Talking
How’s work?
Boring. How’s the diner?
Dead.
Good, then you can bake me a pie? <3
Fuck off, Officer Potter.
Leah laughed at the string of sad faces Harry sent back. Then she pocketed her phone and went back to finishing the prep for the apple pie she was actually baking for him.
Not because he asked her to, she wasn’t his fucking housewife, but because she was going to break the whole ‘werewolf and vampire’ shit to him tonight and maybe it would be easier with good food.
She wanted to wait, she wanted Harry to love her because of her (as fucking stupid as that sounded), but they were going to the damn vampire wedding this weekend and she wasn’t letting him walk in without knowing what was up and who the enemies were. She would have skipped the whole ridiculous farce, but Seth was going. And if Seth was going, Leah was going.
Her brother would not be a vampire snack without Leah making a good attempt at killing them all first.
And thus, Leah had to break the news to Harry.
When Harry made it home, to the apartment they’d been sharing for a week now, he hung his jacket up by the door and slipped his arms around Leah’s waist, kissing the side of her neck while she finished dinner.
“I knew you’d cook for me,” he said, his husky voice sending a thrum of joy through her.
She could feel the grin against her skin and rolled her eyes. “Because I’m the girl?” she challenged him.
“Nope.” Harry kissed her neck once more then turned her around so he could shine his damn perfect smile right in her face. “Because you despise my cooking.”
Leah laughed the laugh she reserved for only Harry. Imprint or not, soulmate or not, Harry had a knack for making her laugh. More than that- he had a knack for making her want to laugh.
“You cook disgusting food,” Leah said. She pushed Harry away, indicating he make himself useful by setting the table, and began moving plates over to the counter.
“Steak and kidney pie is the epitome of delicious British cuisine,” Harry said haughtily. He gave her a soppy look though when she put the meatloaf and mashed potatoes on the counter and put her hands on her hips.
“No, you’re right,” he nodded seriously. “This is much better.”
“I know,” Leah sniffed. Her superior smug smile softened after they both had their plates and sat down together. Harry had pulled her chair out for her, causing her to roll her eyes and grin just a little.
They didn’t talk much while they ate, mostly just discussing Harry’s easy day of patrolling in Forks and Leah mentioned a guy from out of town stopped by the diner and swore she made ‘the best fish fry he’d ever had’.
“Well you do,” Harry said with a shrug. He didn’t say it like a compliment, more like a statement of fact. He finished his meal and sat back in his chair, his hands laced together and propped behind his head. Despite his casual pose, Leah sensed a bit of anxiety lacing his next words. “You know, I never had anything that tasted as good as your food does at my old school…”
“Yeah?” Leah didn’t know much about Harry’s old school. He mentioned a few friends, a few old teachers he went and saw during the damn month he’d been back in London, but not a lot about his old life.
“Yeah.” Harry tapped his fingers against his head, an nervous gesture that put Leah on edge. “Leah, we should talk.”
Leah felt like an ice cold hand was squeezing her chest. Like a fucking vampire had her heart in a vice and she couldn’t breathe properly.
No.
If Harry was about to say he was going back, he would go back over her dead body.
Literally.
He either had to take her with him, desperate or not, or he had to understand that it would kill her for him to leave.
“No,” she snapped, more briskly than intended. “I want to talk first.”
Harry let out a heavy breath, but he nodded and kept up his nonchalant pose.
It wasn’t fair, but neither was the damn imprint. If Harry left again, he had to know the consequences.
But, now that Leah had the opening, she hesitated on what to say.
Fuck.
The other guys just phased in front of their imprint and went from there.
Leah inhaled slowly and asked her question in a rush of breath on the exhale, “What do you know about werewolves?”
If Harry was surprised by the question, he didn’t show it. Aside from a single blink, you wouldn’t even know what an out of the blue question it was.
“Quite a bit, I reckon,” he said with a slight smirk. “What do you know about werewolves?”
Leah’s smirk was full-blown when she answered, “Much more than you, Potter.”
Harry laughed, but then he cut himself off as he suddenly leaned forward on the table, an intense look in his eyes and a tightening in his shoulders. “Leah,” the intensity in his eyes bleeding into his voice, “where’d you go to school?”
Leah was the one surprised now. “Here,” she said slowly, curious about the burning look in Harry’s eyes. “My diploma is at my mom’s?”
“Oh.” Harry’s eyes dulled a little. Was he disappointed? “Sorry, Leah, what was up with the werewolf question then?”
Leah narrowed her eyes with suspicious, but decided to attack that topic later if Harry was still there and not running for the woods.
“I’m a werewolf.”
Harry sat back, studied Leah’s face with an intensity that made her want to blush, then gave her a crooked smile. “No, you’re not.”
This was why Jared, and, just last week, Paul, just phased in front of their imprints.
Leah rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. “Come on then.” She snatched his hand as she got to her feet and began yanking him toward the door. Harry asked a few questions, but Leah ignored the specifics and just told him that he’d understand in a minute.
Harry let her lead him out back, heading straight to the forest that surround the reservation. He stayed quiet while she pulled him into the woods, he didn’t say a word until she dropped his hand about half a mile in the woods and backed about ten feet from him.
“If you don’t freak out, I have apple pie in the oven,” Leah said as a joke of a bribe while she began slowly unbottoning the front of her black shirt from the diner.
Harry’s eyes were glued to her hands before flicking up to her face with a sexy grin. “If you’re taking your top off, I’m absolutely going to freak out.” He wiggled his eyebrows a little, driving a huff of a laugh from Leah.
“Counter offer,” Leah said. She pulled her blouse off and tossed it to the side before unhooking her bra and doing the same thing.
Harry’s eyes might as well have been the size of soda cans as they sparkled and popped out of his head. “Anything,” he breathed.
It was stupid, because Harry had seen Leah naked multiple times in the last week, but it was still validating to have this movie star looking man staring at Leah as if he were the lucky one in this imprint.
“Yeah?” Leah held Harry’s eyes as she shimmied out of her shorts and brazenly stood in front of him in just a pair of black panties. “I’m going to show you something, then I’ll explain it, and if you don’t freak out and run off then I’ll take you home, I’ll fuck you until you can’t remember your name, then I’ll feed you apple pie.”
“God, Leah.” Harry swallowed harshly, his Adam’s apple bobbing in the front of his throat. “You can tell me you’re a bloody vampire or troll if it means we can go back to our place quicker.”
Our place.
Just for that, Leah peeled her panties off slowly and tossed them directly toward Harry. His hand reached out and caught them on autopilot as he slowly looked Leah over from top to bottom with such a look of appreciation that Leah blushed a little.
“Ready?” she asked him.
“Ready,” he said, his raspy voice vindicating her further.
Please don’t run, Leah thought before she focused on the ever-present heat in her chest and let it change her into her wolf.
Who’s there? Paul asked immediately. Leah, is that you? What are you doing?
Shut the fuck up, she said.
Paul didn’t say anything else, he just watched her memory of the last few minutes and chuckled over the mental link.
How’s he taking it?
Leah watched Harry and let out a soft whine as he approached her slowly with his hand out. Suspiciously well, she thought truthfully.
Harry didn’t look panicked. He didn’t look particularly shocked. He just stepped toward Leah with his hand outstretched. He held it over her head, tantalizing her with his touch so close, and waited for her to butt her head up in his hand before he sank his fingers in her grey fur and she let out a more content whine.
“You’re bloody beautiful,” Harry whispered reverently as he stared in her eyes and scratched her head in an incredibly pleasing way.
Damn, even Rachel freaked, Paul thought.
As did Emily, Sam added, alerting Leah to his presence.
And since Leah didn’t want Sam to witness this moment between her and Harry, she phased back by concentrating on the soothing touch of Harry’s hand in her fur.
“Werewolf,” she told him bluntly.
Harry’s answering smile was just as blinding as his words were confusing. “Nope, shapeshifter.”
An hour later, Leah was sitting in their living room, stunned to silence.
“Fucking wizards,” she said when she could make her vocal cords work. She looked around the room at all the furniture and odds and ends that Harry ‘transfigured’, ‘charmed’, and ‘conjured’.
“Witches too,” Harry added. He smiled when Leah glared at him. “Remus, Teddy’s dad is a true werewolf. I’d guess your tribe caught a bit of magic through the Black line and gave you all shifting abilities,” he said.
“Which is how you’re an expert on werewolves, apparently,” Leah said. “God damn. When were you planning on telling me?”
Harry lifted a brow at her, silently condemning her as the hypocrite she was. “I did say I wanted to talk to you,” he said calmly. He grinned suddenly, looking mischievous. “I’m glad you’re a shifter though, that means I wasn’t about to break the law after all.”
“That’s what you were going to talk about?” Leah asked, shocked. “I thought you were leaving.”
“What?” Harry ran a hand through his hair, messing it up and momentarily distracting Leah. “No, I just…” Harry bit his lip for a moment, a red blush creeping up his neck. “I know it’s stupid, because this is all new, but… but I like you,” he smiled shyly. “I just didn’t want to hide who I am anymore.”
Leah stared incredulously at him before clearing the shock off her face. He liked her and didn’t want to hide from her.
He didn’t even know they were soulmates.
“Harry…” Leah grimaced as she knew it was time to tell him. “What do you know about shapeshifters?”
Harry scratched at the light scruff on his jaw as he thought about it. “Not much, really,” he admitted. “I know it’s like an elemental type of transformation, I know it’s voluntary, but that’s about it.”
Ugh. It would be easier if he already knew.
It would also be easier if Harry hadn’t decided to scoot closer to her on the couch and begin toying with her hair with such a look of contentment on his face. It was like he was full of peace now that his secrets were out.
“No more secrets,” she told him firmly, “not after tonight.”
“I mean… I don’t have any other cool abilities, if that’s what you’re asking,” Harry grinned, still playing with her hair.
Leah breathed slowly, calming her racing heart, and nodded. “I have one more,” she said quietly. She jerked her head away from Harry, preferring to break the contact first in case he was disgusted or disturbed.
“I’ve imprinted on you,” she said to Harry, her eyes on her hands. “We’re supposedly—”
“Soulmates?”
Leah cringed at the whisper of Harry’s usually deep voice. She glanced over quickly, to gauge his level of disgust, and instead was faced with a look of radiant awe.
“I thought you didn’t know about shapeshifters?” she asked him.
Harry shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts, but his look of reverence was still clear. “I said I didn’t know much, not that I knew nothing. Are we- did you really?”
Harry had a real knack for rendering her silent. She couldn’t even speak in the face of his breathtaking joy, she settled for a nod.
As Harry’s happiness increased, Leah’s confusion did as well and she wound up lashing out as she always did.
“Don’t look so fucking happy,” she snapped at him. “It means you’re stuck with me, Harry. If you leave, it’ll kill me.”
Harry rolled his eyes at her and stretched his arm back over her shoulders to go back to toying with her hair. “I think I’ll survive,” he said drily. “I do enjoy being stuck with you, so far,” he grinned.
Leah glared suspiciously at him. “You barely know me.”
“Seems like we have a while to find out all sorts of things about each other,” Harry said with a wry smile and a light tug on her hair.
“You…” Leah shook her head. “You aren’t upset? Pissed off?”
“Pissed off?” Harry let go of her hair and trailed his hand down to her cheek. “Why would I be mad to find out that you, the most beautiful and witty woman I’ve ever met, are my soulmate? How could that possibly be a bad thing?”
Leah stared in his guileless and earnest eyes that were practically causing her to drown in his joy. “I’m a pain in the ass,” she whispered. “I’m a bitch. I’m mean. I’m—”
“Mine,” Harry interrupted her with a smile that knocked the air from her lungs. “Leah, you’re mine and you’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Daughter.
Sister.
Werewolf.
‘Shapeshifter’.
Being Harry’s was the best label that fate had given Leah.
She didn’t know if it was enough to make up for the other cards that life dealt her, but she knew that she wanted to find out.