Chapter 17: With Power
"That smells pretty damn awful, ya really think mixin' more sugar in it is gonna help?" Peter drawls as I absentmindedly stir the green tea I've been forced to drink since being told to limit my caffeine intake due to my surprise pregnancy. I take a swig of the hot liquid and twist my face in displeasure, causing him to chuckle.
"This tastes like shit." I pout.
He shakes his head, and I catch my face reflected in his mirrored aviators, frowning when I see the dark circles around my eyes, "It smells like shit too, although I can't say I ever tasted shit to be able to understand yer comparison'." He grins at me, and I roll my eyes.
Peter was headed to the rez when the usual overcast sky turned sunny, so he needed to duck for cover and I'd met him at a coffee shop in Forks. The covered outdoor seating was nice, even if the weather was starting to turn cold, however the heaters the shop had installed on their patio kept the chill down.
"Trust me, you don't want to taste this." I replied grumpily and I felt him nudge my foot with his boot under the table.
"Ya know that my brother has been ta college a bunch of times, dontcha?" He asked and I furrowed my brow at him, "I know ya can't 'zactly find yerself one of them head shrinks 'round town, with all ya been through thought ya might like to talk to someone. Jasper's got one of those fancy psychiatry degrees."
"I'm fine." I replied, my usual response when people pressed me to talk, and he shook his head in response.
"Naw ya ain't, and I ain't the only one ta see it. I don't need one of them fancy college degrees ta know ya ain't doin' fine little girlie." He replied and then pushed his cup towards me, "it's sumthin' called half caf or whatever shit, I won't tell if'in you don't."
I grabbed the coffee and took a grateful sip, relishing the flavor. I sat the cup down and smiled briefly, "Thanks, Pete."
"Have ya heard from him?"
I know exactly who the "him" is in Peter's question, and the answer remains the same. My mate, the father of the baby I am carrying, has once again gone missing. Jake was infuriated, because not only was Sam gone, but he was also purposely keeping his thoughts quiet, barely checking in with the rest of the pack.
"Thought you weren't bringing him up today." Paul says before pressing his lips to the top of my head and dropping into the seat next to me. I glance over and also see Jake, who gives me a tense smile before taking the last chair at our table.
"Where's Jasper?" Jake asks, going straight to business and I glance over at Paul. My brother looks stoic, but he pulls my chair closer to his so he can throw his arm around me, pulling me into his warmth.
"Same place he was the last time ya asked." Peter replies and I wish I could see his eyes, "Tendin' ta business."
"Is it pack busines?" Jake asks tensely, and Paul tries to distract me with an offer of dessert, which I shake off and continue to watch the tension between the alpha and vampire.
"What er ya gettin' at?" Peter challenges.
"If he's with Sam I have a right to know. I'm alpha of this pack and there's no reason your coven leader should be conducting his business with any other pack member than me." Jake retorts.
"Yer pack ain't doin' so hot under yer leadership, and Sam havin' to take off every other minute ain't helpin' a damn thing when it comes to lil' bit here. You know yer already on thin ice with the omission-"
"Enough!" Jake hisses and I turn towards him.
"Ya need to stop hidin' shit that impacts her and the kid." Peter snarled, "Ya already fucked up by hidin' shit from Sam."
"What are you hiding from Sam?" I ask and Jake refuses to make eye contact with me, "What aren't you telling me, Jake?"
"Yeah, Jake, what aren't ya tellin' her." Peter sneers and I hear a low growl coming from Paul, "Seems ta me that yer all holdin' out, and this lil' bit right here has every right ta know."
"We decide what Bells needs, not you or your bloodsucking friends." Paul says in a strained voice.
"Pipe down pup, ya don't want ta hurt her again." Peter says and Paul darts away from the table and into the forest, where I assume he's gone to phase.
"Peter, that was fucked up." I chastise the vampire but he is in no mood to argue, instead focusing directly on Jake.
"Shouldn't ya go after him?" Peter asks Jake.
"Embry is out there, and you need to shut the fuck up." Jake replies angrily and Peter just chuckles and shakes his head.
"What omission?" I cut off any further argument and Jake shoots daggers at Peter, "One of you needs to tell me, and I know which one it should be." I glare at my best friend, "Jake, what omission?"
"It isn't important-"
"It damn sure is important, it affects her too, and her lil' one. I'm givin' you grace to tell her yerself, but if'in ya don't I will." Peter says pointedly.
"Shut the fuck up hillbilly!" Jake replies and I kick at Jake's shin below the table, bringing his focus back to me.
"Why does it affect my baby? What's going on?" I ask and Jake sighs deeply before taking my hands across the table in his.
"We aren't the only active shifters." Jake says quietly, mindful of anyone overhearing.
"I already know that there are other shapeshifters. The Volturi alluded to it when I was there." I dismiss, "Why would that have any impact on us?"
Jake says nothing more and I see Peter lean closer to him and look him in the eye before turning towards me, "Not other shapeshifters, lil' one, other pack. Jacob here is the alpha of this generation's pack, which he believes is his by birthright. It's not, and that's why Sam is able to defy 'im."
I look over at Jake and he's looking down at the table, "Jake?"
"Sam should be here talking to you. Not me, and absolutely not you," Jake all but hisses at Peter, but to the vampire's credit he doesn't even flinch, "but I can't deny that you're right about one thing, she should know." He sighs and then turns to look at me, "Bells, I know you can handle anything, you've proven just how strong you are time and time again. Our only hesitation has been because in telling you exactly what is going on, we are sharing parts of Sam's story that we're not sure that the two of you have talked about. How much do you know about his father?"
"I know his name is Joshua Uley, and that he abandoned Sam when he was a baby." I answer hesitantly.
"Has Sam ever told you anything else? Maybe about our legends?" Jake presses.
"Jake, please just tell me. Sam's my imprint, my mate, and we're having a baby. Is he gone for good? Are you telling me that he's going to do just like his father and take off because it's too much?" I feel the tears leaking down my cheeks, and the icy touch of Peter's fingertips as he reaches for my hand, "Is Sam gone for good?"
"No, sug, nothin' like that." Peter replies, and when I glance between him and Jake, I can tell they're having a conversation that only their enhanced hearing could pick up. I want to scream at them to just fucking tell me, but I realize that whatever they have to say is something that is going to potentially hurt me, and neither of them want that to happen, "When that fight happened between yer brother and yer mate, it kicked off a chain of events that I don't think none of 'em expected. More than just them Cullen's takin' ya, sug, it also opened some wounds that might not have healed up."
"Just tell me, please." I beg him and he wipes my tears with his cool thumbs.
"Let me do this." Jake says and he grasps the hand that Peter is not holding, "Sam's father is Joshua Uley, just like you already know. I also know you've heard the rumors about him, and to be completely honest some of them are true, but what our people don't realize is that much like Sam, Josh also phased alone, with no prior warning about our legends being true."
"Sam never told me that his father was a shifter too."
"He didn't know." Jake replies, "As far as Sam knew, Josh couldn't handle being a teenage parent, and he left. Allison didn't know either, and she was ill equipped at seventeen to take care of a baby by herself. None of us knew that Josh also was a shifter, and when he took off he probably thought he was losing his mind, kind of like Sam did when he phased that first time."
"How do you know any of this?" I ask and Jake takes a deep breath before continuing.
"Because we started feeling another wolf presence right around the time you were kidnapped. Some of the pack had seen him, he's almost identical to Sam when he's in wolf form, and we all thought it was Sam going feral."
"Oh my God… it was Josh?"
Jake doesn't answer, and I look at Peter. The vampire is looking down at the table, but senses my distress and answers, "Yeah, it's Josh and there's no way these boys woulda known. Hell, me, Char and Jasper couldn't even tell the differences in smell in tha two of 'em, they look and smell 'zactly alike when they're shifted."
"I didn't know Bells, none of us did, and I challenged Sam thinking it was him this entire time-"
I abruptly stand, and Jake stops talking, "Now Sam thinks he's the crazy one. He tried to take responsibility for what happened, but even when he was explaining it to me, but I could tell he was confused."
"Yer Sam may have acted out of character when you was kidnapped, fer sure, but it won't Sam who was tryin' to attack Char, Jasper and me, it was his daddy. The older wolf is the Alpha of last generation's wolf pack, and he was jus' doin' what these here shifters are driven by their instincts ta do." Peter interjects and I gape at Jake.
"Josh was alone for a long time because he had no idea any of our legends were true. Quil's dad likely phased too and ended up dead because of a vampire, that's the best we can guess. My dad said his body was never found, and Old Quil for years has said that Quil IV's spirit was not at rest."
"How are you all just figuring this out, Jake? After all this time you're just now realizing that there was another wolf out there?"
"It's because our fucked up father phased too, Bells, and he's on the run now." Paul says quietly as he drops next to me again, "Josh was a lone wolf for a long fucking time, Billy or Harry should have phased back then too and no one can quite figure out why they didn't… just like no one right now can figure out how Jerome just now fucking phased after literal years of his uncontrolled anger," he shook his head almost violently, "now that motherfucker has phased while locked up and probably blown our secret."
I begin to walk away from the table, and all three supernatural beings rush after me, with my brother stopping me in my tracks, "Let me go, Paul."
"Go where?" His cinnamon eyes meet mine and I break down in sobs. I don't fight him when he pulls me flush against his chest and wraps me in his warm embrace.
Sam had been gone for three days when I received the news that my stepfather had succumbed to his extensive injuries. Instead of having my mate's support, I relied on my brothers, uncle and friends, especially Leah whose own father was now hospitalized after suffering from a heart attack. Harry Clearwater's abrupt first phase at the age of thirty-eight put strain on an already undiagnosed heart condition, and he teetered on the edge of life and death in the barely functioning rez hospital.
Old Quil was trying desperately to figure out what was causing the older generation to phase, especially since the presence of the Cullens in Forks had never triggered one of them before. His suspicion that his own son was also a wolf was proven when Quil Ateara IV, who was long presumed dead, showed up at the entrance of the reservation looking like a man who had been through hell and back. It was evident that Quil IV was terrified, and that he had suffered from the same type of memory tampering under vampire thrall that I had. Old Quil immediately set out to cleanse his son, with the hope that the man could shed some light on where he had been for so many years.
Our pack set out to find Sam, Josh and Jerome, while Leah and Seth stayed behind to protect the rez, and to watch over their father.
I could feel the imprint bond, the pull in my chest that was aching to return my mate. It was two weeks to the day that Sam had taken off that I found myself standing on the very cliff he'd once taken me to, before I knew anything about imprinting, shapeshifting or the pack. As the cold wind whipped around, I stared down into the black depths of the churning ocean below and cried. I couldn't understand my place anymore, the only father I'd really ever known was now dead, losing his life trying to protect myself and my mother. The same mother who all but sold me out to a group of vampires because she was obsessed with becoming one herself. My mate was missing, my birthfather a fugitive on the run, one of my oldest friends was getting to know his father after an over fifteen year absence, while my closest friends who were practically like my own siblings were losing theirs.
I heard the crack of a twig, and I turned around suddenly, standing face to face with the silver wolf of my brother. Not once has Paul dared phase near me since the accident, and I am shocked to see him standing stoically in front of me, "Paul," my voice broke through a sob and the wolf made no move to approach me, instead he whined loudly and exhibited signs of distress, "it's okay. It was an accident, neither you nor Sam meant to hurt me. Please Paul, I need you."
The wolf stood still, but a slight nod of his head, and a jerky movement of his head reminded me that if he were to phase I would see much more of my brother than I wanted, so I turned around, wrapping my arms tightly around my torso while listening to the familiar sound of a wolf phasing human.
"Are you decent?" I asked over my shoulder, and I got a hum in the affirmative, and when I turned around again I quickly realized that this was not my brother, even though I was looking into the same cinnamon eyes I shared with him.
And apparently with our father as well.
"Jerome?" I asked tentatively and he nodded his head. Much like Quil IV, he looked haggard, wearing a dirty and torn pair of prison issued scrub pants with no shirt or shoes. He reached out, edging closer to me and I recoiled. Without thinking I stepped further back on the cliff, feeling the gravel slipping under my foot. Before I could lose my balance, hot hands were gripping onto my arms, pulling me back to safety as the first crack of lightning lit up the dusky sky. I threw my arms around the man, who quickly reciprocated and held me tight against his chest.
"I'm so sorry." He kept repeating and I sobbed against him, "I never knew. I'm so fucking sorry."
At his confession, the storm finally came, and freezing rain was pouring onto us. He picked me up and began running, and I swallowed back bile as my stomach churned. I buried my head in his neck and kept my eyes closed as he sprinted through the forest, and he did his best to keep me protected from the elements. He ran directly to the little rundown house that Paul had showed me, his childhood home that only held awful memories of a man who was battling a wolf.
"How are you here?" I whisper as he wraps towels around my shivering body. He drops next to me on the couch, wrapping me up and trying his best to warm me.
"I felt you calling me home." He replied and I furrowed my brow at him, "You're my daughter. I've always known where you were, even if I didn't understand why. She took off with you, never even told me you existed, but I always knew." He replied in a scratchy voice, "I'm so sorry, Isabella, I am so sorry."
"Bella." I chattered and he nodded.
"Bella suits you," he replied, and I feel him nodding against me. He just rocks me, softly singing a Quileute lullaby that I somehow remember from my childhood, and when the door opens neither of us move.
"Get the fuck out of my house." Paul growls and Jerome moves so he is between my brother and me.
"We need to talk, son-"
"Fuck you!" Paul spat, "You are no fucking father. You know who is a father? Charlie. He fucking raised me when you murdered my mother and an entire fucking family!"
"You think I wanted any of that?" Jerome asks calmly, "Son, please give me a little of your time. Let me explain some things, and if you still want me to leave, I will."
"Please." I beg from behind Jerome and Paul stops pacing. He finally meets my eyes and cautiously approaches me, but I continue to hide.
"I will never hurt you again. Never, you hear me Bells? I am so sorry." Paul says and Jerome pulls me gently from behind him, wrapping his arms around me and pressing a kiss to my head.
"Bella, you need to hear this too." Jerome says and finally Paul and I sit down, "Before I begin, I need you to get the council over here. Plus, your pack alpha."
"He's out looking for Sam." I replied and Jerome's face twists in confusion.
"Samuel Uley, correct?" He retorts, and I nod, "He's the alpha, why is he looking for himself?"
"Jake's the alpha. The Ephraim Black bloodline." Paul replies evenly and Jerome shakes his head.
"The Uley bloodline is alpha. Josh for our generation and Sam for yours. I need everyone here; they all should hear it," he turns to look at me, "if I am sensing correctly, you are the imprint of Sam."
"How would you know that?" Paul sneers and Jerome looks at him.
"Because she is carrying the future pack alpha, and since I know that is the Uley bloodline. Unless she is somehow Josh's mate, she must be Sam's." He replies calmly and Paul is momentarily stunned into silence, "Son, I know this is a lot to believe, but please get the elders and council here."
I can tell that Paul is hesitant to do anything our father asks, but with the reappearance of Quil IV, Josh Uley and Jerome it's evident that we need to have everyone in one place. It takes almost an hour, but we finally get Billy Black, Sue Clearwater on Harry's behalf, Old Quil and Quil IV along with our pack, minus the Clearwater kids. Old Quil instructs me to concentrate on calling Sam back to me, using our imprint bond and his shaman magic, and less than three hours after seeing my father for the first time we have everyone in the same place.
Sam's face is a mask of worry, anger and regret and I immediately go to him, using our bond to soothe his worried mind. We don't communicate with words, instead it's tender touches as I lead him to the lone chair. He tries to get me to sit, but I shake my head and push him down, settling on his lap and in his arms.
"I love you so much." He whispers to me, and I wipe the stray tears from his dirty face.
"I know. This is too much, Sam."
Everyone is silent as Jerome begins to speak, and the story we hear from him, Quil IV and Joshua shocks us all to our core. Even though the Cullens had lived in Forks for years, not all the gene carrying shapeshifters had phased, including the older generation. That is, until they were exposed to the Volturi. Jerome detailed his life prior to crossing paths with the powerful coven, even having admitted to meeting several of the Cullens and their associates over his childhood and adolescence. The Cullens had masqueraded as humans for as long as the Quileute tribe had been in La Push, and there were no documented instances of shapeshifting until Levi Uley ran into the first red-eyed human drinking vampire in the woods. Back then only Levi Uley, Ephraim Black and Ernest Lahote had shifted, and generations of their offspring and family tree never phased. Jerome, Joshua and Quil IV had each had a run-in with a member of the Volturi, although it took years for them to understand what was happening to them. These powerful vampires used their thrall to cause the shifting gene to activate, and then they had controlled each of them for the entirety of their lives from there forward. Quil and Joshua disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and both men explained that they had been taken against their will to an entirely different country and were used as warriors against actual werewolves who threatened the coven. The men went on to explain that their terrible mood swings were due to the thrall they were under, and their own bodies were warring against their genetic predisposition and trying to avoid phasing. The Volturi had all three under their control, and it wasn't until Jerome, who was completely under the influence of thrall tried drinking himself to death and accidentally killed his wife and a family that the Volturi finally stepped away.
They stayed away until they learned of another genetic anomaly in the Quileute, a mental and physical shield that one of the children of a pale face and genetic shapeshifter possessed. The Volturi were not immune to the power of the werewolves that plagued their coven, and they needed more of the human shapeshifters of the Quileute to help them eliminate their enemy, however the obsession with me overrode all of that.
"They knew your shield could protect them all once they helped you develop it. They'd hoped that you'd gotten it from Renee, but once they had me under their control, they realized it came from me. The gene is dormant in everyone but you, Bella. And the reason you are so coveted is because the power your shield is only a minuscule fraction of what it would be if you were turned into one of them. They also knew it was a good probability that the child you carried would be even stronger genetically." Jerome said.
"They never thought that baby was a Cullen, they've known the entire time it's a Uley and Lahote, and they wanted it for themselves." Joshua added.
"That still doesn't explain why you feel you are the rightful heir to the alpha bloodline." Billy stated evenly, fixing his hard glare on Sam's father.
"With all due respect, Billy, I believe you and I both know the answer to that." Joshua replied and Billy crossed his arms across his chest, "It's known that the Black bloodline is chief of our people, however it's also known that the Uley bloodline is the alpha of any shapeshifting pack."
"And when there is an active pack, the alpha overrides the Chief." Old Quil added, "Billy, we do not fault you for misunderstanding the complicated bloodlines and the admittedly difficult to read journals of our ancestors, we all did, but there is no other explanation as to how my son is alive and well, more than fifteen years after he was presumed dead."
"Or my brother leaving his family behind without so much as a word." Sue added, looking over at Josh fondly, "Joshua may have been young and a bit wild, but he loved Allison and was excited to be a father to Sam. He always wanted a son."
"Or a father who loved his children, all his children, even if it didn't work out with their mothers. Jerome was a different man before those bastards got their claws in him." Quil IV added, "think about it, none of us were anything other than hard working family men. Yes, we all may have partied a bit, sewed our oats and had children young, but I for one know that I adored my wife and was so proud to have a son to carry my name. Josh and Jerome may have also been young, and prone to drowning their sorrows in whiskey and beer, but neither had any violence at all until their gene had been activated."
"And none of us knew that we'd one day transform into an animal. I was terrified of hurting my son or my wife." Joshua replied.
"Just like I hurt my imprint," Sam added quietly, "just like I may one day do to my own child."
"You would never-" I begin but he shook his head and spoke.
"Accident or not, it happened." He said.
"We stop it from happening again then." Joshua said and for the first time the father and son looked at each other, "We're here because somehow Bella was able to call us home, it's got to be the shield. We need that shield now more than ever, because it's our time to eliminate the true enemy once and for all."
"It's not just a shield," Embry said, breaking his quiet stewing as he shied away from our father, "think about it, you've each said you felt like someone or something was calling you home. Bella proved she could get Sam to come home just today. Jerome says he felt her pulling him."
"I felt one too," Quil IV said, "this whole time, over fifteen years, I had no idea I came from here. No memories of my wife or son, just a blank slate. Then, its like I suddenly woke up."
"The same thing happened to me," Josh said, "I thought it was Sam, I mean once I had my memories of the life I had here I wanted nothing more than to get home to my son."
"How am I just now hearing about this?" Jake spoke up and we turned towards him, "I am the pack alpha."
"No, you're not," Embry said, nodding towards Sam, "He is. Tell them where you've been. Tell them what you were compelled to do."
Sam pressed his lips to my shoulder then rested his chin there briefly, taking a deep breath to center himself before speaking, "I don't know what came over me, but the day I left Bella was our first official scheduled checkup for our child. That's not something I would ever miss. Even though every part of me wanted to be right here with her, I was compelled to seek out Jasper Whitlock. Once I found him, he told me that Peter and Charlotte had the same theory – that it wasn't the presence of the Whitlocks or even the Cullens that triggered our shifters. They thought it was the Volturi, and the Whitlock coven has been plotting a way to usurp their power once and for all. Charlotte also has figured out that Bella's talent, even as a human, was more powerful than any of ours, and she was certain that Jasper could use his own talents to amplify it. Then, they accidentally realized that they could overpower it themselves when Jasper was able to bring me to them using his own powers to alter my pull to my mate and child."
"Just like Bella was able to bring you home even while you were working with the Whitlock coven to understand their gifts." Old Quil stated, "And just like your son will be able to do once he has learned to control his power."
"Son?" Sam asks and Old Quil smiles briefly before nodding his head and placing his gnarled hands on my still flat belly, "You are both blessed with the future of our tribe. He will be both a powerful Alpha and Shaman. He is my successor."
The room explodes in joy and celebration, something we've been missing ever since the truth about the Cullens came to light. There are chants and traditional songs being sung, and I glance over at Jake to see him staring at Sam. He then catches my eye and walks over to where we are still sitting, then drops to kneel beside us.
"I owe you an apology. I had no idea you were going through the same torment that your father did. I thought it was you losing control with Bella that pushed you to a mental break." Jake said to Sam.
"How could any of us know?" I asked both men when it was evident that Sam couldn't find the words to speak, "Joshua, Quil and Jerome hurt everyone they loved because they were fighting a battle that was not clearly outlined in our journals. They didn't know who their true enemy was."
"We do now," Embry and Quil V joined us, and slowly all the pack migrated to surround Sam and me.
"There will be no need for a challenge, I believe young Uley feels his birthright." Old Quil said from across the room, and we held our collective breath waiting for Billy's response.
"Just like my son does as well. I believe it's time for me to step down and fulfill my own destiny," Billy said as he began pushing himself up from his wheelchair.
"Dad, what are you doing?" Jake scrambled to help his father, but he was shocked when Billy stood proudly.
"I've been able to feel my legs ever since Bella returned. At first, it was just pins and needles, but it's gotten stronger every day, and today I just knew I could stand. I don't know how I knew, or why it happened."
"It happened because Isabella Lahote is something special," Old Quil began, "she has a power greater than our own, or any Cold One. Once she learns how to use it, she will help to defeat our enemies. Harry will fully recover now that the five of you are together again," Old Quil explained, "Apart, each of you have suffered immeasurably. You each found a way to deal with the torment of your body and mind. Quil and Joshua ran, Jerome drank and did drugs, Harry suffered from gluttony and your trauma manifested in the physical ailments that have bound you to that chair. Now that the five of you are back together, you will all heal, and the final piece will be here to finally defeat the enemy who has their power over you."
"How will it be possible when we could barely overcome the Cullens?" Jared asked.
"Young Jared Cameron, it will be possible because our Alpha Female has returned home." Old Quil stated and I gaped at him.
"But, I'm not a shifter. You've all said it, I'm just me. My mother wasn't even a native."
"Renee Swan was the great niece of my dear wife Molly Ateara. Before marrying me, she was Molly Swan. The Swans have always held power through witchcraft, dear one. My Molly was kind, gentle and yet powerful. She used all of her powers for good. Your mother was cursed by the Cold Ones, dear one. Any kindness or humanity left her as soon as she coveted their powers and immortality. Even I didn't know if you had any of the powers that have been passed through generations of Swan women, I couldn't sense any of it until you became pregnant with Samuel Uley's child. Together, you have given each other strength, however the child you are carrying has blessed you both with powers long dormant. We will teach you both, and together we will defeat our enemy."
"The Cold Ones must burn." Joshua said, breaking the moment of thick silence in the room.
"The Cold Ones must burn." Billy repeated, and soon the entire room was chanting.
Old Quil fixed his intense gaze on me, and Sam rested his chin on my shoulder, holding me from behind. "You are the key, young Isabella Lahote. This has always been your destiny. Embrace it."
I only nodded, too overcome by emotion to say anything more, and Old Quil bent and pressed his warm lips on my forehead as I began to sob.