The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter XLVIII

And ladies and gentlemen, the name of the game is I Win. God, it had been more difficult than I had thought. Stupid, Leah; if she had just told Jake I wouldn't have had to go so large.

Poor Jake; he's probably so confused right now. Oh the things I do so that Leah will finally admit that she needed this imprint. And God did she need this imprint. She had given up her entire identity when Sam left her. She had clung to the little part of her that could help her get through the day. It was time that she wasn't as angry and bitter and sad as the Leah that we had all come to know.

We drove in silence, me still pretending that I was mad at her. I stared out the window, glaring at the rain that was pelting the glass.

"You shouldn't have done that, Rye," she growled lowly at me. "He's going to tell the Pack and I didn't want that."

"Oh shut up," I replied. "You have someone who you don't have to hide your thoughts around. Jake's not going to tell anyone. Just quit your moaning and get us to the gym," I said. Nathan was standing, waiting for a partner that was still missing. I followed Leah into the gym and then jogged to her side, pulling to a stop.

"Spar with him," I suggested.

"I don't want to."

"Hey, Nate, you got a partner?" I screamed.

"Ryanne," she threatened. Nate shook his head.

"I'm going to go warm up. Leah's good to go," I said, lightly shoving her towards the ring. Nate jumped out, jogging to my side while Leah threatened me under her breath.

"What happened to talk to her before you hit her?" he whispered.

I chuckled. "I think you'll find her fists a little nicer than her mouth," I said. "Leah!" She spun around and growled at me. "Go easy on him; he's an old man," I shouted. She rolled her eyes, a smile playing at her lips. "She's a little on edge, but it's the best I could do," I said to him, quiet enough that even Leah wouldn't hear me.

"I owe you big, don't I?"

"You don't even know," I promised, walking towards the bags. I grabbed my hair in a fist, tying it up in a messy ponytail that would hold for the purposes of warming up.

"I'm going on a run," I told Leah, but she was slowly circling Nathan. I smiled and stepped outside, pushing my little buds into my ears.

"And where do you think you're going?" Jake's voice sounded, a thick finger pulling the little thing from my ear.

"Um... Leah's right behind me?" I asked with my best cheesy smile. He glared at me. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. What are you doing here?"

"Well," he chuckled, "after I caught up with yours and Leah's conversation, I realized that you were planning something. Still not sure what that something was, but it was something. And I was pretty sure you said that he was a gym guy, although to be honest, I only caught like a quarter of the conversation. So I figured the best solution was to come here to figure this out myself."

I laughed. "I'm sorry; Leah will only come down here when she's angry and I needed to get her riled up enough. And she needed someone to know her secret because if not, she was going to lose her mind soon. I've been teaching her my fun facts to keep her mind off it, but apparently they're not as fun to her."

"You still didn't answer my question. Where do you think you're going?" he said with a fake growl. "I thought we talked about the forests, Annie. I just want you to be safe." I bit the inside of my cheek and pondered his words.

"Work out with me," I said quietly. Jake just stared at me. "Come on, Jake; it's been forever since we did something non-relationship related. Work out with me." He looked behind him like he was checking for something. "You don't have patrol and you can still hear the wolves from over here, trust me. If I can hear the howls, you definitely can."