Chapter Eleven
Laura woke up in an unfamiliar room. It was small but painted a bright cheery blue color that made it seem bigger. She could tell from the light outside that it was at least midday.
She sat up slowly and found her arm in a cast. Slowly the events of the past night came back to her. She moved her shoulder experimentally. The cast would be awkward, but she could work around it.
She opened the door and wandered down the hallway. She could hear the tv on in another room and followed it to a cozy looking living room. A woman she recognized as Emily was sitting on the leather couch knitting.
"Good morning, sleepy head," she said with a kind smile. "How are you feeling?"
Laura shrugged, feeling off balance. "Fine. Confused. Where am I?"
"Ah, let's get some food into you first, and I'll explain." Emily put down her knitting and ushered her into another room, the kitchen. There was a tiny breakfast nook that Emily sat her down at and then thrust some toast and jam in front of her. "Do you like eggs? Scrambled?"
Laura looked at her, still confused. "Sure. Is there coffee here?"
A moment later, a mug appeared in front of her, somehow warm. Laura muttered a thanks.
"Embry wanted to be here when you woke up, but he got called in to work," Emily mentioned conversationally as she started cracking a couple eggs. "This is his house in La Push."
"Work?" Laura repeated dumbly.
The older woman nodded. "He does a few shifts at night at a diner in Forks. He mans the grill. Makes a mean chicken parm, actually."
Laura nodded. There were so many things she didn't know about Embry, she realized. She didn't even know that he had an actual job. She looked around. The kitchen looked pretty utilitarian, but was obviously well used. A few copper pots hung above the nook. It didn't seem that there was a bigger dining table anywhere; Embry did live on his own, she remembered.
"Anyway, he didn't want you to wake up alone in a strange house, so I volunteered to come over for a bit. I thought it was time we had another chat anyway," Emily said. She slid a dish of scrambled eggs in front of Laura and smiled crookedly with the unscarred half of her face.
"What did you want to chat about?" It wasn't that Laura was suspicious of Sam's wife; it was just that she thought they had very different opinions.
"Well, first, we thought you might be safer staying at Embry's until this whole spat with the government blows over."
Laura put down her fork. "And no one thought to consult me about this?"
Emily smiled. "Is there a problem with staying here for a bit? Embry doesn't mind at all."
Laura tried to keep her voice from shouting. "Did he mention that my home is also my office?"
Emily pulled out a stool across from her. "Sweetie, he just wants you to be safe for now. We all do. And you two can figure things out when he gets back."
Laura fought her rising ire, especially when Emily sweetie-ed her. Sam's wife was not the right person to take her annoyance out on.
"You know that the imprint connection is stronger for him than for you, right?" Emily asked her rather suddenly, her voice carefully devoid of emotion. "It's designed so that he can sense when you are in trouble or in pain. That's how they found you last night. He knew you were in trouble, he felt your pain, and he tracked you down." She paused for a long moment. "We have never lost an imprint, even though strategically, imprints are in more danger than the average human. You have Embry's scent all over you, and that may attract vampires. We don't know what would happen to the wolf if his imprint were ever seriously harmed.
"Embry was…very anxious when you were missing. I've never seen him like that. Frantic, it was killing him. Jacob didn't want to let him reveal himself or risk giving the tribe up to rescue you. Embry fought his best friend and his leader for you, and then gave himself up for you. The least you could do is try to stay safe now."
Laura took a long swill of her coffee rather than answer, afraid of what she would say.
"Don't worry about it too much right now; you just woke up. We'll figure things out later. How are you feeling, hon? Do you want some ice?"
Too much cuddly consideration, too early in the morning, Laura decided. She shook her head to Emily's questions and tucked into her eggs. The older woman seemed to get the hint and bustled around the kitchen for a bit before returning to her knitting.
Laura had never been so glad to see Embry as she was that day. Before he came in, the living room was awkwardly quiet while Emily knitted, and Laura flipped tv channels aimlessly. She had tried to wander through the house, but felt like she was intruding too much. Instead, she was watching highlights from the baseball game last night and trying not to grit her teeth at the steady clicking on the knitting needles.
"You two look cozy."
Laura looked up at him and rolled her eyes. She had procured one of Emily's needles and was poking it between her cast and her arm to scratch at the skin. Emily was busy on her cell phone, directing one of her children in the use of antiseptic. The conversation had been going on for so long that Laura had decided it wasn't too urgent.
"We're biffles," Laura informed him drily. Emily wasn't paying attention to their conversation anyway.
Laura studied the man who had taken her in. He was wearing a pair of loose black pants and a white wifebeater. She had never seen his bare arms before, and her eyes eagerly took in his toned biceps. He cleared his throat quietly, and she realized that he had noticed her staring and blushed.
"Thanks, Em. I got it from here," he said. He guided her out the door, and she stopped talking to her kids for long enough to give them a distracted goodbye and to remind Embry about a casserole. "I know, I know. 350 for half an hour. Thanks Emily. Tell the kids I said hi."
He came back and dropped to the couch next to her with a sigh. "Sorry I've been gone. Someone called out and I had to work. So, um, welcome. This land is yours now. All that the light touches."
She smirked at the Disney reference, secretly glad that he wasn't asking how she felt. "Even the dark shadowy place?"
"Especially the dark shadowy place. I'm sure not going there," he said playfully.
She smiled and decided that this had to be sudden. Quick and clean. "Thank you. I appreciate your offer to stay here, but you know I have to go back home." He blinked in surprise and she added, "To my clinic."
"You know I can't make you stay here, and I literally can't deny you anything." He smiled to take away the bitterness of that statement. "But I would take it as a personal favor if you stayed here for the time being. There's no telling what those scientists will do once their wolf goes missing, and it won't take long for them to show up at your door. You're much safer on the reservation—we have sovereignty and the tribal council can keep them off."
She shivered a bit at the mention of the scientists that had kidnapped her. She had been doing a good job of pushing that away from her mind, but she could still see that man's cold eyes as he snapped her arm. For the first time in her life, she felt vulnerable. It was not a feeling she enjoyed.
Embry casually draped an arm around her shoulder. If it was because he felt her fear, he was smart enough to not mention it. She felt herself relax minimally. He continued, "You can work out of my living room for a week or two. No one's going to want to drive to Seattle to get a vet, and the only one in the area is overpriced. Your patients adore you; they'll deal with it. It's just a week, not that long." He paused and looked down to the carpet. "Last night you got hurt. And that was my fault. I'll find a way to make it up to you. I don't want…what happened yesterday to happen ever again."
Emily's words echoed in her mind.
She closed her eyes, and for a moment it seemed like his touch was the only thing holding her together. When she was here, she was safe.
"Alright," she said finally, quietly. "But just for a bit. Just for a week or two."
The corner of his mouth slipped upward slowly, until he was grinning at her. "Good. Good." He beamed and stood up. "I'm going to go shower, and then we'll go get your stuff. You can stay in my bedroom."
She froze. In his room with him? What did living here entail? And would she turn that down?
He popped his head back into the living room and snickered when he saw her still sitting there stiffly. "I'll sleep on the couch, of course."
She blushed. Of course. Embry wouldn't take advantage of the situation, because he was a good guy. And Laura had told him that she just wanted to be friends. Because she was stupid.
"I'll take the couch," she argued immediately.
"Nope," he called before he closed the bathroom door. "I'm the kidnapper here. You can take the bed."
Laura rolled her eyes but smiled.
They gathered Laura's things from her apartment pretty quickly. She still didn't expect to be in La Push for more than a week or two. She left a note on the door to alert her patients and then threw the bare necessities in a bag. Most of her stuff was work related. They locked up and she was moved into Embry's house in under two hours. At his suggestion, they left her car at her apartment to give the impression that she was still there.
His place wasn't totally a bachelor pad; his kitchen, at least, was outfitted well. Still, Laura knew that there were a lot of things that his house lacked. She tried not to say anything; after all, he was taking her in and she was a guest. But she also felt like she owed it to him to buy a few things to spruce the place up. Honestly, the man didn't own a toilet roll dispenser.
She finally caved and asked to borrow his car. She didn't mention what she was going for; she suspected he assumed it was for feminine products. He tossed her the keys without argument.
In the driveway, she ran into Quil. The other wolf was walking up the driveway, barefoot, no car in sight. He smiled and waved. "How ya feeling, champ?" he asked.
She grimaced at the question. "How's your shoulder feeling?" she shot back.
He grinned and rubbed the place on his shoulder where she had dropped him. "Touché. Is he home?"
She nodded and waved back towards the house. "He's inside. I'm just running out for some things."
"He's letting you use his car?" Quil looked shocked.
"He said it was ok," she answered defensively.
"No, I'm sure it is," he recovered quickly. "He just never lets anyone else drive it. I was surprised."
Laura eyed the beat up truck with suspicion now. "It works, right?"
Quil nodded quickly. "Yeah. It's not a looker, but it'll get you there." He slapped the roof of the vehicle in question lightly. "Are you driving one-handed?"
She laughed and waved her broken arm. "I can grab with this hand. It's getting better. It just itches like none other. " She opened the truck door to demonstrate its usability.
"Ah, I remember the days when my body couldn't regenerate and heal itself with supernatural speed." Quil sighed wistfully. "It must be so tough to be among the mortals."
She rolled her eyes at his dramatics. "Yeah well, not all of us turn into big furry monsters all the time."
"Yeah, some of us just do that once a mon—ow!"
She smiled tightly at him, having hit him with the ice scraper inside Embry's car. "Good thing you've got supernatural healing," she said sweetly. "I need to go run some errands; I'll see you later." She tossed the ice scraper back into the truck and climbed in after, giggling at his scandalized expression.
Quil watched his friend's imprint leave and invited himself into Embry's house and sat on the couch. "You got any food?" he asked in a normal tone, as if the owner of the house was right next to him.
"Go eat your own food!" Embry muttered from his bedroom. He came out later in a pair of sweatpants. "I think there's some pasta in the fridge."
"Already found it!" Quil smirked from where he was already tucking into a bowl of spaghetti. "How's the new roommate going? I see you're letting her borrow the clunker."
"My truck is not a clunker," Embry replied automatically, grabbing some leftover meatloaf. "The roommate thing is…coming along. We're still sort of stepping on each other's toes."
"You didn't tell me there was meatloaf too!" Quil stole a piece of the meat deftly. "This place smells better, at least. Like flowers…and coffee…and dude." He scrunched his nose up. "Never mind, it's not that much of an improvement."
"I don't know. It's good, but it kind of sucks." He paused and chewed thoughtfully. "It's like we're a couple living together, but we're not and I need to keep reminding myself of that. I want to kiss her sometimes, but she told me just friends, so I'm trying to respect her wishes." He paused. "Do you ever feel like a creepy old man?"
His best friend laughed and flexed an arm. "You're only as old as you feel, buddy."
Embry shook his head. He had been inside Quil's thoughts, so he knew how consciously Quil tried to suppress those thoughts and fears. Maybe it had been out of line to ask him aloud about that. He had crossed some kind of guy line.
Quil shifted restlessly and cleared his throat. "So, Jake had Collin doing some internet research on that lab. Apparently it's a little-known branch of the Washington State Bureau for Protection of Endangered Species." Embry's eyebrows shot up. "No, listen, it gets weirder. They're funded by a small stipend from the state government, but most of their money comes directly from a blank fund in the Cayman Islands. And the kid did a little digging, and traced the account to Italy. Volterra."
Embry's fist thumped onto the table. "What?"
"Yeah, I know. We're having a meeting tonight to plan, but I was on patrol with Collin." He grinned. "Anyway, the Italians have been funding this obscure part of Washington state government for almost twenty years, but the local director just got replaced by an up and coming hotshot. Martin Vlasberg. That guy with the glasses that traded you for your imprint. He's apparently why stuff's getting done there all the sudden. His predecessor retired mysteriously, and hasn't been heard from since. He's forty-four, assuming he's still among the living."
"Wouldn't assume that," Embry muttered. "Hell. What do we do about this? It's not just the government that's after us, it's those vampire snobs in Italy?"
