I don't own Twilight.
Jakob POV
I am a proud man, descended from a long legacy of shape shifters. I am a direct ancestor of Taha Aki, the original spirit warrior. I did not ask for this to fall on my shoulders. My father, much braver and infinitely stronger than I could dare hope to be, never had this kind of pressure placed on him, though he wished for it his entire life. But it fell to me. I never tried to shirk from my responsibility. My destiny was to lead the men of my tribe, to keep them safe and protected. My duty was to keep the valley free from the plagues that threatened them. I understood this was something I was born into for my people, but it did nothing to lessen my horror at leaving the rest of the earth unprotected from the taint of the undead. When I thought of Alice and her family, I was filled with hope. They helped me to realize that their very nature could be changed for the better, and I wanted all my people to understand that. The Cullens were not our enemies.
Our enemy waited on top of the mountain.
I walked into the council room intending on telling them all what I knew. The Cullens would be our friends, as they were the friends of other wolf packs around the world. They could be the thing that would give us advantage over the true threats, something we'd never had before.
In ages gone by, my people only had to look out for themselves. The world was an enormous place, and the kin of our family had only to keep predators from this valley. That kind of narrow sightedness was acceptable in days gone by, but I could not afford it now. If there was any way to come out of the impending battle, we would have to skew our view of the outside world. We would have to come out of our sheltered village lives and look at the picture as a whole.
Alone, even with a pack of our size, we would not be able to do anything more than keep the foulness from tainting our lands, just as we had done for thousands of years. But, if we could infuse our might with the power of others, we stood the chance to finish this once and for all. If we banded with those who shared the common interest in eradicating the world of poison like the Tepes brothers, then it could finally end.
Twenty men stood before me, eyeing me warily. Some wore their distaste outright, but others hid it behind their steely glares. In this form, I couldn't tell what thoughts flickered through the minds of my brothers, but I could plainly see that most of them had made up their minds already. My hope wavered a bit, but I clung tightly. There had to be a chance to make them see. If I couldn't, we would be no better than the men on that mountain. We would not be the cause of the death, but we would stand aside and watch it tear apart other villages, other families. It did not make it better to do nothing as the rest of the world suffered for our bigotry. I had to make them see before it was too late.
Quil Aterra stood from his spot at the center of the room. His ancient body moved shakily, unsteady from so many years of work and toil. His white hair was long and thin, but his sharp eyes were that of a warrior. I respected the man like a father. I held his opinions in the utmost esteem, so as much as I wanted to speak, to tell each man present that our duties had shifted, I waited for him to speak first.
His voice was rough and grainy. Never a werewolf himself, he still had the gene present in him, and it sparked inside him as he stood before me.
"Jakob Black, you stand accused of breaking tribal law. What say you against these charges?"
"I'm on trial?" I asked, showing more of my shock than I would have liked.
"No, son," Old Quil answered, voice softening a bit.
"You should be."
My eyes fell on Paul who looked smug from his position next to Sam. This explained much more. Paul, the pack's loose cannon, had turned me in. I knew he harbored a bit of ill feelings toward me, but I had never expected this kind of betrayal from one of my own. I glared at him.
"We would only like an explanation for what you have done," Quil was going on, unaware of the animosity building between my brothers.
I turned back to the Elders, my father among them. I tried not to notice the cool way he was watching me and spoke directly to Quil when I spoke again.
"I have broken no laws."
"So you will deny in front of God and family that you brought a leech into this village?" Paul shot angrily. "You deny sharing our secrets with their coven?"
I didn't bother to look at him when I answered. I would explain nothing to Paul, except why I was going to kick his ass, but this was for the Elders. This was for my father.
"No, I do not deny those things," I admitted.
It was my father's voice that spoke next. He didn't even rise from his seat.
"Then, how can you claim innocence?" His voice was like ice, spearing into me. He didn't bother to hide the failure from his face.
"Am I on trial?" I asked again because it was becoming more evident that they were out to flay me.
"Not yet," Paul mumbled.
I turned my eyes back to him, the threat resting plainly on my face.
"Paul, please," old Quil chided softly, then he spoke to me, drawing my eyes away from the betrayer. "No, Jakob, but you must realize the position you have put on this community. You have brought in the very thing we have tried to protect ourselves for generations. It goes against our very nature, let alone the tribal sanctions. Why would you do this?"
"She isn't dangerous," I pleaded for them to understand. It was something so obvious to me. Why didn't they see?
Ever the hothead, Paul's voice was the first to react. "Not dangerous!" He shouted, the yell bounding off the walls of the small room. "She's a fucking leech and you see no danger?"
Paul turned to look at the others. "Do you see what we have leading us? A leech-lover! How could we have expected differently? He shares more than heritage with his grandfather."
Everyone erupted into a low murmur, as shocked as I was over Paul's brazen accusation. But my surprise faded quickly, taken over by anger. A deep growl sounded from my chest. I knew it wasn't the time, so I balled my fists at my sides, letting my nails dig into my palms, so I wouldn't be tempted to phase in the middle of them.
It was my father who finally spoke again. "You must admit the similarities are apparent," he said. He may just have well punched me in the face.
"Similar how?" I shot back at him. This was his legacy he was talking about too. It was not just mine. As my father, he had passed the traitorous name to me. "Alice is nothing like the monsters of the castle, and I am nothing like Ephraim."
"Look how he calls her name as if she was a friend!" Paul was quick to point out. What the hell was his fucking problem? I was beginning to think that a mere ass whooping wouldn't be nearly enough for him. "You would choose a bloodsucking fiend over your own people. How can we follow a leader that is more interested in a cute piece of ass than the welfare of his tribe?"
"I'm fucking married, Paul." I lost it at that point. How dare he even insinuate something like that? With restraint I hadn't even been aware I was capable, I turned back to the center of the room, avoiding the eyes of my father, and looked back at Quil.
"These are a different breed," I told him, pushing my voice low, desperately trying to hang onto my anger before it ripped out in werewolf form. "They are not like anything this tribe has encountered before."
I turned left to find Embry standing near the far wall. He was nervously bouncing from foot to foot, trying to remain out of the entire thing, but I needed his voice now.
"Tell them, Embry," I said. "You've been there for the meetings. Tell them about the Cullens." Help me make them see, I added silently.
Embry looked from me, to the elders and lastly to Paul. He cleared his throat as a blush of embarrassment rose from the collar of his shirt. He didn't want to be involved, but it was too late for that. I needed my pack behind me, and if I couldn't get them all, then I'd take what I could.
"They do have an unnatural eye color," he admitted somewhat hesitantly.
"Because they do not feed from humans," I elaborated.
"And the blonde was very smart," Embry went on, but this time Paul interrupted.
"All vampires are intellectual. They spend their whole existences retaining knowledge. That proves nothing."
"Carlisle uses his intelligence to gain knowledge," I conceded. "But he doesn't use it for anything other than to satisfy his own curiosity. They are not like others of their kind. They truly strive to be more than what they are. We have nothing to fear from them. They have as much at stake here as we do."
"He's crazy!" Paul shouted. "We live in the shadow of the monsters. We have spent entire lifetimes, lost complete packs of warriors to those bloodsuckers, and you defend one now.
"They are the monsters," he emphasized each word with a fist pounding into the palm of his other hand. He began walking to the center of the room.
"Ephraim chose to turn his back on his own people rather than fight," Paul went on, hate dripping from his voice like venom. "He chose to bow before Tepes, and let them destroy the village." He kept walking forward, black eyes trained on mine and gleaming with self-imposed importance.
"Now, Jakob Black," he said when his face was inches from mine. A smile settled over it. "We watch you do the same."
I might have been most in control of myself as compared with my brethren, but it didn't matter. Instinct took over, and while I stayed in human form, my fist pulled back and slammed into Paul's nose, connecting with a satisfying crack.
Paul bent low, hands holding his face, but it didn't stop the crimson blood from spilling through his fingers and down his arms. It felt good, but it wasn't the time to smile. My pack brothers were on the balls of their feet, fighting with themselves to intervene. The Elders, my father included, all stood with the same look of shock duplicated on each of their tired and weathered faces.
"Fuck you," Paul whimpered from behind his hands. To my satisfaction, he sounded like he had one nasty head cold, or one very impaired nose. "May you rot in hell alongside Ephraim for eternity. I will never bow before a traitor." He turned and walked from the room, leaving a deafening silence in his wake.
But I was the Alpha. I was the chief. I wasn't about to let them tell me I was wrong, when I understood how right I was.
"I will never turn away from my people," I told them, my voice taking on the tone of Alpha effortlessly. "The Cullens are our allies, and will remain so until this has been settled once and for all. We don't stand a chance going into this alone."
"You sound like you expect a battle," my father scoffed.
I drew myself up to my full height, narrowing my eyes at him. "Oh, I do expect a battle," I told him. "I won't pretend that I can save everyone, but with the help of the Cullens, I can make sure that the name Tepes will be forgotten for good. I will put an end to the madness once and for all, so no one will have to fear the name again.
"That is my duty."
I turned and walked out the door without looking back. The silence followed, erupting as soon as the door latched behind me. But I didn't care. I was already sprinting for home.
I was calling to Leah as I pushed open the door. She appeared in the hallway, a look of surprise crossing her face.
"Jake, what's wrong?" she asked as I hurried to her. My hands found her waist, fitting perfectly against her soft curves.
I sighed. "I think we're going to have to head out of town for a few days."
Leah's face didn't register any emotion as she said, "They brought up Ephraim, didn't they?"
I nodded. Yes, they had brought up that traitor I was descended from. Yes, they had accused me of being just like him. Yes, I felt betrayed, mostly by my own father. And yes to a million other questions that she wanted answered with her single remark. I didn't have the heart to endure any more. I'd gone through almost my whole life blocking my ancestry, and it did no one good to think about it now.
"I think we'll need to head into the forest until this sparks." I paused and looked over my wife's shoulder and at the anxious vampire in my backroom. It was too ironic the way my life had flipped. This was seriously not the direction I saw myself taking.
But I had to deal as I was dealt. And believe me when I say it's coming like a freight train.
I could tell little Alice agreed with that sentiment, but looked otherwise lost. She seemed even more childlike than I'd ever seen her, despite the terrified condition she had been in while still with the Cullens. Now, she was much more distraught. It reaffirmed the idea that I was doing the right thing. I would not regret it.
Leah had shot a glance at Alice as well. Her eyes had softened, if somewhat slightly. It seemed they'd had their own moments while I was at the council. At least Leah didn't look ready to rip her throat out. Not only too messy for inside the house, it wouldn't have looked well on my part having just defended the vampire, only to had my wife kill her in my stead. Luckily, my wife, though being hard headed and stubborn, listened when it came to reason, and had listened long enough to take a different standpoint about this certain spikey haired girl. In a perfect world, I would allow each of my brothers to see this girl for who she was, not what. But this was far from a perfect place, and the timing was horrible.
I suspected Paul would be back in the council hall, demanding the tribe take action against me. I wondered who would follow me. I could feel the split forming already. It was suddenly so thick I could feel it. Would any of my brothers follow their true alpha?
Even if all this would prove for nothing, there was no time to think of the ramifications set in motion. I wondered how I could even know the rift was about to form. Each little connection of my bands linking to my brothers was weakened. Some had snapped already, but not all. But eve those remained stretched to the limit of their connection and until we were all in wolf form, I didn't know who would follow.
I looked at my wife again with the weariness I felt. "We knew this might be a possible outcome," I reminded her of a conversation that seemed like a million years ago. When we'd thought of it, we'd just been speaking hypothetically. We never thought it could go this far.
Leah was my mate, behind me no matter what. She already spun past me to gather a few things for our escape, and I stepped into the room, ignoring the sweet sting of Alice's scent that assaulted my nostrils as I inhaled.
"What happened?" she asked, eyes wide and fearful. After what happened with my pack earlier, she had right to be afraid.
"The council doesn't matter to you," I tried to soothe. "What matters is finding out what happened to Carlisle and Edward and getting you somewhere safe."
"There isn't anywhere safe!" she cried out, jumping quickly to her feet. "Don't you see? He can find us anywhere!"
Alice seemed borderline hysterical. I put my hands on her thin shoulders. "Do you see something?" I asked, looking into her wild, golden eyes. I forced her to look back.
"I can't see, I just know." She mumbled, then repeated it, as if cementing it to her mind. "I can't see, I just know."
Then, she shook her head. "I need to use your phone."
She didn't get a response from whomever it was she was trying to reach, but there was no more time to waste. I could feel the split coming, and knew we had to get out of the village. I hoped this was temporary, but Paul's maddened state had fueled the others' insecurities. That kind of ingrained fervor could easily become mob mentality. I wouldn't let Leah get caught up in that.
Together, the three of us sprinted from our back door. We ducked into the thick forests, running agilely through the copse of trees. When we were several hundred meters from the village, Leah and I paused to phase. Alice averted her eyes considerably, and we were off again. The vampire had no trouble keeping pace with us in wolf form, so we made haste, twisting a trail up the mountainside, while steering clear of the prominent tree line. We were ducking and dodging more than tree limbs and hanging vines. I looked up to the noticeably lighter shade of trees to the left of where we ran. The castle loomed in the far distance. I couldn't risk them seeing us either.
We had to lay low for awhile. That's all. Then, the battle of the century would rage through these valleys and everything would change. I knew Alice was right. We either battle until their side falls for good, or the rest of the world reaps the terror of our loss. But I suddenly had purpose to myself. I would be the one to make sure it never happened anywhere else. I could make sure the monster at the top of this hill would die.
My trio ran to the west with intent. There was an old cabin there, and we could stay safe. My brothers could easily track us, but they'd be busier dealing with their sudden self imposed separation. They'd be sensing it for themselves at any moment. I wondered if they'd even realize it at first.
On the other hand, I was ecstatic. For the first time since my change, I could appreciate the silence of my mind. Leah's safe thoughts comforted as she reassured me of her love and accepted my views. Everything else was mine alone.
I was doing the right thing.
