AN
Hey, here's the next chapter and it's fairly long for me! I hope you enjoy!
Leah's POV
After a very unusual breakfast (the unusual being that Seth cooked), everyone seemed to ever so unsubtly depart and leave Cris and I alone at the table.
"So, what have you got planned today?" he asked after a few minutes.
"I have to go do a patrol. Collin and Brady are taking the next shift, but I still like to make sure we pull our weight. You could come though?" I said hopefully.
"Aw Leah, I would but I need to spend sometime with Lee. I want to check how he really is, if you know what I mean." Cris looked genuinely apologetic.
It was fine; I was disappointed sure, but one of things I liked about him was how caring he was. Although I was also extremely worried about how much guilt and concern he was actually carrying on behalf of his pack.
I assured him it was ok and went out on patrol anyway. Hopefully I'd catch up with him later.
As I ran, I thought about last night. The last thing I remembered was crying on Cris.
What was I thinking?
Yesterday I had let all my emotions take over. I couldn't help it, I faced up to a lot of things at the graves. I could however, kick myself for putting the extra stress on Cris.
God! Cris, Cris, Cris - How many times could I think his name in one minute.
"Hey Leah."
Jake's voice broke through my thoughts as I ran my normal patrol circuit.
"Hey Jake. How's things?"
"I don't like it." His thoughts were disapproving.
"If this is about Cris again, don't you dare even start." I mentally snapped back.
"Not Cris. Jeez Leah, it might become about that if you don't get your head back in the game."
"My head is in the game, and in case you forgot you aren't my alpha anymore."
"No, but I am your friend."
"I know." I didn't mean to be so impatient with Jake, but he did like to jump in at the deep end about things.
"Anyway, I actually meant about this body. I can come back?"
"No. You being here won't change anything."
"It doesn't matter. If you need me, I'll come back. I told you that Leah."
"Jake, you can't step down then still want to be involved. What would be the point? I've got this handled, ok?"
"Ok. Who's on patrol with you?"
"No one; Embry will be on in a while."
"I don't like you out on your own."
"Jake. What did I just say? Besides Collin and Brady are about somewhere."
"Ok."
"How's Nessie?"
Jake's thoughts became awkward immediately, and I saw glimpses of Nessie trying to seduce him. I couldn't help but laugh subconsciously at his embarrassment.
"That's good isn't it Jake? Your imprint wants you."
"She's only just got these feelings. We haven't been together even three months. I'm not ready."
"Jake, I know I don't fully get the imprint stuff, but correct me if I'm wrong - you give your imprint what she wants? Therefore, if you are reluctant, or not ready, you are probably getting that from her. Her body and her mind are different things. You should stop worrying. You'll know when it's right."
"I never thought of it like that."
"There's a surprise."
"I miss this."
"What me pointing out the obvious?"
"Yeah, among other things."
"Me too."
Suddenly my mind went blank and blocked out whatever Jake said next. My nose was picking up an unusual scent. My mind refocused to hear Jake yelling in my mind.
"Leah! What's going on?"
I tried to place the smell, there was only one thing I ever knew to smell like that.
"Jake, Nessie is with you right?"
"What? Of course. She's at the house. Why would you ask that. What are you smelling? Lee tell me."
"Calm down will you, you're distracting me. There's a scent that . . . well it reminds me of Nessie. I'm going to investigate."
"Leah, call for back up now!"
"Jake, butt out or I'll close the link. You aren't helping."
Surprisingly, he fell silent. I followed the trail for some miles until I came up to a tall slope and the highway, there the scent stopped. I assumed whoever it was had got into a car and decided to track the scent backwards to at least see where they had been.
Turning away from the road, I padded back into the forest. Unexpectedly, someone dropped down from a tree above me and blocked my path.
The maroon eyes that were looking at me threw me; I was expecting to be faced with the usual crimson red eyes that we knew so well. I let a long snarl escape from chest anyway. I didn't actually doubt the girl I was looking at was a killer: I could clearly smell the stench of human blood on her breath, even from several meters away.
"Leah, get out of there now and get backup!"
"Shut up Jake, I think I can handle one half-breed."
The female hybrid looked at me curiously. She was definitely the owner of the strange scent I had tracked. The woman looked deranged and feral though, nothing like Renesmee - I guessed she had been a nomad for years. As she cocked her head to take in my size, a ray of sunlight, found it's way through the canopy above and hit her skin; as if in confirmation she didn't 'sparkle', yet her skin still remained a sickly white.
There was no doubt left in my mind. "Yep! Jake, I was definitely right - she's a half breed."
I realised Jake had phased out - oh that was just great! How bloody typical; the fuckwit was around when I didn't want him, and gone the minute I did!
"Do you do anything else apart from drool and growl dog?"
The cruel high pitched voice brought my attention back to my current situation; the blood-sucker was talking to me now, and she reminded me of Morticia Addam's in a weird way. The freak was all tall and gangly with particularly thin facial features. She had long jet black hair which when set against her pale skin, made her look drained and sinister. Her long black dress was torn in several places and she carried a small satchel over her body. Finally, I noted a tattoo of a snake was wrapped around her left arm, working all the way up from her wrist to her shoulder - the leech clearly had style issues.
For now, we were currently both at a stand off. I was frozen low down in an attack position growling and she was on her haunches in a similar manner. Her comment seemed to be an attempt to antagonise me and break my focus.
A huge part of me wanted to call for my pack, even though I had this handled they needed to check there was no other blood-suckers in the area. The problem being, in order to howl I would have to take my eyes off her, and there was no way that was going to happen.
Instead, I let the wolf take over and slowly, I started to circle the bitch. I wasn't entirely happy with my predicament, I had never killed a half-breed before, none of us had. Sure she was a killer, it was probably all gravy to this leech, but I had never had to kill something that was part human before. Whatever way you looked at it, blood pumped beneath her skin and her heart beat. As I considered taking that away, I realised it was the closest I had willingly come to being a monster.
"I'm getting bored now doggy." She sneered. "I'll tell you what, I'm going to do you a favour. My dad taught me that it was humane to put an animal out of it's misery. Although, my sister Sophia always told me that skinning them alive was more fun."
I moved a step closer bearing my teeth as the realisation that her sister must be the one who skinned the wolf hit me. We really were dealing with some sadistic fuckers. On the good side, I was suddenly less worried about her humanity. In fact, it helped me to focus on the fact that I finally had my chance to get some revenge.
I was about to make my move, when I heard several wolves howl in the distance. My mind became a flood of thoughts, as my pack and Cris had joined me.
"Leah, I'm almost there. Jake called." Cris's mind was clearest first and I could feel concern emanating from him.
The next thoughts came from Seth; "Sis, be careful we are coming! Cris has already ran ahead."
"Hey Queenie, save me a piece of the bitch." Quil was actually gnawing at the bit to reach me, and I could see flashes of Claire's birthday party running through his mind.
Finally my beta joined in, and he at least seemed calmer; "Oi boss, weren't you going to let us join in?"
"Everyone, shut up!" I snapped back mentally. As appreciated as they were, the God damn boys were also a distraction, and the blood-sucker in front of me seemed to understand what the howl meant as well because she started edging backwards in the direction of the road.
"Bad, bad, doggy . . . calling your friends." She tutted, "It seems I have to go now; this was fun though and I'll see you soon, I promise."
She winked for effect, and the evil glint in her eye told me she definitely planned on coming back. It's just a shame she didn't know who she was dealing with, because only over my dead body would she set foot in La Push again.
As expected, the leech turned tail and flew through the forest away from me and towards the road. I almost laughed at the fact she was running and took chase. Within seconds I was nipping at her heels, and she looked back horrified. She tried to move faster, but it was useless against me. I pushed a little harder and pounced on her back.
The impact threw us to the ground and the leech tried to turn within my claws to face me, all the while ripping and scratching at any part of me she could. Luckily, my instinct to kill over took any pain she inflicted. Instead, I started ripping chunks off her shoulder, all the while trying to get a hold of her franticly moving head.
I felt sick as her blood ran into my mouth from the opens wounds; it tasted as disgusting as it smelt, but the human part of her made it warm and alive. It seemed to effect her just as much though because the leech started to screech and, somehow in her panic, the little bitch managed to turn around and face me.
I immediately jumped away as her teeth came gnashing at me (I knew Nessie wasn't venomous, but I wasn't taking any risks with this freak). She used the opportunity to take off again, holding a hand against her bleeding shoulder as she sprinted. I followed and could see the steep bank and highway ahead of us.
I knew I had to get her before she got out in the open, so I threw my body at her again. This time she was ready for me, and we met in mid-air face to face. I was heavier and managed to push her backwards, but to my horror we hit the top of the bank and I propelled us over it.
With the speed and weight we were going at, plus the continuous wrestling to kill each other, we plummeted at an almightily speed down the steep grass slope. With an almighty thump, we hit the hard cold highway with me underneath. I felt the wind being crushed out of my lungs on impact, and the leech somehow rolled nicely over me and into another fighting crouch.
I had to give it to her, for a half-breed the bitch had stamina. I managed somehow to push myself to my feet and draw my breath, but I was unable to put any weight on my back leg. I looked back quickly to see my ankle was twisted. I cursed in my head and suddenly the voices of my pack came rushing through again, all heavy with concern. I didn't even realise I had blocked them out during the fight.
"Aw, little puppy looks tired. Time for a nap?" The leech laughed sadistically and started moving towards me.
She was clearly mental if she thought a sprained ankle would be enough to stop me. I let out a growl and my feet planted themselves firmly on the road. I was preparing to pounce, my only focus was ripping her head off in one swift move. I gathered all my strength and felt my muscles flex. Just as she started to prowl towards me, I took off and sprung at her, aiming perfectly.
To my shock, I felt myself flying through the air away from the leech. I hit the grass bank this time and felt a heavy weight press against my side. I turned around snarling, only to see Cris standing over me protectively in wolf form. I was about to ask him what the fuck he was playing at when behind him a massive lorry came flying round the bend and slammed right into the half-breed.
The lorry's brakes screeched to a stop, some good few metres up the road. I automatically shook myself off and went to finish off the leech, but Cris pinned me down again with his paws. I tried to form a coherent sentence, but my mind was a light with my pack shouting out my name.
"Shut the fuck up . . . I'm ok. Go run a patrol, find Jared, do something constructive other than get on my nerves - this is being handled. I didn't mean to be so horrible to them, but really, was shouting quite necessary?
"Cris, get the hell off me. I need to finish this." I tried to shove him off me, but he wouldn't move.
"Leah, if I let you up it's only so you can move into the forest. We can't be seen remember?" Cris showed me an image of the truck driver and got off me.
"Screw that, what about the leech?" I started to move back towards the road.
Cris growled at me and motioned his head towards the top of the bank. "I'll go check it out, ok?"
"Ok." I grunted reluctantly and gave in - only because my ankle was actually hurting me. I was still pissed off though, and cursed continuously as I hobbled up the bank on three legs.
I noticed Cris run behind a bush by the side of the road and come out half dressed. As soon as I made it to the top, I crouched down low watching him.
Initially, Cris slowly walked up to the lorry, which I realised had actually jack knifed due to the bend. He cautiously moved to the front, and I really wished he would phase so I that could see what was happening. My stomach dropped when he seemed to frown - I took it to mean that the leech had fled. Cris then walked back around to the lorry cab, where he opened the passenger door and jumped in.
For several minutes I stayed stone still, waiting impatiently for him to come out. I was livid, like rip his head off livid - Cris had interfered in my kill. He had stopped me, and let the leech get away. She was alive and able to kill again and because of this, families would be ripped apart and innocent lives would be lost - all because he interfered. More so, the leech had walked away and was quite capable of coming back here to do it all.
After what seemed like forever, I saw Cris jump out of the cab and walk back towards me. I crawled away from the slope and into the forest, where I phased back and realised my clothes were missing from my leg.
Suddenly Cris came into view and stopped dead when he saw me standing there in all my glory. I wanted a hole to open up in the ground and just swallow me. Despite him being a major pain in my ass, he still closed his eyes and took his shirt off, before throwing it in my direction. I caught it and threw it over my head; it was long enough to cover my privates and I supposed that was something. I was still completely furious at him though and, while he had his eyes closed, I couldn't help but hop over and slap him hard across the face.
His eyes flew open and he looked at me in shock.
"Don't you ever get in my way, ever again!" I snarled through my human lips. I didn't care who he was, this was business.
"Well next time try fighting somewhere where you won't end up as road kill." He glared back.
I couldn't help it, I was still worked up from fighting, and the bitch was still a big part of me. I needed to fight him, I needed a victory. I raised my hand again to hit him, but he caught it before it even got close to his face. He held it tightly in his grasp, so I raised the other one instead. He caught that to and pushed me back into a nearby tree.
He didn't shout, but the angry tone of his voice meant he didn't need to. "The first slap you get Leah. That's it though. You think you can handle shit on your own, well you're a pack animal for a reason."
"I had it covered," I snapped back.
"Sure you did," he threw back at me sarcastically.
"Yeah, I did!" Who the fuck did he think I was?
"So you knew that truck was coming then?" Cris snorted.
"No. I'd have heard it though." I spat.
"Of course. Because you were hearing everything your pack said weren't you? God, why can't you ever just say thank you? You're strong, but you're not indestructible; I wish you'd realise that. I love you, but damn . . . you do make things difficult. What about your brother? Your pack? Jesus Christ, knock it off Leah, what are you smiling at?" he asked, un-amused.
I couldn't help it, I missed the whole last part of his rant. My anger had dissipated at the sound of the three little words he had just said.
"You just said you love me." I chuckled, noticing how he still had me pinned against the tree with my wrists above my head.
Cris's blue eyes sparkled, yet he sighed sadly and released me from his grip. I felt lonely and cold immediately as he stepped away from me.
"Cris?" I questioned, as stress started to creep into his face.
"How's your leg?" He ignored me and looked down at my foot, which I was still holding off the ground.
"Cris, you can't just say something like that, then change the subject." I called after him; the girl in me was coming to life and holding on to the fact he might have feelings for me. I had been hurt after his rejection on the porch, but I still wanted more.
"Come on. Let's get you home." He walked back over, avoiding all eye contact and picked me up, cradling me in his arms.
"I can walk," I said sarcastically, but part of me didn't want to be put down either.
His tired response worried me; "I'm sure you can, but just for once let me do something my way."
Thinking of the stress he was already under with Lee and his pack, I remained silent and rested my head against his shoulder.
"Shit," I suddenly cursed.
He stopped walking and looked at me. "What?"
"The driver. Is he ok?" I couldn't believe I hadn't even asked. I knew Cris had got in the cab and I just totally forgot about it.
Cris gave a very slight smile. "Yeah, he's just nicely concussed, so he knows nothing. I called an ambulance on his radio though. The front of the lorry is pretty messed up and indented. Plus there's some unexplained blood and no body."
"If they trace it they'll see it's half human. Oh my god, won't they start asking questions?" I started to worry that we would be exposed. A huge dent and blood around the area with no body would be unexplainable. Only the hulk could survive something like that. I started struggling, trying to get out of Cris's arms. Maybe we could clear up the scene before anyone got there.
Sensing my struggle, Cris looked down at me again and raised his eyebrows. The look I got made it pretty clear I wasn't going anywhere, so I stopped fighting and made the most of being so close to him. Sadly, the long steady strides of his legs meant I was home sooner than expected, and I found myself sitting on my sofa with my foot up. Cris barely said two words to me, and as soon as he checked I was comfy he walked back out the front door again leaving me alone and confused on the sofa.
I managed to have a nap and when I woke up my ankle was already feeling better. The house was silent and I expected to be alone, but I found Embry and Seth asleep in each armchair snoring. I picked up a nearby pillow and threw it at Embry. He sat up alert with some dribble trailing out the side of his mouth.
"Did you know you drool in your sleep?" I said evilly, as he rubbed his eyes and yawned.
"What's up boss, how's the leg?" He grinned.
"It'll be fine. What happened?" I kept my voice low this time so not to wake Seth.
Embry seemed to understand and spoke quietly in return. "Err . . . we told Jared and they are running extra patrols. We also checked and the leech's trail led in a circle around La Push, but everyone seems to be accounted for. So no harm no foul I suppose."
I nodded, grateful at least that La Push was safe, although I feared it was only a matter of time before they got through. "Where's the others?"
He paused to yawn before answering. "Quil's with Claire, Cris is tracking and Lee's scouting; you should see that rabbit move though Leah, it's amazing. I tried to keep up with him this morning, but had no chance."
"Hare," I corrected
"Hair? What, where?" He started brushing his face with his hands.
"No, you idiot. He's a hare not a rabbit. Cris told me, it's like calling you a dog instead of a wolf." I chuckled.
"Oh, yeah. I can see that would be annoying." Embry gave me a big old grin.
I sat back and looked at my brother, still out for the count. "How is he?" I nodded in his direction. I had no idea how he had held up under today's stress, it was only yesterday we visited Dad.
Embry's face fell. "He's kind of fucked up Leah. I've never seen him like that before."
I snapped my head back to face him and felt my neck crick. "What do you mean?"
"We all saw that truck Leah and knew where you were. I don't think you realised how blind a bend you were on, or even which bend you were on. He was scared." My beta was solemn.
"Well he's daft, I would have got out of the way. What do you mean by 'which' though?" I didn't understand.
Embry gave me a grim and apologetic look this time. "That's where you're Mum's car crashed."
"Oh." That was all I could say as a sickening feeling ran through my stomach. I had never been back to where they died; it was to painful, and most of that night was a blur. It's no wonder Seth freaked out. I looked over at my baby brother in awe.
Sensing the direction of my thoughts, Embry interrupted. "He'll be ok, just don't make a big thing of it. I know he's always chipper, but he's still your brother and he doesn't like to feel weak. Besides, it was more the fact that you were only focused on the leech that made him worry."
"You sound just like Cris." I threw back at him, while considering if me and Seth needed to have a chat or not.
"Yeah, well, for some crazy reason we all care about you." Embry stopped short as he realised what he had said and looked embarrassed.
I surprisingly laughed, I had been doing it more and more over the last two months. It was funny how when your heart didn't feel as heavy, your ability to see the funny side came out.
I smiled at Embry and he chuckled before sitting back in the chair again and closing his eyes. He was clearly at home here and soon drifted back to sleep.
I used the peace and quiet to think over things. I decided that I wouldn't harass Seth. I didn't want to turn into our mother and insist we talked about our feelings. Plus Embry was right - he didn't like to feel weak. I completely understood that.
As for the half-breed . . . I had a taste of her blood now and would be ready next time; both her - and her sisters - days on this earth were numbered.
Satisfied I would get my revenge, I relaxed and took a deep breath. I felt comforted as I realised I was still in Cris's shirt and his scent was surrounding me. I buried my nose into the neck of the top and drew in as much of him as possible. I considered what he said in the forest and my tummy twisted again, but this time in a good way.
Cris loved me, but in what way?