Chapter Forty-Seven
Kim was pretty much done with Bella Swan.
Ignoring the obvious argument that Kim and Bella had yet to actually meet (and side note: boy was Kim laughing at herself for being disappointed just a short month ago about being too busy watching Kylie and going to school to meet the other girl while she'd spent her Spring Break being protected by the wolves in La Push), Kim had never before encountered someone with so much disregard for anyone else's safety and well-being. And that wasn't even taking into account how incomprehensible it was that Jake was so transfixed on someone who very clearly didn't return his feelings—the past sixty hours or so were a compelling enough argument on their own, in Kim's opinion.
When Jared and Paul rushed out of her house on Thursday afternoon, Kim was understandably worried. By this point, she knew Sam sounding the alarm could really only mean one thing: vampire. And the worry on the two wolves' faces only confirmed it.
So imagine her surprise when, late that night, Jared snuck into her room to deliver the news that it hadn't been a vampire at all. Rather, the pack had unexpectedly gained a new member.
Quil Ateara finally came into his birthright.
But while Jared had been more or less pleased to welcome a new pack brother, Kim silently worried. In fact, once Jared left (all too soon after he arrived, in Kim's disgruntled opinion, but that was a complaint for a later time), Kim had a fitful night's sleep—too busy worrying over this latest development. She likewise spent the entire day Friday and Saturday dwelling on this train of thought (again, not the time to complain about her boyfriend being too busy protecting the tribe to have any free time to spend with her and appease her concerns). Because the fact of the matter was, Kim had a troublesome theory that was yet to be disproven.
The common belief among those in the know was that extreme anger caused the final transition that triggered the initial phase. But it was an imminent threat to the tribe that caused the need to phase at all. And Kim had noticed a pattern.
Every time one of the boys first phased, there were vampires near La Push.
Sam phased not long after the Cullens first returned to Forks after being away for several decades.
Jared and Paul phased when the redhead leech and the mate she was now trying to avenge first came to La Push.
Embry and Jake both phased when the redhead began making her frequent attempts on Bella. Kim figured their first phases were so far apart from each other (unlike Jared and Paul's) because the leech's visits to La Push were also so spread out and—for all that she was a bloodthirsty vampire—as far as the pack knew, she somewhat surprisingly hadn't left behind many victims on the Olympic Peninsula.
The next to phase—and last, until Quil a few days ago—were Leah and Seth. Again, they phased during one of the redhead's many attempts to get to Bella Fucking Swan. Kim's secondary theory on this one, though, was that the Spirits were getting desperate—it shouldn't take this many protectors to take down one leech. Which was where Leah came in. Because maybe the Spirits recognized the need for something new when all of the guys' past attempts had failed. (Also, even for as scary as Leah was: girl power!)
And then there was Quil. Poor Quil who agonized for months over his friends abandoning him only to finally, finally be brought into the secret conveniently just after the Cullens again returned to Forks.
(It didn't escape Kim's notice that the Pack now outnumbered the resident vampire clan. But this was also something to think on more at a later time.)
And all of it—with the exception of Sam—all of it was Bella Swan's fault. What all of these vampires (and Jake—because how could she ever forget Jake's obsession?) saw in her, Kim had absolutely no idea.
However, ignoring for a moment the hostility over Bella Swan that had been creeping up on Kim for a while now, with Quil now a member of the Pack, Kim had a higher priority than constantly being annoyed by the other girl's selfishness.
And there was only one person who could help her with it…
"Kim!" Emily greeted her cheerfully upon opening the door. "And Kylie!" Then, in a split second, her expression changed and her eyes widened in alarm. "Oh no! We had plans today, didn't we?"
"Kim says I have to play nice with the little kids," Kylie informed her, "Except I always play nice."
"I completely forgot you were coming over to play with my nieces today," Emily admitted. "I'm so sorry."
"Is this a bad time?" Kim asked. "We can go back home if you've made other plans, it's okay."
"Oh no, you're more than welcome to stay; I'm bored out of my mind," Emily protested. And as she spoke, she latched onto Kim's arm and practically dragged her into the house. Kylie followed dutifully behind her sister. "It's just that I forgot we had plans and so I didn't warn you that I cancelled Tiffany and Claire's visit on account of—" She hesitated momentarily, her eyes flicking to Kylie before settling back on Kim, then continuing, "On account of Sam being so busy training his new, incredibly last-minute employee this weekend."
Translation: Emily might trust the Pack, but she wasn't running the risk of having her young nieces under foot when a brand new wolf had just joined their ranks.
"I'm sorry, Kylie, I don't actually have any kids here for you to play with," Emily apologized.
Kylie looked thoughtfully at Emily. Then, "Can I watch Sam's TV instead? Sam has the best TV to watch Hannah Montana on and that is my new favorite show."
"That sounds like an excellent idea," Emily said. And before the sentence was completely out of her mouth, Kylie was scampering off in the direction of the living room.
"If I didn't want to talk to you about Sam's 'new employee' uninterrupted, I would probably take some time to be concerned with how much time that kid spends in front of the TV," Kim admitted as she watched Kylie run off.
"Any distraction is a good distraction at this point," Emily agreed. Then she gestured for Kim to follow her. "We'll be safe from curious ears in the kitchen."
Once they were both settled at the kitchen table with a mug of hot cocoa apiece (Emily having already apologized profusely that her latest batch of muffins was still in the oven), Emily immediately launched into everything she knew about Quil's recent lifestyle change. Fortunately, it turned out to be a bit more information than Jared had to share the other night, and she was more than forthcoming with it.
This included tidbits such as the situation under which he finally phased ("His grandpa was pestering him to take out the trash. Personally, knowing Old Quil, I bet he was being a crotchety old man on purpose, to finally force the phase"), and who witnessed the phase ("Apparently Sam has never heard Old Quil sound so gleeful in his entire life as when he called to say Quil phased in front of him and Joy"), and also how the rest of the pack—in particular Jake and Embry—were adjusting to the new addition ("They're glad they don't have to lie to him anymore and Quil is just relieved to finally understand what's going on").
Sitting there listening to Emily chatter away, it reminded Kim how truly starved for company Emily—technically an outsider to the Quilleutes and La Push who had, for all intents and purposes, stolen the fiancée of one of their own daughters—could be when the Pack wasn't around. Kim silently resolved to visit Emily more often.
For now, though, it was Emily's last point that Kim was most interested in.
"How is the rest of the pack handling it?" Kim wondered. "This is…what? The fifth new wolf in as many months?"
"I think for the most part they're all okay with it," Emily said contemplatively. "I know Sam…well, honestly, Sam is starting to get a bit worried. No pack has been this big since Taha Aki's time, and that concerns him."
This was, of course, the perfect opening for Kim to bring up her theory about why the wolves phased when they did. But right now she had a higher priority.
"What about…" Kim began slowly, "Well, what about Embry, specifically? I mean, now that…well, now that all three of his potential brothers are in the pack…"
Emily frowned thoughtfully, slowly rotating her mug in her hands. "I don't think it's affected them much—so far, at least. Then again, as far as I know, I don't think it's actually come up yet—the highlight of phasing for Quil, so far, has been reuniting with Jake and Embry, and there hasn't really been enough time yet to dwell on other things. Besides…" And here, she finally hesitated. "I think…well, honestly, I think Sam and Embry are the ones who are brothers. We've never actually discussed it for obvious reasons—Sam's dad is a subject I'm not sure I'll ever bring up again after…after last time."
Seemingly of it's own accord, Emily's hand drifted up to trace one of the scars marring her cheek. Almost immediately, though, she seemed to realize what she was doing and dropped her hand in a flash.
"That doesn't mean I haven't made my own observations, though," She continued briskly. "The boys all share similarities in looks, but Sam and Embry more than most, in my opinion. And that's just the tip of the iceberg."
Just then, the oven timer went off, interrupting the flow of their conversation and whatever other observations Emily may have had about Sam and Embry's similarities. Unsurprisingly, the topic very swiftly changed to how Emily's nieces were doing and how she hoped they'd be able to come visit in the next few weeks. To be honest, Kim would have liked to hear more of Emily's thoughts on the whole Embry situation, but a larger part of her was more than willing to put her fact-finding mission on hold for now—she felt completely horrible for briefly forgetting what memories might be dredged up by discussing Sam's dad with Emily.
She didn't have much time to feel guilty, however, because—almost as if summoned by the scent of freshly-baked muffins—the sound of human pack members approaching quickly reached Kim and Emily through the open kitchen window.
"Finally," Emily murmured with a glance at the clock. "They've been gone most of the morning."
"Most of the morning?" Kim questioned. "I haven't seen Jared since Friday."
Emily narrowed her eyes. "Friday? It's Sunday! I'm going to need to have another chat with Sam about overworking those boys."
Nothing more could be said on the matter, though, because at that moment the kitchen door leading into the yard opened and the wolves descended.
"I smell heaven!" Seth, the first one through the door, proclaimed as he sniffed the air. Kim noted his sister slinking in after him and taking her customary seat in the furthest corner of the kitchen from her cousin. "Emily, you are a life-saver."
"Suck up," Embry stated, smacking the back of the younger boy's head as he made a beeline for the plate of muffins Emily had just placed on the table. "Thanks, Em."
Kim had just caught sight of the newest pack member still outside with Jake, when she was distracted by two very warm and very familiar arms wrapping around her shoulders from behind.
"What are you doing here?" Jared's deep voice spoke softly in her ear before he pressed a light kiss to her jaw.
Kim barely suppressed a shiver at the combined sensations but she could feel the tell-tale blush rising in her cheeks at the display of affection in front of the Pack—not that any of them were even paying attention when there was food to distract them.
"Just hanging out with Emily," Kim shifted slightly in her seat so that she could look at Jared. "We had plans for Kylie to play with her nieces, remember? But Emily forgot to tell me she cancelled their visit—Kylie's in the other room watching TV."
She addressed the last bit to Paul, standing not far off from Jared's side. His face immediately lit up and he quickly stuffed the remainder of the muffin he was holding in his mouth and snatched up two more before making his way out of the kitchen.
"It's still the weekend?!" Jared asked brightly. "I thought it was at least Tuesday with how long Sam made us run, and I always lose track of time when it's not a regular patrol, anyway."
Out of the corner of her eye, Kim saw Emily visibly react to Jared's words and didn't bother stifling her grin when the older girl rounded on her newly-arrived imprint—clearly about to berate him.
"Definitely still the weekend," Kim confirmed, refocusing on Jared. "But also definitely still too long since I last saw you."
"Well forget food," Jared said carelessly, dropping his arms from around Kim only to reach out a hand for her to grasp. "Let's ditch this place and go spend some time together."
"Ugh! Stop being gross, Jared, my innocent ears can't take this," Seth complained.
"If your ears are still innocent after this long, you clearly haven't spent enough time patrolling with Paul, yet," Embry informed him. "We can fix that."
Kim ignored their good-natured banter, choosing instead to accept Jared's offered hand and allowing him to pull her from her seat and lead her out of the house.
Some alone time with her boyfriend sounded very good to her right now, too.