Aiyana (Twilight)

↩ S E V E N ↪

The trip down to the beach was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Tala pulled up next to our truck on the way and his friends yelled loudly as they left us in the dirt behind them. When we pulled into the small parking lot I was happy to see a few familiar cars.

"Introduce us to your cute friends," Lauren nudged me playfully.

"Uh, yeah," I gestured dramatically to my cousins. "Leah and Seth. Bella knows Jacob already. The dumb one there? My brother, Tala." My remark earned me a shove.

"You're the Quileute gang, aren't you?" Mikes voice piped up from Tylers van.

"Dude," Eric hissed.

"You could put it that way," Sam shrugged. "We just protect our own."

I rolled my eyes. My friends began to split off to 'catch a wave' and I pulled Tala aside.

"Uh, weird question. Auntie and Harry said something weird? About the Cullen family," I tilted my head as I lowered my voice, "Whats that about?"

"Why do you think I know?" He raised an eyebrow but his eyes weren't looking at me.

"You're older... I don't know," I shrugged.

"The Cullens don't come here," a deep voice spoke loudly.

I turned to find one of Tala's new friends eavesdropping. The conversation fell silent around us and the atmosphere grew heavy.

"Figures. I mean, they look as if they've never seen the sun!" Jess snickered quietly, hoping to ease the tension.

My eyes searched for my brothers and when he met my gaze his hard stare softened. He ruffled my hair playfully.

"We're gonna head up to the cliffs. Have fun," his look grew serious. Protective. "And be safe, Aiya."

The group ran off, racing to get to the cliffs first. I sighed as Leah and Seth joined them. So much for my invited company. Lauren and Jess were busy gushing over the guys, so I ended up taking a walk down the beach with Bella and Jacob. He was a year or so younger than the both of us, but he was at least a few inches taller.

"Sorry about the guys," Jacob was saying.

"That was awkward," Bella agreed. "What did Mike mean, about the 'gang'?"

"Its a.... Sort of neighborhood watch. They protect our people when someone gets out of line," I explained, remembering my dads old stories.

It suddenly clicked why Tala had changed since we moved back. He had taken after our father and joined them. He stepped up since dad passed. I felt a sting of pain as I thought about his old stories. Tala and I would sit on the floor in front of his chair as he told us all about the Quileute legends before mom would interrupt and usher us to bed.

"Jake your dad's on the council, right?" I recalled. "What's up with the Cullen thing?"

"You haven't heard the legends?" He seemed surprised. Bella looked confused so he continued. "We have lots of...old stories. Ways we live by, I guess."

"My dad used to tell us all the legends, but I never heard anything about them," I explained.

I heard Bellas name being called and she shot an apologetic glance at Jacob before jogging to catch up with Angela.

"Some old family treaty," he put quotations around the word, "I guess their ancestors did something to piss off our ancestors, the wolves, and poof. Not allowed up here anymore."

"The wolves?" I laughed.

"Apparently, we descended from wolves." He didn't seem to want to push the issue any longer.

"They don't seem like bad people," I said, but my thoughts were clouded with the attitude Edward had given me without even knowing who I was.

I tried to put the odd conversation behind me as I stripped my t-shirt off, chasing Lauren and Leah into the water. Tala and his so-called gang had joined us back down at the beach. I noticed a few lingering eyes but my older brothers protective instincts seemed to kick into high gear. As Jess and I went down into the water together I heard a commotion.

"Hey, knock it the hell off!" Tala's voice grew above the laughter.

"Chill bro, she's hot," an unfamiliar voice joked.

"That's my cousin, dude, stop," Seth groaned.

I saw something shift in Tala's eyes then. He began to shake with rage and I hurried out of the water, but my quick movement only...furthered the attention of the boys eyes, which succeeded in angering my brother even more. I placed my hands on his arm as I tried to tell him it wasn't worth getting upset over, just dumb teenage boys.

"Tala Clearwater." A strong voice overpowered the arguing amongst the group. Sam.

He laid a firm hand on the back of my brothers neck and guided him towards the truck. I stood, dumbfounded, as the rest of the group began to follow after them.

"What the hell just happened?" I finally asked.

"Sam's in charge," Jacob shrugged.

As if on cue, rain began trickling down. I tried to apologize for the fun being ruined but my friends hushed me.

"Dude, this was the best beach trip ever," Mike agreed as Tyler and Eric packed up.

"Boys will be boys. I had a wonderful time," Jess hugged me as they began to leave.

Legends. Fighting. And an anger I had never seen before.

God next week has to be better.