Chapter 2 running wolf

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 and the Makah that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe for betaing.

Seth liked being a werewolf. I mean sure it had its drawbacks, tearing apart your clothes occasionally, having that horrible candy taste in your mouth whenever you had to tear a vamp apart, and your grocery bill reached stratospheric proportions; but all round it was pretty cool. Most teens had a posse that they hung with and socialised with, but he literally had a pack.

He knew the guys were just teasing him, and he knew that at some level, they were just the littlest bit jealous of his single status. They all loved and adored their imprints but sometimes they all remembered their single days fondly. Seth was certainly enjoying his now. Girls had always liked him because he made them laugh but now he had the body to back it up. He was their friend first and he had maintained a happy relationship with all his exes, if you could call them that. So, he was kind of their friend last too. Whatever, it worked for him.

But lately, all joking aside from the other guys in the pack, he had been feeling just the littlest bit off balance. He wasn't unhappy, he just had this… yearning… for something, … he wasn't even sure what it was he was yearning for.

And his yearning seemed to have a physical location. Every time he phased and went for a run, he would end up on the same patch of highway 101, just south of forks. He had explored this whole patch of forest and had no idea why he kept going there. There was no scent of vampire or anything like that. It was just a patch of forest the same as all the other bits of forest. The only thing that made it different from any of the others was the fact that he kept showing up there.

And every time his mind wandered when he was out running, he ended up there.

He was running along now, his paws slamming into the dirt and his body stretching out eagerly as he ran. He was thinking about Jacob Black. Jake had always kind of been his idol. He had followed him around before either of them had even known about the shape-changing thing their small community had been burdened with. Well they had heard the stories, but they had not known they were real.

Jake was even more his hero now. He had done so much and he handled it all so well. He should be nominated for an award; he really should. His mother died when he was young. He nursed his invalid father with great care and responsibility. Most teens wanted to skip out and hang with their friends but Jake had always made sure he was home promptly to help his dad into bed and to make sure he looked after himself. Especially his feet. Diabetics had real trouble with their feet for some reason. Something to do with circulation issues. Seth had never really thought about what a big responsibility it was, until his mum had taken it over so Jake could have a life.

Jake had turned his interest in cars into a money-paying job that contributed income to his family and was now a functioning business. A business that employed others and brought income to the whole reservation. It was Embry's capital that had started it, but it was Jake's reputation as the best mechanic in the area that brought in all the customers. And they always came back because the guys knew what they were doing and didn't overcharge or rip people off.

Jake had adored Bella from the time they had spent their summer holidays together. But the wolf gods had other ideas and Paul had imprinted on her. Jake had let her go. It took him a while to get over it, but no one had really expected him to recover from that kind of heartbreak overnight. There was an unspoken fear that it would cause the same kind of problems that Leah and Sam's breakup had caused for the pack. There was no way the pack could have handled two of those kinds of battles.

Seth didn't even want to think about how it could have gone if Paul and Jake had really fought over Bella. Everyone had seen Jake whaling on Paul's face that time and to be honest, it had scared the crap out of him. But Paul hadn't fought back. If he had, especially protecting his imprint, they could have killed each other. And where would that have left the pack?

Which brought him back to the person he usually wanted to whale on. His sister.

Leah.

Chalk up another success to Jacob Black. She was his sister but she had been just the most horrible person ever. She had made the pack life hell. She had driven everyone to a point where they had all hated her. Her continuous bitching about Sam and Emily had eroded whatever sympathy anyone had for her at the start. Sam was the only one who still thought of her as nice. And that was probably just his misplaced guilt. It was a serious clusterfuck. That kind of shit just wasn't good for a pack either. They were supposed to be a team and Seth had often worried that the pack would not back Leah up properly if she was in trouble. Would they have risked themselves for her? The whiny bitch?

But Jake had shown that he didn't think like that. He had actually thrown himself between Leah and a vampire. And not just any vampire, but a newborn one. They were supernaturally strong; they all knew that from the endless lectures from their Alphas. And he had suffered for it. Broke almost every bone in half of his body.

But Jake had managed to heal more than just his bones. Jake had healed Leah. And Seth would always thank him for that. She was his sister and he loved her but some days he had not liked her very much. Now she was a different person.

So Jake was the alpha of the wolf pack, the chief in waiting for the whole tribe. He had contributed to his tribe and his community. He gave the best advice and he was just all round, the coolest guy… ever.

So yeah, Jacob Black was his hero.

Seth stopped running and looked around.

Fuck! He was back at that spot again.

A girl and her mother are driving along the 101 highway, just south of Forks.

"Will we stop in Forks for a drink or something?" the mother asked, glancing at her daughter.

They are both of Native American appearance. The girl looked about seventeen. Her hair is long and braided down her back.

"I don't care," sulked the girl. "This trip is stupid, two days in the car is stupid… and did we have to go via Oregon? It's stupid…"

"No, but it would still have taken more than twenty hours of driving if we went direct from Deadwood to Neah Bay." The mother is reasonable and patient but she gave the impression that this is an argument they have already had several times.

"I told you, I wanted to see the rose gardens and I may not get another opportunity. Your father hates things like that," she explained.

"Yeah, well… now I know where I get it from," the teen sulked. She mutters something under her breath. It sounds a lot like 'rose bushes are stupid'.

There was silence for a minute or two. The radio played in the background.

"Tell me you did not name me after those stupid bushes anyway," the girl asked.

Her mother laughs. "I thought they were beautiful flowers and Rose is a beautiful name." She looked at her again. "I still think Rose is a beautiful name and we will sort this problem out."

"I don't see how a bunch of old men can help me." The girl looked suddenly wounded in some way.

"Just calm down honey," the mother said, "the last thing I need is to be driving in the rain."

"It's the Pacific Northwest mum. It's always raining."

"Tone, young lady," her mother chastised, "watch the tone."

But, they grinned at each other. Clearly that was one of those family phrases that have a whole chapter of history behind it.

"Thank you for putting your seatbelt on," the mother said in an effort to give the teen some reward. They had fought about it at the last rest stop. The mother had laughed that her entire life was one long argument with her teenage daughter.

There was a movement in the forest at the side of the road. A gigantic animal emerged from the trees and stood near the side of the road. It was a wolf; but it was huge.

The mother grabbed at the steering wheel, as if she was not sure if the animal was going to run across the road, or perhaps it had just frightened her with its sudden appearance. The car swerved on the road. She fought to get it back under control and she managed it, but the wheels have gone off the edge of the sealed road. They have two wheels in the dirt, two on the tar. She tried to brake.

A wheel hit the edge of the road and the whole car flipped. It started to tumble onto its roof. The wolf watched it. Oddly, it didn't run from the screaming and the noise. It seemed frozen.

The car landed on the roof with a crunch of metal and glass and then it kept rolling and finally came to a stop back on its wheels. The car moved sideways and the seatbelts stopped the passengers from being thrown from the vehicle but they do not stop sideways movement within the vehicle. The girl was unconscious; she bled from a wound where her head must have hit the side window.

It was an older car and only had a driver side airbag.

The mother, the driver, was unconscious too.

The wolf stood there.

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FF_2154210_ - 10/03/2011 01:19:00 PM

FF_2154210_ - 30/08/2011 07:15:00 PM