Author's Note: Yes, it's been a few months since I updated, but I think we all have come to expect this inconsistency when it comes to my updates. With that said, I do actually have an update for those of you that are still interested in this story. I want to let you know (shout out to my day ones: brankel1 and Glykal) that I read all of your reviews and they mean the world to me. I really put a lot of effort into my writing. While I enjoy it immensely, it can be a slow process with these characters, especially Leah, who I feel so emotionally invested in. I feel it's important to flesh her out, as well as the rest of the characters, to prepare for upcoming events I have planned. That being said, I am sorry for those of you who are dying for some Paul and Leah closeness, it's coming, but I also have other things in the works as well that require patience. I know that all of the readers of this story are already so extremely patient with me and I thank all of you for that. Sorry for the long rant! Let's get on with it, shall we?
Disclaimer: I don't own twilight! Only my own thoughts, plots, and O/C's.
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"What is it? Embry?" Paul barked through the pack link. Sam had yet to phase in, so right now any and all decisions would be left up to him. His packmate's call had been piercing and alarming - letting them know this was serious.
Through Embry's eyes he saw the treaty line and practically smelled for himself the acrid stench that was permeating his packmate's nostrils.
"It's a vamp, and definitely not one of the Cullens. I can smell it heading west of here!" Paul bounded towards his packmate's direction, feeling as more minds joined theirs - Jared and Quil. "Should I follow the trail?" Embry asked.
Paul growled. "Fuck, where's Sam?" He didn't have time to wait for his alpha's input though, so he made a decision. "No, stay put, at least wait for someone else to catch up. We don't even know what we're dealing with yet."
Paul could hear Jared's long gate trailing behind him. "Fucking Cullens. Of course they show up and then everything goes to hell," he said with a snarl.
"Do you think it's a coincidence?" Quil wondered nervously. He was one of the slower wolves, but he was running as fast he could to catch up with them.
"Fuck this, it can't be just a coincidence that as soon as they decide to come back, more leeches show up!" Jared spat out angrily.
"Maybe it's one of their friends?" Embry offered.
Jared howled with bloodlust. "Who the fuck cares? I would kill them all if I could." Between Embry, Quil, and Jared, they all began arguing about who/what could be the reason behind this invasion and how to handle it.
"Shut up!" Paul commanded, using his weight as beta to enforce the order. The pack mind instantly fell silent, though hot tempers still ran prominent and potent. "We can't assume anything. Jake didn't say anything else about any other bloodsuckers heading this way so we treat it the same as any other threat. But we need to get on that scent now! So haul your asses, fuckers!"
They all silently agreed, but it didn't matter if they did or not because Paul was the one in charge right now. In turn, they would listen to him and follow his commands without fail.
They all ran hard, Paul and Jared the closest to catching up to Embry and the scent's location. It was quiet in all of their thoughts as they focused solely on their animal instincts, allowing them to push their wolf's physical capabilities to the max.
Sam phased in, finally making his appearance.
"Where the fuck have you been, man?" Paul growled, impatience clear.
Sam's thoughts were chaotic: scared and angry and desperate. "I was at the hospital. Emily started getting cramps and contractions. She's barely five months, this shouldn't be happening yet." He was terrified - for his imprint and unborn child. It was so palpable that Paul almost felt as if the fear was his own.
"Shit, man, go back to her if you need to. We can handle this," Paul assured, trying to keep Sam's emotions separate from his own.
He didn't particularly care for Sam. The man wasn't good at listening nor relating to others and because of it, he sometimes abused his alpha commands, leaning on them too heavily when he could see no other option, even if the other options were clear as day to his beta. Though, in all honestly, it hardly mattered whether the order was fair or not, because Paul didn't like to be given orders at all. He had never been good at being a conformist, even if conforming was as simple as obeying his pack leader. He resented anyone trying to control him, much less a man who was as flawed as the rest of them, though acted as if he wasn't. Still, he was a member of their pack and Paul didn't enjoy feeling distress from a brother. He didn't have anyone close enough in his life to worry about, not really, so he couldn't relate, but he could sympathize. Sam deserved to be with his imprint and child.
"Go back to Emily and your baby," Paul repeated.
Sam's wolf let out a loud growl as he pushed his body to catch up with them. "No, Paul. I'm alpha. I gotta be here." There was a certain clarity in his brother's head as he delivered his next thought. "But as soon as this is handled, I'm out."
There was a finality with the way he said it, as if there was something deep and relinquishing within the simple statement.
"Out?"
Paul could feel Sam's devotion to the pack was strong, but his devotion to Emily was stronger. He was going to be a father soon. He needed to be there for his imprint and child.
"Out," Sam said definitively.
Everyone in the pack whined anxiously as they considered the idea of the only alpha they had known stepping down.
Paul tried to ignore what that would mean. Without Jacob and without Sam, the responsibility of leadership would fall to the next in command.
And that was him.
"Okay, then let's handle this," he responded simply, choosing to ignore the implication of Sam's words right now. He needed a clear mind to deal with whatever threat was present.
Paul and Jared caught up with Embry, instantly honing in on the pungent stench that was now heading north.
They all moved quickly, falling at Embry's heels as he took the lead. If Leah had been here, she would be pushing ahead of everyone stubbornly and stupidly, faster than any one of them could ever hope to be.
Jake, Leah, and Seth's original split had caused a lack of order and chaos in their pack, but they had all stupidly assumed it wouldn't be permanent. Once things blew over, Embry and Quil both truly believed that Jacob would return to the pack. The rest of them relied on the same assumption about Seth and Leah, though hardly anyone voiced their concern for Leah aloud. No one, except Sam, could admit to wanting her back. Although their alpha's reasoning had been sound as to wanting all three to return, they all sensed the unreasonable possessiveness he still felt towards his former fiancée. He had taken her betrayal of the pack personally, which was almost ironic considering the betrayal he had done to her.
Yet, when Jake and Leah disappeared for good, it left them scrambling to feel complete in their pack dynamics for a long time, with key members now missing. No longer did Jacob take point in group attacks and no longer did Leah blow past them on her powerful legs to catch up with the prey the quickest. The roles they had all assumed needed to be reassessed in order to fight as a more compact and smaller group. While they still functioned as a whole, important pieces were no longer there to make them as strong as they once were.
How would they be with one more wolf gone? Their alpha?
"The path splits!" Paul snarled after running a few miles. The forest was even thicker here. There were more scents and obstacles keeping them from discerning which way the leech might have gone.
Sam huffed, preparing to bark orders to divide their group.
"The leech faked right there, but then backtracked and went left. He's trying to slow us down," Embry howled before their alpha could say anything, his brown wolf switching his direction with no hesitation.
"You sure?" Sam questioned, faltering in his steps as he came up to where the scent parted ways. He paused to consider his faith in packmate's abilities, unsure if they should follow the other trail or not.
Paul, however, had seen Embry track a deer that traveled over fifty miles away, through water, with only a day old scent. Though he was goofy, even air-headed at times, Paul trusted him when it came to important matters. And when it came to tracking, there was no one in the pack he trusted more.
"He's sure!" Paul roared, pushing his body harder to follow Embry as the smell became even more potent. Jared and Sam followed close with everyone else trailing behind.
It was only moments later when the hair in the back of Paul's neck raised in alarm. Luckily, The black wolf sensed it as well.
"Stop! Everyone form a protective circle, now!" their alpha commanded. They all let out alarmed growls, sensing his scared urgency even through the weight of the order. Every wolf backed up into one another until they were in an appropriate defensive position.
Snarls and yips filled the air as the telltale scent they had been chasing increased tenfold and became nearly unbearable. Dead roses soaked in bleach and formaldehyde would be heaven compared to the hell that was assaulting Paul's nose at the moment.
It was apparent why. Paul caught a glimpse of six vampires leaping down from the trees above, surrounding them. It had become overcast, light barely reaching the forest floor, yet their skin still shone an unnatural hue in what light managed to break through. It almost hurt his eyes to look at them for too long.
It seemed the bad weather had brought with it even worse company.
A short man with long black hair landed in a crouch in front of Paul, a blond woman with cruel red eyes falling gracefully next to him.
"He was the one whose trail we caught," Embry commented, distinguishing the long haired male's disgusting scent even amongst the rest. The vamp in question stepped forward, smirking.
"I almost thought you would catch up to me before I reached the others. Luckily, there's no one whose quite that fast in your pack, is there?" His voice came out nasally and grating, with a slight British accent. "Although it seems there is someone with a good enough nose to avoid that trap we set back there."
The blonde vampire, who had been quietly but confidently standing off to the side, rolled her eyes. She stepped forward casually, seeming only slightly peeved. But then, in the blink of an eye, she ripped off the man's arm and tossed it on the ground.
"Shut up, Oscar," she sighed, appearing bored. Her voice was thick and velvety, either Russian or Bulgarian. "You talk too much for having such an annoying voice."
The male leech screeched and stumbled back, clearly not expecting the unexpected attack. Despite the wound being nothing more than a scratch in the vampire world, it was no doubt still painful to endure. Oscar, surprisingly, didn't counterattack. He only meekly picked up his arm off the ground and stepped a few feet away from the aggressive blonde, cowering in fear as well as pain.
Paul scoffed. "What a pussy, huh?"
The others wolves snorted in agreement.
"Focus!" Sam growled.
"Sorry about him. If he wasn't the fastest vampire that I'd ever met, I would have killed him a long time ago," she commented flippantly, putting her hands on her hips. A heeled leather boot moved to step forward, but stopped when a chorus of growls cautioned her away. She huffed. "Clearly, we cannot converse like this. So can one of you please transform back so we can have a productive conversation?" She raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow, clearly waiting for one of the wolves to heed her command.
"She knows what we are. Like hell I'll do that," Sam snarled. Paul agreed with his sentiment, being human and surrounded by so many vampires was too much a risk to take at the moment. Not too mention, they wouldn't be anyone's lap dogs to be so easily ordered around.
A moment went by and she sighed at their lack of response. "Fine, I suppose I understand. Well, my name is Anastasia Romanoff, though that name probably means nothing to you primal beasts." More growls were met in response to her words.
Paul took a moment to survey their surroundings. There were six vampires around them, but the threat seemed heavier than that, as if there were more.
"Two are still hiding in the trees above, probably waiting to drop in if things become heated. I can just barely make them out up there," Quil surveyed. His eyes were the best in the pack and Paul heeded his words as true. So, that meant there were at least eight vampires surrounding them. Eight bloodsuckers against five wolves… it would be a risky fight, but they could pull it off if they kept close and worked together.
"Despite what you may think, I did not come here for a battle today. I came here to negotiate." Sam and a few of their other packmates snarled in confusion, not believing her words. While the bloodsucker was doing her best to seem cordial, the disdain she clearly felt for them could easily be seen. "As it were, only a few of the numbers my forces carry are here today. I didn't even bring along my best fighters for this, and yet we could wipe you out easily, so please keep that in mind."
She was the only woman in the group and clearly the leader. All the others around her were large, burly men, except for Oscar and one other leech. Oscar was clearly only here for his speed, but what about the other one? This vampire was a small boy, short and almost sickly looking in comparison to those around him. Despite his meager appearance, something about his black eyes, burning with a hunger for something more than blood, set Paul on edge.
None of the wolves took kindly to her threats, hackles raising and heartbeats speeding up in preparation for an attack. The others were also assessing the strength of the enemies around them, determining who might be the hardest to take down in a fight.
"Hold on, no sudden movements until we figure out what it is that she wants," Sam advised.
"I am here to have a civilized," she paused, sneering at them through her forcibly polite disposition, "well, relatively civilized conversation." A few of the leeches around her chuckled. "You see, you have something I desperately want."
"What is it?"
"What could she want?"
"Let's just fucking kill her already!"
It was a cacophony of thoughts, but they were all quieted as she continued.
"I want your female. I know you have one. A she-wolf."
It was dead silent in the pack mind as the news was met with a series of different reactions. For Sam, he immediately felt rage. He was protective, and possessive, almost in the way a lover was. Embry felt fear for his sister and friend. The rest of them felt shock or confusion or anger.
But for a moment, Paul felt nothing. His heart stopped beating as the words sunk in, slow and echoing, like a distant voice in a nightmare. For a moment and the world felt like it had suddenly tilted on its axis and was no longer spinning the right way because losing Leah - for good - was something he had never anticipated. It was something none of them had.
A snarl ripped out of his whole body so loud it ricocheted off the trees and far into the forest. It had been through no will of his own, simply his wolf reacting instinctually. The rest of the wolves followed shortly, with Sam's growl sounding particularly pained. Despite any lingering feelings of resentment any of them still felt towards their female packmate, she was still that to them - their packmate. They would protect her until death.
Paul would protect her until death.
"Now, now. I'm not an idiot. I know that you all will not just give in so easily. You see, my men have confirmed that she is on your reservation now, as we speak, and our breeder- " that word - breeder - struck Paul so forcefully with revulsion that he almost gagged. He didn't have much time to dwell on the idea behind it as she kept speaking, "has confirmed that she has recently chosen her new mate, so it is time." She stepped boldly forward, despite the number of beasts salivating to have her head in their mouths. "You all must want to kill me right now, don't you? But I must tell you, that if you somehow manage to bring my comrades and I down today in a battle today, I promise my full army will be here by tomorrow for a war. And they will exact revenge upon this land without mercy, in greater numbers than you have ever faced. And that includes when you went up against the Volturri only a few short years ago."
"How does she know about that?"
"Could she have been there?"
"What does she want with Leah?"
"So, you see, the same thing is true if you do not give me the she-wolf. Blood and loss will be all that you know until you breathe your last breath. I will give you two weeks to decide, that should be enough time for you to realize that there is no other option for you to take if you and you loved ones want to live. I see no need for any violence, unless necessary. That would be too much trouble honestly. After all, this is only a stepping stone for me."
"Should we attack?" It was Jarad who asked it, but instead of fiery determination in his voice, he was cautious, mostly thinking of his imprint and family's well-being should the blonde vampire's threat be true.
"No!" Sam barked. "We can't know if she's bluffing or not. The risk is too great. Just watch your backs for now."
"Meet me here, in two weeks, when the sun sets. If you do not show, then I hope it is because you have made peace with your gods and are ready to leave this earth," she hissed, a darkness to her voice that wasn't quite there before. Ana- whatever her name was, turned to walk off, but she stopped, her red eyes flashing as she stared them all down, lingering particularly long between Paul and Sam. "Oh, and by the way, I will need the female's mate as well. Whoever he might be."
Then she leapt up into the trees, stopping to grin down at them, as if this was a fun game of chess she was playing, before taking off in a blur. The rest of her lackeys also ran off, staying close behind her.
"Should we follow them?" Embry asked hesitantly.
They could all feel how conflicted Sam was about giving the order to pursue or regroup. While it was something he hardly ever did, their alpha was currently admitting to himself how clouded his judgment was considering both Leah and his imprint. He couldn't make the right call without knowing if it was because he was being selfish about their wellbeings or not. The black wolf whined in frustration before turning to his beta. "Lahote? What do you think?"
Paul breathed in and out, trying to think clearly without anger of the enemy or fear for his people clouding his emotions, still it was hard not to linger on Leah's face as it popped up.
Then it was Mrs. Fox's face appeared, smiling fondly at him in a kind, almost mother's way.
These were both people he didn't wanna lose.
He shook his head, regardless of how he felt towards them, the right decision on how to proceed at the moment was clear.
"We should go back and regroup. There's only six of us. Normally, I would say we should follow their trail and try to track them down, but we need people back home to protect the reservation. I don't think it's safe to split up and send such a small number of wolves after such a large number of vamps, especially not when their target is right on our home base anyway."
Their alpha seemed to recover his resolve at his beta's words, clearly also feeling at peace with the decision to return. "Let's go!" he howled, taking off towards home in a spray of dirt. Sam began strategizing and spouting more orders as they traveled back. "Quil and Jarad, I need you to start running patrol as soon as we get back. Keep it tight and around the clock, I'll send someone to relieve you as soon as I can. Embry, you have to find Jacob as soon as possible and bring him back from his fishing trip."
Their alpha's earlier words about leaving the pack felt like they were spoken years ago. Paul could see in his brother's head as his retirement faded into the background because of this curse they carried. He was there for his people, protecting them, but he felt unable to be there for his imprint.
Though Sam spoke with a fierceness, fight in his voice, Paul could tell he was tired. He had never been meant for this position and it was taking its toll on him mentally.
"Paul!" the black wolf growled.
Paul was lucky that he had always had an affinity for hiding his thoughts, or their alpha would have caught on to his empathy. Neither of them needed to feel pity for one another at this moment.
"Yes?"
"You and I are going to have to tell Leah."
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Ahhh, lots of stuff happening and in the mix. Lots of drama unfolding. How do you guys feel about it? I have a lot more in the works so hopefully you'll still be interested enough to stick around for my slow updates. Goodbye for now and stay safe in that crazy world out there!
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