Betas: Tayjay & Dragonfly76
AN: I am suffering major writer's block. In an attempt to get past it, I'm reaching outside of my comfort zone.
ooOOoo
I watched as the young tribe gathered around the fire, a warm smile on my face at the memory of the bonfires of my youth. Friends and lovers beside their sweethearts, the blue flames flickering bright and casting a glow across their faces.
Standing tall, Chase Ateara looked around the gathering, looking much like the men in his family who came before him. Face holding the same pride that shone in the expressions of the older generation. "Are you ready?" he asked, looking to each of those who carried the warrior gene.
"What legend are you telling today?" Mia shyly asked.
She was a sweet girl. Looking at her brown eyes reminded me of another sweet girl. My eyes caught those of my love's from across the fire. I held her knowing gaze for a moment before turning my attention back on young Mia.
"Tonight you will learn of the True Alpha and his mate. Born with magic in his veins and knowledge from our ancestors. His journey to fulfill his role was one of duty, honor and respect. His foresight that our tribe and people should know the protectors living among them brought about unity and peace." Chase nodded to me to take my place.
Settling myself on the old driftwood log, I began the tale.
Labyrinthine
It happened many years ago. Poison spread amongst our people,our leaders. It wasn't the kind of poison that burned your skin or caused hallucinations. No, this poison was far more dangerous. It polluted the mind and the soul..." My mind automatically slipped into a long ago era, the memories assaulting me as if they were moments from yesterday.
The Cullen's returned to the damp air and moist grounds of Forks, Washington. Amid the fancy cars and big white house that sat on the outskirts of town, were the golden eyes of the walking dead. Their pale pallor and un-beating hearts brought unimaginable change to the neighboring Quileute tribe.
As the stench of the enemy permeated the breeze, the younger generation of our people began to transform. Gone was the easy banter of friends and quick smiles to sweethearts. The wolf that resided within the young men, awakened.
The boys grew taller, stronger and volatile. Their fathers and grandfathers remembered bedtime stories of their own youth, knowing the wolf inside of their sons and grandsons bodies had risen from its slumber.
One by one, the young men succumbed to their beast. The truth behind long forgotten legends came to life and with it a renewed sense of pride. Boys grew into men who shifted into warriors. Fathers looked on with insurmountable pride as their heirs became heroes that would one day give life to the stories that would be told and retold around the flames of bonfires.
What had begun with a deep sense of pride and tradition quickly turned into a dark and dangerous persuasion.
The newest generation of Tribal Protectors patrolled their land. Their persistent guard kept the evil away from their people. But, with each passing day, the wolves grew restless.
Sam was a false Alpha. His position was not earned or bestowed upon him by blood. It had been happenstance that he was the first of the new pack to become one with his animal. The pack could feel the imaginary authority. Their minds sought the true Alpha. Their wolves craved the balance and stability being united with their true leader would bring.
Each wolf had lost the innocence of a childhood unfinished. Love was forgotten as magic dictated their lives. Family secrets were exposed and dreams ended before they began. The warriors were forced to cut ties with the outside world. The secret that flowed in the blood of their veins demanded it. The pack operated as one. Their minds connected and their thoughts bled into one another's until there was a singular mindset.
The pack grew restless as they awaited the phasing of their true Alpha; both man and beast could feel the need for his blood to lead them. The True Alpha, the leader that would stand atop the cliffs with the eyesight of an eagle, the hearing of an owl. The true Alpha would bind them as a pack and ensure the bloodline of each warrior continued under his guidance.
As days turned into weeks and weeks into months, the pack became angry. None could understand why had their Alpha not phased, why had they been brought into the supernatural world to be led by a false leader. The anger and resentment bubbled and festered until it turned into poison. It was the new knowledge of a world beyond man and woman that enabled the poison to spread.
It was the restlessness of the pack that sent each of the elders on a desperate journey to seek answers. They did not know why Jacob Black, the heir to the Alpha throne, had yet to complete his destiny.
Old Quil, as he was known, fasted and prayed to the spirits. Billy Black chanted, his voice taking on the sound of ancient drums as he sought his forefathers' words of wisdom. Harry Clearwater painted his tanned body with the earth and traveled the path of a Spirit Journey.
The ancestors did not answer.
What started with a pure desire to understand had transformed into suspicion and accusation. Prejudices born of fear arose where none had previously existed.
In an attempt to understand the questions that were not theirs to ask, the elders of La Push unknowingly set into motion the events that would nearly cripple the entire tribe. The power and strength of the True Alpha would be unleashed and the secret that hid beneath skin and bone would be known to every generation of Quileute for the rest of time.
A new legend would be born. Long after the Elders ceased to walk the great earth, the legend of the Heir to the Alpha throne would be told and retold amidst the sands of First Beach.
The ancestors hadn't been deaf or blind. They had watched from above as the events unfolded. They spoke in ancient words of what was to become of their beloved tribe. When it was time, Taka Aki took his place at the head of the throne, "It has begun."
At the command of the Chief of the Quileute people, the pack, led by Samuel Uley, charged forward. As the lithe bodies of their animals ran through the trees ducking and dodging obstacles, the earth shuddered beneath heavy paws.
Their mind's thoughts were united.
Seek.
Find.
Demand.
Follow.
They had grown up together. They grieved with the passing of their packmates loved ones as if it were their own who had crossed to the other side. They comforted one another over broken arms and skinned knees. Laughed as one with each funny line delivered in the latest comedy. They had shared secrets and dreams. Those milestones of childhood were long forgotten as the wolves in a battle formation hunted their prey.
With a superior sense of smell, their noses followed the trail of the two whose whereabouts had been requested by their Chief. The combined scent of their prey dusted each tree and bush, winding through the trails they had tromped through in earlier, happier times. Before magic and monsters invaded their worlds.
The scent trail led and ended at the old treehouse.
They stood before the childhood sanctuary of many of the current pack. They had built it together and defended it against alien invasion. Their imaginations had turned the splintered, makeshift fort into a pirate's ship and then into a Medieval castle. It had been a place where they played, learned, and grew together.
The innocence of childhood was forgotten as snarls filled the silent forest. The pack were unable to pick up the scent of Jacob Black beyond the palace in the treetops.
With the only confirmation they had been sent to seek, found, they turned and ran toward the home of their Chief.
As the interim leader, Sam opened the door of the little red house and entered without greeting. "They're not there, but you were right. It's been occupied, and recently," Sam relayed to an ever increasing angry, Billy Black.
Chief Black turned to the tribe's Alpha protector, "Thank you." Sam nodded, understanding he was being dismissed, and slipped out of the door as quietly as he had entered.
Billy Black fumed. He raged and then he called upon his trusted allies. While they spoke in whispered words, the ancestors looked down with heavy hearts.
Deep in the forest of La Push, hidden under the canopy of trees, sat the cabin that had beckoned every true Alpha of La Push since the very first man turned into beast to protect his people. Melded into the grain of the wood were the secrets of the past and the knowledge of the future.
Inside the deserted cabin, the magic swirled around the oblivious young couple, surrounding them with the blessing of the spirits and protection from the approaching assault.
The young lovers were wrapped in each other. Arms and legs tangled in passion as they touched one another with familiarity. His mouth kissed her skin, leaving behind pale bruises as evidence of his rapture. Her hands clutched at his strong back. Nails dug into flesh, creating pink lines of tribute to her worship.
The air was filled with the combined scent of their ecstasy. The breeze carried the echo of their moans as they found salvation in one another's body.
Unbeknownst to the young lovers, a few miles away in the heart of the tribe, an assault was being planned.
The hate had been manufactured, the poison spreading until it ignited and flamed around them.
The Elders were enraged. Their ire spurned the pack into snarls of outrage. They were prepared to force Jacob Black to phase. He would guide them; their wolves demanded it.
The wolves stalked into the woods, clearing a path for the Elders to follow. The farther into the woods they went, the stronger the scents and sounds became. Each of the wolves recognized the flavor of sex in the air.
As the group broke through a grouping of trees, they found themselves staring at a small cabin. It was old and rustic. The soft glow of an oil lamp the only light coming from within.
With the nod of a head, the wolves descended.
Jacob Black knelt behind his lover, their bodies forcefully joining and rejoining with each thrust of his hips. His hands gripped her small waist with dominance and her head hung down as he pushed, pulled and united them over and over again. The sounds were almost inhuman. The wail of euphoria from her pink lips and the howl of possession from his.
The lovers were oblivious to the happenings just outside the door of their sanctuary.
The small window on the side of the cabin allowed the pack and Elders to see inside. The view of the lovers wrapped together enraged the already incensed witnesses.
Billy Black roared. He had suspected, but the sight before him was confirmation. It was her that was preventing his son from phasing, from accepting his fate. A pale face had dared to deter the True Alpha's phase.
The cabin door was ceremoniously flung open. The Chief stood trembling with rage as he looked at the evidence of his son's treachery.
Jacob Black sprang away from Bella. His nostrils flared, his chest heaved from the remnants of lovemaking. He shook his head, trying to comprehend what was happening.
Before he could gather his bearings, his father marched forward and grabbed Bella's wrist, pulling her naked body from the bed.
Bella stood, scared, shaking and trying in vain to cover herself from the prying eyes of the intruders.
Jacob Black was enraged.
His beast rose, it's roar filled the cabin, threatening to splinter it from within. The birds flew from the treetops and the critters fled from the danger. "Let her go!"
"You are a Black. The future Chief of this tribe. You will not take a pale face into your bed." Billy yelled. "You have a higher calling."
"Jacob, you do not know what is to come. You must listen to your father. Your blood is too pure to mix. The people will not accept it," Old Quil spoke.
"Jacob!" Sam's voice sounded. The pack felt the heavy timber of the command but it bounced off Jacob. "Jake, you will end this... with the Swan girl and you will follow your path." Sam ordered.
They spoke of Bella as if she weren't cowering in front of them. As though they hadn't known her since birth. She had been one of them, not by blood or birth but by love and respect. Another casualty to the magic that they had not understood.
Jacob stepped forward. His yellow eyes glowed in the dimly lit cabin.
"Do you think I don't know what you've hidden all these years? Do you think I don't know how your jealousy and your foolishness tainted your souls?" he snarled. Jacob's eyes burned with rage, his teeth bared and his body shimmered before them. He reached his arm out, taking Bella from his father's grasp with ease. He turned her body around, her chest scorching his as he pressed her tightly against his body.
Jake took a step forward, bringing himself, and Bella, closer to the ones that had dared to touch his mate. He lifted her hair and inhaled before turning his Alpha stare onto first his father, then each of the men before him.
"Bella is MINE. Claimed, marked and mated. My son grows inside her."
Labyrinthine
I looked around the slowly dying bonfire. The faces were the same as they always were: excited, curious, amazed at such a 'story.'
I paused and once again caught the soulful brown eyes of my love from across the blue flames.
"The true Alpha revealed himself for he had walked among the pack undetected."
"So what... what happened next?" Sean asked.
I heard my mate chuckle. "Well, Jake had always known of the pack and his status as the Alpha. That knowledge was born into him upon his birth. It was the magic that was in his blood."
"But, what happened?" he nearly whined.
"Jacob claimed his position as Alpha and Chief. He revealed the protectors to the tribe, making them respected and honored as they had once been and will forever remain." I told him smiling at my beautiful wife who moved to take her position next to me.
"But..." Mia stuttered from beside Sean.
"Jacob Black and Bella Swan-Black live among you. They live in the breeze that tousles your hair, the salt water on your skin after a swim. They live in the flowers that bloom in spring and the snowflakes that fall in winter. They welcome each new generation of protectors." I smiled and grasped my love's hand in mine.
"How do you know?" Avery asked with a quirked brow.
I let go of my beauty's hand, stepped back and felt the familiar lengthening of my bones as I phased into my russet wolf. I looked on through my wolf's eyes. The slack jaws and wide eyes never got old. I lifted my head and looked at my Bella then howled my welcome to the new generation of La Push Protectors.