petrichor [rosalie hale] ✔

xxxviii. fell off a cliff

"Maybe they'll say she was in a car crash. Or tripped and fell off a cliff."

Kiara rolled her eyes as she kicked the ball back to Paul, the older boy just sniggering as he also tried to ignore listening to doom-and-gloom Jacob Black across the beach. Kiara and Jacob still hadn't spoken to each other since their fight at the wedding and, despite the rest of the pack complaining about how awkward that was, they both were too stubborn to approach the other.

Sam had been keeping them on separate patrol over the last few days, and Kiara had spent most of her time not with the pack over at the Cullen's household. Some of the pack still weren't happy with that development, more notably Jared, Jacob and Quil, but there wasn't much they could do about it. Seth had joined her a few times to check up on Bree, and Kiara found it amusing to see how their friendship was (very slowly) progressing.

It seemed that with every week, they learnt more and more about how the imprint worked. For Paul and Rachel, Jared and Kim, and Kiara and Rosalie, things had felt like instant love - almost as if the imprint bond was romantic from the very start. Sam and Emily had been a rocky start that eventually grew into love, but Seth and Bree were more like a platonic friendship right now. Kiara had no doubt there would be something romantic there in the future, but that wasn't something she felt needed to be expected.

Bree had been through a lot since she was turned only a few months ago, and while she had excellent self-control around Bella, there was still no question that she wasn't exactly ready to go into a functioning society any time soon. Her red eyes were less noticeable now, dulled to a mix of red and gold as she transitioned into the vegetarian diet. Rosalie had told Kiara that it would be easier for her than it was for Jasper, since she'd only been reborn as a vampire on human blood for a very short period of time - and in fact, most of the red that remained in her eyes was simply from her own transition and the human blood that still remained in her body.

Kiara's eyes flickered back over to where Jacob was sitting in the sand, one of the only guys of the pack still wearing a shirt. Kiara didn't blame him, the temperature wasn't exactly great today but it wasn't like they felt the cold like everyone else. She was pretty sure he was just doing it to give Sam a reason to not expect him to phase and run off again. It was one of his good shirts... one Rachel had brought for him when she came to visit. Seth and Embry looked at Jacob with sadness in their eyes, feeling his pain about what Jacob was adamant was the love of his life.

Sam wrapped his arms around Kiara as he lifted her into the air, the girl yelling out in annoyance as Jared stole the ball from under her feet and passed it to Paul. Emily laughed from where she sat with Kim and Quil, enjoying watching the pack have a moment of fun with each other for a change. Leah rolled her eyes, but she found it hard to hide the smile on her face. She hated Sam like nothing else, but it was moments like this when she got to see her best friend happy that she reminded herself that life wasn't all just shit.

"At least I'll get one thing out of it."

Kiara and Sam's heads both snapped round to face Jacob as he let the words hang in the air. Leah reached out, grabbing on to Kiara's wrist as she went to move towards her brother, instead letting Sam address the boy.

"No, you won't. Cullens are not a danger to the town or the tribe," Sam ordered Jacob, his eyes flashing with annoyance as he tried to knock the boy down a peg or two. Kiara nodded as Sam honoured his promise, knowing that what happened to Bella next was her choice.

They might have found Bella put them in awful situations on a number of occasions, but she never wanted to harm them. She had been against them fighting with the Cullens against the newborn army, and Victoria would've attacked Kiara with or without Bella being involved - they knew that now. They'd not know about her relationship with the blonde vampire until after the imprint occurred, but her initial attack while she was still human made a lot more sense now.