Chapter III

Update

I didn't think it would be more than three chapters. But I was wrong! The fourth is halfway done. This chapter is the basis for the next one so forgive me if Bella isn't in it.

By the way... my other story "Full Moon" will get a new chapter this week! I Hope you check it out too!

I also started writing a new chapter of "Glimpse Of The Future" but I don't know when I'll finish it. I may have to rewrite the whole story from scratch. This story is short so it will surely end sooner or later.

Enjoy!

Perception

"The ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.The way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted."

"The feelings that hurt most, the emotions that sting most, are those that are absurd - the longing for impossible things, precisely because they are impossible; nostalgia for what never was; the desire for what could have been; regret over not being someone else; dissatisfaction with the world's existence. All these half-tones of the soul's consciousness create in us a painful landscape, an eternal sunset of what we are."

Fernando Pessoa

"Leah! Get back here right now!" Sue Clearwater shouted. But Leah was already out of reach. Exploding into a huge ball of fur, her paws rhythmically slapped the damp forest floor. She wolf turned her head, looking at the view of her house receding. Blood boiled in her veins. She only knew one thing. She has to run. As far as possible from here, from HIM. Before the pain comes back and nestles in her heart again.

Her mother had no right!

She had no right to bare her innermost feelings in the presence of Sam Uley!

To her, he no longer meant anything. The man who stood before her was not her Sam.

He would never choose another.

Imprinting.

The spirits of her ancestors found it amusing to interfere with the hearts of the young pack, taking away the choice in which they themselves could choose whom they wanted to love. Instead, Leah had to relive the horror all over again every day by sharing her thoughts with someone who broke and trampled her heart to the ground. Perhaps not intentionally. But he had a choice! So did Emily! But she preferred to stab her right in the back, taking away the love of her life. And he accepted it without blinking an eye.

Ugh! How much she hated him now!

The young she-wolf tried to understand why she wasn't good enough for him, really. But she was sagging more and more every day. The pain she felt slowly turned into bitterness and anger, taking with it everything she had been before.

Anyone who had come into contact with the infamous Leah Clearwater was aware of how viciously she could attack, not only physically but verbally. Razor-sharp words poured from her mouth like the most venomous venom, leaving her victim with a blank shock and wordless expression.

This was not the woman Sam Uley knew, no. The wolf that with its claws ripped from her body in a sudden surge of anger , turned her into something more savage, untamed. No wolf in the pack was ever as unpredictable in its nature as Leah. Even Paul Lahote, to whom the title of best warrior belonged, was no match for her. Leah was fast, predatory and incredibly fierce. She was perfectly built to kill vampires.

And while no one had ever seen a female wolf in their tribe before, news of her phasing shocked even the oldest members of the council. Unfortunately, it took her father who, seeing his children changing right before his eyes, died on the spot. His heart could not withstand so much stress.

That's how Leah and Seth ended their teenage, worry-free lives in favor of serving the tribe as protectors.

"Leah!" Jacob called loudly in her head, phasing. "Leah, wait!" he called again trying to catch up with her.

"Leave me alone Black!" she growled at him in warning. She-wolf ran like a rocket, effectively avoiding every tree on the way.

Jacob tried to reach out to her, but Leah was the fastest and most stubborn member of the pack.

Her tenacity gets on everyone's nerves. Sometimes he cursed the day Leah Clearwater phased. Her brother Seth never created any tensions between pack members.

While working with him went smoothly, his sister's stubbornness was uncontrollable. Out of respect for their shared history, Sam tried not to use the Alpha command on her. But with Leah's untamed nature, that too was impossible at times.

"Leah what the hell happened?! Why are you running away from me?" the russet wolf cried out in dismay, running with all his might. His paws gained momentum. Jacob jumped, bouncing off the tree with its hind legs in front of her, blocking her only escape route before she managed to flee.

"Back off Black!" enraged, she snarled, baring her fangs.

"Not until you tell me what happened! I know it has something to do with Sam. You have his scent on you." Jacob stated, trying to somehow calm her down.

"It's none of your business Black. Since when are you so worried about Sam?" Leah chuckled sarcastically, shifting her paws restlessly.

"Shut the hell up and tell me, what happened?" he demanded, straightening up on all four legs, showing his dominance over the smaller wolf. His voice was full of authority and strength. Leah involuntarily lowered her head while hiding her eyes in a gesture of submission, showing him what exactly happened just before she stormed out of the Clearwater house in a rage.

"Leah, someone came to see you." Sue called from downstairs. Leah climbed lazily out of bed, still tired from her morning patrol as she made her way down the stairs. She was curious who might want to talk to her at this early hour.

From what she heard, Seth was still sound asleep in his bed.

As she crossed the living room, she was struck by the familiar earthy scent. Fucking Sam Uley! But what could he want from her so early? Pack business? He would have howled if she was needed instead of going to her house in person.

"Hello Leah." he greeted, sitting comfortably at the kitchen counter.

"Sam Uley, what a surprise. To what do I owe this visit?" she replied bitterly.

"I'm not here to argue." He said simply.

"So what do you want?" Leah announced with a grim expression on her face.

"Leah! Be nice for once!" Sue scolded her daughter.

"Mom, this is only between us two." Leah warned Sue. "So why did you come here, Uley?"

"I am here to apologize to you on behalf of myself and Emily..." Sam said.

"Don't even get me started Sam..." fired out an exasperated Leah. " I don't want an apology from you or that bitch Emily."

"Le- Le I didn't want..." He stammered. "You know we have no control over that."

"Don't Le - Le me! You have a fucking choice! And you both preferred to hurt me!" She exclaimed with tears in her eyes. Sam lowered his gaze, unable to look his ex-girlfriend straight in the eyes.

Leah felt her heart go straight up her throat, effectively cutting off her oxygen supply.

Never before would she have allowed herself to pour out her emotions in the presence of anyone and certainly not an ex-love. Not so close.

"Leah sweetie..." Sue began hesitantly. Her voice suddenly trembled at the sight of the increasingly enraged she-wolf. " Leah... I know how much Sam and Emily's relationship has upset you… So I invited Sam to talk and clear everything up. I can't stand you crying every night..."

"Enough!" exclaimed the embittered she-wolf, pounding her fist on the tabletop. "I don't want to listen to it ! You have no right to do this!" She growled at the frightened Sue.

"I just wanted to help you baby..."

"Help?" she screamed right in her face. "Help? Since dad died, you're working all the time.You don't care how me and Seth are doing.You only care about your pain! I'm done with this shit. I'm leaving, don't look for me. I don't want to see you." Leah shouted, abruptly leaving home.

Jacob didn't know what to say. He knew how hard it was to love someone you could never have. Although his situation with Bella could potentially change, he still wasn't sure if fate would play a trick on him again, breaking his heart for good. Despite their mutual dislike of each other, Leah was the only person who could understand the pain of rejection and never mocked his feelings for Isabella Swan.

Even if she was sometimes unbearable, constantly hurling countless warnings against their acquaintance, Jacob was able to see a completely different girl scrupulously hidden under a thick shell of bitterness and unmitigated anger.

He licked the smaller wolf with his tongue in a gesture of consolation. If there was one thing wolves understood best it was the touch and presence of another packmate. Words were unnecessary. This time Leah did not even growl allowing herself a moment of weakness as tears flowed from her big silver eyes.

After comforting each other for a while, the two wolves moved toward the reservation.

"So she's back?" Leah asked him. Her paws bounced softly against the damp moss. The brisk rainy air brushed her wet fur as she criminated through successive sections of the dense forest.

"Yeah," burbled Jacob thoughtlessly. "The last time I visited her she was still sitting locked in her room. Charlie is trying to help her. In fact, he came up with an idea..."

"Why I don't like it..." stated Leah unceremoniously, snorting at her companion.

"Because it concerns you Leah. And you don't like it when someone wants something to do with you... " pointed out Jacob, showing her the entire conversation between Sue, Charlie and Billy.

"Damn..." Cursed the she-wolf. "Why didn't my mother tell me about this?"

"I think she was just afraid of your reaction like with Sam." Jacob sped up, letting her know through their shared link that they were already getting closer to home. "Besides, it is no secret that you are not fond of Bella."

A sudden surge of embarrassment swept over the girl. "I got a taste of my own medicine today it seems..." She was sure that if she were in her human form now, her face would be a strong shade of ripe tomato. Jacob and the rest of the pack would have something to joke about for the next ten years. "It's not that I don't like her... Well, maybe I am not fond of her," she admitted. "But I don't want to see her in an even worse state than she is now. Apparently her bloodsucker has left her again." Leah sighed, looking straight ahead. "Jacob you will imprint one day... Do you want to break her to the end?"

"I have to admit that seeing a red Leah Clearwater for the first time in my life would be a special event." Jacob joked then suddenly became serious. "How many times do I have to tell you that I won't imprint on anyone else? Bella is the only one that matters," he said. "She's the only one I see."

"How can you be so sure of that? This is happening beyond our control." Said the she-wolf suggestively.

"Leah, listen... I won't look at another girl because the only one I will always see is Bella and nothing and no one will be able to change that." He declared in a hellishly stern tone. "Why doesn't anyone believe me... Damn... First Sam, now you!"

"Jacob I don't..."

"Look carefully!" the copper wolf interrupted her sentence. "Take a good look and tell me straight to my face that I am lying!" he ordered.

Suddenly all the memories related to Bella flashed through her thoughts.

Bella, sitting in the garage, eating pizza. Bella, sitting on their favorite spot on the beach, gazing at the setting sun over the sea horizon, the wind blowing through her long brown curls. Their conversation in the movie theater when she first admitted how much Cullen had broken her from the inside out. Their first kiss before the phone call from Carlise Cullen and the pain of rejection under her departure for Italy. And again... Bella sitting on the couch cuddled up next to him in Black's home. Bella, riding a motorcycle. Her accident. "You are sort of beautiful Jacob." She said, looking at him. And finally Bella in the clearing just before Laurent's attack. Their first meeting eye to eye. The accelerating world, the blurred lines between future and past, the shared home.

"You have already been imprinted..."