Chapter 7.

The day went on too quickly for my liking. Abby and I watched a lot of TV and relaxed. The little conversation we had between us was mostly small talk. We went along our day as if our living arrangement was normal. Other than the occasional long glances, we were comfortable together. Every once in awhile small details about Abby would be revealed and I realized more things we had in common. Even though I didn't know a lot about her past, or her deep, dark secrets, or her dreams, or anything like that, I could tell from her personality Abby was perfect. Perfect for me. We would be perfect together.

I tried to avoid any conversation about her marriage and she seemed to avoid any conversation about the big gray wolf in the room. Abby's lack of curiosity about the whole wolf thing was killing me, but I figured she would bring it up in her own time. I sure wasn't ready to bring it up.

I was looking through my fridge for a snack when I mumbled something about my mom stocking it for me. There were things in the fridge that I didn't normally eat, like vegetables. I rolled my eyes.

"Your mom seems great," Abby said with a smile. She had made her way into the kitchen with me looking for a drink.

"She is. She just still treats me like a kid sometimes," I said gesturing to the refrigerator. "I don't usually have that much food in there," I smiled. "You're lucky or we would be eating a lot of take-out."

"Let me give you some money for food. I've ate a ton today," she said as she went for her wallet.

"Oh no," I insisted, "You've seen the way I eat. Your small portions aren't going to make a dent in the grocery bill compared to what I can do."

"Embry I can't stay here and mooch off of you –" Abby started to argue, but I interrupted.

"Yes, you can, so don't argue with me," I said trying to be stern, but playful. I don't think the playful part came out very well because Abby seemed to recoil a little when I raised my voice. I never wanted to make her feel that way again. I inched closer to her and handed her a drink with a friendly smile.

"Hey, I know!" I said, trying to make my voice sound more cheerful. "Maybe you can cook dinner. I'm a horrible cook."

"You did pretty well with breakfast this morning," Abby replied with a smile. My more cheerful voice seemed to make her more comfortable. I had to make sure my grumpy ass never showed its face around her.

"Eh, that's breakfast, that's easy. My mom taught me 'cause it's my favorite," I shrugged.

"Mine too," she said as she pushed me out of the way to look in the fridge. "Ok, what do we have in here?"

Abby took her time going through my cupboards and fridge trying to think of something to make while I sat back and watched. From the looks of it, we were having some sort of pasta. I enjoyed watching her, it was better than the sneaky peeping tom evenings. It felt normal and perfect to have Abby in my house scurrying around like she owned the place.

"You're gonna have to get the other jar of sauce out. I'll probably eat one by myself," I smiled as I pointed at the second jar in the cupboard.

She glanced back at me over her shoulder and gave me a curious look. "What is wrong with you?" She mumbled and slightly shook her head as she grabbed the other jar of sauce. I snorted a laugh. Abby continued to work and would occasionally sneak peeks in my direction and give me shy smiles.

"Ok, so, I know a little about your mom," Abby said, seemingly uncomfortable with the silence. "What about your dad? Does he live around here?"

Now it was my turn to become uncomfortable. "I really don't know my dad," I replied and chewed on my lip.

"Oh. You don't know who he is or you've never met him?" she asked timidly.

"Both actually. I'm pretty sure I know who he is, but not positive. My mother has never confirmed. I don't know if I really want to figure it out," I responded honestly.

My mother is Makah. The wolf gene is only carried within a certain number of Quileute people, which means, my father is Quileute. When I went through my transformation it caused a big controversy within the pack because we found out that my possible father choices narrowed down to Sam's dad, Jacob's dad Billy, or Quil's father. We're hoping Sam's dad is my father because he wasn't around for Sam anyway and already has the bad dad status. With the other two possible fathers, they would be seen in a bad light because they were both married at the time of my conception. One of my pack brothers was my biological half brother. We all decided we would rather not know.

Abby had stopped what she was doing to look at me. "You don't want to know who your father is?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

I just shook my head slowly. "It's complicated." I was hoping she wouldn't question me further.

"Ok." She took the hint. Abby gave me a small smile and went back to working on dinner.

*********

Abby and I continued to talk during dinner. She seemed to light up when she spoke of her parents and seemed genuinely interested in the dull stuff in my life. I chose not to fill her in on the wolf part of me and that was the most exciting part. Her enthusiastic interest must be an imprint thing because I was talking about some boring stuff like being a mechanic and what I wanted to do with my house. Abby listened to me as if I were reciting a love sonnet. She smiled a lot and looked at me all googly-eyed.

We were just about finished with dinner and I could tell Abby was starting to get tired. The pain pills the doctor prescribed didn't seem to make her as goofy as whatever it was they gave her in the hospital, but they did seem to easily drain her energy. Making dinner probably sent her over the edge.

When Abby stood up from the table to clean up the dinner mess, I stood up as well and gently grabbed her arm to stop her. The skin on skin contact sent a jolt of energy between us. Abby looked up at me with her huge hazel eyes and drew in a deep breath. I continued to stare at her longer than I should have. I wanted to kiss her badly, especially when she looked at me like that. She smelled so good and her lips seemed so kissable. I wanted to know what it felt like to have the energy between us with my mouth on hers, but instead, I withdrew and let go of her arm.

"Let me take care of all this," I offered. "You look tired. Why don't you rest?"

Abby quietly nodded her head and gave me a small tight smile before she quickly walked out of the room. I had a sense she was upset about something. Before I could follow her to ask what was wrong, Tala made her way into the house slowly, lightly knocking on the door. I looked her way and she must've witnessed my confusion.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "What did you do?"

"I don't know!" I whispered. "I just offered to clean this up and she looked like she was going to cry."

Tala looked at me skeptically, "What else?" I knew I couldn't get anything by Tala so I confessed. I filled her in on touching her arm and the electricity and the feeling of wanting to kiss her.

"But then you didn't kiss her?" Tala was trying to get the story straight.

"I can't!" I was trying to keep my frustrated tone down. "I can't do that when things are so messed up!"

Tala gave me the Den Mother smile. The one that let me know she was proud of me and she respected my decision. I just rolled my eyes at her. Little did she know how hard it was for me to not throw Abby over my shoulder, take her upstairs and have my way with her all night. Which, of course, I wouldn't do…but I thought about it all day.

"She's confused," Tala explained. "With all the feelings she's having. I've been there. I know. I'll go talk to her." I nodded and pointed to the living room where Abby was resting.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have Abby stay with me. It was going to be hard enough for me to control myself around her. But I didn't want to hurt her feelings by rejecting her either. Abby had only been in my home for one day and the tension was already getting to me. I didn't know how much longer I could keep my wolf secret from her. I knew it would only be days before I told her my true feelings. Every time I talked to her I wanted to tell her. The words were on the tip of my tongue. Having her close to me every day and not acting on my feelings would be hell.

I continued to clean up the kitchen and overheard the conversation that had already started in the other room. Abby and Tala were talking softly, but I could still hear.

"I guarantee Embry is ok with you staying her," Tala insisted.

"I just don't want to be a burden and make things uncomfortable for him," Abby replied.

"What do you mean?" Tala asked. There was a long pause. "He's cleaning up…" Tala must have assured Abby that I wouldn't interrupt their conversation. I thought about tuning out, but I couldn't help but listen in.

"It's so crazy, I trust him totally and I don't even know him. After being with a man like Craig I wouldn't think I'd be so trusting," Abby whispered between sniffles. "It's like I'm drawn to him, but…"

"But what?" Tala asked after a couple seconds of silence. I had stopped what I was doing, eager to hear Abby's reply more clearly.

There was another moment of silence and a long sigh, from Abby I assumed. "I don't think he feels the same." That confession nearly made my chest cave in. Of course I felt the same way!

"He knows you're married Abby," was all Tala said. There was no verbal reply after that, so I'm not sure how Abby took that comment.

"You have to trust me," Tala spoke up again. "Embry is a great guy. He's a little shy so he doesn't let just anyone in on his life. But he would let it be known if he wasn't totally cool with the situation."

"Ok," I heard Abby whisper through sniffles. Man I felt like shit.

The phone rang and I snapped out of my eavesdropping. I picked it up and answered with a grunt.

"Embry, it's Chief Swan. I hear Abigail Reece is staying with you." Charlie asked. I confirmed. When Charlie was on duty, he referred to himself as Chief Swan. He must be calling about Craig. "Sam tells me you and the other guys are going out to fix up the Reece house tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm going to grab Collin, Brady, and Quil to help. Since he's seen Sam and Seth he probably won't appreciate them on his property if he comes home," I snickered.

"That's probably a good idea. He's not going home until tomorrow night anyway. He earned himself another night in lock-up for being uncooperative with me. Kept rattling on about me being blind and stupid for not seeing a gigantic wolf or something. Might have to call a psych." I could tell Charlie had a smile on his face.

"Oh, that's too bad," I chuckled in reply.

"I need to speak with Abigail please if she's available."

I called for Abby and she and Tala made it to the kitchen. I had one of those old fashioned phones with the extra long cord, but it wasn't long enough to reach into the living room. When I handed Abby the phone I could see her eyes were a little puffy from crying. My heart ached a little knowing I was partially to blame.

Abby pulled my shirt to keep me near her when I tried to walk out of the kitchen to give her privacy.

"Stay?" she whispered. I nodded and planted my feet, not sure what Abby needed me to do. I stood there and listened to the one side of Abby's conversation with Charlie. Abby was nervously playing with the phone cord and slowly inching towards me. I don't think Abby realized what she was doing. It was an imprint thing. We gravitated towards each other unconsciously.

Tala noticed and gave me a big smile and a wink. "I'm just gonna go," Tala whispered to me as she shuffled towards the door. "Tell her to call me if she needs anything." I nodded.

By the end of her conversation with Charlie, Abby was leaning on me. Her head only came to my chest so I couldn't see her face, but I could tell by her shaky responses on her end of the conversation she was upset. I immediately wrapped my arms around her tiny frame, grabbed the phone when her conversation was over, and hung it up for her.

Abby stood there in silence for awhile and I continued to hold her and smooth out her hair. Her hair was so soft and her vanilla and cinnamon smell was surrounding me. I had wanted to touch it all day and I was finally getting that chance. It sounded like she was trying to control her breathing. Then she started to sniffle and grip my shirt which opened up Abby's floodgates. Suddenly she started to sob and her breathing wasn't steady. I picked her up like a child and made our way to the sofa in the living room.

While she was curled up on my lap crying, I continued to play with her hair and it seemed to help her calm down.

"Talk to me. What's wrong?" I whispered and instinctively leaned down to kiss her head. Abby's body seemed to become rigid for a second, but then seemed to melt into mine a little more.

"I'm so stupid." Abby mumbled quietly.

"You're not stupid," I said sternly, but being careful not to be too severe. "Don't talk about yourself that way." Abby sighed in response.

"What did Chief Swan say?" I asked trying to get her out of the funk she was in.

"Craig's staying another night, but he'll be released tomorrow," Abby replied. "But the good thing is there's a No Contact Order on him so he can't get in touch with me in any way." She considered this a "good thing." Sweet.

But just to be sure I interpreted her words correctly, I asked, "Are you sure that's what you want?" Abby immediately sat up and pushed away from me to look at me.

"Yeah," she said with an incredulous look as if she were saying "duh."

Then, there we were again, locked in our trance-like gaze. The energy between us tried to pull us together. I saw Abby peek down at my mouth and it looked as though she was going to kiss me, so I interrupted.

"For how long?" I asked. Her eyes looked back into mine with confusion. "How long is the No Contact thingy?" I clarified.

Abby let out a long, frustrated sigh and slowly slid off my lap to sit on the couch beside me. My hand went back to its place in her hair, but Abby gently grabbed it and sat it on my lap. Ouch. Before I could say anything to not make her feel rejected and hurt again, she quickly answered my question.

"The No Contact Order is in effect until after the trial." She answered me while concentrating on a string from her ratty sweatshirt.

"There's going to be a trial?" I was shocked. I figured there were more than just the one or two instances that I was aware of, but enough for a trial? "What else has he done to you?" I asked through my clenched teeth. "You have to tell me." I've been dying to know the things Abby had endured. I needed to know so I could be careful and avoid scaring her in any way.

"Embry relax," Abby gave me a smile and put her hand on my shoulder. She shifted next to me on the couch facing her body towards me. She tucked her knees up to her chin. She was even smaller with her body folded into itself. "It's not a huge felony trial. It's just a small court date. There will be witnesses, but emotionally it's gonna suck just the same."

"Sorry, I just…I can't even…," I tried to control my temper. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine." I finally said.

"I want to tell you. I need to tell you everything."


This is a short chapter and not much going on, but I felt some sort of intereaction was needed since she just moved in.

I'm still writing this story and I'm stuck on Chapter 15. I've been working on it for a couple weeks and just can't figure it out. Hopefully my updates don't catch up with me. My brain has been mush lately.

Please tell me what you think so far. I have a lot of people signing up for updates, but not too many comments.