For some reason, lately, everything seems to start at Jake's house. We still call it Jake's house even though he hasn't lived there for nearly eight years. He claims he's coming back, but we're not entirely sure. Well, Sam is, but Quil and I- and those of us who know him well- aren't.

So now, Billy Black now lives in that small house with his daughter and her husband. Rachel was going to move to Paul's place, but when Jake left with the Cullens, she decided that she couldn't leave her father alone. He's in a wheel chair, so I suppose she had a point. Billy and Paul get along all right, so it all worked out.

Things had mostly been quiet since the Cullens left. There hadn't been any more Vampires around and we were getting bored. Then, about two years ago, a new family moved into a small house on the far end of Hoquiam. Just a man and a woman and their teenage daughter. Well, it was the man's daughter from a previous marriage. The woman was far too young to be her mother. There was no mention of what had happened to the girl's mother. She shied away from everyone, though, like she was afraid and there had been a rumor that she was abused, but she seemed to absolutely adore her father and step mother, so the rumors fizzled and died after a few weeks.

We'd been at Jake's when Sam had told us that he suspected they were more vampires, but they were... different, somehow. They didn't smell like Vampires. And they didn't LOOK quite like Vampires, either. Oh, sure, they were absolutely gorgeous, but the woman had olive-toned skin and the girl, though blond, was only slightly paler. The man was pale enough, but none had the faint purple circles under their eyes. I suggested that they could be some of those half-Vampires, like Renesmee, but we never got any farther. The three stayed away from the rez, so we didn't worry about it too much.

We'd been at Jake's when, surprising nobody more than herself, Leah imprinted. We'd all thought it was just the men who did that, but then, we'd all thought that only men could become wolves, too. But, there we were, minding our own business when in walked three guys from the Makah rez and Leah laid eyes on one of them and that was that. They're getting married this May.

We'd even been at Jake's when Emily went into labor. She swore it was just bad cramps until her water broke. Sam's freakishly proud of his daughter. To hear him tell it, she's the most perfect thing ever to have graced the planet.

As luck would have it, we were at Jake's again- somehow it had become the official meeting place in the past few years- when a friend of Rachel's turned up. I, personally, will NEVER forget it. We were sitting around, arguing good-naturedly about basketball when there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," Rachel said, extricating herself from Paul's arms and heading towards the door. "You guys just keep up your amazingly important debate."

"You gotta admit," Quil pointed out as if there had been no interruption. "I'm right about the Lakers."

"Quil, you wouldn't know a Laker if he threw a ball into your face."

There was laughter all around, but it could not drown out the squeal of delight that came from the front door. We all looked around to see what was going on.

Rachel had her arms around a tall, pale skinned girl with dark auburn hair. The girl in turn had her arms around Rachel and the two were laughing and shrieking in delight. I knew we weren't going to get much of an explanation for a while, so I made to turn back to the conversation, but caught the girl's eye over Rachel's shoulder.

And I was suddenly lost.

It was as if the whole world suddenly ceased to exist and the only person who mattered anymore was this strange, pale girl I didn't even know. It was like a giant hand had suddenly put it's thumb on everyone and everything else and she was the only thing left. Everything that made me who I am was gone and the only thing keeping me grounded were those beautiful hazel eyes, that wonderfully soft hair blowing in the gentle breeze. It left me absolutely breathless.

And I was suddenly found.

"Hey, Embry, you okay?"

I looked around to see Quil staring at me. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good," I replied quickly.

Sam was giving me a speculative look and Paul was grinning knowingly. "Hey, Rachel," Paul called. "You gonna introduce your friend?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Rachel, jumping away from the pale girl and pulling her into the house- the door was nearly forgotten, but Seth, who was nearest to it, jumped up to push it closed. "This is Olivia Casey. Olivia, this is- well, everyone. That's Paul- the cute one waving. And this is Seth and Quil and Embry and Leah and her fiancé Bradon. And that's Jared and the little one is Claire- she's not quite 10- and Emily's in the kitchen, I think, with Kim. They love to cook. And- did I miss anyone?"

"I'll probably forget all the names in a minute," admitted Olivia, glancing around at us all. Her gaze fell on me and lingered there for a moment. She gave me a sort of half-grin and continued looking around at everyone.

"Well, come in," said Rachel, leading Olivia into the room.

I jumped up from my place on the sofa and offered it to Olivia. She smiled- her eyes had a way of sparkling that made the breath catch in my throat- and thanked me, sitting between Quil and Leah. I sat on the floor in front of her, half turned so I could steal glances anytime I pleased.

Jared was studying me carefully. They all knew what had happened. Even those who hadn't had it happen to them yet knew. I'd imprinted on Olivia Casey- on a pale face. Not that it mattered to me or any of the rest of them. Jake had done the same thing. (What could be paler than a half Vampire?)

Still, I wasn't sure how my mother was going to react. She wasn't prejudiced or anything, but she felt that people should stick to their own races when thinking about marriage. She thought that if we kept inter-marrying, we'd eventually become one race and where was the fun in that? She liked the differences between us. She thought we were all beautiful and each race should be kept pure to preserve that beauty.

I hoped she would understand.

"Embry, is it?"

"Huh?" I asked, slightly confused. "Oh, yeah, Embry Call," I introduced myself properly.

Olivia grinned at me. "You're the same Embry that's friends with Rachel's brother?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's me," I admitted, giving her my best grin.

She responded with an even bigger- but somehow less sparkly- grin. "I've heard a lot about you, then," she said. "And Quil," she added, turning to Quil.

Quil grinned. "And probably none of it good," he said. "We used to torture her and Rebbecca."

"So I've heard," said Olivia, eyebrows raised mischievously.

Oh, no. What had Rachel told her? Could I convince her I wasn't like that anymore? On some subconscious command, my eyes flicked themselves to Rachel and in the half a moment my gaze was on her face, she looked shocked and surprised.

"Hey, Embry, relax," said Paul, who had caught the look, too. In fact, from the looks on faces around the room, everyone had.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," said Olivia. "She remembers it fondly. The egg yolks actually made her hair softer, so no harm done."

Quil laughed raucously and his Claire giggled with him. "You put eggs in aunt Rachel's hair?" she asked her favorite nanny.

"Not on purpose," Quil told her, leaning forward to ruffle her hair. "It was a prank on Jake, see, and she stuck her head out the window to yell at us just as we threw a couple of eggs and- well, there you are."

This time, Olivia's laugh- a lovely, bubbly chuckle- joined Claire's. "It's always the accidents that are funniest to look back on," she said. "There was one time I- well, it's embarrassing, but let's just say I ended up covered in mud. It was horrifying at the time, but looking back, it was really quite funny."

"Hindsight is comical," agreed Sam.

"We DID hear a new voice."

I turned to see Emily and Kim come in from the kitchen, each laden with two trays of food. Emily set hers down quickly on the coffee table and introduced herself to Olivia. "I'm Emily and this is Kim," she said, shaking hands with Olivia.

"I'm Olivia Casey," she said. "A friend of Rachel's from school."

"Yeah, you never did tell me what you're doing here," said Rachel, brows scrunching together. "I mean, not that I mind, of course."

"Oh, I got a job," explained Olivia, eyes dancing- I thought that she was very beautiful. "At Forks High School. They're starting a music program and I get to teach it!"

"How PERFECT for you!" exclaimed Rachel, beaming. "You going to start an orchestra, too?"

"They left it up to me, so I think I will," Olivia said. "I mean, I may as well, you know? I'll probably get the freshmen started as well as the middle school. Or maybe just the whole high school- they'll all be starting off in the same place, after all."

"That'll be brilliant," laughed Jared, his arm absentmindedly going around Kim's shoulders as she sat next to him. "Forks High School with an orchestra when most of the schools around here haven't even got a band director."

"They're just lucky, I guess," said Olivia, her bubbling chuckle making me grin again.

I lost track of the conversation at that point, wondering how to get her on her own. I considered just tossing the rest of them out, but as Paul and Rachel lived here, I couldn't exactly do that. Maybe I could offer to show her around, but being that she didn't live on the rez, that would be pointless.

Luckily, Paul came up with a solution. It was a nice day- for La Push, anyway- so why didn't we head down to First Beach? Some of the kids from Forks might show up and Olivia could promote her orchestra. Olivia grinned at him and huffed that her orchestra would build itself and it didn't need promoting.

We went to First Beach anyway.

"So you're a teacher, too?"

I was suddenly aware that Olivia was talking to me, but I didn't remember when everyone else had wandered off, leaving me alone with her. We were sitting on one of the logs that surrounded the fire pit, driftwood burning halfheartedly in front of us. The day was overcast- no surprise there- but the weather wasn't as chilly as it normally is. The temperature was hovering around sixty, but I wasn't cold. In fact, I wore only shorts and a T-shirt; no shoes on these feet. "Oh, yeah," I finally said, attempting to smile at her, but getting lost in her eyes again. I forced myself to look away, wondering vaguely who had told her I'm a teacher. "I teach history at the school here on the rez. I got a partial scholarship and the council paid for the rest as long as I promised to come back after school. Anyway, I'm sorta tied."

She nodded. "I think it's nice," she said. "I mean, you know, going off to college and bringing your knowledge back to your own people. I'd do it, too, but my people already know a lot about music. I come from a very... musical family," she added with a cryptic smile.

I grinned at her. "Musical," I repeated. "You ever heard a Native's idea of music?"

"All that drum banging and wailing?" she asked. "Yeah, it's pretty cool. I was working on a Symphony that experimented with some of it."

"A Symphony of Native music?"

"Yeah, sorta," she replied. "It was a sort of neo-romantic thing with the drums and wailing in the background. I should work on it some more. I also had a suite that used Digeridos and a Piano Concerto with bagpipe accompaniment. I actually finished that one, though, for my senior project. It's pretty wild."

"I think I'd like to hear that," I said.

Her eyebrows scrunched in a way that made her lovely face even more appealing and I felt a wide grin stretch across my face that she quickly echoed. "Really?" she said, surprised. "Nobody ever wants to hear my strange experiments, no matter how well they work."

I shrugged. How could I explain that I'd do whatever she needed me to do when I'd only just met her an hour ago? "It sounds interesting," I said lamely.

She laughed her lovely, warm, bubbly chuckle. "All right, then," she said. "We recorded my senior recital, I'll see if I can dig it out of whatever box it's in. I really SHOULD be unpacking." She shook her head, looking weary. "I loath unpacking," she added.

"I could give you hand, if you like," I offered without thinking.

She looked at me suspiciously. "If you're trying butter me up to get a date or something, you should know, it's working," she said.

I grinned at her, feeling my face go a bit warm. I was glad I was dark-skinned. The blush wouldn't show. Well, no sense hiding it now. "Am I that obvious?" I asked.

She grinned back, blushing prettily. "Not to a normal human being," she admitted. "So, are you going to ask me?"

I shrugged. What the heck. "Tomorrow, after I help you unpack, can I make you dinner?" I asked. "I'm a pretty damn good cook."

"I think I'd like that," she said. "I've never had a man cook for me before. But, you don't have to help me unpack just to get a date."

"No, it's okay," I told her. "I don't mind. Besides, that means I get to spend all day with you instead of just a few measly hours."

"And what if you discover you don't like me?" she asked.

"Impossible!" I declared. "I already like you. What's not to like?"

"Okay," she said. "Fine. But, what if we start unpacking and you suddenly discover I'm petty and vain? Or, worse yet, demanding and shrewish? Then, you're stuck with me for the rest of the day AND you have to make dinner for me."

"Are you petty, vain, demanding and shrewish?" I asked doubtfully.

"No."

"Okay, then."

She studied me for awhile. "Well, if you're sure."

"I am."

She grinned and looked out across the waves, seemingly out of things to say.

"Hey, wanna take a walk up to the tidal pools?" I offered. "There's all sorts of stuff living in them- anemones and corals and little crabs and snails and things."

"Okay," she said, standing.

I automatically reached for her hand as I stood next to her, but to my disappointment, she pulled away. "Sorry," she said and it sounded like she meant it. "It's just..."

"Too soon?" I supplied, feeling only slightly hurt.

"Yeah."

"It's okay," I told her. "It's a sort of... Native thing. Kinda chauvinistic. You know, hold onto the girl and protect her and all that."

To my surprise she reached over and took my hand. "In that case..." she said, smiling up at me.

I grinned. I couldn't help it. "You like chauvinism?" I asked as we started walking.

She shrugged. "I don't mind being protected," she said. "I don't NEED it, but I don't mind."

"What makes you think you don't need it?" I asked.

She laughed. I melted. "I'm probably tougher than you," she said.

It was my turn to laugh. "I doubt it," I said.

"Just wait."

"What are you, like, a black belt in Karate?"

"Something like that," she said cryptically.

"I'll wrestle you," I said, grinning sideways at her.

She laughed again. I melted again. "That would be more unfair than I can tell you," she said. "I've got several years on you."

"Only four," I pointed out. Rachel was only four years older than me, after all, and if Olivia had gone to school with Rachel, she could hardly be much older than her.

"Well," she hedged. "I'm quite a bit older than Rachel."

"How much?" I asked.

"A lot," she replied. "I'm older than I look."

"What, like, 35?" I asked.

She just smiled at me. "So where are these tidal pools?" she asked.

I really wanted to know how old she was, but apparently the imprinting wouldn't allow me to press the matter. "Not far," I told her.

On the way to the pools, we continued chatting about everything from music to family to sports. It turned out she was a HUGE baseball fan, as was nearly everyone in her family, which was quite large. She mentioned many brothers by name and as well as a couple of sisters.

"How often do you get to see them?" I asked her.

"No often enough," she said. "Most of them live in Europe, but Bradoch is in Australia and Sophie's doing medical missionary work in Africa."

"Are you from Europe?" I asked. I couldn't detect an accent.

"That I am," she said, lapsing into a Irish brogue. "Grew up in Ireland, came to the states as an exchange student." She switched off the brogue like it was on a button. "Been here ever since. I worked to get rid of that accent. It's almost second nature to me, now."

"I like the accent," I told her. "We don't get many Irish girls here."

"I can imagine," she said, a wistful look in her eyes.

"Do you miss Ireland?" I asked.

"Not Ireland so much as my family," she replied. "In fact, this area is VERY Irish. It rains all the time and is too green and there's lots of hills and cliffs. It reminds me of Ireland. Now, if I could only find the right road that leads to that old castle of my parents'..."

I stopped suddenly. Olivia took two more steps before my hand- still holding tightly to hers- halted her progress. "Your parents live in a CASTLE?" I asked, taken completely by surprise.

"Well, yeah," she said, attempting to sound nonchalant. "It's not a very big one, but it's been in the family since the days of feudalism. Dad gets a tax incentive to keep it in livable condition. It's something they do in Ireland, to preserve history and all that. It used to be just a summer place, but they've started living there permanently so they can fix things as they happen. Come on, Embry, it's not that big a deal," she said, her face going deliberately blasé.

"Feudalism?" I asked, a grin breaking onto my face. "So your family's, like, Dukes or something?"

"Barons, I think," she said, waving it off. "but it doesn't matter. It doesn't mean anything anymore. Now, come on! I want to see these tidal pools, already."

I obliged by walking with her again. This whole imprinting thing was getting really weird. Any other person I could have refused, but not Olivia. Still, I was interested in her family now. "So this castle," I said, pressing the subject. "They've got it all fixed up nice?"

"Yeah," she said. "The part they live in is pretty modern, but the rest is kept historically accurate. They have guided tours and a gift shop and you can have tea with the 'Baroness'- my mother in costume- for five pounds- that's about $9.50 American. Reservations required. It's a nice little business for dad's retirement. We pitch in when we're home." I took 'we' to mean her brothers and sisters and her.

"I'd love to see that," I said and was surprised to discover that I really meant it and it wasn't just the imprinting talking.

"Play your cards right and maybe some day I'll take you," she said with a sly grin.

My face exploded in a huge grin at the thought of going anywhere with her. "That would be great," I told her.

She glanced up at my face, curious, and blushed prettily.

I felt the heat come to my face, too, but luckily, we'd arrived at the first of the tidal pools so I was spared the agony of trying to find something to hide the blush.

Olivia was fearless, reaching fingers in to poke the anemones and brush her hands lightly over the chorals and pick up the little crabs. She found a hermit crab and dubbed him Kermit the Hermit and played with him for nearly an hour before deciding to let him go. Hermit crabs are notoriously friendly, though, so I don't think he minded the company much. She followed me as I leaped across the pools and eyed me warily at one that she felt was a bit too far for her. I convinced her to try it, though, and she finally jumped. I had to catch her to keep her from falling over backwards and she laughed in exhilaration. Oh, God, how I love that laugh.

"You okay?" she asked, the laughter still in her eyes.

"Yeah," I said, forcing the dreaminess out of my face. "Just... well, you have a great laugh."

She laughed again, blushing lightly. "Thanks, I think," she said, ducking her head.

I grinned at her and hooked one finger under her chin to tilt it up. "It was a compliment," I told her. "You have no idea the sort of things that laugh can do to a man."

Her eyebrows shot up and her mouth curled up in an amused smile. "Really," she said in a satisfied sort of tone. "In that case, I shall have to laugh more often." And she laughed again.

"Mmm," I sighed, eyes closed. "Intoxicating."

"Great, now you're drunk," she said halfheartedly.

My eyes snapped open to see her grinning up at me, my finger still hooked under her chin. I moved my hand to brush a lock of her hair out of her eyes, but it sprang right back into place. "Doesn't that bother you?" I asked to cover up any awkwardness.

"A bit," she shrugged. "It's been doing that for years, though. I've sort of gotten used to it."

"How many years?" I asked, trying to catch her off guard to get an idea of her age.

"Enough," she answered shrewdly, eyes narrowing and one corner of her mouth tugging upwards slightly.

"Can't you tell me how old you are?" I asked, feeling my eyebrows contract.

"You wouldn't believe it," she replied. "Maybe- maybe some day, if you stick around, I'll tell you. For now, though, no, I cannot."

"Why not?" I demanded.

"It's... unbelievable," she said darkly.

I huffed out a laugh. "I've had my share of unbelievable," I told her. "Try me."

She gave me an irritated look. "You couldn't have just kissed me a minute ago and forgot all this, could you?" she asked.

I blinked several times in surprise. "I... thought you wouldn't be comfortable with that," I explained stupidly.

"I wouldn't have been, but it would be better than this line of questioning," she said. "Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to ask a lady's age?"

Oh, no. There was a sudden pain in my chest as I realized I'd made her angry and possibly hurt her at the same time. I'd heard about this end of imprinting from Quil who'd promised his Claire to take her to the park and been unable to make it. He'd called to let her know that a family emergency had come up, but she was still disappointed. The next time he'd seen her, he'd had this same pain upon realizing she'd been hurt.

It killed me. I felt my face crumble and I reached out to brush the side of her face lightly with the back of my hand. "I'm sorry," I said, my voice wavering slightly. "I didn't mean... I mean, I'm just curious and you're so secretive and... God, Olivia, I'm sorry!"

I watched as shock and surprise warred on her face. Finally, concern overtook them both and she reached up to take the hand that was still brushing at her face. "Embry, it's okay," she said earnestly. "Really, it's not THAT big a deal."

I breathed a sigh of relief and the pain in my chest lifted, allowing me to smile weakly at her. "Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said reassuringly. "Geez, Embry, I'd hate to see what you'd do if you ever REALLY hurt me."

My eyes went big and I felt the weak smile slide off my face. "Oh, god, don't say that," I begged. "I don't EVER want to do that."

"Okay, okay!" she said quickly. "Relax, really. Geez. More guys should be like you. Oh, heck, more PEOPLE should be like you- women included. Maybe then we'd have fewer problems in the world."

I couldn't help it, then. I pulled her into my arms and just held her to my chest, eyes closed. "You're not angry?" I asked her.

"No," she said, "but you're crushing me, Embry."

"Sorry!" I said, quickly pulling away.

The sudden motion threw her off balance and I reached out to catch her, but, more quickly that she should have been able to, she righted herself. I felt my eyebrows contract again, my arm half extended to catch her. "I've only seen- a few people move that quickly," I said. I'd very nearly said 'Vampires' instead of 'a few people,' but had caught myself at the last second.

Her eyes snapped up to look at me in alarm, then they narrowed suspiciously. "Who?" she asked, her voice carefully neutral.

I studied her face for awhile. She seemed almost to be trying to read my thoughts, but I was sure she couldn't do that. "Just some friends," I answered, trying to sound offhand about it.

She looked for a moment as if she might press the matter, but luckily, I heard Quil approach with Claire just then and she turned towards the sound at the same time I did. Claire was talking excitedly to Quil, both just out of sight around an outcropping of rocky cliff and for a moment, I wondered how an ordinary human could have heard them. They were only just in earshot for me. Surely she couldn't hear them already.

"Never mind," she said and when I looked at her, her face was once again cheerful. "It sounds like somebody's on their way over here. Company!" And she started towards the sound, stepping around the little tidal pools.

She looked VERY good from this angle. I had to close my eyes and think about golf for a moment before following after her gorgeous form. Geez, I'd never had to think about golf with any other girl, but Veejay Singh did wonders to quell the thoughts running through my head just then. He has absolutely NO sex appeal.

"Hi, Uncle Embry!" cried Claire as they came into view. She ran towards me, arms reaching up even before she was 50 feet away, and launched herself into my arms.

"Hi, Claire," I said to her. "As if you didn't see me just an hour ago."

She laughed and kissed my cheek, then squirmed to be let down. "My Quil is taking me to the tidal pools!" she said, dancing around excitedly as if she'd never been there before.

"We were just there," said Olivia, a faint smile on her face. "There's a very jovial Hermit crab there who likes to play games."

"What's jovial mean?" asked Claire, wrinkling her brow.

"It means jolly," answered Quil, finally catching up to her and ruffling her hair. "Like Santa Claus."

"Does his belly jiggle like a bowl full of jelly?" she asked doubtfully.

"He doesn't have a belly," said Quil. "He's a crab."

"Crabs got bellies!" insisted Claire, dancing around again. "Don't they, Olivia?"

"Sure they do," answered Olivia, a slight grin on her face. "But you can't see them because they're all covered up in a hard shell."

"See?" said Claire, sticking out her tongue at Quil.

Quil grinned and ruffled her hair again. "All right," he said. "You win."

"Come on, Quil!" said Claire suddenly, tugging on his arm. "Let's go before the crab goes away!"

Quil gave us a slight wave and disappeared around the cliff with Claire.

"They're close," said Olivia, though it sounded almost like a question. "Is she his niece or something?"

"No," I replied, struggling to come up with an explanation I could give her. "He's sort of like a nanny to her. Kind of a stand-in older brother."

She grinned at me, looking slightly wistful. "I could use a stand-in older brother, sometimes," she said. "Or maybe just a white knight."

"Could you settle for a red knight?" I asked, giving her a sly sideways glance.

She looked a bit confused, then seemed to grasp the connection. "Okay, that was really bad," she moaned. "Besides, you're not that red. More creamy bronze."

"Okay, then. A creamy bronze knight."

She laughed, making me melt yet again. "You can be my creamy bronze knight," she allowed, leaning her head against my shoulder as she reached her arms around me and hugged me. "Thanks," she said. "I needed that."

I was beginning to suspect that Veejay Singh's lack of sex appeal was going to get me through a lot of situations like this. "N-needed what?" I stammered, resting one arm around her shoulders and the other on top of her head.

"Someone to care," she said, pulling away much too soon; I didn't try to stop her, but I wanted to very badly. "I haven't had anyone care for years."

"What about your parents?"

"They don't count."

"I see."

I did, too. It wasn't the same with parents- they always cared. My mother had been worried I'd joined a gang or something when I first joined the pack. She would yell and cry and worry and yell some more, but I just kept doing what I had to do to protect her. I couldn't tell her exactly what was going on, but when I went off to college, she hoped it would reform me. I pretended that it had when I came back. I let her think I was her good Embry again and she was deliriously happy about it. She hadn't wanted me to leave her, but I bought a house anyway- just a small one with one bedroom, bathroom and a sort of kitchen/living room combination. It was enough for me.

But, my mother would always care about me. She would always worry about me and always bring me a hot dinner every Tuesday night when I got home from teaching. I could always count on mom to care. But, having someone else care- like my pack brothers and sister- was something else entirely different.

"It looks like everyone's heading to the tidal pools, now," she said. "Or else they all want to see you. Or me. Or both of us."

I looked up to see that just about everyone else was heading this way; Kim and Jared must have left. Being at the beach while six months pregnant can't be all that much fun. Leah was giving me a look that said quite clearly, 'aren't you forgetting something' and I abruptly remembered my patrol was supposed to start ten minutes ago. "Damn," I said. "Look, Olivia, I have to... I promised my mother I'd help her move some furniture. I was supposed to be there awhile ago. Will you be okay with the others?"

"Sure," she said. "See you tomorrow?"

"Wouldn't miss it," I said, backing away. "I'll get your number from Rachel later. I gotta go!"

She grinned and waved me off.

I hurried back towards the road and jogged a good distance down before heading into the trees and tying my clothes to my leg. I changed quickly and was immediately aware of Collin's presence.

What took you so long? He asked. You missed all the action!

What action? I snorted.

There was a coyote! Collin informed me. He ran right in front of me. I chased him for awhile, but then Jake yelled at me.

Jake was here? I asked.

Yeah, said Collin. He'll be back in a bit. He was looking for you. You gonna tell him about Olivia? He added, a teasing note to his voice.

Collin, I warned.

Embry and Olivia sittin' in a tree! He teased in a sing-song voice. K-I-S-S-I-N-

Collin!

Jake had joined us.

Sorry boss, said Collin.

Hey, Jake, I said. Where are you guys at now?

Florida, temporarily, Jake said. Bella finally got Edward to loosen up. He's letting Nessie and me get married.

That's freaky, said Collin. She's, like, eight years old.

Just wait 'til you see her! Said Jake, his voice brimming with pride. She could pass for 25.

That's awesome, Jake, I congratulated him. When will you be coming back?

Soon, I think, he said. Bella's feeling a pull to come back. She says she thinks something major's gonna happen, but she can't see what.

Did she consult with Alice?

Alice agrees, but she can't see either, he said. Anyway, that's what I wanted- He stopped suddenly and I hesitated in mid step. I'd just had a sudden thought of Olivia. No doubt Jake had heard it. Embry, he said. Is this just a girl or...

I sighed mentally. I imprinted, I said.

There was a stunned silence from Jake, then a mental howl of exultation. That's awesome, Embry! He said.

That's what I was teasing him about when you showed up, said Collin.

Yeah, and you'll be next because of it, I growled at him.

Okay, okay, said Jake. Embry imprinted, Collin's next and here's what's going on. Nessie's worried her dad will change his mind, so she wants to get married right away, which is why we're in Florida. We're going to the courthouse tomorrow. Don't worry, we'll have a proper wedding when we get back- dad and Rachel would kill me if we didn't. Anyway, once that's done, we have to meet up with Bella and Edward in Peru. We're hoping to be back to La Push in a couple of months. I thought I'd give you the heads up about something possibly happening up there. Keep your eyes open.

You got it, I said. Hey, there's a new family living in Hoquiam- they sorta look like they could be Vampires, but they don't smell quite like it. You don't suppose they could be causing trouble, do you?

There was a long pause on Jake's end and we could tell he was carefully schooling his thoughts. Probably not, he said finally. But, we'll tell you about them when we get there, okay? Leave them alone for now- they're the good guys.

Jake, you know them?

Yeah, I do, he said. We'll explain that in person, but they're extra special- like Bella.

We didn't even have the whole story on Bella, yet. All we knew was that she'd picked up on the Cullens' special abilities; she could read minds and see the future now.

Okay, I answered hesitantly. Hurry back, okay?

We will. And he was gone.

Oh, we got Trouble! Said Collin. Right here in River City. With a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool!

Can it Collin, I said.

Yes, sir! Said Collin, sending me a picture of him saluting.

He was right, though. If Jake had seen fit to contact us about Bella's odd feeling that something was going to go wrong, it was serious. We'd have to watch closely for awhile.