The Life We Live

Chapter 9

Pairing: Bella / Leah

Rating: T for Language and Content - Subject to Change

I grabbed Leah's hand and pulled her out the door, into the backyard. It was a fairly nice day out. Overcast, but that's to be expected in Washington, no matter the season. I took a breath.

"You're sure you want to see this?" She nodded eagerly.

"Of course I want to see this. Even though you are my mate, I still hardly know anything about you. I want to get to know everything, including this." I hesitantly nodded at her.

"Okay." I was feeling confident when she initially asked me. But now I wasn't so sure. I was slightly self conscious. I knew she was curious about my wolf form, and from what I had gleaned from her mind, she liked my wolf form. I closed my eyes, mentally and emotionally preparing myself. Leah grabbed my wrist.

"Quick question though, do you have to.. uh.. strip?" I laughed.

"No, unlike shifters, my clothes change with me. So I don't have to worry about that." Leah huffed.

"Lucky you. I hate that little detail about shifting. It's annoying as hell, worrying about getting a little mad and accidentally shredding your clothes." I chuckled a little.

"I can only imagine. Shifters are actually one of the only shape shifting species that have a problem with that." Leah looked at me quizzically.

"Does that mean there are other shapeshifter species out there?" I nodded

"Well, duh. You didn't think you were the only ones did you?" She looked at me sheepishly. I laughed at her face. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but you're not the only one."

"What are some other ones?" I thought about that for a few seconds before answering.

"Well, Lycans and Children of the Moon to name the wolf ones. However many shifters like yourself take on feline forms. Kitsune are a Japanese fox shifter. Jaymen is a shape shifter as well actually. Although she's a little more unique since she's the only one of her kind. And honestly, there a lot of other species as well, those are just some of the more notable ones." Leah blinked.

"Oh, I had no idea." I smiled at my mate.

"I wouldn't really expect you to. Up here in Forks, you don't really get exposure to other supernatural creatures. It was really just a stroke of luck that the Cullens showed up."

"Speaking of the Cullens.." I sighed. I hadn't really meant to say that, because that opened up a whole other conversation.

"I promise, I will tell you about that, just not now. Don't I have a wolf form to show off?" I wiggled my eyebrows and Leah laughed.

"I suppose you do. I've distracted you enough." Once again, I closed my eyes, readying myself for my shift. I didn't really need to, since I had mastered my wolf form long ago, but it was more for emotional reasons. I opened my eyes and from Leah's breath intake, I could tell they were glowing yellow.

Shifting into my wolf form was at one time a pretty slow and painful process. When I was young, not even a couple hundred years, it would take me minutes to shift. Now it was a quick and painless process, taking only seconds. I looked at my mate, who despite seeing me in this form before, was standing wide eyed and mouth open.

I walked, or well really more like stalked, over to her and bent down so that we were eye to eye. "Say something?" I asked her, pleading for her to say something. She reached up and ran her hand down my snout. I closed my eyes and sighed, having my mate basically pet me felt like nothing I have ever experienced before. Leah giggled a little at my expression of bliss.

"You're amazing. I mean, this form is just… wow." I chuckled.

"Very articulate today aren't you? I teased and she blushed.

"I guess I'm just not used to feeling in awe of anything." Leah looked uncomfortable, her right hand rubbing her left forearm awkwardly. I looked at her.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. I mean, it's one thing to know the supernatural exists. But it's completely another to actually see it in front of your face. Much less being mated to someone like me." Leah cocked her head.

"What do you mean, someone like you?" I blinked. I mentally slapped myself. I hadn't meant to say that. I was referring to my past and this mistakes I had made. I quickly thought up an lie.

"A Lycan. We're a rare species now. Over the milina my kind has been hunted and killed by various other species." Leah looked sad at my words.

"So you don't have any family?" I shook my head.

"No, but not because they were killed for being Lycans. Remember that Lycans are changed, not born. It's not genetic. My family… Well, that's something I'd rather not talk about right now." Leah looked at me sympathetically. In an attempt to get my mind off of my parents, I spoke to Leah about something else.

"So, do you want to shift and we'll go for a run? I can show you how fast I really am." I wiggled my eyebrows and gave her a wolfy smile. She just laughed and nodded.

"Alright Bella, I'll take you up on that. But I've got warn you, I'm pretty fast myself." I smiled at the challenge.

"C'mon then Leah, let's see if your bite is worse than your bark." Then Leah did something I wasn't expecting. She stripped, in front of my eyes. I mean, I knew that she needed to, but I didn't expect her to strip right in front of me. I just stared, open mouthed at my mate. She was extremely beautiful. She must have noticed me staring because before she shifted she gave me a sexy look and winked. I just stood there, blinking as she shifted into her wolf form.

I looked at my mate's wolf. It was as beautiful as my mate herself. She was small gray wolf, with yellow eyes, although not nearly as bright as my own. As I stood up on my hind legs I noticed that she was nearly two heads shorter than I was. Although because I was a Dux Ducis, I was a little larger than even most Lycans.

"Your wolf form is gorgeous Leah." She looked at my shyly. Or as shyly as a wolf could.

"You think so?" I thanked whatever gods were out there that I could read her thoughts. Otherwise this would be substantially more difficult. I nodded.

"I do indeed. Your inner wolf is a thing of beauty. Something I learned long ago is that your animal is a part of you. The more you hold it back, the harder it fights and the harder it is to control." Leah looked at me curiously.

"What exactly do you mean?" I was taken aback by the question a little bit. I had assumed that Leah knew that her wolf was a separate entity from herself. But apparently that isn't part of the reservation's lore.

"Your wolf is a separate being from yourself. You've sometimes felt like there was something else in your mind, encouraging you to make different decisions or giving you input on things?" She nodded. "That's your wolf. Many shapeshifters don't realize that their mind is separate from their animal. Most of the time the animal inside doesn't have a great influence on your life. But if you hold it back, it will fight to be free. That's why those who don't embrace it are the more volatile and unstable. They're wasting energy fighting their animal for control. But those who embrace it make an agreement with their animal that is sacred. And if you embrace it, you enter into that agreement, whether you're aware of it or not." Leah looked interested, yet confused.

"Okay, so my head is hurting right now. How about we go for that run and we can talk about this some more later?" I laughed and nodded. This was a hard subject for some shapeshifters to understand, that they weren't in total control and that in giving up that control they would ultimately gain control. I gestured my head towards the trees and took off at a slow pace, waiting for Leah to catch up.

She started immediately after me, and actually bolted right past me. "Catch me if you can, slowpoke!" I chuckled and shook my head. I picked up speed, chasing after my mate. I was running fast enough to keep her in sight, but not fast enough to actually catch her. I wanted to relish in the feeling of the chase, something I hadn't experienced in a long time.

Running through the forest after my mate was certainly something else. Never had I felt as carefree as I did at that moment. There was always something weighing down on my mind, but now there was nothing but me and my mate. I had yet to do anything with her, we hadn't even kissed yet, but I knew when we did, it would be special.

Leah skidded to a stop in front of me, causing me to almost crash into her. "What did you stop for?" She closed her eyes.

"Sam just shifted. He knows everything now. I… He…" I looked at her, a little concerned. I wasn't entirely sure what he was saying. I could have pried into her mind to find out, but I hated reading minds unless it was necessary. The only reason I had this power was because I was in close proximity to Edward Cullen. And being older than the child, I had more control. It wasn't involuntary for me, like it was for him.

"He asked to meet you." I blinked, out of all the things she could have said, that wasn't one of them. "I mean, when I say he knows everything, I mean everything. He knows your human form, about the fight with Paul and Jacob, everything. He just wants to make sure you're not a threat or anything to the reservation." I nodded.

"Okay, I'll meet with your Alpha, just to prove I'm not a threat. But this stays in the pack. No one can know my human form. It's dangerous, for both the pack and me." She nodded.

"Follow me. We'll meet him at the reservation boundary." And she took off. I closely followed her and we quickly reached the reservation line where a large black wolf stood. This wasn't the first time I had seen Sam, but this time things were different. Sam looked at me and I heard his thoughts.

"So, I guess I should be thanking you for saving my pack member, multiple times." I shook it off.

"She's my mate, of course I would save her. There isn't anything I wouldn't protect her from." Leah looked at me with happiness in her eyes.

"I can see that. As I'm sure you know, I've seen everything in Leah's mind. And I know who you are Bella." I nodded.

"Indeed. And trust me Sam, I'm not a threat to your people. I don't kill humans." 'Anymore' I thought to myself. Sam nodded.

"I hope I can trust you Bella. Although with Leah being your mate, I couldn't hurt you anyway. I don't know if you know, but an imprint bond is sacred in the pack. Which brings me to my next conversation point." Leah cringed as Sam stepped up, getting my face, which was actually a funny sight since he was smaller than I was.

"If you hurt Leah in anyway, imprint bond or not, you'll be sorry." Leah groaned in embarrassment. I looked at him seriously.

"I give you my word I will never hurt her Sam. She is as much my mate as I am her imprint. Although I'm glad she has someone that cares for her and would protect her." Sam stiffly nodded.

"I'm sure her brother Seth will want to have this conversation with you as well." I laughed.

"And I will give him the same answer."

"There was something else I wanted to talk to you about Bella." I cocked my head to one side questioningly. "Jacob. What will you do about him?" I sighed.

"I cannot ignore the fact that he threatened my mate, among… other things. Your former pack mate cannot be allowed to live. I'm sorry, but if any of you stand in my way, I won't hesitate to use force to get to him." Sam nodded grimly.

"I had hoped that there would be some getting through to him, but judging from what I saw in Leah's mind, I don't think there is. There's something off about him, he was never like this. He had a short temper sometimes, but he would never intentionally hurt someone."

"I'm sorry Sam."

"Don't be. If someone had gone after Emily like that I would want to kill the bastard as well." I thanked him for his understanding. It wasn't everyday that someone sympathized with something like that. "Well, I need to go back to patrolling. Leah, I'm going to call a pack meeting later today and you need to be there. Since we know that this wolf is not a threat to us anymore, we're going to reassign patrol duties. We also need to discuss the 'Jacob situation.'" Leah nodded at her Alpha. Sam gave me one last look that I swore looked like 'take care of her.' And then he ran off.

I turned to my mate. "Well, that went… better than I was expecting." Leah laughed.

"What did you expect?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know. That way you made it sound was like he wanted to rip my head off of something." Leah threw me an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I was just startled is all. I had forgotten that Sam had patrol today and wasn't expecting him to want to meet you. I guess it was a good thing that the rest of the guys were shifted as well. Although we probably should head back quickly, so we don't risk someone else shifting." I nodded.

"Race you?" Leah's eyes lit up at my challenge and she grinned evilly. And without warning she bolted off in the direction of my house. I laughed and yelled after her "Cheater!" before running after her. This time I didn't hold back and I caught up to her in no time. I pulled slightly ahead of her and that caused her to pick up her pace. We kept passing each other on the way back, and I was quite impressed that she could keep up with me. Granted I wasn't going at one hundred percent, but more like ninety. So that was still impressive.

My house came into sight and Leah unexpectedly put on a final burst of speed. I wasn't prepared for that so she reached my yard before I did, shifting on the fly, landing on her feet. She looked at my triumphantly. Once again I was faced with my mate's naked body.

"Leah, put on some clothes. Otherwise there's not going to be a lot keeping me from taking you right here in my backyard." She winked at me.

"Maybe that was my plan?" I groaned. She was going to be the death of me. But she complied with my request. As she pulled on her shorts and bra, I shifted back to my human form. I approached her and grabbed her waist, pulling her closer to me.

"You are such a tease." She laughed.

"But you love it." I smiled.

"You're right, I do." Suddenly she wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug.

"Thank you for today Bella. It was amazing, I had a really good time. I wish I didn't have to go to this pack meeting. I'd rather just spend my day with you."

"I wish you didn't need to go either, but you do. It's important." We broke apart and I took her hand as we walked out front to her car.

"I'll call you later?" I eagerly nodded.

"Please do. Let me know how to goes?"

"I will. Don't worry, I'll make sure the pack knows that your secret stays secret."

"Thank you." I opened her car door for her and kissed her on the cheek before she got in. She blushed a deep red color.

"I… uh… I'll call you later." She fumbled before she got into her car. I stepped back and waved at her as she backed out of my driveway and drove off. I found myself already feeling a pull for me to follow her. But I knew I couldn't. This pack meeting was between the shifters. It wasn't my place to intrude, especially since I was going to be a topic of conversation.

I thought about what I should do to kill time. I sat on my porch step, when my mind was made up for me. A silver Volvo pulled up in my driveway and a bronze haired vampire stepped out of the car.

A/N: So I finally updated this. I'm so sorry that I haven't updated it in a while and that it's a little shorter than normal. I've been having a writer's block on this chapter. I honestly I don't think it's that good.

I haven't updated in a while because I had a series of around five or six tests all within the same two week period, so I was studying my ass off. And then last week one of my dogs died, so I wasn't in a writing mood. Anything I probably would have written would have been pretty depressing. So sorry. Anyways, I should be back to updating this fairly regularly. Although I might take some time and go and outline the entire story so I know what I want to write ahead of time.

In regards to the chapter, I know it all happened rather quickly, but I wanted Bella to briefly meet Sam. And I also want to integrate the Cullens a little, although they will not be a main part of the story.

As usual this story is unbeta'd so any grammar and spelling mistakes are my own. And I'm sorry if any of the plot is a little messed up since I haven't written anything for this for a few weeks. Thanks for sticking with me guys.

A Charmed Vampire