Chapter 3:

Life isn't perfect, especially if you're me


Jacob's point of view:

Did she phase back? Do you think that's why she faded from our thoughts? Seth asked optimistically. He didn't want to believe that anything bad had happened to his sister. Even though two seconds ago we could all feel the agonizing pain she was in.

Sam, I don't think we're going to make it in time, Embry whimpered.

Shut up, dude. You're talking about my sister, Seth snarled.

I know. That's what I'm worried about. Embry picked up his pace.

It's not very often that she shares her pain. Quil understood where Embry was coming from. I could see in Quil's mind that he was actually concerned about Leah, which was a big deal for Quil. They didn't really get along. But right now he was freaking out about her being hurt. Just like the rest of us.

Truthfully, Quil was right to be concerned. We could all tell how much she was hurting from the fifteen seconds she had managed to stay a wolf. Leah was normally very good at hiding her pain, so the fact that she was choking back tears was very alarming. We hadn't gotten much to go on from Leah's mind. All we knew is that a vampire attacked her and planned on coming after the rest of us. We didn't know the extent of her injuries because she hadn't been conscious long enough for us to gauge how badly she was hurt. So we were just going on by how much pain she was feeling. And it was a lot.

She's got to be okay, Seth murmured to himself.

Seth was a good kid. He was the only one in the pack who understood my friendship with the vampires. He even came along with me when I went to visit Bella and her family…which could be annoying sometimes. He was like some happy little Lab puppy that followed his master around all day with a chew toy in his mouth, "Play with me, play with me!"

Still, it was nice to have that goofy Lab puppy on my side. Sam wasn't happy that we were friends with the Cullens. He still wanted to destroy Renesmee, Bella's daughter. There was a time when I would have agreed with his reasons, but I made a promise to Bella that I would always love her and keep her safe. And I intended to keep that promise....because I was a fucking idiot.

When I found out that she was pregnant and that the baby was killing her I thought things through. I decided that Bella's happiness was the most important thing to me. I knew it made me a complete and utter pussy, but it's not like I could get near her to rip the kid out of her. She'd hired Rosalie, the dumb blonde, to be her own personal bodyguard. So Edward and I had banded together…as much as that made me want to vomit…to make sure that Bella made it through the pregnancy.

After the baby had been born Edward was able to change Bella in order to save her life. I figured I had already stuck with her through this much, I might as well still be there for her after her heart stopped beating.

When Bella woke up and saw that I was still around she'd about crapped her sparkly vampire pants. She couldn't believe that I still wanted to be her friend. But I knew that we weren't out of the woods yet. Sam had been on my case about spending so much time with the vampires and refusing to phase and be his little lapdog. I knew he was going to freak when he found out what I had really been up to.

After Leah had finished throwing her little fit, I managed to get Sam to come back to the Cullen's place with me. He, Edward, and I had sat down like grown ups and discussed all of our concerns and redefined the treaty. It was weird being so mature. Of course, there was the one moment at the meeting that Sam pissed me off, so I'd stuck my tongue out at him and called him a butthead. Suppressing the ten-year-old boy with-in was hard.

In the end, Sam decided that Renesmee was not a threat so he and Edward agreed that the pack would honor the treaty…for now. It was the perfect ending that Bella wanted. And I wasn't going to deny her happiness. Even though Edward pissed me off to no end I knew he loved Bella. And Bella loved him. That was enough for me. Kind of.

A scream interrupted my thoughts. Leah sounded like she was being tortured. For a minute no one in the pack knew what to say. We weren't used to hearing Leah crying. She usually just said "fuck" a lot. Out of all of the swear words in the book, "fuck" and "shit" were her favorites.

I felt Sam's panic. Jacob, how close are you?

About to the beach.

We were all running as fast as we could. Leah had chosen a hell of a hiding spot. I don't think any of the pack patrolled around here. I had to hand it to her...she was crafty. But that didn't make me any less infuriated with her. She'd thrown a completely unacceptable temper tantrum and had refused to speak to anyone in the pack for three days. I huffed angrily. She could be so damn stubborn. Maybe she wouldn't get into these situations if she actually listened to others once in a while.

Wait for me to get there before doing anything too rash.

Worried about my temper, Sam? I laughed caustically.

Just listen to me, Sam ordered.

Yes, your majesty. I paused at the trees near the beach. I could smell Leah and the vampire but I still wasn't close enough to see them yet.

I'm still concerned that she faded from our thoughts. Why did she scream like that, Sam? Seth whimpered.

I don't know. He wasn't far behind me. Sam stuck his nose in the air. He smelled the bloodsucker, too. How had this leech managed to get through security? Either Paul and Jared were falling down on their jobs or they were just getting lazy in their runs.

I took a few steps towards the empty beach. I could still smell the vampire lurking around. I looked closer and I saw him dragging Leah into the cover of the trees across from where I was standing. It's like he was some pre-historic cave-man dragging his kill home to show his little cave-woman, "Err, this make up for Kronk having small penis?"

I let out a low growl when the vampire leaned over the unconscious Leah. He brushed her hair away and smelled her neck. I was surprised he wasn't cringing away considering that vampires apparently weren't attracted to us as food because we had dog blood in us.

Maybe he's Vietnamese. Dogs are a delicacy in Vietnam. Paul always had some smart-ass remark.

If he bites her I will rip him a new shithole. I could feel Seth's anger. It was very rare for him to lose his temper.

I leaned in closer and watched as the vampire played with Leah's hair and laughed maliciously. The rage was boiling in my body. I took a step forward.

Wait for me and we'll take him on together. I'm almost there. Sam assured me. And I could see through his eyes that he was telling the truth, but I had had enough of watching this freak-show mess with her.

Get the hell away from her. I lunged forward, alerting the vampire to my presence. He darted into the woods.

Damn it! Sam yelled. He was pissed that the vampire was getting away. I told you not to act… He was just seconds away now.

Fine, would you have liked me to let him chomp on Seth's sister's neck? I snapped at Sam. He thought he knew everything and that really irritated me.

Thank you for ignoring Sam, Jacob, Seth said. How's my sister?

I looked at Leah. She was covered in bruises and had several broken bones. She had cuts and scratches all over her arms and legs. I saw fresh blood trailing down her shirt and saw that she had some kind of puncture wound in her shoulder. God, she looked like shit. Basically, it looked like she had jumped out of an airplane without a parachute, landed on the freeway, had been run over by a couple of eighteen-wheelers, and then thrown into the hot baking sun.

He repeated his question,

Is my sister okay?

I'm trying to find that out, I frowned. Leah? I nudged her with my nose. Her skin felt incredibly hot. Hotter than it was supposed to be. Something wasn't right. I phased back and put on a pair of sweatpants. Sam was right behind me.

"How far away were Seth and Quil?" I questioned.

"Quil is still with Brady and Collin. He's helping Jared train them. I let them know to be on the look out for the vampire. Jared and Paul will handle the runaway leech...since someone in this pack doesn't know how to follow orders..." He glared at me. So he was blaming me for the vampire getting away. Just like the asshole.

"If I had waited any longer Leah would have been vampire chow..."

"I was almost here, Jacob!" he snarled. He crouched down to look at Leah's wounds.

"Whatever. Where's Embry?" I asked.

"He and Seth are on their way here." Sam leaned down to Leah's face.

If she woke up and saw her ex staring at her in the face she was liable to punch him. If I liked Sam I would have warned him by letting him know that Leah didn't like surprises. Good thing I didn't like him. She was going to be pissed if she woke up with Sam Uley in her lap. She might punch him in the testicles. That was going to be entertaining to see.

"She looks pretty beaten up." I observed her wounds. There was something off about her scent. "She doesn't smell right, Sam." I could feel heat radiating from her body. I felt her forehead and jerked my hand back in shock. Nothing ever felt hot to me. But Leah was on fire. "She's burning up."

"Leah?" Sam placed his hand on Leah's cheek. "Lee-lee?" He shook his head in confusion. Her injuries looked really severe. But since she was still breathing her wounds should be healing themselves. But they weren't. Sam ran his hand over one of her cuts. "Why isn't she healing?" He bit his bottom lip.

"Crap. We've got a bigger problem." I noticed that the vampire hadn't taken off like we'd thought. I guess Leah had been bait. I bet he was planning his next move and plotting to kill us...just like she'd warned us.

Sam snapped up when he saw the vampire lurking in the trees. I don't know why he was still hanging around here. He knew we were going to kill him. What a retarded vampire. I heard Sam growl. It was really menacing. I wasn't used to Sam losing his temper. But I guess if anything was going to set him off, it would be seeing what this leech did to Leah.

Sam started to shake. He looked at Leah.

"Jacob, get her out of here." He ran towards the woods. Wow, Sam was fucking pissed. "Take her to Jared's place." His house was right down the road. I found it ironic that Leah was staying out here right under Jared's nose this entire time.

Of course, Jared could barely see past his own nose anymore. Ever since he and Kim moved in together they'd been acting like an old married couple. It was really creepy. They finished each other's sentences and everything. They thought it was cute. But it was really pathetic. The guys who had imprinted were hypnotized morons. I got tired of constantly seeing their freaking "shining stars" painted in their thoughts all the time.

Maybe I was just bitter because I didn't have anyone. Without Bella in the picture now, I was certain I was going to end up miserable and alone. Wait a minute. Epiphany! That's why Leah was so hateful all the time. Sam was her Bella. And when he disappeared she saw her future vanish as well. I could have smacked myself. Duh, Jacob.

"You do realize that Jared's not home?" I questioned as Sam bolted away from us. Of course he wasn't home. We had just left his thoughts two seconds ago.

"Jacob, go!" he ordered.

"Yeah, but what about…" He didn't even let me finish my statement as he phased and head-butted the leech head on. I rolled my eyes as I watched them roll into the woods. "Fine. You want to fight him alone, be my guest," I mumbled. I was a little disappointed that my orders weren't "help me kick this dickhead's ass." I was really in the mood to fight, not babysit injured dogs.

I immediately felt bad for resenting to have to take care of Leah. All I had to do was think about Seth and how much he loved his sister and that was enough incentive for me to want to give her the best care possible. Besides, Leah deserved someone to give a crap about her.

I picked her up and started to jog. It didn't take me long to get to Jared's place. As I suspected, no one was home. We knew Jared was out running. And Kim was visiting her cousin for the weekend. I found the spare key hidden under the mat and rolled my eyes.

"Rookie mistake, Jared." He really should invest in a fake rock or plastic dog poop to better hide his spare key. "How about you just leave a giant sign on your front door with an arrow pointing down 'Key to house is here. And a big wad of cash is in the safe in the bedroom?'" I muttered sarcastically.

Once I got Leah inside I laid her down on the couch. I looked around the living room. There were pictures of Jared and Kim all over the place. It was kind of sickening. He drooled all over her like some love-sick puppy. I kind of agreed with Leah about the whole "imprinting" thing. It was really stupid. I remember how Leah had described how she felt about it after finding out that Paul had imprinted on my sister. I clutched my fist tightly. That still pissed me off. Paul and my sister. It's too bad my dad hadn't chased him off with a shotgun. I started bitching to Leah about how much I hated imprinting. I figured she'd see it my way. She did.

"It's stupid," she agreed. "If you think about it it's kind of a punishment."

"How so?"

"I'd like to sign up to give my free-will away and become a love-slut-slave for all eternity," she said mockingly. She rolled her eyes and laughed. "I can just see Paul holding Rachel's purse in the women's shoe department while she's trying on 800 different pairs of shoes…that she will use his money to buy." She then pranced around the living room doing her best impression of Paul trying to navigate his way through shopping with Rachel.

I chuckled at that memory. Leah could be pretty funny when she wasn't busy being a bitch. But I'd always known that her tough outer shell was just her way of protecting herself. She'd been hurt a lot in her life. And because of that she pushed everyone away. I could relate. I'd taken off after Bella chose Edward last year. The rest of the pack kept trying to bullshit me, telling me that they knew how I felt. In truth, Leah is the only one who knew what I was going through. She'd been through it with Sam. She used her anger to channel her pain and because of that she was able to listen to Sam on a daily basis and suck it up. Her strength really was nothing short of amazing.

Last year when I took off after I found out about Bella and Edward's wedding the entire pack kept begging me to come back. I ignored them as I ran to Canada. I ran from my problems...just like any other chicken-shit would. The further I ran, the more the pack begged me to come back. But not Leah. She was the only one who didn't try to guilt me into coming home. At first I thought it was just because she didn't like me.

But one day when it was just me and her running as wolves I had an interesting conversation with her.

Are you enjoying the moose and legal hash up north?

I had been ignoring everyone in the pack, but for some reason I felt compelled to answer her.

They both taste funny, I'd quipped.

Ah ha, so you aren't deaf. The pack was starting to think you couldn't hear them anymore.

There was a pause.

So, why are you the only one running? I'd asked.

Because I want to be, she said. Running helps me work out my issues.

You must run a lot, because you have a lot of issues.

Look who's talking.

Touche. It was nice that Leah wasn't pressuring me to come back. Of course, she was probably glad to be rid of me. We fought all of the time. She heard my thoughts.

We fight because we're the same, Jacob, she'd sighed. I get why you ran off. It's easier than dealing with the pain. So just work through whatever issues you've got going on and if you decide to come back, great. She stated it in such a way that didn't make me feel pressured.

And if I don't? I had questioned.

Then I'll just have to find some way to torture you from afar. She paused to think. Maybe I'll run away, too. We can be like Bonnie and Clyde.

You want to commit armed robbery?

Maybe. I have some anger issues I need to work through, she admitted.

You don't say? I gasped sarcastically.

We quipped back and forth for a good ten minutes before it grew silent again. I felt compelled to thank her for not ragging the hell out of me like everyone else.

Hey, thanks for understanding.

Us screwed up folks have to stick together. Leah laughed softly.

Why aren't you begging me to come back like everyone else? My curiosity got the better of me.

Because you aren't ready to come back. And it's selfish to ask you to do something that you don't want to do, she answered honestly. Besides, Sam is uncomfortable and that makes me happy.

I laughed. Glad I could make your situation a little easier.

Just come back when you're ready, Jake.

I got the distinct feeling that day that Leah cared about me more than she was letting on.

I heard her groan. When I looked at her, I saw that her eyes were half open. She was glancing around the room.

"Jacob?" Her words were muffled.

"Hey, you aren't dead." I smiled.

"Ow. Jesus." She winced. "It burns." She inhaled sharply and let out a cry. I cringed when I heard her cry. Leah never cried. Usually when she was in pain she cussed like hell. So she must be beyond pain. I saw her shaking from her anguish. She tensed up as she let out a howl. "Make…it…stop," she panted.

I swallowed a knot in my throat and my heart fluttered. This was worse than Sam and I thought. "Lee…what is it? What's wrong?" What a stupid question. Every freaking bone in her body was broken and she had a giant hole in her shoulder. Of course she was in pain. But I still couldn't understand why she wasn't healing.

"Jake, I can't breathe." She gasped as she grabbed my hand tightly. I wiped some sweat from her forehead, but she just kept perspiring. At this rate she was going to die of dehydration.

"Slow, easy breaths, Leah."

She inhaled sharply again. "Tell my mom and Seth that I love them." Her breathing became labored again so I was having a hard time understanding her. I think she muttered something about kicking Sam in the balls. But after that the only words I could make out were, "It. Fucking. Hurts."

Her shoulders tensed and she arched her back. I had never seen her in such agony. The sweat was pouring out of her now. I concentrated on her heart rate. It was way too fast. I could hear it thudding heavily as her breathing increased.

Her eyes were fixed on the ceiling as she started to thrash about like she was having a seizure. I grabbed her wrists to try and hold her down to keep her steady. I grimaced when I felt her broken fingers grinding together.

As I felt her wrists tense up underneath my hands I suddenly had an odd flashback. The memory popped into my head for no reason. It was the first time I'd noticed a scar on Bella's arm. When I had asked her about it, at first she'd shied away, but eventually she admitted that she was bitten by a vampire. I remember cringing when she'd explained to me that Edward had saved her by sucking the venom out of her body. Bella told me how much the venom hurt and how her body had thrashed around from the pain.

Then it hit me. My brain was trying to tell me something. I suddenly realized that Leah's excruciating pain had nothing to do with the fact that the vampire had beaten the crap out of her. Something worse had happened. She wasn't healing for a reason.

I let go of her wrists as I started scanning her body for bites. I ran my hands down her neck, shoulders, and arms. I think I felt a broken bone in her arm. I touched it delicately and she groaned uncomfortably.

"Sorry, Leah," I said softly as I continued to search her body. I knew the bite as soon as my hands ran across the cool portion of her ankle. I wanted to kick myself for not thinking of it sooner. Of course we wouldn't have seen it since it was covered by her pants, but Sam and I knew something was off when we first found her. I was furious. That son of a bitch bit her.

I felt panic building in my throat. Vampire venom was toxic to werewolves. I was watching Leah die.

I listened as her pulse continued to increase. In the quiet room all I could hear was Leah's heart.

Her eyes fluttered shut as she let out another pained gasp. Then...the room was completely silent.