so tell me what's going on now so I know what I'm walking into."

Jacob pulled her back from him keeping his hands on her upper arms and nodded. He filled her in on what they had been facing, the redhead that had been getting through their lines, how they didn't know what she was looking for or why she kept coming back, how fast she was, and what they were doing about it now.

Grace listened intently and while looking at Jake, she could see what he had seen on his rounds with the other wolves. As Jake talked to her, he automatically pulled her closer to him feeling the connection running through them and tying them together.

He also told her what he and Bella had talked about and how bad he felt for pushing her away but he thought it was the only way to keep her safe (and Grace safe apparently, but he withheld the deeper reason why). At one point when he stopped talking they just stared at each other for a quiet minute, Jacob swaying his body from side to side with her, almost slow dancing.

"Come to the rez tomorrow. I'll talk to Sam tonight, let him know you're looped in. He can't keep you out forever."

"Thank you," Grace smiled. They heard a thud downstairs that sounded like Charlie coming home. "I'll take care of Bella, don't worry." She put a hand up on his face and he nodded his thanks.

"I should go," he whispered. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head before jumping out the window and receding into the forest. Just as he reached the treeline, her door opened and Charlie peeked in.

"You alright?" he said quietly.

"Yeah! Just getting home?"

"Yeah, had to finish up some things at the station. Bella's on the couch," Charlie's voice was etched with worry.

"Oh yeah, she's fine, we just got back from a hike and she passed out on the couch."

"Oh, okay, well...try to stay out of the woods. Some hikers have been getting killed and we think it's an animal. I don't want you two getting hurt."

"Of course," Grace put her hands in the pockets of her sweatpants.

"Okay, well goodnight," Charlie shut the door behind him and Grace collapsed onto her bed.

One mess solved, another mess starts.