I woke to an empty bed the following morning, wondering how I'd not felt Bella climb over me and out of it. The last thing I could remember was waking briefly to change positions and re-closing my eyes as she hummed contentedly against my chest. I'd slept heavier than I could recall sleeping in over a year, but somehow I still felt tired. It almost hurt to stretch, like I'd been in the same stiff position for days rather than hours.

I stood as the grogginess faded and my chest ached in a way I couldn't explain. Our bond had felt strained sure, but this was something I'd never felt before. This was painful, a hard, hollow splinter lodged within my lungs, making it hard to take a deep breath.

I had to shove my face back into her pillow to get the slightest hint of her scent, which had thoroughly blended with mine, providing a twinge of comfort. Apparently, I'd become desensitized to her scent in the room throughout the night (whoever said wolves can't go nose blind?).

I wondered if the rest of the house would be the same. I suddenly craved a fresh, heavy hit of my imprint's unique floral scent, addicted, wanting it more than the deep breath I was struggling to take with this stupid fucking metaphorical splinter in my chest. I could usually sense her nearby, and I couldn't now.

Where is she?

I got up, dressed, and walked out the door before I knew where I was going. I could smell Kim cooking breakfast, but no sign of Bella. It was like she'd disappeared, and it was getting harder to breathe.

Jared sat at the table, smirking as I came into his view. "Smells like you had a fun night,"

Kim chuckled and shook her head, but didn't comment, which was more surprising than anything Jared might have tossed my way. I nearly expected her to gloat, giving me some speech over what she thought I 'needed' to do.

'Much like Leah would do now if she were here.' I was fully awake now and almost wished I'd stayed in bed.

The curiosity about her whereabouts was irritating the hell out of me. Absently, I reached up to rub the ache from the left side of my chest, ironically realizing the pain of my recently broken arm was entirely gone.

As calmly as possible, I asked, "Where is Bella?" I hoped they knew. I was prepared to track her if I had to.

Jared shrugged and I crossed the room to stand by Kim, desperate for answers. Kim swatted me with her spoon like Leah used to when I bothered her in the kitchen.

"What is this, you got laid and lost your manners?" She mumbled. "B went to see Charlie. He wanted to meet the puppy and make sure she was okay. Did you know his backyard has cameras now?"

I made a mental note of it. I didn't plan on doing anything to his daughter in broad daylight, but I'd have to be more conscious of phasing in the view of his camera. He was in on the pack secret, but I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate seeing any naked men on his back porch.

I sat down next to Jared. I wanted to run to Bella, but how could I without looking like a complete psychopath? I'd spent the last year avoiding her as much as possible, and now I wasn't sure how I'd managed. The pull was driving me mad. How the hell did Jared let Kim out of his sight? Especially with her being pregnant.

Between my anguish over my nephew and my imprint's suddenly intolerable distance, I was effectively losing my mind.

"So, how did it go with the lawyer?" Kim asked as she placed Jared's plate in front of him.

I hesitated. Paul wanted to be the one to break the news to Jake before anyone else knew, but Kim and Jared were our greatest allies in the pack. If we were to save him they'd all have to understand, eventually. I carefully relayed the story to them, not leaving out a single detail because Jared sometimes picked up on things we missed. I almost wished he'd been with us. He would have smelled the leech first and asked questions we hadn't thought to ask.

Jared suspected the bloodsucker who paid Casey off could be associated with Victoria. Nothing else made sense. "But," he wondered aloud, "where would she get that much money? How common was it for 'normal' vampires to have jobs?"

I couldn't see a reality where Victoria interacted with humans often yet deprived herself of killing them.

I said, "The Cullens have the money, but why would they threaten him? They aren't a violent group. The Leech I smelled wasn't anyone familiar, so it certainly wasn't Emmett or Jasper. They produced those documents for Paul last year to help us, so why would they work against us now? And surely they'd be able to cover their tracks well enough not to be found if they had to."

I couldn't blame Casey for leaving, and Ash was terrified, even if she didn't know who (or what) the vampire was. At least Casey was taking her with him. As humans, their safety was most important.

Still, a smaller, bitter part of me felt hurt. It revealed a hidden part of Casey's true character. He'd fled for his life without so much as a 'Kiss my ass' after weeks of conversations, lunches, spoken promises, and genuine determination... And thousands of dollars worth far less than the wasted time and effort on everyone's behalf.

He could have easily stopped for a burner phone, called me to fill me in, then tossed the damn thing.

I would have done no less for them, but I already knew how foolish it was to expect others to do the things for me I'd risk my neck to do for them. I wondered if he knew Ash had told us what little she had… and if he'd intentionally put his hide first, willingly leaving her behind to clean up the mess.

"I have a confession to make," Jared said, breaking the long silence as he pulled me from my thoughts. I realized I was rubbing the ache from my chest again, my knee bouncing steadily with impatience.

What the fuck could he have to confess? This piqued my interest.

Jared glanced toward Kim apprehensively. "What you're going through with Bella... well, it was a bit of a group effort, but you could say it was mostly my fault."

Kim moved to the table with her arms crossed. I didn't envy Jared. She clearly understood what he was saying more than I did. What had he done?

"I'm not following," I admitted.

Now Kim's glare turned toward me. "Really? Seth! Do you know any more about imprinting than Bella does?"

Apparently, not.

Gently, she explained, "We knew you'd have to get your head out of your ass if.. well, you know. If you 'sealed the bond.' Em didn't just break your arm because you're an asshole, though most of us agreed you deserved it just a little."

I harrumphed at her but smirked. I wasn't even mad about it. Kim probably would have done it herself if she'd been capable.

Jared said, "Taunting you about Quil, Quil flirting with Bella, kissing her forehead in front of you the way he did.." He slapped his arms down to his side in aggravation. "Now damn it, Seth, you can't tell me you truly thought Ateara would go after another wolf's girl. It was a ploy to get you to make a move on your girl. I feel bad because I didn't know what you were going through with the lawyer when I helped those two meddle in your relationship. All I did was tell them how hard it was to be away from Kim after we slept together the first time. Embry did all the scheming."

Kim reacted more quickly than I did. She slapped the back of Jared's head and muttered about how stupid he was under her breath.

I was more relieved than angry. I didn't want tension between me and Quil. I could live with him fucking with me to push me toward Bella. I couldn't live with him genuinely having feelings for or pursuing my imprint.

"Kim, you're more mad than I am, honestly," I told her. "I'm the one that didn't understand imprinting. I didn't want it and intentionally tried to deal with it as little as possible. I'm more interested in what you both make of this situation with the kid."

"Seriously?"

"Was Bella aware of the plan? Because she came on to me? P-pretty fucking intensely…" I chuckled at the memory. I couldn't help it.

"Nope," Jared laughed awkwardly, his ears turning red as he shook his head. "That was all her, buddy. I could still smell her all over the house when I got home."

It was amusing to see him look slightly uncomfortable for a change as I said, "Yeah, she said if I fucked her where you ate breakfast, you'd break my other arm."

Jared nearly sputtered but looked somewhat relieved.

"Oh my god," Kim muttered, burying her face in her hands as she tried not to laugh.

"I can't believe we're having this conversation," Jared said under his breath, watching Kim's subtle shaking beside him. Glancing back at me, he said, "You're honestly not pissed?"

"Nope. It is what it is." I reached up to rub my chest again. "It's annoying the shit out of me, but I'm not mad."

The fact of the matter was, if sleeping together altered our bond, there was nothing I could do to change it back. All I could focus on was finding my nephew and then adjusting to my new normal with my imprint.

"So," I asked. "Back on topic…"

"I don't know, Seth," Jared sighed. "The redhead is so damn good at losing us, we can't exactly follow her back to where she's coming from to see if there's a baby there."

Kim sat down, shaking her head. "It's not her. If it were, she'd taunt you about it. Probably even turn him and bring him back that way just to torment you… You guys said she's a real piece of work, right? And, realistically he won't phase until he's older. It would be a lot of work for her to raise him when it wouldn't pay off for a long time. With all of that in mind… I honestly assume if she had him, we would already know."

Kim's logic made sense. It made too much sense, though. If Victoria didn't have him, that left one possibility. The one I couldn't live with and kept trying like hell to deny; The Cullens.

Were they ever really on my side? Rosalie told me she was a friend of Leah's and was there for me, but she vanished. Alice saw the accident before it happened, or at least saw that something terrible would kill Bella, and she only saved Bella. She could've saved my family.

The Cullens knew about Victoria's group being in the area and did nothing to stop them. The nomads killed a dozen locals in Forks before Mom and Leah. Also, Edward knew about my imprint on Bella, that their parting was inevitable, yet he had continued to date Bella, anyway.

Had that been the missing piece this whole time? Was their plan to get rid of me somehow? Perhaps drive me insane or make me the monster I undoubtedly had the potential to become in Bella's eyes so she'd choose to stay with Edward instead?

Even if the Cullens were terrible people, it made little sense for them to keep Leah's baby. Why would they threaten Casey? Couldn't they just move instead, like they did at any other fucking time?

"Maybe it is the Cullens," Jared sighed again. "I met Emmett a few times, you know? Quil and I played Xbox with the guy. It's hard to believe he could steal Leah's child from us, even if he is a Leech. He's like.. a leech version of Quil. Someone you wouldn't expect this from."

I nodded. "I think we have to get to Alaska."

Jared, like Paul, asked me to sit with my plans. They needed to discuss this with Jake and Billy. To me, Jake meant roadblocks. He talked a big game, but he was afraid to face Sam. We all knew a leadership role wasn't something Jacob wanted, anyway. He never had. That's why he'd allowed Sam to keep the role when offered after Jacob's first phase. After the last year, there was no way Sam wouldn't fight to keep it now.

I'd considered the possibility of fighting Sam myself, but I had too many demons in my closet. I couldn't focus enough to train and wasn't ready to take him on today - or soon. Also, I spent too long running from Bella to give in to the pain I felt from the imprint so easily. I assumed I'd have to see her more often, but I wouldn't show her how desperate I already was to sense her nearby. It was such a simple thing yet incredibly distracting.

But, I would endure it, like all else. Aside from the search for my nephew, for now, all other sleeping dogs would lie.

It wasn't long before I left Jared and Kim to enjoy the rest of their morning alone. Paul's coworkers from the fire department organized a community cleanup in Forks and asked us to take part, so that was what I used to occupy my time while she was with Charlie. Kim and Jared soon joined us and I agreed to do some of the lighter but more tedious jobs to help monitor her.

Jared still hadn't proposed to Kim yet. The ring had to be burning a hole in his pocket. I considered ways to get the pack together without Sam and Emily as we worked. Bella's birthday was coming up. We could have a party at Charlie's, somewhere I could claim I had no right to invite them. It would be nice to spend some time with my brothers, too. I had caused the rift between us, but I still hated it.

Kim and I walked along the road together, picking up trash. She kept stopping and looking at me like she had something to say, then carrying on saying nothing.

"What's on your mind?" I wondered after the third time.

She sighed. "I want to be mad at you, but I can't. I just don't want you to disappear on Bella again. It won't be good for either of you. I know as soon as Paul finds out you slept together he's going to tell you to stay away from her and I just don't want you to do that."

I chuckled. Kim had never been a fan of Paul. Her concerns were justified, but she didn't know about Paul's deal with Leah.

She scoffed. "What's so damn funny?"

"You know Paul and Billy think spirits visit them in their dreams?" She nodded. "Paul says he finally saw Leah. She told him to be nicer to Bella, and he promised he would. You don't have to worry about it."

She tied off the bag we'd filled with trash and handed it to me. "I believe in that, too, you know. I've seen Sue and Harry. I wish Leah would visit me."

I hadn't known she believed in all of that. I would've been nicer in the way I talked about it if I had. I respected Kim. I respected Paul, too, but not in the same way. Besides, why in Hell did my family 'visit' everyone but me? It made little sense.

"Hey, so," I said as I passed Kim another bag. "How would you feel about throwing a surprise party for Bella? You know, for her upcoming birthday?"

She nearly dropped the bag and groaned as she bent to save it. "Seriously? You want to do something for Bella?" Despite the disbelief in her tone, she grinned.

"Shut up," I teased her. "I figured maybe we could use Charlie's backyard or something… but it would be better for you to ask than me. I'm not exactly his favorite person."

"Understatement," Kim muttered, low enough I'm sure she thought I wouldn't hear it for once. I ignored it. She wasn't wrong.

"I'll look into it, Seth," Kim said, grunting as she approached a slight incline. I rushed over to stop her and retrieved the old fast-food sack.

I teased, "How about you stay away from the drop-offs, huh? We should get you one of 'grab-y' things with the little claw at the end…"

"Don't make me kick your ass, Seth…"

"Can you get your foot that high right now?"

Kim's laugh burst through the air as she turned around, shuffling away from me. "Thanks, Seth. Now I have to pee."