Lunar Ascension

Chapter 1: Freedom

Disclaimer: All things in the Twilight universe belong to Stephenie Meyer and her publishers. The song and lyrics belong to the band and their representatives. Any other copyrighted material included in this story belongs to their rightful owners. Cheers ma dears! Rated M.

Break the lock if it don't fit
A kick in the teeth is good for some
A kiss with a fist is better than none

Kiss With A Fist by Florence + The Machine

North Seattle Community College. It was my compromise with Jacob. In the beginning I'd aimed too high and tried to get as far away as humanly possible. I'd even mentioned the University of Florida in Miami, but I should have known that would have been shot down; there was just no way to get back in an emergency and I couldn't be protected that far away. So he told me to choose something close.

Considering I didn't have the grades to get into the much coveted UW, I settled on the community college and was even offered financial aid by the council. Apparently, my aim to get my RN would be beneficial to everyone in La Push, although I still wasn't exactly sure that's where I would end up. But I wasn't going to tell them that. They'd given me means to escape; it was all the incentive I needed.

Between classes and patrolling for any leeches heading North, I was working for the Forest Rangers. Sam, much to my chagrin, had a friend who was a full time ranger and he had offered to get me in with as little as a test. It didn't hurt that I had the Forks chief of police as a reference, either. Sam had told his friend that I knew the forests better than anyone my age, so I was given the test, which I aced. Then they gave me a uniform, a badge and a gun.

Jacob wasn't exactly thrilled about the fire power, but that wasn't something that was up to him, thankfully. It was part of the uniform, and I was required to wear that along with the chunky ass radio they gave me. It was for safety's sake and I was supposed to check in every hour so they'd know my twenty, and whether I was safe.

They had no idea I morphed into a giant wolf in my spare time, so I couldn't exactly tell them that the checking in was a pain in the ass. In order to adapt, I rearranged my leg bands to accommodate the radio, and left the gun in my glove box. It worked out, and that was enough for me.

By the end of most days, I was ready to collapse into my bed with exhaustion. I was running three times the distance I had in La Push, woke up at the ass crack of dawn to go and exercise my brain, and then took a shift at work so I had money to live.

Unfortunately, when I got home, I still had to study. My life had gone from mundane and boring to almost bursting to capacity. Even when I was in the little shoe box I now called home.

My apartment could in no way be defined as big, but it was mine. I was responsible for the rent and my own needs and the council paid the rest. It was fine for me. It wasn't as though I needed anything else; the money I made as a Park Ranger went into buying furniture and food to hold me over until I was required to visit La Push.

I'd only been away from the reservation for two months, but it felt like years. I checked in with Jacob every time I phased, but only because I had to. If I could have stayed away, I would have. Living without the memories of what had been every time I turned around made it easier to breathe. I didn't have to face Sam and Emily and their growing family,and Embry was avoiding me at all costs. I'd only caught him a couple times when I phased, and before I could say a word, he was gone.

It was the loneliest I'd ever been in my life, and I hated to admit I was loving it. There was no one to tell me what to do; there was nobody all up in my business, and I was free to come and go as I pleased.

I dropped down on one of the stone picnic benches in the quad and sighed. The soggy fries weren't looking so appealing now I'd gone and dredged up everything with over-thinking. If it wasn't for my own mind, I was sure I could be quite blissfully happy.

I watched as the bodies moved around and took the moment I had to myself to clear my head and chastise myself for the melancholic drama-fest I was throwing for myself. It wasn't like I'd put myself out there and become social; this was how I operated. I was so afraid of being hurt, I relished in my lack of time for anything other than sleep.

I'd only been here for a couple of months, and I knew things could change eventually, but for now I was content in the way things were working out. If I got too lonely, I could always call my mom or visit Jacob down in Portland.

When someone actually had the gall to drop down beside me, I had to double take. No one had ever taken initiative like that, and quite frankly I really didn't appreciate it. It wasn't that he was unfortunate looking; with his shaggy blond hair styled like a surfer's and his huge, blue eyes, he was appealing enough to get a stirring, but arrogance was rolling from him waves. The well-defined muscles and the tight shirt he wore to highlight them screamed egocentric.

"No one as beautiful as you should look that depressed," he said with a heavy sigh, as he leaned his elbows on the table and cupped his cheeks with his hands. "You wanna talk about it?"

Was he serious? He'd actually managed confirmation of my initial impressions, in record time no less. I could read him like a book. Confidence had always been appealing to me, but this wasn't even in the same hemisphere as confident. This was a guy with a clear case of self-entitlement.

I leaned back, away from the table and regarded him for a while, but he stared back unabashed and even the bitch brow didn't intimidate him. It was the very thing that shut the pack up when they were horsing around and tried to include me. It said "give me wide birth, for my wrath with eat you like you're Alpo and regurgitate you for the parasites." I gave blondie props for not running like a bitch and figured it would be best to make myself clear, seeing as subtle wasn't working.

"You're kidding me, right?" I asked, arching a brow at him. "Does this work for you?"

"Always." He smirked, drumming his fingers on his cheeks. "Yet it seems I have failed to impress you."

"That would be because I'm not a mindless air-head. I don't know what I look like to you, but flattering me will get you nothing but castration. So how about you go on your merry way and try your mindless drivel on someone who gives a shit."

He dropped his hands to the table and looked at me with an open mouth. It would seem I'd shocked him. I doubted anyone had ever been able to say what was on their mind when he was oozing charm and charisma like that. Sadly, I wasn't up for being objectified by a jock.

"Is it wrong that I find this brutal honesty of yours a complete turn on?"

I rolled my eyes. It hadn't been an attempt to turn him on and it sure as hell hadn't been an invite for him to stay longer. I'd never done subtle; it was a waste of my time and it did nothing but confuse matters further, but even with the sharp end of a broadsword, the asshole wasn't catching a hint.

"Probably, but that's not my problem. Thanks for the entertainment. You can leave now."

He stayed where he was, his impossible smirk still on his full lips as he watched me. I wasn't sure why I was so appealing to him while I scowled like he'd run over my dog, but he didn't budge. I'd all but kicked his ass out of the chair and he was still watching me with an amusement that did nothing but piss me off further.

"Fine," I snapped, getting up and pulling my tray with me. "I'll leave. I would say it's been a pleasure, but I don't see the point in lying."

He threw his head back and laughed as I marched toward the trash and dumped the contents in it. I didn't even look back at him as I made my way to the lecture hall where my next class would be. When an arm stretched out and opened the door for me, I almost growled. The asshole was really trying my patience.

"What is wrong with you?" I snapped. "Were you dropped on your head at birth?"

"Me?" he asked, following me into the building and keeping stride with me. I'd always thought I was tall for a girl. I topped off at six foot and the boys on the res dwarfed me, but this guy was only a couple of inches taller and made me feel somewhat normal.

"Yes. You," I said exasperated, as I stopped and turned to look at him. "What will it take for you to leave me alone? If I was any less subtle, I would have dropped an anvil on your head."

"A Wiley Coyote fan?" he teased.

I shook my head in complete amazement. It was like the insults glanced off of him and he found the positive in everything I was saying. It was infuriating, and I had no idea how to make him understand that I wasn't interested.

"Are you listening to a word I'm saying to you?" I asked, frustrated. I couldn't even use the excuse of being late to get away from him. I still had twenty minutes before I was expected to be in class.

He shrugged and gave me a winning smile as he crossed his arms over his chest. His biceps twitched against the fabric of his shirt in an enticing display of peacocking. Even I had to admit I was mesmerized when he flexed his muscles like that.

"I have selective hearing. Admit it, it's quite endearing."

I shook my head and took off toward class again, hoping that silence would make him leave me alone, but instead, he caught up with me and kept stride. His eyes scanned over my body as he hung back to follow me up the stairs.

He was driving me fucking crazy.

"Tell me something," he said as I marched down the corridor ahead of him. Every time he ended up beside me I would speed up. He had no idea who he was messing with and just how capable I was of outrunning him. I didn't stop, so he continued to talk. "When was the last time you got some? I've been trying to figure out what's up with this cold shoulder, and the only conclusion I've drawn is the fact that you're not getting any."

I turned on him before he could blink. Within a second, we were inside one of the empty ecture halls. I pushed him up against the wall and bared my teeth at him as the shudder of anger rolled down my spine like a long lost friend. I had to calm down if I was going to stop myself from phasing, but the son of a bitch had pushed me beyond the edge of reason.

"You don't know what the fuck you're playing with, little boy. I have tried to make myself clear, but you won't listen. Leave. Me. Alone."

As I moved to step away, he seemed to find himself. He'd just been dragged around by a girl and I could see the excitement in his eyes as he spun us and slammed my back against the wall. The sick, masochistic side of me seemed to stretch its arms and yawn as it was aroused by his actions. He caged me in with his arms, and I knew I was smiling at him, taunting him.

He'd hit the nail on the head. I hadn't been with anyone since I'd cut Embry off and my libido was screaming and clawing at me to just go with it. Part of me had been laid dormant in my self-induced solitary confinement and now someone was paying attention and I couldn't seem to shut it down and move on.

I was mad at him and mad at myself for getting baited into reacting like that, but here, with my back pressed against a cold brick wall as his warm breath brushed over my neck, I wanted it. I wanted to sate the animal inside of me.

"You gonna stare at me all afternoon or do something about it?" I growled, letting my smirk come out to play. "You can't tease a girl then pussy out."

"Who are you?" he asked, dropping his arms and stepping away. It seemed he'd come to his senses. No matter who he was, taking what he wanted was obviously not part of that. He tangled his hands through his hair as he leaned against the back row of desks, looking exhausted. "What the hell just happened?"

"Animal magnetism?" I mumbled, sliding down the wall and pulling my legs to my chest, feeling ashamed.

I'd known for a while that when I got worked up I let off some kind of pheromone. It made it impossible for men to contain themselves. The good, vampire doctor had been more than happy to have me play guinea pig and it was one of his initial findings. When this guy had made me angry, I'd become excited and my adrenal glands had created it.
There were only two other people on the planet that knew about this: my alpha and his creepy, vampire doctor. I certainly wasn't going to be sharing it with this guy.

I'd fought so hard to keep this under control, to bury that side of me, and it had worked for a while, too. The regular meetings with Embry had made it easy to gain control of my anger. I was sated and relaxed and I'd never had to worry about it; by the time it took control, Embry and I were already at it.

"Ya think? I'm sorry. I've never been that . . ."

"Aggressive?" I finished for him, already knowing the answer. I watched as he tried to figure out how the turn about had come around. His blue eyes seemed to reflect his confusion.

"Shit, I'm sorry. I don't think I would have . . . I mean, I've never . . ."

I held up my hands to stop him and he snapped his mouth shut, his big blue eyes watching me as he waited for a response.

"You weren't flying solo there. It was reciprocated."

"Really?" He smirked, puffing his chest out with something akin to pride. Men really could be assholes sometimes.

I looked up at him with something I could only imagine was incredulousness. I stared at him for a while as he grinned at me, and I realized that I was annoyed with him for all the wrong reasons. In truth, he was a lot like me. He was who he was and made no apologies for it; he simply took it in a different direction. I was aggressive; he was persistent.

"You're not like any other chick I've ever met. I think you should go out with me."

"Oh you do, do you?" I snorted, pushing up from the floor. "How about we make a deal?

You find me again and I'll go out with you. And just for shits and giggles, you have to know my name."

"You're making me work for it. I like that."

Of course he did. It meant he would get his own way, and he saw me as the prize at the end of it. I may have promised him a date, but that didn't mean he was going to get laid.
No matter how attractive I thought he was, he was trouble with a capital T, and that was exactly the thing I'd been running from.

I gave him a smile and pulled open the door. "If you really are that invested, you'll figure it out."

"Well, for future reference, my name's Zach."

"I didn't ask." I laughed and waved over my shoulder as I left him in the empty lecture hall.

I didn't expect him to succeed. I'd maintained a great deal of anonymity since I'd started here. I was a ghost. I minded my own business and kept my nose clean. One wrong step and Jacob would be happy to send me back to the res. Even if he found out my name, I couldn't be found if I didn't want to be, which meant Zach was shit out of luck.

I managed to make it through class with little to no hiccups, and I half expected Zach to be outside when I left, but the corridor was blissfully absent of him and his stalkerish ways. It was probably for the best considering I had to do non Park Ranger Patrol that evening. Summer in the south was beginning to heat up and it wasn't unusual for the leeches to head north to places like Canada and Alaska, where the days were still shorter and less sunny than they were closer to the equator.

Seth and I worked as a team. I would run from Seattle to the coast, sticking close to the forests around Mount Rainier and the Olympic National Forest and Seth would see through me if anything was heading in their direction.

So far, there was nothing but deer and bears and the occasional hiker. I gave them all a wide berth, but there was still nothing. Tonight, I would be going a little further up the mountain to investigate whether they'd come from a different direction. In my mind it was useless, but vigilance kept us alive and I wouldn't put my family at risk.

It didn't take me long to drive out to my starting point. My beat up little car, circa nineteen eighty six, groaned as I pushed it harder than usual to get me where I needed to go.

I drove to the other side of the city and parked at the edge of a trail-head, shedding the clothes I didn't need before heading into the forest with cutoffs and a t-shirt on. Being the pacific northwest, it wasn't ever really warm, so I stuck to the trees and avoided the looks I knew I would get if someone saw me.

The moment I shifted into my wolf self, I stretched on my four legs and shook out my pelt. It was like stretching out a set of wings that had been tied to my back all day. Letting the wolf out was cathartic for me. I was always aware of it, like most of us were.

'Sethasaurus, you out there?' I shouted in my head, searching for his eyes and the familiar sound of his loping gait. But there was nothing except a couple of random scenes. Apparently, whoever was on the other end wouldn't let me in.

When I concentrated, I could see the beach at La Push through the trees, the sun setting on the long expanse of the ocean, and a flicker of the cabin where . . . Well this was going to be a fun evening.

'Hey, Embry. How'd you get tricked into pulling duty with me?'

His long stretch of silence spoke volumes to me; he didn't want to be on patrol with me. Apparently my attempt at saving us both from pain had been too little too late. I'd never let him see what it did to me to let him go and I wasn't going to start now, so I locked it away in the back of my mind and left it there.

He knew I was hiding something, and his tone did nothing but shout it at me. The words may have been simple and direct, but the inflection was everything he refused to say.

'Let's just do this, Leah. I'm not interested in small talk.'

My mind was bombarded with images of all the happy couples around the reservation. Even Jacob and Nessie made it into the collage. One by one their sad eyes seemed to turn to Embry, filled with the apologetic pity I had become accustomed to.

I knew the looks well because they'd offered me the same. They were the 'it'll happen for you, too,' looks. They didn't mean for it to be as depressing as it came off, but all the same, it was just another reminder that we were roaming the world alone.

'Not a good feeling, is it?' I asked, half paying attention to the noises around me. There were some hikers making their way down the trail toward the lot at the bottom, so I coasted to the West to give them space.

'You didn't have to leave, Leah. I could have been what you needed me to be.'

I had no doubts about that. Embry was a good guy and would have tried his hardest to stay detached; he had a good heart. By the time our affair had come to an end, I could already see what I was doing to him, and this little confrontation was simply proving my point. He wasn't capable of not caring. In the end, one of us would have got hurt.

'You don't know that. What if it never happens?' he asked, as he turned away from the cabin. He threw images of us together at me and I had to admit that it hurt, but a flicker in my brain made me think of my confrontation with Zach. It was only a flicker, a miniscule second of imagery, but Embry didn't miss a beat.

He started running toward the mountains, signifying that the conversation was over and I followed suit, letting myself fall into the liberation that running afforded me. With my head down and my body low, I pushed myself up the side of Mount Rainier and let my sense of smell reach out as far as it would go. There was only a faint smell of the sickly sweet odor of vampire, but I knew one had slipped through.

'One headed at you, Embry. From the faint smell, they should be nearing you sometime soon. You need me to pull up the rear?'

Through our connection, I heard the echo of his howl and knew he was alerting the other pack members that there was approaching danger. He never said a word to me, but I watched the scenery passing him as he headed back toward the reservation. Considering he wouldn't talk to me, it made this whole thing impossible.

I knew he was pissed at me, but was it really worth risking everything we'd fought for to make a point? I could understand avoiding the personal questions, but in the vamp hunting capacity, it just made me see how deeply I'd hurt him, and I hated myself for it.

I headed down the side of the mountain and toward the coast and tried to stay vigilant of other scents, but that had been the only one that had passed through, the only one that had lingered.

As other streams of consciousness joined our two solitary thoughts, I shut off my emotions and got down to business. I moved back toward the mountain and took off toward the top and waited. Jacob checked in with me, but I was itching to join in the fight. The moment they caught the leech's smell they moved as a pack. Formations were natural and even with the two alpha's, they worked well together. I missed the pack mentality, the unity of it, and it didn't go unnoticed.

They caught the leech somewhere north of Forks and took him down without question. Even from my spot on the lone mountain, I could smell the human camp not far from where the pack had gathered. They'd got lucky; had it not been for the pack or Embry's quick thinking, they would have been vampire sauce.

I stayed silent and quieted my thoughts as the adrenaline ran through the group and they chattered quietly amongst themselves. It occurred to me that I'd never let myself be a part of that, and no one missed me, with the exception of Embry, and I'd screwed that up royally.

Maybe moving away was for the best; maybe it was good for them to be rid of me. I sprinted down the mountain toward the lot where my car was parked, and I phased the moment Jacob thanked me.

I didn't fit in anywhere at the moment, but something Embry had said to me years before seemed to thump against my skull demanding attention. As the words rolled around and reformed, I finally understood what he'd meant. The son of a bitch could be so profound when he wanted to be.

It was only the second time we'd been together when he'd said it. My limbs had been tangled with his as I mulled over whether or not we were doing the right thing. He'd pulled me into his side and grinned before reciting his words of wisdom.

"Life is what you make of it, Lee. We know our fate and what's expected of us. Beyond that, the rest is up to us."

The rest was up to me, and I decided that I wanted to live.

Authors Note: Thanks for reading guys. And for all the awesome reviews! You guys are amazing! I have no idea how to thank you for your responses. I would also like to thank all of you that seem to love Leah's character as much as I do for letting me know how you feel. I will be posting Wednesday evening from now on, I was having trouble picking a schedule :)

Thank you to my wonderful beta Hev99; she's an amazing writer and a fantastic friend (And for squeezing me in during her hectic schedule!). We have a collaboration profile that I need to link to on my profile! I would also like to thank the wonderful Sabi'Sookie, for being my BFF and pre reading for me and for also collaborating with me, we have another Collab - Harmonic Convergence - That we're currently posting as well. You're awesome girl! I would also like to thank Pinkindeed for all her pre reading skills, and for letting me pre read her amazing stories and for being my knitter extraordiare. Big smooshes to the three of you for being my rocks!

Thanks for reading guys! Mad love to you all ;)