So, I've got another snow day. Seriously, my school is getting ridiculous.

Anyways, I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It was fun to finally write Embry and Bianca moments. The first time I wrote this, I had intended for Emily and Kim to explain it to Bianca, but as I was reading through it to post, I realized that it would be better coming from Embry.totalRandum has completely inspired me to post a few more chapters today. So thank you, totalRandum!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to me only in my dreams. In reality, though, it belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

When I walked in, Emily set me to work. I was mixing and whisking and fixing a million different things. Luckily, Emily was a talker. She told me all about her life and her love with Sam. It was a bit calming, really, to know that love could be so easy between two people. Emily said they had a few issues in the past, but their love was stronger and they could overcome anything.

I didn't mind listening to her. She was like a wise older sister, the one who tells you what's right and wrong, and the one you want to be like. She didn't judge, she was just a friend.

By the time she was done with her story, I was completely calm. I had all but forgotten Gabe and Katie. I was nearly carefree.

That was until Embry and the other guys walked in. Then, all my worries from earlier came flooding back. The guys went straight for the food, while Embry walked over to me.

"Bianca," he said. "I need to talk to you."

"Okay," I replied. I was extremely eager to know why these people were so close. They were a family. It was weird because they were all like brothers, yet I knew that if these guys were related, it was very distantly.

After a quick wave to everybody, I followed Embry outside. On the porch, he hesitated.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

Embry thought about it for a few seconds.

"We're going to the beach."

We walked to the beach. It was silent, but the silence didn't bother me. It was friendly, calm. There was no pressure to say anything. I knew he'd get to it eventually, no matter what it was. And I knew that I would accept it because based on the way everyone had just acted at Emily's, they couldn't be terrible people

When we made it to the beach, Embry led the way over to a large beechwood tree. We were almost there when I giggled slightly.

"What's funny?" asked Embry curiously.

"Nothing," I replied. "It's just . . . this is the place Jacob walked with Bella and I when he told us why the Cullens couldn't come to La Push. Jacob had thought he was scaring us, when really all he was doing was solving a really important mystery."

We had now made it to the tree. I walked over and sat on the trunk, my feet barely still touching the ground.

"Jacob told you about the Cullens? What exactly did he tell you?" he asked.

I glanced up from the ground and met Embry's wonderful brown eyes. They were curious, searching. I don't know what it was about his face, but something made me tell the truth.

The whole truth.

"He told us they were vampires, but they were vegetarians and didn't drink blood from humans."

And there it was, hanging on the air. The fact that I knew the Cullens were vampires. The fact that I had just shared a secret I swore never to share.

Oddly enough, Embry just relaxed.

"Great," he said, smiling. "That's one less thing I have to explain."

He sat down beside me on the tree and took a deep breath.

"Bianca, I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise not to freak out. Okay?" His eyes were searching mine again. I felt as if those eyes pulled the answer right out of me.

"Okay," I said. A cool breeze blew down the beach then, chilling me. It was instinct to scoot closer to Embry and his wonderful heat.

Embry didn't notice. He took a deep breath and turned away from me, looking out from the tree to the other side of the beach. The way he was acting, it seemed hard for him to tell me. I decided not to react until he was done.

"I'm a werewolf."

He paused, gauging my reaction. I was still smiling encouragingly, not reacting until he was finished.

"It doesn't follow the moon schedule like all those horror stories say, though. I can phase - change - into a werewolf whenever I want and I don't want to hurt humans. We're built to be the exact enemies of vampires."

He glanced at me again, trying to see me react. I, of course, had gone against my decision and reacted.

I was just amazed and in wonder. He was a werewolf! That was awesome!

"Wait, so you can turn into a dog and run around on four paws?" I asked.

Embry laughed before pretending to be offended. "It's more dignified than that. We turn into wolves and we protect the tribe."

"We?"

"The pack. Sam, Paul, Jared, and me. We're a pack and together we protect La Push. It actually sort of sucks because when we're in wolf form, we hear each others' thoughts. It's terrible because nothing is hidden, nothing is private; there's no peace of mind. Anyway, Sam's the Alpha - although he's just waiting for Jacob to phase."

"Jacob?"

"Well, the last pack we had was Ephriam Black's time. He was the alpha, Levi Uley was beta, and Quil Ateara was third. Their pack was really small - just them. Because the Cullens left, the wolf gene skipped a couple generations. Billy's dad and Billy were both normal humans. Then, the Cullens moved back and set everything in motion. It's guaranteed that Quil and Jake join the pack."

"Oh," I said.

"There's more," he said. He took a deep breath and actually turned to face me, meeting my eyes. "There's this thing that we do. It's sort of our way to find our soul mate. It's called imprinting."

Distantly, I heard Jared say that Embry had imprinted on me. . . . Did that mean Embry and I were soul mates?

"When the werewolf sees her, everything about them changes. Everything they care about disappears. The only thing that matters is her. Suddenly, they'll do anything - be anything to make her happy. They become whatever she needs, whether that be a brother, or a friend, or a protector, or a lover."

I was silent, processing the information through my head, and I gazed away from him, at the ground.

"Bianca," he said softly. He pulled my chin up so that I would meet his eyes. "I imprinted on you."

I was practically stunned into silence. I pulled away from him and stood up. I couldn't deal with this right now. I'd just gotten out of a relationship, I didn't need another. I needed to get over Gabe before I did anything else.

"Bianca?" he asked softly when I didn't say anything.

I turned to face him. "Embry, I . . . Embry, I can't . . . I can't . . . Embry . . ."

I stumbled through the words and I felt tears rise to my eyes, clouding my throat. I could feel hysterics approaching and I struggled to speak at all.

"Embry . . . Embry . . . Embry," I whispered, tears spilling out.

Embry reached forward and pulled my into his warm arms. I clutched at his shirt, crying terribly. It was just too much.

He held me while I cried. He didn't say anything, he just stroked my hair. I was crying for my lost relationship with Gabe. I was crying because I was seriously overwhelmed with all of this information. I was crying because my life just seemed to keep getting more twisted and weird as I moved through it.

Eventually, my tears dried up. When I was done crying, I didn't say anything. I stayed in his arms and marveled at the warmth. I fit perfectly against his chest. I felt that I belonged.

When that thought crossed my mind, I stood up, gently freeing myself from his arms. I turned around to face him.

"Embry, I just got out of a relationship. Right now, I can't handle another, no matter who it's with," I said calmly.

He nodded, not revealing anything in his face.

"So, can we just . . . ," I trailed off, unsure of what I was asking. What did I want? I knew that I still wanted Embry in my life, but I didn't want him as a boyfriend. So what could he be?

"Can we just be friends?" I asked.

His face was smooth, calm. "Friends."

"Best friends," I amended, smiling a little.

"Best friends," he replied, grinning widely.

When we said goodbye at Sam and Emily's, I was grinning hugely. We were joking around and laughing together. It honestly felt like we were best friends.

He walked me over to my car and stood there, laughing at something I had said. His laughter was contagious and I couldn't help but giggle as well. When I reached the driver door, I turned to face him.

My laughter faded as I gazed into his eyes. They were my favorite part of him, the way that from a distance they looked almost black, but upon closer inspection, they were a lovely shade of dark brown.

"Well, I have to get going now," I said, gesturing to my car.

Embry looked like it physically pained him for me to leave.

"Hey," I said. I put my arms around him. "Tomorrow's Saturday. I'm coming back down to see you."

"Okay," Embry sighed.

He pulled out of the hug and made to go back inside.

"Ahem," I said. "Wait a minute."

Embry turned, raising his eyebrows at my sudden attitude. I laughed and pulled him closer. I leaned up on tiptoe - even then Embry had to lean down - and kissed his cheek softly.

"Goodbye, Embry," I said softly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I will almost definitely be posting another chapter sometime today. I'm hoping for a review before I post it, but I'll do it either way. :)