Noonday Sun: A Post-Breaking Dawn Twilight Fanfiction

Chapter 5, Return

Chapter 5, Return

Leah

I sniffed the salty air. I was close to La Push. I'd been gone six days. Seth's tone was accusing: "How could you do this to Mom? On her wedding day?" I saw the pain in her eyes dredged from his memory and flinched.

Seth had been waiting in his wolf form. He'd seen me several times as I was running away and then as I slunk back. I had tried hard to prevent the rest of the pack from seeing why I had run in the first place, but I knew the truth would be shouted out sooner or later.

I quit hiding and let Seth feel the intensity of my pain. I could almost see him stagger. No one—from either pack, or in the history of the Quileute tribe—had tried to run from an imprint. It just wasn't possible.

"Oh, man, Leah this is bad." Seth tried to empathize, but then he barked out a laugh.

I growled, but it was just half hearted.

"My sis. Imprinting on a vampire." I could feel his laughter. It came from deep inside.

"Half vampire." I snapped. Then I stopped. I hadn't thought of Sam and Emily. Not once. In six days. Maybe this imprinting wasn't so bad...

It was only a few minutes before Seth was at my side. His tongue left a slobbery kiss on my face. His lips were curled back in a wide wolf smile. I sat down and growled. I wasn't in a mood for laughter. Seth sat down next to me. "You can't fight this, Leah. You know that."

I laid down, putting my head on my paws and whimpered.

"It isn't that bad. They really are good people, you know." He paused. "There are bad vampires. We all know that. We've fought with the Cullens to kill them. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"They're all vampires. They're all evil." I sounded petty, even to me.

"Leah, you can't believe that. Do you think a Quileute could imprint on something evil? I can't accept that, Leah." He stood up and started pacing. "The purpose for us is to protect. We can't protect if we are drawn to something that we need protected from. Nahuel is a good man. The Cullens vouch for him. There is no need for you to be fighting this."

I stood up and shook out my coat. Maybe he was right. Maybe this wasn't so bad... but he was a vampire. I howled, my howl full of all the anguish I was feeling.

Seth sat and howled with me. He couldn't help it. And three other howls broke out in the surrounding hills. My pack was gathering around me. Jacob was one of them...

Jacob came running up, his huge form filling my view. "Leah. You can't fight this. It isn't in your blood."

Then he showed me the day he imprinted with Nessie. I hadn't really paid much attention until then. He'd been so certain of his course... he was going to kill the monster child that had taken his Bella. Then I saw how his imprint with Nessie had gone. It was so like my imprinting with Nahuel.

I hadn't been willing to watch before. I saw my own imprinting in their eyes and knew that the pain I was inflicting on myself was pain they were enduring also. There was nothing the pack didn't share—pain, sorrow, joy, love. We shared it all, and I could see how I was punishing my pack.

I howled again. Anguish spilled out and the pack joined me again in my sorrow.

When I was quiet, Jacob said, again, "You can't fight this."

"Is that an order?" I glared at him.

"You know I don't work like that. It's your choice, but your pain is being inflicted on us all."