Chapter 19 wolves and worries

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.

Embry and Quil were on patrol later that night. The storm had rolled in really quickly and been pretty localised but no one on the reservation thought it was anything out of the ordinary. It certainly didn't stop the members of the wolf pack doing their usual patrol.

Quil: Jesus Embry.Check this out. There is a mark along the ground and then that tree that looks burnt or as if it has been struck by some kind of weapon. What the hell do you reckon caused this?

The tree was still smoking.

Embry: I have no idea but that storm was pretty close this afternoon. It just looks like a lightning strike to me.

Quil: It looks like the landing trail of an alien ship. You know some kind of rocket discharge.

Embry: Quil there is no such thing as aliens. He sounded resigned; as if he and Quil have had this argument before… several times.

Quil: sure, sure and vampires and werewolves don't exist either. Should we tell Jake?

Embry: yeah we can show him later. It does look pretty freaky, I will admit that. This is almost like a burn trail along the ground.

Quil was sniffing along the ground.

Quil: we can ask Seth the next time we see him; I can smell him everywhere here…with something else… woo hoo…goSethy boy… I smell freshly creamed girl! Yay. Seth is back in the saddle.

Embry: he's been busy helping that girl at the hospital… Rose… I think that's her name.

Quil: she is out of hospital now… remember Jake gave him time off to babysit her… I haven't spoken to him for ages… and he hasn't been doing patrols.

Embry: you're right, she might be out now

Quil: well he was definitely out here today and with a girl…

Embry: I hope they missed the storm.

Quil: (still sniffing) well someone is feeling a lot better… a lot better… damn

Embry: Quil will you cut it out! This is as bad as when you were sniffing the back seat of the Rabbit that time

Quil: (whining) I was just checking something out…

Embry:yeah sure… something about Leah and Jake... and if he ever found out you have been sniffing his car seats, he will kill you… you know that!

Quil: sure, sure

Wolf worry

"So has anyone met this girl of Seth's?" asked Embry as he sorted through some paperwork at the ABC garage. He knew the others could hear him from the office.

"Nope," said Quil from behind a motorbike.

"Nope," agreed Jake from under the hood of an older car.

"So no one has met her…?"

"Leah saw her at the hospital when she was in the coma," Jake added. "And she has spoken to her a couple of times when she dropped Seth off at her house."

"Raven spent some time with her and said she was really sweet," from Embry.

"So is he hiding us from her or hiding her from us?" asked Quil.

Jake stood up and stretched out to his full height. He tilted his head to listen for anyone nearby. "Good question, Quil. If she is not his imprint, then he probably thinks there isn't any point introducing her to all of us," he stated.

"I suppose…" agreed Embry. "But, we are his friends and family and he is spending so much time with her. It looks like she means more to him than any other girl he has been with before now."

"Does he ever bring her home?" asked Embry.

"No," said Jake, "we barely see him these days between the hours he has been spending with her and with Leah and I working."

There was silence for a minute.

"At least he is talking to Sue about it," stated Jake.

"Yeah, that was Raven helping out there. Man, she does not miss a trick that woman." Embry sounded respectful.

"Should we ask him? I mean we smelt him with a girl in the forest. If it was her in the forest, that means they are getting serious… and in the forest? I thought we taught that boy better," Quil shook his head.

"Doesn't make any difference to you," pointed out Embry.

Quil grinned at him. "My girl likes the forest."

"He keeps a pretty tight lid on his head on patrol. We are all getting better at that, the older we get," Jake said. "Plus he does fewer patrols now, because I let him slack off a little. He was so upset about the accident and he had to be with her all the time in case she passes out or something." Jake sorted through some tools, "I mean, I could step up his patrols but then I might be interfering with his girl time; shit, this stuff is hard. I hate the supervision stuff."

"Girl time?" repeated Quil. "He gets consideration for 'girl time' with someone who isn't even his imprint?" he sounded annoyed.

Embry was standing in the doorway of the office now.

"See?" Jake appealed to Embry, "hard shit."

"What did he say about that burn mark? Did you ask him?" asked Embry, changing the subject and rescuing Jake.

"He said it was a lightning strike. But he seemed really nervous about it for some reason," Jake admitted. "Twitchy… he was real twitchy. You know what a bad liar Seth is."

"It couldn't have something to do with the girl, could it? I mean, if she was there too," pointed out Quil.

"No, how could it?" asked Jake.

Leah sniffs it out

Leah was sitting at the table drinking a coffee when Seth came in for breakfast. He yawned and greeted her. She mumbled something back at him.

He grabbed a giant bowl, a carton of milk and a box of cereal and threw himself into a chair.

Leah sniffed at him. "You're having sex again."

Seth threw down his cereal spoon. "Fuck… I hate living with other wolves. And I am not."

She leaned forward and sniffed him again. "Smells like sex… oh… no penetration, huh?"

"Oh please," he rolled his eyes.

"Who is it little brother? Who are you dry humping?" she looked gleeful.

"Doesn't matter…"

"Does to you."

"What makes you say that?"

"You would have told me."

"What?"

"If she was just some girl on the rez and it didn't really matter… you would have no problem in telling me who it was … but if you don't tell me… then obviously… it does matter."

"That is the single most twisted logic I have ever heard," Seth blustered.

Leah just looked at him. "And now you are avoiding answering the question," she pointed out.

"Fuck, Leah."

"Still not answering the question."

"Leave it alone."

"Again with the not answering."

"Christ, give it a rest…"

She just raised her eyebrows at him.

"All right… okay, okay… it's Rose Hoburn." Leah could take the annoying sister thing to a whole new level.

She uttered a short barking laugh, "What? Is it a new kind of physical therapy?"

"No… fuck's sake Leah…"

She sat up suddenly and looked at him. "Oh my god," she exclaimed, "you like her… you really like her…"

He didn't answer her, just tried to eat his cereal again.

She tilted her head and gave him a look. "But she's not your imprint…is she? I mean you would have told me if you had imprinted… right?"

"No, not my imprint…" he agreed.

"But it's serious?"

He didn't answer that question either.

"Does this have anything to do with you being there at the scene of the accident?" she asked.

"Honestly, I don't know." He looked so confused; she let him get away with that as an answer.

FF_2154210_ - 3/31/2011 01:06:00 PM

FF_2154210_ - 8/31/2011 02:54:00 AM