The forest was silent as she lurked within the shadows, crouched low among the tree roots as she listened carefully.
The animal was just within reached, sniffing out bushes a few feet from her in search of some smaller animal.
Large, bigger as it prepared for winter hibernation, Reyna was thrilled when she heard the soft earth move under Leah's paw and she sprang forward, shoving the black bear to the side as she rolled with it - Leah's grunt of displeasure sounding behind her causing her to laugh.
A silly game that the wolf girl had granted her, catching the most animals and making the kill was something that the shifter had found herself oddly invested in, enough so that she would tackle Reyna from on top the bear, throwing her into a tree hard enough to crack it as Leah faced off the animal.
Hissing, Reyna shot forward, slipping between the two and shoving her away with her softest kick to the underside, launching herself at the bear again. Her arms slipped around it's head, a hand pulling so the muscles and tendons were pulled taunt, revealing the veins that thrummed frantically at her touch.
"Look away, Leah," the girl grunted, the only warning given before she sunk her teeth through fur and flesh - biting down harder until she reached a vein to nick.
Warmth flooded her mouth, an iron taste with an animal tang to it that made her wish to scrunch her nose at it, but the hunger that had been burning in through her throat had silenced any disdain she had after smelling the human blood that was in the house.
The burn was silencing, having caught a deer a few moments before Leah had even caught up to her, and now a bear within her grasp - Reyna believed it would be safe to return as she was, but she wanted to be as full as she could possibly be before returning. It would only be teasing the others if she came back with a job half done. Reyna would be ready to face anything without the slightest distractions or temptations.
It was like there was an explosion behind her eyelids, a flurry of senses as she sucked the animal dry - ear finely tuned to the low grumbling and grunts of Leah as she lay a reasonable distance away. Reyna groaned, relishing in the soothing sensation that smoothed down her throat with heavy gulps.
She was fast, not taking long to bleed the bear dry and drop it to the ground with a satisfied hum. She felt so much lighter, freer as she made her way to where Leah was resting in a dry patch, her head laying on folded paws.
"Everything all good?" Reyna asked, watching as the girl yawn and pushed herself to her feet. "You can have at the bear if you want. I didn't make a mess of it."
Leah shot her a glare, grunting as she stretched. Reyna took that as a polite dismissal.
"Well, I spotted a mountain lion lurking a little further out last night, want to check that out? It'll be a lot faster and more vicious than the bear was. It's almost hibernation time so they get lazy, not like in spring and mountain lions are always ready for a challenge," Reyna said, facing the direction she had seen the animal last night and gently sniffing the air, searching it out.
She listened to the crack that came under feline feet, and the swish of tail as it cut through the air. She stepped lightly in that direction, letting herself be carried by instinct as she sped up after the animal - keeping Leah in the forefront of her mind so she couldn't mistake scents.
It was dangerous doing this, knowing that she needed the utmost control, but Reyna knew she wouldn't let herself hurt the other girl even if she slipped.
She followed the trail, seeking it out with a predatory skill. Leah must have caught the scent at one point, the girl brushing past her with an excited flick of her tail as she shot past her after it. Reyna laughed, sending herself forward with the same determination and speed to push herself close behind, close enough to reach out and grab the girl by the tail if she wanted to.
Dodging around trees, Reyna used them to ricochet herself off them like they were a springboard, letting herself fly through the air with a grace and agility that allowed her to drop down slightly ahead of Leah once again.
Leah was apparently the fastest of the shifters, and Reyna would not always be able to overtake or run aside her, but it was great while it lasted, what with the disgruntled noises she made when Reyna managed to take the lead.
When they found the mountain lion on the prowl, Leah didn't slow as they came upon it, landing on top it with gnashing teeth and grating claws. Reyna's fingers curled in anticipation, joining in and wrestling Leah for the kill.
The neck snapped before she could sink her teeth in, Leah dancing away smugly with a haughty air to her - ears perked and nose upturned in triumph.
"Yeah, yeah," Reyna grumbled, drawing the animal into her arms. "Just go and sniff out something else."
She sunk in, fingers curling over scratch mark, arms circling tight enough to break the bones. She drank ravenously, working quick so as not to lose any more of the blood that dripped leisurely from the wounds.
It wasn't her favorite, her preference being the large bear that lived on the mountain, the ones that fought till the end, but this was a close second, a sort of victory to it that venison didn't give to her, despite how plentiful they were.
Nearly done, Reyna pulled away quickly as she heard the growl that came from behind her, an angry hiss tumbling from her lips as she pulled the mountain lion to herself possessively.
She had grown distracted in her feed, allowed someone to sneak up on her, and every part of Reyna told her to attack whoever it was.
Another growl came from behind her, a warning one that came from the wolf that brushed against her side and stood defensively between them.
She placed her meal down slowly, carefully, as she turned around fully, tongue swiping out to catch the drop of blood that slid down the corner of her mouth.
Three wolves, three of Leah's old pack, and the piercing howl that the girl released was enough to let her know that this wasn't going to end well.
Her back of the hand swiped over her mouth, pulling away the mess from her hasty feeding.
A small, brown wolf pawed at the ground with an antsy whine, and Reyna dismissed him for being someone young and inexperienced. The middle one she could recognize by scent as the boy from yesterday with all the questions - Jared - and Reyna found his wolf form oddly reflective of his human self somehow.
The other one, the one that stood erect, watching her with rapt attention was the same boy with cautious eyes the last time she had seen him. Then he had been in her room, unsure of what to do, but now he looked like he was miserable, ready to come to her. It had been a while since she had seen Embry in wolf form, but not once did she forget how beautiful he was.
She could see her own reflection in his dark eyes. Her hair a mess, but silky smooth and full, shirt torn and dirty, skirt hidden beneath the length of it. Reyna found she no longer looked sick, the dark circles and red rims around her eyes gone. Blood darkened her lips - but her eyes, her eyes stood a glowing topaz in the dullness of the forest for the first time
"Boys," she greeted carefully. "We were just finishing up here, you'll understand if we can't stay."
She reached out, tapping Leah to motion her back but Jared inched forward, snapping his teeth at her.
Reyna didn't react to him, her fingers still lightly tucked in the wolf's fur at her side.
"Come Leah, I'll be able to wait until we're free to leave again," Reyna said inching back slowly. "I'm fine for now."
The girl gave no sign of protest as she stepped over the mountain lion that rest at their feet. Jared growled again, stopping Leah in her steps as she returned the gesture.
"Okay, maybe we should all relax a little," Reyna suggested, hands coming up in a defensive display. "You wouldn't want to get into a fight like this, would you? I'm not even the one you want, really."
He never let up, the young wolf at his side shifting anxiously, while Embry - Embry simply stood, staring at her still from when she looked to him.
"What is it then? You'll tear me to pieces and wait for me to pull myself back together? Does imprint law not cover that?" Reyna snapped angrily, topaz eyes flashing in the dim light.
Snapping, bones cracking from a shift, and Reyna didn't look as Embry stood on two feet, bare to her in the way that he didn't appear to find issue with – not at the moment at least as he stood nude, still awestruck as he gaped at her in all her state of disarray.
"Your eyes," he breathed, locked on to the golden depths that were doing all that she could to avoid looking his way. "When, when did they become so. . ."
Reyna crinkled her nose as he came up tongue tied and remise of the right words. The girl couldn't think of a single time that she had made someone at a loss of words like this and the feeling was truly magnificent in the way it made her feel greater than she believed herself to be – but then again, Embry always made her feel remarkable in ways that she had never found possible, in was she could never have imagined feeling in her life.
"Now, just now," she told him, tilting her head up to look at the thick canopy above them. "I believe it might have been sooner had I had time to feed since the last time I had seen you."
"What?" Embry hissed. "That was nearly two weeks ago."
"It's hardly like it'll make a difference. Please don't be so dramatic," she dismissed, shifting on her feet uncomfortably. Some part of her mind simply couldn't get over the fact that he was naked, like she was a young teenager all over again and had never seen the way a boy looked without clothes.
Reyna removed the shirt she was wearing uncaringly, revealing the bra underneath again to the boys, and tossed the shirt at Embry in hopes that he would get the hint and cover up. The top was useless to her now, bloodstained and torn, it would have been tossed out anyways.
There was a muffled groan from the male wolves, and Reyna was aware of Leah snorting at the situation, shoulders still tensed and ready for a fight.
When she looked over Embry was decently covered, but he had this thoughtful gleam to his eyes as he scrunched his nose – thinking of something that was taking him a while to put the pieces together.
"Whose shirt is this?" he asked decisively, and Reyna was quite confused at his line of inquiry.
"Uh, I think it was Emmett's, it's around the right size to be, but I'm not exactly sure. . ." Reyna trailed off, taking in the way that his muscles bunched and relaxed.
"Jake was wearing this," he told her like he already knew, and Reyna could practically see the possible ideas shooting through his head at the scenarios he concocted.
She crossed her arms over her chest, rolling her eyes in a way that would have hurt if she was still human. "I pulled the shirt from his back once I heard I was allowed to hunt. Honestly, Embry, if not even you want me, what would make you think that he would."
He winced, as though he had been physically burned by her words and looked back to her with this puppy dog sadness that made her regret her words.
"That's not true, I know – I mean, I want –" he stuttered over his words.
Reyna interrupted, "It's okay, I get it. The whole dead, bloodsucker thing is a real turn off for you guys."
"That's not entirely true, Rey, I swear," Embry jumped forward, a hand reaching out to her only to be snapped at by Leah as the girl placed herself before her defensively. "Move it Leah! You can't force us apart."
"Yes, she can. We're going back to the house now, before anything happens here," she argued.
The boy, hands clenching at his sides to withhold the shake and tremors that ran through his system. An anxiety made itself comfortable in her stomach, nestling a place where it made her wish to draw it from her skin, so that she may give him anything that he wanted from her – to cave under his wishes like a wobbly card house.
"You can't go, don't you understand how much I miss you? You can come back with me, you have permission to come onto our land. Didn't you want to spend time together, get to know each other like you wanted," Embry pleads, and Reyna had to look away to avoid the watery gaze that was directed to her. "We can have that if you come with us now, I promise."
Her heart ached, burning like the fire that had been clinging to her throat. It was like a slap, an impulse that told her that she could never be free of the fire, not when things like this continued to occur and berate her.
"Embry. . ." she whispered, lips parting as any thoughts she had caught in her throat.
"That phone call, the one that started all this, it ruined the first real moment we had together," he said, weight shifting and muscles tensing as she calculated that he was prepared to come to her, to disregard Leah and the bared teeth. "We can make up for that, we can forget all of this if you want. Runaway to where no one will ever recognize you and we could spend the day with real people."
Snapping her mouth shut, Reyna became very still as she grasped at the meaning of his words. He was tempting, so very tempting, but she couldn't, not when Bella was back home expecting her return – to care for that child like she was a true aunt, truly family.
She heard them coming before the others did, head tilting to the side as she listened to each thud of steps as they approached. Leah shot her a glance, as did they others as they strained to hear what she could.
"Three," she told them, lips quirking when Embry's face scrunched in concentration, expression more than disgruntled. "Jacob and Seth, their gate is different, and I can tell that Jake is booking it while Seth trails behind."
"Who's the other one?"
Reyna looked up counting carefully and listening to the pattern of feet against the earth as they grew closer, not following the wolves but staying almost in the middle of the space between them in case he was needed. "Emmett, he's not coming the whole way out, only close enough to cause trouble if needed."
"So, come with me, Rey, the others wouldn't stop you if you left with us," Embry started again, faster, more desperate than before. "Don't separate us again."
"I never separated us to begin with. You make it out like I chose to be like this. Nothing was supposed to be this way! This was never meant to happen," Reyna shot back, teeth grinding angrily.
He had the decency to recoil at her harsh tone, but he did not stop in his begging of her. "Please, Rey, you don't know what it's like t be away from you for so long with a bunch of people we're considering our enemies."
A hiss rose in her throat, but she swallowed it down quick, pulling all pieces of control together so that none of her misgivings were presented on her face. It was baffling to her, how he could never be so closed minded, so set on convincing her of something that she was still blind to that it was truly breaking her heart.
Love at first sight was real, Reyna knew that better than anyone. She had seen it with Bella and the way the girl was drawn to Edward before even learning his name, she had felt it herself when she had truly seen him the first time – the time where her mind wasn't in tormented jumbles at the scent of blood and urge to protect what was her form of a pack, her family.
"Don't listen to him, Reyna," Jacob said as he finally joined them, creating a three-way deadlock as they stood off against one another. "Sam probably sent him. Manipulating an imprint isn't always easy but you've always been a little odd, the bond kinda flipped for you two."
She shut her eyes tight. "I'm leaving. Me and Leah are leaving to catch some big prey and then I'm gonna catch some more to drag it back to the house. Do what you want Jake, but I just can't stay here anymore. . . I'm sorry."
She turned to the mountain lion still lying behind them, zoning in on the wound in the neck to check to see if it had drained dry. If Embry had not been standing right there, so close she could touch, Reyna would have bent down and sunk her mouth to check herself, but she couldn't, not now.
"Seek me out later, Leah, or send Seth. We'll talk when we get back to the house, Jake, catch me up then."
"Wait, Reyna, please! Just come with me, stay with me!" Embry begged.
Reyna shook her head, body flickering out of focus. "But you don't want me with you, do you? Its because you have seen the kind of things I can do now. Don't play with my emotions like that, Embry, especially when you don't mean any of it."
The vampire disappeared, hightailing it away as fast as she could before she sunk against the bar of a tree, wishing more than anything that it could scratch at her skin as it had once done as she sobbed tears that could never be shed.
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2018-05-30