Quil was sitting in a chair, begrudgingly watching the TV show Claire and I had picked out. The recapflashed on the screen, and I shook my head at the decision of last episode. We'd been watching for the better part of three hours and were betting on who was going to win overall.
"She totally should've won that dance off." I said,
"Yeah, but her look was just so - ugh." Claire tilted her head to the side, "I mean look at those paper plates just stapled to it."
The winner of the dance-off I was referring to appeared on screen and I threw popcorn in her direction. "Booooooooo, go home." Claire grabbed the popcorn bowl from me.
"Hey, don't waste food." She munched on a handful of the cheesy popcorn. "I worked hard for this you know."
"It's like three dollars." I said, taking a few and throwing it at Quil, who was as still and as happy as a stone gargoyle, his eyes wide at the TV.
"Doesn't mean I didn't work for it!" She said, holding the bowl even further from me. I pouted as I settled back into the couch. Claire had come over quickly once Embry left. Quil had asked what we wanted to do, and both of us were so tired and emotionally drained that there was only one cure: trashy TV.
"Let's do something else." I sighed, not getting the enjoyment out of the show that I normally did.
"We could watch a movie?" Claire offered and I shrugged, not too pleased at the idea of staying inside for that much longer. I knew they were trying to keep me in the house, for a reason I assumed had to deal with the homicidal wolf running amok.
"Maybe I should just get some sleep." I sighed, seeing the clock blare ten to midnight into my brain.
"I mean, that would be smart." Quil perked up at the mention. I narrowed my eyes.
"You just want to have some aalllloooonnneeee time." I sang to him and he grinned at me mischievously.
"Have to wait for the children to go to bed." He stated matter-of-factly, looking pointedly at me.
"I'm not a child!" I shouted, mock angry.
"Well, I'm babysitting you like one!"
"You're welcome to leave." I responded, puffing out my cheeks.
"Now, now." Claire patted my arm. "Seth is coming at like 2am or something, and then we'll be out of your hair."
"Why is everyone coming here tonight?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.
"We just love you." Claire stated. "All Seth talks about is the nap he got with you."
"Much to Embry's dismay." Quil grinned. "He chased that guy around for an hour when he first found out." The image caused me to giggle and Claire just shook her head, a gentle smile on your face.
"How did he even find out?"
"Jacob told him." Quil's smile got brighter and he leaned in. "Seth literally said 'oh, maybe don't tell Embry just yet' and then as soon as Embry and Seth were three feet from each other BAM Jacob let the secret out."
"What a guy." I said, standing up and yawning, stretching my arms far above my head. Claire wished me good night as I left them and the silence that enveloped me as I entered my room calmed the frustration that was rising in me. I found it hard to get mad at everyone; they were only trying to protect me. I still felt like a caged animal though.
I laid in bed for what seemed like hours, before I gave up and flicked my light on. I settled in to read my book, hoping it may lull me to sleep. I was brought out of the story by my bedroom door opening, revealing a haggard looking Seth at the door. He waved, "Hey."
"Hey, buddy, you look- uh." He moved to sit down on the floor cross-legged across from me, for once making me feel like the tall one.
"Tired?"
"I was gonna say like garbage." I nodded, "But tired works."
"Thanks, Nev." Seth rubbed his forehead, finishing by moving a hand through his hair. His expression was a grimace, very unusual for the young-looking wolf.
"Seth?" I asked, turning to him as I forgot about my book. "What's wrong?"
"I had this strange feeling…" Seth said, "On my way over here, and I just feel like I hurried for no reason." I blinked at him.
"I'm fine, Seth, you can see that." Trying to soothe him with words, something in the back of my mind told me this was not mostly about me.
"He can smell that wolf." Ellie popped in again. "I can sense him close by. It's probably making him wary." I could see her rub the back of her head in my mind. "Now that you're slowly getting better at this Alpha thing, all the wolves of the pack you belong to might become overprotective of you , not just Embry. Although, he'll always be the worst." She laughed at the end, clearly still uncomfortable about something.
"I thought that last time." He was troubled, even his voice was a bit lost. "And then they didn't make it. We chased that guy left and right, up and down, all over the place and still I can't find him."
"Seth, you have to sleep at some point." He sighed, a deep sigh that shook his body. His shoulders relaxed after and he let himself fall back so he was spread out in the middle of my bedroom
"Yeah, well, not for awhile still."
"Naw." I smirked. "Best friend sleepover time?" He didn't say anything for a bit, obviously mulling over the idea.
"I'm not sleeping while I'm watching you."
"Oh, c'mon! You did last time!" I exclaimed as he stood up, stretching his arms far above him.
"That was totally different." He made me want to pull away, to sink into myself and listen to the assertive tone of his voice. He looked bigger than last time I'd seen him. His shoulders seemed broader, he seemed taller, and he seemed older. When he spoke, it tore me from my thoughts. "I just can't." He shook his head, looking away from me.
"Do you want a coffee then?" His gaze tore up to me.
"At least one of us should probably get some sleep." He murmured, a yawn finally tearing from his lips.
"I got decaf downstairs." I jumped off the nook I was reading on, "Just this once, for you, okay? I can't sleep anyway." He followed me to the kitchen, more obediently than I'd come to expect from the wolf-pack boys, and sat at the kitchen table, his arms crossed over his chest.
"So," I said, leaning my back against the counter as the coffee brewed behind me. "Care to explain why you're watching me?"
"C'mon." He groaned. "You know why."
"No, I don't." I crossed my arms, unsure as to his intentions.
"Look." He leaned forward onto his elbows. "We all know you somehow have some clue as to what an imprint is, and that you know you're Embry's. No one else has had a chance to pick your brain. So instead of you asking questions, can I ask some?"
"Why do you think I'll give you answers when you never give me any?" I shot back defensively, more snappy than I would've preferred.
"I'm under the assumption I know more answers than you do." Seth responded, still not moving and staring at me through his dark-circled eyes. "So I have more to lose. By offering you this kind of deal, don't you think you have more to gain?"
Ellie huffed her cheeks out. "No way, he knows we know more than he thinks we do." Which was a confusing sentence to say even if it was true.
"You obviously think I know something." I retorted, moving to the fridge to grab the milk and hoping to calm the shaking starting in my hands.
"Sure, but I don't suspect much." Seth said.
"Seth-"
"You don't have to take the deal." He sighed, leaning back in the chair. "We can just both go on with either side not knowing what the other knows."
"Fine." I slammed the fridge door shut as the coffee machine buzzed to tell me it had stopped. I poured the two mugs full and brought them, plus milk and sugar to the table. "I'll bite. But I won't answer anything I don't want to."
"That's not how it works." Seth took the mug from me, adding in a dash of milk. "You don't answer mine, I don't answer yours. I'm not gonna ask anything crazy."
"I don't like this." Ellie still had her cheeks puffed out. "I don't think you should."
"Deal." I said, reaching a hand forward for him to shake. He took it and then took a long sip of his coffee. We both sat in his silence for a moment as Seth mulled over what to say, his face carefully blank.
"Do you think that you, Annie, and Kyle were attacked by a wild animal?"
"No." I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Why?"
"Wild animals don't strategize. Why go after the group of two when they could've gone after the one. Besides the fact it was huge." I took a long sip of my coffee as well, the silence of the kitchen becoming ever more present.
"Do you know what it was?"
"Yes." I stated, starting to feel uneasy. How do I tell him I knew that they were werewolves. As if remembering, I quickly tried to read his mind: How do I find out how much she knows without making her back off? I told Embry I'd try to get her to open up, but how much do I really want to know? She must know something… but how much could she possibly know about werewolves without any of us telling her?
"I read a book upstairs." Without thinking, I responded to the question in his thoughts. Without much choice, I continued on. "About these myths of… werewolves." To his credit, he didn't flinch or look surprised. "I thought, maybe, but that seems so…. "
"Surreal?"
"Just unreal." I looked away from him for the moment.
So, she knows something. I don't think a book could tell her about imprints though. But knowing she has suspicions about werewolves is good.
Ellie was getting more nervous. "Please be careful." If he asked me about the imprint, I don't know how I would be able to get around it. "Them knowing how you know is dangerous for them and for you with that other wolf on the loose."
"Have you ever heard of… a Free Alpha?" Seth's gaze caught mine, keeping it locked to his. My heart skipped a beat, and I knew my face gave away my surprise at the question.
She can't be….
"You mean, like the Alpha of a pack of animals?"
"No." He drew the word out, long and slow as if he couldn't figure out the next words to say. "Like a Free Alpha."
You don't have a reaction like that unless you know what that is, but if it's her, how do we protect her from that? It would make sense, Embry said she Alpha commanded him, and that's something none of the other imprints could do. But….
"I'm sorry Seth, I-" I shook my head. "It sounds so familiar, but I just don't know how." His shoulders slumped, almost as if in relief. My heart hurt from the denial, from the dishonesty that was floating off of my skin, but Seth obviously wanted it not to be true so bad he was willing to listen to my lie.
What a relief. She wouldn't have lied to me, that's unlike her. Or am I being naive? It doesn't matter. I have to take her at face value, if I can't even do that how can I even begin to unravel all of this? It's messed up I had to do this. With Embry in second-in-command he doesn't have the time with patrols, but this is brutal. He would have it so much easier. Her reaction to that statement was odd, but I trust her.
God, I felt like I was being stabbed.
"My turn?" I asked.
"Not yet." He breathed out, "Jacob said you were Embry's imprint, that you asked. How did yo-"
"Seth!" Quil had bumbled through the door, pulling Clare in behind him. The thoughts in my head were screaming, I couldn't decipher between them. I winced, trying to turn them off.
Found him, need backup. Get Seth. Have Claire with Neveah. Keep safe.
"Now?" Seth growled, standing.
"Now." Quil gave Claire a quick kiss and then they were both gone. I stared after him, dumbfounded.
"Hey! I didn't get my turn!" I yelled at the door that had already shut three breaths earlier.
"Oh man." Claire yawned. "Can you believe this? Men." Claire sat down and started to drink the coffee that Seth had left, before her face scrunched up and she added more sugar to the liquid.
"What…." I facepalmed, unable to resist the reaction.
"Couldn't sleep, huh?" Claire asked me, finally satisfied with the sweetness level of Seth's coffee.
"You could say that." I sighed, absentmindedly swishing my half empty cup. The kitchen felt stifling, as if Claire and I didn't know how to be alone with each other, despite the amount of time we'd spent together. Claire turned on music quietly from her phone and I found myself tapping my foot in rhythm. "Can I ask you something?" I spoke suddenly, my voice catching.
"Sure." Claire said.
"I don't want you to get offended."
She smiled at me. "What could you possibly be thinking about? Go ahead, Nev, I'm not the one who bites."
"You and Quil's age gap…." I bit my own lip when the side of hers twitched.
"Yes?"
"I don't know. Is it a lot or am I just completely an idiot?"
"Does it matter?" She didn't seem mad, but I felt out of place asking, despite my curiosity.
"I guess it doesn't." I downed the rest of my coffee. "I was just curious how you found each other, you both seem so busy and he doesn't seem like the sort of coffee addict that I am."
"He's not." She sighed. "We didn't meet in this town though."
"Back from?"
"We met back in La Push." She was shifting in her seat, and I felt like she was trying to edit her story as we went along. "If you want to be technical, I'm 10 years older than him right now."
"Ten isn't so bad." Her lip twitched into a smile I didn't understand.
"It isn't." She agreed. "Not that I would care. We could be thirty years apart and I'd love him just as much."
"I mean, you're so pretty you could land anybody at any age anyway." I said, my tired brain making me feel more bold.
"You as well." She lifted her cup to me. "Annie too."
"Okay." I scoffed. "I agree with Annie. I would hope I could catch something."
"Like some big hunk whose name starts with an E?" I blushed and looked away, unable to respond when flashes of us from earlier ran through my mind.
"You know." Her voice brought my gaze back. "There's way more to this story of mine." Her eyes were glinting. "But I can only tell you if you tell me what you know."
"Why are people so interested in what I know all of a sudden? No one cared before."
"Personally," Claire grabbed the mugs as she spoke and walked over to the counter to pour more coffee, her ponytail bouncing as she walked. "I think they underestimated you."
"You think so?" I leaned my cheek into my palm.
"I do. You're smarter than they believed. And now, they're paying the price for not being forthcoming by getting the same treatment. You have a right to be upset. However, I'm curious myself."
"You'll just tell them." I stuck my tongue out in jest. "They'll know right away."
"Yeah right." Claire was laughing, "They underestimate me too. They knew me from when I was super young so they treat me like a little kid sometimes, despite the beautiful entrepreneur that I am."
"From when you were young?" Claire froze. "Aren't you the older one?" Claire didn't say anything, not even moving. I could almost see her thoughts moving a mile a minute.
"Uhm." Ellie came in, "So…. How do I say this? When wolves change all the time they don't age. So, she's as old as she should be, and they aren't."
"So…. He's actually older than you are?" I was amazed, trying to figure it out. Were they actually decades older than Claire was?
"Well." Claire was uncomfortable, placing my mug back in front of me. "Can I plead the fifth?"
"No."
"Ahhhahah, well." She sat down and didn't speak again. Biting the side of her lips as she stared at her own full mug of coffee.
"No one's gonna butt in this time." I said, my eyes staring her down. "C'mon, give me something."
"I don't know how without telling you everything."
"I already know everything!" I stood up, slamming my hands down on the table. I knew it all, and even if they didn't know it, I couldn't stand to be treated like I knew nothing anymore. "I know they're werewolves okay!" In the silence that followed, I realized my mistake, my face paling.
"That's good." Claire took a sip of her coffee calmly, the complete opposite reaction to what my own heart was doing.
"It is?" I responded weakly, my legs already numb.
"Let's keep a secret from the boys." She leaned forward. "I'll be your confidant while Annie is away."
"Okay?" I asked weakly. Ellie was fuming in my head, pacing so hard it was giving me a headache, muttering 'stupid human' over and over again.
"So, Quil told me you alpha commanded Embry! How did you do it! You have to teach me, Quil drags me everywhere due to this whole 'Free Alpha' thing and I can't ever do anything!" Claire was rambling, her face expressively happy. I realized how she must've missed talking to someone who knew the secret, with Annie being just as absent from her life as she had been from mine.
"Claire…" I reached over to place my hand around hers, Ellie trying to take control of my limbs and my thoughts as I did. She stopped talking, staring at me in curiosity.
"I'm the Free Alpha."