A/N: Wow! I am really late with this. I am so sorry for those of you have been waiting for this. I have been getting so many faves and alerts. Everything's been going wrong. My Grandma's been diagnosed with cancer, my mom fractured her skull and all through this, I've had homework and school. However, I managed to get this out. I know a lot of you have been waiting for the next chapter and so, here it is. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I still don't own twilight. Stephenie Meyer does.
Somehow, every thing's is gonna to fall right into place.
If we only had a way to make it all fall faster everyday.
If only time flew like a dove.
Well God, make it fly faster than I'm falling in love."Hallelujah" ~ Paramore
Luna's POV
One of my favorite smells in the world is the smell of the ocean. First Beach had become one of my all-time favorite places so, going there for a bonfire sounded like a good time, even if Sam Uley was there. I was heading over early with Jacob and Seth, anticipating the feel of sand under my feet. Hopping smoothly over the logs that lined First Beach, I hit the grainy material and sighed happily. I giggled to myself and went to the water's edge, allowing myself to sink with each wave that lapped up to my ankles. At least, for one evening, I wouldn't have to worry about Jerome or Rafael. I mean, I'd already informed the others about the Cold Scout, letting everyone know we had time before the real attack came. Might as well relax.
Glancing back, I saw Seth and Jacob making their way over the logs as well, talking about something unimportant. I turned to look down the beach, searching for the sight of tall guys and a bonfire in the making. Bingo.
Not far down the beach, I spotted Sam Uley talking to Paul, Jared and Emily. There were others, too. Billy, Sue and Old Quil were sitting around with a few girls and then, I saw the young wolves Leah had mentioned. Whoa. There were a lot of them, the oldest of the two looking Seth's and my age. Rafael's pack was incredibly small to the La Push pack and there are few reasons for that. In my old pack, there were only two reasons for that. Strong blood with automatic gene activation or bloodsuckers in the area, activating it with their presence were probably the only two. I hopped over to Jacob.
"How many vampires were here during the thing with Renesmee?" I asked.
"Twenty four, if you don't include the Cullens, the Volturi and Irina, who died," he answered. "Forty nine, if you do include them and Renesmee."
"Damn," I breathed. Forty-nine vampires.
"Was there a reason you asked?" Jacob had his hands in his pockets and looked at me, one eyebrow raised.
"Maybe," I shrugged and began walking in swirling patterns around him, creating a cool design within the sand. He merely rolled his eyes and stood there.
Like us, the Quileute's Wolf gene kicked in with vampires in the area. There had been a shocking amount and so, boom, bring on the new baby wolves. It had been about four years since the Volturi Incident so, they were a lot older now, but given the time line, they were just kids at that point. I couldn't imagine the level of fear all of them would have held.
"There's Embry and Quil, let's go and get this over with," Jacob said.
Sure enough, Embry and Quil were climbing over the logs. Noah and Leah would come later so, it was just us for now. I think we were all uncomfortable for a couple of reasons. One, Sam's pack did not approve of the Cullens still and according to Jacob, they would frequently harp on him and the others about that. The second thing was that we were all expecting a lot of tenseness when Sam met Noah Montoya.
"Look who's here," Paul noticed us first, his arm around a woman who reminded me a lot of Jacob. Leah did mention how Paul imprinted on Jake's older sister, Rachel, and that Jacob, who disliked Paul greatly, hated that. Poor Jakers.
"Hey," Jacob greeted and took a seat by a log. I sat next to him tiredly and gave Sue, Billy and Old Quil a smile. However, my attention was taken elsewhere fast.
Several pairs of eyes were locked on me and a chill ran up my spine, the hairs on the back of my neck on end. I turned to all the new wolves and found them all staring at me intensely. The way they looked at me was hard, focused...like they were waiting for something to happen and I did not like it one bit. It wasn't as if they could stare at me and I would suddenly sprout horns or something. One even scooted a little closer, as if it would help him reach some unseen goal. I looked over at Sam, who was watching his wolves, but he seemed disappointed. I nudged Jacob anxiously.
"Dude, why are they all staring at me like that?" I whispered at a level only he could hear.
"How should I know?" he shrugged, putting ketchup on a hotdog. "They aren't my wolves."
"Well, it's freakin' me out," I complained. Seriously. People staring at me for no particular reason...not cool. What if Jacob wrote on my forehead while I took a nap today? What if my first zit, since I phased, had popped up and it was a total giant? Holy crap! Why didn't anyone tell me?
"Maybe they think they'll imprint," Embry suggested and I whirled to him.
"What do you mean?" I demanded.
"He means Sam," Quil explained, stuffing a handful of chips into his mouth. "Earlier, he was talking with the Council about you. He was expecting one of his wolves to imprint on you and rejoin Jake's pack to his in some weird union."
"What?" I hissed. Union? Even if one of them did imprint, it wasn't even remotely possible that I would accept. Though it may sound cruel, I would have outright rejected the imprinter and gone on my merry way, not giving the guy a second thought. I believe I have mentioned it several times before about how much I hate imprinting.
"Calm down," Jacob told me. "Obviously, nothing happened."
"Creeper," I glared at Sam, who blinked back in surprise, completely oblivious to the little conversation our little pack was having. He shook it off and looked at Jacob, who was chowing down on one hotdog, with a second already waiting for digestion in his other hand.
"Where's Leah?" Sam inquired.
"She's coming," Jacob shrugged. "She and Noah will be here soon enough. I'm sorry, guys. I forgot to introduce you. For those of you who haven't met her, this is Luna."
"It's nice to meet you, Luna," the shy girl beside Jared spoke. "I'm Kim."
"Pleasure," I smiled sweetly at her. At least, she seemed nice. Emily did, too, but as nice as Emily was, that didn't change the fact that she chose to take Sam. Without warning, Kim began asking me where I was from and how I met Leah. I happily obliged her, hoping to make friendly with someone that wasn't staring at me and trying to imprint. It would be a tad bit weird if Kim was trying that.
So, while talking to them, I motioned with my hands, easily stealing Jacob's hotdog in the same movement. The man only shot me an irritated look and reached for another one, leaving me to enjoy the meaty goodness that is the hotdog.
I stopped chewing suddenly though, noticing Noah and Leah silently coming towards the group. Swallowing loudly and stealing a sip of soda off of Jacob's can, I prepared for what was no doubt going to be interesting. Jacob saw them, too. He merely crossed his long legs at the ankle, put his arms behind his head and sat back to watch.
"Leah!" Emily jumped up, noticing her immediately and wrapping her arms around her. "Oh, my gosh, I missed you so much!"
"Hey, Em," Leah managed a pleasant smile. It was tight and it was easy to see that she didn't like being the center of attention.
"Glad you're back, Leah," Sam added and I snorted with distaste. "Who's your friend?"
Friend? You mean, boyfriend, you loser, and you know it! Sam was eyeing Noah and I wanted to cheer my brother on. Why? Noah eyed him right back, but with a taste of smugness and confidence.
"This is my boyfriend, Noah," Leah replied. "Noah, this is the La Push pack." I don't know if anyone else heard it, but her voice wavered only slightly.
"It's great to meet you all," he smiled at everyone, acting completely sweet and mild. That was a talent of Noah's. At times, he could seem completely nondescript and harmless even though he was probably one of the better fighters and wasn't afraid to do damage. "Believe me, Leah has told Luna and myself a lot about La Push and old friends."
"All good, I hope," Emily smiled, offering a hand. Noah shook it.
"Yes, ma'am," Noah said politely. Each of the pack introduced themselves to Noah pleasantly and when Sam even offered a hand, I saw Leah's body language change. She was defensive, wary and alert. However, the two shook and that was it. Billy had been watching the exchange with amusement and merely rolled forward a bit in the sand as everyone took their seats.
"Alright," he began. "We're all here. I'm sure we all have a lot of questions to ask our two new Southern friends, but we have all the time in the world since they are our own now. Perhaps later, Noah, Luna, you can give us a listen to your pack's legends."
"With pleasure, Billy," Noah grinned and so began the story telling.
Billy Black had a real talent for effectively delivering a story and keeping your attention on it. This was the first time I'd really been able to listen to the Quileute tales of spirit warriors, their first wolves and the Third Wife. I listened for a long while, watching Sam and Noah part-time. Their positions never changed one bit throughout the story.
Both faced each other from across the fire, eyes hard and expressions impassive. I don't know what goes on in a male werewolf's head during a stare down. Jealousy? Competition? I'm bigger than you? Possibilities are endless. Someone should get a ruler and have them whip 'em out. I snickered quietly to myself and listened to the last of Billy's story. We never had events like this in the Cupeno Territory. Hanging out as a pack meant council visits or the annual festival, but that was it. We weren't so big on family ties down there, not like the old packs used to be. The Reservation had fallen far in the past century or so. Thank you, Rafael Cortez and lame-ass council.
"Awesome story, dad, as usual," Jacob grinned at his father.
"I live to please, son," Billy smiled.
Slowly, everyone began getting ready to leave but Noah and Leah said their goodbyes and left hurriedly. I think Leah was uncomfortable with Sam's behavior and just wanted to get away from there. To my surprise though, Sam whispered something to Jared and followed after them with a more casual manner. Listening in, I heard Jared tell Emily he was taking her home and that Sam had some business to take care off.
"Smells fishy to me," I muttered. If he was going to go annoy Leah and Noah, he needed to move faster than that, unless he felt as if he could get to them long before anyone else even got home. Maybe he would start running as soon as he was out of sight.
"What smells fishy?" Seth came to my side.
"Oh, I think something dead just washed up," I slid easily into a lie. "It smells gross." It wasn't as if it didn't happened. I'd seen washed up crabs before, even a dead seal.
"I don't smell anything," Seth frowned, sniffing the air.
"I think it was just a passing stench," I shrugged. "Whatever." Seth let it go and went to talk to Sue. I said a quick few goodbyes and headed down the beach, humming a little spy theme as I did so.
It took me a total of ten minutes to reach Leah's and my house and towards the end I ran. I could hear shouting and knew that my instincts had been right. Turning the corner, I could see Leah screaming at Sam and Noah was nowhere in sight. Leave it to Sam to pick on Leah while she was alone. What a bastard.
"It was entirely irresponsible of you to leave La Push without a word!" Sam was yelling.
"What I do is none of your concern!" Leah looked furious. "I'm back anyways and I know it wasn't the wisest choice! I already apologized to Seth, Mom and my pack! Why do you care?"
"Why do I care?" he repeated. "Because we were all searching for you and searching for you, put the Reservation in danger since we weren't watching it, dammit! Your duty is here with your tribe and pack! Not running off and tending to some second-rate stray mutts instead of you tribe!"
Oh, no he didn't.
"Don't you dare insult Noah or Luna, you prick!" Leah snarled. "They're dedicated to protecting La Push! So am I!"
"Then why is it you all brought a killer vampire with you? How is that protecting La Push?" Ooh. Ouch. That one hit a soft spot on me. I couldn't help but feel Jerome was my fault.
Their language became a lot more colorful after that. I came out of the shadows hurriedly to stand up for my friend.
"Leave her alone!" I barked.
"Luna, no!" Leah's angry expression turned to one of shock and worry. Sam pushed her off to the side roughly and in the same motion, brought his leg up to kick me, his eyes no longer holding any rational thoughts.
Thank God for Kenpo Karate. I reacted instantly to Sam's idiot attack, bringing my arm up and deflecting his leg away from me. Using the momentum, I shot forward, swung my arm back up and slammed my elbow into his upper lip and nose. A simple move that Sensei always called 'Deflecting Hammer'. I heard him release pained grunt as his head shot back and watched him fall to the ground. He obviously was not expecting me to whip out a super cool move like that. Blood flowed instantly from his nostrils and lip. He sat up, holding his face in pure astonishment and stared at me.
"Takes a real coward to attack a girl," I informed him.
With that, Sam Uley stood, spat out blood and simply walked away. Leah came to my side with folded arms.
"I wonder how he feels about getting sent to his ass by a second-rate stray mutt," she commented and I could tell she was pleased by what she had just seen. "You know, this is going to cause some serious tension between Sam and us."
"It can't be worse than Rafael, sister," I replied. "But I don't care. He had no right to wait for you to be alone. Where's Noah?"
"He went to get some stuff at the little gas station near the treaty line," she said. "When he left, Sam showed up. I can't believe what a bastard he is! Blaming us for Jerome!"
"It's not your fault or Noah's," I responded. "It does feel like mine though-ow!"
Leah smacked me upside the head.
"You idiot," she bit out. "It's no one's fault. Bad things happen. We suck it up and deal with it. Only Rafael and Sam blame people. Got it?"
"...Got it." I couldn't help but smile. Turning, I could see Jacob, Quil, Embry and Seth walking up the road.
"Now, how to break it to Jacob," Leah muttered, a disgruntled look on her face as she saw our approaching family.
"Totally got that covered sister," I grinned and waved them down. "Hey, guys! Guess what? I totally just broke Sam's face!"
Subtle, aren't I?
A/N: Well, there you go. No romance in this, just some stuff. In case any of you are interested, I tried my hand at drawing Luna. Capturing her is difficult but I did my best. The link is on my profile. If you're members of Deviantart, please, comment. Even if you hate it. Remember, I can't color worth crap. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that move, really is Kenpo. I probably didn't describe it well. It's easier to demonstrate. Anyways, please review! All of them are appreciated and I try to answer everyone. Besides, I want to hit 100 reviews for this story. Thank you all! Let's go! Lots of love!
