Writing this chapter was like trying to pass kidney stones. I don't know if it's any longer than the last one. It feels longer to me…it sure as hell felt longer while I was writing it.

Anyway, we're nearing the half way point of the first story arc. The three arcs are tentatively titled: Monarchy, Patricide, and Dynasty. As the story is plotted out now Dynasty takes place years after Patricide, but there's no need to worry about that now. Down this road there are character deaths, giant insects, vicious fight scenes, fight scenes involving vicious giant insects and of course, Connor mocking Edward for sparkling. And…perhaps…that romance I've been waving in front of your noses for a while? Lol, I are a tease.

As dawn crept across the sky, brightening the atmosphere from moonlit silver to the amber of dawn the werewolf's hair began to turn a yellowish white. Then it started to fall out in great clumps. The werewolf reached up with one furry paw/hand and scratched at its shoulder. Fur fell to the floor in a great big pile like pine needles falling off a dying Christmas tree. Beneath that fur, the flesh was red and raw, but human. If the werewolf had any protests to the rising sun, it did not voice them tonight. Minutes later, it fell over onto its side and fell unconscious. Jacob yawned, stretched and then stood. He set the gun aside and then trudged up the stairs. Leah grabbed Connor's robe and a soft but dirty towel off the hook as the werewolf's body began to steam.

Werewolves didn't transform back into their human forms the way they did. No, rather than imploding in on themselves the werewolf form seemed to boil away like stream. It was actually quite interesting to watch.

The reddened pink body of the werewolf began to smoke as though it was burning up. Beads of sweat appeared on the raw skin. Blood leaked from the werewolf's eyes, nose and mouth as the werewolf made tiny whimpering sounds. The large powerful legs kicked as they reformed themselves into a human configuration with a series of soft, wet cracks. The creature's body seemed to deflate as more and more steam began to billow and rise from the collapsing werewolf. Finally, the huge gusts of steam became so large and intense that Leah could only see a shrinking silhouette amid a great cloud of gray smoke.

A few moments later Quil and Paul came down into the basement. Paul had the keys, Quil had a hose. Emily was with them, carrying medical paraphernalia she had filched from the hospital she worked at. Emily was also the unofficial pack medic, taking care of any small scrapes and cuts they received in scuffles of tumbles. Their natural toughness and healing abilities made her a bit redundant but Sam liked that Emily had an interest in Pack welfare and kept her on call, even though she wasn't really needed.

Leah moved closer to Quil as he hooked up the hose.

"What the hell is this?" She motioned back to her cousin. She made an effort to sound discrete, but couldn't imagine being blamed for it if she failed…actually she could but then she just didn't really care. Quil looked at her, shrugged helplessly and sighed.

"Hi Leah!" Emily piped at her. She pretended she couldn't hear the greeting.

Then Connor began to twitch and shudder. His entire body convulsed and his maw opened wide, a series of horrific gagging noise escaping his open mouth as he began to violently shake. His skin had become corpse gray, his veins bulging and throbbing beneath his skin as he thrashed like a worm on a hook. Every fiber of every muscle in his body ached and burned. His cartilage felt as though it had been stretched like taffy. He mewled piteously in between dry heaves as his back arched and his jaw opened impossibly wide, revealing monstrous dire wolf teeth crammed into a human mouth. Emily blanched when she noticed the werewolf.

"Nasty, huh?" Paul asked lazily as he fumbled with the keys and eventually opened the first lock on the door.

"Watch it there, Paul. It looks like he's about to urk." Quil warned as he prepared the hose to rinse out the cage.

"He didn't eat that much last night." Leah started to say but the last part of her sentence was cut off when Connor's throat expanded hideously as yellow liquid leaked from the corner of his mouth. He reared up and with a hideous cough vomited up a half digested hoof before flopping back down and lying still.

"Oh. My…" Emily mumbled, hands shaking as they went up to cover her mouth.

"Jeez. He didn't even eat half the deer." Quil guessed as he stared at the exploded deer carcass. "Think he's sick?"

"You feed it?" Emily squeaked.

"Him, Emily." Leah snarled defensively. "Not it."

Emily frowned and then looked down sheepishly. Paul undid the second lock.

"Yeah, we have to feed him something or else he'll be out like a light for like, a week. Transforming takes up a lot of energy that he needs to replace quickly and since we can't exactly let him go out hunting on his own..." Quil explained with a shrug.

"We've been mostly tossing him bits of road kill and parts of our kills." Paul swung the door open lazily and stomped inside; making a face as he kicked aside smashed coils of intestines with his heavy duty rain boots. They squished in the muck and feces. "Seth sometimes brings him ground chuck that's past it's sell by date from the restaurant he works at. Leah's been shirking her patrol duties and bringing him fresh meat lately, though." Paul added.

Leah shot him a dirty look and insinuated that he copulated with his mother, but he just smirked at her. She could feel Emily's gaze at the back of her head, but choose to ignore it.

"Be careful, Paul. Looks like he's still got his claws out." Quil observed. Paul craned his neck to see Connor's large hands, from each fingertip extended a two-inch long blackened claw, each one as sharp as a hunting knife.

"Shit." He mumbled as he circled the werewolf. Connor had been still since his violent ejection of the offending hoof and was now breathing shallowly. Paul nudged him softly with his toe, causing Connor to whimper weakly, but otherwise he didn't move.

"Oh God Damn it Paul, he's not radioactive!" Leah shouted at him.

Shrugging, he reached down and grabbed the werewolf's forearm. Connor's eyes opened and he howled in rage and surprise, flailing furiously at Paul. The Shape Shifter was caught in the gut with a savage blow that sent him flying out of the cage. Emily screamed shrilly, leaping back as Paul landed with a dull thump.

"Ha!" Quil barked.

"God damn it!" Paul shouted from the ground, otherwise he didn't move.

"Dumbass." Leah muttered. She turned and shoved the robe into Emily's hands. "Could you hold this?" She didn't wait for an answer. She deftly avoided the blood and waste covering the floor with graceful steps and then knelt by Connor's side. He had rolled onto his back but he was curled up into a fetal position as well. Legs folded up against his chest and arms wrapped around his knees. His eyes were half-open but there was no focus in them, he was disorientated, totally unaware.

Leah forced his legs down and then draped the towel over his privates to protect anything left of Connor's dignity. Maybe it was the fact that, as a Shape Shifter nudity had quickly become part of her life but she personally found Connor's squeamishness about other people seeing him naked to be silly taboo, but it was important enough to Connor that she respected his wishes. He would be covered in the presence of others. Especially when it came to outsiders.

As if Emily would ever want to see Connor naked anyway, Leah thought with a snort.

Leah was stronger than any normal person was even in human form, but Connor was damn big. Heavy too, his muscles and bones were very dense, heavier than normal human bones and tissues. Still, she managed to pick him up and carry him out of the cage without to much trouble.

"Aw, Leah!" Quil called. "That's so romantic!"

"Shut up and clean out The Pen before I throw him at you." She snarled before setting him down in front of Emily, who turned green. Connor was covered in a fine layer of greasy sweat; though his fur was gone, the oils that his pelt produced were left behind on his skin.

"Um…m-maybe we should do this upstairs…" Emily said meekly.

"Can't, bright lights make him freak out this soon after a Phase." Paul said with a snort.

"Oh…" Emily mumbled. "Are there bright lights-"

"Yes, Emily. The sun counts as a very bright light." Leah snorted.

Emily pursed her lips and set about her task. She examined the damaged hand and grimaced at the sight of the gaping wound. The top layer of skin had been seared away, revealing pulsing red gore beneath, but luckily enough it didn't show signs of infection or necrosis. She set about cleaning the wound and bandaging it. Connor occasionally twitched, but otherwise kept still.

"He'll have to keep the wound clean." Emily said quietly.

"Which, for the record, won't be that easy in this basement." Leah said flatly.

Connor shifted uneasily, startling Emily. His face twisted into a grimace and he tried to sit up, voice rising into a growl but Leah put her hand to his forehead and he settled back down, allowing Emily to finish her work quickly.

"Okay, back in The Pen." Paul snapped when Emily started to get up.

Leah looked inside, the floor was still damp and pieces of pulped meat were still everywhere.

"Come on Leah, Sam's orders." Quil said.

Connor's eyes fluttered open for a moment, but he shut them against the dim lights. Still, one hand began to crawl along on the floor, claws clacking against the floor until they brushed up against her thigh. The claw tips dragged across her denim jeans. The young werewolf growled again, but Leah paid him no heed.

"Sam needs to talk to you anyway!" Paul's voice rose into a shout. "Come on, Leah! Let's go!"

Leah got her hands underneath Connor again, lifting him up. It was no easy task, but she managed just fine. She was stronger than what they liked to believe. Paul dropped the mattress onto the floor and helped Leah get Connor down on it.

"He's no good you know." Paul spat angrily.

"Who?" Leah asked, though she didn't really care what Paul had to say.

"Him. This…this thing." He looked down at Connor, disgust creeping in his eyes and pouring out his mouth like agitated bees from a hive. "That thing he becomes, it's dangerous Leah. He shouldn't be around people. Billy should have just taken that rifle ten years ago and-"

Leah shoved him hard. He landed on his ass in a pile of watery deer shit.

"You shut your fucking mouth or I swear to God I'll shut it for you." She hissed.

"Grow up, Leah! I'm just looking out for you!" Paul roared.

Leah laughed in his face.

"Looking out for me? You?" She gave a derisive snort.

"I know what you think about him, Leah! But he'll only hurt you! His kind-"

Leah stopped listening after that. Like Paul knew anything about his kind. Like Paul was some kind of expert on his kind. What a joke.

He had some stupid idea in that empty head of his that Leah had feelings for Connor. Now that was a joke. Well…maybe she did feel for him. But it wasn't romantic. The idea of being wined and dined by Connor Tailor, of the two of them spending hour after hour gazing into each others eyes, of bouquets of flowers and jewelry and chocolate-and oh! Leah was supposed to help Connor taste test his new marshmallow coated brownies this Sunday, which would of course not happen now…fucking Sam.- and, and…

Ew, there was a mental image she had never wanted.

Connor naked and thrusting.

With her.

Dear God, it would be like fucking Jake.

Connor was attracted to her, but he was a horndog so of course he was. He flirted with her, but it was purely jokingly. Sometimes she flirted back, just because it was one way in which they enjoyed each other company. It was all in good fun, they both knew that.

She looked down at Connor

She hoped they both knew that.

They were…not quite friends but they definitely weren't ever going to be lovers and Leah Tailor? Hell no. Just no. One day she might let him lay his grubby little hands on her just to get back at Sam. Yeah, that's it. Because fuck Sam.

But the idea of her and Connor as an item? She didn't know from how deep inside his ass the Duke of Dumb had reached to pull that particular nugget of stupidity, but it was obvious he had to dig deep. If she ever did fall in love with Connor, then the entire Pack would know about it. And she would never hear the end of it. Thanks to The Pack mind link of course.

She wasn't in love with Connor, it wasn't possible.

Never.

"Yeah." she muttered as she stood to leave the room. "Never."

Gary Huston lay where he had been since the night before, shivering and cold and oh so hungry on a rock. They…the boy…had given him water but…not enough. No, not enough. In fact, he didn't feel the cold anymore. He felt lighter than air. He felt like something was lifting him up off the cold hard rock he was laying on. In fact, he felt sleepy. He caught sight of the wedding band around his dead finger and strength surged through his body. Alas, it was short lived. He used it shouting into the forest. So much as he could still shout.

"M…Maria!" He thought he was shouting, he was trying to but dear God he was so weak…so very weak. He tried to get up but his limbs wouldn't support him. His fingers were black with frostbite; he knew his toes probably were too. The woman with the red hair and the red eyes. She had taken his gloves, his boots. All of his camping gear. Had she even been real? She couldn't have been, the way she moved…no. No, she was real and…no. Please no.

She-she had taken Maria!

Memories came rushing back to him, pouring down on him with renewed clarity. Maria! She had Maria! How long ago had she taken his wife? And…and the boy. He had red eyes too, hadn't he? He remembered them moving…so fast. So fast. He had tried to hit the boy in the face…he looked down at his hand. It looked like a big, blackened balloon. The fingers were so swollen the dead skin cracked to reveal dead muscle beneath. He didn't dare move it. He was dying, that much he knew. The cold and the hunger were chipping away at him.

He had…he had tried to run for help after they had taken Maria and their survival gear, but she…she wouldn't let him leave! He couldn't escape her. Couldn't fight back! He had shot her in the head with his shotgun but she had just smiled and kept on coming. He had hit her in the face with a rock but it had done nothing! What was she? He couldn't outrun her, couldn't overpower her he couldn't even hurt her! What was she? Why was she doing this to them? Why was this happening? Why?

Oh God, what where those monsters doing to Maria?

He had to get up, had to! Had to find help…had to get Maria…

A cold hand on his shoulder. Gary looked up, it was the boy. Eyes red. Face impassive.

"Nonononononono." He whimpered, he tried to roll away but the hand, cold as ice, kept him still. Something wet and red stained his slug belly white face, bits of dark skin hung between his white teeth. The red eyes stared down at him, rings of blood in this frozen hell.

The thing behind the eyes hungered…

Quil snored away on the couch, a half eaten candy bar hung from his mouth. Leah walked past him and out into the glaring sun. Summer was almost over, but the sun still shone brightly and after all night in the basement her eyes still took a moment to adjust. She was surprised to see Jacob out on his front lawn in his wolf form. He was a handsome beast, his gossamer coat of reddish brown fur stirring in the gentle breeze. His legs were thicker and stronger than his brothers and his skull was not so narrow. Little physical features that distinguished them in ways more subtle than the color of their fur, a combination of familiarity and Leah's natural affinity for the wolf allowing her to notice little differences that a normal person wouldn't. He turned to her and woofed a greeting. Beside him stood Sam, staring up into the sky.

"You wanted to see me?" Leah asked, her voice harsh.

"Phase," Sam said quietly before turning to her. "Jacob will show you."

Leah rolled her eyes and then began to strip. Jacob looked away, pretending that something on his paw was more interesting than her. Connor wasn't the only one who still clung silly taboos. Maybe it was because The Pack regarded her as their sister (Their annoying, unlikable, bitter sister who they would rather have never been born.) and usually tried to avoid looking at her naked when they could avoid it. Because of this, many found their lingering attraction to her shameful. For those first few months, it had been awkward for her too, but she had sucked it up and soldiered on. Why some of the others couldn't do the same was beyond her.

She quickly banished these thoughts from her mind as she tossed her bra onto the pile with the rest of her clothes and phased. The physical pain was fleeting and didn't really bother her. It was that kind of sharp, snapping ache of popping your joints. Her flesh was protean, and only her bones hurt and in an instant that pain was gone and forgotten. The nausea that arrived, the discomfort had nothing to do with any kind of physical sensation. She looked down at her forepaws, the silvery white and gunmetal gray of her fur was more striking in hue than the duller coloration of true wolves just as it was with her brothers. She looked up and locked eyes with Jacob, immediately seeing herself through his eyes. Her jaws where thin and snappish, her ears longer. She actually liked the darker facial markings around her face that streaked back from her eyes and swept down from her forehead. As much disdain as she had for her current state she was pleased that she was good looking in any form but of course she had to admit that Connor's compliments to her figure didn't due much good for her ego.

"Look." he had once told her over pizza. "I'm not into bestiality or anything…but I'd hit it."

The two of them had then burst out laughing at that point, and she smiled at the memory. Then the smell hit her, and she stopped laughing. It was a cold smell that crawled up her nostrils and bit into her brain like a torrent of ants. She snorted and whined, wiping her snout against her paws as if to try to pull it out. It smelled like…like…

'Can't describe it, can you?' Jacob asked. 'Can't put it in words. Don't try.'

She couldn't, she really couldn't. There were no words in the Quileute or English language to describe the unbearable stench that made vampire odor smell like flowers. She could only describe what it did to her, it made her hackles rise. Her bladder suddenly felt full and without realizing it she set her tail firmly between her legs. Something tingled in the back of her mind, and her eyes watered as though as had been chopping onions. Her teeth chattered and she growled as if to warn off…something. A cold hand gripped her guts in a tight fist.

It was a fear response.

She didn't even know what this horrible new scent was and she was instinctively afraid of it. In the same way a baby instinctively knew to fear a venomous spider crawling in his crib even if he was too young to know what a spider even was or understand the very concept of venom. Leah was afraid of whatever left behind that smell and that fear made her angry.

"It's all around the house…hell it's all around La Push. Embry and Paul scented it out last night while on patrol." Sam growled.

'It's all around the house.' Jacob said, suddenly she could feel a wave of emotion rolling off him-panic. 'Dear God, it was outside my house!'

'What is it?' Leah asked. She was almost afraid to ask the question, she might not want to know the answer. She looked at him with her dark eyes, and even though she couldn't mentally communicate with her in his human state he read her gaze like a written message.

Sam closed his eyes and breathed deeply though his nostrils. He was trying to calm himself, trying to vent out the fear and confusion.

"Honestly," when he opened his eyes, fresh daggers of fear stabbed Leah's heart. Because he looked totally and completely lost. "We don't know." And he didn't know, and that was far more scary than anything Connor could become. Sam always knew what to do, or at least have an inkling. An opinion. He would weigh his options; adjust his thinking to new information but for him to not even have a clue as to what this was?

Sam was the center of the Pack. The hub of their wheel, if he was weak, they were weak and likewise if he was strong, they were strong. They all looked to him for guidance, even Leah though she hated to admit it. Somehow though, even though they knew nothing about this new creature-and they had all come to the same conclusion, this was something supernatural- they were more frightened of it than they were of any vampire or werewolf. It was an instinctive fear. As though they knew even on the cellular level, a spiritual one even, that this thing was walking death.

In spite of all that, Leah tried to shake it off, she lowered her head to the ground and started to follow the trail. She managed to loop half way around the house before she couldn't take it anymore. Abruptly her connection to Jacob was cut off as she pulled herself back into her human form. Flesh became protean, skeleton popped and folded in on itself, the sudden suction of misplaced air and…done. Quick, clean and relatively painless. Her senses collapsed back into her human range, though she possessed them to a level no normal human ever did and the smell diminished but it didn't leave her completely. She was worried it never would. She rushed back to the front yard and began to hurriedly put her clothes on; Jacob was on the other side of the house, dressing himself.

"Then this… it was out here last night?"

Sam nodded.

"Then Connor must have smelled it! " Jacob shouted as he ran up towards them. "That's what made him freak out!"

Leah considered this for a moment, and although she couldn't quite understand why a flutter of joy raced through her belly.

"Yes, that is… possible." Sam said with a nod, though Leah saw there was some hesitation in his admission. She furrowed her brow, becoming frustrated.

"So we know his behavior only becomes erratic when he senses a threat nearby." Leah supposed, the statement was a thinly concealed probe into Sam's defenses and the Alpha honestly looked thoughtful for a moment.

"We don't know anything yet." Sam insisted.

"Bullshit!" Leah shouted. "Sam, come on. Let Connor out, he isn't going to hurt anyone."

"You don't know that." Sam stated flatly.

"Yes I do!"

"How?"

"Because I know Connor and he wouldn't hurt anybody unless they tried to hurt him first! He's seriously The King Pussy!" Leah insisted.

"It's true." Jacob stepped in. "Back when we were little he used to cry and run to his mom when I punched him in the face." Had the three of them been listening for it, they would have heard a muffled "Oh, fuck you guys! Seriously!" coming from the basement.

"I know Connor wouldn't hurt a soul. It's not him I don't trust." Sam admitted with a sigh. "But I can't, can't take the chance of something like the beach happening again. What if it happened in a public place? Like the mall he works at…or in Emily's home?"

He shrugged helplessly.

"I'm not willing to take the risk. I'm sorry, Leah."

Leah wanted to punch right in his Zen, stoic little mouth. She hated herself for still loving Sam almost as much as she hated herself for giving her father a heart attack. Leaving Connor locked up in his own personal Hell until some vague conditions were met? Until they discovered some answer that Sam didn't seem to be looking for and likely didn't care about? The beast was locked up and as far as Sam was concerned that meant case closed. Connor could rot in Jacob's basement until Judgment Day for all Sam cared as long as he wasn't a threat to anyone. That was all on Sam, and she fully intended to stick it to him and the rest of The Pack for as long as she could.

She didn't know how long she stood there, seething. Stewing in her own sour anger, but it had to be a while because she was snapped out of it she heard Sam use his Alpha Timbre to shut Jacob up. Even though the command was directed at her, it still sent a shiver down her spine. Through the dormant mental link she felt Jacob's will be overridden by Sam's magic.

It was then that Paul and Embry came running up to Sam, both flushed. Sweat running down their faces, panting. They must have run a long way at top speed to work themselves up that way. Embry started talking first, and as he went on, Leah's eyes widened.

Something terrible had happened.

Leah heavily tromped down the stairs, thinking about Connor. The news Embry and Paul had brought was tragic and disturbing but Sam's steadfast refusal to listen to her still echoed in her mind. The way his facade of Zen calm cracked when it came to the werewolf. She had seen it happen before, the night they were introduced to Connor's werewolf form and again after the incident on the beach. No one could get under Sam's skin quite like Connor Tailor.

Honestly, it was one of his more endearing qualities.

"I knew you couldn't stay away for very long. Most women can't." Connor rattled from the mattress he was laying on inside the cage. His voice sounded like gravel being shot out of a rubber hose.

"Seth should be on guard duty." Leah ignored his playful flirting. He was laying on his side, back to her.

"I sent him outside to get some air. My stench was making him queasy."

"You can't do that." Leah scolded him as she sat down in the rocking chair.

"Apparently I can. Your brother is the only one smart enough to listen to me." Connor yawned.

A silence fell over the room while Leah considered what to say next.

"You have a flat old-man ass." Leah finally decided.

"That's cause I'm a guy, I've scratched it all off. Most men do by the time they're in their twenties." Connor said with a derisive snort.

"No, I've seen guys your age with very nice asses." Leah shot back.

"Easy for you to say. Your ass is awesome." Connor said.

"Not your best pick up line." Leah huffed. "But yes, my ass is awesome."

"Not my worst pick up line either." Connor sat up and turned to her. "I got the distinct feeling I did something last night that made Sam even more eager to put a silver bullet in my frontal lobe. Aside from the whole bitch fit that ended with Paul being splattered with deer blood. What happened?"

"Which was funny in retrospect." Leah evaded the question. She picked up a book and began to flip through it, not really reading it.

"Leah."

"Nothing!" Leah snapped, standing up. She tossed the book onto the table. "Everyone's making a mountain out of a mole hill." she began to pace up and down the length of the room. "They're acting like you're going to snap and go postal on everyone at any given moment."

"No, Leah. Sam's right." Connor sighed and stood up, approaching the bars. "It's safer if I'm kept in here. Safer for everyone. Me…you. Everyone."

Leah stopped and looked at Connor, not knowing what to think or feel. All the same things that bound them together seemed to separate them as well and that separation was a barrier more powerful than the one that held back the beast.

It had been so much easier with Sam.

He was older than Connor, and in some ways far smarter and wiser. Kinder as well, in his own way. Gentler. Connor was all rough edges and coarse surfaces. Sam had had a nice body even before he phased, sculpted. Connor wasn't puny himself, but his muscles were more compact and if not for his already massive frame he would not have looked so imposing. His body was designed for pure efficiency; his muscles were incredibly dense, layered like armored plates. His tendons were like the steel cables of a suspension bridge; his skin was tough and leathery and geared towards resistance to slashing weaponry.

True werewolves weren't pretty, but then again they didn't need to be. They were apex predators; there was no pretense about it. Connor was what he was, and it was easy for Leah to see that he was the pinnacle of predatory evolution even with his human form masking it. As a human being, Connor didn't have much going in the looks department. As a predator, he was a work of art. Lethal claws, crushing bite, powerful muscles and razor sharp intelligence unclouded by petty human concepts of remorse or morality. Oh yes it was beautiful, in the same sense that a tarantula or a great white shark was beautiful.

Yet at the end of the day, that's what he was. A predatory animal. Sam was, for all his faults, a human being.

Connor harbored within himself a beast so terrifying even vampires feared and hated it. Hated it because when the moon became full the world they felt they dominated was no longer their own, the night was no longer theirs to rule. Because they to, were hunted down. It was a curse so potent that it had left its mark even on his human state. He was a monster. Sam may have been an asshole, but he was also a warrior. A protector. A leader.

Connor just didn't measure up to Sam. He never would. He was the hideous monster; Sam was the knight in shining armor. Sam got the girl and the glory, Connor got the sword in his heart and his head on the pike. That was the way of things, the way things should be. No shades of gray, just good and evil, winner take all. Despite all the uncertainty they had faced, she and Sam had been straight lines and smooth surfaces. They had found their perfection in each other, everything else was just waves breaking against the island they had built together.

So why then was it Connor who she felt so close to? Why then, was it Connor who comforted her and she who comforted him? When The Pack, the men who were supposed to be her brothers, beings so in tune with one another that they heard each others thoughts seemed less connected to her than this Thing That Should Not Be? Why was it, that when their island crumbled and Sam left Leah to drown, it had to be Connor who tried to pull Leah out of the water? Not her mother or Seth or Emily. Connor.

Leah knelt by Connor's cage and stuck her fingers through the bars. Connor crouched before her, and his bandaged hand clasped over her own. Occasionally when his naked skin brushed against metal a dull, burning ache would spread throughout his whole arm but he ignored it. Shadows hung under Connor's eyes, and his face was streaked with blood and dirt and his brow seemed twisted and curved into the beginning of lupine features. His eye sockets had become oddly angular in shape, giving his face the appearance of a perpetual scowl. His wild gray mane of hair was dirty and matted and Leah spied long, white hairs sprouting from his forehead and chin. His bare torso was darkened by body hair. His eyes were the worst though. The whites were a inflamed red, the irises a dull, sickly yellow. They were tired eyes, the eyes of an old man or a terminal cancer patient. The eyes of someone resigned to his fate. Connor had stopped fighting before his fight had even begun.

It hurt her, to see him like this. Like an animal locked up in a cage. All of his strength and all of his vitality smothered behind in a box. The werewolf belonged there, but the person didn't.

Locking Connor up may have been the smart thing to do, but it wasn't the right thing to do.

"Something was out there last night." Leah said quietly.

"Windigo?"

She said nothing.

"Vampire?"

"We don't know what it was. You smelled it and went nuts. That's all." It was only a theory, but it did make sense.

"That's it?" Connor asked, he didn't sound convinced. Leah nodded.

He tried; he really did try to believe her. He wanted to, yet he couldn't help feel that there was more to it than that. He dropped the subject anyway.

"So, what's the latest gossip from the real world?" He asked, trying to make it sound like he cared.

"There was a fire down at Jared's house." Leah said, her eyes becoming distant.

"Jared." Connor echoed the name. He knew a Jared from school, but he wasn't all that familiar with him. Was he a descendent of Taha Aki? Billy had urged Sam to watch certain members of the tribe who might have wolf blood in their veins, Connor was sure he had heard Jared's name get mentioned.

"His mom and his little sister died in it." then, after a pause. "They think his dad started it…the two of them were found tied up in the basement."

"Jesus." Connor sputtered. When was the last time he heard of a murder taking place in La Push or Forks? Not since…not since the werewolf that…not in a long time. Certainly, he hadn't heard of any human on human violence. There had been rumors a girl had been date raped by her boyfriend a few years back, but they had just been that. Rumors. There had been no investigations and no one had come forward, no evidence had been found of anything. There had of course been the vampire incursion in Forks the year before but two of them were dead.

'And one of them is gunning for me.' Connor thought bitterly, but he quickly banished the thought.

A man tying up his wife and little girl in the basement and then leaving them to burn to death? Yeah, that kind of thing just didn't happen around there.

"They haven't found his father yet. He slipped away in the confusion, everyone's looking for him." Leah shifted uncomfortably. "Jacob and Paul are looking for him too."

"One middle age guy isn't much of a match for two wolves, especially if he doesn't know what he's up against." Connor tried to sound reassuring.

"I'm not worried about him hurting them…physically anyway. But if he did do it…what are they going to see if they find him? Jacob's a kid, destroying monsters is one thing, Connor. Vampires don't even bleed. They aren't alive. People do bleed. What if they have to take him out? What if they find him covered in his family's blood? What if they find him hanging from a tree branch by a rope around his neck?" Leah asked.

It was certainly a valid concern. Vampires were totally inhuman creatures, monstrosities, but one could always blame their crimes on their own nature, disgusting though they may be. Yet it was human violence, man turning against man, which could often be the more horrific. Psychologically, the wolves were still human. Empathy could be just as much a curse as a blessing, and if Jared's dad really had gone off the deep end there was no telling what they might see. What he might do before he was found, whom he might hurt…

That is to say, if he was guilty at all. Disappearing like that was strange, and raised a whole lot of questions but they were living in strange times. He clumsily articulated the opinion that perhaps everyone should keep a more open mind and not jump to so many hasty conclusions. It was a flimsy argument, but Leah seemed to take solace in the simple fact that Connor was just trying to comfort her. In fact, she barely even listened to what he was saying. She smiled at him. Not a bitter smile or a condescending one. Not the knowing grin that usually passed between them. It was a genuine smile, the kind she used to smile before her life went to hell.

It was nice to have at least one person who gave a damn.

Even if he did smell like deer poop and body odor.

Hey guys, remember how Connor used to work in a mall as a security guard? Remember how cooking was pretty much his only non-supernatural related trait? Remember how he was Bella's brother?…Cause I sure as hell don't. Lol. I might insert a few chapters in between the mall chapter and the beginning of the beach sequence just to add some more character interaction as well as crank up the weirdness factor. Something else is brewing in Forks, and Victoria isn't responsible for it. I've kind of tried to lay down some ground work for it, this chapter holds a big chunk of foreshadowing with Jared's dad going Jack Nicholson on everyone. The whole scheme involves Ley Lines and a vampire slaying hammer. Fun times.

I also want to clarify Sam's position, he honestly isn't keeping Connor locked up out of malice. He actually does have a fair point, they really don't know what they're dealing with and it would be safer to keep Connor sequestered away until they get a handle on the problem. Next chapter will involve Connor starting to crack from being locked up in The Pen for so long and maybe some interaction between Leah and Elaine. Momma Tailor is not a happy woman right now. Maybe you'll get some Skinwalker/Victoria interaction. I was going to add some Bella/Edward action this chapter but I frankly still have no idea how to write Edward's reaction to Bella having a illegitimate half brother. I'm thinking he makes it all about poor Bella and they just sit there preening for the rest of the scene, but I'm aaallllll ears. :P

I'd also like to take a moment to shout out to all my loyal reviewers. Especially those who have provided detailed reviews and left constructive criticism. I tend not to reply to individual reviews, but that's more a matter of me being a person of few words. And by that I mean lazy as all hell. And by that I mean I forget to add them into the AN. I'm a doofus. Anywho, I do read every one of your reviews, and I'm always glad when someone is enjoying the story and elated when they have suggestions on how to make it better.