A few days after the accident, when Bella and Kate joined their little lunch table, they were all bubbling with excitement.
"Hey, La Push, babes, you in?" Eric asked them.
Kate and Bella looked at each other confused for a second.
"Wait what?" Kate said.
"La Push beach down on the Quileute rez. We're all going tomorrow," Mike explained.
"Yea there's a big swell coming in," Jessica added excitedly.
Eric suddenly stood up, "And I don't just surf the Internet."
"Eric you stood up once, and it was a foam board," Jessica shot him down.
Kate laughed at them.
"There's whale watching too. Come with us," Angela begged.
Kate put here food down and started to eat, "Sorry guys. I've already got plans. But, maybe I'll see you there."
"What plans," Bella asked her.
"I called Jacob. He promised me that he would teach me how to work on cars. Plus, Billy's been wanting to talk to me and I said I'd go."
"Oh," Bella pouted.
"Baby Swan's out. What about you, Bella? La Push baby, it's La Push..." Eric cooed.
Bella giggled, "Okay I'll go if you stop saying it like that."
The next morning Kate and Charlie got up extra early so that they could go over to the reservation together before Charlie had to go to work. They sat in silence as they went but neither of them was uncomfortable with it. Kate watched as the trees blurred by. Once they crossed into Quileute territory, old memories seemed to flood her brain. She began so smile remembering the times when she would splash through the mud by Billy's house.
When they pulled up to the old, red house, Kate felt comforted by the sight that it hadn't changed since last time she was there. She got out of the car and took in a deep breath of the pine filled air.
Charlie smiled over at her, "Miss it, huh?"
Kate smiled over at him, "Yea."
"Ready to go inside?"
She nodded her head and the two of them walked to the front door of the house. Before they could knock on the door, Billy opened it with a wide grin at the two of them.
"Charlie, Kate, it's good to see you both. Come in," Billy moved out of the way so that they could pass.
"Can't today, Billy. Just here to drop Kate off," Charlie grumbled.
With a quick wave, he walked back to his cruiser and drove off. Billy and Kate watched him go in silence and when he left, they stood simply stood there. Billy broke the silence first.
"How are you feeling, Kate?" he asked her.
She shrugged her shoulders, "Fine."
Billy gave her a stern look that made Kate avoid his gaze.
"Alright, I'm not fine. Not even close."
"We'll help you," he said with a sympathetic look.
"Who's we?"
He gave her a smile that held many secrets and simply said, "You'll see later. Just be inside around four o'clock. Jake's out back by the way."
Billy simply spun around in his wheel chair and went further inside of the house leaving her standing in the doorway. Kate gave Billy one last look before shaking her head and walking around the back of the house. A large garage was built that matched the feeling of the rustic house. She heard chinking of metal when she rounded the corner and smiled at the sound. Jacob was leaned over the side of a car that looked worse for ware. He was so concentrated on the task at hand that he didn't see her come in. She watched him for a second as he brushed his long hair out of his face and furrowed his brows in frustration. She smiled softly before alerting him to her presence.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Jacob looked up and smiled when he saw her, "Hey! When did you get here?"
Kate walked over to him and sat down on a nearby stool, "Just now. Billy told me that you were out here. What'cha working on?"
He looked back to the piece of junk that he was working on and kicked the flat tire that it had, "My future car. Once it works I mean. Right now all it's good for is scrap metal."
"Perfect to start working on then! Tell me what to do chief?"
Jacob cringed slightly at her calling him chief but answered her anyway, "Well first things first, how a car works..."
Kate sat patiently taking in every word Jacob was telling her. He went over the basic mechanics, never taking his eyes off of her. Then Jacob stood her up and showed her all of the parts that he had just described to her. He was very patient with her and to her, it seemed like he really wanted her to understand him.
"Got that?" he asked her.
She nodded her head, "I think so."
Before Jacob could get another word out wolf whistles sounded by the front of the garage.
"Well look what we have here, Quil," a tall boy said as he sauntered into the room with another boy behind him. They were very obviously Quileute boys and Jacob's friends to boot.
"Looks like little Jakey here was telling the truth," the boy named Quil said with a smirk.
Jacob rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless, "Kate, this is Embry and the annoying one is Quil."
Kate laughed, "I'm Kate Swan."
Embry just smiled even wider, "Oh we know."
Quil deepened his voice and imitated Jacob, "Kate's coming over. What do I do? What do I show her? What do I wear? Should I clean up?"
Embry and Kate laughed while Jacob threw his grease rag at him.
"What's a girl like you doing fixing cars?" Embry asked her.
"Curiosity," she shrugged.
Quil jumped in again, "Yea it can't be for the company."
Jacob playfully lunged at him and the two boys were soon rolling around on the dirty garage floor. Embry came over to stand next to Kate.
"Five bucks on Quil," he said to her.
Kate scoffed, "You're on."
The two watched the boys wrestle on the flood before Quil pinned Jacob down. Embry held his hand out to her without looking at her and she angrily slapped the bill into his hand.
"Thank you," he said smugly.
"Dammit, Jacob. You were supposed to win," she yelled at Jacob.
All three boys laughed.
"She'll fit in just fine," Quil chuckled.
"Who says I want to fit in?"
Quil came over and put an arm over her shoulder, "Sweetheart everyone wants to fit in with me?" He wagged his eyebrows at her in what she assumed was a seductive manner.
Kate pushed his arm off of her shoulder, "You wish."
Embry spoke up next, "Jake we just wanted to know if you wanted to go to the beach?"
Jacob looked at her, "Kate?"
Kate looked down at her watched and pretended to frown at seeing four o'clock on it's face, "Sorry guys, I've got to be going soon."
"Can only take so much of Jacob's company, huh?" Embry joked,
Jacob rolled his eyes, "You know what, Call..."
Embry jumped back and stood behind Quil and Kate.
Kate moved out of their way and made for the entrance of the garage, "I really have to go. I'll see you next week Jacob."
The three boys waved her off before they headed into the wood to where she assumed the beach was. Kate walked into the house to be met by Billy sitting in the kitchen waiting for her. He gestured toward the seat opposite him and she took it.
"Am I finally going to learn what's going on?" she asked him.
Billy nodded, "First you need to understand a little bit of history first. Do you remember the legends that I used to tell you as a little girl?"
" A little. I remember there being magic. That's about it."
"The Quileutes have been a small tribe from the beginning but we've always had magic in our blood. We are spirit warriors. Our blood is infused with magic that allows us to shape shift into wolves. We only have one enemy: The Cold Ones, which you know as vampires. We have a treaty with the Cullens. So long as they do not come on Quileute land or bite a human, we will not wage war and expose them. It is our duty, as spirit warriors, to protect humans.
"Long ago, in the time of Taha Aki, one of your kind lived with the tribe. He lived in peace with us and decided to establish a permanent home with the tribe. He chose to join the sprit warriors in their fight to defend the tribe. Kate, we know the powers you posses and we want to help you."
"You can help me control them?" Kate put her face in her hands.
Billy nodded once again, "We know your ways. We cannot only help you control them but get stronger. We can teach you to fight the Cold Ones and to even control our kind."
"At what cost?"
Billy reached out with his hand and took one of her hands away from her face, "Kate, I would never ask anything from you. As your friend, I'm offering you my help."
The warmth from Billy's hand spread through her whole body. As she looked into his kind face, she felt some sort of acceptance and relief that she never felt even around her own family. It was this warmth that finally made up her mind for her.
"I'm ready," she said softly
He pulled his hand back and sat back in his chair, "Sam, Paul, Jared, you can come out now."
Kate looked up to see three Quileute boys round the corner and come into the kitchen. Both of them were tall beyond belief and fit to top it off. They were each dressed in cut offs without shoes or a shirt. Kate just opened her mouth as she looked at them.
One of the boys, who looked older than the other, came over to her and stuck out his hand.
"I'm Sam. I'm the alpha of the pack and this is Paul and Jared," he said soft voice. He seemed like he didn't want to scare her but he was failing miserably.
Snakingly, she took his hand and shook it.
"I'm Kate. I'm the resident siren, I guess. And a member of the pack?"
"Only if you want to be. We will help you regardless," Billy interrupted.
"Right. Okay so you boys turn into wolves," she said cautiously.
"It's pretty impressive," the one named Paul laughed.
Sam growled at him, "Paul."
At this Paul lost all traces of joy and gave Sam a sour look.
"The girl is scared, Sam. I'm just trying to lighten the mood. Just because we kill vampires doesn't mean that we can't be fun. Personally, I'm a fun guy."
Sam just rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Wanna see the wolves?" Jared grinned at her.
Kate grew even more nervous. She looked back at Billy who nodded again. Shaking, she nodded her head too.
Sam stuck out his hand to her and once again she took it with shaking hands. He gently led her outside acting if she was going to run away any second but she followed him without faltering. When they reached the clearing behind the house, Sam stopped her as Paul and Jared kept walking a few yards ahead.
"Alright Paul," Sam said once the boy stopped at a far enough distance, "Phase."
"Watch this," Paul smirked at her.
A ripping sound echoed in the air and before her eyes she watched as Paul burst through his skin and turned into a grey wolf. Beside him Jared burst just like him and out came brown and grey wolf.
Kate screamed at the sight and tripped over her own feet, falling backwards onto the ground before Sam pulled her upright.
"It's okay. They won't hurt you," Sam told her.
This did nothing to calm her down. She started to struggle to get away from Sam in case he turned too but he wouldn't let go.
She fought until she yelled at him, "Let go!"
At this, Sam was blasted backward about ten feet from the force of the blue light that had hit his chest. Paul started forward to defend Sam before Jared barked at him to stay still.
Kate's chest was heaving as she looked at the two wolves before her. She couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. She looked back at Sam who had gotten to his feet with his hands up in surrender.
"You're strong for a newbie," Sam said to her.
Kat took a step back from his approaching form, "I thought you didn't have experience with sirens?"
"I don't but the pack does. Look, Billy wont ask you to join but I will. We could use you to help defend the humans from vampires. We can help you not feel weak, or scared. We can help you turn from a victim into a savior."
Paul and Jared walked closer to Kate but she didn't back up. She watched them approach and she looked at their strong limbs. They could protect people from vampires who weren't like the Cullens; the ones that hurt people, the ones that took advantage of the humans who couldn't protect themselves. She could protect Charlie and her sister.
"When do we start?