Waxing Gibbous

A New Normal (A)

By the middle of January things were finally settling. The pack was safe, and we had good self-control, Jared and Paul could return to school if they wanted to.

Bella was starting to improve, my mom said she went out with Jess and was starting to hang out with Jacob. That was good news. If we were lucky Jacob could remain human. But he was starting to show the signs, just like Embry did.

That stirred its own issues.

As far as we knew Embry was from the Makah tribe, not Quileute. It begged the question who had he descended from.

There were only 4 sons of Taha Ahki only four families that carried the gene for phasing. One of the families is technically gone since the last male heir (my great-great grandfather) he only had daughters, 2 wife's, 2 daughters. But that family was gone and only exist through its descendants – technically I was the descendant of the Bayak family.

Embry didn't know his father, his mom never told him, but there were 4 options; Billy, Quil, Joshua or my dad. Everyone seemed to want to believe it was Joshua, Sam's dad, seeing as he wasn't the ideal father and there was plenty of years in between Sam and Embry, about 5 or so.

Whereas Quil, Jacob and I were all around the same age, I mean they were all close to a year older than me. But it would mean that our fathers cheated two while they were pregnant. Of course, only Billy was around to be asked, but no one dared ask.

We would say it was possible that Embry got the gene somewhere else, but all the ones who currently phased had great grandfathers in the pack. Jared was the descendant of Quil Ateara II, Paul, Sam and I were descendants of Levi Uley, I was also a descendant of Ephraim Black.

So Embry had to be too, but all those ends were tied up, I guess it was possible that he was related to one of the relatives that moved away. Billy had a few sisters I think, they could have had sons. Douglas passed in a car accident before Embry could be born... We still treated Embry like our brother.

He didn't seem to have any problem with me around, I didn't have to prove my strength to him. I wasn't someone that was watched like a kid needing protecting. Sure, he would look out for me, but he was content with letting me take the lead.

The addition of Embry only changed the pack dynamic a little bit, Jared and Paul patrolled during the day. It was easier seeing as Jared they didn't need to go to school anymore. That left Sam, Embry, and I to patrol at night.

Another instance for Sam to 'protect' me.

Our radius extended past Forks and the entirety of the Olympic range, since the Cullen's were gone. Previously my great grandfather, Ephraim made a deal, a treaty. Mutual secrecy, and protection. The Cullen's agreed to not hunt or hurt humans or turn them because that was equal to death. They also agreed not to venture onto our land, while the wolves wouldn't go to their land, Forks.

Thankfully the pack isn't all serious and patrol. When we were in human form we often acted like a dysfunctional family. We'd race, arm wrestle, fix homes and buildings around La Push and cliff dived. The last one was one of my favorites, the adrenaline was something I couldn't get use to. It was a rush and fun as hell.

We used to jump from the lower cliffs, but back then we were humans and weren't willing to risk our lives for an adrenaline rush. With the physiological enhancements our chances of being injured from the fall was close to none. And if we did get hurt we healed a broken bone could heal completely within a few hours.

I still had to prove my 'masculinity' more than the others, but the reveal of my sexuality helped that along, only a little bit. I often overdid some stunts to prove I wasn't afraid to get dirty...