Chapter 7:

His cold arms wrap around her and pull her closer, urging her to continue through the kiss. And she does, she doesn't know why she's still kissing him, or why his lips feel so smooth and so nice on hers. Leah pulls herself against him, wanting more. It's been so long since she's kissed someone like this that it awakens her from within and the kiss seems to radiate warmth throughout her. Maybe that's what she needed, passionate human touch, someone showing her how special she is. That sounds awful, she hated that she needed this little moment to feel better about herself, because she was sure of herself, she knew she was special and what she deserved, what she didn't realize was how much she missed kissing. Granted, Felix's kissing had nothing on Sam's kissing but it just made her feel less like the unwanted, frigid bitch that the pack saw her as and more like a girl that could actually be worth kissing. Leah hated this realization about herself because she had always wanted to have more pride and dignity in herself, who needed a man? But this kiss made her realize that sometimes, even though it was the wrong person kissing her, she liked being kissed and she liked the feeling of being wanted and hated the feeling of being lonely.

Leah is jerked out of her thoughts as she feels Felix's hand slowly glide down her back and reach the destination of her butt. He squeezes her butt as they kiss and that's where Leah realizes how crazy she's being, everyone was around watching her kiss a vampire (the very being she has hated ever since she knew of their existence in her world). She pulls away from Felix and swats his arm away from her. There's no doubt her jealousy was obvious, she just hoped it wasn't as obvious as she thought. Leah's emotions are all over the place. She shouldn't have liked that kiss, but she did. She shouldn't have let it go that long or that far, but she did. She shouldn't care that Jake saw her kiss Felix, but she did and she cared so much that she was dying to know what he was thinking; she'd probably do anything to know. She shouldn't care what the Cullens were thinking, but she did, she especially cared what Alice thought for some reason.

Leah breaks away from her thoughts and looks to Felix who has a smug smile, basically saying "I told you, you wouldn't be able to resist kissing me".

Leah steps away from him slowly, her chest constricts as she thinks about turning around to face everyone, but she swallows her fear and lets her pride shine through. She begins walking to the castle again as if nothing had happened.

"What the fuck was that?" Jake shouts at Leah. Leah keeps walking, she wasn't ready for this, and she should have thought about the ramifications before she walked right over to Felix and kissed him like she hasn't kissed someone in years.

Leah hears him move towards her but she keeps walking, she doesn't want to see the look of disgrace Jake will give her for kissing a monster like Felix. Leah can almost taste human blood in her mouth, sure he didn't taste like blood; he actually tasted sweet, sweet like sprinkles… Leah shakes that thought away. Now Leah couldn't stop herself from tasting blood in her mouth, it tasted like copper and she hated it, she needed water to wash the taste out; she needed to get to the castle. Leah couldn't get the image of those innocent lives she led to slaughter; she couldn't shake the image of Felix over them, one girl from last week in particular, she was seventeen, maybe sixteen, she had come with her family, they were all so happy, Leah remembered wishing her family was that happy. Leah remembers her scream, she remembers the way she searched for her brother, and all hope was lost in her eyes when she rested on her brother's cold, still form. That was probably why the girl stuck with Leah, because she had a brother with her, a brother she cared about, like Leah cared for Seth.

Jake can't believe Leah actually kissed that disgusting monster. There's no way he is letting her go without an explanation as to why she kissed him. Was it just some act of defiance against him or was it something more? She didn't actually have feelings for that leech… did she?

Jake grabs Leah's arm and forces her to face him. Leah avoids his eyes at all cost, she couldn't look into them, they would shatter her, and then she wouldn't be able to hide how she was wrong.

"What the hell Leah?" Jake says as if Leah didn't hear the first question. Leah looks up and finally meets those perfect brown eyes and it's like she's hit a wall. He's so disappointed in her and his disappointment only leads to her being more disappointed with herself. As Leah continues to look into his eyes, without answering, she sees other emotions along with disappointment; she sees confusion, betrayal and something she can't quite put her finger on.

"Jake…" Nessie says calmly and her hand rests on Jake's shoulder. Jake gets pulled away from his focus on Leah, he'd forgotten about everyone around. He had just gotten so angry about the kiss that he forgot his imprint was present and that everyone was watching his reaction to the kiss. Jake turns to meet Nessie's confused, sad eyes and he hates himself for allowing his emotions to get the best of him. He shouldn't have done that, especially with an audience, especially with Nessie. If she found out about whatever Jake was feeling for his Beta, it would surely hurt her and Jake didn't think that went over well with imprints, for either person involved.

Leah looks to Jake and Nessie sharing a secret, silent moment and she's reminded why she kissed Felix. She hated the feeling she got when they were around and together. She hated how she grew tense and jealous. What she hated the most, she wanted to be that disgusting half-breed when she saw them together. Leah jerks her arm away and continues to the castle that is a lot closer than Leah thought. She walks on, this time Jake doesn't follow.

The group is lead into the counsel room and Leah stands off to the side away from everyone. Aro seems to be the only one to notice, because he continuously glances over to her while he talks to the group.

"Well, Renesmee, you are a minor, I can't allow you to make a decision on your life on your own. Where are your parents?" Aro asks.

"They couldn't make it." Nessie says gently. "I'm not leaving unless you release them."

"Nessie…" Jake says and pulls Nessie close so she can face him. "That's ridiculous, you can't do that."

Nessie leans closer to Jake and Leah feels her heart sink because she thinks she's going to kiss him again. "I can't leave you here, not because of me. I can't." She whispers and her thumb strokes his cheek as her hand rests on his neck.

"I can't let you stay here; you don't need to be here." Jake says.

"Why couldn't your parents come?" Aro says as if he didn't see the touching romantic scene that just happened.

"Because… I didn't tell them I was coming." Nessie says as she steps away from Jake and looks to Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rose.

"And you all condoned this behavior?" Aro asks and you can hear the smirk in his voice.

"We thought we would be able to protect her, and her parents would never go for her coming to Volterra." Alice says.

"I'm sure they are worried sick at this moment." Aro says as he eyes Nessie. "Protect her? There is nothing to protect her from, we are all on the same team here."

"Bullshit, you've wanted her life in your hands since you found out about her existence. She needs all of the protection in the world. Like you said, she's a minor, she can't make this decision, you need her parents here, so you can't decide anything right now." Jake says.

"Jake, you know we don't condone that behavior here. I'll have to ask you to leave." Aro says.

"I'm not going anywhere." Jake clenches his fists. "She needs to go home; she needs to stay out of your grasps."

"Jacob Black, I'll tell you again, watch your tongue and leave this room." Aro says and his eyes meet Leah's. She suddenly feels cold and dark when she looks into his eyes. He's never like that, he's never purely evil. Leah shivers. "I'd like to talk to Renesmee away from you for a moment. Please leave, before we must escort you out. Leah, you may go as well."

Leah leaves as soon as those words leave his mouth; she turns quickly and walks swiftly to her room, ready to get away from that room and those people. Jake turns to Nessie, kisses her on the forehead and then leaves reluctantly. He walks to his room when he notices the headache he has. When he opens the door he notices Leah sitting on the windowsill looking outside. Jake notices how sad and lost she looks. It's strange how Nessie and Leah can't seem to exist in the same world and Jake is never the same person with both of them. With Nessie, he's gentle all of the time and constantly worried about her breaking or shattering. But with Leah, he fights with her, his anger gets the best of him and he knows Leah can take care of herself but he still worries sometimes.

"So…" Jake says, "Are we going to talk about that scene you caused in the forest?"

Leah sighs and turns to face him. Jake wonders why her eyes are so sad, she seemed to enjoy herself when she was kissing Felix, why was she acting so strange? But most importantly why did she kiss him in the first place?

Leah's warm eyes meet his, he didn't get it did he? Would he ever get it?