(Thomas POV)
Gravel crunched under my tires as I pulled yet again into the parking area for the tribal town hall. The sun was still up, but I knew it would be dark before I got back to Edythe. I turned off the ignition and held the keys in my hand as I took a bit of time to collect my thoughts before going in.
The deal was that I agreed to train them, hell I had asked for the opportunity to do it so they wouldn't lose anyone unnecessarily. But their bull headed attitude was wearing on me, and now they expect me to be what… Their whipping boy? Scapegoat? Punching Bag?
I exhaled and let my temper calm. I knew I was going to have to keep a tight leash on that if I didn't want to burn bridges today. But I'll be damned if they think they can walk over me like I am their bridge. With that thought, I got out of the truck and made my way to the entrance.
Jacob was there near the doors, hands in his pockets, posture loose like he wasn't standing guard. He must have spotted me as I pulled in, but he gave me time to approach the door before he pushed off the post he'd been leaning on and greeted me.
"Hey," he said, voice normal on purpose. "You came."
"Yeah, well with such a warm invite, I didn't want to be rude." I joked.
Then I paused as I thought of something, "Hey Jake. I wanted to thank you for showing Edward what his leaving did to Bella. That never sat right with me."
Jacob's face showed his surprise, then his eyes narrowed. "Then why are you letting that bloodsucker stay with her. He is all wrong for her man, you have to see that I… Someone else would be better for her."
"Easy there Jake, I am in love with one of those bloodsuckers. She will be my wife in less than two weeks. Hate Edward because he is a brooding… emo… punk… that drives a flashy car and hasn't used a comb in a hundred plus years, and his taste in music is from the 1700's. Hate him because he and Bella are together. But not because he is a vampire."
I paused and let my words sink in, "Well if he was a human killing vampire then that would be different. But then Bella wouldn't want to be with him, would she."
Jake just stared at me with his mouth open and closing like he was trying to say something.
"Hate him because he has what you want. But that's time wasted you could be using in figuring out a way to tell her how you feel so she stops and takes a hard long look at you. Give her a reason to doubt herself in the conviction that Edward is the only one for her. But if your only complaint is that Edward is a monster… Then her options are Mike and Tyler. And Mike is a douche, so that only leaves Tyler in the running for the Forks area, and he damn near killed her driving like a fucking idiot."
To really drive my point home, I finished my speech with, "The last thing to consider is the imprint. You run with Sam and Leah; you share their thoughts. Imagine being on either end of that… Leah's loss because Sam imprinted on someone so close to her. Sam's loss because he has to live with the fact he turned away from Leah for an imprint. Think of all of that and then ask me why I don't step into the middle of whatever you, Bella and Edward have going on."
It wasn't very fair of me, a lot of what I said I had only thought about because of what Edythe said about Leah. But that didn't make the words any less true.
I paused as a slight flush colored my cheeks, "Sorry to offload on you like that man. I have a lot on my mind. Guess I am a little more geared up for a fight than I thought."
Jacob stared at me for a long second, blinking like he was trying to decide whether to be offended, relieved, or both.
Then he huffed a short laugh—more air than humor.
"Dude," he muttered, shaking his head. "You're… you're something else."
I shrugged once, trying to let the heat bleed off. "Yeah. That's what I'm told."
Jacob's eyes narrowed again, but the edge wasn't aimed at me. It was aimed past the door—at the room waiting inside.
"You're not wrong," he said finally, voice lower. "About… any of it." His jaw tightened. "But don't talk about imprinting like it's a plan. It's not a plan. It's a curse."
I nodded, letting that land. "Fair. But do those that imprinted feel the same way?"
He studied me a beat longer, he must have decided to not answer that last question since he jerked his chin toward the doors. "Quil's already in there. He's been practicing speeches."
"Lucky me."
Jacob reached for the handle, then paused. "For what it's worth… I wasn't trying to be nice this morning."
"I know," I said.
He grimaced. "I was trying to hurt him."
"I know," I repeated, and kept my voice steady. "Sometimes people deserve the truth delivered ugly. I just don't want you to confuse that with 'problem solved.'"
Jacob's mouth tightened. "It's not solved."
"No," I agreed. "It's not."
He pushed the door open and we stepped into the town hall.
Warm air hit first, old heater, damp wool, coffee, the faint lingering smell of cedar and something like smoke that had soaked into the building over decades. Folding chairs filled the room. The long table at the front made it feel like a courtroom even if nobody wanted to call it that.
They were already seated.
Billy was centered, calm and watchful. Beside him, old Quil sat like a coiled spring, eyes sharp, mouth already set in a line of disapproval. A few other elders flanked them, faces and names I knew by now, each carrying their authority like a weight they expected everyone else to shoulder.
Sam stood off to the side with several of the pack. He wasn't sitting. None of them were. Postures loose, but not relaxed, like their bodies were remembering the run even while their minds sat still.
Leah was farther back than most, arms crossed, expression flat. She didn't look at me like she hated me.
She looked at me like she'd already decided exactly what she was willing to tolerate.
Jacob peeled off toward the wall, half behind me but not hiding. More like he was making sure I had someone in the room who wouldn't let things turn into a dogpile.
I took a front-row seat without waiting to be told where to sit.
Chairs creaked. Eyes tracked me. A couple of whispers died the moment I looked up.
Billy waited until the room settled. Then he spoke, voice even.
"Thomas. Thank you for coming."
I nodded once. "Billy."
Old Quil didn't wait his turn.
"So," he said, loud enough to catch every ear. "The Cullen's trainer arrives."
I kept my face neutral. "I'm not training the Cullens."
A few people shifted, small reactions, pack instinct responding to the first spark.
Quil's eyes narrowed. "You live with them."
"I live with my fiancée at my house," I corrected, and kept my tone polite. "Not as their servant. Not as their representative."
That earned a murmur, some approval, some irritation.
Billy lifted a hand slightly. Not a command. A reminder that there was supposed to be order here.
Quil ignored it anyway.
"You were told about the treaty," Quil said, and his voice got sharper. "You were told where our line is. And yet your… family… pushed that line."
My jaw tightened. I forced it loose again.
"Victoria crossed that line," I said.
Old Quil's eyes narrowed "Don't play word games with me BOY!"
"I am not playing," I replied, keeping my voice even. "A vampire named Victoria, the people eating type of vampire, came into Cullen territory while I took my fiancée, my sister and her boyfriend to visit my aunt. When the remaining Cullens found out, they chased her in order to kill her. But she ran to your border, and you saved her from the Cullens and allowed her to escape."
The room erupted into grumbles, but I kept on talking over them. "It may not have been on purpose, but that is what happened. Your pack was so worried about vampires you have a treaty with. Vampires you know feed only on animals much like you do. That you allowed one who your sense of smell should have told you was a human killing kind, to survive."
The grumbling rose in volume threatening to become shouting, it was, anger looking for a place to land.
I didn't give them time to target me with it.
I lifted my voice without raising it, the way you do when you refuse to be drowned out.
"Listen to what I actually said," I continued. "I didn't say you wanted her to escape. I said your response gave her the opening she needed. Those are different things."
Old Quil's face tightened like I'd insulted him personally. "The Pack did what it was supposed to do. Protect our land."
Billy's hand came down on the table, one solid sound. Not a slam. A gavel without a gavel.
"Enough," he said. The room didn't go quiet, but it thinned. Focused. "Thomas. Don't accuse us of saving a killer on purpose."
"I'm not," I said immediately, and I meant it. "I'm telling you we're going to keep losing ground if the treaty line becomes the only thing anyone can see."
I let my gaze sweep the elders, then the pack standing along the walls. Sam's expression was a blank mask. Jacob's wasn't, he looked like he wanted to argue with everyone in the room.
"A real threat showed up," I said. "A human-killing vampire. And instead of a clean response, the situation turned into everyone watching everyone else."
Old Quil scoffed. "Because we're supposed to trust vampires now?"
"No," I said, still steady. "You're supposed to trust your own priorities. And your own senses, the pack's senses."
I nodded toward Sam. "Your wolves know the difference. They can smell what she is."
Sue leaned forward and asked. "If she was that dangerous, why were the Cullens close to our boundary at all?"
Because that was the part they kept looping back to. The part that let them feel righteous.
"Because she ran there," I said. "Because she figured out the quickest way to slow the Cullens down was to make you show teeth at them. I don't know if she knew about the Pack or if her senses just told her that was the only way to escape or if she was just the luckiest vampire in history."
Old Quil snapped, "And you expect us to believe that?"
"I expect you to recognize a trap," I said. "And I expect you to stop acting like I'm here to take blame for it."
The room tightened again, some approving, some bristling.
I kept going before anyone could turn it into a shouting match.
"You called me here like I'm accountable for the Cullens," I said. "I'm not. I'm not their spokesperson. I'm not their representative. I'm not the treaty made flesh. I'm a trainer. I offered to train your pack because I don't want teenagers dying for old men's pride."
Billy's eyes stayed on me, measured. "And what is it you want from us tonight?"
I took a breath. Held it. Let it go.
"I want two things," I said. "One: clarity. If I'm training, I'm training. You don't get to drag me into politics every time someone is angry at the Cullens."
Old Quil's lips curled. "And two?"
"Two: a better protocol," I said. "Because next time Victoria comes near the line, she's going to do the same thing. She learned it works."
A murmur moved through the room at that, because they could all believe that part.
Sam's jaw flexed once. Jacob's hands curled in his pockets.
I nodded toward Sam. "Your pack split."
Old Quil jumped on the opening. "Because we had to contain the threat on our border."
"Contain the wrong threat," I said, and kept it controlled even as heat sparked under my ribs. "Half of you stayed locked on the Cullens. Half of you tried to chase Victoria. That allowed her to escape into the sea."
Sam's eyes flicked to me, brief warning: careful.
I was careful.
"Who chased her?" Billy asked, and his voice was the one that mattered. "Who took point?"
A beat.
Then Sam answered, flat and factual. "Leah did."
The room shifted, some elders reacting to the name the way they always did, like Leah was a complication made flesh. Sue glared daggers at those elders.
Old Quil's eyebrows lifted. "Leah Clearwater led?"
Leah's face didn't change. If anything, her posture got straighter.
"She moved," Sam said. "She didn't wait for permission."
Leah's eyes cut to the elders. "Because she was there. Because a vampire that smelled like the stories said was there."
Old Quil's mouth tightened like he hated agreeing with her logic even if it was sound.
"And you stayed," I said, looking at Sam.
Sam's eyes didn't blink. "I stayed."
"To watch the Cullens," I finished.
Sam didn't deny it. He didn't apologize either.
Billy's gaze sharpened. "Why?"
Sam's voice stayed level. "Because if they crossed, it's war."
"And if this Victoria kills another human?" Leah shot back. The edge in her voice wasn't aimed at Sam alone. It hit the whole room. "Are we not responsible for that now?"
The elders stirred, uneasy. Because Leah's point was too sharp to ignore.
My voice pulled all eyes back to me, "If we had something in place, a number the Cullens could call… It could have been a perfect ambush to end a threat. So instead of beating our chests about what might have been or what almost maybe happened. Lets come together and fix it."
Billy's voice stayed calm, but it carried. "Leah's question is valid, and Thomas's idea has merit."
Sam nodded, "Lets stop trying to fix the blame on someone and fix the problem."
Old Quil's mouth tightened. "So now we take orders from an outsider."
Billy didn't look at him when he answered. "We take advice from anyone who keeps our people alive."
That shut Quil up for half a breath. Not because he agreed, because Billy had rank in this room in a way Quil couldn't fake.
The other Elder in the room, Terry Yindi, cleared his throat. "What does this protocol look like in practice, Billy?"
Billy's gaze stayed on me. "Say it again. Cleanly. No speeches."
I nodded once. "Three parts."
I held up a finger. "First: if the pack scents a hostile vampire…human-blood kind, near the line, priority is the hostile. Not the Cullens."
A few wolves nodded. A few other wolves and Quil looked like they wanted to argue and didn't know how to do it without sounding foolish.
"Second," I continued, "you keep one anchor on the treaty line. One. Not half the pack. If a Cullen crosses, that wolf calls it. Then you respond."
Sam's head dipped slightly, this was the part he'd already been turning over in his mind.
"Third: communication. A runner. A point of contact. Someone the Cullens can reach without stepping over the line and someone you can reach without dragging the entire council into it."
Old Quil's eyes narrowed. "You want to be that messenger."
I shook my head, "No. It would be better if it was something simple like a phone that passed to a member of the pack that is in human form. Then if the Cullens need to pass a message they can call them and the wolf can shift and instantly tell the pack what's going on. At the same time the Cullens will give you a number if you need to pass a message. No border crossing involved just communication."
Billy's gaze stayed on me for a long beat, measuring the idea the way he measured everything: by whether it kept people breathing.
Sam's eyes sharpened a fraction. Not suspicion, focus. The kind that meant he'd already started mapping the logistics.
Old Quil gave a dismissive grunt. "Phones," he said like the word tasted wrong. "Like children."
"It's 2006," I replied, still even. "Humans use phones to stop car crashes and call for help. This is the same thing. The only difference is our emergency is a vampire."
A few of the wolves, Paul, Jared, shifted their weight like they wanted to talk and didn't want to be seen wanting it.
Billy turned his head slightly toward Sam. "Can you make it work?"
Sam didn't hesitate. "Yes."
Old Quil's gaze snapped to him. "You'd trust a vampire's number?"
Sam's voice stayed flat. "I trust the pack's nose, and I trust the treaty when it's followed. A phone doesn't break either of those."
Leah's mouth curved, not a smile. More like satisfaction that someone else finally said the obvious.
Terry Yindi nodded slowly. "So it's a handoff system. One wolf stays human with the phone. They call. He shifts. He runs."
"Exactly," I said. "Simple. Fast. No one has to guess. No one has to assume the worst. No one has to stand there posturing while a killer vampire disappears into the trees."
Billy's eyes narrowed slightly. "And the Cullens agree to this?"
"They'll agree to anything that keeps Bella alive and keeps you from snapping at them every time they breathe wrong," I said, then softened it before it turned into a jab. "They'll agree because it benefits everyone."
Old Quil muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like vampire tricks.
I didn't bite.
Billy leaned forward a fraction. "If we do this, Thomas, you understand what it changes."
"It changes nothing about the treaty," I said immediately. "It changes response time. It changes the chances that Victoria or any other vampire gets away."
Billy's gaze moved around the room, elders, then the pack. "Any objections that are about survival and not pride?"
Silence.
Not agreement. But no one had a better option they could say out loud.
"Fine," Billy said. "Sam will set it up with Thomas."
Sam nodded once. "I'll talk to Carlisle tomorrow, no reason to include Thomas more than this. We'll trade numbers. We'll decide who holds the phone first."
Old Quil bristled. "You'll talk to Carlisle."
Sam's eyes didn't move. "Yes."
Billy didn't rescue Quil from it. He let that land.
Then Billy's focus shifted, controlled, careful. "Bella Swan."
Jacob went still again, like the air had tightened around his ribs.
Billy's voice stayed even. "If Victoria comes back for her, Forks becomes a battlefield. We don't want that on anyone's doorstep."
Terry Yindi's brows lifted slightly. "You want to bring her here."
"I want options," Billy corrected. "If there's a warning, if there's movement, if the pack scents her, Bella needs somewhere she can go where she's protected without the Cullens having to cross lines."
Old Quil's eyes narrowed. "Our land isn't a vampire shelter."
"It wouldn't be," I said. "It would be a human shelter. She's Charlie's kid. She's also the bait Victoria wants. Whether you like it or not, that makes her part of the problem."
Leah's voice cut in, flat. "And if we keep pretending she isn't, then we're just waiting for blood."
Sam's jaw flexed once. "If we need to, we can bring her to the rez. It doesn't mean she's welcome at bonfires and story time."
Jacob's glare snapped to Sam.
Billy held up a hand. "Not a standing invitation. Not a social call. A contingency. And…" his eyes flicked to Jacob, then to me "…maybe, at times, education. Stories matter. If she understands what the treaty means, she stops stumbling into it."
Old Quil looked like he wanted to argue that too, but Terry spoke first, mild and practical.
"Charlie's a friend to this tribe," Terry said. "Keeping his daughter alive isn't charity."
Billy nodded. "Exactly."
I exhaled slowly, letting that point settle without pushing it.
"Now," Billy said, and the word had finality in it, "Thomas."
I looked back at him.
"You made your boundary," Billy said. "You train. You don't answer for the Cullens. You don't take blame meant for someone else."
"Good," I said, because if I said anything more it would turn into a speech, and Billy had asked for none.
Old Quil's mouth tightened again. "And if the Cullens cross."
"Then you handle it," I said. "Not me. Not tonight. Not ever."
Billy didn't flinch. "Agreed."
Sam's eyes moved to me, brief and direct. "Training tomorrow?"
"Same time," I said.
He nodded. "Good."
Billy rolled his wheelchair back from the table and the others stood. "Then we're done."
I stood too, Jacob fell in beside me as we headed for the doors. He didn't say anything at first.
Outside, the air was colder, damp and clean. The sky was dark but surprisingly devoid of clouds.
Jacob finally huffed, a short breath that was half laugh, half disbelief. "A phone."
I glanced at him. "Revolutionary, I know."
He just shook his head and walked off.