Jake had just told us that Paul was taken into custody.

"What? Why? Where?" I asked in succession as his words sunk in.

"How do we get him out?" Leah demanded behind me.

"A deputy went to Sue's and saw Paul holding Emily. This deputy knew that Emily was Sam's ex and jumped to a conspiracy theory. He's working on convincing Charlie to arrest Emily too."

"Why are you coming to us?" I asked. "Why aren't you trying to convince Charlie to let him go."

"Leah," Billy said, "you need to make a statement saying that Paul was with you when you heard the gunshot."

"I already told Charlie that." Leah said, indignant.

"I know, but you need to go down to the station and make an official statement. Charlie went to your house to tell Sue about Harry. Everything else was off the cuff."

"Ok, Jake, can you drive us?"

He nodded.

"I'll go tell Tiffany." Billy volunteered. That made me uncomfortable. The idea of my parents spending time alone together felt threatening somehow. No, Billy felt like a threat to my mom.

"Should I go with you, Billy?" I offered.

Leah gripped my hand. "I need you with me."

I nodded. I gave Billy a warning glare, hoping he got my drift, then got in the car with Leah and Jake. Jake drove and Leah and I sat in the back together.

"No one wants the front seat, huh? That's fine. I'm not offended." Jake said.

"We're leaving that spot open for Paul." I said.

There was chaos at the station. Bella was there, yelling at Charlie. I wasn't even sure she had met Paul, but here she was, coming to his defense. She was already proving herself as pack.

Charlie approached us. "I'm letting him go. It was a misunderstanding."

"I'm not leaving until I give my testimony. I don't want any more of these misunderstandings." Leah stated angrily.

Charlie nodded and led Leah down a corridor. She dragged me with her.

"Does your boyfriend need to be here, Leah?"

"My dad just died. He's my emotional support."

"Does he own a shirt?"

"No, he doesn't, not that it has anything to do with my testimony, Charlie. And he's not just my boyfriend. He's Billy Black's firstborn son, so show some respect."

Charlie eyed me suspiciously. "Embry Call?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Well, damn, sorry for being rude. Your dad and I go way back. Pleased to meet you, son." He held out his hand for me to shake.

I shook it, but I was more confused than ever. Why would he show an ounce of respect for me? I was still Billy's bastard.

"Let's get on with the testimony," I suggested.

"Yes, of course," Charlie nodded. He sat us down and asked Leah some of the same questions he asked before. He had a tape recorder and took notes.

"That's all we need. Paul should be waiting with Jake by now. I'm sorry for all this. It shouldn't have come to this at all."

Leah asked, "Anything back from forensics that will clear him?"

"No, that always takes a few days." Charlie looked at me and continued, "But your dad, Billy, has given consent to the autopsy, so that helps a great deal."

"Good," I said. It was so weird to have Billy referred to as my dad. He wasn't really my dad but also was. Harry had felt more like a dad than Billy.

In the lobby, Paul was sitting with Jake. Bella was on Jake's lap. Paul bounced to his feet when he saw us. "Can we get out of here? This place creeps me out."

"Jake, can we go?" I asked.

"Yeah, Bella, thank you, I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed her but not for too long.

Paul was jittery the whole way home. Jake dropped us all off at my mom's. Paul was so nervous going in.

My mom came right up and gave him a huge hug.

"Paul, if Billy hadn't convinced me that you were on your way home, I was going to go right down to the station and yell at them until they let you out."

Paul hugged her back. "Thank you, ma." He was taking deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves.

"I can't believe they did that to you. It's been a horrible day and they just made it worse."

"Yeah," he said.

Mom pulled Leah into the hug. "You guys saw horrible things today. No one should have to see that, especially when it's your family and friend who passed." Leah pulled me into the hug too. We were all surrounding Paul.

"Mom, can we help with supper?" I offered.

"No, I made a double batch of ziti bake, Paul's favorite. It will be ready in about 20 minutes."

"Aw, ma, you didn't have to do that," Paul said.

"Paul, I am so proud of you. You offered Sam your home, you stayed to talk to the police when Leah was too emotional, understandably," she said, turning to Leah, "and you kept your cool through this false accusation."

"I didn't really keep my cool. I was a ball of nerves. Still am."

I heard the toilet flush, then the water running in the bathroom. Billy rolled out.

Mom addressed him, "Billy, I can't thank you enough for telling Leah so she could get Paul out."

"No problem, Tiff. We all love Paul. It wasn't right, what they did to him."

"Paul, what I don't understand is: why were you at the Clearwaters at lunch time? It's Tuesday. Why weren't you in school?"

Paul was a complete ball of nerves all over again. He thought she was going to kick him out.

"Mom," I blurted out, "I've been keeping a secret from you. Have you heard of the old Quileute legends, the ones that say that the Quileute people are descended from wolves?"

She looked at Billy like she was looking for permission. He nodded. "Yes, I have heard of those legends," she admitted.

"Billy, what does she know?" I asked.

"She knows that the shifters protect the tribe from the cold ones, and that I believe that they are real."

"Ok." I pulled down my shorts, kicked them to Leah and phased.

"Oh," she said, staring at me. "Embry, is that you?"

I nodded, shifted back and pulled up my shorts. "Mom, I'm the alpha of the current wolf pack, or, Leah and I are the alpha pair. Paul is my second in command. I told him he could drop out and get his GED. He missed too much school from when Sam was in charge for it to even make sense, him still going. He's smart enough to get his GED. He doesn't have college ambitions. It was my decision, mom, so don't be mad at him."

"Oh," mom said. "But you're still going to school, Embry?"

"Yes, except I did leave early when I heard the gunshot today."

"Oh. I'm not mad, Paul. I would have liked to have known sooner, but I understand." Paul had his eyes closed, waiting to be kicked out. Mom reached over and held his hand. "Billy, can I adopt him?"

Paul's eyes shot open. "You want to?"

"Of course, if I can. I think if I were your legal guardian, it would have helped today. Can't that help in the GED process?"

"Yes," Billy answered.

"How old are you, Paul?" Mom asked.

"I'll be seventeen in July." Paul Lahote surprised me again. I had always assumed he was older than me. When we were younger, he was one of the smaller ones in our class but he was so scrappy and confident. I was sure he was older.

"What do I need to do to adopt him?" Mom asked.

"Well, he's currently a ward of the tribe, which makes the process much simpler, an internal issue for the council. I can bring over the paperwork tomorrow and set up a council meeting on Thursday."

"And then he'd be mine?"

"Then we'd have to file the paperwork with the state, but we would grant you temporary guardianship until that went through."

"Paul, would that be okay with you?"

"And then I'd be your kid forever, not just until I was eighteen? Like even when I'm forty you'd want me home for Christmas?"

"Yeah, and I'd want you to come over for weekly dinners, too."

"I'd really like that." Paul said.

The baked ziti was delicious. We stretched the meal out with the rice mixture Paul had in the fridge.

"So is the whole wolf thing the reason you guys eat so much?" Mom asked.

We all nodded. Leah added, "I never skip lunch. Embry just told you that to try to explain away my monstrous portion sizes."

"Ah, I see."

After dinner, Leah said she needed to see her mom. Emily, Seth and Sue were in a fretful state when we got there.

"Is Paul ok?" Emily cried when she saw us.

"Yes, we got him out and I made a statement. It's all ok, Emily. He'll be here tomorrow."

"Maybe he shouldn't." Emily was wringing her hands. "That's what got him in trouble in the first place."

"He won't stay away. He cares too much for you, Emily," I said. I watched her reaction and she blushed slightly. I really needed to talk to Paul about their relationship.

The five of us sat around the TV, staring mindlessly at it. But we were together. I was startled when Paul knocked on the back door. "Pack meeting!" He called.

We had forgotten about the pack meeting! We went outside. I was exhausted. The whole pack was exhausted. "Let's sit." I said and we all sat on the lawn. "Does everyone know what happened today?" Everyone nodded. "Does anyone have anything to share from patrols?" No one said anything. "Does anyone have anything to say about what happened today? Any advice for the grieving and weary?"

"Hugs help," Paul said.

I nodded. "I think it's important to remember that we're grieving two people. We think Sam murdered Harry but he was our packmate. We shared a mind with him. Some of us loved him once. It's okay to grieve for both people. It's not a betrayal."

Leah looked at the grass. "Don't forget Allison," she said, "She lost her only son, her only family. If any of you know her, bring her a meal or something. I think Emily and I will do that tomorrow."

"Anyone else?" No one said anything. "Ok, we need to cover Sam's runs. Does anybody want his midnight run."

"Can I swap it for my 6am run?" Jared asked.

"I'll take his 6am run." Paul volunteered, "Then Leah and I can alternate through the school day."

"No," Leah protested, "that would give you four shifts and I would get two. You take six and eight, I'll take ten through two."

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of alternating so we have fresh eyes on the ground?" Paul looked at me, like he wanted me to give him the extra patrols.

"I'm with Leah. You need to sleep sometimes, Paul. With Sam gone, we might be getting new pups to replace him."

"Who's left to phase?" Paul asked.

"I don't know, where can we go to find out?" I asked.

"Old Quil." A chorus answered.

Run times

Midnight - Jared

2a - Paul

4a - Embry

6a - Paul

8a - Paul

10a - Leah

Noon - Leah

2p - Leah

4p - Seth

6p - Jared

8p - Jake

10p - Quil

"Ok, so run times are settled. Anything else to discuss?"

"Emily." Paul said. "Should she be encouraged to go back to Makah, to her family?"

"Her family life wasn't great," Leah said. "I'd rather she stay with my family. If she chooses to go home, that's fine. But I don't want anyone suggesting it to her."

"And what about guard duty for her? Does Seth still have to watch her? Do I?" Paul asked.

Leah was outraged. "Paul, you better not fucking abandon her tomorrow, the day after Sam died. She needs you."

"I'm not planning on it, Leah. I need her too. I just want to know what the orders are."

I said, "The orders are: make your own choice. Paul, Seth, Leah, you should all be making your own choice as far as how much you'll be there for Emily. She can't rely on false security or false relationships. If you don't want to be there, don't."

Leah glared at Paul. "I can't order him to be there for her?" She asked me.

"I'm going to be there, Leah." Paul said, but he wouldn't look her in the eye. "I just wanted to know what the rules were, what the plan was. I'm not going anywhere. I want to keep her around forever but I don't want to be selfish. I want what's best for her, not what's best for me. I just wanted to know what you guys had planned for her."

"Great, now you know. Any other business to discuss?" I asked hastily. "No? You're all dismissed. Paul, hang back."

When everyone had dispersed, I opened up. "Paul, first, I'm thrilled you're going to be my brother. Thrilled."

"Me too. Me too."

"But I'm worried about you and Emily. I'm worried you're going to get hurt. She just got out of an abusive relationship and now her ex is dead. She's not exactly emotionally available."

"Oh, I know. It's not like that, Embry. She's my friend and I love her, but it's not romantic. I just said that sexual stuff to piss off Sam. She's my best friend other than you."

"Good, I'm just a little worried about you, brother."

"Thank you, I appreciate that." He hugged me. I hugged him back. I really was happy that he'd be my real brother. In many ways, he felt more like a brother than Jacob.

Paul walked into the woods and I walked into the house. Sue had gone to bed so the rest of us sat on the couch for a bit. Seth and Emily went to bed after the show we were watching was over.

"I need to sleep with my mom tonight." Leah said.

"Ok." I agreed. "I'm staying on the couch though."

"You better." She kissed me good night.

She went to her mom's room and I stretched out on the couch. I was so tired, I fell asleep fast.

I woke up several hours later to Leah crawling on me. She was laying flat on my stomach.

"Hi." I said.

"Shhh. Sleep now." She said and snuggled her head onto my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and quickly fell back asleep.

I woke at four for my run and Leah was still sleeping on top of me.

"Baby, I've got to patrol." I said.

"No. Sleep." She said drowsily.

"I've got to," I said, trying to slide her off of me and onto the couch. She clung to me so I sat up.

"What are you doing?" She asked sternly.

"Baby, I've got to patrol," I repeated.

"Are you going home after?"

"Yeah, I've got some homework."

"Ok, I'll see you there." She started to get up.

"I'll walk you."

We walked hand in hand down the street at 4am. Neither of us said anything. When we got to our house I kissed her cheek at the door. "I won't be long."

I ran as fast as I could while still doing a valid patrol. I kept my head up but with the redhead taken out, I didn't know what to look for. More white streaks? If the olive skinned one was here, he would easily blend into the forest.

I walked up the stairs to our bedroom. Leah was naked in our bed, awake. I grabbed my backpack and brought it to bed with me. I needed to finish the write up for a chem lab and some math problems. Leah watched me work. When I packed everything away and snuggled with her, she kissed me.

"It's such a turn on watching you work so hard."

"Huh. I never imagined that homework could be erotic."

"You make everything erotic, Embry." She was pulling me into a kiss and rubbing her hand up and down my abs and chest. Her thumb traced my ring of scars.

"Oh shit," I was hard.

"Why didn't we think of that yesterday?" Leah wondered.

"We weren't ready yesterday, I'm pretty sure."

"I'm going to suck you off," she said.

"If that's what you want."

"Do you want to eat me out and fuck me after?"

"I do. I think I can squeeze it in before school."

"So romantic." She said, then she started licking the tip. The thing she did, flicking her tongue under the rim of my tip, I loved that.

An hour later while we were snuggling, I asked, "Do you want me to stay home today?" It was time for me to start getting ready for school. "I can have Jared collect my assignments. It's probably not going to be a real school day anyway."

She inhaled sharply. "I'd rather you stayed home, but it's really up to you."

"Ok, I'll stay. I'll text Jared and he'll get Kim to help, since we're in most of the same classes together."

"What's Kim like? I don't think I've ever said a word to her."

"I don't really know. She's quiet. All her friends are girls. I don't think she ever dated before Jared."

"So she's like the girl version of you?" Leah said, trying not to laugh.

"My chest is bigger!" I countered.

"Ah yes, I have also seen her topless in the pack mind."

"Should we try to get to know her? Draw Jared into the pack more?"

"Probably. The whole pack is very tight knit except for Jared."

"Jared was Sam's beta."

"Guilt by association?" Leah asked.

"I wish. He was kind of gross about the money that Sam embezzled. I don't think he has integrity."

"Does his wolf?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean, even though Sam was a fuckhead, I admired and respected his wolf. I haven't really taken notice of Jared or his wolf but now I'm beginning to wonder."

"Hmmm. I didn't think of them as separate. What is my wolf like?"

"Regal, confident, alpha. That's who you are as a man too, you just suppress it sometimes. It becomes more prominent every single day, though."

I kissed her then. "You're amazing. I don't know how I was alpha for even a minute without you."

"We're better together." I nodded and kissed her again.

Leah called me out of school that day, pretending to be my mom. We went to her mom's after breakfast. Seth had stayed home too. No one was in a good mood, but sleep had done everyone some good.

"Where did you go last night?" Sue asked Leah.

"I slept with Embry on the couch then went home when he had to patrol."

"You and Embry both slept on the couch? At the same time?" Sue asked in disbelief.

"Double Decker," I explained.

Sue blinked. "Leah, that's not nice."

"It was nice," I defended Leah, wrapping my arms around her to protect her from any scolding.

"Are you well rested, Embry?" Sue asked me.

"Yeah, as well rested as I can be. I have to get up at four to patrol and then I stay up to get my homework done before school."

"Who makes you get up at four every morning?"

I chuckled. "I make the schedule and this suits me best."

"If you say so."

Paul came in after his patrol and sat with Emily, his arm around her shoulder. I took Leah's noon time patrol and vowed to take that patrol on the weekends too.

People started coming over that day, bringing casseroles and condolences. Some people eyed Paul and Emily suspiciously. Word of his arrest had gotten around but he was very chill about it.

After lunch, Charlie came by. They had gotten the autopsy done and had established Harry's time of death between eight and nine, which meant Paul was cleared. Paul looked white as a ghost.

"What's wrong, son," Charlie asked. "This is good news for you."

"The gunshot was around noon. Sam was in the house with the body all that time?" Paul asked.

"It seems so."

"Have you told Allison?" I asked.

"No, it is not related to the death of her son, not physically at least. But it will come out once the report is filed."

"What was the cause of death for Harry?" I asked.

"The cause of death was strangulation, but there was blunt force trauma to the head and chest and stomach. I'm not sure he would have made it even if he wasn't strangled. Sam beat him up good. The strangulation might have ended his suffering, not that that was necessarily Sam's intention."

"Thank you, Charlie," I said. "This is all so grim but we do need to know."

"What happened to your chest, son?" Charlie asked me then, eyeing the Ring of Scars.

"It's a tribal tattoo, an ancient one," I explained calmly.

"I see. Sorry to pry," Charlie stood. "I'll be off then. I'll be back with any news and I think Bella will be coming by bringing a lasagna for all three affected households, including yours Lahote. She's still mad at me about your arrest and I feel awful too. It just made a bad situation worse. A lasagna is the least we can do."

"That's very kind sir. I've heard excellent things about Bella's cooking." Paul said.

"Ok, you all take care."

When the door shut behind Charlie, Paul started pacing. "What's up, Paul?" I asked.

"When I patrolled at ten, Sam was in the pack mind, you know, the telephone system. He was sitting by the couch, I could see it in the pack mind. He was staring at the wall, like he did that day when we swapped couches, remember Embry?"

"Yeah, it was weird. That's what he was doing when we brought him mattresses, too. So Harry was already dead…"

"And he was right next to him for an hour in wolf form."

"And he never thought about Harry?"

"No! His mind was blank. It had been for all of our shared patrols. I thought he was getting really great at guarding his thoughts and I was proud of him. How fucked up is that? I was proud of him!" Paul was still pacing.

Emily looked a little stressed out by the pacing. She stood up and walked with him. He held her hand as they paced together, alternating hands whenever they turned around. Their synchronization was impressive.

"I feel like… I shared my mind with him for so many hours… so many hours… what if he's distorted my mind in some way. I didn't even notice how fucked up he was."

"You're not alone, Paul." Emily sympathized, still pacing with him. "I didn't realize how bad things were either. It was normal for me, how he treated me and how he behaved. I've been thinking about that. What warning signs should I have seen? How could I have prevented this? But we can't all blame ourselves. Only Sam did this. We were actively trying to help him, and so was Harry."

Paul sighed. He stopped pacing. Emily stopped too. He gave her a big hug, but a gentle hug. He breathed in her hair. I was concerned for him all over again. Maybe Leah should talk to Emily. Maybe I was reading it all wrong.

Leah got up to do her 2pm patrol. "Will you be here when I'm done?"

"That's what I was planning. Is that ok?" I asked.

"Yeah." She kissed me on the cheek and ran out the pack door.

"Want to play a board game, Seth?" I asked.

"Ok," he said, "or a card game. That will be a good change of pace instead of sitting in front of the TV."

That's how Leah found us when she returned. We dealt her into the next round. We had a few laughs. I knew that time had to pass for us all to heal, so I made it my mission to make it pass just a little easier each day.