I could smell a ranch flavor when I entered my mom's house. It must have been one of the casseroles from the Clearwater's.
"Sam!" She popped her head out of the kitchen in greeting. "I'm glad you came or else I would have to eat this myself."
"I'll eat it, ma." I said, kissing her on the cheek.
I stayed in the kitchen to clean up while she sat in the living room with the TV on. I was able to do all the cleaning quickly since she knew about the wolf speed now.
"Mom, did Dad leave any books behind?" I asked, staying in the entryway of the living room.
She looked up at me. "I don't know. I tossed a lot of his junk. Anything left is in the basement. Why?"
"Oh, I was talking to Old Quil and he said dad might have had some books about the last pack."
"Huh." She turned back to the TV. "It doesn't ring a bell, but you can check the basement."
"I'll do that after we eat. Did Dad mention any inheritance from grampa?"
"No. And he acted so bitter about it. Your grandparents lived comfortably but your dad said there was nothing left. His mom is not doing too good. She has no money except checks from the state so I believe it. There was nothing left by the time he died."
"What's dad doing these days?" I hadn't asked about him in years.
"I don't know. Rumors around the rez are that he's in real estate but I haven't talked to him since we finalized the divorce."
"What about child support, ma? Did he pay you child support?"
"He did for a little bit but it stopped long ago. By then, I was stable and I got the house when he left so I didn't bother fighting him about it. Fighting him only made me bitter, so I didn't want to do it."
"Ok, ma. Thanks for telling me. So what's for dinner?"
"It's a tuna ranch casserole. I think it has egg noodles."
"Great."
There was other stuff in that casserole, too, but it was edible. Mom took a small portion then heated up a frozen microwave dinner. I ate half the casserole and packaged up the rest for my lunch tomorrow. I'd cook up something good for Leah's lunch.
After dinner, I went into the basement. It was damp, dimly lit and unorganized. Many shelves were filled with unlabeled boxes. Since I could not see any books, I decided to look through the boxes one by one.
Christmas decorations from the 80's. Clothes from my childhood. Toys from my childhood. Toys from my mom's childhood. Broken electronics. An urn? Art supplies. More broken electronics. Weird old books. Weird old books!
I pulled out the box of weird old books. Some were in Quileute. Most were poorly labeled, like the pack books in my living room. There was one that had a higher quality binding than the others, like it was done professionally.
I read the title page. "The Cullen Quileute Treaty." Shit. This was it. I looked around to see if there were any more boxes with books. There were none. I brought it upstairs.
"Can I have these, ma?" I asked.
She looked in the box. "Sure, I'm glad you found something useful down there."
"Mom, I've got to stop in and see Old Quil. Do you mind if I go now?"
"No Sam, go ahead. Will you be back tomorrow?"
"Yeah, ma, I told you I'd eat those casseroles for you. I won't let you down."
I ran through the woods to the Ateara place. Quil answered the door.
"Sam? Come in." He eyed my box curiously. It probably looked like I was bringing books back to Old Quil.
"Is Old Quil in? I want to ask him about some books."
"I'm here, son, come into my study." He called from down the hall.
I walked right into his study and put the box on his desk. "I did not find your copy of the treaty in our bookshelves, so I think you're right. Billy took it. But I did find these in my mom's basement." I pulled out the treaty to show him.
"I don't know what the rest of these are, but some are in Quileute."
He picked up a book and opened it up. "I've never seen this before, but it looks like a pack book. I really want to read it, Sam."
"I can't let you keep any of these, Old Quil. I hope you understand. What are they about?"
"This one seems to be about an alpha pair." He said, wonder in his eye. He picked up another. "This one does too." He pulled out a stack opening one after another in quick succession. "This whole box is the lost texts," he said under his breath.
He sat down… or fell into his chair. I'm not sure.
"I'm sorry, Sam. I was so wrong. So wrong. I don't know what these all say, but this is significant."
"I'll say. What are the lost texts?"
He rubbed his cheeks with his palms. "I didn't think they existed, that their existence was a legend as well. They are about the alpha pairs." He looked up at me with joy in his eyes. "I don't know what they all say, but I do hope I'll find out before I die."
I nodded. "I'll see what I can do."
I went home and made a hearty stir fry for Leah's lunch tomorrow.
Then I sat heavily on the couch to read the treaty, cover to cover. Most of it was descriptions of the land borders in painful detail. At the end were the terms of the treaty.
The Cullens were not allowed to bite humans while they were in residence in Forks.
That was not how it was explained to us. We were told any bite to a human, no matter where, was a treaty violation.
The wolf pack was not allowed to be in wolf form in Forks.
This was also different from what we had been told. We had been told that was only a rule when the Cullens were in residence.
They were not allowed on the reservation, ever.
This was what Billy told us.
There was to be no attack on either side.
This was what Billy told us.
As long as they owned property in Forks, they would pay for our silence about their true identity.
Then there were details about the payment methods, quantity, frequency, and inheritance at death to the oldest firstborn son of the previous inheritor. There was no clause for female heirs.
So, if we stopped being silent, the payments would stop. Fun. We could tell someone and end the payments.
I started thumbing through one of the English texts. It was a story of a young couple very similar to Leah and me. They were young lovers when the male phased, the first in his pack, the alpha. He learned of imprinting and married his beloved in order to avoid an imprint tearing them apart. His wife later phased and they took control of the pack together.
I heard Leah's car coming down the road. I got up to find a bookmark.
I hustled over to her as she opened the door. I held her in a big hug. "Hi baby." I said then kissed her pretty lips. "How was your day?" I had so much I wanted to talk to her about but I wanted her to get everything off her chest first.
"Baby, it was just a normal day. Did you find the treaty at your mom's?"
"Yeah, and a whole box of books about alpha pairs." I led her to the couch and we sat, her straddling me on my lap.
"No way!"
"Yeah. I brought it to Old Quil and he apologized for how wrong he was when you first phased. I think he might be a real ally now, but I don't really trust him, ya know?"
"Yeah, but I trust him more than Billy," she said.
"For sure. I didn't even tell Billy about all this, obviously. So I read the treaty first and it's wild. First, the Cullens not biting is only applicable when they live in Forks."
"What the fuck! So they could be human drinkers everywhere else?"
"Yep. And we were told that we only had to avoid Forks in wolf form when they were in residence. The treaty did not say anything about 'when they are in residence,' which means we are never supposed to be in Forks in wolf form."
"Insane. Not happening."
"They are not allowed on the reservation, that is the same. Neither side is supposed to attack, also the same. But the money is in exchange for our silence. According to the treaty, if we tell people what they are, the money stops."
"Well, that can be step one. Let's get the word out," she said.
"I was thinking it could start with Charlie Swan."
"Fuck. That's brilliant, Sam. Do you think he'll believe us?"
"He hates Edward, but the doctor is a respected member of the community in Forks, so they might be friendly."
"Should we tell him about the pack so he knows we're not talking shit?"
"Maybe. Who gives a shit what the council thinks at this point?" I said.
"But Old Quil says he'd get us on the council."
"Leah," I says, brushing the hair off her face with my fingers, "we are the true spirit chiefs of this tribe, whether the people know it or not. That means one, we can do whatever we think is right and two, with great power comes great responsibility. We need to be sure before we act on anything."
She sighed. "Right. Thanks Uncle Ben."
"I started reading one of the books from the box. It's a story just like ours, uncanny, really. Just a way older."
"Really?"
"The couple was together, he phased, they heard about imprinting, got married to circumvent it, then she later phased and they became the alpha pair. Then you came home so that's as far as I've gotten."
"Why weren't these books with the rest?"
"I don't know. Billy said that Old Quil wanted to destroy the alpha pair books, so maybe they were in danger in the past and were hidden. He kept calling them the lost texts."
"This is so crazy."
"I know. I know." I was honestly overwhelmed by all of it. "How were the tips tonight?"
She scowled, not at me but at the situation.
"Best night yet." She put her head on my shoulder. "It makes me want to quit sooner."
"I get that, baby. We have a lot on our plate right now. Do you want to add learning construction to that plate?"
"I don't know, but the way it is now, it's weighing on me. And what if, as I become more comfortable as alpha, it just gets worse? Like they think that they owe me even more for serving them? These people aren't wealthy, Sam."
"Whatever you want to do, I'll support you."
"Maybe I'll put in my two weeks notice on Friday. I don't want to leave the diner short staffed. I'm not sure though."
"Keep thinking about it. You don't need to decide now."
"Is there a book, like construction for dummies, so I can learn all the vocab before I start? Then I won't look like an idiot when I do decide to leave the diner."
"Yeah, actually," I remembered. "My uncle has a dictionary in his office. I'll get the title and order you a copy."
"Thanks, baby." She started kissing my neck. "This has been a lot, but can we still fuck?"
LPOVI felt drained by all of this information, but I still wanted to connect with my man, I asked him if we could still fuck, he looked into my eyes with a deep sense of longing.
"I want to make love tonight." He said. I had goosebumps. He slowly unbuttoned my blouse, feeling my breasts over my bra, then pushed my shirt off down my back.
He leaned my body backwards and rubbed his cheek on my breasts. I kissed the top of his head. My arms were wrapped around his shoulders and neck.
"I'm taking you to bed," he said, standing. He carried me so that when he sat on the edge of the bed, we were in the exact same position. He unclasped my bra, which was a front clasp, and pushed it down my back.
He started dry humping me through his shorts while sucking on my nipple.
"Ugh." I groaned. "That feels so good." He looked up at me, flicking my nipple with his tongue, a mischievous gleam in his eye.
"I remember the first time I did this. I creamed my pants when you screamed out my name."
"At least it was at your mom's and not my parents."
He laughed. "Your dad would not approve."
As we made love, it started to feel familiar, kind of like the pack mind, but with just the two of us, with just our emotions. There were no complete thoughts, no lengthy explanations. I could feel what he felt. There was no barrier if we focused on our breathing or physical connection. There was no cutting this off. Our emotions, our overwhelm, it was all mingling and crashing back into us. It was raw, almost painful how raw.
"God damn." I whispered as we held each other in bed.
Sam kissed my forehead. "I needed that, more than I knew," he said sweetly. "I could feel our overwhelm mingle together, did you feel that, baby?" He rolled us over delicately.
"That was exactly what I felt, yes."
"But when it settled back into me…"
"It was clearer." We said in unison.
"We've got to read those books." I said. "The ones about the alpha pairs. Could this be like some sort of meditation for us?"
"I don't know but it must be something like that." He was running one hand through his hair. "It's different from the pack mind. We have no control over it, what feelings we share and how they come back. That makes it feel even more honest and raw."
"I'm going to give my two weeks notice tomorrow and tell her that I'd rather leave sooner if she can fill my shifts."
"Yeah, baby, I think that's for the best."
I was a little surprised that he agreed so readily, but then again, with the connection we just shared, of course he understood. "Does your uncle know that I'm going to come to work for him?"
"Yeah. He loves you. At first he wanted to offer you an office job but I told him you were like me and Paul, stronger and faster than everyone else on the site. He got pretty excited."
"Did you ask about starting your own crew?"
"I did. He wanted me to wait until you joined. He's a little sexist. He doesn't think men can do paperwork so he's going to want you to do that part. Is that ok?"
"Huh. Yeah, that's fine. Kind of funny. I don't know how to do that shit so you'll have to show me."
"I could just do it and we'll tell him it's you."
I giggled. "Even better." I brought my face to his and kissed him, joining our mouths together.
"Damn, Leah," he sighed. He started fondling my breast again and I could feel him harden inside of me.