"Between us I feel this undeniable thing
Between us so real this unavoidable thing
Between us I see this indefinable thing, between us" – 'This Unavoidable Thing Between Us' Evermore
Leah gasped for air the second she was away from the bridal party. They were entering the reception party in the big community center but she lagged behind. After facing Jacob for the first time since their last meeting in the forest, Leah thought she was prepared for the wedding.
She was wrong. Very, very wrong.
Leah tugged uselessly at her dress, it felt too tight and itchy against her skin. She felt like she couldn't breathe under the constraints of the fabric, like it was squeezing her lungs closed. She gave up, knowing the problem wasn't in the seams of her dress but the thoughts in her head. Leah was actually quite comfortable in the dress with its long billowy skirt and tight bodice. She knew the color complimented her skin and the results were worth it as she watched the expression on Jake's face as she walked down the aisle.
'Oh God,' Leah thought to herself and her panic attack started all over again.
She thought she could convince herself to move on, to treat Jake as any other member of the pack. There was a war brewing out there, somewhere, and she had to be ready mind, body and soul. She not only had to protect her loved ones in La Push but also the innocent lives that resided in Forks. The poor humans who kept their eyes shielded from all the supernatural happenings that went on around them.
Leah wished she had the strength to separate her love life and her personal life. She wished they could be two separate entities but the truth of the matter was, they were one in the same. She saw Nessie as a predator, an outside threat that could undo not only Jacob but also the entire pack. Leah relished in the fantasies of ripping the little demon child into pieces, ridding the world of the half vampire child.
It still boggled her mind how such a creature could exist where she had no idea vampires could procreate. Did the ancestors foresee this event happening?
What was Leah thinking? She was an oddity herself, a female werewolf. She had always heard stories of men turning into wolves to protect their wives and children. No stories had ever been found about those wives turning into wolves themselves to protect their homes and families. Could Leah really judge another supernatural being for existing against nature? Could she really understand where Nessie was coming from?
'Doesn't change the fact that I want to rip her head off,' she thought to herself with a grin.
"Hey beautiful!" Leah's head whipped around expecting to see Jacob rounding the corner but instead saw Embry. She laughed inwardly at herself, having one of those moments where fantasies get the best of you and you create unrealistic expectations.
"Hey" she said, standing up and dusting off the dirt that managed to find it's way on her dress. She felt the butterflies in her stomach release and flutter around. It had been ages since she had been in close vicinity with Embry, they both had their duties they had to fulfill which left little time for dates or alone time. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on watch or something?"
"I snuck away on a break. Come here," He said as he gathered Leah in his arms. She hesitated before wrapped her arms around his body and letting herself briefly enjoyed the moment. She had always enjoyed Embry's hugs, the fact that she felt so safe and warm, like nothing could harm her in his arms. His smell was different from Jacob's too, not by much but Leah could sense a bit of spice and cinnamon in Embry's aroma. Leah was reminded of their first encounter in the forest so long ago, the same feeling of doubt crawled up her spine and brought her back to reality.
She pulled herself away and looked up into his hopeful face, the guilt of what she had done to him sat in the pit of her stomach. Leah hadn't loved him and she knew she could never love him the way he deserved. He was a convenient solution when everything seemed so dark and dismal. He was the band-aid on the gaping hole Jake left.
Without a moment's hesitation, Embry bent down and brushed his lips along Leah's before pulling her back and deepening the kiss. Leah wanted to enjoy, she wanted to forget about vampires, the war and especially Jacob. She wanted to give herself to Embry and let herself be happy with him but she couldn't do it. She couldn't allow herself to not only fool Embry but also herself.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his brows furrowed in confusion. Embry pulled away but kept her close in her arms. He let his fingers become tangled in her long dark hair.
"Just everything that's happening, I'm just confused," she admitted, surprised by the honesty in her words. "I feel like I haven't been myself lately."
"Well, I'll admit, you have been a little nicer to everybody but Sam, of course," he grinned. Leah playfully punched his arm before he pulled her in again for a quick kiss. "I know, what you mean. It's been a little crazy but when everything calms down and we aren't fighting for those leeches, we'll be able to really begin seeing each other without complications."
"Yeah, about that," Leah had to force herself to look anywhere else but his face. Instead, her eyes landed on an odd sight. Seth and Alice Cullen were walking quickly into the front entrance of the center. If the site of a werewolf and vampire walking together wasn't weird enough, the expressions on their faces was enough to make Leah forget about Embry. They both had petrified looks on their faces. Without saying another word, Leah let go of Embry and followed the odd pair through the front doors.
It felt like moving through water as she fought the sudden crowd trying to get into the building. She couldn't hear the chatter or the snide comments about her rude behavior trying to get through the crowd. At the moment, she couldn't have cared less. There was a vampire, a Cullen, on their land and that could never lead to anything good. She could faintly hear Embry call her name as the crowd separated them further but Leah had finally spotted Jacob talking to the two a few feet away. Once she broke away from the crowd, she could see the color quickly drain from Jacob's face.
"What's wrong? What's going on?" She spat out, suddenly realizing how tired and out of breath she sounded after forcing her way through the crowd. She looked at Jacob's face and that made her pause. He was still and unreadable like a wax figure. He looked as if he could burst out in tears at any moment. She couldn't know for sure, but she could tell there were about a million thoughts racing through Jacob's head.
"They're on their way," Seth spoke from behind Jacob, "The vampires, they're beginning their decent to take out the Cullen's child." For a moment, Leah was amazed how mature and older her brother sounded in the face of danger. She was proud, tears peaking in the corner of her eyes before she dismissed them and came back to reality.
"No warning? Nothing?" Leah looked to Alice. She was so small and meek amongst the towering werewolves that surrounded her but she seemed unbothered. She was like a small Pomeranian among Great Danes, small in size but big in confidence.
"There was nothing, the last thing I saw was them leaving some secret place a few hours east from here," she said, trying to hide the worry in her voice. "I was out in the woods when I bumped into Seth and everything went fuzzy, I can't see anything now."
"A few hours?" Leah responded and her eyes swept the room. Most of La Push came to celebrate the union of Sam and Emily but now were in mortal danger of an impending vampire attack. "What about all the people? We need to get all the humans out, who knows what your government is capable of."
"It's not them," Alice quickly responded, her voice sounding as if she were on the edge of tears. "They're dead."
"Dead? You mean, more than their usual dead?" Leah responded, her eyes remaining on the tiny vampire that stood in front of her.
"The last thing I saw was the attack against on Caius, Aro, and Marcus. The old government has fallen. Now, there's new one," Alice paused, closing her eyes briefly, "Jane and Alec are now the leaders."
"Well, isn't that good? There are only two of them and they should be easier to take down," Embry spoke up causing Leah to nearly jump out of her skin, she had forgotten that he was there because of his silence.
"No, the total opposite. They're out for blood, my family's blood. They're vicious and powerful with an incredible influence over the remaining members of their covenant. They've already cleaned out those who showed resistance to their hostel take over," Alice looked back at Jacob who continued to stand as a statue, staring back at her. "Jacob, we must move, we must clear out Forks and La Push as fast as possible. They will take out any humans that stand in their way."
At these words, Jacob seemed to have snapped out of his trance. The first pair of eyes he met was Leah's and everything in the world seemed to slow down for her. "Come on, Jake," she told him in a low voice. Though the loud rumbling of a dozen different conversations continued on around them, she knew Jacob could hear her. "It's your time, you need to lead us." Jacob took a deep breath in and nodded.
"Okay," he said, breaking is eye contact to look at Seth and Alice. "Okay," he repeated to himself more assuredly. "Seth, I need you to go tell Sam everything you just told me. He needs to get everybody in this room and everybody else out of La Push. You need to tell him to make up something to tell the people like there's a Tsunami or flood or whatever, I don't care. He needs to get everybody to Port Angeles, that's a safe place. Got it?"
Seth stood up straight and Leah could've sworn for a second he was going to salute Jacob. Without another word, he disappeared into the growing crowd that surrounded them.
"Alice," he said, swiveling his body to face the young vampire. "I need you to go back to your family and everybody else who have come to help and meet us at the big field like last time. Bring Nessie, she deserves to fight for herself. She should appreciate that."
Alice curtseyed before ducking out of the crowd on her way to her home. Next, Jacob turned back to Leah and Embry.
"It's show time," Jacob said. "I need you two to sweep the forest as quickly as you can. It's not camping season just yet but you never know, I need every human out of the forest and out of the way. I don't care what you have to tell them, just make sure they get out."
"What about you? What're you doing?" Leah asked as Embry turned to make his way back through the crowd. She grabbed Jacob's arms and held his gaze. She thought she had so much more time to figure out her relationship with him, have a chance to develop a plan to win him back. Yet, in the face of danger, all time seemed to dissolve into thin air.
"I will meet you in the field afterwards with everyone else," Jacob's eyes flickered upwards to watch Embry slip out the door. "We will make it through this."
"Promise me," Leah demanded in a whisper. She could hear Sam's voice announce an evacuation of La Push due to some oncoming disaster, she couldn't exactly make out his words. Her attention was focused on Jacob, paying attention to the fact that his hands were slipping around her waist to bring her closer. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared into his deep brown eyes, so worried and sad.
"I promise this won't be the last time," he whispered back before quickly capturing her lips with his. He tasted exactly as Leah had expected, warm and sweet. She moved her hands to the back of his head as she tangled her fingers through his dark, shaggy locks. She felt a tiny prick of victory, reaping the benefits of a long fought battle. For a brief moment, she allowed herself to become lost in the moment, lost in the kiss that she had waited so long for. She wanted more of this, more time to kiss his lips, feel his skin against hers, to feel his chest rise and fall against hers. She needed more of this and she would be damned if any undead, blood sucking leech was going to try to take this away from her. The moment seemed to last forever but ended all too quickly. Jacob was the first to pull away but didn't completely let go.
"Go," he said, his voice low and hoarse. "Just go." He demanded. Leah squeezed back the tears that fought their way back to her eyes before quickly turned around and running out the front entrance with the rest of the crowd that were now exiting the building. Embry was standing outside, a look of curiosity on his face as Leah approached. He opened his mouth to say something but Leah was the first to speak.
"Come on, let's get a move on," she said before turning into the forest and shifting into her wolf form. Embry soon followed and they both set out to sweep the forest clean of unknowing humans.
An hour later, Leah and Embry came up nearly empty handed. There wasn't a soul in sight in the Olympic Peninsula forest. Leah was unable to catch any type of scent that might belong to a human, or animal she would soon realized. It was quiet, a little too quiet for Leah's nerves to remain calm.
'Leah!' Embry's voice broke through her subconscious 'Leah, do you smell that?"
Before Embry finished his sentence, Leah caught a full whiff of what had made him so excited. It was that stinging, icy smell the wolves often associated with vampires. Leah froze, the trail was old but not by much. Whoever left their trace must've been in the same spot a few hours ago
They both continued moving forward, sniffing the air for a hopeful direction that will lead them to their intruder. The forest was quiet, not a bird or small creature scurried within miles of where Embry and Leah were searching. It seemed that all the woodland creatures had evacuated and found shelter from whatever incoming danger there was ahead.
Leah's eyes caught something different amongst the green and brown surroundings. She hurried forward, hoping this new lead would give her answers as to what was happening in her woods. 'Oh my God,' she thought and a second later Embry was by her side. They both stood above a piece of torn flannel shirt. The red clashed with the fern the piece of fabric hung off of. The ominous sign of blood smeared into the cloth as it dripped into the dirt below.
Embry was about to take a step forward when a scream pierced through the serene forest. Without hesitation, Leah grabbed the fabric with her mouth and they both darted towards the source of the scream. It sounded close, maybe a mile or two from where they stood and they were approaching a small camping ground within moments.
'Quick, change back. We'll scare them more if we approach like this.' Leah said as she ducked behind a tree to change back to her human form and change into the t-shirt and sweats she always carried with her. She said a silent prayer for her habit of never leaving her pouch too far away.
As she came out of the tree, Embry had already changed back to his human form, wearing ripped sweat pants, and was moving towards the camp ground where a young girl was standing in front of a small tent. She looked native but Leah had never seen her in La Push before. She looked about 18 years old with long, chestnut brown hair and tan skin. She was holding a ragged red flannel shirt very similar to the pattern Leah had found earlier.
"He's gone," she sobbed, her face was glistening with tears. 'He left … to get … water … gone for hours," between every few words, she took ragged breaths. She was obviously shaking, clutching the ripped garment like it held all the answers "I found this … he was wearing it. … when he left."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Leah asked as she walked behind Embry. For a moment, he didn't respond as he stood completely still. "Embry? Did you hear me? Are you think—" she took a step in front of him and stopped.
Embry was staring at the young girl, a dazed look on his face like he had been hit over the head with a sledgehammer. She could've sworn for a second she could see cartoon-like stars float around his head. Leah knew this look, she had once seen it on Sam's face when he first met Emily. It felt like all the wind rushed out of Leah's lungs and she suddenly felt weak and dizzy.
Embry had finally imprinted.
Before Leah could formulate a verbal response to this new turn of events, she heard a twig snap a few feet behind her. She whipped around and found a ragged looking man with pale skin and red eyes. His sandy blonde hair was tangled with leaves and twigs, blood smeared down the front of his shirt. He stepped through a patch of sun and his skin sparkled momentarily before returning to its lifeless, pale shade.
"Oh look, the puppies have come out to play," he snarled.
AN: I'm still here, the next chapter is being written as this is being posted. Thanks to Liz for proof reading. Thanks for the ongoing love and support, it's more appreciated than you know! - N
