Author's Note: As I've done in previous Twilight fanfics, I am not a fan of the aging process that SM did for Renesmee so for the sake of this story Renesmee stops growing at the size of a 3 year old (as she was that size in the book) and resumes a regular human growth rate.
Ch 1. Why Can't Wolves Just Back Off
Time doesn't seem to pass when you're a wolf. After five months of being with Jake's pack I had intended to give up pack life the second I was able and had just about to a few months ago. I had gotten accepted into the local community college in Forks. It had only worked for a couple of weeks, finding my loyalty to my pack too great.
Between the leaders, Jacob was the more relaxed. Alpha orders still needed to be followed even if Jacob hadn't made them direct but he never intentionally took away someone's freewill. On the contrary with no lingering threats Jacob welcomed the freedom his pack could give him from time to time.
Still I constantly wished for more freedom than I had. And what freedom I did have on occasion didn't feel like enough.
"Geeze Leah," I heard Embry say.
He was miles out running the perimeter. No one had threatened Renesmee or the Cullen's but Jacob still had us doing perimeter runs, a job I found unnecessary but that wasn't my call.
"Seriously Leah, can't you get out of your head and just focus a little?"
"Focus on what," I said to him making sure he heard the sarcasm.
"Geeze, no wonder Sam was glad when you left."
I skidded to a stop as Embry continued.
"Pissed off at first especially since Jake had practically broken up the pack but he was more than happy not to deal with his angry ex all the time."
Was Embry deliberately trying to piss me off? I couldn't figure out for sure but if he was it was certainly working. If he had been anywhere near me I would have gone for his throat.
"Seriously though when will you ever lighten up? I mean it's not like you're still pinning for Sam. You haven't for as long as I've been in this pack with you guys."
"That's not the point."
"Really, then what is because as long as you've been a wolf you've had that huge stick up your ass. Can't you get over whatever the hell it is and move on?"
"And what about you Embry?"
"What about me, I'm happy with my life."
"Come on you don't seriously mean that."
"Sure I do. I'm with my best friends and I'm out of Sam's control so compared to that this is paradise."
"If Sam's pack was so bad why did you stay with him? Why did you fight us?"
"What was I supposed to do?"
"Leave like Seth and I did."
"And leave Quil to fend for himself, you know the guy couldn't leave La Push because of Claire."
"But you don't have a Claire, you could have left. You call yourself Jacob's best friend but you abandoned him at the time he needed you most."
Embry got silent for a moment. He knew I was right and he had nothing to back up the fact.
"Hey since when did we get on the topic of me anyways, we were talking about you," he said being a baby about it.
I smiled glad that I had diverted the subject. It's not like it was that hard. Usually the guys got annoyed by me a lot of the time, not that I cared, so it was always nice when I didn't have to be the topic of complaining. No one really wanted me but Seth, Quil and Jacob had at least come to tolerate me which was more than before when I had first joined the original pack.
"You wanna complain about me like you always do," I said to him, "Be my guest but I'm done listening to you," I said making the phase from my wolf to human form.
I hadn't realized how close I'd gotten to the Cullen house until I found myself near the driveway. I could hear Jacob playing with Renesmee inside. She was a good kid, if you didn't mind the half vampire thing but if it hadn't been for Jacob being my pack leader and our territory being Cullen territory I would be back on my own by now.
Right now she was riding on Jacob's back, the poor guy on his hands and knees. I had seen through Jacob's thoughts how much Ness liked to ride on wolf Jacob but she was having just as much fun on him while he was in his human state.
It sucked being around imprinted people. Of our pack Quil and Jacob were the only ones. It still made no sense that Quil had imprinted on a two year old and that Jacob had imprinted on Ness before she was even born but that's what it was, why, it wasn't our place to question but having discovered back then that Jake had imprinted on a half human/half vampire was more than a little sickening, more so than the discovery of Quil's imprint. No one knew what it meant for us as a pack anymore.
Bella stared at me through the window. We had come to a cordial understanding much like I had with Jacob. I had even grown accustomed to the vampire stench; another thing that our legends hadn't had cause to tell us about. Guess not many wolves had stuck around them long enough to figure it out. The pain wasn't as bad and now the smell was a mixture of scents like sulfur and spring flowers an odd combination but whereas before the burning of their scent was like a mixture of sulfur and other terrible toxicities. The added touch of spring flowers replaced the toxicities making the sulfur smell actually bearable, probably like staying in some place like Yellowstone for an extended period of time and growing accustomed to the sulfur smells there.
The part I had trouble understanding, something I'd had trouble with since Sam had broken up with me and left me for Emily, was how anyone could be so damn straight happy all the time. Sure we weren't immune to the stresses of life but the constant happiness of being around imprinted people and even people who had found their lifelong mates like the Cullen's had was enough to be downright repulsive.
I shook my head. I had to get out of here, go anywhere. Maybe going back to school might not be such a bad thing after all. At this moment it didn't matter what I did as long as I left.
I let my two legs go under me, not bothering to phase even though the speed would be perfect but I didn't want to risk any of the other wolves entering my head.
"Will she be okay," I heard Bella ask.
Damn that wolf hearing, and with constantly being around vampires I was now starting to hear them from nearly five miles out.
"There's just a lot going on inside her mind," said her mind reader of a husband.
"There's always a lot going in her head," I heard Jacob say. "It's Leah, what do you expect?"
"Can't you be a little more sensitive?"
"Hey I'm not her mother."
"No just her leader."
"Hey, what do you expect me to do? She's a chick it's not exactly like me or any of the other guys can relate."
"No but you can at least try."
"Whatever, can we go hunting yet or what?"
I ran faster. Damn it Bella for trying to stand up for me.
