Chapter 7: Bonding

Emily's POV

I fought the urge to scream every time that Carlisle snapped one of my bones. The pain was excruciating to say the least. I wondered how much more painful it would have been without the painkilling medicine. The sickening noise the bones made as they snapped didn't help at all.

"I'm almost done" I heard Carlisle say. "I just need to put these braces on and there done" he said.

I slowly opened my eyes again once I was sure that he was telling the truth.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"It really hurts" was all that I could say.

He gently picked up my arm and put it on a much more comfortable pillow.

"Just try not to move it for a few hours and you should be fine" he said.

"Why no cast?" I asked.

"You heal much to quickly for a cast. In your case a brace is just much more practical" he said.

My parents had not moved once since the moment that we had come in here.

"How are you feeling?" my dad asked sounding worried.

"Have you ever had bones broken or re-broken?" I asked.

"Actually yes I did. All the bones in half of my body were broken once when I was fighting a vampire. Doc needed to re-break those" dad shuddered at the mere memory.

"Ouch" I said. "I thought this was bad. You definitely had it way worse than I did" I said.

I looked at my parents and some part of me still had a very hard time believing that this was real. I couldn't believe that after 16 years I could finally find out the truth about myself and my past. I could ask all of the questions that I have had for so long now. It all seemed just a little to surreal to me.

"What happened to me?" I asked.

My mom let out a shaky breath "You were stolen from us from us the night before your second birthday. You were all stolen from us that very same night. To this day we are still not sure who did it. Who could get a past a pack of shape shifters and clan of vampires and escape undetected with so many kids?" mom said. I wanted so badly to go and comfort her. The memory was still much to painful for her, for both of them.

"We think it was a vampire. There was a strange vampire on our lands that night. We never saw him or her though, none of us could track the fiend. When we went home you were gone. We searched and searched everywhere for you. Then there were all the other missing kids" my dad explained.

For a second I thought about all of our adopted parents. Suddenly everything made sense now. It made sense why they hated every time that we asked about our past. It made sense that they would react angrily whenever they caught us watching any of the news coverage of the mysterious disappearance of all those missing Quileute children. It's because we were those missing children and somehow they knew. They were afraid that we would figure it out. I wonder if they knew what we might be capable of doing.

There was one thing that didn't add up though. If a vampire took us then how did we all end up with human parents? Hmm.

"Are you okay Emily?" my mom asked.

"I think they knew" I said.

"Who knew?" dad asked sounding extremely serious now.

"Our adoptive parents" as if I should even call them that anymore. I didn't know what to think of my adoptive human parents anymore. I was so sure that they knew we were stolen. Yet they kept me.

"What makes you think that?" mom asked.

"All of our 'parents' hated it whenever we would ask anything about our pasts and would get angry. All of the news coverage that they would show around the anniversary of our disappearance, well, they would completely freak out if they caught us watching it" I said.

My dad looked angry and he was starting to shake now. I didn't think he was in danger of phasing though. But I would love to see him phase though, just to see what he looks like as a wolf.

"The others are starting to wake up now" dad said.

I listened closely. With my superior hearing I could hear them all moving around slowly in their rooms.

I started to get up only to be pushed back down by mother. "Remember what your grandfather said about being still for a few hours?" she said sternly.

"but I want to see this. I want to see them all being reunited with their parents. Nothing makes me happier then seeing them happy" I said.

She sighed in defeat "Okay fine, but at least let me help you" she said.

I made my way to the living room slowly as my mother supported me. My arm still felt extremely sore and beaten up, but at least it felt better.

The rest of the pack got there around the same time that I did. Everyone's reaction was priceless, just the way that mine had been. It was so beautiful. I had never seen so many tears at once.

I'd give anything to let this little moment of happiness last forever. Right now it was easy to forget all of the problems that we were in. It was easy to forget that we were the most wanted people alive right now. We could forget that we were wanted as science experiments by scientists all over the world. We could forget the danger that we were currently in and just be happy, if only just for this moment.

Then Carlisle gave me a disapproving look "Emily, I thought I said to try not to move your arm for a few hours" he said.

"I'm sorry gramps, I just had to come witness this happy moment" I said.

"Okay, but I really strongly suggest that you go back and rest" he said.

I sighed "Okay, if I really have to" I said.

With my mother's and father's help I made it back to the bed without injuring myself. My arm felt like it was healed, but I guess my grandfather just wants to be extra cautious. It's probably a good idea.

I saw that Jason had followed us in.

"Are you okay Emily?" he looked worried.

"I'm fine. Re-breaking bones just takes a lot of a person" I said.

His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "You had your bones re-broken?" he asked in disbelief. He also looked mad now.

"It was the only way to get them to heal correctly" I said.

It was sweet that he cared so much for me. I care about him just as much. The feelings I had for him were strange. Before I became a wolf I was sure that we'd never be more than just the best friends that we had always been as kids. Then when I saw him for the first time everything changed. I felt this glowing heat inside me. I felt myself gravitationally pulled to him. I wanted to be everything that he needed me to be.

Of course I had never told anyone this, especially him. Everyone would probably just think I'm crazy or a creepy stalker. Not that there's that much of a difference.

My father had to snap his fingers in front of me to get my attention.

He looked a little irritated.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?" I said.

"I've asked you if you were in any pain" dad said.

"No, well I'm just sore but that's it" I said.

"Hey dad. Why do we change into giant wolves? It's something that we've all been curious about for a long time" I said. Suddenly the rest of the pack appeared in the room with all of their parents. This was something that everyone wanted to know.

So they told us all of the legends. The legends of our ancestors. The spirit chiefs were fascinating. I think my favorite story was the one about the third wife. It felt good to finally know.

"There are only two factors that can trigger the instinct to phase" he said. "The first is that you have to be within a certain age range. Usually it's from puberty to mid 20s. The second factor is the presence of vampires"

"So that's why it only started happening after the denalis came" I said.

"Yes, it was their presence that caused you all to start phasing" he said.

"We also have our own special way of finding our soul mates" he said.

That got my attention. "There is?" I asked in shock.

"It's called imprinting. Basically what happens is when you see her or him for the first time after phasing, it's like gravity moves. Suddenly it's not the earth holding you anymore it's that person. You would be anything for that person or do anything. Whatever that person needed whether it's a friend, brother, or lover" he said.

Jason and I automatically looked at each other with wide eyes. My father had just described precisely what happened to me. Had I imprinted on him?

"Does that sound familiar to you?" dad asked.

"Yes. It does actually. I feel that way with Jason. It's how I felt ever since I saw him for the first time after phasing" I said.

"That happened to me when I saw you for the first time after phasing" he said in shock.

"I knew it" dad said. "I could tell just by the way you two look at each other" he said.

"Did you imprint on mom?" I asked.

"Yes I imprinted on your mother. All of your parents are imprinted on each other" he said.

Whoa this was a lot to take in.

"Someone's coming" dad said. He looked very tense for some reason. Then I heard it to.

Through the window we saw several people in red cloaks approaching.

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