A/N: I moved again, I finished another school year, I'm now unemployed and looking for another job, I'm still in grad school, and I got a lot of medical stuff figured out. Here's to hoping I update faster lol. Some parts are a little unrealistic, some parts are very different from the book. I got a couple reviews saying a death wouldn't be bad if it's incorporated well, but I had a different idea pop into my head and that's what's happening. Enjoy!

Chapter 36

Victory

Sam didn't leave my side until all of the vampire pieces were burned and Jasper and Edward walked over to us.

"Brady is okay to walk back but it needs to be slow, so you can walk or I can carry you," Edward said. Sam rumbled a low growl at that. "Okay, or you can ride on Sam if you want since we'll be going so slow," he added.

"I'll walk for now and see how tired I get. Thanks though. How is Embry?" I asked, more concerned about my friend than having to walk. Edward looked at Sam, who nodded confirmation to tell me anything he knew.

"It's not good, Bella. Everyone else is fine but a newborn snuck up behind him when he was already fighting. They must have been in the woods because no one saw them. All of the newborns in the clearing were taken care of, even though it definitely took some time and a lot of effort. There is no way just my family or just the wolves could have taken care of that. I'm actually quite glad this worked out," Edward finished, looking surprised at his own admission.

"Alice said by the time she saw the vampire going to Embry, it was a split second too late to alert him," Jasper said sadly. In Jasper's mind, that was a bad thing since a man was down in battle. I liked his outlook, wolf or vampire, we were all on the same side of this.

"So what's wrong with Embry? Are they still in the clearing? Let's go!" I said, started getting frantic. Sam rubbed his head against my arm, reminding me to calm down. I guess Sam wouldn't still be with me if things weren't being managed over there. Still, I felt like one of my brothers was in the hospital. I got along with all of the wolves, but I'd known Quil and Embry the longest next to Jake. I needed to get to them. I felt a wave of calm rush through my body as I exhaled. Jake needed me too. "Brady, can you start walking or do you need another minute?" I asked him, significantly more calmly. I didn't want to rush him, but I would most definitely rush Sam, Edward, and Jasper. "Jasper, I'll be fine, but thank you anyway," I said a bit too relaxed. I think he could tell, too. I was already trying to get myself to relax then Jasper sent a couple waves of calm. Both of them together was almost too much.

"Sorry, Bella. Now I should ask, are you good to walk?" Jasper smirked at me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I smiled. I walked over to Brady, who turned away from me to start walking through the woods. About fifteen steps in, we heard a howl. Sam and Edward looked at each other.

"I need to go to the clearing to help Carlisle, they can't move Embry easily. They need Sam. Bella, are you willing to ride back?" Edward asked.

"Someone needs to stay with Brady, I'm not letting him walk back alone," I said. My decision was final. If I went back with Jasper, Edward, and Sam, Brady would be an open target walking through the woods if any vampires were left over.

"I'll walk with him. No one is being left behind," Jasper stated. Sam lowered himself down to the ground a bit and I put one leg over his back. I pulled myself up onto his back by the scruff on his neck. He looked back at me as if to ask, 'Are you ready for this?' All I did was nod. I would not be the delay between Embry healing successfully versus unsuccessfully. I didn't even mentally allow that to be an option. I looked back at Brady.

"Take it easy, I'll see you back on the rez," I smiled at him. No one else needed to get hurt today. I was worried enough as it was. At that, Sam ran off. We weren't incredibly far from the clearing if we were moving at vampire or wolf speed. I had to keep in mind that we were going to the clearing and not back to the Jeep. This might take a little longer than planned.

Sam ran between trees, careful to shift his weight as needed since I held on as tight as I could. Edward must have been way ahead of us considering I hadn't even seen him leave the meadow. I focused on keeping my balance on Sam. All I could think about was if Embry was going to be okay. I knew I was as safe as I could be with Sam, but I couldn't wait to see Jake. The ride kept going on forever. I hoped Brady and Jasper were alright, too. I couldn't turn my brain off! After a few more minutes on my full speed personal chauffer, I saw the end of the forest. I could only tell because of the day light, but we weren't exactly back to the clearing yet. It got closer, and my heart was beating faster to see Jake and Embry, obviously for two different reasons. Visions of chaos broke before my eyes through my imagination. I pictured Jake and Embry both in a heap on the ground, bleeding to death. I imagined Jake in human form hovering over Embry as he took his last breath. I saw…too many bad things in my head, but that's all they were, in my head. I blinked a few times to brace myself for the worst but was prepared to be there for whoever needed support. I knew that all of the wolves were hurting in that moment. As an imprint, I was hurting because Jake was hurting, but I was also hurting as a best friend. At that moment we broke through the trees and the mood shift was instant. Jake ran over to me in human form and picked me up bridal style off of Sam's back. I didn't have to support myself but I held myself as close to my wolf as possible. Jake was almost squeezing me too hard.

"I'm so glad you're safe," he whispered to me. Hearing his voice and feeling our connection allowed me to feel safe again and all I could do is exhale. Don't get me wrong, I feel safe with the Cullens and the other wolves, too, but there is no 'complete' feeling like being with your imprint. I guessed that was what vampires felt being with their mates? Who knew.

"I'm so glad you're safe, too. Edward kept giving me updates but it was hard not actually knowing what was going on," I told him.

"Oh believe me, it was hard for me not knowing what was going on with you, either. Remember, I could only glace into Brady's head every now and then and eventually Sam's but I couldn't always see you and I couldn't always be distracted from what I was doing." At this point he has put me down and we were just holding each other. Well I was wrapping my arms around as much of him as I could. I turned my head to look at Embry lying on the ground, completely helpless. When Jake looked over I could feel his pain. One of his brothers was seriously hurting and we had no clue what was wrong and if he would heal. About half of the wolves were still in wolf form to stick with Embry. Quil was lying right in front of him and I had a feeling he wouldn't move or phase back until more information was known about Embry. I knew that if I wasn't here, Jake would be in the same boat as Quil, so to speak. This whole time Sam was talking to Alice and Edward to figure out what Carlisle's plan was since he was the doctor. Apparently he was going to use his vampire charm to get an ambulance with a wider bed since the guys already tried picking up Embry but he couldn't be moved. I didn't even think an ambulance could get back here but I guess Carlisle would know a way. The clearing was significantly more open than the meadow I was in with Brady, Edward, Sam, and Jasper, so I guess there may have been a back way.

As I looked around the clump of people, well, creatures, scattered around I saw happiness and fear at the same time. So many faces were relieved that the battle was over and other faces were concerned about the damage done. I saw Colin sitting on the ground and he appeared to be in pain. I noticed that Alice was frozen. I let go of Jacob and held his hand as I walked over to her.

"Alice what did you see?" I asked. By that point Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, and Esme were all standing next to us. Jasper was still with Embry trying to keep him calm and as relaxed as possible, but he was looking at us.

"The Volturi might be coming, I haven't seen anything definite yet, but since we just killed the vampires that caused the mass killings they may not care anymore. I don't think they have any other reason to check up on us." She looked over at Jacob with a wrinkle in her forehead, her eyebrows furrowed a bit. "Sam, can you come over please, and phase for a moment?" At this point we were all confused, but Sam walked over and phased. Sam looked at Jake, asking Alice if he could hear whatever information. Alice nodded, "If he can keep a secret. I know everyone here can hear me but it's a matter of who's listening right now." Alice started whispering and I couldn't understand a word of it. After a few seconds, Jake and Sam looked at each other with their eyebrows in the middle of the foreheads. They were surprised about something.

"Well that's certainly something we weren't expecting," Sam said. "Have you heard of it happening before?" he looked around to all of the vampires.

"I haven't but I can't speak for anyone else. I have no clue how I saw that since anything to do with you wolves has been a bunch of static and looked blurry but if I see anything else I'll let you know," Alice said and walked away towards her family. It appeared she was giving the wolves a chance to discuss this new knowledge.

"Is a half imprint even possible? Like a watered-down type version?" Jake asked. I had no clue what they were going on about, but it was obvious someone needed to help Colin so I left Jake and Sam to talk about their wolf business that I was very curious about but I would let them figure out what they needed to. I sat down quietly next to Colin and but an arm around him. He was breathing heavily and not exactly rocking back and forth but swaying a bit, just to keep himself moving. My arm barely reached across his back but it was all I could do to just be there for him. After what felt like a little while, Jake walked over to me. Colin rested his head against my shoulder and didn't let all of his weight fall on me, but he was relaxing a bit. Jake growled as he did this but I glared at him. Jake stayed angry, so I decided to take a different approach. I gave him a look of sympathy that I was directing towards Colin. That worked a lot better. Jake reached out and put his hand on Colin's arm, to show his support. I heard him whispering something but there was no way that I could understand him with my regular human hearing. I looked up at Jake, questioning what he was saying.

"She's dead," he whispered to me. After hearing that, I just hugged Colin to me. I felt terrible. I didn't even know who he was talking about. Who died? I thought only the vampires from Victoria's army were dead. I was clearly missing some of the story, but for now I would just be here for Colin and support him as best I can. Little did I know during the few minutes I was with Colin, an ambulance was at the edge of the clearing and they were trying to slide Embry on a big bed that could get back into the ambulance. I stood up and tried to help Colin but he seemed like an empty shell that was just going through motions to move because I made him. I still had one arm wrapped around his back while one of his arms was draped over my shoulder. Most of the bigger wolves were helping with Embry, aside from Jake who stuck with me. Jake stood in front of Colin and looked down at him.

"Col, can you phase and go to the Cullens' house? We are going there to get Embry checked out and we will talk first thing when we get there. Can you do that?" Jake asked hesitantly. Colin took his arm off me and gently pushed me towards Jake. He phased as he fell to the ground and let out one of the most depressing howls I'd ever heard. Something was clearly wrong and Colin was in pain. Even someone who didn't know about the wolves would know that something was wrong. My heart hurt for him, and the other guys all looked over with a look of sadness. Carlisle then addressed everyone in closing.

"Okay everyone, I'm going to drive back to my house and get him checked out to see what needs to be done. Thank you again for all of your help and support to keep our family and community safe." That was well said. After that, Sam addressed the pack.

"Quil and I are going in the ambulance with Em, the rest of you either go to my place and update Emily or come to the Cullens' house. Jake, Bella, and Colin, meet me at the Cullens' house please. Great work today guys, see you later," he said as he jumped into the back of the ambulance to accompany Embry.

"Go ahead and phase, Colin needs you," I told Jake. He gave me a quick kiss then took a couple of steps away from me to phase. He walked over to Colin on all fours and nuzzled his face, which was easy since Jake was a much taller wolf. I obviously couldn't tell what visions they were showing each other in their heads, but I knew it was painful based off the expression on Jake's face and the pain in his eyes. When Jake nodded his head at me I walked over and climbed onto his back. Wolf ride number two for the day, I could get used to this.

A/N: Review please!