We were able to convince Charlie and my mom to go to his house for dinner. Which was good because the windows still needed fixed, the pack covered it up last night, but it needed replaced.

So, Charlie, my mom, Eve, Mark, and I showed up at the Blacks during dinnertime with several large pizza's.

Which was a positive since Jacob at one on his own. He seemed really sorry for what happened when he looked at my mom but all he said was that we'd catch her.

But it didn't stop the glares he threw me when Bella sat next to me, and he surely wasn't over earlier today.

I stayed by my mom's side the whole night, joking with Eve and Bella occasionally. I could see Charlie eyeing each of us suspiciously, clearing he was unsure what to believe. Bella had brushed off the 'cult' thing with misinformation.

When it was time to leave, I walked out with Bella and Jacob, watching as my mom went with Charlie. She would be staying with him for the next few nights since she needed someone to watch over her. And I knew she felt safe with him.

Eve left earlier, staying with Mark, she was hesitant, but we were able to convince her. She didn't know everything, but she knew the importance of it. The fact that Mark was also ex-military made everyone feel safer, even if he couldn't do anything.

I was going to be staying with the Blacks... that was the story at least.

I watched Bella and Jacob talk for a little before he went to help Billy. I looked out at Charlie pretending to struggle with his seat belt and my mom laughing.

Then I turned to Bella. "don't worry about tonight"

"I won't worry about myself" she admitted. I looked at her.

"there is nothing to worry about. We've got it covered. We dealt with the other one we can handle this one."

Charlie honked his horn impatiently. My mom was shaking her head looking at him like he hung the moon, and I couldn't help but feel elated that my mom had love. I hoped to find that one day.

"come find me tomorrow, Bella. I'll answer more of your questions if you want."

I met Jacob back in the Black house. I gave Billy a nod and the two of us took off heading into the search and guard duty.

The next day we continued searching for the leech. Charlie kept hunting for the wolves and my mom stayed with Emily for most of the day keeping her company and Bella. During the first day of spring break, when Bella was at La Push I was on break with patrol and joined Bella on the beach.

"so, this is different" she said awkwardly. I chuckled.

"different as the two of us or one human one wolf"

"both... not in a bad way. I just feel like I never really got to hang out with you before"

I nodded "yeah, we were pretty separated. But I still stand by one of my first comments. We'll be seeing each other a lot. My mom's in love with Charlie and I won't let anything ruin that. The fact that I am what I am strained that relationship enough. Same with Eve, if they weren't worried, I would turn into a giant wolf they probably would have married or at least moved in with their significant others"

Balla nodded "I don't want us to be friends just because of that"

I smiled, a real smile "I'm glad we're on the same page"

"so, you promised to tell me more... about being a werewolf"

I scrunched up my nose "don't call us that"

Bella paused "I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you guys"

I put up a hand to stop her rambling. "it's not that, there are actual werewolves out there. You know the full moon kind. They're disgusting and gross creatures, worse than anything"

"you've met one?"

I nodded, moving the collar of my t-shirt to show her the scars. "they're disgusting... just like the movies"

"you got that from one of them? I thought you healed fast"

I smiled "yeah, we do any other injury we would. Except vampire venom." I held my hand up "if one of them bites us it'll leaved the same kind of scar. Supposedly. None of us have gotten bitten by them. But we know the werewolf claw leaves a permanent scar"

"Do I need to worry about that too?"

I chuckled "no, not really. Every other day they are normal humans, on the full moon that's when the spirit of Niju consumes them"

"Niju?" Bella's browed furrowed.

"Evil spirits, on the full moon is when they lose control. They kill ferociously and without mercy. You don't have to worry about them, we'd know if one was around. Besides they are rarer than vampires. My people and the vampires hunted them to near extinction"

"why?"

"they couldn't control themselves... They brought danger not only to the humans but to all of us."

I played with the bark of the tree for a moment just watching the waves. It was surprising that it was empty, I figured we'd have some tourist visiting.

"so, is it hard to... you know?"

"be me?" I looked at her "no, the others could have lived without ever phasing. But me... I never had any other chance. It was always going to happen. I mean I have three of the four families in my blood, plus the Amarok DNA."

"I'm sorry" she replied sadly.

I shook my head "the process to get here was worse than anything."

"what's the best part?"

I thought for a moment, what was the best part of being a wolf. "other than the added health benefit, I don't know. I feel close to my dad. I look almost exactly like him, Korinna told me so." I smiled thinking about my dad.

"Korinna?"

The smile didn't fade from my face as I nodded "she was my great-grandmother. The Bayak line ended with her dad, he only had girls. Though he was part Amarok, and his wife was Amarok and girls were preferred over boys." I chuckled; it was true the Amarok held women in higher regards than the men. Well, the gender roles were combined for the Amarok. Men and women hunted, they taught, and it wasn't a shame for a man to be bad a hunting, it wasn't shameful for him to sew or raise the kids.

"She had an 'affair' with Ephraim Black. At least that's how everyone said it. Truth was they met before Ephraim met his wife, young love. It was a big deal; my grandmother was the illegitimate child. The blemish on the tribe. Anyway I met Korinna, a few months ago, when I was gone for a while."

"yeah, I remember. Everyone said it was a research study"

"holistic medicine. Yeah, I went to Canada. For my Soul Quest. She taught me about our people, about my dad. No one knew about the Amarok's gene. We phased no matter the gender or presence of cold one. If there were other wolf's around we phased. Our DNA told us there were others of our kind around and forced us to keep up the tribe. Survival mechanism." I shrugged, that's how it sounded when Korinna described it. If one of the parents were around it would cause the child to phase, I could have avoided it because my dad passed, but with Sam and Jared and Paul my DNA decided that it was okay.

"Then Hector -he was another one of us; he taught me how to fight and hunt. I skinned enough animals in that one month for a lifetime. But she told me only my dad's family had the gene, the black fur. It came from my great grandmother, Myrine. She married Levi Uley."

"that sound complicated... So, Jacob is technically your cousin?"

"second cousin and so is Sam and Paul and Jared. All of the pack is related somehow. It's based on lines, four sons, four families. It's best not to read into it." I chuckled; the family trees were confusing. Not in a bad way, but there were a lot of children. Only in recent generations were 2 more common. Sometimes they only had one kid.

We sat there in comfortable silence, just listening to the waves. The longer I sat with her the closer I felt to her. It was a little bit like a knot tying me to her and her to me. It was small but still there, a friendship was forming.

The next few days I spent trying to find the leech. I spent a little bit of time with my mom and Bella; both told me to sleep. I was starting to get concerned that Bella would turn into a motherly figure rather than sister or friend.

But it was better than her being hung up on Jacob. He wasn't ready to give up and she was still trying to have a friendship with him. I understood, it wasn't fair to just ditch him, but she didn't need to rely on him so much anymore.

At least I hoped so.

The next night the Swan's stopped by my home for dinner. Eve and Mark joined us as well. It was a quite event, but I knew the adults wanted to talk so I led Bella upstairs to give a semblance of privacy.

"I don't think I'll ever get over how beautiful your home is" she said as we entered my room.

"my grandpa had it built for my mom and Eve. He wanted to make sure that they had a home with plenty of space but also a home that they could sell for a pretty penny in case things got bad. Getaways like this are a commodity, I guess."

"is this a real pelt?" Bella asked looking down at the bison rug just in front of my bed.

I smiled "yeah, Bison"

Her eyes widened "I didn't figure you for one who bought furs"

I chuckled "I didn't buy it Bella, I hunted it."

"what?" She looked between me and the pelt "where did you even find a bison?"

"Canada. Remember when I was gone for a month?" she nodded "I went to Canada, to my ancestors land. Hunting was a tradition, so I hunted."

"what did you hunt?" she whispered, almost as if she were afraid I would say the Cullen's.

"Caribou, Bison, Lynx, Wolverine, Bear... The wildlife in the area. The Caribou was the staple of the Amarok because it was so plentiful, it was also the easiest to kill. For those reasons it was the first kill."

"sounds like a hunting trip Charlie would go on." She laughed.

"well, maybe but a little bit harder. The first kill was in wolf form, which was hard because I was so much bigger than Caribou, and I had to avoid ruining the pelt because I needed it for a coat."

Bella furrowed her brows, and I went to my office grabbing the mannequin. "I had to make all of this... it was a learning experience, but worth it."

"sounds like it"

"that's what the tattoos are for. Each represent an honor, finding my spirit animal, killing a bear, bringing honor to my family."