Rainey's POV

I dreamt that night of spirit wolves and tribal legends. They were peaceful dreams, almost as if they were just a memory I was reliving. I saw Kaheleha, the first great spirit chief who protected not only our tribe, but the Hoh and Makah tribes as well. I saw Taha Aki as he transformed into the first spirit wolf of the tribe, and I watched as he battled with the evil Utlapa.

Then my dreaming took a turn for the worse and even in my sleep I could feel my body tensing.

My dreams shifted, and instead of watching Taha Aki battle Utlapa I was watching Embry battle a vampire. He was alone and I called for him to run, but he couldn't hear me. I saw the vampire take a lunge at him and wrap her arms around his wolf body, and throw him into a nearby tree. I screamed his name but he didn't acknowledge that he heard me. I could feel the tears run down my cheeks as my lungs felt like they were on fire from screaming for Embry to run away.

I watched as the vampire stalked forward to Embry. He was still on the ground and couldn't see her. There was blood trickling down his fur. Even if he did see her he wouldn't be able to fight her off. I panicked. I had to do something. I looked around for anything that might help Embry, and my eyes caught something glistening in the sunlight. I ran over to it and picked up a silver knife. I didn't stop to think about how it got there or what I was doing. I ran over to Embry and the vampire and threw myself in-between them, thrusting the knife into my heart. I felt it rip through my body as the blood started gushing from the wound. The vampire's eyes turned black as pitch and I knew I only had seconds left to live. I heard the Embry wolf howl in pain when he saw me, and I whispered a faint " I Love You" before the vampire descended upon me.

I woke up panting and covered in sweat. I sat straight up in the bed, clutching my chest. I could feel the knife in me, and had to look down before I realized that I was fine. I looked at my surroundings and realized that I was still in Jacobs room, completely safe. It was just a dream. I took a few calming breaths and pulled back the covers. I cringed a little at the blast of cold air that hit my legs, but ignored it and reached for my crutches. I stood up, a little wobbly at first, but eventually made it out of the room and into the kitchen.

I heard Emily and Kim there, talking to each other. I heard Embry's name and paused in the doorway listening.

" Embry's so much happier since he's imprinted."

"Sam was telling me how much easier it is to run patrol with him now that he isn't just worried about who his real father is."

"He does seem to have a load taken off of his shoulders. I wonder when he's going to tell Rainey."

"I don't know. I wonder how she's going to take the news."

"Tell me what?" I said as I turned the corner.

"Oh. Nothing. Are you hungry?" Emily said as she dished me out a plate of eggs and bacon. I scowled at her as I sat down. I knew she wasn't going to say anything else on the subject. I turned to Kim who was my best chance at getting some information, but she was avoiding my gaze and putting pieces of bread into the toaster. Just peachy.

I ate my eggs in near silence. The only noise in the house was coming from the living room where Uncle Billy was watching some game on the tv again. I don't think the channel was ever changed on that machine since it came into the Black house.

it was probably a good thing that no one was talking to me. I t gave me some time to sort through my thoughts. Embry had imprinted. What did that mean? That word sounded familiar but I couldn't remember where I had heard it. Apparently it was a good thing, and that he was happy. but why would he need to tell me? Was it another wolfy thing?

Emily said she wondered how I would take the news. Was it a bad thing then? Was he going to break up with me? I mean yeah we were only technically dating for two days, and we hadn't even really gone on a date yet, but was he going to break up with me already?

I was pissed. Whatever he wasn't telling me was big. Whether it was good or bad. I didn't like not knowing things, especially when I knew people weren't telling me them on purpose. And it made me even more mad that it was EMBRY who wasn't telling me this big imprinting thing.

So it was no big surprise that I didn't exactly treat him civilly when he, Quil and Jacob came in from patrol, followed by Sam and Jared, who had been in the living room with Billy the whole time.

"Hey baby." He said as he came up to me and tried to kiss me. I turned my face away from him and crossed my arms in front of me. If he was going to break up with me then I was not going to let him kiss me.

"You ok?" He asked. I'm sure his face was filled with worry but I just ignored him and took a bite of my bacon.

"I'm fine." I said as nonchalantly as I could, but it came out rather harsh. He looked like he wanted to say something else but Emily put a plate in front of him and he started eating, but still kept his worried eyes on me.

He could stare at me all day if he wanted to. I didn't care. I was still mad.

After we all had eaten and the kitchen was cleaned up, Embry proceeded to pick me up and throw me over his shoulder like a damn caveman and carry me out of the house before I could say anything to protest.

Before I knew it we were at first beach and he was sitting me down on a log. He pulled my cast up onto his leg and pulled out a marker and started to draw on it.

"So, what's up your butt?" He asked, not looking up from my leg.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You've been pissy since I got home, and I want to know what's bothering you."

"Why do you care?" I barked back. I wanted to run away from him. Damn stupid Paul and my stupid broken foot. I could feel myself start to tear up. I was so angry at him for being so calm about this.

He finally looked up at me. He looked pissed. About damn time.

"Because I do." He said with his eyebrows raised, challenging me to argue with his logic.

"Then why don't you tell me what imprinting is huh, Embry? Cuz I heard Kim and Emily talking about it this morning and how you're so happy now that you've done it, whatever it is, and that they're wondering when you'll tell me and how I'll take it. So why don't you tell me now and let's see how I'll take it." I said crossing my arms and waiting for him to begin. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights and he choked on his spit before he could answer me.

"Rainey." He took a deep breath. "I imprinted on you the moment I saw you." He looked into my eyes and took another deep breath when I didn't say anything. "You remember the story of the third wife?"

I remembered my dream from the night before. I had been the third wife. "Yeah." I said, still not following him.

"It's another werewolf thing. When we first phase and then see the woman we were meant for, we imprint. It's like everything that was ever important to us before is obsolete compared to how we feel about that person. Everything that ever mattered before doesn't matter as much as this one person. We are whatever that person needs us to be, whether it be a lover, like for Sam and Emily and Jared and Kim, or a big brother, like with Quil and Claire. Or even a friend. Whatever she needs is what we are." He stared at me for a few minutes, trying to gauge my response.

"So you imprinted on me, and you are whatever I need you to be?" He nodded.

"And Quil imprinted on CLAIRE?"

"Yeah, it's weird I know. But he would never do anything to hurt her. He's more protective of her than her own father is." He said, taking both of my hands into his large ones.

"Rainey, look. I know that you've gotten a lot of news in the last 48 hours, but you have to understand that I would never force you into anything that you didn't want. If you don't want to be with me...romantically... then we don't have to. I can be your best friend, or I can be nothing to you. All I want is for you to be happy."

I looked toward the ocean, mulling things over in my head. So I was the one that he imprinted on. I was the most important thing to him, just like he was the most important thing to me.

"Embry." I turned my head back to him. He looked like he was sitting in the principal's office. I tried not to laugh.

"You're stupid."

"Wha-?" I crashed my lips to his before he could finish his sentence. He sat there shocked, not moving, until finally it clicked in his head and he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him. A soft moan escaped my mouth and I felt him hold me tighter as a low growl came from him. I liked the sound of it. It made shocks fly up and down my spine and I was glad for once that it was raining slightly or else we might have started a fire.

His hands were working their way up the back of my shirt and I wound my fingers into his hair, tugging on it lightly when he slipped his tongue into my mouth. He tasted amazing. Like the most refreshing drink of water I had ever had. I savored it. I could feel an aching in the bottom of my stomach and found myself rocking against him to relive some of the tension down there. He moaned and flipped me over so that I was laying on my back in the sand with him over top of me. I didn't even notice that my clothes were getting soaked. And frankly I didn't care.

His hands were traveling up and down my sides, sending waves of heat through my entire body. I realized that he had way too many clothes on for my liking and reached behind him and pulled off his shirt. He helped me get it over his head and threw it to the side before attacking my lips again. He was so warm and soft and we fit together perfectly. Before I knew what was going on my shirt was thrown to the side and his hands were touching places on me that had never been touched before.

"Embry." I moaned. He growled again and I felt the muscles in my stomach coil tighter. I bucked my hips into his and he groaned into my mouth.

"Jesus! Sorry!" I looked over to see Quil with his hands over his eyes.

Embry swore and growled at Quil. "What do you want?" He shifted so that his body was in between me and Quil. I blushed when I remembered I didn't have a shirt on.

"Sam is looking for you. He wants to talk to us about the Cullen wedding." Quil said, still covering his eyes.

"Fine, Message received. Leave now!" Embry growled out. He was pissed. So was I actually. I felt disappointed and very unsatisfied. Quil turned away quickly and ran off.

"Can I have my shirt please?" I asked. I was super embarrassed and was probably redder than a tomato.

He sighed and handed me my shirt. I could tell he was disappointed too. And judging by the bulge in his pants he was going to be very sore later. I grimaced.

"I'm sorry about that." He said as he stood up and put his shirt on too. Once we were both redressed he picked me up and started carrying me back to the house. I looked down at my cast and noticed that he had drawn a gray wolf and written the word "Protector" underneath it. That's when it dawned on me.

"You're him! The wolf outside my window! That was you?" He laughed and nodded.

"I watch over you every night from that spot." He said as he looked into my eyes. I felt a smile spread across my face and I leaned up to kiss him.

"I love you Embry Call."

"I love you more, Rainey Black"

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(A/N): I know I know I'm terrible for not updating yesterday. I woke up super late for work and didn't have time to get a chapter written! I'M SORRY! Anyway, I totally didn't intend for things to get so hot and heavy between them when I sat down and started this chapter. I literally looked up and said "What the hell" when I saw it on my screen. Let me know how you liked the chapter!