The sun was peeking out of the clouds and the beach was crowded by the time Jacob got there a little after ten in the morning. He had been working on fixing up his newest car that he was trying to flip, but he needed a break. All the way from his garage, he could hear Claire's little shrieks of joy as she played on the beach. After seeing her there with Quil so many times, both in person and in the pack bond, he would recognize those squeals anywhere. Jacob wasn't sure if Quil was watching her or not, but Jacob figured that he might as well check.
"Jake!" Emily waved to him from across the beach. Jacob had gotten a sinking feeling that it wasn't Quil watching Claire when he hadn't heard Quil's laughter joining Claire's and Marissa's, but the sight of Emily confirmed it.
"Hey, Emily!" he called back once he made his way past the throngs of tourists playing on the beach. Emily was away from the water a bit, but she was still watching Claire and Marissa carefully. The two girls were playing an elaborate game where they would take turns running to the surf as a wave approached and then running back. Their shrieks of laughter could be heard from quite the distance.
"I haven't seen you in forever," Emily exclaimed, "How have you been?"
"Good, good."
"Anything new?" If Jacob wasn't mistaken, there was a glimmer in Emily's eye as she asked the question.
"I had a girlfriend but then I got dumped, if that's what you're asking."
Emily's face fell as soon as Jacob said it, "Oh, I'm sorry Jacob. I had heard you were dating someone but I didn't realize it hadn't worked out…"
"It's fine, it's no big deal." It really wasn't. Alyssa's absence in Jacob's life so far had hardly been noticeable. He realized he didn't miss her hanging out in the garage with him nor did he miss spending time with her stupid friends. And really, Jacob was just glad that he no had to deal with her awkward questions about where he was going and who he would be with, "It just happened two days ago. I guess gossip around here spreads slower than I thought it did."
"I guess so…" Emily agreed awkwardly.
"How's the wedding planning going? Is it all finished?" Jacob's obvious attempt to change the subject was only to make Emily feel better, but it seemed to work. She immediately brightened up.
"Good! Great. I think I have almost everything planned and ready. The flowers are ordered, the cake is ordered, the dress is ready; it's all ordered or ready or almost ready, I think. It's only a few more weeks now, can you believe that? Claire, come back here!" Emily's excitement about her wedding was cut off by Claire running off towards the rocks by the tidal pools, "Claire!"
Without waiting for Emily to react, Jacob hurried towards the rocks, where his long strides were no match for Claire's fastest sprint.
"Unca Jay! Put me down!" Claire protested as Jacob scooped her up in arms. She wriggled in his arms.
"You can't run away from Auntie Emily," Jacob scolded her, "You gotta stay with Auntie Em and Marissa."
As soon as Jacob returned to where Emily was standing, he set Claire back on the ground.
"Here, Claire, why don't you and Marissa collect some seashells?" Emily offered Claire a small pail from her oversized tote bag, which Claire accepted happily.
"Rissy! Rissy! Shells!" Claire cried as she ran off towards her sister.
"What were we talking about?" Emily asked Jacob.
"You were just telling me how the wedding planning is almost finished."
"Right. Well, you don't really care about that, do you? I won't bore you with the details."
"Er, not really," Jacob admitted sheepishly, "I really only came down here cause I was looking for Quil…"
Never one to take things too personally, Emily just laughed, "I haven't actually heard from him yet today. Normally he stops by around lunchtime or after naptime. Wasn't he on patrol last night? He might have slept in."
"Right, thanks, Emily." Jacob had forgotten that Seth and Quil were on patrol last night. There was a decent chance that Quil was still sleeping, "I'll go check at his place, then."
"Come by soon, Jake," Emily told him, "I made some chocolate banana muffins this morning. There's still plenty left."
"Paul hasn't eaten them all yet?
Emily laughed, "Not that I know of. But I'll make you more if you stop by!"
"I will, soon," Jacob promised, "I'll see you later, Emily."
As Jacob walked off, it occurred to him that Emily might be lonely. He didn't think that she had a lot of friends in La Push other than Sam and his cronies. Rachel didn't seem to spend a lot of time with her and Kim appeared to be better friends with Leah than with Emily. The world of girls and their drama was something that Jacob was determined to be done with now that he was done with Alyssa.
It wasn't long till he made it to the Quil's house. With his werewolf hearing, he could tell that the only person in the house was Quil – and based on the loud snores, Jacob could tell that Quil was still sleeping.
Jacob had been hanging out there since he was a toddler and knew that there was a spare key hidden in the gutter above the porch. Reaching for it easily, Jacob let himself into the house. He took the stairs two at a time, stopping in front of Quil's bedroom door.
"Yo, Quil! Wake up!" Jacob pounded on the door.
"Jake?" A groggy-sounding Quil could be heard from the other side of the door.
Jacob didn't wait any longer and pushed the door open.
"Dude, what the fuck?" Quil sat straight up in bed and stared at Jacob.
"It's almost eleven. You gotta get up."
"Jake, man, I was on patrol last night," Quil complained.
"And patrol ends at 4:30. You're fine."
Quil rolled out of bed and grabbed a shirt from a pile of clothes by the foot of his bed, "Is there a reason you're getting me up so early?"
"We gotta do something about Embry."
"Embry?" Quil rubbed his eyes and put his shirt on, "Is there something wrong with him?"
"He's avoiding me."
Jacob had called Embry two days ago, after Alyssa had dumped him, but no one had answered. So he called again the next morning and once again, no one answered. He called that afternoon and Ms. Call answered and said Embry was gone and when Jacob called in the evening and Ms. Call answered again, she was so annoyed that Jacob didn't dare call again. Ms. Call could be scary when she wanted to.
"What?" Quil asked, "What do you mean he's been avoiding you?"
"He hasn't returned my calls." As he said it, Jacob was aware that it sounded somewhat pathetic, so he added, "I think something is going on with him. There was something fishy about him not showing up to the obstacle course practice. And now he won't call me back. And the last time he was avoiding me like this it was because he had turned into a giant wolf."
"I highly doubt he's turning into another giant animal, Jake. And I think he'd tell us this time if he was." Quil said, "But we'll go track him down if you want. I haven't heard from him either, now that I'm thinking about it."
"Maybe the Makah turn into something different," Jacob offered, "Giant beavers or something."
Quil rolled his eyes, "You're just being paranoid. Let me eat some breakfast and then we'll go."
They made their way downstairs to the kitchen, where Quil grabbed a box of Frosted Flakes. Because he was also a wolf and also a good friend, Quil didn't wait for Jacob to say anything and just took out a second big bowl for Jacob. They each poured themselves giant bowls of cereal. Never mind that Jacob had eaten breakfast only a few hours ago. He was already hungry again.
"I went by the beach and saw Claire," Jacob told Quil in between bites.
At the mention of his imprint, Quil's eyes lit up, "Really?"
"She was there with Emily and Marissa. Misbehaving. Claire ran away from Emily."
Quil chuckled, "She's at the stage where she's doing that. She likes to test the limits, I think."
Jacob rolled his eyes at Quil, who was smiling like a proud dad, "Have you seen Cora lately?"
"She called last night and we talked for a bit." Quil took a giant bite of cereal and shrugged, "She wants to hang out soon."
"You gonna do it?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Probably good for me to hang out with some girls my own age." Quil shrugged again and took another giant bite of food. He poured himself another bowl of cereal before speaking again, "You doing okay, Jake? With the whole Alyssa thing?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm more concerned about Embry avoiding me than Alyssa dumping me. Which is why I want to find him." Jacob finished his bowl of cereal and let his spoon hit the bowl with a clang. He crossed his arms and stared at his friend.
"I'm hurrying!" To prove his point, Quil aggressively shoved several spoonfuls of Frosted Flakes into his mouth, "Jesus. So pushy."
"You ready?" Jacob asked, ignoring Quil until he slurped up the last of his cereal.
Quil sighed dramatically and drank the remaining milk from his bowl. He grabbed both his and Jacob's bowls and placed them in the sink, "Let's go, Oh Mighty Alpha."
"Are we headed to Embry's place?" Quil asked as they made their way out the door and down towards the road.
"I guess so." Jacob really wasn't sure where else Embry would be. It was Friday and Jacob knew that Embry's summer class wasn't in session on Friday. And he certainly wasn't at Quil's house nor had he come by Jacob's garage, so that left the Embry's small house as the only other place that Embry could be.
It was a short walk from Quil's house to Embry's and with their long legs, Jacob and Quil made it quickly.
"You think Leah knew what was going on with Embry?" Jacob asked, thinking back to Leah's mysterious appearance at the obstacle course practice session. Something had been off about that.
"Who knows, dude? It wouldn't surprise me."
"The whole thing was just… weird," Jacob paused for a second before electing to continue, "You think anything is going on between them?"
"What, like, romantically?"
Jacob hesitated before he responded. Embry and Leah spent so much time together and were always on patrol together. It seemed like a distinct possibility to Jacob, "Yeah."
"Nah, Embry wouldn't do that to you. He knows how much you like her."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jacob demanded, "I don't like Leah. I tolerate her, same as all of you do."
"I just mean that he knows how close the two of you are. Alpha and Beta and all. Embry wouldn't do anything that would come between that."
"I don't like Leah. I don't," Jacob protested again when Quil shot him a skeptical look, "I don't like her."
"Yeah, whatever, Jake," Quil muttered, stepping up his pace, forcing Jacob to walk faster, "I'm just saying that I don't think anything is going on between Embry and Leah romantically. They're just friends, the same as all of us. And I doubt he told Leah anything that he wouldn't tell us."
"I just don't know why he'd tell Leah and not us." Jacob knew he was whining now, but he said it anyway, "And it's totally fine if they're dating or whatever. They'd be good for each other."
"You're overthinking this, Jake. Leah and Embry…" Quil trailed off and it took Jacob only a few seconds to realize why. Embry's house had just come into sight and there was a very familiar car sitting outside of it. Jacob had spent months working on Leah's car for her – he'd recognize it in an instant.
"You were saying?" Jacob's annoyance at Quil bled through his words. Clearly, something was going on with Embry and Leah, and Quil was out here trying to convince him that nothing was happening.
"Maybe Seth borrowed Leah's car," Quil offered feebly, "Come on, might as well go see what's going on."
They continued their walk in silence. Jacob was trembling as he walked, anger rising at both of his two best friends. And his Beta. It was the most anger that he'd experienced in months. Despite what he told Quil, Jacob was not totally fine with Embry and Leah dating.
"Jake, calm down," Quil warned with a hiss as they approached Embry's front door, "Don't make a scene."
Jacob raised his fist to knock on the door, but before he could, he heard voices from inside the house.
"I'm just saying that you need a plan. They were suspicious two days ago and Seth asked me again what was going on last night." Leah's loud voice came through the closed door, easily heard with Jacob's werewolf hearing.
"I'm going to tell them, Leah, I am." Embry's response was sheepish and sounded half-hearted.
Quil and Jacob glanced at each other. Jacob was sure that Quil's bewildered expression matched his own; curiosity had replaced the anger that Jacob had running through his veins mere seconds ago.
Before he could think any more about it, Jacob knocked on the door. Immediately, Leah and Embry's conversation ceased. Jacob recognized Leah's light footsteps heading towards the front door.
"Hello! Come on in." Leah gestured for Jacob and Quil to enter. The tone in her voice was indecipherable; it was not quite welcoming but not quite harsh, either. Jacob and Quil followed her into the small house, but stayed near the doorway, hesitant to enter any further without an invitation from Embry. Embry was standing across the room with his arms crossed. Jacob studied him. There was nothing immediately different about Embry, at least that Jacob could see, but his tense posture reminded Jacob of when Embry had first phased and he would avoid Jacob and Quil.
"Can you call Seth?" Embry's words were directed to Leah. Leah shot him a look.
"I'm only doing this once," Embry responded forcefully.
"Okay…" Leah turned to the small kitchen and picked up the phone. Embry still wouldn't look at Jacob, instead keeping his eyes trained on the floor. But when Jacob looked, he saw nothing special about the floor. It was just the normal, beat-up carpet that had always been in Embry's house.
Jacob turned to look at Quil, whose expression was even more bewildered than before. Any anger that had lingered was now just sheer confusion. Nothing about this situation made sense.
"What the fuck?" Quil mouthed to Jacob.
In response, Jacob could only nod as he tried to comprehend what the hell was going on. Jacob's mind was racing. Maybe Embry had cancer and was dying. Or he'd murdered his mom in a fit of anger. Or he'd knocked up some girl and wanted to give the baby to Leah. Or… there were a thousand different possibilities running through Jacob's mind.
"Seth's on his way!" Leah announced as she returned to the living room. She sat down on the couch and leaned back, "He's coming in wolf form so he'll be here shortly. Jacob, Quil, how have you been?"
"I woke up like twenty minutes ago," Quil muttered. He sat down beside Leah on the couch and rubbed his eyes as if to make a point.
The absurdity of the situation made Jacob want to laugh. Leah acting like nothing was wrong, Embry refusing to talk to them and Quil focused on nothing but sleep.
"See any vamps on patrol?" Leah asked.
"No."
Leah nodded her head, but it was obvious that she didn't have anything else to say. Jacob looked around the little house that he'd spent so much time in over the years. It was familiar, but the situation was not. The whole situation was more awkward and tenser than that time when Jacob, Leah, and Seth had met Jared, Quil, and Paul in the forest. The three of them – Quil, Embry, and Jacob – hadn't spent too much time at Embry's since they had started phasing due to the stress it put on Embry's relationship with his mom. Being here now felt like everything had moved a half-inch to the right.
The faint sound of footsteps approaching the house made the whole room even tenser. Whatever the fuck was going on, they were about to find out. Jacob was guessing that Embry had knocked some girl up. Embry would have told them if he'd killed his mom and it seemed unlikely that he'd have cancer, although who knew how the wolf thing had fucked up their bodies. Maybe they all had cancer.
There was a timid knock on the door.
"It's open!" Leah called. Jacob wondered if she had moved in or something, the way she was acting like she owned Embry's house.
Seth pushed open the front door and stepped in, "Hey, everyone."
"Hi, Seth. Jacob, Seth, sit down," Leah instructed in a tone not dissimilar to one that Sue frequently used, "Embry has something to tell you."
Without questioning it, Jacob sat between Leah and Quil on the only couch in the room.
"Where am I supposed to… never mind," Seth muttered, stopping when Leah shot him a look of death. Seth sat down on the floor at the edge of the sofa.
"Embry," Leah prompted. Jacob was palatably nervous as Embry turned around and looked at them for the first time all day.
"I imprinted," Embry said it so quickly that Jacob wasn't sure he heard him correctly. It was only the giant grin that graced Embry's face that confirmed to Jacob what Embry had said. Jacob had seen the same smile on so many of his friend's faces now. He supposed it was only a matter of time until it was his own face that would have that stupid, idiotic smile on it.
"What?! That's great!" Seth cheered. He shot up immediately. Seth would consider this to be good news, Jacob thought bitterly.
"Are you serious?" Quil crowed, "On who? Who is it?
"Congratulations," Jacob managed, fighting the sinking feeling in his stomach.
"Thanks," Embry beamed.
"Is this why you've been avoiding us?" Jacob asked. No one had imprinted since Seth, almost a year ago now, and in that time, Jacob had nearly let the threat of imprinting slip away from his mind.
"Who did you imprint on?" Quil demanded before Embry could answer Jacob's question.
"That's the thing…" Embry started, his face suddenly serious again, "His name's Alex."
"Alex who?" Quil questioned, "Do we know her? I don't know an Alex. Is there an Alex up in Neah Bay?"
"Wait…" Seth paused and furrowed his eyebrows, "Did you say his?"
It took Jacob a second to replay the scene in his head, but Jacob realized that's what he had heard, too.
"Uh, yeah. Surprise!" Embry held up his hands and shrugged.
A silence fell over the room. Jacob's mind started reeling. The imprinting had left them in some pretty inconceivable situations. Sam with his girlfriend's cousin, Quil with a two-year-old, and Seth with the demon child. And now Embry with a man? That was pretty fucked up unless…
"Are you happy about it?" Jacob managed to ask.
"Yeah, actually, I am." Embry's face was back to the stupid blissful face of all imprinted wolves.
"Cool, man. Congrats," Seth stepped forward and embraced Embry in an awkward hug.
"Yeah, Embry, welcome to the club," Quil jumped up from the couch and congratulated Embry with a pat on the back.
"I'm happy for you." The words came out of Jacob's mouth automatically. Over a year into this shit and he still found this imprinting stuff strange and sickening. But clearly, Embry was thrilled. And Seth and Quil were happy for Embry and so Jacob was, too.
Jacob made his way to Embry and gave him the same congratulatory pat on the back that Quil did. Jacob was still confused; he couldn't understand why Leah seemed to know this before the rest of them did and why Embry had kept it from them but, all things considered, this was much better than any of the crazy scenarios Jacob was imagining. Embry imprinting on a guy and being happy about it was actually fairly reasonable, all things considered.
"Thanks, Jake," Embry whispered as Jacob approached him.
"Group hug!" Seth cried out. Jacob felt Seth's arms wrap around him and Embry, followed by another set of arms belonging to Quil, "Even you, Leah!"
Jacob felt a fifth and final set of arms wrapping around him. Without even thinking about it, Jacob moved his arms so that they were reaching around everyone. He felt a soft hand cover his. Leah's. She softly squeezed his hand right before the group broke apart. Even when Leah took her hand off of his, Jacob swore that he could still feel the warmth of her soft hand on his.
"So who is this Alex guy?" Quil asked, "Where'd you meet him? How old is he?"
"He's nineteen! He's in my summer calculus class that I'm taking. We met on the first day of class and when I looked into his eyes I just knew. He was sitting across the room from me but he kept raising his hand when the professor asked questions so I looked over and…" Embry continued his story, but Jacob stopped listening. From his previous experience with the other imprinted wolves, Jacob knew he'd hear this story about a million more times.
Jacob glanced over at his friends. Seth and Quil were listening intently, but Leah was standing back. She made eye contact with Jacob and smiled warmly at him, that genuine smile that could light up an entire room.
A wave of relief washed over Jacob. Leah and Embry weren't a thing. All this imprinting stuff was fucked up, but at least Leah was still single. At least for now. Jacob knew better than to think it would last. Leah was a catch. He glanced over at her and she gave him a quick smile. For the first time, Jacob realized just deep in he was.
Jacob's plan to nap through the afternoon before his patrol night was falling apart. It started when Embry turned up at his garage fifteen minutes before Jacob planned to take a break, wanting to talk and "clear the air." Jacob assured him it wasn't necessary. If Embry was happy, then so was Jacob. Who cared if Embry was into guys? Jacob didn't. And he'd deck anyone who did. (And secretly, Jacob was still relived that this meant that Embry had never been into Leah and nothing was going on there).
But since Embry was one of Jacob's best friends, Jacob indulged him and let Embry go on and on about how perfect the mythical Alex was. Jacob just let Embry talk as Embry helped him out by handing him tools and eventually grabbing them both lunch (frozen pizzas, sausage for Jacob, and pepperoni for Embry). It was a nice way to spend the morning, but it wasn't the early lunch and nap that Jacob had planned.
Now, as he was lying down in his too-small twin bed, Jacob heard the front door open and close, followed by giggles. Paul and Rachel had returned home from whatever it was they were doing, Jacob realized with a groan. He coughed loudly, making it clear even to Rachel's human ears that they weren't alone in the house. And yet little happened. Rachel's giggles got only a tiny bit quieter before they stopped entirely and were replaced by the unmistakable sound of kissing. Jacob coughed again, just as someone let out a tiny moan. Werewolf hearing was truly a curse.
In his frustration, Jacob jumped out of bed. He opened the door to his bedroom, stepped into the hallway, and then loudly slammed the door again, giving Rachel and Paul every opportunity to get off each other.
"Why haven't you moved out yet?" Jacob grumbled as he stepped into the kitchen. Paul and Rachel were standing much too close together for comfort and Jacob swore that Rachel had her hand up Paul's shirt.
"Shut up, Jake," Rachel replied, "Dad said I can stay as long as I want."
"Where is Dad?" Jacob demanded. He doubted that they would be doing this if Billy were around. Billy might not be a wolf, but the man had authority that Jacob lacked.
Rachel shrugged, "Probably at the Clearwater's again."
Jacob stared at the two of them. Rachel hadn't moved her hand from Paul's back and Paul's fingers were right on Rachel's waistline. Realizing that he could either sit around and listen to his sister have sex or try to find a different place to nap, Jacob marched straight out the front door, letting it slam behind him.
The couch in Jacob's garage was always an option, but it was small and he could never find a way to get even remotely comfortable on it. If Billy was at the Clearwater's, he might as well go there, Jacob reasoned, figuring that Sue would probably have food and Leah might be there. Even if Leah wasn't there, maybe Seth would be and they could play some video games or something. Either way, it was bound to beat what was going on in the house right now.
His feet seemed to have made the decision for him, as Jacob realized he was already traveling the short distance to the Clearwater's place. He walked through the woods, heading towards their back door. As he approached, she spotted Leah in the kitchen. She saw him too, waving at him through the window. By the time that he made it to the back door, she already had it unlocked and opened for him.
"Hey, Jake." There was flour on Leah's shirt and the kitchen was a mess, with bowls strewed everywhere and numerous cabinets open.
"Hey, Leah. Is Billy here?" Jacob guessed not, seeing the state that the kitchen was in. He also guessed that Sue wasn't here, or else she'd be yelling at her daughter for the mess. It seemed likely that Seth also wasn't there, as he would probably be cleaning up after his sister.
"Nope. Sue took him down to visit Charlie. And Seth's at the Cullen's place. I'm home alone!" Leah smiled triumphantly at him, "Why? You looking for him?"
"Not exactly. Rachel and Paul had just taken over the house if you know what I mean, and I didn't know where he was."
"Ew. Gross," Leah crinkled her nose and shook her head just a little bit, "Well, he's at Charlie's."
"I don't really need him. I can just find a place to wait it out. What are you making?" Jacob had to ask, seeing as Leah had gone back to aggressively stirring a less-than-pleasant looking batter.
"Molasses cookies." Leah took a break from her stirring and looked up at Jacob, who quickly put on a forced smile to try to hide his skeptical look, "I know they don't look great, okay? But they were one of my favorites growing up and I thought I'd try to make them."
"I'm sure they'll be delicious," he assured her quickly.
"Thank you," she responded pointedly, "Are you going to stick around to try them?"
"Uh… I guess so." Hanging out with Leah sure beat anything else Jacob could be doing right now. And if there were cookies involved, then that was an extra plus.
"Great!" Leah continued to stir the batter, which was still an unappealing brown, but Jacob remembered that Leah was related to Emily and hoped that the baking thing was genetic, "I think they're almost ready to put in the oven."
Leah put large dollops of dough onto the baking sheet haphazardly. Jacob made eye contact with her and watched as a sheepish grin fell across her face.
"I guess it doesn't really matter if they look pretty as long as they taste good, huh?" she asked, breaking the eye contact to look back at the baking sheet. She put it in the oven and set the timer.
"The taste is the most important part," Jacob agreed. Without being asked, he grabbed a rag from the pile and started to wipe down the disaster zone that Leah had created. Leah was licking the spoon and scraping the bowl, not yet making a move to clean the mess she'd created.
"Want some?" she held out the spoon as an offering.
"I'm good." Jacob's perpetual hunger did not compel him to eat something so oddly colored, "Embry stopped by today," Jacob mentioned casually.
"Oh yeah?" Leah asked.
"He told me you told him to."
Leah blushed as she continued to eat the remains of the dough, "I just thought it would be good to patch things up between you two. Can't have any bad blood in the pack."
"Embry told me you knew."
"Well, I pushed him too hard and put him in a corner so he had to tell me that he was gay. And then he just told me about Alex cause he didn't have anyone else to tell. I don't think he hid it from you on purpose, Jake."
"That makes sense," Jacob said evenly. He grabbed the flour that Leah had out, hoping to change the subject, "Where does this go?"
"Cabinet above the coffee maker." Leah finally stopped scrapping at the bowl she had made the dough in and turned on the sink, "Thanks for helping clean up."
Jacob scanned the kitchen. Even with the little work he had done, it was still an unbelievable mess, "This place looks like a bomb went off. No one ever told you to clean as you go?"
Leah rolled her eyes at him, "You know, I think my dad might have told me that at one point..."
"Should've listened to him. Harry was always full of wisdom," Jacob muttered. He put his hand on the jar of molasses, only to find that it was sticky and needed cleaning. He stepped closer to the sink and dipped a rag in the soapy water to wipe off the jar.
"He was," Leah agreed solemnly. She was silent for a second as she scrubbed the bowl. Water from the sink splashed Jacob's shirt, "Jake, are you doing okay with the Embry imprinting thing?"
"Yeah, I am," Jacob said automatically. It wasn't a lie. He was taken aback when Embry had first told them the news, but Jacob could tell that Embry was genuinely thrilled about everything. Who was Jacob to stop one of his best friends from finding happiness? And Jacob had managed to avoid imprinting so far, he was hopeful that he'd be able to continue that for the rest of his life.
"Good."
"You seem like you're awfully worried about it."
"As I said, I don't want any bad blood in the pack."
"Careful, Clearwater. Next thing you know people might think that you care about us," Jacob teased. He placed the jar of molasses down, finally satisfied that it wasn't too sticky to pick up.
Leah chuckled, "I do care about you guys."
"Do you?"
"I do. The thing is, Jake, a year ago, my life was so awful and I hated the wolf thing so much. But being in your pack... well, it's shown me that it's not all bad. It's been good for me, I think, even if you all are a bunch of morons." She turned away from the sink and faced him.
"Wow, Leah, I'm touched."
"Don't let it go to your head."
"It already has," he told with a smirk. Leah rolled her eyes at him.
"You're such a pain, Jacob."
Leah looked up at Jacob, her dark eyes staring directly into his. She was tall for a girl, but Jacob still towered over her. They were standing so close together that he could feel her supernatural heat radiating from her body. She was so beautiful like this and - against his better judgment - Jacob bent down and kissed her.
Even in Jacob's fantasies, Jacob expected Leah to punch him or jump back or kick him or yell at him or do any number of things but kiss him back. But after a moment, he felt her lips begin to move against his. Never in a thousand years did he expect Leah Clearwater to kiss him back, but there was no way to deny it: he was kissing Leah Clearwater, and she was kissing him back.
He could taste the ginger and sugar and molasses from the cookie dough. Her scent, so familiar and comforting by now, mixed with the sweetness of the sugar, flooded his senses and Jacob swore that this was worth all the yelling he was sure that Leah would do when he pulled away. If he pulled away. He might die here, in the middle of the Clearwater's kitchen, from the shock of Leah's lips moving against his. Her hands crept up his thin t-shirt and he felt her soft fingers trace over his abs. Her tongue traced the outside of his lip. Jacob was still too scared to move his hands or anything other than his lips, convinced that any type of sudden movement would cause the bubble to burst. He wanted this to last forever.
But nothing lasts forever and this didn't either. There was the sound of the front doorknob jingling, and suddenly, Leah had jumped back, away from the sink.
"Seth," she muttered as a horrified look crossed her face. Her lips were pink and rounder than normal and the panicked expression on her face made it clear that something had just happened. Jacob was sure that they'd been caught.
But when Seth entered the kitchen mere seconds later, he seemed none the wiser, "Jake! What are you doing here?"
"He was helping me make cookies," Leah lied smoothly, in her ever convincing way, "But he was just leaving now, actually, weren't you, Jacob?"
"Uh, yeah. Gotta get back to the garage." He wasn't as convincing of a liar as Leah was, but Seth didn't seem to question anything. Jacob stepped closer to the back door, unsure if this was really his cue to leave or not.
"Seth, do you mind taking Jacob's patrol tonight?" Leah asked sweetly before Jacob could make it to the door.
For the first time, Seth seemed to register that maybe something was off, "Sure! But why?"
"I just didn't sleep well last night and I'm exhausted – that's all." This wasn't a lie. Jacob was tired. He had planned to spend the afternoon sleeping, not kissing Leah. He was beginning to think that his initial plan was better.
"Yeah, I can patrol for you anytime you want!" Not for the first time, Jacob was grateful for Seth's over-eagerness to help.
"Great! Thanks for stopping by, Jacob! See ya later!" Leah didn't physically move, but she managed to all but push him towards the door.
"Bye, Seth. Bye, Leah," Jacob said in a daze as he opened the backdoor, his mind still reeling from the whirlwind he'd just gone through. He'd gone to the Clearwater's to find Billy and get some food and maybe hang out with Seth. Instead, he'd ended up cleaning the Clearwater's kitchen and kissing Leah and he didn't even get any food. A complete pervasion of his earlier plans. Embry had imprinted on a boy and Jacob had kissed Leah Clearwater and lived to tell the tale. Nothing made sense anymore. He hadn't been this confused since he first exploded into a giant wolf. Jacob stumbled out of the Clearwater's house and to the forest feeling as though he had entered a brand new type of purgatory. And this time, he had no idea where he'd end up.
