"So, spill it. How did you get a French father anyway?"

Leila looked up at Jacob, who was sitting a little above her, with Seth sitting beside her. He looked down at her and grinned, as he stretched out a leg on the tree they were sitting on. Strangely, she realized they were sitting on the same tree she felled during Carmille's attack on her.

Seth looked up at her, expectant, and she smiled. "Okay, okay. I'll tell you all about it."

"As you know, my people are of the Makah tribe, in Neah Bay, meaning we lived close to the sea. My mother was named Blue Sky, because of her eyes, and she would've been an excellent wife, and a lot of men desired her, because she was very pretty and the daughter of the tribe chief as well. She was betrothed to a Makah warrior, named Hunter of the Waters, and was about to marry him in a few days."

"But a group of visitors came by the reservation. One of them was my father, a French chef known as Pierre Prideaux, who came to Neah Bay to research other appetizing fish for his cooking. My mother was their tour guide, and she fell in love with him. My father didn't like her at first, but when he saw her homemaking skills and her dances, he came to love her. He knew that she was the daughter of the chief, and was afraid that my grandfather would curse him. So, without telling anyone, he took her, and brought her back with him to France…"

Jacob's hand stopped her, "Wait. Hang on." He bent down, looking beside Leila, saw that Seth had fallen asleep, his head resting on Leila's thighs. Leila giggled as Jacob covered the boy with a jacket. He grinned as he shifted again, this time moving to Leila's other side. He grinned at her, "Okay, continue."

But she shook her head, "Too bad, I would've wanted to see Seth's reaction to this part of my tale. But he's asleep now, so I guess you'll have to tell him."

Jacob shrugged, his shoulder rubbing along Leila's. "No prob. Just continue the tale already. It's really interesting."

"Okay. So, while my parents were in France, my grandfather, the chief, got really mad. He came to our tribe shaman and asked that my parents be cursed for leaving without telling anyone. He got so mad at them that the curse he requested was placed on me. My grandfather said, 'Curse them with a child to be called a witch, with skin and hair as white as snow and the skin of the man my daughter ran with. May the male's seed not bear him more than this white child alone.' And it happened."

"When I came out, my father freaked out. He said that he never had a child like me. It turned out he was married to another French woman, and when my mother had me, he left without saying a word. My mother, with just enough money, brought me back to Neah Bay."

"She came to my father, asking for forgiveness, and asking that I be helped because of my whiteness. Though my grandfather still hated my mother, he felt pity for me, and asked the shaman to perform a ritual on me… the first on any female on our tribe."

"'This girl is the child you wished to be a witch', said the shaman, 'And so she shall be. She shall be a witch of the light, with powers beyond compare. She shall carry the Gift of our people… the gift of choosing her form at will. She shall lead our people to greatness and abundance. And her fate shall be tied to those like her.'"

"After that, when I was 10 years old, I phased into a wolf. My grandfather realized that the shaman's words came true, because I phased too early for my age, and I was able to shape-shift into more than just my wolf form. I can turn into a seagull, a snake or anything I wanted to be. I was also able to heal injuries other than my own, and my tribe often came to me for aid."

Jacob's raised hand stopped her, "Wait, so you're saying that you can shape-shift into anything?" His eyebrows furrowed, "Damn it, I wanted to do that too!"

Leila shrugged, "Well, you can. But it's a lot of hard work. The first time I phased, I was in wolf form, but I practiced hard to turn into anything else. I fainted twice because it took me a lot of energy."

He grinned, "We'll see. One of these days, I'll turn myself into a giant bear, and crush Carmille with a bear hug." He laughed as he stretched and repositioned himself, so that he was lying back, looking up the stars. He patted the spot beside him, asking Leila to lie down with him. Shifting carefully so that Seth wouldn't wake, she leaned back, her head resting on Jacob's forearm, but he didn't seem to notice.

Jacob sighed as he stargazed, "You know, Nessie showed me a memory of yours before we left."

Leila held her breath, "Which one?"

"The one when you were betrothed to a warrior jerk who called you a spawn of hell and spat by your feet."

She released her breath with a sigh, "Oh that. I didn't know she got that far into my memory." She smiled, "Nessie is such a wonderful child."

"Yeah, she will be a great person." Jacob looked down at Leila, "So, what's the story on that part?"

She shrugged, "It was nothing really. My grandfather told me I was to marry a local villager. He was really superstitious, and never came near me even as a child. His father was Hunter of the Waters, so he was raised to hate me and my mother."

"When my grandfather informed them that I was to marry Hunter's son, Child of the Night, they were both mad. 'I will not let my son marry a spawn of hell!', he said, and Child spat by my feet, saying the same thing. My grandfather was really upset, but as it turns out, even if I was a powerful witch, people still feared me because of my skin and my power, and because of that, a lot of the village men denounced any claim of marriage for me." She grinned up at him, "I'm going to die a lonely, old, ugly hag."

Jacob let out a bark-like laugh, "Nah. I don't think so. I bet that after this Carmille business, a lot of guys will come knockin' at your door." He looked down at her, "And don't say you're ugly, cause you're not."

She laughed, "You don't look so bad yourself, Jacob Black." He grinned as she chuckled, and then turned her attention to the stars above them again. "I saw you look at Bella Cullen when we went to her house. It was almost as if you love her."

Jacob chuckled, which to him was rather strange, because when someone used to talk to him about Bella, how she ditched him for Edward, he would get instantly mad. But having Leila beside him made him feel very calm. "Yeah, I love her. Even more than that bloodsucker does." He shrugged, "But Bella made a choice, long before Nessie, and she picked him instead of me. I was pretty pissed about that before, but I can't do anything about it now." He looked down at her, "I imprinted her, and I imprinted Nessie too by accident. So I'm a protector of sorts for them. Edward had a kick out of it, and he called us 'guard dogs'."

Leila laughed, and Jacob laughed with her. Her laughter to his ears seemed melodious, and it made him want to hear it over and over again. But she sighed instead and looked down at Seth.

"Maybe we should head home. Seth is really asleep, and you have to patrol tomorrow too, right?"

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go home." Jacob said, and after Leila got off his arm, he stood up and carried Seth as she stood up. As they walked back to the house, Jacob realized that she had said 'home' instead of 'house', as if she actually lived there with him. For a second, he thought that he was mad, but then, he realized he wasn't. Maybe it was because it sounded so right when she said 'we should head home' to him.