𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐒 ⸻ 𝖻𝗅𝖺𝖼𝗄𝗐𝖺𝗍𝖾𝗋

→ chapter two.

Two months later, Emily Young officially become Mrs. Uley. Kim, Jared's imprint, was her maid of honor, and you could see in her face that she was ecstatic at calling herself such. The wedding was beautiful based on the thousands of pictures on Facebook. Leah didn't look at them at all.

Life continued on its way. The days turned to months. Months of Leah's abrupt silence and the Pack rejoicing at her lack of combativeness. It felt as though her Pack brothers hadn't cared the reasoning behind it, only that it was peaceful for them. They were simple boys, and it didn't strike her the wrong way as it would've. She'd quickly had learned that this was the best way for everyone, Pack included.

Leah was bearing down a little too hard on a sheet of paper when Jake Black burst through the door. She looked up at him and remembered him as a gangly happy kid life couldn't knock down. Look how much that had changed in a few months.

Even though they'd never acknowledge how many boys—and one girl—that had Phased unexpectedly due to their proximity, it was a universal fact that the Cullens was the reason Leah's life had become such a mess. If they'd remained in remote bum-fuck nowhere Alaska with its bears, wolves, and almost perpetual night, so many things wouldn't have changed. Maybe Jake would've imprinted on Bella. Maybe she'd still have Harry.

She looked at Jake once before she said, "Oh. Seth's upstairs."

Heat touched the back of her neck—Jake's keen gaze drew along her back like a fingertip. It remained there for several minutes until she grew agitated enough to break the terse silence.

Without glancing up, she asked, "Can I help you?"

"I'm sick of this shit," he said and curled a hand around the back of the chair beside to her. The wood creaked under his grip.

She didn't say anything.

"What the hell is going on with you?" His voice was soft and gentle, and she hated it. Everyone in the Pack hated her, him included, so why did he care? He sure as shit never defended her and had even laughed at all the comments. Even worse he made it clear he thought his one-sided situationship with Bella Swan was far more deep, intense, and abiding than Leah's relationship with Sam.

Her voice came out flat and emotionless. "Nothing." It certainly wasn't the fact her entire Pack despised her presence, how they cherry-picked who to invalidate, how they continuously expected her to overnight turn into an Emily. It certainly wasn't the fact every time she fell asleep, she saw Harry's horror-struck face and the terror in Sue's eyes, how Sue had shielded Harry from Leah. It certainly wasn't the fact she had to see the man she'd loved and her cousin, two people who had betrayed her in the worst way possible, or how she'd been told to "get over it" by her own family.

The Pack, though they tried to hide it, was ecstatic when she quit causing strife. Even though it was sudden—her withdrawal from the Pack-mind and Pack politics—no one questioned it. She'd overheard Kim talking to Emily about how Emily had agreed quietly. Sam's thoughts had a constant undercurrent of happiness that hadn't been there before. The wolves were happy that she kept her thoughts to herself and not-so-secretly wished that Jake would do the same. One can only take so much of the Bella soap opera.

Sighing, she leveled her stare at Jake. "What?" she asked with an edge of irritation threading through the word.

He gave her a long, long searching look that made her skin tighten.

Before he could respond or she could crack, the stairs creaked and there was the sound of pounding footfalls.

"Leah! I'll be back, Jake's supposed—" Seth stopped mid-sentence as he stepped into the kitchen and saw Jake. Then he saw her and discomfort flashed across his face. Like always.