Shortly after Jake and the Cullens left, an exercise clinic had opened up in Forks. She taught junior yoga classes, boxing, and was in training to teach a more advanced level of yoga. Work could be a little on the dull side, but at least she was saving money for college, and get in some extra fitness-not that she needed it.
Unknown to Leah, Seth and Quil were staked out opposite the gym in Quil's truck, debating what to do.
"We could just track him down and take him to her," Quil suggested.
Seth scrunched up his face, "Pretty sure that's called kidnapping. Which I'm pretty sure is illegal.
Quil stared.
"I'm also ninety-three percent sure Leah would kill me."
Quil considered, "Fair point."
The two watched the gym in silence for several minutes.
"Maybe we could-"
"No," Seth interrupted, neither breaking their gaze from the door.
"He works out, right?" Quil said suddenly. Seth stared at him.
"How the hell would I know?"
"He had muscles! And don't normal humans have to work out to get muscles? They don't just boom, appear, like for us," he frowned, "except if they're on steroids."
Seth rolled his eyes, "I really hope this is going somewhere."
"He'll probably go to the gym anyway!" Quil grinned, "To work out! It's the only one around."
Realisation dawned on Seth's face. Quil was too excited to laugh at his friends' bug eyed expression, but took a mental image to show the rest of the pack later.
"And he would have felt the imprint too! Even if he doesn't understand it! So he'll probably want to look good for this 'mystery girl', so-"
"He'll go to the gym!" Quil finished for him, the two high five-ing vigorously.
"You guys better have a damn good reason for stalking me," a voice interrupted through the open window.
The boys spun around to see Leah leaning down to glare at them.
Quil sank lower in his seat.
"We were just stopping to buy..." Seth floundered, searching for a believable excuse.
"Organic fruit and veg," Quil supplied.
"Yes!" Seth said quickly, going with it despite Leah's raised brow, "And we were just leaving. You need to go back to work right now!" he made shooing motions.
"Yes, quickly," Quil said, "before he-" Seth elbowed him, "before you get fired."
The two boys nodded vigorously, smiles wide and innocent.
Leah sighed. "You two are frickin' weird."
She turned and left.
Seth turned to Quil.
"Organic fruit and veg? You couldn't come up with something slightly more believable?" he grumbled.
Quil wordlessly pointed out his window to the shop next to them. Aunty Gertie's Fresh Organic Greenies!
"Gross," Seth muttered, staring the engine.
Leah was not happy. Okay, so that wasn't such an uncommon state for her, but she was much grumpier than usual, which was why this time was worth mentioning.
Sam had turned up at work to tell her that she would start her patrol immediately after work, having missed last night. The exact words he used were 'ran away'. Cute. Her coworkers, all from Forks, did not know her history with Sam, and assumed he was her boyfriend. Seriously? He couldn't have just called? The pack had promised to interfere at her work as little as possible. Phones were invented for a reason.
She had also, almost subconsciously, been forming a plan to go down to the beach again. Maybe he would be there. But that wan't going to happen, all thanks to Sam. You'd think he could give her a break after having that particular bombshell dropped on her.
Thanks a lot.
The rest of the week, Leah endured the not so gentle ribbing of her pack mates. Endless jokes, generally at her expense. Those she could take.
The pack had very quickly learnt that any jokes about her imprint would not be tolerated. The lesson was both fast and painful. Despite her hatred of the emotional manipulation of imprinting, Leah found she couldn't bare to hear a bad word spoken about her imprint.
On Saturday, Sam announced that the pack was going on a 'bonding' cliff diving trip. He announced all pack members and imprints could go.
Leah announced she would not.
Only when the pack, minus Leah, arrived at the cliff edge, they found it was already occupied. A man sat near the edge, sketch pad in hand, staring out at the ocean. Waves and colours lapped together, clouds dancing across the sky.
The pack stared curiously. Jared coughed politely to announce their presence. The man didn't jump, but threw a polite nod over his shoulder, then went back to his watercolour pencils, as if he had known they were there all along.
"One sec, just want to get the right colour down," he frowned at his pad, "It can be difficult to get that perfect gradient where the sky and ocean meet," he continued, almost to himself.
The pack had all seen his face. They recognised the man.
And stared.
Paul started sniggering, and turned into a choked snort when Jared elbowed him.
"Sorry for making you wait," Leah's imprint (who the pack had named 'Blondie' till further notice) stood up, packing away his pencils and pad into a large backpack and slinging it over a shoulder. He offered a hand to Sam.
"I'm Steve-Phillips," he said politely, an easy smile on his face, though no one noticed the slight wince when he said his last name. Then he frowned, eyes wandering carefully over the pack.
"Didn't I see a few of you in that diner earlier this week?" he asked.
Paul smirked, "Yeah, you freaked out a friend of ours," he said, faux casual.
Steve looked way.
"I saw. Is she alright?" he asked quickly, glancing back up, digging his hands back in his pockets when Sam ignored it.
"She'll get over it," Sam said slowly, "My name is Sam Uley. What are you doing here?" he asked, taking a step forward.
Most people would have backed up or shied away from Sam's alpha tone, wolf or not. Blondie, despite being several inches shorter, straightened his back, stance defensive. He looked Sam right in the eye. Sam took a step closer, polite smile edged with a threat.
"Tour of the country. You have some beautiful scenery around here," Steve said.
No one noticed Seth slipping away, back to the trucks, too caught up in the scene playing out before them.
"You're an artist?" Sam asked. The question sounded odd with the threatening tone he used to voice it.
Steve shrugged, "It's a hobby," he said, leaving more unsaid than not.
"What do you do, then?" Sam asked, standing tall. Blondie may be ignoring the height difference, but that didn't stop Sam from trying to make him feel small.
Steve wasn't buying it. He gave Sam an unimpressed glance, gaze flickering back to where the pack stood agitatedly, ready to leap at a moment's notice.
"I feel like I'm being interrogated," he said, deceptively calm, "I'm not trespassing, am I?" he gave a crooked smile.
Sam didn't reply. He knew Blondie knew the answer.
"And what brings you folks up here, if we're being so candid?" Steve smiled over Sam's shoulder at the pack.
The pack was were watching a movie, and the characters had popped out of the scene and started talking to them.
"Cliff diving," Jared filled in, after an awkward silence.
Steve glanced down at the sea.
"That's a long way to fall," he commented.
"Scared?" smirked Paul, but Steve only shrugged.
"Had a friend fall once," he smiled sadly "'course, those kinda stories don't have happy endings."
"What happened to him?" Quil asked quietly.
"Not the sort of tale you tell when you want to keep the mood pleasant," Steve said, mouth quirking as if he was tasting the irony.
"Well, if you've got no more questions left, I'll leave you to you're cliff diving," he said, falsely cheerful. He took a step to the side to walk around Sam, but Sam mirrored his movements, blocking him.
Steve stared unflinchingly up at Sam, "You don't like me," he stated firmly.
"Never said that," Sam countered.
"Not with words, maybe. Gonna take me into the woods with your friends and beat the crap out of me? I'd better warn you-I give a hell of a lot better than I get. And I've had plenty of practice with guys like you," he said in an even tone.
If the wolves didn't rely on brute strength and speed alone, they might have noticed the stranger shifting into a practiced fighting stance.
"You've never met anyone like me," Sam snarled quietly. The pack was beginning to worry. Sam was the voice of reason, the leader. This sort of aggression was usually reserved for Paul or Leah.
But to their surprise, Blondie only smirked.
"Is that a pick up line?" he laughed, "unfortunately, I have heard worse."
The pack stared with their mouths hanging open, codfish style, while Sam glowered.
He began growling, shaking.
"What the hell is going on here?" Leah demanded. The pack jumped turning around to find a hastily dressed Leah storming up to them, Seth following behind.
Sam had not turned around.
"Uh- Hi," said Steve, offering her an awkward smile. Leah only threw him an angry glance.
"Sam, what the fucking hell are you doing?" she snapped, marching up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder, forcing him around.
"Nothing. He was leaving," he said.
"Finally," Steve muttered walking around Sam and Leah, and making his way into the forest that ended only meters away from the edge of the cliff. Leah could feel the pull as she watched him disappear into the trees. She ground her teeth, clenching her fists as they vibrated faster and faster.
"I don't know what is wrong with you Sam, you were gonna phase in front of my imprint, you were baiting him! You are going to pay for talking to him like that," Leah snarled over her shoulder as she headed into the forest, "and you damn well better believe it'll fucking hurt."
