Aiyanna
As planned, I went to La Push.
It was a little before 3pm, just before going to Sam's house. Before then, there was another place I wanted to go to.
The cemetery.
There, as I stood in front of Nana's stall with her name engraved in it, I was suddently shaken with shivers all over my body at its sight.
The circumstances of her death kept coming into my mind as flashbacks with such violence. My heart ache at the mere thought of her last cries of pain.
She shouldn't have died like this.
I clenched my fists in an attempt to control my body's response to these memories.
"I'm sorry, Nana. I thought I'd be better at this by now." I confessed.
It had been easier to be calmer when I was in the woods, because I was far from a town where everything had happened.
Even if I was in La Push at the moment, I felt as if every place I'd be would in would remind me of that night.
"I hope you're doing well, wherever you are and I hope you found your way back to grandpa."
A part of me was convinced that she did. If she didn't find him, then he would be the one who would find her.
I could almost be sure of that because of how I, as well, could feel inside of me where he was. It was like I became a compass oriented to one thing only. One person.
"Thanks for keeping me company and for talking some sense into me like you always did. Whether it was really you or just my imagination, I find peace in knowing that I wasn't alone all this time."
There wasn't much I wanted to say to her, since I believed that I already said everything that was on my heart during our numerous conversations in my dreams. So I stood in silence and closed my eyes to visualize her again. I was scared that with time, the details of her face would disappear little by little.
I didn't know for how many minutes I stayed there, drawing her face in my mind, but I suddenly felt a presence near me.
I opened my eyes, and looked around, only to see Sue Clearwater walking in the cemetery, with flowers in hand, with an expression I had never seen on her. She looked...empty. Exhausted.
I didn't know if I should walk up to her and greet her or just wait until she would be done. But then, who knew how long she would stay here ?
I wondered who she was visiting.
Sue saw me, after looking up from the ground she was eyeing as she walked. She addressed a faint smile to me, that I sent back while approaching her.
"Hi, Sue."
"Aiyanna. How have you been ? I'm glad you came back." she said, while having my hand in hers.
"I've been doing well, thanks."
She nodded. "You're here for your grandparents ?"
"Yes. I guess I will hang out here more often." I answered. "May I ask who you're visiting today ?"
I felt her hand go rigid in mine. "Oh." she let out in a whisper before she again, looked down at the ground.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. You don't need to tell me." I immediately dismissed her.
"No, no. It's just...I forgot that you probably didn't know. It's very recent..."
Recent ? Then it was definitely someone I knew. I tried to guess in my mind, by putting all the pieces together but there was only one name that kept popping into my head, and I was scared to pronounce it out loud.
"Is it..."
Sue nodded again. "Yes. It's my husband, Harry."
~~
I was on the road, unconsciously driving above the speed limit, to Sam's place.
I had stayed a bit longer than expected at the cemetery after finding out that Harry Clearwater died of a stroke.
To lose another elder was not easy, especially someone who had served as a guide for our pack and who had always welcomed us as his children.
I had cried silently beside Sue, not wanting to burden her heart more than it already was.
What made my foot heavier on the gas pedal was what Sue told me before I left : Seth and Leah had shapeshifted at the news of Harry's passing.
So those three voices I had noticed in the woods yesterday, two of them had been from Harry's children.
Sam's words made much more sense to me now. It couldn't have been easy for him to deal with two newborn wolves in grief. Especially if we added the fact that one of them was his ex-girlfriend.
I didn't know what to expect when I would come back to them. I didn't know in what state of mind I would find the ones that I left and how well my first encounter with the three new turners would be.
The one I was the most worried about was Leah. She and I hadn't been on good terms ever since the beginning of autumn, mostly because she disliked the fact that Sam and I started to take too much space in each other's lives. It got even worse after Sam imprinted on Emily. I tried to talk to Leah, but failed to have a chance to say one word to her. Leah completely ignored the three of us since then, and dealed with her pain by herself.
I understood her point of view. Having her long-term relationship end in a second because of a phenomenom that she couldn't understand at the time, since Sam had decided to keep his shapeshifting powers as a secret to her.
If the whole car ride, I had been anxious, part of that anxiousness faded away once I parked my car and came out of it.
As soon as my feet hit the ground, I got pulled into Paul and Jared's arms before I could even think of my next move.
"Aiyanna !" Paul exclaimed in a fake cry. "Don't ever leave us again ! We will be good to you, okay ? We will obey in a millisecond. We will even massage your messed up toes if you ask us to." Paul continued which made me scoff.
"Hey ! I have the best looking feet out of all of you !" I answered.
To be honest, I felt a warm-hearting feeling growing inside of me. I didn't expect them to greet me like this. I thought it would be more awkward, especially since I imprinted on a vamp...on Edward.
But then, I remembered our rule about the imprint. Whoever our imprint was, and whatever form it took, there was no room for others to judge or hurt the imprint. Anyone who would dare to go against these rules would have to deal with the wolf who imprinted, and we all knew how dangerous it would be to fight with a wolf submerged with anger, especially if it had anything to do with the imprint.
Both Jared and Paul eventually let go of me, and looked at me with silly smiles I couldn't help but return.
"I hope you didn't cause trouble." I said.
"Oh trust me, we didn't." Jared answered quickly, rejecting all charges thrown at him.
"Even if we wanted to, we couldn't." Paul added.
I recognized the two silhouettes that were walking in our direction and Embry's and Ricky's.
I opened my arms for Embry to walk in between them, and he thankfully hugged me in return.
"It's good to see you again." He told me.
"It's good to be back to all of you." I answered.
"Are you feeling better ?" Ricky asked me, from behind Embry.
"Much better."
Behind them, I could see both Sam and Emily walking out of the house. While Emily came to me, Sam only went down the few stairs of his porch. His fatigue seemed to be even more visible than yesterday.
"Aiyanna. I'm so thankful that you're okay." Emily said as she hugged me as well.
"Is everything...okay ?" I asked, knowing perfectly the answer.
Her arms hugged me tighter than usual, almost as a signal.
Emily stepped back and put her hands on my shoulders, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Now it is." she answered.
When I looked behind her again, I finally saw the three faces I hadn't seen before fleeing. Beside Sam, was Jacob who sat on one of the stairs of the porch, waiting, while Quil and Seth Clearwater were standing beside him. Leah, on the other hand, was watching us from inside, leaning against the doorframe of the entrance.
"You didn't forget about me, right ?" Quil asked, when I walked towards them.
I shook my head. "Of course not. I had my bets on you." I told him, smiling.
Amused, Quil returned the smile.
My eyes flickered to Seth's who stared at me with curious eyes. At first sight, he seemed very young...almost innocent. I felt bad for him. He could've easily lived at least two to three years before having to deal with this new lifestyle. But the loss of his father must have triggered an immense pain for him to turn this soon.
"Seth, Leah. All my condolences for the loss of your father. I just met with Sue, and that's when she told me." I said, to which Seth answered with a small nod. "And lastly, welcome to the pack."
I didn't know in which position they stood. How did they feel about turning ? Did they like it, or on the contrary, hated it ? It would be completely understandable for them to hate it. It was not easy to handle, especially in such circumstances.
My eyes met Leah's when she spoke for the first time.
"Can we get it going and have this meeting we were told about ?" Leah asked before she sighed loudly and walked back inside.
I arched my eyebrows and glanced at Sam who didn't look at me.
"Let's get inside." He only said, walking back inside only when Emily was at a close distance to grab his hand.
I watched the boys go in one by one, until I realized that the last ones were Jacob and I. Once he stood up, he stopped himself from going up the stairs and instead, turned towards me.
"I got to see what it was like without you around. It was a mess..." Jacob started.
Of course, I didn't expect him to welcome me warmly. Jacob was the one I was close to the least.
"...I'm sorry for having questioned your position."
I should have felt thankful or something close to it. But why did his apology only make me more worried ?
What could have happened to our pack ?
~~
The boys, Leah, and I were gathered in Sam's place that now seemed too small for all of us.
When I left we were seven. We were now ten.
A whole new, and probably a better, organization had to be done for our patrols. We could now divide in 5 teams of 2.
Only one thing came to my mind as I was imagining the divisions and the roles of each one of us : Victoria's chase.
Not once had I thought of her ever since the last time I chased her. But now that I was reunited with the rest of the pack, I let myself think of ways to get to her.
"Now that we're all here, we can begin." Sam started. "This will sound like a foregone conclusion for some of you, but I think it's important for me to put it on the table to avoid any misunderstanding and for the new ones to know what we're here for. If there's any question, don't hesitate to butt in."
He was one of the three who were not seated, the two others being Jacob and myself. We all stayed silent, listening intently to Sam as he spoke.
"From now on, all we will focus on is first, protecting our territory without trespassing on the Cullen's. If some of you are still confused about where the limit is, we will show it to you and mark it if needed.
The second priority is the redhead. Her name is Victoria as some of you know, but I believe none of you care about what she's called.
She has been trespassing our territory numerous times, she is the reason behind one of our elder's death and she is a threat to whom we are supposed to protect, one of them being with us today."
"Huh ?" I let out when Sam pointed at me to Quil, Seth and Leah. "Oh, well..."
Contrarily to when I was only human, ever since I got a grasp of what we shapeshifted for, I never considered Victoria as a threat. I didn't fear dying by her hands.
What I feared, was the threat she represented for the people I cared about.
Sam explained briefly how I became Victoria's target and added the fact that Bella could also be one, although it seemed that Victoria had never tried going further into Forks or near Bella's house. However, to remain vigilant, he had assigned some of the boys to patrol around her house as well as mine.
"The Cullens are after Victoria as well. Are we going to be working with them ?" Ricky asked.
"We don't need them ! We're ten now. We can take her down ourselves." Paul answered, confident.
"Paul is not wrong here. There's ten of us for only one leech. We'll deal with this ourselves." Sam spoke.
"There's one thing I'm not sure of, though." Paul continued. "Does the redhead know that Aiyanna's one of us ?"
"I don't think so." I answered for the first time. "The only thing that could've sold me out would probably be my scent when she was at my house. But again, our scent is probably all over La Push and my house is not so far from here, so..."
We had no ways to know what Victoria knew about us, and me individually. None of us had caught her scent near my house before the incident with Nana, and we only met her in the woods before, preventing her from going to town.
Other than the scent, there was nothing else that could allow her to put all the pieces together.
"I can't even be used as a bait. She'll never follow a track with a scent that is common to all of us." I sighed. "And we can't let her find out that I turned because then, it puts you guys in danger."
"So we stick to hunting ?" Ricky finally asked.
"Yes."
Ricky nodded and shrugged. He was the best at it, so it didn't look like he had a problem with it.
"I will continue on the basics. As I have already told you, Aiyanna is the Beta of this pack which makes her my second. Her orders are as valuable as mine, as long as our opinions don't clash with each other." Sam continued.
"What if they do ?" Quil asked.
"Then, Sam has the final word." I intervened, to which Quil answered with a nod.
"And Jacob ?" Seth asked. "Do we have to obey him too ?"
Sam looked at Jacob who was standing on his left. I arched my eyebrows, confused.
"Jacob took on your role while you were not there." Paul answered the question I didn't ask out loud.
"Oh." I murmured, realizing what was the real meaning behind Jacob's apology, earlier on the porch. I, as well, stared at Jacob. "You didn't like it, did you ?" I asked him.
"Exactly. I'll leave it to you." Jacob answered, refusing to trade places with me.
It wasn't much about trading places to be honest. I didn't mind having the responsibilities of the Beta. All I had to do was to be synchronized with the Alpha in every decisions.
But how long would Jacob reject this ? He was so against being a Beta that I didn't want to imagine when he would ever consider being the Alpha of this pack.
"Aiyanna also has the most information on vampires, which is in our advantage. I will let you organize yourselves with her for your training. More than just being able to control your turns, it's very important for you to know how to not get killed." Sam told them.
Both Quil and Seth were nodding with fierce expressions, almost to show how serious they were listening to Sam's words.
Seeing them, I couldn't help but think of how it was too soon for them, especially at their age, to think about their survival.
Leah, on the other hand, was sitting with her eyes lost on the dining table in front of her as if she was focusing on something we couldn't see.
"Anything related to hunting will be with me, Jared, Embry and Ricky." Sam said, naming the ones with the greatest vision, hearing and speed. The most important members when it came to chasing vampires.
"I'll take Paul or Jacob with me then, depending on our different schedules." I added.
These two were the best fighters and the strongest along with Sam. They gained most of their agility by getting on each other's nerves. At least, something good came out of their endless fights.
Sam nodded. "Anything you want to add ?" he asked me.
"Nope." I answered.
Sam then, turned towards the rest of the pack. "Any questions ?"
The question was mostly directed toward the three new recruits. There was nothing the rest of the boys didn't know of.
However, while Quil, Seth and Leah stayed silent as they seemed to have understood everything, Jared unexpectedly raised his hand.
"Jared ?" Sam called, giving him his chance to speak.
"How it is going to be now, with Aiyanna and her imprint ? Is he allowed on our territory ? Is she allowed on theirs ? I mean, what happens now ?" Jared asked.
To be honest, I was taken aback by that question. It left me speechless, as if my mind had gone blank.
What was indeed, going to happen now ?
"I will have to discuss with Aiyanna first and settle the rules with her, and eventually with them as well. Once both clans come to an agreement, we will tell you about what has been decided." Sam answered to the question before he looked in my direction. "We do need to talk today."
I nodded.
More than the imprint, I believed there were other subjects he needed to talk about and I refused to wait any longer to know what had gone through his mind for the past two weeks.
"If there's no more questions on your parts, you can all go home..." I told them. As soon as I pronounced the word home, Paul jumped on his feet while Jared clapped his hands as if to signal the end of the meeting. "...except the ones on patrol today." I added which made both of them grumble.
"Come on, on this beautiful day..." Paul tried to bargain.
"Especially on a beautiful day like this Paul."
Leah was the first one to walk out of the house without even uttering a word or even looking up at any of us. I definitely had to talk to her as well. The sooner the better.
After waving goodbye, Seth ran behind her and walked back home with her.
In the meantime, Paul, Jared and Ricky walked out together for their patrol while Jacob joined Quil and Embry's conversation around the dining table.
"First Beach ?" Sam suggested, once I looked up at him.
"I'll be running." I said and he nodded before walking up to Emily.
By the time he'd tell her goodbye, take off his clothes, turn, run and put on his clothes again, he would still get to the beach before I would.
"I'll see you there." I told Sam, before I took off.