Salute {Leah Clearwater}⁴

thirty - coming back...

"You're going to form a hole on the floor," Sue called out from the kitchen, "Why don't you run out and burn some energy."

Leah stopped in her tracks, "That's probably a good idea."

Taking her mother's advice the young shifter walked―more like ran―out the door towards the woods where she took off her clothes and phased, running through the forest, Josiah invading her thoughts. Although she was trying to calm her excitement that was cursing throughout her whole body, her imprint still managed to occupy her mind. Looking for a new distraction, Leah ran towards Sam's house where the rest of the pack was hanging out.

She desperately needed a distraction.

Hearing her footsteps enter her home, Emily glanced up from placing the freshly baked muffins on the table and greeted the Clearwater girl, "Hey."

"Hey..." Leah muttered, walking over and taking a muffin after the rest of the boys had, aggressively, grabbed theirs.

Sam, Jared, Embry, Quil, and her brother Seth decided to go out cliff diving while Collin and Brady decided to head to Collin's house to play video games. Jacob spent most of his time with Renesmee over at the Cullen's house, so Leah didn't even ask his whereabouts; while Paul was home with his mother and Liam.

Leah grabbed the dirty plates from the dining table and helped Emily wash the dishes as well as put away the leftover food.

From her peripheral vision, Emily could see the distant look in her cousin's eyes making her worry. "Are you okay?" Emily asked, placing her hand on the shifter's shoulder.

Leah looked up from drying the last plate, "Yeah... I just... have this weird gut feeling that something is going to happen. It's probably just the thought of Josiah coming back home."

A soft smile appeared on Emily's face, "I'm sure it's just your excitement from seeing your imprint again. I mean you haven't seen him for nine months."

Sighing, Leah placed the plate away and faced the scarred beauty, "Yeah... I just can't wait for him to be home already. I really miss him..."

"I can only imagine how much you miss him. I don't know what I would do if I went months without seeing Sam," Emily whispered, pulling her into a hug, "You are truly strong."

Liam never thought he would find himself in such a situation. Trying to keep a poker face, he stared down Paul who held his own cards. Deciding his final move, Liam placed his cards down, "Flush."

A smirk tugged on Paul's face before placing his own cards down on the table, "Flush. Ace high."

"Ugh!" Liam groaned, throwing his head back in frustration.

Laughing at Liam's loss, Paul grabbed the soldier's "poker chips" which were just snacks that had the shifter's mouth watering in hunger, "Thank you very much Pim."

"Yeah yeah." Liam muttered.

The smirk didn't leave Paul's face. "We could play another round if you want," the shifter said, opening one of the snacks and eating it in front of Liam's face.

"I think I'm good," Liam brushed him off, "I want to at least keep this bag of M&M's."

Paul chuckled. "Okay Pim."

Sighing, Liam opened his bag of M&M's, "I should have never taught you how to play poker." The youngest Lahote could only chuckle at his whining friend.

A wolf howl broke their playful banter causing the only shifter in the house to groan. "Guess my patrol is staring. I'll see you later Pim."

The soldier waved his best friend's younger brother goodbye before making his way towards the kitchen where Mary stood making dinner. "Need any help Mary?"

Mary glanced up from stirring something in the pot, " Oh no thank you Liam. The food's almost ready. Did Paul leave already?"

"Yeah, his patrol started."

Mary nodded, continuing to finish dinner which was starting to give off an incredible smell that caused Liam's stomach to let out a loud noise.

"I see you are hungry," Mary laughed, making the soldier flustered at the loud noise that his stomach let out.

Keeping her company in the kitchen, Liam made small talk with Mary to pass time until dinner was finished. Just as Mary was turning off the stove and Liam was getting ready to pull out the plates to serve the food, a knock interrupted their dinner.

"I'll get it." Liam placed the plates down and walked over to the door and opened it.

Upon opening the door, Liam felt his world come crashing down and his heart jumped to his throat. He felt the tears well up in his eyes but he forced them back as he stared back at the two uniformed soldiers in front of him.

"Is Mary Allen home?" His feet felt frozen in place as he continued to stare at the soldiers who could only stare back.

"Sir?"

Snapping out of his trance, Liam stepped aside to let the soldiers in, "Yeah, she's inside." The soldiers walked in, taking off their caps and walked towards the small living room.

"Liam, who was at the door?" Mary asked from the kitchen. Not hearing an answer, she made her way to the living room and was surprised at the sight of the two soldiers.

"Oh! Who might you be? Are they friend's of yours Liam? I didn't know they would be coming over. You should have warned me, so I could have prepared more food," Mary scolded Liam in a playful manner. Turning to the two soldiers she smiled brightly and greeted them.

"Ma'am, we are actually here to talk to you. If you could have a seat."

Confused Mary sat down and glanced over at Liam who stood, shaking, by the TV while looking down at his shoes. "What's going on?"

The two soldiers gave each other a look before finally breaking the news to the lady in front of them, "The Secretary of the Army has asked me to express his deepest regret that your son, Corporal Lahote was killed in action in the city of Baghdad, Iraq, yesterday, at 17:15 hours. Unfortunately, that is all the information we have at the moment Mrs. Allen. Again we're very sorry for your loss ma'am."