light 'em up (i'm on fire)

[rockysmash]

An associate of the pack had asked for their help. He knew Leah Clearwater well, and begged Rocky to intervene in a matter up in Washington that was going critical.

He spoke to his Uncle Ash about it, confirmed that he knew of the parties involved...and told Rocky just how bad it was.

Leaving the rest of the pack back home, he brought the newbies with him: the beta with an alpha's power, his cousin, and their witch friend that they called an emissary for some reason...

They got to Forks just in time.

The first thing Rocky heard as he entered the clearing they'd been tracking wolf scents to was something about someone being dead. Something in the air touched his nose, the sound of a heartbeat racing...rage, fury, pain...

Someone was about to die.

"Der? Take Allison and get around behind those wolves." Rocky ordered quietly. "Murry? You're with me."

Murdoch Hale gave Rocky a dubious look, but glanced over at Derek with a nod. "See me? See how I'm following your alpha without complaining?"

Derek just rolled his eyes with a smirk, beckoning Allison to follow him.

In the meantime, Rocky stepped out into the open, calling out to the tall, distraught werewolf about to head into the house to kill...someone.

"Yo! Hold up a second!"

Comments

[rightkindofmonster]

"You got it." Allison Argent ignores the little bit of bickering between the Hales as she turns around to do as the Alpha man bids. Of course she can't keep from giving Murdoch a look and then Derek one as she starts away. Suddenly, she pauses to look back at Rocky. "Hey. Any means necessary for the wolves?"

In other words, can she do nearly whatever it takes to stop the wolves? Short of killing, naturally.

Unaware of what was about to happen, Jacob Black was struggling not to let his grief swallow him while. He felt like he might choke on it though. The pain of it, the almost overwhelming weight of it, made him wish he could die. He knew that there had been the potential of Bella dying but he had allowed himself to hope. Like a fool, he had let himself be duped again.

Suddenly and irrationally angry, he rose to his feet with a staggering urge to kill. He knew it was a suicidal task since Edward and the other bloodsuckers would kill him but they deserved it. They had let the baby, that thing, to kill Bella. It was only right for him to kill the abomination.

Which was exactly what he was going to do when he heard someone calling out. He thought about ignoring it but he found himself turning without realizing it and looking across the distance to....him.

It was strange because he had heard about imprinting but he really couldn't have imagined what it would be like. Almost immediately his whole world changed. All the old ties, everything that had held him to the Earth before, suddenly didn't matter. More than that, they didn't exist. He felt them fall away as though they had been snipped by scissors and new ties were formed. Everything focused on the man standing a few feet away and Jacob suddenly knew his purpose in life.

It was enough to send him to his knees with a lost look on his face and wonder in his eyes.

[rockysmash]

"Within reason." Derek warned in Rocky's stead, putting a hand on her shoulder with a sharp look. There was no malice in it, however, just a reminder to stay on task.

In a lot of ways, despite being hopelessly in love with her, Derek could be a tiny bit scared of Allison from time to time.

When the wolf collapses, Rocky rushed forward, both relieved and concerned. His expression was strange, a mixture of shock and something he couldn't identify--Rocky didn't think too much about it. He was more focused on the way the guy's scent shifted, on the way the grief, at least for the moment, had fled, along with the homicidal urges that came with it.

"Easy." Rocky soothed, moving to kneel beside Jacob and lay a hand on his shoulder. "I got you, dude. Right here...and not in there, 'cause you were about to do some stupid shit in there. Yeah, just...stay with me. Take a breath. Think about it. 'Kay, can you do that for me?"

[rightkindofmonster]

"Which was a given." Allison replied somewhat dryly despite the way she felt jittery little sparks shooting down her arm at the feel of Derek's hand on her shoulder. She knew how he felt about her but it was complicated. Complicated by not only how she felt about him but about Murdoch as well.

It seemed the Hales would be the bane of her existence. And her sleep since she was nearly constantly having dreams about them.

As for Jacob, he couldn't think. He could barely make sense of what the other man was saying to him. Instead he stared at him while feeling completely breathless and dizzy. Things, emotions and ideas, were still falling into place but he found himself nodding.

"Yeah, I can do that." His voice sounded strangely calm despite the look on his face. "As long as you stay here with me."

[rockysmash]

"With you? There are givens, and there are absolutes." Derek pointed out, catching the change in her scent with a little smirk as he slid his hand further across her back to drape his arm across her shoulders. "With you...'givens' tend to offer some wiggle room. This isn't one of those kinds of 'givens.'"

Rocky watched the guy closely, a little bit worried about the dazed look on his face--but he didn't think twice about his request. With a sunny smile, he gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"Not gonna go anywhere, okay? Came too far to just turn around and go home." he assured him.

...mine?

The wolf stirred in the back of his head, making Rocky's eyes flare gold for a split second before fading again. It confused him, but he pushed it aside so he could keep the guy distracted.

"You're Jake Black, aren't you?" he asked, sliding a glance over to the treeline, where Leah and Seth stood. "We got some mutual friends that busted their asses to get me here...my name's Rocky."

[rightkindofmonster]

"You don't know that. From what we've heard, this pack is ready to kill a bunch of people. I would say that gives me a little bit of wriggle room." Allison kept her voice even despite the fact that she had caught the little smirk on his face.

Stupid smug.... She started to curse a little in her head as she shifted away from him so he couldn't keep his arm around her. Then she paused as she heard a howl in the distance. "They're coming. I need you to boost me up into one of the trees."

She needed to be out of reach.

Jacob heard the howling in the distance too and vaguely he knew what it meant but it was hard to pull his attention away from the guy in front of him. Rocky? He was sure that was the name that he had offered. He continued to roll it around in his head while nodding in confirmation about his name.

Then his eyes shifted sideways to where Leah and Seth were. He could see the looks on their faces that said they knew what was happening and he had to look away rather quickly again. After all, as far as he knew, no one had ever imprinted on someone who was the same sex before. The idea almost made him want to laugh. Especially not when...

"Bella." His voice was hoarse as he started to remember. "Bella is dead. I need to get rid of the abomination that killed her. Before the others get here...."

[rockysmash]

Hearing the howl, Derek stopped flirting and just nodded. Leading her to the nearest tree, he laid a hand on her waist and stooped low to curl a hand for her to use as a stirrup, which would let him lever her up to the highest available branch for climbing.

"Easy, buddy." Rocky soothed, his voice still even and reassuring as he tightened the hand on Jacob's shoulder. "You were just in that house, and all I smell on you is tragedy, not abomination. You don't strike me as a baby killer--and whoever's on their way? We'll work this out with 'em, okay?"

He continued without missing a beat, no change in his quiet, comforting tone and demeanor.

"And if they pose any real threat to our people, we'll kill them all. 'Kay?"

"Uh, Chief?" Murdoch piped up from off to one side. "I got a little mountain ash if it comes to it. Just need to get all the friendlies in a nice little huddle out here, so..."

[rightkindofmonster]

Allison followed Derek to the closest tree and waited for him to offer her a hand up even as she started to gather her energy around her. Pressing one foot into his hand, she nodded for him to give her a boost when he was ready. As soon as she was airborne, she used a burst of energy to send her just a bit higher so she could grab a branch. Once she had a hold, she swung a bit and brought herself up with a grace that only gymnasts possessed. A moment later she was higher up and looking down from a thick branch. "Better get shifted."

"It is an abomination. It killed Bella." Jacob stated again numbly, moving to stand even though he wasn't putting up much of a fight. He glanced in the direction of the howling again with a frown. He felt a bit of panic when Rocky mentioned killing because suddenly it was the man's safety that he cared about more.

Glancing towards Leah and Seth, he motioned for them to get closer. They needed to be ready to fight.

[rockysmash]

"I heard about the new human in Carlisle Cullen's coven--but it's a baby. And babies are innocent. You're not gonna kill an innocent little baby, you're not that guy." Rocky pointed out. He could see it, smell it on him: he was decency personified.

...mine.

"And if you care about that girl, you'll protect her kid." he went on as Leah and Seth moved to stand by Jacob's side, while Murdoch trotted forward, already removing a vial of mountain ash from his pocket.

Glancing at Murdoch, Rocky patted Jacob's shoulder, then stepped away from him.

"Get cozy and seal it up." he instructed, reaching up to tug his t-shirt off. "I'll take care of this."

Murdoch raised an eyebrow at that. "You realize Allison and Derek will kick the shit outta you."

With a grin, Rocky unfastened his jeans and slid them off, grateful he'd worn underwear today: a one-shot opportunity to shift with modesty and spare his clothes.

"I'm pack Alpha. I don't care." he reminded Murdoch, passing him his clothes and shoes.

Murdoch rolled his eyes, moving towards the trio of werewolves and very deliberately dropping Rocky's stuff on the ground.

"Derek! He's being an idiot!" Murdoch hollered as he opened his mountain ash and flung it up with a moment of focus, causing it to land in a perfect circle around the four of them.

From his place beneath the tree, where he was already starting to strip so he could change form, Derek's head swiveled sharply to one side, the shout touching his ears.

"Sounds like Rocky's being an Alpha again." he warned as he tossed his shirt aside and toed off his shoes.

[rightkindofmonster]

Jacob frowned as the guy claimed that he wasn't the kind of person to hurt someone innocent but he couldn't argue that. It was more that he had a hard time seeing that thing as being a baby or innocent. Pressing his lips together, he looked over at the other two before frowning in concern when Rocky stated that he could handle the wolves coming.

"You can't face them alone." He moved to his feet, his eyes flickering down briefly when Rocky started to remove his pants. He fell quiet at the exchange, still frowning. He could settle the whole issue right now but he was still reeling a bit.

Allison wasn't reeling though as she held out her hand palm up and started to pull her energy together again. There was a light scoffing noise when she heard Derek from below and Murdoch in the distance. "And?"

She heard the growl as the first couple wolves came into view first without Derek being ready. If she felt any sort of panic, she didn't let it show. She merely closed her hand into a fist and closed her eyes while pushing the energy she had been gathering towards the wolves coming to attack them. They barely closed the distance between them and Derek before they seemed to trip over their own feet. Or maybe it was that they suddenly were crippled by a loud screaming buzz in their ears that flattened them to the ground.

[rockysmash]

Rocky was saved from arguing the point when the wind shifted and he caught the scent of Allison's magic: a hit of earth and ozone that was thick in his nostrils.

Gritting his teeth, he let the wolf out.

The transformation wasn't like Derek's as he shifted below Allison: a quiet, liquid transformation from man to beast once he was free of his clothing. It wasn't like Jacob's or anyone in his pack, no explosion of fur and sinew as the beast sprang free.

When he took his time, it was easier, but Rocky cried out in pain as the change came with soft, sickly snaps and pops of bone and tendon as his spine bent and elongated, his arms and legs misshapen for long, painful moments before he could finally fall to all fours. His skin split in little sections, fur springing forth from his bare back and limbs, and there was a moment of blood as the small of his back tore to allow his tail to grow.

When it was done, a white and blue wolf about half the size of anyone in Jacob's pack, lay flat on the ground, its only oddity a shock of fur from its ruff to the top of its head dyed bright red, just like Rocky's human hair.

Rocky took a moment to collect himself before he rose, and glanced back over his shoulder at Jacob and the others.

Mine.

The wolf took over completely then, and Rocky saw red as he faced forward, fur bristling, and let out a wild roar of pure fury as he pawed at the ground.

"Hoo boy." Murdoch sighed, shaking his head as he watched Rocky, and felt the familiar prickle of magic in the air he knew belonged to Allison. "Whoever's coming better be scared, 'cause Mom and Dad are pissed off."

[rightkindofmonster]

While Jacob didn't feel the pain of transformation anymore, he could remember the first time he had shifted and how painful it had been when it caught him by surprise. But it had been nothing like what he was seeing now and a litle whimper bubbled in the back of his throat until he choked it off by clenching his teeth. He wanted to run forward and soothe Rocky despite the fact that he didn't even know him but he didn't. He knew how much it could hurt when someone touched you right after the shift.

Staying where he was, he drew in a slow breath through his nose as he watched the wolf rise up and then roar. It didn't bother him though, he merely stepped forward so he could hold out his hand.

Allison could hear the roar from the Alpha that ruled the two Hales but she paid it no mind as her attention was needed elsewhere. She could see two more smaller wolves burst over the hill and she caught them in the spell to, extending her power towards them and bringing them to the ground. She could feel the strain it caused though. One or two wolves was an easy feat to pull off but there had only been one time she succeeded at bringing down an entire pack and she paid for it for days after.

The other flaw was that these weren't mindless beasts and the Alpha of this pack was clever and stronger than the others. She was in the process of bringing down a fifth wolf when she saw the blur of darkness that flew at the tree. The sudden impact was enough to shake the tree and to throw her off balance. A dangerous thing considering she had both her hands up and not gripping the branch beneath her.

Tumbling over, the spell broke momentarily as she fought to catch herself. It wasn't so easy to do on the branch she was on but she managed to catch herself on the branch below. The sudden jerk of stopping falling and the rough bark wasn't a good combination for her hands as she felt the skin scraped away in a few places. She bit back the yelp of pain as she took a breath and looked down just as the black wolf jumped upwards at her. Swinging her legs up, she pulled herself out of reach with a curse.