Wolfblood

Chapter 18

I don't know what I was expecting- maybe a big secret supernatural randevu with the entire pack meeting up in the woods, only for a battle of wills to go down on whether or not to kill me- but a late lunch date with Jacob and his "not yet" girlfriend is not it.

I find myself settling down across from the couple, Leah at my side, in a small family run diner on the reservation.

Already, Renesme is grinning broadly at me as I comfortably lean against my mate in our shared booth.

"So, did she finally tell you?" She asks.

"Nessy," Jacob attempts to scold, but it really comes out as more of a defeated sigh, as if he knows there's no point in admonishing her.

"What?" The beautiful senior laughs. "Leah was supposed to tell her two weeks ago."

"Tell me what?" I ask, pulling away from the she-wolf beside me and looking around the table suspiciously.

Renesme blinks in surprise, before her perfect lips form a pout. "Oh."

Leah chuckles, tugging me back into her side and placing a chaste kiss on my cheek. I can't help my own humor from then spreading across my face.

"I actually didn't even have to tell her," Leah reveals. "Turns out she's known for a long time."

Jacobs eyebrows shoot towards his hairline. "How long is long?" he asks.

"About… a month after I moved here." I admit. How will he react to learning that I, another wolf, had been crossing into his territory for so long? Wolves are very territorial in nature. I know, back home, my parents have run off more than one pack who was not supposed to be there.

Do magic wolves have wolf instincts? They aren't afraid of fire.

More surprise registers from the couple, and that only seems to further amuse my mate. "That long? How?" Jacob asks.

We have to pause as a waiter finally makes his way to our table to ask for orders. I get a ¼ pounder burger with extra fries, feeling ravenous after being out all night and then busy this morning.

When the human leaves, I shoot the two a nervous smile.

"I saw her wolfed out in the woods."

"And you didn't say anything?" Jacob asks doubtfully. "You didn't freak out?"

"Well, I freaked out a little," I admit. "But after I got over that, it wasn't too odd."

Renesme chokes on her water before breaking out into peals of laughter. It's so ethereal sounding that other patrons in the diner glance over and end up staring.

"Not too odd?" she gasps out.

Leah's lips twitch. "You're dragging this out, babe," she tells me.

"Then you tell it," I grumble.

"Ryan isn't fully human either," Leah informs bluntly. "She's a species called Wolfblood which is basically a werewolf. Like, real werewolf where she shifts on the full moon and all that jazz. I found out last night when she couldn't get home in time and she shifted in front of me."

Silence stretches across our booth, and I shuffle nervously in my seat. I desperately suck in a breath, and Leah's scent sooths me. The waiter arrives with our food, leaves, and they still seem too stunned to say anything.

"Yeah, I'm going to need the full story of this later," Jacob says, and Leah tenses slightly beside me. Maybe we shouldn't have had that conversation in bed, I muse at my mate's discomfort. He turns to me, then, all serious. "Are you a danger to the residence of Forks? Your brother?"

"No," I quickly shake my head. "No more dangerous than anyone else unless mortally threatened. Wolfbloods are born this way. My brother is one as well. My parents were. My grandparents."

Leah shoots me a concerned look. "Your parents were?"

I wince slightly at the reminder that there is still so much I haven't told her. "Hunter shot them a few months ago during the full moon. It's why Noah and I moved here."

Her fingers slide through mine, squeezing tightly in comfort, and I offer her a wavering smile.

After that, it's all about food and filling our bellies. I wouldn't say that the atmosphere is exactly comfortable, but it's not tense either. When everyone is finished, we leave, pausing just outside the door to part ways.

"Thank you for having lunch with me and filling me in." Jacob tells me. "And just know that you and your brother don't have to be alone anymore. You are both more than welcome to join my pack."

His words cause an immediate effect. One moment, I'm pleasantly full and happy with our meeting, the next my muscles tighten and fury burns in my veins, making them bulge from hands and arms. A snarl rips from my throat, and Jacob takes a surprised step back.

"Noah is my pack!" I spit, only stopped from advancing by the hand clamping down on my wrist. Leah's scent fills my nose, which is the only reason I don't immediately attack the person restraining me. "I'm alpha."

"Ryan, this is not the place," my mate whispers in my ear. "Your eyes."

My eyes dart to the reflection in the window, and I'm unsurprised to see the yellow glaring back at me. We are still just outside the diner. My teeth grind as I try to rein in my instincts.

"Jacob wasn't trying to take your pack, love," Leah continues to soothe. "Were you?" She shoots warningly at the man in question.

"No," he says, raising his eyebrows, more surprised than anything, which is how I'm once again reminded that these are not real wolves. These are humans with magic taking the form of wolves, not the instincts of one. Which means he didn't know the gravity of the threat he just uttered, or that it was a threat at all. In his mind, his offer was a kindness.

I suck in a sharp breath, and my thoughts allow me to rein my instincts back in- my instincts to protect what is mine.

When I'm finally able to unclench my fists and look back up at the other alpha without my yellow eyes, he raises an eyebrow.

"I thought you weren't dangerous?"

Renesme is the one that smacks him upside the head and glares at him. "She is wolf dumbass." She scolds, sounding very much like an irritated girlfriend. "An alpha- and you just threatened to take her pack. Of course she's going to get defensive. It took years for you and Sam to reconcile after you took half of his pack."

He smiles guiltily at me, looking properly contrite.

"Sorry," he says. "I wasn't really thinking. We can still have two packs, but you are more than welcome to run with us."

I nod, offering my own tense smile as well. I decide that the Sam part is a story best left for another day.

With a tug on my hand and a reassuring smile, Leah leads me away.

2 Years Later

The warmth of the heater spreads throughout the room causing my eyelids to feel heavy and constantly droop. All of my muscles feel like lead with the all too familiar human feeling that comes from Dark moon days.

The clack of keys on a keyboard and the flashing lights of a television create the perfect, peaceful, background atmosphere for a long nap- and I snuggle deeper into my mate's side, pulling myself ever closer so that I can still smell her even through my dulled human nose.

Soft, warm, lips brush against my cheek.

A hissed curse has me grumbling as I pry open one eye, glancing balefully at the offender of my disrupted peace.

Jo huffs in frustration, slamming her laptop shut, and all but tosses it onto the coffee table.

From the ground in front of the chesterfield, Noah groans grumpily, curling closer into the lap of his girlfriend of two weeks. Claire gently brushes her fingers through his hair to soothe him.

"What's up, Jo-Jo?" Isaac asks, not bothering to look away from the TV as he tosses some popcorn into his mouth.

"I give up!" Jo exclaims, slouching in the arm on her side of the chesterfield. Joshua tilts his head back curiously, to catch sight of her.

"I give up!" she says again, and I reluctantly lift my head from the Leah's neck to give some of my attention to my distressed friend. "We are about to graduate, and I still haven't gotten a picture of the giant wolves. All I've found are paw prints and sound audio of howling."

"Maybe they're just normal wolves?" Leah suggests without an ounce of unease. Her hand continues to glide up and down my arm in such a way that my eyelids once again droop without my conscious permission for them to do so.

"I guess," Jo sighs, sinking into the chesterfield.

"Or maybe they are werewolves," Isaac says casually, eyes still unmoving from the movie.

My eyes fly open and immediately flick down to meet my brother's (now wide) eyes, before glancing up at my girlfriend. She gives me a nervous smile as Jo sits up fast in inspiration.

It's silent for a good ten seconds before she scoffs dismissively and slumps back down into the cushions. "Nah."

"What, like your mutant wolves theory was any more realistic?" Isaac squawks.

I relax again as the rest of my friends laugh, and with the little burst of adrenaline gone, I finally sink into a much-anticipated doze.

END


A/N: I looked at this story like four separate times to write this last chapter but it just wouldn't pop into existence. Well, it's over now. I might do one-shots in the future if that's something you'd be interested, but you'd have to send me requests.

Please, please, please review. Let me know what you think of this little burst of inspiration. I got pretty far in it before it faded. That usually doesn't happen.

~Silver~