Thanks to Team-LaPush-Werewolves and Twilightgirl1209 for their reviews, hope everyone likes this chapter and keep an eye out for 22!! :)

21. Crossfire

Gemma

It was around 3 am, when Embry suggested he escort me home. This meant he was to ride on the back of my ATV to my house, then go home.

It didn't exactly go like that.

After I pulled my vehicle into my gravel driveway, which I concluded was empty because Reece was out with his Jeep, throwing a hissy fit somewhere, and my mom was working late. She was a physical therapist in Seattle, and sometimes she didn't get home until daybreak. In laments terms, I had the house to myself. Well... we had the house to ourselves.

I couldn't bear to tear away from Embry when I killed the engine. Before we had even come to a complete stop, he had his arms wrapped around my bare stomach, turning me and kissing me. Lips, neck. With nothing between us but my bikini top, I grinned and led our being inside. Not bothering to turn on the lights, we flopped down onto the couch, where he twisted until he was resting on top of me, pushing my being into the itchy cushions. I laughed loudly as he ran his fingers through my snow covered hair, kissing my jaw. I didn't know how much happier I could get.

Finally, I was all alone with Embry, the guy who'd had my heart since I was in middle school. Now that our imprint was finally legal, we could be together. I placed my warm hands on each side of his face as we kissed, and even with my eyes closed I could tell he was smiling, because I felt the corners of his lips turned upward. I hugged him tight as he moved my hair away from my neck to kiss my scars. I'd almost forgotten that he was the one who put them there. If he hadn't, I wouldn't have been alive.

Now, you would think, after the incident earlier, I would have been a little wary about someone walking in on us. But no. Our love was a beautiful thing, and it didn't even cross my mind that someone would, for the second time that night, tear him away from me.

It wasn't just then, though. Things were actually getting pretty steamy. I wasn't thinking about the morning, or my brother. My thoughts were consumed entirely by Embry, and how long I'd waited for this.

It took me a minute to realize that we had actually stood up. His hands found my thighs and lifted me off the ground. My elbows resting on his shoulders, our lock barely broke as he carried me up the stairs, stumbling a few times, as he headed for my bedroom.

I felt myself being slammed into the wall—no, my bedroom door. Embry was using me as a battering ram to open it. I didn't mind. I didn't even notice really, but after a minute, with my back stinging, I pried one of my arms away from his perfect, godly body to reach backwards and open it. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I won the battle against my doorknob, and we were both relieved to flop down on the bed.

Had I not been so completely wrapped up, I probably would have noticed sooner that my light was on.

Eventually, I noticed that we weren't alone.

There sat Reece, eyes filled with complete anger. He was sitting on my floor, legs folded Indian style, holding some pictures of me when I was a kid. I'd always kept the family photos in my room, so he sometimes came in to look at them... But now? Hell no.

We must have been a sight for sore eyes. Not. Both of us, half naked (well, I was a little more than half... apparently between the couch-episode and the door-episode, the back of my bikini top had been untied.) on top of each other on my bed, hair askew? Jesus Christ. I felt horrible.

Reece, unable to contain himself (this time I really couldn't blame him, though that doesn't mean I wanted him to) ripped Embry away from me by the hair, and threw him to the opposite side of the room. The side with my window. With the force of a wolf, my dear Embry broke through the glass and found himself plummeting to the ground two stories below.

At that point, I couldn't even get over my shock enough to scream. What was worse: Reece jumped out after him.

By the time I reached the window sill, which was littered with shards of thin glass, I saw my brother on top of an obviously injured Embry, punching him as hard as he could. It took all my will not to jump down from the window as they had. I ran downstairs, and by the time I reached the front door, I saw that they had both reached for their wolf. I did the same.

Reece, leave him the hell alone! I screamed at him, as loud as I could, in my head.

Gemma stay out of this, Embry told me in a rushed tone. I heard him whine as Reece bit him hard in the shoulder. All I could sense coming from my brother's head was red. I'd felt that same thing before, when I'd killed the vampire. I didn't even remember doing it. If I didn't do something, he would kill Embry.

I felt my instincts kick in, and I jumped atop Reece's back, growling and biting. I managed to bite a large chunk out of his ear before I heard his bark. He kicked back, sparing my imprint for a few moments to try and get me off of him.

Reece snap out of it! I yelled to him. You don't wanna hurt anybody!

Still red. I had to get him out of his raged state, or he'd be cleaning chucks of Gembry-burger from his teeth. He huffed as he spun in circles, trying to fling me from him. I dug my claws into his back, whining in his ear, pleading him to stop.

He didn't.

Reece leave her alone! I heard Embry call to him. She's you're sister. His tone was calmer now, and he was climbing a tree. I couldn't think of anything else he would be doing other than getting ready to pounce on my big bro.

Em, wait, I told him calmly. I stopped biting, and I released the grip on my claws. Reece started running forward, then slammed on his brakes, which was enough to fling me off of him and slam me into the very tree which Embry was hovering in. There was a loud clap of noise, and I heard the bark screaming at me, like I could talk to trees. It shook violently, and then I was smashed into the ground.

Oof. Sorry Gem! Embry apologized, rolling off of me. The wind was knocked out of me, and my vision was going fuzzy. Well, fuzzy for a wolf. It'd probably still be better than a regular human's. I coughed, and by then, the boys were battling it out again.

Stop it right now! I yelled at them, but now, neither of them were listening. I couldn't stop them myself. I'd only get hurt even more.

As much as I hated the idea, I needed to get Sam.

I managed to locate a rather large shirt that I'd buried in the woods close by my house. I quickly changed into my human form and ran as fast I could to Emily's house. It was nearly half past four o'clock in the morning, but for some reason, I knew someone would still be up.

"Somebody!" I yelled, running in. I found Jared and Sam lounging on the couch as Emily stood in the kitchen. Of course she was cooking.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, sitting upright. I felt a tight knot form in my stomach. I had to hurry.

"The guys.. Embry... Reece, they're-" I was out of breath from running.

"You're bleeding."

"What?" I asked. Looking down, I saw that my wolf wounds hadn't exactly gone away on the jog here. I was bleeding from my shoulder, and I could taste it as well, which scared me. "Whatever, Sam you have to help they won't listen to me." I realized that Jared was staring at my skinny legs peaking from beneath the long tee shirt, which grazed the tips of my knees. Thank god.

Sam, without any further explanation, mumbled a quick goodbye to Emily, then ran out, Jared trailing after him. We all jumped into his jeep and raced back to my property. What we found was horrible. Reece was nowhere in sight, but Embry lay on the ground, bleeding profusely, and unconscious. I screamed, like something you would hear out of a horror movie, and jumped out of the jeep. Barefooted, I ran as fast I could over to my soul mate.

"Embry, hey," I told the wolf, dropping to my knees and taking his snout in my tiny hands. "Embry wake up."

"Gemma," Sam started, but when I spun, he had already transformed. He padded over to my broken looking boyfriend. He wasn't dead, that much was certain. Even as a human I could sense his uneven pulse fighting his escaping consciousness. I looked to my alpha. It was then that I truly felt the affect of his power, his purpose. He was there to help. All along, even when I thought he was trying to split us up, he was only trying to protect us...

I took a step back. For some reason, I felt like it was going to be okay. Sam picked up Embry gently by the back of the neck, and I exchanged glances with Jared.

"Where's Reece?" he asked me after a minute. I paused. That seemed like a simple enough question, but hearing it stuck total and utter fear inside me. Was my brother lurking in the woods, using the mangled body of my soul mate as a trap? Who else would he hurt?

Just as that thought crossed my mind, my eyes seemed to find their way to the outskirt of the forest bordering my home. It was then that I saw two glowing eyes.

Reece.

No. It wasn't Reece. I mean, it was Reece on the outside... But on the inside...

"Sam," I warned, voice shaky, not able to tear my eyes away from the shining orbs. He seemed to understand, because he pushed Embry toward the opposite side of the porch. Out of the crossfire. He huffed at me. I could almost hear his voice inside my head, even in my human form. Change.