Chapter 4
Over the next several weeks, not much has occurred. Dare I say even a bit mundane? Patrols have become training exercises for newbies and give us a chance to stretch our legs. So other than the whole vampires and wolves, Clallam County is pretty normal under the radar county.
The most exciting, out of the ordinary thing happening, is me, here, frozen in my seat.
"Leah" The voice said as if they were bell chimes.
"Sweetheart." The endearment finally broke me out of my trance. I looked up from the pile in my hands to meet tender sun eyes. "This is an immense accomplishment, you should be very proud. I'm proud of you, your mother is and I know your father would be as well." I looked back at my hands.
"Why…How…"
"You shouldn't be so shock Leah." How could I not be? Carlisle has been helping me apply to colleges. He even offered a "scholarship" so I could attend. He had me apply all over Washington and some other random ones that were really out of my league and price. I didn't even believe I could attend a community school. So when he told me he wanted to speak to me privately in his office, I assumed nothing but the worst.
Now here I am, sorting through acceptance letters not only from what some might consider safety schools though they were my preferred first choices, but eying emblems of Duke, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Pepperdine, UCLA and Berkeley, University of Rochester, Claremont McKenna, Penn, and John Hopkins. I don't even remember bothering to apply to these schools let alone know where these schools are. If I weren't a wolf, I'd probably be hyperventilating.
"Carlisle, you don't expect me to believe you had nothing to do with this?" With the amount of "resources" the Cullens had, it's hard not to believe he didn't bribe the admissions offices.
"Colleges do require personal essays and letters of recommendation. I never stated anything that wasn't true. Billy and some of your former teachers wrote one as well. I believe even the Deputy was a ghostwriter for Chief Swan. Charlie isn't that literary on paper."
No he wasn't. And he certain isn't one to ask so help. I can't even imagine his letter being no more than a paragraph. But bless his heart; he knows when someone doesn't want to talk it out.
"Even if I wanted, my mother could never afford any of this. Even the Junior College is stretching it. And there's still Seth. "
"I've already spoke to your mother and Billy. The whole pack has scholarships to any institution they wish to attend, though it seems only the younger ones would be taking advantage of the resource. But you still have to do the grunt work to be accepted. This is all you Leah."
Looking back at the pile, "How do I choose? I wouldn't know where to begin." Carlisle smiled knowing that's my own way of saying thanks.
"Well why don't you look through the booklets they've sent. You mentioned you're interested in the medical field, start there." I only nodded. Carlisle and I have discussed my options we I first started to consider taking a class or two. At the time I had been volunteering at the Forks Hospital doing small stuff like filing, helping update patient records and data input, and deliver food to rooms. Without realizing it I always asked questions here and there about medical stuff. Despite going through all the options I never realized the one that'll benefit not only me, but my community and tribe from was right in plain sight. Gathering all my stuff I exchanged one last smile with Carlisle before I walked out of the room.
The house was still empty which I was glad. They were all out living their own lives. And now in my hands I have a way to have my own. This feeling of accomplishment has been nonexistent since I've become a wolf, other than a kill. Walking out of the house I didn't realize I had this genuine smile of happiness plastered on my face until the Jacob, Quil and Seth walked up.
"Whoa. Why are you smiling like that?" Quil asked. "Should we be worried?" He directed at the others.
"Shut up." I smirked.
"What's going on Leah?" My brother inquired.
Seth knew about me wanting to get away, of wanting to contribute besides turning into an oversized beast. I handed over my acceptance letters and packets to Seth.
"Leah, this is great!" He pulled me in for a tight hug, dropping everything on the ground and if I had not been a wolf, he would have snapped me in half. It didn't mean he wasn't crushing me.
"Need to breathe." I said sparsely.
"Sorry." He said with a smug face I just wanted to smack off.
"Do you know what's going?" I heard Jacob ask beside us.
"Not a clue, man. I'm hungry though."
"That's a great idea. Let's celebrate." Seth stated. As I begin to protest, he ignores me as he pulls out his phone and started texting.
"Seth, I haven't decided where I'm going or when." I tell him. He shrugged as he put his phone away.
"Fine, but this is really great Leah. Dad would be so proud. Have you told mom?" We were oblivious to the others.
"You're Alpha, how do you not know what's going on? What a waste of the mind link is."
"Hey Clearwaters, do you mind filling us in." I can see Jacob starting to get frustrated being out of the know.
"Leah got accepted into some colleges. She's going to be a doctor." Seth told the others.
"What?" I said in unison with Jacob and Quil. Seth looked confused at my expression.
"I never told you that, Seth. I just wanted to get away and find myself. I'm still undecided what my major would be."
"Oh, well Paul said..." he started. My brother knew little about the friendship Paul and I had. At first he was weary. I guess he was worried about me getting attached. He had confronted me about it. He even confronted Paul. We assured him we were just becoming friends. We told him we came to an understanding. He still seemed worried until he saw us with our usual bickering later that day. I know if I had just told him we were fooling around from the start, he would have left me alone. But there was no need to scar the poor boy.
My brother continued rambling as a vibration came from my tethered phone. Pulling it out, I quickly read it. "Congrats, Girl. Knew you could do it. Time to party!" I couldn't help but smile.
"Seth. I haven't even told mom yet and you're already spamming it to everyone." I scolded as I point to my phone.
"Only Paul. I thought he would want to help set up a party."
"Hey, I'm down for a party. Any excuse will do." Quil interjected, muffled by a cupcake that had apparently magically appeared in his hand. Seth and I both looked at him for a moment before bursting out a laugh. His only response was a shrugged "What?"
"What the hell is going on? Since when is this all happening?" Jacob cutted. We all turned our attention to an angry alpha. "So you've just been planning to abandon the pack."
"Jake, it's not like that and it's not like we didn't know this was possibility. Besides isn't that why we are training the cubs. I'm going to wait for Claire but I thought the rest of you would move on from phasing." Quil tried to diffuse any incoming aggression.
"This the first I'm hearing about any of this. You're my beta." He looked deflated as he took a step closer in my direction.
I went to speak but was cut off by a somber voice.
"Some of these are really far." Seth said as he steps towards me ignoring the other two present. "I really wouldn't get to visit you. And you'll be busy with school to even talk over the phone." He sounds so defeated; tears were prickling against my eyes.
"Seth, nothing has been decided. But I thought I would keep all options open, make good use of the resources we have been blessed with. And I wouldn't go anywhere without telling you. Besides there's nothing worry about, I'll probably just wind up going to Port Angeles Community." I went to hug him but he pulled back.
"You can't throw it all away Leah. These are really good schools. You'll be paving a way. You don't want to be a bad influence on me, do you?" He smirked my way. Pecking his cheek as I held him tight, remembering why I love my brother so much.
"How about we have dinner tonight, just you and me," I thought about it for moment before I continue, "Well we'll try just you and me. If there's food involved, our alone time is not always guaranteed. Anyways during dinner you can help look through all the schools and help me decide where I should think about attending."
"It's date." Seth beamed. This rare sibling moment we have is cut short by a tensed Jacob.
"Hey Seth you mind I talk with Leah alone. Quil said Esme left cake and cupcakes inside." And though he was speaking to Seth, Jacob never looked away from my eyes. My brother seems notice too and started to look apprehensive.
"You better save me some you pigs." I tease him before he nods me a sure thing.
As we waited for Quil and Seth to enter the house, I have come to the realization that Jacob and I haven't really spoken to each other. Well that's not true. I'm his beta. But other than discussing about patrols and food, we haven't said anything of substance to each other.
As much as I would hate to admit, it's not "entirely", and I use that word loosely, his fault. After that confrontation about Paul, I avoided him as much as I could. It wasn't hard though. It does irk me how much he's absorbed in all things Bella, but it worked to my advantage. It also just proved that he really doesn't care about me. Aside from being his beta and fellow wolf, I'm just a placeholder friend. When you have a random show on the television just for background noise because you're bored and biding time, that's me. It's to be expected.
"Why were you hiding this from me?" Jacob said abruptly.
I looked back at him incredulously. There was no way he just asked that.
"Leah, how can you decide to run off without saying anything to me? You never even talked with me about this. "
"I wasn't hiding anything, Jake. It never came up with us." Which was the truth. There's no way he was going to make me out as the bad guy. I have had enough of that shit.
"Bullshit. You were keeping it from me or else you would have said something. Just like you fooling around with Paul."
"Are you serious? You're blaming me for you not paying attention. And don't you dare to even bring up Paul, this has nothing to do with him." On cue Paul messages me "Later maybe we can play 'Doctor'. Maybe 'Naughty Nurse'?" causing my phone vibrates.
"This has everything to do with it." He reaches out and snatches my phone from its tether, ripping my belt loop in the process. "He knew about you wanting to become a doctor. It sounds like you've been spending too much time with him, and now it's scaring you." He sighed. "Before you wanted to run away from Sam. Then everything settled and you were in a good place. I even made you beta. Now you're fooling around with Paul, and then you're running again. I warned you."
"Warned me? Come off it Jacob."
"I shouldn't have had Sam remove that command." He said more to himself.
Here I thought he was upset about me going away, but he's still bitching about the whole Paul thing. Shaking my head I decide to walk away. It was foolish of me to think I could just walk away.
He reaches for my wrist pulling me back nearly pulling my arm out of its socket.
"We're not done Leah. You really didn't think I would let you walk away from this, from the pack, from me." He loosens his grip but doesn't release my wrist. "How could you even consider thinking about abandoning the pack?"
"This is for the pack!" I shouted.
"How is you abandoning us for us?" He looked skeptical.
"How long do you think the Cullens can stay here?" I didn't pause to allow him to answer. "Two years max. And with them goes Carlisle, the honorary pack doctor. The only doctor. I figured maybe I could go to school to learn to be a nurse or doctor, some type of help not only for the packs but our tribe, our people."
Before he responds, the shiny Volvo drives up the driveway. There goes that invisible nonexistent pull. He waves a 'be there in moment' to a girl that has no obligation to him and him to her. I grasped the moment a bit. Here I am ready to move on with a life of my own and Jacob is stuck in the past. If it were the other way around, it'll be discouraging, and maybe I would be lashing out. I realize this may be behind Jake's attitude.
Yet my empathy is short lived. "Fine Leah, we'll talk this over later so we can decide when you can go."
"Excuse me. We?" I could feel my blood start to boil. "Where is the "we" in this, Jacob. You have no say."
"Leah, now is not the time for this. I gotta go."
"No. I have to go. Lucky for me, some schools its early admission time. You're my alpha not my father. You have no say in my personal life. And at this point, I don't care where I go, but I'm going to go wherever takes me first."
With that I storm off into the other direction. My former self would have had shredded pieces of fabric trailing behind in her wake. I've come a long way to control myself. Though it doesn't make me any less angrier.
Right before I step away from hearing range, I heard Seth call out for me.
"Leah!"
"Seth, let her cool off. She's not going to go far."
I ran off with nowhere to go. My mind did most of the racing. Despite what my mighty Alpha thinks I could leave whenever I wanted and just to prove my point maybe I will do early admission start or just travel.
After hours later of steady walking, the moon started to rise and the sky had darkened to a deep, ugly gray. I've discovered myself beyond the boundary lines.
Finally reaching a point in the woods that I decide was as far as I ought to go in this weather, my surroundings unfamiliar.
"Ok, that's it," I say to myself, "this is as far as I go."
As I was turning around to start back, something out of place caught my eye. Moving closer to the edge of my path I realize that I have found a body.
They were sitting on the ground with their back against a large tree, about fifty feet away from me. They appeared to be asleep, but with all the darkness falling, it was hard to tell. The closer I got I could tell it was a women.
"Hello, are you alright?" I shouted, but the woman did not stir or react to my voice. I feared she was dead; obviously no human could survive out in the cold without proper gear. And she had no gear on her.
The woman finally moaned and slowly opened her eyes, looking up at me.
"Help." she whispered so quietly that I had to lean closer to hear her say that.
"What are you doing out here alone." Yes I knew that was a stupid question. Looking around I could see no visible trail or any indentation where she came from. It was as if she was just dropped here.
"I was hiking with some friends. We got separated when a bear attacked us. I tripped and found myself here. I don't know where I am. I'm cold and my leg hurts. Please help me."
"What's your name?"
"Hannah." She told with odd looking brown eyes. They seem to draw you in.
"Alright Hannah. I need to go and get help, alright."
"NO! Please don't leave me alone."
I hesitated. Putting her on my back as a wolf would be easy to get her help but I couldn't risk her panicking and then exposing me later. My other options, it would take longer if I took her with me as my usual self and I couldn't leave her alone. "Ok, can you try to walk?"
"No. I think I broke my leg when I fell. It hurts so much. I couldn't stand the pain so that's why I haven't moved."
"Alright let me take a look okay. Maybe we can make a splint." I reached for her ankle but as soon as I skimmed her skin, she cried out in pain. "Ow!" she started dry sobbing as she bent over.
"Sorry. Damn only if I had my cellphone." If Jacob wasn't being a jackass... wait...now is not the time. It was going to get dark soon, which wouldn't be a problem for me to bring back help, but I don't want her to have a panic attack, possibly die from hypothermia. I let out a sigh. I have no choice. Maybe I can just go behind a tree to phase to hopefully let whoever is on patrol to get help. To assure her I wasn't leaving her behind I went to look her directly in the eyes in hopes I could calm her, so she can better trust me.
"Ok Hannah look at me –" When our eyes connected, an alarm went off in my head. Though she still had the brown color, now they had a different tint, a reddish tint. Though this seems to be an unnatural color, I couldn't help but think I have seen – Bella! – I shot up and took a step back.
"What? Is it the bear? Please don't leave me alone." She pleaded as I stepped back away from her.
No, no it couldn't be. Bella had that eye color when Charlie comes to visit while she was still a newborn. Alice had given her these brown contacts but the venom burns through after a while she had to change them every hour or so. Trying to focus my senses but I discover no burn in my noise. Come to think back, I don't even think I actually touched her when I checked her ankle. There was nothing. I now notice I hadn't heard any sounds, other than the velvety voice speaking to me.
"What's wrong?" The injured girl said a little too calmly. Before I can register anything else, my vision narrowed as the ground rose up before I was enveloped in darkness.
WMWMWMWMWMWM
The supposedly injured woman stood with grace as she made a miraculous recovery. She huffed as she was dusting herself off. She looked down at the she wolf then looked back up at her companion. "Was that necessary?"
"Yeah I thought we were supposed to bring her back alive. She's going to have a huge welt." Alec, one of the youngest of the Volturi stepped out from behind a tree.
"Well she saw through your horrible acting skills and probably started noticing the kid's power. She was figuring it out faster than we thought. Really Heidi, Hannah? At least she's not as dumb as I thought for a mutt."
"Well she certainly smells like one."
"Well at least we'll make it back in time for dinner. Let's cover our tracks and go before the others come looking for her. We have to finish up the second part of our project. This went more smoothly than I thought. Here I was hoping for somewhat of a challenge." Felix reached down and picked up an unconscious Leah, who unknowingly was being carried away from her home.