For You, I Will

Winter break had arrived before I knew it; one minute, I was struggling through the boring, monotonous weeks of class, and the next, I was waking up at ten in the morning to nearly two feet of snow resting right at the edge of my window.

Giving myself a luxurious stretch, I stared at the glittering wonderland for a few moments before I decided to actually get out of bed. I loved snow, more than (almost) anything in the world. While I was gazing at the little bird footprints in the snow, I heard the floorboard just outside my bedroom door give a small creak. Just as I’d sat up and turned to look out my door, a cold, hard substance met with my face, exploding everywhere.

Letting out a startled squeal, I tumbled out of bed in my mad attempt to strangle the life from my brother as he took off down the hall. Wriggling out of my tangled blankets, I scrambled to my feet and took off after him.

Lucas had just sprinted through the door when I lunged at him and plowed right into his back. Though I was smaller than him, my surprise tackle was enough to knock him off balance, and we tumbled off the porch and into the fresh snow. I was hardly aware of the cold as Lucas playfully shoved me off of him; I scooped up a handful of snow and hurled it in his direction. The snowball splattered across his shirt, and I cackled in triumph. My victorious laugh was cut short by another snowball to my face.

“You’ll pay for that!” I cried, jumping to my feet and staggering across the snow as Lucas skittered towards the back of the house to get the upper hand. I rounded the corner, snowball in hand, but was met with nothing. Lucas wasn’t anywhere; surprised, I let my hand drop as I took a few cautious steps.

I heard the cackling laugh of my brother a moment before the snow dumped onto my head. Lucas had climbed up onto the roof and had shoved an entire roof-full of snow onto me.

“You are so dead, Lucas!” I cried as I struggled out of the snow. Lucas cackled again, and I barely dodged another snowball. I let out a squeal as I tore across the field/backyard that sat between our house and the woods. From behind me, I heard Lucas cry,

“Lillie, wait! Stop!” But I wasn’t gonna let him get me that easily. I kept running towards the woods, preparing to grab a snowball. And then, as if it had formed from the shadows, I saw a giant black wolf emerge from the tree line. For a moment, I thought it was Sam, and my fear began to dissipate. And then I saw the odd russet-and-white streaks in his fur, and the deep reddish brown glint of its eyes. This wasn’t Sam, nor was it any wolf I recognized from the La Push pack, and I’d seen all of them numerous times.

The wolf let out a snarl, and it took a step towards me as I took a startled step back. From behind me, a ferocious howl tore through the morning sky that made me jump. Before I could turn and see who-or better what was behind me, I heard my mom cry,

“Lillie! Run!” just as the black and russet/white streaked wolf lunged for me. Obeying my mom without a second thought, I spun around and threw myself forward, racing for my open back door where my mom was waiting. Racing towards me were two enormous wolves, whos familiar shapes brought me immediate relief. On the left was my dad, his sandy brown muzzle pulled back in a ferocious snarl. On the right was Lucas, his dark grey fur streaked with hints of white. As I ran towards my mom, they surged past me on either side and then came back together behind me, forming a protective line between myself and the foreign wolf. I was only halfway to my house when I saw more shapes surging towards me from the surrounding forest. To my relief, I recognized every single one of them. Sam’s comforting black form, the familiar hulking brown form of Jared, the chocolate brown coat of Quil, Paul’s silver fur (a bit lighter than Lucas’s), even the lithe grayish form of Leah. Above them all, though, I searched for the pale grey (with black flecks) form of Embry.

Embry was right in front, and he was the first one to reach me as the rest of the pack (including the younger members, whose names and shapes aren’t as familiar to me) swarmed towards the hostile form of the black and russet/white wolf. I vaulted up the stairs and threw myself into my mom’s arms as I tried to push my fright away. I’d been just a few feet away from death.

Embry jumped up onto the porch as well as my mom shut the door. Through the blinds over the window of the door, I could make out Embry’s light grey form standing guard outside the door.

“Are you okay?” my mom demanded, taking me by the shoulders and searching me up and down.

“Physically, yeah,” I breathed, swallowing the hysteria starting to rise up in my body. “What’s going on, mom?”

My mom’s ocean-blue eyes clouded over as she took a deep breath.

“The wolf is from a different pack,” my mom said softly. “The Makah pack. This one’s name is Kale. They were a problem before...”

“What kind of problem?” I asked cautiously. The haunted look in my mom’s eyes scared me. Wordlessly, she pulled the leg of her pajamas up, and I winced as I saw the age-old scar. There were several dark brown scars across the outside of her thigh, stretching up to her side. She’d always told me it was from a car accident.

“That wolf did that to you?”

My mom nodded. “That’s when I began to date Paul. He saved me from the wolf. We thought Paul and the pack chased the Makah wolves off, but I guess we were wrong.”

“Then what are they doing back here?” I asked, a hint of fear in my voice. My mom just shook her head.

***My POV***

“What are you doing back on our land?” Jacob demanded. He’d wasted no time in phasing back to human form. His pack formed a protective semi-circle behind him with the exception of Embry, who was guarding the back door to Seth and Alex’s house, and three of the newer members who were guarding the front door.

Saul, the leader of the Makah pack, was facing Jacob. Kale, the black and russet-white wolf was to his right, and another wolf was to his left. The rest of his pack hadn’t shown themselves. Saul’s deep, reddish brown eyes glinted with fury as he spat,

“You’ve broken the Shapeshifter pact!”

Taken aback at the anger in Saul’s voice Jacob frowned at him and asked,

“What? What pact?”

Jacob noticed a movement from beside him, and turned in time to see Sam bounding away towards the side of the house. A few moments later, Sam reappeared in human form, jogging towards the gathering of wolves.

“That truce was forgotten a long time ago,” Sam said in a low tone, his deep black eyes narrowed at Saul. “We haven’t abided by that-“

“Though this mangled pack may have thrown the rules aside, the true wolfpacks haven’t forgotten the pact!”

“What pack are you talking about?!” Jacob demanded, having to speak over the furious snarls from the wolves around him.

Saul turned his red glare on Jacob.

“Our ancestors swore never to side with vampires, to never become allies with the cold ones! Your entire pack, but especially you, have directly violated that pact! And by becoming allies with the cold ones, you’ve turned against the rest of us!”

“That’s ridiculous!” Jacob exclaimed, just as Sam said,

“Jacob’s imprint is half-vampire, he cannot help who he loves. You cannot hold that against him.”

“We heard about the war with the Volturi, how your pack” he spat the word ‘pack’ with such distaste it made Jacob’s teeth clench, “sided with the vampires!”

“That is none of your business, nor is it reason to attack an innocent human,” Sam growled.

“Your pack must be punished,” Saul snarled. “We cannot forgive you for what you’ve done to your brothers-“

“You’re insane,” Jacob said, cutting Saul off. “It wasn’t a betrayal. I was helping to defend a human, Bella, and-“

“No excuse!” Saul snarled again, taking a step towards Jacob. Immediately, the pack surged forward, ready to tear Saul apart. “What you and your pack have done cannot be forgiven. We will not rest until your pack has paid for their treachery. If I’m not mistaken,” Saul said, his eyes flicking to Seth, “That girl is your child, and your sister,” he said, turning his gaze to Lucas. Finally, he flicked his eyes to Embry. “And his mate.”

Jacob was silent, afraid to say anything with Lillie’s safety hanging in the balance.

“By killing that girl, and her half-vampire friend, that will wound your pack as you have wounded others.”

“How dare you think of killing innocent beings!” Jacob snarled. “Let alone killing two wolves’ imprints!”

“If that isn’t enough to put you into your place, we can kill others,” Saul warned. As he said the names, his eyes flicked to the proper wolves. “Alex, Kimberly, Claire, Kara, Emily…”

No one said anything, nor moved a muscle. The pack was frozen in horror at the thought of their imprints in danger.

“Turn over the girls, Lillie and Renesmee, and the rest of the imprintees will not be harmed. Fail to turn them over, and you know your consequences.”

With that, Saul turned and, with a running start, phased into a hulking black and grey wolf that disappeared into the woods, with Kale and the other wolf following.

Jacob slowly turned to face his pack. As he thought, they’d phased back to their human forms, and it almost killed Jacob to meet their eyes. He knew what they were thinking; cooperate, and loose his and Embry’s imprints, or resist, and loose their imprints as well.

Just as Jacob was sure they’d turn and drag Lillie outside on the spot, Quil stepped forward and said solemnly,

“We’ll fight them, Jake. We won’t let them hurt Lillie or Renesmee. Or any of our mates, for that matter.”

One by one, the others nodded and stepped forward, all silently agreeing to whatever it would take to save their loved ones. They wouldn’t turn over Lillie and Renesmee to save their own imprints; they’d fight-tooth, nail, and fur- to keep their worlds from being destroyed.