A/N: Thank you all for following and favoriting, for those of you who have been so far! I'm just thrilled that anyone seems interested in where this is all going. There's not a whole lot of Embry / Veronica interaction here, but I did write in sister fluff. I'm trying to make Bella seem less cold and standoffish. I hope that's working.

FYI, if no one caught the hint in the last chapter, Jasmine is kind of important to Seth Clearwater. ;)

07

"In or out, Bella." I coaxed, not bothering to look up from the books and notebooks scattered on the floor all around me.

"Charlie built you an entire desk for that."

"I can't function if it's all cluttered on top of the vanity, Bells. I have to have everything spread out so I can see. Shit… Do you see an index card written in pink gel pen?" I dug around myself when I asked, trying to locate the notes card I'd made for the open book test we were having in history the next day. Bella spotted it sticking out of my history textbook and held it out to me.

I took it, giving her a grateful smile. Bella dropped down to sit on the floor across from me and reached behind her, lowering the volume of my radio. "Hey, do you want to come with me to Jacob's tomorrow? There's uh.. I want to show you something."

I eyed her for a second or two. Unsure how to respond. Because it's like since she stopped holing up in her room, she's spent every spare second with Jacob Black. Out of the fire and into a hot frying pan, I suppose.

"Wouldn't I be a third wheel?" I questioned.

She raised a brow, giving me a puzzled look. I asked "I thought you two were dating now. I mean, you went to that movie with him last week and he's always here or you're always there." as I shrugged. Bella gave a quiet laugh and responded with a short and clipped, "No." as she shook her head.

"I hope he's aware of this."

"Pretty sure he knows we're just friends."

"And he won't mind me, just showing up so you can show me… whatever it is. Right?" I questioned.

"No."

"Okay, fine. I need a break anyway. I've been cooped up in here all week and most of the weekend. One day isn't going to kill me." I weighed it carefully as I answered. Parts of me wanted to gently remind her that she tended to do this a lot lately, putting absolutely everything she had to give into one person solely. To the extreme of excluding damn near everyone else. Now that Leah had pointed it out to me, I couldn't un-realize it. And it worried me to a point where I'd gently rose the topic with our father more recently when she emerged from her room and immediately proceeded to start spending every single spare second with Jacob Black.

Acting as if nothing were wrong, at that.

It honestly had me perplexed because for nearly four months, she acted as if her entire world had ended. Then magically, Jacob's father had all of us over for New Years with his family and Harry's family and she and Jacob are practically joined at the hip? It made no sense to me. None.

- You're no better, Veronica. You spend all your time thinking about a guy who might as well be a ghost as often as you see him. And it's to a point where you're searching for him in crowds and in the faces of strangers?

That thought was a bit of a sobering one. Nothing will bitch-slap you right back into reality faster than your own internal workings, I suppose.

Bella looked happy that I'd agreed to come. She noticed Embry's jacket draped over the headrail on my bed and she reached up, pulling it down. Gazing at me expectantly. All I could do was shrug. And recount the night I'd met Embry while we were all worried sick about her and how he'd given it me and each of the rare times I've seen him since, he's absolutely refused to take back the jacket.

Bella gave me a smile, placing it back where she'd gotten it from. "Maybe he likes you. I'd be careful though, Embry's been hanging out a lot with Sam Uley."

"I know. Literally everyone has warned me." I answered, glancing down at my notes. Reading back over them. Giving an amused little smirk as I happened to read some of the Quileute's history as a tribe. "The legends Billy used to tell when we were all kids actually made it into the history books."

Bella smiled, nodding. "Yeah, I liked that class when I took it last year."

I found myself grabbing a pen and scribbling down the name of a book cited as a source for the chapter in the footnotes. Wondering if this particular book would delve deeper into the legends I'd heard a time or two as a kid. Because secretly, I'd always kind of enjoyed hearing them.

"You're going to spend all of your lunch in the library at school on Monday, aren't you?"

"Bet your ass I am." I smiled.

"I did too." Bella went quiet after she said it.

"Find out anything interesting?"

"Oh.. I found out a lot."

Somehow, I got the feeling that her quest for knowledge and mine were definitely not the same. I didn't ask for more information. Something told me I was clearly better off to remain in the dark. And this was perfectly fine with me. I'd happily go around not knowing whatever it was Bella found out.

- Unless it pertains to a certain legend about the shapeshifters of old.

It was almost as if my mind was taunting me. Lately, since we'd started to learn about local history and urban legends and events that occurred in our area, I'd found myself thinking about those old legends a lot.

And thinking about my surprise up close encounter with a wolf on Halloween night in the forest.

I shook my head and Bella quirked a brow.

"What's up? I can tell you have something on your mind."

"It's dumb, okay? It's really, really dumb. In fact, I can't even believe I've entertained it as long as I have." I shut the notebook immediately in front of me and turned, reaching for my bookbag. Stashing the notebook inside because I was done with it.

Bella cleared her throat. Waiting on me to elaborate.

And despite knowing that most likely, she'd tell me I was imagining things or I always have had a vivid imagination and I've always been the dreamer of the two of us, I found myself telling her everything about the night I saw the wolf.

To my surprise, she didn't immediately point out half a million flaws with anything I said. She just shrugged. Mildly suggested what Leah and Jasmine have both suggested more than once since that night, that I was just still in shock from seeing and touching a wolf up close and personal and maybe I imagined the eyes of the wolf being as realistic as they were.

- And that's all well and good, but I know what I saw. And you see that same wolf at least two nights a week from your bedroom window. Like it's watching over you. Argue that.

I shoved the thought out of my head. Agreed with her for argument's sake. And told myself firmly that I have to stop overthinking it. Most likely, it was a fluke event. The wolf was just curious for whatever reason and so it approached. My mind filled in the blanks with the rest. Hell, if it'll make me finally put this nagging thought out of my head, I'll even start telling myself that Leah, Jasmine and Bella are absolutely right.

It was all in my head. It had to be.

"There's pizza left, right?" I asked hopefully. Jacob was like a human garbage disposal and he'd been visiting earlier, around the time that my dad ordered pizza. I would've gone down to grab a bite but when I'm studying and I'm focused, I tend to lose total track of time.

But now I was beyond starving. Famished, actually.

"I took three slices and hid them from you. Why didn't you come down when Charlie yelled up the stairs for you?" Bella questioned, glancing at me in concern.

"Bella, you know me. When I'm focused on a task, I can't stop until said task is complete."

"Yeah. I know. Not even for food though?"

I gave her a look and shook my head no. Springing off my bedroom floor and grabbing hold of her hand to pull her up too. We hurried down the stairs and I grabbed my pizza and hopped up onto the counter, munching on a slice as Bella told me what she and Jacob have been up to lately.

I was only half listening but when she mentioned motorcycles, I nearly choked on a pepperoni.

"You? Riding a motorcycle?"

"Don't sound so shocked." Bella shrugged mildly.

"But I am though. Motorcycles are a me thing. I'm the risk taker." I mused. Smiling at her a little. Wondering whether Jacob roped her into this or if it maybe weren't vice-versa. Which then led to me overanalyzing the fact that Jessica had definitely been in a huge hurry to tell me what Bella tried to pull outside the movie theater when she finally got Bella to agree to go and see a movie with her.

The way she kept trying to go towards that gang of bikers who'd been saying all those lewd things as if she were in a trance. Only pulling out when Jessica literally had to drag her away. Normally, I wouldn't pay a lick of attention to anything Jessica had to say about my sister, but given recent events of a few months back, I found myself wondering… Was Bella really as alright as she was pretending to be lately?

Was she the driving force behind the motorcycles with Jacob?

I mean, I know he's always enjoyed them, but as far as I know, he'd never planned to buy one.

"Maybe I'm trying new things." Bella managed to stammer it out and I gazed at her suspiciously.

"Is that what you wanted to show me tomorrow?"

"Maybe?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm definitely going. Just to make sure you're safe about it."

"Okay, now you sound like me."

"Yeah, no, that just felt entirely too weird." I laughed and fell silent. Finishing off my pizza and sitting my plate to the side.

I caught myself glancing out the window, watching for any sign of movement in the trees. Wondering if the wolf were out there watching. Waiting.

Bella wandered over. "What's out there?" she asked from behind me. I turned away from the window abruptly, shrugging. "Just looking out."

"Uh-huh." Bella waited for elaboration on my end, but all I did was shrug. Maybe for now, the wolf I keep seeing is better off going unmentioned.

Embry raced through the forest as if he were on auto pilot. He came to a stop behind the Swan house and as soon as he sat on his haunches, he gazed up at the upstairs window. Wondered what she was doing.

Almost as if Sam sensed that he was blowing off the beginning of his round at patrol, Sam reached out telepathically. Gently but firmly reminding Embry that he did have to make an actual attempt at securing the perimeter of the forest he'd been allotted. Embry grumbled to himself and after giving one lone howl, he took off towards the area he'd been given to look after for the night.

If something didn't give soon, he was going to lose his fucking mind. The bond was making it difficult for him going such a long period of time without contact with her. He wouldn't be dramatic and say it was killing him, but it was making him pretty damn miserable.

Almost as soon as he finished patrol and the sun was rising in the sky, he made his way back home quietly. The fight with his mother about sneaking out yet again starting up for another morning.

And he found himself wishing that he didn't have to keep the secret. From his mother or his imprint. Reminding himself that Sam had given him the choice to keep the secret or let his mother in on it so she'd ease off, but he'd been the one to choose keeping it to himself because it was too important to be told.

And he didn't want his mom to worry about him any more than she already was at present.

"Sam said I could see her soon. I just have to try to make it." Embry reminded himself before drifting off to sleep for an hour or two.