The wolf pack of La Push, Washington, was having a rather eventful few weeks. Due to Jacob Black's meddling, Bella Swan had learned of their Spirit Warrior secret. They were in the middle of hunting a red-haired vampire who had a knack for escaping at the last moment. Harry Clearwater had died of a heart attack, which no doubt triggered the shifter gene in both his children, Leah and Seth Clearwater. And now, according to Jacob, the clan of animal-eating bloodsuckers had returned to Forks after being away for almost a year.

With the Cullens back in town, Sam Uley, the alpha of the pack, had the wolves running double the patrols each day to make sure the borders were safe. When they weren't patrolling or training or teaching the Clearwaters to better control themselves, they were allowed a rare moment to relax. Though with the red-haired woman, Victoria, still running around, they could never truly relax.

Even as Sam, Jared, Paul, and Embry worked around Sue Clearwater's house — Jacob was out with Quil, Seth, and Leah — they couldn't take their minds off all that had happened. But helping out the newly-widowed woman around her house was a start at distracting themselves. With her husband's death and taking over his seat on the council, Sue hadn't had much time to take care of things around the house, such as the leaky kitchen sink and the loose floorboard in the living room, which the boys of the tribe happily offered to fix.

Sam and Paul were sitting at the table in the kitchen, watching as Embry and Jared argued over which pipe was the one that needed fixing. Both boys had tried to crawl under the sink, obviously not fitting with their large muscles. Sam and Paul had made quick work of their task of fixing the floorboards and had nothing better to do than to watch the other two boys argue.

Sam was tempted to kick them both to have them get along, but then Sue would likely fuss at him. He'd simply wait until she was gone to kick them.

"Thank you boys for doing all this," Sue said, leaning against her fridge.

"Not a problem, Miss C," Jared called from under the sink. "Embry! Watch your elbows."

"I wouldn't have to if you'd get out of my way and let me handle this," Embry grumbled. "You're taking up way too much room."

"Not my fault I'm buffer than you," Jared mocked.

"Stop arguing before you break Sue's sink even more," Sam ordered in a firm voice, but there was amusement in his eyes. "Jared, Embry knows more about plumbing. Let him do it. You hand him tools."

Jared sighed in defeat before worming his way out from under the sink. "Fine," he grumbled. Embry laughed at his defeat before asking for a wrench.

After a few more minutes of work, Embry had successfully fixed the leak and crawled from under the sink just as the front door opened.

"Anyone home?"

"In the kitchen, Charlie," Sue called.

A moment later, Charlie Swan stepped into the kitchen. He was dressed in his uniform, just having gotten off from work. Ever since Harry's passing, he had tried to come by the house as often as he could, wanting to be there for the family he'd known all his life.

"Not here for long," he said, nodding to the boys. Then he turned to Sue. "Headed to Billy's for the game, but I thought I'd drop these off."

He held up a big Tupperware container, gaining the attention of the hungry boys.

"That food?" Jared asked, sitting up and abandoning the tools he had been packing away.

Charlie chuckled and nodded. "Blueberry muffins," he informed them. Once Charlie put the container on the table, Jared was taking the lid off. He was the first to grab a muffin, and Sam went next, unable to turn down anything with blueberries in it, his favorite fruit.

"One of Bella's friends heard about Harry. She'd heard me tell stories about him and thought she'd make something for me," he said, smiling. "But she made way too many, and if I keep all these in my house, I'll get fat."

Sue snorted and grabbed a muffin for herself. "Can't have the Chief of Police out of shape. You'd better get to Billy's. The game's about to start."

"Let me know if these boys give you any trouble," Charlie said, only joking as he nodded to the boys that were devouring the muffins.

Truth was, despite the rumors that people liked to spread about Sam and his buddies being in a cult, Charlie trusted the men. After Sam found Bella last year in the woods and saved her from dying of hypothermia, Charlie felt like he owed him a lot.

"Bye, Chief," Sam called.

"Wait!" Embry exclaimed, stopping Charlie in the doorway. "You gotta tell me who made these muffins so that I can marry her."

Charlie scoffed, chuckling at the intense look on Embry's face. He didn't look nearly as serious with crumbs all over his face. Charlie hesitated before answering. He never understood the hatred that many of the Quileute people had for the Cullen family, but figured it was best not to lie.

"A little girl named Valeria. The sister of Bella's boyfriend." Charlie practically spat out the word "boyfriend," wishing that literally, anyone else was dating his daughter. Hell, he'd be fine with Valeria Cullen dating her, as she was always a delight to speak with — and she didn't cause his daughter to run off to Italy for three days.

Of course, as soon as he revealed that a Cullen had baked the muffins, the four boys dropped the food and scowls overtook their faces. Charlie simply sighed and shook his head before leaving, not even trying to get in the middle of it.

"Can't believe he'd accept something from those leeches," Paul said, anger taking over him. He wanted to take the muffins and throw them off a cliff. In fact, he was quite sure that's what he'd do.

Paul grabbed the container and stood, but a strong grip on the other side of the container stopped him. He met Jared's gaze, who was looking innocently up at him.

"Let go, Cameron. We're throwing these away," he said, glaring.

"But they're tasty," Jared told him, grabbing himself another muffin.

Paul rolled his eyes. "You're—"

He was cut off as Embry's hand shot out and grabbed a muffin. Before Paul could protest, Embry shoved the entire thing in his mouth. He chewed for a moment before smiling sheepishly, bits of chewed muffin falling from his mouth as he did so.

"If you guys don't want them, more for us," Jared said, still not releasing the container. "These are the best damn muffins I've ever had."

"They were made by a leech!" Paul snapped. "Bet she put blood in it or something."

Even Sam had to roll his eyes at that. No, he wasn't going to eat another muffin no matter how delicious, but he also knew the Cullen wouldn't feed Charlie muffins with blood in them. The idea was ridiculous.

"Paul, don't say stupid things," Embry said. Though with the food in his mouth, it came out garbled, and no one could understand.

Sam reached over and hit the back of Embry's head. "Close your mouth. You're spitting blueberries all over Sue's table." Then he looked to Paul, who was still mad. "Paul, they're just muffins, and the Cullen didn't even know Charlie was gonna pass them off to someone else. They aren't our biggest concern right now. The redhead is."

"Fine," Paul grumbled. He looked at Jared and Embry, hoping they'd get choked on the muffins they were scarfing down.

"It's surprising that someone who doesn't eat can cook something so tasty," Sue mused, a small smirk on her lips as she finished a muffin. "These are much better than mine. Then again, they probably feed Bella Swan when she comes over."

"It's probably best not to tell the others about these," Jared said. "Wouldn't want to upset Jacob and Leah — you know how angry they get about leeches."

Embry was nodding along while dragging the container across the table, closer to them. "Yeah. We should definitely get rid of all the evidence. Wouldn't want to cause a spat."

Sam scoffed and shook his head at their antics. Sue then plucked another muffin out of the container and set it aside on the counter. "Saving one for Seth. He loves blueberries. I'll leave out who made them."

"Sue, do you need anything else before we go meet with the others?" Sam asked, getting up from the table.

"No," she said, smiling. Then she playfully cut her eyes to the two boys that were finishing off the muffins. "I'll let you know if these two messed up my sink even more."

"That sink's in perfect condition," Embry bragged, licking his fingers clean. "If anything's wrong, it's because of Jared."

"Rude," Jared grumbled. But then he winked at Sue and jumped to his feet. "See you later, Miss C. We'll give Seth and Leah a hard time just for you."

She chuckled while rolling her eyes. "You do that, Jared."

As the four wolves walked towards Sam's house, Jared and Paul started to roughhouse. Embry laughed, wanting to make a bet on who would win but he learned early on that Sam didn't care enough to make bets. Besides, Jared may have been second in command, but Paul was the best fighter. Soon, the boy's mind turned back to food, as it often did.

"You and Jared are not allowed to go and ask Chief Swan to get the muffin recipe from that Cullen," Sam stated after a while.

Embry's jaw dropped and he looked at the Alpha. "It's like you're inside my brain."

Sam rolled his eyes, both of them knowing that the mind link was only active when they were shifted into their wolf forms. "Both of you are quite predictable."

"Maybe if that Cullen chick trespasses, we can kidnap her and torture her until she gives us the muffin recipe. Then we kill her," Embry plotted, not sounding very threatening. "Or Jake could seduce Bella and get her to steal it."

Now Sam snorted, thinking the boy sounded just as ridiculous as when Paul suggested there might be blood in the muffins.

"No," Paul called, shoving Jared off him. "Because he'd fail, and then we'd have to listen to him whine about it."

"No difference from his whining now," Jared muttered, snickering to himself. "Besides, Bella hasn't spoken to him since her leeches returned."

"It's not like he imprinted on her," Embry said, sighing. Jacob was his best friend, but it hurt to watch him chase after a girl who would never love him back.

Though the imprint wasn't a fully formed argument. So far, Jared was the only one to find his imprint — a sweet but shy girl in his class named Kim. The Elders of the tribe made it very clear that they might not ever find their imprint, so it wasn't necessarily wise to wait for it.

Sam, however, was waiting. When he had first shifted, he had been with Leah Clearwater. The secret and stress of protecting the land all on his own had caused the two to become distant. But when Jared Cameron imprinted, that was the final nail in the coffin of Sam and Leah's relationship.

Because of the mind link, Sam could feel everything that Jared felt for Kim. Though not nearly as intense as if he'd actually imprinted on someone, Sam knew he'd never feel even a fraction of that for Leah. And so it wasn't fair to hold her back while he was clearly waiting for someone else. Someone the ancestors thought to be perfect for the Alpha of the pack — someone who would make him a better and stronger leader.

Of course, when Leah herself turned — which was quite a shock to them all — she learned the real reason why Sam had broken up with her. To say she was pissed was an understatement, but it was something she was just going to have to get over. She may have been bitter, but she wasn't going to beg Sam to take her back knowing full well that his imprint could come along any day and ruin it again.

Sam was pretty sure everyone in the pack had spent an afternoon or two aimlessly wandering around and making eye contact with as many people as possible in an attempt to find their imprint. It was hard not to when they saw how sickeningly perfect and happy Jared and Kim were together. The ancestors had done the boy a favor by giving him her, and so they wanted to find their other halves as well. Even Paul and Jacob, who hated the idea of imprinting the most, were curious every now and then.

Sam wasn't the only one waiting for his imprint to appear. As the Alpha — and sometimes as a joke, the dad — of the pack, his imprint would be just as important as he was. He couldn't count how many times Paul and Jared had asked when he was gonna find "mom." That always ended with a smack on the back of their heads.

As eager as he was though, Sam was glad he hadn't found his imprint quite yet. With everything going on, and so many new wolves phasing, and the vampire activity in town, he didn't need to be distracted.

Their warrior instincts told them something dangerous was coming, and Sam had seen enough movies to know that danger and falling in love didn't mix.