Leah resisted the urge to smack her head on the door again, because braining herself before a altercation from the least confrontational male she'd ever met was not a clever plan.

She was surprised as hell that he had actually showed up at her door. All he had done for the past week was watch her with confusion mixed with uncomfortable traces of awe. The confusion she could understand, because half the time even she didn't understand what made her tick lately. She was a mass of anger and fluctuating hormones. And if she wasn't raging at someone, she wanted to cry a goddamned river.

The hot flashes, above and beyond anything she had ever taken notice of in any other Wolf's mind, were absolutely ridiculous and made sleeping through the night an outright bitch. Her clothing was twice as scarce as that of any of the male Wolves because she was prone to ripping them off in her sleep.

And for a girl with three others in the house and no lock on the bedroom doors, sleeping naked wasn't really an option.

"Leah?"

Wincing, she reorganized her mental processing.

It was the awe that she didn't like, because it smacked of that unnatural attachment that had already just about broken her. Imprinting, she mentally spat. What a load of utter bullshit. As if soul-mates were something that had to be romantic in nature. Because to her, the way the Legends spoke of it, it smacked of a supernatural breeding program, and Leah wasn't anyone's broodmare.

And the artificial attraction part of the deal was just…creepy. Sam had lost a part of himself that she had loved about him when he had succumbed to his Imprinting urges. The little thing called free-will. Oh, he could say no to Emily, and frequently did. But that part of him that had always fought for his right to go his own way in life had disappeared, buried under a landslide of duty and responsibility to Emily and his tribe.

Responsibility for a Wolf-pack that was rightfully Jacob's….a boy who wasn't ready and might never be. Oh, he was trying. Everybody with eyes could see it, and he had come a long way in the past few months since Bella had cut him loose. But he was still only sixteen years old and far too young to have such an obligation thrust upon him. Sam was too young at twenty-two.

"Leah. I can hear you breathing in there," came the slightly exasperated, faintly amused voice of her Imprint.

Fuck. It was a good word and apt, because she was royally fucked by fate and nature and now her inability to hold her breath long enough to convince Embry that no one was home. But she had never been the passive-aggressive type and so she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath before reluctantly opening the door, intending to do whatever it took to make him leave so that she could continue to brood in peace and quiet.

But she was to be disappointed as, instead of standing there politely waiting for her to dig her proverbial claws in, he shouldered past her through the opening and let himself in.

"Welcome into my home," she snorted sarcastically, only faintly disappointed that he didn't rise to the bait. She could do with a good argument to get her mind off things. And she wanted so very badly to be angry at him, even if she knew that it was completely irrational. Unfair, because he was every bit as much a victim to his own genetics as she was. He had only just been allowed to tell his mother about all of this Wolf fuckery, having fallen into the category of pre-Sam's epic showdown with the council. The poor woman had been at her wits end, thinking that her son had dropped out of his AP classes and then out of school completely because of delinquency. To find out that he was out in the woods risking his hide for his tribe…for her…had both touched and frightened the absolute bejesus out of her. She had asked if there was any way he could stop Phasing, but when told that it was genetic and not simply a choice to be made, she had done her best to take it all in stride.

Shaking her head, she focused on the here and now. Because right now? Embry was watching her intently, eyes on hers in a way that raised her hackles like any Wolf being stared down. But as if sensing the thought, he took the aggression out of the gesture by sitting in the wingback-chair, putting himself into a lower position. It worked, because Leah's instincts to lunge settled as she took the sofa opposite him.

He was quiet for the longest time, and Leah found her anxiety growing. What the hell did he want? She'd thought she'd made it pretty clear that she didn't want anything to do with him at this point. She didn't like the sick feeling in her stomach when he came near, because she couldn't tell if it was more disgust that fate had yet again fucked with her or hesitant pleasure that fate had picked someone perfect for her. Which was also not fair, because he hadn't chosen her. She'd been chosen for him, and that made her feel even lower, somehow.

Wasn't she good enough to be chosen on her own merit? Did she have to be foisted off on someone else like some kind of consolation prize? Here, you may have to be a Wolf and risk your life protecting your people with very little thanks in return, but you can have the freak female Wolf as a mate. She can't even do what we said an Imprint is supposed to do and give you children, because along with fucking with her life, we took away her monthly as well. Cheers.

She was woman enough to admit that that last part had hurt, as if she were somehow less female now and more of a genderless foot-soldier in the ranks of the furry-inclined. Sure, she still had tits, but so did more than half the population. It was the ability to bear life that set apart the women from the men and she had lost that.

She was well aware that with the sudden and significant increase in muscle-mass as well as the decrease in body fat, that she, like most female athletes, had lost her menses. But it was not something she could change, not like she could just abruptly decide to stop being a Wolf as she had touched on before in her thoughts about Embry. And in her heart of hearts, she had always wanted to have a child. Wanted to be mom to a little girl who was just as stubborn and headstrong as she herself had been. Wanted to brush her long hair and smile to herself while the young girl insisted that she could dress herself, thank you very much. Granted, she had always thought the father would have been Sam, but now that was about as likely as her sprouting wings and proclaiming herself to be a Pegasus.

Sam. Now, there was another thing that still stung. Because she had been in love with Sam Uley ever since the day that she discovered that boys were good for something other than pulling your braids and passing cooties. She had admittedly built her whole future around marrying him and becoming a lawyer while he went on to become the grade school teacher that he had always wanted to be. Sam was incredibly good with young kids, something that had always touched her to witness and made her fall in love with him all over again. Every. Damned. Time.

Now, while he made a good living, it wasn't in his chosen field because he could never leave the tribe. And, no matter what anyone said and how they praised him for his contributions, not many Quileute wanted a Shape-shifter teaching their children for a variety of unfair and sadly understandable reasons.

Leah scowled at her more charitable thoughts towards Sam, uncaring how Embry may take the gesture, because she wasn't ready to forgive the Alpha just yet. God, she really wished that she'd had the time to talk to Bella beforehand. The girl tended to have a good head for working out problems and this one was littered with landmines and bear-traps.

For his own part, the younger Wolf was a touch surprised at the expression. What could possibly have set her off again? He hadn't even opened his mouth yet to plead his case, and already she looked ready to toss him out on his ear. Or try to, at any rate, because he wasn't so willing to be put off anymore. He had yet to tumble into the yawning abyss of unnatural adoration prompted by the Imprint and he wasn't willing to take that dive without knowing she was right there with him. And going by the look on her face that was going to be a long time in coming. He cocked his head as he watched her, surprised as she seemed to get far more agitated as time went on. She would occasionally bite her full lower lip, which he found to be an oddly sexy gesture on her, then fidget with the hem of her tank top.

But she seemed to finally have enough of the silent stalemate and stood up in a rush. "I have better things to do than wait around all day," she huffed, already skirting past him towards the front door to let him out.

He thought that he must have honestly surprised the both of them when he reached out and gently shackled her wrist in his hand, drawing her to a quick halt. Her brows rose in surprise as she looked down at their hands then back up at his face. "Sit," he said quietly, his tone quiet but uncompromising, shocking himself yet again that he had the balls to tell this incredibly independent and self-possessed young woman what to do. Even more astonished when a thoughtful look crossed her face and she actually sat back down, finding a little more patience inside herself to give him.

Knowing that he had somehow bought himself a fraction of time to plead his case and that it would likely not last long, he didn't bother with pussyfooting about and trying to find an easy way to bring up what he needed to talk about. He simply bit the bullet and jumped in head first and hoped like hell that he came out of this unscathed. "I want to know why you are trying to deny that a mutual Imprint has happened between us."

Her eyes widened almost comically in surprise, either at his audacity or with the beginnings of truly spectacular anger, he couldn't yet tell. But she stunned him when she didn't burst into righteous wrath and tear him down like some sort of avenging angel. Her sharp eyes, eyes that he was only now truly appreciating for their dark beauty, flashed with keen intelligence.

"Why would you think I would want anything to do with it after my history with it," she retaliated.

Embry internally winced but didn't let it show because he suspected that, like any Wolf, once she sensed weakness she would take him down and this was far too important to let her ride roughshod over him. He mulled over his possible responses, but it all boiled down to one, and even though he knew that it might hurt her, he was tired of paying for another's mistakes. So he had Imprinted on her. It wasn't something he could have helped any more than he could have helped the fact that his mother had unknowingly had an affair with Sam's married and stupidly charming father and produced one of the Tribe's valued Protector's. It was a closely held secret that he was Sam's half-brother, one that the other man had helped by giving him an Alpha order not to think of it while in the Pack mind in case he slipped, because Embry did not want his dirty family laundry aired. Not even Jacob knew and they had been friends since toddlerhood.

With a silent apology to his absent Alpha, Embry squared his shoulders. "I'm not Sam."

The female Wolf actually winced. But she held her ground and his eyes, refusing to show a chink in her armor. "You're right. You're not Sam. I don't know you as well as I knew Sam, so if he screwed me over with our history, why should I give you the benefit of the doubt when you haven't earned it?"

Again, it hit home. She was right, they weren't all that close before this had happened. He had not earned any grace from her, because he tended to avoid her, her boiling anger something he had simply chosen to sidestep because he didn't want to get in the middle of a lover's quarrel. And while he certainly thought that she had reason to be angry, he had always been of the opinion that she should have let go of it by now. What was done was done and there was no way to undo it. Besides, couldn't she see how happy the two were? They could be happy like that if only she would let them. She was the one determined by fate to be his perfect mate and she wasn't letting him in, wasn't letting him love her like she deserved to be. He suspected that the reason that he didn't already love her to distraction was because she truly didn't want him to.

Leah narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "Did you ever wonder why Sam and Emily are so gaga over each other when it took a while longer for Kim to accept Jared?"

Embry was a bit thrown over the seeming subject change but answered just the same. "They knew each other first."

Leah smirked bitterly. "Or maybe it's because Kim, despite her flightiness, is romantically more sensible than my dear cousin is."

"What do you mean?"

Leah shrugged. "When we were kids, I was always the one who got into scrapes and got myself back out of them. Emily was the one waiting to be rescued by mommy and daddy. She wanted to be a princess when she grew up and marry the handsome prince. When we were teenagers, she had thankfully come back to reality, but she still had that desire to find her Prince Charming."

"What does that have to do with Kim and Jared?" He was honestly lost.

"Kim is a flake, but she's practical about romance. Friendship is easy. Love takes time and effort. It doesn't just jump in your lap and produce hearts, flowers, and singing birds. She didn't let Jared's attachment to her become the lover-type overnight. She made him earn her affection properly and did not accept anything but friendship from him until she was sure that she had earned it from him in return."

"Emily was still looking for that perfect fairytale love, and she took it when the very first opportunity presented itself. There was the handsome Wolf who could love her like none other, and it was ordained by the Gods of his people. She decided that it was meant to be and so it was."

Embry felt a flash of unease tighten his stomach as the other Wolf continued.

"Did you ever think about the wording in the Legends? 'The Wolf will be whatever their Imprint needs them to be'? Because I have. All too often. She could have taken him as a brother, but instead she needed the perfect lover. So she took mine without thought to what she was doing. And Sam? He fought it, I know he did. But even he thought that an Imprint is supposed to mean true love because it's like a fucking fairy tale come to life. I looked into it, you know," said, her voice rough with emotion. "If she had told him that she could use a friend or brother, then I would still have my life. But she told him to love her…and so he did."

"But that would mean that-" Embry began uncertainly.

"That would mean that he's under a gods damned spell, another continuation of this Brothers Grimm horrortale."

"Then by your accounting, Kim and Jared don't love each other either."

"No, Kim firmly believed you have to know someone before you love them. Their imprint made them more likely to hang out unless they discovered they didn't get along. Along the way they fell in love."

Her eyes were a bit shiny, but she was strong as fuck and refused to let them fall. Something he actually admired about her…when he wasn't being scared of her. But this new bit of information was…honestly a bit staggering. If Emily had had a choice and had chosen to take Sam from Leah, oh not out of spite he was sure, but from some misplaced girlish ideal, then Leah had every reason to loathe the other woman. Because she was right. Here he was waiting for her to tell him to love her and she had done nothing to earn such an emotion from him. He had fallen under the Wolf Love Voodoo just like his brother had and the thought of his own complacence in such an important matter kind of scared the absolute shit out of him. He could hardly believe that she was the only one to have put it all together, and the blindness of everyone was disturbing on a monumental scale. But saying that all she had told him was true…where did that leave him and Leah?

"So pardon me if I don't trust the romantic intentions of another Wolf with his Imprint urges. If you can be happy with a friend, then that I can do, but don't expect me to jump for joy that I get to be the consolation prize to your Phasing into this craptastic life."

Ouch…that last had hurt. But it also hurt to think that she thought so little of herself. Consolation prize? As in the shitty prize that was not truly wanted but accepted to make up for losing out on the big prize? Jesus… "You're no one's consolation prize."

Leah was an absolutely gorgeous woman. Striking in every way and the stuff of teenage fantasy. Tall and slim and shapely, she would have fit right in on a Victoria's Secret walkway if she ever had aspired to such a thing.

But she was bitter and hard from her experiences with the way life had dealt her blow after blow and the disloyalty of her cousin and the man she had loved most in the world. He had had glimpses of her in Sam's mind occasionally, of the way she had been before the grand betrayal. A softer, gentler Leah with a cheeky smile and kind embraces for those who needed them. The sort that Bella still received because she was one of the very few that Leah could afford to trust anymore.

And Embry found himself wishing to be counted in that small and exclusive group, wanted to be the one she went to when she needed to be hugged. To be told that it wasn't all as shitty as she thought it was and have her believe him.

Leah folded her long legs up onto the sofa and he had to fight to keep from admiring the sleek lines of them, because if she caught him ogling her then this fight was over before it had truly begun and she would hurl him out on his ass. Internally shaking his head at himself and his hormonal teenage boyness, he forced himself back on track. "We're going for complete honesty here, right?"

She eyed him for a moment, then hesitantly nodded her head.

"You haven't rejected me. Now, the way I feel for you doesn't feel like what I see in Sam and Jared. And that makes sense, now, given your theories and this frankly eye opening conversation. Fucking Voodoo Imprints…" She blinked at him as he shook his head, as if surprised that he was giving them any credence. "However. I also feel that we could be something completely incredible if you would just give it a chance. We're already stuck in this and unless we want to hurt each other to break this, and from what I understand it's excruciating, we might try to make the most of what we can be. No," he cut in when she tried to interrupt him, "It's my turn to talk. And I think a part of you knows this and wants it or you would have repudiated me already."

He knew just then that he had said the wrong thing, because Leah was stubborn as all hell. She had already opened her mouth to do just that as he panicked and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Jesus, I know you're bullheaded, but would you please just think about this?"

She scowled over his hand, resisting the urge to bite him. She also had to reign in the urge to simply prove him wrong and break his imprint out of spite. She'd still be stuck with her own unless he was mad enough to do the same. And Embry wasn't much for hurting others if he could help it. She was stuck.

He slowly pulled his hand away from her soft skin, already regretting the loss of any kind of contact but knowing that she'd likely bite his fingers off if he dared hold on much longer. She had not given him permission to touch her yet and he needed to respect that. "Leah?"

She focused on his eyes, her brow lifted questioningly.

"I know that you aren't okay with this. I know you have doubts and they are completely valid ones. I just want to understand. I want to understand you a bit better, because even if all you let me have is your friendship, I feel like I have let you down by keeping you at arm's length. I know that it might hurt a bit to hear but I think you need to vent. And due to the Imprints, I'm a safe person to vent to."

Her big doe eyes gazed at him in surprise. "I…I don't think anyone in the pack has asked me that, before," she admitted quietly. And no one had. They treated her as one of the males most days, forgetting that she was, in fact, female. Forgetting all the crap she had been subjected to as well, because while they had all Phased, they had not been forced to watch as their lover fawned over another inside their mind's eye. Forced to know that but for a cousin's need for romance, their life may have been completely different. She still blamed herself for her father's near loss, because she had freaked out and Phased in front of the man.

And there was the fact that she was a Wolf at all…a female Wolf, of all freaky things. Something thought to be impossible until she had happened.

And slowly…very slowly, she began to talk. Of all the males in her Pack, this one was probably the safest for her to speak to, because he was right. His role as her Imprintee made him perfect to play father confessor. She shared with him her doubts about Imprinting at all, her fears that she would be expected to have little Wolf babies and the fact that she was afraid that she was going through premature menopause due to her new situation. Her deeper fears that without the imprint, he would never be able to love her on her own merit. Would never have even approached her.

"That last part is true," he returned just as solemnly, "but not for the reasons you think. I was always attracted to you, anyone with eyes would be, but you're….well, let's face it, completely out of my league," he said a bit bashfully.

Leah felt her jaw drop a bit, because of all things, this was not what she expected him to say.

"And…you've been so angry lately that it makes it hard to want to approach you. I'm not Quil, he likes it when girls turn him down because he likes the challenge. I'm not like Jacob to chase after a girl who doesn't want me. And I don't love you right now, because you haven't given me reason to. But I want to. We're tied together, you and I. Fate or some stupid Wolf god spell, one way or another we're in this for the long haul and I want this to be everything it can be. But it can't be if you don't want it and I won't beat myself over the head trying to make you love me if you just can't. So it's up to you. Can we try to take this slowly and see where it leads us?"

Leah looked a bit nervous. "How slow?"

It was a concession and he forced himself not to jump up and start cheering. "We're practically immortal, but I'd really like it if it didn't take the rest of our lives."

A reluctant smile curled her lips. "That seems fair. Just…please be patient…I've not had good luck with this and I want to make sure it's us before we jump into things."

"That's also fair," he returned. He stood up, feeling like he'd won an impossible victory, intending to move to the door when a small hand on his shoulder stopped him. She bit her lip again, before standing up before him.

"I know I shouldn't ask but-"

"Can I keep this to myself? You don't have to ask," he said. He didn't really feel like being in the fishbowl either.

"Actually…I was wondering if…?"

Embry lifted his brows in question, then had to bite back an unmanly yelp of shock as she stepped forward and carefully wrapped her arms about him. Surprise, however, did not stop him from returning the gesture and he held onto the woman who Fate had written to be his everything…whatever that turned out to be because the options were limitless. It was exactly the thing he had wanted, and had not thought to receive so soon. And he vowed to be worthy of the trust she was showing him if it was the last thing he did.

}:{

a.n.- so sorry for the lateness and brevity of this chapter…I had a wicked case of writer's block and producing anything at all was like trying to squeeze blood from stone.

b.n. – You know when you have this crazy awesome thing/joke/situation happen with your friend and you just can't wait to share it with someone but then when you re-tell it the feeling of awesome doesn't seem like it is coming across? Yeah, that is this chapter. Just…Wolf Voodo…