Part 4:
Leah is running in a field. She calls out for Jake but he's too far, he can't reach her. Jake keeps trying to run faster and faster but he begins to lose hope of getting to her fast enough. "Jake!" Leah shouts desperately. Jake can see Felix chasing after Leah, laughing evilly as he gains on her. They reach a clearing, Leah is on one side, and Felix is across from her. Leah is breathing heavily; Jake can see the fear on her face.
Felix smirks to her. "I want you Leah." Felix growls and sprints to Leah. He captures her and Leah shrieks. Jake reaches the edge of the clearing. Felix has Leah in his tight grip and Leah looks like she is about to cry as Felix kisses and nips Leah's bare neck and shoulders.
"Let her go!" Jake yells and feels someone shaking him. There's another laugh in the clearing. Aro shows up holding Nessie like he owns her. Nessie screams and reaches for Jake. She calls for him. Jane walks behind Aro smiling that evil smile of hers.
"You have a decision to make Jacob Black." Aro says calmly, his calm is too calm, it's the calm of a psychopath talking to one of their victims. A shiver runs down Jake's spine. "Will you save your soulmate or the girl you've always cared for?" Aro teases. Jake looks back and forth. Nessie jerks around in Aro's arms, Aro retaliates by digging his nail into her skin. Nessie screeches and a tear rolls down her face as she is forced to stand still. "Make your decision Jake, we don't have all day." Aro says.
Jake takes a step towards Nessie. Leah groans and Jake looks over to see what Felix is doing to her, but he's not doing anything to her, he just has a smile on his face. "Jake…" Nessie begs. Jake moves closer to Nessie, another groan escapes Leah's lips and Jake notices she is gritting her teeth. "Jake, please, let's go home." Jake steps two steps closer to Nessie and Leah screams. Jake stops instantly.
"What are you doing to her?" Jake yells and feels something shake him again.
"He's not doing anything boy." Aro says. Then Jake remembers Jane is there.
"Stop!" Jake yells. "Stop hurting her! What do you want from me?"
"Decide boy. The one you don't choose suffers. Isn't that just like life? You choose the soul mate, the girl you've cared so deeply for is tortured and she's stuck with a life she didn't want. You are the reason she is here, don't you remember? She gave up everything to be with you, to help you. But if you choose the wolf-girl, your soul mate suffers. She is stuck with a life she didn't want. Her family will be without her, and you'll live knowing you gave up on your soul mate." Aro says.
"Jake, please." Nessie begs Jake.
"Tick, tock." Aro says.
"I can't decide." Jake tells him.
"Fine, we'll pick for you." Aro says. "Felix…" He nods. Jake's heart races as he looks to Leah, the girl he's always cared for.
"No! No! Don't touch her! I pick her! I'll always pick her! Don't hurt her! I can't take seeing her in pain anymore!" Jake shouts.
Jake is shaking and shaking.
"Jake! Wake up!" Leah's voice whispers to him and Jake pulls himself from the clearing with the vampires.
Jake jerks awake and Leah jumps. "It was just a dream Jake." Leah says and her hand runs down his arm comfortingly. When she reaches his hand, Jake instinctively grips it as if Jake was desperate for a touch from reality.
Jake seems to struggle catching his breath. He looks over to Leah who is worried about him. "It seemed so real…" Jake whispers.
"It wasn't, Jake," Leah whispers back to him. When she sees he is still not comforted, Leah slides closer to Jake, their faces are inches away from each other, Jake's still got her hand in his grip. "You are okay Jake, everything is okay." Leah whispers to him.
Jake shakes his head. "It's not okay, you shouldn't be here Leah." Jake says to her. Leah takes this as Jake meaning so close to him, in the same bed. Of course he'd rather he was imprisoned with his dear imprint. Leah's face falls and she begins to scoot back but Jake's grip on her hand gets tighter and he slides closer to Leah. "I didn't mean here… I meant in Volterra, with the Volturi. It shouldn't have been you."
Leah looks down. "I'm sorry you are stuck with me," Leah mumbles.
"That's not what I mean either." Jake says.
"Then what do you mean?" Leah asks him as she looks up.
"I don't know. I'm sorry that you are here because of me. I'm sorry you have to go through this. God knows what they will do to us." Jake says.
"I don't mind it here so much," Leah whispers and when Jake looks to her like she is crazy she decides to explain. "I've always dreamt of seeing the world, going on thousands of adventures, this is both of those. It is definitely interesting." Leah smiles a little.
"Interesting? Why can you never grasp when your life is in danger?" Jake asks bothered by the lack of care she gives towards her life.
"I can grasp it," Leah says defensively. "I just don't let that ruin everything I do in life. If everyone thought… oh I could die, every minute of the day, the world would be much more depressing than it already is."
"Your logic is crazy." Jake says.
"Perhaps. Not to mention, the people here are so… charming." Leah smirks.
Jake tenses at this. "Don't go near them Leah." Jake orders and Leah can feel a little hint of an Alpha order settle on her skin and sink into her body. It isn't strong so it wouldn't force her, but it was strong enough to help her be conscious of her actions against the order.
"I'm not afraid of them Jake. They don't scare me. They shouldn't scare you. We were made for this Jake; we were made to eliminate their kind from our world." Leah says but she can tell that what she says is a lie. She is afraid of them. Not them individually, but them as a group, the biggest, most powerful coven of vampires. Jake looks to Leah and she can tell he can read right through what she has said. Jake knows Leah pretty well, better than a lot of people. Leah thought maybe that was just a quality Jake had, he could read people, he understood them and he could see right through their lies. This realization made Leah even more nervous because if he could see through each one of everyone's lies that meant he could see through every single lie Leah told trying to hide her feelings for him.
"I'm not afraid of them," Jake says as he turns and looks at the ceiling. He lets go of Leah's hand and pulls his arms behind his head. Leah feels sadness at the loss of contact and she can't help herself but to see how the muscles in his arms are more emphasized by his new position. "I don't have a good feeling about this Leah. Please, just stay away from them. I know you like to test limits but please don't. Let's just behave while we figure a way out of this mess."
Leah looks to Jake and giggles. "You're telling me to behave? You are the one that acts irrational when it comes to Felix, not me." Jake turns to look at Leah; his face is serious and holds something Leah isn't sure of. It worries her.
Jake thinks about telling Leah about how crazy he gets inside when he sees Felix look at and touch Leah. Jake thinks about telling Leah about his nightmare and how nervous he is about everything. Jake thinks about telling Leah about picking her over Nessie and how he knows that he would do the same if it wasn't a nightmare. But those thoughts scare Jake. He's supposed to feel bound to Nessie, not Leah. He's supposed to want to save Nessie over everyone else; she's supposed to be the most important.
Jake doesn't tell Leah about any of it; instead he decides to push those thoughts to the back of his mind. "I realized that being angry isn't going to get us anywhere. Just… I know guys like Felix and they aren't good news Leah." Jake tells her.
Leah laughs a little. Is Jacob black really giving her dating advice? What if Leah gave her input on Jacob's interests like his unhealthy infatuation with Bella Swan and the even more unhealthy connection with a child that is less than three years old but looks and acts to be ten or eleven? "I don't plan on settling down with him in a room in this castle and raising a bunch of little half breed children, I don't even plan on dating him or even kissing him. So you don't have to worry, Jake that is not what I'm focused on right now."
"Good." Jake says softly.
"Why does it matter to you anyways who I am interested in? I mean it's not like you asked me for permission to be involved with Nessie. And can you honestly say you would care about what happens to me when you aren't responsible and would take the guilt?"
"Is that what you think?" Jake asks turning to her.
"Of course that's what I think. I've been a pain in your ass for a while now Jake. Remember, I've been inside that brain of yours. I know what you think of me. If you weren't responsible for my life you wouldn't care. But since you're Alpha and you are the reason I came, everyone would blame you and your reputation would be tainted." Leah says to him.
"You've got me figured out don't you?" Jake says softly.
"You aren't that hard to figure out Jake. We all think we are more mysterious than we actually are." Leah tells him.
Jake sighs, "I care about you Leah. Not just because what happens to you affects how people look at me because it's you Leah. You are a part of my pack, a part of the tribe, someone that couldn't be replaced. I care Leah, I care." Jake breathes softly and as soon as he releases that breath the door slams open and we both jump.
"Did you two have fun last night?" Felix asks suggestively. Leah wants them to go away; she wants to talk to Jake more. What does he mean he cares? How could he care? "I'll find out all of the details later. Time for your first mission. Let's go." Felix grabs Leah and leads her out. When the other guy reaches to grab Jake, Jake shakes his head and says he can walk on his own. Jake watches as Leah is led by Felix and the only thing in his mind right now is the words he just told Leah. Those words made him vulnerable; those words if understood properly showed his feelings for Leah and gave Leah the ultimate power to crush his heart into dust.
Jake realized they were being lead out of the castle but before they left Felix put a necklace around Leah's neck. The necklace was a silver color with a silver circle pendant.
"If you decide to run… it won't be pretty for little miss beautiful right here." Felix smiles evilly to Jake as Leah struggles to get the chain from her neck. It doesn't budge and Jake realizes this might be harder than he thought.
A/N: I know this is really really late! I've been busy. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Any ideas what the necklace does or what the mission is? Hope you all are doing well. Thanks for being patient. I haven't replied privately… but thank you so much reviewers! You all are amazing. Okay, I'm going to go sleep. I'm exhausted. Bye.
