A/N: Sorry that the last one seemed kind of rushed guys! I literally wrote it right before work and I wanted to post it before I left which is why there's no explanation or anything on it. And really my excuses are sad, life got in the way of course! Work, school, homework, family, you know how it is. But I'm going to try and come back.

I couldn't tell if things were coming together or falling apart over this last week.

Jessica would barely talk to me anymore. We sat together at lunch in awkward, angry silence until the bell rang and she bolted up without a word. She never told me the reason, but I didn't have to ask because I already knew.

It had something to do with the boy sitting next to me on my couch. "So what is this show even about anyway?" Embry asked me.

"It's about two brothers who are skilled at hunting down supernatural creatures, and they're trying to find and kill the demon that killed their mother." I said quickly. "Now hush, you're interrupting."

He rolled his eyes but smirked anyways and stretched his arm over the back of the couch almost naturally. I stiffened automatically but just slightly, and his armed snaked away. "Sorry." He said, unapologetically. "Boundaries, I forgot."

"Sure you did." I said sarcastically. But I elbowed him playfully and all was forgiven.

Sorry, are you confused? I got ahead of myself. Let me back it up to the day after my encounter with Embry at the diner.

"I need a ride to school or I'm going to be late!" I yelled down the stairs, trying to yank up my jeans and brush my hair at the same time. "Hello!? Anyone hear me?"

A brief silence followed and finally my step-dad answered with, "five minutes and I'm leaving without you!"

Five minutes. I could do five minutes. I would be an ugly creature at the end of those five minutes, but I could be ready in five minutes. One navy blue pullover, two boots and one quick brush of my teeth later, I was sitting in the passenger seat of Dan's car.

Whenever I rode with him, I was never more thankful that La Push was so small. A few minutes of idle chit chat and I was out of the car before you could say boo. But I was still late. I would have been on time to class if I didn't decide to speed walk to the back entrance, which was on the other side of the school from where I was supposed to be, because I spotted Embry and Jake talking out front of the main doors.

Call it a hunch, but I had a feeling Embry was waiting for me.

My avoidance tactics worked well, until I let my guard down after gym and he caught me by the upper arm. "You've been avoiding me." He said lowly.

"I wouldn't call it avoiding. I would call it manoeuvring myself so that I don't run into you." I said. "But I obviously failed, because you caught me."

"I thought we were past this."

I shrugged. "I don't remember saying any such thing. Just because I talked to you at the diner last night, doesn't mean I want to be your friend. It's in the job description."

"Oh really? And is letting me kiss you also in that description?"

My cheeks flushed red and I narrowed my eyes. "I didn't let you kiss me. And it was on the forehead, so your point is moot."

"Do you really believe that?" His voice had a teasing edge, but I really wasn't in the mood to be teased. I was tired of him following me around.

Red stained my vision for a second. "Does it matter? I said leave me alone!" I snapped. His eyes filled with hurt, and my vision cleared. Why did I feel so guilty? "Embry, I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me…"

"Just save it." He murmured. "I get it, you don't want me around. Stop snapping at me and apologizing and stop giving me mixed signals. I'll stop bothering you."

My stomach felt heavy as I watched him walk away. Isn't that what I wanted, for him to leave me alone? So why did I feel so sick?

He was out of my sight before I could call him back.

After school was bitter sweet for me. Jessica was mad at me, because she had noticed the attention that Embry had been giving me and she didn't understand. I didn't either, of course, but there was no telling her that. I didn't have work, so that freed up my time but I knew if I went home with no plans, my mom would force me to babysit.

So I went for a walk to clear my head.

There was a path that I knew as well as the back of my own hand, because the guys, Jess and I used to hike it every Sunday. It was a bit rough, but it was beautiful and it was the perfect place to clear my mind and just be by myself.

I was about fifteen minutes into my walk when I heard howls, and remembered what my older sister had mentioned to me the other day.

"You know, there's been more sightings of those animals that murdered those townies back last month. They claim that they're bears, but a friend of mine saw them and said they were way too big to be bears. So watch out, next time you make me late for school, I'm going to cover you in deer meat and throw you into the woods to get eaten."

I shivered and tried to turn back, when I tripped over a root and fell on my ankle.

"Holy mother of fuck!" I cried out, clutching my foot. It was already starting to swell and I think I had twisted it. "Shit, what do I do now?" I checked my cellphone, no signal. "Great."

A chill came over me and then I heard a voice. "I've never heard a young lady swear like that before." The voice said, in a cool voice that sounded melting butter. I glanced up from where I was sitting to find one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen, with olive tinted skin and black dreads, standing over me. "You seem to have had an accident. Good thing I was hunting in the area and found you."

I blinked. "Hunting animals? Here? Isn't that illegal?"

He grinned. "I don't hunt animals, my dear. I hunt people. Which I've heard is even more illegal."

I stared up at his face, dumbfounded, trying to comprehend what he just said. "Are you going to kill me?" I whispered.

He kneeled down to my level and put his hands on my face. I shivered and flinched, because they felt like ice cubes and then I got lost in his bright red eyes. They were like nothing I had ever seen before, absolutely captivating and terrifying. My imminent death was closing in, and all I could do was open my mouth with a gasp and whisper, "what are you?"

"I'm a vampire, sweetheart. And you smell lovely."

"Thank you." I murmured involuntarily. I felt lost in his gaze.

"You're a very polite little lady," he commented with fascination. "And very cooperative, so I will make this fast. Does that appeal to you?" I nodded dumbly. "Wonderful. Thank you for being so kind. I'm starving." As his mouth started to close in on my neck, I remained completely still.

An angry voice snapped me out of my trance. "Get. Away. From. Her." It growled and my face was released from the man's iron grip. My eyes widened at my saviour. Paul was trembling from head to toe, jaw clenched and snarling. "I will rip your throat out, bloodsucker."

The man rose with grace, and he had the smallest of smiles on his face. "Try it, mutt." He taunted, and took off flying.

And faster than I ever thought possible of a person, my brother started vibrating in waves and all of a sudden, he wasn't my brother anymore. He was a four legged, grey haired, long toothed, snarling beast. He crouched on his hind legs and took off running and all of a sudden, five other creatures came shooting out from behind me, following his lead. The last one skidded to a halt next to me, clutching my ankle, stared at me with its big eyes and then took off.

I stared after them stupidly.

Not bears, wolves. At least, I think they were wolves. And one of them was my brother.

And then I remembered the eyes of the wolf I just saw. Embry.

It didn't take long for me to black out.

I was never one to handle stress very well. The night before my first day of high school, even though I knew basically everyone, I spiked a fever of over 102 and threw up all night because Veronica told me that I was going to get hazed.

And now, after finding out that my brother can change into a massive wolf, I fainted.

Waking up completely alone in a strange house isn't really my favourite thing in the world. When I opened my eyes and realized I had no idea where I was, I shot straight up in a panic. "Holy shit, I was kidnapped. Oh no, my family is going to be so worried. Shit, I'm going to die!"

"You're not going to die, Luce. Don't be so melodramatic."

My face pinched up. "Paul, shut up."

"Lucy, make me."

"Ugh, you're so annoying!" I complained, slumping back against the couch. And then I remembered what had just happened. Jumping onto my feet, I swung around until I spotted him, sitting at the kitchen table with a young woman who I recognized, but couldn't find a name in my head. "You just turned into a giant wolf." I accused, pointing at my brother.

He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, about that…"

"About that!? That's all you can say? How long have you been able to do that?"

"About a year?" He asked rhetorically.

My eyes bugged out of my head. "A year? And you never told me? What the hell!"

He rolled his eyes like I was stupid. "It's not like you would have believed me anyway, Lucy. And besides, you have a big mouth."

"And there goes the pot calling the kettle black." I muttered.

I could see his arm start to twitch against the table, until the woman across from him smacked him with a spoon. "Paul, control yourself!" She chided. "I don't need another broken table."

"Sorry, Emily." He muttered.

My eyebrows raised in recognition. Of course I knew who she was now that she was facing me with a warm smile on her face… Well, half of her face. She was Emily Young, fiancée to Sam Uley and the woman who got attacked by a bear a couple years ago.

Wait a second…

I could tell my realization was showing on my face, because Paul watched me warily, but he didn't say anything, as if he didn't want to scare me. "It wasn't a bear." I said out loud, cursing my lack of a verbal filter.

To my surprise, she laughed a little. "Even without the looks, I would know you're related to Paul. There's no mistaking that temper and that bluntness. I'm Emily, it's nice to formally meet you Lucy. I've heard a lot about you from not just Paul, but Embry, Quil and Jake too. Especially Embry."

I shook her hand, noticing that the scars appeared from under her sleeve but smartly deciding to not say anything and then dropped it as quick as I could. "Speaking of the guys, where are they?"

"They went after the leech with the dreads. They should be back soon enough." Paul answered

"Present!" Quil shouted, appearing at the screen door. "Hey Lucy, heard you blacked out. Obviously you don't handle surprises very well."

I rolled my eyes at his stupidity. "Well gee Quil, I'm sorry that I didn't take very well to my brother turning into a giant wolf right in front of my eyes after almost getting eaten by a vampire. Next time, I'll try to react better."

"There won't be a next time." Another voice, deeper and more solemn muttered. "I'll never let it anywhere near you again." I came face to face with a haggard looking Embry, wearing nothing but basketball shorts and twigs in his hair.

"Did you catch him?" Emily asked eagerly, rushing up next to Sam's side.

"No." He said.

"But that doesn't matter." Embry said, interrupting. "I'm not going to rest until I rip that bastard's throat out."

Sam placed a strong hand on Embry's shoulder and I could now see that he was still trembling. "Embry, you need to relax. Lucy's safe, she's right here. He didn't hurt her."

Embry shut his eyes and his whole body vibrated once. "He touched her." He said in a voice that was almost a whisper in the wind. "I can still smell him all over her."

And then he crossed the room in three big strides and completely wrapped me up in his embrace. "Embry…" I muttered into his chest. "I'm okay. I'm right here, I'm fine."

"I'm never letting you go." He growled.

"I'm not sure if you're serious or not…" My voice was muffled. "But I hope not, because I can't breathe."

Reluctantly, he released me. And he did gave me a once over, almost as if he was checking that all my body parts were there. "Your ankle is a bit swollen. You shouldn't be standing on it." He said. In all of this drama, I had forgotten about my ankle and the reminder sent pain shooting up my foot. Immediately, I was swept up and place back on the sofa. He sat down next to me hesitantly. "Are you okay?" He asked.

I took a deep breath. "I think we need to talk."

After shooting everyone some pretty nasty looks, the room was cleared out almost immediately, with the exception of Paul, who had to be dragged out of the room by Sam, grumbling and snarling the entire time, and Emily, who had popped in and out after bringing me a bag of ice.

"I'm sure you have a lot to ask me…" He said awkwardly.

"I'm going to start off with my favourite question of the day. What are you?"

"I'm a werewolf. Well, more like a shape shifter, because I can turn anytime. It doesn't have to be a full moon and it doesn't have to be at night. I'm not threatened by silver bullets of any kind, so don't even think about shooting me because I won't die and I won't be very happy." He was teasing me, and despite myself, I smiled. "It's nice to see you smile."

I laughed. "Well, I think I might be going insane. I just found out my friends are shape shifters, and I'm smiling."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "So, we're friends now?"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, you caught me. I don't know why you're surprised. You've been bugging me for weeks now. It's hard not to give into you when you're that annoying."

"You think that I'm annoying now? Wait until you see me now that you've agreed to be my friend."

"Oh, brother."