A/N: Hello! I'm doing my best to update all of my ongoing projects and I was lucky enough to have time to do a little update for this story. Thank you for the continued support for this story. Please enjoy this bit.

OOOOOOOOO

"I can't believe you did that!" Sadie snapped, walking out of the alley minutes after her would-be attackers had all been knocked out of consciousness or ran away in terror. "Do you realize what could have happened? How your secret could have been revealed to those bastards?"

"They were attacking you," Emmett pointed out angrily, following after her. "I had to do something."

"I didn't ask you to do anything. I was doing okay holding my own."

Emmett grabbed her by the arm and spun her around. "Yeah, if you were doing so good on your own, you wouldn't have that." He jabbed a finger at her bleeding arm. "You're lucky that I'm not going back there and killing those bastards for even touching you."

Sadie jerked herself away from him. "You're lucky that I'm not kicking your ass for doing what you did! I don't need your protection, Emmett. I don't want your protection, Emmett."

"Tough shit, Wolf Girl. You're not getting rid of me."

The wolf crossed her arms and looked up at the giant vampire. "Didn't I tell you that I don't want to be anything more than friends with you? That I wanted you to forget whatever it is that you feel for me and move on with your life with Rosalie?"
"You did."

"So why didn't you listen to me?"

Emmett frowned down at her. "Because I can't just shut down what I feel for you like that. It's not like there's a little switch in my brain that will let me turn off every thought that crosses my mind when I see you or every little feeling I get when you're around. I can't just forget what's happening everyday that I'm around you." He tilted his head to the side. "How can you?"

I can't and it hurts to pretend to. Sadie shrugged. "Because it's something that I know is the right thing to do. So, you should start working on that switch because you belong with Rosalie and not with me, Emmett."

She took a step back away from him. "You need to stop trying to be my hero. You need to stop following me around. And - " she took another step back " - you need to stop touching me. Because it's only going to hurt the both of us in the end and that's not something that I want to happen."

Emmett shook his head. "I don't think that I can do that."

"You have to."

The giant vampire closed the distance between Sadie and himself and put his hands on her shoulders. "Why are you trying so hard to keep me away, Sadie? Why aren't you letting anything happen between us? Is it just because I've been with Rosalie for decades or is it because of something else?"

You don't know about my pack and their mates, Sadie thought, looking up into his eyes. And I don't know if I can tell you about them.

"I don't want Rosalie to be hurt," Sadie said slowly. "I don't want to tear your family apart. Everyone has been so kind to me –"

"Bull shit."

Sadie's mouth slammed shut and she looked away from him.

"Something scares you about letting people into your life," Emmett said and she could feel his stare on her. "You're shutting me out because something about letting me get close to you scares you."

"Shut up," Sadie whispered.

"Sadie, why are you so afraid to let me in?" Emmett asked, touching her neck. "Why won't you let me get close and love –"

"Don't finish that," Sadie ordered, smacking away his hand only to have her hand caught. "You can't love me and I can't love you."

"Why not?" The vampire squeezed her hand. "Vampire couples break up and move on all the time. Rosalie could always find someone else to love." He cocked his head to the side. "I could love you, if you gave me the chance."

"No..."

"We could be happy together, Sadie."

"No..."

"Why not?"

Lightning flashed across the sky and the clouds opened up again for the night, sending rain pelting towards the earth. Tears welled up Sadie's eyes and fell unchecked down her cheeks.

"Because I don't want to lose you like I lost my sister, Felix, and the rest of the pack," Sadie cried out, looking up at him through shiny wet eyes. "I can't do that again, Emmett!"

The vampire blinked in confusion. "What?"

Sadie swallowed her pride and gave up. "My sister was in love with a vampire, Emmett. Most of my pack was in love with a vampire. We were a blend of a pack and a coven and we were happy that way...but we attracted the attention of another pack that didn't share the same view. My pack was killed because we loved vampires. No, they weren't just killed. They were slaughtered, torn apart like savages just because they loved the 'wrong' race, the enemy. Everyone that I have ever known and loved were destroyed because of the love between a wolf and a vampire." She shook her head. "I had to run away, telling myself that I would never join another pack and that I would never fall in love with a vampire because of what had happened to the people that I had loved the most. Somehow I ended up here, where a pack wants me to join them for control purposes and where I've found myself drawn to a vampire...drawn to you.

"This is everything that I told myself that I couldn't go through again because it hurts too much and it would hurt the people that I've grown attached to here. Emmett, I can't let you and the others get hurt because I care about you too much. Who knows if another pack will find out that I'm drawn to you or some random vampires will find out that you're harboring a wolf and team together to destroy everything that you've managed to put together in Forks? I can't let that happen. I'm scared for you and the others, Emmett. I'm scared and I love you, but I'm scared because of that."

Emmett pulled the wolf girl into his arms and held her trembling body against his chest. "Sadie, you don't have to be scared anymore. You're safe here. No one is going to come here and destroy what we have. Sam's pack doesn't care that we have a wolf living with us. And there aren't any vampires traveling in the area, ever. This is the safest place for you to be and you can live just as you want. You can live, loving the people that you want. Even me."

"Emmett, please..." Sadie whispered against his chest.

"I'm not going to give up on you," Emmett swore, holding her tighter. "You and I were meant to be together and I'm always going to be there for you, whether you want me to be there or not. I will always protect you from those that want to hurt you and I will always love you like I know you love me."

The wolf looked up at him, blinking away the raindrops that fell in her face. "Emmett, you're not going to make this easy, are you?"

"Not a chance." He smiled down at her. "You've got me forever, Sadie, and that's a promise."

"Bastard."

"That's what Rosalie calls me too." His smile turned into a smirk. "Are you sure that you two aren't closer than you want to admit?"

Sadie shoved him away and put her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "Take me home, Emmett. I need to change out of these wet clothes and get into something warm."

Emmett looked at her and wiggled his eyebrows. "I think I like the way you look right now."

Glancing down, Sadie was embarrassed to see that her clothes were clinging to her body a little too closely. She let out a small growl and crossed her arms over her chest. "Stop that! Shut up and take me home, dammit!"

The vampire rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Rosalie's definitely rubbing off on you..."

"Shut up!"

OOOOOOOOO

Esme didn't seem to mind that Emmett had brought Sadie back home that evening. In fact, she seemed to have expected it and had a plate of food waiting for Sadie. The wolf made a mental note to have a word with Alice when she found the psychic vampire. She quickly settled in and ate her meal before heading upstairs and changing her clothes.

Her dark eyes landed on her phone and she scooped it up. There was one number on it that she hadn't called or used ever since the owner had given it to her. Her finger hovered over it as she sat on the edge of her bed. She could hear Emmett and Rosalie talking in the other room, but knew that he wasn't breaking up with the gorgeous vampire yet. He'd promised not to do that on the ride back from the city until she was ready to admit to the entire house that she had feelings for the vampire, but Sadie knew that the vampire had very little patience and would have a very hard time not doing something that would destroy the relative peace that the Cullens seemed to enjoy at this house.

Sadie pressed her finger on the number and opened up her messenger screen.

If things go wrong here very soon, I may have to come to you, she typed slowly, feeling pained with each letter. Don't tell anyone yet. I need time to prepare. Don't reply over the phone. I can hear you the other way.

Guilt settled in the pit of Sadie's stomach as she locked her phone and set it aside. She put her face in her hands and closed her eyes against a fresh wave of tears.

"Forgive me, Sister."

OOOOOOOOO

A/N: What did you think? Things are getting put into motion and I don't know how much longer I can go with this project. I know where I want to go and what I want to happen, but I don't know how long this story will be. I'll figure that out and you'll read. (Hopefully.) Please leave a little comment. Thanks and much love! -Scarlet