EPILOGUE

Emma's POV

"Quit it, Seth!!!" I smacked my youngest brother upside his head.

"It's not my fault that Jeremy saw you naked!!" He guffawed loudly as I narrowed my eyes at him in anger. It was bad enough that the love of my life had caught me at possibly the most embarassing moment in my short life - now I had to face the wrath of my eight big brothers for it as well. I knew I should not have come home today.

"Stop projecting your pity party onto me," Sam complained gruffly. I shot him a look letting him know not to mess with me. Not today.

I swiveled around in my computer chair and examined for the billionth time all of the pictures on my livingroom wall. There was my perfect looking mother and father, along with many people that I'd never met - they were all wolves that had passed before my time. They definitely lived on in memory, though. Most of my brothers were named after them.

There was Dax and Leah with little Harry, my adorable nephew. There was Sam and Quil and Seth and Embry, Collin and William and Edward.... and there was me.

I didn't look a thing like them; I often coveted their dark hair, eyes and skin tone. They were my brothers but I could still see their beauty like anyone else.

I was the only one of them that took their looks from Mom's side of the family. I was pale - very pale - with light brown hair and green eyes. One couldn't even tell that I was a part of this whacked out family.

I was pulled from my examination as my parents entered the room. They had that look in their eyes, the one that let you know both their thoughts were all warm and gooey for eachother, even after sixty - some years of marriage. It was sickening, to say the least.

"Sickening is right," Edward said as his face twisted into a grimace. Good thing I couldn't read minds - then I would know just how sickening.

"Hush," Mom ordered. I loved it when she tried to be strict - she was much too sweet to pull it off. She turned her chocolate eyes to rest on me and smiled beautifully.

Mom loved me in a way that made my heart hurt. She loved us all more than anything, but I was sort of special to her. I was the baby, and the only girl in her long line of wolf - children. I could probably torch her estate and she'd let me off with a shrug and a smile.

"Any progress, baby?" She asked as she noticed my expression.

"Nope.... I think I'm doomed forever." My imprint thought I was a complete loser. Not to mention today's incident....

Edward started laughing loudly until both Mom and Dad's glare cut him short.

"You have NO idea how irritating that is," Dad snapped.

"Oh, Jake, you know he can't help it." Mom smiled warmly at my father and he smiled back like a giddy little school girl. I cleared my throat to make them stop.

"Everyone's coming in next week, and they're probably staying for a little while. So every one be on -"

"Your best behavior," we all chorused, easily remembering my parent's "Family Coming" speeches. Seriously, when were we not on our best behavior?

"When we're naked in public, that's when!" Edward laughed. I sent him images of me beating the crap out of him while Lita watched and laughed.

"Not funny, Em," he grumbled and stalked upstairs. I smiled triumphantly at my success. I'm sure he'd just love to feel as horrible as I did today in front of his imprint.

I twirled around a few more times in my chair, my eyes wandering across the rest of my family: Vampires. It was a piece of me, sure, but not my favorite piece. It was the piece that made me send my thoughts uncontrollably to all of my family, the piece that made all of us shift into giant wolves. The piece that made me (and no one else) pale and ugly.

I loved them, there was no doubt about that. I just really didn't understand them at all. They were like living rocks, living being a loose term since they were technically un-dead. My brothers seemed to like them all alot more, but they also knew them much better than I'd ever gotten a chance to.

"Don't say that, Emma. They're amazing... and they love you to death," Quil whispered.

"I didn't say anything!!!" I snapped, hopping up from my seat and storming angrily to the door.

I walked a little faster than I should until I reached First Beach, then sat down right at the water's edge. It was calming in a way, how the sun looked so pink and low in the sky, gray waves lazily rolling towards me and back again. This was the only home I'd ever known, though I was the only one with that pleasure.

My family had moved around so many times before I was born. There was Sydney, France, Vancouver, Moscow..... not to mention the multiple states that all of my brothers had called home for years at a time.

Forks was special, though. Mom always told me that she wanted me to be able to grow up here like she did - this place was magic, according to her. I doubted it for awhile. Then I met Jeremy.

Jeremy. The name alone brought so many emotions with it that it knocked all of the air out of my lungs. I could feel that invisible string that connected us all the way from here. I could follow it if I wanted, find my way to wherever he may be right now.

But I wasn't stupid enough to do such a thing. He wasn't ever going to love me. I was a freak.

My extra sensitive ears picked up the light shuffling of feet hundreds of yards down the beach. I tried to ignore it, but when I recognized some of the voices, my curiosity got the best of me.....

"I thought it was hot!"

"Definitely..."

"I just got really confused... I didn't even have time to appreciate it."

That was the voice that sent shocks through my entire system; Jeremy. He was here! I should have realized how short my invisible string was right now.

"I don't get you, man. She wants you soooo bad, and you still won't date her! I'd date her..." Kristian said in his wierd surfer-like accent. Too bad I was mythically linked forever to his best friend, at least there was a man on Earth that would give me the time of day.

"I would too!" The ever enthusiastic Josh threw in. "She's freakin sexy! Like.... one of those girls that popped straight out of the Victoria's Secret catalogue! Every guy in school tries to get with her, and she's completely hung up over you! I don't think you've realized how lucky you are."

"I can't talk about this right now!" Jeremy yelled at his BFFF's, which was odd because I'd never heard him yell at anyone. He was usually a perfect gentleman. Except to me.

"I know she's gorgeous and she's sweet and perfect, but you all would NOT understand this if I tried to explain it to you," he yelled again, the anger fading entirely from his voice at the end of his sentence.

Did he really just say that?!?! He thinks I'm gorgeous?! And sweet, and perfect!?!?!

I sighed a long "Mmmmm" before laying down completely in the sand. I was so mesmerized that I didn't catch the sound of my uncle's approach until he was hovering over top of me.

"Emmalee Rose! What are you doing out here!!!????"

Brady dragged me up by my arms and started brushing the sand off the backs of my naked legs, ignoring all of my whiney protests.

"A better question is, what the hell are you doing here? And why are you bothering me??" I quipped when he stood back and stared at me in a strange way.

I loved Brady to death, but I really didn't understand him. He was the only one left of my father's original pack. Why didn't he go scower the globe or something? The only reason he was even still alive was because he hadn't found his mate yet.

He took my hand and shot me a glance letting me know to stay out of his private life - even just in my thoughts. I definitely needed some training on how to turn this thing off. At least my gift had no affect on humans; that would make school practically impossible.

"Still hung up over that idiot?" He sneered as we started to walk in the opposite direction once he saw Jeremy down the beach.

"He's not an idiot. He's my soulmate." I hated discussing this with Brady. He had some kind of hatred for my love that I'd never quite gotten.

"He certainly is an idiot. Look at the way he treats you!" He shook his head and pulled me along a little faster so that we would be completely covered in trees.

He dropped my hand and started pulling his shirt off, but I quickly stopped him and yanked it back into position.

"Can we just walk? As humans? I'm not in much of a wolfy mood," I smiled.

He smiled back, but the fuzziness obscured it. That was another thing about impriniting - the not being able to really see anyone else. It kind of sucked in a way.

Brady took my hand again and we strolled on lazily through the woods, along the worn path to my parents huge house. Neither one of them were really into material things, they just seriously needed the space for all of us and when other parts of my family decided to drop in on us.

Brady halted when we were about a hundred yards away and the house was almost in view with our awesome vision. He swiveled me around to face him and I could hear his breath and heart going a bit haywire.

"You alri - " I started to joke but was abruptly cut off.

Warm lips overtook mine in a way that was desperate, yet loving. I was caught so off gaurd that I didn't try to make him stop - I actually really liked the way that it felt.

His hand unclasped itself from around mine and wound around my middle, pulling me tight to his form. His other hand felt it's way up into my hair and yanked lightly at the roots, all the while his mouth was still moving against mine and scrambling my brain completely.

I felt my own arms wrapping around him, grasping at the skin beneathy his shirt. Somewhere inside my mind noted how right he felt, how broad and strong and warm he was - while another part of me was screaming out the questions that I knew I had no answer for.

Why was this happening? Why did I like it so much? Why the hell would Brady - Brady who had always been like family, had been there for me since the day I was born - all of a sudden decide to kiss me in a way that should be illegal??

"What the hell do you think you're doing to MY daughter?!?!!?" Dad's angry, frantic voice broke through the internal battle I was now facing.

Both pairs of lips stopped moving and I waited for the ringing in my ears to calm before I opened my eyes. I saw Dad out of my peripheral - but the only thing I could focus on was Brady.

I could actually see him - see him in detail, in a way I'd only done when I was much younger. I could see the shy smile forming itself across his beautifully sculpted face, the look in his eye that somehow felt like it was for me alone.

Something in the world shifted then, very suddenly. It was like my entire being was now ripping itself in two opposite directions. There was here, and there was somewhere far off, wherever Jeremy was at the time.

What the hell just happened to me?!?!

A/N: Tell me what you think!! If anyone has any questions at all, leave it in a review or PM, I promise I'll answer it as soon as I can!