A Lily Among The Nightshades
AU note: A brief introduction into this little AU world. I've played around with the timeline a bit. The story is set during Twilight, but I've had all the canon wolves phase already. The phasing process started as soon as the Cullen's arrive pre-twilight. By the time that the story begins midway through twilight (Bella knows about the Cullen's), we have a full pack of wolves.
Also, changing around the cannon pairings and occupations a little. Obviously since this is a Sam/OC story, he didn't imprint on Emily, instead Paul did. Canon story line follows. I expect a few other AU events will happen along the way.
Hope you enjoy!
"Left! Embry to the left!"
Sam could feel the others around him running in tight formation.
"We're tailing the redhead boss! She should come through the trees on the left right about-"
Collin was cut off by the deafening crack of a tree ahead. A red blur streaked along side it. It paused for a moment, red eyes flashing back at the rest of the pack before bolting in the opposite direction.
"Don't let them get away!" Sam shouted, "The blond is just ahead!"
They took off running. Embry skidded trying desperately to stop as a car size limb was thrown in his direction. He cried out in pain as his front leg turned strangely beneath him and the branches clawed at his skin.
"Damn it!" He cried, falling to the side.
Quil, who had been just behind him didn't slow at the projectile, but launched himself above it. He was the best aerialist the pack had, Sam noted; and had to admit the move was impressive.
"Shit, brother. You have some mad ups." Embry said as he tried to raise himself back to all fours. They could feel the throbbing pain from his leg and the sting of the deep gouges on his side.
"You're out Embry. Don't move, we'll come back to you as soon as we're done." Sam said not breaking stride. He heard Embry whine in response. "That's an order; you took a hard spill. You need to get stitched up and that leg looked at. Don't move."
"Damn it all," Embry said as he felt the command roll over him "I'll at least keep look out." Embry said, closing his eyes and looking through the eyes of the pack ahead.
"Good man." Sam said turning his attention back to the two blurs weaving through the trees ahead. The two leeches threw themselves over the small cliff and took off towards an abandoned cabin by the river.
"The cabin? You've got to be fucking kidding me! I ran this patrol yesterday! There was no sign of them!" Paul cried, a howl piercing the morning air.
"They must be moving every few hours to stay ahead of us, there's no way we could run every loop, every day and they know that." Jake said scanning the tree line. The rest of the boys stood behind Sam and Jake who were perched at the edge.
"Alright, here's what we do." Sam said evaluating the clearing below. "We surround the building. Paul, Jake, we will take the back. Quil, Jared, Leah, I want you to charge the front door. It'll send them running out the back and we'll grab them. Everyone else, take the sides in case they make a run for it through a window. Got it?" He turned to run but was paused when Embry cut in.
"Wait!" He cried just as Sam and Jake were about to jump the cliff. Sam stifled a growl at the delay.
"I smell…" He paused, "I smell a human, in the cabin with the leeches. It's faint, but it's there. You'll have to look out for them when the leeches come out. They could use them as a distraction."
Sam paused for a moment sniffing the air around and… sure enough there it was. Faint, but distinct, heavily masked by the overwhelming odor of the leeches. Embry always did have a good nose, that's what Emily had always said when he was able to find all the food that she had hidden away from the rest of the pack in the pantry. They all chuckled in agreement.
"Watch for the human. We need to get them out if they are alive." Sam said before jumping out over the cliffs and down to the stream below. A series of howls followed as the rest took their position.
He quickly glanced around taking in his surroundings. Noting everyone in place he signaled for Jared to charge the front door. A crash of glass pulled his attention to the side window. The redhead had thrown herself through the pane of glass and was taking off towards the trees again.
"Seth, Colin, Brady, Jake! Follow her!" Sam shouted. Jake took off at a sprint, leading the group into the tree line as they heard him begin to shout commands to the others that were following.
"Blondie's coming out the back!" Leah cried from the front of the house. Just as she finished, the back door flew from its hinges and the blond leech stepped out.
The sun had come out over the clearing and the sickening sparkles nearly burned their eyes. Sam's gaze met Paul's and wordlessly they took off. The vampire danced around them, dogging their first few blows, but with five wolves, they closed in with ease.
Surrounded, the blond man lashed out, hoping to inflict some collateral damage. He caught Leah's side and threw her to the ground with a claw. Blood oozed from five nail marks on her side.
In the distance, they heard Jake cry out in anger.
"Mother fucker just crossed onto Cullen land! We're out."
"Get your asses back here pups because we're about to take down Blondie. See if you can make it in time for the show." Sam said with humorless mirth.
Lunging forwarded, he tackled the man to the ground. The vampire clawed at his sides and he could feel the skin tear beneath them; Sam snarled and snapped in his face. Blondie reached up to claw his face, but Paul grabbed the man by his long matted ponytail and tore it from the rest of his body.
The group chasing the red head howled in congratulations as they approached the shack.
"Jake, Paul, can you take care of that? Everyone hold onto the pieces until" Sam glanced around for the fastest uninjured member, "Jared can make it back to one of our checkpoints to get a flint. Burn that son of a bitch."
Jared came back quickly holding a large bag in his mouth. They had set up checkpoints around our patrol routes in the forest. Each site had emergency supplies, a track phone, flints, and most importantly—Pants. Sam made note to refill it later in the day.
"Jared, I swear to all the spirits above if you try and steal my shorts and bra again I will make it my personal mission to ensure that Sam assigns you to night patrol indefinitely. Try explaining that one to Kim, hmm." Leah shouted as she saw Jared approaching the bag. His lips pulled back from his teeth and barked out a laugh. They chuckled sharing the memory of the last few times they had gone out for patrols. Jared had made a habit of stealing Leah's clothes and strutting around the forest as she chased behind him snapping and yelling profanities.
Sam chuckled himself, making his way over towards the bag as Jake and Paul started the fire.
"Check yourself, brother. I'm guessing you're girl wouldn't be too happy if you weren't around in the evenings." Sam said bumping him aside as he approached. Jared snapped at Sam as he passed, but he could sense the jest behind it.
"I would make all your lives a living hell if that happened. I know you don't doubt it." Images of him completely nude began to flash though his mind and they howled out in opposition.
"If you all are quite done…" They heard Embry pipe up, throwing images of his leg. "I think I'm going to have to get this set." Sam hissed in empathy.
"All right everyone," Sam called as Paul and Jake threw the pieces of the leech into the fire. "Finish up with that bloodsucker. Jared, call Kim and tell her to meet you with your truck at check point-" He paused thinking back to where they had left Embry
"Eleven." Embry bit out through gritted teeth, "I'm closest to marker eleven. Someone is going to have to come and help me out though, I'm not close enough to the path for the truck to get to."
"Alright, Quil, Jared you go and help Embry out after you call. Bring him some pants too! We maybe used to seeing all of that, but Kim doesn't need to."
Jared barked out in gratitude.
"Paul, call up Emily. Tell her to come down here with her van; she should know where the old cabin is. Leah needs to be stitched up-"
"Me? Are you being serious? You're bleeding out all over the clearing." She cut in, carrying the last of the leech limbs over to the fire. Sam grunted dismissively.
"Yea, we can deal with me later-"
She interrupted again.
"No like now Sam, we'd go to hell in a handbag with you out of commission. You got a nice scratch down your side. Jake, make sure he takes care of himself." She said tossing an arm into the flames. Jake chuckled.
"Don't worry Lee, Sam knows I would get us all killed if I had to take over. He'll take care of himself."
Sam chose to ignore the exchange, to which a Leah frustratedly huffed in response.
"Jake, call up Dr. Fang and tell him that the red headed leech is on his land. Be sure he knows she shouldn't be underestimated. She'll be angry that we took down her coven member."
Paul phased out and grabbed the track phone from the bag. Tearing it open he hit the first redial.
"Hey baby… yea it's me." He paused as she answered. "Yea, I know there was a lot of howling… I'm so sorry baby; I'm ok, I promise… Look, we need your help. Leah and Sam-… yea they're alright but we-"
"Sam, the human…" Embry cut in.
Shit. The human.
He had totally forgotten. The leech's sent was still stifling in the air around the clearing, creating a particularly bad odor as it burned and masking the scent of the human inside. And with the commotion of the final confrontation, he had gotten completely distracted. Phasing back quickly and grabbing a pair of shorts from the bag, he started at a jog towards the cabin ignoring the stabbing pain from the claw marks on his side.
Standing so close he smelled a…. he stifled the urge to moan in pleasure. It was the most wonderful scent he could remember; or maybe just a reprieve from all the leech odor, he thought.
Sam glanced back at the others; he found everyone phasing back and taking care of the scene. He hesitantly stepped towards the splintered front door. Pausing for a moment, he looked around. The building had long since been abandoned and the only furniture inside was a broken table with three legs and a dilapidated couch. The old toilet had been puled up to the side of the couch seeming to provide extra seating to who ever had been squatting here before. The doors to the other two rooms had been torn off their hinges and cobwebs hung in their place.
Lifting his nose he sniffed and recognized the undeniably attractive aroma that he had smelled from outside. Following the scent he wove though the kitchen and around the broken table towards a second room just adjacent.
A small path had been carved through the dense cobwebs and they hung in the doorframe like the bead curtains that Leah had hung in her bedroom door when she was in middle school.
The smell intensified until he could practically hear his wolf howl with delight. Ducking through he saw a small, distinctly feminine human form lying in the corner. He stood still for a moment until he heard it—the strong rhythmic thump of her heart beating. Her back faced him and all he could see was her hair hanging down to her shoulders looking tangled and dirty. The skin was pale white like it hadn't seen daylight in weeks and her shorts and t-shirt were in shreds. Jogging across the room, he lowered himself down facing her.
His heart began to race.
He could hear her shallow breathing, but her veins stuck painfully out of her skin like the time that Collin had gotten heat stroke after he hadn't drank any water before a summer patrol. Cuts and bruises covered her thin legs and arms, but beyond that she seemed… alive.
"Hey…" He said quietly, she flinched away, wrapping her arm around herself. His wolf growled at her distress with a fierceness he hadn't expected.
She let out a quiet whimper and his heart tugged sharply.
"Shhh, you're safe now." He said reaching out and resting his hand on her arm.
As soon as his hand made contact with her arm, she shot up. Her eyes flashed open and her wide green eyes met his own.
She gasped.
His world stopped spinning.
She reached out and thin fingers wrapped fiercely around his wrist.
"You're here." She whispered hoarsely and promptly collapsed into his arms.