Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait, but I'm getting better :] If you have any suggestions for the story LET ME KNOW! REVIEW PLEASE!
I glance out Jared and Kim's kitchen window, up into the night sky. So dark yet filled with scattered beads of light. Excusing myself from the now empty room, I slide out the back doors into the fresh air.
The darkened woods always have such a surreal affect and they seem so calm and mysterious, but at the same time, soothing and inviting. Night has always been an escape for me, and I have forever stared out into the darken woods of a much darker time. Always allowing me to feel safe and alone; away from speculation and high demands. The darkness has always represented peace in my life, and soaking in my peace now, I close my eyes and let everything swirl around me in content.
"Babe." I turn my head and slowly open my eyes, looking over to Embry standing in the door. "We're about to have dessert, and yes, you are having some." He smiles crookedly and crosses his arms in fake authority. I smile adoringly up at my imprint and nod. I return to his side and let him sling his arm around my waist and lead me back into the dinning room. The kitchen is too small for everyone to fit, so we're in the dinning room, jamming as many people we can fit.
Of these people, obviously is Jared, Kim, Embry and I. Then we have Paul and Rachel. Old Quil, Quil, and Claire. Billy Black and Sue Clearwater. Seth. Sam, Emily, and my little man, Caleb. Now imagine all fifteen of us sitting around a table meant for eight. Yeah, this party is packed. Fifteen people sitting, eating, drinking, laughing, and smiling with each other. If I knew having a family would be this-, this…. Perfect, then I would have ran off to La Push a lot sooner.
"C'mon, turn the lights down," Rachel bounces. "I'm ready for some cake." the room bursts into quick chuckles and I smile softly at my family, so, so precious to me. Emily jumps out of her chair and places Caleb in his father's lap, and turns off the lights. Out in the kitchen, the sound of matches being stricken against the side of the box, and a flame bursting to life, catches my attention. The scent of candles burning and smoking whirling up and fading out tickle my nose.
Kim rounds the corner and stands in the doorway, candle-lit cake in hand, a beautiful smile on her face. The room all starts singing together, and I feel lost.
"Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!"
Singing the lyrics quietly, Embry pulls me closely into his chest, forehead tapping the side of my face. My eyes flutter shut, but not wanting to miss anything, I snap them back open. Kim is placing the cake before the birthday boy, the glow of the candles illuminating their faces.
"Happy birthday to Jared-
Happy birthday to you!"
Everyone erupts into clapping and I softly pat my hands together, looking around to every single face. Jared blows the candles out with a single breath, and the room goes dark, only for a second. The lights quickly flicker back on and my eyes zone in on the cake. Home made, the candles give off a swirling stream of thin smoke. Round and white, the words 'Happy Birthday Jared' written with blue icing. The smell is sweet and inviting.
"Hey, Caleb!" Jared calls over. His little head snaps up to him, wide eyed and expectant. Jared smiles and motions for him to come over. "Help me cut the first piece, buddy." Eyes practically bulging, Caleb burst out of his father's lap and races around the table to Jared's side. Sliding his chair back slightly, Jared places Caleb in his lap. Curling his hand over Caleb's, Jared guides Caleb with the first cut.
"The first piece can be yours."
"Really!"
Everyone chuckles and I lean into Embry. "Yes, now tell me, how big should we make this slice?"
Looking back down at the cake, Caleb burrows his brows together in intense concentration. Embry rests his head on my shoulder and kisses my neck softly.
Turning back to Jared, Caleb asks, "Can't I just have the whole cake?" His voice so innocent and hopeful.
"No."
"Aw, Mom! I swear! I can eat the whole thing!" I chuckle softly and wink at Caleb. He smiles proudly and nods his head to his mother, determined.
Rachel pouts. "Aw, and I really wanted some of that cake. I've been waiting all day!"
Hearing this, Caleb looks back down at the cake and frowns. "I guess I can share with you, Aunt Rachel."
"Really?" Caleb nods and Rachel jumps up from her seat and kisses Caleb on his cheek, making him gag in disgust. "Oh, come on. I don't got no cooties!" Caleb just grimaces and looks up at all of us.
"I guess, I can share with everyone," he sighs sadly. The girls all chuckle the guys just shake their head and smile. Jared helps cut the cake into even slices and passes them out among the table.
"Here you go, love," Embry places a slice in front of me. "Try some."
Picking up my fork, I cut through the cake and fill my mouth with the piece. My eyes close shut and I sigh. The cake is moist and thick. The icing is sweet and delicious. I can't even describe how it tastes. It just tastes good. No other words needed. Like how do I explain what Embry is and means to me; imprint. That's it. Love and adoration, devotion and passion just don't come close to describing it.
I cut myself another chuck of cake off and slip it into my mouth. "It's so good," I mumble.
Everyone smiles at me and resume eating their cake. Chewing slowly to savor the taste, I look around the room. The men all shoving their faces with cake. The girls all eating slowly and talking idly to each other. My eyes shift to Jared and Kim and I get lost in them.
Jared has Kim sitting in his lap and trying to feed her some cake, but she's just laughing so hard that they can't successfully have the cake placed into her mouth. Chuckling, Jared tries again to feed her. As the cake is about to enter her mouth, she moves slightly and instead has cake being smeared across her cheek. They both freeze and stare at each other. Kim blinks and bursts out laughing, Jared following her suit. He leans over and kisses the smeared cake off of her cheek and kisses her quickly on her lips.
"Delicious," he hums.
"It better be-I spent hours on that cake."
Jared leans in closer to Kim and stares her dead in the eyes. A stare I know only so well. A stare that I myself get dragged into and lost in. It's the stare given from and imprint. "I wasn't talking about the cake."
Blushing, Kim looks down. Frowning at his loss of connection with her eyes, Jared gently holds her chin and brings her face up, facing him. Smiling softly, he kisses her passionately, but obviously restraining himself knowing there's an audience.
Feeling hot eyes stare me down, I turn to Embry, his eyes flicker to Kim and Jared, and back at me. "What's with the face?"
"What face?" I ask totally confused.
He points to my face and nods quickly. "That jealous, adoring, completely beautiful look."
"You always say I look beautiful," I point out.
He leans back in his chair and nods his head. "Ah, because, my dear, it is true." I chuckle and smile up at him. "See, a different face, and yet, so, so beautiful!" I laugh louder and his eyes soften and he smiles adoringly at me. "So, what's with the face, again?"
"They're just so cute together, and Jared seemed pretty smooth there, didn't he?"
Embry frowns and my lips twitch downward at the loss of his smile. "You want cute and smooth?" I raise my eyebrows and he wipes his finger through some icing from my cake, his cake being already in his stomach and no longer available. Without even a warning, Embry swipes his finger of icing over my lips, leaving a thick trail of sweet sugar on my mouth.
Shocked, my jaw hangs and I freeze in spot. Embry chuckles and his eyes darken playfully. He reaches out and cradles my face and leans in, catching my lips with his. I sigh into his touch and regain life in my body. I lean into him and kiss him back. His lips and tongue clean away the icing and leave me breathless.
Pulling apart slightly, I can feel the smile in his breath and the tug of elastic in my core. "Yum."
"Mmm," I hum in agreement. I can't find it in me to open my eyes are even for normal sentences, so I just lean back into Embry's soft, warm lips and mold mine to his. I sigh again at the sensations of bliss, belonging, love, content, feelings I don't even have feeling for.
"There's children present!" Seth cuts in on our private moment. My lips twitch down into a frown and Embry makes a noise between a growl and a huff of annoyance.
"Only one, Seth," Embry murmurs. He kisses my lips for one last taste and pulls away. He sighs and leans back into his chair and slings his arm around my shoulders. "Mind your own damn business, kid."
"I'm not a kid, Embry! I'm twenty two now, just in case you forgot."
Paul scoffs. "No matter how old you get, kid, you're always gonna be a kid to us." Seth growls and sinks into his chair, stuffing his last forkful of cake into his mouth and chewing angrily. He pouts his lips and looks at the wall instead of the table and everyone else. A so Seth action.
"So," Jared breaks the tension fluidly. "I want my presents, and none of ya better have forgotten to buy me something."
"Like Kim would let us," Quil whispers under his breath. Jared shoots him a glare and Quil raises his hands in surrender. Old Quil slaps him upside the head and shakes his head. "Ow!" I flinch and my eyes harden and I clench my jaw. Everyone freezes and my eyes see nothing, everything just blurring into each other.
"Kate?" a angel's voice asks concerned and a hand lands on my shoulder and I stiffen. The hand snaps back like it's been burned and the elastic in my core twists and pulls painfully. I yelp and my hands shoot to my stomach, my eyes refocusing and reality soaking back in. My head snaps to Embry and I cry out in pain.
His eyes are wide and glassy. His jaw is tightly clenched and his body full of tension. Everything screams pain and agony. My mind doesn't even have time to realize what I'm doing until I find myself grasping his face in my hands and pulling it down till he's leveled with my. I search his eyes for anything, forgiveness, a flicker, something.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Embry. I didn't mean- I didn't know I was -. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sor-"
"Shhh," a warm finger presses against my lips and I freeze. "You got to stop that, Babe. No more apologizing."
"I'm so-"
"No!" he growls deeply. I shut up immediately and nod my head. My eyes cast down and I try to hide my guilt and disappointment, but Embry tugs my face back up to his. "Don't look away," he whispers. "That hurts just as bad." I nod my head again, keeping my mouth shut. My stupid, broken mouth. My mouth that only gets me into more and more trouble. "It's alright."
I purse my lips and fight down tears. "Shhh," he whispers again, nuzzling my face with his. "Don't cry, please, don't cry." I bite my lip and squeeze my eyes shut. I nod against him and breath him in; Sweet and crisp like Autumn air, and woodsy like the forest.
He kisses my hair and his nose traces down the side of my face till it hit's the corner of my mouth. He kisses my jaw and then slightly up to my lips. He pulls away and looks down at me. I open my eyes and get dragged down into the pit of those beautiful onyx orbs he has for eyes. My body warms and hums in reaction to having him be so close and staring at me with such intensity.
"You alright now?"
I give a quick nod. "You?" I whisper back.
He smirks down at me and kisses me quickly on the lips. "I'm ready to watch Jared open gifts." I smile and nod. He smiles widely and something flashes in his eyes. "Then let us go, milady." He jumps to his feet and drags me up with him. I don't even get to find my balance as warm, strong arms constrict my thighs and lifts me into the air.
"Embry!" I gasp. He chuckles and throws me over his shoulder. "What are you doing?"
"Why, carrying you , honey."
"You can put me down,"
"Yes. Yes I could." I sigh. Seth and Quil mock us, calling out 'honey' in what I believe were supposed to be female voices. I cover my face in my hands and Seth and Quil burst out laughing.
"Leave my little sis alone, or I'll kick your asses," Jared threatens in a detached voice. Quil and Seth immediately shut up and take their seat on one of the coaches. "Embry, put her down already." I'm pulled back over Embry's shoulder, but he doesn't release his hold on me. He plops down on a single armchair and positions me in his lap. Smiling, I snuggle into his hold and breath him in.
"Alright, which one of you's gonna give me my gift first?"
Sam tosses a small box at Jared and it hits him square in the chest. Jared shoots Sam a dirty glare and grabs the box resting in his lap. Kim bounces excitedly at his side, watching his hands unwrap the paper only to reveal a plain white box. Jared flips it over in his hands a few times and pulls the cardboard apart and his eyes go wide at the contents inside. I lean forward to catch what's so amazing.
Jared lifts out a, what looks like a heavy duty version of his iPod case he has now. "You're always complaining about how you don't want your iPod getting ruined if you have to phase and it's on you. Emily thought you would like it."
"Yeah," Emily pipes in. "The guy said it's practically indestructible and waterproof. And there's a year warranty on it too, so if it does happen to break, you get a new one for free."
"Thanks, Emily!" Jared exclaims excitedly. Sam growls in annoyance. "Thanks Sam."
"No problem buddy." Jared rolls his eyes and glares at Paul with Rachel in his lap. He's kissing her neck and his hands are playing at her hips. Jared coughs and Paul pulls back from Rachel's neck. "Here you go, bro." He, much like Sam, throws the present at Jared. However, this time Jared sees it coming and catches it. He takes no time ripping the paper from the gift inside and his excited smile returns. "Those are the head phones you couldn't stop talking about, right?"
"Yeah, dude, thanks."
"Yeah, yeah." His lips find homage in Rachel's neck again and she giggles at his touch. You can see Paul smile against her skin at her reaction. Her smile and bliss is contagious and I find myself settling deeper into Embry's chest with a soft smile on my face. Lips press down on my forehead and my eyes shut for a moment and my lips twitch a fraction higher.
More presents are handed out to Jared. Posters, a mixed CD, a box of condoms from Rachel. Everyone erupted into laughter but me. I just looked away embarrassed, which of course, made everyone laugh even harder. Even my little man laughed, and he had no clue what was going on. Eventually, all the presents were handed out and Jared thanked everyone.
"You're forgetting someone, Jar," Sam informed him.
"Who?"
"Katelyn."
"But she didn't go out shopping with you guys or anything."
"Just give him his gift, Katelyn, and make him shut it," Sam yawns.
"I thought you said you wouldn't spend anything on my birthday present?"
"I didn't, I swear." I feel everyone's attention solely on me and I shift in discomfort. Jared sends me a questioning look and I squirm a little more. "Well, Kim told me that she made reservations for some restaurant for you guys tomorrow, but you had to cancel."
"Yeah, I have patrols from four till like ten." Kim's eyes brighten, realizing what my present is.
"Oh, my God. Kate, you didn't?"
"Didn't what?" Jared asks, still too confused to grasp what's going on.
"I called the restaurant and un-cancelled your reservation."
"Katie," Jared runs a hand over his face. "You do realize I'm gonna just have to cancel them again? No offense or anything, but I got patrols."
"No you don't," Sam mutters. "Not anymore at least."
"What?"
Sam thrusts a thumb in my direction, "My Beta here decided to take over your patrol tomorrow so you could go out with your imprint." Jared's head snaps in my direction, his eyes bulging. Kim jumps up screaming excitedly and jumps on Embry and I and hugs me tightly.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I open my mouth to tell her it was nothing, but she jumps off me and jumps on Jared and kisses him deeply. "Finally! We're going on a date again!" Jared chuckles and kisses her again.
He pulls away and looks over at me. "Thanks, that was the best gift I've gotten all day."
I smile over at him. "Anything for my pack." He smiles and looks at Kim deeply in the eyes.
"So," she asks merrily. "Was this your best birthday, yet?"
"Yeah, it's been pretty good." Kim smiles brightly. "Could be better." Her smiles gone. Jared smiles softly at her and sets her down on the coach. "There's only one more thing that could make this birthday the best ever." He takes a step back and Kim watches him with analytical eyes. He kneels down on one knee and pulls something out of his jeans pocket. Kim screams and covers her mouth with her hands, eyeing him with teary eyes.
"Kim. We've been together for seven years and they've been the best years that any man could ever dream of. You are everything to me. My light, my air, my sun, my life, you are the one and the only woman that I love, and the spirits made that very clear." Kim chuckles hysterically and nods her head. Jared continues, "I want you to be with me, everyday, every night, every second. It hurts to be away from you, and it pisses me off watching other guys come up and try to steal you away from me. You deserve the world, but I can only give you mine. Kim?"
"Yes?" her voice shakes and tears streak the sides of her face.
"Will you marry me?" I lifts the lid of the little black box in his hand and my eyes bulge at the ring inside. Three diamonds, the center the largest, are settled on a silver band encrusted with tiny diamonds, making it glitter at every angle.
Kim hardly lets him finish his question before she jumps into him. "Yes! Yes! A million times YES!" His lips catch hers hungrily and they mold against each other perfectly.
"Best. Birthday. Ever," he mumbles against her lips and everyone chuckles and claps excitedly.
So? What do you guys think? REVIEW PLEASE 3