AN

Next update for you lovely readers as promised! xxx


Seth's POV

My sister . . .

Sure she's a pain, and more than slightly scary, but the guys don't know her like I do.

They don't know the twelve year old girl who used to take me to the park whenever mum and dad had a fight, or the fifteen year old that let me hang out with her when I was being bullied. They had never seen her read me bedtime stories when I was really little, or check under my bed for the monsters.

It was so easy to look at the persona someone projected, but a little more time consuming to actually look past it, and the guys, however great, had very little time for anyone but themselves.

I knew Sam had seen a glimpse of the girl she used to be, but even he didn't know just how caring and loving she was. Her tough exterior and stubbornness tended to overshadow the gentler parts of her. It's a shame because maybe if he had realised, he wouldn't have broken her quite as badly.

Even though I was so much younger than Leah, I wasn't daft. I knew she still saw me as the kid, but I had understood things properly for a long time and I watched her more than she knew.

It had started off with plain admiration; she was my cool big sister so as a young teen I hung off her every word. Then, later on, when she was dating Sam it became protectiveness. I didn't care how much bigger and older he was, if he hurt her I would kill him; I could see how much she loved him. Unfortunately, with him becoming my alpha, I lost that option.

Things got bad from then on. I actually saw the moment her heart was ripped apart by her lover and our cousin. I saw the Leah I knew become buried under so much emotion that she finally blocked it out. The happy shining girl that was my sister died and left an empty shell behind.

Over the years, I tried to be the one to fill it - always being happy, never dragging her down, being a good student, a good brother, a good pack mate.

It was impossible though. Year after year despair hit her; Dad, Mum, Charlie, Jake, Sam, Emily.

How was she ever supposed to fight that?

How could I, as her brother, save her?

I never gave up on her, even on her darkest days. Even when she ripped me apart and was horrible to my pack friends, I knew who she really was.

I had let her down though, I had failed to save her.

Then came Cris.

He made Leah laugh and smile, something that was a hard feat to make her do openly and he wasn't scared of her either. In fact, he refused to put up with her crap.

It scared me to think about what would have happened to my sister if he never came here. I couldn't imagine him not being a part of her life anymore. They had grown so close so quickly, but it didn't worry me; their friendship had come about so naturally it was impossible to question it.

In all honestly, there was only one thing that pissed me off about them; it was becoming incredibly frustrating watching the pair pretend to be nothing more than friends.

There were so many signs, and yet they were both still in denial.

An example: that wolf that Leah was sketching in the garden - that was a drawing of Cris.

Oh, and the blue orbs I caught her doodling while on the phone to him the other night - they were his eyes.

And then there was the fact she was permanently counting down to her next patrol with him. For God's sake! This was my sister - she has never looked forward to patrolling in her whole existence.

It was like a big neon sign!

And don't even get me started on Cris!

Even the ever so unobservant Quil had noticed how attentive he was around her.

So, why did they continue to keep each other at arms length?

I'll tell you why, and this is my only conclusion:

It's because all alphas are idiots.

Well enough was enough. As neither of them seemed willing to make a move it was time for me to interfere.

And yes . . . I knew the risks of them getting together, even before Jake took it upon himself to give me the "He might imprint blah blah blah" speech, but if my sister could be happy for even a short time, then it was better than her being alone. Besides, I had more faith in her than everyone else seemed to. If things went sour she was a big girl and she would survive.

Amused at my own determination, I threw back my sheets and jumped out of bed. It was early, but after visiting the graves yesterday I wasn't really keen on spending to long with my dreams.

I quickly threw on some shorts and made my was downstairs. No one was around so I set to work in the kitchen.

It wasn't something I was exactly skilled at, but I could manage to cook a basic fried breakfast if nothing else.

An hour later the kitchen was stacked with pans; it had turned out it was quite easy to burn sausages and bacon. Regardless, I set the table and laid out the food. There was enough to feed a pack, which was my intention.

As always, the smell of cooked food seemed to be the best wake up call and it wasn't long before Cris and Lee had joined me. Quil and Embry also showed up; it appeared the smell had carried out the back door and attracted them . . . their eyes had almost bulged on sight of the feast.

I was unable to hold them off for long. I wasn't as scary as my sister and the guys tended to just wave me off if I protested too much, but with Cris around as back up there was sure to be enough food left for Leah.

Turned out my worrying was for nothing, several minutes later a sleepy looking Leah came down the stairs and joined us. She leant against the doorframe in an overly long t-shirt and smiled at the sight of us all around the kitchen table.

"So, this is the reason for all the noise? I thought there was an almighty war being waged in my kitchen." Leah's voice was sharp, but it held none of its old venom.

"Hey Sis. Look I cooked." It was easy to resort to sounding like a kid, part of me wanted her to be proud of me.

"I see that, and it's edible by the rate they are wolfing it down." She nodded at Quil who was trying to eat a sausage whole.

A few murmurs of good morning were directed towards Leah from the guys, except for Cris who just smiled at her.

"Hey, everyone make room," I hollered and ever so cleverly managed to make a space between me and Cris.

Leah raised her eyebrows at me, as if to say I wasn't being very subtle. I just stuck my tongue out at her in return and chuckled as she still sat down where I intended.

I noticed that Cris was looking at her with concern as she put food on her plate. She caught him doing it and nudged him playfully, which seemed to relax him. I could only smile, it was small interactions like this that screamed out to me. If only they would stop being so blind to each other's feelings.

Finally, everyone was satisfied (the burnt food had not stubbed out anyone's appetite). It didn't take long for the subject to change to recent events. Initially I was worried the atmosphere would be tense, seeing as the dead body was Lee's relative, but sensing the awkwardness both he and Cris assured us to treat it like business.

I admit, it really was bizarre that Barrow and La Push had been linked. They seemed to have hit us all in some way. I still wanted to know how my sister had become an interest of their's originally. The threat was still clear in my mind, even if no one else seemed to think too much of it.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door which interrupted us. As normal, I got up to answer. It turned out to be Jared and Paul who I invited in to join the meeting. It was odd having them in our house after all these years, but under the circumstances it made sense. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything constructive to add and I could see Leah getting frustrated.

All we could do was assume we were at least doing right in our strict patrols schedules as no further leeches had got through that we knew of.

From Cris's point of view he also had constant patrols running in Barrow, but their numbers meant they weren't as well covered. He therefore wouldn't be able to stay here long. The coffin was expected to be ready for transport in two days and as soon as it was, he had to go.

I saw Leah frown slightly as he spoke, although she never looked up from her plate and continued to push the crumbs around with her finger.

Surprisingly, the pointless debate carried on for most of the morning. My sister started muttering to me about wanting to slam her head into a wall - I had to agree it was somewhat monotonous.

Thankfully, everyone gradually disbanded. I too made my excuses, leaving Leah and Cris alone at the table. I quickly trailed after Lee; he was extremely quiet as I spoke, but he seemed open enough to patrolling with me tonight. I was glad - it meant Leah and Cris would have more alone time and maybe, just maybe, they would come to their senses.