Chapter Twenty Four: Drama
That night I spent at Sam and Emily's happily wrapped in Embry's arms. It was like La Push was a bubble of security, nothing could get me here and being in Embry's arm was like adding a layer of bubble wrap to make sure. I hadn't felt this safe since before my grandmother died, till now I didn't realize just how poorly I had been sleeping.
I woke up before Embry, but held as still as possible to keep from waking him up. He had been keeping strange hours to fit it in school and him turn at patrol and needed as much sleep as he could get when he could get it. I looked over his face in the early morning light, he looked so peaceful while he slept, an expression I hadn't been able to describe him since he phased. For just a few minutes it seemed like that world was right, no danger, no drama, just peace.
I could tell the moment Embry started waking up, his jaw tensed and his arms tightened around me for a long moment before he groggily opened his eyes. Some of the tension in his jaw disappeared when his eyes connected with mine and a small smile graced his lips.
"Morning." He croaked and I smiled.
"Morning." I whispered back as he leaned in for a quick kiss. I sighed as he pulled away and snuggled back into him enjoying the warmth that was radiating off him. I was tempted to try to convince Embry to lay here all morning, but the thought was interrupted by Embry's stomach. I giggled as I rolled away slightly, Embry blushed but he laughed too. I started to climb out of bed, but Embry protested and grabbed my waist to pull me back.
"Maybe you and your stomach should have a chat, you're sending mixed signals." I teased and Embry grinned.
I eventually convinced Embry to get out of bed and we made our way out to the kitchen. Emily was in the kitchen with Sam standing behind her, his arms wrapped around her middle as he seemed to be whispering in her ear while she was mixing something together in a giant bowl. Hearing us come in he looked up and nodded his greeting before returning his attention back to Emily.
"Good morning." Emily greeted when she looked over to see what Sam had looked at.
"Morning, Emily." I returned.
"Anna, would you mind getting the muffins out the oven for me?" She asked and I nodded as I set to finding a pair of oven mitts to grab out the first of many to come. The last muffins was barely out of the pan when Embry was grabbing for one and carefully breaking it apart to let it cool enough so as not to burn his mouth.
"You know, if you two men are looking for something to do, there's firewood to be cut." She hinted. Sam chuckled, removing his arms and motioning for Embry to follow him out. Embry grabbed up another couple muffins to take with him and Emily just shook her head.
"Anna, your phone has been going off all morning." She said and gestured to my coat that was draped over the back of the chair. After carefully setting down the tray on one of the mitts I moved to grab my phone.
"Sorry, I forgot to turn it off last night." I apologized, but Emily waved me off. The screen showed three missed messages from Leah. I sighed and excused myself to the living room to listen to the messages.
"Dad told me about what happened yesterday. Call me, I want to know you're really alright." Leah said sounding concerned.
"Anna, I know you're usually up by now. Call me!" This time she was starting to sound irritated.
"You have a half an hour to call me or so help me God, I'm coming over there and kicking your ass after I make sure you're alright!" Leah all but yelled into the phone and I cringed before checking when the message had been left. The phone said the message had been left only fifteen minutes ago, but I couldn't trust Leah not to jump the gun, so I hit dial and brought the phone up to my ear. Leah was not known for her patience.
"Anna Swan! What the hell happened? What were you doing in the woods? Were you hurt? I swear I could kill you for not calling me last night!" Leah answered, not even bothering to breath between questions.
"Leah." I said gently into the phone, but she continued to ramble in my ear.
"Leah!" I said a little louder and she finally stopped for a moment.
"This really wasn't something I wanted to talk about over the phone. I'll come over later, but for now I'm not hurt just a little shaken." I said and Leah sighed on the other end.
"I'm gonna hold you to that, come over as soon as you can." Leah said and hung up without another word. I shook my head at her antics and headed back into the kitchen. Glancing out the window I could see Sam and Embry had been joined by Jared and Paul. Stepping into my shoes and grabbing my coat I walked out to the guys standing around the wood pile and nudged Embry to get his attention.
"I'm going over to Leah's. Harry told her about yesterday." I said to Embry and he nodded.
"We're headed over to Jake's now anyway. You can walk with us." Paul suggested and I nodded. Jake's was just down the road from the Clearwaters' and I hadn't Billy in a while anyway. I walked back to the house and called a good bye to Emily and turned to rejoin the guys only to scooped off the ground and tossed over Embry's shoulder. I squealed at the unexpected motion making Paul and Embry laugh.
"Figured you'd want a ride given the others are gonna shift and run." Embry explained and I rolled my eyes. He set me down and leaned down so I could hop like a piggy back ride. I laughed as Embry stood up, his arms hooking around my legs to keep me in place. I hadn't had a piggy back ride since Uncle Charlie had said I was getting too big when I was eight.
The others disappeared out of sight behind trees and came back moments later as wolves. Sam made a motion with his head and they all took off back into the trees. I held on tight to Embry, amazed at how well he kept up given that he only had two legs at the moment. The trees were almost a blur as we ran past and my added weight didn't seem to be slowing him down at all. All too soon he started to slow, but we weren't anywhere that I recognized.
"Why are we stopping?" I asked Embry as I looked around.
"I don't know." Embry said but he was watching the other. Suddenly split off and came back human.
"Jake just called a meeting. Wants to meet up on the old logging trail." Paul and Embry nodded before Paul disappeared again. Sam and Jared took off again and we started after then, turning in a new direction.
"Guess Leah will have to wait." I sighed and held tight to Embry again.
"Oh shit." Embry whispered as the tree started to thin and he slowed again.
"What's wrong?" I asked looking around and not seeing anything that could bring that reaction.
"Jake brought Bella." Embry whispered and Paul growled beside us.
"What? Why?" I asked as the others quickly phased back while Embry leaned down so I could stand on my own. Walking through the trees I could make out Bella's truck and as we broke through the trees I could see her cowering behind Jacob.
"What have you done, Jacob?" Sam demanded and the anger in his voice had me moving closer to Embry's side. Paul's tempering was flaring if the tremors in his arms were anything to go by. Embry quickly stepped between us to shield me should Paul's anger make it impossible for him to remain in control.
"Why can't you just follow the rules, Jacob?" Paul yelled as he walked further from the tree line past Sam.
"What the hell are you thinking? Is she more important than everything – than the whole tribe? Than the people getting killed?" Paul yelled and the tremors started to look more like an epileptic fit.
"She can help." Jake defended, but his words only pissed Paul off more.
"Help! Oh, that's likely! I'm sure the leech-lover is just dying to help us out!" Paul exclaimed.
"Don't talk about her like that!" Jake shouted and I watched in horror as a shutter rippled down Paul's spine.
"Paul! Relax!" Sam commanded and Paul shook his head.
"Jeez, Paul. Get a grip." Jared said gruffly, but instead of helping Paul turned on Jared. Jake made a more and it seemed to be the last straw for Paul.
"Right, protect her!"Paul shouted and his body seemed to convulse while Sam and Jake shouted his name. Moments later a large gray wolf stood where Paul had been, snarling as he tooka threatening step toward Jake.
Bella screamed as Jake rushed towards Paul, phasing too as he met Paul head on. It was a flurry of gray and brown, teeth and snarls as the two fought, Jake slowly pushing Paul back toward the tree line.
"Stay where you are, Bella." Sam called as she stumbled forward like she could do something to break up the fight. I could barely see what was going on as Embry had pushed me behind him at the first sign of the fight.
Embry didn't let me move till Jake had rammed Paul back into the trees and the sound of the snarls were starting to fade. I looked at Bella, hating that she was managing to force herself into the pack's life just as I had feared and was already causing chaos. I wanted to yell and scream, but I couldn't bring myself to open my mouth. It wouldn't help anything and it would only make things worse in the end, so I remained quiet and stuck close to Embry.
"Take her back to Emily's!" Sam shouted as he kicked off his shoes and headed into the trees, moments later his shorts came flying out and Jared walked over to pick them up while Embry walked over to start picking up the scraps of Jake's and Paul's clothing.
I looked up from helping Embry when he started laughing. Embry was looking at Bella as she was looking toward the trees where Jake and Paul had disappeared with large eyes, she was pale as a ghost and looked like she could fall over at any second. I rolled my eyes and continued picking up the craps.
"Well there's something you don't see everyday." Embry snickered.
"I do. Every single day." Jared grumbled.
"Oh give him some credit, Jared. He doesn't lose his temper every day. Maybe two out of three." I defended.
"Totally shredded." Jared said as he held up one of Jake's sneakers, or what used to be Jake's sneaker.
"Billy said this was the last pair he could afford – guess Jacob's going barefoot now." Jared chuckled.
"This one survived!" Embry called out holding up the other sneaker that still resembled a sneaker instead of randomly sewn material.
"Jake can hop." He laughed and I chuckled at the thought of Jake having to hop everywhere till Billy could afford to get him a new pair of shoes.
"Hey, you're not going to faint or puke or anything?" Embry asked as he looked Bella over cautiously, keeping his distance in case she couldn't stop herself from losing her breakfast.
"I don't think so." She said, though it wasn't very reassuring.
"Maybe you should sit down." I suggested.
"Okay." She said and quickly slid down the side of the truck to the ground and put her head between her knees.
"Jake should have warned us." Embry grumbled.
"He shouldn't have brought his girlfriend into this. What did he expect?" Jared retorted.
"Well, the wolf's out of the bag now." Embry said with wry grin and I rolled me eyes.
"You're such a dork." I said fondly and Embry smirked. Bella raised her head and glared at us like we were misbehaving children.
"Aren't you worried about them at all?" She demanded.
"Worried? Why?" Embry asked surprised.
"They could hurt each other!" She cried out making Embry and Jared laugh.
"I hope Paul gets a mouthful of him. Teach him a lesson." Jared said with a grin making Bella turn a shade paler in horror.
"Yeah, right!" Embry disagreed.
"Did you see Jake? Even Sam couldn't have phased on the fly like that. He saw Paul losing it, and it took him, what, half a second to attack? That boy's got a gift." Embry exclaimed.
"Paul's been fighting longer. I'll bet you ten bucks he leaves a mark." Jared wagered and I rolled my eyes.
"You're on. Jake's a natural Paul doesn't have a prayer." They shook hands, both grinning like fools while I just shook my head.
"Let's get back to Emily's. She'll have food waiting when we get there." Embry cheered.
"You just ate three muffins." I said in disbelief.
"We're growing boys, Anna. We need food." Jared tried to explain, but I just rolled my eyes.
"More like bottomless pits." I muttered.
"Mind giving us a ride?" Embry asked Bella.
"No problem." She choked out and Jared raised a brow.
"Maybe you better drive, Embry. She still looks like she might hurl." Jared said as he eyed Bella.
"Good idea." Embry agreed.
"Where are the keys?"
"Ignition." She squeaked.
"In you go." Embry said as he carefully lifted Bella off the ground and into the passenger seat. Jared moved closer, but I shook my head.
"There's not going to be enough room, Jared." He nodded.
"We'll ride in the back. I got a weak stomach anyway. I don't want to be in there when she blows." Jared said while Embry lifted me into the bed of the truck.
"Bet she'd tougher than that. She runs with vampires." Embry baited.
"Five bucks?" Jared asked and I rolled my eyes.
"Done I feel guilty taking your money like this." Embry said and cracked the engine. Jared hopped in the back with me and settled against the cab of the truck as Embry shifted it into gear.