Dedication: For meliz875.
Happy Embry month! … or, er … birthday month. ;)
A/N: This is my little way of saying 'thank you' to Mel for putting up with my shit and helping me make my plutty crap crap-tastic. This particular fic is also my own personal penance for saying I hate it when people name fics after song titles. ;) This was supposed to be a two-shot, but, uh … yeah, not happening. It got outta hand pretty quickly. Now it's just going to be whatever it ends up being. Short story, maybe? No idea. It's M-rated for later chapters where THERE WILL BE LEMONS.
Sorry for the delay in getting this one out. I had to build a double-wide alien tech stealth couch fort, the floor was lava, and I had no internets for a time, but it's okay because I have been saved by the Hypnotoad. All hail Hypnotoad.
Pre-reader: Tamfan and meliz875 (yes, she helped pre-read her own birthday present, don't judge me)
BTW, I did a fandom-related interview with Stella last week. You can check it out on her blog, Dontcallmeleelee's Mess: . .
Inspiration for this chapter:
"Pink Moon" by Nick Drake
"Titanium ft. Sia" by David Guetta
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Chapter 1
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Frrrmmp!
Embry froze, startled by the thunderous noise that interrupted the eerie quiet of the forests of La Push that bright, moonlit June night. Through the open shed door, the sight of a rare, glowing pink full moon hung in the sky over La Push. It cast a faint rosy light on everything below and lit up the night bright enough for even Bella to move around easily in the dark for once.
Listening intently for any movement or warning from outside the ramshackle shed where he and Bella crouched nervously over three cases of Old Quil's homemade rez moonshine, Embry tightened his grip on the crates he held.
Clink, clink.
Bella's eyes were wide and sparkling with mischief as she strained to hold onto her crate, rattling the bottles inside.
Carefully resting his two crates of ill-gotten booty on a box of old Popular Mechanics magazines, Embry leaned closer to Bella to whisper in her ear, "That wasn't the signal. That was Quil's wolf farting."
Bella snickered, choking, trying not to laugh aloud and give away their location in case there was someone nearby to hear them sneaking around.
Continuing in a whisper, Embry was choking down his own laughter, "He had, like, fourteen hot dogs with sauerkraut cooked in beer at that picnic for you and Hazel at Sam and Em's earlier."
Outside the ramshackle shed, a motley crew comprised of Quil, Paul, Leah, Jared, Kim, Seth, Jake, and Bella's college roommate, Hazel, laughed quietly at Embry's whispered remarks as they stood watch, prepared to warn the moonshine thieves within should Old Quil or one of the other real adults turn up unexpectedly.
Paul griped loudly, "Fuck, man. That was nasty," as a laughing lupine bark answered.
A chorus of, Shh! and muffled gagging carried in through the open door.
One would think with all the available shapeshifter manpower that someone other than Bella would have been a better choice for the delicate and stealthy job of swiping Old Quil's 'shine. The problem was that Bella was the only one who knew where he hid his stash in the shed. The others may have been able to sniff it out, but Bella was the only one who knew how to open the hidden compartment without destroying the door and giving away that it had been breached by the world's unstealthiest group of shapeshifting burglars and their crafty, pint-sized, human ring-leader.
The one time, weeks earlier, that Bella had 'accidentally stumbled' across Old Quil bottling his secret recipe in the shed, he had mistakenly assumed that she was still the good girl he'd never have to worry about and so, hadn't bothered to hide what he was doing while he answered her innocuous questions about some lesser known tribal legends.
Little did he know, she was merely a trojan horse—the pack's unassuming and unlikely advance scout.
As it turned out, Old Quil didn't know his great-niece quite as well as he thought. She was more like Quil the Younger than anyone suspected.
Because, when it came right down to it, Bella could lie. She'd learned all kinds of new skills and picked up a few unsavory habits while she was away at school.
Hell, thieving the moonshine had been her idea in the first place.
Embry thought is was the best idea she'd ever had.
He told her so, too, right before she drafted him to be her second for their 'shine-thieving escapade later that night. Quil had quickly volunteered to be their getaway wolf before the others chimed in that they wanted in, too.
The pack hadn't killed a vampire in months. Things were a little dull on the rez while Bella had been away at school in Seattle.
The fact that she'd somehow managed to get paired up with a Hawaiian shape-shifter for her college roommate two years ago was the main reason the La Push shifters were all eager for some- any kind of excitement.
Hazel came from a long line of shapeshifters—the last descendents of Kamehameha.
Thankfully, her type of shifter was every bit as strong and fast in their human forms as they were their spirit forms.
Because Hazel phased into an orca.
Quil just about shit a kitten the first time she phased orca mid-cliff-dive one sunny Saturday afternoon in early October nearly two years earlier. The rest of the pack was no less surprised, but Quil- Quil was certain it was love at first sight.
Unfortunately for poor, heartbroken Quil, the love at first sight had actually only been on Jake's and Hazel's parts that day. Jake had run over to the cliffs to join them when his patrol ended after the pups had phased in, babbling excitedly about Bella's newest shape-shifting friend.
Jake and Hazel looked into one anothers' eyes, but didn't imprint. They had no need to. They recognized immediately in one another their mate. It truly was love at first sight. The real deal. No hocus pocus required.
The meeting between the two dominant shifters awakened a deeply-buried instinct within the two of them, one they fought daily until the Elders could research it and tell them more about it. They would likely be the first double-marking in the two tribes' histories. They waited, though, holding out as long as they could and hoped the Elders could tell them more before they did something irreversible that they might regret later.
Billy was delighted and encouraged the two at every opportunity to complete the marking ritual.
Hazel's older brother and her pod's Alpha, Nui, took some convincing.
Being the marked mate of the Alpha of a pack on the mainland meant Hazel would be irrevocably tied to that land.
Land.
Where she couldn't phase to protect herself. Where her pod was thousands of miles away if there was an emergency. Where she was the only shape-shifter capable of chasing a vamp into the ocean.
To fight it alone.
Nui immediately relocated two of his and Hazel's younger sisters, Laurel and Noelani who had volunteered to go willingly, on a semi-permanent basis to the mainland to support Hazel who needed more back-up than usual because her new human best friend Bella was basically catnip to vampires.
The problem was that all the vampires followed the catnip.
The second big problem, as Nui saw it, was that his younger twin sisters had almost immediately also found their life mates among the members of the La Push Pack—Jake's younger cousin, Collin and Collin's best friend Brady. Laurel and Lani were delighted at the tender age of fifteen to find their equally young mates—and so near their sister, too.
He caved when all three of his sisters begged him to let them make the move to La Push permanent. Hazel was old enough to act as their guardian officially, but would be in Seattle at school most of the time, so Sam and Emily stepped up, offering to take responsibility for the twins on a day-to-day basis until Hazel lived with Jake in La Push full time.
Mollified by the former La Push Alpha's offer and his fatherly demeanor, Nui was much more amenable when Billy eventually approached him about enrolling the twins in the Tribal School in La Push with Brady and Collin, and offered to help the three girls find a nice, low-maintenance place to live on the rez. He also offered the full support of the council—whatever it took to help keep the young shifters together with their mates.
The Kamehameha Pod, though roughly the same size as the La Push Pack, had more older and experienced members. Whereas the Quileute truly couldn't afford to lose even one of their younger, less experienced Protectors to an overseas mate or pack.
Fortunately, the Kamehameha name came with more than just a long and storied past. It also came with trust funds. Nui decided it was worth the investment to build in La Push. It looked like they would be mingling tribes for a good long time to come.
The Hawaiian Alpha was worried about sending more of his pod, though. Letting his remaining sisters and brothers attend the graduation party scheduled for Bella and Hazel in La Push could mean losing more of them to mates in the La Push pack before others in their own tribe were old enough to phase in the islands. He decided to keep most of his pod at home, offering instead to fly Hazel, Jake, Bella and a friend or two out to the islands for another party and some homegrown Hawaiian fun to celebrate their accomplishments in a few weeks.
In the meantime, the La Push Pack knew how to make its own brand of fun.
Embry hefted his crates and gave Bella a nudge toward the open door after he heard Jake whisper to give the all-clear.
They hustled out to the Ateara's backyard. The fair skin of Bella's cleavage pushed up by the tiny white bikini that was held in place with little more than a few large, metal O-rings and some spandex was aglow with a faint, cherry-blossom-pink flush that caught Embry's eye. She may have been tiny, but—as a late bloomer—she'd come home from college racked and stacked.
Embry noticed.
All the time.
He began to notice changes in her long before she ever left for college.
But the progress was slow. Little better off than a forgotten shut-in, he'd find her curled up on the couch in Jacob's garage more often than not, not speaking, not even feigning interest in the one-sided conversation Jacob kept up for her benefit—hoping against hope that some topic would spark her interest and engage her in the real world once more.
Oh, sure, she was eating again, not much, but enough to satisfy Sam who saw her as his responsibility. He felt the failure more deeply than anyone else. He'd known what the Cullens were and, for a time, was the only one with the strength to intervene—to show her how she was affected by their thrall, dependent on the trace amounts of venom that once hung like a thick fog in her bedroom. The vaporous poison had been so thick, Sam could hardly bear to walk into the Swan home at one time.
Bella and Charlie had been breathing that disgusting, deathly smog for months.
Poor Bella had been exposed to it twenty-four hours a day from what he'd heard. In a brief moment of clarity, she had whispered that one terrifying secret to Jacob after she'd had a nightmare, by way of explaining why she slept so poorly and screamed so much. She wasn't accustomed to being alone, even at night.
The fucking leech had been creeping in her window and watching her sleep every night before he left her.
Sam had talked to Charlie, explained that she was lonely. Because her dad often worked doubles, Edward used to visit her at night to keep her company—had been sneaking into her room for months, she admitted to Sam. With Edward gone, she was hyper aware of the loneliness and, in her dreams, she was grieving for him in a way. Edward had become a safety net practically overnight for a suddenly codependent Bella.
She hated being alone so much.
Charlie had already pulled her out of school. She had more than enough credits to graduate from her advanced placement courses in Phoenix and her teachers at Forks said she really wasn't there even when she was in class. The final straw was when the school psychologist had suggested having her evaluated and institutionalized.
He may not have known what went down in the woods that day between his daughter and Edwin, but Charlie was cop enough to know that it wasn't normal. Bella's behavior may have been abnormal, but something about it all seemed off to Charlie. He didn't think doctors could help.
So when Sam asked, Charlie caved and Bella began sleeping over at Sam and Em's place in their guest room. She was rarely alone. Charlie knew this, too.
It started off simply enough. Emily had asked Kim and Leah to come over for a girls night with her and Bella while Sam ran patrol overnight. Bella had been sleeping in the guest room, but was still restless, often getting up to wander the house in the middle of the night to escape her dreams. Emily worried that with Sam gone on patrol, Bella might become even more uneasy in a home not her own without a wolf protector nearby.
Deciding that every girl needs a distraction sometimes, Emily plotted like a general.
She picked up a couple of movies that were sure to cheer Bella up. Picking Jake's brain, she chose two movies that were certain not to remind her of her recent break-up that gave a tongue-in-cheek nod to their supernaturally-weird lives that might break through to the girl; Hot Fuzz and Paul.
Emily nailed it.
Kim's stomach may have turned a few times during their movie night, but Bella actually laughed. Out loud. Not loudly, but it was loud enough for human ears to hear.
Gore, gross-out humor, and sarcasm weren't the average girl's cup of tea, but then, Bella had never been the average girl. Leah had enjoyed herself, too, much to her own surprise.
The four of them dozed off together in the living room in their pajamas where Sam and Jared found them after patrol the next morning just as the next shift—Paul and Embry—were swinging by to check in before their own patrol.
Leah was passed out cold in Sam's recliner, legs crossed, arms behind her head—anyone stumbling across her would think she was laying out on a beach somewhere instead of the Uley's living room. Emily was curled up at one end of the couch under a blanket and, at the other end, Bella and Kim had dozed off arm-in-arm, feet propped up on pillows on the coffee table with half a bowl of spilled popcorn scattered across their laps. Kim was drooling on Bella's shoulder and Bella's head was tipped back on the cushions, face relaxed in the soft lines of sleep. The dark circles under her eyes had all but disappeared overnight.
Emily began to notice a pattern; Bella slept better when she wasn't alone—not just in the house, but in the recliner, on the floor, or couch—wherever. The morning after one of their girls' nights, the patrol shift coming off duty would invariably find Bella curled up in the living room with Kim, Emily, or Leah.
After that, it was like someone had flipped a switch. Bella couldn't get enough sleep. Verging on narcoleptic, the poor, exhausted girl began dozing off whenever she was in close proximity to one of her wolfy pals. She'd passed out talking to Jake in the Rabbit one day while he was working on the dome light inside. Always one for rolling with the punches, he'd adjusted their seats to lay back and curled up beside her for a couple of hours so she wouldn't wake alone.
A few days after that, she passed out on Quil on the floor at Jared's house. He was talking to his cousin and playing with the ends of one of her pretty auburn curls and she had just fallen asleep leaning against him while the others watched Nitro Circus on TV.
Seth was next. She was listening to him chatter away on the porch steps at the Clearwater place one day while she waited for Leah and Embry to come off of patrol. She leaned her elbows back on the top step and the next thing Seth knew, she was slumping backwards, passed out cold on the stairs.
Embry rushed up to them, filthy from from patrol just as an equally-grubby Leah emerged from the woods. Running his hands over her gently, he looked for injuries, "What happened?
"I think she just fell asleep again, man. I wasn't even that close! Emily said she thought it was our body heat making her drowsy, so I was keeping my distance," Seth ran shaking hands through his hair, worried that this thing with Bella was getting out of hand.
"Don't stress it, man. I think she just spent so many months without sleeping that now that her mind remembers how to shut down and let her rest, it's working overtime to catch up," Embry picked her up gently, cradling her against his chest. "I'll take her back to Sam's. See if she can sleep this one off in bed for once."
"She was here waiting for Lee-" Seth began.
"You had plans?" Embry asked, surprised. He had no idea Bella was going out and doing things besides cat-napping all over the rez.
"Just a 3-D movie in Port A. She would have passed out in the dark theater ten minutes into the movie anyway. No worries," Leah assured him, waving him off.
At Sam's, Emily had fretted about where to put her. She was doing laundry and all of Bella's bedding was in the wash. Embry carried her into the living room and arranged her on the couch with a blanket to trap his lingering body heat so she wouldn't wake when he moved away. The second he did, though, she stirred, her fingers scratching lightly at his arm.
Emily looking at him beseechingly.
He nodded at her.
Turning back to Bella, he lifted her just enough to crawl underneath, flicking the blanket out over both of them and falling asleep himself minutes later to the sound of the soothing beat of her heart.
They slept for sixteen hours straight.
Embry woke to the sounds of Sam discussing the sleep situation with the Elders in the kitchen.
The talking stopped. Embry heard the distinct sound of Sam's gait as he crossed the room to stand in the doorway before asking, "She awake?"
Embry brushed her cheek with the back of his knuckles, whispering, "Not yet. Soon, though."
"What do you mean, 'soon'? How do you know?" Sam's forehead creased in confusion.
"Don't know. Just do. Another hour—she'll be awake. A little better, too," he promised, pressing his lips to her forehead. She sighed and tipped her chin down, angling her head in under his.
Sam came to kneel beside the couch, resting a hand on Bella's back, unconsciously rubbing gentle circles to soothe their ailing pack sister, "The Elders think that the sleepiness is the venom-poisoning making her body shut down. They're worried."
"They don't need to be," Embry assured him. "She's just taking what her body needs right now. When she's well-rested, we can work on the rest."
Sam didn't ask again how Embry knew. Sam did know that Bella wasn't Embry's imprint, but he would also swear there was something else between the two, some connection that could only be described as other. He chose not to question it, or his brother's instincts. Embry was certain that she was just healing her own way and the time would come when they could help her with the next step if they were patient and followed her body's cues.
So that's what they did. Emily encouraged Bella to take more long naps—though she slept longer and better with Embry than anyone else for some reason.
Other, Sam would often remind himself when he worried about Bella developing a new, unhealthy dependency on Embry.
Embry took it in stride and offered himself up whenever the opportunity arose. Sometimes she'd sleep and he'd listen to music on his iPod.
Eventually, she spoke to him—at least enough to ask him what he was listening to—in a voice that was barely a whisper.
"All kinds of things. I like to mix music and I listen to all kinds of genres. Depends on my mood," he answered in a low voice, shrugging a bit awkwardly beneath her light weight.
She gestured to his earbuds. "Can I-" she asked quietly in a voice that was raspy from months of disuse.
He pulled an earbud out, gave it a quick buff on his T-shirt, and offered it up.
Loathe to let go of her personal heating pad, she tilted her head to give him access and let him slip the little bud into her ear so they could listen together.
She liked it.
It was a combination of things; pop, rap, hip hop, some blues, a little vintage jazz. After ten minutes or so and managing not to doze off right away despite her encroaching sleepiness, she asked, "What's it called?"
"Summer-mix-oh-five," he snorted. "Not very original, I know. I just wanted some light, happy stuff to listen to. It suited my mood today."
"It's good. I like it," she murmured as she began to drift off.
At lunch at Sam's the next day, she sat next to Embry. She still didn't speak very much to anyone other than Jake—and a few quiet words to Embry and Leah here and there—no more. Embry had to leave for patrol. He had taken a double, picking up Quil's shift so he could run his granddad around to some doctor's appointments.
Bella wondered how she would sleep more than two hours at a stretch with Embry running patrol for the next sixteen hours. She didn't even realize when it had happened, but she'd grown accustomed to him being there when she went to sleep. He wasn't always there when she woke up, but he tried to help her get to sleep when he could, knowing she slept better when he was around than anyone else. His presence was so calming. He was the eye in the storm that was the pack. She looked down as he stood to leave, his fingertips brushing her thumb as he tucked something into her hand.
Turning it over, she realized it was a thumb drive. She looked up at him in confusion, but all he said was, "To help you sleep," before he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head and waved to the others as he headed for the door.
It was the music mix she told him she liked the previous day—Summer-Mix-05. She uploaded it to her phone, found a pair of earbuds she hadn't used in nearly a year, and settled into Sam's recliner. She was asleep in minutes.
She slept for another seventeen hours.
Alone.
When Sam told Embry, he smiled.
A week later, she was sleeping ten to twelve hours a night, often by herself without the aid of a friend or packmate. She still enjoyed the company, but she didn't need it to sleep. She had Embry's music and that was almost as good as having Embry. When he slept over, the two of them slept like they hadn't closed their eyes in days.
Embry emailed her the files for a few more of his favorite mixes. She rotated through them, sometimes humming along as she helped Emily out with mindless chores around the house.
The first time Charlie came over for dinner and heard her singing "Titanium" under her breath as she set the table, he had to excuse himself from the room to hide the tears in his eyes.
He knew she was still in there.
It was the first time anyone had heard her sing. Sam motioned to the other wolves to keep doing what they were doing, but every last one remained silent while they helped put dinner together. No one wanted to miss a note of Bella's sweet voice as she sang softly about finding inner strength.
Another week or so after that, Embry was running patrol with Paul and thoughtlessly let his mind drift.
You should ask her.
Embry snapped out of it, What?
You should ask her, Paul repeated.
Ask her what? Embry hedged.
On a date, you nimrod dip-shit. Don't you know what to do with a hot girl? Paul's wolf mirrored his agitation, chuffing in annoyance.
She's not ready-
She is, Paul assured him. She might not be ready to get naked and sweaty with you in the back seat of your Mom's Corolla yet, but she's ready to go out and have fun.
Embry didn't know what to say to that.
Jesus Christ, grow a pair already, man. Do I need to ask her out for you, too? Paul rolled his eyes, which was actually pretty comical in his wolf form. Take her to one of those under twenty-one club shows you like so much.
You want me to take Bella Swan into a mosh pit on a date? Embry was incredulous.
Paul snarfed a laugh, I'd probably skip the mosh pit. She's an accident waiting to happen. Just take her to a show, one of those emo-y ones, though, as a friend. Save the death metal for another time.
That's… actually not a terrible idea, Embry conceded.
He asked her later that day.
She said yes.
Embry freaked out a little.
Freaked. The. Fuck. Out.
Maybe more than a little.
Jake and Quil talked him down.
Poor Jake's beleaguered heart was heavy. He loved Bella, but he knew from the pack mind that whatever this thing was that Embry was feeling for her was so much stronger. He also got the distinct sense of other that Sam had confided he was getting from Embry and Bella, too. It was hard to let go, but he loved them both like he loved his own sisters.
Maybe more.
So he shored up his best friend and conspired with Leah to help them make their not-a-date a little more than a night out between friends.
Embry got a text the night he and Bella were supposed to go up to Port A together, Mind if we take my truck?
Nope. You want to meet at Sam's?
I'm at Leah's right now.
Meet you there?
Sounds good.
Embry had no idea what to wear on a not-a-date date, so he dressed for comfort. The club would be hot, so he threw on a pair of dark jeans, a studded black belt to keep them up because his slim hips couldn't do the job, and a paper-thin T-shirt in a dark enough grey that sweat wouldn't show much.
Put a supernaturally hot werewolf in a room with enough bodies for the temp to peak at 110 or 115 degrees and sweat was inevitable.
He tucked the shirt in just in the front behind his belt buckle and called it good enough.
She met him by her truck and, though she appeared to be dressed for comfort, he sensed Leah's sneaky hand in choosing her outfit for the night.
Embry wasn't wrong.
Leah, having a unique perspective on Embry's likes and dislikes thanks to the pack mind, had picked his brain clean and offered suggestions on the sly when Bella had come over earlier asking to borrow something a little girlier than her usual lumberjack-chic.
Leah called Kim after plotting with Jake in the afternoon and the two girls conspired to pull together an outfit from their very different wardrobes that would drive Embry crazy. It was Jake who suggested that Bella talk to Leah about what to wear to Embry's thing that night.
Bella wore a deep burgundy satin camisole trimmed in matching lace culled from the back of Leah's closet. Kim's snug charcoal grey skinny jeans hugged Bella's curves. She was eating again so she had some curves for once in her life. On her feet were her own black leather DMs with the cuff turned down to show the red and black plaid lining. Around her waist, she tied a black denim jacket in case it was cold after the show on their way home.
Leah had offered to help Bella with a little makeup; she kept it simple, a metallic silver and light grey smokey eye and black winged liner with a deep, merlot-red lipstick. No blush, no powder. Bella's complexion was flawless, the dark circles under her eyes gone. Her hair had been straightened and hung in a long, dark, shining curtain over one shoulder. Leah had put a few metallic black clips over Bella's ear and up under her hair on the other side to keep her hair up and back like a faux undercut.
Embry's heart skipped a beat.
He knew Leah and Kim were just making her up as one of the fantasies they'd picked out of his head for the night because she was still really in no condition to make that kind of effort on her own, but all he saw underneath the makeup and moody red and grey clothes was his Bella.
And that was just fine by him.
Somehow he found his voice, "You look… great, Bella." He cleared his throat.
She shuffled her feet nervously, digging at some rocks in the driveway.
"You ready to go?" he asked in a moment of desperation to find something to break the awkward silence.
"Um, yeah. I just need to swing by Sam's to pick up my wallet-"
"I got mine. It's no problem. I asked you, so this should be like, my treat, right?"
"I think…" she lost her train of thought as he drew within arm's reach. His eyes were like dark amber honey—so intense.
He heard Leah and Kim inside the house, whispering and watching from the windows, but he couldn't care less what they thought or saw as he brought one hand up to brush a thumb over her cheek and asked, "You were saying… ?"
"Umm … I think … uh … it's … Oh!" she jumped as the tip of his thumb brushed the soft skin below her ear, bringing her back to her senses. "It's an under twenty-one club, but I still need my ID, I think. Like, to get in?"
Embry nodded dumbly.
"Um … so we should go?" she asked.
He nodded again, clearing his throat and opening the driver's side door. Bella turned to go around to the other side, but stopped when his hand landed on her arm, "Where are you going?"
"To get in?"
"Bella, it's your truck. I just wanted to open the door for you," he said, pointing to the driver's seat.
A brief smile flashed across her face and he knew he had done something right. She climbed in and he went around to hop in the passenger seat.
In no time at all, they were in Sam's driveway. Embry could hear the faint rumble that meant most of the pack was inside watching a movie. "I'll come in with you," he offered.
She nodded, not wanting to run the gauntlet by herself.
Hustling to the front door with Embry at her back, she lost her nerve a little as she reached for the handle.
"The sooner you have your ID, the sooner we can go," he reminded her quietly.
She didn't often spend time with the entire pack. They'd spaced themselves out over the last few months to give her breathing room and avoid overwhelming her. By the sound of it, everyone but Kim and Leah were in Sam and Em's living room at the moment.
Embry recognized the look on her face, the uncertainty and self-conscious lip-biting.
"You look great. Don't be nervous. Go show 'em how far you've come. I'll be right here," he promised, grabbing her hand.
She took a deep breath and pulled the door open. He followed in her wake, hanging onto her hand as she led him down the front hall to the living room.
The noise had lessened considerably while they stood on the porch, but it ceased altogether when they got their first good look at Bella all turned out for her date with Embry.
He smiled, pleased at the surprise written on their faces.
Jake's eyes bugged out as Bella waved briefly, letting go of Embry's hand and ducking out to run to the guest room to grab her wallet.
Jared smirked.
Quil's mouth dropped open in surprise.
Seth grinned and looked around to make sure he wasn't the only one enjoying Bella's transformation back among the living.
Sam and Emily smiled together, tightening their embrace as they basked in the obvious improvement in their charge.
Paul whistled appreciatively—pulling a warning growl from easy-going Embry.
Sam's eyebrow popped up in surprise at Embry's possessive snarl.
Bella was back seconds later. The air was humming with tension and unasked questions, but she ignored it, focusing instead on Embry to try to calm her nerves, "All set?"
He cleared his throat. He'd been growling the whole time, "Sure, sure. Let's go. We've got a long drive." He put a hand on her lower back as they walked down the hallway to the front door.
Calling over her shoulder to the others that they'd call for a check-in in a few hours, Bella tentatively reached out and did the same, brushing her hand over the rippling muscles of his back.
Just before the pack lost sight of them disappearing through the door, he felt Bella tuck her hand in his back pocket and give a little squeeze.
The gleeful cackling of the pack was the last thing he heard as they got in the truck and he tried to fight off a pleased smile.
She grabbed his butt.
That revelation probably made him happier than it really should have. It was just a squeeze.
An hour and a half later, Bella was buying drinks and listening to Embry give her a rundown of reminders about drink safety in clubs. He said her best bet was to drink it as soon as she got it and not take her eyes off of it until it was empty, but he could sniff out any foreign substances pretty easily if she was unsure about her drink. She felt safer just knowing her date could smell trouble that easily. They'd argued over who was paying for drinks, but Bella won because Embry insisted on buying their tickets for the show.
"Bar, table, or dance floor?" he asked, lips brushing her ear so she could hear him in the noisy bar area.
"You know I can't dance, Emb," she said back, trying not to shout. She figured his ears were probably pretty sensitive to the volume in the club as it was. The last thing he needed was her shouting at him, too.
"You don't need to do anything special to dance to this music. Just feel it. Once we get out on the floor, you'll see. The crowd kind of moves as one, jumps as one, sways, grinds… You'll see," he promised, holding his drink by the rim and grabbing her hand to lead her through the crowd.
Stopping at a half-wall near the dance floor, he turned to Bella and patted the counter, inviting her to lean on it and people-watch while they finished their drinks.
After a few minutes of comfortable silence between them, she tucked her hair behind her ear and worked up the nerve to ask, "Why did you ask me to come, Emb?"
He didn't even pause to think it over before he answered, "You liked the mixes I gave you, all of them. You're sleeping, eating again. Listening to music and humming. I even heard you sing the other day. I thought you could use some fun again, too. Fun that makes you feel normal—not the kind that means riding wolfback with me, Jake, and Quil to the river to play with horse-sized wolves and sunbathe while you scratch Quil's belly just to see his leg kick like a real dog. It was time for some human fun. I … I like you, Bella. I want you to have fun, to smile again."
Putting her lips to his ear, she spoke in even tones so he would hear the sincerity in her voice when she told him, "I'm glad you did." She took a deep breath and admitted something she hadn't even realized she'd been holding back, "I like you, too. I'm glad we did this—just us."
"Me, too," he mouthed, trapped momentarily in her gaze. He licked his bottom lip and thought about kissing her when he noticed her heartrate picking up.
Her hand fluttered nervously up to touch her clavicle, fanning her neck.
Embry was glad they were so close. The thin, vaporous cloud of pheromones surrounding her thickened and he realized Paul had been half-way correct.
Bella might just be ready for a little more than friendship.
"Finish your drink," he nodded to her cup, then leaned in to brush her ear with his lips as he confessed, "We need to dance so I have an excuse to get my hands on you."
She flushed with pleasure. Then, inspired by Embry's bold confession, she worked up a little of her own boldness and downed her energy drink, setting her glass next to his empty and slipping her hand into his.
"Show me?" she asked.
Embry couldn't keep the wolfish grin off his face as he gripped her hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor.
Five hours later, they were still dancing, taking just one short break for the bathroom and a quick call to Sam to get permission to stay out past Bella's curfew. They were having so much fun—Bella was having so much fun—Embry didn't want to to drag her away if he didn't have to.
The show was winding down as the final act was about to take the stage, but the two of them were still wired as Embry wound his body sinuously around Bella's and she ground her back against his front.
He raised her arms over her head, running his hands down the undersides, over her ribs. He grabbed her hips, circling his own and grinding them against her ass as she gyrated against his groin.
If there was a heaven, Embry hoped it was exactly like this; the heart-thumping bass he loved and grinding against Bella Swan's butt. All he could think about was getting his hands on it. Not that she hadn't given him plenty of opportunities and permission to touch her pretty much everywhere all night while they'd danced. Bella was game to try anything Embry suggested; she was living totally in the moment.
And she was having the time of her life.
- - - o - - -
At the five hour mark, Sam had grown concerned when he hadn't heard from either of them. They did eventually check in by phone, but not before Sam had decided to check on them himself.
He wasn't taking chances where Charlie Swan's daughter was concerned. Charlie had placed all his trust in Sam and Jake and their friends to do what they could to help Bella. Sam wasn't going to give Charlie any reason to feel like that trust had been misplaced.
He would have run up to Port A himself, but Jake and Paul offered to make the run, so Sam had given them the okay to run wolf with a change of clothes in a duffel bag so they could blend in when they got there.
Six hours after Embry and Bella drove away from Sam's place, Paul fired off a rapid series of texts to Sam from the club, Everything's fine. Swan's smiling and laughing. Call looks like he died and went to heaven. Can't imagine why. They're both sweating like pigs. It's hotter than three hells in here.
Sam replied, Take a picture. Em wants to see.
Do you one better, boss, Paul promised.
A few minutes later, Sam got a FaceTime call from Paul who had placed himself strategically behind a support column so he could get a shot of the dance floor, but not be caught spying by Embry. Sam held the phone out so Em could see.
Seth, Jared, Quil, Kim, Leah, and Emily all crowded around to look, too. Sam tried not to roll his eyes at his nosy pack. They were so much like real wolves that way sometimes.
Sam clicked 'accept' and they saw Jake—all six foot, seven inches of him—trying not to draw attention to himself as he pointed discreetly to a couple on the dance floor amidst a sea of bodies and Paul zoomed in.
They watched as Bella and Embry jumped in sync with the crowd, rocking, swaying and grinding their way through the song in bizarre synchronicity with everyone else on the floor. The crowd moved like a school of fish or flock of birds, everyone lost to and simultaneously in tune with the beat.
"Holy shit," Leah said softly. "Swan's dancing."
"That's not dancing," Quil shook his head. "Unless lap dancing counts."
"It's not a lap dance," Emily cuffed Quil upside the head. "They're bouncing and swaying together. I think they're cute."
"Swaying, my ass. She's grinding on his-"
"We know, Quil," the others reminded him.
"She looks hot," Paul conceded, a faceless voice behind the camera phone. There was a tussle as Jake growled and smacked him. "What? I'm saying—look at her. When's the last time you saw her all flushed and pink and fucking smiling? It looks good on her. This is exactly what she needed right now."
Jake stepped in front of the camera for a minute, "Sam, if going out with Embry does this for her…"
"Yeah," Sam was nodding. "I'll find a way to get him more time off so he can take her out again soon."
Quil volunteered immediately, "I'll take one of his shifts next week. I owe him one as it is."
"Put me down for one, too, boss," Paul's voice overlapped Jacob's offer to do the same.
"Appreciate it, guys," he'd have done it himself anyway, but it'd be easier if they split it up.
"Embry's going to feel guilty about everyone taking his patrols…" Emily reminded Sam of minding Embry's pride.
"We'll swap 'em around as much as we can so he doesn't notice it right away. I'll explain about everybody wanting to help and…" he sighed. "I was already thinking about assigning him to long-term to Bella-duty anyway until we catch the psychotic leech. She sleeps better and talks more when he's around. You heard her. She's even started singing along with the music on his iPod sometimes."
"Are you sure he didn't imprint on her?" Kim asked.
The wolves all shook their heads, but Jared answered, "We'd have seen it in his head when he phases. What he feels for her is strong. Sam and Jake have been calling it other, but we don't really know what it is."
Faintly, through Paul's phone, they could hear Bella saying they should do this again soon.
Sam couldn't believe his ears.
Embry was pleasantly surprised, agreeing quickly before she changed her mind, "There's a thing in Seattle next weekend…"
"Another club show like this?" she asked, winding her hands behind his neck to pull him close so they could talk and keep dancing.
Embry snorted, gripping her waist and curving his body to fit hers, he answered, "Hardly. It's Seattle Deathfest XIII. All death metal."
"So, no dancing?" she pouted.
"Not like this, but it's a festival. If we don't like the music at one stage, we could go look for another one that suits us," he explained.
"Who's playing?"
"Local, small club bands, mostly. The Mortals, Red Fang, Jucifer, Tombsday, Pungent Stench, Crowbar, Unholy Grave, Final Conflict, Cancer, Immolation, Fangbangers, Left for Dead…"
"Seriously?" she stopped dancing.
"What?"
"You want to take me to see a death metal band called 'The Mortals'?" her lips curved in amusement as she rolled her hips into his.
He chuckled, "Okay, I can see where that might be kinda weird."
"No, more like 'kinda perfect'," her smile could have shamed the sun for brightness as she looked at Embry and cupped his cheek to keep him close. "See if you can get the time off. I'd love to go. Just you and me."
Turning the camera on himself, Paul asked, "You catch all that, boss?"
"Done deal, Lahote. Now get the hell out of there before they notice you and I catch hell," Sam ordered.
- - - o - - - o - - - o - - - o - - - o - - -
FYI: an orca is a killer whale, a group of orca is called a pod, and the alpha or head of a pod is called a pilot or pilot whale,but I'm sticking with Alpha-just in case there was any confusion.