Disclaimer: Do not own, never will.
Authors note: First time Twilight fic. Ever thought I would see this day. Blame it on the good looking wolves in New Moon and Eclipse.
For you guys that are waiting for new chapters on my Avatar and Star Trek fanfics; they will come up soon. Still working on those. Please be patient.
You know how muses can attack you and change your focus. The chapters will come, I have not abandoned them. I promise.
Enjoy.
Chapter 1 – Meeting & Settling In
It was the beginning of March in La Push, Washington and the day was a quite warm day for the season, around 6 degrees Celsius, and it had stopped snowing the other day. It was still a lot of snow in the forest, but it had slowly begun to melt away, revealing the rooftops and the most used roads in the area.
It was also less snow in the areas around the beaches, as the strong winds helped to remove the snow with more force than the sun accomplished right now.
Through the forest close to the reservation, echoes from a hammer were heard from someone who worked with repairs of some kind.
"Remind me why we're doing this again?" The slightly frustrated voice of Paul, the third one to have phased into a wolf, came from the roof of the small cottage he was working on. He was patching up the roof, mending the hole a big branch had caused during the last winter storm.
Sam Uley came up on the ladder that was leaning against the wall and threw up a few more shingles for Paul.
"Sue asked us to." His deep voice replied and he got up on the roof, passed Paul to continue cutting down the overhanging branches, which might fall on the roof and make their work undone.
The small cottage, three rooms, bathroom and a kitchen, was in need to be repaired after the harsh winter, as it would be occupied by someone Sue Clearwater knew, starting next month. The cottage was placed in a small clearing inside the forest near La Push, a twenty minutes walk from the main reservation area, but it was still within the reservation's boundaries.
"Yeah, I know that. But why?"
"Didn't you listen to her when she asked us?" Jared, the second to phase came up on the roof and walked to Sam, grabbing hold of a snapped branch and pulled it loose in one strong movement and threw it down on the ground, into the rather large pile of fallen branches and debris they had removed from the surroundings.
"Nah, I was still tired from last night's patrol." He shrugged and continued to put on the new shingles.
"A friend's daughter is coming for a visit, and apparently she's some kind of writer and she'll ask the council if she might get the permission to write down some of our legends and make into a book." Jared explained, having paying attention to what had been said and he had heard it in more detail from his wife, Kim, to as why the guest was visiting.
But the gaze that Sam was giving him now, meant that the Alpha had not heard the whole reason to why the guest was coming here.
"Absolutely not." He growled low, thinking of what might happen if the legends came out. The legends were their heritage, not some novel to be written and distributed around the world. He was part of the council, and he would stop this from happening, before it even started.
"Don't look at me like that. I just heard it from Kim, and she heard it from Sue." Jared pulled down another branch and backed away from his Alpha.
"What more did you hear?" Paul looked up and thought in the same pathways like Sam.
"That if the council refused, she would respectfully step back and not publish anything."
Here Sam relaxed slightly.
"But..." Jared continued. "If the council approved, she would write the legends down, for our use only, by hand."
Sam tensed up again and shook his head.
"I won't allow it. She is not one of us." His voice held finality and a tinge of his Alpha Voice.
It was finally the beginning of April as she stepped out from the airplane, which had taken her to the airport in Port Angeles, as supposed to the airport in Forks, which had been forced to close yesterday due to a leakage in one of the tanks which held the fuel to the airplanes.
Stepping into action, she had as soon as she had gathered her luggage, she had found a car rental, rented a car and was currently digging around in her travel-bag for her big calendar, which contained important dates, addresses and phone numbers.
Finding the brown leather-bound book, she opened it up and flipped to a marked page, where she had written down the address and phone number to Sue Clearwater. Taking out her cell phone, she dialed the numbers and waited.
"Quileute Reservation, Sue Clearwater's house." A deep male voice answered on the third ring.
"Hi, this is Sarah Quinn; may I speak to Sue, please?" She swallowed, the male's voice sounded as if he was a bit annoyed with something.
"One moment." He almost growled at her. At least it sounded like a deep growl. Selena heard some shuffling about and murmurs before someone took the phone and a motherly voice was on the other end.
"Sarah? I thought we were going to pick you up at the airport in two hours?" Sue was concerned for her childhood friend's daughter, as she had promised to take care of the young woman.
"Well, yes. But I'm standing just outside Port Angeles airport right now; we had to land here because there had been a leak in a tank yesterday at the airport in Forks."
"I had no idea. Do you want us to get you, or have you found a bus?" Sue began to think who she could cajole into driving to Port Angeles with her.
"I have rented a car actually, easiest way to travel with my bags and so. And I like to spend time with my thoughts." She smiled and heard the older woman laugh.
"That's fine, so we'll see you in about two hours then?"
"Yes, I hope so. I'll call again if something happens."
"Good, it will be wonderful to see you again Sarah. Bye." Sue's warm smile almost came through the phone and Sarah could almost see the woman in front of her.
"I'll see you soon. Bye." Sarah hung up and stepped into the car. Getting out the GPS, she entered Sue's address and waited until it had calculated her route. Estimated time: 1 hour and 34 minutes.
"She's on her way." Sue informed Sam and his pack when she had hung up.
Sam growled and looked to Sue.
"I won't allow it."
"The other's, and myself included, have agreed to hear her out, as her mother was a part of this tribe when we were young." Sue looked to the tall male, seeing that he was against this, but she stood her ground. Sarah's mother had lived with them until she moved in her twenties to begin on college in New York, where she met her husband and never returned back to La Push, only for short visits, but she never stayed long.
Through letters, Sue had heard about her oldest daughter, Sarah, and her passion for old legends and mythology. Apparently she had written a few books on Greek myths and they had been received with nice critical responses and had been featured in a few magazines.
"She has a passion for myths and legends, and treats the different stories with respect. Hear her out, before you make a decision."
Sam stared and then he walked out from the kitchen, heading to the door.
"She'll be here in about an hour and a half." Sue called after him, knowing that the Alpha would be back and greet the guest, even if he didn't feel like it.
The door closed with a slam.
The drive from Port Angeles had been good, Sarah loved the landscape at first sight; it was wild and soothing, much different from the sort of ordered forests where she lived with her family. She liked those forests too, but these ones seemed to hold so much more history, more stories to tell of old magic and spirits of Native America.
When she got to the outskirts of La Push, she stopped to look at the map she had bought over the area, making sure she knew where she would turn to get to the right place where Sue lived and then she called to tell her that she was now in La Push, only five or so minutes away.
This time Sue answered, not the growling voice, but she could hear other deep voices in the background, laughing about things.
Sue told Sarah that she would be outside and wait for her by the road, wearing a red wind-jacket.
Hanging up, Sarah started the car and drove the last few miles to the part of the reservation where Sue lived.
Sarah saw immediately the older woman standing by a brown house with a white veranda, waving welcoming at her.
"She's here." Embry, Seth and Quil rushed up to the window over the sink and looked out, pushing each other away, so one of them could see better than the other. Sam, Jared and Paul stayed at the table, eating their sandwiches Sue had made for them, and also splitting Quil's, Seth's and Embry's sandwiches among them, as the younger ones were not interested in food at the moment.
"Nice rental…" Quil murmured and tried to get a look of the 'intruder' as they had named her for now.
They saw how the driver's door opened and how a rather good-looking woman stepped out.
"She's looking pretty good…." Embry whistled and stretched as much as he could to get a look. "Looks to be around your age Sam…" He wiggled his eyebrows at his Alpha, who gave him a dark look.
Sue came up and hugged her, looking at the woman with kind eyes and she was smiling.
"I haven't seen mom this happy since you and Kim told us about the wedding date." Seth said and turned to Jared.
"Maybe this guest isn't that bad after all?" Jared grinned and looked at Sam, who still wasn't keen of letting a stranger in. He would listen to her, but then ask her kindly to leave and not write anything. She didn't belong here.
"They're coming!" The younger pack members sat down around the table, and they immediately noticed that their sandwiches were gone, creating a loud ruckus, which was heard all the way outside.
"I'll introduce you to the boys first; they're the ones you will ask for help, if you need something heavy lifting done. Are you hungry?"
"A bit actually." Sarah felt a bit starved after the flight. Plane food was not really her favorite dish.
"We'll have some sandwiches then, the boys are already eating. After I'll take you to your new home, we'll bring one of the boys with us; they know the roads like the back of their hands."
A shout was heard from the inside and it sounded like growling animals at times, as they approached the house.
"They are a bunch of kids in the heart, you'll like them." Sue said cheerfully, knowing that this was a mild outburst from the boy's side; they could be much, much wilder.
Sarah looked at the older woman with skepticism in her eyes, looking at the door that separated them from the bunch of wild animals that were inside.
"It really sounds like they will kill each other soon…" Sarah said softly, looking a bit apprehensively at the door.
"Someone has obviously eaten the other ones sandwiches… again." Sue sighed; she knew this would happen every time food was on the table.
When Sue opened the door, Sarah stayed behind her, as if she was expecting to be mauled when entering. They would not shout at Sue, as she was an elder and they respected her.
"Sit down!" Sue hollered and Sarah glanced over Sue's shoulder and saw how three younger males, younger than her, tried to get the sandwiches from males older than her, without succeeding.
A silence spread in the kitchen and the males sat down around the table, the older ones still holding on to their sandwiches.
"I don't know what to do with you sometimes. If you can't behave in front of my guest, then get out." She pointed to the door, but no one left. Shaking her head, she went to the fridge and pulled out another platter with sandwiches, the younger males instantly went to attention, following the pile of sandwiches with their eyes, which Sue sat down on the counter, far away from the table.
"Come on in, Sarah, they won't bite." Sue grinned.
"Much…" Paul said lowly, too low for Sarah to hear, but the others in the pack chuckled.
Stepping into the kitchen, Sarah looked around, seeing the rather buff males, all six of them, looking at her with curiosity and a bit contempt in their eyes. Sue had told her a few weeks ago that some of the people in the reservation didn't take too fondly to the idea of turning their heritage into a book. She knew that she might have to show them that she was not going to destroy their heritage, only preserve it and make people want to care more of their past.
"Boys, this is Sarah Quinn. Be nice to her." Sue stepped to the table, placing herself so Sarah would see. "Sarah, this is Quil, Embry, my son Seth, Jared, Paul and Sam. Sam is part of the council too." Sue introduced, pointing to all males, who nodded their greetings to Sarah.
But Sam didn't nod; he didn't do anything except staring at the intruding female.
Sam was pushing Embry back when Sue came in and told them to sit down. With the door swinging open, a gust of wind came through, bringing a sweet scent into the kitchen. Normally, Sam wouldn't have been paying a lot of attention to it, but something inside of him told him to really pay attention to this new sweet scent that he had never felt before.
Looking up towards the kitchen door, he saw a sight he mostly never would forget.
She walked through the door. She was about 5'9"; soft dark-brown hair flowed down over her shoulders, stopping an inch below them. Curious, but apprehensive dark sapphire blue eyes looked around in the kitchen and when Sue introduced his pack to her, saying his name last, her eyes locked with his and he felt as if something pulled him to her.
Forcing himself to stay sitting on the chair, his hands flexing slightly, wanting to act on the pull he felt and pull her closer to him, to never let her out of his sight again.
She was beautiful.
Sarah met the eyes of each male that sat around the table, but when she met the last ones, Sam's, she felt like she couldn't stop looking into his dark brown eyes. When their gazes locked, his eyes turned darker, his pupils dilated and made it look like they turned black.
She saw warmth in them, warmth she had never seen any male display when they had looked at her. His warmth seemed to reach out for her, grabbing hold and creating an electrical connection between them. She didn't know what this meant, but it didn't make her feel uncomfortable, like it would have done if anyone else had looked at her that way.
It felt right.
"Sarah, why don't you take your jacket off and sit down." Sue had pulled hers off and pulled out an extra mug and filled it with hot tea.
Sarah seemed to wake from her dream-like state and saw where she could hang her jacket. Placing her bag on the floor, she unzipped her army green wind jacket, which was perfect for the windy and somewhat cold weather in Washington right now. Underneath she had a long-sleeved charcoal sweatshirt with pockets in the front and faded blue jeans with boot-cuts.
Turning around to face the table, she saw that Sue had placed the mug on the seat directly opposite to Sam, and he was still staring at her.
Sue patted the seat next to her, placing her between her and Paul, who grinned kind of wolfishly at her, and then he glanced to Sam and shook his head.
Approaching her seat, Paul pulled out the chair for her, still sitting down and she could have sworn that Sam growled at his friend, but no one seemed to notice, so she ignored it.
Taking a long sip from the hot tea, Sarah sighed when the warmth landed in her stomach and spread through her body. She had been colder than she had thought she was. Sue placed the platter with sandwiches in front of her and glared at the younger boys to wait before they ate it all. Guest first.
Taking a big sandwich with cheese, meat and lettuce, Sarah couldn't help it when she moaned softly at how good the sandwich was, she was really hungry.
Looking up, she saw how they stared at her, grinning at her.
"Sorry, I was hungrier than I thought." She looked to Sue.
"You have better manners than the boys anyway." She winked and got a few protests from Seth and Embry. "If you want more than that one, I suggest that you take another before the boys take it all."
Quickly, Sarah snatched another sandwich from the platter, placing it as close to her mug she could without it falling off the table. Jared nodded at her speed and took another sandwich too, followed by Seth and Paul. The platter was soon empty, everyone had gotten seconds, except Sam, he had not taken another sandwich at all; he had just sat there, staring at her all the time. It was a bit unnerving.
"So, Sue told us you want to write a book about our legends?" Paul asked grinning slightly and gave her a look that said, 'give us a really good answer, or we'll get rid of you'.
Sarah swallowed the piece of food she had been chewing on and nodded.
"Yeah, a children's book, part of a series of myths and legends. I have already published one on Greek myths and I am almost done with one about Chinese myths. It was my mother who suggested that I should ask your council if you would allow me to write down your legends. If not, I get a vacation for a few months before I have to return to my mortal life in New York." She sighed at this, not really wanting to return to the stress and the concrete forest of the city.
Sam felt his breath hitch when she told them she would return in a few months. That could not be an option, not now, not ever. All had changed when she had stepped through the door.
"If we gave you permission to write your book. How long would you stay then?" Sam made his voice sound a bit more reluctant than he actually was, making it sound like he wanted this to be over with tomorrow.
"Well… I would have to ask around about the stories, writing them down, start and maybe finish the pictures I would like to have in the book, and have your council approve the book before I send it to my publisher. So maybe four-six months, if not more. The Greek book took almost a year to complete, as I had to draw all the important Gods and they are many." She met his eyes, seeing again how he wouldn't stop staring at her.
"Draw?" Jared asked, pulling her attention from Sam.
"Yes, I do my illustrations myself." Rising from the table, she took the few steps to her bag on the floor, crouched by it and pulled out a smaller sketchpad. Giving it to him, he flipped it open and his eyebrows flew up at what he saw.
It was a landscape painting, or sketch, drawn in different shades of grey, showing a waterfall in some forest, which ended up in a stream. It seemed so lifelike, as if someone had taken a photo and just painted it.
"It's amazing." He passed the sketch to Sam, who actually took his eyes away from Sarah to look at the picture.
"It's beautiful." He said, looking up at her.
Sarah nodded in thanks, but the tone of his voice suggested that his words had a double meaning to them.
Sue had gotten hold of the pad and flipped it through.
"Do you do portraits also?"
"Sometimes, mostly when I know the person I'm doing a portrait of. Otherwise the session tends to be too tense, as I like to talk when I draw a person." She didn't like to do a picture of a person she didn't know; the portrait often became a lifeless piece without depth and soul.
"Do you do nude pictures too?" Embry asked, and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Embry!" Sam snapped his head towards the younger male.
"It's okay." Sarah said to Sam, and he calmed down just slightly. "We had to study both female and male anatomy in school; we drew mostly in charcoal when we studied that. So yes, I do nude pictures too. But you're too young, so I won't draw you."
Seth laughed at Embry's sullen look when Sarah said he was too young. If she only knew.
"Time to go and look at your new house then?" Sue rose and took away Sarah's mug and the empty platter.
"Yeah, that will be nice. Mom said that the area is wonderful to live in and she regretted that she wasn't able to come with me." She looked apologetically at Sue, who nodded.
"Maybe next time." She said and pulled on her jacket and handed Sarah hers. "Which one of you boys is volunteering to join us?"
"I'll go; I know the road there better." Sam rose from his seat, showing Sarah how tall he really was. He must be at least 6'4" and he was robustly built and at the same time he looked really limber and athletic. A real hunk, her sister would say.
"Great." Sarah gave him a small smile in thanks. She knew that he was against her being here; Sue had mentioned it over the phone a few weeks back. But as long as he was nice to her, she would give him the same courtesy.
He walked to the door, pulled on his jacket and picked up her bag before she got to it.
"I'll take it, you drive. You need to learn the road there." He opened the door for her and she stepped out.
The drive to her new house took fifteen minutes, though it would only take five minutes to walk through the forest to get back to Sue's house.
Sam was patient, guiding her safely through the bumpy road, giving her info on where the water would be when the snow melted more later on. He said he and the boys would try to fill in the road if the water took away too much of it.
Arriving at the cottage, Sarah smiled when she stopped on the small driveway in front of it. It was painted in a dark green color and a small balcony was on the right side, over viewing the deep forest and the smaller river that ran further down.
"It's beautiful." Sarah breathed as she turned off the engine and stepped out of the car. The two stories cottage was small, but looked sturdy and cozy. So much different from the large impersonal house she lived in on the other side of the country.
Sue came up to her, handing her a key with a keychain of green leather and a charm resembling a wolf, hanging from it.
"Go on in, we'll get your bags inside." She smiled and pushed Sarah in the direction of the house.
Smiling greatly, Sarah almost skipped to her new home, pushed in the key and opened the door. Coming into the small hall first, this then opened up into an open living room/kitchen area, with only a counter to separate the two. There was a blue three-seat sofa and a small table in the living room and also a small flat-screen TV and DVD-set. The kitchen had a small fridge/freezer combo, a table for four and a stove and sink. The best thing downstairs was the big open fireplace, wonderful to have on cold nights.
Seeing the stairs, she headed upstairs and came up into a smaller living room, with a green two-seat sofa, which had the balcony doors to the right and to the left, a bathroom with a simple shower and straight ahead, her new bedroom.
A bed big enough for two to rest comfortably greeted her. Sitting down on the edge, she sighed at its softness, thinking she would be resting very nicely here tonight. A large window showed her the harsh beauty of the forest, it would be wonderful to open the curtains and see the forest each morning.
"Miss Quinn?" The dark voice of Sam was heard, and she heard him coming up the stairs.
Stepping out from the bedroom, she saw him come up on the top step with two of her bags in each hand.
"Thank you, I could have gotten them myself." She saw him give her a small grin and he placed them on the floor next to the sofa.
"It's no problem. I need to show you how to open the balcony door, it gets stuck sometimes due to the weather." He pointed to the door and she stepped closer. He reached up over the door, plucking down a small silver key hanging on a nail just above the door.
"The trick is to pull the door towards you, while you turn the key." He inserted the key, pulling the handle as he turned it, opening the door in one swift movement. Closing and locking it, he handed her the key to try.
Taking it from him, she touched his hand, feeling incredible warmth coming from him. Glancing up, she saw another kind of warmth in his eyes. Taking the key, she turned to the door quickly, feeling trapped somehow.
Focusing on the task, she inserted the key, tried to pull the door towards her while turning, but the key wouldn't turn. Trying a second time, she failed again. She then felt more warmth through her jacket, coming from him. He had moved closer to her, standing behind her.
"Like this." He covered her hands with his, turning the key as he helped her pulled the door inwards and it opened with a soft click.
She felt his breath in her hair, she gasped softly, feeling her body respond to his closeness and warmth. Having not felt like this for soon a year, Sarah wanted to feel more. But she didn't want to appear as a wanton hussy, so she stepped away from him, closing the balcony door and tried to open it again. This time, she got it right.
"Thank you for showing me." She locked the door a last time and hung back the key to its place.
"No problem." His voice held a tinge of frustration and he looked tense.
Hearing Sue call from downstairs, Sarah stepped to the side and headed downstairs.
After having Sue showing her where everything was in the cupboards and so, Sam pointed out the small pathway outside that would take her through the forest and to Sue's house.
Then the two left Sarah alone to settle in and unpack.
Starting by putting away all her clothes in the closet upstairs, Sarah then unpacked her writing and art supplies, placing them in a cupboard that wasn't being used at the moment. After finishing, she took a warm shower, dressed in a tank-top and soft cut-off sweatpants; she then went downstairs and turned on the TV.
While the news-reporter told her about the awful things happening in the world, she made herself a few sandwiches with the food Sue had left for her, though she needed to go shopping tomorrow if she wanted to make a real dinner.
Making sure the doors and windows were locked, she put out all the lights downstairs and moved upstairs, brushing her teeth.
When she was about to pull the curtains closed in her bedroom, she heard a loud howling coming from outside, pretty close to her new home.
She would ask Sue about the wolf population tomorrow.
Authors note: So, what's the verdict? Do you wish to have a continuation on this?
Please do not leave a review that only says 'please continue, I loved this'. I would rather have a whole sentence, where you tell me if this is fic is worth continuing.
Also, if you do think this fanfic worth continuing, please give me your suggestions =)
Thank you.
