Embry POV
Keep inside the forest!
We can't be seen by anyone!
Embry, wait! I understand that you have to make sure Bella's okay, but you have to be smart about this. Keep in the trees, and you can go to her house. You'll be able to tell if she's alright without exposing all of us to the public. That can't happen!
Tell her-okay-good-
Yes, you'll tell her, Embry. But you can't just burst in and spring this on her-
-literally-
-while you're wolfed out-and especially not when her dad might be home by now. Check on Bella, but stay hidden. Jared, Paul, cut across and try to get there first, if you can.
How I'd gotten from the meadow to the forest behind Bella's house was a mystery. I'd barely heard what Paul and Jared had said to me, and not paid that much more attention to Sam's directives, either. All that mattered was the scent I was pursuing, and the permission to check on Bella.
Okay, now just stop and listen. You can pick up heartbeats pretty easy, Paul told me.
I tried hard to clear my mind enough to be able to follow Paul's suggestion. He was right: I could clearly hear two heartbeats in the house, the sound of a baseball game on the living room TV, and the clanking and clinking of stuff in the kitchen.
Yum. They had a good dinner tonight, Jared added. Okay, Embry, what did they eat? Tell us what you smell.
Damn, that smells good, Paul was just as appreciative.
I'm hungry, I realized.
Paul snorted. With a cook like that around, I don't blame you. Better get used to it. As wolves, we eat a ton more than we did before we phased-and we don't gain an ounce from it. Anyway, what are you picking up?
I stood still, ears canted toward the house, breathing deeply. It was insane how I could notice so much stuff now. Fish, herbs, potatoes, and salad.
Yep. Anything else?
I inhaled deeply, dipping my head to the ground to catch every last bit of the scents bombarding me from every direction. Did I ever smell other things. It was almost a sensory overload, how much I was picking up now. Breathing in and out slowly, I tried to sort everything out. Exhaust, freshly mowed grass, the odor of garbage, forest scents...and violets. I quickly realized that Bella had been standing in almost this exact spot-and by the freshness of the aroma, not too long ago, either.
She was here? Why?
This is where we phased today, after Quil and I got him out of sight, Paul said. But...all the scraps are gone. Why did she come out here, and why did she clean up after us?
Could she know? Jared wondered. Remember Jake said he told her about the legends? What if she understood what they were all about? What if the part about the Cullens wasn't the only thing she paid attention to?
She knew about them being vampires? Is that one of the 'secrets that isn't hers to share'? I demanded.
We don't know. Jake admitted that he told her some of the stories right after she first moved up here-probably around the same time she started associating with the Cullens. Unless she was completely under their spell or an idiot-which we know she isn't- Jared quickly added-then she'd almost have to have figured at least some of it out.
Plus, she did seem to know how much of a threat today's bloodsucker was, noted Paul. And on that subject, what were the two of you doing up there anyway?
I'm not totally sure, I confessed. She just said it was a place she'd been before with Cullen and wanted to find again. Something about him-Cullen-having taken something away from her, so she wanted to steal that place from him. Before I could say anything else, my attention was drawn back to the house. The back door opened and Bella emerged carrying a bag of garbage. Darkness was starting to fall and the shadows cast by the trees would keep us from being seen. My chest expanded and contracted as my lungs drew in the renewed dose of my Bella's scent. The bag was dropped into the trashcan, but Bella didn't go back inside. Instead, she slowly began walking across the grass, heading almost straight for the spot that I was watching her from.
"This probablyisn't the smartest thing I've ever done," Bella commented quietly to herself. "Not the dumbest thing-that was dating a vampire-but not one of the smartest."
An involuntary growl rumbled low in my chest at this reminder that my girlfriend had once dated someone who I now knew was a vampire-my new mortal enemy. My feet danced with the instinctive reaction to pursue and destroy, even though my prey was long gone. I must have made more noise than I thought, because Bella heard it and froze. Her eyes darted back and forth, clearly trying to figure out what the noise had been.
Easy, Embry. She's okay. Listen to her heartbeat. Bella isn't scared. Everything is alright, both my new pack brothers assured me. I managed to stay where I was, listening to that soothing thump thump, and focusing on the rhythm of my respiration.
Instead of retreating to the house like most people would have done, Bella remained in place. Her head turned and then she was looking straight at me.
"A wolf," she breathed. "Oh, wow." Bella's feet started moving again until she stood under the trees, right next to me.
Embry, don't move! Paul stated firmly. She's so close, if you move the wrong way she'd be knocked down at the least.
Let this be her game, suggested Jared.
Okay. I realized that the height difference between us now was probably intimidating. Slowly, carefully, I lowered my head closer to her level, and then locked my muscles into place. My move did have the advantage of bringing my snout even closer to the girl next to me and making it that much easier to gorge my olfactory receptors with everything that made her Bella. Soon, Bella's hands started to stretch out and lightly touched my fur. If I'd been a cat, I would have started to purr when her fingers began stroking through the strands of fur on my shoulder. As it was, warmth was spreading through me with each brush of skin against fur. My mind couldn't help comparing this to the times when Bella's hands had been tracking across my bare skin. But this felt just as good and rendered irrelevant any awareness that I was giving Jared and Paul another show.
Good...so good...
Nothing else registered for me. Bella's hands traced upward from my shoulder to my head, up my ears and then down my muzzle. Completely on its own, my jaw leaned into my hand and I sighed in pleasure at the attention.
"I probably ought to be scared of you, but I'm not. It might be crazy, but this feels…right, somehow."
The newly pointed ears on my head twitched. This feels right! She isn't scared! With a swooshing sound my tail telegraphed the triumph I felt. If I was capable of smiling as a wolf, I would be grinning from ear to ear right now. As it was, my tongue lolled out the side of his mouth. I couldn't help sniffing her again and then my tongue darted out for a lightning-fast lick that was as much of a kiss as I could deliver.
"Eek," Bella squealed softly when the tip of my tongue licked the side of her neck. "Naughty wolf. There's only one guy who gets to kiss me, and that's not you."
I huffed, offended. Damn right I am the only guy who's ever going to be kissing you for the rest of our lives.
Somehow, Bella seemed to pick up on some of what I was feeling and thinking. Her breath hitched and she asked "Are you?" in a voice that was barely audible.
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Bella POV
My words hung in the air. It couldn't be true. Could it? I felt at ease with this wolf, just like I did with Embry. The wolf hadn't liked-hadn't liked?-me saying he couldn't kiss me. Embry had added height and muscle lately, just like Jacob and Quil had done before they'd dropped off the edge of the earth. Only just today had I been wondering if some of the locals were living proof of the tribal legends. If others who were around the same age had become the wolves I suspected them to be, then why not Embry? But how and why?
"Embry?"
Slowly, the large head bobbed in a wolf's version of a nod. My hands automatically kept stroking his fur while I tried to figured out what to say. The how and why of this still eluded me, but probably weren't all that important right now. Wolf-Embry's muscles were tense under his fur—Does he think I'm going to freak out? Then I knew what to say.
"You're kinda cute, you know?"
Embry seemed to choke; the sound echoed from the nearby darkness.
"Is someone else out there?"
Another nod. From the shadows of the deeper forest, two more wolves briefly emerged for me to see, and then retreated. One seemed to be a light gray and the other might have been a dark brown.
"Should I be worried?"
Head shake.
"Okay." I shifted to lean against his shoulder, still keeping up the stroking movements my hands had been making for a little while now. "Wolf, huh? Were you surprised?" He tensed up, which I figured answered my question. "I don't blame you. I'd probably be all freaked out, personally. But you look like you're doing okay. Not foaming at the mouth or howling like crazy or anything like that. Did this just happen?"
Again, he nodded.
"Do you know what you look like? Well, like I said, you look good. You're really tall-but I guess you could figure that out just from standing next to me. Your fur...it's a mix of gray and black, it looks like. You're darker than the other gray wolf I just saw, but you're not as dark as the black wolf from the meadow. Your eyes..." I stepped back just a little and tried to look. My eyes couldn't pick up too much detail now that it was decidedly twilight and we were in the shadow the trees besides, so I returned to my position right next to Embry. "I'm not exactly sure what your eyes look like, but that doesn't really matter. You were Embry before, and you're still Embry now. That hasn't changed." I kept on for a while with the same kind of easy patter, and he gradually started to relax.
"Charlie's going to notice I'm not in the kitchen anymore if I stay out here much longer. The game must be a good one if he hasn't realized by now. I'd really like a goodnight kiss before I go, but I don't want to get fur or wolf-drool in my mouth. If you had your human face back, it would be so much better."
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Embry POV
Oh, I liked Bella's idea. I liked it a lot. A low rumbling purr of a growl vibrated in my throat. It ran through Bella, too, sending a wave of irresistible arousal into the air. My mind flashed yet again to our recent activities and how much I wanted a repeat.
Damn you, Embry! Don't think about her like that! Bella's not a piece of meat! Turning up like some damned bad penny, Jacob's voice pierced the pack mind. I fought to shut down my visuals-no way would he ever deserve to see my Bella this way.
Mine, Jacob. Bella is mine! I growled low in warning. Pack brother or not, he was just cruising for another bruising if he didn't shut up.
"Is it a vampire?" Bella's arousal was tainted now by fear, and she'd jumped back a step.
My head shook slowly from side to side. I tried not to look at Bella; Jacob had no right to see her through my eyes.
"Do you hear something else?
A nod this time. My head turned in the direction of La Push and I growled again.
"Is it Jacob?" Bella guessed, with her usual unerring-and uncanny-accuracy.
Now my teeth bared. Get the fuck out of my head! I snarled at my former friend.
Why should I? Think you'll get special treatment just because you're new for doing something you shouldn't have? Sam's gonna order you away from her the second he hears about this.
Sam already knows we're here, dumbass, Paul retorted. He knows Embry won't hurt Bella.
What? Is Sam favoring his baby brother already? Are you? Or is Embry sucking up like the teacher's pet?
No one knows who his father was right now, Jake, Jared said. But the elders will be working to find that out. What are you doing? You know Sam ordered you not to talk about this.
I'm not talking, sneered Jacob, I'm thinking. Big difference.
Split hairs like that, and Sam really will give you that smackdown, warned Paul.
Sure, sure. Bitterness dripped like acid. I won't be new and inexperienced forever. And you can't hide at Sam's heels forever, Embry.
I'm not hiding at anyone's heels, asshole.
Jacob, you need to phase back human, Jared stated. Don't make things any worse because you're angry. This whole mess today got started because Sam agreed to let you see Bella after what she'd been through in the meadow. Embry had just as much right to check on her after what you nearly did.
I had to wait over two weeks and he gets to see her the same day! How is that fair?
Life isn't fair. How well I knew that.
Poor little bastard, contempt oozed out with every wordJake spoke/thought, without a dad who wanted him. Hell, maybe he never knew about you to begin with. I bet your mom didn't even know who it was and that's why she never said anything.
Blind rage covered everything in a red haze. My fur was suddenly standing on end and my lungs expanded in preparation to howl my fury. But the deafening howl I was about to let loose was forestalled by Bella placing her hands on either side of my face and saying,
"Embry, whatever it is, whatever he's said, don't listen. Please. Listen to me. Focus on me. Embry, I want-I need-you to kiss me now, like you did before. I want your arms around me. Can you do that?"
Instantly, my overriding desire wasn't to tear Jacob to shreds; instead, it was doing everything Bella had just asked me to do, everything I wanted to do. My nose pressed into her stomach, pushing her backward away from me.
Think about being human again. Two legs. Arms. Skin. Paul offered the coaching advice. I blocked out the crap Jacob was continuing to spew out, focusing on Bella's scent and words. Much less painfully this time, I made the shift from one form to the other, ending up in a crouch on the forest floor in front of Bella. I barely had time to even think about standing up before she crashed against me, sending me backward to land on the ground. Her arms wrapped around me as much as they could, and mine echoed in a tight grasp around her back. I could feel her heart pounding against my chest and her breath whispering into the hollow of my throat.
"Are you okay?" she asked me.
"I am now. What about you?"
"I'm fine. Confused, but fine." Bella shifted her hands to my shoulders and tried pushing upward. Suddenly, I was more terrified than I'd ever been in my entire life. What if Paul-if everyone-had been wrong and Jake was right? What if I didn't imprint on Bella? How would I deal with that? I wanted to look at her so that it could happen-desperately so-but I was abruptly scared to let her move in case it didn't. Bella pushed against me again, and I had to force my arms to release the grip that kept her next to me. She sat up-which was when I realized that she was astride my stomach and I was naked underneath her.
"What happened? Can you tell me?"
Our eyes made contact, and I was incapable of saying anything. Instead of a red haze, it was a blinding white-gold glow. We were no longer on the forest floor, but in some indeterminate place. All I could focus on was brown eyes, brown hair, pale creamy skin, dusty pink lips. Lips... I was supposed to kiss those lips. Before the thought registered, I pulled Bella down against me, merging our lips in a fierce kiss, plundering her mouth with my tongue. My hands plunged into the thick wavy strands of her hair, making sure that she didn't go anyway. Not that she was planning to. Bella's hands pulled on the tangled mass of my own hair, and she moaned into my mouth.
"Embry!" My name spoken by two different voices yanked me out of that blissful oblivion. My lips were still touching Bella's and managed to capture most of her involuntary shriek of surprise. Reluctantly, I moved one hand to the ground to give me leverage to sit up. Even though I was human now, I still growled my irritation at the interruption.
"Damn, I really should have made wagers on this," Paul laughed.
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Bella POV
"What was that?" I breathed. And I didn't mean the whopper of a kiss I'd just gotten—it was the whole earth-turning whatever-it-was right before that. I might not understand it, but I sure liked it. Hoping for a repeat, I started to lean closer to Embry—when had we sat upright?—only to be jerked back into reality by a pair of voices loudly calling Embry's name.
The abrupt realization that Embry and I weren't alone here nicely distracted me from the fact that I was literally sitting on top of Embry's erection. My mind knew I was still sore from earlier, but my body was starting to whisper that it didn't matter.
"Who are you?" I demanded, embarrassment quickly shifting on the emotional spectrum toward anger.
"Paul." "Jared." Two disembodied voices answered me. Rationally, I should probably have been shocked that a couple guys I knew of—not to mention my boyfriend—were actually wolves. But since I'd practically come to this exact conclusion only a little while ago, I wasn't really all that surprised.
"Paul, your car is still parked out in front of my house. My dad noticed, called La Push for information, and already left a phone message for you about it. You might want to come pick the car up soon, before Charlie does any more digging."
"Fuck," his voice growled from the shadows. "Damn it, I forgot about that completely." There quickly followed the sound of a head-slap.
"I told Charlie you were probably on your way to get it already," I said.
"And just what would your dad say if a naked guy showed up in front of his house to get the car?"
"Naked?" I choked, face instantly flaming.
"As a jaybird," he laughed. "Didn't have time to strip before I phased today, so nothing handy to put on now. Thanks for cleaning that mess up, by the way."
"You're welcome," I replied automatically.
"So, what? You're going to drive back to the rez naked?" the other voice-Jared's-asked amid laughter.
Paul chuckled. "Like this would be the first time."
"Still, all things considered, that might not be the best idea tonight."
"I should have some spares in the trunk, and the car ought to still be unlocked."
"If Charlie didn't lock it and pocket the keys while he was looking things over," I observed. "Cops are all about deterring thieves and hooligans."
"Well, maybe the spirits will be with me, and I won't have to worry about it. You two, on the other hand…Jared, you think you can handle getting our boy Embry back to La Push solo?"
"As long as he doesn't do another track team try-out, sure."
"Handle me? I'm not going anywhere!" Embry protested.
"Have to," Paul countered. "Bella's already said her dad'll be looking for her soon. Him finding the two of you outside in the dark and with you naked…you really don't want your first night as a wolf to end with Sue Clearwater digging buckshot out of your butt."
"Charlie doesn't unload his guns at home anymore," I agreed. "He likes you a lot, but he'd still rather think of me as his baby girl and not as a practically adult woman."
"I don't want to leave you," Embry whispered, face buried in the crook of my neck.
"And I don't want you to," was my return confession. "But we were going to take tonight to think about what happened today, remember? And you've got even more to work through now. We'll meet up tomorrow and lay everything out, okay?" For that matter, I had even more to think about.
"Come down to La Push," Jared said. "There's quite a bit that Embry doesn't know to tell you yet, and you ought to meet everyone officially."
"Will Jacob be there?" I asked bitterly.
"In a full body-cast," Paul snorted. "Nah. Sam'll come down on him for what he just pulled—and make sure he and Embry aren't anywhere close to each other."
"Come down for breakfast," continued Jared. "Sam's wife Emily is an incredible cook and she'll have a full spread laid out."
I remembered the little family I'd seen in the rez store that one day, and the pretty young woman who'd been pushing a stroller. I hadn't thought very kindly of her at the time—being reminded of what I didn't want to think about would tend to cause that—but if Embry was part of whatever this was now, then I owed it to both of us to turn over the proverbial leaf. I looked down at Embry to see what he thought; he only shrugged his shoulders up and down.
"Okay. Can I bring anything?"
"She'll appreciate the offer, but you don't have to—at least this time. Short notice and all."
"Alright."
"Come on, Embry. Let's go," urged Jared.
Reluctantly, Embry lifted me up until I could get my feet under me,
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow," I agreed.
"I'll be around in a few minutes for my car," said Paul. "Can you back me up if necessary?"
"I'll try."
Paul headed around the side of the house and Jared literally pulled Embry deeper into the forest. They were quickly lost to my sight and I hurried back inside the house.
"Where were you, Bells?" Charlie's voice coming from the kitchen doorway made me jump.
"I just took the trash out. I didn't want the fish remnants stinking up my kitchen. It was nice and peaceful out there so I stayed for a little bit to enjoy it. How's the game?"
"Mariners let it slip away from them…again."
"Sorry." I smiled in commiseration that I didn't really feel, and headed to switch out the loads of laundry.
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Narrator POV
The glee of having been right so many times today was cold comfort to Paul Lahote right now. The spirits were laughing at him for sure. A quick special-ops sneak around the house to his car proved that Bella Swan had indeed been right about her security-conscious dad. So now he was going to have to walk up to the door stark naked and ask for his keys. That was sure going to earn him points with the cop and pave the way for Bella's integration into the pack's sphere—not. A citation for public lewdness was a great foundation for friendship—hah. Unless…
He kept to the treeline and worked his way along the back yards going down the street. The third house down, he struck paydirt. Laundry had been left out on the clothesline. A pair of boxers would have to do. Okay, now for a cover story…
"Hey, Chief Swan," he said when the door opened. "Can I get my car keys back?"
"Paul Lahote?"
"Yes, sir. Sorry about leaving my car here. Hope it wasn't a problem." Stage one: stun the chief, complete. Charlie Swan just stared at him. Stage two…
"Sir?"
"Why are you standing on my porch practically naked?"
"I had a misadventure and my spare clothes are in the trunk of my locked car. If I could get my keys, I can get dressed again."
"Misadventure?" The chief's brows rose.
"Yeah," Paul gave a shrug and a small smirk. "I had to make a sudden departure and my clothes were an unfortunate casualty."
A surprising light of humor lit the brown eyes Charlie shared with his daughter. "Who was she?"
"Chief!"
"Just because La Push isn't my jurisdiction doesn't mean I don't know your reputation. Anytime a guy walks around in public like that, a girl is involved somehow."
"I never kiss and tell. That would be rude."
"At least tell me I won't have some irate father on my back to arrest you for corruption of a minor."
"Legal is the only way to go. Scout's honor."
"Dad, who's there?"
"Just Paul Lahote here for his keys. Mind grabbing them off the table, Bells?"
"Sure." Light footsteps heralded Bella's arrival at the door. "Here—nice shorts."
Paul finally looked down at his 'borrowed' shorts and had no choice but to laugh. The boxers were patterned with red and pink love hearts. "Would you believe me if I said they were my mom's idea of a joke?"
"That depends on your mom."
"Stop by sometime with Embry and meet her. See for yourself."
"I'm planning to spend tomorrow with Embry, so I guess we can see."
"You know him, Bells?" Charlie asked his daughter.
"In passing."
Charlie's eyes narrowed. "You keep your hands off my daughter, Lahote. We clear about that?"
"Crystal, Chief. Bella will be just like my little sister. She's Embry's girl, and no guy comes between a brother and his girl."
"Get moving, boy," Charlie told Paul.
"Yes, sir. See you 'round, Bella." With a jaunty salute, Paul headed for his car, pulled on his spare clothes, and started the drive home. He kept the car right at the speed limit, not wanting to find himself in the middle of the coming shitstorm any sooner than he had to.
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marie potter riddle: Thanks. Glad you loved it and hope this came soon enough (apologies if it didn't).
Guest: Thank you so much! Sorry this took a while. Had a few busy weeks/weekends, and it took a while to figure out the details of the broad strokes I'd outlined for this chapter.
Frekles: Thank you. I certainly will "keep it up". You're right that there are many unanswered questions at this point, and I will work hard to see that they all get answered. If you ever see something that appears to have slipped through the cracks, let me know.
Lenniem: Don't worry. I do like happy endings, so however rough things might appear to be, all will be well (at least for the good guys) in the end.
Foxtale3: Thanks for your patience while I work through hectic schedules and major writer's block to produce each new chapter. I know that this story might have seemed to start off slow, but I think that can help set a strong foundation for the rest of the story. I'm not really a big fan of stories where Bella just jumps into bed with a wolf like her heartbreak never happened. Bella and Embry have built a strong relationship as normal people and that will (I suspect) really help them now that they're in the middle of the supernatural.
Congrats to Bugsmamawolf for being review #850 and to Peanut7890 for being review #875 on .
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AN: Sorry this took so long. Some really busy weeks and weekends to wrap up my summer and start the new school year, and a granite wall of writer's block in getting my ideas to exit my brain. But I finally got the creative juices flowing this week, and the chapter written. Hope this nice long chapter was worth the wait. Review replies will come a little slower this time. Have a family wedding tomorrow and I'm not taking my laptop with me.