Salute {Leah Clearwater}⁴

eight - josiah lahote and leah clearwater

"Hey listen, I am heading over to La Push."

"Really!" Josiah smiled, "When?"

Paul sent his brother a questioning look at the excitement in his brother's face and voice. Noticing his brother's look Josiah mumbled the word 'Pim.' which Paul immediately understood.

"My plane is an hour, so I'll probably be there by dinner time."

"Okay well call me when you land, so I can go pick you up."

And with that Josiah hung up the phone and the Lahote siblings made their way to Sam and Emily's house. On the way there all that Josiah could think was Leah. The young soldier felt confused about the sudden emotions that a stranger could have on him. It was like a switch had gone off in his soul that made him want to be with the Clearwater girl ― Josiah had never felt this way before. Sure he had a few girlfriends while he was in the military but it didn't compare to the feelings he felt when he saw Leah for the first time. It truly confused the hell out of him.

"You okay?" Josiah was snapped out of his own thoughts and looked over to his brother.

"I'm good. Just thinking."

Paul gave him a look which told him that he did not believe one word.

"Do you think she'll be there?" Josiah asked without even thinking. Paul smirked and didn't answer his brother's question.

Josiah found himself sitting on the front porch of Emily and Sam's house with a beer bottle in one hand. After arriving at their house Sam took Paul, Jared, and Embry, who were in the house at the time, and left to go on patrol which left Emily and Josiah alone. However, Emily was called by a friend into the reservation which then left Josiah alone in their house. Emily felt bad for leaving Josiah alone and told him to make himself at home ― the Lahote boy didn't mind tho.

With nothing to do Josiah found himself sitting on the front porch and drinking from a beer he found in the fridge. Josiah let out a sigh before standing up and making his way back inside the house.

Deciding to make himself useful Josiah stepped inside the kitchen and started cleaning up the mess that Emily was unable to finish up. An hour passed when Josiah heard voices approaching the house making him step out and head towards the door.

"Hey guys," Josiah greeted Sam, Seth, Paul, Jared, Quil, Collin, Brady, and an unknown girl, which he sent a confused look.

"Josiah, you're here!" Seth smiled wide as he greeted the eldest Lahote.

"Hi! You must be Josiah," the unknown girl stepped up with a small smile and extended her hand out, "I'm Aubrey."

"Nice to meet you Aubrey." Josiah returned a welcoming smile, "And Emily is not here because she had to go to the reservation." Josiah added while addressing Sam.

Sam nodded, "Oh and someone is outside for you."

Josiah's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and made his way outside after Sam motioned his head for Josiah to go outside. Without another thought Josiah made his way outside and froze at the sight of the familiar dark brown eyes staring back at him.

"Can we talk?" Josiah nodded his head without even thinking and followed after her.

Leah and Josiah walked side by side with an awkward silence between them. The Clearwater girl continued walking with a million thoughts running through her head. All that she could think of is her imprint. Her imprint. A small smile made its way on her lips.

"So... you're Seth's sister?" Josiah cringed at his own question. Looking over to her Josiah noticed her looking back at him with a tiny smile that was barely visible.

"Yeah, he's my little brother." Leah answered breaking eye contact with him.

"Do you um... turn into a giant wolf as well?" Josiah was hesitant in asking that question. Leah noticed this and also hesitated in answering in case he didn't want to continue talking to her. She heard what had happened when Paul exposed himself to Josiah. He had left La Push without looking back after he saw the boys turn into wolves.

"Yeah... I do." Leah avoided contact with the soldier not wanting to see the disgust and fear in his eyes. However, she was surprised to hear Josiah's next words, "That's awesome! I've only known about the guys turning, but I didn't know girls could as well." Leah glanced over to Josiah who was smiling down at her with his light brown eyes sparkling making her want to kiss right then and there. But she was able to hold herself back.

"Are you the only girl?" Josiah couldn't stop looking at the girl next to him.

"I was until Aubrey, the girl you just met, phased as well." Josiah nodded in understanding. Without another question in mind, Josiah and Leah continued walking in comfortable silence this time.

The silence didn't last long when Leah asked a question of her own when they had arrived at a small river, "You're in the military, right?"

Josiah picked up a small rock and skipped it across the lake, "Yeah I am. I enlisted in the army when I turned 17."

Leah sat down on a log by the water and continued to stare at Josiah Lahote as he skipped rocks across the river, "Are you going back soon?"

The Clearwater girl did not want to ask that question at all but it had slipped out. The eldest Lahote stopped throwing rocks in the river and looked over to Leah, "Yeah, I only get 4 weeks of break."

"Oh," Leah looked away from Josiah, "so you're leaving by the end of this month?" Josiah nodded making his way towards her.

"Unfortunately I have to."

Silence fell over them which caused Josiah to quickly change the topic in order to avoid a somber atmosphere to fall over them as well, "What do you guys do around here that's fun?"

Leah starts talking about what the pack does for fun like cliff jumping, bonfires, beach parties, and playing soccer on sand.

"Those sound like a lot of fun," Josiah and Leah start heading back to Emily's house, "I would like to be able to do all that in the two weeks I have left."

The Clearwater girl glanced over to the eldest Lahote trying to figure out a way to tell him that he is her imprint. How was she supposed to tell him that they are meant to be together for the rest of their lives. Letting out a sigh Leah stopped in her tracks, "Josiah," hearing his name Josiah turned around and when she saw the questioning look on his face made her look down nervously, "I―"

The sound of a phone ringing caused both Josiah and Leah to flinch in surprise, "Sorry," Josiah took out his phone and answered it, "hello?"

Not hearing anything from the other line Josiah looked at the caller ID to find a number he didn't recognize, "Hello?" At not hearing anything from the other line Josiah decided to hang up.

"I'm sorry about that," Josiah chuckled putting his phone back in his pocket, "What were you saying?"

"Don't worry about it," Leah decided to not say anything just yet, "let's just hurry back."

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║𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞!║

⋆∴༄ OMG!!! It's been a long time since I've uploaded!!! I am SO sorry!!! I'll be honest with you guys, I went through a face where I lost motivation in writing so that's why I disappeared for some time. Again I am sorry but now I'm back and ready to finish Josiah's and Leah's journey as well as the rest of the 'Imprints' Series. Also sorry if this chapter was crappy, I had this chapter done since before I went on hiatus and I'm still trying to get back into writing since the last time I uploaded.

☾ radiantmoonx ☽