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The Flower Called Azalea

6. This Can't Be Happening

Azalea POV

Before Sam could follow the rest of the pack outside, I pulled him aside.

"Sam…" I began, trying to remain strong from what I had seen earlier.

"Azalea, what is it?" he saw through my façade and was genuinely concerned.

"Why does it hurt?" I asked, looking up at him with pitiful eyes.

"What are you talking about? Are you physically hurt? Or… is it emotional?" he asked.

"It feels like my heart is ripping out of my chest, burning right in front of my eyes, and falling into a shredder," I confided.

His eyes widened slightly. "Azalea… did you imprint on Jake?"

"What? No! …I couldn't have…" I trailed off.

"I think you probably did. Tell me. What are you thinking about?"

"Jake," I answered without hesitation.

"Is he all you can think about?"

"Yeah…"

"Then why'd you push him away earlier?" he asked confusedly.

"Because! I'm still mad at him! He's in love with Bella and he chose her over his best friends! I can't forgive him after that! At least not easily…" I trailed off, trying to hold in tears. "I don't want to see him."

"Okay… but you know he's going to phase soon, right?"

"Yes, I know. And I'll stay away then, too. Unless you absolutely need me. I'll be around, but not around him."

"Okay. I understand. I don't like it, but I understand."

"Thanks, Sam," I hugged him and he nodded then left to meet up with the rest of the pack for patrol.

A week later, Embry met me at the beach while I was skipping stones. I often came here to think. All of this wolf stuff… it was a lot to take in. And I was getting used to it.

"What's up?" I asked my brother.

"So I guess Jake's going to see a movie with Bella," he blurted.

I froze in my movements. "What?"

"Yeah, I guess they're going to see Face Punch or something."

"Is it like a… date?" I hesitantly asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I know that he wants it to be. Jackass," he muttered.

I couldn't take this. My imprint was dating someone else. If he wasn't, then he wanted to be. My heart clenched.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the pain. "Why are you telling me this?" I asked in a broken whisper.

He shrugged again. "I thought you might want to know what he was up to."

"I don't care what he does. He can do whatever the fuck he wants. With whoever the fuck he wants."

"Z… I think maybe you should talk to him…" he said cautiously.

"No! Hell. No. I will not talk to him for anything. Embry! Wake up! He chose her over us! Us! His best friends since birth!" I told him.

"I know, but…"

"No. I'm not budging on this, Em. If he wants to talk to me after everything he's put me through, he's going to have to work for it."

Embry sighed and left me alone to think.

But I couldn't. My mind was too clouded by various thoughts of Jake. So instead of staying on the beach, I ran into the forest and phased, taking the risk of other wolves being present. Luckily, none were.

Two months had passed since Embry came to me at the beach and told me about Jake's 'date' with Bella Swan. I hadn't phased since then. I didn't feel that I could. Jake had officially been a part of the pack for two months and Sam always had him running patrol. I didn't want to see inside his head. I especially didn't want him seeing inside my head. I didn't want him to know about the imprint thing.

But during those two months, a lot had happened. Harry Clearwater had a heart attack and passed away, causing great distress around the rez. The redheaded leech crossed our borders more frequently; she was apparently after Bella. What was so great about her? It seemed like everybody was after Bella. Anyway…. Jake was taking her home one night and caught the scent of some bloodsucker, and she took off after it thinking it was one of her precious Cullens. It was. It was the tiny one… Alice, I think her name was. Well Alice thought that Bella had tried to kill herself by cliff-diving (a very fun activity, if I do say so myself) and then the one that Bella was in love with wanted to kill himself for some reason. Whoever would think that she was worth dying for would not get along with me. But I was biased.

Bella rushed off to Italy to save the leech that left her broken in the woods, leaving Jake broken and angry in La Push when they came back and she chose the bloodsucker. He would never go out, he wouldn't even go to his garage anymore. The only time he ever left that godforsaken house of his was to patrol. And even then, it was only when Sam ordered him to.

Sam was still the only one who knew about my…wolfiness. Even after three months of phasing for the first time; I was amazed that I was able to keep it hidden for so long. Though I had a feeling it wouldn't last much longer. I always hung out with the pack, and when they questioned Sam about it, he just told them that since I knew about them, it wasn't a problem. So they all basically became my older brothers. However, I would only hang out with them when Jake wasn't around. The pack didn't mind it. Nobody wanted to deal with that drama. Quil and Embry had forgiven Jake, which irked me.

They were trying to get me to talk to him again, but I still wouldn't budge. My willpower was wavering, but I was staying strong. Somewhat. I couldn't help what my subconscious thought of while I was asleep, so every time I dreamt, he starred. I will admit… ever since he phased, he'd gotten pretty damn sexy. He looked so much better with short hair and without a shirt. And thus the cause of my… happier dreams and many… many cold showers.

One day, I was going to go over to Jake's just because I missed Billy so much. …And Embry was forcing me because Jake had been so depressed lately, but I ended up going to Emily and Sam's instead. Sam had obviously told Emily about my situation; we knew she wouldn't tell anybody. So every time I went over there, she fixed up extra food and hid it from the guys, just for me. She was great. She was the older sister that I'd never had and always wanted.

My long hair that reached the small of my back was getting to be a hassle, so I cut it to shoulder-length. When I saw it, I cried. It's not that it looked bad, no, it looked very good. I'd just always had long hair ever since I was little. I probably should've gone shorter, but I absolutely refused to go any shorter than shoulder-length. It just didn't look good on me.

"How ya holding up?" Emily asked me during one of my visits.

"Carefully," I answered with a small smile in her direction.

"Not easy staying away from your soul mate, is it?" she asked with a knowing smile.

"Absolutely not," I replied. "Especially when he was my best friend growing up."

"Yeah…" she seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. "Sweetie, why don't you just go see him? As soon as he looks into your eyes, he'll imprint on you and you'll never have to worry about Bella ruining your relationship with him again."

"I thought you liked Bella," I chuckled.

"I do, but not when she's hurting my sister," she said.

I smiled at her. "Thanks, Em."

"You're welcome. So why don't you?"

"Because I'm still mad at him."

"Well that's a stupid reason." She rolled her eyes at my logic.

"I know," I sighed. "There's just so much more to it that I can't explain. And it's driving me crazy. But I just can't. I'm not strong enough."

"Hun, you are one of the only two female wolves in the pack. You're definitely strong enough," she reassured me.

I chuckled. "Thanks, but… I'm not ready. I've been trying for months to build up the courage to go see him, but it's just not working. I'll deal with him eventually."

"Well get ready. The guys are on their way and so is Leah. It's almost lunch time."

I grinned at her and followed her into the kitchen to help her put together a lunch fit for fifty, though we were only feeding about eight. Damn those wolves and their appetites.

Emily shooed me out of the kitchen when the guys started piling in, so I sat at the table and Paul parked himself to my immediate right and threw his arm around my shoulder as the rest of the pack convened around the table.

"So, Z. Have I worn you down yet? You gonna go out with me?" he joked.

I smiled saucily at him and leaned a bit closer, as if I was going to kiss him. "In your dreams," I breathed and the pack burst into laughter.

Well… except for Leah. She was the other female wolf and she was bitter toward every pack member except me. We'd actually become pretty close. Not as close as Emily and I, and I think she held something against me for that, but we were still close.

Emily set the food on the table and everyone began to pig out. I managed to save a bit of food for myself, but not nearly enough to fill me up. Just enough to tide me over for a few hours. Everyone was laughing and joking around until we heard the loud rumbling of an ancient truck. The room fell silent, and then most of the pack's faces lit up into broad grins.

Once they got to know her a little better, Embry and Quil loved Bella and tried to get me to give her a chance, but I really didn't want to. I knew that I was being rude, and that it was totally unlike me, but she stole my best friend. In my book, that put her in the 'bitches' section.

With my enhanced hearing, I heard her talking to Jake.

"Are you sure I should be here? I mean, I am the vampire girl…"

"You'll be fine." The grin in Jake's voice was obvious, even just listening to the conversation.

Everyone in the pack except for me, Leah, and Sam ran out the door to greet her.

"Bella!" They all grinned.

"Thank god you're here. Now Jake can finally shut up about you," Paul snickered. "Oh, I hope Bella calls," he mocked.

Jared joined him. "Why hasn't she called yet?"

Embry was next to tease Jake. "Maybe I should call Bella."

Quil finally brought up the end of the line. "Maybe I should call Bella and hang up."

Jake smiled. "Okay, guys. You can shut up now."

The guys just laughed. Emily and Sam made their way out to greet her together.

"Bella," Emily smiled. "I was wondering when we would be seeing you around here again," she said and then hugged the leech-lover.

Bella returned the hug and said, "Yeah, me too."

Leah chose then to go outside without warning me. I stood from my chair and headed to the doorway to watch the scene unfold. Leah stopped by the two and raked Bella with a glare.

"Bella, this is Leah Clearwater, Harry's daughter," Jake introduced. Unlike me, Leah had chosen to get the tattoo. Something about showing power…. I don't know. I didn't get it.

"I'm so sorry about your dad," Bella said to Leah.

Leah didn't care. Yes, she missed her father, but she'd gotten over it. Quicker than anyone expected, as a matter of fact.

Her gaze was hard as she looked at Bella. "If you're here to torture Jacob some more, feel free to leave." With that, she walked away.

Bella just looked at Jacob, taken aback. Leah brought out the sarcasm in everybody. Especially Jake. "Fun, isn't she?" he asked.

I saw that Leah was going to leave, and I didn't want to stay around here. "Hey, Lee! Wait up!" I called as I ran out of the house, down the porch steps, and past the pack.

"Azalea?" Jake asked, confused. He was going to try to stop me, but I pulled my arm away before he could get a grip.

"Not now, Jake," I growled without letting him see my eyes. I followed Leah, and she stopped on the edge of a five foot drop, leading downhill. She looked at me, smirked, and waited for Bella and Jake to look at her.

Once they did, she phased, went down the hill a bit, and then looked back at me expectantly.

"Hey! No fair! You've got four legs and I only have two! There's no way I'll win a race with you!" Unless I phased, but I really didn't want to do that with everybody watching. She seemed to laugh and then she turned away from me and started to walk away, waiting for me to get down there before she started to run. I jumped off the drop, landing gracefully in a perfect crouch and then stood up and took off.

We were racing. Her on all fours, and me on just my two human legs. It wasn't exactly the same feeling as when I was running in wolf form, but it was still freeing.

Jake POV

I watched as Azalea jumped off the drop and then follow after Leah for about ten seconds. Much longer than it took for me to lose sight of them. We all stood outside Sam and Emily's house, Bella at my side, for a while, just socializing and catching up. Nobody seemed to hold it against her that she was a vampire girl, which I was extremely grateful for.

I wasn't really paying attention to the conversation, just taking in the sight of Bella here with me. She was so wonderful and I loved being with her. I loved her.

"So, Bella," Paul started. "When's your graduation?"

"A month," she answered and I tried to push all thoughts of that dreadful day to come away. I didn't want to think about her impending doom of becoming a leech like her 'family'.

All of a sudden, Leah, in wolf form, came running up to us, heading straight for Sam. She had a worried look in her eyes, trying to tell Sam something. He must've understood, because he immediately took off and phased. That was when it hit me.

Azalea wasn't with her.

Something must've happened.

What if she was hurt?

I followed closely after Sam, phasing as soon as I started running. I heard a female voice, but her thoughts weren't really saying anything coherent. It was just a series of grunts and other various aggravated noises. I assumed it was Leah since I knew that she was bitter toward us all and I couldn't hear her thinking anything else. Plus, she was the only female wolf in the pack.

Or so I thought.

As soon as we reached a small clearing, I saw a wolf being attacked by a vampire. The wolf was smaller than the rest of us, but still too big to be an actual wolf. Obviously female, she had beautiful white and brown fur that moved easily in the wind. She attacked the bloodsucker with such grace and ease that I was slightly envious.

When we first arrived, she seemed oblivious to our presence. However, after a few seconds, she sensed us and froze slightly in her movements. It was just enough time for the leech to lunge at her. The two started rolling around on the ground, snapping, scratching, pawing, and biting at each other the whole time.

Leah! What have you done? She screamed to Leah in all of our thoughts.

Azalea? I asked incredulously. This couldn't be right. Azalea couldn't be a wolf. She was so small and… delicate. She reminded me of a flower. Hence why the name 'Azalea' was perfect for her.

I'm not delicate, Jake. And I'm definitely not a fucking flower! She trilled in my mind. Oops. I guess I didn't block that thought.

I was trying to help you, Z! Leah screamed.

I had it under control! Z retorted.

Azalea! Sam thought. Control yourself!

Sam, shouldn't we be helping her? Embry asked anxiously. She's my sister! I can't just sit here and watch as my sister's being attacked by a no-good, dirty, rotten leech!

Yes! Since you're all here, would someone please get this thing the fuck off me! Azalea yelled as the vampire pinned her down.

I sprang into action before anybody else could. I knocked the bloodsucker off of her and started attacking him. He wasn't holding back, either. Azalea quickly leaped up from the ground and came over to the battle and joined in.

The bloodsucker was dismembered and burning in no time. As soon as he caught fire, Azalea bolted before I could even say anything. And I'm guessing that right as she was out of sight, she phased back, because I couldn't hear her thoughts any longer.

Go after her, Jake, Sam calmly spoke in my mind. It wasn't an order, but it still felt like something I had to do.

So I did what I thought she would've killed me for, but hoped she wouldn't.

I followed her.

Let me know what you guys think! ^_^ Wow. This chapter seems so much longer than the others. Well… review, please! ^_^