I could stay like this forever, pressed against Joel, kissing him, knowing that while I'm with him I'm whole, safe. As if I could be that lucky. Obviously spending my life in Joel's arms will have to wait for now.
"Leah? Whe-" I hear Emily come in. I pull away from Joel and turn to face her, a sheepish smile on my face. Her lips twitch. "Sam, honey, she's in the kitchen." she calls back. As she leaves she winks at me. Joel takes my hand.
"Leah, are you OK to patrol?" he asks. Then he clocks and Joel and grins. "Or would you prefer the next shift?"
I cringe slightly as an unpleasant thoughts pops into my head. "I'd prefer the next shift." I admit "I have something to do first."
Sam nods and I sigh. "I have to get Toby away from here." Joel squeezes my hand and lets go.
I climb into Joel's car which he handily left right out on the front. I drive to Mom's, as I assume that Seth would have shepherded Toby there.
I'm right. Both Mom and Toby are outside at the gate. I give Mom a quick hug to reassure her that I'm fine and then tell Toby to follow me. We go into the woods. It's nearly twenty to eight. The first hour is up. I can protect him from the leech coven now, and then I can let him go.
I feel guilty and I haven't done anything yet.
"Leah, what is going on? What happened? Where did you go?"
I halt and take a calming lungful of air.
"Toby, earlier you asked me if Joel meant more to me than you." His eyebrows contract together, but I hurriedly plough on. "I replied no. Toby, I lied. I'm so sorry, but I don't-this thing between us- it's over."
Toby clenches his fist. I automatically take a step back.
"Toby, I think it would be best if you went home." I say weakly. I hate being this harsh, but how else can I get him to go home? It's for his own safety. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
"You're a liar Leah Clearwater." He hisses venomously. "A liar, a bitch and slut." His words sting, but even I can't deny they're true. Except maybe the slut bit. Hopefully.
He turns to go, then changes his mid, and tries to hit me. Big mistake. I duck and he topples over. Now he's embarrassed, as well as hurt and angry.
He storms off. Silently I follow him, watching out for bloodsuckers. He yanks his car door open, throws himself into the car and screeches off.
Mom is still waiting at the gate. I watch Toby leave, without any real regret, except for the way I've made him feel, and then turn to Mom who has a smug smile on her face.
"Where's Joel?" she asks pointedly. I try to ignore her, but at the mere mention of his name a stupid grin emerges on my face. She laughs.
"Is Seth here?" I ask, my mind returning to more important things than Toby. She shakes her head and tells me he's gone to Emily's with the rest of the pack.
"I'm presuming you know everything, right?" I check. She nods tiredly. I peck her on the cheek, jump into the car and drive back up to Emily's. I'm destroying the ozone layer single handed with all this driving up and down. I speed all the way there, the guilt about Toby already draining away.
When I get up there most of the wolves are there. I push through a bunch of younger wolves to find Joel with Paul and Jared who are laughing with him. I bet it's about me.
I stand in front of them, hands on hips. Joel sniggers and the other two start laughing too. Yep, they were taking the piss out of me.
"I hope you weren't talking about me." I warn. "Because if you were, so help me god..."
"Of course we weren't." smirks Joel, pulling me onto his lap. I blush as everyone starts whooping and kick Paul in the shin as he starts a round of hip, hip hoorays. Idiot.
"OI!" The noise dies down and everyone looks over and Sam and Jacob who have been conferring privately. I spot Embry looking extremely happy, his giant arms around Lizzie. She catches my eye and smiles apologetically. She mouths sorry, then winks. I'm about to mouth something back, when Sam begins to speak.
"Right. We now have about eleven hours before the fight. And that is lot of time to sort out a battle plan."
"The problem is," interrupts Jacob "We don't actually know anything about the vampires. So we're in a bit of trouble."
"What about the Cullens?" pipes up Seth. Everyone turns to look at him, then begin to mutter. Typical Seth to talk about the Cullens. He's so odd sometimes; I don't know how he can be my brother.
"Who are the Cullens?" whispers Joel.
"The local leeches." I reply. "Vampire family that live nearby." I laugh at Joel's alarmed impression. "Don't worry, they don't suck human blood. They like to think that they're civilised."
"Well..." Sam looks uncertain. "Jake did have that idea, but..."
"We don't have to ask them to fight." suggests Seth eagerly "But I don't know maybe Edward, or Bella, or Alice or someone could like spy on them?"
"It would give us an advantage and an idea of their tricks." says Quil.
"I agree." says Jacob, but Sam still looks unconvinced.
"I'm not sure. Would they help?"
"Well, we've helped them enough times." snorts Paul.
There's another outbreak of muttering and then Jared calls "How about a vote?"
"Fine. Who thinks we should ask the Cullens for help?"
Seth and Jacob's hands both shoot into the air, followed by Quil, Embry, Jared, Collin, Paul and one of the newer wolves, a little kid called Alex. Then to my utter bemusement my own arm rises.
"You're voting yes?" asks Seth.
"I'm as surprised as you are." I say, looking at my hand in the air as if I've never seen it before.
Anyway that's nine, a majority. Plus most of the wolves that voted yes are the more experienced ones. Sam accepts defeat with a shrug.
"So we need some scouts and a few to go over to the Cullens."
"I'll go." Says Jacob instantly. He wants to see Renesmee, just in case. Sam nods. "You'll need at least two others though. The other coven may have gone to the Cullens too."
Seth volunteers and, grudgingly, I agree to go too, seeing as this whole thing is kind of my fault. I mean, I know Seth helped to kill that other leech, but I'm the one they want.
Joel looks slightly apprehensive as the three of us leave. I squeeze his hand gently before I go. We take Joel's car-I'm sure he won't mind- and I drive to the Cullens.
We're welcomed by Renesmee and Edward. Jacob scoops Nessie up in his arms and asks if we can come in and talk to them.
The reek hits me like a ten ton truck. God it's stifling. I wrinkle my nose in disgust.
I try to de-wrinkle my nose as Jacob explains everything, but it's hard. I'm the only one here that feels uncomfortable, and I have déjà vu. This is just like when we first split from Sam's pack last year. I'm the only one who dislikes it here. This is Jacob's second home and Seth is just weird like that, but I find it difficult to let my guard down, surrounded as I am by the stink. My nose is killing.
Jacob finishes and Edward smiles. "Of course we'll help. We'd be glad to, after all the assistance you've given us."
"Awesome." Says Seth happily as Jacob beams. Yes. Great. Thanks. Can we go now?
Edward inclines his head at me. "You're welcome Leah." He says softly. Stupid mind reading bloodsucker- get the hell out of my head! He just laughs.
"I get that a lot." He informs me. I sigh irritably. Seth stands and I leap up, pleased to think that we can get away now.
"See ya Edward." He says cheerfully. I mumble a goodbye- I suppose they are helping us, and it was my vote that sent us here- and all but run to the car. I can hear Edward's chuckles from here, but I don't care. It's quarter to nine and we only have ten hours until battle.
A/N Hola. So, I know the bit with Toby wasn't great, but I didn't like him, so I decided to get rid of him. And I had to get Joel and Leah together because...well because I can. And because they're cute together. I love having power over the fate of all these characters!!