"Ow! What the hell?" I muttered quietly to myself, dropping to the ground to examine my foot. A large stick, about 2 inches out of the ground, was glistening with a few drops of blood. Apparently deciding not to phase and just walk back home was a bad idea. The gash in my foot leaking crimson red streaks of blood was proof of that. I groaned in frustration and sprawled out on the forest floor, not caring that I was disturbing the home of some dung beetles. The bleeding and stinging pain would eventually stop, like it always did, then I'd probably phase and head home.
Home.
It's more of sleeping quarters to me. A home is somewhere you actually look forward to going to at the end of a long day. A place to unwind. A place different from all other places. But no, I couldn't even have that. My 'home' is just some run-down oversized wooden shack with a grumpy old paraplegic who liked to run over my feet when I'm making his breakfast. Why my father had suddenly become so bitter, I don't know. But it's affected my mood drastically for the past few months. So much that I've lost the energy to argue with Sam when he makes a stupid decision that could get the pack killed. Like the time he wanted us to work on our discreetness by seeing who stay the longest near a stranger's house without being noticed. Seth made the mistake of choosing a family of four. This included a 9 year old girl who ran inside to tell her mother how a giant dog was coming to eat her.
I rolled over onto my back, letting the small branches scrape lightly on my bare skin. As much as I resented it, my mind wandered to what happened earlier with the bloodsucker. Why did he force himself on me like that? That's all I had to keep thinking..he forced himself on to me. It couldn't be any other thing. It shouldn't be any other thing. He had said that he'd explain his issue with Bella later. Whenever that would be. I didn't even know they had an issue. Maybe Bella did something wrong and he needed something to comfort him. No. That couldn't be right. The leech forgave Bella for anything and everything. So now what was the problem?
Sighing audibly I sat up, glancing down at my foot to confirm that the bleeding had stopped. A long pink line was now visible on the pale skin of the bottom of my foot. For normal people that line would take about a week and a half to show up. One of the many pros of being a shape shifter. Not having to wait ages for something to heal. If that wasn't the case I'd probably be dead by now with all the injuries I've gotten.
A stray leaf that was attached to my shorts moved flimsily with the wind. I picked it off, holding it directly in front of my face to examine each line in the browning leaf. For that moment, all of my attention was on the leaf. A very small caterpillar made its way around to the back of the leaf, leaving a small trail of slime behind. 'How could something so small, make such a difference to someone?' I thought aimlessly. The caterpillar depended on this leaf, but why this one? When it could have any one it wanted. Of all the hundreds of thousands of leaves in this forest why choose this small brown, unappealing leaf? Everything in the background became blurry as I stared at the little insignificant leaf.
Maybe this is what I needed. Something so small in yet so significant to me. Something that will cause the entire world to blur away, while all of my attention is on it. I needed a leaf. The hard part was just finding one.
A sudden grumbling noise made me hop up, alert to my surroundings. Around the third time the noise came I chuckled softly at my foolishness. It was my stomach, as usual. Surging forward three steps I phased, having paws hit the ground on the fourth step. The small leaf falling to ground silently.
The wooden floor screeched in resentment and I padded my way inside. Giving up all hope of a silent trip to my room I walked briskly, pausing at the empty kitchen. My dad was always in here but no worry took me as to where he was or what he was doing.
Sluggishly I strode over to my room, plopping down on the small uncomfortable bed. My legs would've been hanging over the edge if my knees weren't melted into my chest. In the next moment sunlight was streaming in through the cracked window, but it wasn't the sun that woke me up. It was the annoying and unmistakable sparkling of a vampire. The sparkling part always confused me, weren't bloodsuckers supposed to melt in the sun? That would make my- Sam's pack's job a lot easier.
"Mutt." The vampire said softly.
"What do you want?" I asked out loud, even though it would've been easier to just think it. My dad could be downstairs and I don't think he'd be very fond of me having a vampire in my room.
"You came back.." he said, sounding like he was talking it himself more than another person.
"No duh leech." I said rolling my eyes, adjusting myself in the bed to look at him. He wore a simple white V-neck shirt with dark blue jeans that clung to his rock hard figure. I turned away again, to stare at the wall for however long this talk would last. I refused to let my mind wander to unspeakable things.
"Why did you come back?" He asked, knowing the answer would flood my mind. Thoughts of the pack accepting me blurred through my mind. My father's anger subsiding and lastly, everything that happened in the woods. I lingered on his previous words of 'I'll explain that later'. I heard the leech suck in an unnecessary breath of air, wasting oxygen.
"It sure as hell wasn't for you, but that explanation would be nice bonus." I replied. The reason I came back was unclear to even myself. I could've kept running. Just give in to the wolf side of me and never come back.
"I can't explain it to you yet." The vampire said coldly. This made me hop out of bed, landing on the floor with a thud. "Why the hell not?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head that hit the bed post on the way down.
"Because I still have one more thing to..research. Carlisle is going to help me."
My hand remained to the back of my head, pulling randomly at the strands of hair. "What do you mean research?"
There was a long silence.
The vampire finally spoke up. "It's complicated. If you came to your real family then you'd your explanation sooner if you came home to your real family."
I opened my mouth to speak but another voice that not my own neither the leech's bellowed into the hall.
"Jacob! Get your stupid ass in here before I make you into a fur coat!" My father's voice echoed with anger. An anger that I was used to seeing, but the same reaction came out of me each time. I placed both hands over my face and groaned softly. After a few seconds I rose off of the floor, flinching slightly at my soreness. The leech had spoken again but it took me a few moments to register what he was saying.
"What?" I said taking a few steps towards my shut door, preparing to leave.
"Are you okay?" he repeated himself but the words still confused me. I shook my head and gripped the doorknob.
"Did you drink the blood of retarded person or something?" His stature remained the same as he waited for an answer to the question. I merely rolled my eyes again and cracked the door open. "You better get back to your own side Cullen, before Sam catches a whiff of your stink and comes to rip you apart, and I'll make sure no one will come to put the pieces together." I threatened, taking a step out of the door but stopped by a stony grip. We held eye contact for what seemed like ages. His honey-amber eyes drilled into my dark brown ones.
"Listen dog, when you realize who your real family is you're welcome to come back." The leech said, loosening his grip and taking a few steps backwards. I would've said something back if the sound of my father's creaking wheelchair wasn't getting closer in closer. Turning to the hall to meet the man half-way, I glanced back into my room to speak but no one was there to listen.
"Jacob! Why didn't you come to me when I called you?" my father shouted angrily, rolling so close to me I had to back up a step so he wouldn't roll over my bare foot.
"Sorry dad, I was sleeping." I half-lied. The vexed look on his face didn't leave as he adjusted his chair in the small hallway, preparing to turn.
"You're a dog. You come when you are called." He said, glancing up at me to help with the chair. I took a few steps forward but was stopped when he placed a hand on my stomach. "What's that stain on your pants? Did you piss yourself?"
I glanced down and cursed myself for not taking a shower the second I came home. "Must be some tree sap from the woods." I said, not even convincing myself it was the truth.
"Clean yourself up. There's going to be a meeting tonight and I won't have you presenting yourself this way." The older man sniffed the air and cringed. "You stink."
"Why don't I just stay home and clean up?" I offered, hoping I wouldn't have to show my face tonight.
"No. This meeting is important and as much as I'd like to have you sit in this house to save my reputation you need to be there." He grunted as I adjusted the wheelchair, pushing him slightly.
"What's the meeting going to be about?" I asked curiously, surprised that he even answered me.
"There's a homosexual among the pack and he needs to be taken care of."
My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach, landing with a loud clang that only my ears could hear.