The True Alpha: The EJ Black Chronicles

Chapter 26: The Runaways

EJ's POV

"Leah, I'm sorry for sleeping with those other women." I feel my release gradually building as I make love to my imprint, my mind about to burst at the thought of her unconditional forgiveness. "God, you feel absolutely amazing!"

Leah tenses up, her head elevating slightly from her crouched position on the bed. FUCK! What the HELL did I just say? The heat of passion has caused me to confess to sleeping with Kelli as well.

"What women, EJ?" My imprint flinches away from my embrace, exiting the bed. Her face is filled with hurt, and I feel the paralyzing pain shoot through my body at the very sight.

She immediately dons my ebony robe, shielding and thus declining me the image of her nude body. I cringe at the thought of never feeling her body against mine again. My mind floods with overflowing regret. How am I going to get out of this one?

"What?" I endlessly search my mind for some excuse for not telling her the whole truth earlier. I curse myself for denying Leah that information. Maybe then I wouldn't be in this hell of a mess. "No, what I meant was . . ."

"Would you care to clarify just how many women you have slept with EJ?" Leah sardonically asks, almost as if she is regretting ever coming with me to my bedchamber in the first place. I don't blame her. I am a complete idiot.

"Um . . . just Rhoda." I answer, knowing full well I will have to tell her the rest of the truth. I can't lie to my imprint no matter how hard I try.

"Just Rhoda?" Her tone is furious, sending me invisible daggers right through her eyes to my soul.

SHIT!

"And Kelli, but I swear that was all, Leah! I swear!" I just want to wrap my arms around her and forget all about my mistakes here in Volterra. I want to kiss away all the madness swirling inside her brain. I want her to forgive me now and for always.

As I approach her, Leah backs away from me, rejecting me, and my heart begins to bleed within my chest. Her former trust in me has evaporated without a trace.

"KELLI?" The virtual daggers are coming faster now, invading my soul with every word. "That vampire bitch from the palazzo? You slept with a vampire!"

"Leah, please hear me out!" I run after her as she makes her way toward the bedchamber door. She cannot leave me like this, not when we have so much to work out between us. I have to convince her to stay no matter what the cost might be. "She hypnotized me. That's her power!"

Leah doesn't even face me. She places her hand on the doorknob, ready and willing to leave me, just a memory of a love she once knew.

Exhaling, she begins to speak the words I have been dreading to hear the moment I passed the point of no return with Rhoda only a few days ago:

"Goodbye, EJ. I'm done."

"NO!" I shout as she storms from my bedchamber, leaving me stunned and utterly helpless. "LEAH, WAIT!"

I frantically make my way down the passageway, following her intoxicating lavender scent. She can't leave me, not when she is about to give birth to my child, our child. My thoughts can't even begin to process the notion of becoming a father just yet. I'm still immature in so many ways. How am I supposed to be able to take on the responsibility of rearing a child? When I can't even take care of myself?

Catching up to my imprint, I grab her from behind and pull her to me. Tears are streaming down her cheeks like a cascading waterfall. Her face is distraught, and I immediately think of Sam, how I have become just like him, denying her for the comfort of other women. How selfish and childish I have been! Why couldn't I just control my desires and think with my head not my dick?

"Let go of me right now, EJ! I have nothing more to say to you!" Leah hisses through her teeth, struggling to fight me off her.

"I love you, Leah. Those women meant nothing to me. You must believe me!" I try to calm her down, staring into her brown, tear-stained eyes. God, she is still the most beautiful creature on Earth. Why can't she see how much she means to me?

"EJ, I know that you love me. But that's just not enough!" She screams with decisive clarification once more, stinging my heart like a thousand darts of poison. "Like I said before, I'm done. Now, fucking let me go!"

I finally relent, releasing her body to freely walk out of my life. Leah takes two steps forward and adjusts her robe.

"Leah, please." I fall down to me knees, begging her, pleading for her to just listen to me.

Leah hesitates for several seconds, her back still turned to me. Then, she pivots her head slightly to her left side.

"Goodbye, EJ."

I place my head in my hands, not able to bear the sight of her as she walks away from me. My vision is blinded with spots and flickers of red light as the pain cripples me from within. My world begins to crumble all around me, and the rubble comes to rest rightfully at my feet. It is all my fault, all my fucking fault. I should have never come here to Volterra. I should have let Aro destroy me when he had the chance. Nothing could compare to the internal torture I am now experiencing.

I painfully curl my body into a fetal position as the paralyzing numbness overtakes me. Leah is gone, and she is never coming back to me. As I lie there on the stone floor, a machine, a soulless shell of the very man I thought I knew, slowly takes the place of me.

"EJ, can you hear me?" A lingering voice calls to me as I gradually regain consciousness.

Opening my eyes to a new world, a world without my imprint, I see the angelic, brown eyes of my mother as they take in my face. I rise up on my elbows, shaking away the lasting pull of sleep from my mind.

"LEAH!" I peer into my mother Nessie's eyes, my words more of a question than a summons for her to return.

"She left with Alice. She's making sure she gets on a flight home." My mother frowns, placing a hand on my forehead as she always did when I was a child waking from a bad dream. "I'm so sorry, pumpkin."

She leans down, and as her lips press gently to my forehead, I instantly see the image of Leah's enraged face within my mother's mind. Then, like a flicker of lightning, it is stripped away from me as my mother pulls back.

"When you are ready, Marcus has an announcement to make in the Great Hall. He has requested your attendance." My mother's expression is full of sorrow for the pain that has occurred between my imprint and me. I can only imagine the pain she would suffer to be apart from my father after all these years. Just the very thought of it makes the agony within my chest even more intense.

I cannot conjure up the strength to respond to my mother. It seems that I am unable to formulate words anymore. The pain is just too gripping. I fear I may never be able to become the man I once was—a compassionate, caring man, full of life and great potential.

"When you are ready, EJ. I will leave you now." My mother elevates her body off the bed beside me, placing another swift kiss to my cheek. As she languidly walks toward the door, she turns. "You know, EJ, I was disappointed when I heard you left with the Volturi, mostly scared for you and what they might do to you. But now, I see it was all meant to be. I'm very proud of you."

My mother's eyes are flushed with tears as she turns to exit the room. I'm left even more speechless at her words. It seems that everyone is proud of me, except the only person I long for with all my being. My Leah.

Rising from my bed, I throw on a tank and jeans and polish my look off with one of my black, leather jackets. I wash my face in the sink of my bathroom, which has since been replaced after I destroyed it several days ago. I pause and stare at my visage in the mirror above the sink.

You're nothing without her, Black. She's everything you are and ever will be. You will never truly be yourself again until she is back in your arms.

My thoughts begin to rapidly race through my mind as I ignore the image of myself in the mirror and step out of my bedchamber to proceed toward the Great Hall. Despite my woes, I can't help but wonder in anticipation of what announcement Marcus has planned to make that evening.

As I enter the antechamber leading to the Great Hall, I notice my family filing in as well. Emmett smiles at me and then does something I never would have expected. He pulls me into his enormous, bear-like arms and gives me a hug, patting me forcefully on the back. When he releases me, he looks me in the eyes and just nods. It is as if he understands the pain I am now enduring since losing my imprint. I hope it is only short-lived, but for now all I have is hope.

"Ah, please come in." Marcus's voice summons us into the Great Hall, a large, round room which houses the thrones of the former vampire leaders.

The hall is utilized by the Volturi for various ceremonies and celebrations, providing the perfect setting for such joyous occasions. The flooding light from the setting sun beams through the rectangular windows covering the roof of the turret, glistening off the pale, white skin of my vampire companions. I can't help but to marvel at their wondrous beauty, for they are my kindred, my kingsmen now.

As I approach the chairs, which formerly served as thrones for the Volturi leaders, I notice that Caius now occupies one of the chairs. Marcus is positioned on his right, and an empty chair once belonging to Aro now resides in between them.

"Fellow immortals, Children of the Moon, shifters, and half-breeds, I have gathered everyone together to make a most significant declaration." Marcus stands, scanning the crowd, a pleasant, satisfied grin on his face.

I glance at the crowd around me as well, realizing that Rhoda is now standing only several feet away from me. Her black-haired head is tilted toward the ground, her face full of what possibly could be remorse. She might possibly blame herself for what happened between Leah and me. However, there is only one person to blame, and that person is slowly dying on the inside.

Rhoda looks up at me fleetingly, and I notice several bruises and gashes about her face. I can only imagine who inflicted those upon her. My angry, heartbroken Leah. My heart immediately is shrouded in empathy for the woman who never deserved such treatment in the first place. I give my human friend a sorrowful smile, hoping that at least she can offer me even the tiniest shred of mercy.

"Please come forth, EJ." I awake from my thoughts to see Marcus gesturing for me to join him in front of the throng.

As I reach him, he places his left arm about my shoulders, lightly tapping me with his fingers.

"Our kind, the vampires, tell of an ancient prophecy, the prophecy of the first immortal, Omari." Marcus begins, his arm still about my shoulders. "There shall come a day in the distant future when the lion, the lamb, and the shifter shall lay together and create a being powerful enough to wield dominion over all."

Marcus pauses while my vampire family and the remaining onlookers exchange glances and murmur amongst themselves. My grandparents, Edward and Bella, immediately embrace, smiles widening on their faces. My mother Nessie places a hand on my father's shoulder and the other on Sarah's. My father Jacob in turn grasps hold of my brother Billy, and I almost lose all control of my emotions at the sight of seeing my family united.

"My friends, that day has come at last." Marcus boasts, presenting me to the throng before us. "Our leader has come to us."

"Hear, hear." Nahuel raises his arm from amongst the crowd in agreement with Marcus, causing the entire crowd to erupt in applause.

"Thank you, Nahuel." As the applause dissipates, Marcus turns back to the crowd and continues, "Let us not mourn those who we have lost today or in the past, but let us rejoice for now we can live as one body, united by this man, who I willingly and dutifully now call my master. I present to you, Edward Jacob Black."

"EDWARD JACOB BLACK!" The sea of faces joyfully exclaims, filling me with a sense of pride of who I could become. But I cannot keep the demons created by the loss of my imprint from clouding my mind. I cannot keep my heart from replaying her song in my head. It is a bittersweet symphony, and the orchestra plays on.

"EJ has already accepted his responsibility as our new leader. Therefore, it is only fitting that we present him with a token of our gratitude for eradicating a most perilous threat to our very existence." Marcus winks at me, gladly boasting that I destroyed his former leader, Aro, releasing him from centuries of relentless bondage.

Opening a wooden box positioned atop a slender pedestal, Marcus removes the primeval, blade that I have come to fear over the past few months. As he holds it up into the rays of the soft sunlight, an iridescent glow permeates the entire Great Hall. It would almost be blinding to any onlooking human eyes.

Bowing before me and obediently holding up the Immortal Blade, Marcus offers me the token of my leadership, my rein as the true Alpha of my family, my people, and the entire world. I peer out into the crowd, searching for my father Jacob's approval. His only responses are a smile and then a simple, "Go ahead, EJ."

I reach out my hands, touching the blade with the tips of my fingers, feeling the rush of the coolness of the shaft trickle up my hand. I trace the intricate designs about the blade, noticing that this dagger has the letter "A" inscribed in numerous fonts throughout the hilt and blade. As my hand settles upon the hilt, I feel the overwhelming intensity of power coursing through my veins like a shot of heroin. Somehow it seems to dull the pain I feel for Leah, but the sensation of it in my palm is not the same without her by my side. She is the missing puzzle piece to my completeness.

The crowd erupts in another round of hefty applause, but I can't bear the thought of being the true Alpha in the absence of my imprint. Until I have her in my arms once again, I cannot be the leader they require of me. How can I wield dominion over all when I can't even control my own desires or quell the endless suffering within my heart?

"I'm sorry, Marcus." I speak, and the gathered multitude halts their applause, shocked. Fleeting glimpses of their expressions inform me that they are just as confused and perplexed as I am standing before them.

"What do you mean, EJ?" Caius questions behind me, approaching my position in front of the center throne. "Do you not want to lead us?"

"No, I want to be your leader." I turn to Caius, ashamed of myself.

"Then, what is the matter, EJ? This is your destiny." Marcus seems a little exasperated with my hesitancy.

Facing the crowd, I bow my head, afraid to look at them and see the hurt and rejection they must feel.

"I cannot be your leader until I can prove that I am worthy." I relay, feeling the searing grip of self-pity overtake me.

"EJ, you have proven yourself worthy by destroying Aro. You are more than worthy." Marcus protests, astonished. "We are the ones who are unworthy."

"No, Marcus, you are worthy of a stronger leader, someone who is not so weak. I have let my desires control my actions up to this point, and until I can gain further understanding of what it means to be a true leader, a true Alpha, I am declining your offer." As I speak, several groans of disappointment from the crowd resound throughout the Great Hall.

"EJ, I don't understand." Caius places a hand on my shoulder. The cold touch of his skin sends shivers down my spine.

"Neither do I, but I must make some things right first. I cannot be the leader you want me to be until that is done." I turn back to Marcus. "Marcus, I'm appointing you the leader in my stead. You have proven yourself worthy enough to all of us. I take my leave."

"But--" Marcus holds up his hand to stop me, but I have already began to make my way through the mass of spectators around us.

I dart from the Great Hall, feeling all eyes upon my back as I flee from the responsibility I know I am not ready to obtain.

Reaching my bedchamber, I begin to pack my belongings. I need to get away from Volterra. I need to escape. I need to just get away from my family and all that is dear to me. I need to do some soul-searching. I don't know where I'm headed, but I know where I've been. I can never come back until my heart and soul is complete.

"EJ, running away is not going to solve your problems." I stop dead in my tracks, the familiar voice and scent engulfing my senses.

I spin around, only to behold the face I had almost forgotten.

Attn: This chapter (and most of this fan fic) was inspired by Anberlin's "Dismantle. Repair." Please review and thanks for reading!