A/N: And I'm back with probably the longest chapter I will ever post on any stories! Ever! (Legit, this thing is 3k+ words. You can applaud now.)
Aside from being a terribly long chapter, it's def the one you guys have been waiting for, as promised. This chapter commences the beginning of most probably the strangest and most twisted sethxoc relationship you'd see in the twiverse (if you can prove me wrong, then by all means please tell me im not completely out of my head here).
I would also like to note that as much as I love hearing your suggestions (whether by review or DM), I actually write all my chapters in advance before posting them. With how motivated I am with this story, I'm nearing writing the 40th chapter while still posting the 8th, so if ever you wanna see anything happen in the WAAAYYY far future, only then will suggestions be taken into consideration. Sorry!
AND in addition to that, I'll be posting several polls on my profile regarding this story, so read the author's notes if ever you're interested in partaking in whatever I decide to do. Right now, it'll be about including a new character named after one of you! So check it out!
Without further ado, here's the next installment of Outlaws. Let me know what you think in the reviews!
Chapter 8
Alone Together
As I ran with heavier gasps for air, I heard heavy footfalls nearing.
Shit. They followed me. I thought, and so ran faster, really testing my limits like never before.
Then a large, black, and blurry ball suddenly appeared to my side that I stopped abruptly. My momentum caused me to crash against a tree which I held onto, bracing for an attack.
"Please don't kill me." I whispered, covering my head with my arm defensively.
Feeling nothing but the soft chill of the night, I turned around slowly.
A big black wolf stood before me. I looked into its eyes and realized that this wasn't just any wolf — it was the big black wolf.
"Oh, Sam." I started, so grateful it was him. "Sam." I whispered, falling to my knees and supporting myself with the ground. I gasped deeply in an attempt to catch my breath.
I could smell you from a mile away. What are you doing on our land? He demanded to know, and I looked up to see the rest of the pack emerging from the trees behind him.
I breathed heavily, looking down again.
"Running away... from... family..." I explained.
Catch your breath. Collin and Brady are guarding the border. They can't even think to get through.
I panted for a bit before I felt I was stable enough. "Thank you."
The wolf nodded in response.
I felt like collapsing right then and there — my legs felt like jello, while my tongue felt like I swallowed a chuck full of sand. I never ran so fast before in my eighty-five years of living.
Close your eyes.
Not knowing why, I did so anyway. My other senses increased greatly that each moment I stayed stationary, the night poked cold needles into my skin. I then heard a rustle, and a zipper being done. When two arms picked me up from the ground, I realized then that Sam had phased.
"Where.. are you... taking me..." I whispered between breaths, my eyes too tired to stay open as I folded my body into his.
"Jake's house. Just be quiet. You need water." He said, and I didn't talk for the rest of the way. At that moment my mind completely blanked as I took comfort in his incredible warmth.
After a few minutes, he sat me down on a comfortable lawn chair.
"Callie, what happened to you?" Jacob's voice appeared, and he handed me a bottle of water.
Sam explained for me as I gulped down the water appreciatively, my severe panting reduced to deep, steadying breaths.
"Thank you, Jacob." I said, finally having the strength to open my eyes.
He nodded and took a seat next to his Alpha.
"Now, Callie, tell me why you're here." Sam prodded.
"I... I know about it." I said guiltily, looking at my lap like I was a little kid being scolded.
"Know about what exactly?"
"The imprinting thing." I whispered, as if it were a forbidden word. My jaw clenched and my heart seemed to speed up.
He nodded slowly in understanding, as if it explained everything. "And?" He asked patiently.
"And... so does my family..." I started, but kept my composure when I realized the rest of the wolves were lined up by the tree line before us.
"... And?" He asked again.
I sighed, then proceeded to explaining everything: how Edward kept it from me and how I demanded to know, how they were all against me, how I've been feeling. Everything.
"Sam, I'm really sorry I had to come to you like this. I had no one else to turn to, and I needed to know more." I admitted, sniffling silently.
"It's alright." He replied kindly, placing a reassuring hand on my knee.
"I just... If this is real, I wanna take it. Truth is, I've mostly just been waiting to die. Since I'm the only hybrid my family knows of, I don't know how long my life will last. I was either going to die alone, or find a mate. But after decades of basically nothing, I was leaning more towards dying alone..." I admitted.
He looked down, and nodded slowly, in pity. "I'm sorry to hear that."
I sniffled. "Yeah, thanks."
He stood and offered me a hand. A sincere smile rested on his lips, and his face seemed so gentle… it was so different from the rigid Sam Uley I had met and gotten used to.
I took his hand and he pulled me up. We walked together with Jacob to the line of wolves, my hands around the dream catcher which rested on my abdomen. I gulped down in anxiety, then looked to the enormous creatures.
I immediately spotted Seth: with his sandy brown fur, oversized paws, and enormous amber wolf-eyes. We stared at each other in curiosity, and I felt the strangest — almost gravitational — pull. He took an inch of a step closer, but looked to Sam for his signal.
The Alpha standing next to me gave a firm nod of approval.
Seth's tail suddenly sprung up, and he ran to the forest the fastest four legs can take one.
Confused by his disappearance, I looked to Sam. He just kept his eyes on where Seth disappeared to.
After roughly half a minute, he emerged from the trees once more, but in human form this time. I never really got a good look at him... not even during lunch. He was… well... hot.
I smiled, and when he smiled brilliantly back, coming closer, my smile grew.
"If I remember correctly, you two haven't been properly introduced." Sam grinned knowingly at the two of us.
Seth looked down and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Yeah... about that."
I laughed quietly, looking at the ground then at him. "Callidora Cullen, but you can call me Callie. Half-human, half-vampire. Your imprint." I smiled, holding my hand out to shake.
He gave me a happy grin and held my hand in his calloused, warm one. My nerves sparked a growing warmth in me that blocked out the cold night. "Great to finally re-meet you, Callie. I'm Seth Clearwater, full werewolf, all yours." He then bowed, placing a gentle kiss on the top of my hand.
I shivered in delight when he said my name, then again when our skin made contact. When he addressed me the word seemed to roll off his tongue in the most special and most delicate of ways, and I couldn't get off this strange new high.
The wolves howled in teasing.
I blushed at the rush of heat I felt, and was afraid that my smile would break my face. My whole body felt like it was on fire, and the flames were on a rampage.
Sam rolled his eyes. "I'll give you two and your thoughts privacy. Seth, you've been temporarily disconnected from the rest of the pack."
Seth stood again fully and smiled. "Thank God." He said, and held onto my hand. Which, I did not mind at all.
Sam then turned to the other wolves, who disappeared into the forest. A smaller, gray wolf remained, and I identified it as Leah.
I looked over, and Seth's eyes followed.
He smiled down at me, and then urged Leah to come closer with a nudge of his precious head.
She walked to the forest, and we waited for her to phase. She re-emerged fully clothed, and walked towards us in a lazy strut.
I gave her a small smile. "Hi, Leah."
She stared hard at me for a while before offering me a side smile. "Hi."
I let go of a breath I didn't realize I was holding. Seth simply smiled at our exchange.
"I'm sorry about how I acted towards you the other day. I don't really communicate well. Like, at all." She started, looking to the ground in mild embarrassment. This was hardly a side of Leah I expected to see.
"No, it's fine, I totally get it." I smiled sincerely with a flap of my hand.
"But since you're going to be around more often, might as well." She pursed her lips, rocking awkwardly on the balls of her feet.
I shrugged, smiling. "I'll take it."
"My sister and my imprint, getting along. I'm not sure if I should be glad or terrified." Seth but in, giving my hand a small squeeze.
"Be terrified. Be very terrified." Leah cautioned, smiling. She laughed, a sound I doubt many people who knew her ever heard. "I'm happy for the two of you. You're not so bad." She snickered.
"Aww. Thanks, sis." Seth smiled proudly.
"I was talking to hybrid here." Leah said and smiled at me. I hardly knew her but I just felt I knew that this was genuine and that possibly, she might truly like me after all. The thought of being accepted and even welcomed gave me so much hope and validation — just what I needed after a night of betrayal from a united front.
"Thank you." I said sincerely.
She sighed at the forest before looking back at us. "I better go. Duty calls." She said with a two-fingered salute before running straight into the forest.
"She's not as bad as the others say." I commented, watching her disappear into the thicket.
Seth nodded in agreement. "Just misunderstood."
"Just misunderstood." I repeated with a nod and a short sigh.
Seth looked at me. "Hey, you're shivering." He pointed out as he looked me up and down.
I looked down at my shaking hands and fidgeting feet. "I didn't realize it. But, I'm fine. Just a little cold."
"Here, wear this. It's clean, I promise." He began taking off his hoodie, and I blushed when I saw he wasn't wearing anything else underneath. He handed it to me, and I gladly took it.
Smells just like him.
I put it on gently, careful not to rip it in my klutziness, and tucked the mini dreamcatcher into the pocket of my jogging shorts.
"Thank you." I smiled appreciatively.
"Absolutely no problem." He said.
I looked around the clearing awkwardly. "So... what now?"
Seth pushed his lips to the side in thought. He smiled, as if an idea popped into his head. "I wanna show you something." He took my hand and the sparks returned. He started tugging me along, but then stopped.
"Get on my back." He offered, standing before me.
I looked at him in confusion. "What? Why?"
"We'll get there faster if you let me." He explained.
I shrugged and obeyed, my arms locking around his neck. I couldn't help but think this was a rouse to get closer to me, but as sure as hell I didn't mind. He started to run full speed into the trees, his arms firmly wrapped around my legs which rested on his hips.
I relished in the warmth and closeness of our bodies, taking in his scent as much as I could with discretion.
Before I knew it (and before I had enough of that irresistible scent) we stopped at the top of a huge cliff overlooking the vast, onyx ocean. I dismounted him, and walked closer to the edge. His eyes followed me as I did, in quiet observation.
"This is beautiful..." I smiled.
He kept his glowing eyes on me, a happy grin on his face. "Glad you like it. I thought this would be a nice place to talk."
"Yeah, it's perfect." I said.
He sat down on the rock ground, and I sat beside him.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions. I'm willing to answer all and any, so just ask away." He smiled.
"I'm sure you do, too." I replied.
Seth nodded, scratching his head. "Right, you can read minds."
I shook my head. "Only if I want to. What's the point of a good conversation if I can read everything you're going to say?"
He nodded in understanding. "Alright. So..."
"So, I'll start. How old are you?" I asked.
"Sixteen." He replied.
"You're so young." I laughed, looking to the sky.
"How old are you, then?" He asked, confused.
"Eighty-five. Just turned last month, in fact." I started, biting my lip as I awaited his response.
His eyes widened in shock. "Wow."
"Yeah." I looked down, a little embarrassed.
"But hey, age is just a number." Seth shrugged, relaxing and leaning back on his arms.
I laughed airily. "You like older women? Physically, I'm seventeen."
"Then that's no problem because I slow down my aging at eighteen, meaning we're going to look normal together, at least. Just wait two years." He grinned.
I giggled. "Yeah, I can do that."
"My turn. Ever have any past boyfriends? If there are, I need to know because some vamp might just like, attack me in the middle of the night or something." He cocked an eyebrow.
I shook my head viciously. "Last time I dated was decades ago. And I only dated humans, so nothing to worry about." I said, staring at the ocean with a frown.
"Were they better looking than I am?" He asked with giddiness.
I laughed, and pushed his leg. "Hey, it's my turn."
"Just curious." He raised a hand in surrender.
"Okay, any past girlfriends?" I asked, my eyes taking a quick glance.
He shook his head. "Nah. I didn't really bother dating, especially with how Sam and Leah turned out, so forgive me because I'm new to this stuff." He said innocently, his cheeks turning a light shade of red.
"That's adorable. And, a little sad..." I admitted.
"Now answer my question earlier."
"Honestly, no." I thought back. "Yeah, they were pretty average."
He grinned in the cockiest way possible. "You think I'm hooooot."
"Oh, my God." I laughed and shook my head to hide my blush.
"Alright, alright. Your turn." He said, relentless grin sitting on his chiseled face.
"Hmm... how'd you become a werewolf?"
He looked down. "Uh, well…" Spoke too soon.
"Oh, no, you don't have to answer that." I said.
"I said I'll tell you anything." He looked at me, then sat up to talk to me seriously.
I faced him.
"Leah... last year, she phased in front of the whole family. It was really a shock, especially since we didn't know if females could possibly phase. But, she did, and my dad was already having heart problems. He had a heart attack, and died because of it. That's when I turned." He said, staring at the ground.
I placed my hand next to his cautiously, unsure if he was okay with it. But when I felt him inch his hands closer, I clasped them within mine.
"Seth, I'm... I'm so sorry..." I trailed off.
"It's alright. I took being a werewolf better than Leah did." He smiled at me, and I gave him a sad smile back.
"That's good." I commented.
He nodded.
"Thank you for sharing that with me." I told him.
He started playing with my fingers. "Tell me about you. How'd you become a hybrid?"
I told him everything, from the very beginning. I told him about Esme's old husband being abusive and impregnating her, and that once he beat her up so bad left her for dead. Carlisle turned her to save her life and I was miraculously birthed. Quite the seemingly impossible add-on to what the great majority of the world already deemed impossible.
"Wow..." He said, looking up at me now.
"Yeah. And now they're my parents." I said, then sighed.
"Yeah, I heard about what went down in your house. I'm sorry." He said.
"Oh, don't apologize. It's not your fault." I admitted, and ran the tips of my fingers on his calloused hands. "I just... I don't know. Right now I feel like I've been outlawed."
He gazed at me as I continued to play with his hands.
"Hey, I don't mind being outlaws with you." He said, to which I chuckled. He continued to smile at me silently.
I looked up when I noticed.
"What?" I asked.
He grinned stupidly. "You're beautiful."
I looked down, blushing like crazy and making my hair fall to cover my face.
He took his hand and tucked it behind my ear, his thumb caressing my cheek. It traveled lower near the corner of my lip before returning back up.
I smiled, and leaned into his touch. "My turn."
He cocked an eyebrow. "No, it's mine."
"You just asked me about my hybrid story." I pointed out.
"You asked 'what'. 'What' is a question." He said pointedly.
I rolled my eyes. "You think you're so smart."
"Yeah, I do like to think so." He admitted with a cocky shrug.
I shook my head, laughing with him. I looked into his eyes, which were a dark chocolate brown just moments ago.
"So your eyes change color?" I asked, taking advantage of his silence.
He nodded, his eyes returning to that dark brown. "It turns gold when I'm happy. Or, when my wolf is."
"So which is it now?"
"You're pushing it, Callie."
I laughed airily.
He grinned at me in pure joy. "Both."
We talked for hours, not caring about the amount of time that flew by. It was the strangest thing — for this reason in particular, for him... hours ago this made me want nothing more than to stop time and reverse the clock. But now that I'm in the moment? ...Well, I could see myself trying to rush forward and see where time would take us in the end. At this point, I was eager for what the future held, for it to sweep us up in some beautiful, impossible way. I wanted the world to take me to the time I always dreamt of — to the life with him in it, with us in our gray years but still full of the vibrancy of what we share.
And so the sun began to rise.
I sat up from lying on my side to watch the horizon. Seth did the same.
It peeked from the edge of the ocean, slowly revealing itself in its full, brilliant glory.
"Beautiful." I whispered. And the fact that I was with him made each color: yellows, reds, oranges, purples — more saturated than normal, painting the sky with the most beautiful sunrise that ever graced the world.
Seth kept his eyes on me, smiling.
I looked at him, and smiled in return.
"You know, Seth, I never felt so happy and, just... whole my entire life. It's like I'm just floating in perpetual happiness." I said, tucking my knees in. "That's weird, isn't it?"
He shook his head. "No, not at all. I feel the same way." He smiled.
I grinned happily, staring at his features. A soft ocean breeze began to blow from Seth's direction, and it carried his scent to me.
I took in a deep breath. Once again, the heavenly blend of forest and rain, of musk and flowers sent me into a tizzy. I wanted so badly to move in closer and yet I knew it couldn't be done at that very moment.
He looked at me in questioning.
"Okay, I have a confession to make." I started, wringing my hands in guilt.
He perked up and listened carefully. "Shoot."
I debated on in my head on whether to admit anything to him or not.
What if I ended up creeping him out and drive him away? ...Is that possible in this situation? ...What if... well, what if he doesn't care?
What if... I just lived life happily and never tell him so he never knows?
But something was there nagging at the back of my head; it was uncontrollable.
"You're my singer." I finally admitted.
He cocked an eyebrow and paused for a moment. "I'm not amazing at singing, honestly, but dancing? Dancing I can do."
I giggled at his cuteness. "No, I mean... Well, vampires... when we find this scent of... of blood that's somewhat impossible to resist, the person is called their 'singer' because it 'sings' to them. It appeals to them."
His eyes widened in surprise. "Oh. Well, I'm flattered, I guess?" He said unsurely.
I laughed.
"So does that mean you want to suck my blood?" He asked slowly, in the most conversational way possible.
I thought about it. "Well, I'm a vegetarian, and I mostly eat human food anyway. I guess it's just a little thirst coming from my vampire side."
He nodded slowly in understanding. Then he stopped, and cocked his head to the side, listening.
"What is it?" I asked, concerned.
"They're coming." He stood slowly.
"The army?" I asked in alarm as he helped me up.
"No, your family."
Responses to reviews: (i'm posting and responding to these at like midnight here and considering i woke up early im like a zombie rn sorrehhhh)
and as a complete other side note, if you guys could critique me on my writing style (ie vocabulary/use of imagery, etc) i'd appreciate it a lot. but telling me to update/telling me you're liking it so far is great, too! :D
lightbabe - ikr ugh damn cullens. Haha! Thanks for the review!
djdragon1 - thanks so much! hope you still like it!
x blue eyed demon x - tytytytytytyty loooveeee
lonny call - thank you huhuhu youre so sweeeettt! thanks for adding me to your community! mind DM-ing me the link to check it out?
and yeah, sorry for the cliffhangers. I feel it adds another dimension of suspense that keeps interest up, hahah. Hope I didn't disappoint!
"Seth" - thank you! though I realize that my story def makes a lot of them seem ooc (which they probs are), i do try to keep a level of authenticity... (the operative word being "try"). thanks for reviewing!
"Guest" - the only book ive read from the series is twilight coz thats the only one I was able to borrow from a friend, and i aint got no funds to buy my own glorious set, so learning that there was such a scene is pretty cool, thanks! are you a mindreader or something? coz you pretty much got it on the nose, haha!
"update" - YEAH HERE YOU GO WOOOO THANKS FOR REVIEWING
