This chapter is awfully similar to the moment in the book, because it is. A lot of dialogue taken over here to be adjusted with Hermione because I love this scene and as I've said before, I want to stick with the books as closely as possible.
"You had the option to skip patrol," Leah commented, ten minutes into their run. "Why?"
"Because we need to sort this out."
"Sort what out? I'm fine with the way things are."
Hermione growled but carried on running. "Things aren't fine, Leah. I get that you hate me but let's think about it. You don't hate me because of how I am as a person or because when I cook and make things more crispy than edible. You hate me because I'm an imprint."
Leah was silent and Hermione felt a surge of proudness as Leah was actually listening.
"You loved Sam, and I get that, I really do. But he ended things to keep you safe. He knew you weren't his imprint when he met you after his disappearance and first phase. He looked into your eyes and he was filled with a large amount of grief and pain, I'm sure."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because he loved you too," Hermione replied. "He was going to marry you and he broke it off and acted differently and shacks up with your cousin when you invited her down. It must hurt, the pain is something that you can't let scab over and heal."
"It hurts too much to heal, otherwise it would've by now."
"No," Hermione argued. "It hurts because you can't let him go. He isn't your Sam, as much as he looks like him. He may have the same face, eyes, nose and hair but he doesn't act like your Sam at all. He's an Alpha, he has a whole Pack to worry about. He worries and protects the tribe and he has to live with the pain of seeing his imprint's scars everyday and have to deal with your shit, too."
"My shit? He dumped me!"
"Have you never been dumped before? Have you never had someone walk out of your arms and into another? Merlin, you're just like Bella! I heard what happened to her, how she just shut down and became a zombie. She showed no emotions and you're just like her! The only difference being, is that you show too much anger."
"What do you suppose I do? Forget him and move on? I will still have him in my life till the day I die because of this curse."
"You can imprint," Hermione told her. "I bet you didn't know if you could do it seeing as you're a female but so am I and I managed to imprint on Paul. There's hope for you."
Leah was silent and it wasn't an angry, hateful silence but more of a thoughtful, considering silence. Hermione let her have it and carried on running, sniffing for any new scents and listening for any wolves to come knocking.
"What should I do?" Leah asked eventually. "How can I let him go when I still love him?"
"You don't love him," Hermione countered. "You love the idea of him. You love the memories of him but you don't love Sam." Hermione paused, taking a mental breath. "Let him go. Think of the memories but don't dwell on them. Never forget them because they make them you, but some day, you'll meet a wonderful man and you're going to imprint on him and when that day comes, you're going to love him more than you ever loved Sam."
"You're smart, you know that?"
Hermione chuckled. "Yeah, I've been told once or twice."
"...It was so funny, seeing it afterwards," Hermione laughed. "Obviously it wasn't funny at the time or straight away because he'd been effectively poisoned, but, come on, he was so in love with this girl that he thought an old man was her and then he fell off the back of a settee."
"Man, it sounds brilliant. Seeing it in your mind is pretty good too."
Hermione was going to reply but her ears twitched and her nose scrunched.
"Hermione, you good?" Leah asked, sensing the mood change from her companion.
"There's something.." Hermione didn't finish speaking, allowing herself to come to a stop as she narrowed in on whatever had alerted her. There! Heartbeats and feet and movement and - "Someone's coming!"
She howled immediately, a loud and urgent tone that Leah echoed. Hermione took a few steps back, ensuring she was on the right side of the wards' border and waited for the Pack to come.
"What is it?" Jacob asked, practically shouting, followed up with Paul's, "Hermione? You okay?"
"I'm fine," she replied. "We've got incoming, though. At least three."
"Did they split up?" Jacob asked.
"I'm running the line back to Hermione at the speed of light," Leah promised.
"I'll run the other way and meet you guys there," Seth responded.
"No!" Hermione said. "If all of us are there, we'll be outnumbering them and they could consider it a threat. We don't want to give away the wards just yet."
"Babe, they're coming here! What else could they be planning?"
"To talk?" Hermione said as a question. "Three doesn't make an army."
"You managed to," he snarled and she sighed, rolling her eyes in her head.
"No other point of attack," Leah piped in, images of the woods flying by running through her head.
"Hermione, do not challenge them," Jacob ordered. "Wait for me." She took a few more steps back but tilted her head when she felt something weird. Her hearing supported it, too.
"I think..."
"What?"
"I think they've stopped."
"Waiting for the rest of the Pack?" Paul growled. "Can't attack with just three."
"I told you that," Hermione mumbled sarcastically, with an added eye roll. "But no, feel that?"
"Someone's phasing?" Seth asked from his other end of their territory. "I wouldn't phase back if I'm about to attack. You've got a disadvantage."
"Exactly," Hermione commented smugly. Leah burst into the clearing where Hermione had stopped and skidded to a stop next to her, almost ploughing into her side. Leah saw Hermione step back a bit to avoid being hit, not trusting Leah's judgement and earned a wolf shove for her troubles. "Hey! Don't push me!"
"Why not?"
"You'll make me fall over," Hermione pouted. "Hang on, no. It's four. Sounds like three wolves and one human."
"Still enough for a decent attack," Leah commented, crouching defensively. Hermione rolled her eyes again when she sensed Paul's supporting thought.
Jacob and Paul burst into the clearing only moments later, taking point between the two girls. Hermione was to Jacob's left whilst Leah was on Paul's right.
"Great, I rank nearly bottom," Leah grumbled to herself and sent an image of her middle finger to Hermione when she sensed the smug grin.
"Don't moan," Hermione reassured. "An Alpha's Fifth isn't too bad."
"Fifth? What do you mean Fifth?"
"I rank higher than you," Seth burst out, sounding extremely happy. "First come, first serve."
"Then why the hell is Puppy over here, before me?"
They all paused at that, seeing her point. Somehow, it was just instinctual for Hermione to be there, next to Jacob. They silenced completely when the members of the other Pack arrived into the clearing with them. Jared was leading the party, as human, with his hands in front of him whilst Quil, Collin and Brady followed him in their wolf forms.
"Why send the kids?" Paul asked, looking at them with a furrowed brow. It was comical on his giant wolf. "Going into enemy territory like this, you'd send experienced fighters. Not these two."
"Could be a diversion?" Leah suggested.
"I'll double back on the route, just to make sure," Seth offered.
"But with just Sam and Embry? That doesn't make sense," Hermione quieried. "If three doesn't make an army then two makes even less of one."
"Sam wouldn't be that stupid," Leah whispered but the images of the possible attack still filled her head.
"You're right; he wouldn't," Hermione replied. "And he won't get too close because my wards will stop him. We've proven it works, now we trust them."
"White flag of truce, Jake," Jared said, clearing his throat. "We're here to talk?"
"Think it's true?" Seth asked with half his mind on the conversation whilst the other was running patrol.
"It makes sense," Hermione piped up.
"But..." Paul added.
"Yeah," Leah agreed. "But."
The four wolves didn't relax.
"It would be easier to talk if I could hear you, too." Jared's eyes flickered to Hermione and he tensed.
"Ha! Bitch is scared of an unknown variable," Leah chuckled. Hermione smiled but she wasn't proud of it; it felt wrong to go against her friend like this. Paul gave her a mental nod of agreement.
"Okay. I guess I'll just talk, then," Jared said. "Jake, we want you to come back." Quil whined softly, supporting Jared's statement and they all felt Jake's heart clench with pain. "You've torn our family apart. It's not meant to be this way."
"Of course it isn't," Hermione scoffed. "Jake's meant to be Alpha so Sam should step down and trust him. It's Sam that's torn the family apart."
"Hermione-"
"No!" Hermione interrupted, her wolf form growling. "You can't attack something without knowing it's threat level. If I attacked every wizard with a bone looking wand, like Voldemort had, then I could be killing countless amounts of wizards, some of whom could be out to change the world on a good scale."
With Hermione's growl, Quill, Collin and Brady all tensed and peeled their lips off their teeth in a defensive manner.
"Hermione, stand down!" Jacob ordered, the Alpha timbre to his voice properly fucking with her mind and keeping her quiet.
"Pups, eh?" Jared chuckled uneasily. "Collin and Brady are bad enough but I don't know how I'd cope with a five year old."
"The fuck did he just say?" Hermione gaped, her mind going blank before erupting with anger. "What a little bitch." She went to lurch forward and attack but Jake pinned her immediately, growling into her face.
"Stand down and don't let him goad you, Hermione, otherwise I'll send you back. Comprende?" Hermione growled slightly and Jacob pushed down further on her to keep her still. "Do I have to repeat myself?"
"Fine!" she shouted. "Fine, but just as long as we have no complaints for when I punch him when this is all over."
"None at all," Jacob replied, letting her up. "Stand by Leah, though. She'll keep you in line."
Jared watched them and when it was clear that Hermione - or the little wolf - wasn't going to attack, he turned back to Jake. "Anyway, we know that you feel... strongly about the situation with the Cullens. We know that's a problem. But this is an overreaction."
Seth growled. "An overreaction? And attacking our allies without warning, isn't?"
"That's my boy," Hermione whispered, her wolf smiling smugly at Seth's outrage. Paul glared at her through their mind.
"Sam is willing to take this slowly, Jacob. He's calmed down, talked to the other Elders. They've decided that immediate action is in no one's best interest at this point."
"Translation: They've already lost the element of surprise," Leah thought.
Jacob found it weird how his Pack all thought very similar thoughts. Sam's Pack was already 'them'.
"Billy and Sue agree with you, Jacob, that we can wait for Bella... to be separated from the problem. Killing her is not something any of us feel comfortable with."
"Damn right," Hermione snarled, along with Jacob but Hermione quietened down immediately when Leah nudged her, in case Jacob told her off and sent her away. He couldn't fault her this moment of anger, though.
"Easy, Jake, Pup," Jared acquiesed. "You know what I mean. The point is, we're going to wait and reassess the situation. Decide later if there's a problem with the... thing."
"Ha," Leah thought. "What a load."
"You don't buy it?" Jacob asked.
"I know what they're thinking," Paul commented, having been surprisingly quiet so far. "What Sam's thinking. They're betting on Bella dying anyway. And then they figure you'll be so mad..."
"That I'll lead the attack myself," Jacob finished.
"Jake?" Jared asked, interrupting the Pack's thoughts. Jake sighed.
"Leah, make a circuit with Seth - just to be sure. I'm going to have to talk to him and I want to be positive there isn't anything else going on whilst I'm phased."
"I'll phase," Paul offered. "He's my best friend. It'll put him off to see me as the enemy, and you'll still be in touch with the Pack."
"I don't like it," Hermione protested. "I can't protect you if you're over there and I'm here and you're in a destructible skin."
"I know, baby," he agreed. "But I'll stay on this side of the wards. Jake? Am I good to phase?"
"Yeah," he answered. "Leah, still run that circuit though." Leah huffed but ran off anyway, her claws digging into the dirt as she pushed herself fast, wanting to get back sooner rather than later.
It's so long and I had to split it into two. I really wanted to show how Hermione is just like other wolves with her quick temper. We all know they get angry quickly and why should she be different?
There is a very tiny detail about Hermione and the reason she's a wolf. So tiny, you most likely won't have seen it. I'll be slipping in teasers until the reveal.