There cannot be more than one Alpha. The pack has chosen me. Will you rip us apart tonight? Will you turn on your brothers? Or will you end this insanity and join us again?
-Sam Uley, Breaking Dawn
"No."
The minute Jacob cut himself off from the rest of the pack, the black wolf exploded. Raging with fear, jealousy and anger he shot forward, ready to block their path at any cost. "No! Jacob will leave her alone!" He would not let the small girl who was not an imprint nor even tribe to divide their pack any longer.
For weeks it had been building inside of him, this ugly, vicious streak of contempt. The longer Jacob was gone, the more the pack desired his return. He weighed heavily on all of their minds and in turn, the seed of envy had begun to grow in Sam's heart. At first it had been nothing more than a simple idea that planted it. A passing thought that perhaps the young wolf was taking up his birthright by cutting himself off from the pack. Watered by jealousy and fertilized by malcontent, it grew like a thorny weed, pricking his soul until it bled.
"It's not your call, Sam. Go home to Emily." There was no rancor or bitterness in the thoughts of the lone she-wolf. It was simply a fact, one the misguided alpha needed to learn.
"You will not do this! I won't allow it!" he ordered, redoubling the weight of the command in his voice.
Ignoring the order placed on her head, Leah plunged forward, heavy paws leading the way to the invisible line where she would wait until Jacob Black returned to the pack, LaPush and home.
The blatant disregard of the injunction sent the midnight wolf reeling in shock. Tiny threads unravelled and pooled before his feet. She was dividing herself from him, whether knowingly or not. Leah's allegiance lay with Jacob now, beginning to break free of the chains that bound her.
The pain of it broke his heart. The last tie to his human life gone in a millisecond.
Unable to control the headstrong she-wolf, the waning alpha turned his attention on the lesser of the two. One whose will was weak and knew that his alpha held all the cards. "Quil! Phase back and go home until I call you. Do not go to the treaty line! You're not to help Jacob! This is going to start a war. Bella Swan has made her choice and we'll abide by it. This is over!"
Leah raced through the thick undergrowth of the forest floor in a rush of violent anger. "Like you made a choice, Sam?" she snarled.
A rush of heat licked through him. Residual disgust at his own inability to control the wolf and the hold it placed over the man in him. Anger at the lack of guilt he felt when Emily's soft lips touched his own that first time, anger at the boy who had harbored a secret crush on his girlfriend's cousin. Anger at the truth... that he did not want to stay away from her but would not release his hold over Leah. Selfishness in it's most disgusting form. A reflection of his father whenever he glimpsed himself in the mirror. In love with one woman, pining after and fucking another.
"You know I had none." The pity in his thoughts fooled no one, least of all the woman who knew him better than any other, saving even his own imprint. It was pity served up for himself alone.
"That's what you keep saying, Sam. Do you think I haven't accepted it? Guess what? I have. I just don't like it shoved in my face every fucking day. Maybe your real problem is that you want the rest of us to imprint, to follow you like a bunch of damn sheep. Then you don't have to feel so damn guilty for ripping my heart out!"
The wolf reeled backwards, shocked by the violence of her words. Even more from the accuracy in which she pinpointed the truest sick desire of his heart.
The voice of the she-wolf became menacing, laced with with an eerie sort of calm that raised the hackles on the back of his neck. Leah sounded... deadly. "Don't think I haven't seen it in your thoughts. Do you see yourself, Sam Uley? The rest of us kept our humanity. You turned into a controlling bastard."
"I'm the alpha of this pack. Everything I do is to protect our people. I haven't said one word about everyone keeping up patrols around Charlie's, but I'm not going to let Jacob come back here and start a damn war because he can't have Bella Swan!"
The she-wolf felt the new power that was slowly rising within, burning like wildfire through her veins and inflaming her senses. A new aggressiveness, one that refused the demands of her alpha. The wolf yearned to dominate him, to force his legs to bow before her in respect. The heartbroken woman in her aroused by the prospect. "You make me sick. I'm glad you imprinted on Emily. I don't even know who you are are anymore, Sam Uley. You're not the man I loved. You're nothing more than a coward hiding beneath a bunch of swagger. A coward who's hungry with power and jealous when faced with losing it."
Quil ran at breakneck speed, nipping the back of Leah's heels, knowing she would fight the black wolf until the ground was stained red with blood. "Leah, stop!" he begged. "Don't. It's not worth it. He's not worth it."
The final statement enraged the wolf, forcing assertion in a desperate show of might. "Quil! Phase back! That's an order!"
The weight of the alpha command slapped him full force in the chest, but Quil Aetera kept running, resisting the urge to fall to his knees.
"Looks like you're not his alpha anymore."
"The hell I'm not! I'm not going to let Jacob Black destroy this pack! Quil phase back now!"
"Who do you think you are to talk to him like that?"
"If he meets Jacob at the line it's going to cause nothing but trouble! I'm not going to let his sorry ass make this situation worse!"
"You're an asshole, Sam."
"Quil, go home or I'll make sure you don't see Claire for a month!"
The wolf should have stopped dead in his tracks and phased back, but instead redoubled his speed shooting past Leah like a rocket sending dark, dry oak leaves the color of his fur flying in the wind. His imprint might be a child, but she was his. The very idea of her sweet little face in tears, her heart pained by the separation of the imprint filled him with uncontrollable rage. The sweet chocolate wolf replaced by something more feral and vicious.
Leah laughed menacingly, knowing the damage Quil would inflict would be far worse than her own. "Wrong move, Sam. You'd punish a baby? An imprint? Did you even stop to consider what that could do to her? To him?"
She was the lone female wolf of this pack. Mother, keeper, protector and mate to all. She could take and choose to mate at will, allowing no room for romantic attachments that might detract from her purpose. Slowly the realization washed over her, cleansing her soul and providing peace as she took up the mantle.
Leah Clearwater was the Alpha female. A mirror reflection of Jacob Black.
"No... it can't be." Sam Uley stumbled backwards, knocked off of his feet by the sheer force of the blow. Already the war to bow before her buckled his knees. The last threads of control held the muscle of his legs taught, fighting instinct and submission with no more than will. His thoughts betrayed him. A rage of disbelief born from the jealousy of man conjured sick images in his mind. A naked tangle of powerful arms and legs, skin that no other had the right to touch, sliding beneath Jacob Black's fingertips. "You're not his imprint! He'll never belong to you!"
"I want no one to belong to me. I am Mother, not sister or friend. I will never take away free will, never find need of an imprint... and neither will Jacob."
A hundred years ago, perhaps they would have been mated. The Great Spirits had interceded on their behalf. The female wolf an anomaly, adding a new page to the storied history of their people. A legend that would be told around the fires for many generations to come. Her purpose, her place in this pack was to absolve sin and bind the wounds. The magic of their ancestors flowed thickly through her veins, the power and wisdom of their grandmothers serving as her guiding force. Her wolf was not the gentle one, but a voice of reason and council to the true Alpha. There was no need for a beta when two Alphas ruled as one.
Sam Uley would bow and bend to their will... or he and his imprint would leave their lands, never to return.
"No. I won't give up my position. It is mine to take. I'm the one who guided you. I'm the one who taught you. I am Levi Uley's grandson!"
"The grandson of Ephraim Black bows to no one, Sam. It was never your position to take."
"Quil! Phase back!" Sam shouted at the wolf, his eyes wide and frightened as if staring down the barrel of a gun. Claws extended, teeth bared and thirsting for blood, the brown wolf leaped sinking his monstrous jaws into the black wolf's fur.
Sam was larger, stronger and more skilled. The brown wolf was on his back, still fighting, raking his claws, sinking them like razors through his skin. The alpha was not to be deterred. Teeth bared, he went for the throat in a display of power.
"NO! He is mine!" Shouted Leah, lithely diving between the two and snapping her jaws in a show of force. "Go home and wait Sam. When Jacob comes, be ready."
The black wolf cowered in fear, just beginning to understand that his time to lead was over... but he would not give in so easily. Tail between his legs, he ventured toward home where his imprint awaited to lick his wounds.
The fight for power and dominance had just begun. So wrapped up in their own drama, none noticed the gray wolf lingering under the cover of trees, observing the first battle of this war.
That day, Leah Clearwater claimed what was hers for the taking. Striding over to Quil, naked and panting for breath, the bronze goddess embraced her birthright.
He could no more resist her than a bee to honey when she circled round, head cocked to the side taking his measure.
"You will be mine." Her voice sounded otherworldly, seductive and strange. Her long, slim fingers traced the curvature of his spine, fingernails scratching lightly over his skin. Leah's hands snaked around his waist from behind, gripping his cock with brutality, a carnal assault of the flesh.
Quil's chest heaved, anger still pulsing thickly through his veins. He shuddered in anticipation when she ran her nose along his neck, scenting him like a bitch in heat. "I will take all of you," she whispered. "Whenever and wherever I want."
The tip of her tongue grazed the lobe of his ear, warm breath blowing past his already heated cheek. "I want you. But... if you don't want me, go back to Sam, right now or go home. There's a new Alpha in this pack, and I plan to give whole new meaning to the phrase 'pack bitch'. Jacob will return, and when he does, I will be by his side. Not beta, but Alpha Queen to his King. I will never take a mate. I will never imprint. I am your mother, sister, friend and lover. This is who I am."
He turned then, seeing the truth of it in her eyes. This was a new world. The cords that bound him to Sam fell to his feet, severed beyond repair.
The hardened tips of her full, heavy breasts brushed against the straining muscles of his chest. Rose-colored lips curved in a seductive smile, plump and round, begging to be kissed, licked and suckled.
She stepped backward, Quil watching her in a state of dreamlike trance. "Follow me."
The sway of her hips beckoned him forward, the lines of her body moving gracefully through the tall green grass blowing in the autumn breeze. Guiding him deep into the forest, the she-wolf leapt over bubbling brooks and moss covered logs. Dappled sunlight shone through the canopy of trees, illuminating the bronze sheen of her skin, causing her raven hair to shine blue in the amber light. Her heartbeat pounded out a hypnotic rhythm, forcing him to follow close behind.
The forest held many secrets, rich with beauty and wonder. Endless delights of nature hidden away from all of mankind. It was in such a place where she turned her smokey eyes upon him, steam from the deep pool behind her rising into thick mist and fog. A fine sheen of sweat formed on her brow, one lone river carving itself over the mountain of her breast, taunting as if to beg for him to follow the path it traced with his tongue.
Flesh and blood. Body and soul. Alpha and Omega.
"Come to me." The smooth seduction of her voice called him forward. A hard light glittered in her eyes. "Take me out here where we belong. Taste my body."
The wolf reeled with thick arousal. The need to consume overriding the bonds of the imprint. Slowly, he stepped towards her, desire pulsating in his veins. Ready for the she-wolf to claim.
His mouth attacked her in anger and lust. Driving his tongue deep between her legs, pressing her soft skin against the smooth rock of the pool. The heated water danced around his feet like liquid fire stoking the flames.
When the first orgasm rocked her body, leaving her trembling with salacious delight, he stepped away, waiting for his Queen's command.
She turned, offering herself to him bestialy in the way of the wolf.
Quil drove himself deep inside of her, stretching and filling her like no other before him. Not Sam or the string of lovers she'd taken in desperation for a release. Humans found in smoke-filled bars, the stench of liquor and stale smoke polluting and foul to her heightened senses. With them she had to be careful, never allowing herself to overpower or frighten away men with lesser power.
The wolf who rode her from behind dominated, while she thrust back hard, savagely pushing him to the limits of his strength. The tips of his fingers dug hard into the curve of her hips, the concrete muscle of his form beating against her while he drove into her with the might of a jackhammer.
With each thrust, the chains that bound him began to crumble. The iron links elasticizing and growing weak. Both felt the shift, the magic of their people transforming deep in the hidden wells of their souls.
The second orgasm tumbled over her like an avalanche of snow. Fast, heavy and suffocating. Leah gasped for breath beneath Quil's relentless assault on her body. Heat licked her spine, a subterfuge of the warrior queen pretending to lay dormant in the womanly body. It begged for release, forcing a vicious snarl from her throat.
It was time for she to dominate. Leah pushed Quil to the ground and climbed on top of him, sliding down on the hot, slick length which pointed north to the stars. Grasping him by the shoulders, she pulled his chest flush with her own, riding him hard and fast on the damp forest floor. The wolf edged further to the surface. Fingernails extending and tearing the flesh of each other's backs to crimson ribbon.
Teeth elongated and sharpened within their mouths. The innate need to sink her canines into his neck forcing its way into Leah's consciousness. When he offered it to her, she did not blink, but bit down hard, the iron taste of blood sating the Warrior Alpha Queen. After she had taken his body into her own, the she-wolf bared her neck to him in return, giving Quil the choice of man.
"You may claim me as Queen, take a part of my spirit into your own."
The moment he pierced the yielding flesh, the ties that bound him to Sam snapped inexorably. Forever shattered beyond reckoning. When the third orgasm forced the she-wolf to howl in satisfaction, he spilled himself deep inside of her. It was then that the imprint broke. That man and wolf quelled into one being, equal halves of a whole with no need for a calming presence.
"Mine." The lustful growl reverberated in the deep silence of the forest, startling the birds from the trees. The she-wolf eyed the man who stepped out of the shadows intently, the curve of her smile all-knowing and sinful.
Quil did not step aside, instead he moved behind her, brushing the tender mark on her neck with warm lips, leaving a trail of liquid fire in their wake.
Leah's chest rose and fell, the weight of her upturned breasts swaying with each draw of breath. Desire still coated her tongue, dripping like wild honey and begging to be tasted.
Quil's presence behind her did nothing to temper the lust which burned between her thighs. His warm breath tickled the side of her cheek and she could feel the upturned corner of his mouth when he whispered to the approaching wolf. "Take her." It was a demand to be fulfilled, a destiny fated.
All around them the sounds of nature echoed through the forest. The soft rush of wind, rustling branches of sitka and birch. Brightly plumed birds called to one another. Elk, mountain lion and deer chased each other through the dense thicket. The woods provided song, a masterful symphony designed by the Gods to delight the senses.
As if in a dream, the man stalked forward, the powerful muscle of his thighs guiding him, the evidence of his manhood swaying heavily between his legs. Sweat dripped from his brow. His nostrils flared inhaling the arousal of the she-wolf, a pungent aphrodisiac- causing his balls to throb in anticipation.
Semen dripped down her legs. The moisture weeping from her pink folds glistened in the fading sunlight. Quil wrapped his hands around Leah's thighs, parting her legs widely in invitation. "Take her, now," he growled, encouraging the wolf to slide his cock deep into her trembling body.
Embry groaned, Leah's wet heat encasing him tightly like a glove. Rose colored nipples, taut and smoother than silk, cut against the hard muscle of his chest, eliciting snarls of carnal thirst from deep inside his soul.
She came hard when he slammed into her. Quivering and throwing back her head, Leah released an otherworldly howl that shook the leaves from the trees. Somewhere in the distance, a sister wolf howled in unison.
Rough hands gripped her hips tightly. Claws sinking into her flesh, rending her immobile. Embry's black eyes watched the place of their union, reflecting back deep satisfaction in living out this secretive fantasy. A fantasy that plagued the male wolves of their pack from the first day they had seen her soft, bronzed body illuminated by the moonlight.
The rough side of tongue dipped and swirled, lips pulling the satin flesh of her breasts into his mouth, suckling and relishing the salty sweat which clung to her skin. The desire to taste more coursed through him. Pulling out fast, Embry ducked his head, attacking the slick folds between her legs. The potency of her scent sent him into a blind fervor, causing a heated frenzy of fingers and tongue to pull yet another orgasm from the she-wolf.
It rocked through her hard, forcing her thighs to clench tightly around his neck, while he greedily drank of her. The rush of fluid sliding down his throat like cool, crisp water on a hot summer's day.
Leah pushed Embry forward, flying backward into the water. Their heated bodies sending the temperature skyrocketing and the mist to thicken in the already dense air. The she-wolf needed to dominate. To claim and protect. To heal the wounded heart of the warrior that lay within Embry Call.
One small hand pressed symbolically over his beating heart while she rode him with the full power of the wolf forcing its way through her pulsing veins.
The magic in the air shimmered and flowed around their bodies like gentle ocean waves. The tide of mystic forces relentlessly washed over Embry's mind, making the wolf scream to be let out. His hips thrust upwards, driving deeper and deeper into the secrets of her body. He watched as the glint of her eyes turned upon him, as if seeing the pulse quicken beneath the bronzed skin of his neck. The iris of her eyes tinged with a golden ring, canine teeth extending in her open mouth.
He welcomed her mark.
Body longing to feel the thick liquid of her desire slide over his ready cock, Embry sped up his movements. Ready to mingle her scent with his own.
"You are mine." The statement hung in the air, the words surrounding and wrapping them in a blanket of magic woven by birthright, gifted from the spirit of warriors who came before them. "You will have no need of another. Your will is your own, never to be taken away. No faceless woman will lay claim because I do this day. I am your mother, sister and queen. I take a piece of your spirit into my own. It belongs to me until you willingly claim the soul of another."
"Tell me... am I your queen?"
Emby bared his neck to her in reply to all she demanded of him.
Threads wove themselves tightly around his heart when she pierced the soft juncture of flesh above his shoulder. Stars flashed behind his eyes, the silvery wolf inside howled in victory. There would be no imprint on his soul. No chains that bound him save to the Alphas of his pack, forged with the iron grip of loyalty and respect.
An hour later all three looked at each other askance, wondering what it was that they had just done, not fully recalling or understanding the magic of the ancestors that flowed thickly in their veins. A mighty gift bestowed, lives forever changed among the leaves and grass of the forest floor.
Later they raced to the treaty line to wait. The scent of fornication embedded deep within their pores. A pack of three, ready to swear allegiance and loyalty to the new Alpha king.