Chapter 34

Upon Luciana's departure from Washington, Seth took it on himself to go have a few words with Sam. He was in too much pain at the time to talk to him in depth about the incident again the renegades in which Sam saved his life. Since then, he'd called several members of their pack, though no one had gotten back to him.

"Just go down there," Sue told him as she mixed up batter for brownies, "I think he would like to hear from you face to face. It might be better."

Seth dunked his finger into the mixture and tested out the batter, "I don't think he wants me to."

His mother gave him a look for swiping the brownie mix, "I think it would be worthwhile. The worst he can do is not talk to you."

"The worst he can do is tear me to pieces," Seth laughed.

"I don't think so," Sue said. She began pouring the chocolate into a pan, "These will be about ready when you get back. So go now."

Seth gave in trying to refuse and knew it would be his best bet. He kissed his mother on the cheek and left the house, turning into a wolf almost immediately so he could begin trying to communicate with the others telepathically.

His paws danced over the bumpy Quileute landscape and he let out a howl as he passed by Leah's, noticing her head peek from between the curtains in the kitchen as he did so. His breath grew steamy in the early spring atmosphere as the temperatures were still only in the thirties.

As Seth closed in on the boundary line that still stood, he howled and in his mind called for Sam. When several minutes had passed with no luck, he was beginning to think the idea was a flop. He paced back and forth restlessly until finally a voice rang through his ears.

"What Seth?" Sam spoke to him. He made his way through the trees until they were face to face.

Seth phased back to show he meant no harm, though he knew Sam knew this already. "I, uh, I wanted to thank you guys for saving Lucy. And for saving me."

Sam crossed his arms over his chest, "I'd do it again, Seth, but this doesn't mean things are going to return to the way they were."

"Fair enough," he said, "I just still thought it would be right to come personally thank you. We both might be dead right now if you hadn't done that."

"You'd certainly be dead," Sam assured him, "I still have a responsibility to protect you, regardless of how much I disapprove of the situation."

"Luciana," Seth started, "She hasn't done anything bad. Not since that one time. I know it must be hard for you to understand, but what if it was Emily who messed up? I wouldn't do that to-"

"It's not Emily, though Seth," Sam cut him off, "We're playing with fire here, and breaking lots of traditions that worked for us for years."

"Things don't have to always stay the same."

"Well, for me they do," he told him, "I'm glad you're okay. I'd help you again if the situation were similar, but for any other time, we remain separate." He turned his back and phased on the run into the woods.

Seth glanced angrily in Sam's direction before doing the same. He howled to show his disapproval of the decision, then headed back to Charlie's house.

When he arrived, his mother and Esme were chatting in the kitchen.

"The brownies have about eight minutes left," Sue told him, hearing the door open.

"Great," he said sarcastically and paraded up the stairs.

Esme raised her eyebrows, "Everything okay?"

"I pushed him to go have a talk with Sam Uhley," she shrugged, "I guess it didn't go well."

"I wish they'd come around. I'm sorry to see the tribe divided."

Sue ran a quick paper towel over the countertops, "I wish they would too."

"How's he doing since Lucy left?"

"Well, the other night I thought I heard him crying," Sue whispered, "So I tried to listen in and realized that Jacob was in there with him. He was upset because he said he was thinking of the time just before he imprinted when he almost killed her. I felt so bad, he sounded like he felt so guilty."

"Poor thing," Esme said.

She nodded, "Yeah."

"Well if he needs someone to talk to about that, Edward's the one."

"I'll suggest it to him."

There was a loud clap of thunder and Sue jumped. The two of them laughed and Esme received a text message almost immediately. She smiled as she read it.

"What?" Sue asked.

"When will Charlie be home?"

She looked at the clock, "About a half hour."

"Great," Esme said, "If the two of you aren't busy, why don't you stop by our house. Emmett just texted me about a baseball game. Bella wants you two to come along."

"A baseball game?" Sue asked confused.

She nodded, "You'll understand once we get down there.. if you decide you'd like to come."

Sue smiled, "I'm intrigued."

Esme smiled back, "I think Charlie will get a kick out of it."

The two of them parted ways, and Sue went on to put on some more comfortable clothes. She peeked in Seth's room, "Want to come down with us to the Cullens for a baseball game?"

He shrugged and flipped through a car magazine.

"Come on Seth," she said, "I think it'll be fun."

He looked out the window, "It's raining."

Sue glanced over at a basket full of winter things in the corner of his room and found a winter hat. She tossed it to him, "Come on."

He glanced down at the hat, surprised by her enthusiasm.

"You can't just shut everyone out when Lucy's not here," she told him, "Now come on."