Destiny

~38~

It was dark. Riley appeared in the shadows from under a bridge in Seattle, dragging a young man by the collar. He effortlessly pulled his weight behind him as he traversed the long stretch of the underpass. The man tried desperately to focus. The bump on his head prevented lucidity.
"Stop... I...", he began but stopped as he was dragged over a stone and cried out in pain.
Riley ignored him, finally reaching his destination. He released the man, who dropped hard to the ground. He was blinded by the darkness, dazed and terrified. He started to crawl away. But he didn't see a pair of boots step up behind him. He managed to get to his feet and was about to run when suddenly a hand wrenched him backward. Victoria forced him to his knees, his back showing to her. She shot a smile at Riley which he returned, backing away from the coming blood. She yanked the man's head to the side to expose his neck.
"Welcome to the army."

Jacob faced Destinee as she got into the center of the field, Bella and Edward right behind her. Jasper stood a few paces behind Edward. Embry and Quil were behind Jacob.
"You're not fighting? What, you pull a muscle or something?" Jacob mocked.
"He's doing it for me. Okay?"
Jacob looked at Bella and began to shake.
"Your stupid mind still doesn't get it right? It's not about you this whole protection thing. It's about my imprint. I would rather see you dead than my imprint the slightest bit hurt", he ranted, hissing.
He snaked his arms around Destinee's waist.
"Call down wolfie. Just tell him the plan."
Jasper stepped forward slightly.
"This field will give us an advantage in battle. We need to lure the newborns with Destinee's scent. It needs to end here."
"We are going on a campsite. Even if Edward or you carry me, they'll still pick up our scents."
"One of you will have to carry her", Edward said to Quil and Embry as he turned to them.
"Your stench is revolting."
"Dude, you really don't want to start comparing stinks."
"What he means, is that their scent will mask mine if one of them carries me."
"Done", Embry said and stepped forward.
"This is not a good idea", Edward mumbled.
Not only his voice but also his expression told what he thought about the whole thing.
"Edward. They won't want to get anywhere near his... odor", Jasper reasoned.
"Okay, let's just try it", Bella butted in.
Edward finally nodded. She extended her arms to Quil. He grinned and picked her up, holding her tight.
"Eau de wolf, comin' up."
"Run", Jacob growled at his two pack mates.
He watched as Embry carried his imprint into the forest.

Embry was running through the trees in a not really super-human speed, but still fast, and not breaking a single sweat. A few minutes have passed as Embry set her down. They started to walk back slowly toward their distant starting point.
"So how's your relationship with Jake?"
"It's actually great. It's growing again."
"And he told you that it was Bella's fault?"
"Yeah. And guess what... I was relieved to hear that. I knew he wouldn't purposely hurt me. But I'm worried about him. Because of tomorrow, you know. I'm scared of loosing him."
"Well he might be reckless but he will definitely take care of himself. I mean, he has you to fight for. So he won't die. Not before he hasn't even grew old with you...
Did you know that he let Sam be alpha?"
"He did?"
"I don't know why. But if he wouldn't have declined that role, he would have told you immediately from the beginning that he was a shapeshifter."
"So Sam was the one who ordered him to stay away from me?"
"Yep. He did it so that none of the people around us get hurt. You know what happened with Emily. She got too close. Jacob got to live to live the shots Sam called."
"Oh."
"But you awakened a feeling in him. I think he wants to take that role back. The role of the alpha."
"Wow. Him being an alpha. Me his imprint and our future kids, if we have one, the heir of this position.
...
But why didn't he want to be alpha?"
"He didn't even want to be in a pack, let alone be the their leader."
"Chief Jacob."
"Every choice has it's consequences. Some more than others. Everybody makes choices and you gonna have to accept them."
"Like Bella is having to accept that she can't have my Jake. You just can't 'love' more than one person at a time. Well I mean that love love as in girlfriend and boyfriend zone, you know?"
"Well except for Sam, Emily, and Leah."
"Well... I'm not a wolf, I can't imprint. But I got imprinted on."
"When we phase we can hear each other's thoughts. And when Jacob is in his wolf form, we see and especially feel what he does for you. We feel how he makes you feel physically. He makes you nervous."
Destinee blushed.

Meanwhile

Jasper jogged out of the woods to Edward and Jacob.
"All I picked up was wolf stench. None of the girls'", he told him, "this will work."
"Great", Jacob said and started running to where he would pick up his imprint.