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"I swear to ancestors, Paul, if you kill Sage, I'm going to murder you," Sam snapped.
Sage snorted at the anger, and Paul, who stood across from her in his wolf form, grey fur sprouting from his body, shook his head, fur swishing in the wind. He pushed a paw into the dirt and scuffed it, snorting at Sam when the man growled another warning.
"Oh, let them enjoy this," Leah said, waving off his concerns. She leaned against a tree, smirking like she, herself, was enjoying it as well. "I already have ten on Sage."
Paul snarled like this offense was too much for him to handle. Sage hid a snicker behind her hand.
Sam rolled his eyes, thoroughly not amused. Sage wanted to go smooth out the wrinkles in his forehead and tell him that all was well. Her and Paul weren't really going to kill one another. It was just a test, after all, to see how the wolves affected her. To see if she could be hurt by them.
Sage knew that when she first fought them, there were times where Paul hurt her and times where Sam hurt her. But it was not enough to prove that they could kill her.
And she didn't know what would come of this now, if it would be enough to prove her theory, but Sage needed to try before the Volturi came. They had five days left, and they have spent every day before then training for a fight they knew was inevitable.
Now, they had a day off, so Sage knew it was time. She wanted to do it without Sam present to save everyone from his indignation, but he seemed to have sniffed it out and arrived shortly after Paul shifted into his wolf's form.
"Who did you bet against?" Sage asked.
"Jacob," Leah replied.
Sage threw a look at Jacob. "You think I will lose, do you?"
Jacob shrugged, nonchalant. "Paul's a good fighter."
Paul huffed with pride. Sage rolled her eyes, a little offended. She turned to Leah.
"You should have bet twenty, Leah."
Paul roared. Sage allowed her laugh to escape her lips. Seth snorted off to the side, leaning beside Leah on the tree.
The day was warmer. Spring was almost here, at its peak. The looming presence of the Volturi threatened to ruin the wonderful weather, but Sage decided she would allow herself to have these moments before she had to make the decision on whether or not to try and kill Aro.
She has thought about it more than anything, has thought about Allison's words and Aro's malice so much that Edward has refused to be around her, her thoughts too "depressing" for him.
But it wasn't as though she could control it. The conversation that she had with Allison left her reeling, strung out with thoughts that Sage wasn't sure if she wanted. There was the fact that Aro did abuse her because he wanted power--because he wanted Sage's power--for himself. There was the fact that he exploited her and used her and made her fear death because it would have been at the hands of him.
