Jacob and Seth had been going back and forth between Sam's and Billy's for the last few days.
Now Seth lay in Sam's bed, tossing and turning while the blanket wrapped itself around his small frame. His father and the older man were currently in the kitchen. He wasn't sure what they were doing, but Jake had tucked him in, telling him that they'd be back.
Since Sam only had one bed and he'd prefer them both not to be uncomfortable in his home, he decided to continue sleeping on the couch. It didn't bother him much. He did wish that him and Jacob had more time together, but he would never force Seth away. He didn't have the heart.
Seth mumbled in his sleep and pressed his body against the mattress. He whimpered and hid his face in the pillow. His dream consisted of honey blonde colored hair, sharp teeth grazing his throat and red bloodlust eyes that held hunger behind them. This had been the second time he had dreamt of Jasper. His pale face would appear wherever he looked and no matter where he went or what he did, Jasper always pounced at his meal. That was when Seth's body would jerk and he'd wake up sweating and silently crying to himself.
This time though, Seth couldn't hold it in. He hadn't expected to see the dead vampire haunting his deep sleep again. His crying shook him to the core, making him cling to the pillow and hide under the covers. He had almost phased into his wolf, wanting to tear apart the leech who had hurt him.
His blood curdling scream echoed throughout the house, forcing both Jacob and Sam to stumble in the room.
"Seth?!" Jake ran over to his son, trying to grab hold of his arm while the teen kicked at the air and thrashed around. "Seth! Seth!" He called out, still not getting a good grip on him.
Sam quickly rushed towards the pair and pulled Jacob away from the bed where Seth continued to cry and scream from the top of his lungs.
Jake gasped as he was thrusted back, almost smacking into the dresser when Sam got in front of him. Stunned, he watched as the other male tore the cover from underneath Seth and carefully wrapped it around his body.
The constriction caused him to slow down his thrashing.
Sam pressed the small boy close to his body, giving off his warmth as he hugged him to his chest.
The action made Seth whimper slightly, but lean against the man in comfort. His breathing soon became steady as Sam rubbed soothing circles along his back and rocked him gently in his arms.
"Don't cry puppy. We're here with you." He reassured.
The rest of Seth's tears slid slowly down his cheeks.
He made a small noise that sounded close to a wounded dog and sniffled, looking up at Sam with dark glistening brown eyes.
Jacob stayed where he was, stiff as a board. He watched silently as Sam turned to him and smiled apologetically. "Come here." He said, holding a hand out for Jake to grab onto.
He did so without hesitation and was pulled onto the bed.
"I'm sorry. Are you okay? I didn't hurt you did I?" The alpha lifted his imprint's arm and checked it over.
When he found no cuts or bruises, his hand roamed lightly over Jacob's flushed face.
The man smiled and gently kissed Sam's finger, earning a wink in return.
"I'm alright." Jake stated, looking down at Seth who tugged the front of his shirt. "What happened little one?" He asked, rubbing his son's tear stained cheek.
With a croaky voice, Seth managed to get out a sentence. "I had a scary dream..."
Jacob wrapped his arms around the teen. "Do you want to tell me what it was about?"
Seth looked away for a moment and shifted his body so he were closer to his father, wanting to sit in his lap. Jake understood his son's body language though, and made room for him.
"The blonde man with the red eyes. That's who I dreamed about..." Seth shivered at the mere mention of the vampire, causing Sam to growl lowly.
"Daddy? Sam?" The boy caught both men's attention. "Is he coming back? Are the rest of them coming back?" His voice cracked as he tried to shrink himself into Jacob's lap.
"They'll never come back Seth. We took care of it." The older wolf explained.
"What do you mean?" The smaller one asked innocently.
Sam tried to think of something to tell him that didn't involve the idea of death. He wasn't too sure how Seth would take it, or if he would truly understand.
"We chased them away. They're scared of us now."
The boy perked up from the alpha's words. "Really? Even me?" He asked.
Sam chuckled. "Of course. Aren't you strong?"
"...yes? Daddy says so."
"And Aren't you brave?"
"...yes?" He more so asked rather than stated.
"You are. Never forget that. It's not something to question." Sam ran his fingers through Seth's hair, making the teen hug him.
"Are you gonna sleep in here with us now?" He had asked for who knows how many times since being there. Sam wasn't sure how many times he would be able to deny Seth the answer he wanted though. The disappointment that shone whenever he denied the offer always took its toll on him. He just didn't want to make the boy uncomfortable with being around his father so much. Like he said, Seth was smart and he was afraid that he'd figure out his relationship with his father sooner or later.
"I..."
"Yes. He's sleeping in here with us tonight."
Sam looked up at Jacob who smiled at him kindly.
"Are you s-?"
"Yes Sam. It'll be fine. Seth wants you here with us, and so do I." He laid his son back on the bed and tucked him in. "You won't have anymore bad dreams tonight. Not with both me and Sam to protect you."
Seth felt content as he pressed himself against the wall with the cover wrapped around him.
Sam got off the bed and promised to come back once he changed in the bathroom, leaving the two some privacy. He would give anything to have seen Jake slip out of his clothes in his bedroom, but he knew now was not the time. Not with his son in the room with them.
"I wanna be in the middle!" Seth exclaimed when Sam came through the door.
"That's fine pup. Would that make you feel better?" The alpha refrained from teasing Jake by pressing against him while he climbed in the bed.
"Yes. Thank you." Seth laid in the middle like he wanted while Sam switched the lights off, leaving them all in the dark. Jacob was the only one who's eyes took time to adjust to the lack of light, unlike the two wolves with him.
He tried pulling Seth closer to give Sam more room, but the boy insisted on the older man snuggling against him instead so he was sandwiched between the two. He sighed contently and wrapped his arm with his father's and leaned his head on Sam's arm. The alpha chuckled and smoothed Seth's hair down, making Jacob's heart flutter. Although he wasn't sure why.
"Goodnight." He told his son who was already starting to fall asleep again. His breathing steadied and his eyes fluttered closed.
"... night." He got out before drifting off.
Although Seth was right inbetween the two men, it felt as if only Jacob and Sam were in the room with each other.
Jake could feel the wolf's eyes staring into the side of his face. He turned to face the Native who was focused on Jacob's lips.
"...what?" He asked, starting to feel a bit insecure. The moonlight shining down on their faces.
Sam glanced down at Seth's sleeping form and then back to his imprint with a mischievous look in his dark eyes. "Can I kiss you?"
"R-right now?"
"Only if you want."
Jake chuckled and leaned towards Sam, right above Seth's head. His lips touched the other man's, making his body shiver with delight.
"Goodnight beautiful." Sam said as he pulled back and gently touched his imprint's cheek, wanting to hold him in his arms.
"Goodnight Sam."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Paul eagerly stood in front of Sam's house, taking a deep breath as he stretched his limbs. His hot body temperature made it easy to travel through cool mornings like this one. The wolf walked up the stone steps leading to his alpha's front door, playing with the golden key between his fingers. He had to practically beg and plead with Leah to get it. She was beyond pissed at waking up to find her packmate asking for her brother's privacy to be invaded, but at the end of the day, she did have a sense of humor and played along. "Whatever." She mumbled, tossing him the small key and quickly slamming the door in his face afterwards.
Paul was an early bird and everyone in the pack, unfortunately, had experienced the wolf waking them up at one point in time. Just because Sam was his alpha, didn't exclude him from his advances. Especially since he had imprinted on Seth. That was something the two of them had in common. If neither Sam or Jacob were awake, he knew that Seth would be.
Slowly the wolf entered the house, immediately coming into contact with his imprint's sweet scent. He could pick up the sound of multiple snores coming from Sam's room.
He chuckled and followed the noise until he reached the bedroom door. From there he could hear someone shuffling around.
He snickered once he became familiar with who it was. Carefully opening the door, he spotted Seth placed between both sleeping men. His big brown eyes immediately landed on Paul who tried to still his laughter as he waved.
It had looked like someone tossed Jacob on the bed with how his body was displayed. An arm pressed against the wall while his legs were tangled with Sam's. His other arm shot out, laying carelessly across Seth's chest. Sam was no better. A leg was sticking out from the cover and off the bed. His face was barried underneath a pillow with an arm also laid on Seth's neck, trapping him. Both men were snoring while the small wolf looked slightly annoyed, not being able to move.
Paul shook his head with a smirk and walked over to the trio, pushing Sam and Jake's limbs out of the way to carefully help Seth off the bed.
"Hey puppy. Should we wake them up?"
The teen smiled wide at seeing Paul and nodded.
The older wolf grinned and gripped the blanket hanging off the edge, quickly ripping it off the pair. The action didn't cause either to wake, so with an annoyed huff, Paul grabbed a pillow instead and wacked Sam in the face with it.
The alpha jerked and swung an arm near his beta who dodged it. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He screamed, red in the face with a balled fist.
"Jeez. Someone's pissy. I was gonna do you a favor today, but with that attitude, I'm not so sure anymore."
Sam growled and would have tackled Paul, but he could see Seth from the corner of his eye, watching silently.
"You're a lucky bastard." He mumbled under his breath, glaring at the wolf, but also giving him a swift kick to the leg.
"Ah!" Paul shouted, rubbing at the spot.
"How did you even get into my house? I swear if you broke a window or something-"
"I didn't break any of your precious windows. Leah happily gave me her key." He held it up for the man to see, grinning, until Sam quickly snatched it back, making Paul stand there dumbfounded that he even allowed the alpha to do such a thing in the first place.
"Idiots. You and my sister."
"...I'm telling."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Why are y-"
"Yeah, shut up for a sec. It's Jake's turn." Paul ignored his alpha and grabbed at the pillow again. He carelessly climbed over Sam and raised it above his head to hit Jacob this time, who was still sleeping with his body pressed against the wall. "Ugh. I can't reach his face." He complained.
"Hit him with that and you'll be doing double patrols today." Sam stated, making Paul re-think his decision.
"You suck." He slid off the bed and went over to his imprint. "I'm gonna raid your kitchen with Seth here. Feel free to join us when sleeping beauty wakes up. Don't take too long though. I still have that favor to offer." Paul grabbed Seth's hand and dragged him along to the kitchen, finally giving Sam some privacy.
He looked over at Jake who stretched his muscles and turned over in his sleep.
The alpha didn't want to disturb his imprint's slumber, but because Paul had insisted on doing Sam a favor, he would hesitantly wake Jacob.
He carefully leaned down and pressed his lips against Jake's soft ones, hoping to get some kind of reaction.
The kiss did nothing though, causing Sam to instead, gently bite down on the man's ear.
That made Jacob stir and slowly open his eyes. He grumbled something to himself while smiling lazily at Sam "Mmmm. Hey."
"Hey beautiful."
"Why do you call me that? Am I a girl to you or something?"
Sam chuckled. "No Jake. You're just beautiful to me." He gripped his hand and pulled him close, giving Jacob a loving kiss.
This time he got a reaction. His imprint eagerly gave one in return before pulling back in a haste.
"What's wrong?"
"Where's Seth?"
"Don't worry. Him and Paul are in the kitchen. They're waiting for us actually."
Jake sighed a relief. "He's here pretty early." He said while glancing at the alarm clock placed on Sam's dresser across the room.
"Yeah. Apparently Leah gave him the house key I gave to her." His tone held some form of annoyance as he pulled Jacob off the bed.
Jake snorted. "What a dork."
"I would use a stronger word than dork to describe Paul, but I don't want to hurt his feelings." Sam commented sarcastically while he rolled his eyes.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Finally! What were you guys doing? Gettin' busy?" Paul snorted out a laugh, piling pancakes on Seth's plate. The kid nearly drooled at the site.
"Do you ever be quiet?" Jacob asked as he placed himself at the table across from his son.
Paul ignored the comment and instead offered them both breakfast.
"Why do you feel the need to eat my food?" Sam questioned for what felt like the hundreth time.
"I make you some don't I? Plus my imprint was hungry so I provided...just like you provided Jake with something else he could stuff in his mouth this morning..." He snorted again, nearly choking himself when he took a sip of orange juice.
Jacob harshly bit down on the metal fork between his teeth, blushing all over. He glanced at Sam who glared at Paul and quickly tipped the glass that the beta was drinking, closer to his mouth. The sticky liquid invaded his nose and ran down his neck just to soak his shirt. He pulled away and coughed violently, earning a mocking laugh from Jacob, a smirk from Sam and a worried look from Seth.
"You asshole!" He screeched, trying to wipe away at the juice with a napkin.
"You're not being a very good influence on your imprint." The alpha said as Seth played with the syrup on his pancakes.
Paul growled under his breath, but ruffled the teens hair. "Don't repeat what I said. Okay?"
The boy just nodded and pressed a napkin to the man's chest, trying to help him in anyway he could. The action caused Paul to smile and press a kiss to Seth's cheek. "The only one who cares about me around here."
Sam stood and cut into his pancakes, declining an invitation to take Jacob's seat. "Don't worry b-" He corrected himself. "Jake. I'm okay standing." He winked and took a bite. "Paul? You talked about doing me a favor. What is it?"
"Well I was thinking of taking Seth to the beach today to give you two some alone time. Ya know, enjoy each other's company."
"I wanna go to the beach!" Seth exclaimed, bouncing up and down in his seat. "Daddy, can I go to the beach?!"
"Er...without us?" He directed the question to Paul.
"Well duh. Come on Jake. You know I would never let anything happen to Seth. Especially considering the circumstances."
Jacob hesitated, playing with the syrup bottle. "Mmmm...what if Seth feels uncomfortable? What if he has an episode? What if he has a tantrum? Can you handle that?" He asked while eyeing the man with a raised eyebrow.
"He'd never feel uncomfortable with me around, and if something were to happen like that, I'd call you."
"What if he runs away?"
"I do have a pair of my own legs." Paul stated as a matter-of factly.
"What if he gets hurt?"
"I wouldn't let that happen, but if it did, he'd be able to heal himself right away."
"What if-"
"Jake! We're wolves for crying out loud! Shapeshifters. Seth's not as fragile as he looks. Don't you trust me? I'm not a moron you know."
"Could have fooled me." Sam remarked, earning a glare from Paul.
"I don't know. I don't like leaving Seth for too long. Especially..." He didn't finish, figuring that the two would understand where he was going with this.
Jacob wouldn't know what to do if another vampire got their cold hands on his son again. They could have Jake all they wanted, just not his baby boy.
Paul sighed. "We'll be in La Push. I'll keep in contact. We won't even go in the water if that's not what you want. Come on Jake. I know Seth wants to get out of the house. It's been weeks."
Jacob bit down on his bottom lip, glancing at the teen. Those big brown eyes stared into his own. Asking for permission to go out and enjoy the outdoors. To quit hiding and to have fun instead. To live again.
Jake didn't like keeping Seth away from the things he wanted to do. But it had been a constant back and forth between Billy's and Sam's in the last few days. There was the occasional stop at the store, but that was hardly enough for Seth. And he knew that.
"...Just...please don't hesitate to call me if something happens."
Paul placed a hand on the Native's shoulder. "We won't be too far. We'll be back by 8?"
"All day?"
"6?"
Jacob blew air from his nose. "Fine. 6. Here, take my number." He held out a hand for Paul's phone. Once he got it, he quickly typed and handed it back.
"You're awesome Jake! Thanks!"
Seth wiggled around in his seat, beaming. "We're going to the beach?"
"Sure are! Come on, let's pack you some things and get ready."
The boy rushed out of the chair, giving his father a tight hug and getting a kiss on the forehead in return. "I love you." Jacob told his only son.
"I love you too daddy." Seth pulled away, holding his arms out for Sam this time.
The alpha smiled and gave the small wolf a squeeze. When the teen noticed that the man wasn't going to kiss his face like Jacob had, he looked up and frowned.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked with a matching expression.
"I want a kiss." He begged, making the alpha chuckle.
Jacob shook his head. "Seth, I'm sure Sam doesn't w-"
"It's okay Jake." The wolf lifted the pup and gave him a quick kiss on the nose.
He gently placed him down and ruffled his hair. He understood that the boy didn't quite "get" boundaries. But it didn't bother the man. If Seth felt comfortable enough around Sam, then he'd take it.
A/N: God college is really kicking my ass. Can you please review? I'm fucking tired.