Growing Pains
Chapter Four
"Hey Cullen." Seth said, the name easily rolling off his tongue as his hand flopped down onto Edmund's head. He felt the pup tense under his hand, shoulders rising up. He was beginning to shake.
"Culler. My name is Culler, Edmund Culler." The pup spun on his Beta, eyes full of anger. "I'm not a Cullen! I'm not one of them." He spat, not noticing Jacob's flinch. "You guys keep calling me Edward. It's Edmund." The pup viciously fought back tears, but the shaking wouldn't stop.
"Go." Jacob said simply, watching as the boy darted for the woods. It was an after school meeting that had...gone...well, not as he had planned, that was for certain. He rolled his eyes at Seth, wondering how someone so good natured could fuck up so frequently when it came to kids, of all things.
"Shouldn't one of us go watch him?" Seth asked quietly.
"No. He won't stray too far. Leave him be for a bit, he needs to work it out."
Ed was wolf as soon as he was out of sight, uncaring as his clothes shred around him, as his bones painfully cracked. He popped his jaw a few times, always finding it weird how it felt to be in someone elses body. He glanced down at his copper colored paws before slinking further into the trees, nose pressed to the ground.
He had been planning on going to the forest anyway.
A second voice filled his head - David's, he noted.
What's wrong? Where are you? They must have heard him shifting. He knew he wasn't all that far from their clearing. Nevermind, I can see. Don't worry about Clearwater Two. You know how he is.
Clearwater One and Clearwater Two is what the twins had taken to calling Leah and Seth, after Seth had absently named them the Twinpup Two. Originally, it had been Twinpup - their obvious dislike of being considered the same being had made him add the two. Edmund could remember asking Joseph why one and two.
Joseph had replied, blandly, that 'Leah pisses us off' and 'Seth is a little shit'. Get it? One and Two? The Clearwater's were under the impression that the younger wolves were hesitant about talking to the older one's, felt that it was easier to address Pack by nicknames.
I know. Edmund replied miserably, paws dragging, ears drooping.
Seriously man. He's a shit. Don't worry about him, he doesn't know nothin'.
I know.
Get here safe. Do you want me to stay with you? Joseph and David had taken it upon themselves to watch over Edmund and Issac. It wasn't that the other pups needed it, it was more...they didn't have any other friends, the younger two. Edmund was ten, Issac was nine. James spent all his time with Sarah.
I'll be fine. Thanks, though. I'll see you in a few minutes.
David phased out, dressed behind the tree he had been crouched against. "He'll be here in a minute." He called out to the rest of the Puppy Pack, as they had taken to calling themselves. Really, it's all they were. He strode back into their clearing, flashing Marie and Sarah a dazzling smile.
Blankly, they stared at him before returning to their positions at James' sides, sprawled in the grass. David didn't know what it was about the black wolf, but the girls were always with him. Sarah at his right, Marie at his left.
"Cool." His brother gave him a thumbs up, still half reading his math book. "S'he okay?" The twins had the awful habit of slurring their words together, a habit that annoyed their father and teachers to no end.
"S'fine."
"What happened?" Issac asked quietly, the shy wolf peering at David from under his bangs.
"Number Two called him Cullen."
Marie winced, stayed silent. Sarah hesitated before she spoke, "Does Nessie make anyone else feel weird?" She was sitting up again, eyes sliding over her packmates' faces. "I mean...like...she..."
"Smells weird, looks weird, makes you want to rip your hair out?" Joseph asked dryly, raising both his eyebrows at the six year old.
She nodded.
"Whelp." David started, flopping lazily beside his twin. "Th'way I lookit it, if it looks like a dead pigeon, smells like a dead pigeon, and tastes like a dead pigeon, the hell're you doing eatin' dead pigeons?"
"What he means is, steer clear. Somethin' isn't right there." Joseph translated, kicking his twin absently.
The bushes rustled as Edmund finally arrived at the clearing, ears pressed flat, head drooped low in misery. He slunk towards their circle, lowering himself behind the twins so they could lean against his side. In the few short months since he'd been Pack, he'd begun to notice how heavily they relied on physical contact with one another.
"Tore your clothes?" Maried asked.
A sad whine answered that question as a yes and she hummed, reaching forward to James' bag. "James brought extra, he was saying earlier." She explained, tossing a pair of black track pants at the copper wolf.
"Leave him be. He can hear us just fine, and he doesn't talk much anyway." Joseph gave the girl a look, ignored the eye roll he recieved.
While the Puppy Pack meeting was silent after that, it wasn't awkward. They settled into the earth, into each other, with a familiarity that was usually reserved for life long friends. The smell of the rain, the gentle croon of birds in the distance lulled them into a relaxed state, one they hadn't felt in a long time. It felt good to be around Pack, they were realizing. Pack that was their own age, anyway.
"We should run away." James broke the silence, voice low and dreamy. He was watching thick clouds float by, trying hard to catch a simple ray of sunshine.
"And do what?" Maried asked sarcastically. "Get jobs? Buy a house?"
"Don't be mean." Sarah snipped from James' right side. His right hand woman, Seth liked to call her.
"I'm not, I'm being - what's the word?"
"Realistic?" Issac mumbled.
"We could start our own Pack." James added as if he hadn't heard the bickering around him.
"Oh? And who'd be Alpha? You?" Joseph was on James before the younger pup could blink. He grinned, snapping his teeth in James' face. "Think you're a tough guy huh? Well, I'm older. So's Davey. Plus, we're stronger."
"Yeah, but you've forgotten one thing."
"Wassat?"
"I'm smarter." James grinned as Sarah hit Joseph from behind, sending them both off of James and into the mud. "And she's faster!" He cackled, rolling as he stripped his shirt off. He wasn't about to take his shorts off in front of girls, so he let his inner self tear them. They were old and ratty anyway.
He slobbered a lick across Sarah's face, grinned as she squealed and shoved at his black muzzle. He could heard Edmund saying ew, gross dude!
Growling, Joseph disapeared behind the same tree his brother had used. A fire truck red wolf appeared from the other side, whole body trembling with the force of its wagging tail. It leapt, bouding easily over Marie and Issac, onto James' back.
The pups hit the ground hard, rolled together. James got ahold of Joseph's tail, grrrr'ed as he should his head ferociously, trying to rip it off. Joseph yelped, twisted in circles, bit himself in his own butt.
Sarah's deep, rumbling growl forced them to pause. They glanced at the six year old, saw her staring off at the trees. Watched her nostrils flare slowly, as she took a deep breath. The scent hit them both at once.
Sweet. Sickeningly sweet. Burning their noses like they'd had a bottle of bleach poured over their faces. It caused the unphased wolves to shake, the phased ones to growl. Bones began to snap as the shift took over, rolling across their small group painfully.
There were no adults on patrol; not in the middle of the day, when the sun was actually ripping through the clouds, on and off. James moved first, his own thoughts of Alpha's and Pack and his and protect filling their minds, pushing them forward as well.
They ran as a unit. In their minds, they were an army of coordinated beasts, running to the rescue of a scared damsel. To an outsider, they looked like a flock of headless chickens; tripping over themselves, cracking branches, making noise. Bumping each other as their minds fought to keep up.
They were a school of sharks that knew no body language as they fell upon the vampire. There was...many of them, but she was smarter, she was faster, she had more experience and, as her hand sank wrist-deep into David's chest, he howled.
It was a howl full of panic, of pain, a howl all the young wolves had been taught as soon as they'd phased.
Chaos; it exploded over all their senses, followed by rage, then fear. It made their boiling blood turn to ice, as the puppies realized their fatal mistakes. Leah was fasted, was covering the most ground. Jacob was hot on her heels, his fear for his Pack pushing him harder than anything had pushed him in a long, long while.
Sarah's paw brushed the human, dead on the ground - bled out, from a wound in her chest. Not her throat. Sarah had always thought vampire drank from the throat. She swallowed, tried not to vomit even as Joseph - who had just been slammed across the throat - spewed his own blood across his twin.
A new voice burned across their minds, but the images never came with it. Hold on, hold on, it hissed. Not as panicked as the wolves, not as upset. They could feel the stranger coming closer, ignored it, because somehow - they'd never, not any of them, remember how - Paul had arrived, Sam at his side. The grey wolf hit first, tearing the vampire away by her arm, dragging her across the grass.
She shrieked, clawing at his face even as Sam grabbed at her arm, pulling it clean from her body.
The stranger wasn't approaching anymore. They could feel it pushing further away, backing up from the Pack. Within seconds, it was forgotten about as Jacob became a human, grabbed one of the red wolves and hauled him close. David.
The pup was wheezing, hind legs kicking weakly. His body was doing its best to heal, working overtime, but it wasn't enough.
"Call Cullen."
Edmund snarled.
"Leah, go get Edward. We need Doc Cullen."
The shewolf was gone as soon as Jacob said go, flying over the earth and through the trees at some moments, ignoring the sharp bite of wood as she barreled through the thick trunks. She only had to get within hearing distance, she only had to be close enough for Edward to hear her.
Two white blurs streaked past her, one faster than the other. She nearly landed ass over tea kettle as she tried to turn, to follow them back. Her legs gave out, she ate dirt, pushed herself harder.
"We need to get him to shift back, Jacob. I need you to get him to be human again, we have to get him to the hospital right away." Carlisle was holding David's head, one arm clenching the wolf's jaw shut, so it couldn't bite him. Delirious with pain, the pup was lashing out at all who came close.
The Alpha order was quiet, sturdy. The pup shuddered, shimmered, shifted. Became a little boy curled in Carlisle's arms. "Edward is faster, and I need to run interference at the hospital. We'll need to inform his parents. Jacob, go. Tell your father. I fear this might not go well." The doctor was already standing, the pup craddled in his sons arms.
Fourty minutes later, Wilbur Black was quietly on his way to the hospital. Your son is in ICU.
They never bothered to tell him which one.
ZZZ
"Jacob where the fuck is he?" He didn't know what Jacob was to him - Billy was his second cousin, what the hell did that make Jake - but he didn't care. Family looked out for family. Billy had never looked out for him, looked out for his sons. As far as he was concerned, Jacob was not family. He grabbed the young man by the throat, ignored their size difference, slammed him into the wall. Jacob went willingly, allowed the anger. "Where the fuck is he?"
"ICU. Doc Cullen's working on him - they won't let anybody in right now." He choked out, faking the scratchy voice. The humans hand was heavy, yet not painful. The painful part were the tears in the mans eyes. He wasn't close to Wilbur, but he knew a strong man when he saw one, had seen him come home half dead from tiredness, trying to provide for the twins. He swallowed, thickly, fought back his own pain. They were his Pack, but they were this mans sons.
"Who - which." He stumbled over his words, eyes searching.
"David, it's David. Doc Cullen says he should - he should be okay. It'll be okay."
David. David had always been the tougher one, at least in body. Joseph was a loud mouth, but he was a gentle boy deep down. David, of course it had been David. "Where's Joseph?"
"He's with Leah, they're in the waiting room. I wanted to meet you out here. Come on." He continued to let his voice rasp, until the hand slid from his throat. Silently, he led Wilbur to the waiting room.
The man instantly attached to his other son, pulled the boys head close to his chest. Joseph was crying, but trying not to. Jacob's heart twisted painfully in his chest. Wilbur's eyes rolled over the others. Landed on Paul, took in the deep wounds across his arms that hadn't had the chance to close yet.
"What happened?"
"Bear attack." Paul said, without hesitation. He met Wilbur's eyes easily.
"That seems to be your excuse all the time." He rumbled, remembering Emily, the girl with the torn up face. Another boy - Uley, his mind supplied - shifted uncomfortably. "Something else you want to tell me?"
Carlisle really did have perfect timing. "Mister Black?"
"Hrm?" Wilbur turned slowly, felt unease rise at the sight of the doctor. A nagging feeling clawed at the back of his mind. He ignored it.
"Your son's still in ICU. We want to keep him away from others until we're sure he...won't get an infection." Until they were sure he could heal enough they could pass it off as not as bad as we first thought.
"I can't see him." Wilbur deadpanned. Not a question, a statement.
"I'm sorry, no. Not right now. We think he has an underlying condition, a cold. His immune system is weak right now." Carlisle lied through his teeth.
Wilbur's hands trembled, stroked down Joseph's face in an attempt for calm. He froze. "Joseph?" He pulled his son away, touched his forehead, his cheeks. "You're burning up, kid."
Jacob tensed.
Oh. Well, shit.