Embry and the Trials of Fate
A/N: Thanks again go to the incomparable palmofafreezinghand.
Chapter 8 - Jacob.
Embry could read his best friend in any form, and although Jacob was quicker to accept his new reality than Embry had been, his unhappiness was palpable. He could also read resignation there. Jacob's entire life was full of responsibility he never asked for – being a tribe protector was just another unwanted responsibility.
Sam filled Jacob in on all the finer points of being a wolf, from their purpose to their unnatural abilities, like their healing power. Once he'd told Jacob everything, the atmosphere became serious as Sam wrapped up his lessons.
Now you know all there is to know. Your father is Chief of our tribe, and your grandfather was the Alpha of the original pack. This makes you the rightful Alpha. I was first to turn, so I held the position in your stead, but now that you've turned, I cede power to you, the one true alpha, Jacob Black.
Then Sam laid down, belly to the ground in a show of submission. Embry was stunned, and Paul and Jared whuffed and snorted their responses. No one really knew what to make of Sam's display – it was upsetting how dog-like he was acting, this grown man who kissed his girlfriend and ate muffins and was their leader, just bowing down and laying in the dirt.
No.
Sam was taken aback. No?
Fuck no! I don't want this.
Sam sighed. I didn't want it either, Jacob, but it doesn't matter what we want.
Jacob stood taller, puffing up his chest. I said no.
That's not how this works, Jacob, but you can go ahead and tell the council what you told me. See what they say.
Jacob snorted and pawed the ground. Sure, sure, whatever. Stand up, Sam, geez. You're not a fucking dog.
Despite Jacob's rude attitude, Embry could understand why he wouldn't want such an important role. Jacob's life was full of responsibility already, having to take care of his father from a young age. Of course he wouldn't want to be some supernatural leader on top of that. Jacob met Embry's gaze briefly, but broke eye contact just as quickly.
Sam rose to his feet, pondering whether or not Jacob could actually rescind his birthright. Paul was annoyed about possibly having to follow a piss-ant kid, and Jared didn't know what to think, but whatever happened, he wanted to stand by Sam. Jacob responded to their thoughts with a menacing glare before pointedly looking away and loping off in the direction of La Push, his own thoughts turning to Bella. For his part, Embry wondered if Jacob would ever be the same after this. Could any of them be?
xxxxxxxxx
That morning, the pack had breakfast at Emily's house before meeting with the elders. She had really gone all out. Everyone filled their plates with those enormous muffins, heaps of scrambled eggs, stacks of sausage, and piles of pancakes. Jacob made sure to sit as far away from Embry as possible and didn't speak to him once. The tension felt thick to Embry, but nobody else seemed to notice. They just laughed and ate and acted like they didn't have a care in the world. He felt like he was on the outside looking in, like an old, familiar movie was playing in front of his eyes, there for him to watch but not to participate in. Sam, Jared, and Paul had a built-in camaraderie from their time as a three-person pack, and Jacob was just a cheerful people-person, so it was easy for him to get along with anybody. Embry was the outsider, and it was obvious to him. As such, his paranoia grew and he couldn't focus on any of the conversation, just absentmindedly shoved muffin after muffin into his mouth for something to do.
Jacob did his best to avoid eye contact. When their eyes inevitably caught by accident, Jacob would narrow his and sneer at Embry, then turn around and laugh about something or other with Jared or Emily. He wasn't sure why Jake was acting this way. Embry didn't do anything wrong. Embry was starting to get pissed at Jacob's unreasonable anger. At first, he'd felt like he deserved to be shat on a little, seeing as he'd given his friends the cold shoulder. But Jacob understood why he'd had to ignore them now that he was a wolf too. Didn't he?
After breakfast, Sam dragged them all to the council meeting. Embry and Jacob were at the back of the pack, but Jacob still staunchly ignored him. Embry wasn't about to make the first move.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Initiation went much the same way Embry's had. Well, the process was the same; the vibe was entirely different, however. When Sam presented Jacob to the council, there was excitement and delight on their faces, the complete opposite from the shock and unease they showed Embry at his initiation. Embry supposed it made sense – they had expected Jake to change, had been waiting for it. He was part of the chief lineage; Embry was a bastard nobody. Embry got it, but it still hurt that the difference was so glaringly obvious. He wondered what reception the other three guys had gotten.
Jacob's haircut was the exact opposite of Embry's too – Jacob remained still; his expression unreadable. Stoic like the born alpha he was. Billy even made the ceremonial first cut, explaining the reason for the need for short hair on the wolves. If Embry hadn't been so spooked and acted out, would they have treated him with such reverence? He doubted it. Jacob was the chosen one. Embry was just some random byproduct.
As a result of Jacob's lack of movement, his hair looked neat and even when it was over. Jacob looked at himself in the hand mirror Sam gave him. "It looks pretty clean, Sam, thanks." He looked over at Embry with disdain. "Why does his hair look so bad?"
"Embry fought it. Thanks for being good."
Jacob's eyes snapped to Embry again, looking at him with a glimmer of something Embry thought might be respect until he caught himself and started glowering again. Of course, hoping Jacob might change his mind about anything was like asking a cheetah to lose its spots.
The time had come for Jacob to officially assume the alpha position. Sam glanced at Jacob nervously as he informed the council that Jacob wasn't interested in becoming alpha.
"Sam's seems to be doing just fine," Jacob told the council. "Why fix what isn't broken?"
The look on Billy's face was unreadable. "The rest of you, leave us." Billy's voice was grave as he stared down his son. The boys obeyed, happy to not get involved in the tension, and they all started to file out. "Not you, Sam. You stay."
The boys shared a look of confusion, but Sam hung back as asked, and Embry, Jared, and Paul shuffled out the door. A shiver went up Embry's spine. He had a bad feeling something bad was about to go down. Would they force Jacob to become alpha? If they did, how did Embry feel about Jacob having the power of him that Sam currently did. Not great, that's how, especially now that Jake apparently hated him.
The three boys waited outside on the stoop. Nobody said anything; they were all straining to hear what was going on inside. The words weren't clear but the tones certainly were – anger, disbelief, disappointment. When they finally heard Jacob and Sam's footsteps approaching, the boys leapt to their feet and scurried down the stairs, leaning against the fence and acting as nonchalant as they could.
Sam's face was weary and he looked older than he was. Jacob looked kind of sad, but resolute at the same time. They came down the stairs to join the others. "Come on, guys, let's go," Sam told them.
"What happened?" Jared asked as he followed Sam away.
"Nothing's changed. Jacob's decision stands."
All eyes turned to Jacob, who looked annoyed and shrugged.
Embry and Jacob brought up the rear of the group, and Embry was concerned about his friend, despite his better judgment.
"Are you okay, Jake?"
Jacob furrowed his brow but didn't look over, blatantly ignoring him. Embry had just about enough of Jacob's childish behavior. If they were going to be in the same pack, destined to work together to take down enemies, they couldn't keep on like this. It was time to talk it out, no matter how painful that might get. He stopped Jacob with a hand on his shoulder, turning Jake to face him, and pointed an angry finger in his face. "What the hell is wrong with you, bro?"
Jacob scoffed, batting Embry's hand away. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you!"
Jared and Paul stopped walking and turned to watch the throwdown.
Embry laid on the sarcasm. "Hmm, oh, I don't know. I turn into a fucking animal? That could be it."
Jacob wasn't about to back down. "Dude, you completely ghosted me and Quil. Your friends since birth! We were so worried about you too. First, we thought you were deathly ill, then we thought these guys kidnapped and brainwashed you. Now I find out you were totally fine, you were just blowing us off!"
Embry swallowed. Jacob wasn't wrong, but he didn't understand. "I didn't want to blow you off. I couldn't tell you about this. And even if I could, you wouldn't have believed me."
"Whatever. You didn't have to talk about this." He waved his hands around, indicating the group. "We never would have questioned you. Maybe made fun of your hair, but…" He chuckled humorlessly. "We could've still been friends and talked about literally anything else. You didn't have to ditch us."
"No, I couldn't talk to you," Embry insisted, looking at Sam. "I wasn't allowed."
Jacob scoffed. "Not allowed? You can say whatever you want. Nobody sewed your lips shut."
"Oh yeah? Go ahead, try to tell Quil then."
"Alright, I will!"
Jacob turned on his heel to walk back toward Quil's house, but Sam's low commanding voice resounded, "You will not speak to Quil," and Jake's feet wouldn't move. His legs jerked as he tried to move in the direction of the Ateara home, to no avail. It was Embry's turn to scoff. He remembered that feeling – the first time he realized Sam had all the control and maneuvered them by the puppet strings. The dread that coiled deep in his belly, the realization that he was fated to follow someone else's commands.
Jacob stared at Sam, eyes wide, and gulped.
Sam leveled him with a serious look. "Come on now, Jacob. Time for you to go home."
And Jacob's feet moved forward, much to his surprise. Embry couldn't help but feel some satisfaction over Jacob's humiliating situation. Now he understood. He wasn't in charge of his own decisions. None of them were.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
A few days passed. Embry had run patrol with Paul one night, Jared another. He hadn't run with Jacob yet, and he wasn't looking forward to the day he'd be forced to. For now, Sam was the only one patrolling with Jacob, like he had with Embry when he'd first turned.
Embry was trying to get back in his mom's good graces, so he was on his way to the souvenir shop to bring her some lunch. As he walked along the worn path by the harbor, he thought some more about Jacob. Jake could have been their leader. He could be the one calling the shots. Jake had been quick to give up that opportunity, and not long after, it was used against him when Sam commanded him not to speak to Quil, obliterating any will of Jacob's own. He wondered if Jacob regretted that choice now.
The bell over the door jingled when he entered the store, and Tiffany turned toward the sound, beaming when she saw her son.
"Sweetheart! What are you doing here?"
"Thought I'd bring the best mom in the world some lunch," he said, placing the brown bag on the counter.
"Aww, you're the best," she exclaimed, opening the bag and pulling out an old beat-up Tupperware. "Oooh, black bean casserole! My favorite. Thank you, sweetie." She leaned over the counter and kissed his cheek, making him blush a little.
"No problem, Mom. I know I've been a pain lately."
"You have, and you're still grounded, but this earned you some brownie points."
"Aww, cut the kid a break, Tiffany," a voice said from behind them. He turned to see Harry Clearwater in the aisle behind them, holding the handles of Billy Black's chair. "We all had our crazy teen years."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh yeah? Did your teen years include you staying out all night with no explanations?" Harry was lost for words. "Hmph. Didn't think so." She looked pointedly at Billy. "How about Jacob? Does he spend all his nights out of the house, throwing your rules to the wind like this one here?" She hooked a thumb in Embry's direction.
Billy glowered. "It's all part of growing up isn't it. Becoming a man," Billy said, looking at Embry, not Tiffany. The man had defended his absences, but Billy looked like he wanted to break something. For a minute, Embry was afraid Billy might try to ram him in the ankles with his wheelchair. The elder was angry about what went down, obviously. But Embry didn't get why Billy would take it out on him. Because he was the only wolf around at the moment, he guessed.
"Sure, Billy, if you say so." Tiffany rolled her eyes at the two men before her attention turned back to Embry. "I'm going straight to the bar from here tonight, so I'll be home around ten, okay? I'd better find you there when I come back."
Luckily, it was not Embry's night to patrol, so he could safely tell her, "I'll be there, I promise."
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
Embry had eaten three boxes of mac and cheese and the rest of the bean casserole for dinner before settling in for a night of bad television he had been looking forward to all day. There'd been no time to watch TV in the past few weeks, between patrolling, hunting for vampires, and desperately trying to sleep.
They only had an antenna though, so they only got network channels and weird channels that showed random things. He didn't care; he just wanted to forget himself for a while.
Just as he'd gotten comfortable and was about to start flipping through the channels, there was a knock on the front door. Embry went to answer it; he didn't know who it could be, but he didn't have anything to fear anymore, did he? He could take on any burglar or murderer who tried to enter. Besides, this person knocked, so he probably knew them anyway.
Embry opened the door to reveal Jacob, dripping wet on his front porch. Embry hadn't realized just how hard it was raining out until he saw Jake with beads of raindrops adorning his new short hair.
"Uh, hey," Jake began awkwardly, glancing into the living room past Embry. "Can we talk?"
"I guess, since I'm allowed to now," Embry said, and stepped out of the doorway so Jacob could enter. Jake toed his sneakers off at the door and Embry got a towel for him. He awkwardly thanked Embry and dried off, then followed his friend over to the couch. Embry sat and Jake sat next to him, but a bro-distance away. Embry waited for Jake to start.
"Look, Embry, I'm really sorry for being such a dick. I didn't know. Quil tried to see me today, and…well, I get it now." He paused, biting his lip. It felt like minutes ticked by, the sitcom on the television and rain were the only sound. After a few moments, Jacob asked, "Do you think Quil will turn?"
Embry shrugged. "I hope so. I hate doing this to him, same as I did with you."
Jacob nodded. "Yeah, I know." He seemed to consider something, then stuck out his hand. "Friends?"
Embry took it and they shook on it. "Friends."
Jake smiled at him, relief evident in his face. An idea occurred to Embry. "Wait here," he said before going to his room and grabbing the joint Jared had given him after patrol a few days ago. He figured it would help them fall back into their former easy friendship.
He returned, brandishing the joint between thumb and forefinger, and Jake's eyes lit up. They had smoked a couple of times before, mostly shwag, but Jared had assured him this was the good stuff.
"Embry Call, MVP," Jacob said, impersonating a sports announcer and laughing.
"Got it from Jared, so you know it's gonna be better than the shit we got from Red behind the gas station."
"Hell yeah! Where should we go? Your mom will be home in a few hours, right?"
"Yeah, but it's cool. I have a way we can smoke inside and she'll never know." Embry went back to his room and pulled out his secret smoking device – a toilet paper roll with a dryer sheet secured to one end with a rubber-band. Jacob laughed when he saw it. "What?" Embry cried defensively. "It smells like fresh linen!"
"Whatever that smells like!"
"Weird and flowery. Better than skunky weed smell."
"Truth."
The shit was indeed great. Unfortunately, they hadn't considered that the dryer sheet trick wasn't going to work because they were smoking a joint which was…lit and smoking. But they didn't care because they were blitzed, and the pair of rekindled friends became glued to the couch, watching old reruns of Beverly Hillbillies and laughing their asses off at the terrible jokes.
Eventually, the boys heard Tiffany's car roll up. They grabbed the paraphernalia from the coffee table and stumbled into Embry's room, giggling at their clumsiness. Through the door, they heard Tiffany unlock the front door and come inside.
"Embry! Whose shoes are these?! You are grounded, mister! No visitors!"
Tiffany stomped toward Embry's room mumbling, "What is that god-awful smell?"
Embry and Jacob held in nervous laughter as Tiffany threw open the door looking ready to rip her son a new one. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Jacob, speechless at the sight of him. She shook her head, gathering herself from the surprise. "Jacob! I haven't seen you in ages." She really looked at him for a moment. "Oh, you cut your hair too…" she muttered.
Jacob shrugged. "Just needed a change."
Tiffany nodded solemnly, her narrowed eyes darting between them as she tried to figure out what she knew she was missing. Embry took advantage of her distraction. "Can Jacob spend the night, Mom?" He gave her his best puppy eyes. "Please?"
Those baleful eyes never failed to win her over. She sighed. "All right. But only because it's Jacob, and only if you two stay here. No sneaking out."
"Okay, Mom, we won't. Promise."
Tiffany narrowed her eyes with suspicion, but she sighed, apparently deciding to believe them. As she closed the door, she warned, "Don't be too loud. I have to work in the morning."
"Thank you!" they chorused after her.
The pair listened as she settled down on the couch after pulling it out to the sleeper position and turned on her 'stories.' Now that there were no more distractions, Jacob looked lost in thought, his teeth worrying his lower lip.
"What's wrong?" Embry asked in a hushed tone. "Besides being a wolf, I mean."
Jacob smiled half-heartedly. "It's Dad. He's upset with me. Won't even look at me."
Embry remembered when he'd seen Billy looking so upset in the store earlier that day. "Why?"
"I don't know exactly. It's partly because I gave up my birthright. You know, the tribe is led by the chief, and the chiefs have always been Blacks."
"Now Uley," Embry breathed.
"Yeah. Levi was Ephraim's second, after all."
"So, he wants you to become the new chief of the tribe?"
Jacob sighed, went to run his fingers through his hair, realized he didn't have long hair anymore, and rubbed his head instead. "Yeah. The alpha wolf technically leads the whole tribe. My dad is chief now, but he never turned, and wolf trumps age. So, I don't think Dad likes that Sam makes the decisions for the tribe now. He was disrespectful toward Harry and broke Leah's heart. Dad doesn't think Sam makes the best choices. He'd rather I do it."
"And you're not interested."
"Right. Don't want that kind of responsibility. I have enough on my plate." He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and hands clasped in front of him. "I think he's kind of jealous too. Because he never got to become a wolf."
Embry huffed. "Dodged a bullet if you ask me."
"Not in my dad's mind. He could have been a hero, not a diabetic, wheelchair-bound, fragile human being. I get it."
Embry nodded. Yeah, it made sense in that light, though Embry wouldn't call himself a hero, he was more like a minion. Suddenly, Jacob gasped as he realized something. His fist went to his mouth and devastation clouded his features. Embry panicked, rushing over and grabbing Jake's biceps, shaking him. "What! What is it!"
Jacob's fist fell into his lap and he looked beyond Embry, his eyes glistening. "Sam said I couldn't associate with anyone that doesn't know about wolves."
"Right."
Jacob's eyes focused and he looked at Embry. "That means I can't see Bella anymore." His face crumpled. "I…I just told her I would always be there for her. That she could count on me, that I'd never leave her!"
Realization dawned, and Embry's chest tightened. He knew how in love with Bella Jacob was, and if it was excruciating for Embry not to speak to Quil and Jacob, it was just as painful for Jacob to cut ties with Bella.
"That bloodsucker ruined Bella, left her behind like garbage. I promised to never leave her like he did, and now I have to do exactly that. I'm no better than he was."
Embry clenched his teeth and frowned. "Yeah. I get it. It sucks."
"Yeah."
The atmosphere was heavy in the room after that, and Embry tried to think of a way to change the conversation. "Oh!" he whisper-cried, and got up to look under the bed, retrieving his comic about the boy reluctantly becoming a wolf. He handed it to Jacob. Jacob took in the cover art - a teen that looked much like Embry, holding open his chest, revealing fur beneath the skin. Wolf ears half-protruded from the boy's head.
"Wow, this is cool."
"Thanks. The guy's name is Bembry."
Jacob choked on his laugh. "Seriously?"
"No, dumbass." Embry playfully smacked him on the back of the head. "Of course not. It's Shawn."
Jacob started flipping through the pages, marveling at the artwork. "Oh, this is kind of like instructions, isn't it? Wow, that's really cool."
"I wanted to make it for you and Quil to sort of help you cope with the change. It was really hard for me. I felt so alone."
Jacob frowned and leaned over to hug Embry tightly. "I'm so sorry, bro."
"S'ok," Embry said into Jacob's shoulder. "You're here with me now."