Disclaimer: No recognisable characters, settings, etc are owned by me.

Chapter 8

Getting through the first half of Sam's lecture wasn't too bad. I just focused on the ground and thought more about Kate.

Unfortunately I forgot to nod, or throw in a quick sorry for a while. He soon figured out what I was doing.

It was then he ordered me to phase, so he could be sure I was listening.

After telling Paul and Collin to take a break, and then ordering Paul cause he wanted to hear Sam tell me off, Sam turned to face me.

I could hear a number of different punishments going through his mind, I wasn't until I saw him thinking of banning me from seeing Kate that I yelped out.

Do you have any idea how stupid you were this morning? He directed his thoughts to me.

I didn't mean to. I thought I was in deep enough; the trees must have thinned out as we got further along.

He knew I was lying. The forests are all practically identical. We both knew if I was deep enough into the forest at one part, then I was pretty much guaranteed to be for almost all of the forest in La Push and Forks.

He decided it wasn't even worth acknowledging.

In my defense, I really did believe that she couldn't see me until too late I added in.

This was the truth, and I played back this morning to him from my perspective, filling his mind with all of my emotions from the morning, the joy, relief, and just the pure enjoyment.

That's great Embry, but it doesn't change the fact that she saw you, and anyone else could have too. The last thing we need is a group of hunters out in the wood searching for giant wolves.

As he continued on about how the secret of the pack comes before any little run with a girl, I tried my best to listen, but I could help that my mind kept wandering back to Kate.

After about the fifth time of wondering where she was, and Sam nearly attacking me in frustration, he gave up.

I think we have both had enough for today. But you can run patrols every night for a week, and you are not to let Kate see you in wolf form until she knows about us.

I felt the Alpha's command come in for the last part of his statement, and struggled to keep on my feet.

He phased back, and as he pulled on his shorts he told me,

"Go get some sleep, you're going to need it."

He took of at a jog back to his place and I start to walk back to my truck. I contemplated staying in wolf form, but I realized Paul and Collin would be phasing back soon to finish off their after school check, and I din not want to deal with Paul right now, so I phased back.

With Friday, Saturday and Sunday all covered on the weekend roster, there were only 4 weeknights that need patrolling. As Sam didn't patrol at nights, and there were 9 of us left to cover 4 nights, so Jake, Quil and I got to patrol together.

Luckily for me we patrolled Tuesdays, so I was out tonight anyway.

He also go us to take a half hour shift and do a quick border check after school, so the night shift wouldn't have to start until after dinner.

I was definitely going to take advantage of this. As soon as I got home I went straight to bed, and set my alarm for a few hours later, so I would have just enough time to eat something before my shift started.

I woke us dazed and disorientated, it took me a few a minutes to remember this afternoons events.

They all came rushing back to me, and I almost fell out of bed when I remembered Sam's order. I was pretty pissed about that, I had been hoping to make my jog with Kate a regular thing.

I guess this gives me more motivation to tell her the truth, but I was putting that off as much as possible.

I checked out the kitchen, and found a note from Mum telling me she would be out all night, so I scribbled a reply to her on the back, and put it on the table.

Of course I could find any decent food in the house, so I decided to make a quick trip to Emily's to see what I could scab from there.

Quil and Jake were both there before our shift, so it worked out kind of perfectly.

After she served us she started to get some desert ready, but she paused suddenly.

"Oh Embry, Sam agreed that it was fair to punish me by not letting me meet Kate, so you don't have to start patrol tomorrow night until after out dinner. Right Sam?" She asked the last part just as he walked in the doorway.

"Whatever you say, love." He answered with a smile.

"Whipped" Jake pretended to cough before receiving a slap over the back of his head.

"You want to be running patrols with your buddy here for the next week?" He asked, while Quil and I tried our best not to laugh.

"Yeah, I think I'm done with dinner, Em, Quil? Let go." Jake announced, before pulling us out the door.

Quil tried to object, but he was no match for Jake.

We got into the forest, and phased.

Hey, I wasn't done eating! Was Quil's first thought.

Thanks for getting us out of there, I think I would have a got a hernia from trying not to laugh at his face when he heard that. I told him, as I heard the coughing laugh come from the three of us.

Before we start patrolling, do you mind if we take a quick run past Kate's, I want to see if she is home yet.

After some objections from Jake, we took off.

Running past her house, it was easy to tell no-one was home.

I immediately started to worry, but the guys tried to calm me down.

A couple of hours later, I had frustrated them both so much, that they told me to go check on her.

She still wasn't home. Where the hell was she?

I started running laps around her house; before I knew it I had worn a path through the forest.

As the night wore on I grew more and more tired. My run slowed to a jog, then a walk.

Wait. What was that?

My ears pricked up, as I heard a noise in the distance. A car, not just any car, but a car with loud music blasting.

My eyes flew to the clock I could see through the window, it was just past 2am.

Where the hell has she been?

A minute later her convertible came flying down the drive.

See her made me feel so much better and as much as I was trying to block them out, I could tell Jake and Quil were pleased too.

Quil because he could understand what I was feeling when I was worried about an imprint and Jake because he really didn't want to be running with me when I was worried about Kate.

I walked around to the back of her house, where I could see her room.

I lay down, and waited to see her come upstairs, then almost had a heat attack when the back door opened.

My angel was standing in the doorway, bathed in light. She really was the most stunning woman in existence. She was truly divine.

She sat down on one of the steps on the back porch and let out a sigh. The poor thing, she looked so sad, it was breaking my heart to see her like that.

I tried to go to her, but with every step I took Sam's order echoed in my head, getting louder and louder until I couldn't move another inch.

My shoulders fell to the floor, and I was forced to watch from ground, as a tear rolled down my princess' face.

I could hear Jake growling in the back of my mind, he hated Sam giving orders more then the rest of us.

Kate let out a sigh, and she grabbed a lighter and a cigarette out from her bra.

What? Kate smokes? Both of the guys were thinking along the same lines as me, we had never picked up the scent on her, and it took a lot to get something past us.

She sat there quietly for ten minutes, and the whole time my heart was breaking.

I wanted nothing more then to go to her, comfort her, let her know she isn't alone, she never has to be alone again.

I have never been more pissed of at someone then I was with Sam right now.

Eventually she put out the fag and headed back in the house. Not long after she was pulling on some trackies and heading into bed.

After she was sleeping, she looked so peaceful…so beautiful.

Dude, wake up.

Huh?

C'mon, it's morning. Wake up

Shit, it is morning. I was asleep on the forest floor out the back of Kate's house, and Quil was nudging my shoulder, trying to wake me up.

I stood up, and stretched out. My neck was gonna be caning all day, but it was worth it. Know I spent the night close to Kate.

I looked up to her bedroom, to see if she was awake yet, but it was empty.

Where is she? I asked Quil

No idea, she took off about a half hour ago. We decided to let you sleep. You seemed pretty tired.

Thanks, what time is it?

It's time you got your ass up. School starts in 10. Jake added in, just before phasing back.

Shit. I was never gonna make it on time, not if I wanted a proper breakfast. Which I did, there was nothing worse then going to school on an empty stomach, especially an empty werewolf stomach.

Go and get dressed, I'll swing by Emily's and see if she has any leftovers for you.

Thanks man, you are a legend.

Oh, I know. He let out a coughing laugh, and took off for Emily's.

I headed home, and pulled on the first pair of decent pants I could, and a half clean shirt.

I took off down the stairs, noticing on the way that Mum hadn't been home.

Wonderful. She must have a new boyfriend, just what I need right now.

I didn't have time to dwell on this though, so I bolted out the door to see Quil leaning up against my truck, with a mug of coffee in one hand, and a plate with a huge stack on pancakes on it in the other.

"You are my idol. An absolute lifesaver." I told him, grabbing the food.

"C'mon, you eat, I'll drive." He said and walked over to his ute.

I climbed in, and eagerly stuffed my face with the delicious food that was in front of me.

We managed to make only five minutes after the late bell, and my heart fell when I noticed there was no little black convertible in the student car park.

"Relax, she is probably just later then us, she'll be here." Quil said, without me even having to say anything.

Even in the pack, Jake, Quil and I were the closest of everyone. We didn't need to be in wolf form to know what is going through the others minds.

We tried to sneak into first lesson, but the teacher quickly noticed us, and took the time out to tell us exactly why a lack of punctuality would be the reason we never accomplished anything in life.

Jake sat there smirking the whole time, and as soon as she looked away I gave him a swift punch to the arm.

The lesson passed by, and before I knew it, I was racing off to second lesson, hoping against hope that Kate had arrived.

Thankfully Paul seemed to have gotten the message, and he went straight to sit next to Jared.

The teacher started, and she still wasn't there, although I wasn't surprised.

Ten minutes later…no sign. Fifteen minutes…still no Kate.

I gave up, and rest my head in my arms.

What was going on with this girl? God, I hope she's ok.

Fifteen minutes before the end of the lesson I heard the door open. I lifted my head, and was again stunned at the beauty of my angel.

She gave a small sheepish smile, and slid into her seat.

"Is this an all time record for you?" I asked, trying to wipe the pathetic smile off my face.

"No, I've been later." She replied, poking her tongue out at me.

"Where were you?" I asked, as my curiosity got the better of me.

"I met some friends for breakfast in Forks." She said casually, as if it were a normal thing. Actually with her, it probably was.

I mean why not go out for breakfast on a Wednesday morning?

Hey, maybe I should take her out for breakfast. I made a mental note to remind myself to ask her out for a quick bite one morning.

"So where were you yesterday?" I asked, again, I hadn't meant to, but I just had to know.

"Here and there, just had to take care of some stuff." She flashed me a killed smile, and for a second I couldn't even remember my name, let alone the discussion we were having.

Take care of some stuff? Isn't that almost exactly what she told me yesterday?

I decided she would tell me in her own time, so I didn't push the matter.

The lesson flew by after that, and so did the rest day.

Before I knew it, we had walked out to the parking lot, and she turned around to face me,

"So, we're still on for dinner tonight, yeah?" She asked.

"Yeah, absolutely. I'll pick you up at 6." I told her. I had completely forgotten about Emily's dinner, thank God she reminded me.

"Great, I'll see you then." She stood up on her tip-toes and gave me a kiss on the cheek before walking over to her car.

Now I couldn't wait until 6pm.