fate unfolding in the palm of your hand °sam uley°

Chapter 11

The wolves had been around. Itoro could still smell their different scents. There were more than last time. Sam's scent and Jared's too. There were another six that Itoro didn't recognise. Eight in total, one for each of the members of the Cullen Coven. Itoro wondered if Sam knew that. He had to; he took the patrolling seriously, and Itoro could just about sniff out Victoria's scent – faint but there. Did Victoria's presence cause more of the kids on the Reservation to shift? With the coven, Itoro thought it'd be all of them that'd cause the kids to end up shifting.

Now that they were back, the Treaty was back in action.

Chances were that the coven would only stay until graduation. Bella was eighteen so upon graduation, she could leave of her own free will. She'd join the vampire coven, be turned by Edward after getting married, and then they'd leave and wouldn't be able to return.

Itoro's undead heart twisted oddly at that. Forks was nice; quiet and sort of quaint. They did also like the rare chances they spoke with Sam, mostly one-sided. Would he still offer up his time to talk to her? Itoro frowned to herself, wondering why the hell they were thinking about Sam.

They walked through the forest until they could no longer hear the others in the house, and walked a little further because she knew that Jasper would be wary, and Alice was too knowing. If she ended up close enough to the shifters' territory, then it'd mask Itoro's imminent future. Alice was pissed off to no end to figure out that she could see past the shifters' presence. It'd been why she didn't see Bella get pulled out of the water; Jacob grabbed her before Victoria got to her.

Itoro came to a dead stop and looked to her right. Familiar dark golden eyes of a wolf's met hers. "Sorry, we're back."

The transformation back into human form was kinda terrifying. Sam ducked down and then he was pulling on some jean shorts. He was barefoot but he walked over to them, unbothered. Itoro was more unsettled by the ease in which he transformed from huge wolf to tall man. He looked the same as he did the last (first) time that Itoro saw him.

"Jesus that was kinda horrifying," Itoro said, eyes following him as he got closer. "You said it hurts,"

"I'm used to it." Sam said, coming to a stop. "Your, uh, brother," he said awkwardly. At least he was asking even if he wasn't that bothered about the Cullens.

"Edward is alive, Bella's back at her place. Edward's watching over her. Some Romeo and Juliet bullshit," Itoro said, shrugging a shoulder. "Your boy Jacob saved Bella. Alice didn't see it, thought Bella was dead. It's kinda why we're back."

Sam inclined his head. "She doesn't think too highly of him – or us." Itoro frowned. Sam gave what looked like a smile, different to the one he'd worn months earlier. "She said she couldn't see past him and his pack of mutts."

Itoro clenched her fists. "I hate them all sometimes. I can make her apologise but it probably wouldn't be sincere. I've already guilt-tripped Rosalie and the others,"

"You do that often?"

"Only when they do something that's racist. They're learning, which is great, but if she says it again, I'm burning all her fucking Valentino bags," Itoro said, grimacing. "How many others have, uh, phased? I caught six new scents."

Sam's expression closed. "Only six. We expect more to shift. The redheaded leech is lurking around. We chased her up to the Canadian border more times than I care to admit."

"Lady Leech," Itoro said. "Jared called her that, right?" Sam nodded. "Her name is Victoria, but whatever. She'll know we're back and probably up her game. I'd suggest a temporary truce, so we can kill her. Common enemy, enemy of my enemy and all that shit."