Bella woke up sometime later and her knees ached for some reason. She blinked her eyes several times and she tried to remember where she was, then the warm and sweat covered skin that the side of her face was resting on, bulged up a little. She groaned as a headache hit her and she lifted her head, only to see that she had been partially draped over Harry's chest.

The skin of his chest bulged a bit more and flattened again. Her eyes widened as it happened a third time, then she gasped when the skin split open in four spots and white ghost-like sharp claws protruded up. Blood dribbled from the cuts, then the claw swiped across the chest and split it apart.

“ARGH!” Harry yelled, yet his eyes stayed closed.

“Harry! Wake up!” Bella said loudly. She went to try to shake him awake and realized Harry had a death grip on her wrist. “Let go! I can't help you if you...”

Another set of claws appeared in a different spot and swiped across his chest the other way, making a huge 'X' shape across his pectoral muscles. Blood poured out of the wounds and Bella wasn't sure what to do. Both sets of claws popped out of the center of his chest and pushed the damaged skin aside.

Bella gasped when a large ghostly bear head rose out of his chest. “Oh, my GOD!”

Her pyjamas were getting soaked in blood and she tried to shake Harry's grip on her wrist and couldn't. The bear let out a growling roar and Bella froze still. She knew by instinct that if she moved now, it meant her death. She knelt there and watched as the bear essentially crawled out of Harry's chest. It pulled itself up by its paws when it seemed to get stuck, then it stepped off of the bed and turned around to look right at her.

“N-n-nice bear. G-good bear.” Bella whispered.

It let out a growl and turned to look at Harry. Bella did as well, then she was shocked when dainty claws appeared, then paws, then the ghostly head of a big cat. She wasn't sure what it was until it was halfway out. It was a panther.

“Oh, god.” Bella whispered. Both animals looked significantly more solid than the ghosts of people she had seen floating around Harry before. She also noticed that when they stepped on the bed, it actually bent as if they had weight. That wasn't possible, since they were ghosts, and her brain refused to accept it.

The panther ignored her completely and let out a hissing growl. Bella kept staring at Harry's bleeding chest that was still torn open, and then furred paws came out. She had resigned herself for it and wasn't surprised when a shaggy wolf's head popped up out of the grievous wound. It climbed out easily and stood on the bed, triumphantly, then let out an ear splitting howl.

Bella bent her head and covered her ears. “Stop! STOP! Can't you see Harry's dying?”

The wolf's howl eased off and it turned its head to look at her. It leaned over and she didn't flinch as its nose poked at a spot between her breasts. She felt warmth from the pendant that Harry had given her and she caught her breath when the wolf licked her face. It let out a yip of happiness and hopped off of the bed.

“Is... is there more?” Bella asked, hesitatingly. She didn't really want there to be more, because she had to somehow fix Harry's now massively bleeding chest. She shook her head from that stupid idea and decided she needed to call an ambulance when he let her wrist go. If she didn't do it soon, he could bleed out and she might lose him.

Her thoughts cut off when two human hands came out of Harry's chest. She didn't know what to think, especially if Harry somehow produced a solid ghost of a person, then those hands somehow reached out and grabbed the torn away flesh and skin of his chest and pulled some of it back together. Two more hands joined the first two and grabbed more, then another set did the same.

The hands sunk into the chest and all Bella could see were multiple sets of fingers holding the flesh together and in place while a soft glow covered the wounds. Right in front of her eyes, the wounds seemed to magically heal and fade away towards the center of the chest until they were all gone. The fingers sunk into his chest and the blood, that had seemed to soak the bed and drop onto her knees and the floor, faded away. She could somehow still feel the dampness on her skin.

“Harry! HARRY!” Bella yelled and shook him with her free hand. She couldn't see or hear him breathing, so she slapped his chest hard. He bounced a little on the bed and nothing happened, so she got up to stand up and took a deep breath. She needed to do CPR on him and looked at the wrist Harry's grip hadn't let go.

She sighed and did her best to use leverage and one hand to do the chest compressions and then she tilted his head up and pressed her mouth to his and blew air into his lungs. She did this three more times before she grew frustrated and made a fist. She slammed it into his chest, right over his heart.

“HARRY! WAKE UP!” Bella yelled and did it again and again, letting her anger fuel her strength, then she took a really deep breath and pressed her lips to his once more and blew as hard as she could.

“Ummm.” Harry responded and his other hand was suddenly behind her head and holding on as he kissed her back.

Bella was too overjoyed that he was alive to be concerned that he mistook her life-saving technique for a kiss and didn't fight it. She let her free hand caress his face and hair as they made out for several minutes, then she realized what she was doing. She gasped, broke the kiss, and stood up straight.

“Harry!” Bella said and covered her mouth. “No, we... I was just...”

“What?” Harry opened his eyes finally and saw that he had a hold of her wrist. He gave it a little pull and Bella was back on top of him like she had been when he fell and hurt himself.

“Harry! You... you can't! You almost died!” Bella exclaimed.

Harry finally let her wrist go and put both of his arms around her. “I've been wanting to kiss you like that forever.”

Bella's face burned red. “You almost died, dammit!”

“It was totally worth it.” Harry said and her face went to a deeper red.

“Harry! I'm not kidding! You weren't breathing and these things tore their way out of your chest...”

“What? It worked?” Harry asked, surprised. “I only just learned the ritual and...”

“You. Almost. DIED!” Bella spat. “There was blood everywhere and your chest was mangled!”

“Really?” Harry looked at his chest that Bella's breasts were pressed against and instead of seeing his bare chest like he thought, he saw right down Bella's pyjama top. She wasn't wearing a bra and his mind kind of shut off at the sight.

“Harry? What is it?” Bella asked.

Harry barely managed to tear his gaze away from her beautiful soft mounds to look at her face. “So beautiful.”

Bella's mouth clamped shut on what she was going to say. She was sure that her mouth wasn't going to work right if she tried to talk right then. She felt something grow between them and unlike last time, she was not in the mood to feel that right now, not after Harry almost died. She pushed off of him and sat up, then stood.

“D-do something about them!” Bella pointed at the three large animals that stood at the end of the bed.

Harry tried to sit up to look and groaned. He felt like he had been run over by at least ten cars. “Help.” He said and held a hand out to her.

Bella thought about refusing and sighed as she took his hand and braced to pull. She helped him sit up and his eyes widened as he saw more than just one spirit beast familiar. He had fully expected the bear, since that had been the very first animal he had brought back as a spirit years ago during his very first shaman ritual for summoning spirits to commune with them.

He had not expected the panther that he had raised last year to see what had killed it. The funny thing was, he hadn't found a wolf before or raised it. As far as he was concerned, they were too smart and cunning to be caught by vampires. The spirit wolf let out a happy yip and climbed onto the bed. It rested its muzzle on Harry's lap and Harry had the strong urge to pet it. He did so and the wolf let out a rumble and seemed really happy.

“I guess that's proof that dogs came from wolves.” Bella said and the wolf let out a growl and looked at her. “I didn't say you were a dog!” She said and waved her hands in surrender, then she shook her head. “I just apologized to a ghost wolf. A ghost wolf!”

Harry chuckled. “At least he's friendly.”

The wolf let out a yip and stood up, turned its head to Bella and its nose poked the pendant between her breasts.

“You're the invoked protective spirit!” Harry gasped in understanding and the wolf nodded. “Oh, wow.” He said and rubbed the shaggy fur on the wolf's neck.

“What's that mean?” Bella asked.

“Any time that a talisman is created, if its strong enough to fully protect the wearer, it creates a bond between the caster and the one entrusted with it.” Harry said with a big grin on his face. “This lovely creature is the embodiment of that bond.”

The ghost wolf turned to him and licked his face to make him laugh.

“All right, this is officially the craziest thing I've ever seen!” Bella said loudly. “I'm losing my mind!”

Harry laughed and pulsed his magic. “Go back to your job, my friend. I'll see you again when you're needed.”

The wolf let out a bark and seemed to melt away into a cloud of white mist, then it streamed right at Bella's chest. She gasped as the talisman sucked the thing right in and it glowed.

“What the hell!” Bella exclaimed. “It's staying with me?”

“Of course it is. It's a physical embodiment of my devotion to protect you.” Harry said and looked at the other two creatures, completely missing Bella's shocked face. “Help me over to the end of the bed.”

Bella thought about refusing again and pushed her shock aside as she helped Harry move over to sit on the end of the bed. She watched as he held a hand down to the ghost panther and let it smell him. After a minute, the panther's tongue darted out and licked the back of his hand.

“Thank you.” Harry said and looked at the bear without trying anything like reaching for it. “I have something for the both of you.”

Harry folded his legs up and put his hands together to meditate. He closed his eyes and started chanting. His body swayed a little and Bella sat down as she reached over to put a steadying hand on his back. He kept his eyes closed and nodded his head to her in thanks.

The white mist started to form swirls around him and became thicker in spots, almost like a river, then Harry's hand reached into the mist and pulled out a huge spirit fish that looked like tuna. He opened his eyes and passed the fish to the panther and it let out a rumbling purr as it chewed on the apparently delicious treat. It changed into a cloud of smoke and then was sucked into Harry's chest like the wolf had been sucked into Bella's talisman.

Harry produced another large fish in a similar manner, this time it was a salmon that was the size of his arm. The bear took it with a rumbling growl, gave Bella a stern look, then it dissolved and became a cloud of mist that was sucked into Harry's chest, too.

Bella stared at the spots where the creatures had been and she wasn't sure what to think. It was just crazy that she had just seen three solid ghosts of large predatory animals that simply dissolved when asked. Then her mind went right to Harry and how his muscular chest that had been all torn up barely a few minutes ago, was now smooth and free of any scars.

“Help me back.” Harry said and slumped forward.

Bella jumped off the bed and caught him before he fell to the floor. She eased him backwards and saw that his eyes were fluttering open and closed. “Harry, don't sleep! You need to tell me what just happened!”

“Can't.” Harry said and his head drooped forward. “Secret. Tired.”

Bella gave him a stern look that was eerily similar to the bear's, then she sighed and helped him slowly crawl back up to the pillows at the top of the bed. Harry laid down on his back and took several deep breaths as his eyes closed. She laid down beside him and watched his chest rise and fall for nearly a full minute before she felt relief that it wasn't going to stop again.

“I can't believe that I just saved your life.” Bella whispered and her mind couldn't come to grips with almost losing him over whatever the hell just happened after Harry's heart had given out.

“You... always... do.” Harry mumbled and rolled onto his side to face her, even though his eyes were still closed. “My... Bebba.”

Bella gasped and touched his neck. “Harry, what was that? I saw... I was there when... what was that?”

“You... saved me.” Harry whispered and his eyes opened briefly. They were completely unfocused, which meant he couldn't see clearly, so he closed them again. “Memory... from... birth parents. Death came... you were there and...” He mumbled and then started to lightly snore.

Bella laid there and didn't know what to make of what he said. She wasn't sure how she could be there when he was just a baby. It wasn't physically possible to do stuff like that. She thought and then she went over everything that she had just seen. Oh, god! Maybe it was physically possible!

Bella shivered at the implications and closed her eyes, because she decided that she needed to sleep just as much as Harry did. She could face whatever this was when she woke up later, because saving someone's life was exhausting. She almost laughed at that and her hand gripped the talisman around her neck.

The last thought she had before drifting off to dreamland, was the icy parking lot and Edward's attempt to save her from the skidding van. The food she had made was completely forgotten.

*

“Are you sure, Carlyle?” Edward asked for the hundred and third time, one for every birthday of his long life. “She doesn't remember anything?”

“She couldn't even form the words.” Carlyle said again, humoring the young man.

“If you're so worried about her remembering something, just do that whammy thing you do and read what she's thinking.” Rosalie said, her voice uncaring and unconcerned over such a trivial matter.

“You know I hate violating people's privacy like that.” Edward said and she laughed.

“Sure you do. How many times have you used your ability to...”

“We don't need criticism right now, thank you.” Carlyle interrupted and she shrugged. “If anyone finds out about us, it could mean the end of everything we hold dear.”

Rosalie laughed. “You exaggerate. At the most, it'll just be the end of a stupid human's life that Edward's taken a liking to for some reason.”

“They can kill Edward as well.” Esme said, her voice a bit stern.

“No, mom. They won't kill him.” Alice said, joining in on the discussion for the first time since it started two hours ago. “They'll claim him and chain him to the Volturi's main throne to use him like a seeing eye dog.”

That made everyone shut up and the conversation was immediately dropped.

In the ensuing silence, Edward couldn't help thinking that Bella hadn't been in school that day and he hoped for her to be there on Monday. Despite Rosalie's pestering and amusement, he knew that he would have to do what he hated and see for himself if Bella could remember anything about him or not.

*

“I wish I won the contest to stay back at the station.” One of the deputies commented as he pointedly didn't look at the mangled and picked over human remains of the hunter that they had found.

“On the plus side, we're not going to have to switch out carrying it back.” One of the paramedics said and took several pictures.

“I've marked all the evidence, chief.” Another deputy said and handed him a sheet with the information on it.

“Thanks.” Charlie said and took the paper to fold up and add to the small stack inside his jacket pocket. Unlike his men, he kept his eyes on the remains. He went over the supposed injuries that the paramedics had discovered and he was at a loss to discern what had actually killed the mangled man.

“Extreme blood loss from disembowelment.” One of the paramedics said as if he knew what the cheif was thinking.

Charlie looked at him with wide eyes. “Seriously? Blood loss and not excessive trauma?”

The paramedic shook his head. “Most of what you see is the result from scavengers doing their thing.” He said and started to explain about the damage and what could have caused a lot of it. It was mostly wild guesses, since he wasn't an animal expert. They did have a lot of experience with wounds, though.

Charlie sighed. “At least the hiker won't be as picked over, considering where the body is.”

“I wouldn't be too sure of that, chief.” The paramedic said and Charlie gave him a bit of a glare. “I'm sorry. I'm not saying it will be picked over, just that you shouldn't assume that because it's difficult for us to get there, that doesn't mean it's difficult for everything.”

Charlie reluctantly nodded and resumed his vigilant overseeing of the scene for the next hour. The paramedics finished up what they were doing and then very carefully added what was there to a body bag. They had been right and there wasn't really a lot left of the poor man to fill even a quarter of the bag, which meant they would have no trouble taking it back to town.

“All right, people. Let's go.” Charlie said and they moved out.

None of them noticed that they all walked a little bit faster leaving than they had to get there.

*

Bella slowly came back to consciousness as her stomach rumbled. She opened her eyes and found herself cuddled into a very warm embrace. Her face was tucked into the crook of Harry's neck and his arms were wrapped tenderly around her to hold her close. Her brain wasn't quite registering how good it felt to be there, because she also felt an extreme pressure on her bladder.

She tried to ease away and the arms around her let her. She relaxed and turned onto her back as the tension she felt in those arms melted away. She caught her breath as the arm above her rubbed her breasts when she tried to wiggle away to the side. Her eyes went to Harry's face to see if he had noticed that he had just gotten a very good feel of her chest and she let out a silent sigh that he was still asleep.

Bella carefully lifted the arm slightly and slid on her back to get to the edge of the bed, then she rolled over and sat up on the edge. There was no movement from Harry, so she carefully crept across the room to leave. Once she was outside, she darted downstairs to go to the large bathroom.

“Huuuuuuuhhhhh.” Bella groaned as she relieved herself after not peeing for a night and half a day. She normally wouldn't have let it go for so long, except a lot of things had happened since her last visit to the porcelain throne. “At least I don't have to make lunch.”

She cleaned up and went back into Harry's room. She retrieved their plates of breakfast food she had made that morning and went downstairs to reheat them. When they were done, she brought them back upstairs to Harry's room and put them down again, then gently tried to rouse him.

“Harry.” Bella said and shook his shoulder. “Harry, wake up. It's one o'clock.”

“Ugghhhh.” Harry groaned as he opened his eyes and saw her. “Hey, beautiful.”

Bella smacked the side of his head. “Stop kidding around and eat.”

“Ow... I wasn't kidding.” Harry said and rolled onto his back and rubbed a hand over his face. “Hand me my glasses, would you?”

Bella did and he sat up, so she handed him the plate of food.

“Ah, rubberized eggs and bacon. My favorite.” Harry joked and she smacked him again. “Okay, I deserved that one.” He said with a chuckle and she smiled. “You do realize that Bella is short for beauty, right?”

Bella rolled her eyes. “Nope! I've never heard that before. It's all brand new! Thanks for telling me.”

Harry laughed and scooped some scrambled eggs into his mouth. “Too corny for you?”

“Too corny for you.” Bella responded and they both sat there and ate the food. “When do you have to go to the reserve for those rituals you need to perform?”

“After five.” Harry said. “First, I need to make a few talismans and prepare myself with more meditation.”

Bella frowned and poked his chest. “You better not summon those damn spirit ghosts again.”

“Which ones?” Harry asked with a teasing note, guessing which ones she meant.

“Any of them.” Bella said and took his plate. “Especially that one with a woman's face.”

Harry chuckled. “Can I argue that she's a spirit and shouldn't count because she only kisses me inside my mind?”

“You're already trying to justify it?” Bella shook her head and left the room. “You should stick to the living, Harry. There's no future for you if you only focus on the dead.”

Harry's mouth was open in surprise as Bella's last statement hit him a bit harder than it should have. She walked down the stairs and out of sight before he could make his mouth work again. When he did, it snapped closed and he ducked his head down and lost himself in thought. His mind swirled over the implications of what she just said. He knew it was just a throwaway line about him conversing with spirits, and yet, he also knew it had a much deeper meaning than that.

All of the people he had lost in his life to death, his birth parents, his aunt and uncle, his cousin, his adoptive grandparents... all of them were dead. It had never occurred to him to try and look for any of them in the spirit world. He had been so sure that only those knowledgeable about magic would have discovered the ability to stay behind when they died, so they could help the next generation of magic users and pass on their knowledge.

I have to try it. Harry thought and lifted his head. His eyes caught sight of his desk and the pieces of wood there that he had set out to make another talisman. He knew he would need the empowerment one to help himself with the rituals, so he went over to his desk to make one of them first. With it, he was sure that his idea, sparked by Bella's words, would net him some kind of result.

*

Bella sat at the kitchen table and she went over in her head everything that had happened since last night. The whole thing seemed like a fantasy, taken right out of a storybook or something, and even though she had made all of the normal connections between the events to let them make sense in her mind, she was still a bit in denial about the whole thing.

Did I really see Harry's chest be torn open by the spirits of animals? Bella asked herself and then shivered a little. She needed a bit of normalcy after all of that, so she looked at the time. I need to wait until school's over to call the girls about coming over tomorrow morning instead of tomorrow night.

Her decision made to put what happened aside, she went into the bathroom to wash up, then she went up the stairs to her room to get changed into jeans and a t-shirt. She hadn't even looked at the thing as she slipped it on and then brushed out her hair. She left her room and looked into Harry's, only to see him working hard as he carved something. She stood there and watched him for several minutes, then shrugged and went downstairs.

Bella wasn't sure when Charlie was going to come home; but, she was sure he would have ignored eating again, since he always did that when working too hard. She set about the kitchen to make a nice dinner for the three of them. She wanted to keep busy and to keep her mind off of where she had woken up not long ago. She also didn't want to think about the thing that had been poking her abdomen.

*

Harry sat on his bed in the Lotus position with his legs folded up, and concentrated on the new empowerment talisman that the spirits had imparted to him how to make, along with a bunch of other knowledge. He had barely entered the spirit world when the old shaman was there and shook his head.

“Why not?” Harry asked, sure that the refusal was because of his quest to look for his dead relatives.

“Unlike us, only a few have the innate ability to become a spirit after death. Usually if they had something incomplete in life, or died mistakenly, or some other circumstance causes them to not move on.” The old shaman said. “Your family members are not among those here.”

Harry let out a sigh and a tear came to his eye. “I just... I just wanted...”

“Shh.” A young woman's voice said and her body formed right next to him. She leaned close and hugged him around the shoulders. “Hush, now. You have too much to protect to wallow in what might have been.”

Harry turned his head to look at her and she reached up to wipe away the tear. “Can you help me some more?”

The young woman beamed a smile at him, then gave his lips a soft and gentle kiss. “Let me charge you up, little papoose.” She whispered and closed her eyes as she kissed him.

Harry gratefully accepted the distraction that her lips proved and her shared magic filled him.

*

Charlie pulled into the driveway and saw the house lights were on and the old truck was still in the driveway. He relaxed, because he knew his kids were still home. They wouldn't leave without turning the lights off first. He climbed out of the police car and went inside the house, only to stumble at the delicious smell that he had walked into when he came in through the front door.

“Please tell me that's not a t.v. dinner!” Charlie groused loudly and Bella's laugh came from the kitchen.

“It's real food.” Bella said and Charlie entered the kitchen. “Get Harry down here, would you?”

“Sure.” Charlie said and walked over to the stairs, only to stop. “HARRY! GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE NOW OR I'M EATING IT ALL MYSELF!!!”

Bella shook her head. “I could have done that.”

Charlie shrugged and took off his coat. “I really should shower first.” He said and then sat down.

“You should take a bath instead.” Bella said and put a heaping pile of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables in front of him. It was smothered in gravy, exactly like Charlie liked it.

“I haven't taken a bath in years.” Charlie said and didn't wait for Harry as he started to dig into the food.

“Showers are quicker.” Harry said, almost running down the stairs, and he plopped down onto the seat next to Charlie. “Bella, that smells delicious!”

“Uh huh.” Bella said and waved at Charlie's partially sweat soaked police shirt. “Are you smelling that or the food?”

Harry chuckled and lifted his arms to show off the soaked armpits. “I'm near enough in the same state after working on carving this afternoon.”

Bella shook her head again as she gave Harry a similar plateful of food. “Just eat.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Harry said and dug in like Charlie was, with reckless abandon. Neither man cared if their spoons had meat, potatoes, or vegetables on them.

Bella ate from the moderate amount of food that she had served herself and observed the two men across from her. They were more alike than either of them would admit and for some reason, she really liked that Harry had taken after Charlie, even if he wasn't Charlie's son by blood. She knew that Charlie was a good man and did everything he could for both her and her ditsy mother.

She had only recently learned that Charlie had sacrificed so much for them to live like Renee wanted and Bella couldn't thank him enough for that. Her eyes went to Harry and remembered his shouted words when they had argued about Charlie's finances and how he had helped by making enough money to buy groceries. She kept her thoughts from showing on her face and continued to eat and watch them.

Harry finished first, to Bella's slight surprise, and he sat back. “Thanks a lot, Bella.” He said and pat his stomach, then he stood up and stepped around the table. Before she could think to stop him or even move, he had bent over and kissed her on the lips and ran up the stairs.

“HEY!” Bella gasped and heard his distant laugh. “That wasn't funny!”

Charlie chuckled and shook his head, went to the fridge to get a beer, then walked over to his recliner in the living room and dropped almost bonelessly into it. Bella knew better than to ask him about police business, so she cleared off the table and put the dirty dishes in the sink.

“I'll do those after my shower.” Harry said as he passed by her to go to the bathroom.

“You've got to go, so it's okay. I'll do them.” Bella said and started to fill the sink. She stopped breathing when she felt Harry's arms go around her from behind and he hugged her.

“I'll have permission tonight to tell you everything, I'm sure of it.” Harry whispered and kissed the top of her head.

Bella stayed quiet and he let her go to take a shower. She turned to look as he entered the bathroom and then she sighed a little when she saw his stack of clothes on the bathroom sink. The door shut and she returned to washing the dishes. Unlike Harry, she wasn't an optimist. She had a feeling that he wouldn't be allowed to tell her anything, even after what she had seen with her own eyes. They were tribal secrets for a reason.

Harry came out of the bathroom as she was drying the dishes and he lightly touched her shoulder. “See you tonight.”

“I doubt that.” Bella said without turning around. “How many rituals do you have to perform?”

Harry took a breath and let it out. “More than necessary, I think.”

“That's what I thought.” Bella whispered and then spoke normally. “Good luck.”

Harry let his hand roam down her back. “Bella...”

“We can talk about it later.” Bella said and put the last dish into the cupboard, tossed the towel onto the rack to let it dry on its own, and turned to look at him. “You need to apologize for what you did.”

Harry sighed and nodded. “I'll do it properly. I promise.”

Bella nodded back. “Get going before they send someone to come and get you.”

Harry reached up and touched the side of her face, stroked her cheek with his thumb, and grabbed his bag by the stairs. He was going to reveal a couple of things tonight to Old Harry that he had been keeping secret as well. He was sure the old man would be happy and also upset, since Harry had done it all behind his back. He hoped the happiness would outweigh everything else and left the house.

*

“Where is that boy?” The chief asked again.

“He'll be here.” Old Harry said. “He wouldn't skip this, even if his life depended on it. Which it does.”

The chief huffed. “Son, are you ready?”

“I am.” Sam said with a slightly puffed out chest, as if he was preening. He was a big young man, muscular and thick, just like his grandfather. He was going to be the perfect protector for the tribe. He was also responsible and proved himself, time and time again, that he was a fit leader.

“I'll give him a few more minutes, then if he's not here, you'll do it on your own.” The chief said to Old Harry.

“I can set everything up; but, I can't perform the ritual alone. I need Harry here, even if he only assists.”

The chief grumbled and told him to get on with it. Old Harry did and put everything where it was supposed to go. He took his time and drew out the required spirit circles and runic instructions, along with adding in the protective spells in his own language and nodded when he added the final touch.

“Is it ready? It's been half an hour.” The chief asked and Old Harry nodded. “Then start it.”

“I told you, I can't.” Old Harry said.

“Harry can join in when he gets here.” The chief said and Old Harry sighed.

“It doesn't work that way.” Old Harry said. “We have to start it together or it won't work at all. Neither of us can perform this long and complicated ritual alone.”

“Gods above and spirits below.” The chief said. “I'll suspend his tribe privileges if he's not through that doorway within the next two minutes!”

“It's a good thing I was here ten minutes ago.” Harry said as he stepped into the room.

“Where have you been?” The chief asked, his nervousness over the ritual and potential harm coming to his son, overrode his normal composure. “You've delayed this thing for long enough! Get to work and get it done!”

“Yeah, about that...” Harry said and stepped aside as he waved four more people into the room.

“Harry! What are you doing?” Old Harry asked, surprised. “No one not involved with the ritual was to be told! You swore...”

“They are involved.” Harry said and nodded to the four young men that were of age. “Take your positions.”

The chief and Old Harry watched as the four young men, all friends of Sam's, made a perfect square around Sam and joined hands.

“Harry!” The chief exclaimed. “You're ruining the ritual!”

Harry shook his head and went to the ritual circle that Old Harry had drawn out already and erased four parts of it, then drew smaller ritual circles around the four newcomers to join to the large one in the center. He corrected the chalk writing to add in the new additions.

Old Harry stood to the side and stared as Harry wrote out something that he didn't know. Old Harry had been taught by two generations of shamans and the runes and scripts that Harry was using were not something he had seen, not even in the tribe's sacred texts. Of course, he hadn't seen all of them, since some were so old and damaged that both he and the chief were afraid that if they were opened, they would crumble to dust.

“Drink this.” Harry said and handed out five vials of potion. None of the young men questioned the order and took the vials and drank them. It gave them shivers as the innocuous liquid seemed to heat them up from the inside. “Put these on.”

“Gods above.” Old Harry said as Harry handed over five slightly glowing talismans. Each was a perfect wolf's head and the young men took them and put them on. They were covered in the same slight glow and shivered again.

“No rejections. Good.” Harry said with a nod and took out a knife. “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.”

Sam gave him a bit of a glare and Harry chuckled.

“You'll see.” Harry said and sliced open the tip of his index finger, then he drew a runic symbol on Sam's forehead and the man looked surprised. “Told you.”

Harry went to the next young man and cut open his middle finger to draw another runic symbol.

“That's why there's five of us.” Embry said as Harry finished the symbol on his forehead.

“One hand to crush our ancient enemies.” Harry said and the four men let out low growls. He did the other three, with the last one using his thumb. It was a little harder drawing with each finger; but, it was much better for the ritual if you used different fingers for each person. He picked up a metal bowl and made a fist over it, opening the little wounds more, and blood splashed into the bowl.

“Old Harry.” Harry said and the old man stepped forward and offered his hand. “Thanks for not questioning this.”

“Who said I wasn't?” Old Harry said and hissed as all five of his digits were cut and he did the same thing and made a fist to put his blood into the bowl. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

“More than you think.” Harry said and reached into his backpack to pull out his custom made summoning stick. Both the chief and Old Harry sucked in sharp breaths as they saw the thing, then Harry waggled it at the old man's hand and then his own. Both of them were healed, which shocked everyone except for Harry.

Old Harry stepped back out of the way and almost stumbled. The chief caught him before he fell and they both stared as Harry added several different ingredients to the bowl, then used the summoning stick to stir it. The whole thing glowed for several seconds and Harry nodded at it. It was exactly how the elders said it was going to look.

“I did not just see that.” The chief whispered as Harry told the men to drink up the essence of the protector. None of them hesitated. They had seen proof of Harry's power and wanted it for themselves.

“I didn't know the summoning stick could be used for anything else.” Old Harry whispered back. “He healed my hand with it.”

Both men fell silent and Harry pointed to where they had to stand. They complied and Harry began to chant. It wasn't something that the chief had heard before and Old Harry's heart beat fast as Harry perfectly recited the protector creation spell without faltering once. His pronunciation, the inflection of the accent, and everything else was better than even Old Harry himself could have managed.

Harry waved the summoning stick around and pointed at each of the young men in the circle and each was struck in the chest with a white beam of light that came from the ritual circle around them. The room started to shake and rattle as power seemed to fill the room from the floor up. The concrete under their feet seemed to be boiling hot and all five men let out a yell as all of that heat suddenly shot up through those white beams.

Old Harry was dumbstruck as he saw... not felt, saw... five quite distinct wolf shapes flow up out of the floor, move along those beams of light, and enter each of the young men's chests. The men dropped to the floor on their knees, yelling in pain, hollering for relief, then growling in anger.

The chief stepped back and pulled Old Harry with them as the growling quickly turned to howling. The five men started to change then. Their faces extended into a muzzle, their noses turning black and their eyes turning from human to that of a wolf. They fell over onto all fours and bones broke, skin tore apart, and hair grew all over. It seemed to take forever for it to be over and it was also fairly quick.

Before the three witnesses stood five fully formed wolves, each five feet in height while standing on all four paws.

“AWOOOOOOO!” Wolf-Sam said and the other four wolves joined in.

Harry chuckled at their theatrics. “Hey, guys. How do you feel?”

Weird. Wolf-Sam said in his mind. It's going to take some time to get used to this.

“I know it's going to take time.” Harry said and held a hand out to him. “I'll try to stay around here for the rest of the weekend and you can ask me any questions you have.”

Wolf-Sam walked over and nudged the hand away with his head. How did you do all of this so quickly? I thought you didn't do anything like this before.

Yeah. Wolf-Embry thought. Hey, wait! How can you hear us? We're not speaking!

Harry chuckled. “Magic, of course. We can't have our protectors cut off from each other when in your altered form, can we?”

“Harry, what are you doing?” Old Harry asked and didn't move from his spot beside the worried chief.

“Talking to Sam and the others.” Harry said and tapped his temple. “The ritual magic made a connection between us.”

That's not going to work when we're human, is it? One of the others asked. My thoughts are my own.

Harry chuckled. “It's simple to control the bond. You can even limit it to just emotions or to only when you 'send' something. I'll teach you all a bit after you have a run outside for an hour.”

RUN? Let's GO! Wolf-Sam thought excitedly and let out a yipping bark at the same time, then all five wolves darted around Harry and left with a clatter of wolf claws.

Harry laughed as they ran full out and then they scared a few people by jumping out through the front door of the building without stopping. “I think I created a monster. Well, five monsters.”

“What happened?” The chief asked.

“I told them to go have a run for an hour.” Harry said and tucked away his things. He didn't miss the longing look that Old Harry had on his face as he put his summoning stick away. “With the kids sent off, we can have that talk.”

Old Harry raised his eyebrows at him and Harry laughed.

“I know, I know. Give me a hand and I'll tell you what happened.” Harry said and they got to work to clean up the place as he explained everything that he'd been through the last two days.

The chief stood there, a look of shock on his face, as he heard all about Harry's lessons with the ancient shamans and elders of their tribe. He would have given his second born to have had access to all that knowledge and he hid is envy behind his desire to protect the tribe. His son was the alpha, according to Harry, and an alpha needed a pack.

That surprised the chief, because he had assumed that a lone protector was what was needed. He had no idea that even a lone protector needed people to rely on. He nodded slightly as Harry went on about learning more things to help the tribe to overcome their enemies and approved of it all.

When the hour was over, five very happy and exhausted wolves sauntered and stumbled into the room again, then they collapsed into a big dog pile and panted.

“Somebody had fun.” Old Harry joked.

Wolf-Sam let out a bark before his tongue lolled out of his open mouth comically.

“Put that away and change back.” Old Harry said with a laugh. “Harry's got to teach you a few things about what you can do.”

Wolf-Sam nodded and he very slowly changed back. Once the others saw him do it, they used his experience through their mental link and changed back, too.

“Okay, that was useful.” Harry said and Sam nodded.

“Sharing is caring.” Sam said with a grin and the others laughed.

“Don't worry. After a few days of changing back and forth, you won't be tired out by it or slowed down.” Harry explained.

“That's a relief. I doubt we'll have that much time to change when a confrontation happens.” Sam said and sat down on the floor.

“Relax and drink this.” Harry said and handed over a water bottle.

“More potion?” Sam asked and drank it without waiting for the answer.

“It's poison.” Harry said and then laughed as Sam choked on it. “I'm kidding. It's just nutrient rich water.” He pat the man on the back. “Your talisman will glow a little if you're in danger.”

“I could... smack you.” Sam growled as Harry handed water bottles to the others as they sat down around the pack leader.

“I've given my sworn blood oath that I'll protect the tribe with everything I have.” Harry said and sat down with them. “I wouldn't have learned any magic at all without it.”

“Are you serious?” Embry asked, surprised. “You blood-oathed yourself to the tribe?”

Harry nodded. “It was the very first ritual I ever engaged in.”

“How long ago?” Someone else asked.

“Long before he met any of you.” Old Harry said. “We weren't going to let some white kid run around here unchecked, you know!”

That made all of them laugh, because Harry's tanned skin made him look more like one of them than anything else did.

“All right, Harry. Give us all lessons on what we can do.” Sam said and Harry nodded, then he started to impart upon them some of the wisdom of the ancients, much to Old Harry's and the chief's surprise.