AN: As always, thank you to my wonderful sister and beta, glasscannon. She helped smooth out this chapter so much… You wouldn't want to see it before her influence, haha. And tons of thanks and love to everyone who reviewed, favorited, alerted, etc! You guys make my day, every single time I get one of those little emails. Reviews are the best, of course, but alerts and favorites are nice too ;)
And now, the warning label:
There is going to be a scene involving cruelty to an animal, minor character death, cruelty to Nessie, and a whole lot of blood. No hardcore torture or rape triggers, but please be advised and use caution if the above issues are sensitive areas for you. Also please know that these events in no way represent my feelings toward animals. I am a lifetime pet owner and lover and have spent several years in the past working in the petcare and veterinary fields. The things that happen here are done by "bad guys" and are intended to be seen in an absolutely negative light, not glorified in any way.
If things become too intense for you, please skip down to the next scene break. It's all good ol' Jake and Nessie time from that point on. :)
Chapter 9 – In the Dark
Jacob
He took off down the corridor before the door was even fully closed behind him, instinct taking over to run, to get away, to put as much distance between himself and Sam's angry, accusatory eyes as possible. The dark stones flew past him, each ensconced torch leaving a slash of light burned into his retinas before the glow of the Hall came into view, the walls opening up in front of him, offering escape, freedom, and Nessie's scent. He launched himself through the opening–
And ran smack into one of Sam's advisors.
The impact sent them both flying, skidding to a stop after a few feet. Jacob righted himself with a grunt as the papers the man had been carrying fluttered down through the air around them.
The old man was just lucky he was a Shifter too, Jake thought, reaching to help him up. Even if he was older, long since retired from active patrolling. Any normal two-leg person would have been pretty badly banged up after a collision like that.
The man waved him off, climbing easily back to his feet and beginning to gather up his scattered paperwork. He smiled and shook his head when Jacob tried to apologize, his weathered skin crinkling around his eyes and behind his white beard. "It was an accident, completely understandable," he said, holding up a hand, though he didn't protest when Jake moved to help him pick up the papers.
"I actually wondered if I might have a word with you at some point this evening, young Jacob," he said, shuffling the stack of papers back into order.
Jacob paused, looking fully at the man as he handed over his sheaf. He didn't know him personally, but he'd seen him around the Summit, and of course knew him from within the Packmind. His name was Zedekiah, and he was a widower with little or no family left, if he remembered correctly. "About what?"
"Oh, just a bit of business with your father," Zedekiah said, accepting the last of his papers with a rueful smile.
"You'll have to take it up with him, then," Jacob replied, his voice strained as he tried to stay polite. "I'm… kind of in a hurry…"
"Oh, of course, of course, my apologies! I should have known, with the big event starting soon…" He smiled in a dark, anticipatory sort of way, is if savoring the thought of whatever had been planned for Nessie's arrival.
Jacob grit his teeth, trying not to grimace too hard, and nodded once to the old man before turning on his heel to march back toward Quil, Embry, and Seth.
He'd known going into this that public opinion was anything but favorable toward the Cullens, and to their princess who would soon be coming to the Quileute lands. And frankly, before he met Nessie, he hadn't really cared. He hadn't held with any of the more extreme elements of their society, people who wished a violent death on her, or who wanted to restart the war, but he hadn't felt particularly sympathetic toward the Cullens either. Not until he saw her, and his entire world had changed.
Now, the thought that anyone could harbor any ill will toward her turned his stomach and sent waves of hot rage down his spine. The way that old man had spoken of her, or the people in the dens they had traveled past… or Sam… He shook his head, pushing that thought away. Sam was his Alpha, his leader. He might put on a show to appease the people, but ultimately he would do the right thing. He had to.
"Did you have a nice trip?" Seth asked brightly, grinning cheekily as Jacob approached, drawing him out of his thoughts.
"Shut. Up," Jacob snarled down at him, making the younger wolf take half a step back, his eyes widening. Jake glared at him for a second longer before straightening up and taking a deep breath in and out. "I'm gonna go get some clothes from my room," he muttered, sparing half a glance around the hall as he marched away to one of the western corridors. It wasn't any coincidence that it was the same one Nessie had disappeared down not long ago. He heard the others following a few steps behind him and glanced back, feeling half surprised, half relieved, and just a twinge guilty when he didn't see Seth tagging along behind them anymore.
"I think he finally took the hint," Embry commented, giving Jacob a sidelong look as he fell into step beside him, smiling sardonically.
Jake made a face, turning away again. Nessie's scent painted a bright path through the air for him, comforting in the absence of her physical presence, but after a few minutes, it broke away, veering down one of the side tunnels that branched off the main one. He hesitated at the fork in the road, swaying dangerously as their bond tugged at him, imploring him to follow it, to come and find her, to close this horrible distance between them.
Quil placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. "She's gonna be okay, man," he said. "They'll take care of her here. The best thing you can do for her now is to be there when this all goes down. She'll need a friendly face in the crowd now more than ever."
With a great effort – too great, bordering on painful – he forced himself to keep walking, to continue down the familiar track to his quarters, despite the way her scent called to him from the other direction. His thoughts from earlier nagged at him again, bringing with them a horrible creeping suspicion that things might be worse than he had expected. "What do you know about what's happening tonight?" he asked them, not looking up from the stone floor passing beneath his feet. "I mean, they've been planning something? While I was gone?"
"Yeah," Embry answered slowly.
"And you're not gonna like 'em," Quil added.
They were absolutely right. He didn't like this.
He could feel the moon rising above the trees behind them, though he couldn't see it. Tonight was the new moon, the darkest night of the month, the inevitable ebb in the Pack's power to the full moon's flow. The inky darkness seemed appropriate to what he was about to witness. He clenched his teeth, his fists, clenched every muscle in his body, waiting, dreading what was coming, holding onto his sanity by a thread.
Behind them, the crowd swelled in anticipation, hungry. An angry mob. Several of his packmates paced a wide circle in front of them in their wolf forms, holding the crowd back, keeping the center clear for whatever kind of show Sam had planned. The word had gone out to the people sometime during the evening, and they had all come here, all eager to see whatever dark justice their Alpha promised for the Cullen princess. Jacob grimaced, feeling a stab of pain in his chest. His heart ached, crying and fighting against the helplessness he felt weighing down on him.
They were gathered in the huge, naturally formed amphitheatre a few miles north of the Summit, the ground sloping downward on all sides into a smooth, round center. That was where Sam would be. Where Nessie would be. The people covered the sides of the hill leading downward, pressing forward, itching to get a little closer to their intended target, though she hadn't yet appeared. Jacob tried to ignore them, tried to ignore the trembling in his limbs and the empty, bottomless dread in the pit of his stomach.
He had never felt so cut off from his kinsmen before. It was in the very nature of the Pack to be one with the people and with each other. They were the glue that held their kingdom together, the Packmind the great equalizer. They were supposed to move as one unit, to hold the same desires, the same hopes for their nation.
Now, he could barely stomach standing amongst them.
He and Quil and Embry had phased briefly for the run over here from the Summit, but he hadn't been able to hold his wolf form for long. It wasn't that the change had fought him, like his nerves wouldn't allow him to remain a wolf. It was the bone-deep, all consuming hatred that he had felt in the minds of the rest of the Pack, and it had been reflected back in his own mind, washing over him like so much poison. His body and soul had revolted, unable to reconcile the others' hate with the worry, the protectiveness, the absolute love that ached from every bone in his body as he waited for Nessie to appear.
Embry and Quil had phased back as well and now stood on either side of him, their arms folded like his, portraying a solid, united front. He didn't know how much they knew, or even suspected, about the strength of his attachment to her, but he sent a prayer of thanks out anyway to whichever of the Gods that had gifted him with two such unwavering friends.
He spotted Leah standing at the front of the crowd across the amphitheatre from them, looking haughty and distant as usual. Seth was hovering at her shoulder. The boy glanced over at Jacob once, and then away, his expression troubled as he frowned down at the dirt beneath his feet. Did he know what Sam had in store for Nessie tonight? Did he care? Jake glared across as the two siblings, suddenly infuriated at the young wolf who could act so friendly to Ness one moment, and then turn his back and throw his loyalty in with Sam, with this damned mob. His thoughts were cut short, though, as the man himself finally appeared.
Sam strode into the circle at the floor of the amphitheatre, his bearskin cloak rippling behind him, reminiscent of his own dark, hulking wolf form. As if on cue, torches and candles began to ignite throughout the crowd, the flames passing from person to person, pushing back the night and filling the theatre with dim, gold light. Sam made one circuit about the inside of the circle, nodding in acknowledgement to the wolves pacing around him, keeping the crowd in check, and then he stopped in front of Leah and her brother, directly across from Jacob.
He'd been inside Sam's head enough times to know the look on his face, even with the open floor of the amphitheatre separating them. His eyes were distant, his gaze turned inward, and Jake could practically hear him going over his words in his head, carefully reexamining and polishing each one from the speech he has no doubt prepared days, weeks, maybe even years ago. Sam wasn't a manipulative man or a great orator by nature, but he knew how to influence his people. He was the Alpha after all, and, whether they liked it or not, they were every one of them hardwired to respond to the sound of his voice.
Jacob grit his teeth, wishing he could miraculously go deaf.
Sam's eyes came up, and a tremor passed through the crowd. Their Alpha was speaking to them.
"Brothers. Sisters." His voice almost broke on that word, before hardening, deepening once more. "We have waited long for this day. Many years have passed since our homeland was disgraced, since our families were torn apart, our own flesh and blood cast to the earth before their due time."
Muted growls spread through the theatre, underlaid by the sound of hundreds of feet shuffling impatiently. Sam began to pace in a slow circle around the amphitheatre, his eyes sweeping the throng, as if speaking directly to each and every one of them. Jacob felt his fists tighten against his folded arms.
"We have waited, and we have suffered, all these long years, our lost ones crying out from the dust, crying for vengeance!" The collective growl crescendoed, rising with the Alpha's voice. He silenced them with a look, striding around the circle again. "We let the villains live that day," Sam continued, his voice ringing. Scattered snarls now – anger rather than mere anticipation. "But on one condition only: that they pay the same price as what they stole from us. Blood for blood… life for life!"
Sam threw his hand out, and the growls swelled to a roar with his voice as they all followed where he directed them. Several wolves were pushing their way through the crowd, clearing a path to the floor of the amphitheatre. Jacob leaned forward to see with the rest of the horde, though for a very different reason – he was fairly certain he was the only one choking on a knot of terror in his throat, strangling his breath and making his heart race like a frightened rabbit.
There was only one other person, he was sure, who wanted to be here even less than he did.
The front wolves stepped aside when they reached the floor of the theatre, revealing the humans coming in behind them: several untransformed Pack members, and, at their front, with one arm twisted uncomfortably behind her back, Nessie.
He was distantly aware of Quil and Embry shifting their weight on either side of him. The world seemed to have shrunk to a few single, bright points: Nessie. The grimace of pain on her face. That someone would dare put their hands on her. The few steps it would take to carry him across the circle to them, how easy it would be to rip them limb from limb, to teach them never to touch her again-
Nessie was thrown to the ground at Sam's feet, catching herself on her hands and knees in front of him.
Embry's hand closed around his wrist, jerking him to a stop before Jake even realized he'd taken a step.
Sam looked down at her coldly, his lip just beginning to curl.
"Don't," Embry hissed.
"I can't-" he choked, straining forward, desperate. Nessie was curling in on herself, sensing the mob around her without looking at them, seeming afraid to move, to stand, to breathe.
"You'll only make it worse," Quil growled, sounding uncharacteristically frustrated.
She looked so scared, so alone…
Jacob whimpered.
Sam's eyes flickered up and locked with Jacob's for just an instant. His nostrils flared once, expelling a breath, and then he looked back down at Nessie and began to pace once more. She watched him from under her brows, slowly pushing herself up into a kneeling position.
She was dressed in a simple linen gown, the plain white fabric making her coppery ringlets stand out like a flame in the night, putting the torches and flickering candles around them to shame. Someone had woven dozens of tiny, crisscrossing braids into the top layer of her hair, forming a netted crown around her head. It was the same style that adolescent Quileute girls wore throughout the kingdom… the same as the girls who had been murdered all those years ago. The crowd responded to the clear reminder, a fresh rumble of growls spreading through them, though no one spoke a word. That was the Alpha's place.
"Life for life," Sam repeated, looking out at the throng as he trod a small circle around her. Nessie pursed her lips, following him with her eyes.
Jacob lurched forward, struggling against Embry's grasp. Life for life. Sam couldn't mean-
"This life," Sam continued, looking down at Nessie again with a sneer. He turned back to the people, his voice ringing out with fervor. "Here before us, my brothers, my sisters – the princess Renesmee, daughter of the accursed Cullen people, the two-faced demons who would present us with a façade of peace, of innocence, and then, when our backs are turned, they would prey on our young ones, our most precious daughters!"
Nessie winced, looking angry and offended at his words, though she didn't dare say or do anything to contradict him. Jacob ground his teeth together, the need to shield her pulsing through him like fire, pushing him to the very edge of transforming.
"Your life," Sam spat, towering over her, "for the ones that were stolen from us. For the voices and minds and hearts that will never again join us in the Packmind, who have been silenced forever!"
Nessie recoiled at the sudden ire that was turned on her. She placed her hands on her knees as if to push herself to her feet. "I-"
"What could you possibly have to say?" Sam snarled, and in one sharp movement he stepped forward and wrenched her up by the arm. Nessie gasped, and it was all Jacob could do to hold back the tremors that swept down his spine, urging him forward to help her.
"Would you bring them back to life?" Sam demanded, his teeth bared viciously as he held her mere inches from his face. "Would you restore the families that were destroyed by your people?"
He released her then, all but throwing her back to the earth with a scornful glare. "We do not come here tonight looking for restoration," Sam cried, addressing the people once more. "It is impossible. What is done is done, and we can never be whole again. But," he turned back to regard Nessie, though his voice remained raised, speaking to the crowd rather than her, "a lesson must be learned here."
Sam stalked toward her, and Jake could see the effort it took for her not to cower before him as she glared up at him from her knees.
"Justice must be served," he stated, sucking in a breath through his teeth. He leaned forward ever so slightly, looming over her threateningly. "It would be so fitting for you to get a personal taste of everything that was done to our people, all the horror you monsters inflicted on us. On our daughters." His hand lashed out, catching her jaw in a tight grip, forcing her to look him in the eye. "A punishment to match the crime, don't you think?"
Nessie stared up at him, the terror she'd been trying so hard to hide written plainly across her face now. Jacob felt it insides ice over. Sam couldn't- He wouldn't-
"But I would never lower myself to touch a disgusting little bloodsucker like you," Sam sneered then, and thrust her away from him. Nessie stumbled back and fell, landing hard on her hands and knees once more. A chorus of cheers and snarls went up from the crowd around them.
"No-" Jacob growled, pulling against Quil and Embry's hands on his arms.
"They're just words, man," Quil ground out, trying to keep a hold on him. "He's not going to actually hurt her-"
Nessie was blinking tears from her eyes, slowly pushing herself upright again. Jacob was so focused on her that he almost missed the movement at the edge of the circle, the way Sam looked off to the side and then raised a hand to beckon them forward.
The same young Shifters who had ushered Nessie into the amphitheatre, teenagers, barely finished with their training, still hotheaded and unpredictable, volatile- The crowd parted for them once more as four of them guided Nessie's wild-eyed, bucking horse into the circle.
Nessie gasped, mouthing her pet's name. Noble.
Jacob stilled, he and his two friends watching in confusion as the animal was led out onto the floor, followed closely by two more young men carrying a wide basin between them. Whatever this was, it had been planned and choreographed. What was Sam doing?
"Your family will never see you again," Sam said darkly, looking down his nose at Nessie as the horse stopped several feet from them. He raised his voice, calling out the gathered people. "That is the lesson to be learned. That is where we take our revenge. The Cullens, who allowed this to happen, who allowed their followers to savage our young women, to rape, murder, and devour them – they now share in our pain!" He looked down at Nessie once more, sneering with every word. "They will feel what we feel, never to know what has become of their sweet, precious little daughter."
Nessie stared up at him, something akin to hate beginning to color her gaze as the fear receded from her expression. Jacob actually felt himself relax marginally. The Cullens were the real targets, not Nessie. Sam wasn't going to hurt her. Now if he could just get to her… He needed to comfort her, to hold her, to convince himself that she really was alright and whole, that no one would take her from him…
"But, for you," Sam continued then, waving the trainees forward with the horse. One of them produced a long knife from his belt and offered it to the waiting Alpha. Sam accepted it, glancing back at Nessie with a baleful look. "Well, you're as much a leech as any of the rest of them," he said, and stepped up in front of the thrashing horse, brandishing the knife grandly. The four young Shifters handling him were more than enough to keep the horse still, despite his wild efforts to break free.
Sam eyed the animal disdainfully for one moment, then pulled his arm back and plunged the knife into the creature's neck, just above the breast bone. The horse let out a near-human shriek of pain just as Nessie screamed, "No!"
Sam withdrew the knife and handed it back to its owner as the two young men standing by slid their basin into place between the horse's front legs, catching the blood as it began to gush from the wound. Sam ignored them, winding his arm up again, and thrust his hand into the open hole in the dying animal's chest. The horse screamed again, its legs buckling beneath it as Sam reached into its core, seemed to find what he was searching for, and then ripped his hand back out. With one last shudder, Noble seemed to collapse in on himself, supported now only by the werewolves holding him up.
Sam turned back around to face Nessie, her pet's thick blood dripping down his arm. Clutched in his hand was Noble's steaming, still feebly spasming heart.
"For you," Sam ground out, continuing his earlier thought, "we have a different sort of lesson. A more literal lesson. A lesson in blood."
Nessie's eyes widened in horror as Sam approached her. Jacob couldn't seem to breathe, his lungs refusing to work. Even Quil and Embry had gone still, their eyes locked on the Alpha, too shocked to move. The crowd rumbled in anticipation behind them, hungry for what had to come next in this gruesome scene.
"This is what you demons are after, isn't it?" Sam sneered, stopping in front of Nessie, still holding the heart aloft. The hot blood dripped onto the ground from Sam's hand, making Nessie recoil, curling into herself in revulsion.
"What are you-" she started, her voice wavering, but she was cut off as two of the Shifters who had been handling Noble appeared on either side of her, grabbing her arms and yanking her roughly to her feet. Jacob felt his body spasm, the transformation fighting to break free at the sight of them putting their hands on her.
"This!" Sam roared, pivoting to take in the mob once more, holding the steaming organ above his head. "This is what they took from us! Flesh! Blood! Life!" He turned back to Nessie, who was staring up at him, too confused and shocked and frightened to move. "So take it," Sam said, looming over her. "Take your prize, your pound of flesh, and eat your fill!"
The confusion cleared from Nessie's eyes and she had just enough time to open her mouth in a horrified gasp before Sam slammed the bloody mass directly into her face.
"No-!" Jake choked, Quil and Embry barely holding him back as they stared aghast at the scene in front of them.
Nessie jerked back, trying to fight off the hands holding her, to turn her face away from the raw flesh being forced into her mouth, muffling her scream.
"I said eat!" Sam barked, and his free hand shot out to grip her jaw, forcing her to break off a chunk of meat in her mouth. His hand clamped down over her face, holding her teeth closed and covering her airways until, reflexively, she had to swallow.
"Ness," Jacob groaned. A fresh wave of tremors swept down his spine, hot and painful and all but driving him to his knees. Quil and Embry seemed to be holding him up more than holding him back now.
"How does it taste, demon?" Sam asked, leaning down until their faces were inches apart. His lip curled, showing his teeth. "Can you feel the power? The force of the innocent life you just devoured?"
Nessie just shook her head slightly, looking stunned, her face smeared with red. Tears welled in her eyes and spilled over, cutting tracks through the blood as she stared up at Sam.
He sneered and straightened once more, holding up the slowly cooling heart in his hand again. Casting a disgusted look between her and it, he threw the lump of flesh down into the dirt in front of Nessie. The two Shifter trainees released her arms and she crumpled to the ground, shaking, her tears flowing freely.
"Get her out of my sight," Sam commanded disdainfully, turning away with a indifferent wave of his hand to the young men standing over her.
There wasn't any signal from Sam that provoked the next action, at least not that Jacob saw. The Shifters who were still standing over the horse's carcass seemed to be acting on their own when they exchanged a glance, looking at each other and then down at the brimming basin on the ground between them. As one, they picked it up, then stepped forward and dumped its contents over Nessie's huddled form.
Something seemed to snap inside of Jacob at the sound of Nessie's sharp intake of breath, the way she jumped as the warm liquid suddenly crashed over her, instantly staining her dress crimson, sticking to her hair, her skin. Sam was walking away, uncaring, sparing barely a glance back at them. The trainees were laughing, shaking out the last drops of blood onto her as Nessie tried to shrink away.
Jacob would never know if Quil and Embry actually released him then, or if he simply ripped his way out of their grasp before they could stop him. One moment, he was standing between them, and in the next instant, he was scooping Nessie up, snarling murderously at the younger wolves who couldn't seem to scramble out of his way fast enough, spinning, rushing at the crowd, taking in Sam's furious look as he sped past, but then they were gone, away, free.
He ran blindly, Nessie's tiny, quivering form cradled to his chest, his grip on her probably too tight, desperate, protective. He wouldn't ever let anyone near her again, wouldn't, couldn't let anything else happen to her. He had failed her tonight, had let them hurt her, humiliate her, had stood by when she needed him most. He should have fought harder to get to her, his friends be damned, the Pack be damned, Sam, the Alpha-
Nessie suddenly squirmed in his arms, and then gave a sharp tug on his hair when he didn't stop running. Her voice was thick when she spoke.
"Jake, I'm gonna throw up."
Jacob skidded to a stop, setting her down quickly but carefully, hovering over her as she stumbled to the nearest tree, catching herself with one hand on its trunk as her body bent double.
He gathered her hair back behind her shoulders as she wretched, shuddering violently with her body's need to purge itself. He could smell the blood as she coughed it up, though it was foreign, not her own, and mixed with her stomach fluids and bile and whatever scanty bits of food had still been in her system from earlier in the day, before they arrived, before Sam got his hands on her-
Jake squeezed his eyes shut once, fighting off that thought.
A dry sob escaped her when she'd finished, and she slumped against the tree trunk, her entire form quivering weakly. Jacob released her hair in favor of wrapping his arms around her waist and her shoulders, pulling her into him as he sank to the forest floor between the tree's roots.
Nessie curled into a tight ball in his lap, leaning into his chest, his arms and legs forming a protective wall around her, keeping all the rest of the world out. The forest was pitch black and silent around them; as far as Jacob could tell, no one was pursuing them. He held her tight against him, ignoring the sticky wetness of the blood drenching her clothes and hair, just glad to have her back. But she let out a quiet sob then, and he felt the hot tears against his skin, and his heart broke all over again.
"Shh, it's okay, honey," his whispered, resting his forehead on top of her hair, burying his nose in the auburn curls. "I won't let anything happen to you ever again, I swear… I'm so sorry…"
"I-It's not y-your fault," Nessie hiccupped, rubbing at her eyes with the back of one tiny hand before turning her face into his shoulder again.
Not his fault? How could she say that? "I should have-" he started vehemently, but then bit the words off before they could leave his mouth. He had let this happen, let them hurt and frighten her like this – but what else could he have done? Tried to stop it? Defied his king, his Alpha? Gone against all the wishes of his people?
The answer came to him fast and instinctual, something he didn't have to think about but knew as base fact: Yes!
Jacob closed his eyes, holding her a little tighter as he rocked them back and forth, wishing he could forget about Sam and the Pack and the blood and everything except Nessie's presence, her scent washing over him, the feel of her in his arms…
They stayed like that for a little while longer, until Ness began to shift uncomfortably. The blood was drying into her clothes, sticking to her skin and crackling softly as she moved.
"Ugh, I'm so- so filthy," she muttered, and Jake was sure he didn't imagine the quaver in her voice when she spoke. How she had managed to withstand the stink of so much blood around her all this time was beyond him, but he chalked it up to emotional exhaustion, her body's reactions pushed to the background as her mind simply couldn't take any more.
He started to stand, his mind made up, pulling Ness up with him as he climbed to his feet. "Come on," he said, "let's go get you out of those clothes."
He continued to carry her the rest of the way, despite Nessie's halfhearted assertions that she could walk on her own. He didn't think he could bear having her out of arm's reach after all that had happened tonight, and from the way she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, Jacob suspected that she felt the same. He took off northward again, knowing now where his instincts had previously directed him. He had only been concerned with getting away before, and he hadn't stopped to process where they should get to. The answer was obvious now, though.
The forest whipped past them in a dark blur as his feet pounded out the familiar route, and, before long, his family's ancestral home appeared up ahead. It rose out of the trees and hills, a huge, hollow rock outcropping, like a miniaturized version of the Summit where the Alpha ruled. He climbed up the worn path to the entrance, and Nessie peeked her eyes out when she felt his gait change.
"Where are we?" she asked quietly, pushing her hair out of her eyes as she looked around.
"My father's den," he answered, letting her down on her feet as they reached the mouth of the front hall. Nessie looked around the inside of the dark cavern, leaning into his side, and Jake wrapped an arm tight around her shoulders.
"You grew up here?" she asked as he guided her to the hallway that led down to the family living quarters in the hill below them.
He nodded, pausing at the doorway to pick up one of the cold torches hanging there. In the hollow behind its sconce, he found the small bit of flint that was kept with each torch for just this purpose. He struck a few sparks onto its head, and the flames spread quickly over it, sending light washing over the two of them. Nessie blinked rapidly in the sudden brightness, her eyes no doubt having grown accustomed to the night outside. He could see well enough in the dark with his sharpened Shifter senses, but he didn't want her to be scared or tripping over things when they descended into the pitch black inside the den.
"My father still lives here," he told her, pulling her against his side once more as they started down the winding tunnel into the hill. "Though from the look of things, he's either out or already asleep," he said, indicating all the unlit lights.
"He wouldn't have been… back there?" Nessie asked hesitantly, her voice little more than a whisper.
Back there. At the amphitheatre. In the crowd. Cheering for Sam to humiliate her, to hurt her. He squeezed her shoulders a little tighter.
"No," Jacob said, reassuring her. "He wouldn't. Billy might be a crotchety old man, but he's not like that. He would never do anything to hurt you."
Renesmee let out a breath. "Okay…"
Jake winced. He could imagine what she must be thinking. 'That's what you said about Sam.' He swallowed, holding her a little tighter. Nessie leaned into him and wrapped one arm around his waist as they walked.
The hallway opened up into the wide cavern that was the family's main living area in the heart of the hill. Jacob had spent many an evening studying here with his father or playing with his sisters as a child. He hadn't been here to visit Billy in weeks, but everything was just as it always was. The thick fur rug stretched out in front of the fireplace with its dirty chimney that his father could never get him to clean as a kid. The shelves of books lining the far wall, holding all of his dad's favorite texts, mostly historical accounts, tales from the ancient days.
"Come on," he said, leading her through the room to another short hallway. This one didn't travel further down though, but instead took them to a pair of simple wooden doors facing each other at the end of the corridor. "That's my sisters' old room," he said, nodding to the other door as he pushed open the nearest one. "And this is mine."
Billy hadn't moved anything, of course. He never did. It looked like he'd barely cleaned, either, if the weeks-old layer of dust on the furniture was anything to go by, but that didn't matter right now. "You can stay in here," he told Nessie softly, leading her into the center of the room. He released her reluctantly, moving to hang their one little torch in one of the rings on the wall, and when he turned back around, she was hugging herself, shivering and watching him with hooded eyes. The red blood on her clothes had begun to darken to brown, splattering across her form in great violent slashes. He swallowed, feeling his heart clench at the sight.
"Let me just… see if I can find you something clean to wear," he mumbled, and Nessie nodded numbly, not moving as he slipped out into the hallway, closing the door softly behind him.
He crossed to his sisters' room, praying that they had left some clothes behind, anything that Nessie could wear, anything to replace the ruined, blood-soaked gown she was in now. At first, it seemed he was going to come up empty handed, but what did he expect? They were both married, moved away, trying to start families of their own. Not like him, a bachelor, living mostly in his quarters at the Summit with the rest of the Pack, but always coming back to visit, crashing with Billy whenever the inclination hit him.
But then, finally, stuffed in the very back of Rebecca's old wardrobe was a small sack containing some of her old dresses and tunics from when she was a kid. She had probably outgrown them years ago, and so hadn't bothered taking them with her when she moved out to live with her husband, Ishmael, on the far western edge of the kingdom. They were definitely small, but they would probably fit Ness's tiny frame perfectly. He picked up the whole bag of them and made his way back out to the hall, closing up his sisters' room again behind him.
Jacob crossed the hall to his own quarters, opened the door, stepped inside – and froze.
Nessie was sitting on the edge of his bed with her knees drawn up to her chest. She had wrapped the topmost blanket from his bed around her shoulders and over her legs, hiding herself in its depths. If it hadn't been for the bare skin of her shoulders just barely peeking out, he wouldn't have even realized that she wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing under the blanket.
He glanced to the side, the metallic scent of the blood drawing his attention, and sure enough, there was the gown they'd dressed her in at the Summit, wadded up and thrown – with some force, it seemed – into the corner of the room.
"Sorry," Ness said quietly, staring down at her knees. She shivered and bit her lip, looking ashamed of herself. "I just… I couldn't stand it anymore… All that blood… I thought… I thought I was going to vomit again…"
"Oh, no, it's fine, honey," Jacob rushed to reassure her. He held up the little satchel from his sisters' room. "I found you some clean clothes to wear anyway," he said soothingly. "They're old ones of my sister's, but they should fit you."
Nessie nodded, but didn't make any move to stand.
Jake chewed the inside of his cheek, watching her. The smell of all that drying blood really was starting to irritate him… He could only imagine how it must be affecting her. He set the bag down on top of his chest of drawers against the nearest wall and then went to pick up the discarded dress. "I'm gonna go get rid of this, okay, Ness?" he asked gently, turning back to her.
She nodded again, not looking up. Jacob watched her for a moment longer, his chest beginning to ache, before turning and slipping out into the hallway.
He walked back out into the living room, not needing any light to navigate the familiar space, and tossed the ruined garment into the fireplace. He was reaching for the flint that Billy kept above it on the mantelpiece when two familiar scents reached him.
"You guys just walk in here uninvited now?" Jacob groused, turning around.
Quil and Embry emerged from the hallway at the far end of the room, their features indistinct in the deep blackness of the unilluminated den.
"I thought we were always invited," Embry returned. "Didn't realize that had changed."
Jake growled quietly, glancing back toward his room where Nessie waited before striding across the empty space to them. "What the hell do you want?" he growled, stopped a few feet from them.
"Hey man, we're just trying help," Quil replied defensively, frowning at him.
Jacob scowled. "Oh yeah, you've helped so much. Especially that time when you tried to stop me from getting to Nessie while Sam was torturing her!"
"What do you think would have happened if we hadn't stopped you?" Embry snapped, bristling at his tone.
"I could have-"
"Could have what?" Embry demanded, leaning forward belligerently. "Pissed Sam off even more than he is now? Is that your grand plan?"
"Sam can go-" Jake started, snarling ferociously, but then clamped his mouth shut as he realized what he'd been about to say. The words were treason, mutiny. "I could have spared her at least some pain," he ground out instead, stubborn.
"I doubt it," Quil said, folding his arms. "Sam looked like he was about to blow his top when you took off with her. As it is, things are probably gonna get worse for her before they get better. Unless…"
"Unless what?" Jake asked, his eyes narrowing at his friend. He felt his hackles rise when Quil and Embry exchanged a glance before looking back at him.
"Well," Quil said, "unless you imprinted on her."
The words hit him like a punch in the gut. He spluttered, trying to think. "How- What- Where did you get that idea?" How did they know? How had they guessed?
"Are you saying you didn't?" Quil asked.
"'Cause then I guess we should just take her back to Sam," Embry added. "I mean, if you don't care about her-"
"No!" Jacob snarled, then caught himself, surprised at his own vehemence. Quil and Embry both blinked at him, shocked.
"So you have," Embry said quietly.
"You imprinted," Quil finished, sounding slightly awed.
Jacob shook his head. "It's not like that…"
"Not like that?" Quil repeated, his eyes widening. "Jake, this is huge! I mean, come on, you're the history nerd, you should know better than anyone what this means-"
"It doesn't mean anything," Jacob hissed, cutting him off. He glared at them each for a moment, then took a deep breath, forcing himself to relax. "Look, Nessie's waiting for me. I don't want to leave her alone for too long."
They nodded, and he turned to go. "Is she okay?" Embry asked suddenly from behind him, his voice soft.
Jake stopped in front of the fireplace, not looking back at his friends. "She's pretty shaken up. Scared out of her wits. But yeah. I think she'll be okay." He found the flint on top of the mantelpiece and scratched a few sparks onto the wad of blood-stained fabric waiting there. Flames began to eat through the cloth after a few seconds, casting a dim, flickering light over the room as the fire spread.
"You guys know where the guest rooms are," Jake said, finally looking back at them as the garment began to smolder. "I'm sure Billy will be glad to see you tomorrow morning."
They nodded, Quil giving him a lopsided grin and waving one hand as he turned to go. Embry held Jake's gaze for a moment longer. "Tomorrow morning then," he said finally, and followed Quil away down the corridor.
Jake let out a breath when they were gone, looking back down at the fireplace and what was left of the dress. The fire would burn itself out in a few more minutes. Satisfied, he pushed away from the mantel and padded the short distance back to his room and Nessie.
The room was silent but for the quiet flickering of the torch still hanging on the wall and Nessie's soft breathing. She was curled up on her side, still wrapped in the blanket from before, sound asleep. The clothes he had brought her still sat in their bag on top of his dresser, untouched.
Sighing quietly, he moved over to the side of the bed, gently pulling the rest of the blankets out and laying them over her, tucking them right up to her chin. He leaned over to brush her hair back from her face, and Nessie murmured something in her sleep, turning into his touch as one small hand slid out from under the covers to grasp at his fingers.
Jacob let his hand close around hers, suddenly awestruck as he drank in the sight of the beautiful, perfect creature before him. Carefully, he lowered himself onto the bed, settling on top of the blankets a few inches away from her. She stirred slightly at the shift in weight on the mattress, mumbling again, and Jacob could have sworn he heard his name somewhere in there. His heart swelled, and he could literally feel the connection running between them. His skin hummed and tingled where it touched hers, everything in him responding to the presence of the glorious, precious, magnificent being beside him.
The imprinting he'd been trying so hard to deny was like a tangible presence in the room, a steel cable binding them together, joining his heart to hers forever. He would do anything to keep her safe, from harm and from sorrow, from the sort of pain she had had to endure today. He had failed her, on so many levels, but he would see to it that that never, ever happened again. He would do whatever he had to, the Alpha's wishes be damned.
No one was going to take her from him again. No one.
AN: I have a feeling that you guys like Sam even less after this chapter. Just a guess.
Again, I would like to emphasize that no animals were actually harmed in the making on this fic. Noble is quite happily eating carrots backstage as we speak. No, he's not available for autographs right now. Sorry.
Please review! I am anxiously awaiting any and all feedback! Thanks for reading! :D