Author's note at the end.

I hate school. I mean, this is a general consensus of every person who has ever gone to school, but I think I get a pass considering all of the shit that I have to put up with every day. Do people think that I don't feel bad about betraying my best friend? I would assume so, by the way that they're treating me at school. I glance up from my locker to see two freshmen girls whispering about me. "What?" I snap, slamming the door shut. Frantically, they scurry away. People love to talk about me but heaven forbid I ever try to confront them and they run for the hills. I shrug to myself and toss my bag over my shoulder. I really couldn't care less.

Embry meets me by the doors and removes the bag that I had just slung on my arm to carry. "What are you doing tonight?" He asks me. I'm assuming he's on patrol, because we've spent almost every second that he wasn't on patrol together the last two days, so the fact that he's asking me what I'm doing means that he won't be around to do it with me.

I sigh. "Nothing. Literally, nothing." Ever since Sue closed the Clearwater diner, I've been out of a job and bored out of my mind. Considering her husband just died and two of her other workers are giant werewolves running around hunting vampires, the diner probably wasn't going to work out, but still. It's La Push, jobs are very rare to find. Maybe I should make my mom start paying me for babysitting.

We don't say anything else until we reach my front porch. "Lucy, I have a question to ask you." He sounds off.

I raise my eyebrows warily. "Okay…"

"Do you think it would help if maybe I went over and talked to Jessica?" He mumbles his words a bit so I have to strain to hear him, but it doesn't take me long to understand what he's trying to say. I look at him for a minute and he hurries to explain himself. "I'm not going to walk up to her and be like 'oh hey I'm a werewolf and I'm eternally bound to your best friend and that's why I broke up with you' or anything like that. I just mean that I broke up with her and then just never talked to her again. Maybe she needs some closure to make her feel better. What do you think?"

I laugh for a second, short and sarcastic. "Honestly, I think what she needs to make her feel better is to be able to punch both of us in the face. Maybe even do more than that. I wouldn't worry about it because I'm not. I know that we can never be friends again and I'm going to try my best to be okay with that. And you should too."

"But…" He trails off. "It's really not her that I'm worried about. It's you. I can't stand all of the things that she's saying about you. It makes it really hard for me to control my temper and phasing in school. Sometimes I don't even think I should leave the house, but I couldn't leave you alone."

I kiss him on the cheek to stop him from talking. "Embry, I love you. You are the sweetest person in the world. But sometimes, I think you're too sweet. Here's what I want you to do. Take the day off from school tomorrow. I don't care about what Sam says about needing your education because one day won't kill you. And don't even try to tell me that you're going to worry about me. I have Jake, Quil, Seth, Jared and Paul. I'll be fine. Take a break. You deserve it."

"I can't."

"Yes you can." I reassure him. "Please, for me."

He rolls his eyes. "Fine. But only because you asked me to." And then he kisses me on the lips. "I gotta go. I will see you here tomorrow night."

"Bye Em. Be careful tonight please." I beg. He makes a sound that is somewhere between a snort and a grunt of agreement and then he jogs off towards the forest. I look towards the door of my house with a mix of displeasure and happiness, because I know my stepdad is still at work and my mom has taken Jordan down to Port Angeles for his six-month check up. Veronica is usually out after school and even if she isn't, she's in her room ignoring me, so I will at least have a little peace and quiet.

The first thing I'm going to do is take a nap. I walk upstairs and flop on my bed, not bothering to even remove my jeans or my shoes and drift off.

I'm startled awake after who knows how long by the sounds of loud shouting, banging and laughter. "What the fuck?" I mumble to myself. It's only quarter to five, so I've only been asleep for about an hour, but I feel like absolute shit. I sit up just as a shadow passes by my door and something bangs against the wall. I'm still confused, so I get up and open the door just in time to see Jared holding something large and disappearing into Paul's old room. On the opposite end of the hallway, Veronica steps out of her room at the same time and we both make our way over to our brother's former room.

I say former room but as I peer into the doorway, it looks as though he had never left. His bed is back in place as Jared sets the end of it down and there are boxes strewn everywhere. My sister stares at her twin brother's back, who is opening the window and then looks over at me and says what is clearly on both of our minds. "What are you doing Paul?" She asks curiously.

He spins around to face us. "Moving home. Obviously. Jared is moving back in with his folks too. We're just doing me first. Want to help?"

My mouth falls open. "Uh, why? Pretty sure the first time you abandoned us, you said you were never coming back. Do you not recall this? Because I do." I snap.

I notice him shake once and all Veronica does is look at both of us, laugh and go, "I'm not getting in the middle of this. Welcome home bro." And leaves the room.

He walks towards me, pulling me into the room and shutting the door behind him. "I'm not accidentally phasing anymore. Sam gave me the go ahead to come back. And I think this is the perfect time anyway."

"How is it the perfect time?" I ask, because I'm dying to hear what dumb thing is going to come out of his mouth.

Jared laughs and unsuccessfully tries to cover it up with a cough. "Go ahead Paul." He speaks once he gets himself under control. "Tell her exactly why you decided to move back home."

Paul at least has the decency to look a little guilty before he recovers and his mouth falls into a hard line. "I'm here to protect you."

"From vampires?" I ask.

"Yes, that…" He trails off. Jared raises his eyebrows and nudges Paul's side and Paul finally continues. "And from Embry."

"Excuse me?" I say in disbelief. "Protect me from Embry? He's not anymore dangerous than you! And he is also capable of protecting me from vampires. I don't understand."

Jared is still laughing. "Not just that." Paul says, and he sounds more confident now. "I've seen Sam and Emily and Dumbass over here with Kim. I know what imprinted couples are like. And I've been inside Embry's thoughts. I'm here to protect you from getting yourself into trouble and moving too fast because I don't think you're ready for that step yet."

The only thing I can do is stare at him. And stare. And stare some more. Finally, I get my words in order. "Are you telling me that you're moving back home to stop me from having sex with Embry!?" My voice has gotten gradually louder and I am pretty much yelling Embry's name.

Jared looks like he's going to pass out from laughter until Paul punches him in the kidney. As Jared doubles over, complaining, Paul turns back towards me. "I'm serious, Lucille. I don't want you alone in this house with him. I'm trying to protect you and your innocence."

I think I might throw up. "This is the most ridiculous and uncomfortable talk I've ever had in my life. Jared, either shut up or leave, and Paul, you are unbelievable! You can't tell me who I can or can't have sex with!"

"Oh yeah? Well I would like to see you and Embry try to have sex in this house with me around. Don't forget that I have super hearing!" He exclaims. "I'm going to be keeping my eye out on both of you. And don't forget that I can see into Embry's mind. I know things. If things go my way, you're going to die a virgin!"

Moving past my temper and trying to see through Paul's stupidity, I remember how close Paul and I used to be. And I also remember the fact that my mother became trapped in a relationship she didn't really want because she had accidentally gotten pregnant with Paul and Veronica. I look over at Jared, who takes the hint and leaves the room and then I sit down on the bed. "Come talk to me for a second." I say to my brother, who is still standing by the window. He sits down next to me, folds his arms and stares straight at the door. "Paul… I'm not even close to being ready to move forward like that with Embry."

"I know." He says. "It's just so hard for me to see you in his mind. Every time you kiss or hug or anything like that. It bothers me so much. It really isn't good for my temper, especially according to Sam."

"So you decided to come home because of that? Maybe a little bit overdramatic but I guess you wouldn't be you if you weren't."

He purses his lips. "It's not just that. I wasn't going to say anything to you about this but there have been a lot of killings in Seattle. And I can tell you by the circumstances that it's been done by vampires and if they're there, they could come here. Or they're already on their way here. And Embry isn't far from you but that's not good enough for me. I have to be here to protect you. And Veronica, Jordan, Mom, Dan. All of you are my responsibility."

"That seems like a lot of pressure." I say quietly.

"It's my job. And Lucy, I meant what I said when I left. I did it for you, so I wouldn't hurt you. I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you." He's quiet.

I'm quiet too. And then I put my hand on his arm. "Paul?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not like Dad." We may have both gotten our temper from our father, but Paul would never use it to hurt me purposely, physically or emotionally, and I'm finally realizing. In a spontaneous moment, and the first contact we've made in almost half a year, he wraps his arms tightly around me and I let him hug me for a second before I pull away and slap him. "You're an ass by the way. Moving back here to keep tabs on Embry and me. Don't think I've forgotten that!" I exclaim. "Mom's going to be over the moon though."

I was right. After she got home from Jordan's appointment and saw Paul's stuff, she burst into tears for ten minutes straight and took turns hugging the three of us before she finally ventured off into the kitchen to make a "celebration dinner."

It's homemade lasagna, which is delicious. I'm devouring my piece as fast as I can because Paul's has shovelled through almost three thirds of the whole thing and is eyeballing mine, when the phone rings. I'm a little bit surprised, because no one usually calls during dinner, but I keep eating while my mom reaches over to answer the phone. "Hello?" She chirps. It really does not take much to make that lady happy.

It only takes about thirty seconds for me to retract that statement as the smile she's wearing immediately drops off her face. "Oh no." She gasps, hand going up to cover her mouth. "Oh, no. I am so sorry. No, I will. Yes. Okay, let me know if there is anything that I can do for you. Yes, of course. Okay. Bye." She sets the phone back on the cradle and walks slowly over to the table.

Veronica looks up from her plate. "Mom, are you crying? What's wrong?" She asks.

She hasn't gone back to her seat. Instead, she's walking over to me. "Lucy…" She trails off, hand placed gently on my shoulder.

My heart sinks and my immediate thought is that something has happened to Embry on his patrol. "Mom, what happened? Tell me. You're freaking me out."

"Honey, it's Jessica." She murmurs. "Her and her mother went down a day early this morning for their weekend in Seattle. Her mom's car was found abandoned at the side of the road and they found both of their bodies on a trail not too far from the hotel they were staying in."

"Is she okay? Are they taking her to the hospital in Seattle? I have to go and see her right now. Will you take me?" I'm rambling. I don't care if she's mad at me anymore. I can't sit here and pretend I don't care that she's in the hospital. But my mom is still looking at me and the tears that had been sitting in her eyes have started to fall. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Lucy, honey." She says gently. "Her body was found mutilated and completely drained of blood. She's dead, sweetheart."

A/N: HI! Very long author's note here. I am so sorry it's been almost a year since I updated this… I am probably the worst person to have more than one story going especially because I can't even regularly update one and then once I do, I lose interest in that one and go back and forth. I've also been super busy with work and school, graduating this year and I even got engaged! But enough with the excuses! I really hope you guys are still willing to read this and that you enjoy this chapter.