Charlie stood at the window in her loft watching the edge of the woods. Paul and Embry had removed the battery from her car. She couldn't go, and the more she sat in this cabin, the more she hated the wolves that weaved in and out of the cover of the trees just outside of her backdoor. It had been three days of her trying to come up with some way to get the hell out of La Push. With class starting in a week and a half, hopelessness settled into her chest.

This wasn't how she thought this summer would turn out. She had done a fair amount of research on the Quileute Reservation. Their customs, their history, their involvement with the surrounding towns. Nothing could prepare her for the wolves that littered the woods. Their different color fur would peek out from the edge of the woods every now and then. They would look for her in the window and then continue on in their set paths. They knew she wouldn't leave the house, she couldn't. A large dark silver wolf had made his claim on her porch. Charlotte assumed that it was Paul, though she couldn't bring herself to go out and greet him.

Every time she thought of going to talk to him, she would either boil with anger or she would think back on the moments when he wasn't holding her hostage.

"Paul!" Charlie shouted exasperated at what he had just claimed. "You aren't seriously telling me that you live that close to Mount Olympus and you have no idea of the fascinating implication of the environment that you grew up in? You are Quileute after all!" Paul shrugged, showing his hands in surrender. "Your ancestors were deeply concerned about their connection with the environment and how the United States Government would change their land. They ensured the ability to care for the very tracts of land that you still live on." Paul shook his head again. Charlie was leaning across the table with her arm out, propped up on the table. Her hand was held out as if she could physically offer him the information. "Paul, what would your elders say?"

Paul laughed this time sinking into his seat in disbelief. "How do you know so much about my people?"

"The internet. I was moving up here for school and I wanted to see what all was around." Charlie admitted happily. She took another sip from her coffee mug almost humming with joy at the warmth it gave her.

"Yea, where are you from?" Paul wondered aloud. His mind was curious to everything this girl could say. Her caramel colored hair was yanked up in a similar bun to what he had seen last night. Her Jeans were still tight but she had a giant sweatshirt on that covered most of her body. Everyone else in Seattle was finally happy to break out their summer clothes as April drew to a close, but this girl was still bundled up and seemingly happy about it.

"Alabama," her voice seemed far off like she was thinking about her home that was now so far away from her.

"Why Washington?" Paul asked sincerely. He had thought many times about what he would do if he had just left. If the pack wasn't where he wanted to be, where would he go?

"If you knew anything about the amazing part of the world you live in and that your ancestors vowed to protect," she heaved dramatically. "I came because of the ecosystems. Moderate rainforests, glacial peaked mountains, rare species of elk, it's an ecologist's dream."

"So you're an ecologist."

"No," she said simply before taking another sip of her coffee. Paul stared at her for a second begging her to continue. She took her time breathing in the smell of her coffee and then letting the taste overtake her tongue. When she looked back at him she gave him a small smile. "I'm at the University of Washington for Environmental Law. After I completed my Bachelors and Masters at Auburn, I realized I wouldn't be able to protect the land, and you can stand at protests all you want but eventually someone has to take it to the court with an educated, level-headed argument in favor of the planet."

Paul just sat and looked at her for a moment. Her messy hair, her giant sweatshirt, her hazel eyes that were lined with dark eyeliner. She didn't seem like the law type, but then again it was never about the law for her. Her amazement at his lack of understanding of Washington and Quileute history suddenly made sense. She loved the land that he had always lived on. She loved that his people were always the ones to care for it. She wanted to care for it too. She wanted to understand it and protect it.

Her eyes searched his face as he looked over her. This was where she always lost people in conversation. Especially men. Hell, she had been told before that women who were overly educated scared men off. She should keep her passions to herself until she was sure that they were prepared to hear it. Charlie had thought for sure that Paul would be just like those boys, turned off by her education. Terrified that her passion would make her not cater to their every whim. She wouldn't be around because she would have a career and had every intention of pursuing that career to the ends of the Earth.

"That's amazing, Charlie."

A warmth spread through Charlie at his words. It was better than the coffee she had cupped between her palms. It spread from her chest sending a chill through her fingers and toes. The heat reached her cheeks and she almost laughed at the joy it brought her. Paul hadn't gaped at her like a two-headed monkey. He had simply embraced it, like it was a true wonder to behold.

"What are your plans for the summer?"

Charlie sat up a little taller pushing herself into her chair so that her back sat rigidly against the support of the chair. "I haven't really figured out any concrete plans. I was just going to hang around my apartment and work."

"Oh what do you do?" Paul didn't seem to notice how she had scooted as far away from him as possible without jostling her chair.

"I'm an online bookkeeper," she forced a shrug. "It pays well, and I can work from wherever, so I can travel on my breaks."

Paul's face lit up without his permission, but he didn't really care that she saw how happy he was to hear this. "Why don't you come to the reservation? There's a cabin there that I have access to, so you can stay by yourself for the whole summer. Explore the forest. Climb mountains. Look for elk and stuff." Paul waved his hand off to the side as if he didn't think the topic was that interesting.

"You want me to live in La Push for the summer? You don't even know me." Charlie defended immediately, raising her eyebrows at him. She had drawn her hands into her lap, her coffee sitting, forgotten, on the table in front of her.

"It's not about me, Charlie," Paul smiled at her calmly. He now noticed the tension in her shoulders, and wanted nothing more than to rub it away. Somehow he managed to stay in his seat and hold her gaze as she searched his face for clues. "It's about you getting to do what you came to Washington to do."

She had been so excited to come to La Push. While most of her excitement came from all of the wildlife and ecosystems, a part of her was excited to get to know Paul better. Despite her generally sour attitude, he was interested in her passions. He got excited with her even when he didn't understand what was going on. At his insistence, he was always with her when she went on her hikes into the national park. Now Charlotte wondered if he had insisted because he wanted to be with her, if he wanted to protect her from the vampire woman, Aphrodite, or if he wanted to make sure she didn't run into horse-sized wolves.

Suddenly from the trees, Nessie and Jacob came with a letter in hand. Charlotte watched them carefully as they approached. Paul's wolf came to greet them. The large silver wolf turned back to the cabin peering up at the window where Charlotte was standing. She froze for a moment meeting his dark eyes. He turned back to Jacob who seemed to be talking to him about something. Charlotte missed seeing Paul. He had stayed in his wolf form the last few days as if it helped him cope with everything going on, but a piece of Charlotte wished that he would demand to come inside just so he could hold her.

Especially the first night when the nightmares were the worst. The woman would continue to talk to her in her dreams, and she would try to run away. There were even times when she was able to break eye contact with her and turn, but then she would be whipped around and forced to look at her too red eyes that seemed to be seared into the back of Charlotte's mind. Though she didn't scream when she woke up from those nightmares, she could hear the soft whimpers of Paul outside letting her know that somehow he could sense her fears.

A knock sounded on the front door of the cabin, and Charlotte managed to drag herself away from the window and to the edge of the loft. "Come in, it's unlocked," she announced refusing to come down the steps to meet them. As the door was pushed open, Charlotte took in a quick breath as Paul stood there in human form. He wore no shirt, but had a pair of roughly cut off jeans hugging low on his hips. Nessie and Jacob stood just behind him with calm expressions plastered over their features.

"The Volturi has sent you a letter," Nessie stepped past Paul into the cabin. She held up the letter. While she remained almost expressionless, Charlotte could see the ever so slight downturning of her lips as Charlotte came down the steps. As she took the letter she turned it over in her hand. The wax seal was already broken, clearly having been read by those that claimed to be protecting her. She pushed the letter back into Nessie's hand. "Charlie-"

"I don't want to read it. Please, let me go back to Seattle." Charlotte pleaded with Nessie who shifted her deep brown eyes away. "I can't stay here. I don't want to stay here."

"That's just not an option right now, Charlie. I'm sorry." Jacob's gruff voice seemed to make Charlotte pause for a moment. There was no doubt to why he was the Alpha. He had an air to him that demanded respect.

"That's my decision to make," she insisted. She looked at Nessie again and then over to Paul who had his eyes carefully trained on the far wall of the cabin. "Paul can choose a different imprint." Paul flinched at her words but didn't dare look her way.

"That's not how it works," Nessie suddenly said looking up at Charlotte with shining eyes. "I can show you if you want to know?"

Charlotte took a step away pulling her large sweater around her tighter. "No. I don't want to know. I want to leave. Paul," she made a few steps toward him, watching as he melted at the sound of her voice, "I'm almost done with my degree. Then I can leave and I'll move far away where they can't find me."

The whimper that came from him made Charlotte's shoulders fall in defeat. "It doesn't work that way. Char…" his voice trailed off like he wasn't sure how to finish her name anymore, "they'll find you, and I can't let you get hurt."

"You're hurting me right now."

He still wouldn't look her in the eyes. He knew that if he even gave himself a moment to check to see if there were tears in her eyes he would crumble to her pleads. Instead he turned on his heel and was out the door before she could manage another word. Nessie stared at the spot where he had just been with her eyebrows scrunched together. Charlotte's mouth was slightly agape. Her feet managed a few steps forwards towards the door before Jacob caught her arm.

"As the Alpha, I'm telling you to let him cool off," Jacob managed through gritted teeth. "As his best friend, I'm begging you," the tightness left his voice and his grip loosened on her arm, "at least listen to how this all works. Let Nessie show you, ask Paul, but stop demanding that we do something we can't."

Jacob completely dropped her arm before he turned to reach for Nessie's hand. She laid the letter from the Volturi on the coffee table and then followed Jacob out of the cabin with her head hung. When the door clicked shut, Charlotte just stood there suddenly swimming in the silence of her cell. It rang in her ears. Through it, all she could manage was to sink onto the couch and curl into her sweater.

After a few hours, she uncurled her body, wincing at the stiffness of her joints. She grabbed the letter off the table as she sat up turning it over and in her hand once again. Her fingertips fiddled with the wax seal. Its deep red color and the embossment of a 'V' emerging from the page. Eventually she found her eyes taking in the words on the page. Again and again, she read the letter trying to understand how she had come to this point.

Dearest, Charlotte Everly,

It has come to our attention that you have crossed paths with a dear friend of ours. She speaks so highly of you and your mate that we are delighted to let you know that we will soon come to meet you. In your proximity to the Cullen property, we will politely request that they do not attend our meeting. As we've been made aware of the condition of your mate, we would also request that you do not include him in our appointment.

We will be arriving promptly in One week. Your presence is requested in the Olympic National Forest at the highest peak. Any inclusion of other persons will be perceived as a threat and will be handled accordingly.

With all of our Honor,

Aro