Hi everybody, if there even is anybody reading this story! I was so excited to write this part, because it's Quil (: and it's really fun to write in his perspective. A little warning to everyone, Quil drops and F bomb in this one. Sorry if it offends anyone. Enjoy and please review!
I phased back around five in the morning after a long run, and made my way back to my apartment. When I cracked open the door, the couch where Jacob had fallen asleep was empty. So was the spot where Seth had fallen asleep by the Xbox. Jake must have gone to visit his bloodsuckers, and Seth was out on patrol with Jared and Embry.
I walked down the hallway to my bedroom, where Paul's heavy breathing could be heard through the thin walls. I flopped down on to my bed, the bed frame squeaking in protest to my weight. My eyelids began to droop as I buried my head into the pillow. The run had worked. It hadn't necessarily cleared my head, but it made me too tired to think about anything else.
I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
That is, until I woke with a start. My phone was sitting on the nightstand, vibrating like crazy, making a loud buzz buzz buzz. I swatted around in the direction of the buzzing noise, but only succeeded in knocking the bed-side lamp to the floor. The buzzing continued on and on.
I groaned and grabbed the buzzing phone, mashing the buttons and pressing it against my ear, "Hello?" I said, my voice thick with sleep.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" came her soft voice from the other line. I felt myself smile. Maybe I was still dreaming.
"No, no..." I trailed off, rubbing my hand over my face. I looked towards the clock that was place against the wall. One thirty. I sat up with a start, "Claire! You're home!" It wasn't a dream. It was really her, calling me from her grandmother's house. She was in La Push limits. She was back home.
She laughed, and I couldn't help but laugh, too.
We talked about her homecoming for a while, and I looked at the clock again. One forty five. As much as I didn't want to end our conversation, I had to get to work down at the body shop for my shift that started at two. When I told her this, I could hear the sadness fill her voice. She never liked it when I had to go, even when she was little. She used to throw herself on the floor crying if I didn't stay by her side. I grinned at the memory.
"I'll call you later," I promised her.
When we hung up, I dragged myself out of bed and threw on my work uniform. A blue jumpsuit that I didn't pull up all the way, and a white t-shirt that became easily stained from car grease and oil. Working as a mechanic didn't pay much, but it was just enough for me and Paul to split the rent on the apartment and pay for groceries when we weren't stopping at Sam and Emily's to get a bite to eat.
I walked through the living room, where Seth was now sprawled out on the couch, and into the kitchen. I scarfed down half a left-over pizza and drank most of the milk in the carton before heading out the door. The body shop was only a few blocks down from the apartment complex, and I got there with five minutes to spare.
I easily caught the wrench that Paul launched at my head from across the shop.
"Hey, man," he said while rummaging through a tool box, "You slept in this morning,"
"Yeah, I guess I did," I said, decided not to explain myself. He already knew why. The entire pack knew about my dilemma over the last five years. They knew how much pain I had suffered through, how I could never get Claire off of my mind.
"At least she's home now," Paul said with a shrug, turning back to working on an engine.
He was right. At least she was home now. I would see her tomorrow at the Sam and Emily's house for the homecoming barbeque. Just thinking about it seemed unreal. After living five years without my imprint, having her so close seemed impossible. She was only a day away. I had no idea what to expect when we saw each other. The last time I saw her, she had been a string bean of an eleven year old. She was sixteen now, almost seventeen, and a young woman. And what would she think of me? I had decided to stop aging when I hit twenty two, and hadn't changed since.
I sighed and slid under one of the cars we were supposed to be working on, which needed its brakes replaced. I focused on the job at hand, instead of the numerous possibilities that ran through my mind.
Hours of work passed, and when the clock struck eight, we were free to go. I wiped my hands on my shirt, smears of black running down the fabric, and examined the grease that was lodged under my fingernails. You could always tell how hard you worked by how dirty your hands were. I had worked pretty damn hard that day.
Paul and I closed the garage and made our way to his run-down car, parked just outside. We both had the same idea. His car putted along the road to Sam and Emily's, where we would stop and eat before going on the next patrol. We drove in silence, mostly, and this is what I liked about Paul. He had enough problems to deal with himself, that we rarely talked about mine.
We pulled up the dirt drive to the little brown house. I could already smell whatever Emily was cooking up in their little kitchen by the time we reached the door. It was unlocked, and we stepped in. Emily was like that, always expecting one of us to walk through the doors, ravenously hungry. She was always prepared.
"Hi, Em," I called out as we stepped through the doorway. I could hear her shuffling around through one of the kitchen drawers. Emily was always trying to keep herself busy, even more so now that she was farther along in her pregnancy. When we stepped into the kitchen, the smell of freshly grilled chicken wafted it's way into my nose, with a hint of lemon and rosemary.
"Hi, boys!" Emily said, still rummaging in the drawer, "There's some hot chicken on the stove, I thought you boys could use something healthy to eat every now and then..." She trailed off, and grabbed a whisk. A victorious look came to her face, "Here it is! I'm craving flan, so I decided to whip some up, but I couldn't find the whisk at first,"
I smiled as she turned around with hand on her bulging stomach. She was due to have a baby girl in September, and she couldn't have looked happier. Her face was glowing, and she was always smiling, despite the permanent grimace on her face.
"Did you boys just get off work?" Emily asked, smoothing back few hairs that had gotten loose from her braid. She began to whisk together eggs and cream in a bowl, "It's almost time for your patrol then. Seth and Embry should be back soon. Sam's out, too."
Paul and I nodded and began to dig into the chicken, swallowing down the breasts and thighs. It was almost time for our shift, and Jacob and Leah were due to turn up at any minute to come with us.
"I got a call from my sister today," Emily said in my direction, looking at me through her eyelashes, "They got back early this morning, and are settling in now. The girls seem pretty happy," Emily knew how hard it had been for me. She used to insist Claire came down to the rez almost every weekend when she was little, up from her old house where her father lived before her parents split, just so I would be able to see her. She knew how much I cared for her niece. "How are you holding up, Quil?"
I shoved a piece of chicken in my mouth and gave a muffled, "Fine." I didn't like to talk about it. Talking about it made me start thinking about it, and thinking about it hurt more than anything I had ever experienced.
"Jake and Leah are here," Paul said, and we both listen to Jacob's car groan down the road as they approach the house, "Let's go wait for them out back,"
"Thanks for everything, Em," I said as we went out the back door, ducking under the doorframe that was much too low for any of us to pass through without crouching. In reality, I was thanking her for much more than the grilled chicken she had made for us. I think she knew that, too.
When we hit the treeline, I pulled my shirt over my head and kicked off my sneakers. The blue work jumpsuit fell from my waist to the floor, where I quickly wrapped it around my leg. I had already destroyed so much clothing with my nearly uncontrollable phasing over the years. I tore up my favorite jeans just yesterday. I didn't need to rip anything else to shreds.
I started to run deeper into the trees, and felt my body changing. My back muscles stretched and chocolate brown fur erupted from all over my body. My bare, digging into the moist dirt as I ran became taloned paws.
I was a wolf.
Here come Jake and Leah, I heard Paul think, not too far behind me. There were other things running through his mind, too. Angry thoughts. It seemed like Paul was always pissed about something.
I could hear them not far behind, their paws crunching in the fallen leaves and forest ground. The sound was so soft, it could have been a wind rustling the leaves of the trees. Sudden they were beside us. I could hear them both in my head.
Seth said there were some bloodsuckers not too far from here, Leah's voice entered my mind, But nothing we can't handle.
More bloodsuckers. Last night we had chased one all the way down to Port Angeles. Things had been relatively quiet for the last few years, after the Cullen's had left for Alaska. There was only the occasional bloodsucker passing through. But now that they were back, living in their old house, they were attracting all sorts of their kind.
You're right, Quil. This time it was Jacob, Leah, Paul, you guys are gonna be staying more around the border. Most of them have been passing through Forks and trying to go through the rez. Quil and I will be monitoring here tonight. If you find one, you all know what to do from there. Go.
Jacob was our alpha now. Whatever he said had to be done. Leah and Paul made their way towards the West, towards the ocean, where they would run down to the border. Jake ran ahead of me, and we both went deeper into the forest. With Leah and Paul taking care of the border, we could start from the center and work our way out.
As we ran, Jacob's thoughts passed through my mind. He had spent the day with the Cullen's, with his hyrbid girl. Bella's laughing face, Rosalie's usual snarky comments, Nessie's pale skin, her rosy cheeks, the way she slipped her hand into his...
Sorry, came his voice, I can't help it.
I let out a snarl and we continued running.
So, I was jealous. I mean, before I had imprinted on Claire, I had to listen to Jacob going on about Bella, and then Jared's nonstop thoughts about Kim, and now Paul with Rachel. It had all been obnoxious, almost nauseating. But when I saw the little two year old waddling down Emily's hallway, in her striped leggings and her polka dot dress, everything changed. I became the nauseating one, wondering what Claire had for lunch that day, whether or not her potty training was going okay. Then as the years passed, I worried about how she was transitioning into junior high, how she was handling puberty. And then, over the past five years, worrying if she was just doing okay in California.
I wasn't jealous of the romantic relationship that Jake and Nessie were starting to have. I couldn't even think of Claire in that way. She was just my little girl. She was the one I was meant to protect. I would be whatever she needed, whenever she needed me. If our relationship began to change in the way that Jacob's was, then it would. But for now, I was her best friend.
I mean, I had dated girls. A lot of girls. But nothing ever felt right. I had been in a few relationships where things started to get serious, but I could never bring myself to commit to them. It's because I was already committed. To Claire. I couldn't take myself away from our friendship, even if I tried.
I was jealous of the time they spent together. I was jealous of the way Jacob never felt like he was missing something, like there was a gaping hole in his chest because his imprint wasn't there with him.
Jeez, man, Jacob chuckled, You're one screwed up bastard. He had heard all that.
Pretty much, I laughed back.
Then I heard a scream.
Two screams.
I met Jacob's eyes with my own, and we took off in the direction of the girls' cries. It was two girls, but I couldn't hear any footsteps. They weren't moving. Besides their screams, it sounded like there was no one there at all. I could only hear the rain hitting the leaves from above, and our breathing as we ran.
Then there was a crash.
And a thud.
Someone exhaled sharply, and suddenly their scent filled my nose. Sweet, not the sickly sweetness of blood suckers, but sweet like walking through a field of flowers in bloom. I could smell vanilla and cinnamon, and something else I couldn't put my finger on. Something that didn't smell...human. But everything else, it was so familiar. I knew this scent. But how?
Stop, Jacob ordered, and our running came to a halt. We stayed hidden behind the trees.
There was a girl, in between the trees. Where had she come from?It seemed as though she had fallen from the sky. We watched as she pulled herself up from the ground and began to stumble around.
I could smell the bitter scent of her blood. It mixed with her natural aroma, the cinnamon, the vanilla, the scent that I didn't even know how to describe. I knew this girl.
Then came her voice.
"Julie!" she called out. She sounded desperate, worried, scared. I would know this voice anywhere.
Suddenly, everything made sense.
Her foot caught and a tree root and she fell, making a groan in pain when she hit the dirt. My heart stopped and I moved forward from my spot in the trees, forgetting where I was, forgetting about the world.
It was her.
She looked up at me from her spot on the forest floor, with big hazel eyes. Her dark hair was stuck to her face from the rain. I could see the light freckles that dotted her nose and the apples of her cheeks. She was small and petite. I could see her frail shoulders shivering in the cold of the rain. She looked so grown up, so beautiful, but I could still see traces of the little girl within her. My little girl.
She gasped, and fear filled her eyes.
Fear of me.
Quil, get back! Jacob's voice was stern. I couldn't object to his order.
"Claire!" came another girl's voice, somewhere beyond the trees. When Claire's head turned in the direction of her sister, I felt my body move, retreating deeper into the forest. I knew Jacob was not far ahead of me. She hadn't seen us leave.
We came to a stop when we were far away enough to be hidden by the forest, but still able to hear Claire and Julie. I couldn't stop thinking. What were they doing out here? It was almost eleven at night. How did they even get out here, this deep in the forest? I was so worried, but so relieved. She was here. Close to me. It felt like taking a breath of air after being underwater for much too long.
"Julie!" Claire cried, this time the worry in her voice had vanished, "Julie, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I just have a few scratches," her sister said. I could hear the rustling of clothing. They must be hugging.
"Thank goodness," Claire breathed out.
"I have Mom's-" Julie was cut off.
"Thank God it's not broken," she said, relief in her tone. She sighed, "We have to get home. Mom is going to kill both of us."
There was some shuffling around in the dirt, and then a whoosh of air. I couldn't hear them anymore, not even their soft breathing. It was like they had never been there at all. How? They were much too far from their grandmother's house to get there by foot. I couldn't hear any footsteps, just the rain that had began to ease up as it hit the tree tops, the hoot of an owl not too far away.
What the hell were you thinking? She saw you! Jacob's voice made his way into my head.
She saw me, and she had been terrified. It was because I hadn't been thinking at all. Seeing her there had been so surreal, like it wasn't really Claire, but the ghost of her. But in that moment, when I looked into her eyes, my whole world came together again. Everything that had ever been missing in the last five years, disappeared. I had forgotten what it felt like to feel joy in that way. The joy of just seeing her face.
Jacob understood.
He gave me a few minutes to calm myself down before he suggested we moved to where the two girls had been, to inspect the area, make sure they were okay if they were even there. We smelled the trees, and followed their scent to the where it had started. It was like they had risen from the dirt, made their way to each other, and just vanished.
They're gone, I thought, and heard Jacob grunt.
Their scent...It's so strange. What is it? We both took a long sniff and came up with no answers.
We moved on slowly from that point, and continued the patrol of the reservation. I couldn't get her face out of my mind, how right it felt to have her in front of me again. But how had they gotten there? How did they leave so suddenly without us noticing? And their strange scent. It had been stronger on Claire than it had been on Julie. It was a sweet, almost tangy smell, something I had never come across before. I had so many questions. I wanted more than anything to get home and call Claire, to see where she was, to see if she was alright. But there was a whole reservation of people to protect.
The rest of the night passed by with no trouble. We met with Leah and Paul around three in the morning, and they had said the same. No bloodsuckers that night.
You're pathetic, I could hear Leah scoff as my thoughts filled her head. Everything we had seen that night, the way I had felt when I saw Claire's face, they all knew.
Leah, Jacob warned her.
I was glad to phase back and get everyone out of my head. I pulled up the jumpsuit to my waist and made my way from around the side of Sam and Emily's to Paul's car. I was exhausted, emotionally and phsyically, and not in the mood to talk to anyone. Especially not about what happened in the forest.
Paul went around to the driver's side, pulling his t-shirt over his head. He unlocked the doors and we hopped inside. He paused before he put the keys in the ignition, and turned to look at me, "Was she really there? Claire, I mean."
I nodded my head slowly, "Yeah, it was definitely her. I would know her anywhere. But her smell was so...off. And they just vanished. It was like they had never been there at all. Which is fuckin ridiculous because they couldn't have gone anywhere without making a sound. But there was no trail to follow. Nothing." I sighed and ran my hand over my face. Confusion. Such confusion. I didn't want to think about it anymore.
Paul and I drove back to our apartment complex in silence. When he put the car in park, I opened the door and stepped out, turning to look at him, "I'm gonna go run over to Claire's. To see if she's okay," He gave me a nod. He knew how important it was to keep an imprint safe. Their protection was your number one priority. I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I didn't know Claire was safe.
I ran towards the trees while stripping off my clothes, and phased. I took off running to the north of the rez, towards Claire's grandmother's home. From the trees in their backyard, I could see the lavender house. All the lights were off, I could hear the refridgerator humming from their kitchen. There were four heartbeats, four sounds of steady breathing. I recognized Claire's immediately, coming from the room on the second floor, with the big window that overlooked the forest. She was safe.
It was a huge relief.
I laid down in the dirt for a few hours, monitoring the house and going over the night's events in my mind. How had she gotten home safely? And what were they doing in the forest anyway? It had been around ten at night, there could have been all sorts of things lurking around in the forest at that time. Things like...me.
I remembered the fear in her eyes, the way her heartbeat and breath quickened as I got closer. She had no idea it was me. And how could she? I was a giant wolf, I looked like a monster. What had she thought when she saw me in the open like that? What did she think she saw?
I snarled, and quieted down again.
Seeing her again had been the greatest feeling in the world. All the pain that I had ever experienced with her gone, completely disappeared. It didn't matter anymore. She was here, sleeping peacefully in the room with big window, in the lavender house. She was safe. It was all I needed to be okay again.
Claire was home.