"I put a spell on you because you're mine."

-Nina Simone, I Put A Spell on You

Demands

'Leah.'

'Mmm.'

'Leah.'

'What?'

The laughter that rumbled near her ear was like dark chocolate, sending sublime shivers down her spine as the she-wolf tried to sink back into a state of reduced consciousness.

'I mean I know that the very thought of leaving my bedroom is heart-wrenching torment of the severest kind for you but…' Embry's teeth nibbled gently against her earlobe, soliciting a delirious moan from the young she-wolf as stars exploded behind her closed eyes. 'You have to open those pretty blue eyes of yours at some point.'

'Mmm…Tomorrow.'

Leah tried to move away from him; away from the mouth that was far too good at undoing her resolve, and from the fingertips that felt seductive as silk curled around her wrists. Against her will Embry was dragging her away from her safe, tranquil dreams with devastating slow-burn kisses.

Her attempts at shifting away from his enchantments proved as elusive as the art of alchemy - He was everywhere. His heat, his weight and his scent penetrated her every pore, lingering like an old ghost too content to leave its favorite haunting spot. Leah could barely tell his scent apart from her own, and she laid almost crushed underneath his godlike torso, their caramel and copper limbs melted together.

'You said you were getting up an hour ago.' he accused.

Leah blew raspberries. 'Not my fault you're gullible.'

Embry rumbled the deepest, sexiest chuckle before pressing a vengeful kiss to her jaw, drawing out a strange alien moans from her lips. Her eyes were still closed, but she could make out the mint on his warm breath as that wicked mouth grew more insistent, sparking blinding sensations in her veins as his tongue meticulously explored her throat. His fingers worked their way slowly up and down from her wrist to the crook of her arm, and he tasted her like he had nowhere else to go.

She wasn't the only one reluctant to cut their intimate moment short.

'Don't look your judgy little nose down on me, Call. I know you don't want to go to Patrol either.'

'That so?'

'Mm-hm…' she said, lifting her lips temptingly and smirking when she heard the hitch in his breath. 'Definitely so.'

It felt good to have him so close. His abdominal muscles were hard blocks against her soft belly, and his glorious chest was a honey glaze smothering hers as his stunning legs stayed tangled with hers underneath the sheets she'd dragged to the floor the night before. Or had it been morning? Leah couldn't be too sure.

She didn't let herself think about what else she could feel. No good would come from ruminating on the fact that his long, thick length was pressed against her thigh, hell-bent on inciting a sexual riot.

'At least I remembered that we have patrol Lee.' He said slowly, 'If I had trusted you to wake us up like you said you would we'd both still be comatose.'

'And happily so,' she groaned. 'Urgh. Are you always this pissy in the mornings?'

'Afternoon Leah.' He said firmly. 'Tiff's even making lunch. You should be ashamed of yourself.'

'Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who even calls their mother by her nickname anyway?'

'Every boy who's mom isn't Sue.' Embry snickered, rather enjoying Leah's obvious annoyance.

In all honesty her refusal to get out of bed had more to do with having to re-join the pack than anything else. It wasn't that she wanted him to be her dirty little secret, but she liked her privacy, and she didn't trust Embry not to be touchy-feely around the others. It didn't help that her body wasn't as adverse to his caresses as it should have been either. She was even blushing for chrissake. Blushing!

She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so well rested. Actually she did, but she was too stubborn to admit that Embry was in that memory too. They'd barely watched the movie the night before, instead they'd made snarky commentary on the storyline and yelled at the predictable characters before making their way upstairs to his bedroom. Embry had insisted on giving her the bed and sleeping on his couch when it had become clear that she was hell bent on stealing his virtue, and the two had argued for over and hour before Leah irritably dragged his sheets onto the floor and made herself comfortable.

He had stayed on the bed, grinning, shoulder still throbbing and all. But they'd ended up with their hands interlinked as they'd shared jokes in the dark. It had been sunrise when they'd finally drifted off to sleep.

'They won't miss us that much…' Leah yawned, fighting the urge to drift off again, 'between your shoulder and my infamous attitude they won't be so quick to bother us. If it's really important mighty Uley will give us a call. God knows that man loves his telephone.'

Embry chuckled, drawing his lips light as a peacock feather across her collarbone. 'There's food downstairs." He said before biting down hard on the skin of her shoulder. Leah gasped as the raw pleasure shot through her, and her blood turned to fire in her veins. 'And I make a mean omelette.'

Omelettes? Now that did sound tempting. Her stomach seconded the thought with a loud groan.

Only then did Leah notice the sound of drizzling rain pounding delicately against the windowpane.

She smiled, something that was unusual for her mornings. Soon after her first phase the she-wolf had realized that she found golden mornings annoying. Sunrises were unwanted interruptions from rare, well-earned respites from her cold, cruel life, and dawn was just another reminder of her metamorphosis from a deliriously happy golden girl into a murderer-bridesmaid who spent her most of her nights as an oversized dog in the forest. She had lost track of how many times she'd woken reeling from endless nightmares and terrors borrowed from the minds of adolescent boys. Early morning always felt like punishment these days, sunlight the universe's means of yanking her out of fitful sleep and spitting her out into the next day of torture.

But maybe she wouldn't mind morning so much if she woke up to Embry's warm lips more often. He felt terrific and hot to the touch.

Oh she was fucked.

She braved a peek from under her feather-duster lashes and encountered those abundant orbs of green and brown, piercing through her. Those eyes belonged to the boy that had tornadoed through her unbreakable walls without even trying. She already associated hazel with reckless plummets into the unknown, with slow heartbeats, moonlight and water. She was worried she'd soon start associating them with need and safety too.

But Embry didn't seem to care so much about that when his mouth crashed into hers. Unyielding. Uncompromising. Merciless. He wanted whatever she had to give. It felt a little harder to breathe when he broke the kiss.

'Leah.' He ordered. 'Patrol.'

'Ten minutes.' She whined. She damned morning breath to hell as pressed her own lips to his again, opening her legs instinctively to straddle him and drawing him nearer. She drew her fingernails hard across his back, insistent, slightly amused when she heard his hiss. 'Kiss me a little more.'

'This… is a trap.' Embry grinned, but he did not attempt to extricate himself from her grasp even though he knew what she was doing.

'Is that a complaint?'

Embry levelled a look at her that made her insides go sploosh.

Didn't take a mind-reader to figure that he wanted her every bit as much as she wanted him. But, even fraught with sexual tension and intense emotion, their relationship was still so raw and complex. Admitting that he had feelings for her hadn't magically undone their past like an Imprint. It hadn't magically erased all of her baggage either. But considering the tom-fuckery that had been Sam and Emily she was a little surprised at how easily this had happened. Leah trusted Embry in a way that she knew was probably reckless, in a way that made no sense and defied logic. She knew that he wouldn't hurt her, even without knowing how or why she knew it.

Leah had been expecting him to kiss her again, or for him to finally drag her off of her temporary bed and pull her down the stairs. Instead she gasped as his hand to seared across the skin underneath her shirt, running over her bikini and plunging into her borrowed pants.

'Embry!' the she-wolf gasped, but it was his darkening eyes that flickered with disbelief.

'What the fuck Clearwater? Did you seriously consider climbing into my bed without the safety of a chastity belt?'

Leah's scoff turned into a sigh as his fingers played against her clit, but she was too stubborn to let him have the last word. 'As if a flimsy piece of cotton or lac-'

He pushed two fingers into her, and she hissed as an eruption of pleasure ripped through her body at the touch of his fingertips. Embry stole her moans into his mouth before letting his lips graze across her jaw again, down her neck - and his teeth clamped down hard at the hollow he found there. Leah could feel the hot, slick wetness pooling over his hand as she writhed with euphoria and pleasure, but his body kept her locked in place and she couldn't escape the sensations. It had taken him all but two seconds to figure out what she liked, a little bit of pain here to compliment the pleasure there, and she wondered what it would be like to ride him like the stallion that he was. Embarrassed, Leah covered her face as he worked her like he'd been doing it for years.

'What-' gasp '-happened to the-' gasp 'sweet - sweet, innocent boy who was-' moan '-waiting for marriage?'

'I think you have me confused with Jake.' Embry laughed, biting his lower lip in such a manner she couldn't stop herself from staring. He dropped his mouth to her ear, whispering darkly, 'I like doing bad things to good girls. Like this…'

Leah tipped her head back with a deep, guttural moan as he pushed deeper into her throbbing core, tapping an increasingly frantic rhythm into her tightening warmth. When she curled her toes and arched her back he drew back a little to enjoy the view. 'I swear that's the sexiest fucking thing I've ever seen.'

'Stop playing with me Call.'

'Oh but it's so much fun.' He teased.

His mouth found hers again, his free hand ploughing into her hair as her fingernails dug into his skin. It wasn't long until she shattered apart, his name sounding far too sensual on her tongue, and it took all of Embry's strength to keep his wolf from rousing and claiming her. Her arousal was thick in the air, driving him mad with desire, urging him to take her right there so that all others would know that she was and would only be his.

But Leah was not going to be a quick, mindless fuck. When he finally had his way with her he was going to make sure the memory of their shared pleasure was so intense it was branded forever into her mind.

The pale grey wolf didn't know how much time he'd spent waiting. For far too many days and nights he had watched patiently as she'd used up all of her strength trying to heal from someone who didn't deserve her adoration. Years ago Embry had lost his chance to dipshit Uley, and he had been forced to watch from the sidelines as a boy with way too much hair jell and not enough swagger wrapped his arm around the girl of his dreams and showed her off like some kind of trophy. He'd known long before their tragic break-up that Leah was too much for Sam. Too hard. Too rough. Too tough. Guys like Sam needed cheerleaders. They needed girls who folded their lives around them, and Leah had never cared much for stroking fragile egos, no matter what she'd thought she had wanted. She was going to be someone. She had dreams, goals, ambition. Plus she was a monumental bitch.

He fucking loved it.

'Patrol, Leah.' he said once more, dragging his fingers out of her with a slow, naughty smirk. He pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead after tasting her, and Leah watched as he dragged on his jeans with that favorite shit-eating grin of his plastered on his carefree face, 'You won't like my methods very much if I have to come back here and drag you out of your makeshift bed. And I don't like waiting, so be quick.'

Judging from the blissful flush on her face and her unsteady heartbeat he had no doubt that she'd like his methods very, very much. But Leah didn't need to know that.

The she wolf grabbed the nearest pillow she could reach and threw it at his head, an animalistic growl rumbling in her chest as he ducked out of the way.

'And Tiffany's still in the kitchen by the way, so you should probably try not to look so thoroughly ravished when you head down the stairs. Don't want her thinking I've corrupted you, do we love?' He winked.

Embry flung the door open just as Leah hissed her response, the gravity of his words finally sinking in. 'Why? Why would you give me orgasms with your mother down the stairs? What the actual fuck skinny legs?'

The wolf shrugged, 'Seemed like the only way to get your attention.'

The next heavy pillow Leah threw hit the wall. Embry Call was already halfway down the stairs, roaring with laughter.

It was awkward enough doing a walk of shame without your lover's mother waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs. Well it wasn't a walk of shame, and Embry wasn't her lover - not yet - but Leah still couldn't help the guilty flush in her face when Tiffany Call took her in with a knowing grin.

'There you are Leah Bear. I was getting worried.'

Shit.

Of course Tiffany had seen her and Embry curled up on the couch the night before when she'd returned from Billy's, but Leah had been too focused on Captain America's ass and Embry's bare chest to think too much about what she and Embry would look like to the older woman. It was clear Tiffany had already made her assumptions. Leah wasn't so sure how she felt about that considering she could barely make sense of their intense attraction herself.

Tiffany smiled at her, 'Sleep well?'

'Like a log.'

Embry scoffed, 'More like a mummified corpse.'

Leah glared in his direction as Tiffany clicked her tongue, mumbling something in Makah that sounded like troublesome idiot. 'Tea?'

'Yes.' Leah took a seat beside the wolf sprawled out almost too casually on the small, wooden chair. He looked almost comical with his massive limbs curved awkwardly around the tiny table. 'No milk or sugar please.'

Embry gave her an incredulous look. 'Please?' he mouthed.

'My mother taught me manners.' Leah said just under her breath as Tiffany placed a cup of tea and an assortment of sandwiches onto the table.

'I was going to make a salad but Embry says you have an aversion to sweet, fruity smells. I hope this is alright.'

Leah frowned. She'd hated fruit ever since her father had died on a table full of them. Even Emily hadn't noticed that, but Embry had. Not for the first time she wondered how it was he seemed to know her so well when he was such a puzzle to her.

'This looks great,' she said, giving into her hunger and wolfing down the first sandwich in two massive bites.

Tiffany's watched in surprised horror, slightly mortified by Leah's lack of table manners. 'I can see why he likes you so much…' she said slowly, 'matching appetites.'

For the rest of their meal Tiffany shared more Makah legends she thought Leah would take an interest in while Embry rolled his eyes every now and again and quipped. It wasn't until Leah mentioned the upcoming showcase that Embry became serious again, not quite hiding his pride as he smirked at the news in a that's my girl kinda way. Tiffany asked only slightly embarrassing questions to ascertain what was going on between the two wolves.

But Leah could still tell that the optimism shared in the Call kitchen was forced. Embry was distracted, and she could sense he was thinking over the conversation she had overheard during her five-minute shower upstairs. Ms. Call had laid the guilt on real thick about the night before: 'I can't do this anymore Embry,' she'd said. 'I can't keep waiting to find your lifeless body outside my doorstep, or to keep worrying about the day the police come knocking on my door to tell me that my only son's been killed in a senseless drive-by. Don't do that to me again. I won't survive it.'

It wasn't until Embry went upstairs to change that Tiffany brought the previous night up with the she-wolf. The two were doing the dishes, Leah washing and rinsing while Embry's mother dried and packed away the dishes, when Tiffany spoke up. 'Thank you.' she said quietly, 'For taking care of my son.'

'He takes care of me too.' Leah returned with shrug. 'It's the least I can do.'

Tiffany shelved a plate away, bothering her lips with her front teeth a bit before continuing. 'It's not just that Leah... Did you see it? It looked like something had destroyed his body last night. I swear there was so much blood...' Tiffany pressed a hand to her face, and Leah could see the fear she couldn't quite hide in her eyes. For a second the she-wolf wondered what Tiffany had made of her son's mostly healed shoulder. Embry had showed almost no pain at all when they'd all sat together in the kitchen, and she wondered if Tiffany had noticed.

'I feel like I'm going out of my mind.' the older woman said, shaking her head. 'Billy says I'm just... seeing things. But this years been a nightmare. I used to know everything that was going on in his life, we were thick as thieves, more like friends than mother and son, and now... it's like I don't know my boy at all. Whatever it is he's got going on with Joshua Uley's son it's bad for him... But he won't listen.'

A shadow passed over Tiffany's eyes before she broke the serious tension in the room with a quick smile. 'But he's happier when you're around.'

'He'll be fine.' Leah said softly, shoving down her own guilt at being complicit in all the secrets and lies.

'I know.' Tiffany sighed eventually, 'He's tough, like you... I think it's why he likes you so much, you know? You're Sue Clearwater's daughter alright, even if you did inherit your daddy's big heart.'

Leah was so touched by the older woman's words that she almost reached out to squeeze Tiffany's hand.

'Mom,' Embry drawled out from right behind them, interrupting the two women and making Leah jump. 'You're still here. And like, a million years late.'

'Stop doing that.' Leah ground out as she turned to that deep voice, her heart raging at the sudden fright. How he managed to catch even her off-guard was still unknown to her. 'And what is it with you and time?'

'She's cutting into ours.' Embry nodded towards his mother with a wicked smile.

'She's right here.' Tiffany grunted, smacking the side of her son's head. Even with superhuman reflexes Embry couldn't seem to get out of her reach fast enough. Smack! 'You-' Smack! '-Take-' Smack! '-Care-' Smack! '-of her Embry Stephano Call. No monkey business.'

'No monkey business.' Embry said seriously, drawing an invisible mark over his chest. But his eyes were sinister when he looked back at Leah. 'Cross my heart.'

Tiffany shook her head with a click of her tongue before turning back to the she-wolf. She placed her hand on gently on the younger woman's cheek. It was the kind of intimate gesture even Julie wouldn't attempt on her most affectionate day. 'Darling I know it hurt, but I'm real glad you got away from that Uley. Thank you for being such a blessing to my family.'

Leah didn't move as Tiffany gathered her bag and walked out of the house, Embry ushering his mother out quickly and all but pushing her out the front door.

The she-wolf didn't step out of her haze until she felt hot arms curling around her waist. Embry pressed soft kisses to her shoulder. 'What are you thinking?'

He was far too intuitive for his own good.

Leah pushed her worried thoughts away. 'Stephano?' she asked, blue eyes coming alive with mischief.

Embry shut his eyes. 'Shit.'

Ring!

Leah swiped across the screen of her phone and gasped.

14 missed calls. 6 voice messages. 4 texts.

Shit.

Ring! Ring!

'Hey.'

'Hey?'

'Yeah. Hey.'

'Drop the fucking phone Leah.' Embry whispered into her ear..

'Where the fuck are you?'

'Uhm…' What could she say? Library? Work? Hiking? 'I'm with Seth.'

'Yeah nice try.' Julie huffed, sounding furious. 'Seth called me an hour ago asking if I've seen you.'

'Uhm…' It was a little difficult focusing or even breathing with Embry refusing to retract his hold on her thigh. 'Uhm…'

'Tell her you're in the throes of passion,' he smirked.

'I'm babysitting.'

Embry pulled away, betrayal exaggerated on his handsome face. 'Did you just say that woman? With me right here?'

'Don't stop.' Leah drawled as she pressed her cell phone to her chest. 'Don't stop.'

And all of this because of some wayward comment he'd made about how he'd have her moaning breathless on the floor of his mother's kitchen if she didn't stop calling him by his hilarious second name. They were so far past late there was no hope for making it to patrol on time now. She even regretted answering her phone, but only a little. Leah always answered her phone because only three people had her number, and they knew to only call for emergencies.

'How come I don't have your number anyways?' Embry asked, his teeth nipping on the inside of her thigh and making her breath hitch.

Julie made a sound. 'Oh you don't seriously expect me to believe that bullshit Leah.'

'What bullshit?' she gasped, terribly distracted.

'Who the fuck are you supposed to be babysitting? Let me guess, it's Claire, your baby cousin who you hate by association to Emily.'

That wasn't true. She loved Claire. She just hated spending time with the little girl on principle because the toddler was creepily possessive and demanding when it came to Quil - not that she liked the boy any more than his Imprint. Stupid Imprints. Stupid, moronic Imprints.

'What happened?' Embry's eyes darkened, sensing the shift in her mood. 'What did she say?'

'I'll be home later tonight Jules.' Leah sighed, suddenly not in the mood to fool around anymore. 'How about we talk then?'

Ring!

With a curse of his own Embry reluctantly relinquished his hold on her, pressing a swift kiss to her lips before he stood. He tasted like her, sweet and citrussy, and her lust sprang up again, wild and untamed.

She couldn't seem to get enough of him.

She tried not to wonder how long that would last before one of them got their heart broken.

'When's later?' Julie demanded. 'And why the hell is Sam blowing up my phone? How'd he even get my number in the first place?'

Mind-link.

'I don't know Julie…Why are you screaming at me?'

'Because I know when you're lying Clearwater. And I'm getting fucking sick of how often that is.'

'Sam?' Embry guessed with a sigh as he answered the phone. Leah could just make out the Alpha's voice on the other side. 'Yeah, she's with me.' Embry said before a lengthy pause. Suddenly, his hands fisted at his sides, his eyes darkening as his body started blurring round the edges. His eyes fell over her slowly, taking her in where she was sitting on the kitchen counter. 'Busy.' He said.

Leah suddenly got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. 'What is it?'

'What do you think I'm gonna hate you if you're selling some coke on the side?' Julie asked, still ranting on the phone. 'More power to you Leah, so long as you stay out of trouble with the cops. But at least do it with a little integrity.'

'What?' Leah asked, incredulous. The laughter in her throat bubbled up before she could stop it.

'This isn't funny.'

Leah disagreed. 'Some coke on the side?'

'And why would I do that?' Embry barked into the telephone, cutting into her mirth. Whatever Sam had said had him laboring with the effort not to phase. Leah jumped up, grabbing his free hand in an attempt to calm him. He didn't look at her but his eyes were dark chaos and his jaw was clenched.

'Embry, what is it? What's happening?'

'I'll be at your house at six Leah, sharp.' Julie said, not realizing that the she-wolf was far too distracted to listen. 'You better have a damn good explanation for all of this.'

Leah pried Embry's fingers from the telephone before he could crush it and pressed the device to her ear, all too aware of the deep growl threatening low and deep in his chest. She'd never seen him so angry before. Perhaps it should have made her more worried or nervous, but all she could focus on was how sexy he looked threading his fingers angrily through his dark, luxurious hair.

'Sam what's going on?'

There was a pause before he spoke.

'You're at Embry's house?' he asked.

'No I'm on a private island in Tahiti where my butler just delivered me an iPhone along with a Mojito and some Kiwi.'

Another pause. Longer this time.

'Isabella's back.'

'What?' Leah asked, and her heart came awake with a wild roar.

'Charlie called Billy. Said she sounds like she's real sick or something.'

Her mind was reeling. Leah felt the tremor burn up her spine as a haze of red suddenly fell over her eyes. Not now! She knew what this meant. It would be war if Isabella had been turned, the kind of war she wouldn't be able to protect Seth from, not now that Sam trusted her baby brother to be able to hold his own in a fight. But Leah didn't, not against the Cullen Clan. She'd seen the strength of soldier leech and mind-reader leech and even that blond chick that had looked like she could give even Paul a run for his money. She was going to be sick.

'You keep Seth out of this.' Leah ordered as the panic started growing, washing her vision red. 'You hear me Sam? You keep my baby brother out of this or so help me God I'll kill you myself-'

'Don't jump to conclusions Lee.' the Alpha said sternly, his voice failing to mask the softness he never showed when talking to the other wolves. This was the gentility she associated with her Sam. Or at least, the Sam she'd once fallen in love with. 'Nobody wants a war. Not with seasoned bloodsuckers who've been in more wars than all of us combined. Jacob's gone to check it out before we make any decisions. He should be back in an hour.'

Her heart calmed some, but not entirely. She exhaled shakily, 'Alright.' Leah glanced up at the boy with the hazel eyes. He had calmed enough that his shaking had stopped, but her phase was still lingering in her system. 'We'll be there shortly.'

A beat.

'We?'

'Yeah… we.'

'Is there a reason we took so fucking long to answer the damn telephone?'

'Yeah.' Leah nodded, 'and it's about as much your business as you and Emily's baby is mine.'

Leah didn't slam the phone as she would have a month ago. Instead she dropped it with a gentle click, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction. A month ago Sam's reaction would have driven her crazy with all kinds of thoughts about whether or not he was jealous, whether or not he still loved her, whether or not he wished he could undo the Imprint. Now she was just annoyed to have to hear his voice during a really fun make out session.

'You okay?' Embry asked her, probably expecting a breakdown.

'I should be asking you that.' she rolled her eyes. 'Seriously Call, you looked like you were gonna jump down the line and strangle him or something.'

Embry levelled a look at her that sent thrill and electricity through her spine. 'I don't like people fucking with what's mine.'

Her wolf purred.

Leah cocked a brow. 'What's yours?'

'Yeah. Mine.' He growled. Unapologetic.

He stepped so close she couldn't help but feel intoxicated by his scent, and she sensed the danger of his intentions. Her heart hammered violently in her chest at the intensity she could see in those tumultuous eyes again. Embry wrapped a calloused hand around her waist and yanked her against his chest with enough force to hurt an ordinary human being.

'Embry…' Leah warned, though she was more shocked than anything else. Her hands fisting at his chest, half to hold on for dear life, half to stop him from whatever he was planning on doing to her. 'Embry what are you-'

'Shut the fuck up Clearwater.' He ordered, before his mouth became a demand on hers she didn't dare refuse.