Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight saga.
A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed. Virtual points to anyone who spots the reference in this chapter.
Lupus
Chapter VI
"It's not much. But it could be a nice place with a little TLC," Jacob announced as he led the way into a small, and very humble, looking cottage. Clearly, it hadn't been lived in for a while. Everything was covered in dust and Jake couldn't get the electricity to work, but Leah took it upon herself to test the plumbing by turning on the kitchen sink. It ran brown for a minute before clearing up.
"I guess the well's not dry," she shrugged, turning the tap off and settled against the wall of the den. It wasn't a big place, clearly only meant for one or two people to live in, but it was more shelter than any of the Californians had had in a very long time, and to them it was a sight for sore, sore eyes.
"We might be able to turn the electricity on from the basement. There must be a circuit breaker down there somewhere…" Sloan suggested, pulling open a door the revealed an empty pantry, before trying another door that led to a rickety set of descending steps.
"I'll come!" Leah eagerly volunteered; a little too eagerly she realized. Sloan only grinned a straight toothed, dimpled smile at her before nodding his head towards the steps and heading down, Leah following behind, a certain hop in her step that hadn't been there in ages.
Emily and Seth came in with armfuls of cleaning tools, blankets, pillows and whatever else they had piled into the back of Sam's truck. The others were out patrolling, or at home with their families; only Jake, Emily, Leah and Seth had come along to welcome the newcomers into their temporary home.
"Okay, let's start by dusting. I hope these outlets work; I brought the vacuum," Emily began, struggling to carry everything she'd trudged into the house with.
"Emily, it's a little late for cleaning, don't you think? I'm sure we'll all survive in a little dust till the morning," Cambria argued, trying to help Emily balance out all the loads of stuff she was carrying without letting it all drop to the floor.
"Don't be foolish. I'm not going to have you all sleeping in filth. Not on my watch." Cambria pursed her lips, setting things down on the floor and willing herself not to cry again at the kindness that these strangers were showing them, especially Emily, who was going all out.
Jacob had to stop himself from moving towards the girl, sensing her feelings like he'd never been able to do with anyone else before. He knew she was near tears, overwhelmed with emotion, but he didn't move from his stationary spot beside a sheet-covered sofa.
There wasn't much doubt in his mind that he'd imprinted on this girl. The only thing stopping him from fully admitting it to everyone was denial. The only one who knew at this point was Leah, at least until one of them phased for sure. He'd confessed he was feeling things for the stranger he'd never felt before, feelings that matched hers for Sloan. But Leah was surprisingly much more open to the idea of imprinting on someone than Jacob was. Though she wasn't rushing to tell Sloan, she'd accepted it herself, and been in a lighter mood ever since she'd come back from the Cullen's earlier.
Jake however had to deal with that fact that this girl was with someone. And she was damaged goods on top of that. How he was going to go about this imprint thing, he had no idea. For now, he would bide his time and keep his distance. Maybe thee magnetic pull tempting him to move closer to Cambria would go away?
He sighed. Chances of that were slim to nil. Once you imprinted, there was no turning back as far as he could tell.
He'd already dealt with the sudden nothingness he felt when he thought about Bella Swan. In fact, he hardly thought about her at all. Granted, he still loved her as his best friend, but it definitely wasn't the same way he'd once felt about her, or thought he had. The way he wanted Bella at one point couldn't even hold a candle to how bad he wanted the she-wolf in front of him.
Every time she leaned forward to grab some sort of cleaning tool and he got a glimpse of her cleavage his groin pulsed. The way her hair fell into her sultry eyes made a tingle go through his entire body. And those long, toned legs were almost impossible to ignore every time they crossed his line of vision. He'd never felt more like a caged animal in his life.
And these were all very bad things.
Not that that's all he wanted from her, but the physical need was an urge that was a little harder to ignore than all the other emotions he felt for this stranger. And there was absolutely no way this girl could be interested in sex after being raped, never mind her already being with someone.
And speaking of that someone, Jake was sure Xander had noticed every longing glance he was sending Cambria's way; the glares he was receiving were proof enough of that. But if he only understood that he couldn't help himself. If he hadn't imprinted on her, sure he'd still think she was hot, but he'd at least be able to restrain himself from practically drooling. Wolves were overly possessive. This was going to get ugly, and soon. Which just meant Jacob was inevitably going to have to bring this up to her much earlier than he'd like.
Nothing about this was going to be easy at all.
And he was still mentally weighing his options, or what options he thought he had. He could embrace the imprint, tell her, uproot her whole life, make her leave her boyfriend, who she may or may not be very attached to, and make her leave her pack, because as Alpha he certainly had no intentions of leaving his. Or he could fight the imprint. He could ignore it and pretend he felt nothing for her. It might go away; it's not as if anyone ever tried to push their imprint back.
But the second option was just not as appealing as the first. He wanted her in the worst way, and ignoring that feeling just didn't seem like it was going to happen.
Jacob was really getting tired of thinking about this in general. It was giving him a headache.
And Cambria prancing around with Emily, cleaning things in those tiny little shorts was giving him a crotch ache.
"I'm just gonna go for a quick run, cool?" He didn't need to ask, he was Alpha, but suddenly this house was too hot, and his clothes were too tight. He needed to cool off, badly. And he needed to get a few feet away from her, even if it was the slightest bit painful. "Be back in a few."
Emily sent Cambria a smart look, which she tried to ignore, but the native woman had caught her watching Jacob leave the house and Xander felt secure enough to go off and check out the other rooms with Max and Logan now that Jacob was gone. And Seth was getting more things form the truck outside. So they were left alone.
"You know, you should—" Emily's whisper was cut short by Leah calling from the basement.
"Try the lights now Em!" Emily blew air between her lips before going over to the kitchen switch and flicking it on and off, the light in the middle of the ceiling flashing.
"Den's good too," Seth added, doing the same while balancing Emily's vacuum, a broom and a mop all in his other hand.
"It's working Leah!" Emily yelled down to her before returning to where Cambria was dusting. "Don't worry much about all this stuff," Emily assured Cambria as she wiped off the dusty stove. "I cook for the packs. There's plenty to go around." Then she got a wicked smile on her face; very unfitting for the woman with the kindest eyes Cambria had ever seen. "That is if Jacob doesn't come back here dragging a dead stag to present to you."
Cambria dropped her duster in shock and stared at Emily wide eyed who giggled, covering her mouth. "He wouldn't really do that…"
"Of course not. I'm just teasing." Cambria felt stupid for not realizing that, but bringing back a hunt would be a very wolf-like mating ritual, and though she couldn't confirm it, Cambria couldn't help but feel Jacob had some kind of attraction for her. It couldn't just be her, could it?
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't ignore him. And now that he was gone, she still couldn't get him off her mind. He was just as good-looking as Xander. Just as muscled and toned. Just as tall, maybe a little taller, but still, all the males around her were huge. But for some reason, some reason she couldn't understand or control, there was something about Jacob Black that she just couldn't keep her mind off. And it made her feel guilty.
Cambria felt guilty because she had someone who cared for her, someone who wanted to protect and love her, and all she was thinking about was this other man; a man she didn't even know!
And she also feared Emily was all too aware of it. And if she could tell, who's to say no one else could? Her biggest worry being Xander.
Speaking of, he emerged from a door down the short hallway, Max and Logan following behind him, and walked up to Cambria. "There's only one bedroom. And an office or something; it's empty, but it looks too small to have been a bedroom. Maybe for a little kid or something. We got rid of some spiders for you in the bathroom," he taunted, making Cambria roll her eyes. "We're gonna go outside and make sure the foundation and stuff all looks safe." His hazel eyes looked into her green ones again, seriousness overtaking them. "Are you going to be okay?"
Cambria was a little surprised at his question, but answered no less, feeling like his eyes were searching for something within hers. "Of course. Go ahead." He held her eyes a moment longer before giving her a single nod and then walking off outside after Max and Logan.
"Where the heck is Jake?" Seth questioned, hands deep in the pockets of his shorts, strolling around the kitchen.
"Went for a quick run. You didn't see him leave?" Emily questioned, knowing he'd been outside.
"Nah, must've slipped by me when I was in the truck." Seth ran a hand through his cropped, black hair. "He's been acting kind of weird, don't you think?"
"Never mind that Seth. Here, put this on," Emily smirked, holding out a piece of cloth trimmed in red frills. It was a very over the top apron and once Seth realized this, he looked from the apron, to the cleaning supplies, back to the apron, then turned to the door.
"Hey wait up!" Seth called after the males, doing a double take at all the cleaning equipment and deciding he'd rather go with the guys, understandably. He dashed out the front door after them without another word.
Emily just chuckled. "Seth likes to be one of the guys. He's only fifteen. Practically worships Jacob." Then another sly smile emerged. "But that's the trend lately I guess."
Cambria's jaw slacked and her face heated up. She couldn't even look Emily in the eye as she laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell him," she assured.
Just in time, before Emily could delve deeper into the subject, Sloan and Leah reemerged from the basement, both with smiles on their faces, laughing and talking lightly about something. This open interaction was a little shocking to Cambria, on Sloan's part, and from what she understood, Leah's as well. Emily looked a little perplexed as her cousin entered the kitchen as well.
Sloan was never one for relationships or dating in general. He'd always kind of kept to himself for the most part. Romance had never seemed to interest him much, and Cambria had known him for most of her life. In fact, she was probably the closest person who'd ever been in his life. He was an orphan, so he didn't have any legitimate family besides the pack. To see him interacting so openly and light-heartedly with someone, especially a girl he could have potential interest in was very strange. And the quirked eyebrows and poorly restrained smirk Cambria shot at him when he looked her way showed her surprise, and also her approval.
"Stop giving each other lovey eyes and grab a mop," Emily chuckled, causing Leah to groan and Sloan to look away, slightly embarrassed at being called out on his flirting.
Only a few minutes in to cleaning, Jacob reappeared at the doorway, brushing some leaves from his hair and looking rejuvenated. Cambria couldn't help herself, seeing how his muscles bulged from the athletic endeavor he'd just gone on, and again she found herself staring.
"So, I meant to ask, but it didn't come up. What's with the vampire smell? It's everywhere in the woods… then it just stops." Those were Sloan's words as Xander walked back into the room, immediately taking his place next to Cambria, throwing his arm over her and giving Jacob a pointed look, Max, Logan and Seth sauntering in moments later.
After having a momentary stare off with Xander, Jacob turned his attention to Sloan. "It's the Cullens. They're a family of vampires that live outside of Forks. We have a treaty with them. It was established long ago. They're good people though. They only drink animal blood; vegetarians sort of. As protectors of the tribe, the treaty has to stand, but I'm very close with them."
All the newcomers looked astounded. Who'd ever heard of vegetarian vampires? "You mean to tell me you guys are… aligned with bloodsuckers?" Logan snorted, and Jacob nodded. "Shit, now I've seen everything."
"You trust vampires?" Cambria asked surprised. It was pretty unheard of. They were, after all, mortal enemies of wolves.
"Believe me, they're the only ones," Leah assured.
"Still… it's crazy. We're from Santa Carla… murder capital of the world. Guess why?" Max informed, crossing his arms over his chest in a casual manner and leaning into the wall.
"Fuckin' leeches everywhere," Logan finished with a growl. "Ya'll know how it is though. Love the hunt, right?" A devious smirk appeared on his full lips. Hunting vampires was Logan's favorite pastime.
Jacob gave a half smile and nodded, having to agree that he did enjoy ripping a disgusting leech limb from limb when he got the opportunity. He couldn't help but wonder what it must be like to live in a place where that might be a day to day event like Santa Carla, even if it was a little sadistic.
"You boys know this house isn't gonna clean itself, right? And if you want a nice breakfast tomorrow morning, you better get scrubbing so I can go home and sleep." Jacob and Seth groaned, the stray pack helping without complaints.
