Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight books. I'm only borrowing the characters and will return them mostly unharmed… except for Quil. He might need some therapy by the time I'm finished with him!

Claire sat quietly on the worn out sofa in Uncle Sam's living room. She exhaled with a huff, crossing her arms angrily and kicking at the pillow by her foot. A few hours had passed since she had last seen Quil. Where was he? He had literally picked her up, put her in his car, and driven over to Sam and Emily's house at a ridiculously dangerous speed. After shooting her a warning glance and telling her to stay put, he and Embry had quickly disappeared through the front door.

Claire huffed again and heard Emily shuffling around the kitchen and humming quietly to herself. She didn't even understand why she was listening to Quil: why couldn't she go home right now? What was keeping her here? As she stood up and moved to grab her coat to leave, the front door suddenly opened.

"Going somewhere?" Claire turned guiltily and looked up at Quil. He looked exhausted and she stared at the mysterious, raw scratch running down his arm. She heard Embry snickering from somewhere behind the towering figure in front of her. Drawing on her earlier frustration, she straightened her back and defiantly glared back at Quil.

"I'm going home." With that, she stepped forward and tried to move past Quil. A warm arm wrapped around her waist and halted her progress.

"You should stay a little longer, Claire. I can drive you home in a while." He pulled her away from the door and gently nudged her back towards the couch. Claire angrily gripped Quil's arm and whipped it away from her.

"I'm not going to stay. I don't have any idea what this is about. You just brought me here and disappeared. And then you expect me to sit down and do nothing?" She paused in her tirade and watched Sam and Embry sneak out of the room.

"It's not like that. If you would just listen―"

"Forget it. You can keep your damn secrets. I don't want to know anymore." She again tried to move around Quil.

"Stop it. Just relax and sit down and then we can talk."

"We don't have anything to talk about," she answered coldly even as she internally grappled with her nagging curiosity. Quil raised an eyebrow and propped a hand on his hip.

"Oh really? Then what's with all the questions you have been asking Emily for the past few weeks?" Claire blushed guiltily. He had caught her: her curiosity had gotten the best of her recently and she needed to get some answers. She also knew that Quil did not, for some reason, trust her enough to be honest with her. So, she had gone to Emily and asked her all the questions she had given up asking Quil about. Apparently, Emily didn't know how to keep her mouth shut. Claire crossed her arms and frowned. Her stubbornness demanded that she deny everything:

"I don't know what you are talking about," she sniffed.

"Hmm, you don't?" he questioned sarcastically. "You don't want to know about my mysterious night-time job or about my unnaturally large size or about my lack of aging? Yo've never noticed the weird cuts and bruises that I come home with occasionally? You've never asked why my temperature runs at a chilly 108 degrees?" Claire blushed again but remained silent. She had to literally clench her jaw to prevent herself from begging for answers.

"I can answer your questions, Claire, if you would just sit down." His voice took on a more forceful tone and she dutifully sat down on the weathered sofa. She could not resist the temptation to discover the truth behind the questions that had plagued her mind lately. Quil sighed and settled into the cushion.

"You are almost seventeen now, Claire-bear." Claire's eyes widened at Quil's random observation. She merely looked at him with a raised eyebrow and stayed silent.

"You aren't a child anymore." Claire's frustration got the better of her:

"Thanks for finally noticing. Did you also notice that I'm a girl?" Quil chuckled at her quip. He had definitely noticed that.

"What I mean to say is that I think you are ready to handle what I'm going to tell you." Claire's eyes widened at Quil's serious expression. He even seemed a little jittery and anxious. Was that… fear in his eyes? Quil nervously cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak. He inhaled sharply and closed his mouth before springing to his feet and walking out of the room. Claire looked around bewildered until Quil reentered the room with Sam and Embry in tow. She heard the back door in the kitchen open and close, followed by the voices of Seth, Paul, and Jared. The three large men squished into the tiny living room and stood solemnly behind Quil, providing silent support. The air was heavy with tension. Claire turned her wide eyes to the large man crouching at her feet with his palms resting on her knees.

"Q-Quil? What's going on?"

His answering silence was not promising. Her mind raced as she tried to stay calm and not panic. She was not clueless: she had heard the rumors about Uncle Sam and the alleged gang that he led. She knew that Quil worked at night with the large men surrounding her. Could Quil really belong to a gang? He wouldn't do anything illegal, would he? She suddenly regretted all the prying questions she had been asking. All she had wanted to do was to confirm Quil's innocence. She never suspected that the rumors could actually be true!

Quil! In a gang! She shuddered at the thought: she was in the room with SIX possible gang members. She knew that they would never hurt her, but that did not prevent a little shiver of fear from crawling down her spine. She broke away from her thoughts as Quil cleared his throat again:

"There's something you need to know about us." Oh, God! It was true!

"No! No, no, no, no, no." She sprang off the couch and stood with her palms facing outward, halting Quil's confession. "No! I don't want to know!" Quil's jaw dropped slightly and he stood from his crouch. He looked at Claire in disbelief.

"You don't want to know? You've been nagging Emily and me for answers for months!"

"Y-yea… but the less I know, the better! Just keep me out of whatever you are doing!" She clenched her fists and tried to calm her pounding heart. The other men in the room decided that now would be the right time to creep out. Suddenly, Quil and Claire were alone.

"Claire… I can't do this anymore. I've come too far to quit now, so you have to listen to what I have to say."

"No, it's alright, Quil. I really don't have to know anything."

"Yes, you do! This is important!" She shook her head. She couldn't bear to think of Quil as a criminal. It would destroy their friendship... relationship… whatever this was. Claire turned around and tried to escape the room.

"Claire!" She tried to suppress the shiver of delight as he grasped her hands and pulled her to his warm body, preventing her from leaving. He inclined his head and looked straight into her eyes.

"I'm a werewolf."

Ooohhhh cliffie for you guys! This chapter's question was "What's going on?" Happy Election Day to all my American readers!