I'm sure everyone is wondering how Embry and Sera came about, so here is their story. I am planning on posting a story for each character that plays a role in The Uley Girls. I hope you enjoy Embry and Sera's story. Remember read and review.

Chapter 1: At First Glance

Moving away from my home in Los Angeles wasn't on my to-do list for the summer. Instead of spending my summer on the beaches in California catching some waves with friends, sunbathing, or shopping, I would be spending my summer on an Indian reservation in dark and dreary Washington. All of this because of my latest run in with the cops. I didn't see why it mattered so much that I was only seventeen and had gotten caught fooling around with a nineteen year old on the beach after hours. Age was just a lousy number. He got arrested, and I got sent home to my foster parent who finally decided she had enough of my antics.

So the government was sending me to another state, and to another family that they hoped would change me for the better.

Yeah, like that's ever going to happen. I didn't give a damn about what happened to me. I was going to do whatever the hell I wanted.

Why should I care anyway? Life fucked me over the day I was born.

My mother died that day.

It fucked me over again at the age of ten.

I was kidnapped and raped for four years.

Then when the authorities found me and returned me to my father, life fucked me over again by killing him three months later.

So why was it such a big surprise I had such a pessimistic attitude on life? After everything I've been through I sure as hell wasn't going to be an optimist. I even told that to my foster parent, the authorities and my therapist- who I stopped seeing last year. I was the problem child no one even wanted, but apparently some couple in Washington volunteered to take care of me and if all went well they were thinking about adopting me before the year was over. You can imagine my surprise when they told me this. Hell I was even more surprised when I found out it was a Native American couple. Like seriously? Is this a joke?

It wasn't.

When they picked me up at the airport in Seattle, my jaw about hit the floor.

The man- who I later learned was Sam- had to be at least 6'4". He was huge. At least to me he seemed pretty big compared to my short frame and the height of his wife, Emily. Emily was only slightly taller than me. I stood at the height of 5'5". Emily had scars on one side of her face that she told me was from being mauled by a bear years ago. She seemed friendly to me. Sam just seemed content with her happiness and was semi quiet during our long drive to La Push.

When we got to the house, Sam announced that he had to leave. Emily let him go, no questions asked and showed me to my room which was bigger than the closet sized room I had at my last home. It was upstairs right next to hers and Sam's room. Emily left me to unpack as she made dinner. She told me that she had to start now because of the large amount that Sam and the boys ate. I told her I'd help her.

About an hour or so later the front door opened and the sound of male voices and laughter reached my ears. Emily smiled as a tall woman walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, Leah." Emily said grabbing the basket for the muffins. "Shouldn't you be out there with the boys?"

Leah shook her head. "Nah. I wanted to meet your new house guest before the boys got to her."

"Oh. Well, this is Seraphim or Sera for short." Emily said. "Sera this is Leah, my cousin."

"Hey, there." Leah nodded toward me.

"What boys?" I asked genuinely curious.

Emily smiled as she piled muffins into a basket. "Most are Sam's friends. The younger ones are local boys that look up to Sam and the others. Sam and his friends are mentors to the younger boys."

I studied her for a moment, trying to decide if the false note I heard in her tone was worrisome or not. Emily smiled and stared right back. I eventually shrugged it off. Why worry about a possible lie, when I might not even be here that long? If they had secrets I had no right to butt in. And they had no right to know what my secrets were.

"Lee! Where's the food?" A male voice called.

Leah groaned. She grabbed a few muffins from the basket before walking to the kitchen doorway and throwing them. "There. Now shut up." She looked at me and smirked.

Emily handed me the basket of muffins. "Why don't you go in the living room and keep the boys from getting rowdy." She said to me and Leah.

Leah grabbed the other basket which was full of cookies and led the way to the living room.

"So I heard you're from LA." Leah said.

"Yeah I am." I replied looking at the ground.

"It must be nice there."

"Well, it's not rainy all the time there."

Leah laughed. "We've got muffins and we've got cookies. Who wants some?" Leah asked the crowd in the living room.

When I glanced up, I dropped the basket I was holding. There were way too many shirtless guys in the living room. I quickly averted my eyes to the ground to see if the basket dumped all over the floor. Instead of finding a mess on the floor, I saw a hand holding the basket out to me. I looked up to meet a pair of brown eyes.

The boy who stood in front of me holding the basket, waiting for me to take it, smiled. "What ever you do, never drop Emily's cooking. It's a waste of good food." The boy warned.

"Oh, Jake leave her alone." Leah shooed him as she came to stand by me.

I took the basket from Jake and kept staring.

"As I'm sure you've figured out, I'm Jake." He said.

"And I'm Quil." Another guy came up behind Jake clapping his hand on Jake's back.

"Uh, hi." I said.

There were way too many eyes on me. I didn't know what to do. I felt like some kind of freak. I was the only person in the room with blonde hair and sun tanned skin. The only one with green eyes. I stuck out like a sore thumb. All these eyes on me weren't helping. I felt like I did when I was fourteen. When the press violated my personal space. My life. They followed me every where, trying to get me to tell them more about what happened to me. They were especially bad after my father's death. I began to shake. My fight or flight instincts were kicking in. I wanted out of here. Out of this room full of people I didn't know. Out of this house.

I was about to bolt when I felt an arm drop around my shoulder and pull me to their side. I looked up to see Emily standing next to me. Her arm was merely her way of comforting me.

"Boys, don't crowd her too much now." Emily said. "She doesn't know any of you."

Most of the guys nodded, others just curiously stared.

"Where's the third musketeer?" Emily asked looking at Jake and Quil.

Quil shrugged.

Jake sighed. "He's around. He should be here soon though. I guess he wanted to clear his head, what with what his mother told him and everything."

Emily sighed.

Leah handed the basket of cookies to one of the guys on the couch, then she took the muffins from me and handed it to him also. He began passing the baskets around to everyone in the room.

Leah looked at Jake with her hands on her hips. "And where is my brother?"

Jake laughed. "I don't know. We lost him."

"Lost him! What do you mean you lost him? You're supposed to watch out for him, Jake!" Leah looked like she was going to hit him.

Jake smiled and grabbed Leah's arm pulling her into a hug. "Chill, Lee. Seth is fine. He went by Charlie's to see your mom."

"Don't scare me like that." Leah grumbled as she relaxed against Jake.

Everyone was staring at them as if they had two heads. If I could bet anything, I would bet that there was something going on between Leah and Jake that the others didn't know about. It was all in the way they acted. She was calm the second he touched her. He was caring toward her.

Jake sighed and released Leah. "I have to go watch Nessie, but I'll see you guys later." Jake looked at me. "It was nice meeting you. Hopefully everything works out for you here."

After Jake left, Quil soon followed mumbling something about babysitting a girl named Claire. The others spread around the living room eating until slowly one by one the younger boys left. Three hours later and only Seth, who I learned was Leah's little brother, Paul and Jared remained. Jared was sprawled on the couch, Paul was on the floor leaning against the couch, Seth was in the recliner with Leah sitting on the arm and Sam and Emily were sitting on the love seat. I was on the floor leaning against the wall.

Everyone was quiet for awhile before they all started talking again. I got up and went outside. The cool breeze felt good. The house had been somewhat hot the whole day. I saw the porch swing swinging from the corner of my eye. With how fast it was moving there was no way the wind was doing that. I turned toward the swing to see a man sitting there. His head was in his hands. I was unsure of what to do. I didn't know this man, but I was also pretty sure that he didn't live here.

I took a step backward to the door. The porch creaked and the man's head snapped up, his eyes meeting mine. I gasped. He looked as shocked as me. He must've noticed how frightened I was because he opened his mouth to say something as he stood. He took a step toward me.

"You… you… you stay right there!" I stuttered. "Don't come any closer."

He froze and stayed where he was.

Sam must've heard my voice because he came out and froze behind me. He hit the light switch for the light on the porch and I squinted at the sudden brightness.

"What are you doing out here, Embry? We were expecting you hours ago." Sam said laying a calming hand on my shoulder.

Embry's eyes didn't leave me. I looked away and to Sam, unsure. Sam rubbed my shoulder. Sam had a shocked look on his face before he met my eyes.

"Sera, this is Embry, my brother. Embry, this is Sera. She's going to be living with us until she graduates." Sam said.

"Hi." Embry said quietly.

I looked at him. Eyeing him. He was another stranger. One who wouldn't stop looking at me. The way he was looking at me was creepy. He was tall like the others but he seemed more intimidating. "Hello." I said slowly.

He leaned down and picked up a duffle bag. He looked at Sam. "Which room is mine?"

"The one across the hall from the kitchen. Emily made the bed and everything for you." Sam paused. "Sera, why don't you go inside? I'm sure you still have some things you want to do to make your room more homey. I need to talk to my brother."

I nodded and pushed passed Sam into the house. The moment I closed the door I could hear Sam's stern voice muffled on the other side.

"Embry is here." I said to everyone in the living room.

Leah looked at me. "Are you okay? You look pale."

I nodded. "He scared me, that's all." I looked at Emily. "Sam's talking to him. He looked really upset about something. I'll be in my room if you need me." I walked toward the stairs and began walking up them. I saw the boys shoot up from where they were seated and walk out of the house. Emily and Leah stared at each other shocked.

"Well, shit." I heard Leah say.

I woke up earlier than I normal did. It was at least seven in the morning. I usually didn't get up until about nine. There was shuffling noises and growls coming from right outside. I rolled out of bed and went to the window. Below, in the yard was a large russet colored wolf sniffing around the yard as if it were trying to pick up a trail. I gasped at how large the wolf was. It's head shot up and looked straight at me, locking eyes with me for a moment before sniffing the air, howling and running toward the woods.

Never in my life had a seen a creature as big as that or as beautiful. I've seen picture of wolves and other wild animals but I never had the liberty to see them up close or even outside of a cage. Seeing an animal at the zoo was one thing but when it came to seeing them right in your yard, in their natural habitat, was something different entirely. My mother had been a photographer. She took pictures of wildlife and her pictures had been hung around the house when I was growing up. But now all her pictures were in storage.

I grabbed a sweatshirt and pulled it one before I went downstairs. Emily was standing in the kitchen cooking breakfast. Bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausages and muffins. I smiled and sat at the table.

"You know you have large wolves wandering in your yard?" I questioned.

Emily laughed. "Oh, yes I know. Living here on the reservation we're used to it." She handed me a glass of orange juice.

"But, unusually large wolves?" I asked.

"Locals say there's something in the water." A voice said from the doorway.

I looked over to see Embry standing there. His voice was thick with sleep. His hair was sticking up all over the place and he wasn't wearing a shirt, showing off his well defined chest.

I quickly looked away. "Is that what makes you men so huge?" I asked.

He sat down across from me. "No. That's just genetics."

I sighed. Then perked up remembering something as I grabbed a banana nut muffin and looked at Emily. "Do you think Sam will take me to the storage facility later? They did ship my stuff here didn't they?"

Emily put a plate of bacon on the table. "They shipped it the week before you arrived." She paused taking a seat. "I hope you don't mind but Sam and I put everything in storage bins instead of keeping them in the boxes they were in. The boxes were falling apart and I didn't want you to lose anything." I looked at her shocked. She continued. "We didn't look at anything. We just looked at the labels on the boxes and organized them into bins with the same labels. Everything is organized and easy to find."

I looked at the food Embry had set in front of me. "Um, it's fine. I'm thankful actually." I looked at Emily. "I haven't looked through the boxes in so long that I didn't even know the boxes would be falling apart."

Emily patted my hand. "What time would you like to go?"

"As soon as I'm done here and showering. It's probably going to take me a long time to go through everything. There's some stuff I want to get."

Emily frowned. "Sam won't be home until around five. He left early for work."

"I can take her." Embry said.

Emily looked doubtful. "I don't thi-"

"You can tag along if you want to, Emily." Embry told her. He looked mad.

Emily nodded and stood from the table to leave the kitchen.

Embry and I were silent as we ate but I could feel his eyes stray to me every once in awhile.

"How old are you?" I asked looking up at him.

Embry froze and swallowed. "Seventeen. Why?"

"You don't look seventeen."

"Neither do you." He said dryly.

"Why are you living here?"

He shoved a piece of bacon in his mouth and barely chewed before he swallowed. "Why are you living here?" he shot back.

I glared at him. "I asked you first."

"My mom kicked me out because I demanded to know who my father was. Now you answer."

I was taken aback. Kicked out for asking who fathered him? Wow. "I'm in the system. My parents are both dead."

"Shit. That sucks. I'm sorry." He apologized.

I shrugged. "I never knew my mom and barely knew my dad."

"Why?"

"Mom died giving birth to me."

"And dad?"

I paused. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay." He picked up the plates and started clearing the table. "If it makes you feel any better I never knew my dad."

"Is he still alive?"

"Yes."

"Then you still have a chance to know him." I started putting leftovers in the fridge.

"Not going to happen. He's got a wife and two daughters he's focused on."

I looked at him shocked. "So he has more kids than just you and Sam?"

Embry nodded leaning against he counter. "Yeah. Two girls. Athena and Aphrodite. Athena is sixteen and Aphrodite is twelve."

"Wow." I paused. "I better go get ready." I turned to leave the kitchen.

The whole car ride to the storage facility was full of Embry and Emily bickering about something I could probably care less about. I mostly blocked them out and focused on the road and passing cars. When we arrived at the storage facility, we parked in front of locker 406 which contained my stuff. Emily opened the locker and I went over to the purple bins labeled 'photography'. I pulled the first three bins down and opened one. Emily walked over and helped me go through it while Embry pulled the other two bins out of the corner.

"So what are we looking for?" Emily asked.

I picked up a box which I knew contained the chemicals my mom used to develop her pictures. Embry came over and sat next to the bin. "I want to see if all my mom's photography stuff is here and if the chemicals are still good." I looked at Emily. "I was thinking about starting my photography again."

"Again?" Embry asked picking up a bottle on chemicals and looking for the expiration date.

I nodded. "I used to take photos in LA when I was fifteen."

Embry sighed. "Hey, Emily, do you have any paper in that bag of yours? And a pen?"

Emily silently dug in her purse for a pen and pad of paper. She handed it to Embry who started writing on it.

I looked at him. "What are you doing?"

He looked up at me from under his eyelashes. "You need all these chemicals to develop the photo's right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, these are all long expired. You need new ones. So I'm writing the names of them down, that way we know what to look for at the store."

"We?"
"I have my license and a car, you don't."

I sighed and kept going through the bins. The photos my mom took were all placed in small boxes that were the same size as the paper she printed them on. I pulled the cover off a small box and found the photos I was looking for. I pulled the one on top out of the box and smiled. It was my favorite photo. In it was a mother wolf with her cubs. The father of the cubs stood in the background looking around as if he were surveying the land for any dangers that could come to his mate and pups.

"What's that?" Emily asked as she placed some of the developing equipment in the bin they were previously in.

I handed her the photo. "It's a photo my mom took. She took photos of wildlife. Animals in their natural habitats. This particular one is my favorite."

Emily looked from me to the photo. Embry stuck his hand out for it. She handed it to him. "Why is it your favorite?"
I paused thinking. "Um… I'm not sure. Maybe because it shows how protective the male is of his family. He watches out for them. And the mother, she loves her pups. You can tell just by the way she watches them. It's in her eyes."

They both looked at me shocked.

"What?" I asked self consciously.

Embry was the one who spoke, "Most people think that animals don't feel emotions the same way as humans. That you can't tell what they are feeling just by looking in their eyes."

"But you can. If you pay close enough attention. Sure they aren't like humans. Humans can mask their emotions, but animals can't." I stated. "Think about it. If you ever seen animal on the side of the road waiting for enough space to pass or an animal who is hurt, you can see the pain and fear in their eyes."

Embry nodded, looking at Emily.

"You're an animal lover." Emily stated.

I nodded. "Especially wolves." I touched the photo that was still in Embry's hand.

Embry

"Especially wolves." Her words still echoed in my mind.

I was lying in bed staring at the ceiling wondering how I could get so damn lucky. I meet a girl and my world shifts completely. Her loving wolves was an upside. I mean, would that mean she has a less chance of freaking out if me or any of the other guys accidentally shifted in front of her? She was my imprint. After today I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to introduce her to my world. Emily and Sam had a chat with me after Sera had gone to bed. They didn't want her to know. They thought that after all the trauma she's been through in her life, she didn't need to know about us. I didn't know what trauma they were talking about.

I got out of bed before I could change my mind. I made a decision and I was going to follow it. I quietly walked out of my room, softly closing the door. I made my way through the living room and up the steps. I had to creep along the hallway watching every step I took, because I didn't want to wake Sam or Emily. When I reached Sera's door, I slowly opened it before walking in and closing it. The lamp near her bed was still on, but she was laying down with her eyes closed. She seemed to be asleep.

"Sera?" I whispered making my way over to sit on the corner of her bed.

Sera's eyes snapped open and she sat up. Her eyes took me in. "What are you doing in here?" She whispered obviously frightened.

I lifted a shoulder and then let it drop. "I wanted to talk."

She watched me. "You couldn't wait til morning?"

I shook my head.

Sera let out a shaky laugh.

"You'll be starting school with me tomorrow." I told her.

"Yeah I know. Who else goes there?"

"Uh, Seth does. Jake and Quil do sometimes but Sam's been trying to get them to go more often. Jared graduated last year."

"What about Brady and Collin?"

"They're thirteen. Still in middle school."

"How old is Seth?"

"He's sixteen. Jake and Quil are seventeen."

She nodded looking away. "Um, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but I was just wondering, are all the guys here like really hot?" She asked as a blush crept up her face.

I coughed shocked by her question. "I'm not gay, so…"

She started laughing so loud I had to cross the bed and cover her mouth with my hand. Her eyes grew wide and she stopped laughing. I put a finger to my lips before pulling my hand away from her mouth.

"I never assumed you were gay." She told me. "You're way too hot to be gay."

I slowly smirked. As if realizing what she just said she clapped a hand over her mouth mortified.

"I'm hot, huh?" I asked still smiling.

She blushed. "I didn't mean to say that."

I chuckled.

"Look, I don't know you. You don't know me. Can we just ignore what I just said and move on?"

I didn't want to move on. I wanted to know exactly what she thought about me. I wanted to touch her again. To place my lips over hers. I wanted so much more that I knew I probably should leave the room. I stood from her bed.

"I'll see you in the morning." I said before opening the door. "Goodnight, Sera."

"Goodnight Embry." She whispered before I closed the door.