Shelby shifted into her wolf form as soon as she felt the grass under her feet. She rolled up Seth's shirt and tied it to her leg before shifting and took off into the woods. Her heart was officially paining her and the only relief she could think of was forbidden to her. She had known a slice of happiness and belonging for merely half a day when it was so callously ripped away from her. She ran until she felt her muscles burning from exertion and still she didn't stop. She must have covered every square inch of wooded land in Forks and La Push twice. The only thing that slowed her down was the tingle in her nose that alerted her to a vampire presence. She kept low to the ground and moved slowly, stopping completely when she could see them from under a shrub. She counted 3 vampires in the immediate vicinity, and 4 more a little further away. Her ears perked slightly when she recognized one of the male vampires from the previous day. What was his name?
"Edward." Edward said. "I can hear your thoughts, remember?"
Realizing she'd been ousted by her thoughts, she slipped out from under the shrub and came closer to Edward and the others, her instinct winning out though, growling at the other 6 as they came closer. Her mind was flying as she quickly categorized every vampire present and how best to take them down and the escape route she'd need to take.
"This is my family I had mentioned. We have a treaty with your brother and his tribe. You won't be harmed by us." Edward said.
Shelby glanced at all the vampires, noticing how their eyes were a bright golden color instead of the red she was accustomed to. Shelby stepped back a few paces and grabbed the string on her back foot and untied the shirt before shifting back into her human body. In an instant, the males has turned their backs to give her privacy.
"I suppose you all must have the same issue with nudity that my brother and his pack have." Shelby commented while she slipped the shirt on.
"Modesty is not a crime." the blonde vampire said dryly.
"Neither is a body. We are born without clothes. Often times those scandalizing the absence of clothing on a body are the ones with lascivious thoughts in their heart." Shelby said simply.
"Are you calling me a pervert?" the blonde one hissed.
"She didn't call you that, Rosalie." a blond male said. "She was speaking in generalities. Not specifics. In a lot of cultures and countries, nudity is the norm."
Shelby studied the male who spoke up before turning her gaze to the female, Rosalie.
"My father raised me to not notice a person's lack of clothing. It matters not what their body looks like. Appearances are deceitful and shallow and holds no clues to their mind and thoughts and beliefs. Aside from that, we have lived the two of us without many possessions. Clothing became a burden as we would often shift at a moment's notice to defend ourselves and other humans from the bad vampires. Ripped clothing is useless. So to nudity we both became quickly accustomed." Shelby explained.
Rosalie made a 'hmph' sound and turned to look at the tall, brawny make beside her. He was trying to quietly placate her.
"I'm Carlisle Cullen, and this is my wife, Esme." the blond make introduced. "And for all intents and purposes, these are all adopted children. You've met Edward, and Rosalie. Her husband there is Emmett. Beside of Rosalie is Alice and her husband Jasper. We tell people Rosalie and Jasper are twins. We would very much appreciate if you didn't speak of our secret as vampires to anyone. We don't feed off of humans and only from animals far north in Canada wilderness. We have happy and productive lives here." he added.
Shelby quietly looked at every vampire introduced before her eyes rested back on Edward.
"Bella is at her house, in bed. She requires sleep for functioning at school." Edward said.
Shelby nodded. That made sense.
"We didn't know Sam had a sister." the dark headed one, Alice, spoke up.
"We are twins. Because of some familial curse that was believed at his reservation, my father took me away so I would not be killed. We had been living in the wild until a couple of days ago when I met Sam and my mother, and consequently, Sam's Imprint and his pack." Shelby said before frowning. "Where I met my Imprint…"
Shelby's heart clenched at the thought of Seth and what had transpired mere hours ago. She felt her world collapsing in chunks around her the more she thought about it. She heard Edward speaking and recognized Seth's name and assumed he had heard her thoughts and memories and was explaining what had transpired.
"A year isn't that long of a wait." Rosalie said.
"To a near immortal vampire, I suppose not. But for someone, for me, to feel an innate bond to someone, a pull of your heart telling you this is your soul, your existence, the breath in your lungs and only getting to experience them for half of a day before you are forbidden from them...a year might as well be a lifetime." Shelby said, looking away.
"Well damn, when you put it like that…" the brawny male, Emmett said.
"My father, my Alpha wants to remove me from the reservation, and Forks completely before the elders of the tribe put a death sentence upon my head. Sam is not pleased and is intent upon fighting my father for Alphaship of me." Shelby said, figuring if she didn't tell in her words that Edward would inform them later. "I am a curse. Who must be destroyed." she whispered.
"If you would like to come to the house, I am sure we can improvise a plan to keep you from leaving and allow you to at least speak with Seth on a somewhat regular basis. Sam is an Alpha, but is very new to being an Alpha competitively speaking. And his…intensity…could be his downfall." Carlisle said. "If Sam were to challenge your father for Alpha rights and lose, there's a large chance he will lose his entire pack to him as well. Your father would need to dissolve your pack and then your wolf would have to recognize Sam as your new Alpha. I fear where you've been shifting longer that your wolf would challenge him for his pack unless…"
"Unless my wolf is motivated to accept without a challenge in leadership." Shelby finished.
Carlisle nodded and gestured the path back to his house. Shelby knew she had nothing else to lose, so she followed the vampire leader and his clan.
Seth had laid motionless in his bed, consumed by a frowning wave of sadness and emptiness. He had been given the most amazing gift- his Imprint- only to have her snatched away from him. His heart stuttered in his chest. His clothes barely held any of her scent. Leah came into his bedroom and shut the door, turning the radio on. She sat on the bed and clicked the small lamp on, making Seth roll over.
"There's someone I need you to talk to." Leah said, holding her cell phone out.
Seth looked up at his sister, his emotions pouring out through his eyes. Leah struggled to refrain from rubbing her chest when she felt her brother's pain. She sighed and held her phone to Seth's ear.
"I just talk and he can hear me?" Seth heard Shelby ask.
"Shelby…" Seth breathed, clutching the phone. "Are you okay?"
"I...I am…better now than earlier. Your voice soothes me." Shelby said.
"I feel like I can finally breathe a little...I'm so sorry about my mother. If I had any clue she was going to do that, I would have taken you and we would have ran away somewhere. Together." Seth said.
"We cannot control the actions of our parents. My father is wanting to take my mother and I back to living in the forests and travel. That you would find me when you became of age." Shelby said. "But I don't wish to be farther from you than I already am. Sam is planning on challenging him for me."
"Please don't go! Please! Oh, God, Shelby… please don't go. I won't survive it, my wolf will annihilate me and everyone around him." Seth nearly whimpered. "He won't stop until you're back with him. Can't you become part of Sam's pack? With me?"
"Not unless I become Alpha of my own pack or if my father loses or gives up his Alphaship of me." Shelby sighed.
"But your dad is a way more experienced Alpha. With a much smaller pack. No one would want to fight against you. I don't think Sam could physically fight his father." Seth said, rubbing his face. "Where are you?"
"I am currently at the house of Carlisle Cullen and his family. It was Carlisle's idea to call Leah to speak to you." Shelby replied.
"Stay there. I'm coming over. I need...I need to see you. Touch your face, make sure you're okay. My Imprint…" Seth said softly.
"I will wait for you." Shelby said.
Seth handed the phone back to Leah and rushed to get cleaned up, to look good enough for his Shelby. Leah and Jake were waiting on him under the guise of taking him out up cheer him up. Seth was antsy and anxious as Jake drove them to the Cullen house in Forks. The second they pulled into the driveway, Seth jumped out of the truck and ran towards the front door.
"She's in the backyard, Seth. Our scent is very strong in the house and she was uncomfortable." Carlisle explained.
Seth ran around the house and jumped the fence, seeing Shelby waiting. He closed the distance between them and picked her up. Shelby turned and wrapped her arms around him tightly, letting herself be held. Seth dropped to his knees still holding Shelby, feeling calm and relief pour through him. He could barely handle a few hours away from Shelby. How could he begin to handle a year?
"I could feel her anxiety and her sadness earlier and I felt suffocated by the strength of it." Jasper commented. "The relief I can feel now is exhilarating."
"I don't see how mom can feel okay by keeping them apart. We need to find out more about this curse that they're convinced of and how to end it." Leah said. "Thanks for this, by the way. For letting Seth be here with Shelby."
"You're very welcome. Seth has always been so kind to us." Carlisle said. "As for the curse...I had heard about it in the past, certainly. With Shelby having been alive and well these past 19 years, it should be common sense that this 'curse' they fear is false."
"What they need is something that explains each supernatural disaster that coincides with the birth of twins in the Uley line." Jasper said.
"That's it!" Jake said. "Leah, Sam needs to get into the Uley archive history and get the dates of all the twins and what disasters occurred and when and see if there's a recurring theme or something that affects only twins."
"I will. I can't bring myself to break Seth apart from Shelby just yet." Leah said. "He looked so broken in his bedroom…it hurt me so deep. He's never upset or sad. Always this happy go lucky kid."
"I'll research from our side, too. We all will." Carlisle said.
...
so two and a half months later, i finally get my inspiration back. I forgot where i was going with this story until i got high and remembered and luckily wrote out a mini summary for myself lol. Y'all are gonna love it! Here's hoping i keep my motivation am i right lol xoxo