Sam Uley
It started slowly.
It was little things that got him more and more worried. He noticed how everything seemed to upset him. He got worked up about the smallest things and just couldn't help it.
Every discussion with Leah drove him crazy, more than usual, and every little disagreement seemed to upset him. His body temperature rose and although Leah pleaded with him to see a doctor, he stayed away. He felt healthy, more than that. He felt strong. And a small voice in his head told him to stay away from doctors.
The elders were watching him, the rumors about his tantrums had already spread around the community and he was ashamed. He was ashamed of himself. He was 19 years old and irascible like a toddler.
In addition, he seemed to hear and smell everything all at once.
He smelled the salt of the sea in La Push, even though it was miles away, he heard the breaking of the waves and the heartbeat of the people around him. He smelled their scent, not perfume or detergent, he smelled the personal scent of them.
His vision was as good the night as during the day, and for a brief moment he wondered if he had been bitten by a radioactive spider. But he didn't feel like a hero.
He felt like the villain.
The first time it happened, he was so desperate that he fell down a small hill. His body started to burn, the heat flared up inside him and he tried desperately to get to the river.
He felt like he was burst into flames and he couldn't think straight. The anger he felt was unbelievable and before he knew it, he was standing on four legs.
His fur was everywhere and he tripped over it with every step. He cried out in despair and heard a deep yowl. He kept falling, his long fur and the four paws made it difficult for him to move.
He remained in this form for two whole weeks.
It took two weeks before he had calmed down enough and turned back into a human.
All his life, legends were some horror stories that were told to children around a campfire to frighten them.
Now he was in the middle of one.
He knew that Billy Black and the others had tried to forbid the younger ones from going to the hospital in Forks. Instead, they should go to Seattle or Port Angeles.
It was absurd. Leah had shaken her head and rolled her eyes.
But now he understood.
It was all true.
His new role was suddenly clear to him.
His father had left him when he was young, too young to fully understand that he had to take his place and care for his family. But he did.
He has always had a sense of decency and honor, of sense of duty and loyalty.
His great-grandfather, Levi Uley, had told him the stories more than once, and Sam had always thought they were some sort of lesson. A lesson for the importance of protecting the family, the tribe. He never would have thought that they could be true.
His body had recognized the danger and he was becoming a guardian.
He had to protect his people.
But first he had to get rid of his long hair.
When he got home and Leah fell into his arms, he hugged her tightly. He inhaled her familiar scent and closed his eyes. Immediately she hit his upper arm and groaned from the pain. His body was muscular and hard. She asked him where he was, what he had done and what took him so long.
He had no answers for her.
He asked her if she could cut his hair and confusion spread on her face. How could he just cut his precious hair?
It wasn't just that Leah found he looked irresistible with it. It was the pride of his ancestors. It set him apart from the others, from the palefaces. It showed everyone what he was and where he came from. And that he was proud of it.
And now he just wanted to cut it off.
He discussed with her all night until he finally felt the fire again. The fear of hurting her was so great that he threw himself out of the window and disappeared into the forest. That same night he cut his hair with rusty scissors.
The worst part was that he couldn't tell Leah anything.
He couldn't tell her what he was, why he behaved like that, why he had not only changed physically.
Leah loved him so much that she accepted it. She gave him the space he needed. Maybe she thought it was a phase, that he had a quarter life crisis.
More rumors quickly circulated. That he would take steroids, that he would deal in anabolic steroids to earn extra money. The elders had his back and barked at anyone who spread the rumors but Sam knew the others were skeptical.
Old Quil was the first to notice. The temperature, the anger, all the signs, and it wasn't long before Quil, Billy, and Harry Clearwater called for him. He remembered staring at them with his mouth open and waiting for them to laugh at him and say it was all just a joke.
But it wasn't.
Jared and Paul transformed after him and to Sam's relief he was able to help them so far that they didn't panic and fall down a cliff.
He heard their thoughts, their fear and their fear, and realized that he had some power over them. He could order them to stop fighting.
He was happy for the support and he was happy not to be the only one. He was finally able to share his secret and talk to someone who felt the same. Altough he had Leah to come home to, he had felt incredibly lonely. But now with Jared and Paul at his side, he found a family he had never expect.
But the transformation of them had other effects as well.
Leah and his mother grew more and more skeptical.
Sam took his new role very seriously, he felt responsible. Not just for the tribe but also for Paul and Jared. They listened to him and he did his best to be a good leader.
And then it happened.
Just when he had fought with Leah again, when she had finally accepted that he had a secret that he couldn't share, her cousin came to visit and threw everything overboard.
He saw her and everything was different.
He felt it in every fiber of his body, every thought and he couldn't see anything else but her.
Sam struggled.
He resisted with all his power.
He distracted himself, he remembered how wrong it all was. He thought of Leah and his feelings for her.
He loved her. He wanted to marry her.
But how could he? How could he be with Leah when his whole being belonged to someone else.
He broke up with her the same day.
He disappeared without telling anyone and hid in shame.
Breaking Leah's heart was one of the hardest things he ever had to do.
The look on her face would haunt him forever. He felt her pain, he felt her despair and he cried with her, but he couldn't help it. She deserved better. She deserved to be loved by someone with his whole heart.
He waited until Emily was back home to see her. It took a few days and those alone were hard to take. The wolf in him spurred him on, drove him downright to her and he had no choice. He never had a coice.
He needed Emily. He had to be with her, whatever is may cost him.
Defeated, he trotted to her and he felt what he was doing to her. He heard her heartbeat swelling when he was around, he smelled her need. He saw her fight against it and eventually he ended the fight for both of them.
Emily was shocked.
She was shocked and disgusted.
As his mate he was allowed to tell her the truth and he started with the legends. Every Quileute had heard them growing up. It wasn't long before he revealed what she was to him. But immediately she thought of Leah and pushed him away.
She loved her cousin and couldn't do this to her. How could she be with the man who just broke her cousins heart?
She begged him to fight with her against it, but Sam couldn't.
She yelled at him, insulted him and was so desperate it broke his heart. Finally she accused him of being just like his father and when Sam heard the cowards name it was over.
Her words cut into his flesh and he felt the fire break out again, but this time it was too late. The fire caught him and Emily was too close. Before his paws touched the ground, he smelled the blood and a pain pierced his heart.
He hurt her. Her.
What he felt paralyzed him and he threw himself to the ground. She stared at him, her eyes wide, blood dripping from her face and she passed out. It took Jares and Paul a long time to calm Sam down and Sue Clearwater, who knew the legends and the truth in them, took Emily to the nearest hospital.
He trotted up and down in front of the hospital, unable to leave her side and unable to go to her either. Finally she asked about him and when he saw her with the bandages on her face, he begged her to tell him to kill himself.
He destroyed her life. How could he continue to live? He had hurt the only thing that mattered to him.
But something about his reaction moved her. She admitted that the only person she wanted to be around was him.
He completed her.
Maybe it was pity for his tearful appearance. Maybe it was the elders who explained it to her over and over again. He didn't know, but it didn't matter either.
She accepted him and that was all that mattered.
And when he smelled the disgustingly sweet scent and heard a heartbeat that afternoon, his paws automatically steered him to the border. He could feel that the vampire knew that he was nearby and alerted Jared, who was on his way to him.
In his head he formed a plan how he could protect the human in the vampire's arms during the fight, but it shouldn't come to that.
His dark eyes met Lily's blue green eyes.
The unnatural beauty of the blonde vampire he recognized as the head of the clan, Dr. Cullen looked disgusting and he bared his teeth. But something in the vampire's demeanor stopped him.
Jared would be here soon and he absolutely had to clarify the situation beforehand before they did something that could have catastrophic consequences. The pact said that he could not do anything to the Cullens and that in return they would leave the humans alone.
Well, that person was still alive.
He also knew that there were five of the Cullens last time. It was to be assumed that they had become more.
There were only three of them, with no combat experience whatsoever. It would be a hopeless fight.
Sam maybe was young and eager but he was no fool. He could not be foolish. He could not be led by pride or anger this time. He had to make a smart desicion.
He had to keep a cool head. When he felt Jared near him, he decided to do something that made Jared's blood run cold.
He transformed.
He had to do it to sort the situation out, his temper endangering the entire tribe.
Most of all, he had to do it before Paul got here.
Lily stared at him with big eyes, she had changed since she was with Paul.
Granted, it was only one summer and she was 13 then, so it had been a while.
Yet he still liked her. Her graceful face and big blue eyes looked innocent and yet challenging. Her dark blonde hair was thick and slightly wavy. Now she had raised her expressive brows in surprise and she was staring at him.
He had to act quickly. Should Paul see her in the vampire's arms, it would be over. Paul would pounce on him and start a war that they would not survive.
"What do you want with her?"
His voice was icy.
Immediately the vampire's demeanor changed and he was calm.
"I won't hurt her."
The unnaturally smooth voice made his hair stand. Even when he heard the truth behind the words, he couldn't bring himself to trust him.
"Sam what are you doing?"
Well she was one to talk. He felt the anger rise again, what was she doing here? Why didn't she show fear? Why didn't she run away screaming? She wasn't naive or stupid. Why was she endangering his pack?
"You ask me that ?!"
His voice echoed through the forest and he immediately saw the vampire's eyes darken. He would defend her, that much was clear. Another point why it was so important to try to end this before Paul showed up.
"Do you know what he is?"
Sam was desperate, maybe he could persuade her to see reason. Maybe she didn't know what he was, maybe she would finally run from him. If Cullen rushed after her, he could attack. Somehow they would manage it At least they were two and he was alone. The confidence he felt was short-lived as the sweet smell suddenly grew stronger.
A giant appeared behind Carlisle and Sam winced internally.
He looked more menacing than the blonde vampire and his eyes sparkled aggressively. The new vampire had no problem with fighting, that much was clear. A figure appeared next to him who looked even more unnatural than the others. Presumably they would see men as indescribably beautiful, but for Sam she was a monstrosity.
The danger re-fueled the fire and he felt it break out. He stood on four paws and his body tensed. Jared was hidden to the right of him, ready to attack at any time.
"We are still no danger. I could never harm her, she is my mate."
Suddenly he stopped.
The words and the desperate tone of the vampire triggered something in him.
Emily popped into his mind.
He thought of the desperation he felt when she wasn't around, of the pain when he had hurt her. He also thought of his inability to stay away from her. He thought of Leah.
Inexplicably, he believed him. There was no lie in his strange eyes and no fear in Lilys voice.
If vampires feel the same for their mates as he did for Emily, the Cullen Clan would fight for her to the last vampire.
His pack had no chance.
He howled in despair and trotted away.
He told Jared to watch his thoughts when Paul was listening. Both agreed that otherwise the hothead would do something that they all would have to pay for.
Sam made his decision. It was hard and went against his pride and beliefs but he had to do it.
He would not start a war for a girl who knowingly put herself in danger. He wasn't going to break the pact his ancestors had made. He wasn't going to be the weak link. Not when the lives of his pack and his tribe were at stake. Even if that meant that she was doomed. He could not risk his family.
Lily Cooper was no longer their business.