Still In Bloom ↠ Twilight ✓

35 ; scarlet newborn red

The sunlight bleeding in through the clouds above makes Shelby's eyelids flutter. 

Her face is cocked towards the warmth, the skin of her throat extended like a flower's petals. It's rare they get sunlight in Forks and Shelby's body has missed it. You'd think that someone born in Washington would be cold-blooded but nevertheless, Shelby seemed like an outlier.

The sound of footsteps shock Shelby to opening her eyes and she sees Seth and Leah's upcoming figures. Seth is working on buttoning up his pants, and Leah's hair is disheveled. No doubt the two of them had just phased back to their human forms after a few patrols around the Cullen home. 

Something seems riotous on their face as Leah approaches and Shelby instantly feels her hackles rise. If such a thing were possible given the normal tension Shelby always holds whenever she's back at the Cullen home, much like she is now.

"What's wrong?" Shelby asks, and at this moment, Seth opens his mouth.

"We're going to a pack meeting tonight," He states and it's in his youth that Shelby finds herself greeted with a dark-haired, brown-eyed version of Wallace. 

"Jacob's finally stepping up his alpha duties?" Shelby asks and feels her chest flutter whenever Leah smiles faintly at the comment. The female, despite the male being her alpha, is always amused by a joke made at Jacob's expense.

"Actually this meeting isn't his doing," Leah states and at Shelby's eyebrow raise, Leah continues, "Sam invited us to his and Emily's place. Said that if he and Jacob are going to be sharing the same land, even if Jacob doesn't want to be the primary alpha, it'd be a good idea to be cordial."

"Cordial?" Shelby states, then snorts, "I might only know Sam from where he was trying to rip my nephew from Bella's womb but that doesn't sound like a word he'd use."

"Well, it was our mom who said that word," Leah states and her voice takes on an edge. "She's on the Elder board now so she's a bit biased on wanting the two packs to get along. Especially since her children are members of the smaller one."

Shelby can understand that. So she simply nods, "Well, I'd say have fun but I don't think you will,"

"That's actually why we're here," Seth pipes up and Leah is quick to shove her elbow into her brother's ribcage but Seth maneuvers out of the way, speaking through a laugh, "Leah wanted to ask if you'd go to the meeting with her."

The moment stills and Shelby is blinking, confusion clear on her face. "Me? Why would I go?"

"Well-" Leah begins but again, Seth is speaking before her.

"You're Leah's imprint," Seth states like Shelby doesn't already know. 

"Yeah but Sam can't know that," Shelby replies, and then she's turning her full attention back towards Leah. "That night, you told the pack you had imprinted on Veran, and that's why they couldn't touch him. If I go, I'd be risking that. Right?"

Leah seems to sober at the thought of that night. The one in which Shelby had been sobbing in the living room, overwhelmed because the thought of the pack attacking her brother and Bella had seemed like a theory. Not a reality. And it had been in Shelby's panic that Leah had insisted on the idea of pretending that Veran was her imprint in order to give him protection underneath pack law. After all, it wasn't as though Sam could catch her onto the lie since he didn't have a pathway into her mind to know that Shelby was really the focus of Leah's wolf's attention. 

Grief-stricken, Edward had agreed. Shelby had agreed too. All of them hadn't really had another option, but they had known that Veran's protection was of the upmost importance. Especially since Veran's two human parents had given up their lives in order for him to survive.