Chapter Five (by Eirelav, Valelf)

(Back at the ranch...)

"Edward! That tickles!" Bella laughed as she attempted to squirm away from him.

Edward's fingers had found their way just under the hem of her shirt, and gently teased the soft skin there. "I know. That's partly why it's so enjoyable for me," he quietly said with his lips up against her ear.

That made her squirm a bit more, but for an entirely different reason. "Partly? Why?" she breathlessly asked. "What else are you getting out of it?"

The teasing of his fingers turned more into gentle caresses. Sitting between his legs, her back pressed up against his chest, Bella could feel his heartbeat speed up, right in tune with her own.

She very slowly turned her head to look up at him and the look in his eyes made her gasp. It was as if her own desire was being mirrored right back to her. She still had a difficult time imagining why this insanely gorgeous guy was interested in her.

Feeling a bit daring, she raised herself up on her knees and turned in his arms. Rather than waiting for him to kiss her, like she normally would have, she lightly bit her bottom lip, smiled, then pressed her lips against his.

Edward was surprised and fascinated by Bella's brazen move. As a moan escaped him, he attempted to get control of his roaming hands, that were still under her shirt and exploring her back.

Bella's own hands found their way into his mess of hair, which had become one of her favorite places on him. The soft strands felt like silk along her fingers.

Several weeks had passed since they arrived at the ranch, and Bella and Edward continued to grow closer. They were inexplicably drawn to each other. Anytime they were in the same room, working together or just eating a meal, they found themselves right next to the other. Whenever they had the opportunity to be alone, they ended up wrapped around each other, unable to stay away.

Bella knew that she was falling in love with Edward, but was afraid that once they left the ranch, he would find someone else. She was determined to enjoy every moment she could with him, though. The pain when he left her would be unbearable, but she couldn't imagine being with him and not touching him, not feeling his strong arms wrapped around her or his lips pressed against her own.

Edward was already head over heels in love with Bella, but he felt like she deserved someone better…someone that didn't have a monster inside that had done horrible things in the past. She deserved someone good. He couldn't stay away from her, though. She was too beautiful, precious to him, and consumed all of his thoughts.

Just as Edward started to deepen the kiss, they were interrupted by a deep voice.

"Excuse me." Embry felt bad for breaking things up, and slightly disturbed to find Jacob's best friend in an embrace with Edward. He knew he would have to block it from his thoughts later that night when he phased. Even though he was a little younger than her, Jake always saw Bella as an innocent, fragile little thing that needed his constant guidance and protection. If he saw her like this, Embry wasn't sure how Jake would react.

Bella, thoroughly embarrassed, hid her face in Edward's chest. Edward closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, as he was prone to do when irritated. "What is it, Call?" he growled.

"I just thought you two would like to know that Joe is getting ready to come out looking for you. You're late for dinner."

Edward muttered, "Crap," under his breath, which Embry heard and laughed at, but Bella wasn't able to hear.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he quickly said. "Thanks, Embry. We owe you one."

"Don't think for a minute I won't cash in on that sometime."

"Anytime, man. Seriously."

Bella peeked at Embry. "You won't say anything, will you?"

"To Jake? Do you think I have a death wish? I'll try my best to keep it from him, but he can read me pretty easily. He usually knows what's on my mind."

"Yeah, I know," she sighed.

"Jake? That's your friend, right?" Edward asked.

"He's my best friend and he somehow managed to appoint himself as my protector; as if I actually need a protector."

Embry had to stifle his laugh.

Edward spoke up. "Well, love, you are a danger magnet."

Bella huffed and spun on her heel, almost falling in the process. Edward grabbed her arm to steady her, which seemed to anger her more. She swatted his hand away and stomped off. She expected comments like that from Jake and his friends, but Edward? She never thought he would say anything like that. Although, she inwardly squealed when he called her "love."

Watching her walk away so angrily, Edward felt bad about what he said. He hated feeling like Bella was upset with him. "I shouldn't have said that," he murmured.

Embry said, "She's a little sensitive about that subject. But, you can't possibly imagine how true it is. I swear, she'd be safer if she'd let us wrap her in bubble wrap."

Edward just stood there, watching her walk away. Embry nudged him. "You better catch up with her. If she keeps going like that, she's liable to trip over nothing and wind up on her face."

Edward laughed. He was right. He thanked Embry again and ran to catch up with Bella.

"I'm sorry I said that," he said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Forgive me, love?"

She couldn't be angry with him, not really; especially when he called her "love" again. "I suppose I forgive you. This time."

She sighed happily as he kissed her forehead.

Later that night, after his customary one hour of sleep, Embry awoke to his "alarm clock." He heard and felt the paw of one of his pack mates hit the wall just on the other side of his head.

"They gotta find a better way to wake me up," he mumbled to himself while crawling out of bed.

Edward hadn't been able to fall asleep yet and heard Embry talking to himself. "Are you going somewhere, Embry?"

Embry was so shocked that someone else was awake, he about jumped out of his skin…literally. "What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep. What are you doing up? From the volume of the snoring coming from you, it was pretty obvious that you were sound asleep."

Embry had to think quickly. "I'm meeting someone."

"Oh yeah? Who? One of the girls, right? Which one?"

Embry had learned that it was easiest to just go with what other people assumed to be the truth, rather than make up lies to explain his behavior. "Yeah, it's one of the girls. And no; I'm not going to tell you who it is."

"Aw, come on, man."

"You owe me, Masen. Remember? I need you to keep quiet about this."

"I wasn't going to say anything. I'm just curious."

"Depending on how things go, maybe I'll tell you later."

Edward watched him walk out, a little confused that he didn't even bother to put on a shirt or shoes.

Kathie woke up in the middle of the night from a very strange dream about giant wolves. She wasn't sure where exactly that came from. Unable to get back to sleep right away, she decided to get a glass of water.

Standing at the kitchen sink, she glanced out the window and thought she saw a very large figure, about the size of a horse. Thinking one of them got out of the pasture, she ran outside. She didn't want to wake Joe unless she had to.

By the time she got outside, instead of one of her horses, there was a familiar young man standing there, adjusting a pair of shorts.

"Embry?"

He guiltily looked at the ground. He knew that Kathie and her family would be disappointed in him for being out of the bunkhouse. "Hi, Kathie. I hope I didn't wake you."

"What's going on? Did you just see one of the horses out here?" She liked Embry. He had been respectful to her and her family ever since he got there. She hated to think that he had been intentionally breaking the rules.

He glanced at the trees. "Um, yeah. I thought I saw a horse, that's why I came out here."

Her mother's instincts took over. He was lying. "So, you thought it was a good idea to come out here barefoot, in just a pair of shorts to try and catch a horse? That doesn't seem like a smart move to me, Embry. You're a much brighter guy than that." Crossing her arms across her chest, she looked into his eyes. "What are you really doing out here?"

"Um…well… I…" he stammered. There was a loud growl from the trees. "I can't tell you, Kathie. I'm sorry."

She started looking at the trees, wondering what was making that noise. With thoughts of protecting him, she grabbed his elbow and tried to pull him behind her. Very quietly, she said, "We need to go in the house and get Joe. There's something out there."

"NO!" Embry yelled. The last thing they needed was more humans out there.

Sam, Jacob, and Seth were all in the woods, watching the exchange taking place.

He better not tell her anything., Seth told him.

Sam, it's Embry! He's an expert at keeping our secret. Look how long he's kept his mom in the dark

We have to do something! She is in danger, which means every human here is in danger…especially Bella!

"You can't tell Joe." Embry sounded a little panicky.

"Why not? Come on, we need to get inside!"

"There's nothing dangerous out here right now. We're safe. Trust me. Please?"

"You need to tell me exactly what's going on, and you will tell me right now!" Kathie couldn't believe she was having this trouble from Embry. She wondered what Joe would think when she told him about it.

He kept looking from Kathie into the woods, not sure what to do. Deep down he knew that Kathie needed to hear the truth … part of it, at least. "There's nothing dangerous out here at this moment, but you are in danger, Kathie. Someone, or I guess I should say something, is after you."

"What do you –" she started to say.

Sam came storming out of the woods. "Not another word, Embry." He used his alpha voice and Embry couldn't say anymore about it, as hard as he tried.

Kathie was shocked to see someone else there. "Who are you and what are you doing on our property?" There were two other guys walking out of the woods. She noticed that they all looked like they were of Native American descent and they all only had on a pair of shorts.

She knew why Embry's mom had sent him there. He had been sneaking out at night to hang out with his friends. She wondered if these could be the same people. But, they were from Washington. What in the world would they be doing in Oklahoma?

Jake knew that Embry couldn't say anything else, after Sam laid down the law. But, he could. Very quickly, before Sam could stop him, he said, "Vampires are after you, thanks to that little book you wrote."

Kathie just stood there, with her mouth hanging open. This had to be a joke…right?

"Jacob! Damn it!" Sam wanted to ring Jake's neck.

"She needs to know, man," he simply stated.

Kathie had enough by that point. "I want the truth. Right now."

Jake stepped right in front of her. "Where did you get your information for your book? Who did you have a little chat with?"

"What are you talking about? It's fiction. I made it all up."

They all started laughing. It was crazy that someone could make that story up and be so close to the truth.

Jake said, "Well, most of the stuff in your book is freakishly accurate. You have the attention of some of the worst bloodsuckers in the world. They're coming after you, to find out how you know about them, and then to kill you and your entire family … probably everyone here on the ranch, too."

That proved to be too much for Kathie to handle and she fainted. Embry was right next to her, luckily, and caught her before she hit the ground.

Seth snapped, "Are you happy now, Jake? You killed her!"

"She's not dead, you moron, she just passed out," Sam said. "Let's get her into the house. Hopefully she'll wake up and think it was all a dream."

Embry grimaced. "I'll take her in. That way if Joe or one of their daughters sees me, I can make up some excuse."

"Just hurry up," Sam said as the others ran for the woods again to continue their patrols. They had picked up the trail of a bloodsucker not too far from the house. They needed to monitor it and catch whoever was coming.

Embry carried Kathie carefully into the house and laid her on the couch. He got a washcloth and ran it under some cool water, placing it on her head.

He couldn't just leave her like that, though. So, he stood in the shadows of the room, waiting for her to wake up.

After just a couple of minutes, she started to stir. She blinked her eyes a couple of times, and they focused on him. "Embry? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me." He sighed. "I'm sorry about all of this."

"It's true, isn't it? Everything they said is true. What am I going to do? I need to get my girls out of here. I can't let anything happen to them. What about all of the others?"

"Relax, Kathie. That's why we're here. I'm not going to let anything happen to you or your family. It's our job to protect people from the bloodsuckers."

"But, you're just a group of kids. How can you possibly protect everyone?"

He headed for the door, then turned and smiled at her. "We're not kids. We're werewolves."