Marisol's POV
I was a rollercoaster of emotions. Frustrated, angry, sad, depressed… all symptoms of transformation. Curse it all, I thought wistfully. All these emotions made me crazy and unpredictable and I just spilled my secret to Jake. He made me guilty with those longing, trusting eyes. It made me sick inside to know I didn't return them and definitely betrayed his hopes by sleeping with one of his friends and pack member.
Yet, he was the one supporting me. It was ironic and uncomfortable but I hid my face into his chest until my eyes couldn't leak anymore. I was scared to look up to see is expression. Was he disappointed, upset, or angry or all of the above? My heart sank. I couldn't bear knowing I had inflicted that kind of pain in him and also extremely embarrassed I let myself fall so easily and screw Seth over. Ugh, I am no better than a whore.
We stayed there for a long time and I felt my body relax in her arms. I was disgusted and frustrated with myself and how my body caved so easily to his touch yet I couldn't pull away. My will was weakened.
We both jumped when my phone rang in my pocket. I extended my hand and pulled it out of my pocket and immediately read Tony's name on my screen. With an effortless tap, I put it on speaker.
"Tony," I greeted lowly. "What's up?"
"Hmm," I could imagine him adorning a smirk on his face. "Was I interrupting something?"
I rolled my eyes and placed my finger on Jacob's lips to keep him quiet, mouthing a silent warning.
"No you weren't," I hissed. "What's so important? It's eleven o'clock at night."
"Really, I was just checking. You know it's close to that time of that month."
"Tony!" I hissed. No one needed to know that information. Jacob's face contorted into disgust. I swatted at him to shake it off. He didn't need to put his impute on the subject. He could just keep it to himself.
"One, I came to warn you about a certain-"
I cut him off and turned off speaker and pressed the phone to my ear and walked to the other side of the kitchen. Like a nosy puppy, he followed me and I stuck out my hand to stop him from a getting too close.
"-About a certain time of the month," Tony continued smoothly. "You know, heat."
I cringed at the thought. I glanced at Jacob nervously before diverting my line of sight towards the blackened window. Jacob stepped forward closer to me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off, being inappropriate during the moment when the subject was being introduced. Jacob looked worried. He had nothing to worry about. If anything, I was the one in huge trouble.
"So, what are you doing to do? I can't be around here when that time comes."
Jake's eye brows furrowed. I shot him a look and shooed him away but he stubbornly stayed in place.
"Sorry, Mary, until this case is settled, you're stuck there."
"What? Seriously, I can't be here. It's…"
"Dangerous?" Tony teased. "It's not dangerous. Just stay at Seth's place, I'm sure he won't mind the excessive sex."
I clutched the phone and pressed it closer to my ear to muffle his voice so Jacob wouldn't hear. My face turned bright red.
"How did you know about him?"
"I've kept tabs on you, sweetheart." I could imagine his smirk grow into a dark grin.
"No, no, I can't be anywhere near here."
Jacob's face lifted and I felt a little guilty that I offended him.
By surprise, he snatched the phone out of my hand and with a serious face he pressed the speaker button and looked at me directly. I silently pleaded with him, desperately trying to retrieve my phone back.
"What's the matter? Why can't Merris stay here?" His voice was thick with frustration and strained anger. I tugged on his arms but surprised me when, like a vice, held my close to his body and locked my arms tight against my body, unable to move.
I squeaked.
I heard Tony chuckle from the other side of the phone and I sneered. Today was not a time to showcase his crude humor.
"Mary is just worried about how her heat will affect some of the pack," I growled lowly at Tony but he didn't hear me, I don't think, because he kept talking.
"Heat," Jacob repeated, confused.
"You know, heat." When Jacob didn't respond, Tony sighed and elaborated more, much to my embarrassment. "A lot like dogs, it's when they're in the prime of reproduction. In this case, for werewolves, happens twice a year where females have the best chance at fertilization."
"Tony!" I screeched, growing redder.
Jacob's eyebrows rose, surprised.
"Of course, females have to act on the opportunity. It's a part of nature's circle." I could imagine him smirking. "She'll be seizing up every opportunity that presents itself. She won't care so much about the men but focus more on the chances on being successfully impregnated."
Jacob looked like a fish the way he gaped and I looked down, red in embarrassment and shame, to avoid his eyes.
"It's not her fault. During those few days, averaging a week or two, her animal instincts take over. She has no control over her actions. Though I'm impressed she can manage isolating herself for the past years to avoid it actually happening. She's quite headstrong."
Staring at the floor, I tried to control my thoughts and reorganize my mind but too many scenarios kept popping up and it made me sick to my stomach. I don't want a baby out of wedlock and I certainly wasn't ready to take up the responsibility of being a mother. I'd have to start all over again and that'd be exhausting. I'd have to leave my job to give the child its fair share of devotion and attention and have to look all over town for a new job to keep a steady income. I thought about it before, being a secretary or paralegal or some kind of assistant, something harmless and simple as putting data into the computer, but the comprehension of change wasn't tangible yet.
Plus there's also the issue over the father. What if he was a guy I didn't even know? I didn't want to force him into being a father nor would I want to make his life more complex with my inhuman issues or even face his reaction to the news. I get it, people are scared of things they don't know, especially at the concept of werewolves, and I wouldn't hate him if he ran but I'd feel so disappointed that my baby wouldn't have a father. I would feel like I chased him away and hate myself for it.
Then, what if I was too dangerous for my child? I doubted it. It's nature. I'd be protective and be a fitting mother but modern society wouldn't see it that way. Plus there should be more female werewolves out there in the world who are experienced with the process. They're not killing their kids. They're successful. They would see me as a danger, ignorant of nature's dynamics, and take it upon themselves to tear the child out of my arms and into foster care or another family. That would be a horrible ending. But I'm sure I could hide it. No one would have to figure out what I was and I'd keep my bond with my baby. The father, knowing or not, would trust me as a mother and my mothering instincts instead of my predatory ones, that is if we was even present.
"Merris," Jacob snapped me out of my mental ramblings. I hesitantly looked up, biting my bottom lip nervously to keep my thoughts un-verbalized.
His face surprised me. He was grinning, amused by my embarrassment, and unlatched me from his grasp, letting my stumble back onto my feet to regain some balance.
He handed me back my phone, Tony off line, and I shoved it back into my pocket.
"What did you hear?" I growled behind clenched teeth.
He laughed and his lips curled into a smirk. I glared at him. He crossed his arms over his chest and loomed over me. I stepped back to reassign some distance.
"Don't you dare," I warned. I stretched my arms to push him away but he was quicker and pulled me back into his vice-grip like arms. "Jake," I spat, but my voice was muffled.
His chest shook with laughter and I struggled in his grip but to no prevail.
"It's going to be so fun with you here," he boldly stated. I gaped. The audacity of him!
"If you think that you're going to get lucky with me, you are dead wrong."
He chuckled. "From what I heard, you'll change your mind pretty quickly."
"You horny bastard," I cursed.
"On contrary, you're the one that will have her hormone's raging."
He pulled me forward to stare me down with humored eyes.
"Well," I pulled on a sarcastically sweet smile while I spoke, "understand this. This here," I motioned to my torso and below, "is off limits. I don't care if I jump you, scream your name to kingdom come, and beg you to satisfy any need I have," I stepped closer so we would smell each other's breathe. "If you comply and I find myself naked next to you, you will have hell to pay."
He grinned. "It'll be so worth it."
I slapped his arm. "No, it will not be worth it. I don't want to risk actually getting pregnant! And like hell if I were to share a parental position for you. I don't like sharing or compromising for anything. If I have a kid, I'm raising it in Florida, not in this shitty place."
He shrugged. "Right now, that's not a big problem. We always have time to talk about. 9 months to be exact."
"Don't be cocky, you egotistical ass."
"Swear all you want, sweetheart. I guarantee you won't be able to fight your natural urges."
"I can fight a lot of things. You will be the top of my list to resist."
He laughed and wrapped an arm around my waist to pull me closer. He has a musky smell I breathed in. I shivered but tried to suppress it but Jake felt it and held me closer.
"Be aware," I hissed, looking up in him, "every male that I pass, whether it be Quil, Paul, or perhaps, even Tony," I threw in random names that had him twinge, "I'll be looking at them as prospective sperm donors. I'll be looking at their best qualities and if those qualities are good to pass down onto the next generation. And as you said, I won't be in control of my emotions or urges, so who knows, I'll be whoring around with the whole pack."
Jacob raised a brow and smirked. "But I'm the Alpha. Your inner wolf can't resist that."
I growled. "We'll see."
"You two did what?" Leah screeched, pacing around her apartment, the one in which we were originally supposed to meet at before. Leah was okay with the switch to Seth's place when we planned it during the short duration between Jacob's and I discussion to when I stepped out of his door.
Who knew what a simple Wednesday TV night could've ended like this, I thought.
"It's bad enough I had to hear it from Jacob of all people," she continued to rant. She blew a heavy, hot breath that clustered the whole room, making it uncomfortable to breathe. "I'm am hurt that you, of all people Seth, deceived me. You told me you two would talk! Talk! Not… not…" Her face heated, obviously embarrassed of the word "sex" between her best friend and brother. "Ugh!" She cried out in frustration. "And you, Merris! I would trust you to tell me this! But no, you kept it a secret from me! Do you know how hurt and insulted I am? How disgusted I am with both of you?"
Seth looked redder than I did, biting his bottom lip nervously while I just sunk deeper into her couch, wishing it were a black hole instead.
I'd never thought that I'd see a day Leah would freak out more than Jake would, especially when it came to the topic of her brother, but here I was, being chewed out.
"I told you it was a bad idea," I hissed at Seth, directing a glare at him, which couldn't compare to Leah's.
"You are just as guilty as I am," he redirected, shoving a finger into my shoulder.
I gaped at the spot. How dare he blame me!
"Enough," Leah spat. We both looked at her and we slunk lower into a bottomless pit of shame. I'm sure Jacob would love this. "Seth, why would you put yourself in this position? Why would you hurt Olivia like that? You better thank God that she didn't hear about this. She'd be devastated!"
Seth and I shared a bewildered look.
"What about Olivia? Why should she be concerned?" I asked as the same time as Seth.
"What does she have anything to do with this?" His voice boomed over mine. Something is his eyes told me he knew something or suspected something that I didn't know. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Olivia was a regular topic, I presumed, or even just a familiar one, I began to suspect.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about," Leah accused, snarling. "I've told you plenty times."
He glared at his sister and dared to stand up, forgetting about her scowling, and returned an accusing finger.
"And I've told you plenty of times, you're wrong!" He yelled back.
"What are you talking about?" I interjected, sitting up straight, staring at the two Clearwater siblings.
Seth gave me a look and I was instantly puzzled why he was so angry. Leah looked at me with a grim frown. She figured out I was in the complete dark about what was going on.
"Merris," she announced to me, passing Seth roughly, hitting his shoulder with her own, on her way to sit next to me. She laid a comforting hand on my knee. Seth growled a few feet away, turning around to face us with hostile eyes. Leah's same colored eyes dimmed to a softer emotion. I recognized those same eyes plenty of times, whenever I was going to receive bad news from her mouth directly, always just to soften the blow. My jaw locked. I tried to do whatever I could to prepare me from getting hurt but my mind was at a loss.
"Seth," she started, nodding her towards her brother, "is Olivia's imprint. He doesn't realize it. He's too blind to see it but she knew the first moment she saw him 3 years ago when Jake brought her to La Push. She's always been on the sidelines, not wanting to bother Seth, but each day going to lonely bed really hurts her, Merris."
I gaped. "I didn't know! I swear I didn't," I defended myself, stuttering.
"I know, I know," Leah agreed, pushing me back onto the couch I didn't know I rose from in defiance. "No one knows except for Jake, Olivia, and I. Seth should have suspected it, too, but he's too thick headed to."
"Leah," Seth warned, his fist tightening.
"No Seth," Leah demanded, her face flashing into a glare. "You shouldn't have dragged Merris into this delusion of yours. She has her own problems." Seth was about to say something but she cut him off with a new set of words. "I'm not saying she is destined to be with Jake, I could care less about the ass and you know it. I don't approve of Olivia being hurt though. She has done nothing to us yet you treat her like she's trash when she isn't."
He diverted his eyes and stared at her doorway. "She's Marisol's replacement! She isn't one of us."
Leah shook her head and muttered insulting adjectives about him. "She's not. She Jake's friend, that's all. The two haven't slept together." She spat the word out, verbally piercing his chest, making him cringe. "Because she's faithful like that," she added, glaring at her brother.
Seth remained silent for a while as Leah refocused her attention towards me.
"I'm sorry you were dragged into this. I'll be honest, if it wasn't for Olivia, I would have totally approved of you and Seth but I don't think another innocent heart should be stepped on because of a selfish guy. Seriously Seth," she spat towards him again, "Jake was bad enough. Why on earth would you try to follow in his footsteps?"
He still stayed silent but lifted his chin higher, willed by his pride.
I took in a deep breath and gaped at the void space in between Leah and me, afraid to look her in the eyes.
"How…?" I was able to mutter.
Leah shrugged. "It's not my place to tell her story but I suppose since she heard yours that it's only fair enough she'd be willing to let me tell hers."
Seth's eyes drifted from a far space back to us, slowly slight curiosity.
Leah breathed in slowly and adjusted herself, crossing her legs into a pretzel shape and leaning her back against her couch's arm, padded by a pillow, and pulled some hair out of her face.
"Since you left, Merris, Jake went on this insane cross-country search for you, going to everywhere and anywhere. I don't specify where because I'm sure he'll get mad at me for spilling. What he did, that's his business and I respect him enough somewhat as Alpha to leave him with that privacy, plus I'm sure you want to hear it coming out of his mouth, not mine. I will say the part where he meets Olivia though. You know she looks a lot like you, right?"
I nodded. I had noticed the identical face shape and eye color, the only difference was the hair texture and color. Mine was thicker, blacker, and curler, even though I used the straighter more often than not, while she had naturally long, thinner, mahogany colored hair without a widow's peak.
"Jake confused her for you at a distance when he stopped by some tiny town in New Mexico. He barely caught a glimpse of her but with what he saw of her face, he was sure it was you and his hope sparked. He looked all over her, calling her Merris mostly, asking locals what they knew about her. Usually they shook their heads and coward away, you know, because he was intimidating with his Alpha physique. That got the attention of the town sheriff who questioned him about his intentions. Jake explained he was looking for his runaway best friend, how everybody was missing you and he suspected that you'd seek shelter somewhere familiar like in the southern states."
Leah shook her head, silently berating him. I could only imagine the words coursing through her mind, 'bullshit' being a high candidate.
"Jake showed him a picture and the sheriff bellowed out. 'Oh my, that's uncanny. That looks like my niece, Liv! I'm sorry Son, but you have the wrong girl. Liv has lived here her whole life with my sister, Katrina, and her husband, Ted. That isn't Merris. I wish you good luck though on your search!' That wasn't enough to deter Jake and he waited for her to come out of the gym she went to. Suddenly, their eyes meet and," Leah demonstrated with a snap, "suddenly she ran for no reason. He chased her to a gully where she surprisingly shifted into a wolf, growling at him with bared teeth. Now he knew why she was so shy of him. He was a threat of similar species and she could feel he had the upper advantage, conquering his inner wolf a long time ago."
"After an hour of coaxing, he began to reason with her, now sure that this wasn't you. She shifted back, scared, naked, and confused, and only knew that he was like her. He gave her his shirt and walked her back to her car where the two began to talk. Olivia was charmed by Jake but he didn't return the feelings and she could see that. Whenever he spoke your name, his face would contort to pain and remorse and she knew he was deeply in love with you. In exchange for help on dealing with her new abilities, she said she'd gladly track around the US with him to look for you. All she wanted was a companion who knew what she was going through and Jake filled that empty spot. She left her whole life in the tiny reservation of Red Drift to sport some adventure with Jake. 3 months the two drove together and within those two months they grew close," Leah twisted her fingers to visualize it.
"Olivia revealed that her life was boring, stuck, and uneventful, with exception of the recent wolf attack where she was bitten in the gym parking lot, not aware of how dangerous the infectious bite was. Next full moon later, she finds a dead fox carcass beside her. She had never been more traumatized. She felt isolated and alone until Jake came along to give her guidance. Since then, she's depended on him for stability. He's all she has left, well except for Seth, if he wasn't so hard headed."
She shot her brother a glare.
Her story seemed spotty, not quite detailed enough, but I didn't doubt it. It felt wrong of me if I were to.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"She told me a long time ago over the phone. It was a rare encounter for us because we only met once before at a party. I contacted her to see why she was in La Push and she, feeling like I was trustworthy confidant, spilled all her problems out to me. I tried to be comforting but even I'll admit I don't feel close to her like I am to you. You understood me on a personal level and you reached out to keep me company when the rest of the pack picked on me. I don't think I'll ever get so close to a girl as I am with you."
I would've been flattered but all the sentimental stuff was making me feel out of place. I was never a person to get personal with, especially after Jake's deception. Leah was an exception but even then I had limits. My cheek heated up.
"She told me after I told her I was Seth's sister that he was her soul mate, her imprint. She was so excited to finally have someone to share feelings with, to start a family with, and with settle down with, and a shape shifter none the less! She didn't even talk to him and thought the world of him. She praised his good looks, his friendly nature among the pack, how he adored our nieces and nephews when Emily asked him to watch the twins while she helped Kim cook. She could already picture her life with him. A true romantic at heart," Leah mused. "I thought Seth would reciprocate but I was dreadfully wrong. Seth avoided her at all cost and soon enough she got the message. She was heartbroken. She tried to pursue him but decided she would give him space, thinking he'd hate her if she became too clingy. Now she's forgotten, heartbroken and abandoned."
My throat tightened and I felt extreme amounts of sympathy for her. She was a good woman, no doubt about that, who I compared to with a puppy, an innocent, lonely puppy wanting to be loved and given attention. It seemed like Jacob had escaped from the picture and all I could think about were her big, doe, brown eyes glazing with tears, an exact replica of my own face six years ago, and it broke my heart. Something in my snapped inside, a secretly buried instinct I thought I lost long ago: A protective one.
I glared at Seth. "I refuse to let you ruin your life, Seth. One way or another, we will fix this. She's going to get her happy ending she deserves. You can't deny it, Seth. You have a chance at being truly happy but you can't see it. Damn it, Seth, wake up and smell the coffee! It's time to wake up!"
"Are you sure you want this?" Seth asked me. He probably expected me to be hurt, like him, but I didn't ache for the reasons he thought. I ached because I disappointed another person. I knew he had a tremendous crush on me and it confused him that I was pushing him away right after an intimate night.
I was a whore. I get it! I was used to the word, no longer shamed by it. I didn't care what people thought anymore. It was the fact that I hurt Seth by using him, I bet he thought. In actuality, I wasn't a romantic person. I kept personal feelings at bay to protect myself from getting hurt or sidetracked. Unfortunately, Seth, like many others, became a casualty of my cruelness.
His face fell when I shook my head. Leah sighed behind the wheel, keeping her eyes focused on the ice smeared roads, careful to control her outdated Sedan.
"Seth," I tried to reason with him again, avoiding eye contact to spare me from the tremendous guilt already chewing at me. "You and Olivia have the best chances at happiness and I'm not going to deny her that."
"What about me?" Seth rounded my statement. I resisted the urge to glare at him.
"You will be happy, Seth, when you embrace it." I insisted. "Few people are given the opportunity to have a soul mate."
"You were one of them," Seth made a snide remark, trying to debate that imprints don't work.
"Jake and I are different. He didn't want me, Seth. He wanted Bella, just like you're supposed to be with Olivia but are too blinded with your infatuation with me. Don't argue with it, Seth, especially if you never gave it a chance."
"You got hurt in the end," he retorted.
I shrugged. "In some cases, people do. Stop fretting over what happened between Jake and I. In fact, learn from our mistakes. Olivia wants you. She loves you, even if you never gave her the time." With that said, I concluded and stayed silent the rest of the short drive, thinking about the situation, and I assumed Seth did, too, because he didn't say anything else.
I knew something like this was bound to happen. Maybe that's why it didn't hurt so much. I didn't get attached to Seth in a romantic way, knowing that if I did, I'd be shot in the heart again when he found his match. Of course, I felt happy for him, as a friend, that he found someone to fulfill those needs he had for a partner, a wife, and probably mother of his children. I was never suited for that life, I mused, watching the blackened trees blur by.
It seemed like Jake had known something was up because as we pulled up, he waited for us on the porch. Seth stepped out from the backseat while Leah and I proceeded slowly out of her car, anxious about how to approach this. Jake nodded at Leah, suspiciously glanced at Seth, and then at me. His eyes widened at my face, heavy and sad, and he pushed himself off the railing and leapt off the stairs to engulf me in his arms and lead me into the warm house where a fire blazed. I was so numb I didn't bother fighting him and shamefully walked alongside him, rarely looking up from the ground.
Inside Olivia glanced at me from the couch when she muted her reality TV show. She got up and sized up Seth who followed behind his sister.
I glared at Seth, silently demanding him to drop the sourness in his face, but Jacob must have mistaken the situation and thought something personal happened between Seth and me and intervened.
"What happened?" He demanded.
Leah replied for us. "Nothing that concerns you, Jake," she insisted. She nodded towards the door. "You two go outside and give Seth and Liv some space, okay?"
Without a word, I headed out the door, tugging Jake's hand behind me to get him to follow me out. He immediately took advantage of my willing touch and clamped his big hands around like mine. It felt like a chain and I gritted my teeth but hid my sour face from Jake.
As soon as the door behind us closed, I tried to pull it out of Jake's grasp but he was too strong and pulled me back instead. The momentum of his strength swerved me around and slammed me into the hard chest. Stunned and in minor pain as the sudden slam echoed within my jaw that unfortunately hit his shoulder bone, he undid his hand on mine and linked his arms around my feeble waist. I tried to glare up at him but the angle strained my neck and I settled with resting my chin on his shoulder.
"What's going on?" Jake asked, rubbing my back. "You look upset. Did Seth do that?"
My hands curled into fist but I didn't move them, restricted in space and flexibility, caught tightly in his lock.
"Nothing," my voice strained. "It's nothing. I'm just a bit exhausted."
Jake didn't seem to believe me and kept me in his vice-grip.
After a minute, he looked back at the house, his sight blocked by the closed, wooden door, curiosity obvious on his face.
"Leah and I forced him to give Olivia a chance," I hope, I added mentally. He could've lied to us and is re-breaking her heart in there all over again. No, Leah wouldn't allow it and talk some sense into him, especially with me not present to stress him. "I'm not letting him miss out at a chance at having true love and true happiness. I'm not letting him give up a good thing because of me. I won't let that hang over my head and have him hate me for it later on."
Jake nodded.
"I don't want him following my mistakes," Jake admitted. His thumb needled into my tense back therapeutically. Subconsciously I leaned in and rested my chin on his shoulder. My fist relaxed and my palms rested against his pecks. He breathed in heavily and sighed like a heave. "Look how we ended up. Seth was making a mistake chasing you when he Olivia just like I made a mistake pursuing Bella when I had you. I'm really sorry about that. I don't know how many times I have to apologize for you to understand how truly regretful I am."
It was my turn to breathe in heavily. "It doesn't matter anymore, Jake. It's not like we'll ever see each other again. When this case is done, I'm getting the hell out of here."
Even if I knew it was the truth, Jake's statement about chasing me was Seth's mistake really stung. I tried to ignore it but it kept nagging in my already twisted, sick stomach. I couldn't help but feel like a plague by the way everybody should stay clear of me.
Jacob's grip tightened and I felt the wind get knocked out of my lungs.
For a few moments it was pure silence.
"What do you think their talking about in there?" I had to ask, cutting the uncomfortable silence.
I felt Jake shrug. "I honestly don't know. Seth has a lot of making up to do."
I agreed with a stiff nod, not having much space to work with, seeing as Jake held me tightly to his chest.
A distinct smell made its way up my nose. I scrunched my nose up in disgust. It was salty, metallic and almost rusty. I recognized it immediately: Blood. I gasped and with force I didn't know I had, I shoved Jake aside to his surprise and raised my head, trying to catch the direction where the smell was coming from. The wind blew from the west, I could tell, as it slapped my left cheek.
"Jake," I all but growled. He tensed. "Do you smell that?"
"Yeah," his sharply replied, stepping my side and protectively pulling me behind him, silently dominant and physically displaying his power over me, with that gesture telling me to not test him or his authority. With a scowl, I boldly stepped behind farther just to get around him. His intense dark eyes challenged mine. "Marisol," he snapped, grabbing my arms and pushing me back towards his house. "You stay here. I'm not letting you put yourself in danger."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "You can't tell me what to do. You can join me or fight me on it on the way there."
He growled but was unable to grab this time as I already made a few yards across the empty lot. "Seth!" he barked. "Stay here with Liv! We have to check something out!" He joined my side in a few second and led me in the other direction, "if you want to help, go gather the rest of the pack and then they'll take you there. I'm not letting you go first because you're much more vulnerable than me."
I didn't want to say it because of my strong stand on not getting close to Jake but the thought of him confronting danger made me cringe. I didn't trust my brother, and I knew, like me, he'd most likely attack Jake in defense if he felt cornered. I almost protested but my mind reminded me not to admit I felt even the slightest emotion for my ex-boyfriend.
Maybe it's not him but my brother? I tried to reason with myself. Maybe it's because I know there won't be any reasoning or compromise. It'll be absolutely fatal for them to meet, most likely my brother being the casualty. The stinging in my eyes brought me back in reality and I felt Jake's hand wipe a tear off of my cheeks. He looked pained. I bit back a sharp insult. He felt nothing compared the anguish I felt over my brother's demise and I didn't even know him. I made the resolve right there and then to meet him first, determined to somehow alter his fate and give a fair chance to live.
You're forgetting he's a heartless killer, my conscience told me.
So am I, I reminded myself. I killed before, too, and not just on the job. We're all animals, I reasoned, but by no means should my brother be put down like one.
"You go them yourselves," I yelled, and then darted towards the woods, a mass of emotions running through my veins, painfully pushing up in my skin to the point I thought they would burst. I knew another transformation was coming, it was inevitable, and I propelled myself faster as I could so Jake would be less likely to catch up with me. Finally, after what seemed like ten minutes, I collapsed, exhausted and rippling with pain, and desperate for breath. That's when I heard the first crack and the God-forsaken pain only a millisecond after. I held back a scream. The worst was yet to come.
I heard another crack but this time it came from outside my body and I heard a rustling of leaves follow. I tried to look up but my neck was stiff and wouldn't allow it.
"Shh," whispered a masculine voice. "Shh," it repeated and I felt his hand levitate over my torso before laying it gently on my sore ribs. "It'll be all right. I'm right here. I'm sorry."
Then I administered the unusual smell, the same smell that alerted me before, blood. I gasped and tried to move my body but my pain kept me put in the fetal position.
"Who are you?" I hissed, both from fright and pain. I wanted so desperately to know his name, his life, and why he was doing this, and at the same time frightened that Jake might get to him before I got my answer.
His hand kept running up and down my body, soothing me. "I'm your little brother."
I locked my jaw. "I know that," I whimpered, "but who are you?"
"I'm Carson."
"Carson," I repeated to myself, trying to imagine a face to go with the boyish name. He would've looked a lot like me, round face and thick locks but I saw a bit of Sam in him, in the eyes department, dark and wider than mine. "Nice to meet you," I whispered, my voice strained and hoarse.
He chuckled, "You, too, sis. Though the circumstances are ironic, don't you think?"
"Life is full of irony, ain't it?"
He chuckled again and then surprisingly hoisted me up bridal style. "Sorry if I get blood over your clothes." I assumed he meant by his hands around my waste and thighs.
I resisted the urge to shrug. "They're going to get destroyed anyways."
"We have a lot of catching up to do," he told me, holding me tight. My face was pressed to his shoulder and when I finally saw his face, I gasped. I was utterly stunned by the familiarity. I knew him!