"You want to know about my life in LaPush," Seth echoed in utter shock as they walked leisurely through the forest. Their pace had changed since that brothel place, going from arduous and non-stop to relaxed. According to James if Murdock said they'd find Laurent at this destination then they would, no matter how fast or slow they went, so the vampire decided it was better to go slower and conserve their energy. Seth was shocked at the open trust the vampire had in Murdock's words, but then again that guy seemed to know a lot. Maybe he was a vampire with some sort of foresight, kind of like Alice.
"I told you things about myself last night that I don't usually share, at all," James muttered, hands shucked in his jacket's pockets, gaze ahead. "Turnabout is fair play." He suddenly smirked and glanced back over his shoulder at Seth with a smirk. "Plus, I'm curious about what an actual wolf pack is like, I know better than to even think ours is the norm."
"It isn't," Seth quickly assured him as he hurried his pace to match James' on the road. He'd slowed down in utter shock that James was curious about him, but now he matched James' stride with ease. A part of him was racing in excitement at the fact that James wanted to know more about him, was actually showing interest in his life, and the other part was warning Seth not to get too excited and blow this, to take his time. "For one, a normal wolf pack can read each other's mind when they're in wolf form, it helps them communicate."
"Right, I remember J—-I remember hearing that you and Leah could somehow block your minds from the others, and that was how you were able to be a double agent." James acted as if he hadn't just skipped over Jacob's name like that. "How could you guys do that, anyway?"
Why had James stumbled over Jacob's name? Why had he quickly reworded the question when there was no need to? Unless… Unless Seth's jealous snap last night…
A blush worked it's way up his chest as he lowered his gaze in embarrassment. He'd let hormones and resentment get the best of him last night and had really acted like a spoiled kid, snapping at James like that because he just couldn't stand that even though they were so far away from their Alpha all James seemed to think and talk about was Jacob. So yeah, maybe he'd snapped about it, but he'd hoped James would forget about it and about how uncool Seth had been. He'd never actually expected James to try and comply with the unreasonable request!
"Earth to Seth." James waved his hand in front of his face. "I asked a question, you don't get to pretend you didn't hear it."
Inhaling deeply, Seth shrugged. "It just started happening gradually." Had started since James' first trip to Forks. Seth had wondered whether the scent driving him insane was damaging his brain, and the werewolf's connection to his tribe along with it. "Leah and I were put in charge of spying on you, it seemed to make the situation easier somehow." He made a face, remembering when it'd started happening to Leah. "And then the vampire attacked that party and we were forced to stand down, to let your pack handle it because Sam wanted to observe you." He gulped and clenched his hands together. "We forfeited our purpose as man's protector so he could watch."
James watched him silently, not at all judgmental like a part of Seth had worried. Then again, James had done awful things in his past, and there was no room for judgment in his eyes, that was more than obvious.
"So this need to fight vampires and protect humans isn't a calling, it's an instinct," James realized softly to himself. "That was why being forced to fight your natural instinct made your inner wolf rebel against your Alpha to the degree where your mental connection with him and the others broke, or at least fragmented."
"Something like that." At leads it had been for Leah. Seth's wolf had started going rogue the second it'd caught wind of James' scent. But of course he couldn't come out and say that, at least not yet. Maybe not for a long while. But someday he would. And that was the hope that kept him going.
"Was it hard to come to the decision to change sides?" James wanted to know curiously. "I mean, the Rez was your home. You went to school there, lived with your pack there, hung out with those two weirdoes there, and—-."
"Two weirdoes?" Seth blinked in confusion.
"Yeah, your two friends, the ones with even bigger baby faces than yours. I swear I thought they were your younger brothers until I realized you were in the same grade. What were their names? Something like Fuller and Littlesea I think?" James shocked the hell out of Seth by admitting that he'd known about Brady Fuller and Colin Littlesea. They'd been Seth's best friends at school on the Rez but as neither of them had turned yet he'd had to distance himself from them slowly, and that'd caused a strain on their friendship but the other two boys had done their best to try and keep the friendship going.
"How do you know about them?" Seth asked in utter confusion. "I've never mentioned Colin or Brady."
"Your pack was spying on us, so Vicki and I spied on them," James responded easily. "I'm good at picking up scents and she's good at hiding them. We figured it was only a matter of time before you guys tried to kill us so we kept an eye on you all behind Jacob's back."
Seth couldn't believe it. How in the world had those two vampires been in LaPush and been able to hide it from the pack of werewolves who made it their home? He was insulted, impressed, and a little terrified of the Hunter siblings now.
"We didn't believe you'd turned to our side at first," James admitted with a little shrug. "Figured Sam had realized you and Leah were terrible at being subtle, pulled you from your 'stealth observance' role, and had instead implanted you like a spy amongst us."
Seth's mouth parted in utter horror. "You knew we were spying on you in our wolf forms?"
"You're horrible at keeping hidden," James snickered. "It was so obvious, so painfully obvious."
The embarrassment from before returned full-force. "What made you change your mind?" He cleared his throat. "Why did you decide to finally trust me?"
James' snicker faded as he frowned, his eyebrows nearly touching. "I don't know, actually." He shook his head and took in a deep breath. "It just happened, I'm still unnerved by it. I don't trust anyone, but I did somehow realize I trusted you, and then you proved that it wasn't wrong to trust you when you warned us about—-." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I can never quite get a read on you, puppy."
That sounded like a compliment.
It also sounded like a complaint.
He liked both.
Seth couldn't fight his smile so he just let it grow until it became a grin.
"Damn it, stop being so cute already," James huffed as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair.
Cute.
Seth had seriously hated that word up until last night. Now though? Just the sound made his stupid blush darker as it conjured up all kinds of memories. Everyone Seth had ever known had called him cute, and he'd always hated it with every fibre of his being, but after last night all he could think of when he heard that word was James whispering it in his ear over and over, desperately, while thrusting into him.
Heat erupted in Seth's core and he knew James could hear the way his heart picked up pace, he most definitely should be able to smell the change in the wolf's scent. Why did Seth's body have to work against him so much? It wasn't fair!
"So tell me about Colin and Brady," James asked oddly, rapidly, his voice strained for some reason. "I'm assuming they aren't shifters."
"Not yet, but they both have the gene, so it's really just a matter on if it gets triggered or not," Seth responded slowly, confused as to why James' expression was so pinched all of a sudden. "Colin is Jake's cousin, and he has a huge crush on Leah. It's disgusting." He shook his head at that. "Brady is distantly related to both the Atari and Clearwater families on his grandmother's side, so he's my cousin."
"Does he have a crush on Leah?"
Seth made up his face immediately at the thought. "Not that I know of, no." To be honest, he had a feeling Brady had a crush on Sam, and was more than sure he'd had a thing for Paul before that, but Brady had never come out to them on his sexuality and Seth had never felt the need to push. He was almost sure his friend was gay though. Then again, maybe Brady was just attracted to dominant personalities, which meant he could very well have a thing for Leah.
Eeww.
James made a noise.
Seth looked up at him. "What?"
The vampire shrugged. "I was just thinking, Murdock said that more werewolves will Imprint on vampires."
Seth's heart skipped a beat. Was James—-had he figured it out?
"That means that your old Alpha and some, maybe all, of his pack are going to Imprint on vampires as well. Maybe those two as well once they turn." He stretched languidly, hands up high in the air. "Maybe even you will."
Seth fought his impulse to freeze up. "It's not an impossibility."
"Murdock says it's going to happen, means it will happen," James assured him, once more a devout believer in this Murdock guy. "Have you thought about it? About—-about what it might be like to Imprint on someone?"
"Y-yes." Was this it? Was James going to ask? How should he answer? He hadn't wanted James to know until he'd managed to get closer to him!
"Me too." James shoved his hands back in his jacket's pocket. "I've been making up possible matches in my head. It's actually kind of fun, but don't tell anyone I said that or I'll have to hurt you."
"Huh?" Seth blinked, confused.
"Well, the only coven of vampires around are the Cullens, right?" James asked curiously. "Sure, they're paired up right now, but an Imprint might get in the way of that like it did with your cousin and Sam. So I've been trying to figure out who might Imprint on who."
This was not where Seth had seen this conversation going. He didn't know whether to feel disappointed or relieved. "What have you come up with so far?"
"Thing is, I don't really know the Cullens or your pack that well, so I'm going on the little I've learn from the Cullens by staying at their house, and what Vicki and I learnt while spying on the Rez. So it mightn't be very accurate." James made a face. "To be honest, it's more sorted by who I think would be more interesting together than anything else."
Seth waited for him to continue. He hadn't thought about this at all, but now that James had mentioned it he couldn't help but wonder himself.
"I really want to pair Sam and Carlisle together because that would screw both your old pack and the Cullens, their dynamics would utterly fall apart," James declared, revealing once more that he could be very mean when he wanted to be. "Since Bella will be a vampire some day, no matter what Jacob wants, I'm giving her to Leah."
Seth raised his eyebrow. "She and Alice and Jasper have a thing though, don't they?"
James waved that off immediately. "I told you, this isn't what I think will happen, it's just what would make the most trouble should it happen, and thus, be the most interesting in my opinion."
"Go on," Seth muttered as he motioned him onwards.
"Victoria needs someone she can boss around, who would best fit that category in the pack?"
"Embry maybe?" At James' look he added: "If you've seen us all in wolf form, he's the gray wolf with black spots."
"Okay. Right." James nodded, apparently having seen all the wolves in both human and wolf form, which was terrifying because that meant he and Victoria had been around the Rez wolves multiple times without being caught or even sensed. "So Vicki gets Embry. Rosalie and Victoria seem very much alike, they like the same raunchy romance novels so they must like the same type of guys too, so I'm putting her with that other guy that hangs out with Embry. The one whose fur is chocolate colored but lighter in his face. Those girls could make those guys utterly miserable." James' grin was all teeth at the thought. "They'd make them regret ever having been born."
I hope Embry and Quil don't ever Imprint on Rosalie and Victoria, Seth decided right then and there. Sure, they'd turned on Seth when they'd realized whose side he really was on, but he didn't blame them. He had turned on them first.
"That werewolf with the temper problems should end up with whichever Cullen has a bad temper as well, I'm not sure which it is, but just because he's huge I'm going to say Rosalie's mate - I've forgotten his name." James shrugged, obviously not really caring about the people whose lives he was ruining in his imagination. "That leaves the wolf who is always making bets, I think. He'll be with Esme, she's the Cullen mama so she'll have a stern hand, make him behave." James really was trying to figure out what pairing would make the most miserable couple, wasn't he? "Jasper could have Brady or Colin - whoever shifts first. Whichever one he doesn't get Alice can. I don't really care about them if I'm being honest. They're boring. I don't see what Bella sees in them."
"What about me?" Seth had been waiting for his own name to be called but when James had merely smirked to himself in silence for a couple of minutes he'd realized he'd been forgotten. "Who are you going to use to make my life impossible?"
"I was pairing your old pack and the Cullens together," James explained with a shrug. "You are a part of our pack, it doesn't count."
"You paired Leah with Bella," Seth reminded immediately.
"Right." James made a face and wouldn't look in Seth's direction for some reason. "I don't want to do that to you."
"Why not?" Seth asked in utter confusion. How was he supposed to take that?
"Well, I'm trying to make people miserable." James shrugged and didn't comment any further.
Seth paused and stared at his back as the vampire continued walking. Was he saying that he didn't want to make Seth miserable? Again - how was he supposed to take that? "Well, you're the only vampire left anyway." He tried for nonplussed as he rejoined James' side and stared ahead of them. "Imagine us being Imprinted."
James snickered, which damned hurt. "You definitely wouldn't deserve that."
Seth blinked. "What does that mean?"
The vampire angled a glance in his direction. "You don't deserve to have me as an Imprintee."
He clenched his hands into fists. "What. Does. That. Mean?"
There was a moment's pause before the vampire looked away from him with a shrug. "It means you'd be the most miserable out of this whole pairing party, and you don't deserve that." James continued to stare ahead of him. "You're an annoying brat sometimes, but you're also kind, Seth. You mightn't see it now no matter how much I keep telling you, but I'm not a good guy. I'm the one who keep pretending he's not a bad guy deep down inside, and hoping everyone forgets who he really is. I'm going to mess up one day, and no one is going to be able to forgive whatever I do. I'll end up hurting someone who cares about me, because deep down inside I'm a monster."
Seth just stared at James in utter shock. "You're an idiot."
It was James' turn to blink as he barked out a laugh and turned to face him, expression darkly amused, voice very teasing. "And here I was pouring out my dark little soul to you. That's so mean, Seth."
"You're really starting to piss me off," Seth muttered softly, more to himself than to James, actually.
That amusement slipped from James' face.
"You were a monster once," Seth informed him point-blank, staring into James' eyes as he did so. "You hurt and killed innocent people, you turned them into monsters too. Means you're responsible for the innocent people they kill from now on. You were fine with that. You didn't care." He took in a deep breath. "And then you met Jacob and he changed you, made you see you could be more than what you'd become." Seth clenched his fists tightly. "No matter what you say, you wouldn't still have those golden eyes if you didn't want them." He took in a very deep breath. "Sure, you can use Jacob to justify it. You want him, and you want to do anything possible to keep him from turning you away—keep him from seeing the monster you are. And who knows. Maybe you have. Maybe Jacob has no clue whatsoever what his Beta actually is. Or what he was. What he could be."
James gulped and looked like it was a battle to keep Seth's gaze but the vampire wasn't one to back down from a challenge.
"Thing is, you're an idiot… but you're not stupid." Seth couldn't shut up no matter how hard he tried to do so. "Jacob doesn't love you. He loves Edward. He's always loved Edward and if Murdock is so all-knowing, he's just confirmed Jacob will only ever love Edward. That means that no matter how good you behave, no matter how long you stay by Jacob's side, he's never going to see you as more than a brother, a Beta. So why are you still planning on going back once this mission is over? Why are your eyes still golden? What do you get out of any of this if he's never going to be yours?" Seth took a step towards James, and another. "The chase is over and you've lost your prey. So if you're just a monster desperately keeping himself from the hunt, why are you still here if there's nothing for you to gain by holding it back anymore?"
James continued to share at him before he laughed darkly. The sound caught Seth by surprise and sent a chill down his spine as the vampire shook his head. Wisps of blonde hair had fallen free from where the locks were gathered in a ponytail, and even though they fell in his face, James didn't even try to push them away. "I don't know."
Seth gulped, uneasy with this shift in James' personality.
"I've been asking myself that since I left Forks, and then Murdock went and confirmed it and, I don't know." James finally brushed the locks of hair from his face, his smile sharp and unhappy. "Why should I go back? Why should I allow myself to be bossed by someone else? Why should I be forced to drink animal blood when it keeps me weak? Makes me vulnerable? You're right. I don't have anything or anyone waiting for me back there. Victoria would leave with me if I want to go, or I could just leave her there if she's happy. She doesn't have to go with me. I don't have to stay." He then stopped and looked up at the sky as realization visibly hit. "I don't have to stay."
Nerves clashed in Seth's stomach at that look. Why in the world had he said that? He didn't want James to go! He just wanted him to stop with the self-pity! Wanted him to realize that—that Seth knew, and Seth didn't care! What did it matter if Jacob didn't?
"Murdock said I didn't love Jacob, and if he was right—-have I ever loved anyone? Am I even able to understand it much less ever actually experience it?" James was talking to himself by now. "I was so sure, but—-."
"He doesn't get to tell you how you feel," Seth quickly interrupted.
"But I've accepted that Jake chose Edward," James whispered in a clearly tortured tone as he combed his fingers through his hair and gripped those blonde locks tightly. "Shouldn't it be harder to accept that if I was truly in love with him? What if Murdock was right? What if it's my just my obsessive nature mixed with the chase, the hunt, gratefulness and pack loyalty?"
"Would that really be so bad?" Seth asked finally.
"Yes!" James snapped at him. "Because that means the hunt is over, and if I did everything just to get my prey, I won't have any reason to not be the James I was before! I can already see bits of him coming back! Especially with how I'm treating you!"
Seth's eyes were wide, shocked at the revelation of what had truly been bothering James.
"And I don't know why I'm telling you this." James trailed his hand down his face. "I don't talk about feelings or problems or worries or… I just don't do what I'm doing right now. And it's pissing me off that I'm doing it… And I'm still doing it, right now, despite being pissed off."
"What do you mean you're acting like the old you with me?" Seth wanted to know softly. "You weren't gay before Jacob. You weren't vegetarian before Jacob. You weren't in an alliance with werewolves and humans before Jacob. You'd never have even considered sleeping with a shifter before Jacob."
James didn't answer, he merely turned around and started walking again.
"I asked you a question!" Seth snapped as he stalked after him.
"And I'm ignoring it!" James snapped right back. "The only thing we need to concentrate on right now is finding Laurent and killing him."
"And then what?"
James ignored him.
"And then what?"
"I don't know, Seth!" James snarled as he turned to face the werewolf, who nearly bumped into him at the unexpected move. "Is that what you want to hear? I. Don't. Know."
"Last night you said you knew which pack you belonged to," Seth growled up at him.
"I said a lot of things last night," James muttered as he clenched his hands at his sides. "Did a lot of things."
Seth flinched and hated himself for that second's weakness. "So is that what this is about? You feel guilty about what we did last night?"
"No. That's the exact opposite of what I feel," James hissed as he glanced away. "That's the problem."
And Seth forgot to breathe for a couple of seconds. "What do you mean?"
James hesitated before opening his mouth, but before he could say anything he went tense, his golden gaze scanning around them. "They're coming closer."
"Who?" Seth readied for an attack.
On the other hand, James groaned as he ran his hand down his face. "Garrett and Riley, they've been keeping a certain distance between us to try and keep off of my radar but not anymore. Seems they're done pretending they are not trailing after us." He let out a deep breath. "About as good a time as any, I suppose. We're almost there." The blonde eyed Seth. "Let's just continue on, finish this, and when we're done we'll pick back up this conversation, okay?"
"Okay," Seth agreed as they began to walk, the wolf now really itching for the fight ahead of them.
Riley was coming.
Great. Just great.
Seth would've preferred Laurent.
…
The Rez pack were a mess.
Ever since news that the Volturi were making their way towards Forks, Leah had reluctantly advised the Rez Pack (on Jacob's orders) and the threat of a contingent of vampires headed their way had caused a reaction in the group.
Honestly, Edward hadn't expected the Rez Pack to show up, or, at least, members of the Rez Pack. Sam Uley, the Alpha, was in a state of inconsolable despair, one which his pack were worried would end in his own death. One of their strongest were with him at all times, watching over their Alpha to make sure he didn't do anything to hurt himself in this time of grief.
That was why his Beta, Jared Cameron, was the one representing them, backed up by Embry Call and Brady Fuller, the latter of which had only recently turned.
Their minds were completely opened to Edward, allowing him to delve in and see more than he was sure they'd be comfortable with, but it gave him the reassurance that the Rez Pack weren't planning anything untoward. They were truly in a mess, and had hit rockbottom. There was no one else they could turn to but the ones they'd shunned, and it killed them to have to do so.
"Does your seer know when these leeches are going to arrive?" Jared asked Jacob. "We've extended our perimeter and hours patrolling, but it would be good to have a timeline."
"Alice is my sister-in-law, not my seer," Jacob announced easily, not at all getting how much that made Edward's stomach clench happily. He hadn't even said that to annoy the wolves, Jacob really did feel that the Cullens were his in-laws. Edward seriously loved that. "And she doesn't have a timetable yet, but she's keeping an eye out on them and will let us know when she does."
Jared sighed deeply and nodded. His thoughts were full of his unhappiness with this situation, and he was a bit disgusted with Jacob for being so 'domesticated', but he was also curious as to how the descendant of Ephraim Black had settled so entirely into mate hood with a vampire. Jared also wondered about Sam's surety that there wasn't actually an Imprint, because according to his thoughts, Jacob and Edward smelt different, smelt unique, and it was a smell Jared's wolf was telling him meant they were connected as one. The Beta wasn't happy with it, but he didn't feel like attacking Edward like he usually would, his inner wolf huffily reminding him werewolf Imprintees were to be protected, not hurt - even if they weren't from the same pack.
Embry and Brady's minds were also questioning Sam's words re the Imprint as their inner wolves were also telling them to be on their best behavior with Edward.
Edward blinked rapidly at that and fought a blush. Wait. So this new form of Imprint - the other inner wolves not only sensed it but accepted it in their own way?
"I'd offer we team up, but Leah is the only other person you'd accept to team up with to patrol, and she doesn't want anything to do with your pack after what happened to Seth and Emily." Jacob's tone wasn't condemning but Jared flinched anyway. "And if someone from my pack isn't going to be there, they aren't going to trust me there, and Bella's just going to do something to get herself hurt, so—-."
"Maybe," Jared began before sighing. "Maybe we could patrol with the Cullens, as well as with your vamp and yourself."
Edward could hear just how much this hurt Jared to say.
Brady's thoughts were full of fear and excitement, he wanted to know what real life vampires were like. Sure, he was supposed to hate them, but he didn't react all that bad to Edward so he was curious if that extended to all other vampires or if it was just an Imprint thing.
Embry was more conflicted, but he too was curious about the idea of teaming up.
"Sam would never agree to that," Jacob declared slowly, carefully.
"Yes, well, Sam is indisposed right now, and as his Beta I have certain authority." Jared didn't want that authority, he didn't want to be in this position making these decisions, especially when he knew Sam would not approve, but Jared wanted what was not only best for the wolves, but for the humans of Forks and LaPush as well. "Vampires and werewolves have different abilities, different strengths… and we need the numbers."
Wow. Edward suddenly respected Jared Cameron. It'd taken a lot to say that, to swallow his pride and admit they needed help. "We'll happily help you."
Jacob glanced back at him, surprised. "Are you sure?"
"Of course." Edward joined his mate's side and smiled when Jacob's hand found his immediately. "We have a truce, why not extend it to a partnership… even if only a temporary one?"
Relieved thoughts filled Jared's mind like a tidal wave, he'd thought he'd be forced to beg. "A partnership between the three of our clans is best for Forks and LaPush."
Jacob shared a look with Edward before nodding. "Yes. For the humans."
Jared smiled a little more genuinely, thinking in surprise that maybe Edward wasn't that bad. He knew for a fact that given all the bad blood between Jacob's pack and his that if the vampire hadn't been so open and eager to push it this truce would've been much harder to cement. Jared was a little grateful to Edward, and was conflicted about that, but decided to accept it and just be grateful. "For the humans."
Leaning his head against Jacob's shoulder, Edward smiled.
For our family.