NESSIE'S POV
"I don't know what I would have done," I whisper, running a thumb over the quickly fading bruise on my arm where I just finished giving blood to Emma. If she had died… I don't know what I would have done.
Once I arrived, we quickly switched River out for myself.
I draw my knees to my chest as I sit in the old familiar armchair that has always existed in the living room of Billy Black's old house where Rachel and Paul now live.
"I know," Jacob whispers, kneeling on the floor in front of me.
Emma's leg wound was so deep but is healing well enough to not need stitches despite how much blood she had lost. She's strong. The colour has returned to her face. Her breathing; strong as ever. Her heartbeat; rapid like mine. She was even coherent for a few moments when I talked to her.
Now she's sleeping peacefully upstairs, under the watchful eye of Embry. He had spent hours in his wolf state before Claire, Kim and Emily were able to talk to him and calm him enough to phase back. Word travelled quickly among the wolf wives and soon both packs filled the Black house. The men of both packs wait patiently for Jacob to join them in the kitchen where tensions are high. The women are all outside. A war might break out over this. Black vs. Uley. An imprint was almost killed.
"You should go in there," I whisper. I can feel their eyes burning into us. They don't dare disturb him right now while he tends to me.
"Are you going to be okay?" Jacob asks me, taking my hand into his, kissing it.
I nod standing. Jacob stands with me, "I will be," I lean forward and kiss him softly but Jacob pulls me in tighter for a deeper kiss, wrapping two tight arms around me and holding me against his body.
When he finally pulls his lips free from the kiss, he leans his face into my hair, inhaling my scent deeply, "I don't know what I would have done if it were you," he swallows.
"Don't think like that," I reply, resting my hand on the back of his neck,
"I can't help it," he says, pulling back so he can look at me, "The pack; we're all connected. I feel everything. Happiness, sorrow, fear..." he explains. "Embry's loneliness was unbearable at times. Over the years I masked my longing for you with anger. Leah, Seth and Quil called us the gloomsome twosome," he admits, "but then I got you back. He found her… we could all breathe again. There was peace. No, not just peace. Joy… What happened to Emma won't go unpunished. We all feel Embry's need for justice."
"It won't," I guarantee, "I want her head," I glare up at Jacob.
"Nessie…" Jacob sighs, his large warm hands wrapped around my upper arms.
"No. Don't you dare defend her," I reply feeling my anger for Misty boil over.
"She is my beta's daughter. My goddaughter," he replies.
"And she nearly killed… no, she did kill my daughter," I break free of his hold on me.
"Your anger is misguided. It was not her doing. She knows nothing," he pleads with me, dropping his hands to his sides, "everything she did she was guided to do by Sam. It is he who will need to face the consequences."
"So then no justice for my daughter? No consequences for Misty? Because Leah's your beta? Is that how this works?" I scowl.
"I just said that Sam is responsible. He gave the order. She had no choice but to do it. Let that sink in," Jacob says putting his hand gently on the side of my face, trying to calm me.
I slap his hand away, "you know what, Jacob. You either handle things with Misty or I will," I warn him, "I don't care whose daughter she is. She followed an order that nearly took my daughter from me forever. And just so we're clear, if you choose to protect her from any consequences for her actions… you are choosing her over me. Let that sink in… Now go on," I point to the kitchen, "they're waiting for you."
He looks intensely into my eyes but only for a moment before leaving me to join the men in the kitchen. I sit in the armchair again but only for a few moments more before I get the urge to go check on Emma again.
Once at the top of the stairs I look in on Emma. She's still sleeping. Embry sits next to her on a nearby chair, clutching her hand. He watches her with an intense unblinking gaze. I am about to go inside when I hear coughing from down the hallway. I wander towards the sound. The bathroom door is cracked. I push it open.
My son is hunched over the toilet. River coughs a few more times and then vomits.
"Oh, honey," I sigh and go to him, rubbing his back.
"I feel awful," he mumbles and then throws up again.
"Rach!" I call out but she's already making her way through the door, "oh, sorry," I apologize for yelling, "he's sick."
"I know," she says coming inside with an arm blood pressure monitor and a cup of orange juice with a bag of cookies, "it's an unfortunate side effect of giving blood on an empty stomach."
River sighs, flushing the toilet and then sits down on the floor, "if my stomach is empty how come I have so much to throw up?" he asks, irritated.
"Drink this, you'll feel better," Rachel gives him the cup of orange juice and hands me the bag of cookies. She takes River's other arm and puts the cuff on him to measure his blood pressure, "someone's been doing pushups," she teases him as she slides the cuff onto his bicep.
"It's the only thing they let the blind kid do in Phys Ed class," he mumbles and drinks the juice.
I reach into the bag, "open your mouth," I say to River and feed him a cookie. "So do you just steal a bunch of equipment from the hospital?" I ask Rachel, impressed by her stash of medical supplies.
"No, I have a supplier. You'd be surprised how many times a month I am patching up one of the guys," she says, "it's not even as though they get hurt on the job, hunting down the cold ones… most of the time it's just dumb accidents… or the boys sparring," she says with an eye roll. "I've never had to intubate outside of the hospital, though. That was a first."
"Thank you," I reply, touching her shoulder, "you were amazing."
"You can thank Jacob for most of it," Rachel says, "if he hadn't kept on with the CPR I don't think what I did would have made much of a difference," Rachel says.
"I'll make sure to thank him," I smile. My heart swells, knowing that Jacob tried so hard to save Emma. We've come so far. Though part of me wonders if his unwillingness to punish Misty is born out of his hatred for my daughter.
"None of this should have happened. That's the problem with the Uley pack. Nothing is thought through. Everything is on impulse. Jake's a leader. A real alpha… I've had just about enough of Sam," Rachel says with a bitter scowl.
"Really?" I ask, I didn't know that tensions were this bad among the packs.
"I'm not the only one," Rachel says, "Brady's imprint, McKayla, is less forthcoming about it but she too is not a fan of Sam either. And Collin's imprint, Annie, she is sweet and quiet… get one drink into the girl and she'll tell you exactly how she feels about the pack under Sam's reign, " Rachel says, "It's Kim who we have to be careful talking shit around. Jared, her mate, is a beta. She doesn't want to rock the boat because he's so high ranking." She looks down at the blood pressure monitor, "it's a little low, River, but you'll be okay."
River hangs his head, rubbing his eyes hard, "I have a headache. I'm gonna go back to bed," he says standing.
"Do you need help finding the way, baby?" I ask.
He shakes his head. I think tomorrow Jake and I will have to have a long talk about all this with him.
"I didn't know things had gotten so bad," I say to Rachel once River is gone, the packs always seemed to get along despite being separate. Just as I say this an avalanche of shouting erupts from downstairs. I stand up quickly and walk to the edge of the stairs to see if I can hear what is going on.
"So this is how it is, Black?" Sam snarls aggressively, "your woman is running this now?!"
"Misty holds some degree of responsibility here," Jacob argues.
"I did this. Punish me!" Sam pleads.
"I intend to," Jacob replies.
I make my way to the bottom of the stairs and stand between the doorway that connects the kitchen to the living room, observing the drama. On one side of the kitchen stands Jacob with Quil and Seth. The other side, Sam with Paul, Jared, Collin and Brady.
"Alright, fine," Sam says, "do your worst."
"There is no more Uley pack," Jacob says.
"Excuse me?" Sam smirks. The men of his pack chuckle at the suggestion that the Uley pack disbands.
"You're either with us or against us," Jacobs says.
"You're a little outnumbered at the moment," Sam crosses his arms.
"I can fix that," Rachel says coming down the stairs from behind me. I watch as she walks across the kitchen, opens the door and shouts outside, "ladies."
"Girls. Please don't do this," Emily pleads as the women walk inside. Emily stands by the door watching the scene.
One by one all of the imprints begin to crowd behind Jacob, including Rachel. Suddenly the men of the Uley pack begin to look uncomfortable, attempting to avoid eye contact with their mates. Paul is the first to cross the floor and join his mate behind Jacob.
"Traitor," Sam spits.
"Screw you, Sam," Paul shouts, "you're asking me to be disloyal to my woman?"
Brady and Collin look to their mates and then at each other, they too cross the floor. The only one remaining behind Sam is Jared.
"Unbelievable," Sam shakes his head at the new alignment of alliances, "so the bitches are in charge now?"
"Jared," Kim says, standing with Claire and Rachel.
"Kim… please," Jared begs her, "if I join them… I'll be at the bottom of the pack."
"Kim," Emily says, going to stand with Sam, "none of these women are making a sacrifice by joining Jacob's pack."
"I'm sure Rachel, Annie and McKayla would love to see you drop rank," Jared says.
"Oh, please, this is about you. Not her," Rachel scoffs at Jared's suggestion.
"Is it?" Jared replies spitefully, "Because from where I'm standing I'm thinking that maybe you're thinking it's time for Paul to be a beta instead of a third. Who better to convince the alpha than this own sister," Jared replies sourly. The women's status among the other imprints is reflective of their mate's.
Kim looks to Rachel, "is that true?"
"What?" Rachel frowns, "of course not, Kim."
"Kim," Jared says, holding out his hand for her.
"Jared, don't be my enemy," Jacob warns him.
Kim looks at the women around her and then to Jared, "I'm sorry," she whispers and then crosses the floor, going to her mate.
Jared puts his arms around Kim and whispers something in her ear.
I finally walk in, going over to Jacob, taking his hand. He pulls his hand loose from mine. I look up at him, he glares down at me with intense disapproval. I don't understand.
"Fine. Stay, Jared," Paul says, "nice big pack you got there. An alpha and a beta by default," Paul mocks.
"Alpha, beta and plus one," Leah says, suddenly appearing at the door. Jacob's head snaps to her. She stares at Jacob, "you betray me and you betray my daughter," she says walking to Sam, Emily and Jared, "I won't forget this, Jacob."
"Emily must have called her," I hear Rachel mutter.
"Leah I-" Jacob starts but then stops himself.
"We're not welcome here," Sam says and goes to the door, "let's go."
Emily and Leah leave together followed by Jared and Kim.
Almost immediately after they leave, the newly formed pack start to bombard Jacob with questions about who would be the new beta and third-in-command.
"Can everyone just…" he shakes his head, "stop!" he shouts, "everyone just fucking stop!" he yells, "I need a minute to think," Jacob says walking through the house and going out through the back door. He slams the screen behind him.
I follow him outside, "Jacob!" I call.
I look around for him. For a moment I believe he has vanished until I see a figure in his truck. I get closer and see him sitting inside resting his head on the wheel. I open the passenger side door and climb in.
"Please just leave me alo-," he looks over, "oh… it's you," he sighs.
"You don't look that happy to see me," I reply, remembering the look he had given me inside when I attempted to take his hand.
"They're all in there, fighting over who gets to be beta and third. Leah joined Sam because you insist that Misty is punished," he replies.
"I don't literally want her head, Jacob" I reply, "but she hurt my daughter."
"I know," Jacob sighs, "I just wish you would have let me do this my way," he says leaning his head back and exhaling.
"You know what I think?" I say, getting an inspiration.
"What do you think?" he asks, his voice flat, his head still leaning back against the seat.
"I think that you would benefit from a release," I lean my chin on his shoulder.
"Hm?" he glances at me with weary eyes.
I lean forward and kiss his neck tenderly, my hand resting on his thigh.
Jacob exhales softly, "what are you doing?" he whispers.
"Providing that release," I mumble against his neck with a small grin. I slide my hand up his thigh until I reach his belt and pull the leather strap loose from the buckle. I glance up at his face, his eyes are closed but his brows are knitted together in a distressed and sullen expression. He swallows.
"Ness, come on," he mutters. His voice is a little irritated.
I'm persistent. I climb onto his lap, straddling his hips and kiss his neck a little bit more aggressively.
He exhales, "get off," he says, grabbing me by the upper arms and pushes me off of him and onto the passenger seat next to him.
"Ow! What the hell, Jake?!" I scowl at him for the unexpected rejection.
"What were you thinking?" he asks, his eyes are angry, "forming a coup with all the women to influence the men to join my pack? I wanted them to join on their own volition. I don't have their loyalty, Nessie! Those men are only on our side now because they're afraid of a pussy-strike. This really screws me over, Ness" he explains, fastening his belt back up.
"But I didn-" I start to defend myself but before I can explain that I had nothing to do with what the women did in there, he opens the driver's side door and gets out of the truck. He gives me the same disapproving glare he had given me earlier inside the house. He slams the truck door and wanders off to the garage.
I cross my arms. Well, that was a fail. I'm about to get out of the truck and go back into the house when I see all of the women standing on the back porch looking in my direction. Oh, fuck. This is so humiliating. Rejected with an audience.
New chapter soon.
Please review.
