So, I'm not sure how people are going to take this chapter since this is basically where I decided to fuck shit up and now I think about it there was sort of no need for it... and it's my least favourite... anyway, I don't really like this one so don't worry if you don't; you're not alone. So, uh, away we go? Sorry...?
Ten
I've been serving bitchy bitches all night and I'm so fucking tired. Anyhow, I plaster my fake ass grin on and march over to the next table. "Evenin', what can I get y'all?" I asked the group of rowdy guys and their few skanky girls. They look fucking twelve, why are they talking about tits, I though kids played with barbies?
One of them -damn ugly fucker- smirks up at me. "You on the menu, hot stuff?" Oh dear fucking god.
Deciding not to puke on him, I keep my fake grin as in tact as I can. "Well, now you mention it, we sell a burger that claims to have the taste if Rio Degenero, and my Name happens to be Rio, so you're in luck." I replied, happy go fucking not so lucky.
He smirks as if he's got the answers to the fucking universe. "Your name tag says River." He remarks smartly, raising a brow.
I nod as his friends smirk. "Rio is Spanish for River. Nice little fact of the day. Now, can I get you guys something? Juice boxes? You can have some lego if you want while you wait for your parents." Damn, I always step over the line.
"What the fuck? We're fifteen, not kids!" One of the girls exclaims.
I grin and raise a brow. "Ah, well please do excuse me. Please, give me greatly detailed and unabridged versions of your latest adventures, oh wise ones."
"Well, your mom's pussy was my last one."
"Ah, you're into necrophilia?"
"What?"
"It means her mom's dead, stop being pricks and fucking order. I'll have a plain cheese burger and fries with a strawberry shake." One girl snaps, rolling her eyes at them. They all order, sounding shamed. Good.
"Good evenin', can I get y'all anythin'?" I asked, holding my pad ready as I went to my next table.
"Yeah, can I have you?" Says a deep rumble.
"Man, I just tried that, she's a real bitch." The kid says, turning in his booth to see the enormous Natives. The girls stare a little.
I smirk. "You know, Mr. Lahote, I believe that could be arranged. Now, don't tell me you got lost again."
Paul smirks at me. "Nah, Jake went all stalker and found out where you worked."
I glance at Jacob with a raised brow. He shrugs. "I have to, otherwise I wouldn't be able to watch scrawny runts hitting on my girl."
Laughing, I reply. "Gettin' a little possessive there, Black?"
He snarls. "When I have to watch kids like that try to flirt with what's mine? Yeah." His? Am I his? Yes. Am I okay with being his? Maybe. Hell, of course I am. "I never noticed you have a cute Southern drawl when you speak to customers. You don't normally." He adds, smiling. Do I? Only at work I guess, how odd.
I smile, maybe things could work with Jacob. Sam's girlfriend and two other girls are here too. "Flattery will get you nothing, what can I get you all?" I smirk, ensuring that I don't say y'all or drop a g while I speak.
Jacob grins at me while I take the orders. I smile back quickly before walking off. I then laugh when I think about the amount of food being shared between five people. Five deluxe burgers, five sides of fries, onion rings, five jumbo shakes, three normal burgers, and another few extra different types of sides. The kitchen staff look amazed when I hand them the slip of paper.
Suddenly, I'm pleased that as staff we have a choice between pants and skirts, I don't think I'd survive if I was caught by Jacob in a skirt. Part of me is too dead set on him not seeing me as anything other than tough.
The supreme bitch that is my only friend here is the one to take the mounds of food to Jacob's table, and I do see the small look of dissappointment on his face. "So, where's our dear River been hidin' you, sugar?" She asks, pushing her tits out when she notices there are single guys there, and damn they're all hot.
Her name's Gene, but she hates her name, so we all call her G. "In bed," Paul snickers, shooting me a teasing look. He knows I can hear him.
"We live in a little town called Forks, it's in Washington." Jacob supplies, smiling politely. She's lost his attention though once his food's been set down.
Everything goes pretty quietly for a while, and it gets to the point with Jacob's table that my manager comes out and tells them that their food is on the house since they completed our stupid challenge of eating a certain amount. The boys were pleased about free food.
It was about ten o'clock when a few of the local police officers came in and took a booth in my section.
"Evenin', boys, anything I can get you?" I ask them, opening my pad.
"Are you River Nivalis?" One of them asks.
I close my pad and look down at him. "I am, you wouldn't happen to be Officer Wade, would you?" I reply, subtly reading his name tag.
He nods, unphased. "Ma'am, we'd greatly appreciate it if you could sit and have a talk with us on your next break." He tells me, his gaze saying that it's not a request. I nod, telling them I'm due a break. "Perfect, I'm sure your manager won't mind if we step outside?" He's Irish, and that's when I recognise him.
No.
My blood boils, and I feel Jacob look at me. He knows I'm antsy.
"Don't make us drag you out." One of the others snarls, low and quiet.
I risk a glance at him only to see he's standing up. Fuck.
No.
Sit down!
Fuck.
"You alright, hon?" He asks me, smiling widely. His eyes convey a message of worry.
I look up at him and smile. "Everything's fine, just go back to-"
"River-Anne Nivalis, you should come outside unless you want us to redecorate this lovely shit hole with his innards."
I start for the exit, they follow. I think I'm going to be sick.
Jacob follows us out, and soon enough so does his pack. Fuck.
We walk for a mile or so before I stop and turn to Ducalian.
"Ducalian, I- Ah!"
I cry out and fall to my knees as my wrists burn. I look to see cuffs, silver cuffs, holding them together. Mother fuckers. "You have betrayed us. You were working with our enemy. You shall stand trial in front of our elders, and your punishment shall be death. Do you understand me, mutt?"
"Ducalian, please, just listen." I beg, watching as one of the others has Jacob pinned against a tree by his throat in under a second, warning the others to back off or he'll tear it out. He fucking would, too. "When you turned me I was scared, they helped me, they proved that you were right, the bite is a gift! I didn't know what to do. The pack abandoned me, I needed money-"
"You were a daughter to me, River-Anne, I wanted to show you our ways, and you could have become an amazing wolf, but you spat it out and chose vampires and shape-shifting mutts."
Ducalian stands at six foot one, pitch black hair, an evil twist to his lips, and horrible lines running over the right side of his face. He's blind in one eye from an injury given to him by a previous alpha. Said alpha is dead, his bones quite literally decorating Ducalian's home. "Please, I'm sorry-"
"I've been offered a deal. You won't face our elders if you agree to do one last thing. Vampire royalty have a strange obsession with the eradication of our kind. I'm going to offer you to them, as a peace offering. You'll prove yourself to me by killing them, you'll take them down from the inside out." Fuck. No, dammit. "And if not then I'll have to gift your brother and your boyfriend with the bite."
"I don't think we've met before," Comes a deep, thick voice. Sam. "My name's Sam Uley, I'm the current alpha of the La Push pack. River is the imprint of one of my wolves, and-"
"Your female is beautiful," Ducalian interrupts, eyeing Leah with a perverse smirk. "stop speaking before I take her from you."
Sam immediately stops speaking, a low growl resonating from each member of the pack. That stops too as Jacob is shaken, a high and pained whine escaping him.
It's one of those moments that I know I can stop if I can only find my voice. After so long of being told that you're nothing, you begin to believe it. Jacob Black ruined that. He's shown me that I can love. I may be damaged but I can help. I can live. I can die. I can feel. I won't live. I will die. I will feel.
"I'll go." I choke. The pack eyes me with disbelief while Ducalian simply smiles. He knew all along that I'd never risk the lives of others. He always gets what he wants one way or another.
He crouches beside me and places a soft hand on my cheek in a fond gesture. "Your fame shall outshine your pain, that I swear to you. You shall not be forgotten, River-Anne." He says before nodding to his goons, eyes locked onto my own. "I swear to you that your family and friends shall be looked after."
Ducalian's helpers slowly pull on a pair of leather gloves each and that's when I know that they're going to use a fuck load of silver to hold me down. Direct contact with their skin would burn them and may even make them incapable of changing. I may have built a small tolerance by wearing my bracelet, but it won't make so much as a scratch of difference compared to what they'll do.
I nod. "Jacob, look away." I say, my voice hollow. Am I giving up? Yes, three of the most powerful werewolves in America are right next to me with threats of Jacob's life. Yes I'm giving up.
"What are you doing?" He wheezes through the grip that Ducalian's friend, Gater, has on his neck.
"Close your eyes." I demand, closing my own.
I hear everything as the two remaining werewolves whistle, and soon two becomes at least twenty. "River-Anne will make us proud! Werewolves shall rise once more, and vampires shall fall. To River-Anne!" Ducalian roars. All of the others cheer with him and a few howl. "Now remember, River-Anne, a single bite will restore them, but I'm trusting you to kill them. Now, the silver!" Werewolves yell my name as if I'm a hero, and I hate it.
There's a faint whimper as a box thuds on the ground. I hear it open and a few snarls are coming from the wolves around me. Jacob and his pack remain quiet. The rough material of Ducalian's glove lightly touches my cheek, and his voice snarls for me to open my eyes. I do so immediately and find them locked onto Jacob's pack. They all watch on in horror, but worst of all is Gater, holding Jacob from behind who is now on his knees with his head in a tight lock of his arms, pointing at me. He has no choice but to watch as he chokes for air.
I'm thankful for my spots bra and shorts as claws rip my shirt and pants away, but I know they won't save me from the pain to come.
Silver burns my kind the way fire burns alcohol, only, when we burn we can heal, it sizzles and stings, but it doesn't kill us. Plus, alcohol runs out.
I scream, load and raw, as a silver chain is laid across my shoulders. My body immediately bucks and writhes, but strong hands clasp my shoulders tightly, holding me in my pain.
My thoughts are not ones of my own pain, but of Jacob's as he has to watch this happening to me. Well, I spare a few thoughts for myself in the seconds that my mind fogs too much to spare a thought for anything but my agony.
Jacob and I hold one another's eyes, and as much as I want to, I can't even smile reassuringly at him.
Jacob.
My poor Jacob.
He's lost his mother. He's lost the chance of being a normal teen. He turns into a wolf. He'll have to shoulder the challenge of being chief. He's been looking after his father for so long. His sisters abandoned him. He's lost so much and now he has to lose me too?
How can I do that to him?
This isn't about me anymore. This isn't about some stupid deal made with vampires. Vampires and werewolves aren't meant to work together. Fuck this. Fuck Ducalian. Fuck Tori. Fuck vampires. Fuck everything.
"No," I choke, surprised by my own voice.
Everyone stops. "What?" Ducalian demands, looking around to find the reason for my protest.
"No." I grind out, screaming for my wolf to wake. All it takes is one look at Jacob, the thoughts that we'll never see him again, and she's alive as ever.
I use the surprise of the werewolves holding my shoulders and bolt up, headbutting the first and throwing my silver covered body at the second. He screams and shakes violently before falling to the floor and twitching. I quickly stumble away from them both, yanking silver with burning hands until I come across my discarded shirt. I pick it up and wrap it around my hand, picking a single silver chain from the floor as Ducalian approaches.
"River-Anne, stop this madness. By-"
"Gater, get your slimy hands off him right now." I snarl at the wolf holding Jacob. My Jacob. My eyes stay on Ducalian as I speak. He didn't get that scar for playing fair, so I sure as hell don't trust him to now.
Smirking, Ducalian laughs. "You have a small resistance to our bane, that won't help you outrun a pack of pure blooded werewolves." His tone is as jolly as fucking ever. "River-Anne, stop this now. I swear to you that your sacrifice-"
I shrug, sweat running with my blood from all over my body. "I don't care. Use some fucker else. Gater, I'll force this entire chain through your left eye socket if you're not five feet away from him-"
"You move, Gater, and your human wife dies. And trust me, I'll have my fun first." Ducalian's threat is worse than my own.
Think. Fuck, think! Shit, how can I keep Jacob safe? I need to keep him safe. I need to keep myself safe. I can't let him lose anyone else. "I challenge you for the rights to the pack and therefore my freedom." I blurt, my mouth moving a million times faster than my brain.
No.
Fuck.
Why do I say shit without thinking first?
Holy shit, what have I just done?
A smirk rises on Ducalian's face. He nods. "So be it."
Jacob is all but thrown against the ground, and the second Gater is away from him I'm by his side.
He gasps for air as I fall to my knees beside him, hands on his face to get his eyes to focus on me. He immediately throws his arms around my back, drawing me into him.
I've just signed my damn death warrant.
There's a communal snarl from his pack as a pair of feet thud towards us.
I turn and release a weak smile as my eyes bring an old friend into focus. "I'm not here to hurt anyone." Says the tall man in front of us. My maker. Carlos Rodriguez is a wall of delectable muscle, a handsome face, and a mysterious set of eyes. He's every girl's wet dream, but unluckily for them, he's a rogue -meaning that he can't control his wolf. That's how he ended up turning me. I angered him and he bit me. "The big guy wants to help." He tells me, shrugging as if he has no say over what he does. "Laws state that a wolf can accept help from its maker, and as your maker I command you to accept my help, be it on your tail that you decline." He's so damn sexy, it's almost unfair that he's gay. I'm pretty sure he's getting it on with Matt, my old crush.
I nod. "Thank you." I whisper, feeling my shoulders healing where the silver was laid over them.
He smirks. "As the leader of the Lykos pack, I hereby order all of my bitten and full-bloods to rise and aid River-Anne Nivalis." His voice booms, shocking everyone around.
Jacob and his pack stare, confused. I don't have time to explain it. "You only get to help if I'm dying." I state, wrapping my arms around Jacob and standing, helping him up.
Carlos shakes his head. "We're out numbered, you need to be smart. We'll hold him down, you kill him. The transfer of power will be immediate, so any wolves that carry on fighting us must die."
"This is sounding like a lot of death." My mind couldn't work fast enough, but my wolf's was much faster than my own, having words spouting from my mouth at a rate I couldn't keep up with.
He smirks and shrugs. "You're the one that challenged your alpha's maker's alpha." He teases as all of his wolves make their way over.
"If he's not worth it, I'll bite him." One wolf, Skylar, jokes, eyeing Jacob.
I raise a brow. She carries on. "You've got something to live for, if you hadn't then you'd have let us all wrap you like a burrito and send you to play with Count Vlad." I've always liked Skylar, but since the pack abandoned me I haven't seen her.
"I'm not sure how I feel about you being the alpha of an alpha pack." Comes a new voice.
We all look over to see a girl my age. She's got the same hair as me, the same eyes, and the same smirk. We're not related, but we look pretty similar. "How's your dad?" She asks me.
"Dead." I snarl.
She shrugs. "Sucks. How about your mom?"
"Buried."
Raising a brow, she smirks. "How's Nate."
"Nowhere fucking near you."
"Shame." She grumbles. "I was so waiting to fuck his damn brains out. Who knows, maybe I could have tunred him and had myself a bitch."
"Don't make me kill you." I growl, my fangs and claws pushing through. "Say his name again and I swear to god I'll make you a silver scarf."
She says nothing, merely smirks at Jacob, eyeing him. "When Ducalian's made dog food of her, I'll show you how a real werewolf fucks." And there your have it, the reason I hate her. She's a complete whore.
"Sidney," Carlos warns.
My blood boils.
Wouldn't it be a terrible shame if I accidentally killed her while we were all fighting. So terrible.
Jacob and his pack all snarl deep and low at her, she merely smirks.
Someone booms something in Latin, causing the eight wolves on my side to shuffle around until they've cleared a small path to reveal Ducalian stood at the end of it in all his glory, smirking at me as he phases slowly. It takes extreme control to phase at a certain speed, I immediately recognise it as a show of power, as I'm sure all of the others do. He's reminding me that I can't possibly hope to win.
I turn to Jacob's pack, mainly Sam and Paul. "They won't let you live. You all need to run." I tell them, shoving Jacob roughly and being super thankful that Jared catches him.
The wolves around me phase. This is it.
"Go." I whisper, turning to face Ducalian as Jacob yells his protests.
They manage to drag him away, and I hear Paul snarling that they should knock him out. There are a few gasps as a thud sounds. Dammit, really, Paul?
I pick up the chain that I earlier discarded and wrap it around my arm, snaking from my wrist up to my elbow where I use my strength to secure it. It burns into my skin, but my wolf ignores it, forcing her power into me. The pain may be great, but it must be better than death, so we grit our teeth and prepare for war.
Ducalian rears back onto his hind legs and howls. His fifteen wolves follow suit. It's his acceptance of my challenge. I notice Matthias Thorn, my childhood crush, looking at me from the other side, his eyes flit to Ducalian and I realise that Matt and his friends are closest to the alpha. What are they doing? I don't phase.
"Attack." I boom, my voice gruff the wolf's snarl.
The two sides charge.