Chapter 8
After school Alice insisted I go to my house to pick up my stuff and stay round theirs in case James came for me. I tried to protest saying I doubt he would come after me again so quickly but she simply shushed me and gave me a look before walking away. There was nothing I could really say to that.
We took Edward's Volvo to mine while the others got in the Jeep and as we got closer I could smell the distinct stench of the wolves coming from the direction of my house. Alice and I started growling together automatically and I slammed the car door shut when we arrived looking around for the little pups that dared enter my territory.
"Show yourselves mutts!" Alice snarled and this was answered by multiple snarls back, I looked over my shoulder to see five muscled men walking out from the cover of the trees. "What the hell do you guys want?"
"I think the question is what the fuck you're doing around this human? We heard the rumours that you were hanging around with a human. Have you forgotten the treaty?" The Alpha said loudly.
"I don't remember the treaty stating that we weren't allowed to talk to humans."
"She obviously knows what you are if you're talking like you're not human yourself. That is a violation."
"Excuse me, 'she' is right here." I cut in and they looked at me like I was crazy for butting in in this argument. "Yes I know what she is, and I know what you are." The group growled again at this added confession. "But I believe the treaty stops you telling humans about what you are, not other supernaturals." I added waiting for them to catch on as they seemed a little confused about what I was saying.
"Wait, you're not human?" One of them said, Quil if I remember correctly.
"Bingo." Another shifter gasped loudly and pointed at me a few times before getting his breath back.
"She...She's that panther!" So this must be the brown wolf I fought when I first arrived. The rest of them glared at me before Sam stepped forward.
"Are you the panther that came onto our lands?"
"Yes."
"You don't belong here!" Holy shit my rage almost blew my head off, who does this wolf think he is?
"Says who, you? Don't make me fucking laugh boy, you're not my Alpha, I belong here as much as the next person."
"You come onto our lands, fight us, boss us around and you expect us not to do anything about it? We don't know how dangerous you are, we're sworn to protect the humans."
"We went through this after our pathetic fight, I was retreating from the land when I found out it was claimed, you're the ones who wanted to start it. Have you heard about any humans being hurt? I've been alive for 300 years and have never harmed a human, I've got a hell of a lot more control than all your pack combined pup."
"Bullshit! 300 years? You expect us to believe that?" Sam shouted back.
"You think I have to prove anything to you? How about we have a little 1 on 1? I win, you leave me the fuck alone, you win, I'll get away from Forks."
"What? No, you listen here-"
"What's wrong, you chicken?" I cut in using a baby voice trying to poke at his pride. Sam roared and shifted into his wolf form, barking at the others who stumbled back immediately. I grinned in victory, this'll be a piece of cake.
He charged forward doing exactly the same thing as the last fight we had, come on, do these wolves get any type of training? I jumped up and got on his back like you would a horse and grabbed hold of his scruff.
"YEE-HAW!" I shouted giggling like a mad woman as Sam bucked underneath me, craning his neck trying to get his teeth into me somehow. I flicked his nose as it came near me and grabbed his ears like motorbike handles, making engine sounds as I twisted one of them like a throttle.
"I'm gonna fucking kill her!" One of the shifters shouted.
"DON'T! You know Sam's orders!"
"Look at her mocking us!"
As they bickered between themselves I thought of how dead these boys would be if they ever actually met a real enemy. All Sam had to do was roll on his back and use his weight to get me off but he carried on jumping around like a damn bucking bronco.
"This is ridiculous..." I muttered as I brought my hands together and smashed them onto the top of Sam's head, he stumbled in his daze and I jumped off him bringing my leg up high to kick him under the chin making him flip backwards and land heavily on his back. He rolled right way up and shook his head to rid himself of dizziness before baring his teeth and circling around me slowly, at least he's learnt a little lesson.
"What's the point Sam? You know I'm going to win, I'm stronger than you and have lived longer. You need more training." I said sympathetically no longer trying to taunt him, simply telling the truth but of course, this idiotic wolf didn't listen.
He roared even louder and ran towards me, faster than before like it makes any difference, I shifted quickly and swiped him with my paw catching him dead in the face. I immediately jumped on top of him and put my jaws around his neck tightly, the rest of the pack shouted and ran towards us but as I glared at them and Alice shouted 'STOP' and ran between us they stopped sharp before looking towards the ground in submission. I then turned my harsh gaze onto the struggling wolf below me, I did not let up until he looked me dead in the eye, after about 2 minutes of glaring at each other he eventually lowered his gaze and let his body go slack.
I jumped off him as soon as he did so out of respect of my nature, as soon as another species shows their submission you should accept it, something in my instincts told me so.
"I have never and will never hurt a human, all I've wanted since I got here was peace, please believe me." I pleaded in my panther form, hoping my nicest and honest tone would get through to them.
Sam got up and looked at the ground for a few moments before lifting his head, he looked at me and bowed slightly showing a lot of respect, I learnt this from a few of the older shifters I briefly met on my travels, they only ever bow to a worthy and trustful opponent. I nodded my head in acceptance before he trotted past his pack mates and into the forest, the rest of them looked totally confused before following him into the forest, glancing backwards every now and then.
When they were out of sight I sank to the floor and huffed loudly in frustration, I felt a hand stroking me a second later and looked up to see Alice smiling at me calmly.
"Are you okay?" She whispered almost not wanting to break the silence that arrived with the shifter's exit.
"Of course I am, I just wish things didn't have to be so difficult." I got to my feet and gave a toothy grin. "Better get myself into some new clothes then!"
"You play the guitar?" Alice questioned as she walked into my room, carrying my baby.
"Yeah, I've been playing for years, I guess it's such a normal thing for me to do I forgot to mention it. I'm definitely taking it, it feels weird if I go too long without playing."
"Maybe I could sing along while you play? I sometimes sing when Edward is playing piano."
I froze slightly as she said this and thought about that amazing voice singing along to my guitar, it was a very erotic image in my eyes, no matter how innocently she said it.
"Uhh...yeah...yeah I'd um like that." I managed to stutter out quickly before packing some more of my clothes and personal effects.
"Why do I not see a single dress in here missy?" Alice said accusingly as she looked into my wardrobe.
"Are you kidding me? I'm wearing combat trousers, I can't see myself in a dress."
"I think you'd look good in a dress, have you tried it?"
"I just wouldn't feel comfortable in one so I never bothered buying them."
"I'm definitely taking you shopping soon, I'll make you change you mind." My eyes widened dramatically.
"No, please, anything but that!" I begged.
"Oh come on Bells it won't be that bad! Pleeaaasssseee?"
"Only if I can shove a whole burger down your throat. Then you'd understand my pain." Her nose crinkled in disgust.
"There's a difference between not liking shopping and making a vampire throw up."
"Not to me there ain't!" She rolled her eyes and picked up my bag once I zipped it up.
"You're a massive drama queen you know, and I'm not even going to mention your grammar."
"Oh I knew years ago, I'm surprised you didn't sooner." I replied with a small laugh picking up my guitar case. "And what you chattin' bout my grammar, it's banging mate!" I full out belly-laughed as Alice smacked her forehead against my wardrobe in dismay, getting louder as her head went through the flimsy wood.
"Errmm, opps?" She sheepishly muttered once she pulled her head out the wreckage and removed the splinters from her hair.
When we got outside I walked to my garage and picked up my bike helmet giving it to Alice.
"We're going on your bike?"
"Hell yeah, there's no way I've leaving Abigail behind."
"I heard you say that name before, I didn't know you were talking about your bike."
"Oooo were you jealous of this mystery Abigail?" I said teasingly.
"Pfft, please, I'm awesome, there's no one I could possibly be jealous of."
"I think I should take the helmet instead, there's no way your head could fit in it." Alice giggled at this and looked at the helmet in her hands.
"Why am I having this anyway? You know I won't get hurt if I fall off."
"I know, I just don't want to hear you complaining about your messed up hair when we get back."
"Hey! I'm not that bad! And I would get helmet hair anyway."
"Just put it on Tinkerbell."
I wasn't really bothered about her hair, I knew she runs faster than my bike and her hair is perfect afterward. I would just feel better if the helmet was on her, and if by some miracle I got in an accident I would know for sure, vampire or not, she would be more protected.
Once she put it on and got on the back of the bike I gave her the guitar case to carry on her back and I swung my bag over my shoulder before getting on my seat and starting the engine. She put her hands around my waist which caught me by surprise and I had to wait for the shivers to stop before pulling out and kicking it to the highest gear. I weaved around the tight corners way too fast and we got back to the Cullen's in 10 minutes.
"That was awesome!" Shouted Alice as she jumped off. "I've never been on a bike before, it was kinda fun."
"It's even better riding it, maybe I'll teach you someday. You can become an incredibly sexy biker chick like me."
"I'm incredibly sexy am I?"
"You really need to work on that huge ego of yours."
"You called yourself sexy!"
"No, I don't think I did."
"Don't try to fool me!"
We carried on bickering as we walked into the Cullen household and unpacked my stuff into her room which she insisted I used. I'd never had as much fun nor laughed so much as I did that afternoon with Alice, I knew I couldn't wait for the many days we could have in the future.
After a week staying with the Cullens I can safely say I've found where I belong, I got on so well with all of them it was surprising I'd only been with them a week.
Edward became my new favourite person once I found out how incredibly camp he really is and I spent a lot of my time just listening to him bitch about random things because it was so damn funny. He didn't mind in the slightest and made the most of his time in the spotlight like the little diva he is.
I also became Emmett's new gaming and wrestling partner although he couldn't beat me at either which made him become obsessed with trying to win against me, he tried sitting on me while playing XBox one day and I bit his bum which he certainly wasn't expecting and started ranting about how I gave him rabies.
Jasper told me stories of the war which were both fascinating and terrifying, how anyone could have come out of all those battles and abuse as nice as Jasper was is beyond me. I haven't been in as many fights as he has and I'm still a moody cow sometimes so I gave him a lot of credit.
With Rosalie I worked on my bike and learnt how to improve it, fix anything that goes wrong and make it look even cooler. As much as I love bikes I never learnt the mechanical side of things so all of this was brilliant to me. She also taught me a few things about cars and since I'd never driven one offered to give me lessons although I wasn't too sure about that, Rosalie wasn't the most patient of people and had an awful temper, I had a feeling she would scream at me too much if I even came close to crashing one of the cars.
Esme was an amazing cook and as she had said before, I became her little taster for all the new things she wanted to try. I never told her I had no chance of getting food poisoning since I didn't want to knock her confidence, everyone should have the privilege of tasting her cooking one day.
I never spent much time with Carlisle since he was always needed at the hospital but he was such a nice man whenever I had a talk with him asking about his job, his family and anything else I knew he'd love to talk about.
Of course I spent most of my time hanging out with Alice, I was glued to her hip most of the time just talking in her room, walking in the woods, listening to her music and anything else we found ourselves doing.
Today I was playing my guitar in Alice's room while she went out with Esme to buy some food just strumming some random chords before finally getting to some simple song. Just as I started one of the songs I heard an amazing voice cut in with the lyrics.
"Thank you for being, such a friend to me, oh I pray a friend for life."
My head shot up in amazement that she knew the song and carried on with the chords never taking my eyes of her.
"And have I ever told you, how much you mean to me? Oh you're everything to me."
She smiled and sat down in front of me, watching my fingers on the guitar.
"And I, am so, lost for words.
And I, am so, overwhelmed.
Please don't go just yet.
Can you stay a moment please?
We can dance together.
We can dance forever."
Her voice got extremely strong and confident when she sang the next chorus and my hair stuck up at her amazing vocals.
"Under your stars tonight
And I am so overwhelmed
By 1000 broken wings.
1000 broken wings.
So close your eyes but don't dream too deep
And please pass me some memories
And when I fall you're underneath
1000 broken hearts
Carried by 1000 broken wings
1000 broken wings
1000 broken wings"
I carried on singing the backing vocals softly not wanting to disturb her and my voice would have ruined it too much anyway.
"1000 voices singing reasons
Of understanding why it happens
1000 voices singing reasons
Of understanding why it happens
1000 voices singing reasons
Of understanding why it happens"
After I played the last chord I gaped at her for a few seconds before being brought out of it by Alice tapping me under the chin to close my open mouth.
"Holy shit you're amazing!"
"Thank you, you're brilliant on the guitar, you bring out so much emotion just from the way you play." I blushed brilliantly, I'd never been complimented for my playing since I'd never really played in front of anyone before.
"Thanks, I'm surprised you know the song, not many people have heard of them."
"I love Lacey's voice, it's just so different and very soothing."
"I know what you mean, her voice has calmed me down on more than one occasion."
"You know that song is very fitting, I am so glad you're my friend, we haven't known each other that long and I don't know what I'd do without you." My face broke out into the most beaming smile I could manage and I leapt at her crushing her in a big hug, she squealed loudly at the suddenness but then it turned into a happy giggle.
"I feel the same way." I grinned, this was the first time I'd plucked up enough courage to show more affection for her and I was pretty proud of myself, I don't know why I was so nervous, it feels so amazing to be in her arms, so perfect.
I apologise for the shorter than usual chapter, I just wanted to post something for you all. The song on here is an old Flyleaf song called Broken Wings, it just came out on their new album and I remembered how much I love it, I would strongly recommend you check it out.
A lot of Alice and Bella bonding in this one and some silly moments, hope you like it, we'll get to the proper storyline eventually, promise!
Becky.