Chapter 7: A Lot of Explaining to Do
Daniel POV
Once I shut the young wolves out of my mind I raced home and phased back to human form. Standing in the backyard I noticed all the lights in my house were turned on.
"Shit." I knew I couldn't just march inside naked, with Claire Young in there.
Cedes?
Danny! Thank god you're okay! I could hear the relief in her tone, and it comforted my wolf knowing she was worried about me.
Sis bring me some clothes out back. A few seconds later, the door cracked open, gray sweats were tossed out. I dressed quickly and walked inside. I found Leah and Claire were sitting at the table sipping coffee while Mercedes was pacing in the kitchen.
"Daniel, what's going on?" Leah rose from the table and started walking towards me.
"There's something I need to tell you, and I don't have much time to explain." I replied taking her by the hand, and looked over at my sister, "Cedes, get my other medical bag, the one with the horse tranquilizers. We're expecting company." There was a look of horror and utter confusion on Leah's face as I hurried her to my bedroom and shut the door behind us.
"I think you should sit down." I cautioned.
"No." Leah shook her head, "I rather stand, who's on their way over here?" With her hands on her hips, her appearance beautifully irate. She looked for all the world like an angry angel, if such a thing were possible. "and what are you wearing?" she gestured towards my sweats.
"Look, what I'm about to tell you is going to sound bat shit crazy, but it's the truth," I ran my fingers through my head, there was no time to approach this whole thing delicately. "Do you know the legend of our tribe, the one about us descending from wolves?"
"Yes?" Something flickered in Leah's eyes, as she nodded slowly.
"It's true, okay! It's true, Leah." I rushed towards her, "We descended from wolves and some of us can still turn into them."
Leah dropped her hands and stared at me with worry and apprehension.
"Who," Her voice caught, she swallowed hard, "Who told you?"
"You know!" Of course, she knew! The injured wolf was her friend and so was Jacob Black! This was her big secret, she was friends with a pack of shapeshifters. "No one told me Leah, I found out on my own, because-," I was interrupted by the sound of loud pounding at my front door. "¡Mierda!" It was too late.
"What the hell is going on?" Leah asked again, the knocking came again, louder and more insistent than before.
"I don't have time!" I exclaimed turning around, heading towards the door, there was a cub in need of my medical expertise. This would have to wait!
"Daniel, your back!" Leah's shocked frightened voice interrupted me, I stopped immediately. My tattoo. I didn't even think about it.
My wolf tattoo took up my entire back. I had been told that his eyes seemed so detailed and realistic. Women in the past would tell me he was fierce and stunning.
Leah's fingertips traced over his eyes. Looking closer underneath, the black ink, there were very faint scratch marks,
"Vampire scratches never fully heal," I whispered painfully, "not even for shapeshifters but they fade over time."
Leah's loud gasp hit my back. Suddenly the thought of losing Leah sent ripples of fear throughout every single cell of my body. But moments later, her lips gently grazed my scratches. I couldn't think straight.
"Doc open up!" Yelled Jake. Our sensual moment came to a complete halt. I wanted to stay, but I promised the injured wolf I would help him, and he really needed me.
"I have to help your friend Leah, he was attacked tonight."
Leah POV
Daniel was one of us. I had so many questions and didn't even have the chance to process my emotions over hearing this news, because Embry was in trouble. This was all my fault, Embry had been injured badly because I wasn't with him. The guilt I felt was beyond overwhelming, as Daniel and Mercedes worked feverishly for hours rebreaking and resetting all of Embry's right side. His cries of pain pierced the hearts of our entire pack, and the amount of strength Daniel's little sister had, did not go unnoticed by any of us.
We took turns with Embry sitting visual by his bedside throughout the night into the early hours of the morning. He would come in and out of consciousness, but Daniel explained keeping him under would be for the best. Daniel and Mercedes continued to administer horse tranquilizers whenever Embry would wake up writhing in pain.
We were all spread throughout Daniel's living room. Waiting. Hoping. Worrying.
"This isn't your fault Leah, I approved Embry doing patrol on his own." Sam told me, "I should've had someone else fill in for you."
"It's no one's fault. We couldn't predict a leech would turn up more than we can predict the weather sis." Seth added placing his hand on my shoulder.
I only felt slightly comforted by their words. Daniel walked into his living room and we all stared at him waiting on Embry prognosis.
"I just administered a triple dose of morphine for the pain, we won't need to give another tranquilizer, everything is looking on the mend, he's healing properly finally." Unable to withhold my relief and gratitude I threw my arms around Daniel.
"Thank you." I whispered in his ear, then kissed his cheek.
"Anything for your friends Leah." Daniel whispered back.
"Thanks Doc." Seth said as the rest of my pack joined in expressing their gratitude. A few handshakes and pats on the back followed. All but Sam, he uncomfortably muttered thanks and didn't even bother to shake Daniel's hand.
"You all will need to come up with a good cover story to tell Embry's family." Daniel suggested to us. "Car accident or,"
"We are his family." Jake spoke up. "His mom is a drunk, and his dad, well we don't know who his dad is."
"There's a slight possibility that Embry could very well be any one of our little brothers." I dejected looking around at my pack.
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand." Daniel replied confused. "Why on earth would you all assume that your fathers may have a had an affair with that kid's mom?"
Daniel wasn't raised here. He didn't understand the way all of this worked. Why we phased…who was most likely to do so…
"A long time ago warriors and chiefs of our tribe could leave their bodies, wander as spirits, communicate with animals, and hear each other's thoughts. When the cold ones showed up during the time Taha Aki's was chief, our powers changed. We turn into giant wolves now." Quil explained.
"The only members of our tribe who can phase still are from the Uley, Black and Ateara families, because the lot of us are connected to Taha Aki's bloodline." Sam glared at Daniel leveling with him, his eyes full of speculation. "with that being said, do you care to explain why that creepy sister of yours has the strength of ten men?"
"That creepy sister of mine helped save your friend and put him back together again!" Daniel growled back.
"A normal teenaged girl shouldn't have been able to! Baby sister my ass! Who the hell is she really to you, huh?" Sam demanded getting directly in Daniel's face.
Daniel shoved Sam out of his face so hard that he almost fell flat on his ass, had it not been for Paul standing behind him. Being bested by Daniel only enraged Sam more, he came charging towards Daniel and I immediately rushed in between them.
"You two need to calm the hell down! Let's not forget that Daniel and Mercedes helped us today" And instead of going to bed she was sitting at Embry's bedside taking her turn to look after him.
"She's really hot," Claire spoke up causing our heads to whip in her direction. Our shocked faces had Claire's full attention.
"Her temperature, it runs hot like all of yours," Quil's imprint continued on, "but she told me she was getting over being sick and may have still had a low-grade fever, so I didn't think too much about it until now."
Suddenly Billy's words, the legend he told us of the lone wolf rang in my head.
"You see, the lone wolf, his spirit warrior is much stronger, more aggressive and far more dangerous than the average spirit warrior that is a member of a pack. Because he must defend and kill for survival on his own. Even in the presence of other spirit warriors like himself, he has a gift of concealment. They cannot tell what he is, as he cannot tell what they are. Only a slight inkling of allied."
I felt like I had been hit in the stomach with a bat.
The only members in our tribe who can phase still are from the Uley, Black and Ateara families, because we are all connected to Taha Aki's bloodline.
This only meant one thing. Mercedes wasn't his sister, she had to be his daughter. I slowly backed away from Sam and Daniel.
"How did you even become one of us anyway?" Paul demanded moving beside Sam.
"When you did you knock that kid's mom up? Were you like sixteen or something? Following in your slutty mommy's footsteps, are you?" Sam snarled. Everything happened so quickly. Daniel moved with such speed as he hit his cousin with a right hook. This time Sam did hit the floor.
"Say one more insulting word about my sister or my mother and I won't hesitate to show you what this lone wolf is capable of doing." Daniel's eyes flickered yellow, "you won't ever walk the same again,"
For the first time in my life I saw something in Sam's eyes. Fear, as he massaged his jaw, and hadn't stood up yet.
"Leah," Daniel's gaze softened the moment he looked at me, "Mercedes is special, but she is in fact, my sister. We have the same mother but different dads." There was nothing but truth in his eyes. I wanted so desperately to believe him.
"Then how?" I asked Daniel, "how is she the way she is?"
Daniel slowly backed away from me and sank down on his sofa. He buried his head in hands for a moment before looking up at all of us.
"When Mercedes was four years old, she was diagnosed with leukemia." He revealed.
"That's terrible!" Claire's lips quivered with sadness.
"Was the worst day of my life, we went through so much." He murmured sadly, "Leukemia often interfered with Mercedes' normal production of red and white cells along with platelets in her bone marrow." Daniel exhaled deeply, "she required blood transfusions and bone marrow, to help replace red cells, platelets and other blood components."
I joined Daniel on his sofa, and I interlocked my hand with his.
"Go on." I encouraged him to continue.
"I thought I was going to lose the only person who ever loved me," Daniel's eyes started to moisten. "when I found out we were the same blood type and my bone marrow was a match, I donated my blood and my marrow. Mercedes went into remission,"
"You gave her your blood…Taha Aki's bloodline." Jake whispered shakily, "I need to sit down." My should-be Alpha found the nearest chair.
"I wasn't a wolf yet, I didn't shift or phase or whatever you want to call it, until I was in med school and got seduced by a vampire." The terrible scratches on his back. "She tried to kill me, but I turned into a wolf and killed her instead on pure instinct. It's like my wolf knew what to do without any hesitation." Daniel had this far away look in his eyes, "When Mercedes came for a visit later on that year, my wolf went crazy, he could sense that there was a part of me in Mercedes."
"Holy shit." Paul groaned shaking his head as he helped Sam up.
"My wolf thinks, he feels, like Mercedes is his cub, he became," He inhaled then exhaled, "I became even more fiercely protective of her." Daniel cleared his throat before continuing, "and then Mercedes started changing and acting different."
"Different how?" Jared pressed curiously.
"She was always a sickly child, suddenly she was in the best of health. No colds, no infections. Even though she can't phase, she has great strength and the ability to heal quickly, not as quickly as us, but pretty, damn close. She has a constant elevated temperature of 102 degrees," Not quite 108 like us, "and we share a telepathic link."
"In human form?" Claire sounded like she was in complete awe of Cedes.
"Yes," Daniel reconfirmed before looking back at me, "and I don't regret it Leah. I would have done anything to save my sister's life. She may only be my sister by relation, but to my wolf, she's much more."
We all stayed in a stunned silence soaking in the newfound information about Daniel and Mercedes strange bond, unable to utter one word. It was a lot to take in, knowing our DNA could alter someone's entire genetic code. Even in dormant before phasing; our DNA could cure cancer? What else was our blood capable of doing? Even with all that Daniel revealed it still seemed as though he was still withholding information by the uneasy look on his face.
"What else, Daniel?" I urged gently. He seemed uncertain, looking around at us and then back at me. "How else is Mercedes different from most girls?"
"Do you know how Quil said, back then, warriors and chiefs could leave their bodies, wander as spirits, and communicate with animals?" I nodded slowly. "Well, Mercedes can sort of do that too,"
"What the hell man!" Paul threw his hands up in the air.
"But it's only with wolves," Daniel added quickly, "and her spirit doesn't leave her body so to speak, it's just if she comes across a wolf, she can hear his or her thoughts and communicate back with them telepathically."
That's how Mercedes knew so much about wolves, everything made sense now.
Suddenly Daniel sat up straight. "Your friend is starting to wake up again, and since it's been almost twenty-four hours," He continued speaking as he rose from his sofa, "he may not need another tranquilizer shot." A few of us followed Daniel to the guest bedroom where our pack brother was still resting. Mercedes was standing up gripping her necklace in her hand as she looked down at Embry.
"He passed out again." She explained, but she sounded very perturbed.
Daniel walked over to his sister. The two seemed to be having one of those telepathic conversations. His eyes narrowed a bit at his sister, and he shook his head appearing just as confused.
"Ask them," He waved his hand at us, "I'm sure they'll know what it means."
"Ask us what Cedes?" I urged Daniel's sister. She still seemed unsure, but after taking a deep breath, she finally got the courage.
"What is an imprint?" She asked looking at me first and then the rest of my brothers.
"Where did you hear that?" Jake asked slowly.
"When Embry woke up, he looked at me, something strange happened, I can't explain," She shook her head several times like she was trying to shake the haziness from her mind, "told him my name, where he was, how I helped him, but he just kept looking at me strangely."
"Oh brother." Quil groaned.
"Then he said, 'So, you were strong enough to fix me up, I told them my imprint would be bad ass.' He actually laughed then passed out again." Cedes looked at Embry once more and then back at us, "Anyone care to explain?"
How many of you knew Mercedes would be Embry's imprint? Thanks once again for reading. Please review and add to your favorites.
Translations
Mierda - Shit
