petrichor [rosalie hale]

lii. letting it all out

"Everything was falling into place. The packs were bonding once more. Even the Volturi seemed to accept my new status - though they'd want proof eventually. It seemed we had only one enemy left. Time."

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"So, did you think more about my offer?"

Kiara tilted her head to look at Sam as they stood on the beach, watching the rest of the packs kick a soccer ball about in the distance. Even Leah had joined in, taking it as a good excuse to "accidentally" elbow Paul once or twice.

"Not really," Kiara murmured back, but they both knew that was a lie. It had been consuming her every thought for the past two weeks since Sam had been introduced to Renesmee. "A bit, I guess."

"Too much?"

"Yeah," Kiara breathed, dropping the unbothered facade. "It is too much, Sam. I'm not... I'm not like you. I won't be here forever."

Sam didn't need to ask what she meant. He'd thought about the implication of the immortality of the Cullen's, and what that would mean for Seth and Kiara. Maybe even Jake too - if Renesmee was immortal, which was yet to be determined. She'd leave La Push when the Cullens had to leave, following her imprint across the world. So would Seth. They would remain shifting as long as they were near the vampires, and they'd stop aging soon.

The rest of them wouldn't. They'd stop phasing when the Cullens left - maybe even before then - and they'd age. Kiara and Seth would outlive them all, maybe Jacob too. It was the elephant in all the rooms: the Cullen house, the Black cabin, the Clearwater house... it was the unspoken hardship of their imprinting.

"I'll need to go, Sam," Kiara continued after a moment, pausing to make sure neither of the packs were paying attention. "And an alpha can't abandon their pack. You know that better than anyone."

Sam nodded, a small smile on his lips as he looked at the girl beside him. She'd came a long way since the night she had found out they were shapeshifters. He hated that she'd been forced to grow up so quickly, but it was moments like this that he knew she was born for more than just a mundane life.

"We could do it together," he murmured back, keeping his voice low and trying to make sure the attention wasn't on them. The packs both knew about Sam's offer - but that didn't mean they wanted them to hear every conversation about it. "Co-alpha it. You know I'd give it to you in a heartbeat, but if that's not what you want... we could do it together."

Kiara had given the alpha offer a lot of thought. But not once had she considered the idea of her and Sam acting as joint alphas. It seemed bizarre that she hadn't even considered it, but the thought sent a spark of electricity up her spine.

"Let me sleep on it," Kiara said, a small smile tugging at her lips. Sam smiled back, patting her shoulder before he broke off into a jog, running towards the packs and surprise-tackling Jared so that Leah would be able to pluck the ball from his feet.

She watched them all play, the gentle La Push breeze blowing her hair as she moved her head to glance out across the sea. It was getting colder now - and she knew the Winter snow would be upon them before they even knew it.

There was an uneasy feeling in her stomach. It had only grown alongside Renesmee, the concern about what happened next festering in her stomach as the girl aged years within the past two weeks. She knew some of the others felt it too - she could see the unease in Alice's eyes when she looked at the growth chart, the held-back concern from Carlisle. Bella and Edward were in bliss for now, but Kiara knew even Bella was beginning to feel concerned.

Kiara just hoped that whatever happened next wasn't going to end up as some life-threatening battle. She'd have enough of that.

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