AN

Hey everyone,

Thank you for the reviews and nudging messages. My life got pretty de-railed for a time, but I'm trying to come back to what I love and write more. This chapter is shorter, but there is a lot of conversations in it which I hope finally gives some light on the direction of the story and what's happening.

I also got delayed as PTB weren't taking story applications due to low staffing, but lucky for me the amazing MargotTenser happened to message me to see how the story was going and when she found out my dilemma offered to beta it herself. Even more super was that she got it back to me nearly immediately. Please everyone give her credit and thanks because this update wouldn't be happening otherwise! Thank you Margot :)

You may have remembered, I mentioned in the past that I'm also trying my hand at an original story. I will be posting once beta'd on wattpad, although at the moment there's just a drabble on there which I wrote at Christmas and is more of an excerpt of how I was feeling about the car crash that turned our to be my relationship rather than a story. If anyone wants my name on there for future PM me as I'm keeping it separate to my fanfiction pen name.

Finally, I hope you guys enjoy and as always love to hear what you think.

Chapter 6

My fist pounded on the front door of the Uley's house so hard that the wood splintered, but a broken door was the least of their worries. When no one answered quickly enough, I hammered on it again. A light came on inside, followed by the rush of heavy footsteps and turn of a lock.

Sam opened the door in loose sweats. There was sleep in his eyes, but he was still alert. "Leah, is everything okay?" He sounded panicked, but when he actually focused in on my face he paled even more. "What's wrong?"

I shoved past him and into the house, storming through the hall to the bottom of the stairs. "Emily, you have thirty-fucking-seconds to get you ass down here before I drag it down." No doubt I sounded like a banshee, but I didn't care.

"Leah, what the hell?" Sam was pulling me back, but I shook him off and turned on him with a snarl. "Back off. This is between me and your wife."

"I don't know what the hell is going on, but there is no way you're getting anywhere near Em' in this state." He growled back, low and threatening. "You have one minute to tell me what's going on before I kick you out, and don't think I won't."

I snorted bitterly, poking him hard in the chest. "No. This is between me and her. This is girl stuff, not wolf stuff."

"I don't care. You're dangerous right now." He grabbed a hold of my arm, his alpha strength enough to stop me pulling away. "Outside. Now."

Kicking and clawing, I tried to make him let me go, but his grip was too tight. Dragging me out the front door, he shoved me away from the porch, blocking my entrance. "Talk."

I spat at him. "I'm not your dog, remember."

"Leah," he hesitated. "Please, talk to me. This isn't you. Not anymore."

I laughed aloud. "Not anymore? And why was I like that in the first place, Sammy? Or have you forgotten? I almost had, you know. I almost got over it, but guess what ... the truth will always out."

His fingers clenched in frustration. "What are you talking about?"

"Did you know?" I wanted to hit him for being so damn ignorant. Noticing his truck parked next to me, I opted for that instead and angrily kicked the tire. "Did. You. Know?" I repeated.

He looked nervously at his precious vehicle. "Know what?"

"About Tristan and the imprint."

At my words, his eyes widened in understanding. "He told you? I can't believe ... we talked about it and he wasn't going to."

"Yes, he told me. Now let me talk to Emily."

Still, Sam wasn't budging. "No. Not until you're calm."

This time my fist slammed through the driver side window. Glass shattered inwards all over the seats. "Is that calm enough for you?"

"Christ!" Panic flashed in his eyes, before hardening to resolve. "Fine. Beat the hell out of my cab if you want. It's just money. If it'd help I'd tell you to take it out on me, but that's clearly not why you're here. So I repeat again, you're not seeing Emily."

"Doesn't it even bother you?" Didn't he see why I was so angry? "How can you just accept all of this bullshit?"

"Tristan's imprinting is nothing to do with me or Emily." Sam spoke slowly, as if trying to prove a point. "Nor is what you choose to do with the information."

"Not Tristan, you idiot, Emily, and don't pretend you don't know what I mean." Why couldn't he ever see things from my side? Just for once it would have been nice.

"Emily made the right choice, if that's what you're pissed about."

Well that stung. Even faced with the truth he was still a puppet to her strings. "I don't want you. That isn't what it's about." I took a deep breath and walked away, before turning on him again. "It's pretty obvious we wouldn't have worked out, seeing as you have no spine an' all, but we should have made that decision together. We should have had the chance to make that mistake. She took that away and destroyed my life. You think losing you and my father so close together didn't fuck with me? You saw what I turned into and you told me it couldn't be helped. For God's sake, you were the one to hold me whilst I cried over his grave and say that. Well, guess what? Turns out that it could have been helped, but the cost of my sanity was clearly nothing to her. It's ironic that sweet Emily, who you all hold in such high esteem, turns out to be nothing but a common whore who'd sell out her family for a man."

"Leah," He stepped forwards warningly as soon as the word 'whore' left my lips. "Leave. Now. I don't care what's in your head. She's my wife and this is our home. You will not stand here and disrespect her."

"Disrespect?" I scoffed. "She asked me to be her maid of honor!"

"I honestly didn't know." Emily's small voice came from the doorway behind us, making the hairs on the back of my neck bristle.

"Emily, go back inside. It's okay." Sam's didn't take his eyes off me, but his voice automatically softened, protectiveness saturating each word.

"No, Sam." She stepped forward. "Leah is right. I did pick you over her, and I'm sorry that the cost of my decision was so high, but Tristan is ..." Emily paused, before holding her head up high. "Look, I've read the tribe's history again and again looking for anything the elders might have missed. When Sam and I met, I wanted to find a way for it to not be true. I didn't want to hurt you and I fought the imprint as best I could. My scar is proof that I tried, but I was never as strong and independent as you. I know that sounds pathetic," She laughed sadly. "It is pathetic."

"Emily," Sam was by her side in seconds, holding her in his arms gently. "You don't need to explain anything to her."

"Actually, Sam, I do." She pushed past him, clearly trusting me more than he did. "In fact, I should have said this a lot sooner."

Sam's protests became nothing but background noise.

"Go on then. Continue... you were saying how pathetic you are." My nose was turned up at her in disgust. "Or is this where you embellish your sob story?"

"If that's what you want to call it." She shivered as a breeze swept around us, reminding me how fragile she was. She held herself in a way that said she recognised that too. "I was weak. Is that what you want to hear? I saw how close you too were and I wanted to have that with someone more than anything. I wanted someone who would love me endlessly. I was young, and Sam was so kind and devoted. When I pushed him away it was because of you, but that didn't stop me wanting him and that was where it went wrong. The foundation of an imprint is all about what the imprintee wants most. Does that mean that what Sam and I have isn't real? No. I love him as a person and I know he loves me too. The imprint merely solidified that and, yes, we could have handled it better, but none of us, pack or elders were prepared back then. We did the best we could, but that wasn't good enough. You deserved better and you certainly deserved more from both of us."

It wasn't much, but hearing her finally own the damage she had caused felt like a dam bursting inside me. My anger had been internalised the minute everyone took their side, labelling me as a bitter harpy. I had held it in for years, been told over and over again that my feelings were unjustified.

I'd been reminded almost every day that imprinting was sacred and I had no claim to feel anything but happy for them, all of them. Well, they had always been wrong in my eyes and to finally hear her admit that my treatment was 'unjustified' took a huge weight from my heart. I met her eyes, my voice cold and low. "I hate you."

Her face fell in devastation, but she nodded acceptingly as if she expected nothing less. There was no begging or pleading or trying to make amends. Emily for the first time in her life let me have my moment.

The irony was I didn't truly hate her, not deep down, but I wasn't ready to admit that yet. I was still caught up in the fact that what had happened to me wasn't outside of peoples' control, that imprinting and Sam and Emily's choices were selfish and that Emily had made my life worse.

She knew it. I knew it, but it felt somehow insignificant now it was all out in the open.

Emily's admittance didn't fix anything. I was still alone with no future or dreams, and I suddenly felt foolish. For years I held on to my resentment, blaming everyone around me for the problems in my life and using Emily and Sam more than anyone as justification for me being a bitch. Now that she had confirmed just that, I had nothing left to hold on to. I had run out of ammunition.

Sam slowly crept back up to Emily's side, his arm softly wrapping around her. "Leah?"

My stomach clenched as I tried to remember why I was so angry in the first place. I felt my chest tighten and a sudden draw to the forest, which I fought. "I just don't understand." My eyes looked longingly to the trees to the edge of the yard. The woods called to me, my legs weakening under a heavy pull. "Tristan said his imprint is broken."

"Leah," Emily looked nervous. "Maybe this girl of Tristan's, maybe she didn't break the imprint. Maybe she just needs something else right now. I don't believe it's really over for them."

And just like that, the heart I thought was already broken really did break.

So many things about last night haunted me. The way Tristan sought me out, his touch, his words, and then Emily ...

"Maybe she didn't break the imprint. Maybe she just needs something else right now."

Life was cruel, and I was giving up on it, at least for today. My head was pounding, my stomach in knots and I had the biggest emotional hangover in the world.

How could so much of my life have been built around imprinting?

I pulled the sheets over my head, curling into as small a ball as possible. I'd spent almost all day in bed feeling sorry for myself.

I heard the front door open downstairs and burrowed into my bed even further. A few minutes later my door creaked open an inch.

"You decent?" My brother's voice asked cautiously.

I groaned. "Go away."

"I'll take that as a yes." A second later the bed dipped next to me.

I threw back the sheet dramatically. Seth sat on the edge, his nose wrinkled in concern. "Where are we at right now? Anger, hurt, hate?"

"We?"

"Yeah," He shoved me over so he could lay out next to me. "Because I figured I missed out on the whole brooding teenager thing and may as well give it a go now." He shrugged. "People suck."

"Who's upset you?" I glanced at him surprised. It was almost unheard of for Seth to be negative.

"News travels fast around the Res' Sis. That, and Emily called me. Told me what happened last night."

"I'm okay." I nudged him. "Besides, you like Sam and Emily. You don't have to pretend they suck. I'm dealing."

"Clearly," he sniffed. "Smells like it in here. What is that, two days worth of sweat?"

"Don't be gross." I shoved him off the bed and he fell to floor with a thump.

"Would you feel better if I was a dick about it?" He laughed. "Sucks to be you."

I rolled away from him and on to my back. "I thought you came to be sympathetic or have you been spending too much time with Jake?"

"I know you too well. You're in a funk, and you didn't think I was really about to pander to it?"

I snorted. "Pander? That's a big word for you, little brother. You've been playing with the thesaurus again?"

Seth just laughed again. It was irritating how infectious his good moods could be. I briefly thought of our tattoos' - the sun and the moon - dark and light.

"Jake punched Sam."

At his words, I sat up, leaning back on my elbows to peer at him. "Jake hit Sam? What is it with you guys throwing punches lately? Only the other day Tristan hit Paul."

"Must be you." He grinned.

"Oh. My. God." I slumped back down. "What did Sam do to piss off Jake?"

"Apart from being Sam?" Seth raised a mocking brow. "Well, whilst Emily was calling me. Sam decided to turn up at the Cullens this morning to warn Jake you might have gone off the rails. By the time Jake actually got to the bottom of what had happened he was livid. Sam should have told us about the latest imprinting, especially that it had been rejected. We might not be in the same pack, but it's not the kind of stuff you sit on. News like that effects all of us. Some more than others," he looked at me pointedly. "You shouldn't have had to find that out on your own. I know you think Jake isn't always on the ball, but he takes our pack seriously. You're not just my sister anymore."

"That's," My chest felt a little less heavy "That's actually kind of sweet."

"I know. It is, right?" My brother bounced up off the floor. "Now out of bed and have a shower. Your pack's taking you out for the night and you don't have a choice in it."

"You're kidding?" I groaned. "I don't want to go hang out at the Cullens."

"Don't be stupid. We were going to head up the coast and hit a bar or two. See how much it takes to get a wolf drunk." He glanced at the clock on my dresser. "Thirty minutes enough?"

His hopeful expression was too cute to deny. "Make it forty?"

I swear between the five of us we'd had at least three bottles of whiskey. The whole room was getting a little off kilter and my head felt fuzzy. It actually felt good to be out with the guys, although it turned out they were bigger bitches than I was. We'd spent at least two hours listing all the reasons that Sam was a dick, followed by amazingly enough, an hour of how fucked up him and Emily were. I appreciated. I really did.

Besides let's face it, I wasn't exactly the nail painting, girly movie watching kind of girl. I preferred to play rough and let my hair down with the boys. I'd never really appreciated my pack until recently, and after tonight I'd never be able not to. All four of them were grappling for my attention to see who could make me laugh the most. I swear at one point I even snorted vodka out my nose at something they said. My mother would have slapped me round the head for bad manners, but I didn't care. Not being alone felt good. So good that we never even made it past the first bar and when that shut we brought the last few bottles of vodka they owned and went to the beach. It wasn't until the last drop had gone that we finally staggered home.

I ended up in the middle of the group with Jake's arm slung lazily across my shoulder and Seth's wrapped around my middle as we weaved home down the road. It was dark and late and between the guys stopping to take a leak and howling jokingly at the moon, it took us a good while to make it back to mine. Eventually we stumbled up the driveway though, and home was in sight.

Embry was leading and let out a laugh. "Leah, you didn't tell us you got a new dog?"

"Huh?" I was in a warm and cosy haze between my alpha and brother, but forced myself to look up. "Oh."

Tristan sat on the top step with a bemused look on his face. "Hi."

"Hi." That was about the limit of my words too. It had to be gone 3am.

He didn't even look at the guys as he stood and walked towards me. "Good night or should I say good morning?"

I tripped a little to the side and hugged Seth harder to keep my balance. "The best." I grinned up at him. "My boys are just awesome."

"I am so writing that down and making you sign it." Quil snorted from behind.

I looked over my shoulder at him with a grin. "Bite me."

"Love too."

A low growl came from Tristan, and I glanced at him eyes wide. "Down boy." I had no idea what that was about.

Finally he looked at Jake. "I can take her from here if you want."

"I don't think so." I waved my finger pointedly at him. "You can keep those big ol' hands to yourself, Mr." God he looked hot. Even with two heads. Ok ... maybe I was a little drunker than I thought. The world was starting to spin a little as I tried to focus on one spot. Shit, that spot was his crotch.

I turned my head away, leaning into my brother to hide my blush. "Jesus, hell fire." I murmured. "I feel drunk as a skunk."

Seth took most my weight against him, as he answered Tristan. "Not tonight, Dude. She's had a good night and I'm keeping it that way." There was an animosity in his words that I didn't understand and I was too far gone to try to. These boys seemed to have their own politics going on.

"A good night?" Tristan's voice hardened, humour fading from his face. "She's more than drunk. She can barely walk. I'm scared to think how much you had to get down her to do that."

"Yeah? And why is it we took her out?" He scoffed.

"Don't be a dick, Seth." I grumbled. "I am here."

My brother growled something so low that I couldn't make it out. It didn't matter, I just wanted my bed.

"You know she's safer with me than anyone." Tristan snapped.

"No. All I know is that your imprint didn't want you. Why do you think that's changed now?"

I shoved away from my brother, ungrateful for reminding me of what caused this shit in the first place. "All of you go home." I staggered forwards, my feet tripping over each other. I was falling, full of too much vodka and whiskey to catch myself. I saw the ground closing in, but before I could crash into it strong arms embraced me. Tingles shot through my body and warmth filled me. I glanced at my saviour and was met with the same eyes I'd come to think of every time I saw the green of the forest. I was unable to stop myself from smiling. In response Tristan simply gave me a bemused look as he pulled me closer, swinging my legs from under me and into his arms. When had I turned into such a girl?

"She's safe with me, Seth." His chest vibrated against me, lulling me towards sleep already. "All of you know that I'll look after her better than anyone else could."

"I'm her brother. I doubt it."

"Seth." Jake's alpha timbre ran through us all. "Let him try. Not for him, for her."

Whatever was said next was lost on me, not that any of it actually made sense anyway. I felt air moving around me and sleep finally came.

"I am never drinking again." It was dawn and my head was hanging over the toilet. I'd woken ten seconds earlier with just enough time to hug the porcelain bowl and empty my stomach. I'd been asleep less than three hours. "Who said shape shifters couldn't get drunk?"

It was a rhetorical question. I certainly didn't expect an answer, but two hands gently pulled my hair back from my face.

"I don't think it's a case of can't get drunk, more that they can't afford to very often. Apparently, you cleared all the spirits the bar had."

I wanted to say something sarcastic, but the only thing that came out was more liquid. God, I just oozed sex appeal. Finally, I caught a breath. "Tristan, just leave me to die."

"And miss the tortured look on your face? Never." He softly stroked my head, before pressing a cold, damp washcloth against the back of my neck. "

"I've had enough hangovers to know how you're feeling right now. Just hang on a bit and it'll burn through your system quick enough."

I glanced up at him. "When did you become an expert on shifter anatomy?"

"Paul and I did a fair bit of drinking in Seattle." He didn't say anything more, but he didn't have to. I could tell from his tone it hadn't been celebratory drinking.

"You shouldn't be here." I groaned, leaning back to rest my head against the wall.

"Where else have I got to be?"

I snored bitterly. "Don't you have an imprint to stalk?"

"Leah," Tristan let out a heavy breath. "Everything has got kind of fucked up."

"Not my problem." I wasn't about to be his agony aunt.

"It kind of is." His fingers brushed a strand of hair back from my face. "I know what was said yesterday at Sam's. He showed me."

I shoved him away and staggered up. "Sam's a dick. Can't keep nothing to himself."

"Sam ... Shit. This isn't even about Sam. This is about you. What do you actually want, Leah?" He followed me angrily as I wandered back to my bed and threw myself down. "Do you even know what it felt like to tell you something like that and for you to run after him and leave me? How the hell am I supposed to compete with that? You're obsessed with him and Emily, even after all this time."

I couldn't cope with his voice being so loud or his bitter words. I just wanted to sleep. "Go away, Tristan. You don't get it."

He stayed in the doorway. "No. You're right, I don't. You might be sick as a dog right now, but you need to hear this. I want you. I like you. Everything about you, even your stubbornness and inability to see what's right in front of you. Think about what you want in your life, Leah. It's important."

Hung over or not he was pissing me off now. "I know what I want, you dick. I want normal. I want real. I want to have something, someone, that is mine because they want to be of their own choice. Someone that can't be taken away from me because of some stupid imprinting crap. Someone that can be a part of my screwed up crazy shape shifting world, but guess what? None of that shit is compatible. So what do you expect from me? I do a pretty good job at picking myself up and dealing with my life every day. So what if I let the ball drop for one day. Even bitches need a break."

"You have no idea what you even just said, do you? You are so shut off to the world you can't see anything! Wake up, because you're starting to piss even me off."

What the hell?

Tristan turned his back and stormed out before I could even react. The front door slammed shut behind him and silence fell in the house.

Dear God, my head hurt.