A/N: First – Forgive the break between the last chapter and this one! I know it's been forever, but I've had my hands full, believe me! Second – I'm up for auction for the Fandom Gives Back Eclipse Edition. The links for my auction thread and discussion thread are on my profile page, so please check them out. We're raising money to fight pediatric cancers and it's totally worth it! Third – THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who has read or reviewed or pimped this story out. I have had such a great time with Charlie and Leah! And now, let's go take a peek inside Charlie's head, shall we?

Seven: That's My Girl.

Charlie's POV:

My whole body was throbbing with the need for release. I could feel her all around me – hell, I could practically taste her. "Leah..." I whispered.

"Charlie..." she moaned, her voice rough with want.

It was the very best sex I could remember ever having or even thinking about. Just as I roared her name, she growled. Sexiest damn thing ever.

Her growl became a howl that shook the windows, penetrating my bones. "It's okay, baby," I whispered. "You're with me."

The howl continued and I tried to get her to be quiet but I realized that the sound wasn't even in my room. Leah wasn't in my room. The only thing in my room was me – and the evidence that I had just had an intense dream. Swearing under my breath, I heard the howl again, coming from the treeline. It wasn't Leah's, though. Not Embry's either. Now that I was a part of this "secret community" Emily Uley had written about, I was getting to know the members of the Quileute Wolfpack and was learning to distinguish their different calls. I had to; I couldn't allow any of them to be hurt by a careless hunter, and I sure as hell wasn't going to call out to Leah if it wasn't her.

Wiping myself off with my sheet, I stepped across to the window that faced the side lot and the woods. "I'm up," I informed the wolf in a quiet voice.

The howling ceased and I slammed the window down again. Someone would be banging on my door in about two point five seconds, so I didn't take the time to dress; I just pulled on a pair of shorts – commando, just like the guys in the pack I'd been told – and rolled up my sheet to shove in the hamper.

Just in time for a small series of bangs to hit the rear screen. "Coming," I called out. "Keep your shorts on."

I was scrubbing at my jaw as I opened the back door and nodded Sam in.

He cleared his throat. "Chief. G'morning. Sorry to intrude on your day off." The younger man's hair was dewy and I found myself wondering if that was due to the wet leaves he had been standing in or if it was residue from his fur and an earlier rain.

"What is it?" I really just wanted to shower and then get to the diner for some coffee. "It's my day off, Sam."

"I know. Leah told us. But we've got kind of a problem on the Rez border."

Aw, hell. I was supposed to be babysitting the twins with Leah that afternoon so that Embry could take Bella out for her twentieth birthday. "You guys have law enforcement on the Rez, Sam. What do you need me for?" I leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed my arms over my chest. I probably could've been all polite and offered Sam a seat but I really didn't feel like it. I respected Sam Uley but I just didn't like him very much. Because of what happened between him and Leah.

But then, if he hadn't imprinted on Leah's cousin, Leah might not have imprinted on me...

I felt the smile tugging at my lips and squashed it. Sam's news of the druggies who were doing business on the Quileute border was not something to make any lawman smile.

Operating on information from Sam, I decided I'd have to cancel the babysitting. I knew Leah had planned to be on patrol until the afternoon, when the idea was to have her join me at Bella's. So, I headed over to my daughter's house to meet my werewolf.

My werewolf. That was still ringing weirdly in my head. I would never forget the night Leah phased in front of me the first time. Panic. My brain went into overdrive and all my cop-instincts insisted I throw my daughter to the floor and shoot the monster in her living room.

Damn good thing I didn't act on instinct. Bella would never have forgiven me. Leah would have – I knew her well enough now to know that. Not that shooting her would have done any good anyway... And I'd have been devastated about doing that, even before I knew her like I've come to know her. Which was pretty damned well.

Leah Clearwater was possibly the most beautiful girl on the Rez, never mind Forks. I believed in the imprint because – well, hell, what other reason would a looker like her even look twice at an old guy like me? I'd checked out her story when she told it to me, even as hurt and angry as I was. My daughter and my oldest friend had been keeping some huge information from me. Huge. I forgave them, of course, once I realized that this was all on the level.

Or as on the level as living, breathing campfire stories ever got, anyway.

And the first time I kissed Leah... Well, that pretty much did away with most of my head-scratching about her feeling for me, anyway. I mean, sure, a woman can fake a lot of things but Leah Clearwater wasn't faking that kiss. Not that one and not a single one of any of the rest, either. She isn't faking anything, as far as I can tell.

What blew me away pretty much from the start about her was that she listened to me. I remember how pretty she looked in that blue dress, the night she phased that first time for me. I was a little embarrassed to realize that I was kind of showing off for her. She smiled at me with her whole face when I told her the story about the dogs facing off on my shift She smiled and laughed and – well, I know Bella loves me, but even my own daughter didn't pay me the attention Leah did.

I had been looking forward to spending the afternoon and evening with her while we babysat the kids. Stupid druggies, messing up a bunch of lives as well as my own. Idiots. My gut told me to warn Leah about them, but I knew that would only send her straight out to find them and I didn't want her to get hurt.

Not that they'd hurt her in any way. More than likely, she would put the fear of Hell into them so good they'd piss their pants and scream like little girls.

Bella's house was one that Embry and Jake and their friends had renovated for Bella and Embry. It was covered in a sturdy, pale-yellow siding and had a deep stoop to keep the rain well away from the door. Stepping stones and shells lined the walk from the gravel drive to the stoop and my daughter was waiting there for me, the sun catching her as it peeked through the nearly perpetual cloud cover. She was holding out a dripping can of Rainier. Smart girl.

"Hey, Bells! Whose car is that?" It couldn't be Leah's; she would have just run over – "furry," as she said, or otherwise.

"Um, Dad? Renée's here."

"Great." I had nothing against my ex-wife, but she was the nosiest woman to cross my path in forty years. I met Bella's eyes. "Leah?"

"Inside."

I felt as if a cold rag had been shot into my stomach. "Great. Just great." After exchanging a wry, resigned look with my daughter, I popped open my beer and followed Bella into her house.

Renée's voice greeted me immediately. "I remember when you were born, Leah." My ex-wife was gushing as she cradled Hemi in one arm. She looked up at me and grinned with a spark in her blue eyes that I remembered from our youth. "Charlie! I can't believe you haven't camped out in this house just to be close to our adorable grandchildren. Look, even Harry's daughter can't stay away."

"Hello, Renée," I said when I could slide a word in. Meeting Leah's smiling eyes, I crossed to her side. She slid Hemeh from her arms into mine – she had a sure hand with the twins. "How're you doing, Leah?" I brushed her supernaturally heated skin with the back of my hand as I shifted Hemi to my shoulder. We were still working on things between us, of course, my dreams notwithstanding.

She grinned up at me and – surprising me – kissed me right on the jaw.

Tension exploded in the room. I could almost see it, it was so thick. I focused first on Leah, because her attention on me was tangible. Eyes sharp and possessive, she seemed to try to –

I got it and I felt my face turn red. I didn't know what a male werewolf did to mark his territory but a female – my female, anyway – apparently did so by kissing her imprint in front of a perceived rival. Damn it, sounded like something off Wild Kingdom. Leah held my eyes with her own while Renée's shock went audible.

"Charles Swan! What the hell?"

"Mom!"

Renée handed Hennah off to Bella, her gaze never leaving Leah's face. "You two...?" She gestured definitely with her hand, her mouth half-open. "Bella? Is your father with Harry's daughter?"

"Mom –"

"What's next, Charlie, a red Corvette? Gonna get that tattoo you wanted when you were twenty-one? Is she even legal?"

"Mom –" Bella said more loudly, inserting herself to take both of the children in her arms in a smooth move. Hell, she was the mother of twins and knew how to maneuver her kids. I'd seen her do it hundreds of times. "Dad and Leah are babysitting today."

"Together?"

I shot a glance at Leah's uplifted face. Her expression was all strength and confidence and I found that incredibly sexy. My skin tightened and it was all I could do to force my concentration on Renée. "Together," I informed my ex-wife. "We're like that a lot, Leah and me."

"Together," Leah repeated, lacing her fingers with mine. I actually appreciated her assertiveness. Bella did too, I could see as her eyes brimmed with smiles. Leah leaned a little into me. "Look, I know it looks like Charlie's having a midlife crisis but he's not. I'm totally the one who is into him." She smiled up at me, her gaze warm and loving and I remembered the highlights of each moment we'd been together over the summer. "Seriously. Ask anyone. I used to go jogging my his place – Didn't you use to live there, too, when I was a baby? – and I would bring him lunch to work and –"

Renée held up her hands to interrupt Leah. "What? What do you want from him?" She scowled, lines appearing between her eyebrows that reminded me of well-trod forest paths. "He's just a cop in a small town, Leah Clearwater. Not a ticket out of here. Damn it, he loves this place." Her scowl slid to me and I smiled a little.

"I do," I said, shifting to wrap an arm around Leah's shoulders. "She knows it. She loves it, too."

Making an exasperated sound, Renée just shook her head. "Fine. I don't get it, either of you, but I guess Charlie, anyway, is a grown-up."

Bella snorted. "We all are. Come on, let's go back to the nursery, Mom. You can change Hemi's diaper while I get ready for Embry."

I didn't watch them disappear into the short hallway that led to the back of the house. Instead, I turned to face Leah fully, pulling her all the way into my arms. "Sorry about that."

Her grin was bright. "What for? I'll stand up to anyone for you, Charlie. You know that, right?"

"I know. Hell, we've put up with a lot already, haven't we?"

She chuckled and I saw her cheeks darken with a blush before she shook it off. "Yep. Bet the guys at the station won't be forgetting that anytime soon..."

I had to laugh as I remembered. So did she.

"Come on, hon," I had asked her. "Eat with me. I feel weird, with you just watching."

Leah fidgeted. "I can go. I don't have to stay," she told me the first time she brought me lunch after our first kiss. "I just know you'd be eating day-old sandwiches if I didn't bring you anything."

"I've managed so far," I reminded her, wanting to be gentle, but also kind of laughing at her, I admit. It was funny, to me, to see her taking care of me. Not quite like Bella. Bella had done so, sure, but it always felt as if she were humoring me when she did.

"Managed, yes. But Charlie, my imprint is not going to just manage if I have anything to say about it." A cocky tilt of her chin as she leaned forward on her elbows across from me had me smiling.

One thing led to another after we ate and in the end she was in front of me at my chair. She was wiping mustard from my mustache with her thumb. I caught the tip of it in my mouth – don't know what the hell I was thinking except that I wasn't, really – and sucked the dab of mustard right off her skin. Her breath caught and I quit breathing entirely The next thing I knew, she was straddled on my lap and I could feel the heat from her body radiate out to surround me like it did when we were together. She braced herself on the file cabinet behind me, her arms extended, her breasts just at my chin as my chair tilted back with our combined weight. She smelled like fresh air and warm woman and I caught found myself inhaling as if I could keep her with me.

It was incredible. Amazing. Wild and hot, even before I pulled her head down to mine. Her tongue slid in my mouth almost immediately and there was nothing – nothing and no one – sexier than that.

I wanted to explode, right there in my office. I forgot I was on duty, even, for a minute.

But only for a minute. Leah broke off from our kiss and jerked her head to the side, her arms tensing before pushing on the black metal where her hands had been. "Crap! Sorry, Charlie," she muttered.

Wobbling in the old office chair, I turned to see every single on-duty member of Forks Finest staring through the glass windows into my office. Every damn one of them. As Leah and I tried to compose ourselves, the crowd started clapping and laughing and I had to chuckle, too.

"Sorry, Leah," I offered in apology as she scooted with almost superhuman speed off of my harder-than-usual lap. I caught her hand in one of mine and gestured to our "audience" to go away. "I'm on my lunch," I called, loudly enough that I knew they heard me. To the black haired beauty in front of me, I whispered, "Later, maybe?"

She shook on it.

Well, Sam and I found the druggies all right. Messing around with some of the local kids. Kids, dammit. Kids in middle school! We busted the kids for possession – Sam taking care of those from the Rez while I took care of the Forks' kids – and the adults for dealing. Hate to see that stuff. Potheads make me sick, they really do.

I was still feeling disgusted with all of it when I called Leah that night. "How'd it go with the twins?" I asked, not wanting to bring up Renée. I balanced the phone on my shoulder while I popped open a beer.

Her voice was husky. "I had a really good time. Even with Renée. Eventually."

"Crap. You mean she stayed?" I winced. "I'm so sorry, Leah."

I heard her laugh. The sound gave me goosebumps, I swear. "She's your grandkids' grandma, Charlie. What the hell am I supposed to do? Tell her to leave? Give her a wedgie?"

"I'd pay to see that," I told her as we both chuckled.

An image flashed in my head, then, of one of the babies calling me Grandpa Charlie someday. And then calling the werewolf on the other end of the connection Grandma Leah.

That was really out there.

"So...?"

I scratched the back of my neck and eyed the group of imprints warily. "So...what?" It was the end of October and this was not a bonfire, so I didn't really get why all the girls were huddled together next to me. Music was playing in the background – something with some kind of heavy bass line that I didn't get into at all (Didn't anyone play Springsteen anymore?) – and the guys were mostly hanging out in front of the flatscreen at Sam and Emily's house. I'd rather be with them, talking about the game, but no... Leah had wanted something to drink; of course I went to get it for her.

And I got ambushed.

Emily opened her mouth to take a breath as we stood around the punch bowl. The punch bowl, for Pete's sake. At Sam's birthday party. I felt ancient as the trees, standing around the small table with the girls. Imprints. All of us were imprints and I was still the only male. And they were all under twenty-five. Even Emily.

Rachel spoke first. "So, are you and Leah finding out if this whole mating imperative thing works for her?"

My daughter and fellow imprint threw a hand up. "Ew! This is my dad, Rache. C'mon. Be nice."

"No secrets!" Billy's daughter insisted, her expression playful. I shot a look to Emily, but she smiled in the lopsided way she had and shook her head. "No fair," Rachel went on. "You know all about us –"

"Hey! T. M. I!" I insisted with the current colloquialism that the young ladies preferred.

"Charlie!" they all whined – excepting Bella, who rolled her eyes and smiled an apology before hefting Hennah to her arm and walking away.

I found Leah and she must have caught my heightened tension or something – her senses were acute – because she offered me a commiserating sort of expression. And did not follow through.

Dammit!

"We're not, uh, working on that imperative. Yet," I muttered as quietly as I could. "And that's it. I'm not a girl and I don't do girl talk. Got it?"

"You can't possibly still be a virgin, Charlie..." teased Kim, twining a strand of her hair around a finger. Her face was lit up with humor and I knew for certain that she was getting a huge kick out of messing with Police Chief Swan. "If you need any pointers or anything..."

"Enough!" I said, half wanting to laugh even though I felt really embarrassed. "So! How about them Seahawks?"

"Charlie!"

"Come on over here, Charlie," my son-in-law called. He was giving Hemi a bottle, the little guy settled comfortably in the crook of Embry's arm. "You can feed your grandson."

"Are these things always this uncomfortable?" I muttered to Embry as I took Hemeh from him and lowered myself onto the faded cushion of the sofa.

The guys all looked around at each other and started laughing. "That's what THEY always ask!"

They snapped their jaws shut, though, when Leah reached my side, her hands fisted on her hips. I loved seeing her go all she-wolf, I really did. "What the hell do you guys think you're doing? If I were messing with any of your imprints, you'd be giving me all kinds of crap. You're all a bunch of sexist wannabes!" She dropped beside me on the sofa and kissed me under my ear. Damned sensitive spot for a grandpa feeding his grandson. "Want me to kick their asses?" she asked, her voice low and sultry.

"Uh, nope. Can I shoot 'em?" I joked.

Leah sighed and rested her head on my shoulder before tracing the shape of Hemi's head with one lean finger. "Wouldn't do any good, dammit. He's beautiful," she added softly. "He's got your nose."

Surprised and touched I turned to study Leah's expression. Soft wistfulness transformed her face and I felt my heart sort of jump and clench at the same time.

We needed to talk.

The party was over and Leah and I were walking to the cruiser when I pulled her against my side, keeping in step with her. "You heard all that, I'm guessing?"

She sighed and ducked her head. "Yeah. Idiot girls. Seriously, Charlie, you don't have to hang out with them. I mean – what they deal with isn't the same, you know. Not really." Reaching the car, she rolled in front of me to press her back to the driver's side door. Leah liked being between me and a hard place – and I didn't have to be a genius to figure out why. My werewolf (Emily said, in her book, that we imprints should get used to hearing that and I really did – I felt that connection with Leah that I never had had with Renée.) got turned on by the pressure, for some reason. I didn't use any pressure, though. Just stood there, holding her hands in mine. Overhead, there was a half-moon somewhere through the cloud cover, but mostly it was just dark and chilly. At least it wasn't raining. That would have been uncomfortable – for me, anyway.

"I didn't really know what to say to them," I told her. "We've never really talked about it, you know?"

She fidgeted, her fingers flexing uncomfortably between mine. "Charlie. I honestly couldn't tell you, you know? What do I say? 'Gee, sweetie, let's do the nasty and see if we can get me pregnant?'" Sarcasm rolled from her in thick waves and I drew her closer against my chest. She wrapped her arms around me and leaned into me in a show of vulnerability that I didn't think anyone else got to see.

Though, I guess the guys in the pack would, now. Sometimes, I thought that whole pack-mind thing was interesting. Sometimes, funny. But just at that moment, I was angry about it and felt even a little jealous. My gut tightened instinctively. At times, I hated that those young guys could see my Leah's thoughts. That they'd see her naked, damn it all, just made me mad. I knew that she saw them, too, but that never really bothered me because I knew how she felt about it.

"They all need some serious time at The Dirty Paw - that groomer's place in Port Angeles," Leah had told me once. "Disgusting, all of 'em. Not like this hot police chief I know..."

I tried to tease Leah a little out of her negative mood. I knew that the guys affected her more than she let on, occasionally. "Do the nasty? Is that what you call it these days? What about making the beast with two backs? Doing the horizontal bop? Or just having a sleep-over?" I finished on a whisper over her head. I had to remember the sleep-overs that Bells had had at the Cullens, once upon a time. Vampires. My daughter had dated a vampire! She'd had sleep-overs with Alice Cullen, too...

Nah, not that kind. I was pretty sure of that. Edward Cullen and Bella were way too antsy with each other... Nah. It had been a different story with her and Embry, though. Even before I found out she was pregnant, I knew they'd been having "sleep-overs."

Hell of a euphemism.

Leah thought so, too. She snorted against my throat. "I wouldn't object, you know. If you wanted to invite me over..."

Heat flared under my skin and coiled deep. "Luh - Leah? Serious?" It wasn't as if I hadn't thought of it, for sure, over the past few months. Hearing her suggest it was something else again.

"Anything in particular you're waiting for?" She nuzzled me and I swallowed. Hard. "Gotta tell ya, Charlie, it'd be awesome to be able to give those guys a shovel full of their own crap, you know?"

That reminded me of something else from Emily's little book. "How long does that have to go on, hon?" I wondered, moving her away from me so I could see her face. I reached up to stroke her hair – it felt so soft in my fingers. "Emily said she didn't know if the phasing would stop, you know... If, uh..." My collar started feeling kind of tight.

But Leah only laughed. Didn't sound like her heart was in it, though. "If I got pregnant? Yeah. I read that book too, Charlie." She hooked her fingers through my belt and tugged me up against her. I didn't mind one bit, but I didn't want her to distract me, either. With a smirk, she asked, "What, you want another baby? Or do you think I'd make a hot granny?"

"Definitely. Most beautiful grannie on the Rez," I assured her before I thought.

And then I did think. And then my mouth went dry. Another baby. "Shit, Leah," I muttered.

Surprisingly, she laughed and wrapped her arms around me again. "That'd be messy! Gross! What, did you only just now think about it? You? Me? Babies? All that? You told me you read that book," she went on, teasing me while grinding her hips into mine.

That did not help me think. At all. "Uh, maybe?" I grabbed her hips and tried to hold her still, but that didn't help either. "You're sure?" I rasped. "I mean, I'm old, hon."

"You're not. You're my imprint. I told you that we must really be into your bloodline."

At that, I had to laugh. "Well, you must be. The Swans and the locals do have a history..."

"Oh yeah?" she breathed, her arms moving up until they were wrapped around my neck and shoulders. When she started lightly scratching the back of my neck, I was a goner and I knew it.

"Yeah. My great-something-grandpa Jimmy Swan was a lawyer and teacher with the Makah, did you know that? Rumor has it that he married one, too. But it's not in any of the paperwork because –"

"I can guess why," Leah said on a sigh. "Glad his descendants have more sense."

"I'd have to be crazy not to be proud to be with you, Leah Clearwater." It wasn't easy for me to talk about stuff like that. Hell, I loved Leah and hadn't ever told her. I needed to, I knew it, but –

"I love you, too."

Turns out I didn't have to say it first, anyway. "Leah..." I breathed her name before I pressed her tightly against the car. Just the way she liked it. Her overheated body did wild things to my blood pressure and I wondered briefly what it would be like to kiss her when she was pregnant with our child.

Quickly, before I could think about it too much or change my mind, I tore my mouth from hers. "Marry me?"

"Dad, you look great. Quit worrying, already."

I grimaced at my reflection in the mirror. Bells was helping me get ready for The Big Day. "I never would have figured Leah to be the kind of girl who wanted a big wedding, Bells. Gotta tell ya."

My daughter grinned at our shared reflection in the mirror, taking in the pictures of Leah and I at Christmas under some mistletoe, the one of us at Valentine's Day when we went to Seattle for the weekend, and the most recent one taken on First Beach at twilight before the first May bonfire. "Leah is full of surprises, Dad. Thought you had that figured out already?"

"Yeah, but still. It seems strange, Bells, that my daughter ran off to Vegas to get married while I am doing it on the Rez with all of that stuff."

"How'd they fix the blood test?" Bella asked, knowing that there had been issues with that. I was not going to marry Leah without a proper license, according to the law.

I felt my cheeks heat up. I was as bad as Bells, for sure. "Uh...she was actually okay, really." I winced on my face, but inside I couldn't believe how happy I was. My daughter didn't miss a thing. Her eyes glowed as she tugged me around to stare at me. I shrugged. She beamed and hugged me.

"How did everyone keep this a secret?" she whispered, her face almost split in two with her grin.

"She's not phasing anymore..."

"No. Way. So...that worked for her?" Bella's eyes filled with sudden tears, but she was still smiling so I didn't know what the hell that was all about. "I'm so happy! So happy for her!"

I chucked her on the shoulder and turned back to make sure my damn tie was straight. "What about for your old man, huh?"

"Well, yeah. But, this is huge, Dad. You know that."

I blew out a breath. "Yeah. I know. I do. And I'm real happy too, kid."

"Do I look all right?"

I looked at my little girl, all dressed up in a pretty dress with some kind of flower print on the skirt and flat shoes. Smart kid, my girl. Her hair was loose and looked comfortable and her face was shining. "You look beautiful," I told her.

"Then let's go get you married. I know – I know you'll be really happy, Dad."

I paused at the door to the bedroom Leah and I would be sharing for only as long as it took before we bought a new place together. "I know I will, Bella. I do."

"Save that 'I do' for Leah!"

"I believe I will, kid. I believe I will."

"Where are we going?" Leah said on a whine as I handed her out of the car. It was a Jeep Liberty. Leah picked it out during the inventory clearance sales everyone was having a few months back. "I know you said it was a surprise, but I am your wife, now," she teased, pulling me against her as she leaned on the side panel of the Jeep. The afternoon sun gleamed in her hair, which she was letting grow as she wasn't phasing anymore.

"Don't want to ruin the pretty white dress, hon," I reminded her even as I let myself rest fully on her, kissing her with a sudden depth that made her moan low in her throat. Damn, that sound... Did it to me every time. "Watch it, or we'll be finishing up right here on the driveway."

"Hey, there's a lot of room under all this satin," she murmured against my lips. "I'm game. And I'm horny..."

"You and me both, hon. Let's get inside."

"Charlie..." Then, she pushed me away from her and, with a huge grin, started running, catching the massive, shifting fabric of her wedding dress up so that it gathered at her knees as she ran to the front door. "Catch me!"

I was almost to the door, my keys in my hand and my heart racing with the need to bed my bride. "I'm going to rip that thing off of you the minute we get inside," I warned her.

"I'll help!"

"Just an effing sec!"

My libido disappeared in the half-second it took me to see the stranger coming around from the side of the garage. "What the hell?"

"What?" the scruffy man said as he approached one hand pointing shakily at me. "Don't rec'nize me? Ya put me in jail, and you don't even remember?" He lit into a string of profanity that I had certainly heard before, but not with a lady present.

And Leah Clearwater Swan was most definitely a lady.

"Who the hell do you think you are, messing with my wedding day?" my wife demanded, taking a step forward.

Oh, no. "Stay put, Leah," I said smoothly, my hand raised to reinforce my instruction. I stepped between her and the shaking man and realized all at once that I wasn't packing. My piece was in the car – Bells and Billy had both agreed that I didn't need to pack on the Rez for my own wedding – and I hadn't bothered to grab it just to go inside, make love to my wife, change and leave on our honeymoon again within a matter of an hour. Or two. "Now, fella, I don't know your name, but you need to settle down right now."

"Jeff Carter, asshole! And you put me away last year. You and that Indian. It was only pot, man."

I remembered the border drug deals and nodded, my eyes never leaving his. My heart was shouting at me to get Leah to safety, but I had to handle this guy. "I get that, but you were sellin' it to kids, Jeff. Now, why don't you just settle down and walk away. You haven't done anything here for me to get too mad at, unless you count makin' my wife mad."

"I will tear his balls off," Leah ground out. I couldn't take my eyes off Carter, but I could hear Leah's tension.

"Not if I get you first!"

Then, quite a few things happened at once. Carter pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket with a shaky hand and half-aimed it at Leah. Which was bad enough for me to put him away right there.

"You son of a bitch!" Leah shouted, running past me to body-slam him to the ground. She may not be phasing, but Leah was gifted at hand-to-hand combat, even without her teeth and claws.

The druggie fired the revolver and it was all I could do not to panic as I barreled over to him, pushing Leah out of the way and punching the guy in the head so that it was pounded into the brick of the driveway. "Get in the house, Leah. Call the station. Tell 'em what's happening."

"Charlie! No effing way!"

"First, give me his gun, then do it. I don't have a damn cell phone and you are not going to keep him on the ground."

Carter opened his mouth to say something, but I punched it shut and took the nine millimeter when Leah handed it to me. I muscled him onto his stomach and pinned him while I checked the magazine of the weapon.

Loaded. Fine.

I kept it pointed on the back of his grimy neck and nodded at Leah to get her satin-covered ass inside and call the station.

It wasn't until Mark Hanson arrived and picked up Carter than I let myself relax, collapsing on the soft cushions of the living room sofa with my head in my hands. He could have shot Leah! And she wasn't some supernatural, ultra-healing werewolf anymore. She was human. Pregnant! He could have killed her!

I started shaking with the lessening of the adrenaline in my system. Shaking and needing nothing so much as I did to feel Leah in my arms, in my lap, surrounding me with her enthusiasm and strength and devotion. I needed her, God help me. And then, there she was.

"Hey," she murmured, dressed only in the white underthings she had had on for the wedding, presumably. A corset, I thought it was, with a garter belt and white thigh-high stockings that would have had me ripping them right off of her if things had gone the way I had originally planned. "You were wonderful, Chief Swan."

I gathered her against me, claiming her lips with mine and letting her kiss reassure me. Her heart pounded against me, her skin was as hot as my own when I finally had to catch my breath and bury my nose in her hair. "None of that," I muttered. "You know I'd rather be called Charlie."

She laughed and nuzzled me too before doing something I never would have expected.

She licked my jaw, her tongue caressing and promising more of the same much farther south. "I've always wanted to do that, Chief Swan," she said, emphasizing the whole title thing. "Ever since I first imprinted on you."

I held her face in my palms and just stared at her. Funny how some things hit a guy in the heart, you know? I laughed a little and shook my head. "Never saw that coming."

The End

x o x o x

A/N: I wanted to thank a trio of fine ladies who assured me about some select passages that I tossed their way. Katmom, valelf and u2shay are women with great humor and a huge willingness to put up with me and my imprintings. Thank you for reading and laughing.

This is the end of Charlie and Leah's imprint story. However...! I am up for auction! Fandom Gives Back, Eclipse Edition is going on right now and I will do a nice juicy outtake or a oneshot for the highest bidder. Miss something you wanted to see here, just pony up to the auction (links on my profile) and put your money in toward a GREAT cause. I might just be able to write for you.

I am not going to apologize for ending this without a hint of lime, because I was writing about how these two worked the imprint in their relationship. And, as was revealed, they did indeed follow the mating imperative...successfully! ;-)

Thank you so much for reading, for reviewing, and for following these two along in this story. I had a DELIGHTFUL TIME with y'all. The only bit left in this series is the final chapter for Jake's imprint. Keep an eye open for Cassi...

Until next time...

~LJ