Jake was standing over me, but not to the extent that he had the day that Paul attacked. Sam phased as well, crouching down, prepared to lunge. Leah and Jared were suddenly at my side, flanking Jake and encaging me.
"Please Sam!" Emily shouted from the porch. Sam had no one behind him; no one to stand by him. I stayed standing where I was, too paralyzed and afraid to move.
Sam lunged at Jake, but Jake was faster. He pinned the black wolf to the ground and snarled. I sat on the ground, sitting crisscrossed. I rested my elbow on my thigh and cheek on my knuckles. Nothing to do but sit here and wait. I would have to start reading up on communications between dogs. I had no idea how to understand what was going on, but I knew that everyone was waiting on edge.
I watched Sam growl and shove Jake off of him, gaining the upper-hand for a brief moment before the russet colored wolf flipped him over and growled. Leah was snarling beside me. Jared was bristling. I could feel hot breath on my back, but it was only Seth. He bumped the back of my neck as a way of reassuring me. I just didn't care. What would happen would happen. And the boys had a magical way of healing that made me feel a little better about their injuries. Okay, a lot better about them getting hurt.
I rested my cheek in my hand, shifting to tap my fingers against my temple. I sighed and waited for it to be over, feeling like I was watching an illegal dogfight instead of a fight for dominance amongst people that used to be Pack brothers. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see them try to kill each other. Life used to be so much easier when I wasn't worried about becoming a blood bag or a chew toy. With a deep throated whine, Sam was on his back in submission. I smiled, glad to see that this had all come to an end.
Leah, Seth, and Jared broke away then. Leah sprinted out to the forest while Jared and Seth walked over and bumped noses with Sam. Jake turned and trotted up to me. I would never tell him this, but he was the most adorable excuse for a dog that had ever existed. His eyes were still the same eyes of the man that I loved, but when he was like this, he wasn't quite as guarded. He would smile, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. He bumped his nose to my forehead.
"Looks like everything went well," I whispered. He licked me from chin to forehead, which I promptly wiped off. "We're going to have to teach you not to lick," I said, scrunching my nose in disgust.
Jake jerked his head to the forest and then to the house.
"Yeah, yeah; I'll get in the house. It's been a while since we got to eat here," I said, kissing his huge head. He rolled his eyes and bounded off to the trees. I watched him disappear and then started to the house.
Sam swept me up in his arms. "I'm sorry if I scared you," he whispered.
"Please, Sam, you couldn't scare a mouse," I said with a scoff. He laughed in return and pulled me into a brotherly hug.
"Jake told us about the leeches, the ones that are coming from Italy. You don't have to worry, Ryanne. We'll protect you." I just smiled and nodded. It was one thing to hear it from Jake or even Leah, but Sam saying it just didn't make me feel any better about it. I don't know why. Maybe because I wasn't as close as I was to some of the others. I mean, I considered all of the guys my friends. Emily was the motherly figure, the person that held us all together. But Leah was my best friend, the sister that I had always wanted Bella to be. I could talk to her about anything and everything and she always managed to have the answer.
And Jake... Well, he was just Jake. He was the person that I could always believe in, the one who would always protect me from anything and everything. Said boy walked into the house then, shoving Sam away with a playful growl and dropped an arm around my shoulder. There was a wave of calm that fell over me, that told me that everything would be okay again. He pressed his lips to my cheek and leaned over to my ear.
"Why don't you go see if Emily needs help in the kitchen? I, uh have to start my first Pack meeting," he murmured. I beamed, glad that he had finally realized that I was right.
"I told you so," I whispered back. He smiled and chuckled, but pushed me back to the kitchen.
"Good to see you again," I whispered when I saw Emily in the kitchen.
"They nearly gave me a heart attack," she said, pressing a hand to her heart. The woman had such an old spirit.
"It was time, Emily. You guys can start that family you've always wanted," I said, hoping that she wouldn't take this as me saying that Sam was a poor Alpha. He wasn't; he had done good for such a long time. But recently, he had been messing up, losing the respect of his brothers, failing to make the correct choices. I had long since decided it was the spirits, showing the Pack that it was time for a new leader, the rightful leader.
"You shouldn't talk about those things, Ryanne," she chided, turning her attention back to the meat that she was marinating. It was good to be back in a place that was home, to feel like I was welcome again. My little family was back together.
Emily and I cooked and cleaned and caught up, talking about everything that we had missed out on in the last few days. It seemed like weeks since the two of us had talked. And while I was wanting to talk to Leah about the things that I was afraid of, Emily was good to talk to about other things. She had tips for the different foods that I hadn't quite mastered. Charlie joined us a little while later, telling some funny story about Emily and snickerdoodles while Emily tried to argue that Charlie gave her a bad recipe.
"Annie." I turned to find Jake standing in the doorway. He held out his hand and jerked his head a little, the movement so reminiscent of his wolf that I couldn't help but smile. It was hard to remember that the wolf and the man were one in the same entity. I tended to think of them as being two separate things with two different brains. But the legends were clear that they were one and the same, that they shared a soul. And it was moments like this where I could see it in him.
I guess one of the benefits of always being around your boyfriend's Pack is that the girls that were there always understood. Neither Charlie or Emily gave me a look for leaving without saying anything to them. They understood. There was a look that the guys got on their faces when they were talking about important things. It was a look that sent all of us imprints running. Well, all except Penn Rivers. She was a little more stubborn than most. But Embry would get her to come around; I was sure of it.
I took Jake's hand and let him lead me to the living room. The guys looked a little tense, but no one seemed to want to talk.
"I don't think that she should be here, Jacob. We can protect her and -"
"She is my imprint," Jake interrupted Sam before he could say anything out. "And while your opinion is great, Sam, you're not Alpha and you're not my Beta."
"I know what you're going through, Jake. Having a Beta who understands -"
"My Beta is Leah; I won't change my mind about it. Your advice will be appreciated when solicited." My lips twitched at Jake's comment, but it would be inappropriate to smile at the moment. "Annie is here because this pertains to her. Whether I tell her now or later, she will eventually know about all of this." Sam's eyes narrowed, but he silenced after one look from Jake. "Now, we know what these things are after."
"Woking with the leeches is not an option," Leah said darkly. "They haven't ever managed to protect Ryanne or our Pack." All the other wolves nodded their agreement.
"I am not suggesting that we work with them. But they have access to information that we don't. The seer can tell us what is going to happen, what we should be prepared for. We don't work with them, but we make sure that we are in their loop. They may be concerned about Bella and the spawn, but I'm concerned about our Pack, our imprints, and our people," Jake said. There was such authority to him, the way his chin jutted out, his eyes narrowed in power, his voice steely and commanding. He looked so much like his father that it almost made you want to cry. He had finally become the man that we all expected him to be. And he was the man that his mother would've been proud of.
"What do you have in mind, boss?" Quil asked.