Leah's POV
I ran straight for the house, still naked because I refused to phase back and possibly allow anyone to see my hurt. For once, it wasn't about Sam. And part of me wished it was. At least that ache was familiar.
At least that ache was like a dull throb always present. This...it worse. A sharpness that threatened to steal my breath away and had me breathing harder than I was breathing from the run.
Seth's POV
I tried to keep up with Leah the best I could, but she was always faster than the rest of us and as we hit the treeline that led into our backyard, she started getting even faster, slamming the backdoor behind her before I could even phase back.
Jacob phased too and stood beside me as we both watched the house in stunned horror. I could hear her bound up the steps and then her shower cut on. "What the hell was that all about?"
I shook my head, feeling a stinging in my eyes. "I don't know."
I started forward but Jacob stopped me. "Maybe we should let her have a little time." he said. I nodded and we both went inside. I got changed and Jacob put on his cutoffs and we sat on the couch to wait for her.
Leah stayed in the shower for two hours straight and when the water finally turned off from above, Jacob sighed, relieved. For a while, I'd started to think maybe she was catatonic up there or something. I heard her walking around her bedroom, slamming dresser drawers open and closed and then the unmistakable squeak when she crawled into her bed. "I think I should handle this on my own." I told Jacob.
Leah was okay with him but even I knew he shouldn't push it.
Jacob waited a long moment before sighing again. "You're right. You're the most likely person for her not to attack." He let out a strained laugh and then walked to the back door. "Let me know how she is." he said quickly before walking out.
I nodded, although he was already gone, and took a deep breath as I pushed myself up from the couch. Leah may be less likely to kill me than anyone else but sometimes even I got scared of her. Still, I had to make sure she was okay, so I loped up the steps and knocked lightly on her bedroom door.
I expected her to ignore me and be angry when I went in anyway. But I heard a soft, "Seth?" from inside and my heart swelled up for the love I had for my sister.
"Yeah. It's me."
"Are you alone?" she whispered.
"Yeah."
And then, in a voice that I barely recognized as hers, she said, "Okay." I opened the door and slipped in, letting it click behind me. And my tempermental, bitchy, crazy, defiant, beautiful sister was curled into the fetal position on her bed, facing the wall. I wasn't able to control the breaking of my voice when I asked if she was okay. She wasn't able to control it either when she responded. "No."
I crawled into the bed behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, hugging her to my chest. "It's okay Leah. I'm so sorry."
I heard a bitter laugh and she clasped my hands with hers. "You did more than I could expect of you."
I felt like I was going to break down at any second, remembering the complete powerless feeling when I'd been watching that asshole Quil Atera ripping at my sister. How she'd been forbidden from fighting back. But I knew, if it hadn't been for the Alpha Command, she would have fought anyway. I felt like crying, and I wasn't even the one that had been humiliated and beat.
"Leah," I whispered, "How are you so strong?"
"How am I strong?" she asked. "I couldn't even break the stupid fucking Command. I couldn't have saved my own life if it would have came down to it."
"But you still haven't even cried. How can you keep that all inside?"
Another bitter laugh. "Because there is no point in crying anymore. Why show the pain when no one cares?"
I gripped her tighter and she winced a little but didn't say anything. "I care." I said vehemently. "I'll always care."
"I don't cry because I won't give them the satisfaction." she said, sounding a bit more like herself. Stubborn. Not defeated.
"But how can you control it?" I asked, because I was crying now.
She turned over, breaking my hold on her and looked into my eyes. "You don't need to control it, Seth. You're the sweet, caring, sensitive one. The laid-back one. I'm the worrier. The reckless, vicious, spontaneous one. I'm too stubborn to let them see it. I might have to whimper and apologize and stand there while someone bites me. But I won't show them how much they hurt me." She wiped the tears from my cheeks and then kissed them. "I would love you no matter what, but I wouldn't like you as much if you were like me."
I smiled despite myself. Leah being so sweet and loving wasn't a very common occurence since Sam and Emily. And even when it did happen, I think that me and our father were the only ones to see it from her. Not even mom did, since she seemed to take Emily's side in the whole situation.
"So, why are you so sad?" I asked. She'd had the same punishment before and she'd been furious afterward, not like this. Not so sad and deflated.
She sighed and let herself relax on the bed. "I can't tell you. You'd accidentally let it slip to the Pack. But I'm going to fix it."
Jasper's POV
I wasn't happy. I thought seeing the werewolf be bitched out would bring me comfort. And then she'd leave me alone. But it went way past that and I couldn't do anything to stop it.
What? Hop the treaty line and take out the werewolf that was hurting her? They'd have punished her whether or not I was there. And helping would've only caused the treaty to be broken and a war would begin. I couldn't bring myself to put my family in danger over a girl that I barely knew.
My brain told me that staying out of it was the logical thing to do. So then why did I feel like shit for it?
When we got back to the house, I refused to let myself brood over it. So instead, I sat in the livingroom with everyone else in silence. Edward and Alice sat side by side on the loveseat, but they were being respectful of my feelings and not touching.
Esme and Carlisle were on the couch with Rosalie and Emmett on the other loveseat. I sat on the other couch alone. The room was arranged in a small square, so we could all sit and talk, but everyone was watching the bigscreen mounted on the wall a few feet behind me. The TV wasn't on though, they just didn't know what to say after what we'd witnessed.
"We shouldn't have turned her in." Carlisle finally spoke up. "She didn't deserve that."
"When she came to the door...she seemed like a sweet girl. I just don't understand why she would attack you in the woods." Esme added.
I sighed and Edward spoke up, reading my mind. "He was being rude and so she started to be rude too. She called him a leech and since he assumed she was human, he grabbed her and asked how she knew. She took that as a threat and then she phased. Jasper was angry because she snapped at him to get away and so when she ran, he attacked."
"So, you started it?" Esme asked.
I sighed. "I wasn't going to fight her at first. Until she phased. Technically, she started it."
"And she tried to end it." Rosalie snapped. What? Rosalie? Taking up for a dog? "She didn't want to fight you but she knew that if you attacked, her best chances were as a wolf. I understand you killing a wolf, but don't blame her if you started the fight."
"What's your problem?" I hissed, sitting up.
"My problem is seeing defenseless women get beat by men." she cried out. "I died in a similar fashion if you could recall."
"Rose, I'm sorry. I didn't know they would do that. They're supposed to be a family. I would never do that to any of you."
"They may be a tribe." Edward chimed in. "But they're not related. Except for the smaller wolf being her brother."
Esme gasped. "The one that tried to help? It was her brother?" She let out something supiciously close to a sob. "Oh no."
"He's the youngest in the pack." Edward said solemnly. "I heard one of them thinking that he shouldn't see this at fifteen."
"Fifteen!" I yelled, standing up. The fact that he was her younger brother made it worse. "Jesus."
"The pack leader was her ex-boyfriend." Edward added. "He was thinking of how handy the Alpha Command would've been when they were dating." I felt a pang of jealousy. But why should I? She was a stranger to me.
"What?" Rosalie snapped again. "That sick son of a bitch. What is wrong with him?"
"He's the leader. And he's high on the ego trip." I added. I had felt that from him. Triumph and satisfaction.
"Not the rightful leader." Edward said. "Blacks were always the Alphas. The red wolf, the one that was almost as big as the Alpha. He is meant to lead but he is younger. I heard him thinking that if he was Alpha, he would never hurt her."
That statement caused my jealousy to rise. What was that supposed to mean? Was the Black boy in love with her?
"Yes." Edward said to me. "But he stays away because he doesn't want to hurt her when he imprints. The way that Sam, the Alpha, did."
"Imprint?" I asked.
