155I thought I would upload the second chapter as well to introduce you to the majority of the key players! Also, I plan to have tons of beautiful pack bonding in this fic, those boys are truly #squadgoals and I plan to put their beautiful brotherhood on display regularly LOL
He wasn't bald. That was probably the first thing she thought of once she'd managed to calm her heart rate down. His hair was short, not as short as it had been when she left, and slightly dishevelled but he had it. A full head of it too. And as if that wasn't bad enough, he didn't seem to have gotten worse looking over the years, adulthood only refining masculine features that had already been so pronounced in his youth. Alana was suddenly painfully aware of her own appearance in contrast. She must look ridiculous, exhausted - her hair! Oh god, her hair must be all over the place. It wasn't fair that one glance at him could turn her back into an awkward snivelling teenager desperate to ensnare his affections through any means necessary.
'I thought you would look him in the eyes and feel nothing,' A snide voice in her head interrupted and she grimaced in response.
'Well, that was before I knew he still looked like a god.' She thought bitterly, wincing slightly as the thought registered. 'Oh, that's gotta be blasphemous.'
Perhaps she'd have to… return to the drawing board. Obviously, Jacob Black would not be as easily forgotten as she'd once imagined. Jacob Black hadn't been forgotten in the 8 years she'd spent in another country, far away from him. What the fuck had she been thinking to imagine he'd waltz right out of her heart and mind when she saw him again?
'He's taller than you though….' The same snide voice from earlier piped up. 'His height and his body? Hot. I mean you could see the outline through his pa-'
That was quite enough. More than enough. It was another story entirely that at 5'11, Alana had difficulty meeting men who were more than an inch or two taller than her and Jacob Black had to be at least a whole foot taller. It was time to regroup. So what if she was attracted to him? It was only natural. She was a young heterosexual woman and he was a… viable and phenotypically gobsmacking male. His appearance suggested superior genetic quality and his size implied adequate resource retrieval and social dominance. That's ALL. This was just a purely primitive sexual response. She'd believe that the minute she stopped imagining what his arms would feel like around her, and when her face didn't go up in flames at the linking of the words 'Jacob,' and 'sex.' Jacob looked like he'd give amazing hugs. She could use a hug. If she was being honest, she could use a whole lot more than a hug from him. Oh, this was bad.
Ugh, she wanted to DIE. She didn't think she was being dramatic in the slightest when she imagined that this was most likely the worst day of her entire life, all things considered.
"Uh…. you know we know you're there, right?" Embry Call's voice rang out, followed by a low thump that had him crying out and her wincing from her position behind the trees. Ouch. Had Jacob hit him?
"Stop it, Em."
How dare he? How dare he try and make this less humiliating for her? How dare he speak with that voice of his and cause her insides to begin to twist around each other. The sheer audacity. She felt like screaming that the last thing she needed was another reason to yearn for him. It was easier to pretend he was something in the past when she remembered him as someone who had never seen her, not the way she would have sold her soul for him to see her.
"What?" Embry cried incredulously, and a peek past the side of the tree she was hiding behind told her he had straightened, rubbing his abdomen soothingly. "She literally ran barely 10 feet, what kind of escape route -"
"Enough, Embry." Jacob's voice was harsher now, the sound jarring as he glowered at his friend.
Alana froze at the words, almost like she could feel the authority surging off of them. The Jacob Black she'd known didn't talk to people that way. Apparently, he still didn't, if Embry's slack-jawed expression was any indication. He moved his mouth as if he wanted to speak, but no sound would come out. There was something primal there, something coursing through her at the sight of him. He wasn't a boy anymore, and his stance now, broad and tense, proved it. He wasn't supposed to be this attractive. He was tall and muscular, yes, with a straight nose, full lips, high cheekbones and eyes so dark she could lose herself in their depths, but that wasn't what was calling to her. It was the look in his eyes, the look of a man who expected his command to be followed, a look of harsh, protective anger. She had put that look there. Her heart thudded erratically, every cell in her body screaming that she go to him, be near him.
Jacob's gaze moved away from his shell-shocked friend and immediately pinpointed her, dark eyes making contact with hers. She squeaked, ducking back behind the tree, a red flush covering her face as she caught the barest hint of a smile on his face. It was a few minutes before she could muster up the courage to risk another peeking around of the tree trunk, but when she did, he and Embry were both gone.
She should be relieved… then why was she disappointed he hadn't tried to speak to her?
"Embry."
Silence.
"Embry?"
A shift in the seat beside him, but the silence prevailed.
"Okay, fine. Take your time."
Having laid his foundation, Jacob turned his attention back to the road. Now to wait.
3..
2..
1….
"How could you, Jake!?"
There it was.
"Embry, I'm sorry -" he began only to be cut off.
"Sorry? You think sorry is going to cover what you did back there, Jacob?" Embry snapped, crossing his arms firmly over his chest. "You ALPHA ORDERED ME!"
"I didn't mean to, honest," Jacob said, fingers tightening around the wheel reflexively. She'd only been back hours at the most and he was already losing his hard-earned control. "It was purely…" he found himself struggling to find the words to describe the beast that had reared up inside him at the thought of Embry distressing Alana, "instinctual." He finally decided.
"Instinctual to tell your best friend to shut the fuck up," Embry muttered, casting a dark look in his direction. "Well, that's comforting."
Swallowing a laugh at his friend's dejected voice, Jacob reached over to clap a hand on his shoulder. "You know I've always wanted to say it, now I have. Honesty is key."
"Anyways," Embry grumbled, shrugging Jacob's hand off of him, "I can see why you had such a reaction though. She really grew up, she's totally hot-"
The car screeched to a halt, Embry cursing as he was forced to grab onto the dash to steady himself. Jacob couldn't bring himself to care. He could feel tremors running through him, anger like he hadn't felt since he'd first phased so many years ago. Something primal within him was rearing to the surface, demanding Embry's neck between its jaws. He wasn't sure he'd be able to keep it under wraps. Tearing from the car, he took off towards the trees, paws hitting the ground instead of feet as a howl broke through the air. He could hear Embry shouting after him, a mixture of apologies and cuss words, but it made no difference to him.
Asshole should have known better than to talk about his imprint that way.
It was a tense 45 minutes later that Embry shifted uncomfortably under Sam's stare, cursing Jacob for the umpteenth time in his mind. That idiot - he had completely overreacted.
"Embry you should have known better than to speak about Jacob's imprint that way," Sam said sternly, arms crossed over his chest while he regarded him sternly. Behind him, Jared and Paul didn't look sympathetic to his cause.
"You're lucky he didn't take a chunk out of you," Jared added, frowning. "You don't know what imprinting is like, man. It's intense."
"I forgot!" Embry protested, standing so he could look Jared in the eye. "It's not like any of you - he kept it completely under wraps for 8 years, I didn't even remember that she was his -"
"Is," Jared interjected. "She is his imprint."
Paul scoffed, walking over to the couch and throwing himself down onto it. "She has a name, assholes. She's not just 'Jacob's imprint,'" he said with a pointed look at Sam and Jared, "her name is Alana."
Sam had the decency to look ashamed for a moment before he nodded.
"Besides, Black kept his imprinting under wraps for so long because he knew he had no right to ask anything of her," Paul continued with a harsh sneer. "Not after the way he chased that fucking leech lover -"
"He didn't know Alana was his imprint!" Embry snapped, the urge to defend his friend rising. "He only realized when she was leaving and by that point -"
"By that point, he knew he had fucked up too severely." Paul cut him with an angry look. "He knew he couldn't ask her to put her life on hold for him when he'd let her fall through the cracks."
He wanted to argue, but deep down Embry knew that there was a grain, even the smallest amount, of truth in what Paul said. Jacob had really let his obsession with Bella cloud his judgement, and in doing so he'd missed out on what was supposed to be the best thing that would ever happen to him.
"But that's what I'm trying to say, man!" Jared burst, "It's not normal the way he's managed to hold himself together without her. If Kim were to leave like that, I -"
"Would die, we know." Sam sighed wearily, shooting an exasperated look at Jared and lowering himself into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. "What Jared says is true though. Jacob's ability to function in Alana's absence is... unique."
Further discussion was halted when Quil appeared at the door, a wide grin on his face and Jacob in tow.
"Look who I found destroying some trees with murder on his mind." Quil laughed. Three pairs of eyes landed on Embry who swallowed loudly in response.
Jacob didn't respond to Quil's comment, keeping his head down as he came in, hands clenched at his sides.
"So I hear there's good news! But that Embry, as usual, fucked everything up."
Paul snorted from his position on the couch, eyes watching Jacob's stiff body take up in the armchair, still avoiding looking at any of them.
"That sounds about right, yes," Sam responded, almost shouting to be heard over Embry's protests and Jared's raucous laughter.
"I didn't know!" Embry yelled, taking a threatening step in Quil's direction while Quil continued to laugh. "You're such an asshole!"
"Dude, Jake wants your head on a stick right now."
"No, he doesn't! ….You don't, right Jake? You understand it was just a mistake?" Embry hedged, awkwardly advancing towards Jacob, an uncertain lilt to his words. The room plunged into silence, all eyes watching Embry's slow approach, and equally ready to restrain Jacob if needed. It was a long minute before Jacob spoke, his voice low and threatening.
"A mistake like that, Embry, should never be repeated. I won't be so lenient next time."
An awkward silence followed, Embry gaping at Jacob like a fish out of water. The latter simply stood, towering over the others in the room and fixed him with a pointed stare.
"Wow," Jared whispered hesitantly, "does he really take himself that seriously?"
"Make sure it doesn't happen again." Jacob finished.
Embry swallowed hard before a disappointed look came over his face.
"Today you speak to me this way over a woman…" he began, woefully shaking his head, "tomorrow you won't recognize me at all."
Jacob's serious expression held for a moment before he groaned, rolling his eyes and shoving Embry, hard.
"Is this the little boy I carriiiieeeeeeed," Quil piped up in the background, swaying from side to side, "when did he grow to be so tall?"
"Literally," Paul muttered under his breath, turning his attention back to the TV now that the drama had ended, "the kid's a fucking beanstalk."
Jacob gave a short bark of laughter at his brothers' remarks before he locked his gaze on Sam, finding the other man already watching him intensely.
"I think we need to talk, Sam."
Sam watched him for a long moment, an odd sort of emotion - pride - filtering into his eyes before he stood, and smiled softly at him.
"At last. It seems we do."
It had been a whole ten minutes before Alana had been able to muster up the conviction that Jacob would not be coming back, and was able to shuffle out from behind the cover of the trees at the edge of her father's property.
How. Humiliating.
She had come here thinking that she'd face her past, face the parts of herself she'd been loath to acknowledge existed for the past few years. Instead, one look from Jacob Black, one intense look, had robbed her of what little independence she'd developed from his addicting influence. Alana swallowed hard, absently rubbing over the ache in her chest. Jacob had never looked at her that way before. With longing and intensity and… passion. Just the thought alone was enough to cause her face to go up in flames and her heart to begin to thud an erratic rhythm in her chest.
This wasn't good. She slammed her car trunk shut, perhaps harder than she needed to, and began to lug her bags up to the house. The door was open, this was La Push why wouldn't it be, but years of working with policemen made Alana weary and she made a mental note to tell her father to make sure he kept his door locked. A cursory glance around told her, her father wasn't here, and she took the opportunity to reacquaint herself with the house she'd grown up in.
There, in the far corner of the small living room, she'd cried into the sofa when Billy Black had told her that Jacob had gone to the movies with Isabella Swan, blowing her off when they were supposed to work on a project together. The memory of the sympathy in Billy's eyes was still enough to make her burn with embarrassment. Then, she hadn't been able to control herself, she was sure the Chief had seen the devastation on her face, but not anymore. Never again would Jacob Black be able to reduce her to sobbing in her living room, to feel like she'd been betrayed by someone she had no relationship with.
Walking ahead, she came into the kitchen, small and simple like she remembered. Here, she'd learnt how to fry fish and chicken from her father, the two of them laughing when she'd hide behind him to shield herself from popping oil. Back when her mother hadn't done much besides stare off into the trees, looking back at them occasionally with an odd look in her eye. In retrospect, it was so clear to her. Maybe it was more evident now, now that she made her living off of diagnosing and treating mental illness. Her mother had been so unhappy and for years, for years she'd been so blind to her plight.
This place was her house. But not every house was a home.
This time, she was determined to make it different. This time she'd make it a home, give herself something to come back to. When she'd left, she'd forfeited the knowledge that La Push would always be her home, always be hers to feel safe in. Now she'd ensure she made sure her home remained her own. Nobody would ever be able to chase her away again. Not her own feelings, and definitely not Jacob Black.