Without Destiny

Chapter 15

Leah's POV

It's Mack's favorite kind of weather out. I can smell the rain in the air, but the heavy clouds hold it in. It casts a grey shadow over the world, but most of my world used to be defined by different shades of grey. Until Mack entered my life.

I turn my eyes away from the sky and rain, that probably wont fall for another few hours, to the more interesting creature inhabiting the earth below.

Mack sits beside me, leaning back against a fallen log, and rifles through the picnic basket I had presented her with in an attempt to draw her away from training. It had worked, because she immediately stopped doing pull-ups (which I instantly regretted) and cleared a spot where we now sit.

A strong wind smelling heavily of the coming rain tosses her short blond hair in my directing, carrying with it the underlying scent of smoke and metal. Her smell makes a whole lot more sense now that I know who her father is. She scowls as she swipes her hair out of her face in aggravation.

She passes me two of the foot-long sandwiches before taking one for herself. Then she pulls out the canister of lemonade and two plastic cups. I watch her all the while.

Her movements are very sure, no small movement wasted, and I admire the efficiency in everything she does.

I take the cup she offers me, wordlessly, and take a sip without moving my eyes from my imprint.

I'm not stupid. I know that there are things that she's not saying. She's running from something, and no matter how much it goes against my instinct to think ill of her, I suspect it because of something she did. Something bad.

The way she talks, it's obvious that she hates the gods, including her father. And I find myself hating him as well. But it scares the hell out of me, because if it's the gods she's running from…

How the fuck can I protect her from a god, let alone an infinite number of them? What the hell did she do?

"So, how was patrol?" Mack is the first to break the silence, and I'm shocked to find her chocolate eyes suddenly boring into mine.

I finally look away to unwrap my sandwich.

"Quiet. For now, it looks like the red-head is staying away, but we're going to be careful. She'll be back."

"That's good," Mack nods, looking away to take a bite of her own food, giving me the opportunity to go back to my staring. "We really should talk strategy at some point. I don't like sitting here and waiting for her to come to us with a full army on her heels. If we can find her, we can stop the war before it begins."

"You saw her in the streets of Seattle. Even if we do find her again, we can't exactly wolf out in the city."

She scowls down at her sandwich. "Then you guys should at least be training."

"Hey," I reach out to place a hand on her wrist, making her become eerily still. It makes me so uncomfortable that I draw away a few seconds later. "It's going to be okay, Mack. We can do this."

She sighs and goes back to stuffing her face, and I grin a little about her boyish nature. Stuffing her cheeks, working out, even sitting on the wet dirty ground without a second thought. I can't imagine myself ever loving someone who is squeamish or, worse, a girly-girl. I used to hate those girls in school before I ever turned into a wolf and started skipping most days.

"What kind of things did you used to do at camp?" I ask, hoping to hear some about her past. I know now that asking why she ran away is off limits.

For a moment, her entire face lights up, looking like the sun peeking through the clouds, before it fades slightly.

But there is still a wistful smile that pulls at her lips as she looks up at me. I allow my eyes to rove her face and memorize it.

"The most fun thing was when we played capture the flag. Only, it's not how mortals play it. Imagine a hundred kids, trained in combat and laden down in Greek armor and weapons spread out in the woods. Whichever team gets the flag across the creek to the other side first, wins, only it's full out fighting with swords, spears, knives… The rules say you're not supposed to maim, but sometimes accidents happen. It's kids using real weapons, you know, and in a real feeling battle like that, you can forget. It was just…the best."

I listen, feeling half horrified about the picture she is painting. I guess it does sound a little fun, but my wolf shakes when I try to picture my imprint in full battle with real weapons that can cut.

Knowing that getting all protective will not win me any points, I ruthlessly shove my protests and bafflement down.

I can't treat Mack like a child. She is a warrior. A demigod.

"The lava wall is really fun too," she continues, getting more and more excited as she recalls her home. I relax into the fallen tree, urging myself to just listen without judgement and enjoy the look of happiness on her face. It's rare to see. "It's this huge climbing wall that spews lava if you don't get to the top quick enough. It's really hard, but I just managed to start being consistent before I left…"

Her expression darkens for a moment before lighting up. "And all of the training is really cool; you can learn anything. There is hand-to-hand, sword fighting, pole arms, archery. Then there is music classes or art that the Apollo cabin lead. All of our school learning comes from the Athena cabin. We can go Canoeing, monster hunting in the forest, race with the Nymphs…"

She trails off slightly, and I watch as the clouds come back over expression. "I had brothers and sisters," She tells me, shocking me. "I miss them," she admits quietly.

I bite my lip, wishing I knew what to say to make her feel better, but I feel like any assurances I do make would be met with a glare and an end to the conversation.

"How did you find out you were a demigod?" I ask quickly, and it works somewhat.

She flashes me a quick grin, takes a quick sip of her lemonade, and pulls out the family sized bag of Doritos that I packed. Her actions remind me that I have only eaten half of my first sandwich.

Feeling suddenly very hungry with my revelation, I double down on my meal and my Imprint settles down with her snack, looking more relaxed than she has all week since she found out about the vampire targeting Bella.

"Well, it was after I ran away from my foster family when I was nine…"

A/N: So, just a filler chapter here. I started a new stories yesterday, so please go check it out! It's another imprint one, but not a cross-over this time. I just really think that Leah needs some love. It's just the prologue out right now, but I already have the first few chapters written. I haven't gotten this excited or started a new story in a while and it feels good.

Please review!

~Silver~