Chapter 4: Kim's Power

I got home around three after dropping off my Kim, and reluctantly saying good-bye.

I only had four and a half hours before I could see her again. I sat with my mom as she watched Rachel Ray, unwilling learning how to make the 'perfect apple cake'.

Rachel Ray was generally annoying, but when I was counting down the minutes till I saw the love of my life again, she was excruciating.

Around six thirty I started to get worried that maybe I wasn't dressed up enough. Was this a date? And if it was a date, did dudes get dressed for dates? And if so, what was appropriate attire for a play date with Kim and her brother?

I was tempted to ask my mom, but thought it might be a bit awkward. I ran through the mental inventory of all the clothing I had left—turning into a werewolf had severely affected my wardrobe. Wait. Did I seriously just call it my wardrobe? I never thought I'd—

"OOOOWWW," the howl was Sam's and it didn't sound good.

I kicked the foot of my bed and it collapsed. It was six fifty and I had forty minutes before I could be with Kim, this was the worst damn time for a leech.

The howl sounded again and I stripped down, attaching some clothes to my ankle and leapt out the window. The heat rolled through my body, the shimmer of something magical, something new shot through me. I landed on all fours, my massive paws padding the fall. I ran toward the sound, cursing every filthy disgusting blood-sucker on the planet.

Yeah, well it's just one you need to curse now. Paul thought bitterly.

Charlie called Billy. Bella's missing, they've looked in the woods for her but they can't find her and its getting dark. Sam informed me as I made my way through the trees, catching sight of them.

So we've got a recon mission to find a vamp lover. Great, I'm going to miss time with Kim for this?

Oh man, I still can't believe you imprinted on Kim, she is the craziest girl—I cut him off by lunging at him, holding his throat between my teeth.

Chill out you two and Paul learn some respect! We separated, but I was still fuming.

Sam, do I really need to go? You don't need three wolves to find one dead body. I asked already knowing the answer.

So why even ask? Paul huffed and I ran past him, picking up speed till we reached the town.

There weren't many places to run unnoticed so I phased back with some effort and untied the clothes uncomfortably tied to my legs. I dressed quickly and danced through the street barefooted before they could call after me. I was definitely going to be late and she was going to think I was ditching her. Just great!

I'd heard all about the Bella girl, friend of the Blacks and known leech-lover, but I never met her, so I had no idea what she smelled like. I had however met Chief Swan so I traced him, heading east till the smell got stronger.

I could hear Sam and Paul's soft steps behind me and when we reached a small thicket of woods I knew it had to be past 7:30 already! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! BULLSHIT!

"I'm going to sneak in her room and get something to pick up her scent," Paul announced, for once making himself useful.

"I'm sorry," Sam said once he was out of earshot.

"For what?" I asked.

"I don't know what I'm doing. This whole alpha thing, I wasn't born for this role," he rubbed his shaved head nervously.

"Don't worry about it, you're doing fine. And hey, maybe this will piss Jake off enough for him to phase, and you won't have to do it anymore," I joked hitting his arm. Paul came back then with a single sock. I sniffed it grudgingly, passed it to Sam and walked to find Chief Swan. He stood surrounded by a circle of work and hunting friends.

Sam introduced himself and made all the formalities and when I shook his hand I noticed the time on his large digital watch. 7:58pm and I had no time to call her, she was going to be furious and as Kim fact #12 clearly states, she's a little scary!

I would be okay with her anger, but I didn't think I could deal with her pushing me away, not allowing me to be by her side.

The forest was not large or even extremely dense but it was filled with a good amount of Charlie's cop buddies so we couldn't phase. It also didn't help that Paul only got a sock, and feet smell different from the rest of the body, so unless she was shoeless it might be a bit more difficult. The three of us split up, trying to avoid the existing search party.

I ran through the trees till I reached the complete opposite end of the woods, and then started backward, if he was going to kill her and drop the body, he wouldn't do it so close to the clearing. Paul had had the same idea and we met somewhere in the middle.

He grinned at me and raised his eyebrows, "wanna make this interesting?"

"What can be more interesting than finding the remains of blood drained teenager?" I asked sarcastically, as we made to cover a new row of trees.

"I don't think he killed her, not in the normal way. I think if they ever find her again she'll be all pretty and made of stone," Paul bet.

"Either way that's breaking the treaty," I said searching the sky. There was no way of telling the time at this point, but it had to be well over nine.

"Well, that's what I was getting at. I put ten dollars on us not finding anything. If she's dead he hid the body better than this, and if he changed her, he's not sticking around for us to kill her. This is a big fat waste of time," he hissed as we made to start another row of trees.

It was almost another hour before I started to smell Sam near, it meant we had searched almost the entire forest and she wasn't here.

So not only did I miss my date with Kim, I wasted hours of my life with Paul that I could not get back.

"Bella," Sam's voice rang clear from a few feet ahead and we sped up. "Have you been hurt?" he asked and I watched him as he lifted her small body off of the ground.

I came around the front to examine her, I didn't smell vamp, but it could be a delayed affected. We weren't really in the know on how blood-suckers were created, only destroyed. Sam picked her up and her glazed eyes flittered past me, obviously not taking me in. I sniffed deeply trying to smell for blood, there was none.

She looked dead, gone, her eyes were empty and she just kept mumbling.

"He's gone."

"He left me."

"Didn't love me."

"Gone."

Sam's arms were rigid as he held her and I felt nauseous at the sight of her, but I wasn't sure why. I don't think I have ever seen someone in so much grief, she was almost catatonic.

She lie limp in Sam's arms as we reached Charlie who grabbed her and dashed inside. We followed because it was our duty, but I was itchy, desperate to run back to Kim. When we got inside I checked the wall clock, surprised and angry to find it was 11:03pm. She would be sleeping already and I ruined everything.

Sam, Paul, and I stood against the door, watching as a doctor looked her over, there were no wounds. We all breathed a sigh of relief and took it as the perfect time to bow out. We stripped down once we found the trees and phased back.

Paul's thoughts were on the ten bucks he owed me, but Sam's thoughts were on Bella, on the look on her face, and how it mirrored Leah's look when he ended it with her.

The pain of the memory was sharp, he had loved Leah, adored her, remembering the pain he put her through was unbearable. He was furious, burning up at the idea of leaving someone and hurting them this badly.

Once we made it back to La Push I separated from the others and headed to Kim's place, I climbed the tree outside of Kim's house watching her till her alarm clock informed me it was 3am. Although I felt better knowing she was safe in her room, and I was immensely happy to see her face I couldn't stop thinking about Bella.

She loved him, he was a filthy abomination, but she loved him and he left her. Once she woke up from her haze she was going to hate him, hate Edward Cullen till the day she died while his freak body remained the same. Like mine. She loved him more than herself, more than her own safety and apparently her sanity.

Would Kim ever love me like that? Did I want her to love me like that? To love me so much she could disregard the rain and lie on the forest floor for hours in pain.

No I didn't want that, I definitely didn't want her to love me like that, it wasn't healthy, it wasn't normal. But I did want her to love me, I couldn't think of a life without her, losing her would drive me to the brink. I understood Bella, but the picture didn't help me feel better. I started to fear the power Kim had over me.