Chapter 4 rituals

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer- this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute which, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe for betaing

Leah had come to a halt; she had all the bits required for her vision quest but she didn't know what to do now. She was supposed to wander off alone and be isolated, but as if the pack would ever let her do that. They would scent track her and drag her back within hours. So forget that. Sensory deprivation? She couldn't build an igloo or lock herself in the shed, for the same reason. It all sounded a little too much like Altered States; that movie where the guy had his weird trip in the cave.

She read through the site again. Tobacco was also a necessary ingredient. She was supposed to puff away on a yucky old pipe? Not in my vision quest, she thought. No thank you.

She rubbed her eyes. She was tired, she had finished her patrol and she knew Jacob wanted to hold a full pack meeting later. Maybe she would have a nap.

Before she slept she went around her room and touched each item she had collected with her fingertips. She brushed softly across the eagle feather. The wolf hair she felt the strangest urge to hold in her hand. She picked it up and closed her fingers over it. She lay down on her bed and covered herself with her blanket. If she woke up in a ball of sweat at least she wouldn't oversleep. She thought about setting an alarm just in case, but rejected it; it was just a quick nap.

With her head on the pillow, she lifted her hand to her nose and inhaled the musky wolf scent of her alpha. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Jake was frustrated. The other night when he went nightclubbing and came home alone was actually a rare one for him. He was regretting it now. All those years he had mooned after Bella, he had no idea what he was missing.

Paul was right on that one too, getting laid was the best thing that had ever happened to him; … so far.

But where did it leave him? He really enjoyed sex, but he was getting a little antsy with the casual sex side. There was no love; no commitment. Sure it was fun but it didn't serve to fill any of the gaps inside him. Something was missing.

Some days he felt like a big piece of Swiss cheese, riddled with holes left by the death of his mother, the departure of his sisters and the loss of Bella Swan. She was still in his life; he just couldn't live without her, and he still loved her. But he was sometimes as jealous of Bella and Paul as Leah was of Sam and Emily.

Would imprinting fix the way he felt? He was not so sure he would ever have the chance. That day Paul had come to speak to him after their fight, he had heard him talking to his father first.

"I don't think the alpha should imprint. How can he look after the best interests of the tribe if he is holding his girl's hand?"

Billy makes a humph noise. "I agree. But that means you have taken the woman he loves from him and he doesn't have a possible imprint as a consolation."

He hadn't let Paul know that he had heard them talking. At the time he was not in much of a mood to make Paul's life easier; he had just stolen his girl. But it had taken a lot of guts for Paul to come and face him. He had always admired that.

He had thought about that conversation a lot and he had to agree. When Sam was the temporary Alpha, he had let his feelings for Emily and Leah affect his leadership. He had treated Leah differently and she knew it. He had also tried to protect her; keep her out of serious fights. Jake suspected that Emily would have been first in Sam's thoughts if the tribe was attacked, just as Leah was first in them within the pack. You could argue that by protecting Emily, he protected the whole tribe, but he didn't think he believed that as an argument.

So was he ever going to imprint? He was so certain when he phased that it would be Bella. And then to find out that she had already been earmarked by the Gods as the mate for Paul; it had damn near broken his heart. Paul had imprinted on her months before Jake had even phased.

So the Gods knew better than his own heart? Was that what they were trying to tell him? That no matter how much it hurt, she was not the right mate for him? So who was?

Seth intruded into the patrol meeting with panicked thoughts so chaotic nobody could tell what was wrong. Jake alpha ordered everyone to shut up.

J: Seth? What's wrong? Is it vamps?

S: no no … it's Leah

J: is she hurt?

S: I can't tell

J: what? That doesn't make sense. Where is she?

S: she's at home in bed…

J: So…?

S: I can't wake her up…she won't wake up And then his mind became a jangled memory of his father dying and Leah and how panicked he was to be left alone.

J: I'm on my way. Where's your Mum?

S: at Charlie's

J: ok you phase back and hold her hand until I get there. Seth? SETH?

S: yeah yeah I got it

He could feel Seth leave the conversation. The rest of the pack stood silently waiting for his orders.

J: let's break this up for tonight guys. Get an early night. We will skip patrols just for tonight. I will let people know what is happening as soon as I know, okay?

As he ran Jake wondered what the hell was going on. He hoped Seth had the sense to call the medic, too. Probably not, he had sounded so panicked. Funny how he was all grown up physically, but emotionally he was still a mess. Having Leah as your sister would be sure to screw a kid up and having your Dad die of a heart attack because your sister turns into a wolf in front of him? Yeah, one mega shitload of guilt and blame there.

Jake concentrated on running. There was no way he could solve all the Clearwater problems today. He had already reached the forest at the back of their house. He phased and threw his cut-offs on and ran out of the forest and towards the house.

"Seth?" he called out as he came through the back door.

He heard a reply from upstairs down the hallway. He got to the doorway and looked. Leah was in bed; her eyes tightly closed and her short hair mussed around her face. She looked fine; just asleep.

"She just won't wake up," Seth's voice sounded as small as he felt. "You try," he suggested.

Jake reached out and felt her bare shoulder. "Leah," he called and gave her a little shake. He put his hand at the back of her neck. Everyone always felt your temperature on your forehead, but having lived with an invalid for a very long time, Jake knew the back of the neck was a better place to feel a temperature.

"She's cool," he commented. "She doesn't feel nearly warm enough." He looked at Seth. "Do you have a thermometer?"

He nodded and left the room. Jake looked down at her. What the fuck was going on?

He just watched her until Seth came back. They measured her temperature. Luckily Sue being a nurse, it was one of those nifty ear ones and didn't take long. It beeped. 104 degrees.

"Shit," what does that mean? "She should be 108."

Give me a sec," Jake instructed. He headed for the phone and called the medical centre. The new medical centre had made a huge difference to the community. Almost no one knew the money had come from the Cullens, not all of it, but enough to make it a better facility than a tribe of 400 people normally had. If it was guilt money, Jake didn't care.

Recently the tribal council had advertised for a doctor and had got a medic. He was not as qualified in some areas as they had hoped, but he came with an extra experience they sorely needed. He had some experience of shifters from his own people. Charles Eastman had come from the Tsimshian, people who live around Terrace and Prince Rupert on the North Coast of British Columbia.

[AN: no idea if the Tsimshian have a history of shifters but they do have a Laxgibuu; Wolf Clan - Charles Eastman was the first Native American to train as a Western doctor. Seemed appropriate for a name]

And he was a member of their wolf clan. He didn't shift himself, but there was a lot he knew about it; the side effects, the animal behaviours, the healing speed. He had replaced Carlisle Cullen as their medic of choice. It worked for him, too. He loved to have a pack who got down and dirty often enough to keep him busy. He had been in La Push a whole month so he was still on the steep learning curve, but Jake really liked him.

So Jake phoned Charles; his job had come with a house. It was a bonus for the weird hours he had to work.

He could tell just from the way he spoke, that he had woken him up. "Hey Charles, sorry to disturb you, we've got something weird going on."

He could hear him move in the bed, "No Jake, its fine. I put the phone on divert. What's the problem?"

"It's Leah; she's asleep and she won't wake up."

"No obvious injuries; a bump on the head or bites?"

"Bites? Shit, I didn't think about that."

"Well you've woken me up now anyway, I will be right over."

"Sorry Charles," Jake apologized. "We're at the Clearwater's."

"No big… part of the job." he yawned. "I'll see you in ten." And he hung up.

FF_2154210_ - 18/11/2010 12:09:00 PM