Another Eclipse
Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use.
Author's Note: This story is a continuation of my other story "New Moon Rewound," which envisions the Twilight Saga as if the original New Moon was only a nightmare.
Sorry for the delay in updates. I have been very busy with the beginning of the school year. I will do my best to update once a week, but it won't always work. All that I can do is promise that I won't be giving up on the story.
Chapter 12: Condemnation
I loved the look on Bella's face when I told her that I would keep her secret.She looked completely shocked that I had known anything about it, although considering her closeness to Edward she must have known everything about the secrets at La Push. But just as Bella sucks at lying, she is pretty bad at concealing her emotions with any kind of poker face.
But I was also careful to include the point of expecting her to keep my secret just as I kept hers. If I ever let on to her dad that Edward was spending lots of time upstairs in her bedroom, I would be toast. Charlie might laugh at me if I told him that the Cullens were vampires, but he wouldn't be at all reluctant to believe that Edward and Bella were sleeping together.
Since they are engaged, he probably thinks so already. But there is a big different between thinking so and knowing so. I have read Harry's suspicions regarding Sam and Leah in Sam's mind. He would have been a lot better off, if he hadn't insisted that Sam tell him the truth. In one of his arguments over Sam's change of heart with Sue, she had thrown it up in his face.
He had believed her but didn't want to know it. And while he suspected the reason that Sam dumped his daughter, it had never been stated. This happened before the accident that destroyed Emily's face. Leah was still hurt and angered because she had just learned of Sam's infatuation.
She told told Sue and Sue told Harry. Harry hadn't really taken Sam and Leah's relationship very seriously. He thought that he would be a great husband for her, but he figured that that were so young that they would move on before things ever got that serious. And since Sam had left high school, Harry just figured that he had "outgrown" her. But Leah had shared everything with her mother, so Sue knew every promise that he was breaking to her when he split up with her.
Not knowing anything about the wolves of course, she drew the only conclusion possible. Sam had been using Leah until something better had come along in the form of her cousin Emily. They were both exceptionally beautiful girls, but complete opposites when it came to personality.
Leah was a little spitfire. She was full of life and energy. She had a very deep passion for Sam, which she never withheld from him. But it was underpinned by very genuine feelings of love. She completely believed that they would get engaged when she graduated, and then married.
This same passionate nature meant that when the natural physical attraction that happens between men and women occurred between them, Leah had no problems with following Sam's lead. Sam, though he had always considered himself a very moral person, quickly surrendered to his own desires because he truly believed that they were going to be married in the future.
But seeing Emily changed all that for him. The power of the imprint, over which he had no control, was too forceful. The minute he saw Emily, his whole mind was totally obsessed with her. He was hers and his former girlfriend became, "Leah who?"
Harry assumed there was an imprint (as did the whole council) with Emily that accounted for his change of heart, but not the probable sexual relationship between him and Leah. In the end, he couldn't resist confronting his former, potential son-in-law about the past and present.
"I just don't understand it, Sam," he had said, shaking his head. "You and Leah have been so close for over three years. One minute you're about to ask her to marry you, and the next you're ignoring her and paying all this attention to Emily."
"Sorry, Harry," Sam had replied guiltily. "But I imprinted on Emily. You know that I have no control over that. I love Leah, but Emily is the one that I need and want. Every time she rejects me, it hurts like hell."
"Well, every time she thinks of you, and I don't think that she ever stops," Harry had answered. "Leah hurts like hell. You have no idea of how much you've broken her heart."
"I probably don't," he had admitted. "But I can't really think about that. All I can think about is Emily. She won't have anything to do with me. No matter how many times, I tell her, she always throws Leah up in my face. She doesn't seem to realize that I don't feel that way about Leah anymore. It's killing me."
The look on Harry's face when he said that was furious.
"You talk about my daughter like she's an old pair of shoes that you can just throw away when a nicer pair comes along," he answers. "Sue told me that you robbed my daughter of her virtue. What do you have to say about that?"
Sam is real lucky that he's still alive after he answered that one. Having seen the conversation in his mind several times, I still can't believe how he was so totally insensitive to Leah's feelings at this time. In fact, he didn't even feel an ounce of regret until he was engaged to Emily. But after the imprint, winning over Emily was all that mattered.
"I didn't rob Leah of anything," Sam answered, pretty stupidly in my mind considering that he was talking to her father. "She was perfectly willing. But things changed the minute that I imprinted. And you know as well as I do that I can't change that."
"I know," replied Harry, after staring at him in silence, shock, and awe for several minutes. "But you have to understand that this is my daughter that we're talking about here. If you've knocked her up, you're going to 'unimprint' from Emily as fast as you can and take Leah to the nearest courthouse."
Sam's feelings were in turmoil, and now he stood staring at Harry in Silence, shock, and awe for several minutes.
"Oh, my God!" he finally whispered. "If that happened then Emily will never love me."
At this moment, Harry looked completely defeated and walked away. I have tried to figure out the timeline, but I think that it was shortly after that when he started to show some of his poor health symptoms. His health went downhill for a few months. I'm not sure if he ever talked about it to his family again, but he has always been cordial to Sam and Emily.
As a council member, he has no choice. Sam is the Alpha and he has to support him. And unlike Sam, Billy, and Old Quil (not to mention Quil and me), Harry does not have a direct bloodline back to the last three wolves. In these kinds of tribal matters, personal feelings don't matter. So, when Sam finally managed to win Emily's love after he almost killed her, Harry had no choice but to congratulate him with everyone else.
This increased his tension with his wife and children, and now whenever he sees Sam, he looks extremely uncomfortable. There is a part of me that is glad that Sam now feels guilty every time that he looks at Harry or Leah. But when they are not around, his thoughts are all about Emily.
Meanwhile, poor Harry has to live with Sue and Leah and can't even tell them that there is a "rational-irrational" reason why Sam just dropped Leah like that. Neither of them can know about the wolves. But I'm not sure if how much good it would do either of them to know. Something tells me that it would be cold comfort for Leah to find out that the split was truly not about her.
I mean, I've pretty much figured out that Bella preferring Edward has nothing to do with me. But Bella was never my girlfriend. She was just this kind of "ideal girl" that didn't look twice at me except as a younger brother. But man! Leah had a really good reason to think that she and Sam were going to get married someday. Sam had even told her that many times.
So I figure that it's just as well that I never fell in a love with a girl who could really love me back. I think that I'm not going to be attracted to anyone unless I imprint. That's the only logical way that I can think about it. So I guess I'm lucky that Bella never really liked me like that. I looked at her real hard the minute I first saw, but nothing happened. She was just another person walking into Harry's house. I'm glad now.
We can still be friends like we used to be, but she doesn't have to worry about hurting my feelings. I know that she had been purposely dropping hints about that, but I refused to pay attention. And what if I had convinced her to love me before I knew about the wolf thing? The thought of two girls like Leah running around Forks is just awful! No girl deserves that. Bella is never going to know how lucky she was.
So I guess that it's kind of ironic that Bella is going to be the one to help set Leah free. I'm sure that she knows all the about the Sam thing. Sue told her and I'm willing to bet that Leah told her too. Bella is just one of those great listeners that makes you want to tell her your problems. And she's such a nice person that she wants to help you fix them.
I'm glad that she doesn't know about all the imprinting stuff. And it's a damn good thing that the Cullens don't either. If they did, they would probably be laughing their asses off at us. It's not only a wolf thing. It's just such an animal thing. You don't have any will of your own, you just kind of find your "mate." And no matter how much you like another girl, once the mate comes along . . . Bam! It hits you.
After I drop off Leah at Harry's, I go back to my own house.
"So," Billy says as I walk in. "How's Charlie?"
"He's not bad," I reply. "But we didn't talk too much except about the game. The Giants creamed us."
"That's no big surprise since they won the Super Bowl last year," Billy replies.
"The regular season is over now," I remark. "At least Charlie still has basketball to keep him busy."
"At least," Billy answers. "Did you see Bella?"
"Only for a little while," I say carefully. "She spent all of her time with Leah looking at colleges. She sent Leah home with a bunch of papers for her to fill out."
"That's good," Billy says. "It's about time we got that little bitch out of La Push so that she can't hurt Sam anymore."
"Well, it's not like Sam never hurt her," I answer, pissed off again by his lack of sympathy.
"Look, it's not Sam's fault he imprinted on her cousin," he says. "She just needs to get over it."
"Well, in case you've forgotten," I say sarcastically. "Leah doesn't know anything about imprinting. All she knows is that the guy who promised that he would marry her and got her to sleep with him dumps her out of nowhere and with no kind of explanation for her cousin and former best friend. It's Sam that needs to let go."
"Sam is a good man," Billy says. "The imprinting was nothing against Leah. She just wasn't meant to be his mate."
"I know that better than you do," I reply. "I can read his mind. Remember? How would you feel if it was Rachel or Rebecca who got dumped?"
That shuts him up for a full minute.
"I would give either of them the same advice that Harry gave Leah," he finally says. "She needs to give him up. That's just the way it is."
"Well, I'm just glad that I don't have a girlfriend," I observe. "If I did, I would break up with her gently so that she wouldn't be hurt if I imprinted."
"What makes you think that you wouldn't imprint like Jared did?" he asks.
"Jared was lucky," I reply. "And so am I. If I imprinted on my girlfriend, I would know it the minute I first saw her. And if I didn't, I would make sure that she didn't end up like Leah. You have a lot of nerve feeling sorry for Sam. Trust me, when he's with Emily he has absolutely no regrets about Leah. He's all about Emily.
"I feel sorry for Leah. And I hope that she gets away from La Push for her own sake, not Sam's. Sam may be my pack leader and get my total respect and allegiance when it comes to the pack, but when it comes to his personal life, I think he's a jerk."
"What about you and Bella?" he asks. "I thought that you were sweet on her."
"Now that I know she's not my imprint," I reply. "I'm not going to be anything more than a friend. I'm glad that she never noticed me like that and she always thought that I was a kid. I'm glad that I'm not going to break her heart the way that Sam broke Leah's."
"You make it sound like it's all Sam's fault," Billy says defensively.
"Well, it's not Leah's fault," I retort as I begin to get angry. "What is she? Don't her feelings count? Or is she just some sacrifice to be laid on the altar of Quileute mythology?"
"Where the hell did you learn to talk like that?" he sneers.
"In school," I reply. "I can read. I'm not the bonehead that everyone thinks I am."
"That's not what I mean and you know it," he says. "How dare you disrespect our tribe's history and call it mythology?"
"Yeah, right," I mutter. "I've got to go relieve Quil on guard duty. He took my shift so that I could drive Leah over."
"Does he feel the same way about the Sam and Leah situation that you do?" Billy asks suspiciously.
"Not quite," I say. "He's too new to it all. Embry goes along with me, but it was Paul who started it after Jared imprinted. The three of us figure that since none of us have girls, we're going to keep it that way until we stop phasing."
Billy looks shocked.
"You could be an old man," he says. "What if you don't imprint?" Don't you understand that it's your duty to marry and have sons?"
"You haven't been listening to a word I've said," I say in disgust. "No more Leahs!"
I run out of the house, kicking off my shoes and clothes the minute I'm out the backdoor. I grab my jeans and tie them at the ankle. If I have to listen to another word he says, I'm going to puke. When I phase, I join up my mind with Quil and Embry's. I am grateful that I don't have to listen to Sam's thoughts and I do my best to focus on the game I just saw rather than my argument with Billy.
Embry is learning to conceal his thoughts when he's phased, but Quil hasn't learned yet. And it's not like I care about hurting Sam's feelings. No. I would rather he not know how supportive Billy is of him. I am now taking a kind of perverse pleasure in watching him suffer over Leah's misery. If she has to suffer, then so should he.
"Hey, man! What's it going to be for Leah? Harvard or Yale?"
"Shut up, Quil! Like you know anything about it. Bella told her that she can probably find a good school in Washington or Oregon. Leah is actually almost happy about it. I think she might even have smiled today."
"Really? That's great! The only shot that she has of being happy is out La Push. Maybe she'll meet some nice guy at college that will make her forget all about that jerk Sam."
"C'mon Embry. He's our Alpha. You can't talk about him like that."
"Very true, but if you think of this conversation when he can hear you, I bet he would agree with you. He deserves every bit of guilt he feels."
"Okay, you two. That's enough. Quil, why don't you go home and do your homework or something else useful?"
"No problem! My Mom is going to kick my ass if I come home with any more Ds. Even my grandpa can't talk her down when she gets going. It really sucks that you can't tell your family about this whole thing."
Embry and I wait in silence until we can hear Quil's mind leave us. Both of us breathe a mental sigh of relief. Once upon a time, Quil's whole nice guy thing was great. But he's been so psyched about becoming a wolf that he has been following us all around like a puppy. Now he totally idolizes Sam.
"Is she really doing better, bro?"
"That's how it seemed when I dropped her off at Harry's. She had a great afternoon with Bella. She did her share of complaining and then counseled Bella about her love life. Pretty ironic, huh? Especially when you consider which one has the fiancé. But Bella was great with her. She must have found her twenty schools that could be a good fit, whatever that means."
"It sounds like a suit or something. It's great to see that you have given up on Bella."
"She's not my imprint. So what's the point? But now that I've the time to think about it, if either Dad or Sam are right about why we imprint, there's no way that any of us could imprint on her."
"I see what you mean. A scrawny, little white girl certainly wouldn't be a good breeder for the pack. We might as well let the bloodsuckers have her."
"Even though I've said the same thing myself, the whole breeding and mating thing does start to sound pretty awful after awhile. I just don't get why Sam didn't imprint on Leah. Except for my sisters, she's got the best bloodlines of any female in the tribe."
"You should be glad that they're out of it. It's too bad that you can't warn them to stay away from La Push. It would really suck if someone like, I don't know, Paul imprinted on her."
"Don't even think about it."
We run the boundary towards the south for awhile, both of us running different pack things through our minds. Suddenly, I stop short.
"No way!"
"Way, Jake! It's really weird the way that you can be so critical of Sam and not feel any guilt about it. Paul and I feel bad about it all the time. He's still our pack leader. I know that he's treated Leah like crap, but it's impossible not to like Emily and to be happy for the both of them."
"I really never thought that you liked her for anything besides her cooking."
"You used to like her cooking and her. But lately, it's like you've almost started to think for yourself. You know. Sometimes you really start second guessing Sam even."
"Only about the way he treats Leah. I have never once challenged his decisions for the pack."
"You've thought about it. I've seen how you've thought that everyone is making a big deal over the Cullens for nothing. And you're pissed at him for taking credit for our kill."
"So are you. But I'm getting real sick of running around in circles all weekend. I'm not even sure of what I'm protecting the tribe from anymore. And my Dad is acting like a complete idiot most of the time. Trust me. It sucks more when your family is in on the big wolf secret. Especially when he is the ceremonial Chief of the Council of Elders that we agreed not to have decades ago."
"Billy only wants what's best for you."
"What's best for me is to get away from La Push too."
"No it's not, and you know it. I'm no fan of running around in circles either, but we have a responsibility and we have to uphold it. Maybe when the Cullens leave, life will be normal again."
"Dream on if you think that life will ever be normal for us again. You know how hard it is to totally control your temper so that you never phase any more. It's going to be years before any of us can do it. And what happens in the meantime? Do we all end up being owned by one of our tribal breeders with good bloodlines?"
"Jared seems pretty happy with his imprint."
"Jared didn't have to behave like some scumbag to latch onto her. He was lucky that she had a secret crush on him all these years. And he was lucky because he didn't love anyone else."
"Well, we won't be breaking any hearts. By the way, have you noticed how big little Seth is growing?"
"Big enough that it's kind of silly to call him little Seth anymore. He's lucky that he has Harry to run interference for him with Sue. I'm not sure of why we need him to phase. We already outnumber them. What's the big deal?"
"Who knows? Is there anything the least bit logical about all of this? If you had told me a year ago that we would be running around in the woods every weekend, I would have said you were crazy. But here we are, running around in the form of wolves like all those ridiculous tribal legends. Who knew they were true?"
"Only the guys that told us I guess. But Dad and Old Quil did see the last wolves phase once or twice so that they would understand if they phased after they died. Every time Billy starts complaining about never being a wolf, I want to offer to trade places with him. And he never lets up about the whole Alpha thing."
"Maybe that's why."
"Maybe that's why what?"
"Maybe that's why you can disagree with Sam without feeling guilty. Maybe you have the power inside of you to be the Alpha. I know why you didn't take it when you first phased, but don't you see? You're the second strongest wolf. In fact you might even be stronger even if he is a little bigger. You're his Beta wolf. And your Beta orders are as strong as his Alpha orders."
"So maybe the Betas always had that power. If there were never any more than three wolves, who would the Beta give orders to? The one other guy? Maybe when the packs were bigger, the Betas could give orders like Alphas. Maybe they forgot."
"Yeah, right. Those old stories don't forget anything worth knowing."
"They forgot the name of the third wife."
"They didn't forget it. They just didn't want to remember it. The story sounds a lot better if it's about the Third Wife rather than Running Deer, or some other stupid ass name. That could be any old woman. But the Third Wife has this kind of mystical, magical ring to it."
"If you say so. But I still don't see the point in being Alpha. I still have to go to school everyday for crying out loud. And I'm only a sophomore."
"Okay, good point. But someday, you should be Alpha."
"By the time I'm old enough, the Cullens will be long gone and maybe we won't have to phase anymore."
Embry doesn't have any thoughts about that idea. We run for the next few hours in silence, grateful that there are no problems to speak of. Around eleven, Paul and Jared's voices pop into our heads.
"Time to hit the hay, boys! I hope you've done all your homework."
"Go to hell, Paul."
We both think it together, but neither one of us is really pissed. As soon as we're close enough to town to phase back, we turn human and don't have to listen to Paul razzing us, and Jared's memories of his time with Kim anymore. Embry and I look at each other and sigh in relief.
"If I ever imprint, remind me how much it sucks to replay your love life for your brothers," he remarks.
"No problem," I reply. "Did you do all your homework?"
He laughs.
"I never did it before I phased, why start now?" he asks. "Sam told me once that he'd lay an Alpha order on me if I didn't start, but I told him that it wasn't his business. Doing my homework won't make me a better wolf."
"That's true," I say. "But it will give you a shot at something better."
"Leah's college thing must be rubbing off on you," he replies. "When I finish school, I'm going to help Mom in the store. Then she's going to pass it along to me. She's counting on me sticking by her and I am."
"You're a better son than I am," I say, shaking my head.
"I think that it's different with my Mom and me," he says. "It's just the two of us. It always has been. She's done a lot for me, sacrificed a lot. She told me that when I get married I can bring my wife home and we'll manage on what we make in the store. She'll even take care of the grandkids for it. I kind of like it when she talks like that. It makes me feel normal, like any other guy."
"Yeah, right," I say rolling my eyes. "Like some girl is going to want to live with your Mom."
"Well, if I imprint then she won't have a choice," he grins.
"No, idiot," I answer rolling my eyes. "That's not the way it works. If you imprint, you won't have a choice. Remember? It's all about her, not you. If she wants her own house, she gets it, just like Emily."
"You're right," he admits. "Emily didn't want to live with Sam's Mom so he got her a house."
"And that was fine with Sam's Mom," I say. "She was pissed at him for dropping Leah. And she's even more pissed because of the way he worships Emily. She really counted on him after his Dad ran off. But now, it's all about Emily. If it's been bad for Leah, it's been almost as bad foe his Mom. That's just the way it is."
"Crap!" he says. "I never thought of that. Poor Mom! If I imprint, it's really going to suck. And she won't even know why I abandoned her."
"Just like Sam's Mom," I agree. "But at least she has other kids. This whole imprint thing sounds great in theory. And I guess when there wasn't any divorce it wasn't so bad for the families. But things are much different today."
"Yeah," he says thoughtfully when we reach the store. "See you tomorrow, bro."
I sigh again as I continue on to my own house. Billy is waiting for me when I get home.
"Did you think about what I said before?" he asks.
"No," I say. "Embry and I were on patrol. We had to stay focused on the line. No problems though. We didn't catch any scents but the Cullens. It looks like they keep running their own perimeter too. We can't be too careful."
"Just as long as they stay on their side of the line," he grumbles.
"They always stay on their side of the line," I answer.
"I was hoping that you were developing a greater respect for our histories," he says, getting back to our argument from before my patrol. "But I guess that I'm out of luck."
"Totally," I reply. "Why don't you get Sam to lay an Alpha order on me?"
I go off to my room and slam the door. I know that I'm going to catch hell for that tomorrow. Every time I mention the whole Alpha thing, he gets pissed. I know that I should have more sympathy for him. He doesn't really have anything else to do all day but sit in his wheelchair and think about all the past tribal glory. After the girls left home, I think that he figured that he would always have me. I'm just about ready for bed when Billy walks in without knocking.
"Sam's here to see you," he announces.
"Crap!" I exclaim. "I was joking, okay? Being sarcastic. I didn't mean for you to ask him to lay down an Alpha order."
"This isn't about an Alpha order," he smirks. "It's about respecting your Alpha."
"You suck," I mutter as I walk by.
Sam is standing there in the living room, looking pissed at me.
"Should we take this outside so that we don't break the furniture?" I ask.
"No," he says stiffly. "Let's go outside for some privacy."
Like hell for "some privacy." There's no privacy with the pack mind. As soon as either one of us phases the others will know. But that's probably not what he means. It probably sucked for him to be called away from Emily so that he could chew me out. We walk out the door and all the way to the beach. Then Sam turns and folds his arms across his chest. I can tell that he's trying to look like some kind of authority figure, but he just looks defensive.
"So I understand that you took Leah to Bella's house this afternoon," he says.
"It's none of your business," I reply.
"The safety of every member of the tribe is my business," he answers.
"Really?" I ask. "Like Bella's going to hurt her, or Charlie. Look, I was downstairs the whole time, not that Leah can't take care of herself. Besides, are you going to help Leah find a college?"
"Leah doesn't need to find a college," he answers. "She can stay home and go to college, or go to one of the WSU schools."
"That's Leah's business not yours," I say. "Sue is one hundred percent behind Leah getting away from La Push and building a new life away from the reservation. Remember? You destroyed her old life."
"I didn't have a choice," he replies.
"Fine," I say. "We can both agree on that. You didn't have a choice and neither did she. I know how much begging and pleading she did when you told her. She never had a chance. But now she had both a choice and a chance at a life. Don't screw it up for her."
"Emily feels terrible that she wants to leaves her home and family," he replies.
"And Emily know how you didn't have a choice," I say. "And she knows that she never stood a chance holding out against you for Leah's sake. But this isn't about Emily. It's about Leah. Emily has you to comfort her when she feels terrible. Leah doesn't."
"You shouldn't have interfered," he says.
"If I hadn't," I answer reasonably. "Sue would have drive her over. I just figured that Leah would be safer if she had a wolf to guard her while she was there. Do you have a problem with that?"
I can tell that he's really uncomfortable with my defiance, but I don't care. This isn't about the pack at all. It's about me helping Leah to have something better than she has now. He's entitled to marry any girl he wants. But Leah's entitled to a real life.
"That's not what I was talking about," he says. "Why did you convince her to drop out if the wedding party? That was none of your business."
"I didn't convince her about anything," I say. "You know Leah better than I do. She makes up her own mind about things. I listened to her problems and offered her some advice. And you might as well know that Sue was totally on her side."
"I do know," he answers grimly. "Sue is becoming a real problem. That's what happens when women start to gain too much power."
"That's rich!" I answer sarcastically. "Coming from a guy who is totally in the power of his woman. Just leave the Clearwaters alone, okay? Harry still isn't doing so great and Sue is pretty worried about him as well as Leah. What the hell is Emily's problem that she wants to twist the knife that she's stuck inside of her cousin's back."
"Emily didn't do anything," he answers defensively. "It was all me. In fact if she didn't care so much about Leah then I wouldn't have scarred her face. She only wants Leah to accept our marriage and forgive her. She feels that if Leah is in the wedding party that it will prove to everyone who doesn't know about the imprint that she didn't steal me away from her."
I think about it for a minute. Most of the folks in the tribe who don't know about the imprint are polite to Emily, but not really friendly. But she isn't lonely because she has Sam and the pack. I suppose that it's human nature to want people to like you and put your own feelings first. But I still feel worse for Leah than I do for her.
"Well," I finally say. "I understand why you are putting Emily's feelings above Leah's, but I think that you and Emily should both respect Leah's feelings enough to not force her to watch you guys get married. It's cruel. And if I to do it again, I'd still tell that she shouldn't be in the wedding unless she wants to. Just let it go, Sam. Everyone keeps telling Leah to let it go. She can't unless you do."
I know that Sam is getting angry by the way that he is starting to tremble. He doesn't like to have his words challenged. And I know he's pissed because I'm insinuating that he's hurting one of the tribe's members that he is sworn to protect. Having Leah around is a reminder that he isn't the perfect protector that he thinks he is.
But he can't let go of it until he knows that she is happy again. Like she ever can be happy again living at La Push! But Sam is a proud man and he won't give up easily. Maybe he would if Emily would give up on it. But I just don't know Emily well enough to figure out what she's about. Nobody knows her. She grew up on the Makah Rez. And now, she's just this sweet, kind person who takes great care of the pack.
Maybe Emily has the same problem that Sam does. Maybe she can't accept Leah's right to be angry and free of them because as long as she's around she makes Emily look like something less than the perfect, little wolf imprint that she wants to be.
But I can't buy into that. I can't buy into Leah sucking up to their demands so that everyone thinks they're perfect. They're not perfect. Nobody is. And I may be just some kind of dumb ass grease monkey, but I understood some of those tragedies we read in English. They always came down to some arrogant son of a bitch thinking that he was so perfect. He couldn't make a mistake. And the he always hurt the ones he loved the most.
"Jacob," he finally says. "I'm going to give you am Alpha order to stay away from Leah from now on. I want you to phase."
"Well that's the stupidest Alpha order that I ever heard of," I reply insolently. "What does it have to do with the pack or the safety of the tribe?"
"Your actions are divisive," he says. "You are encouraging Leah to create a split within the pack and the tribe because of her jealousy of Emily."
"Leah doesn't give a crap about the tribe," I reply. "And she doesn't know squat about the pack. Besides, Leah doesn't need me to influence her one way or the other. But she does need a friend. And you can dictate a lot of things in my life, but you can't dictate my friends. I'm not phasing. I'm going home so that I can go to bed and get some sleep. I have a math test tomorrow."
I turn on my heel and stalk off. I know that I am leaving Sam behind with his mouth open, but it don't care. Me divide the pack? Hah! His buddy Paul did that when he swore off girls until he imprinted. Without saying a word about it, it was a total condemnation of what Sam did to Leah when he imprinted on Emily.
It is a sacred rule that no wolf can kill another wolf's imprint, but no one wants to kill Emily. In fact, no one is doing anything to Emily at all. None of what we are doing has anything to do with Sam and Emily at all. And if they feel judged because of it, well tough. That's their problem.
But my problem right now is Billy. I know that he is waiting for me at home so that I can tell him that I am blindly following Sam's lead. He can wait until hell freezes over for that announcement. As I walk in the house, I look at him defiantly but go straight to my room. As I pass him, I can see him staying to hide some kind if smirk on his face. What the hell is the old man up to now?
