Finding Truth Behind Legends
by Wizardtho
Chapter 09:
Fifteen minutes later, Zander and Greg come in tentatively to find me curled into Taha’s side, softly reassuring him that I’m okay. I go to stand, to apologize to them, but they both kneel down in front of me before I have the chance to move away from Taha. It doesn’t escape my notice that he gives both coyotes a look of warning before they begin speaking.
It’s Zander who speaks first, offering softly, “I’m sorry, Bella. We don’t often think in the same terms as you, though we need to remember to. Taha gave me permission to tell you this, to help you understand why we don’t often joke with him. He hasn’t ‘kept phasing’ since he left his pack. When Taha went wolf that horrible day, he never reverted back. We don’t get to see the man, little coyote, just the wolf. Hell, I don’t even know what he looks like in his human form, other than what’s been told in stories, or what Taha can remember through the link of his reflection.”
I turn in shock to Taha, my eyes wide and mouth slack. My white wolf nods slowly, so tears gather in my eyes as one conclusion sticks out to me, “They… people here on this rez… oh, God, please tell me it isn’t true. Tell me you didn’t give up.”
Taha whines while shaking his head almost violently, then nuzzles his head into my lap as he looks to Zander. After Taha gives him a short nod, then nuzzles further against me, Zander says sadly, “No, Little Coyote, he didn’t give up. He wasn’t trying to die. He was grieving… the death of his wife and so many of his people… it affected his appetite, and he was having trouble hunting from the resulting weakness. The cycle just kept getting worse in the months between the Quileute tragedy and our tribe finding him. Our alpha found him when he was close to death, staggering along the edge of your creek, nothing but fur and bones. He saved him and carried him to the medicine man of the tribe at that time.”
I rest my head on top of Taha’s, then whisper, “But that doesn’t explain him never phasing back. He must have, at least once in all this time, right?”
Greg shakes his head, “Not once. From the way he told us, he stayed wolf because no one would think a wolf howling in the mountains was out of the norm. He was afraid his grief would overwhelm anyone who came near him in his human form. Once he came here and our tribe was able to help him heal, he remained in his wolf form because he said he could feel things more strongly when connected with his spirit wolf. He couldn’t take the chance of missing her… of not finding his imprint. I can understand why he would feel that way, Bella, because our senses are more acute when in our coyote forms. Everything is heightened… stronger… and we’re more attuned to the world around us.”
I nod sadly, “Jake’s told me the same thing… that he feels more connected to everything when wolf. So that’s why you wouldn’t phase when we met? I understand it now. After all this time, you still haven’t found her, so you stay in the one form that gives you the best chance of finding her in a quickly passing moment.”
Zander’s concern is clear in his next words, “Do you see why it would be hard for us to think of him as just one of the guys now? It’s because we’ve never had the privilege to meet the man… only the wise wolf elder.”
I don’t even have to think about it. Of course I understand, now that I know the situation. As I curl closer into Taha’s side, I nod sincerely, “I do… and I’m sorry for presuming. I should know better than to do that by now. Nothing in my life is as simple as it initially seems. Case in point, the vampire you guys just took out. I think I should explain.”
I let out a breath, causing Taha to whine a bit while nudging me. I give him a small smile and promise, “It’s time, and they need to be prepared. He’s not the only one they’ll send. They have many more under their control.”
I look at Zander, then, offering, “The Volturi are the ruling coven of Vampires. When I first heard about them from Edward, the vampire I was seeing in the Cullen coven, he told me seriously, ‘You don’t antagonize them unless you’re trying to die.’ He went to them, specifically for that reason, when he thought I had killed myself after he left. When they refused to grant him death, instead offering him a place in their guard, Edward started making plans to force their hand… force them to kill him anyway. He was going to reveal himself in broad daylight to a throng of humans during a festival. I got there literally moments before he went through with it.”
I shake my head, then explain, “We were taken to see the kings. I was a human who knew too much. Whether I was his mate or not, I was still human, and they had been exposed. I was a risk that needed to be dealt with. By the end of the meeting, Aro -the mouthpiece of the three kings- declared that I was to be turned by a week after graduation, or the guard they sent to check on my status would be ordered to kill me. Edward was adamant that I not be changed, though, and I could see the wheels turning in his head before we even left Italy. He would have had us on the run until my dying day, instead of turning me to be his equal and mate.”
I curl further into Taha’s side while being careful of his wounds, then start running my fingers through his fur. It comforts me enough that I’m able to continue, “It was clear soon after we got back that all his compromises and pleas were going to lead nowhere. He wanted my human life, not an eternity by my side. I finally had enough and broke it off with him when he begged me to marry him in the same breath as his refusal to turn me. At first, I tried to just end my relationship with him, but when Esme and Alice bombarded my phone with 59 messages in 1 day, begging me to take him back, I had to cut ties with the whole family. They were not taking our breakup well, and were only making things worse by encouraging him to seek me out and get me back.”
Zander shakes his head in disgust, but I promise, “I knew I needed to get away from Forks, needed to concentrate on me. I also needed to be as far away from the Cullens as possible, somewhere safe, so that whoever the Volturi sent wouldn’t know where I was. The Volturi are ruthless, and they won’t care that I’m tied to the mythical world through you… that I’m tribe and already in the know. It looks like one of the guards who was in the room that day found my scent, though. Can you tell me what he looked like?”
Greg says sadly, “Black robes, a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a V, dark skin, dreadlocks, and his eyes were red. They were eager.”
I shake my head, “I remember him being in the room, but don’t know who he was. He wasn’t their tracker, though, which means this isn’t over. Until he’s dealt with, my whereabouts can be found out. Demetri might not be able to find me directly, but he can track the one you killed to this area.”
Zander looks confused for a split second before he asks, “What do you mean he can’t track you directly?”
I shrug, “My brain is apparently messed up. Edward was a mind reader, but he couldn’t read mine. Aro was one too, but his power worked through touch. He couldn’t read my mind that day in the throne room, and his witch twins couldn’t affect me either. Demetri, from what Alice told me later, used the unique mental wavelength that resonated to him for each being. He could meet someone once, get their wavelength, then be able to find them a million years from now by tracking it from the person’s last known location. She said he looked at me strangely for several minutes while we were there before he finally shook his head and said something to the big one. I’m guessing whatever is messed up in my head makes it so he can’t track me.”
Zander looks at Taha before saying seriously to me, “Little coyote, I will tell you this until the world stops turning if I have to. There is nothing at all wrong with your brain. Your protection from these mental vamps works in our favor. They have to go old school... rely on your scent and how recent it is, once they get to this area. We, on the other hand, will be making sure you are masked by as much wolf and coyote scent as is physically possible. What that means for you is this. No roaming alone. Someone will be with you every moment you are outside these walls, and there will be guards around your property 24/7 until we can be sure this is over. A small shift in patrol schedules will make sure no one is overworked. Did this Aro guy touch your ex that day?”
When I nod, he explains, “That means they know about shifters. You’re due for a call to the wolves, so make it before you turn in tonight, and make sure you stress how we’ve been around all the time. That way they don’t decide to send someone out to check on you. If these vamps are smart, they’ll have someone keeping an eye on the wolves, and we don’t want the pack leading these vamps right to you. The harder the search, the better position we are in to take them out.”
He turns his head, then offers, “Will, I heard Bella saying something about learning from you. You can either postpone anything you two were going to do until this is over, or find a way to do them here for the time being. I’ll leave that for the two of you to work out.”
Will nodded, “Our time together will be important to this young coyote. I will not be postponing. Bella and I have already agreed to start as soon as her wolf is healed enough to run and hunt on his own with no help. Changing location will not hinder our work.”
Zander quickly goes back outside, calls attention to the pack, and gets things settled. When I hear Taha’s stomach growling right as Zander seems to be finishing up, I offer, “I should probably eat something too… and the boys are most likely starving. I want to check your wounds first, though. I want to see if we’re safe to stitch your larger wounds closed and remove the smaller sets of stitches.”
“Sounds like a plan to me, Miss Bella,” Shiloh offers as he kneels down next to me. “What do you need me to get for you? Zander already sent a few of the off-duties to grab dinner for Taha, when we heard his stomach growling.”
I smile at Taha, then say, “I need the pile of supplies already on the counter. Make sure there are two sets of gloves and plenty of the medicated thread. If you need more of something, grab it from the medicine room. I’ll also need the person in the pack who has the most sensitive nose for detecting vamps. He’ll need to make sure there’s no lingering venom in the wounds before I stitch them.”
He quickly calls out to Zander that I need him, then dashes to the counter as I turn toward Taha. As I start unwrapping his bandage, a thought comes to me, so I call out to Shiloh, “Get some water heating in a regular pot on the stove, too, please. I want to clean all this off him as well as possible before I stitch him up.”
Taha is in better shape than I was hoping, once I remove all of the old salve and get him cleaned up. His stitched wounds are completely closed, the only evidence of the attack left being the slightly pink lines left behind. His larger wounds are deemed free of the venom by Zander, which I am extremely thankful for since they had started to become shallower on their own. As there is no pearlescent quality to the salve and Zander cleared him of any trace of venom, Will and I both feel it’s safe for me to remove the smaller sets of stitches before stitching his larger wounds closed.
“You are to take it easy for the next few hours. No buts.” Seeing Taha is concentrating solely on me, I continue while wrapping his chest in clean gauze. “I don’t want these stitches ripping open. That means you will still be taking your meals on my bedroom porch for now. You can get up and stretch or walk around… slowly and carefully… but no running or hunting yet. If the stitches start to tug when you move a certain way, back off. I mean it, Taha… you’re almost recovered completely. Just give your body a few more hours; don’t do anything to risk it now.”
With a nod as his eyes stay connected to mine, I finish wrapping his chest, then call for a few clips to help keep it secure if he chooses to get up. He does, of course, just as soon as I stand to clean up the mess. I watch with a gasp lodged in my throat as his back end stays standing tall, then his front dips down so his nose nearly meets the floor, his whole body stretching out. I want to yell, or smack him, or choose from several other things to make him understand how he’s risking his recovery. The only thing I can do, though, is truly appreciate what a magnificent being Taha Aki is, even in his wounded state.
Before I can make myself say anything about him possibly ripping his stitches, Taha turns to nuzzle his head into my side, then looks at me with a wolfy smile. I let out a breath, asking, “All good? No stress on the stitches?”
In response, he nods, then shakes his head before nuzzling my side again. I chuckle with a shake of my own head, “Come on, then. I know you must want to be outside after being cooped up in here, and I want to make sure you can walk around well enough on your own.”
Fifteen minutes later, Zander and Greg come in tentatively to find me curled into Taha’s side, softly reassuring him that I’m okay. I go to stand, to apologize to them, but they both kneel down in front of me before I have the chance to move away from Taha. It doesn’t escape my notice that he gives both coyotes a look of warning before they begin speaking.
It’s Zander who speaks first, offering softly, “I’m sorry, Bella. We don’t often think in the same terms as you, though we need to remember to. Taha gave me permission to tell you this, to help you understand why we don’t often joke with him. He hasn’t ‘kept phasing’ since he left his pack. When Taha went wolf that horrible day, he never reverted back. We don’t get to see the man, little coyote, just the wolf. Hell, I don’t even know what he looks like in his human form, other than what’s been told in stories, or what Taha can remember through the link of his reflection.”
I turn in shock to Taha, my eyes wide and mouth slack. My white wolf nods slowly, so tears gather in my eyes as one conclusion sticks out to me, “They… people here on this rez… oh, God, please tell me it isn’t true. Tell me you didn’t give up.”
Taha whines while shaking his head almost violently, then nuzzles his head into my lap as he looks to Zander. After Taha gives him a short nod, then nuzzles further against me, Zander says sadly, “No, Little Coyote, he didn’t give up. He wasn’t trying to die. He was grieving… the death of his wife and so many of his people… it affected his appetite, and he was having trouble hunting from the resulting weakness. The cycle just kept getting worse in the months between the Quileute tragedy and our tribe finding him. Our alpha found him when he was close to death, staggering along the edge of your creek, nothing but fur and bones. He saved him and carried him to the medicine man of the tribe at that time.”
I rest my head on top of Taha’s, then whisper, “But that doesn’t explain him never phasing back. He must have, at least once in all this time, right?”
Greg shakes his head, “Not once. From the way he told us, he stayed wolf because no one would think a wolf howling in the mountains was out of the norm. He was afraid his grief would overwhelm anyone who came near him in his human form. Once he came here and our tribe was able to help him heal, he remained in his wolf form because he said he could feel things more strongly when connected with his spirit wolf. He couldn’t take the chance of missing her… of not finding his imprint. I can understand why he would feel that way, Bella, because our senses are more acute when in our coyote forms. Everything is heightened… stronger… and we’re more attuned to the world around us.”
I nod sadly, “Jake’s told me the same thing… that he feels more connected to everything when wolf. So that’s why you wouldn’t phase when we met? I understand it now. After all this time, you still haven’t found her, so you stay in the one form that gives you the best chance of finding her in a quickly passing moment.”
Zander’s concern is clear in his next words, “Do you see why it would be hard for us to think of him as just one of the guys now? It’s because we’ve never had the privilege to meet the man… only the wise wolf elder.”
I don’t even have to think about it. Of course I understand, now that I know the situation. As I curl closer into Taha’s side, I nod sincerely, “I do… and I’m sorry for presuming. I should know better than to do that by now. Nothing in my life is as simple as it initially seems. Case in point, the vampire you guys just took out. I think I should explain.”
I let out a breath, causing Taha to whine a bit while nudging me. I give him a small smile and promise, “It’s time, and they need to be prepared. He’s not the only one they’ll send. They have many more under their control.”
I look at Zander, then, offering, “The Volturi are the ruling coven of Vampires. When I first heard about them from Edward, the vampire I was seeing in the Cullen coven, he told me seriously, ‘You don’t antagonize them unless you’re trying to die.’ He went to them, specifically for that reason, when he thought I had killed myself after he left. When they refused to grant him death, instead offering him a place in their guard, Edward started making plans to force their hand… force them to kill him anyway. He was going to reveal himself in broad daylight to a throng of humans during a festival. I got there literally moments before he went through with it.”
I shake my head, then explain, “We were taken to see the kings. I was a human who knew too much. Whether I was his mate or not, I was still human, and they had been exposed. I was a risk that needed to be dealt with. By the end of the meeting, Aro -the mouthpiece of the three kings- declared that I was to be turned by a week after graduation, or the guard they sent to check on my status would be ordered to kill me. Edward was adamant that I not be changed, though, and I could see the wheels turning in his head before we even left Italy. He would have had us on the run until my dying day, instead of turning me to be his equal and mate.”
I curl further into Taha’s side while being careful of his wounds, then start running my fingers through his fur. It comforts me enough that I’m able to continue, “It was clear soon after we got back that all his compromises and pleas were going to lead nowhere. He wanted my human life, not an eternity by my side. I finally had enough and broke it off with him when he begged me to marry him in the same breath as his refusal to turn me. At first, I tried to just end my relationship with him, but when Esme and Alice bombarded my phone with 59 messages in 1 day, begging me to take him back, I had to cut ties with the whole family. They were not taking our breakup well, and were only making things worse by encouraging him to seek me out and get me back.”
Zander shakes his head in disgust, but I promise, “I knew I needed to get away from Forks, needed to concentrate on me. I also needed to be as far away from the Cullens as possible, somewhere safe, so that whoever the Volturi sent wouldn’t know where I was. The Volturi are ruthless, and they won’t care that I’m tied to the mythical world through you… that I’m tribe and already in the know. It looks like one of the guards who was in the room that day found my scent, though. Can you tell me what he looked like?”
Greg says sadly, “Black robes, a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a V, dark skin, dreadlocks, and his eyes were red. They were eager.”
I shake my head, “I remember him being in the room, but don’t know who he was. He wasn’t their tracker, though, which means this isn’t over. Until he’s dealt with, my whereabouts can be found out. Demetri might not be able to find me directly, but he can track the one you killed to this area.”
Zander looks confused for a split second before he asks, “What do you mean he can’t track you directly?”
I shrug, “My brain is apparently messed up. Edward was a mind reader, but he couldn’t read mine. Aro was one too, but his power worked through touch. He couldn’t read my mind that day in the throne room, and his witch twins couldn’t affect me either. Demetri, from what Alice told me later, used the unique mental wavelength that resonated to him for each being. He could meet someone once, get their wavelength, then be able to find them a million years from now by tracking it from the person’s last known location. She said he looked at me strangely for several minutes while we were there before he finally shook his head and said something to the big one. I’m guessing whatever is messed up in my head makes it so he can’t track me.”
Zander looks at Taha before saying seriously to me, “Little coyote, I will tell you this until the world stops turning if I have to. There is nothing at all wrong with your brain. Your protection from these mental vamps works in our favor. They have to go old school... rely on your scent and how recent it is, once they get to this area. We, on the other hand, will be making sure you are masked by as much wolf and coyote scent as is physically possible. What that means for you is this. No roaming alone. Someone will be with you every moment you are outside these walls, and there will be guards around your property 24/7 until we can be sure this is over. A small shift in patrol schedules will make sure no one is overworked. Did this Aro guy touch your ex that day?”
When I nod, he explains, “That means they know about shifters. You’re due for a call to the wolves, so make it before you turn in tonight, and make sure you stress how we’ve been around all the time. That way they don’t decide to send someone out to check on you. If these vamps are smart, they’ll have someone keeping an eye on the wolves, and we don’t want the pack leading these vamps right to you. The harder the search, the better position we are in to take them out.”
He turns his head, then offers, “Will, I heard Bella saying something about learning from you. You can either postpone anything you two were going to do until this is over, or find a way to do them here for the time being. I’ll leave that for the two of you to work out.”
Will nodded, “Our time together will be important to this young coyote. I will not be postponing. Bella and I have already agreed to start as soon as her wolf is healed enough to run and hunt on his own with no help. Changing location will not hinder our work.”
Zander quickly goes back outside, calls attention to the pack, and gets things settled. When I hear Taha’s stomach growling right as Zander seems to be finishing up, I offer, “I should probably eat something too… and the boys are most likely starving. I want to check your wounds first, though. I want to see if we’re safe to stitch your larger wounds closed and remove the smaller sets of stitches.”
“Sounds like a plan to me, Miss Bella,” Shiloh offers as he kneels down next to me. “What do you need me to get for you? Zander already sent a few of the off-duties to grab dinner for Taha, when we heard his stomach growling.”
I smile at Taha, then say, “I need the pile of supplies already on the counter. Make sure there are two sets of gloves and plenty of the medicated thread. If you need more of something, grab it from the medicine room. I’ll also need the person in the pack who has the most sensitive nose for detecting vamps. He’ll need to make sure there’s no lingering venom in the wounds before I stitch them.”
He quickly calls out to Zander that I need him, then dashes to the counter as I turn toward Taha. As I start unwrapping his bandage, a thought comes to me, so I call out to Shiloh, “Get some water heating in a regular pot on the stove, too, please. I want to clean all this off him as well as possible before I stitch him up.”
Taha is in better shape than I was hoping, once I remove all of the old salve and get him cleaned up. His stitched wounds are completely closed, the only evidence of the attack left being the slightly pink lines left behind. His larger wounds are deemed free of the venom by Zander, which I am extremely thankful for since they had started to become shallower on their own. As there is no pearlescent quality to the salve and Zander cleared him of any trace of venom, Will and I both feel it’s safe for me to remove the smaller sets of stitches before stitching his larger wounds closed.
“You are to take it easy for the next few hours. No buts.” Seeing Taha is concentrating solely on me, I continue while wrapping his chest in clean gauze. “I don’t want these stitches ripping open. That means you will still be taking your meals on my bedroom porch for now. You can get up and stretch or walk around… slowly and carefully… but no running or hunting yet. If the stitches start to tug when you move a certain way, back off. I mean it, Taha… you’re almost recovered completely. Just give your body a few more hours; don’t do anything to risk it now.”
With a nod as his eyes stay connected to mine, I finish wrapping his chest, then call for a few clips to help keep it secure if he chooses to get up. He does, of course, just as soon as I stand to clean up the mess. I watch with a gasp lodged in my throat as his back end stays standing tall, then his front dips down so his nose nearly meets the floor, his whole body stretching out. I want to yell, or smack him, or choose from several other things to make him understand how he’s risking his recovery. The only thing I can do, though, is truly appreciate what a magnificent being Taha Aki is, even in his wounded state.
Before I can make myself say anything about him possibly ripping his stitches, Taha turns to nuzzle his head into my side, then looks at me with a wolfy smile. I let out a breath, asking, “All good? No stress on the stitches?”
In response, he nods, then shakes his head before nuzzling my side again. I chuckle with a shake of my own head, “Come on, then. I know you must want to be outside after being cooped up in here, and I want to make sure you can walk around well enough on your own.”