Chapter 51: Alpha Female and the Imprints

The next day, I felt Paul giving me a soft kiss on the lips, caressing my curly hair as he got up. I stirred as I was about to wake up, and I heard Paul whispering, "go back to sleep, hon. I'm going to work. I left the debit card on the nightstand."

I nodded sleepily as Paul slipped out of our embrace and tucked me to bed. Few hours later, I woke up alone in the bed, so I knew Paul already went to work. I got up with a little more difficulty as the babies' weight is increasing every day. I decided to use the maternity belt that Sue gave me so that I could walk around more easily under my clothes and to wear a dark green jumpsuit, so it would be easier for me to take it on and off as I try on dresses.

I got ready and I went to the kitchen to make myself breakfast tacos. I made some for Leah in case she comes here hungry. Before I got the chance to sit down, I heard a knock on the door. I went to open the door, and it was Leah by the door. She had a white knit shirt with black jeans and black boots. She had a small brown purse on her shoulder, and she put on a little makeup. I looked at her astonishingly, and I blurted out, "you look really nice, Leah."

She shrugged and said, "we are going to bridal shops, I need to wear a little more extravagant to not stick out like a sore thumb. I smell food. Were you about to eat? I can wait after you finish, then we can go."

I grinned, "Sure! I made some for you too Leah in case you were a little hungry."

She gave a smirk, and said, "thanks."

We sat down, ate our breakfast tacos. It seemed like Leah enjoyed the bacon, cheese, and egg breakfast taco the most than the sausage, cheese and egg breakfast taco. After we were done eating, I got my phone, small wallet, and I put Paul's debit card inside of the wallet. I gave my car keys to Leah, and we drove off to Seattle.

On the way there, it was pretty quiet between us. I wasn't sure if Leah had something on her mind, or she liked to have her space.

I asked, "So.. how has it been with you and Jacob?"

Leah was still fixed on the road, and she gave a little frown on her forehead indicating she doesn't know how to respond instead of being mad. After getting to know her, I could tell now what her expression really means thankfully.

She said unsurely, ".. it's interesting."

I paused, waiting for her to finish talking. She continues, "..as alpha, I thought he would be very territorial and possessive toward me. But surprisingly, he gave me the space that I needed. . It took like a day or two to be comfortable around him."

She laughed softly, "it made him and his wolf happy that I wasn't so tense with being alone with them. Of course, as both shapeshifters, we crave physical affection due to our wolf spirit's needs. It won't be wise to deny my wolf spirit like that, so I allowed Jacob first from holding hands for few minutes and now ..I'm okay with him giving me his signature hugs here and there. My wolf spirit wants me to kiss him already, but I don't feel comfortable doing that just yet no matter how ..appealing Jacob is"

I nodded and said, "that makes sense . I'm glad Jacob is willing to take it slow with you and haven't given any indication that he wants more. Also, it's okay if you dont wanna kiss him just yet. ..do it when you are ready no matter how persistent your wolf spirit is. I think your wolf spirit will appreciate that you are willing to satisfy her needs instead of denying her time and time again.. I don't really have a good example since I got together with Paul pretty quickly, but I gave my first kiss to Paul just few days living with him. Since I lived together with him, I got to know Paul a lot more quicker and I started to build attraction to him. Since you guys are living separately, it's fine if it takes time for attraction to build. It's probably a good thing so that you can collect your thoughts every time you run into Jacob."

Leah exclaimed, "that was your first kiss?"

I said shyly, "yeah."

Leah laughed lowly, "well you jumped the gun really quickly didn't you."

I replied, "..yeah. lol."

Leah nodded and said, "…thanks. It kinda makes me feel better that it's okay to take it slow with him . Unlike Kim and ..Emily"

I agreed, unsure what else to say to that, "yeah.."

On that thought, what happened to her conversations with the other imprints? I know she mentioned she would talk to them after Jacob became Alpha.

Leah said knowingly, "I can sense that you are curious about what I spoke with Kim and Emily.."

Oh, she got me. I said, "well, it isn't my business because I trust you and how you handle things. If it doesn't affect me, then you don't have to tell me everything. I don't want you to tell me unless you want to."

She shrugged, "nah, it's fine. I went to check on Kim first before I went to meet with Emily. I'll talk to Quil and check on Claire later on this week. Claire is back on the Makah Reservation, and she won't be back until the end of the week when Quil babysits her here. As Alpha Female, it is my innate responsibility to check on the imprints... Kim was pretty intimidated by me when I went to visit her without Jared around. She was pretty closed off. She is Emily's friend, so I don't think she would spill Emily personal stuff to me nor trust me, so there wasn't much we talked about. The only thing I got on her case is that it wasn't right for Emily to constantly feed Jared. Even though Emily tried to feed everyone in the pack, it made more sense for the non-imprinted wolves to go to Emily, but Jared is romantically imprinted to Kim. It is her main responsibility to take care of Jared not Emily. Emily likes to be nurturing, but it wasn't right. I told her to start pulling her weight around because just because I am Alpha Female now, I won't be mommying the guys around like Emily has been. I got school and the pack to run. I don't have time to be babysitting men. I also told her to start making something of herself. Don't just expect Jared to provide everything. I know Jared doesn't mind as an imprinted wolf, but it doesn't make it right.

She didn't say a peep to me. She simply hung her head. It seemed like she didn't whine to Jared about it because I was expecting Jared to come at me for talking to Kim like that. I have been seeing through Jared mind that Kim has been looking at potential careers in their computer, so I am a bit impressed. She isn't much of a pushover like i thought of her to be. She doesn't look like it, but she does have a little bone in her after all." She said the last part with a mild impressed tone.

Ohh. That is interesting to here. I simply absorbed everything that she said quietly.

She continued, ".. with Emily..I waited until Sam left yesterday at 12am to go talk to her before i went to talk to you. That is why I looked worn out when I met you yesterday." She gave me a apologetic glance and I hand motioned to her that it was fine.

Then, She said, "I was thinking of seeing Emily first since she was the first imprint and a temp Alpha Female, but seeing that Sam was suffering, I didn't want to received backlash from either of them to the pain that Sam was going through…Emily cried and vented to me from the get go. She told me the injustice that she was pushed to be Alpha Female and no matter how much she tried to satisfy the elders , she was always an disappointment to them. She cried of how it wasn't fair it was taken away from her so suddenly because now she doesn't know what to do with herself. She has been giving her all to just be told that she isn't what they made her to be. Okay, I admit that was my mom and the council's fault for putting ideas on her head, but it was her fault for being such a people pleaser.

She said, "Then, we somehow brought up the time when she first got injured ..by Sam. She thought that I wanted her to leave the house, and I told her no. I didn't want her to leave. I was worried for her, scared for her and wanted her to stay as long as she needed. What I wanted was Sam to stay away and to see him coming over all the time, it didn't help with my grieving.. him around my dad and Emily, it made me bitter... I told her when I found out that she got together with Sam. That was when I got angry. I was jealous the fact that everyone was supporting her and Sam when everyone did that for me and Sam. I didn't understand why people's actions switched so quickly. I never got a proper closure since Sam gave me a shit reason for ending our engagement…she didn't say anything. She wanted to defend him, but she couldn't because she knew it was futile. He did handle it very poorly."

She was trying to speak in monotone to keep herself controlled. However, I could tell it was hard for her retell everything again, so I touch her arm in comfort. She gave me a small smile, as she said, " I told her even after I found out about what really happened , I wasn't angry at Emily because she was as much as a victim . I became angry at Sam and the council instead. ...all of this heartache and drama could've been prevented If Sam had enough balls to tell me the truth and if the council wasn't so hard on Sam and Emily" she gave a long pause before saying, "…..…She eventually told me that she didn't like Sam like I did when i was still with him. But when she was how devoted he was to her as she was healing from her injuries, she said she couldn't help but start to love him. She felt like a broken doll and that no one would love her like Sam does so even when she knew it was wrong, she still caved in. She said the pull of the imprinting was too strong to resist."

She gripped the wheel tightly, and said, "and I called her out on her bullshit. Yes, the pull of the imprinting is strong, but the wolf won't push the imprint. The wolf is whatever the imprint want and needs, and she wanted Sam to be a romantic partner, so Sam became whatever she wanted of him. Then she started complaining that she didn't know that imprinting could be anything else besides a romantic relationship. The elders told her that the imprints in the previous generation were all in a romantic relationship, so she thought it was a given that all imprints would become a romantic imprinting relationship….So that was the first time I heard of this. The elders did really mislead those two. ..Nevertheless, no matter how susceptible to manipulation and misguidedness she was due to her situation, she still had the free will to choose Sam. She personally made that choice, no one else did. She could've figure out the truth herself before taking Sam like that. .. Since Emily is part Makah, the people in her tribe don't really talk about going on a spirit walk like we do. Normal people aren't encouraged to go on a spirit walk due to their inexperience and they would have to be educated by the shaman first before going. Here, we start teaching how to go to a spirit walk since they turn 13 years old. However, less and less people go on a spirit walk over the years and it became less appealing to the younger generation."

Huh. That is interesting.

She added, "I did tell her all of this and she just stood there crying, bawling her eyes out to me. She said even though she felt like everything has been stripped away from her, she feels like it is new beginning for both her and Sam. She could actually invest her relationship with Sam this time.. Even though they are ..very close to each other, she still feel like Sam is a stranger so she wants to have her wedding as soon as Sam comes back from his spirit walk so they could go on a an long honeymoon and reconnect again."

Wait, that doesn't make sense to me. If you want to reconnect again, you would postpone the wedding not rush it. Unless, she is jealous that Paul and I are going to have our wedding first before hers? I thought all about this frowning, and Leah glanced at me and saw that I was frowning.

She said, "okay, I am not the only one who thought that was off."

I said, "yeah.."

She continued, " ..they have been postponing the wedding because they were waiting for Sam to be released from his alpha duties . However when Jacob was not accepting the role, it kept getting postponed but now that he did, they gonna get married immediately at the tribes recreation center..she asked me again if I want to be her bridesmaid as alpha female. .. it felt like a manipulative thing for Emily to ask me that cuz as alpha female, I gotta support the imprints in the pack but I didn't like that all. ...I didn't want to start another fight, so I said no again. I can support her as alpha female without being her bridesmaid. I will support those two when both Jake and I give her a toast at the reception after the wedding ceremony. She was disappointed and she didn't hide her expression from me, but I didn't cave in. It was just too damn early for me to be that close to her. She asked if we are everyone going to be friends again. I told her honestly I don't know.. I told her I don't hate her and I am upset with her actions.. we may never be as close as we used to be, but we could be acquaintances. That got her happy, so I left her on a ok note.."

She trailed off. She gave a big sigh of relief, and I could tell that having this hard conversation with Emily, helped her progress with moving forward in her life. Even though they won't be as close of friends like they used to, I think in a distant future if Emily needs something, Leah would be there in the distance to support her. I don't think Leah would ever get close to Emily again, but she'll be there as an old friend. I feel very happy for Leah that she is making progress to get through to Emily and

I said, " you did good Leah..I..can't imagine how hard it was to speak to Emily, listen to everything that she said to you, and not losing it with her..From what I have been hearing, I know she was venting, but..she didn't show any restraint. ."

She stated, "yeah..she didn't. but it is what it is. I finally sat down and spoke to her. I don't think I will be speaking to her again any time soon. I need to focus on me."

I replied, "Yeah, you do. You can't help other people if you can't help yourself first. You could try, but you would be worn out.."

She said, "yeah..I was pretty worn out after I spoke to her."

I said, "Yup. Maybe it is a good thing that we are going shopping today. We need some me time, don't we?"

She cracked a smile and said, "true. Since this is one of your small chances to go to the city, let's explore and have fun a bit. It doesn't all have to be business."

I said with a smile, " True, true.. Either way, I am only going to two bridal shops. Alice gave me a list of names, and she put in a good word for me, but some of these shops were beyond our price range, so I chose two from the list. Now, we don't have to hunt down for a dress for long."

Her shoulder sagged in relief, and she said, "good. We don't have to be in a rush to find a dress for you today. We could enjoy our time in Seattle. We can do one shop in the morning, take a lunch break, then another in the afternoon. And if we had left over time, we could explore the city. This might be your only chance until the babies would be old enough to be traveling."

Oh. That is right…

Then, I saw a sign that said Port Angeles. Leah noticed what I was looking at, and she asked, "do you want to stop at the gas station for a break?"

I nodded eagerly, "Yes, I need to take a restroom break, and maybe grab myself some snacks to munch on because the distance between Port Angeles and Seattle is farther than from the Rez to Port Angeles.

She nodded as she exited the freeway, to turn to a local gas station.

Author's Note:

Here is the chapter that I promised you guys with! I am proud of Leah, she is slowly moving on. Yay.

I was thinking to end the story once the babies are born, and time skip to the future then do an 3 part epilogue. Then I realized nah. That's too cliché. Many fanfics ends at wedding or once someone gives birth. I will extend the story a little more. I was planning to end the story around 70 chapters ish. I'll extend it to another 10 chapters to wrap it up a little cleaner instead of BAM, FIN.

Also, I am enjoying myself writing Leah and Jacob's relationship more than I thought it would be, ahaha. At first, no lie it was really hard, but now I am getting used to it.

After that, (if anyone has seen my poll) I will be writing a story of a AU OC/Paul with Paul imprinting on a latina girl name Alegria Lopez transmigrated on an 18-year-old high school student ( it's not connected to this story). It would be rated M, and you'll see more of Paul's POV in that story. I have seen student/teacher relationship human/shapeshifter fanfics with Bella/Jacob. There were few Bella/Paul, but they were never finished, so that will be my next project after this one. It will be shorter compared to this one ofc, but yep.

I don't want to be that writer who writes many stories at once and barely finishes them. It's frustrating when stories don't get finished. If you lost the inspiration and can't right due to reasons, at least right a short summary ending lol to have some type of ending to not leave your readers hanging like that... Prob, just me.

So..Yeah. Sorry for the long note. Next chapter will be coming out probably latest Monday night.

Enjoy!As always, reviews are very much appreciated.