Chapter Thirty-Two
"This game is rigged," Paul declared, shooting a dark glare at the game board.
"You're only saying that because you're losing," Jared stated, picking up the dice to take his turn.
"I'm with Paul on this one," Emily chimed in. "I'm pretty sure there are some under-the-table dealings going on over there," She wiggled her finger to the other side of the table, where Sam and Kim were sitting.
The five of them were currently in the middle of a marathon game of Monopoly at Sam and Emily's (much to Jared's chagrin, truth be told, because he absolutely detested this game—but how could he refuse when Kim smiled at him and insisted some non-life-threatening pack bonding would be fun? He couldn't, clearly). They were all seated on the floor around the coffee table where the game board was set up, and Sam and Kim were each holding rather impressive monopolies over separate sections of the board ("impressive" here meaning "causing Jared, Paul, and Emily to slowly go broke").
"Aw, c'mon, Em," Sam wheedled, having relaxed enough over the course of the game—(Becoming a multi-millionaire would do that to anyone, Jared couldn't help but think to himself. And no, he was not bitter, thank you very much. Not even close.)—that the Alpha had long ago dropped the stiff and serious air he usually held about him. "Would I really cheat?"
"Yes," Jared and Paul immediately answered before Emily could say a word.
"Well I'm not cheating," Kim declared. "I barely even know what I'm doing; this is the first time I've ever played Monopoly."
"Funny," Emily narrowed her eyes suspiciously—and, for the record, Jared was glad that look wasn't directed at him right now. She may have been partially joking (he thought so, anyway), but Emily as anything other than kind and cheerful and caring and cooking mountains of food was downright scary. "Sam claimed the same thing, too."
And for a brief second, Jared thought she was actually commenting on his internal musings (it would not surprise him at all if Sam was in some way scared of his imprint when the need called for it—Emily was not the kind of lady you wanted to cross). But then he remembered she couldn't read minds, and so he gave a snort of laughter instead.
"So, beginner's luck for both of you, then?" He questioned. "How convenient."
"I don't think I like the accusation I'm hearing right there," Kim pointed an accusing finger at her boyfriend just as the telephone began to ring in the kitchen. As Sam got up to answer it after a pointed look from Emily, she continued, "You better watch yourself or else I really am going to start making deals with Sam and then you really will be broke."
Jared held Kim's gaze for a long moment. This was all fun and games, really, but he was starting to notice a bit of competitive streak in her. It was actually a bit intimidating, truth be told. But mostly it was hot as hell.
"Alright," Jared finally muttered, making sure to sound as begrudging as possible. Of course, that did nothing to stop Paul from letting out a cough that sounded suspiciously like he was saying 'whipped' but Paul was an established asshole, so Jared tended to ignore him quite a bit.
"So," Emily said then, all smiles once again. "Whose turn was it?"
"We're going to have to put the game on hold," Sam had returned from his phone call, his serious expression firmly back in place.
"What's wrong?" Emily questioned immediately, worry lacing her tone even as Jared and Paul both sat up straighter at the authoritative tone of their Alpha.
"That was Billy," Sam replied shortly. "Bella Swan is missing and he wants us to help look for her…Paul, Jared."
Instantly, the two other wolves were on their feet at the sound of their names. Paul immediately made for the door, while Jared paused beside Kim. He crouched down beside where she was still seated on the floor and leaned in to press a kiss to her forehead.
"Leave your window unlocked tonight," he told her softly, "I'll come see you as soon as I can if I'm not back before you leave."
And then he was up and out the door as well.
Once all three wolves were phased and had split off to run through the woods, searching for Bella Swan, Sam shared the one vital piece of information from his brief conversation with Billy that he left out before.
According to Chief Swan, Bella was out in the woods with the bloodsucker she's dating.
Fuck, Jared swore, catching onto the implications of that immediately.
And word is that all of them recently left town in a hurry, Sam finished.
Fucking leeches, Now it was Paul's turn to swear. Does Billy think they took her with them?
No, there was a note saying she would be back, Sam replied. But Chief Swan panicked when it started to get dark and there was no sign of her. Billy is worried the treaty may have been violated.
Jared picked up his pace at that. He was confident that they would find the Swan girl…he only hoped she wouldn't be drained of blood when they did...or worse.
It was Sam who eventually ended up finding her, not far off from where the human search party was scouring the woods. She was alive, thankfully (though Jared wouldn't have minded the opportunity to tear the leeches apart at all), but although she appeared to be conscious, she was completely unresponsive. Even when Sam phased back to human and scooped her up to carry her back to her father. Her faint heartbeat and soft, constant mumbling of "He's gone" were the only indicators that she was actually still alive.
Do you think they're coming back? Jared questioned suddenly as he and Paul watched Sam carry the practically lifeless body off. Once the rest of the search party cleared out a bit they would phase back to human and follow after him.
I hope not, Paul replied fervently. I never trusted them. They're leeches and they're always going to crave human blood no matter what the treaty says, it's as simple as that.
I don't trust them either, Jared stated, But I hope for her sake they're gone for good. It's sick that her bloodsucker left her like that in the middle of the woods; she deserves to move on with her life now, to be normal.
Once Sam had Bella back to Chief Swan and he, in turn, had her settled back at home, the three wolves made their exit. They were back under the cover of the trees and phased again before any of them spoke.
We need to check the leeches' house, just in case, to make sure they really did leave town, Sam stated.
I'll go, Paul volunteered immediately, a little too eagerly.
If any Cullens are there you will come straight back to my house, Sam told him, his voice taking on the double-timbre of an Alpha-command. I'm serious, Paul. I won't start a war with them when they haven't technically broken the treaty; we're too out-numbered for that.
Fine, Paul mumbled, but Jared could tell he was a bit shaky from being Alpha-ordered; Jared could still feel the hairs on the back of his own neck standing up. Sam hated using it, but this was definitely one of those situations that warranted it. Jared didn't even want to think about what would happen if Paul came face-to-face with a Cullen, especially right now after everything they just witnessed.
We'll head back now, Sam continued as Paul turned and sprinted off through the trees. And yes, Jared, that means you, too. We need to talk about what this all means for us now; you'll have time to see Kim later.
I really hate this wolf telepathy business sometimes, Jared muttered, duly chastised over an errant though he barely even realized he was having until Sam called him out on it.
In a matter of minutes, Sam and Jared were walking up to the house the Alpha shared with his imprint, both human and clothed in cut-offs once more. Unsurprisingly, they found Emily in the kitchen baking up a storm, clearly trying to distract herself from her worry over what the three wolves had left to do. Sam immediately went to greet and reassure his imprint.
"Kim still around?" Jared asked hopefully, though he knew what the answer would be.
Emily shook her head sympathetically. "She stayed as long as she could, but her mom called and wanted her to come home half an hour ago." She redirected her attention to Sam then, just as he reached her and engulfed her in his arms. "You found her?"
"Yes," Sam replied shortly, leaning down and pressing three lingering kisses to the scars adorning her face; Jared pretended not to notice, "Huddled in a ball, soaking wet, in the middle of the woods, basically unresponsive. Her leech boyfriend left her there."
Emily gasped, her eyes widening in pity.
"Is she going to be alright?"
"I think so," Sam answered. "Dr. Gerandy gave her the all-clear and she was sleeping when we left."
"That poor girl," Emily murmured. Then she bit her lip. "The Cullen…it didn't…"
"No, thank god," Sam's shoulders seemed to sag in relief. "We could have had a war on our hands."
It was interesting, Jared contemplated to himself as he watched the two interact, seeing the imprint bond in action. Even more interesting because it was something he was used to felling, always there simmering beneath the surface, as opposed to witnessing it firsthand. He hadn't even noticed how unusually tense Sam was—worried over the potential outcome of the situation they were in and how it could affect all of them—until he practically melted into Emily's embrace. But now he was with Emily, his perfect other half, and a simple touch from her made Sam better.
Seeing this gave Jared a sudden longing to be able to hold his own imprint. The Swan girl was fine; the Cullens were (hopefully) gone; the Reservation and the entire Olympic Peninsula were safer from any nearby threats than they had been in several years.
Paul better hurry his ass up so that Jared could go see Kim.
No sooner did he think that, than the front door was being slammed open and Paul suddenly appeared in the kitchen with them.
"They're gone!" He shouted triumphantly. "They left some things behind but there are sheets on the furniture and there's no sign of them; the scent was at least a day old, maybe two. The bloodsuckers really did leave!"
Sam grinned. "In that case, we'll talk about patrols tomorrow. Tonight we celebrate."
Jared steeled his nerves before knocking quickly on the door of the Connweller house. This could go one of two ways, and he really hoped he was wrong about which one was more likely.
A moment later the door was pulled open by Kim's mom.
"Jared," Katie observed calmly after giving him a brief once-over, her expression unreadble. "Do you make a habit of knocking on people's door at ten o'clock at night?"
"Ah…no," he replied nervously.
"Then should I assume there's a special reason for your visit?" Katie questioned.
"Yes. Yes, there is," Jared stated.
Katie merely looked at him pointedly when he made no move to continue.
"Oh! Yes, see, I was wondering if it was alright if Kim came out with me tonight, right now," Jared got out in a rush.
"I see," Katie stated evenly, her face still carefully blank.
"Please?" Jared requested. "It's not a school night and I know it's last minute and I swear I would have asked sooner but it was planned like literally ten minutes ago but I thought maybe you would be okay with it—"
"Jared," Katie interrupted his rambling, "You haven't actually mentioned where you'll be taking my daughter. There aren't many places I can think of that would be open this late...and none that would admit two sixteen-year-olds."
"Oh, just First Beach," He told her eagerly. Maybe he was going to get lucky and she would agree? "There's going to be a huge bonfire, er, one last end-of-summer celebration type-thing we just thought of…kind of. The council's totally on-board with it, though. We have their permission to do it, and Sam—you know Sam Uley, right?—well he's going to be there, making sure things don't get too out of hand. So, what do you say? Can Kim come? Please?"
Katie eyed Jared thoughtfully, and he found it difficult not to squirm under her gaze. He was definitely on friendly enough terms with his girlfriend's mother, but the fact still remained that she was his girlfriend's mother and that was always going to be at least partially terrifying. (And yes, for the record, he was going to conveniently ignore just how many of the female figures in his life he was admitting to being scared of today.)
"I don't care much about Sam Uley," Katie finally said. "I do care about whether or not you are going to make sure things don't get out of hand because I know how likely you are to stick by Kim's side. I don't mind letting my daughter go out on a Friday night, but are you going to keep her safe?"
"Of course," Jared's response was immediate. He tried his best not to be offended by her ridiculous question; she really couldn't know just how important Kim was to him and how far he was willing to go to keep her safe.
"And I know how teenagers party, too. You'll have her home before dawn, at the very latest?" Katie asked.
"Yes, ma'am," The words slipped out of Jared's mouth automatically and Katie shuddered.
"In that case, you're more than welcome to go ask Kim if she wants to go out with you tonight," Katie began, "So long as you never call me that again."
Jared smiled, "Sure thing. And thanks, Ms. Connweller!"
"My name is Katie!" She predictably yelled after him as quickly he made his way to Kim's room.
Jared pushed the door open to reveal Kim sprawled across her bed reading; he smiled when he saw the window on the wall opposite him was pushed all the way open.
"Jared?" Kim looked up and questioned in surprise. "Did you come in through the front door?"
"Yep. Your mom let me in and everything."
"So you can't stay?" A disappointed look flickered across her face.
"Nope, but you're coming with me," He told her cheerfully. "We're having a huge party at First Beach because the Cullens skipped town; Paul is spreading the word right now."
Kim sat up immediately, her eyes wide in alarm. "Did they take Bella Swan with them?"
"No," Jared frowned. "I can explain what happened later, though. What do you say about right now? You'll come with me, right? Our first real party together? Your mom already told me I have to get you home before dawn—personally, I thought it was kind of risky asking in the first place instead of just sneaking you out, but I decided to chance it and it paid off for once. Anyway, though, please? Come with me?" He shamelessly wheedled.
"If my mom already said I can go out, then I'm totally down with this plan," Kim stated, jumping to her feet. "Just let me get my shoes and we can go."
In a matter of minutes, the couple was walking hand-in-hand to the nearby beach, where the sounds of a party could already be heard. And Jared was equal parts excited and relaxed.
He had his imprint with him and, for the first time since phasing, there was no imminent threat just across the border. Life was finally calming down and hopefully after discussing patrols with Sam the next day Jared would have more free time to spend with Kim.
Life was good.