A/N: Just make sure you review!
Thursday
"OK. That's it. We have all waited this long for Seth to snap out of whatever funk he is in. We have waited long enough. Gather yourselves troops, we are heading to the cliffs," proclaimed Embry to the rest of the kitchen table; the occupants of which just studied him calmly. "Oh fine, fiiiiine, the midget here squawks in the worst imitation of a Spanish accent I have ever heard, and you all look at me like I'm crazy." They all laughed and Jake added "Hey Kai, maybe you should set one less place at the table tomorrow morning." The disgruntled look on Embry's face faded to outright panic, as he looked at Kaia and shrieked in abject terror. "You wouldn't! Not your most faithful minion oh great omelette Goddess." Kaia pretended to think while Embry was prostrate on the ground in front of her, the lunacy of the moment not really striking anyone present. Between the antics of Embry and Kaia, their morning routines had already seen a couple of these episodes.
"Sure sure, just call me the ever merciful McSquizzy," quipped Kaia, turning to the sink. Because of that, she was the only one who missed Embry's reaction. He stiffened and then eyes wide, he reached out, took Kaia by the shoulder and turned her around. "It was you! The blonde creep at the club… Holy hell it was you" Kaia just stared at Embry, eyebrows furrowed. Then suddenly her face cleared and she gaped at him, "Oh my GOD… you are the life-saver from Planet Gigantor… how could I not recognize you?" "Well, bad lighting, crazy smoke machines, not to mention that you are probably pretty unobservant most times," came Embry's nonchalant reply. "Wow, talk about a small world," said Kaia. They had to then explain to the rest of the confused table, the whole story of how Embry and Kaia had met, and Paul realized that he would have recognized her, if he hadn't been so distracted by his and Rachel's disagreement. But after everyone there knew what had gone on, the talk turned back to Embry's earlier suggestion of cliff-diving.
"Hey, anyone in here?" called a husky female voice from the Living room. "In here Leah" replied Jacob. Kaia turned to the doorway and barely managed to hold in a gasp at the statuesque beauty who walked into the kitchen. "What's going on here" came Leah's faintly amused question. "The Omelette Goddess has just fed us minions and we were hungry so there is nothing left for you" Embry whined. Before anyone else could speak up, they heard a smack, as Kaia wielded a wooden spatula at Embry's head. "One more comment like that, and you will never eat another omelette again," came the warning from the apron wearing midget on the counter. "Leah right? Omelette?" "Sure thing, if you promise to use another spatula" smirked Leah. "Good thing you reminded me" said Kaia, "Can you imagine an Embry flavored omelette? … urghhh, I might kill myself." Leah joined the others in the laughter and was surprised when barely a few minutes later a plate landed in front of her.
"You give new definition to fast food kid," she quipped and then went silent at the amazing flavors in her mouth. "Whatever the hell is in this, you are a genius. I like this kid Jake, make sure she sticks around yeah?" "Now what was all this talk about cliff diving?" questioned Kaia. "You can't go," "Not you," and "Are you insane" were the replies from the 3 largest males at the table. Kaia simply raised an eyebrow at them all and turned to Leah for an explanation. That subject of perusal rolled her eyes at her pack-mates and said, "Cliff diving is the only recreation in La Push, no mall you know? Do you want to go?" Kaia smiled at her unspoken support and said, "That sounds brilliant, thanks Leah." She thumbed her nose at the rest of the table's occupants, before flouncing out the door to go change.
The 3, now worried, male, wolves at the table turned as one to Leah, but even before she had a chance to shut them up, help came from a different quarter. "I dare you boys to say one word to Kaia about not going. You do that, and you will be dealing with me," came Rachel's firm reprimand. With that, Paul and Jake subsided immediately, leaving only Embry looking vaguely mutinous. "Em, if you are the reason Rachel gets mad at me again, you will be running with 3 legs, you got that?" growled Paul. Jake didn't look like he was going to be any help at all, so Embry just let it go, grumbling all the while about it being more dangerous than it looked.
When they finally got to the cliff tops, Leah and Kaia had barely managed to persuade Rachel to jump with them. She had finally relented when Paul had stepped in and promised to jump with her, holding her all the way down. "So who else are we waiting for?" asked Leah, as they spotted Ryan, Sam and Jared waiting for them at their usual jumping spot. "Just the twins and your brother, Collin said they were going to drag him out of your house and come straight here." The two groups called greetings to each other and then Jake introduced the others to Kaia. "Where's Kim man?" he asked Jared as they neared the edge. "Waiting down at the beach with towels and stuff. I think Emily just joined her," he replied, squinting at the beach below them, as Sam nodded in confirmation. "Emi brought food, she thought we could just snack on the beach before heading back for lunch." The rest of the boys cheered in approval and began to leap off, one by one.
Before Leah could follow the screaming Rachel in Paul's arms, Kaia pulled her to the side. "Hey Leah, could you do me a favor?" she continued as Leah cocked her head at the tiny brunette. "Clear away from the bottom as soon as you hit water ok?" Kaia smirked, "And then get ready for a show." Leah looked around and noticed that everyone else had already gone, except for her and Embry. "Sure kid, but be careful ok? I think Rach might be pretty fond of you already." Kaia just smiled.
Once she was alone, Kaia grinned to herself, wondering how the others were going to feel about her intended action. She leaned over the cliff, let out a piercing whistle to get their attention, then waved to make sure they were watching. She thought she saw someone approaching the cliff, in her peripheral vision, but was concentrating too hard on her next move, to turn. She stepped to the edge, and paused for a second; then, leaning forward, she leapt into space. She twisted, turned, somersaulted and spun, before slicing cleanly through the surface of the calm ocean beneath the cliff. She allowed her dive to level out before turning and kicking her way to the surface. As she broke through the surf, the only thing she saw were shocked faces, with Leah's proud gaze standing out from the other's. Rachel had apparently already swum to shore, because Kaia could hear her and 2 other female voices cheering from the direction of the beach. She grinned and then accepted a high 5 from a laughing Leah.
Suddenly she heard faint laughter coming from somewhere above her. She and the others all looked up at the same time and she could have sworn she saw something move. The laughter suddenly cut off, but she could still hear something. Was that growling? She noticed the other's now strained faces and was about to ask what was going on, when she was interrupted by Jake barking out, "Embry, Jared, make sure they get to shore in one piece ok? We're going to head on up and see what's going on up there. The twins should have got here by now." Leah shot Jake a look that Kaia missed and he knew that they needed to hurry up. Kaia had noticed something was up.
At once, the others took off for the stretch of beach nearer the pathway to the top of the cliff, while Jared and Embry watched with troubled expressions. They had heard the double tone in Jake's voice. If they were wolves, it would have been an iron-clad order, but in their human form, it was more of an iron-clad suggestion, but not one that the others could just ignore. As Kaia struck out for the shore, Leah hung back enough to mumble at Jared, "I'm pretty sure I heard Seth up there. I'm going. Jake didn't mention me doing anything in specific." Embry nodded and then turned to follow Kaia before she wondered what had happened.
Meanwhile, once out of sight of those still in the water, Kaia in particular, the others raced to the cliff top they had left barely minutes before. Once they got there, they were all astonished to see Seth, of all people, phased and growling at the twins, his best friends. "Seth… Seth, buddy, you need to calm down" Jake tried to soothe him. Seth turned to his Alpha and growled. Actually growled at him. "Ok, that's it. This is ridiculous" came Leah's voice from behind the others, who were still in shock that the coolest head in the pack had just growled at his Alpha. She went behind a rock and the others felt the soundless shimmer in the air as she phased. Jake suddenly sprung into action as well, and ripped his shorts off, and phased just as Leah came back from behind the rock. Alpha and Beta saw the problem in Seth's mind at the same time. And their reactions were wildly different.
Jake collapsed with laughter, still in wolf form, which was quite weird for the others to watch. And Leah, worried stiff for the past couple of days over her younger brother's moping, was shocked to see that it was over a girl. But only for a minute. The shock faded and the only thing she felt was anger. Thankfully Jake saw her intentions, and stopped her just before she hamstrung her little brother. By this time, the others were completely and utterly confused at the antics of the 3 horse sized wolves. They all phased as well, and were immediately assaulted by the images of Kaia from Seth's memory. They could sense Embry and Jared phased and rushing towards the cliffs as well, and the mind link became more and more distorted with all the thoughts in it.
Collin and Brady were practically helpless with laughter, since they had seen that Kaia had only been cliff diving. Seth was heartbroken because he had imprinted and she had slipped through his fingers, and he had just watched her jump off a cliff; this would have been shocking to anyone, except she had come back into his life in the most unexpected place. Leah was getting madder by the second that she had been so worried when the only thing bothering Seth, was that he was mooning over a girl. Embry and Jared were wondering why the hell Leah wanted to hamstring Seth in the first place and it was all going downhill from there.
"Everyone SHUT UP" came the double-timbered command of the alphas. Wait, alphas? They all turned to look at Sam and Jake who were eyeing each other, having shouted the same words at the same time. They just nodded and then turned back to the others. "Now what the hell is going on here?" asked Sam. Seth's thoughts, being the most turbulent, flooded through to the group. Leah and Jake both gasped, "Seth, you imprinted?" Leah asked. Her miserable sibling just nodded. It was strange to see a huge wolf nod like that. "Wait.. you imprinted on Kaia?"questioned Jake. They felt Seth's wordless question and Jake added, "The girl who just jumped off the cliff?" He nodded again.
At that moment, Embry chose to burst into mental laughter, as the past couple of days flooded into his mind. Seth absorbed his memories in shock. She had been here the whole time? Living in Jake's house? She had been here? The reservation? Sunday morning! That was why he had smelled her scent. It was her. It was actually her! While this muddled meandering was going on in poor Seth's brain, Collin and Brady were being brought up to speed by the others. "Well, what are we waiting for Clearwater, let's go meet the girl damnit" Collin the ever subtle one spouted.
Seth, dazed, just looked at all of them and then phased back. Leah yelped, "Seth, little brother, just because I have seen you in all your naked glory, does NOT mean I want to see you in a repeat of your infancy." The others all phased back in turn and changed as well. Except Collin, who volunteered to run home and grab an extra pair of shorts, giving his own to Seth, so he could get to the beach asap. With the speed they achieved as wolves, it didn't matter, he was there and back before the others could make up their minds as to a good cover story.
Only Collin noticed the growing frustration on Seth's face. Without waiting to consult the others, he took matters into his own hands. He caught his twin's eye and winked before shouting at Seth, "Last one to the beach is an ass-wipe" he yelled before jumping off the cliff, followed almost immediately by Brady and Seth. The others just shook their heads and followed them over.
As they walked up to the girls seated on the shore, they knew a clear explanation could wait, because the second Kaia saw Seth, her eyes grew wide, and they could all hear her heart-beat accelerate, "It's you" she murmured. He had the presence of mind to smile back almost normally, "Hi there." "We met at the club, didn't we?" she asked, glancing sideways at him, only to find him looking straight at her with a strange smile on his face. "Yes, we did, having trouble remembering?" he joked, but his insides were broiling at the thought that she might have forgotten him already. She blushed, recalling the number of times she had wished she had given him her number. "Didn't even have to try" she replied softly, then turning to Rachel, "I'll see you back at the house?" She smiled at the others before leaving the beach.
Seth just sat there and watched her go, a wistful smile on his face. The other imprinted wolves knew the feeling, the wrench as their imprint left. The rest just wondered at the open, naked need, clear in the boy's eyes. And then the look changed.
Resolve instead of doubt. Seth turned to the others.
"See you later boys" and then sprinted up the beach towards the figure of the girl walking in the distance.
A/N: Don't you guys think that all that typing deserves a review? I got these past 2 chapters typed and formatted in 24 hours.
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