7 - Sancutary

Going into some stranger's house definitely put Phil in the bad boy category, in fact he overshot the bad boy and went straight to criminal here. I looked around the elaborate garden, not seeing anyone. I went up to the platform, my long legs taking the stairs two at a time. He had left the sliding doors open so all I had to do is step inside and begin my own criminal career. My mind was too nervous to come up with a concrete plan to keep him from being arrested, but I had to do something. Maybe I could tackle him and drag him outside; taking him out would be easy enough, explaining how I had been able to do it would be the hard part. For a moment I smiled, it would be almost worth seeing the look on his face when I tackled him - and if I groped a few parts while doing it, well that would be purely 'accidental'.

"Phil, what the hell are you doing?" I hissed quietly, as I took the final step and broke the law.

He had not gone far into the house, having been distracted by a slow cooker sitting on one of the massive counters. He lifted the lid and peered inside the bubbling pot.

"Dinner looks great, I just have to add some rice and it should be done." Without searching he opened a drawer and pulled out a spoon to stir the pot. The scent of tomatoes, sausage as well as some foreign spices hit my nose - that food smelled really good. Focus Leah, focus on the problem. It had been a while since lunch and I was a wolf, any type of food would have been distracting.

"What?" I asked slightly confused, finally realizing what he had told me.

"I should probably turn off the alarm system too," he finished stirring and replaced the lid on the pot, putting his spoon down on the counter before he walked past a large table with chairs towards the front of the house. I now noticed a constant beeping I had not been paying attention to.

My mind was still perplexed at his change in behavior, my body at full alert waiting for someone jump out at us. The large open room past the kitchen constituted the dining room and living room. The two naturally blending together, the furniture in both was made up of a dark sleek wood with little to no embellishments - the cushions of the chairs and sofas were a cream color with dragons of various hues of red all over them continuing to add to the Japanese feel to the place. As we walked around the corner there was a set of stairs leading to the second floor and a sliding door to another room - I could not see inside since the doors were closed.

"This is your house, isn't it?" I asked hesitantly. My mind was trying to come down from the adrenaline rush.

"Technically not my house, but yes I currently reside here." He said with a mischievous smile.

If I had not been so worried I may have noticed that the place had his scent all over it. I walked over and punched him in the arm, since my heart was still pumping at a million beats a minute I used a little more force than should be normal for a girl my size - but that thought did not occur to me until after I hat hit him.

"Owww, what was that for?" he asked rubbing his arm. I should have felt sorry for hitting him that hard but instead I was worried that he would figure out that I was not all that normal. He did not seem that much bothered by the punch but I could not tell if he was trying to look tough or I had not really hurt him. He looked more amused than hurt by my punch, hmm maybe I had not hit him as hard as I thought.

"YOU are not funny! I was seriously worried." I yelled at him with no real heat in my voice. I growled too quietly for him to hear, but my heart was not really in it. He had this tendency to push my buttons, but my reaction to his teasing was what really threw me off. Normally I would fly into a temper when people tried to harass me but with Phil that was not my reaction, he was far to good at redirecting my anger. I was starting to suspect that he enjoyed trying to piss me off. I should have been ready to rip his head off for the stunt he pulled, but instead I was just mildly annoyed and still a little scared.

He gave me the full smile, and out popped the dimples - he even batted his long eyelashes at me. "It was very, very sweet of you to rush in here after me to try to save me."

"And the dimples won't help you get out of trouble." My words were a complete and utter lie, and I was pretty sure he knew it - those dimples of his should be illegal. Especially when paired with the puppy dog eyes, there was no way anyone could resist.

My mind was very aware that this was an exaggerated attempt to flirt was just a ploy to make me forgive him, his lips formed into a big pout as he continued to bat those long eyelashes at me. I knew that he was just teasing me, but my body did not seem to get that memo.

How long had it been since I had gotten any? We were not even talking sex here, just a little kissing - maybe a little tongue. Though he looks like he would be fun to ride, he most certainly has the stamina for it. The little voice in the back of my head was screaming: GO FOR IT.

My body of its own accord started leaning even closer - would he taste as good as he smelled? The combination of the scents he had picked up from trekking through the woods mixed with a slight undertone of sweat on top of his regular smell was tempting me to taste him. My strong reaction to his scent would have been perplexing had I really been thinking about it, but that was not really what I was focusing on at this time. It would not necessarily have to be on his lips, that spot where his neck met his shoulders would work for me. I could grab a hold of those broad shoulders and pull our bodies flush before licking my way up his neck.

"Then how about I feed you instead?" Phil's voice sounded even deeper than usual, making me break out in goosebumps. My mind finally caught up with my body, putting on the breaks. Thankfully Phil's playful question interrupted my fantasies before I did something stupid like act on them.

It took me a moment to pull my mind out of the gutter and remember I was supposed to be angry at him. I gave a small sigh before following him as he headed back to the kitchen, it looked like he had not noticed my mental side trip - that intense moment must have been all in my head, it was a good thing I did not act on it. A small part of me was a little upset that I did not just dive in and damn the consequences.

This time he stirred some ingredients into the pot, it smelled like bits of seafood and rice but I could not be sure; it was kind of hard to concentrate on the mundane things, especially when my mind kept imagining what he would look like without that shirt on. He had taken his jacket off and was now only wearing a long sleeve shirt that emphasized his chest and arms; again I wondered what he did for a living that gave him such long and lean muscles. Despite of the fact that he had managed to get us lost for a while he was comfortable in the woods, he went up and down hills while carrying that large backpack without stumbling or tripping. So maybe he was some sort of nature guide? That would explain why he knew what sort of illnesses you can get from drinking untreated water.

"This is going to take about fifteen more minutes for the rice to soften up, so if you need the bathroom there is one over there," he pointed out a small door next to the kitchen. "You can go look around the house while you wait."

After using the facilities so to speak and washing my hands in anticipation of dinner I decided to take him up on the offer look around the house. It might give me a clue regarding the current inhabitant.

The massive kitchen took up over almost the entire back of the ground floof. The cabinets were made of the same dark wood as the furniture and had been polished till they gleamed. The counters were a cream colored granite with specs of grey and green in them. Everything looked sturdy and expensive, including the dining room table which was bare except for a large white and blue vase that was currently stuffed full of white and burgundy flowers.

"These are pretty," I looked back at Phil in the kitchen while touching one of the delicate flowers.

"Dahlias," he told me as he stirred the pot once more before replacing the lid. He relaxed in his favorite pose against the counter as watched me explore the place. I noticed that he was not looking at the flowers, instead he was concentrating on me.

"Did you pick them out?" I teased him a little bit, trying to get his intense focus off of me. Not that it was unpleasant, it just made me worried that he would notice too much - currently I could not decide what would be worse: if he figured out I was a wolf or if he figured out I had been fantasizing about taking a bite out of him. I had enjoyed this day far too much to wish it to end, and the thought of having to lie to him did not sit well with me.

He gave me a small shrug, "my grandmother has them in her garden, when we were kids we would gather them by the armful for her."

"Ah that is so sweet, so did you live close to your grandmother when you were growing up?" I was fishing for information and he seemed to be in a sharing mood.

"Not really, but we would go back and spend the summers at her place." He had a far away look on his face, like he was remembering something in the distant past.

I snorted while rolling my eyes in his general direction, "you are not so old that you have to exert yourself to remember back to your childhood."

"Hmmm, but I am old. We had a great deal of fun there, running around like little barbarians." He chuckled and shook his head, probably remembering a specific event.

"We? Who is we?" The jealousy in my tone surprised even me, but luckily Phil did not seem to notice.

"Phila and I, did I not tell you about her?" He shook his head in mock disappointment. He must have been talking about Pride and Prejudice girl, his good friend - the one that I all of a sudden felt jealous of.

Seriously Leah, hearing about him spending summers with some girl makes you jealous? You really got to get a hold of yourself. On that note I decided a change to more neutral topics would be good. "Wow someone makes a lot of money," I was looking at the dished displayed on some built in shelves. There was a delicate set of cups with a matching teapot.

"Those are for a traditional tea ceremony." Phil said coming up behind me, I jumped slightly. I had not heard him moving, which was surprising considering I had wolf hearing.

"Some guy really likes his pretty things, tell me how much does this stuff cost?" I was afraid to breathe too close to the cabinet that housed the crystal and china. The cups continued the dragon theme, I was willing to bet they were hand painted. "Those look like they are antiques."

"Some gal, not guy, but yes she likes nice things. You have a good eye, those are antiques but they were bought new. Her family tends to hang on to things for a long time. There are some really cool authentic swords in the study, do you want to see them?" I laughed at his words, suddenly he sounded so eager to show me the weapons.

"Typical boy always excited about weapons," it was hard not to smile around him, he got excited about the silliest things.

He looked back at me, waiting for a real answer to his question. He had big silly grin on his face. How could anyone refuse?

I followed him past the living room, there seemed to be no formal division between the dining area and the living room. There was just a change in furniture, the floors were all hardwood and bare of carpets so they were not helpful either in differentiating between the two rooms.

"Oh yeah before I forget." He stopped by the front door and I watched as he started to pull off his hiking boots. I had noticed earlier that he had traded his regular steel toed boots for hiking boots. "You have to take your shoes off, technically we were breaking the rules by walking around in shoes."

I sat down on the bench next to him to comply with the rules. I put my sneakers next to his hiking boots, I was once again amazed at how large his feet were. My mind immediately shifted into the gutter as I paused for a second to contemplate the size of his "foot".

"Come on let's go," he said impatiently. He led me to the sliding doors that I had noticed earlier. The doors made a slight hiss as they smoothly slid into the walls, I stepped into the large room and looked around. Phil immediately headed away from me with a purposeful stride, I did not watch where he was going but I assumed it was to his swords.

"Here they are," he pointed to them on the wall. He might as well have been presenting me with his children, he was so proud.

I was not that impressed, just three samurai looking swords in their sheaths or whatever they are called.

"Do you want to see one?" Phil asked with a great deal of enthusiasm, while I might be a bitter shrew even I could not deny this man his fun. How could I rain on his parade?

"Sure," I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster, I did not think my tone fooled anyone but he was determined to ignore my lack of excitement.

He lifted one off the pedestal on the wall. His movements were precise, like he had done this before.

While Phil was admiring his precious I was looking around the room. A large and sturdy looking desk was facing away from the ever present wall of widows. The sharp difference between this desk and the one that was nestled into the corner at my house was unsettling. While our desk was filled with paperwork and books for the store, old bill stubs, as well as other odds and end this one had nothing but a small silver lamp and a matching silver laptop. The computer looked shiny, and like everything else in this house very expensive. There were a few small plants on pedestals and a few misshapen looking statues placed around the room. On the right of the door was a set of leather chairs surrounding a small fireplace, on the left there was a flat table, it was completely empty. This room like the rest of the house: perfect, but it was not a home, the usual knick knacks that you find were missing. The strangest part was that there were no pictures, nothing that would give a clue as to who lived here.

"This place is kind of weird," I said mainly to myself.

"What makes you say that?" Phil asked, I noticed he had was putting away the sword. I guess he had figured out I was not that interested.

"I mean no offense, there is nothing here to make this place feel like someone's home," for a moment I made an attempt to be polite, but then I realized polite was not really my thing.

"That is because it isn't a home, it is a place to stay for a while." His tone was matter of fact, the lack of the lived in feel did not seem to bother him as much as it did me.

"Do you have a home?" I asked, curious all of a sudden. He probably was not going to answer me.

"Actually I do, I would offer to take you there but I think your mother might object since we would probably be gone for a few days." While his explanation was given with a smile his tone had a quality to it that told me he would not speak further on the subject.

He gave me a tour of the rest of the house, upstairs were three bedroom with accompanying bathrooms. The two I saw were as impersonal as the rest of the house. One bedroom he pointed out but did not take me in, I wanted to tell him I had already knew what type of underwear he wore.

We wandered down to the kitchen to see if the food was done yet. He said it was Jambalaya, and from the look on his face he expected me to know what it actually was. I simply nodded and smiled, not wanting to look like a complete ignorant bumpkin.

"Hey, do you want a beer?" Phil asked me as he was digging in the fridge, as he waved me towards one of the high stools next to the counter in the kitchen.

I had been offered alcohol in the past but I had never indulged more than a sip or two. Quite frankly I was a coward, there was something about my people not handling it well. Oh come on Leah why not, you are a big girl? Maybe the werewolf metabolism would take care of it.

"Sure, why not?" I told him with my best 'I am an adult' tone.

The fridge looked bigger than my closet, and from what I could see it was filled with food - surely he was not going to eat it all. He pulled out a few items, I recognized the hot sauce with the rooster on it. I did not recognize the beer bottles he had pulled out.

I heard the fizz and the pop as he opened the beer for me, next he spooned out some of the Jambalaya into a pair of deep bowls. He placed both items in front of me along with a spoon.

"Well are you just going to sit there or dig in?" Phil said pointing his spoon at me, I watched as he doused his food with the red sauce. I seem to recall it being kind of spicy but he looked like he knew what he was doing.

I was hungry and so I took a big spoonful for my first bite. Suddenly my mouth was on fire.

"Good huh? I did not add as much cayenne pepper as I usually do, I figured we should start you off with the mild version." Phil said stirring the red stuff into his bowl before taking a large bite.

This was mild? I looked around and quickly took a big swig of my beer. That was not the taste I had been expecting, it was too sweet. But that did not really matter because my mouth was still on fire.

"What is wrong?" his look was a little too innocent.

"My mouth is on fire," I told him looking around for something.

He quickly went back to the fridge and pulled out a red can, it looked like a can whipped cream.

"Here open up," Phil said coming at me with the whip cream. "Don't you trust me?"

"No, I don't," I told him truthfully. He just laughed and continued to hold the whipped cream upside down near my mouth.

I considered resisting for a moment but then decided it would be best to give in, and what could it hurt. He squirted so much of it into my mouth that it overflowed and managed to get on my nose as well. I was about to tell him that he needed to work on his aim but from the dimples that had popped out on his face it was probably best to assume the stuff on my nose was deliberate.

"Now all you need is a cherry on top," he told me with a smile as he wiped the stuff off my nose.

I had to admit the whip cream helped with the burning. "This beer tastes funny." I told him after I had put out the fire in my mouth with another squirt of the stuff - this time I took the can away from him and did it myself.

"Really?" I watched as he took a drink from his bottle, "nope, it tastes good to me."

"This is root beer?" I knew what root beer tasted like, and this was it.

"What, you expected to give you real beer? You know jailbait, giving alcohol to minors is considered illegal in most states." He pointed out helpfully, I watched as he took a huge bite of his food. He must not have any skin left on the inside of his mouth, or his stomach come to think of it.

"And you always follow the laws," I pointed out in a droll tone, remembering the speed with which he drove his motorcycle.

"The ones I think worth following." Yeah I could see him doing that. Bending a few laws that he did not deem worthy, he struck me as being smart enough to know how to get away with it.

He made me a sandwich for dinner since I could not eat his stuff. He promised he would get me to eat real food before he went back home in January. I noticed he seemed to do that a lot, remind me that this was not a permanent arrangement.

It had been drizzling off and on for most of the day but under the canopy of the trees we had been somewhat protected. Now however the rain started to fall down in earnest. I could barely see past the gardens to the woods. I could pretend there was nothing past that garden, that those problems that waited for me at home did not exist. I could pretend for the moment that all that mattered was watching the rain drops dripping off the deep eaves. In this world there were no werewolves, no vampires, and most certainly no imprinting that crushed my dreams.

"Penny for your thoughts," Phil's deep rumbling voice surprised me again.

"My thoughts are worth more than that," I told him with a small smile.

"All right then tell me something, what kind of music do you like?" He had his happy face on, I was beginning to think it was an act because no one stayed that happy all the time.

"How do you get from my thoughts to music?" One thing could be said about Phil, he never did what I expected.

"This place has an awesome built-in sound system, I was wanting to turn it on but I wanted to know your preference first." He was moving his body a little bit, it might have been his attempts at dancing to the music in his head. Note to self, make sure you never let Phil take you somewhere that public dancing is necessary.

"I don't know, I like all sorts of music. What do you like?" I did not want to tell him the music I had been listening to lately, mostly angry girl bands. I wanted to forget about my life for a little bit longer.

"You are going to let me pick the music?" He sounded dubious.

"Sure, why not?" I mean how bad could his music be.

"All right but if I pick you have to listen to the entire song. Promise?"

"Promises are made to be broken." I could not resist teasing him, there might have been a small amount of bitterness that leaked out. Sam had made me promises and he had managed to break most of them - but I would not think of Sam here. I knew Phil had a plan of some sort, I had learned his 'tell' so to speak. When he looked extra innocent he was plotting something.

"Not the promises I make, I keep all my promises - no matter what," he lost his smile and his tone became absolutely serious. I might barely know anything about this man, and he enjoyed teasing me far too much but when he spoke like that I knew he was telling the truth. I got a glimpse of the man behind the smile, and I wanted to know more. Maybe his choice of music would help me understand him better.

"I promise, I will listen to whatever music you pick, but only one song." I told him as solemnly as I could.

"Are you ready?" he asked, his serious mood had passed. I was beginning to suspect the happy guy without a care in the world was a mask that he wore, and a part of me was burning to peel back the layers and find out what he was really like.

He moved over to something on the wall, I had thought it was a picture frame but on closer inspection it looked like a panel of some sort. He was scrolling through a list, the letters were too small for me to read from my spot next to the window.

"That is pretty high tech," I observed, getting a little closer to him.

"Ok here we go, Beethoven's Symphony Number 7, in A Major, Allegretto." I had never heard him use such a reverent tone of voice before.

"You are making me listen to classical music?" My voice cracked with horror, he was going to make me listen to some frou-frou music?

"This is not classical music - this is Beethoven, only the greatest composer ever." He told me utterly serious. "Now Princess I need you to be quiet and listen to the story, there will be a quiz at the end."

I made the zipping gesture across my lips to tell him I would not say anything else and prepared myself to be bored.

I had listened to classical music before but nothing had prepared me for this. It started out slowly, but then the momentum built. I could not only hear the music I could feel it, I knew this story. A girl is walking through her castle in the sky, noticing that there were a few cracks in the walls, she quickly tries to repair the damage. It is a futile endeavor as the cracks get larger and her dream castle starts crumbling down around her. Towers and turrets that had seemed so stable are falling down faster and faster. She throws her whole heart and soul into trying to save it but to no avail, she watches with anguish as it all tumbles down.

I was ready to break down and cry at this point in the music but then the story changed, there was hope, intermingled with bouts of sadness - there was hope.

I don't know how long it lasted, it was not enough but at the same time too much; I had relived the past few months of my life in this song. More importantly I had seen the hope that was present, I just had to fight for it.

Phil looked at me nodding, he could tell I was a convert. "Do you want more?"

All I could do was find a chair to sit down, and nod. Yes I wanted more, I wanted to hear the rest of my story.

Thus began a strange friendship. Whenever I had time free of work or wolf duties we would go hiking through various places around the area. Some I was familiar with others were further than I had gone before. We would always finish off with food at his place. We never did anything that required being around other people, most of our time was spent in the woods or his solitary cabin.

September changed into October, Embry and Quil joined Jake's pack. Nessie kept growing though she seemed to slow down. The trees slowly lost more of their leaves.

I escaped to Phil's cabin a great deal, he made the comment one day that I should start paying rent. I did not pay rent, but I did bring my beads so that I could work. I set them up at the empty table in the study, Phil found me a chair and a silver lamp that matched the one on the desk. I spent many an evening after work sitting there working on my beads while Phil did whatever he did on the computer - I asked him if he was a writer at one point but he would not give me a clear answer. I learned not to ask questions about what he did outside of our friendship and in turn he did not ask questions about what I did when I would disappear. Things among the wolf pack were a lot more calm, but we were still running patrols just in case.

I understood Bella better now, it was easy to see how she could not help reaching out to Jake - she needed him to get through the worst point in her life. I tended to be selfish when it came to Phil's attention and would not let the other wolves around him very much. I was too afraid they might let something slip, and I would lose my hold on this spark of hope. I had yet to determine wether it was Phil or the oasis his house that gave me that spark of hope.

Despite all his joking about paying rent I knew that Phil liked having me around, at times I would watch him from the forest as he did stuff around the house or in the garden. The man was not capable of being still, during these moment I noticed something that gave me a sense of satisfaction - Phil smiled a heck of a lot more when I was around. I told myself this was because he genuinely liked hanging around me, not the fact that I was beginning to suspect there was a very serious man behind the happy mask he put on for the world to see.

Everything was perfect in my happy little bubble, or so I told myself. It was predictable, calm, and most of all I was able to pretend I was a normal human for a while. I even started looking at enrolling in one of the local colleges. In this cabin I was not a broken hearted werewolf, or a bitter woman. In this place I could dream a little dream, I might not have started to rebuild my castles but I may have been looking at a small cottage to rent.

That was why I was so shocked when Phil told me he would have to leave for a few days.

"I have to go take care of something," he told me one late October evening. We had been toasting marshmallows in his fireplace while a the heavy rain pummeled the house.

"Can't you... I don't know send an email or call someone?" I had seen him do both over the past month.

"No this requires my attendance, I am sorry Princess. I will make it up to you, we will do something awesome when I come back." He gave me his dimpled smile like it would soften the blow.

Then he was gone, and I did not know what I would do without my sanctuary.

A/N: Ok I feel a little better about this chapter than the last. For some reason I felt it flowed better. Thank you ladies for reading. Oh in case you have not made a note of the fact this is a M rated story you will be warned now. Don't get excited there is no lemons...yet, but there will be in the future and I am worried that some people might be offended by Leah's overactive imagination.

ABarbiestory: Glad you liked it, no you cannot take Phil home; Leah is somewhat possessive of his time right now. Obviously the cabin was not Bella & Edwards, that was a good guess though - it might have led to an interesting twist in the story. Especially if they caught them in a delicate position :D.

Connect2jtb: Glad you like it, this chapter was not changed much, just made to flow a little better...soon there will be more changes. Not to the plot but the way information is presented so it is not overwhelming.

Twilighter: You make me wana really go buck wild with Jailbait but you know I can't make him act like a normal teenager around her. He is a gentleman and most importantly he is kind and considerate of others, that is what makes Jailbait special. He will act a little out of character soon, I promise you soon. I feel kind of bad neglecting him. As for my husband caring about me looking at men's underwear: no he does not care, well he does care in that if I am doing anything fun he wants to watch. :D

Oh well I am off to do evil things... not the fun ones either...stupid, stupid dishes why do you always have to get dirty?