The Life We Live
Chapter 2
Pairing: Bella / Leah
Rating: T for Language and Content - Subject to Change
Sitting on my bed, alone, wasn't exactly fun, but I wanted to be alone. Seth and my mom were preparing for tonight's bonfire, but I needed time to myself, time that I hadn't really gotten. Life decided to really just shit all over me, all at once. In the span of a few months, so much messed up stuff has happened to me. It makes me question the universe somehow. Sam, my fiancee had left me, for my cousin no less. At the time, I was devastated. I couldn't understand why he would just end years of a relationship just like that for a girl he hardly knew, but he did.
I was bitter about it for weeks, I think that anyone would be. But then something even worse happened. I shifted. Some might think it sounds cool, but trust me it's more of a curse than a blessing. Sure I get to run around as this huge gray wolf, lighting fast. But the price of that power, it wasn't worth it. I lost my father because of it. Harry Clearwater, he was an old soul, gentle; he died way before his time. And I'm the cause of it. He died because I shifted in front of him, it wasn't fair. All the men in my life except Seth were gone, Sam and Dad both left me.
Also I learned that I was the first female shifter in the tribe's history. Obviously since this tribe has been run by old men for so long, they hold some pretty sexist views. I'm always looked down upon, both by the Elders and most of the Pack. Seth and Sam were really the only ones who gave me any semblance of respect. The rest of them, either were always trying to catch a glimpse when I shifted, which was fairly often or degrading me, saying that they were the superior gender and bullshit like that. I just learned to deal with it.
One thing though about shifting, since I was linked to the pack mind, I could no longer hold any anger at Sam and Emily. I understood what it was like for them now. I could feel the love that they shared, and as much as I was hurt, I couldn't be mad. I could only hope that one day I'd find my imprint and be able to be that happy.
But it seemed that life just didn't want me to be happy, so I sort of gave up that hope. I mean the desire will always be there, but for now I'm just going to live my life, as crappy as it is.
As I was thinking about this stuff, Seth knocked on my door, which was slightly ajar.
"You ready to go Leah? We need to be there soon." I sighed and nodded, telling him to give me a couple of minutes. This bonfire, I really didn't want to go, but I knew I had to. It was expected of me and if I skimped out I would just be proving everyone's thoughts about me. So I threw on a pair of black basketball shorts and a pair of gray Vans. I already had on a black sports bra, which is typically what I wore around the reservation. Whenever we shift, we lose all our clothes if we don't take them off, so I didn't really want to buy super expensive clothing just to tear it up because I got a little angry.
I headed down stairs and into the kitchen. My mom Sue handed me a bag. "Here Leah, take this and get going. I'll be there shortly, there's just a few things I need to finish up here, Seth will go with you." I looked over at my younger brother who was grinning at me. I smiled back. The rest of the pack might think I'm a bitch, but I have always had a soft spot for my little brother, now more than ever. He was the one of the few connections I had to back when my life seemed normal.
On our way over, I was caught up in thoughts again. I tend to do that a lot, I think a lot. Must drive the pack crazy when I'm shifted, but whatever. They act like shits to me, so why should I care? But back to my thoughts, I had heard that Jake was going to bringing Bella to bonfire, yet another reason why I don't want to go. I hate that girl, with a fiery passion. She's just so shallow and fake. For one she's a leech lover, with her boyfriend or whatever Edward Cullen, not to mention that whenever he does something stupid, she runs to Jake. She gives him hope, but at the end of the day always goes back to the Cullens. It sickens me, I mean is she so cruel that she won't just let him down easy? It's quite obvious that he has some serious feelings for her, and that they're all one sided.
I had no feelings for Jake at all, I even sort of disliked him but I he was a pack member and Bella was an outsider if you will. I felt more of an obligation to defend him because we were practically family. She should honestly just go back to her leeches and leave us on the reservation alone. She obviously has a crappy sense of self preservation if she hangs out with vampires. I don't give a crap that they claim to be good and they feed off of animals, they're still dangerous. They can slip up at any time, regardless if they mean to or not, and if they do, we'll be there.
As we arrived at the bonfire site, I could smell Bella's faint scent, strawberries I think? I don't know, I wouldn't say it was entirely unpleasant to smell, in fact she smelled quite nice, regardless of the faint smell of leech on her. I sighed to myself, it was going to be a long night. I had to hang out and mingle with pack members that hated me and listen to Jake fawn over Bella, knowing that at the end of the night she would run back to her leeches.
I handed my bag of stuff over to Jared, as did Seth. After he let go of the bags and Jared walked back over to Paul, I snuck up behind my brother and pounced on him. Considering we're both wolves, even though he's younger, he's still taller and more muscular than I am. But regardless of that fact we both went tumbling to the ground, laughing. Getting up off the ground, I reached a hand out to Seth to pull him up. That's when I turned my head and my eyes came in contact with Bella. I felt my center of gravity shift, like my world was now being tied down to this brown haired girl.
My inner wolf howled with approval, although I don't know why. She should be hating this. This was Bella the leech lover for God's sake and I just imprinted on her. I could see the curiosity in her stare, although there was someone else, very subtle. I couldn't place it, but I just pushed it out of my mind. I had some more serious problems here.
I'm sure my eyes were as wide as saucers at this point, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I whispered to myself, denial of what I had just done. This can't be happening to me, life just literally wants to shit all over me. I mean I wanted to find my imprint, but I find it in a girl I despise? Someone up there must really hate me or something. Maybe I offended someone in my previous life or something.
I ran off, in the neighboring forest. I just couldn't deal with it right now, I couldn't look her in the face. I can't have imprinted on Isabella Swan. I groaned in frustration as I stripped my clothes and shifted into my wolf form. I was a gorgeous wolf, I'd say that much. The yellow-orange eyes and unruly gray fur. I was smaller than the rest of the pack, but I was still easily the size of a medium sized horse. I was faster and more agile than the rest of the pack too, which was the only thing enabling me to keep up at this point, so I would take what I could get.
As I ran further into the forest, the more I thought about my situation. This imprinting business, I knew at the end of the day there was nothing I could do but hope that Bella didn't want me to be anything but possibly an acquaintance or friend. I mean, yeah imprints were typically romantic, but they didn't have to be; if all Bella wanted was a best friend or something I could deal with that. I just don't know how I'd be able to deal with knowing that she's a leech lover.
As I had stopped running and sat on the forest floor, whining, I pricked my ears up. I could hear another wolf approaching and quickly a large black wolf skidded over to where I was sitting, nearly flattening me. I glared at Sam and he just snorted. Through the mind link I could hear his voice.
"Leah, I know you imprinted on Bella." I hung my head in shame and whimpered. He bumped my head with his nose. "I'm not angry, in fact I think this is good for you. I know that when I left you for Emily, it hurt you. I hurt me to leave you, I never wanted to Leah. If I had a choice I would have denied the imprint to be with you, but we both know that isn't possible. You can't deny this." I whimpered again.
"But why her Sam? Why did it have to be her of all people?" I wasn't really concerned with the fact I had imprinted on a girl, that didn't bother me. What bothered me was that she ran with vampires.
"Look Leah, nature has a way of telling you what it thinks that you need, even if you don't know it yourself. Give her a chance Leah, she might just be what you're looking for." I rolled my eyes, I highly doubted that, but I knew Sam was right as much as I hated to admit it.
Suddenly a russet wolf joined us at our little sitting area, but he was angry, snarling at me, bearing his huge canines at me. I didn't exactly fear Jake, but I knew he could beat me in a fair fight. He was the beta of our pack, supposed to be the alpha, but he said he wasn't ready and let Sam retain the position until he was. I quickly moved closer to Sam, who was growling at Jake, threateningly.
"Get out of the way Sam, this is between Leah and I." Sam didn't back down.
"No, Jake. You don't want to do this. You know she has no control over her imprint. Beside last I checked, Bella wasn't yours. You really have no right to say who she can and cannot be with." Jake snarled.
"Bella is just confused. Those leeches are brainwashing her. She is meant for me. I've always been there for her, picking her up when she's falling down. She doesn't know what she wants and when she figures it out, she'll come crawling back to me. She'll recognize me for the man I am. She'll respect and bow down to me, like everyone should." I couldn't really believe what I was hearing. I mean I knew Jake had some deep seated feelings for Bella, but I didn't know they were that crazy. I take back my previous defense of him, he's a nut.
"I heard that Leah, you think I'm crazy? You know I could easily take my rightful position as Alpha right now and make you submit to me. Then you'll both be mine, as it should be. I actually think I rather like the sound of that. So step aside Sam if you know what's good for you." Sam refused and stood up, facing Jake.
"Jacob, you are way out of line. The Alpha position may be your birthright, but you have no rights to take it because of revenge and jealousy. You will back down Jake." I shuddered. Sam rarely used the Alpha tone with us, but when he did, it was always with good reason. But Jake just stood there and laughed.
"You think that you can control me Sam? I could destroy you right now." I snorted. Jake was hardly experienced with fighting. especially in wolf form. Sam on the other hand had shifted first out of all of us and he had the most experience. "It's only out of respect for our previous history that I'm giving you a choice. Now step aside, or I will force you to." Sam still refused, raising his hackles, growling at Jake.
Jake snarled as he crouched ready to pounce. As his feet left the ground, I closed my eyes, I didn't want to see this. As much as I'm disliking Jake right now, he had a point. He could technically take the Alpha position away from Sam and easily become more powerful. But the impact between the two boys never came. Instead Jake yelped, as I heard a crashing and splintering. My eyes shot open and in the direction of the sound.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. A large black wolf with piercing yellow eyes had smashed Jake into a tree, splitting it in half, holding on to Jake's throat. But it obviously wasn't a wolf like us. This wolf was standing on two legs, its form standing at least a head or two taller than I was, about the same height as Sam. A black, bushy tail was whipping about angrily as the wolf snarled at Jake.
"What the hell, get off of you me psychotic animal. Don't make me hurt you." The wolf snorted and tightened its grip on Jake. Sam and I were too absorbed in looking at this new wolf to do anything about it. Although I did vaguely wonder how this wolf could understand what we were saying in the mind link. That was a little worrisome, if something could break into our mind connection.
The wolf growled. "If you know what's good for you pup, you'll run far away from here and stop bothering these shifters." Jake's eyes narrowed.
"You have no right to get involved in this you freak. This is reservation business, you're an outsider and a weirdo. I could easily call the pack here to finish you off. I bet a couple of our members would enjoy ripping you to shreds." Again the wolf snorted.
"As if you puppies would stand a chance against me. I could decimate your entire pack if I wanted to. Now you will listen to me Jacob Black. I'm being extremely lenient with you right now, leave this place and never let me catch you here again, or next time I won't be so nice." The wolf released Jake, who fell the the ground, battered, flecks of blood splattered on his fur. He gave me a look of loathing.
"This isn't over Leah. Bella will be mine, you'll both submit to me in time. I will return and take what is rightfully mine." The wolf snarled again and kicked him in the side.
"I told you, get out of here and don't return." Jake ran off, with a slight limp. Sam and I both watched him go, not really believing what we had just witnessed. Both of us were just dumbstruck. Who was this wolf? As I turned to question it, it was gone. The strange wolf had disappeared, like it had never been there. Sam and I tried to find the scent, but there was nothing. Nothing to trace and follow. We both sighed in frustration.
After what just happened, I didn't know how to feel. Obviously I still had a problem with Bella, but this. This was a new threat, we didn't know just how dangerous this new wolf was. It had kicked the stuffing out of Jake, no doubt it could do so to the others. Did the safety of the pack come first? Or did my Bella problem take precedence? I would soon find out.
A/N: Okay, well second chapter done. I've actually had this written for like a week, but I want to space my updates apart so I don't just upload everything I write at once, and then fail to come up with chapters. I think this a little more consistent than how I formatted it in the original. I'm trying to keep Jacob in sync with how I envision him to be in this story. Oh and just a warning if you hadn't figured it out, Jacob is the main antagonist, so Jacob lovers might not like this story. Also the Cullens will have a part in the story, but not really at the forefront.
I also changed Leah's appearance in movies to better suit what I envisioned her to look like when I read the book before the movies were released. I know that Seth is actually shorter than Leah, but oh well. She still stands 5'10" although she didn't cut her hair off. Her wolf form is still pretty much the same though.
Anyways, I hope you'd be able to figure out who the wolf was who stopped that fight. If you don't, I retain the right to call you oblivious. Anyways, Sam and Leah have no idea who this wolf is, they don't even know the gender. So Bella is essentially a wild card to them. They've obviously never seen anything like her.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed.
A Charmed Vampire
