Note from Chrissi: A bit of background on this one-shot: My writing partner, meliz875, and I fangirled over Ed Sheeran's new album last week before she sent me the link to his track "I See Fire" from the new Hobbit movie. I typed up a little fic description of what I imagined happening with the song as the backdrop and she loved it, so I set it aside for a rainy day to work on when I had more time. Then she forced my hand (as she often does because she has her ways).
She gave me shit about taking collab credit no matter how much I argued for it, but I eventually wore her down. This began as a little gift full of heartfail and feels from me to her, but in the end, it turned out to be kind of a gift for each other. We've never met in person and I only heard her voice for the first time on the phone last week (because we text like fiends constantly), but she is my kindred spirit in every way, and if her friendship and writing partnership is the only thing I ever gain from this fandom, I will count myself doubly blessed.
Note from meliz: Not sure how I can top that aside from echoing everything she said. I believed in this idea as much as she did, and while I never thought it would rise to the level of a collab, it also doesn't take much to recognize that's pretty much how Chrissi and I work anyway. She is the yin to my yang. Her strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa, and together, we make a pretty awesome team. Working with her is effortless, and I can't wait to do more of this in the future. ;)
Enjoy the results of our efforts.
~ChrissiHR & meliz875
Co-Author, Writing Partner, Pre-reader, Beta, and Partner in Crime: meliz875
Genre: Family/Tragedy
Summary: They were born to protect, designed to kill. Destined to fall. And if tomorrow ended in fire, they would all burn together.
Warning: Contains character death.
Suggested listening: Ed Sheeran's "I See Fire" and Daughter's "Tomorrow".
Brothers
In a clearing deep in the heart of the ancient Hoh Rainforest, a lone man stood.
The last of his kind.
Flicking a match, he lowered to his knees just beyond a grisly circle of muted browns, greys, and black. His leg, unable to mend, refused to hold his weight as he struggled to stay upright and bow his head in prayer. Blood poured from his wounds and he grew weak with every precious drop lost, seeping into the ground.
Lowering his lashes, his voice raised in an ancient chant, a final tribute to those who fought.
Around him, the world burned.
La Push, in a single day, had been wiped off the map.
Forks, too.
Dozens of Cold Ones had descended. It was all they could do to take down the ones here in the meadow, but the damage was done. Ten young werewolves and one ridiculously brave human who refused to leave her family's side were no match for the bloodsuckers, hellbent on destruction for no reason other than they had learned of the wolves' existence from Edward Cullen.
He was the first to burn.
Sickeningly sweet plumes of deep purple smoke unfurled. Hollow souls, the unfortunate, lingering remains of their victims, scattered to the four winds.
The man who remained wavered, his vision greying as nine pillars of pure white smoke billowed and mixed with ash fine as baby powder, carried away on the wind with their memories.
His memories.
His brothers and sisters…
The small grey wolf he loved as his own and the bravest human he had ever known, her fragile, broken body, ravaged by newborns, draped over the thick pelt of her unmoving bronze wolf.
His last thoughts were of them as his body crumpled to the trampled bed of wildflowers beneath, darkness threatening to overcome him.
Not yet.
Not before he remembered, bits and flashes of the hours that led him to that moment, that filled him so completely, a reflection of the few short years he spent on Earth.
He remembered each minute, through shared memories coming together to form one big picture …
He remembered the pack's last night together, coming together as family.
His family.
He saw Jacob lifting a bottle of beer in the air, the other hand wrapped securely around his Bells as she lifted hers, laughing and clinking their bottles.
But Bella was worried. Nobody worried like Bella. "Jacob, be serious! There's an army of vampires headed our way."
"Relax, honey," Jacob soothed. If he was worried, he didn't let on, and there were no traces of it in his voice. "The little vamp—the head case—Alice, right? She said she only saw six coming. Six, Bells! We don't even need the Cullens for that fight. Stop borrowing trouble from the future. You'll turn old and grey before your time." He buried his nose under her hair, nuzzling her throat, bathing his senses in her honey and cream scent.
He smiled, his soft spot, an innate kinship with Jacob, deepening as he watched his brother try to placate his worried mate, comforting the rest of his pack as a result.
They had gathered, despite the optimistic report brought to them by the fortune teller. It was customary before a battle, large or small. It was a tradition they had carved out, choosing to spend the hours leading up to dawn with each other, with family.
Just in case, the same way they always did.
No one could deny that this time felt different, though. Something felt off, mostly because none of them were sure how much the Cullens could be trusted any longer since Bella had chosen a life with Jacob, their family, once and for all.
"You scare me when you don't take these things seriously." Setting her beer aside, Bella wrapped her arms around Jacob's neck.
On the far side of the room, he pretended not to see, but the pack memories couldn't hide the gentle grip of Jacob's hands smoothing over lean flanks, his arousal buffeting in silent petition between her parted thighs.
He flushed, turning his head, anything to avoid intruding on such a painfully intimate moment.
One of their last.
"What should we do, then, honey? Whether there are six or six hundred of them, there will always be ten of us—"
"Eleven," she interrupted, her face set with determination. "You fight, I fight."
He gave her a look, a 'we'll talk about that later' look before he continued, "Should we cower and pray for a miracle, Bells? Train until we're too exhausted to put up a fight in the morning? Or should we live?" Jacob asked, pressing his lips to hers, murmuring into her mouth. "I want to live—live every moment as if it could be our last. If the end comes tonight or tomorrow or in fifty years or a hundred—" He pulled away, raising his bottle again with an almost carefree smile. "Then may we all die together so we need never know what it's like to live without our brothers."
Running her fingers through his short-cropped hair, Bella kissed him back, taking up her bottle and holding it aloft. She raised her voice and put on a brave face, catching and holding his gaze while her free hand cradled his jaw, "If tomorrow ends in fire—"
"We should all burn together," Emily whispered, settling on Sam's knee. She lifted a glass of wine.
Looking down at his own, he noticed he needed another. Someone would replace it. All he had to do was ask—
He looked up, and there she was, drink in hand.
Leah picked up a bottle of wine and two more glasses, carrying them to the table and settling in his lap to the surprised snorts and chuckles of the others.
He was more surprised than his packmates, watching in silent wonder as she lifted a curious brow.
"What do you say?" she asked. "Wanna party like it's our last night on Earth?"
For a moment, he gazed into her eyes, looking for the punchline and searching for any hesitation, for the reservations he normally saw when he'd catch her staring back.
Finding none, he smiled, his slow grin spreading like warm molasses in the sun.
Paul swore, "This is some bullshit! I'm running over the my place to grab some booze." He glared daggers at Leah. "Are we having an end of the world bonfire or what?"
"Bonfire!" the pups whooped, their excitement infectious.
His attention was elsewhere, his memory unwavering, focused solely on the woman in front of him. There was nothing else because every curve, every inch of skin, and every piercing smile was the culmination of an admiration he had from afar and, in that moment, a chance of a lifetime he would be stupid to pass up.
Leah's growl was a low and throaty rumble in his lap. She rose a few inches, sliding one leg across so she could straddle him comfortably, filling a wine glass without taking her eyes off him. The wine glug-glugged with a sloppy splash into the first glass. She took a sip, then offered it to him with a pleased hum.
She set the other glass down, pushing it away as she hooked her free hand at the back of his neck. "We won't be needing that. Will we?" she purred, hitching her knees over his slim hips.
He shook his head, tipping his chin up in petition. His hands skating up her back, he memorized every dip and luscious curve because he might never get to hold her again, never get to explore and touch so freely this woman of his dreams.
She touched the glass to her lips, sipping and holding it out of reach with a teasing glint in her eyes. Bringing her lips to his, she parted them and he sipped the sweet-tart fluid from her honeyed mouth.
Beside them, Quil groaned, readjusting himself in his shorts, making Sam and Kimmy laugh out loud.
Bella tucked her chin under Jacob's and giggled, too. She took a sip of her fruity summer beer and did the same. Jacob took to it with enthusiasm, the way he did everything, with a zest for life unlike anyone he knew, sipping the liquid from his mate's lips with a smacking kiss.
-o-O-o-
He saw beauty, felt the proof of it beneath his hands and against his lips. He saw a soft, feminine smile too often hidden by hardened lines. He saw those lines fade away, revealing the warmth, the vulnerability, the love he longed for her to see herself.
He felt consuming joy when she did…
-o-O-o-
The party moved outdoors eventually, a short clip through a path in the woods down to the water behind Sam and Emily's place.
"What are you doing?" Leah asked, settling against a log a few feet away while the others frolicked on the beach and cuddled in the flickering blue-green light and shadows of the driftwood fire. She watched him, a serene tranquility in her eyes and smile, in the casual ease of her relaxed pose for the first time in too long. One finger drew light circles on the pattern of the blanket they shared.
"Sketching something I don't want to forget. Didn't have a camera earlier," he said, refusing to look up from his work. His fingers gripped the charcoal, his hand sweeping in easy strokes over crisp white paper that could never hope to convey the coppery lustre of her glowing skin, the light in her eyes, or the aching beauty of one of her rare smiles.
But he could try.
He knew the curiosity would be killing her.
"What is it?" She leaned over, trying to get a peek, her eyebrows knit in confusion.
He smiled, but he didn't look up. "You."
A shocked, muted gasp drew his eyes from his work.
"Me?" Leah asked, disbelief in her voice. She narrowed her eyes. "I better not be naked."
"I'm not drawing any clothes," he teased.
She gaped, her eyes darkening with the light of battle. "You wouldn't!"
He didn't answer right away. Instead, he watched in silence as the fire in her eyes sparked, never dwindling, despite the moments ticking by.
"I love that look," he whispered, savoring the final seconds of it before her expression shifted.
"What?" Her face softened, confused at the switch in his mood as she sought balance with his new emotional climate.
"When your eyes are snapping and you're ready to take my head off." When she frowned, he couldn't help but laugh. "When I look into your eyes and I see fire, like that, I want you to be looking at me." He paused, making sure she truly heard the words he spoke. "Only me," he finished, turning the book around.
It was a sketch, her face. Her features were framed by a long curtain of ebony hair, teased by a gentle wind, the high cheekbones of a warrior goddess set in the soft lines of desire, eyes hooded the way she looked after he kissed her breathless.
There was more truth in the drawing than any words he'd ever spoken, any words she'd ever heard.
"This is me," she whispered, eyes shifting between him and the drawing as she inched closer to him.
He said nothing.
"This is me. I look so…" She chewed on trembling lips. "I look so…"
"Feminine? Beautiful? Wanted?" he supplied.
"Yes." Parted lips birthed the word on an aching sob and two tears spilled over, proof that she finally saw what he did, proof that she finally believed it. And another, "Yes," and more tears until they ran unchecked.
He slid closer, pulling her into the circle of his arms, kissing the tears away. "You are, you know—all of those—to me."
"Kiss me," she demanded through a watery smile, threading her fingers through his shaggy hair.
He paused, fingers tracing the curve of her cheekbone. "What if it's like Bella said? What if it's the last time?" Liquid brown eyes met ebony, searching, memorizing every freckle, every lash, every blink and breath. Her heart beat against his and he slid his arm up her back, fingers splayed, holding her close.
"We'd better make it a good one, so it'll last a lifetime," she said, slanting her lips over his as he lifted her onto his lap, desperation in every touch, a burning need to touch her everywhere, to feel her everywhere, to hold her and make it last forever.
-o-O-o-
He cherished the small things—the sound of laughter, the smiles of his friends, the feel of her hand in his.
He held each one close, because when it came down to it, those were the things that made life most worth living.
-o-O-o-
Together, they walked, dragging out the last remnants of evening while everyone was elsewhere, likely doing the same.
Leah twined their fingers together, her mood quiet, but not somber as they walked side-by-side with Jake and Bella in the direction of his house. As always, those two were easily distracted, running off into the brush at one point to play an impromptu game of tag.
He and Leah decided to walk on at the first loud exclamation of 'Oh, Jacob!" from the deep dark woods.
Leah chuckled. "Those two never change. They even fuck in the forest like a pair of kids let loose on the first day of summer vacation. They never grow up."
"I don't think it's that, Lee," he said, staring into the woods, contemplating the seemingly childish behavior of two of his closest friends. "I think they have a greater appreciation for life than most. They know how to live and live fully, so they treat every moment as if it were the last and wring every piece of joy they can from it."
"Hmph!" She crossed her arms, but didn't argue … at first. "That sounds like Jake, sure, but…"
"Bella, too," he assured her, letting go of her hand to sling his arm across her lower back and hold her close. He loved how she felt, how she fit, curved into his side.
It made him feel protective, but also like he had more to lose.
He frowned, because it made that optimism waver. It made him think about endings.
Talking about Jake, it reminded him of things left unsaid …
"Don't." She halted their progress, her delicate fingertips smoothing his brow. "No sad thoughts." She watched, waiting until his head cleared. She waited until he smiled, offering him one in return. "You were saying something … about Bella," she reminded him.
He took a deep breath, a lifetime of moments resting on the tip of his tongue. A lifetime with his closest of brothers, seeing the effect and impact his personality had on so many lives.
The impact it had on his life, and also Bella's.
He closed his eyes. "Being friends with Jake, that insane optimism, that personality, it rubs off on you. He's this blinding light of positivity. You can't help but start to feel it, too. He makes you feel like no matter what you're missing, no matter what might come, everything will be okay. He gave Bella that."
Leah's hand tightened around his before he continued. "He's given us all such a good life in this pack, but when he wants to have fun, there's no stopping him. It's not possible to be depressed or sad or hold a grudge with Jake in your life," he amended as Bella's exclamations of pleasure echoed through the forest.
Leah grimaced at the sound, despite nodding in agreement with his observations of their friend. She looked around. "Where'd Quil run off to? I figured he'd have skipped the party and gone up to Makah to visit Claire after dinner."
He caught her eye, "He and Paul found themselves a pair of girls from Forks. Some old school friends of Bella's."
She rolled her eyes. "The pack groupies? L'whorin' and Jiffy?"
He chuckled, unable to suppress an indulgent grin, "Something like that."
He had lost track of how far they walked or where they ended up. It wasn't until the familiar squeak of a wheel on wet decking reminded him they were no longer in the forest. He looked up, standing in the deepest shadows at the tree line, looking for the source of the sound.
When he located it, his hands inexplicably shook.
Billy sat on his porch under the awning, glasses perched on the end of his nose, thumbing through an ancient-looking journal.
He closed his eyes, remembering the words he just spoke to Leah, and remembering what each one meant.
He looked at Billy, then back at Leah, coming to a decision. "Lee, I need a minute. Do you mind?"
Leaning around his tall frame to check out the house, she glanced back at him, taking in the look in his dark, fathomless eyes. "You want to meet me somewhere or should I wait?"
He pressed his lips together, glancing back at the familiar red house, then to her, "I won't be long."
"I won't go far," she promised, a whisper carried away by the wind. She backed up a few steps, clinging to his hand before he forced himself to let go.
-o-O-o-
He granted forgiveness, the mending of old wounds that never had a chance to heal, relinquishing a steady, dull pain he never gave a voice.
He let it go, because he had his brothers and he had his sisters and that was all he ever needed anyway…
-o-O-o-
Facing the house, he watched in silence.
A moment later, Billy stilled, almost as if he knew he was being watched. Taking off his glasses, he tucked them in his shirt pocket, squinting into the woods.
"Son?"
Embry stepped into the light cast by the waning moon.
Silence hummed, drawing out seconds into minutes as they looked on one another. Embry took a few more steps, his long strides eating up the yard. He stopped at the base of the stairs.
Several times, Billy looked as if he would speak, but he bit his tongue and waited.
Embry knew this was his moment. He didn't know why, and he wasn't sure what would come after, but the time had come.
"I forgive you."
Billy gasped, and Embry knew the words had hit their mark. He knew their significance wasn't lost on the older man.
Embry held up a hand. "Don't say anything. Let me get this out." Squaring his shoulders, he looked Billy in the eye, his father by blood if nothing else, and a man he was never able to bring himself to hate. "I forgave you a long time ago. I should have said it sooner."
Billy peered at him through liquid eyes. "Embry—"
"Don't."
Pressing his lips into a thin line, Billy took a deep breath. "I know what's coming. Jacob said the leeches called with a warning. He's optimistic."
"Jacob is always optimistic," Embry murmured. "Doesn't mean we aren't preparing for the worst. He knows what he's doing and we'll have each others' backs." He shifted his weight, preparing to go.
He'd said his piece.
"Be safe, son." Billy held out a hand. Long, calloused fingers gnarled with age and hard work trembled in the chill night air, and he waited for his son to accept or reject this tentative first step toward peace between them.
Embry took his hand, squeezing it firmly, then chuckled. "Safe? It's a bit late for that."
Billy's smile was proud and confident. "Then I'll tell you to be fearless."
"Always am." He clapped his father on the shoulder and walked away, his footsteps easy, his soul lighter than it had ever been.
Leah waited for him in the woods. He saw the look on her face. She'd heard every word. "You okay?"
"Will be." And though he was sure acceptance would come eventually, he wrapped his arms around her, nosing at her for comfort in a lupine plea with gentle nudges, ghosting sensuous, wide lips over the warmth of a bare shoulder. He nudged the strap aside and pressed a line of heated kisses to her skin, grazing a path of prickling heat up the burnished bronze column of her throat, inhaling deep drafts of the concentrated scent beneath her ear, the scent of woman and wolf.
His Leah.
-o-O-o-
He lived with honor. He swore by duty, protecting his people with an insurmountable pride, doing without question what the Spirits chose him to do. He was born to protect, designed to kill.
Destined to fall.
-o-O-o-
It was customary for the pack to prepare for a battle, custom to spend the night before any coming fight, reminding themselves just what they were protecting. It was why they had gathered. It was a reminder—why they lived, what they protected, making the most of the hours leading up to dawn.
In the early morning light in the time before dawn, Embry lay in bed, holding Leah as she slept. Her trim form glowed like liquid gold in the pink pre-dawn light, her lax body draped lightly over his, the two of them still joined more than an hour after they'd woken and loved each other in the dark with sleepy kisses and languid touches one final time.
He was prepared. He knew what he was fighting for.
It was not enough.
They met in a meadow, the ground blanketed knee-deep in wildflowers thrumming with life, bees and hummingbirds and small animals buzzed and scratched and hummed in surround sound. A few sparrows flitted from rock to tree to fern as the pups gave playful chase, Bella among them, looking like a small child playing with overgrown puppies.
When Embry and Leah strolled hand-in-hand into the meadow, Bella was plucking a small blue-black butterfly out of Collin's fur. Jake came up behind her phased-human, nuzzling her throat, hands splayed across her abdomen as he whispered quiet promises in her ear, making her giggle and blush.
Play time came to a crashing halt as a cloud passed over the early morning sun and the meadow was plunged into shadow. The rotten scent of sickly sweetness preceding the Cullens flowed like a blast of cold air into the wide open field.
Because where vampires went, darkness followed.
The Cullens initially expressed concerned at Bella's presence, but she waved them off, assuring them she was perfectly safe.
But Edward Cullen was a shifty fucker.
Embry watched him twitch and fidget. Jake noted the change in him, too, his eyes wary, his stance guarded. Ordinarily, vamps went still and statue-like under stress.
Something was definitely off.
As that shared thought broke the surface of the pack mind for those who were phased in, dozens of dark figures began to appear on the horizon. The ridgeline filled shoulder to shoulder with snarling vamps as a small, organized group in dark cloaks approached in deathly silent synchronicity.
"Jake…" Embry shifted, pivoting, dread clenching in a dull ache, throbbing in the pit of his belly as more arrived, surrounding them, closing them in.
They were being herded.
"Fuck!" Jake snarled, side-stepping to block Bella, scenarios and strategies forming and dismissed as quickly, his body twitching with his need to phase. "I know." His eyes darkened, narrowing, as a growl boiled up from deep within. "I fucking knew it. So stupid. Stupid! There is no such fucking thing as a trustworthy vampire…"
Paul's wolf growled, snapping at Jake.
"Goddamnit, Paul! I don't need this shit right now," Jake growled. "Everybody phase. Stay together."
"Where the fuck does he think we're gonna go?" Quil asked, but he wasn't resigned to his fate.
Embry was surprised. The overwhelming common thread shared as their thoughts aligned was the need to kill, destroy the Cold Ones. Survival wasn't a consideration, only destruction.
Every undead thing in the meadow would be ash before this day was done.
Calling out pleasantries to the Cullens, the leaders of the red-eyed vamps outed Edward Cullen, confirming the pack had been betrayed. That much was clear as soon as their leader spoke. The Volturi, as they called themselves, had come to collect Bella and the other gifted members of the Cullen clan, the fortune teller and the empath.
And in exchange, Edward Cullen had requested one thing.
For the Volturi to wipe the pack off the face of the Earth.
Jacob eased Bella behind him, issuing quiet orders for her to get on his back and stay there when he shifted.
Embry flanked him, sidling sideways and angling his barrel chest subtly in order to shield Leah, hoping she wouldn't notice and take a chunk out of his ass.
Let her, he thought. He would protect her. He would protect all of them. They were his family, and that was so much greater than the possible cost.
Bella raised her voice, addressing the vampires in uniform with a last-ditch, hail mary plea, "If you turn around and leave now, some of you may live, but I will never come with you willingly and my family will never let me go without a fight, just as I will never let them go."
Embry closed his eyes for a moment, admiring her bravery and listening to the silence, the calm before the impending storm. He held his breath and, for a second, he hoped against hope they would heed Bella's words.
But her words were not enough.
And the hordes descended…
Like a plague of locusts, they blanketed the land, slamming into the small but determined wall of wolves and remaining Cullens, like a screeching, snarling wave of the walking dead. Clawing, tearing at one another, even fighting their own kind, they were viciously determined to get to the one human, the single beating heart that didn't repulse them like the scent of wolf.
Bella clambered on Jake's back, riding astride like a warrior with her body low, tucked as securely as possible between his massive withers.
Embry flanked Jake on one side. Leah took up position on the other.
Beyond the line, there was a flurry of discord and snarling. Embry saw Carlisle Cullen tearing Edward's arms off as the blonde chick rent his head from his neck. Her mate, the big one, lit the match.
Embry tried to keep track, but there were venom-slick parts flying everywhere, closing in, blotting out what little sunlight reached the meadow.
He dove into the fray and everything seemed to slow down, his senses sharpening, catching every detail as the world around him descended into chaos.
Nothing was sacred or untouchable anymore.
Jared yelped in shock and Embry saw through his eyes as Esme and Carlisle dropped, shrieking in agony before a half dozen cloaked figures tore them to shreds, casting their remains on one of the burning pyres.
"BELLS!"
Jake's voice pierced through the din and furor and Embry turned, a second too late, but quickly enough to see a stray vampire pull Bella from Jake's back.
Jacob fought like a demon, snarling, foaming at the mouth. He clawed his way to her as his brothers fought to hold the monsters at bay.
The sharp sting of razor teeth blew through the pack mind as Jake collapsed, shielding Bella with his bulk, trying to keep the vamps from tearing her apart.
It wasn't enough … for either of them.
Jake had curled around Bella, but there was no telltale rise and fall of breath. Bella's eyes, open and unseeing, gazed at the heavens, her auburn hair matted and sticking to Jake's fur.
His vision greyed, and everything inside Embry ached beneath the loss.
They had to stop them. They had to pay.
The pack tried to rally, decimating the vamps that remained, but taking damage that would not heal fast enough to survive.
There were too many.
They didn't stand a chance.
Throwing the severed head of his victim into one of the bonfires lit by the Cullens, Embry stopped. He looked around, assessing the damage.
He wished that he hadn't.
A scatter of bleeding limbs and patches of dark brown and black fur could only be Sam and Jared.
Seth, Paul … fuck.
Embry retched, his legs weak. He couldn't look, couldn't think about Paul's end.
The pups, unseasoned and untried, hadn't fared any better.
He clawed at the ground, tearing at the earth with razor claws as man and wolf sought release from their quaking fury. Unable to cope with their loss, rage and agony combined and they had to let it out, a pressure valve of grief. The long lamenting howl of torment tore from aching vocal chords, bleeding his raw grief into the weak and watery light of day.
Distressed sounds, whimpering and gagging, grabbed his attention, abruptly severing his lonely wail.
When Embry looked up, Leah lay on the ground surrounded by the scattered remains of the blond leader as the two remaining turncoat Cullens took off for the woods. Without their leaders, the dregs of the army of vampires abandoned the fight, fleeing in the same direction as the Cullens.
As quickly as it began, it was over.
"Leah?" Embry nudged her with his muzzle, immediately regretting it. Maybe she'd been in shock, but the movement loosened her vocal cords and she began to howl, bellowing in excruciating pain.
She'd been bitten. Dozens of bites riddled her limbs, even her tail. He whimpered, snuffling over her, frantic, searching … helpless.
He dropped to his haunches, choked sobs catching in his throat as his body rocked, his mind locked in a state of shock.
She looked into his eyes, her body spasming in pain, the trauma spreading. Her back arched, twisting her frame in deep, pained contortions as the venom attempted to consume her incompatible blood. She begged, the words final and desperate as each one echoed in Embry's head.
"Kill me! Please!"
Then Quil's voice, too, weak and tormented, came into the pack mind, his body phasing back and forth from the shock of the poison pumping through his veins. He pleaded with Embry, the same request, asking his best friend to kill him, too.
Embry phased out, falling to his knees as rivers of blood flowed from dozens of jagged tears in his flesh. He'd escaped the bites, but not the claws.
He wavered. It was all too much, too painful. He couldn't reach them both. He wasn't sure if he could do it at all.
Even if he could, he wasn't sure what to do. He was just a kid!
Inside… They were all just kids.
He never reached Quil's side.
Time ran out.
Embry's shoulders dropped, a desperate sob escaping his lips.
He staggered, his strength waning under crushing grief.
Lost.
Alone…
But he wasn't, not yet.
A surge of determination, a burst of courage came from somewhere outside himself. He returned to Leah's side, ghosting one finger up her silver snout, wishing more than anything that she had the strength to phase back so he could see her face once more.
Holding her pain-wracked body, listening to her whimper and howl, her shrieks escalating, he realized all he could give her was release.
He could give her that …
He would have given her everything, if only they had a little more time.
"I loved you, you know," he told her, smiling when his eyes met hers for the last time. Tears pouring down his face, his choked final words to her were lost under the cacophony of howling.
With a flick of his wrists, he ended her suffering.
His misery had only just begun.
He wanted to turn away. Seeing her beautiful wolf, broken like that… but he couldn't. He stayed where he was, trying to catch his breath, trying to stop the flood of tears, his fingers gently stroking the soft fur of her silky ear, the satiny spot beneath.
The spot he pressed his lips to when she'd slept, sated and pleasantly exhausted, wrapped safe and sound in his arms the night before.
The night she'd finally let him love her.
He had to let go, and it took everything inside him to lay her lifeless body gently on the ground.
Staggering to his feet on unsteady legs, he had one last duty he had to fulfill.
He slipped in and out of consciousness, aware that someone … someone had come.
He still was not alone.
Embry used every bit of strength he had left to open his eyes. A man—tall, broad, his skin a deeper shade of bronze than any native he had ever known—knelt by his side.
Embry reached for him, choking, begging for forgiveness, release, anything. Anything to take this pain, his heart… He couldn't bear this agony.
"I'm so sorry," he whimpered in apology, speaking the words for himself and those who no longer could. "There were so many. We had no hope of winning. We failed. The tribe…"
"Not failed," the great Alpha-Chief Taha Aki murmured to the fallen warrior held with the gentlest of touches in his arms. "It is not failure if even one of ours survives."
Embry craned his neck, trying to look the chief in the eye. "Who?" he croaked, choking, tasting the blood on his tongue.
"Your sisters, Rachel and Rebecca. The daughters of all the great chiefs have wandering hearts for that reason, to protect the blood and keep it safe for the next generation. We do not keep all our eggs in one basket. We are legion, Embry. More will come. More wolves who are warriors. You did not fail. Look about you. The blow eleven young people have dealt here, this day, to the demon species will be far-reaching. You wiped out nearly the entire population with little more than the teeth and claws of ten wolves and one small, brave human girl. This is a victory, one that future generations will tell. I will see to it myself. Your names will be remembered, your sacrifice will not be in vain."
"Taha Aki," the boy's voice gurgled. "My pack, my brother … my girl…"
The great chief nodded, smiling as he called on the Spirits to give the boy his final wish, one last surge of strength.
He would not heal, but it was enough to grant this final boon.
"Be at peace, young warrior." The chief stroked the boy's forehead, his shaggy bangs soaked with sweat, obscuring his view. He needed to see where he was going. "You have lived a full life, filled with love and honor, but more will come. The world is a great deal bigger than you and me."
The chief pressed his lips to the boy's head and surrendered his strength.
With a final monumental effort and Taha Aki's help, Embry's eyes fluttered open. He hauled himself up to his elbows and crawled, dragging himself arm-over-arm the last few feet separating him from his brothers.
His brother.
Jacob.
Leah, the fearless girl he loved.
Closing his eyes as the breath left his body, his soul slipped free and he lay with his brother, one hand buried in scorched fur, the other arm draped over a small, silvery pelt, his hand wrapped in the auburn flames of Bella's curls.
He gave himself over to the fire.