Beyond the dawn. ( Twilight) #Wattys2015

Chapter 6 ~~ part 1

Dedicated to @royal888 for all your help and support.

"Leah, Seth, I'm calling a pack meeting, and I need you there. I will let Jacob cool down for now, but I need the rest of you to understand what's going on here. What's at stake, for us and Jacob. I will not let Renesmee be hurt, but I didn't get the chance to explain."

Seth looked at Leah for instruction as Sam called out to them through the mind link.

"Sam is our alpha , we have to go! Hurry find Emmett. We may not need to keep Sam away, but if there is a hostile pack around someone needs to keep watch."

Seth ran to the house, hoping to call Emmett away before all hell broke loose inside. Leah sighed, confusion rippling through every fiber of her being. Her loyalty was to her alpha, but what happens when you're alpha is wrong? By the time she had phased, Seth and Emmett were heading towards her.

" Hey wolf girl, the kid here filled me in. Put that overgrown teddy bear with claws in his place for me will you?"

Leah rolled her eyes, and snorted at Emmett's remark toward Sam. Seth stood between them, a silly grin on his face, impatiently Leah nipped at his heels signaling him to hurry ahead and phase. Looking slightly hurt, and rubbing his bare ankle, Seth sloped off into the woods.

**************

The pack

Wolve's in every size, colour and hue , filled the clearing, as Sam looked on. A large slab of granite jutted from the forest floor, providing a platform for his hulking form. Behind him, Paul ventured onto the rock , eager to stand beside his alpha and enforce his status as Beta when needed. The younger werewolves gathered beneath them, good naturedly jostling and nipping at each other playfully. Having complete trust in their alpha, and not a great deal of contact with Jacob, who they felt was a little strange for spending most of his time with a bunch of vamps, this whole meeting thing was just a formality as far as they were concerned.

Sam's blue eyes swept around the clearing, finding the object of his hesitation to begin now in place. Seth and Leah had arrived.

" Tomorrow the Kalaloch wolves return, and we need to stand United. My fear is that the elders will have ruled Renesmee to be killed."

Several low growls and simultaneous gasps and shouts of "NO" through the mind link rang out through the clearing, before Sam could finish.

Paul stepped up beside Sam, with a low whine of frustration.

"LISTEN! Let him finish!"

" I will not let Renesmee be harmed in any way! The pack would be weakened by such a loss, and would leave us unable to fight any future vampire, or otherwise threats to the pack. I will not have us mourn such a loss, and when they return tomorrow any suggestion of such will be shut down."

A myriad of questioning voices filled the air. Leah broke into the center of the ring of the surrounding wolves, eyes locked firmly on Sam's.

" You need to tell Jacob...now! If he thinks the pack are against him..."

Jared dashed in from the other side of the clearing, teeth bared and a snarl on his lips.

" Jacob needs to stop running to the Cullen's and trust his pack a little more."

Sam rose to all fours, his full presence demanding attention.

"We need to have some sort of solution for the good of the pack, wether Jacob agrees or not."

A particularly vocal young wolf that had been mentored through his first phasing by Jacob, dared to step forward with his fangs bared, eyes fixed on Sam. Angered at the challenge to his alpha's authority, Jared leapt across the clearing. His full weight smashing the smaller wolf into the pine strewn forest floor. The tension that had been hanging thick in the cool air, snapped like a twig.

All around the clearing the low rumble of growls, and snapping of jaws could be heard as those of opposing views fell upon each other. The younger wolves whined, and scrambled into a cowering huddle to avoid the onslaught of claws and teeth.

Paul leapt from his perch above the fray, landing soundlessly amongst his quarreling peers.

"Enough all of you!"

He roared. Slowly the commotion came to a halt, final growls of frustration emanating from all corners. In the center Jared Still held the young wolf firmly pinned at the throat, the younger wolf whining in submission to his elder.

" Stand down Jared. It's ok, Jacob had a right to be angry, but he also needs to realize we are facing a dangerous situation here. Leah and Seth, you will tell him I will deny and fight against any threat to Renesmee's life, he must come to me with an open heart to listen before tomorrow. No matter what we will not let her be harmed, but there must be some compromise, we have to be seen to do something or every pack in the land will turn against us."

Sam argued, addressing the pack.

Again questions filled the air, voices lower this time as alliances crept into hushed conversation.

Paul's brother Enoch spoke first :

"What are you saying Sam?"

Sam steeled himself to deliver the crux of the conflict, Paul bristling with anticipation at the fallout beside him.

" The fact of the matter is when Renesmee reaches the age of betrothal, her and Jacob can never be allowed to have children. A hybrid werewolf, vampire child? The pack's will never allow such an abomination, no matter how any of us feel about Renesmee."

Sam dropped his eyes, filled with sadness, and uncertainty at the packs reaction to such a thing. Clearly, as obvious as it seemed this was not something the pack had thought about.

The only sound to be heard as every member of the wolf pack considered the implications of such a statement, the ominous 'caw' of a raven echoing through the open space.