Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight saga
A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed! Keep them coming. A lot of you are alerting and not reviewing. Tisk, tisk. Anyway, here's chapter three! A bit of a surprise in the end!
Lupus
Chapter III
Conversation between the three Alphas continued, the two natives trying to decide whether they could trust the strangers enough to bring them to the reservation. Things were looking up, judging by the conversation. It was only a short while before three more wolves entered the circle. Jacob looked over at Embry as he approached in wolf form with Seth and Collin. "Tell Leah to just meet us at Sam's. The situation is under control," he ordered.
Embry looked questionably over to the strays but nodded no less. He and the other two copied their Alphas and phased into human form, dressing, then rejoining the group.
"What's going on?" Embry questioned, completely lost on the situation since all present had phased out before knowing the story the strays had to tell. Jake noticed his friend's promiscuous eyes focus on Cambria's nice, toned body, and saw his peaked interest as his eyebrows rose.
Jake wanted to attack him.
But only for a minute as he stuffed that ridiculous notion into the back of his mind. Xander was obviously protective over her for a reason; she was either his sister or his mate most likely. And their drastic difference in appearance made him lean towards the latter. Though this thought did bother him, he also considered the fact that this girl had been sexually abused recently, and probably wouldn't take too kindly to another wolf trying to win over her affections, even though Jake wanted badly to try. No, it would all be more trouble than it was worth.
Then suddenly it hit him. Ever since he first set eyes on this chick, he hadn't thought about Bella Swan. Not once. Her existence hadn't even crossed his mind! Even when Edward and Alice had showed up in La Push, he hadn't even thought about how disappointed he was that Bella hadn't come with them, which is what he normally would've done.
This realization left Jacob completely lost and slightly scared. What was going on?
"Jake?" Tearing his eyes away from Cambria, Jake looked over at Sam who'd been the one to try grabbing his attention.
"Sorry," Jacob apologized, breaking out of his stupor. "What did you say?"
Sam gave him a questioning look before repeating himself. "I suggested allowing them to stay in that old cottage off the reservation. It has a well, so the water should run, maybe not clear at first. And there may be some squirrels or something living in there, but it's shelter."
Jake ran the suggestion over in his mind. This could be dangerous, it was true. But what motivation would these haggard and desperate looking people really have to bring any harm to the Quileute people? He believed their story, especially when he looked into a specific pair of deep green orbs. He could see all the pain and fear in Cambria's hypnotizing eyes. "As long as you cover patrols, I really don't see a problem with it." He cleared his throat. "But we'll be paying close attention to you."
Jake's heart clenched as tears started to roll down Cambria's cheeks and she collapsed against Xander, who hushed her, smoothing his hand over her back soothingly. She couldn't contain the wetness that leaked from her eyes. She was just so happy to finally get some rest, no matter how brief it may be.
"Come to my home and eat something. You all must be starved," Sam kindly offered.
"Mmm, yeah and Emily is the best cook ever," Seth added, rubbing his growling stomach.
Cambria laughed through her sniffles, wiping the tears from her face and pulling away form Xander. "Thank you guys so much. You have no idea how hard this has all been. And it's mostly my fault they're homeless."
"You know none of us feel that way Bri," Sloan spoke up for the first time. The girl just nodded, not willing to argue the situation.
"We are in your debt brothers," Max assured the members of the two packs, offering his hand to first Sam, then Jacob. Sam led the way in human form back to the reservation, Max following behind, explaining how he came to know about the Quileute legend.
"My mother was part Quileute, part Chippewa. She was very in touch with the roots of both of her heritages and passed on the stories of your people to me. She'd told me her great grandmother had loved one of these great protectors when she was a teenager. And that was the whim I went on. We had very few options after we were attacked," Max explained.
"How many attacked you? How big was your pack?" Paul asked intrigued.
"We were seventeen strong; two females, the rest male. Another fought with us against the opposing eleven… or so we thought. He betrayed us at the last minute." Max's face became stone cold and his eyes focused straight ahead, glaring daggers at nearing trees as if they embodied the traitor within.
"It sounds like you've had many hardships," Sam noted.
Max nodded in confirmation. "I don't worry about myself as much as I worry for the others. It became my job to protect and lead them when I broke away form my former Alpha after the incident. Especially Cambria. She is very fragile now." Sam nodded, understanding this was probably very true after the ordeal she had been through.
Xander trailed behind with Cambria, Sloan in front of them and the other Alpha, Jacob, behind them. As beta of their pack, he wanted to be involved in whatever arrangements Max was making up there, but he couldn't very well do that from where they were. "Will you be all right if I go up there?" he questioned, knowing Cambria would want to keep her own pace in the back.
"Yeah. Sloan's right here. I'll be fine," she assured him. The truth was, she was irritated with Xander's constant doting. All of a sudden he was suffocating her and she didn't know why she suddenly felt this way; weeks before she couldn't stand to be away from him, constantly clinging to his arm.
"Call if you need me," he instructed before removing his hand from the small of her back and leaving a kiss on her forehead. It only took a minute for Jacob to step up his stride and keep pace with the girl.
"So, did you know I was a wolf when you came into my store?" He couldn't help but ask. He wondered if it was as confusing for her as it had been for him. And he also couldn't help but inhale her scent again greedily, loving the wild aroma she held, mixed with the salt of the sea. She even smelled like the sun.
She hid a small smile behind her hand and nodded. The deep rumble of Jacob's voice had sent a delightful tremor through her spine. "I did. Well, I thought so anyway. I mean, I saw you trying to smell me," she giggled slightly. Jake almost stopped walking when he heard her musical laughter. It was absolutely something he needed to hear again he decided at that moment.
"Sure, sure," he chuckled, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I knew you smelled off. I just couldn't put my finger on it then and there."
A collection of modest yet comfortable looking houses came into view once the mixed packs exited the tree line, since they hadn't been all that deeply in. Sam spoke up, loud enough for everyone in tow to hear. "Jacob and I will have to speak with the tribe elders about your presence here. But I believe once we explain the situation in full, it won't be a problem," he assured.
They continued on to Sam's house, where the scent of mouth-watering food filled everyone's nostrils, making the younger boys whoop in excitement and jog towards the house, barging in rambunctiously.
Emily emerged, stirring something in a massive bowl, Sam coming over to leave a kiss on her scarred cheek. The new pack would have been shocked if they had not seen this before. Where they were from, there were two mates of shifters in their former pack that had similar scars from an outrage overload during an early time in their transformation. It was clear to all of them what had happened.
"Sam, what's going on?" she whispered, though most heard.
"It's a long story. But we are going to be having some guests for a while." Emily asked no further questions, trusting her fiancé's judgment and offering a smile to the newcomers, who all passed her and entered the house, graciously thanking her as they walked by.
Jacob stood behind Cambria as she passed Emily, the native woman stopping the blonde girl short. "Sweetheart, you look exhausted. Come inside and you can clean up." Jacob smirked at the interaction. Emily was so kind, and it made him feel good that she was accepting this girl, who had obviously been through hell, so openly.
"Thank you so much. I'm Cambria. If there's anything I can do to help you, please let me know." Jacob was marveled at how Cambria made absolute eye contact with Emily, not even giving her scarred face a second glance and gawking the way most people did.
"I'm Emily, Sam's fiancé, and I will absolutely hold you to that. But not tonight honey. You look beat. I'll be along to help you as soon as I get these monstrous stomachs fed." Cambria smiled at the lovely young woman before her, who she found extremely pretty even with the scars, before following everyone else inside.
Emily gave Jacob a knowing look and tapped the side of her nose, causing him to scowl. "Shut up Em," he muttered, passing by her in a rush and joining everyone at the table, piled with all sorts of yummy treats.
And to his dismay, there Leah Clearwater stood, looking less than pleased, Quil having a rushed conversation about what was happening with Embry.
"What the hell is going on Jacob? We don't know these people. How could you and Sam just bring them here?" she hissed angrily after dragging him into the living room.
"Leah, we know what we're doing. And you will deal with it." That was an order and the glaring girl had no choice but to comply. She marched back into the kitchen and took a seat at the table, distracting herself with the food in front of her.
But she couldn't shake the feeling of someone's eyes on her as she stabbed at her large plate of food, mostly meats, taking out her anger of being so left out of the decision on the tender flesh. Her head shot up, eyes scanning the table for the source of the feeling before they landed and locked on the absolute darkest pair of blue eyes she had ever seen.
The feeling that washed over Leah's bitter being startled her so much, that she choked on the piece of steak she had been chewing, coughing and hacking violently a few times before getting it out and spitting it into her napkin. And she couldn't look back at those eyes quick enough.
"Are you okay?" Seth asked curiously, giving his sister a strange look.
"Fine," she answered, eyes unwilling to look anywhere but at the pair of deep sapphire ones that stared right back at her from across the table. It might have been hours she sat there staring, but she couldn't be sure of time until she finally looked away, deciding to investigate the other features this gorgeous being had to offer.
His jaw was cut sharp and chiseled, sprinkled with light hairs, and his nostrils flared, masculine protruding brows framing the eyes she wouldn't dare look into again just yet for fear of becoming lost. His hair fell to his chin, bleached by the sun, his skin receiving the opposite result from the center of the galaxy, a contrasting crisp gold in comparison to his light hair. He was just as fit as any of the other men she was constantly around, but for some reason he seemed all the more better.
And that it when it dawned on her.
Leah had imprinted.
"I need to go," she said, her words rushed before she ran from the table, out the door, and phased into her wolf form, not caring that her clothes were destroyed as she transformed, making a b-line towards the residence of the Cullens.
Meanwhile, Sloan sat in his chair stunned, unable to eat though his stomach demanded more nourishment by grumbling loudly. "Who was that?" he asked, his voice sounding as breathless as he felt to his own ears.
"Oh Leah? She's my sister. Don't mind her, she's a grouch," Seth answered, his mouth full of cornbread.
Sloan was sure of one thing and one thing only; he certainly didn't mind Leah at all. In fact, quite the contrary; she might have been the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his life.
He didn't know what to do. He'd never felt like this before. It couldn't be normal, could it? He wanted to say something about it, but decided maybe this was a conversation better suited for his own pack. When he looked at her, it felt like lightning had struck his entire body.
He fought the desperate urge to go after her. There was no doubt in his mind that she had felt something too though with the way she was looking back at him.
Though it might kill him, he would just have to wait and see.
