Chapter Forty-Six
Protecting the tribe at all costs took on significant meaning in the days immediately following Harry's funeral.
There was still the matter of the illusive redhead leech, of course, but no one in the pack had caught sight nor scent of her since the day Harry died. They all knew she would make her reappearance eventually, though; she always did. After all, she had yet to catch her prey: Bella Swan.
And it was Bella Swan who was once again the reason the pack was on high alert. Because a few days after her disappearing act the day of Harry's funeral, she returned with the Cullens in tow. There was once again a group of bloodsuckers living just a few miles away in Forks.
Needless to say, the pack was less than pleased about this.
Honestly, Jared was starting to get pretty sick of Bella Swan. After everything they'd done to protect her and keep her safe, she went running back to the vampires who literally abandoned her in the middle of the woods. Now the entire Olympic Peninsula was once again at risk from a resident vampire population and Bella Swan didn't seem to care, if the amount of time she spent attached to her bloodsucker was anything to go on. Paul was right. She was nothing but a leech lover.
On the plus side, though, no new wolves had phased since the extremely unexpected addition of Seth and Leah to the pack.
And speaking of Leah…she was actually starting to grow on Jared. She was still annoying, without a doubt. But Jared was beginning to prefer her presence over Bella's more and more every day—and that was definitely saying something, since Bella hadn't even been anywhere near La Push since her leech boyfriend and his 'family' re-entered the picture. Really, when Jared took the time to think about it, it was actually Jake whom he would prefer not to spend any time around—though if Bella was to make a surprise reappearance, she was sure to be a close second.
The problem was, Jake's thoughts these days were a constant loop of that godforsaken Bella Swan—and those constant thoughts were even worse than when he first started phasing, now that he'd experienced some false hope of her ever returning his feelings. Jake was nothing short of obsessed with Bella Swan and it was positively nauseating.
And yes, while Jared could own up to his fair share of time spent mooning over Kim, anyone in the pack—with the exception of Jake, probably—would openly acknowledge how completely different those two situations were, should he bother wasting his breath to ask them their thoughts on the matter.
Kim was his imprint. Jared's attachment to her was sacred. Bella didn't care about anyone but herself and her bloodsuckers. Jake's obsession with her was sacrilegious.
Needless to say, in the month and a half since Harry's funeral, Jared had developed particularly strong feeling on this topic. Gone were the days when he would feel any kind of pity or compassion for Bella and the situation she was in; the pack tried to help her, but the protection they offered just wasn't good enough for her apparently.
That was fine with Jared, though. No matter how ungrateful Bella was, he was determined to do his best at two things: hunt vampires and love Kim.
Nothing could possibly go wrong with that.
"Don't make me do it!" Jared pleaded, his words slightly muffled due to his head being buried in his arms on the table.
"Jared, you're being ridiculous."
Kim's voice was like a soothing balm to Jared's soul on most days. Today was not one of those days.
"You're being ridiculous," Jared shot back, resolutely ignoring how childish he sounded.
"This is not as bad as you're making it out to be." Jared could tell that Kim was beginning to lose patience with him.
"You're right. It's worse. So much worse. A hundred times worse—no, a thousand."
"Jared, do you realize that the longer you put off studying, the more I'm going to push you to study, meaning much less time for us to devote to…extracurricular activities?"
Jared opened his mouth to retort further when what she said fully sank in. His head popped up immediately.
"Kim!" He exclaimed, aghast. Was she really threatening what he thought she was threatening? All because he didn't want to study?!
"I tell it like it is," She told him with a shrug, though he could see the glint of amusement in her eyes. Well, good. Maybe that meant she wasn't being completely serious. Because Jared was very aware of the fact that he was a teenage boy and he knew for a fact he would not survive if Kim started to withhold—
"What's an extraparticular activity?"
Jared would deny until the day he died that Kylie's sudden question made him jump. Because in addition to being a teenage boy, he was also a Tribal Protector and thus completely aware of his surroundings at all times. All. Times.
"Extracurricular," Kim corrected her younger sister automatically, even as her cheeks began to turn a lovely shade of pink.
"Okay, what's an extra-curricular activity?" Kylie asked.
"Er…it's a club or a team that people join after school," Kim explained and Kylie narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"You're not on any sports teams or clubs," Kylie stated. "Neither of you are."
"They're in each other's fan clubs."
Once again, Jared absolutely did not jump at the sound of the new voice coming from the kitchen doorway.
"Shut up, Paul," Jared replied automatically. Then, "Wait a minute. What are you even doing here, Paul?"
Paul grinned broadly at the trio sitting at the Connweller's kitchen table. "Oh you know…I was in the neighborhood…thought I'd stop by to see my favorite girl. I'd say I'm a bit hurt it took you so long to notice me just letting myself into the house, but I think we really need to get back to talking about these extracurricular activities of yours."
"Shut up, Paul," This time it was Kim who spoke. "Also, by 'in the neighborhood,' I assume you mean you were on your way to Emily's when you got so hungry you decided you just couldn't go on without a pre-dinner snack?"
"You know me so well, Kimmie," Paul replied, still grinning, just as the phone began to ring.
"I'll get it!" Kylie jumped up immediately, easily abandoning her homework and pausing just long enough on her way to where the phone was located beside the kitchen sink to do a very complicated-looking handshake with Paul.
With her attention otherwise occupied by the phone for the moment, Paul seized the opportunity to slip into the fourth chair at the table, only to reach across it and slap Jared upside the head. Which he definitely saw coming. Totally. (Okay, moment of truth: his situational awareness clearly sucked today.)
"What the hell, man?" Jared moved to hit him back, only to stop when he caught sight of Kim's raised eyebrow. She had a very firm rule about fighting indoors—adopted from Emily's house rules for very good reason—and it pretty much crushed his soul to be on the receiving end of her disappointed-in-you look.
"Don't be nasty in front of the innocent child," Paul informed him.
"Me?" Jared demanded. "Kim started it!"
"But I actually like Kim."
"Asshole," Jared muttered, though there was no heat behind it.
"Watch your language," Paul reprimanded him immediately, as Kylie hung up the phone and made her way back over to the table.
"Yeah, Jared," Kim chimed in with a grin, "Listen to Paul…he's a model of virtue, after all."
Jared snorted out a laugh. "That boy lost his 'virtue' years ago."
"Moving on," Kim said loudly, when Paul smirked and opened his mouth to retort, never mind the lecture he'd just been giving Jared moments before about keeping things child-appropriate in front of Kylie. Jerk. "Who was that on the phone, Kylie?"
"It was Emily," Kylie reported, slipping back into her chair, "She said that I'm still invited over to play this weekend. But Paul and Jared aren't invited over because they aren't very good listeners."
Jared frowned. "Not a good…what's she talking about?"
"Hell if I know," Paul shrugged. "I haven't spent much time there lately, so she actually doesn't have a reason to be mad at me."
"That's a quarter for the swear jar," Kylie jumped in immediately. "And it's not Emily who's mad at you guys. She said that Sam has been calling you guys for ages and neither of you are answering. She told me to tell you that you're supposed to be at work right now."
Jared's eyes immediately widened in alarm, and when he met Paul's gaze across the table he saw his expression mirrored on the other boy's face. Neither of them were scheduled to be patrolling this afternoon. So if Sam had been calling for them—he supposed he was too distracted by Kim's insistence that he needed to study to listen for any howling earlier—that could only mean one thing: emergency.
And in their line of work, emergencies tended to mean vampires.
Fucking Bella Swan and her fucking leeches.