Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer not me.
Author/Note 1: This story is the sequel of Our Dawn 5. For the ones who don't know anything about Our Dawn Series, you can always read Our Dawn 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and Our Dawn Series Specials but if you don't want to bother I have a resume on my profile page. As it would be expected this is a next generation story and as such, it's focused on Jake and Leah's children.
A/Note 2: A huge thank you for everyone who reviewed Our Dawn Series so far.
A/Note 3: I'm not a native English speaker so I'm sorry for my grammar and spelling. Thank you for reading.
Alpha
Book III – The Challenger
William Black
34. Lost Chance
"Wake up dear brother!" I shouted when I opened Isaac's bedroom's door. He opened his eyes and stared dumbly at me.
"Go away, Will. I was on night patrol. I need to sleep." He mumbled and put his pillow over his head.
"Sorry, Boo. You need to get up. The pack needs us."
"Are you joking? Because if you are, I'll kill you!" He said from under the pillow.
"Nope. Dad's orders. Now move slowpoke."
"Fine…" He grumbled.
Dad had received a disturbing phone call from Aunt Rachel a few minutes ago. Uncle Paul hadn't returned home after his last patrol the day before. According to Collin, Uncle Paul had left La Push to follow his oldest son. Initially dad thought that he could've run into the vampire that was lurking around the Reservation but if an attack had occurred all of the pack would've felt it.
Besides my uncle was an incredible fighter, it was impossible that a single vampire could win in a battle against him. So as soon as we discharged that theory, we only came up with one other option: EJ had to be the reason why Uncle Paul was missing. Now we just had to figure out what had happened to the both of them.
"Right now you need to get dressed and cook us breakfast. Hurry up, we're starving!" I smirked and left his room leaving my brother complaining.
JJ was already downstairs waiting for his breakfast. Upon my return from the auto shop a few minutes ago, mum and Harry had left immediately to follow dad's orders and I was forced to take the babysitting shift. I hated doing that but Harry had won our rock-paper-scissors' battle.
"Sarah? Time to get up." I knocked on my sister's bedroom's door and waited for a reply that never came. Sarah could be a spoiled little brat when she wanted. "Sarah?"
Still no answer. I sighed deeply. If I wanted to follow my initial plan of going to Rhea's house to have a word with her and check if she was alright, I had to get Sarah to cooperate.
Isaac had followed my orders and was already in the kitchen preparing JJ's breakfast. That meant I would have to deal with Sarah on my own.
"I'm coming in, Sarah." I warned and went inside. She was still in bed but she was no longer sleeping.
"What do you want?" She asked emotionlessly.
"Good morning to you too, sunshine." I mocked. "Get up, I've got things to do and you have classes."
"Go to hell, Will." She replied.
I feel like I'm already there. I thought sadly.
"What are you doing Sarah?" I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to make a stand.
"I'm staying in bed. You can tell mum and dad that I don't intend leaving this bedroom ever again unless they let me see Jay."
Was she really trying to blackmail mum and dad? My sister was completely nuts if she thought her plan would work. If there was something I'd learned from experience was that Jacob and Leah Black never gave in to blackmail or threats.
"That will never happen. You know that, right?" I told her. "You blew your chances with mum and dad when you tried to run away with Jay. They'll never trust you again at least not anytime soon. So my advice to you right now is this: do what you're told and behave properly. Maybe when you're fifty mum and dad will allow you to date again."
"Leave. Me. Alone!"
"Sorry but you have to get up now."
"I don't want to and you're not the boss of me!"
"Sarah…" She was starting to get on my nerves.
"I'm not going anywhere. Tell them I'm not going back to school, not today, not ever."
"Grow up, Sarah! What the hell are you expecting to achieve with this attitude? You want us to pity you? You want mum and dad to leave you and Jay have a happy ending? That's not going to happen! You know why? Because dad didn't force Jay to come here and dump you! Yes, he asked Jay to leave you alone and he wants your wedding annulled, but it was Jay's idea to come here and tell you that he doesn't want to be with you anymore! So stop blaming mum and dad for something that your ex-boyfriend did."
Maybe I was being a little rough with her and it was it was kind of weird to stand up for our parents but Sarah's attitude was quite infuriating. Besides I was telling the truth. After learning the truth about imprinting Jay had decided that the best thing to do to make sure he would never hurt Sarah by imprinting on someone else was to tell her he didn't want anything to do with her anymore.
"You're lying!" Sarah got up from her bed and faced me. Her eyes were shinning with anger and her fists were clenched. She really was our mother's daughter. "Jay's being forced to stay away from me! You're a liar! You and everyone else in this damn family! You all lie to me and treat me like I'm a child!"
"Sarah! I don't have time for a tantrum right now. Uncle Paul is missing and we need you to take JJ to school and find Deb."
Sarah finally shut up. I could feel she still had a lot to say to me but by mentioning Uncle Paul's disappearance, all of her initial anger seemed to have faded.
"What do you mean Uncle Paul disappeared?" She asked.
"We don't know yet. Can you please hurry up?"
She eventually nodded and after collecting some clothes, she passed through me on her way to the bathroom.
"You're still a liar, Will and I really hate you for that." She whispered before closing the door behind her.
I let out a sigh of relief. Now that Sarah's little fit was under control I could finally join Isaac in the kitchen.
"Is that true? What you told Sarah?" He asked referring to Uncle Paul's disappearance.
"Yes." I replied taking a seat and stealing Isaac's cereals.
"Hey! That's mine!" He complained in vain.
"Not anymore." I grinned. He shrugged and went to prepare another bowl for himself.
"Are we supposed to help?" Isaac asked.
"Yep. You know the drill by now. One for all and all for one."
Pack was family. And in this case, Uncle Paul was actually our family so we had to help.
"What are we going to do?"
Sarah chose that moment to join us so I had to be careful choosing my words in order not to raise more suspicions.
"Sarah will make sure Deb stays at school. Aunt Rachel doesn't want her to know about this." I said as I finished my cereals. "Mum is staying with Aunt Rachel because she's a nervous wreck right now and the rest of us are going to help searching."
"Searching who?" JJ asked.
"I'll tell you on our way to school. Apparently you and I are always the last ones to know what's happening in this family." Sarah said throwing us a cold glare. "Come on JJ. Let's go." She called from the door.
"What about your breakfast?" Isaac asked glancing over at our sister's untouched bowl of cereals.
"I'm not hungry. Besides, I don't like having my meals with liars." She spat and grabbing JJ by the arm she pulled him out of the door and they both left.
"She's really angry at us." Isaac commented worriedly.
"She'll come around."
"No, she won't." Isaac affirmed with conviction. "Unless we tell her the truth, there's no way she'll come around."
"We can't tell her anything Isaac. She wouldn't understand."
"How do you know that? Everyone thought the same about me and I've accepted the truth, didn't I?" He had a point but things weren't that simple with Sarah. "Besides she might turn too." Isaac added.
"Let's leave that to mum and dad. We have things to do now."
"Are we joining the pack?"
"Not yet. Dad wants you to get Jay."
"Jay? Why?"
I had asked dad that very same question.
"Dad thinks EJ might have phased into a wolf last night when Uncle Paul went after him and he believes the presence of our new wolves will help EJ."
"Seriously?"
I nodded. We didn't know for sure if EJ had phased or not, but it actually made sense. It was now evident that we were having another break of the wolf gene's activation and dad was right about the presence of other wolves helping in similar situations. Mum had told us once that if Uncle Seth hadn't phased the same day she did, she would've done some pretty stupid stuff when she realised she was a giant wolf and had to share mental space with Sam and the others. Listening, watching and feeling her brother going through that was the only thing that allowed her to cope with it.
"But if EJ's a wolf, shouldn't we feel something when he phased? I mean I was on patrol last night and I didn't notice a new wolf phasing. Nor did Jared by the way."
"Dad believes he's gone rogue as soon as he phased."
"Rogue?"
"When a wolf has no allegiance towards a pack, he becomes isolated and his thoughts aren't shared with the group. That's a rogue wolf and until he submits to an alpha, he'll remain rogue."
"Does that mean I was a rogue wolf too? I mean no one could hear me when I phased."
"We don't think so. You're just different."
"If EJ is not connected to the pack mind link how will we reach him?"
"I don't know. But we have to find him first."
"Jay's not happy to be a part of the pack. What if he refuses to go with me?"
"I'm sure you'll be able to convince him. It's for a good cause after all." I said. "Make sure you and Jay only phase when you're in the woods."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to join the others on the place Uncle Paul was last seen."
Isaac nodded and we left our house going on opposite directions.
When I phased I felt the familiar buzz in my head letting me know that more wolves were phased too. Uncle Embry and Quil were on the south end of La Push, their mission was to search tracks of the vegetarian leech that had been near Rhea's home. So far there was nothing to report.
Sam and Brady were the ones responsible for watching the house and its occupants. So far there hadn't been any movement on the inside, which meant Rhea and her mother were probably still sleeping.
Uncle Seth and Collin weren't with the pack. Jared, Denis, dad and Harry were debating what to do next.
'He clearly phased back and took his bike to follow EJ. That means he took the road east.' Denis said.
Usually when we wanted to go after someone or something, we would travel in wolf form because it was faster. We only travelled on human form when we were absolutely sure we would have to enter some town or a place crowded with people.
'So Uncle Paul is probably in some town.' Harry concluded.
'We should follow his tracks then.' I announced my presence.
'Sam, Brady I need you to find someone who can tell us what were EJ's friends up to and where did they go to. Ask around, go to their girlfriends and families if you have to.' Dad said. 'Will, you take their place. '
'You don't need my help?' I asked a bit disappointed though I knew dad was actually giving me a chance to talk to Rhea.
'There are enough of us to find Paul and bring EJ home. Besides we can't leave Rhea and Verena unprotected.' He explained.
'And who's better for this job than the imbecile that claimed the poor girl?' Sam mocked. I was expecting to hear some jokes at my expenses but I never thought Sam would be the one to initiate it.
'What the hell Sam! What's wrong with you?' I wasn't able to restrain myself.
'Nothing's wrong with me, pup. You're the one who messed up. Just like I always said, you're just a selfish and irresponsible little brat.'
'Careful Sam…' Dad warned and my anger grew even more. Not only Sam was pushing my buttons but my dad was also trying to defend me. And I didn't need his protection right now. I was not a pup and I was certainly more than capable to handle Samuel Uley.
'At least I didn't claw half of my girlfriend's face!' I knew where to hit him and his loud growl told me I had found a soft spot. After all of these years Sam was still feeling guilty.
Emily had done a plastic surgery to fix the scars on her face, but we all knew the truth about a fateful evening when Sam and Emily fought about Sam's past relationship with my mother and how he had lost control and phased in front of Emily seriously wounding her.
'You think you're so smart, don't you Will?' He kept going. 'Let me tell you something… you're not! You're just an idiot and if you had thought with your brain instead of your dick, we wouldn't have Hal White to deal with right now!'
'At least I actually have a dick, Uley. Because according to my mother yours is really, really small… no wonder she was so eager to be claimed by my dad.'
'WILLIAM!'
I trembled with the roar that came from dad. That was his way to tell me I had crossed the line.
'Come on, dad… He started it.'
In the meantime Sam and Brady had phased out to follow dad's orders. The last thing I felt when Sam phased back was a wave of disdain towards me. Sam and I were not on good terms for years now.
He had never liked me much and the feeling became mutual when I learned Sam had dated my mother when they were teenagers.
Personally I had nothing against the man. He dated mum before she even considered having a relationship with dad. They were young and their romance ended when Sam imprinted on Emily. Sam had never done anything improper but I could feel deep inside that he resented Harry and me for the simple fact that we were our father's sons and not his.
Sam had hidden this well enough from the pack and from his family, but he had let it slip once when we were patrolling. Our quasi-friendship had deteriorated after that, especially because I confronted him and asked him not-so-politely to stop thinking about my mother when we were phased.
'One day you'll have to run a pack, and you're not going to achieve that by constantly provoking your pack mates.' Dad warned me.
'I didn't provoke him. He provoked me.' I defended myself. 'And he's an asshole.'
'He has every right to be a little upset. He just managed to get into the Council and now his position is at stake.'
'And how is that my fault?'
'If you and Rhea get together and if by any chance her family discovers the truth about us, Hal's going to make our lives a living hell. Not to mention Vanessa and Rhonda.'
'I thought you said you could handle Hal.'
'And I can, but that doesn't mean everyone in the pack want Hal to know the truth.'
'Hey, Jake… I have news.' Brady announced joining us again. 'One of the girls I spoke with said something about the guys going to Port Townsend to a house in Kearney Street.'
'That's going to spare us a few hours of search. Let's go!' Dad announced. 'Brady, tell Sam to go to Rachel's house. Leah told me Danny is feeling sick since yesterday. I want Sam to check if Danny has the symptoms too.'
'Sure, boss.'
'Danny too?'
Those were not good news. For the last ten years the pack had remained the same. Actually some members of the pack could finally stop phasing in order to get their old lives back, and now the pack was increasing again.
'If Danny morphs the pack will gain two wolves at once. That's not normal, is it?' My brother asked.
'Leah and Seth phased on the same day and Quil phased around that time too.' Uncle Embry recalled.
'Yeah but the Cullens were living here and now they're not.'
'I'll have a word with Carlisle as soon as I can, but for now let's focus on Paul.' Dad ordered. 'Will, you know what you have to do. Don't upset Sam and…'
'Sure daddy… I'll behave.' I promised. Though I had no intention to keep it. Sam was a prick and if he dared to talk to me like that again I was going to make him kneel before me. I didn't care if he was an older wolf and the heir of the famous beta, Levi Uley.
There was alpha blood in me and Sam would have to learn his lesson the hard way.
I had finally reached the tree lines from where Rhea's house was visible. Seconds later she came outside and left to the forest running.
'She usually jogs in the morning.' Harry told me. 'I noticed her sporting outfit yesterday.'
'I'm going to talk to her.' I decided. 'Don't get in trouble without me, Harrison.'
'Sure, sure…' He replied playfully. 'See you later.'
'Take care.'
'We'll keep the coast clear for you Will.' Uncle Embry said. 'Make sure you sort things out with her.'
'And you if you have sex please remember we are close by.'
'Very funny Quil.' I replied sarcastically while Uncle Embry and Quil laughed. The way things were going between Rhea and me, I'd be surprised if she didn't try to hit me when I got near her.
I phased back behind a tree and put on a sleeveless shirt and cargo shorts. Rhea was running in an old path that led to First Beach so I took a shortcut to get there first.
She was running peacefully when I jumped in to the path, scaring her unintentionally. She stopped abruptly.
"Oh my God! Are you crazy? I almost had a heart attack!"
"Sorry."
"I thought you were some rapist…"
"Too much Criminal Minds, huh?"
She glared at me.
"It's a good show." I added in case she was a fan.
"What are you doing here?" She asked sounding slightly annoyed.
"Jogging?" Unfortunately my answer sounded more like a question.
"I'm going home." She announced.
"I didn't know you wanted the beach all to yourself."
"I don't want the beach all to myself. I just don't want to be where you are. So jog all you want, I'm out of here."
"Come on… Can't you just hear me out?"
"What for?"
"Look, I know we didn't start on good terms."
"We didn't start at all." She pointed out.
"You kissed me that night."
"I was not thinking straight when that happened." She retorted.
"You told me you had feelings for me."
"I was delusional."
"You have dreams about me." I grinned knowing she wouldn't find a good enough excuse to argue about that.
"Harry told you?"
I nodded. "We're brothers and we don't hide anything from one another."
"That's good to know. I guess he's probably the only one having that privilege since you lie to everyone else around you."
"Since when do I lie? Ever since you came back from Seattle I've been nothing but honest with you."
Minus the wolf thing, of course. I thought.
"Oh really? So if you're being honest with me, then you must be lying to the others, right?"
"Others? What others?"
"Don't even think about denying it…"
"Denying what?" I raised my voice. What the hell had my brother been telling Rhea?
"Look, I might have given you the wrong impression, and I'm sorry for that, but the truth is I'm engaged and I'll be married in a couple of months. Actually Art is here already so I shouldn't even be speaking to you."
"You don't love him."
"You don't know how I feel." She stated angrily. "Actually you don't know anything about me."
"I know you love me."
"No, I don't!"
"You said it yourself. You told me you thought about me for a long time after we slept together."
"I was lying."
"No, you weren't. Do you know how I know that? Because I thought about you too."
"Really? And when did you think about me, Will? When you were sleeping with other girls? When you were taking other girls to fancy restaurants? When you were partying and drinking in clubs with all of those pretty girls all over you?"
"No…" I was speechless after that. Where did that come from?
"You know what? Your mother was right… You're not the right guy for me and I was stupid for ever thinking that once…"
"Wait a second… my mother spoke to you?"
Rhea nodded. I should've guessed. Now I knew how Sarah felt. My own mother was trying to sabotage my best chance to be with the girl I loved.
"I can't believe that…" I mumbled. "Rhea, I'm not seeing anyone. Trust me."
"It doesn't matter Will. I'm engaged to Art. He's at my place right now because we have to go over the plans for our wedding." She said. "You and I had a night together and that was all. It was a long time ago… and we both need to put it behind us."
"Why?"
"Because it's the right thing to do. Besides we don't know a thing about each other…"
"Then let's know each other better. Cancel the wedding and go out with me."
Okay maybe I was being too blunt but I was running out of arguments and patience. My wolf was feeling quite uneasy due to Art's presence in the Reservation.
"Are you serious?" She asked in disbelief.
"Can you actually deny that there's this amazing chemistry between us?" I stepped forward and grabbed her hands. She didn't move but I could tell she was affected by our close proximity.
"I don't think we should see each other again. We shouldn't be this close."
"Why not?"
"Because…"
"We were close before… that night… and we can be again if you give me a chance. People break up all the time. You wouldn't be the first person to cancel your own wedding. I know you don't love that guy so you'd be doing you both a favour. It's better now than later on."
"Art is the nicest guy I've ever met. He doesn't deserve that. He's a good person."
"But he's not me, is he?"
"You're so full of yourself, William."
"Maybe I am… but I'm right, aren't I?"
She didn't deny it and that was a good sign for me but I knew there was still a long way to go with Rhea. My father had advised me to tell her the truth about the pack but she wasn't ready yet. I could feel it in my bones. Rhea was only beginning to comprehend that her commitment with her fiancé was not as strong as she thought. It would take a while for her to understand that this bond we shared, though improbable and peculiar was stronger than what she had with Art. And it would take a while for her to forgive what I had done to her in the past. That was why I wasn't going to rush things and tell her I was a wolf who had claimed her eight years ago.
"I hate myself for believing in every damn thing you say…" She whispered. "I hate how vulnerable you make me feel… and I hate knowing that you're probably right."
The claiming was obviously affecting her and I knew this because it was affecting me as well. I felt drawn to her, it was like nothing else mattered right now.
Finally I saw the chance I had been expecting and I took it. I closed the distance between us and kissed her. I knew I was taking a risk by kissing her again. Especially now when her fiancé was only a few yards away but the wolf inside of me demanded action and it was actually good to feel Rhea's body so close again.
Her small hands gripping my shirt were nothing but encouraging but when I was about to grip her thighs, she pushed me away.
Rhea put a hand on her lips and tried to regain her composure.
"I need time to think." She finally said, still flushed.
"What's there to think?"
"Everything… I need to be sure that you won't…"
Her words died when a shadow came running down towards us. My heart dropped when I recognised the long black raven hair, the red racing outfit and the slim silhouette that was approaching.
"Lex?" I managed to say before she threw herself into my arms.
"William… God I missed you so fucking much!" She exclaimed surrounding my neck with her arms. "Don't you ever disappear like this again, alright? You promised you wouldn't take long."
Rhea snorted, shook her head and turned her back on us. Whatever hopes I had of winning her back had just evaporated.
"Wait! Rhea!"
She turned around again and smiled but I could see and feel she was hurt.
Lex released me and held her hand to Rhea.
"Hi! I'm Lex, William's girlfriend. Did I interrupt something important?"
"No, of course not." Rhea said with a forced smile. "William was just telling me that he didn't have a date to go to my wedding." She lied taking Lex's hand. "I guess his problem is solved."
And with one last glare, she resumed her jogging as if nothing had just happened between us.
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