A/N: This an Enola + Leah Chapter
Winnie's POV
"Is the rent due?" I try to force my eyes open, just barely managing to see Enola through the droopy slits of my heavy eyes. She's been banging on my door for awhile, a knock so dense it's shaking the entire cabin. There's not even light out yet. I have to do a double to make sure it's not the middle of the night. The sun is just shy of breaking, with everything still dim and blue. While I'm standing in the door in my pajamas, Enola is decked out in her hunting gear; boots, cargo pants, cameo vest, fleece sweater, and her signature rifle over her shoulder.
"No," Enola would wave it off if it wasn't for the rifle on her shoulder. "We're going hunting. Get dressed, Winifred."
"We?" I pinch my eyes shut, trying to force my brain to function just the slightest bit more.
"We." A voice sounds off behind her. Peering over Enola, I see Leah Clearwater leaning against a tree with a bored look on her face. She's wearing matching hunter green cargo pants to Enola, boots, a long sleeved beige thermal shirt, with her shoulder length hair braid into two braids tucked under a green baseball cap. Admittedly Leah makes hunting gear look stylish as she does tough, like that trendy athleisure wear. I'm not surprised Leah is a morning person, but more taken aback to see her here in what consists of my front yard.
"Now?" I croak, wondering if I like living here that much.
"Yes. Now." Enola looks like she's having fun. "It's Girls' Day." I knew moving into her backyard would cause the occasional trouble, but trouble earlier than sunrise wasn't what I expected.
"When did you invite me to go hunting, Enola? It's early, so I just need you to remind me." It's taking a lot of will power not to sit down while she talks. Yet, I force a polite tone in my thick voice as best as I can.
"When you fell asleep at my house." The little old women smiles coyly. All manners and pretense evade me, a flat look making its way through across my face.
"So, you told me when I was asleep." My flat tone only seems to make Enola smirk all the wider.
"No, Winifred, I asked you when you first laid back on my couch. Then ten minutes later you were asleep." Enola clarifies. "Now, Leah's car is running. Better get on and dressed. We have a muffin waiting in the car." Enola dismisses me, practically skipping her way down my front steps. I look to Leah to see if Enola is joking, despite already knowing this is far from a joke. Whatever Leah sees on my face has her smirking with a "Enola called shotgun."
"Do you two hunt a lot?" I yawn from the backseat of Leah's jeep. I desperately tried sleeping in the back, but the drive was so short since everywhere is woods. We got there in fifteen minutes.
The three of us unpack Leah's jeep. With Leah doing the heavy lifting since she has super strength while Enola packs snacks and water in each of our backpacks. They let me watch from the car, both of them warning me to get ready to hike a few miles. A warning I took seriously.
"Since Leah was nine years old. Her father and I would hunt, and she'd come along to be our eyes." Enola explains while Leah simply shrugs off my question. The touchy subject of Harry Clearwater's death gets me awake. While it's not longer a sore topic, it's common decency not to bring up. Sensing my shift in tone, Leah gives me brief warning glare that signals not to pity her then ignores me as she carries on.
"Oh," I nod along, climbing down to help unload the trunk. Before I can pull anything out, Leah forces a pop tart into my hand, a silent order to eat. "Thank you both for inviting me. It's nice to be thought of." Leah just nods in thanks, while Enola grins to herself.
"Do you want to carry?" Leah asks me, opening the smallest case in the trunk to reveal a dissembled yellow and black BB gun. "It use to be Seth's when he first started learning."
"Oh, you didn't have to pack for me." I try to find another way to say thank you, because I have a feeling Leah goes shy around thanks yous and Pleases.
"Leah, give her Seth's first rifle. Winifred needs the practice." Enola sagely advises, which Leah follows. Leah mutters a "be careful," and "the safety is on," while she carefully places it into my waiting arms, guiding me to a proper stance till it's secure in my hands. When her hands are gone, I do my best not to crumble under the weight of the rifle, trying to ignore the weight bearing into my shoulder and collar bones. It's shiny and glossy like it's barely been used. It seems perfectly like Seth to not take to hunting, which makes me feel like the smiling kid is here with us for the briefest of seconds.
"Winnie, make sure you have a grip on it." Leah warns over her shoulder, leading us up the trail into the woods. I almost reply back a yes ma'am.
"Do you shoot, Leah?" I ask, watching with impressed eyes while she loads her rifle with quick and precise moves.
"Do you?" Leah questions, continuing to load while she doesn't look up at me, but instead speaks to the ground with a raised brow as if I'm under her boot. Enola laughs somewhere behind me, a heavy one that I can tell has her reeling over.
"Leah can shoot as the best of them. I taught her myself." Enola prides herself, exchanging a fond smile with Leah that's impossible for her not to grin back. A special feeling settles in my chest, something between flattery and honor, since Enola took it upon herself to teach me how to shoot too. This Girls' Day feels uniquely exclusive... and now I get to be a part of their own little Girls Only tradition. We're each notoriously the Res' outsiders. Leah, Enola, and I the ones people whisper behind their backs, with wild reputations, the ones people always have something nasty to about us, and here the three of us are. The three least behaved and unfriendliest women on the Res out shooting. I grin to myself at the thought being a part of Enola's 'Shooting Range and School for Troubled Local Women.'
"I thought your dad taught you?" I chance asking Leah, since she seems in a good mood. I nearly throw my head back and say thank to whoever is up in the sky when Leah chuckles.
"You kidding me? He didn't want me to hold a firearm till I was thirteen. He wouldn't even let me hold the BB gun. Enola nearly gave him a stroke when she let me hold her dad's rifle and taught me how to aim." Leah hides her grin behind her rifle, pretending to aim as she dodges her grin behind the butt of the gun.
"Leah was a natural. Got a clean shot of a wild Turkey right before I even finished telling her how." Enola praises.
"And Seth?" I ask, speeding up a bit to keep up with them on the trail. Leah's braids bounce from her shaking her head as she chuckles, then clearing her throat to muffle it out.
"He happily waited till he was thirteen for the BB gun. Then tried to get out hunting every weekend." Leah explains, her whole face warming up into a beam that only people who have siblings make.
"He's a sweet kid." Enola chuckles.
"Seth was so against killing animals he became a vegetarian to," Leah raises her free hand to curl her fingers into quotation marks. "To balance out the animals we hunted. He stuck to it for years till he shifted. He wouldn't even look at meat, now he realizes he needs some steak to go with his potatoes." Leah explains before pause to glance at me over her shoulder with a knowing look.
She's probably the sharpest out of the entire pack. They all have advanced senses, but Leah can read my body language without actually looking. Sensing the slightest shift in my body, she is already sensing my hesitance before I get there from curiosity.
"Go on," Leah's small grins fade away, but there isn't a mean look in her eyes. "Just ask."
"Are you sure?" I say so lowly, I barely feel my lips move. This is the most Leah has ever spoken to me. Admittedly I don't want to be the cause of her closing up. I would be kicking myself the entire way up and then down the trail if I made her upset.
"Winifred, That's not the question you want to ask." Enola states, giving me the exact piercing look Leah is giving me that it makes me wonder if they're related.
"...Why are you the only girl?" They both seem to appreciate me braving it out rather than dance around it telling myself I would be being polite. They each shrug off the awkward air and put it behind us, getting comfortable again in their footing as we all move forward.
"I must have won the supernatural lottery." Leah's joke is much like her, trying to make the best of a hard situation. "I can't give you answer. No one knows exactly why. Quil Senior thinks the reason I shifted was because there was so many vampires in La Push, it made everyone Change. It could be that... but I have an idea what it was."
"Leah," Enola means to be comforting but it comes out like a warning. "Be easy on yourself." Out of respect for Enola, Leah drops the topic for the rest the hike up.
"So, how are you taking the news?" Leah drops down on a log next to me, passing me a bag of trail mix. Enola went on ahead, out pacing us both despite being old enough to be our grandmother and Leah being an actual werewolf. She's not too far up ahead, the dull booms of her rifle telling us how she's nearby.
"Well I'm not in a padded room right now." Criss crossing my legs, I sit back on my palms, letting the sunshine warm me up a bit.
"So handling it well." Leah smirks over her water bottle before taking a sip.
"As well as one can accept that werewolves and vampires are real." I nod.
"Imprints tend to comes to term with it well. It's the pull. You've been being feeling it for so long, when you finally do hear the truth, it just makes everything make sense." Leah busies herself with resorting her backpack, taking everything out just to repack it all.
"Everyone keeps talking about 'The Pull,' What exactly is it?" I ask, despite knowing I've felt it since I first developed my crush on Embry when we were kids.
"It's hard to explain." Leah sighs towards the ground. "Some say imprinting is just a form of evolution that helps find the best gene pool to reduce with. Others say it's fate. The guys tell me they feel like they'll die without their imprint. Maybe it's soulmates...Whatever it is, it's more powerful than love." I don't ask Leah to elaborate, I just let her insight settle between us. All I know is that she hasn't imprinted yet, and for years she was with Sam Uley before he moved in with Leah's cousin Emily.
A long moment drags between us before she speaks up again.
"Sorry," Leah brings up her head, her frown more for herself than me. "I'm not saying you and Embry—"
"Don't worry." I give her a knowing expression. "I know you don't mean anything bad by that."
"Thanks," Leah mutters, her eyes shiny with relief that she didn't have to explain herself, as if this is the first time someone understood rather than cast her off as mean.
"So," I go for a change of subject. "Do you like being a werewolf?"
"Fuck no." Being the only girl in a group guys sucks whether werewolf or not. "Change of topic?"
"Sure." I give her a moment to find something new to talk about as we pretend I never asked the question.
"If I hadn't Changed it probably would have been Enola." Leah admits, her head turning in the direction of Enola firing off.
"I was thinking the same thing." We exchange a look that neither of us like seeing. Old Quil said it himself. Their parents shifted and protected them. If it was one generation later, it would have been Enola who probably would have shifted to become the first female instead of Leah. It was timing that missed Enola and landed with Leah.
"I'm anomaly, even in supernatural standards. The elders now think that women of the tribe have always been able to change, but that it takes something more to cause it. Where the boys only need a leech to be nearby to kick off the change, because of me they think the women needed a traumatic event."
"... That doesn't make sense." I feel a line pinch between my brows.
"It doesn't?" Leah almost sounds hopeful.
"It doesn't." I shake my head slowly. "Giving birth is the most traumatic experience in a woman's life. Post postpartum depression, a c-section, assault, harassment, getting your period for the first time... Women have always been traumatized, it doesn't explain why yours breaks the bounds of supernatural... order?"
"You don't think..." Leah doesn't finish, looking away instead of looking at me. "Seth and I Changed at the same time. We Changed when our dad went into cardiac arrest, but it's not clear if I already started shifting that caused him to... or if it was because he went into cardiac arrest and that made me turn..."
"I can't give you an answer for sure, Leah." Her black eyes glimmer with something sad, but hopeful. They're burning, ablaze and bright with emotion that she refuses to let eat away at her. The most express part of Leah's face is her eyes and brows. She always has a frown or a glare for people, but when I pay attention to her eyes I can see everything she's feeling right there in her black eyes. "I wasn't there, but it sounds like you would have shifted one way or the other. I'm just sorry your dad isn't here to see who you are now, because you're pretty bad ass."
"Please, the res thinks I'm a mean bitch whose in a cult because she can't let her ex-boyfriend go." Leah's face stones over, the short moment of vulnerability long gone.
"The res thinks you could kick everyone's ass." I correct. The stone mask cracks, my words make her blush, and she rolls her eyes in an effort to hide it. A long moment passes before Leah faces me again.
"Supernatural order?" Leah brings back up with a snort.
"I don't know," It feels good when we both laugh, not a chuckle but a real full laugh with matching smiles. "All this werewolf stuff and the why, when and how is confusing. Someone should write this stuff down into a rule book or something."
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
"Atta girl!" Enola shouts over the flare of my shot.
"I missed." I point out, my arms wobbling as I lower the rifle down to my side. This hike was a training season for me the whole time. Once we reached the peak of the trail, the two of them have been drilling me. Leah and Enola just got to kill time with hunting on the hike up.
"At least your hands stopped shaking." Leah points out, leaning against a tree while she eats a sandwich. While Leah's appetite is just as big as the guys', Leah is much more refined about it. She doesn't eat a pound of food in one sitting, but instead eats in bursts. This is her third sandwich since we started our hike, but the guys would have ate three all at once then be hungry later.
"It's only practice." Enola begins, letting me drop down on a rock for a break. "Today was the first time you shot without falling from the fall back. That's improvement, Winifred."
"How much more do I have to practice till I can aim?" Their laughter tells me it'll be a lot more training.
"Till you're a better shot, just stay on the reservation whenever you can. And if you head into Forks take someone with you." Leah brushes over the topic of vampires without bringing them up. Neither Enola and I further the topic either, all of us just wanting Girls Day to last a bit longer.
"How were you so good at this?" I ask Leah, stretching out my arms. The pull of the muscles warns me I'm going to be sore tomorrow.
"Like Enola said, natural talent." Leah smirks.
"Harry would be impressed, Leah." Enola nods, looking proud as she does nostalgic. Leah thanks the old woman with a small grateful smile. Enola is most likely the only one to see the real Leah, and it's nice to see a glimpse of her too.
"He would be." Leah takes Enola's compliment. We all gather towards the edge, looking out far where green just never ends. "This was his favorite place. He loved it out here. Away from all the rushing. It was just him and the trees. He liked that way."
"If Harry hadn't settled down and had a family, he probably would have moved out here." Enola goes to chuckle, but it comes out choked and forced, her voice wumbling with feelings. Leah and I pretend not to notice when Enola blinks back tears, both of sharing an understanding look.
"I'm sorry you didn't get to know him," Leah tells me.
"I did though." I clarify, earning pleasantly taken aback looks my way. "Your dad use to be one of my regulars. When I first started at the Lodge, he'd come in all the time. It was always Harry, Billy, and Chief Swan. They never missed a Monday night game and Harry always got..."
"A roast beef sandwich." We all finish together, breaking out in a quiet round of laughs.
"It was his favorite." Leah nods along.
"I had only been working there about a year when Harry passed," Leah winces, but gives me a look to continue. "But he was nice to me when a lot of people weren't. Most of the local guys that came loved to bring up my freshman year on the beach. They cat called me, followed me to my car, pulled off my apron when I passed. The worst ones even showed me pictures on their phones. One night during Commanders game, this group of football players from Forks came in and one of them smacked my butt. Your dad gave that kid absolute hell. I never knew Harry could even get mad, let alone that angry. He called chief Swan, made him come down there to threaten to arrest him. Harry even called up the kid's parent himself a week later to make sure he apologized to me."
"My dad rarely let anything bother him," Leah starts, giving the sky a sad smile.
"But nothing pissed off Harry like unfairness." Enola has the same fond look on her face.
"I know it being Girls Day and all," Enola fishes something out of her back pocket. She produces a shiny steel flask, holding it up to the sky for a toast. "To Harry Clearwater. We miss you, Harry. It's not the same without you." Tipping it over, Enola lets out a stream of brown liquid trickle out before taking a hefty gulp. Enola passes it to Leah, whose one for never getting mushy but pours out a bit too.
"This is for you, Dad." Leah toasts, throwing back her head and forcing down a good mouthful despite not even able to get drunk with her superhuman metabolism. She finishes with a sigh, still grimacing as she hands to me.
"Thanks for standing up for me, Harry." I say over the soft pour of the flask. I nearly gag when I bring it up my face, the smell burning my nose before I even try any of it. With a deep breath and pinched shut eyes, I down the smallest amount I can before handing it back to Leah. Forcing it down, I do my best to keep it down rather than cough it up. It's worst than the smell. The taste sharp against my tongue, quickly growing from stinging to a complete burn as it goes down.
"First shot?" Leah asks, offering me water.
"I feel like I've been shot." I rasp, not sure when I landed in a crouch in the grass.
"Oh, I should have warned her." Enola laughs, rubbing gentle circles on my back. "This stuff is homemade. I brew it myself."
"It's homemade gasoline." Leah tries to give Enola a cutting look, but we all just end up laughing.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
"Oh my god, did Winnie get shot?" Embry bolts out my cabin, reaching Leah's jeep in less than five strides. I bounce with Leah's every step, enjoying the sway and motion as I sag against her back as she piggy backs me to my cabin. My dizzy head rests on Leah's shoulder, one arm barely around her bicep to keep myself from falling off Leah's back. If it wasn't for her secure grip at my knees, I'd probably would have fallen off already.
Even without her werewolf strength I'm sure Leah would have carried me just as easily.
"Relax lover boy, she's not hurt. She's just drunk." Leah adjusts me, pushing me up higher with no effort. "Your girlfriend is a light weight, Embry. She took one sip then lost all hand-eye coordination. If I hadn't carried her, she would have tumble all the way down the mountain."
"Hey Winnie," Embry lowers his face to mine, getting eye level to get a good look at me. When his handsome face comes into view I can't help the huge ear to ear smile on my face. "Are you okay? How are you feeling?" The worried look on his face melts into one of relief, his hand running down over his face as he sighs.
"I can't feel my teeth." I slur.
"You said she had only one sip." Embry questions Leah.
"One sip of whatever Enola brewed." Leah clarifies, letting Embry go up the steps to open the door for us.
"My hooch is the good stuff, but it will probably have Winifred sick tomorrow." Enola laughs, handing off my backpack to Embry. He rounds on her with his hands braced on his hips, needing answers but quickly checks himself from Enola's raised brow, just daring him to pick a fight with her. She almost looks like she's eager for some back and forth.
"Bully said you guys went hunting? We're you guys just drinking in the woods?"
"I texted you where we were taking her," Enola points a finger in Embry's direction.
"Enola, that wasn't a text. You emailed me." Embry clarifies.
"Either way you got the message, didn't you? I consider that a success." All three of us break out in fits of laughter, the kind that has us wheezing and clutching our chests. I haven't laughed this much in years.