Something Wild
Chapter 13 - Pack Ties
Naomi didn't feel the least bit guilty about taking Leah to get pizza and not saving any slices for anyone else. The girl deserved something to herself.
"Talk to me," Naomi said, pulling off to the shoulder of the road and putting the car into park. "I'm all ears."
"Funny, you're usually all mouth."
"Look who's talking!"
Leah cracked the smallest of smiles at that, but sobered again. "I don't know what you want me to say."
Naomi pretended to think about it. "We just need to address the multiple elephants in the room. It'll probably hurt — stampedes usually do, I think — but we should get it over with before you go meet the whole pack." Naomi hadn't met all of them either, so she wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible.
Leah stared at the window. "What if I get angry again and kill you, too?"
To her credit, Naomi only startled for a moment. "I wouldn't blame you. That pizza wasn't all too great."
"Ha!" Leah shook her head. "You're always making jokes."
"Well, they do the trick, don't they?"
"I guess so."
Naomi waited for Leah to speak, but nothing happened. She tried again. "I don't know the exact details, but you shouldn't blame yourself. You didn't want any of that to happen. It was an accident, and it wasn't your fault. Life was kind of beating you up."
Leah let out a heavy sigh. "I know that," she said quietly. "Doesn't mean I'm not going to carry it with me forever."
"I understand. Just try to give yourself some space for forgiveness — when you can get there." Leah nodded.
Naomi was about to start driving again when Leah spoke up, again in that quiet voice. "When Sam disappeared for two weeks last year…."
"Yes."
Leah nodded. Her whole face crumpled into the most sincere expression of sadness that Naomi had yet seen on her.
"He was the first one. Had no idea what was going on and tried to pretend he imagined the whole thing."
"When did you find out?"
"Honestly, not very long ago. You and Embry back there were the first wolves I've seen in person, besides Sam the time I found out. It was an accident."
"He's the Alpha?" Leah scowled. "And I'm in his pack. Which means I'm stuck with him. Forever."
Naomi sighed. "I know. I'm sorry."
"Where are we heading?" Leah asked.
Naomi hesitated. "I think we're going to meet the pack."
The she-wolf scowled. "How many more of them?"
"As far as I know there's...four, five — I think you and Seth make seven."
"You haven't met them?"
"Technically, I've met Jared and Embry," Naomi replied. "I haven't met Paul, and I haven't seen Jacob since we were kids."
"Of course." Leah huffed. "I'm really the first female?"
"As far as we know." Naomi shuffled uncomfortably. "You could go down in history."
"Yeah, as the monster moms tell their kids about to get them to behave.'
"Pfft." Naomi shook her head. "Trust me, there's bigger boogeymen out there."
"If you say so."
They pulled up to the driveway of Emily's small house. Leah sat up instantly.
"Why is Emily's car in the driveway?" she asked sharply, turning her glare on Naomi.
"This is Emily's new house," Naomi replied hesitantly. "The pack uses it as a meeting place since Sam can't do that at his, what with Allison there and all."
"Perfect," Leah growled. "Just what I fucking needed."
"Why don't we head around to the backyard and see if they're back there?" Naomi asked, hoping that she could put off Leah seeing Emily for as long as possible.
"Whatever. Let's get this shit over with."
Naomi cringed as Leah slammed the car door but didn't say anything. She could've easily broken something, but didn't. Leah stomped behind Naomi as they walked around to the back of the house. There were a handful of the pack there. Namely, Sam, Jared, Embry, and Seth. They assumed the other two were on patrol.
"Leah!" Seth called, waving cheerfully. His spirits seemed to have lifted. Leah didn't reply but watched her brother with sharp eyes.
"I thought you were going to see your mom?" Naomi asked as they approached. Leah stood just behind Naomi, as if she wanted a wall between herself and the other wolves.
"I did, but Sam said I should come meet the rest of the guys," Seth replied. "I'm glad you're here, Leah."
"Yeah, whatever," Leah said, clearly not as enthused as her brother. Leah couldn't bring herself to look at Sam, and Sam couldn't bring himself to look away from her, a pained look in his eyes.
"Welcome to the pack, Leah," Embry said, a small grin on his face. "I'm sure we'll grow on you."
"Jake and Paul should be getting off patrol soon," Jared added, "so you'll get to see them, too."
"Let's get this straight," Leah said, her hands tightening into fists. "Unlike my brother, I'm not interested in joining your stupid furries club."
"None of us chose this life," Sam interjected. Leah met his eyes and clenched her jaw. "But we have a duty to protect our people. There are creatures that threaten our people, and it is for that reason that we shapeshift. We will have a bonfire in the next few days to gather together and explain more of this to both of you, and I expect you to attend."
As Sam looked between the Clearwater siblings, his tone left no room for arguing. Seth didn't seem bothered, but Leah shifted on her feet.
"And if I don't want to?" she challenged.
"I'm not asking," he said. "Whether you like it or not, you are part of this pack now. We must work together."
Leah began shaking and her breathing became shallow, but she reigned herself in.
Sam was about to speak again, but a howl cut him off. "That'll be Jacob and Paul."
A few moments later, two tall guys walked out of the woods, arguing, but their argument fell silent when they noticed the newcomers.
"So he wasn't kidding," the taller of the two said. He had changed significantly firm the last time she saw him, but she recognized him as Jacob Black, Billy's son. "We've got a she-wolf." His eyes landed on Naomi. "Two?"
"Nope," she replied, holding out a hand. "Naomi."
Jacob gave a funny sort of smile and humored her by shaking her hand. "Sure. We've all seen you."
"You have?" She raised an eyebrow at him. He smiled secretively.
"Yeah. Sam tends to worry. Embry, too, lately."
"At least it gives us a break from your obsession with the leech-lover," the other wolf, who she now knew to be Paul, retorted from next to Jared.
Jacob growled at him. Naomi looked over to where Paul was standing next to Jared, surprised she hadn't met him yet despite having known for a while that he was the third to phase. He had a much more angular jaw than the rest of the boys, and though all of the pack were tall and muscular, something about the way he carried himself looked dangerous. His dark eyes flickered over from Jacob to her for a moment and he froze.
Naomi felt like she was in a wind tunnel. She couldn't look away from his dark eyes and, before she knew it, he was striding over to her with purpose.
"No way," Jared breathed out, running his hands through his hair. "Shit."
"Well, what do you know?" Jake said. "Another victim to fate."
Sam's exasperated groan broke her from her trance. If it hadn't, Naomi was pretty sure Leah roughly grabbing her arms and placing herself in front of Naomi would have done the trick.
"Don't come any closer!" Leah snapped.
I knew I wanted Naomi to be Sam's sister before I knew I wanted to make her an imprint. Like, I always wondered how he made it through all the rough patches and how his mom and Leah dealt with it in the moment. It took me a hot minute to figure out who I wanted to imprint on her, if any. I think my soft spot for Paul won out. Embry is her brother, Seth (/Brady/Collin) was too young for her, Jared and Kim are perfect, and Jacob is too involved. Changing Jacob around to make him imprint would've required a lot of massaging the plot to make it happen in a way that made sense. I have no reasons for Quil but I still love him. And as for Leah — it was really between Leah and Paul, if I'm being honest, but the reason I didn't do it is because that would have been extra weird relationship-wise since we already have Sam/Ex's cousin and I didn't want to add Leah/Ex's sister to the Thanksgiving table. IDK it just bothered me.