"Jacob. You awake?" Leah slid into her side of the king size bed and scooted over to soak up Jacob's warmth. Her patrol had just ended at midnight, and a bright moon bathed the room in silver light.
"Uh uh," he mumbled. "Sleeping."
"Seriously?" she whispered. "How could you be sleeping with that racket going on across the hall?" Ever since they had installed bunk beds in the spare bedroom, the place had become a bunkhouse. Tonight it was Seth and Embry, who was scheduled for an early patrol before school and didn't want to have to sneak out past his mom. It sounded like someone was operating a chainsaw across the hall.
Jacob rolled over and opened one eye. "Okay, you have my undivided attention. Do you want me to stop the snoring?"
"No, let them sleep. I wanted to talk to you about imprinting."
Jacob yawned. "Babe, I don't know any more about that than you do. We've talked about this."
"Then how do you know you won't imprint on someone? You know it could happen, Jake."
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "It's not going to happen, Leah. I love you. There's only one way I can think of that I could love you more."
Her eyes widened.
He grinned. "Well, if you were twins, I could love you twice as much."
Leah smacked him with a pillow. "Okay, I'm sorry. I guess there's too much time to think when I patrol alone in the moonlight."
His eyes snapped open. "Alone? What happened to Sam?"
Shit. She hadn't meant to bring that up, but she had her ways to distract Jacob. "He didn't show, Jake – but I'll handle it. Besides, I don't want to keep you up. I know you have to get up early." She faked a yawn and stretched, the thin fabric of the giant tee shirt she slept in riding up seductively in the moonlight.
Sure enough, his answer was a low growl that managed to convey both appreciation of the view and his desire for more. His voice was husky. "No problem, Lee. I'm already up."
"So I see," she whispered with a grin. "Just be careful not to wake the boys."
Leah woke with a lazy smile on her face, but it disappeared when she realized she was alone in the big bed. Sniffing the air, she silently blessed Jacob for making coffee before he left. Swinging her legs over the side, she sat up and began ticking off items on her to-do list for the day. The silence told her the boys had left for school and she was alone in the house.
She picked up her cell phone and padded barefoot to the kitchen. With a steaming cup of coffee in one hand, she thumbed Sam's number on the phone. Getting along with her ex was a constant balancing act; she knew the fact that she out-ranked him was a source of irritation, so she tried not to antagonize him when it could be avoided.
He answered on the first ring. "Sorry, Leah, I was just going to call you."
"You're about 10 hours late with that, Sam," she said mildly. "What's going on?"
"Emily and I went shopping in Port Angeles, and we sort of got tied up. We ended up staying over." Leah knew they were getting serious, and they were looking for a place where they could be alone together. There were no secrets in pack life.
"Seems like your phone is working fine," Leah said. "You know the rules. All you have to do is call and I'll arrange for someone to switch with you. Why do you make me do this, Sam?" She sighed in exasperation.
"Sorry, Leah, but I do have a life you know." His tone was sullen.
"We all do, Sam. And just like you, we also have a lot of responsibilities. This wolf pack wasn't my idea, as you know. I covered for you and did the patrol on my own, so you don't owe anyone a cover. Just don't take advantage of my good nature, okay?"
"Okay, and…uh…thanks."
After running a washer load and tidying up the kitchen, Leah was hanging her sheets on the clothesline when Jacob got home. He propped the line up with a notched stick and followed her inside. Scanning the contents of the fridge, she asked "Egg salad okay? My mom sent over some fresh bread."
"Sounds good," he said, taking the bread knife out of the drawer and placing the still-warm loaf on a cutting board. "Did you talk to Sam?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah, it's fine." She placed the bowl on the table with some leaf lettuce.
The knife paused midway through a slice. "But what does that mean, Lee?"
Her reply was a bit testy. "I said I'd handle it, Jake, and I did."
He crossed his arms over his broad chest, but his voice was gentle. "Don't you see he's trying to manipulate you, Babe?" Her face darkened, and he went to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I promised I wouldn't second guess your decisions, and I hope I'm not doing that. But the rest of us have been following the rules. Sam needs to acknowledge that you're the boss."
Leah sighed. "You're right, Jake. I'll have him tied to a post and beaten tomorrow."
Jacob snorted. "Can I hold the whip?"
She stood on her toes and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck. As he pulled her closer and tongues got involved in the kiss, the screen door smacked against the wall.
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Embry groaned. "Could you guys maybe put a sock on the door knob or something?" Leah ignored him.
Jacob flipped him an obscene gesture behind Leah's back and finished the lingering kiss before taking his seat with a satisfied grin. He tossed Embry two slices of bread.
While Leah was spreading egg salad on her bread, she mused, "I guess it's time we put some rules in place for the pack. And consequences."
Embry's attention focused on Leah. "Can I be on that committee?"
"We don't have committees, Em. Remember? But we do confer with the Council. I'll bring it up Friday night at the bonfire."
Embry smacked the side of his head with his palm. "I almost forgot! The Christmas celebration is this weekend! I hope we'll have enough snow for the kids to see wolf tracks." The teenaged wolf boys were excited to be delivering gifts this year to the kids who lived in large family groups on the reservation. Many of the children would receive hand-carved animals made by Billy Black and other local craftsmen. The wolves were especially prized.
"Dad finished up a big batch of wolves and bears last week," Jacob said. "I offered our help with gift wrapping after the bonfire."
Leah nodded. "Since the kids are all familiar with the legends, it's okay if some of them actually spot a wolf on Christmas Eve. I know we're all excited to do this for the first time." She smiled. "I'm not sure who are the biggest kids."
"Well, the routes are all planned out and assigned around patrol schedules. By the way, did you get a call from Dr. Cullen? I saw his number on the caller ID." Jacob looked at Leah.
"Yes, I did," Leah admitted. "They wanted to know if there was anything they could do for the local children at Christmas." Jacob rolled his eyes. "I was polite, Jake. I thanked him for the offer but said we can manage by ourselves."
Embry sighed. "They're trying, Leah. They donated lots of warm clothing to the party at the rez school. And they did it anonymously. Seth saw Charlie Swan driving Emmett's truck outside the school; that's the only way we knew where the stuff came from."
Jacob shook his head. "I know they are, Embry. Just never forget for a second what they are, okay? They are dead things that stole our childhood from us."
"Still, Jake – they're not the real bad guys. The ones we found creeping around the rez, flipping through the trees – they were the dangerous ones," Embry muttered.