Everything had been going so well for Embry. Granted the woman he loved, his imprint, was entirely unaware of a secret that could tear their lives apart. But he had decided that he had to tell her sooner rather than later and was planning on finding the right time to do so. As these thoughts ran through his head he looked over at Myrna, fidgeting nervously in the passenger seat. He reached over and took her hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze of encouragement.
'You'll do fine,' he said to her, flashing her a toothy grin.
She just nodded at him in return and stared out the window. Myrna hated giving these lectures, he knew that. But he also knew that when she made a promise she would see it through. She had done this for the best interest of the tribe, of the library. She just wanted them to see the importance of their culture, and he admired her for that.
After they had arrived at the library and people filtered in, Embry noticed her looking around anxiously for someone. He knew she was looking for Claire and Quil. They had promised to be here but with the way the pack was at the moment and their resentment of Myrna, he knew they wouldn't be coming. Even if they had wanted to, they couldn't go against Sam. Luckily Sam hadn't issued any kind of Alpha order against Embry seeing her. He had to obey the order if given so Embry had taken to avoiding Emily's at all costs. He was worried that if he angered Sam any further he would have to make a choice between Myrna and the pack. And though he would always, always choose Myrna, the choice would be made for him.
Myrna quickly hugged Embry before going up to the podium. He saw her shaking slightly but made his way to his seat anyways. He couldn't help her now, no matter how much he wished he could. She began to read out the legend, noticeably calming down and taking comfort in the words she knew so well. But as she was reading, Embry detected a noticeable change in Myrna. She paused and he tried to catch her eye, to give her some sort of reassurance. After the pause she only got more nervous, starting to shake and making excuses to leave. He was confused. He knew she hated public speaking but not enough to stop mid-way and leave everyone hanging. Embry was unprepared for what happened next. She started to leave the podium, but not before throwing him a look, a look that broke his heart and tore at his soul.
The look Myrna gave him was a mixture of betrayal, hurt, and most of all fear. It was the fear that injured him the most. He had hoped that her knowledge of the legends would be in his favour but from what he could tell it had done the opposite. Wrapped in his thoughts, in his sadness and confusion, he barely saw Myrna bolt for the door of the library. When Embry pulled himself out of his own pity it was too late. Myrna had run from him and into the storm brewing outside. He had no idea where she would go but from the look on her face he knew she didn't either.
Embry ran out of the library, unphased by the storm. He could only think of the look on her face, a look he knew would haunt him for the rest of his days. As the rain hit him he only thought of Myrna, how she wouldn't be able to cope with this weather, how hurt she must be feeling. He had to explain himself. He had to show her that he loved her, that he wasn't trying to betray her only keep her safe, keep their love innocent.
He had no idea where to search first. He just ran, trying desperately to catch a sign of her. Embry maneuvered as quickly as he could through the forest. After 10 minutes he hadn't found Myrna and he was panicking, quickly losing his grip on rationality. Every minute she was out in this weather she was in danger, she was hurting. He phased into his wolf form, hoping to catch her scent or at least cover more ground. He hurried to Myrna's house but he could hear no footsteps, no gentle breathing, nothing. The house was eerily still.
In a panic Embry raced to Emily's house. He quickly phased back to his human form, slipping on the pants he had carried in his mouth. He ran into her house seeing that the whole pack was there having dinner.
'Please you have to help me!,'
He almost screamed it, sheer panic and desperation clearly on his face and in his voice.
'I know you don't like her. Hell you may even hate her but Myrna is missing in this storm and it's been a while and I'm afraid she's dead, or that she's lost and I don't know what to do and..' he continued to ramble on, worry clouding his mind. Quil stood up.
'What happened? Where was she last?,' Quil asked immediately.
Sure Myrna posed a threat to the safety of the pack's secret but he never wished any harm on her. She was innocent. She wasn't tainted with the troubles of the world like they were.
'She figured it out. She figured it all out. She's so smart y'know? I knew I couldn't keep it from her for long but she had this talk at the library and she connected all the dots and she just ran. I followed her but she darted into the woods and I didn't want to phase in case I made things worse between us. But after a while I couldn't find her and I went to her house and she's not there,' he looked at everyone, pleading them to help him.
'I don't know where she is and she's been out in this storm for so long. She doesn't know anyone outside of La Push but she was running towards Forks, she was running from me,' he trailed off, losing his trail of thought and beginning to wallow in self-pity.
Quil just looked at him sadly. He looked outside and shook his head. She wouldn't' have survived by now out there. It'd been getting worse for the past hour or so. Wherever she was, she had better be inside.
'Let's go,' Quil said quickly.
He had to pull Embry out of this and get to Myrna before it was too late. Embry gave him a weak smile that did nothing to reassure Quil. We have to find her. If we don't Embry won't make it much longer. If she dies…he'll die with her, Quil thought sadly to himself. Imprinting may seem romantic, a passionate and ardent love that could conquer all because it was destined. But the pack knew all too well the truth behind the optimistic notions and naive misconceptions. Imprinting was dangerous, not only for the imprint but also for the shape shifter. It was an all-consuming love that could easily become wicked and malicious. If it couldn't properly run it's course, the love would devour and destroy. Quil quickly dragged Embry outside, not caring whether the others helped out or not. Embry was his friend, his pack mate. There was no way he was going to let him destroy himself over this.
They quickly phased and ran through the forest, intent on finding Myrna no matter the cost. As time slowly dragged on, as the minutes passed and the realization that Myrna was no where to be found hit Embry he let out a heart breaking howl. It was filled with sadness, with a pain and longing that no one could truly understand unless they were in his place. Quil nudged him, hoping to knock him out of his state and make him realize he had to keep going, he couldn't lose hope yet. But as he did he caught something, a whiff of Myrna's scent. It was faint, the rain making it difficult to truly track. As he crouched lower, sniffing the air with his muzzle he tracked an all together different scent, one he hated with every fibre of his being. Embry, smelling the same scent and sharing Quil's thoughts, took off in its direction. He had smelt it too, Myrna's distinct perfume, the mix of old books and the forest that they both loved so much. But alongside it he could detect the bloodsuckers. Rage filled every corner of his mind while fury coursed through his veins and tightened his muscles. They will not hurt her, he yelled to himself and Quil and he darted through the forest towards the sleek ad modern Cullen house.
He was entirely unprepared for the scene in front of him. As he barrelled down the Cullen's driveway he saw Edward, his arm fiercely gripping Myrna's arm, her eyes wide with fear and realization. She was unhealthily pale and obviously weak. He felt a twinge in his heart, an irrational thought of betrayal. How could she run from me into their arms?, he thought incredulously to himself. She fled from him in fear only to run to his enemies. But as he looked closer he could see her fear. It was practically radiating off her. He looked at the offender's hand, leaving marks on his imprint's skin. In that moment all he could see was red, a fierce rage that over took him completely. He bolted towards Edward, hoping not only to assert his dominance but also free Myrna from his grasp.
As he ran towards Edward, making sure not to hurt Myrna, he heard her scream. He stopped in his tracks, physically unable to move knowing that he was scaring Myrna, knowing that his beloved was afraid of his capabilities and unaware of his control. He felt hurt once more, knowing that Myrna truly didn't understand him in this state but realizing that her ignorance was his fault. How is she supposed to know any different from what the legends tell her?, he thought to himself sadly and he stood a few feet in front of them. He looked at her, cowering in fear from not only himself but the bloodsucker that still had a death grip on her arm. He growled at Edward, hoping to somehow make him release her.
Edward released Myrna, knowing that he had overstepped the boundaries between shape shifter and vampire. He had merely been acting on Carlisle's inherent need to keep innocent humans like Myrna safe. Edward knew that Carlisle would never forgive himself if he let the human die and her returning to this storm would be suicide. He looked at the mutt, giving him a blank stare and removed his hand.
'Make sure she gets home safe. If she dies of hypothermia it's your fault not ours,' he said to Embry dully.
It wasn't his idea to intervene. He glanced at Myrna. She gave him a look of sheer terror. He just silently stepped back, showing the ridiculously jealous mutt that he meant no harm.
A/N: Hey everyone :). Sorry there was so much delay for this chapter. I work part time and go to uni full time so its been pretty hectic lately. Not a very good chapter to be honest. The ending is pretty flat. But the next one will be from Myrna's p.o.v so it'll be a bit more interesting/she has to come to terms with Embry's wolf-ness :). I wanted to highlight (again, and as I always tend to) the darkness of imprinting. In my mind, if you only have one imprint, one perfect 'soul mate' that makes you 'whole' (air quotes here used in a mocking tone) then you'd live the rest of your life 'un-whole' in a sense if you weren't allowed to properly fall in love and have a relationship with your imprint (i.e if she dies before they get together or some unforeseeable force pushes them apart). So the thought of losing Myrna to the storm would kill Embry (either in just a sense or actually kill him) because one, they would have left off their encounters in a horrible way with her feeling betrayed, and two, she would die in the storm and therefore the relationship between them and what 'wholeness' and 'eternal imprint-y happiness' they could have had is dashed. Hope I'm making myself clear (I tend to ramble, especially when I have too many parentheses! :) ). R& R if you please. I tried to make the format of this one better. Let me know if you liked it better the way before or if you want me to keep it this way. And I just want to thank all the people who have reviewed so far. It means a lot to me. I'm not a review fisherwoman :). I'd rather have people review out of their own interest in my story than because I tell them to. So those who have thank you, because I know you mean it and they are lovely to hear! :)