A/N: Hi guys! For everyone reading this story after finishing my previous story The Wild Ones, welcome back. For those new to my stories, greeting and salutations! I'm not sure how long this story will be, I only really have a premise not so much as a well thought out plan. That's usually how I roll though. This story takes place at the same time as the first book, that's where it starts. There are several major changes though, obviously. I'm not going to point out all the changes, since that might spoil the story, but you'll figure it out as it goes along.

Does anyone else feel that Leah was dealt a particularly shitty hand in life, or that her character was severely lacking character in the books? It came across to me that the only reason Leah shifted was because the tribe had a vampire emergency and therefore needed more wolves. Basically the same reason why some of the younger ones were shifting. I found this reason to be unacceptable, as well as Leah's behavior. So, therefore, I have changed it, well duh.

Summary: As the only female shapeshifter of the tribe, Leah is outcast from he wolf pack and La Push for her refusal to comply to the Alpha and Elders' demands. This action places Leah in the very center of mysterious instances happing in Forks and La Push. It appears as if a trickster is on the loose as items mysteriously disappear and reappear around the towns, and people start behaving out of character. This trickster causes particular troubles for the wolf pack and the strange Cullen family living in town. Leah finds herself not only at the center of a strange supernatural mind game, but also struggling with her feelings for an old friend... A friend who just happened to turn up in town just before everything started going crazy...

The Trickster

Posted: January 10, 2015

Chapter 1

"What do you mean you're breaking up with me?" Leah demanded, staring at her fiancé with a furious expression on her face.

"I'm sorry Leah, but we can't be together anymore," Sam replied, a neutral expression on his face. He turned and started to walk away from her but Leah yelled after him.

"Sam, I don't understand what's happening. First you disappear on me for days then when you reappear you run away from me again, now, you're breaking up with me. I don't understand, what did I do?" Leah cried, desperate to understand why he was leaving her.

"You just aren't the one for me," Sam growled out. "You're not right for me, so just leave me alone."

"How am I not right for you?" Leah demanded, "I can change, I become what you need."

"No you can't," the man barked, "You aren't worthy, so give me back my ring and never talk to me again."

Leah blinked back the tears in her eyes as she shakily slid her engagement ring off of her finger and held it out for Sam. He grabbed it out of her hand and stalked away from the young woman back into the forest.

Leah stared after him in disbelief, grief crushing her soul. "Four years Sam!" She yelled into the darkness, "We've been together for four years and you just throw it away, just like that…" Her words broke at the end of her sentence as she collapsed on the ground behind her house. Her mother found her about an hour later.

"Leah, what's wrong?" Sue asked, staring at her daughter in concern.

"Sam, he left me," Leah gasped out, her voice raspy from crying. "He took back the ring he gave me and just left."

"Oh darling," Sue said sadly, knowing this would happen at some point. "You'll be okay, maybe you just weren't right for him…"

"What?" Leah cried, looking at her mother with wide eyes. "Me not right for him? How could you say that? Aren't you supposed to be MY mother, taking my side in this? I gave up going away for college because Sam wanted to stay in town. I turned down a scholarship and instead now I'm going to school in Port Angeles."

"I know sweetie, but maybe you two weren't as compatible as you think."

Leah snorted and stood up. "You really suck at this comforting thing you know," she bit out at the older woman before running into the house and locking herself in her room.

A few hours later, Leah heard her mother calling her downstairs for dinner. Leah was going to ignore her, but she had been feeling slightly sick and feverish for the past few days, which left her feeling constantly hungry. She stalked downstairs and saw her father and brother sitting at the table while her mother was finishing placing the food down. Leah took her seat across from her brother Seth on her father's left while Sue set down the last bowl of food and took her place across from her husband Harry.

"Leah, on my way home from school, my friends and I passed Sam's place and I saw Emily over there with Sam," Seth said, looking at his sister in confusion. "It looked like she was moving in, what's going on?"

"What?" Leah yelled standing up. "He- He was cheating on me? With my own cousin…"

"That's enough Leah," Harry said, staring firmly at his daughter. "Emily is a good match for Sam. She is worthy of him and will make a fine wife, bearing him many children for the tribe."

Leah looked at her father like she had been slapped in the face, disgust and fury building within her. "Dad, I'm your daughter. Seth just said that Emily, my cousin, your niece, was moving in with my ex- fiancé, who just broke up with me today. Obviously he had been cheating on me with her and all you can say is that Emily is a good match for him? Shouldn't you be on my side?"

"I'm sorry Leah, but Sam is important to the tribal council. If he has been cheating on you, then obviously Emily has something that you lack that he needed," Harry said, dismissively.

Seth stared at his father in disbelief and Sue just looked away, pursing her lips. Leah saw the look on her mother's face and turned her ire from one parent to the other. "You knew!" Leah shrieked, spitting out accusations at both of her parents. "You both knew he was cheating on me with her and didn't say anything!" She pushed herself back away from the table with force that sent her chair clattering to the ground. "Some family…" Leah muttered as she fled the house, her rage directing her movements. She collapsed in a heap in the forest, tears pouring down her face as anguish and rage caused her body to shake.

Leah lay on the forest floor for what seemed like hours. The sun had long since set, blanketing the world in cool darkness. The young woman shivered, not from the cold of night but from the ache in her body and heart. Slowly she became aware of her surroundings, consciousness creeping into her mind. Her mind had directed her to the woods outside of Sam's house. She stared at the house incomprehensively, not understanding why her own cousin would do this to her. A noise drew her attention and she got up, creeping closer to the house, keeping inside the tree line so that she wouldn't be seen. The thumping sound came from the back, from Sam's bedroom Leah realized. The noise escalated and was quickly followed by grunts and moaning.

Rage filled her entire body as she quickly moved away from the house, vibrating in anger. "How long have they been fucking behind my back?" Leah seethed, teeth clenched. Red tinged her vision and pain flooded her body as her skin exploded. Leah opened her mouth to scream but a howl came out instead, shocking her. Crossing her eyes, Leah realized that where her nose was supposed to be was a long muzzle. She looked down and found paws where her feet should have been.

A noise snapped her out of her thoughts, and she snapped her head up and saw Sam exiting his house, Emily close behind him. Sam only had a pair of shorts on while the traitorous tart was wrapped in a bed sheet. The same bed sheets that Leah had purchased for Sam for his last birthday. A growl sounded in Leah's throat as the thought crossed her mind, and memories of what she and Sam had done on those sheets raced across her vision.

Sam returned the warning growl and exploded into a black wolf, only about a foot taller than her. "Paul, Jared?" A voice filtered into her mind and Leah bared her teeth realizing it was Sam's voice. She knew enough about the tribal legends to realize that the stores of the wolf protectors and cold ones were true, and that she had somehow been chosen as well.

"Guess again dickhead," Leah growled, snapping her jaws at the other wolf.

"Leah?" Sam bit out in surprise, the black wolf taking a step back. Foreign thoughts and memories filtered through Leah's mind, giving her glimpses of Sam's first shift, him being stuck in wolf form for over a month, seeing Emily for the first time, feeling a tug towards her, Sam pursuing her for the other few weeks he had disappeared on her, then the two of them getting together behind her back. Leah let out another growl at the memories, seeing how Emily tried to resist Sam's advances but quickly gave in.

"I imprinted on her Leah," Sam said hastily as he tried to rein in his thoughts. "Neither of us could help it. The spirits chose her for me, we couldn't resist the pull to each other."

"I don't care about the imprint bullshit whatever that is," Leah growled as Sam's thoughts turned again to what the tribal elders told him about imprinting, how it was the way for the wolf to find his mate, his other half. "Again, I don't care about that, I care about the fact that the two of you went behind my back. Why didn't you break up with me first? Or wait a while to be with her? Or, better yet, tell me the fucking truth?"

"The tribal elders ordered me not to say a word, that it was a tribe secret. They told me that Jared and Paul were showing signs of turning so I thought you were one of them. Women aren't supposed to shift."

"So my parents did know you were cheating on me, that's why they told me that I wasn't worth anything to you. Do the elders have some kind of control over you that you couldn't man up and tell me about all of this! Or at least give me something better than 'you're not good for me.' Did you ever think that maybe YOU aren't good for ME!" Leah stood up from the crouch she had sunk into and sat back, giving Sam her best sneer.

The larger wolf growled at her, "Enough of this, Leah you will fall in line, I am the Alpha!"

At Sam's roar, a tingle ran down Leah's spine, wrapping around her and trying to force her into submission. For a fraction of a second, Leah felt the urge to bow her head and submit in defeat, but her wolf fought against that idea. She barred her teeth and pushed back against the order. "I don't listen to you," Leah growled out, her eyes glowing a feral gold. "No body tells me what to do." At her words, something snapped in the space between Sam and Leah, forcing Sam to take a step back. Leah could no longer see his memories racing before her eyes, and only heard his thoughts when she reached out towards them. "Fuck you asshole," she sent out before backing away from him and racing into the night.

Leah could hear Sam behind her though his large lumbering body could not match her speed. She pushed her legs faster, leaving the black wolf behind panting. Leah smiled smugly in her mind as her wolf continued to increase in speed, running away from the problems plaguing her in La Push. She quit running once she realized she was most likely somewhere in Northern Canada, far enough away from Sam, her parents and the tribe to finally think about everything. Leah shook her head and body, giving her long fur a good shake. She realized that her fur was matted with twigs and mud as it dragged on the ground underneath her.

What do I look like now? Leah wondered, realizing that she didn't pay attention when she saw herself through Sam's eyes.

Leah tentatively sniffed the air and located a small pond in a clearing not too far from her. Moving towards the water, Leah finally was able to see her new face, the golden eyes of a wolf staring back at her from the water. She wasn't a solid color like Sam was. Her fur was more of a gradient color like a real wolf instead of some supernatural creature. Moving her body around to get a better look in the dim reflection, Leah realized that the very top of her head all the way down her back and to her tail was black. The black faded into chocolate brown along her face and body with a rusty brown fringing it, including flecks of the color around her eyes. The insides of her legs and stomach seemed to be a light gray but it was difficult to tell since the long fur was covered with dirt.

The young woman cringed internally at what that would mean for her long hair, and huffed out a sigh. Seeing the beginnings of pre-dawn on the horizon, Leah stood from her place near the pond and started making her way home. It was over an hour later when Leah made her way to the forest outside of her home. With dawn steadily approaching, Leah began to panic slightly on how to turn back into a human. Anger is what set me off, she thought, maybe I just need to… Ugh, wait? Calm down, think happy thoughts?

As she snorted at her own thoughts, Leah felt a shudder run down her spine and before she knew it, she was standing on two legs, stark naked. "Really?" She hissed, looking down at herself. "I hope Mom left some laundry downstairs." Leah bolted towards the house and quietly entered, praying that her parents were still asleep. She breathed a sigh of relief when the house still seemed still and rushed to the laundry room. Only finding a pair of leggings and a large T-shirt, Leah pulled them on before she felt it was safe enough to venture back out and upstairs to her bedroom. She probably could have made it without going to the laundry room, but Leah wanted to be at least partially covered on the off chance that someone woke up early.

Leah quietly made her way to her bedroom to grab some clothes before barricading herself in the bathroom. "Oh spirits," Leah gasped when she finally turned the light on and caught sight of herself in the mirror. Dirt covered her arms and was smudged on her face. Pulling her leggings off, she could see more dirt covering her feet and lower legs. Twigs and leaves were stuck in her hair, along with mud coating the bottom few inches. "My poor hair," she whimpered as she started untangling it. Nearly half an hour passed before Leah felt it was safe enough to wash her hair without causing any more damage to it.

The third time Leah started shampooing her hair following the 'wash, rinse, and repeat' cycle, a banging came on the door. "Leah," Seth's voice came, "Don't use all of the hot water."

"Yeah Seth, I'm almost out," Leah yelled back, doling out a generous handful of conditioner. "I'm going to miss you hair," she murmured, pulling at the long ends that brushed the small of her back. Once she was adequately clean, Leah turned the water off and slunk out of the shower. Since the dirt was gone, she was able to better analyze the changes that had occurred to her body since sprouting fur and a tail. While she wasn't thrilled with turning into a giant wolf or having to cut her hair in the near future, Leah was pleased with the changes it brought to her body. She shot up a few inches, bringing her height to just shy of 6ft. The little fat that had been on her body disappeared, and rock hard muscles took its place. She ran her fingers over her new washboard abs, and flexed nearly every muscle in her body, feeling the power in her legs and arms. Leah smirked, "Eat your heart out Sam."

She pulled on her underwear and a sports bra before slipping a pair of shorts and a t-shirt on her overheated body. "Ugh, this is going to take time getting used to," Leah grunted, instantly starting to sweat when the shirt made contact with her skin. Once decent, Leah unlocked the door to find Seth standing outside.

"Thank god," he said, rushing into the room behind her. "Get out, I have to pee."

"Good morning to you too," Leah rolled her eyes and returned to her room. Her eyes landed on the clock next to her bed and calculated the time it would take her to get to Port Angeles to see if she had time to get her hair cut before her class later that morning. "Better try anyway, don't know when I'm going to have to turn to a wolf again." Leah grumbled to herself on her way out the door, deciding to skip having to see her parents and pick up breakfast somewhere in town.

Leah grabbed an extra large breakfast platter from the dinner in forks before heading to Port Angeles. By the time she had reached the city, the food was gone and Leah was slightly panicking about getting her haircut. Leah parked near the hair salon where she normally got her hair done, and walked into the store. About an hour later, Leah walked out of the salon with hair that barely brushed her shoulders and floated around her head in layers.

The Native American woman made her way back to her car and over to the local college campus. Leah could barely stay awake during her math class and grabbed some coffee before her philosophy class that afternoon. It was after 4 before Leah finally got home. Her parents were waiting for her in the house when she got there.

"Where have you been young lady?" Harry demanded, standing to meet her when Leah walked through the door.

"Uh, class…" Leah said, rolling her eyes, "I know that you really don't care about my life or anything, but you think you would remember when I had class."

"You shouldn't even be going to class in your condition," he thundered forward, his face red.

"What 'condition' are you talking about?" Leah asked, her eyes narrowed.

"The fact that you're a protector, a wolf," Sam's voice came from behind her. Leah whirled around and glared at the man. She could see the other elders filtering into her house behind Sam.

Chief Billy Black rolled himself into the living room and parked next to Harry, Old Quil following him and sitting on Billy's right. "Sam told us about what happened last night," Billy said, glaring at Leah from his seat. "Told us how you shifted, endangering the Alpha's imprint, and how you refused to submit to his leadership."

Leah snorted, "If you bunch of self-righteous asshats think I'm going to submit to Sam, then you've got another thing coming." She sneered at the mention of Sam's name and inwardly smirked at the contempt in the elders' eyes. She wilted slightly as her father was one of those people displaying contempt while her mother wouldn't even look at her.

"You will submit to Sam, you will stop going to college in Port Angeles and return to La Push or you will face the consequences!" Harry roared, glaring at his daughter.

The young woman stared her father in the face for a full minute. "Hell no," she whispered quietly. Leah turned her eyes to all of the elders and shook her head at them. "What are you all going to do to me? Most of what you would do you can't because I haven't committed any crime. I'm assuming you don't want the rest of the tribe to know the truth, or else you wouldn't be so secretive about this stuff." Leah's frame was vibrating slightly and she could feel her wolf just under the surface of her skin, ready to come out at a moment's notice.

"Leah, if you do not fall in line right now, then I will no longer see you as my daughter!" Harry spat out.

Tired of all of the elders' blustering and groaning, Leah decided to call his bluff. "I'll go start packing my things then." With that, Leah turned and stomped upstairs.

"Leah," Sue called, rushing after her daughter, "Leah honey, Harry didn't mean it. We're just concerned is all, you need to follow Sam in order to learn to control your wolf properly…"

"Shut-up Mom," Leah yelled, glaring at her mother. "You are telling me to submit to the leadership of the man who broke up with me after cheating on me with my cousin? Yes he told me about the imprint, but he should've broken up with me before going to her. He should've told me more than, 'you're not good for me.'" Leah seethed. She yanked a duffle bag out of her closet and started throwing some of her clothes in, the ones that would still fit anyway and some of her other things that she couldn't bear to get rid of. "I'll be back for the rest of my things and my furniture when I get a place," she said, walking past her sobbing mother and back down the stairs.

"You're not going anywhere Leah," Sam sneered, barring the exit to the house.

Glaring, Leah braced her hand against his chest and pushed, thrusting him out the door onto his ass in the yard. "Some alpha," Leah snorted, climbing into her car and pulling out of the drive. Leah turned down the road that lead to the tiny town of Forks about 20 miles out of La Push. Once she reached Forks she located the house of the one person in town who she knew would help her out if she asked him.

Pulling up to his house, Leah saw his car in the drive and smiled with relief. She walked up to the front porch steps and knock on the door. "Leah?" The man said, opening the door.

"Hey Chief," Leah grimaced, greeting her father's best friend, Forks Police Chief Charlie Swan.

Okay, so I made an important change to how the wolves are colored, which I feel should have been more obvious in canon. In canon, the wolves' colors are based on their personality. I felt this was an interesting point, and decided to keep it. However, I also added in a little thing about the blood lines of the wolves, and decided to make it that the wolves would have the color of what bloodline they inherited the wolf genes from. The three bloodlines that I know of are Aterra, Black and Uley. I have no clue what their wolves were colored, I looked, but I don't think author lady ever said, so I assigned colors based on the current descendants of those lines.

So, i.e.

Aterra line- Chocolate brown

Black line- Russet brown

Uley line- Black (does anyone see the irony here?)

So, wolves descending from any of these lines will have those colors in their fur, as well as colors that define their personalities. I looked up the wolves on the wikia Twilight thingy, and found which bloodline they came from. I thought it was interesting that Leah had all three bloodlines in her, so decided to make it more prominent. I also thought that it would give her a leg up over the other wolves, hence why she was able to break away.

Review guys, this chapter was really more prologuish, but I've found that people tend to skip prologues. That's why I merged the prologued and first chapters together, giving you this thing!