petrichor [rosalie hale] ✔

xli. new pack order

Kiara was limping away from the fight, her wounds deep. Seth followed behind her supporting her as they headed towards the Cullen's house. He was pressed against her side as the two wolves had slowed to a walk, after having ran for long enough to come to the conclusion that none of the pack were following after them. Her fight with Sam had been brief but intense, and both wolves had left each other with a few nasty scars. Emotionally and physically.

As they reached a clearing, Seth stopped suddenly and Kiara glanced to look at him with question in her eyes. His head was drooped a little, and she could feel the sadness and guilt that was pooling in his head. She already knew what was going on with him before asking: he was feeling guilty for leaving behind Leah and turning on the pack, sadness that they wanted to kill his imprint and her family, pain from Kiara's pain in her back leg...

Kiara nuzzled her head against his for a moment before they both continued on, Seth's thoughts peacefully breaking the silence as they followed Jacob's trail. Kiara had caught on pretty quickly that he was going back to the Cullens, and she wasn't really sure if she was ready to face Rosalie again. Her words still stung from earlier, and she was still beyond angry at her lying about Bella's pregnancy to her.

But she had to put that aside for now. They needed to regroup and come up with a plan - not just for their sake, but for Bella's. She wanted to kill whatever Bella was growing, but she didn't want her friend to have to die too.

"I know I'm angry," Kiara started, her voice breaking their comfortable silence. She turned to Seth, her eyes flashing with determination. "But we have to protect them, no matter what."

"Do you think they'd really hurt Bree and Rosalie? It's like our most absolute law," Seth whined back, impatient to see his imprint but not wanting to rush Kiara who was still bleeding and limping from her hind leg.

Kiara sighed heavily, knowing that Seth was right. The pack's law was to never harm any of their imprints, no matter what. But there was something about this situation that made her doubt that rule. They had never faced anything like this before and the stakes were higher than ever.

"I don't know," Kiara admitted, feeling a hint of doubt creep into her mind. "But we can't take that chance. We need to be prepared for anything." She paused for a moment, glancing at Seth with a pained expression. "And we have to be prepared to fight our own if it comes to that."

Seth's eyes widened in shock, the idea of fighting his own pack members and sister clearly not something he had considered.

"I don't know if I can do that," he whispered, his voice barely audible as they continued walking. He couldn't shake off the guilt he felt for leaving them behind, but he knew that he couldn't go back to them now. He had made his choice, and it was to protect his imprint and her family.

"It's okay," Kiara replied, rubbing her shoulder against his. "We'll get through this together, hopefully with no fighting."

They both knew she didn't really believe that, but neither commented on it. As they approached the Cullen residence, Kiara and Seth both decided to shift back - having sensed that Jacob had turned back into his human form long ago. Kiara headed to where she knew Alice had left some spare clothes for her, regretting having shifted and ripped them earlier.

Seth hadn't done that, so he simply shifted back and got changed into the clothes that he had tied to his leg. Kiara mused her lips at that, knowing that the boys all loved doing that but that she hated the feeling of having a rope around her ankle when shifted.

"I think I can hear Jake up ahead," Seth said, suddenly excited at the prospect of seeing his friend. Kiara rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the small smile that graced her lips as he took her arm and supported her body weight as she continued to limp through the trees.