A/N: So this chapter starts during chapter 1 because I wanted to show Embry's POV on the imprinting and on the wolf pack's reaction to Ashley. & I tried my best of getting into a guys' head, and I'm sorry if it doesn't sound realistic.

Songs

Unseen – Katie Armiger

Ashley – Escape the Fate

Chapter 2

Embry POV

I pulled my shorts off and folded them up to stuff it under the band around my right ankle. I hated the fact that I always had to take a little break whenever I had patrol with Leah, but it was necessary sometimes. She always seemed to find a way to annoy me. I phased back just as Jacob called out to the pack and told us to meet up at Sam's house.

I quickly ran over to Sam's house, wondering what Jacob was going to tell us all. We only officially met at Sam's house once a month to discuss the vamps we've run into (none) and to discuss new patrol times.

I stopped in the woods behind Sam's house and phased back into a human. I pulled on my shorts and walked into the back yard to see Jacob standing in the middle of the yard as the wolves from Sam's pack filed out of his house, including Emily and Kim.

"Hey, Jake," I said, making my way to Jacob's side as the others formed into a circle, "what's going on?"

"I found Ashley Conweller just outside the border smelling like a leech," Paul answered. "She was a complete mess and now she's inside telling Sam what ended up happening to her and her family."

"Why isn't her family here?" Quil asked, taking a place on my right.

"Because they're dead," Hunter stated. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was staring at the ground, like it was the saddest thing in the world.

"Who's dead?" Leah asked, taking a spot next to Quill in our little circle.

"Shhh!" Jared shushed.

That's when I noticed the small voice coming from inside the house.

"…so Dad was filling up the car, with Emily in the store, and Mom, Jasmine and I sitting in the car."

"Huh?" Seth said. Leah reached up and smacked him in the back of the head.

"Quiet," Leah whispered.

"… Gary said something to Dad, I don't know what, but he was putting the—the nozzle back into the pump, Gary reached over and g-grabbed him by the neck," there was a pause before Ashley continued, "and he just… snapped it…"

I sucked in a breath, what the hell? She was going to talk about how her family just died? I glanced around to see the other's faces. Some showed shock and horror, sadness, and indifference.

"…She was being held by this really pale brunette woman, named Mary, and she was… she was biting Mom's neck…"

Holy shit. She knew, and she had to find out from those leeches killing her family. I felt so bad for her now; I couldn't imagine the hurt and sadness she was going through right now. Ashley seemed like such a sweet girl, the few times I saw her when she still went to the tribal school. She began to talk about her little sister named Emily and I automatically looked over at Emily, who was looking sadly at the house.

"…Before she could say a thing, Gary was behind her r-ripping her head off."

I felt my eyes bug out. This girl has gotta be traumatized. She has seen nothing of the super natural world, and now the first thing she learns is about crazy, sadistic vampires.

"…they started making out, right next to my sister's dead body. Once they were done kissing they began to drink from Emily. That's when Jasmine tried to get out of the car, probably to t-try to st-stop them, but I held her back. I told her to be quiet, and that they might forget about us.

"I knew I was l-lying to her then, but it seemed to help. She was still crying and shaking and I held onto her tightly, crying with her as she kept c-crying for Dad and Mom…"

I looked over at Jake to see his face filled with anger. My guess was that he was mad at the vampires and also (knowing Jake) he was beating himself over it in some way.

I returned my attention back to Ashley's voice as she started talking about her and Jasmine.

"He shoved J-Jasmine over to Mary who was, waiting by the side of the car…They were both l-laughing as we both started to scream. Mary was smiling at me as she grabbed Jasmine's hair and pulled her head over to the side, clearly sh-showing her neck."

I felt so much sympathy for this girl. I had a strong urge to go in and comfort her, to help her in some small way.

"…held me tightly to his chest as Mary slowly l-lowered her head to… to J-Jasmine's neck."

"Shit dude, that's horrible," Finn said as Ashley began to cry.

Collin nodded his head in agreement.

"Hunter, are you OK?" Quil asked.

Hunter nodded his head. "I'm fine, I'm just glad that I hadn't imprinted on her, or else I would be… I don't know – not like this."

Despite Hunter's 'I'm fine' front, we all knew he was still hurting inside. Jasmine was the perfect girl for Hunter to be with if he never ended up imprinting, she was Quileute obviously but she was really smart and pretty.

Listening in on the conversation between Sam and Ashley, I was surprised that she said she would continue on with her story.

"When Mary began to suck her blood, Jasmine began screaming. She screamed for Mary to stop. When Mary didn't Jasmine started yelling for me to help her…" There was a pause. "I guess they got rid of the clerk or he would have heard us by then… Anyways, Jasmine started to-to spazz out and… well eventually she was dead, probably drained dry.

"Then, I just waited for Gary to start drinking my blood, but he never did. I think he-he told me something along the lines of saving me as a snack for later. The two of them kissed again as I was still being held by Gary.

"Once they were done, Mary took me from Gary and threw me over her shoulder. I s-screamed and yelled for her to let me down. How she was a bitch and a whore for killing my family. After more insults to her and her boyfriend or whatever she threw me down to the ground and started to beat me up… might I mention that she threw me down as she was running super-fast."

A chorus of growls sounded throughout the group. This story was getting really bad, and all us werewolf's were definitely pumped to find and kill these two leeches Ashley had met. They had hell to pay for killing an innocent family.

"…She tied me so tightly it almost felt like I was wearing one of those—those corset thingys. They left me there for hours.

"Then the two of them came back. I learned their names and Gary told me his little deal. I could choose to be hunted by the pair for ten hours or for a day. I chose a day and they… they let me go.

"I ran all the way back here. It took me a while, but I made it back," Ashley finished.

"Ashley, I'm so sorry," Sam said. "I'm sorry that you had to go through that, but you're safe now, with us."

I couldn't agree any more, if I ever got my hands on those leeches, I was going to tear them into tiny little pieces.

"So," Jacob said, "within the next day those two leeches will be coming to La Push, and we have to be ready. I want everybody to be running on patrol for the next 24 hours, is that OK with everyone?"

We all nodded our heads.

"So we'll have the people on normal patrols along with four other people. One will be joining the outer line while the remaining three will be running the inner patrol line," Jacob ordered.

Sam came out of the house then, calling for Kim. "Ashley wants you back inside."

Kim pulled herself from under Jared's arm and ran up the porch steps and into the house.

Sam walked over to our circle and stood opposite Jacob. "Ashley is extremely sensitive right now. Watch what you say and do around her. And be nice," Sam looked over at Paul as he said the last part.

Paul rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever, I won't even be near her if you want – I just want to kill those leeches!"

The young wolves voiced their agreement.

"Yeah!"

"We'll finally be able to sink our teeth into some vamps."

"Hell yeah!"

"Alright, quiet. So what is our plan Jacob?" Sam said.

This was always the weird part of our joint meetings, Sam giving all the power over to Jacob. It was all done in attempt to prepare both Sam and Jacob to join the two packs together. Sam would submit to Jacob and become second ranked in the pack, aka Beta. Jake would have all the power over the pack, a very large pack numbering sixteen.

The main reason why we were doing this was because we had learned our lesson when Collin had caught scent of a vamp, heading towards Quil's part of the patrol line. Because there was no way for the two separate packs to communicate, the vampire nearly got a way.

So now we were planning to join the two packs together at the end of the month.

"Four more people will be put on patrol. One will join the others running the outer line while the other three will run the inner line," Jacob said.

Sam nodded his agreement. "And who will those four people be?"

"I'll run outer and you, Brady and Tyson will run inner, but not for the next couple of hours I think we'll be safe until then." Jacob looked over at Leah, Seth, Quil and I. "You three can go back and finish up your shift."

We turned away from the group and went into the woods. I quickly stripped down, well away from Leah. Holding onto my shorts, I threw them onto a low hanging branch – planning on coming back later. There was only less than a half hour left of my shift. I turned and phased into a wolf.

I feel so bad for her, I heard Seth think through our bond.

You got that right, Leah said.

The four of us returned to our places around the reservation and finished up our patrol.

Wanna go back to Emily's? Quil asked.

Sure! Seth agreed.

You boys have fun, I'm going back home, Leah said.

Whatever, I said.

I quickly ran back to Sam's house so I could get myself some food. Seth was just walking out of the woods when Quil and I got there.

We both phased back and got dressed before heading into the house.

"Hey, Seth, can you make me some sandwiches?" Quil asked, taking the one seat on the short end of the table opposite Jared.

"No, make your own Quil," Seth said. "Same goes for you Embry."

I snorted, like I wanted Seth to make me anything. I was hoping that Emily would.

Ashley turned around in her seat to look at me. I glanced down at her, then froze.

It felt like some strong force was attaching us together, creating the firmest tie to her and I felt a burst of emotion through the bond; pain, hurt, loneliness and despair. This girl was hurting and the bond was tugging at me showing that I needed to get closer to her. I needed to make her better, and I needed to make her feel happy and loved. This girl was my imprint. My imprint was in pain right now, and I'd give anything to make her better.

I was ecstatic as well; I had found the person who is to be my mate. I had found what my all of my friends had found, I had found – essentially – my other half.

And I really wanted to be holding my other half right now. I slowly lifted my right hand wanting to touch her, but I realized I had to restrain myself. She was going through a lot right now and I had to be sure I was careful, so I wouldn't get her upset or uncomfortable.

"Embry?" Jared said sternly. "Did you…?"

"Yeah…" I answered, taking the seat between her and Quil.

I turned my head slightly to look at Ashley, the girl who I now loved and who I would care for forever.

She glanced over at me for a second before turning back to her food. She forked the last bit of lettuce into her mouth and chewed.

I felt a frown touch my face. Why wasn't she having her sandwich? Did she think she was fat? She most certainly wasn't. I tried to push my warring thoughts, brought on by the fresh imprint, aside. If felt a little weird to be worrying about her all of a sudden.

Jared got up and put his plate in the sink. He came back over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Outside, now," Jared whispered.

I was about to respond with a snarky reply when Jared squeezed my shoulder, hard. I held in a grunt of pain and got up from my seat and followed behind Jared as he left through the back door.

"OK, what is it Jared? Why do you have to drag me outside?" I complained. Rotating the shoulder Jared had squeezed.

"Because you need a rundown on how imprinting works," Jared answered.

"I know how it works idiot, it just happened!" I said.

"True, but Ashley has no idea what is going on. You need to act normally around her, don't smother her – especially after what happened," Jared explained. "She hasn't entered into the supe' world in a good way. She just saw her family die in the hands of vampires not even twenty four hours ago. She doesn't need you to confuse her any more than she already is.

"She will probably need a friend more than anything right now. She has Kim, but I'm sure you could bond with her in some way. But… just don't force it. You'll want to move pretty fast in comparison to what she wants or needs, you just have to learn to be patient."

"OK," I said, glancing back at the house.

"Embry," Jared said.

"What?"

"Are you sure you understand?'

"Yes, I do, Jared. Go slow, she's been through enough shit, don't force it and I can only be her friend," I responded. "I heard you, now can we go back inside?"

Jared eyed me for a moment, probably gauging if I was ready enough. Without waiting for permission from Jared I quickly made my way back into the house.

Jared called my name as I opened the back door, but I didn't pay any attention. Walking to the dining table I heard the sweetest sound in the world, Ashley's laughter. It wasn't a real laugh, but it was a giggle. She was giggling at Quil and Seth and their childish antics. Right then, I for once was happy of their bickering.

"Quil, you're such and idiot."

"I'm not the idiot, you are."

"Well I'm not dumb, and Emily for sure was giving that sandwich to me," Seth said, reaching across the table to grab one of the sandwiches off of Quil's plate.

Quil quickly moved his plate out of reach and huddled protectively over it while taking another large bite of his sandwich.

"Emily, can you make me another sandwich?" Seth whined.

Emily turned to Seth, smiling. "Even if I make you another sandwich, Seth, you'll still ask for another one when you're finished."

"Still, I'm hungry," Seth whined, making a puppy-dog face at Emily.

Ashley giggled again. I slowly made my way over to the seat at Ashley's left, and sat down. Her eyes trailed away from Seth and over to me.

"Hey, your name is Embry, right?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah."

"Good, I remembered. It's been a long time since I last saw you," She commented, glancing around the room. "You're all juniors now?"

Quil gave her a small grin. "Yup, Embry and I are, Seth's a sophomore."

"Oh, yeah," Ashley said, letting the conversation drift off.

"Here you go Seth," Emily said, handing Seth a sandwich.

"Thanks, Emily," Seth said, before chowing down on his sandwich.

Ashley finished off her sandwich and rose from her seat to put away the dish. Through the imprint I was able to tell that she was in discomfort, despite the weak bond between us. She walked across the kitchen and placed her plate in the sink. When she turned on the water, Emily looked over at Ashley.

"You don't need to do the dishes Ashley, one of the boys can do it," Emily said, pulling out another two slices from a loaf of bread.

Ashley stiffly nodded her head. With Emily focused on preparing food and the boys intent on their food, I was the only one to notice her place a tentative hand on her chest and take a slow and deep breath, wincing as she did.

"Are you OK Ashley?" I asked concerned. She quickly looked over at me, surprised. I held myself back from running over her to help, noticing the pain in her eyes.

"Yeah… I think so," Ashley responded slowly.

Emily put down the knife she was using and walked to Ashley's side. "Did they hurt you?" she questioned.

Ashley nodded and Emily placed an arm around her shoulders to lead her away, "You need to go to the hospital then and get checked out."

"Say she got beat up Em," Seth said lowly to Emily. She gave a nod to him knowing to give the cover-up instead of the real story. "I'll tell Sam where you're going," Seth said, finishing off his sandwich and getting up from his seat to leave through the back door.

"Thanks Seth," Emily called, grabbing her keys off the key-ring.

I could hear Ashley huff out a breath after making it down the steps, and I began to really worry about how badly she was injured. She had seemed perfectly fine physically, maybe a little… beaten up but it didn't seem like anything was broken. Emily's Honda started up and I ran out the back door, planning on meeting them at the hospital.