~ Leah ~

Jake was such a fucking cocksucker, and I was ready to rip his stupid tail off and shove it right the fuck down his throat. Ever since he met that little priss, Bella Swan, he'd been making asinine comparisons between the two of us, and I always came up short.

Bella is nicer to me than my own imprint.

Bella likes to fix cars; Leah could care less about what's important to me.

I get along with Bella a lot better than I do with Leah.

Leah thinks she's got it so bad; Bella's mother was killed by a vampire but she can still be friendly.

I knew I wasn't little miss sunshine, but what was it about this Bella that he was always comparing the two of us? There were plenty of friendly girls right here on the reservation, and he never had thoughts of them in his head. Why her? She was like bait for supernatural creatures; first Jake, and now the pompous ass from the Cullen coven.

This imprint situation had me tied up in knots, and all I wanted to do was run away from it. Jake and I simply didn't fit together. He was immature and annoying. Yet, thanks to the imprint, I felt a continuous need to be near him. When were were apart it was almost painful, like having a piece of myself missing. When we were together I felt whole, but all he did was annoy me and make me wish he'd go away. And the sex! I wanted to punch my fist through a wall every time I felt myself aroused by him. It was entirely involuntary as there was nothing about him I found attractive; yet I wanted him inside me all the time.

It was Sam I truly loved. Sam, our alpha and the man I was with before this whole wolf situation started. We'd been together since freshman year, and then one day he simply didn't want me anymore but wanted my cousin Emily instead. He couldn't explain it, and he didn't even try to stay away from her, even after she got mauled by a "bear" and became disfigured. It wasn't like turning into a wolf wasn't enough of a shock for me, then I got the joy of finding out about the imprint thing, that Sam was the one who destroyed my cousin's face, and no matter how much I wanted to be with Sam, I was stuck with Jake which would never change.

The awful part was Jake didn't want to be with me any more than I wanted to be with him. For every thing I hated about him, there was something he hated about me.

I was still in love with my ex-boyfriend.

I swore all the time.

I was two years older than him.

Now that Bella had entered the picture, things had gotten even worse. My wolf self—I can only assume it is the wolf since I have more sense—sees her as a threat to the imprint and wants to eliminate her. My human self feels ridiculous for caring since I don't even like Jake. And, from what I had seen of his memories, she didn't have any feelings for him, either. She was vampire bait anyway; that asshole vamp could talk all he wanted about keeping her safe. Was such a thing really possible? The pack was still up in arms over how to handle that issue. If she was knowingly friends with a vampire, she deserved what she got. She should know better after what happened to her mother. Ugh, I hate myself so much when I think this way.

I had been walking along the beach while reflecting on all this shit, taking some time to myself in human form for once so my thoughts weren't public knowledge, venting all my frustrations on the rocks I threw several yards out into the ocean. Not for the first time I wished I had someone to share these feelings with. There was no one else that could truly understand what I was going through. My mother had an idea, but as a full human, even she had no way of knowing just how strong the imprint bond was and how it felt. Emily used to be my best friend; ever since Sam dumped me for her, it was now too awkward to confide in her like I used to. I lost more than my fiance when he imprinted on her.

Being the only female in the La Push wolf pack was something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I was a mutant, a freak, and the fucked up imprint only confirmed that. I had never wanted anything extravagant, only to marry Sam and maybe pop out a kid or two and live happily ever after, forcing tribal knowledge down their throat while bemoaning Res life to Sam out of their ear shot. Now I didn't even know if I could have kids. Jake and I had been fucking every few days for months now, and there was nothing. Since I turned wolf, I hadn't had a single period, and my body was barely different from a guy's now that I was all muscular and shit from the wolf gene. Jake wondered why I wouldn't fuck him human; a big part of it was me not wanting him to see me naked. He could blab all he wanted about liking athletic girls. I had a more defined six pack than Sam, for fuck's sake, since I wasn't gorging at Emily's table 24 / 7 like he did. I'm sure I'd deflate the hard-on of any heterosexual guy within seconds once he saw all my muscles and lack of curves.

Really, though, I was sick of having these thoughts in my head all the time. This moment of privacy meant nothing, since the pack had heard everything before. Every day, over and over, I couldn't keep from bemoaning the same old shit. I needed something to change, or I was going to sink into a depression I would never recover from.

Walking along the beach should have been soothing. There was a storm not too far off the coast which made the wild waves beautiful to look at. The sun was setting, casting hues of purple and orange all across the lightly clouded sky. For once it wasn't raining, and the little Chorus frogs were out loud and proud. Yet, while I did notice all of this beauty, it couldn't touch the darkness I felt inside. Giving up on the beach, I headed into the woods instead, figuring the gloominess in there would better suit my mood.

Bored with the slow pace I was restricted to in human form, I decided to turn wolf and go for a run. Running full out was the only time I could keep my mind empty as my concentration was entirely focused on dodging trees and shit.

I decided to head north, over our borders and into no man's land. I rarely got enough hours to myself for a long run, but Sam took pity on me and made some schedule changes so I could—as he put it—get my shit together. He was so empathetic—asshole.

The trees flew by in a blur as I ran at top speed to nowhere. Running was the only saving grace with this whole wolf thing. There wasn't a human experience that even came close. Yes, sex with Sam had been great—a different kind of great. This...this was freedom from absolutely everything—it was perfect.

Lost in the run, it was like a smack in the face with a pile of burning sewage when I came across a horrendous odor in my path. Vampire. Multiple vampires by the extent of it. Alone, I was no match for more than one blood-sucker at a time which meant I had to fight the urge to immediately tear into them.

Leah, what's going on? There are vampires near you?

Sam, he was patrolling with Jake and my brother, Seth right now, taking my usual spot.

Yeah, Sam. Three near as I can tell.

Woo hoo! Time for some action, boys!

Can it, Jake. Leah, turn in a circle, so I can see where you are.

Feeling only mildly stupid, and slightly grateful that I wasn't alone, I turned around looking all over to give Sam as much information as possible.

All right, Leah. I've been there before. I'm going to have the rest of the pack phase, and then we'll come running. Try to get an idea of what they're doing.

Yeah, Sam. Okay. I'll be here.

I cocked my head in the direction of the stench, hoping I could hear them without getting any closer. I didn't smell any better to them than they did to me, and I didn't want them getting curious about the assault on their senses.

"Victoria, I am dead tired of arguing this with you. I've waited long enough to drain this female. She's at the perfect age when the blood is most ripe; I'm not going to let another day go by without tasting her." The speaker sounded male and very irritated.

"Fine, James. Go after your human female while Laurent and I hang out here in these super exciting woods. It's not like we weren't having a perfectly great time down in New Orleans mingling with the cattle there and drinking whenever we wanted. You're right; this is so much better." I was surprised that a vampire had it in her to be sarcastic; I figured that would be beneath them.

The third one started to talk—he must be the one the female called Laurent. "Now, now. Victoria, you and I can wait. I'm sure it won't take James very long to go get this girl. James, are you planning to drain her all at once or make a pet of her for a bit? You went through all this trouble, seems a shame to only get one meal out of it."

Whoa, what the fuck? We're going to have to make sure we get these leeches.

Quiet, Jake, I'm trying to listen!

The evil chuckle following Laurent's question made my hair stand up on end. This did not seem like regular tick behavior from what our legends told us. They drank from a human till the human was dead. What was this about making her a pet?

"Well, now, Laurent. That's a very good question. A fine test of my control if I can drink only so much and then keep her alive for future feedings. Making a pet of her would certainly make this all very more interesting. I've always wondered what it would be like to fuck my food while drinking; maybe if this girl turns out to be halfway attractive, I'll give it a try."

Leah, make sure you're nowhere near those fuckers. I'm getting there as fast as I can.

Wow, Sam actually sounded like he was worried about me. That only pissed me off. If he couldn't love me, I didn't want him to have any feelings for me at all.

Now you care, Sam? Bit too late, don't you think?

Leah! What the fuck!

Jake. Great. He got pissed whenever I snapped at Sam, but we didn't have time for this now. I was no better and needed to nip the sniping in the bud.

Sorry, Sam. Sorry, Jake.

And around and around we go.

Violent snarls echoed off the trees after James's last statement. Sounded like the female. She must not want this James creature doing his food. Vampires were so fucking sick; you didn't see any of us out in the pasture humping cows before slaughtering them.

"Victoria, give it a rest; obviously this is simply an experiment and does not mean anything. Don't make the mistake of trying to control me. I'll fuck who I want, when I want, and there's nothing you can do about it. Never forget—you may be mated to me, but I feel no such bond to you. I keep you around because your pussy and ass are tight, feel good, and are convenient. That's all."

Wow, the vampire female seemed in an even worse bonding nightmare than I was. Too bad she was a blood sucking fiend; we could've formed a club or something.

"Now both of you go off and do whatever. I'm going to find Isabella Swan, do whatever the fuck I want with her, and then we'll meet up at our place. Maybe she'll be with me, maybe she won't. Either way, I expect no shit from either of you."

Holy-fucking-shit! He was going after Bella Swan? The fucking bitch that had made my already rotten world even worse? Fuck, I knew this made me a horrible person...wolf...whatever, but—did I want to stop this? Heck, he may not even kill her; maybe being a vampire pet isn't all that bad. Ah, shit, I'm fooling myself. I can't let this happen. Oh, I want to, though. I so want to!

What the fuck? Leah! How can you think that? He's going after Bella? No! I'll rip him to pieces so fucking small there won't even be enough for a fire.

Jake, can it. Leah, get your head on straight. Bella is a human in our territory; we will not let this blood-sucker have her no matter how difficult you think she's made your life.

Get the fuck out of my head, guys! I can't control every single fucking thought. Just get here already, and help me deal with this.

This mind meld thing was the biggest problem in all of this. I wasn't a sadistic monster, and neither were Jake and Sam. All the thoughts Sam had of Emily or Jake had of Bella...or that I had of Sam, for that matter...were completely unintentional and uncontrollable. The mind communication tool had been a minor annoyance for the pack before I had joined. Since then, it was the source of an incredible amount of hurt and frustration. Only in an instance like this did it come in handy.

I had to get my mind off of our lame love triangle—or maybe it was a tetrahedron—and focus on the vampire situation.

"Please, James, one more time before you go?" I heard the female beg.

"Why, Victoria, you little hussy you, right here in front of friend Laurent? Well, if you insist, I'm game. Pull your pants down and bend over."

Great—on top of everything else, I had to be exposed to vampire porn. Victoria said nothing; all I heard was the sound of clothes being moved and then skin slapping skin.

"Sweetie? Why don't you let Laurent fuck your face while you're bent over nice like this. I'd really enjoy watching that."

My brain was going to need bleach after this; the noises that filled the forest were so obscene. I had a feeling Victoria could literally suck a golf ball through a garden hose.

You taking notes, Leah?

Fuck you, Jake! Go get your precious Bella to suck you off, 'cause I certainly ain't putting your dick in my mouth.

I tried to take the high road and be the mature one, I really did. But when Jake put his infantile mind on display like that, I couldn't help getting pissed off.

It seemed that neither James nor Laurent had much staying power since they finished right quick; they didn't seem too concerned with Victoria's enjoyment, either, so I had the added joy of hearing her finish herself off. She sounded like a pack of mating cats on helium.

Abruptly, the scent of the vampires was down by two-thirds after a quick good bye to James from Laurent and Victoria. I mentally rubbed my hands together with glee; now that it was one-on-one, I could take him. The rest of the pack could follow the other two.

Leah, you hold up and wait for the rest of us! You've never fought a vampire before—none of us have. We need to do this together.

Sam, the legends clearly say that we can handle them when we're evenly matched. Let me get him!

No, that's an absolute no. You stay right where you are. Don't move.

What the fuck, Sam! You have to at least let me move!

Shit, sorry! Forgot. You can move; just don't go after the leech.

Why I spent so much time pining over that idiot is beyond me. He knew damn well if he gave an order we were physically unable to disobey it. I would have been a sitting duck here if he hadn't taken that back. He was fat, too.

Thanks, Leah.

Shit.

I kept tabs on the leech but made sure to keep some distance between us. He was ambling towards town, in no apparent rush. He had seemed very enthusiastic only moments before; I didn't trust his dawdling now.

"What the fuck is that horrible smell? I'm going to kill it, whatever it is."

Shit! The wind had shifted and blew my scent right to him. He was coming after me now.

Leah, what the fuck was that?

Oh, shit.

Calm down, guys, I can outrun this thing if I need to. I'll lead him back towards you guys.

All right, Leah. Sounds like a plan. Get going.

I was the fastest runner in the pack, and I put that to good use now as I headed towards the rest of the wolves. The vampire was following me but losing ground. Still, my scent would be easy enough for him to track. I put on even more speed so I'd get to the pack with enough time to turn tail and right with the group.

Go, Leah, looks like there's still a good 25 miles before we meet up. We'll be there as soon as we can.

I'm going!

Fucktard.

I kept running and running, but then, all of a sudden, I had gone too far. The vampire smell was gone. Shit! He must have decided the stench wasn't interesting enough to keep him from his pursuit of Bella.

Allright, Leah, see if you can catch his scent again. We'll keep heading towards you.

I doubled back and ran to where I had last remembered scenting him, but there was nothing there. It was like he'd fucking vanished. Heading over to where the three had been talking, I could pick up a faint trace of the other two but nothing of the one planning to go after Bella.

Leah, are you fucking sure? You better not be letting him go!

Jake, fuck off! He's really gone. I don't know how, but it's not my fault. It's like he turned off his scent or something.

Jake, Leah, enough. Leah, we'll be there soon then we'll split up and track them all. We need to know where their place is.

Yeah, yeah. I'm not going anywhere. Just get your fuzzy asses here fast.

You're ass is just as fuzzy, Leah!

Seth! You're my brother; don't look at my ass.

Made you laugh.

That brother of mine—if it wasn't for him, I'd be even more miserable than I was.

I continued to search for James's scent in the immediate area while I waited for the pack. My mind was moving a mile a minute after all I had heard this evening. Exactly how did this James vampire know about Bella anyway? Was he the one who killed Bella's mother? He must have left Bella alive for, it seemed, the sole purpose of coming back for her later? That didn't make any sense. Why bother? Wouldn't all the humans be the same to them? It seemed our legends left a bit out when it came to these creatures we were supposed to be hunting.

After a good half hour, I had given up on finding James's scent again. I couldn't help but wonder if I had subconsciously let him get away as Jake accused. Was I capable of such horribleness? Thankfully, the pack arrived before I could think on that much longer. I was afraid of the answer.

Leah, you did all you could. Maybe this blood-sucker has some kind of talent for erasing scent or something. Remember, we were told some of them can do more things than others.

Thanks, Sam. I thought for sure he wouldn't be able to resist the chase. Vampires are supposed to get off on that and all with the whole prey thing.

Yeah, well, right now we need to focus on keeping Bella safe and finding those other two. Leah, Seth, and Jake, I want you three to follow the scent of the two that ran off. Don't attack; find the lair and then call for back-up. We'll need a group in place in case this James fucker actually gets Bella. The rest of us will go back to Forks to work on guarding her.

Sam, let me go to Forks, too. Paul can go with Leah and Seth. Bella's a good kid; I want to make sure she'll be okay.

No, Jake, I don't know what's up with you and her given that you have an imprint, but it's too personal for you. I don't want either you or Leah anywhere near her until this is over.

Jake, I agree with Sam. Please come with me to find the others? I'll admit it, I'm a bit freaked over what I felt when I heard what the leech said about Bella. You and I are stuck with each other; please don't choose her over me.

Why, Leah? What do you care? Wouldn't you choose Sam over me if you could?

I honestly don't know. Even so, Sam and I have a history that you and Bella don't have, and Bella isn't a part of our tribe. She's not part of our world, Jake.

Well, maybe I don't want to be part of our world, either! I didn't choose this, and I didn't choose you.

Jake, be careful; there's no filter right now while we're wolf. Control, Jake. She's your imprint. Regardless, I said you're going after the other two, and that's final. Now go. The rest of us are heading to Forks to set up patrol around Bella.

Fine, Sam. Whatever.

I watched Jake, my imprint, spin around and run off following the scent. He somehow showed he was pouting, even in animal form. I had tried to be mature, to talk to him instead of at him, but it did me no good. I wanted to hate him, but how could I when I felt exactly the same way he did? Tears turned cold on my fur as I ran after my mate.

A/N: Thanks again to SaritaDreaming for Beta work and KatsFlowerGirls for pre-reading. They helped tons with this chapter! As always, Stephanie Meyer owns the characters and I'd love to hear what you think :)