Reactions
Disclaimer: I own nothing but what I think might have happened.
Hope you enjoy.
I was finally on my way home to see my Dad and baby brother for the first time since I went away for college. I had seen my twin sister, Rebecca, frequently over the course of my degree but I had missed the men in my life.
I had heard everything that had been happening. I had coached Jake through the whole insanely in love with Bella thing and then the whole majorly depressed thing as she had run back to her boyfriend who left her for some mysterious reason for several months.
And despite the fact that I had known her since we were both very small I hated Bella for what she had done to my brother. She must have known that she was leading him on for ages and yet she continued to do so for even longer.
And so now I was driving to La Push from the airport, probably faster than I should be, but the chief of police was my godfather, with the backseat of the car overflowing with bags and boxes. I never knew I collected so much crap over the past few years but apparently I had or I stole lots of stuff from Nora my roommate.
As I finally turned onto the reservation the first thing I heard was the sound of a wolf howling; it was a sound that I had never heard before let alone associated with my childhood home. But maybe my family wasn't the only thing that had changed in my absence.
"Rachel!" My brother was down the steps and in front of my car before I had even turned the engine off. And god had he changed. He was practically double my height, had filled out a hell of a lot and looked about my age.
"Jake." I shoved my door open and flung myself into his arms breathing in the familiar scent of home as he lifted me up and swung me round. "God you've grown Jake." I looked up at him as he set me on his feet. "What the hell happened to you?"
He froze at the question and then at my raised eyebrow he grasped my hand and pulled me into the house. "Dad's dying to see you." I frowned at the silence he had given me instead of an answer to the question but let it drop as I saw my Dad.
He hadn't changed. And as always he had the comforting presence that made me feel safe and I wondered why I had avoided home. As that question popped into my mind I immediately shoved it out- the reason I hadn't been home for years was the simple fact that this had been the place where my mother had died.
He smiled at me and I refrained from rolling my eyes as he started on the boring questions about my journey as I leant down to hug him. Jacob smirked at me and started towards the door. "Hey." I yelled after him. "Can you help me with my bags?"
It was his turn to roll his eyes and then he exchanged an amused glance with Dad. "Sure."
"What was that about?" I asked them both not wanting to be left out of the apparent family joke.
"Nothing." Jake answered a little bit too quickly and then dragged me by the hand out to my car to start the tedious task of unloading.
"You want to go for a walk on the beach?" Jacob stuck his head around my door just as I was finished putting away the last of my things.
"If you can put this up on the top of my wardrobe?" I thrust several of my empty boxes into his chest and he stuck his tongue out of me before shoving them up on the top of the wardrobe without any tiptoeing at all.
Something was up with him. Not only had he changed physically he had got a hell of a lot stronger. While I had struggled in with one bag slung over my shoulder and a couple of boxes piled up in my arms Jake had waltzed in effortlessly with two bags and four boxes. I wasn't even that weak!
Despite the fact that we had grown up together the walk to the beach was silent. But not the awkward silence that I had with most of the people in my life apart from Dad, Nora, Jake and Rebecca. It was weird though. I had assumed that as we hadn't seen each for years we would have loads to catch up on but evidently the frequent phone calls had solved that problem.
As we turned onto the beach I spotted several other guys all of whom I vaguely recognised but like Jake they had undergone major transformation. They, like my brother, were all shirtless and only in shorts despite the slightly cool temperature while I was in jeans, a grey hoodie and wellies.
"Jake." The one I knew as Embry called out recognising his friend and leading the others towards them. "Hi Rachel."
I smiled at him. "Hey Embry- god you've grown as well. You all have." They all laughed nervously glancing at the sand and each other but anywhere but me. What's up with these people?
"You're privileged you know Rachel." Quil broke the awkward silence between all of us. I raised my eyebrow at him confused. "Well Jake hardly spends time with anyone any more. Ever since Bella rejected him he's been spending more and more time away from home."
"Are you abandoning your friends?" I turned to my brother hands on hip with a teasing smile on my face.
"At least I have more than five. We're not all social recluses." He smirked at me.
"Very funny." I narrowed me eyes at him. "I have loads of friends you know but only a couple of close ones. We're don't all have thousands of people like this." I gestured to the people in front of me. As I did the guy in the back caught my attention.
My eyes trailed up his body and onto his face until we made eye contact. I held his gaze for a few seconds and then chaos broke out. Jake wrapped his hand around my arm and pulled me backwards as the guy, Paul I remembered his name was, disappeared and in his place stood grey wolf.
And then my vision blurred, my back connected with the sand and everything went black.
The first thing I heard as I came round was low voices and I opened my eyes to see a white ceiling. I was lying on a couch in someone's living room. A woman, with a scarred face who I placed as Emily thanks to the constant phone calls with Jake, was kneeling at my side.
The rest of the guys were scattered around the room and I recognised Leah Clearwater sitting to one side of the room. "What's going on?" I asked sitting up. Jake immediately pulled me back against his chest and I decided not to fight it despite the fact that I was supposed to be the older sister.
"You ok?" He asked me kissing my forehead.
"What the hell's going on?" I repeated leaning my head on my brother's shoulder and trying to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach. Emily handed me a glass of water which I drained gratefully although it did nothing to get rid of the sickness.
All eyes in the room turned to Sam who sighed and knelt down by Emily's side. I looked over her shoulder and saw Paul sitting on the opposite couch with Quil and Jared. "You know all the tribal stories?" He asked me.
I nodded. They had been the stories that had got me through college. All the other stories had associations with my mother so whenever I was feeling low I recapped the tribal ones in my head or phoned Dad.
"The one about the wolves is true." Sam looked me in the eye. "We're (he gestured to the others apart from Emily) wolves."
"You okay?" Jacob asked me again. The rest of them had left the room once everything had been explained to me including the whole Bella saga. The only thing that hadn't been explained to me was why Paul had phased.
"It's a bit of shock." I admitted relaxing against him. We hadn't changed from our original position and I was seeking comfort from the younger brother who had once run to me and Becky for comfort.
"It took me a while too." Jake agreed. "But it's quite cool; I mean I heal quickly, run fast and strong and I get to spend time with the guys."
Realisation hit me. "Vampires and werewolves exist- oh god." I felt my throat constrict and I couldn't breathe. "Jake I can't breathe." I choked out tightening my grip on him in my blind panic.
"Head between your knees." He instructed me guiding my head down. "Count to ten." I closed my eyes and felt him rubbing my back in an attempt to help calm me down.
"Are you ok?" I jerked my head up to see Paul standing in front of me a look of concern on his face. Jake's arms wrapped around me and pulled me back into his embrace and growled at Paul.
"Yeah." I muttered. "I am now everything's just a bit of a shock." He nodded in understanding and sat down next to us on the couch. The others filled in as well looking at me.
"There's more isn't there?" I groaned letting my head thump against Jake's shoulder in exasperation and then winced as I felt the pain. Quil and Embry laughed and then some of the others smirked until both Jacob and Paul glared at them.
Emily handed me a mug of hot chocolate and sat down on the arm of Sam's chair with her own. The guys all turned to face her looks of longing on their faces. She rolled her eyes and then disappeared back into the kitchen and emerged with more mugs and a plate of muffins.
"So what is it?" I asked impatiently rolling my eyes at how they all tucked into the food with childlike excitement. Emily caught my face and nodded in understanding. I twisted round to look at Jacob who was glaring at Paul over the top of his mug. "Why are you glaring at Paul?"
"I'm not." He denied and then smiled sheepishly as I gave him a disbelieving look before looking to Sam.
"You remember how I imprinted on Emily, Jared on Kim and Quil on Claire." He asked me.
"How can I forget?" I rolled my eyes at him and then copied Jake's sheepish smile as he raised an eyebrow at my out of character snappiness.
"Well Paul's imprinted on you." He blurted out.
Shit.
I felt the same sickening feeling, the same constricted feeling in my throat. "I can't breathe." I twisted round to look at my brother.
"Head between your legs." He reminded me. "And count to ten."
"I'm going to be sick." I could feel myself shaking as I remembered that the calming technique that Jake had told me was the same one that my mother had used. I bolted from my seat and towards the bathroom.
I could briefly hear Jacob, Paul and Sam in the background arguing about who should come and see if I'm ok. I hoped that Jacob would win. It wasn't that I had anything against Paul but I wanted my brother. The whole imprinting thing had been sprung on me and I wasn't sure if Paul's presence would help calm me down.
"Rach?" I felt myself relax slightly as I heard Jacob's voice behind me and then I burst into tears. "Oh god Rach." He muttered and dropped down beside me, wiped my face and then pulled me into his arms. I buried my face in his chest and sobbed.
The next day I found myself in a calmer, better state of mind. Maybe it was the good night's sleep or the late night talk with my father and brother. But I was feeling a lot calmer and I wanted to see Paul. It wasn't just the fact that I knew that I wouldn't be getting dumped if but he sounded exactly like the type of guy I could see myself falling for.
I swung my feet onto the floor ignoring the fact that it was seven thirty but I could hear Dad eating breakfast while Jake inhaled the food. "I want to see Paul today." I told them as I sat down at the table.
"So you're going to give him a chance." Jake raised his eyebrows at me as he shoved the cereal box towards me.
"He imprinted on her Jake." Dad reminded him. "It's different than the normal dating picture. You'll take her to whatever you lot are up to today won't you." Jake tried to speak through his mouthful of food but one disapproving look from Dad made him halt his protests.
"Thanks." It grinned at him and then quickly changed the direction of the conversation before he could protest against me invading his time.
"Rachel hurry up." I heard him yell from near the front door. Scowling in his direction (although what the point was as he couldn't see me I didn't know) as he made me hurry I gathered my hair into a messy ponytail and grabbed my shoes and ran towards the door.
"Have you always been this impatient?" I glared at him using his shoulder to balance on one leg while putting my shoes on.
"Yes." He barked and grabbed my shoulder and propelled me towards the car.
"What's your hurry?" I asked. "Don't you spend all your time with these guys I'm sure you can wait five minutes longer to see them."
"I thought you'd want to see Paul?" He offered shoving my hand off his shoulder causing me to lose my balance and fall flat on my face. As predicted Jake burst into howls of laughter and I pushed myself up and glared at him.
"I think you'll find he's more eager to see me." I gave him a dirty look and he only laughed harder. "You want me to spread the baby stories at wherever we're going?" I raised my eyebrows at me and was impressed with the speed in which he stopped sniggering.
"Let's go then." I rolled my eyes at him and pulled the door open so that my path was clear so I could jog to my car.
"I'm driving." He yelled at me speeding after me and rugby tackled me to the ground so that I couldn't get near my car.
"Why?" I snapped trying to roll out from his embrace. "My car's better than yours." It was true, Jake had a second hand truck which barely ran smoothly on a good day while I saved relentless through college to buy myself a new car.
"Mine has personality." He defended it sitting up and releasing me. "And I know where we're going."
"You can direct me." I pulled my hair out and redid so that half of it wasn't falling out. "Besides I haven't forgotten my way around this place. My memory's not as bad as yours."
"There's nothing wrong with my memory." He stuck his tongue out at me.
"So why don't you remember that you owe me ten dollars." I smirked trying not to laugh openly and give the game away.
"Stop trying to get money of your brother and let him drive." The voice from the porch said and we both turned to see our Dad sitting on the front porch looking entirely unimpressed.
"Why do you always side with him?" I muttered pulling myself to my feet ignoring the hand Jake stretched out to me.
"I stuck up for you earlier about Paul." He reminded me causing Jake's satisfied smirk to fall away.
"Only because you know that he'll give me enough grief for the two of you." I murmured under my breath before smiling sweetly at him and climbing into the passenger seat of the truck.
The ride there was short and neither of us felt like speaking. Me because I was recognising so many of the places where Mom had taken us to play when we were kids and by the looks of it so was Jake.
The actual area where we stopped was not one that I had been to before and I guessed this was because if they were transforming into wolves at various intervals it needed to be well hidden. By the looks of it we were the last ones there.
Sam was sitting watching the others play fight and keeping them in order so no one got to badly hurt. Emily, Claire and Kim were sitting further up the hill presumably on orders so that they didn't get in the way of the fights.
"Rachel." Paul shouted my name and I couldn't fail to see the way in which his face lit up as he saw me. I smiled as he bounded over towards me trying to pretend that my heart was going at double the rate. He picked me up and swung me round and I laughed loving the close proximity that we were in.
"Hello to you too." I grinned as he set me back down on the floor, my knees going weak as we lost contact. Jake scowled at Paul and ignored my 'be nice' look and then leapt to join the others.
"You ok now?" He asked slipping his arm around my shoulders and steering me up the hill towards Emily and Kim.
"Yeah- got over the shock." I smiled. "Sorry about all the drama."
"I think you handled it all quite well." Paul waved aside the apology. Kim completely freaked out and wouldn't talk to any of us for weeks and then of course with Sam we not only had Emily loosing the plot we had an angry Leah."
"And that girl is scary when she's angry." I agreed remembering an incident in middle school where she had blown up at some poor guy in the middle of the lunch hall when all he had done was accidently knock her tray off the table and onto the floor.
As though she could hear us from over twenty metres away and over the noise that all the guys were making Leah turned her head and glared at us. "Good hearing remember." Paul whispered giving Leah a dirty look.
"Don't be mean to her." I scolded him. "It's got to be hard having your boyfriend fall in love with someone else and then have to take orders from him. And she has to deal with being the only girl werewolf. She must go through completely different experiences to you guys."
Paul rolled his eyes and said nothing instead we came to a stop a few metres away from Emily and Kim. "You liking it back here at La Push?" He changed the subject as we sat down on the grass to watch the others.
I shrugged. "It's a lot more relaxed than college was." I admitted remembering the heavy partying and frantic essay writing. "And its home although a lot of truths have been revealed."
Paul snorted. "So you staying here for the near future?"
I gave him a confused look. "Well yeah you're here. I thought that's what imprints did?"
"So you're going to give me a chance." He sounded surprised.
"I didn't think I had another option." I raised my eyebrows at him. "But I'm starting to fall for you. I think we can make this work."
"Really?" He asked. I nodded and laughed as he hugged me tightly again before leaning down and pressing his lips to mine. And in that kiss I knew that this was meant to be. The fireworks, the way out bodies moulded together and the wolf whistles from the others, even Jake made me know that soon I'd walk down the aisle to meet him.
Hope you enjoyed it- wasn't sure about the ending as couldn't think of a good one. Sorry for any mistakes this has only been proof read by me and I'm crap at it. Thanks for reading. Your thoughts would be much appreciated!
Tacxxx