Paul couldn't help staring at Amelia. She was, shit, she was awesome. He still had no idea how he felt about the whole imprinting thing. It was something he'd always scoffed at and declared he would hate. But now it was like he couldn't hate the process.

He'd seen how Sam and Jared looked at their imprints. They both constantly thought about the girls, but Paul's own view of Amelia seemed so different. The other shifters wanted to protect and cherish their imprints – the girls were viewed as fragile.

Paul felt like what seemed to be the opposite. While he knew getting his ass kicked would have usually made him pissed beyond belief, he wouldn't have hit a girl, but he would still be annoyed. But since it was Amelia –

He was kind of in awe. Paul knew he had a temper and was pretty much the most aggressive wolf in the pack. He loved being a werewolf. It only made sense his imprint would be a badass. It was stupid, but he felt his instincts around her shift. He was proud of his imprint and it was the imprinting talking, but he knew she was the best. Holy crap, imagining how tough she was kind of turned him on.

While Amelia sat down and was exchanging small talk and introductions with Emily, Embry was glaring at him.

Yeah, Paul wasn't being subtle. And Embry had definitely figured out what had just happened. But when the younger guy had looked at him with anger, Paul had just smirked back and shrugged. He wasn't going to let the newest werewolf intimidate him.

"Your house is really pretty. You know Sam?"

Paul watched as Emily laughed and raised her left hand, showing off her engagement ring.

"He's my fiancé."

Paul couldn't help but also feel a pang of genuine admiration – something he knew he would have felt anyway for any stranger – because she hadn't looked at Emily's scars. Not even in the subtle way some people did, when their eyes flickered to one side of her face throughout conversations. And Paul could tell that Emily appreciated it too, since she was a little less wary than usual around the girl.

Amelia slumped in her chair, drumming her fingers on the table before letting out a sigh and conceding, "Alright, you seem cool. I'm right in assuming you aren't the soon-to-be wife of a gang leader and these guys really aren't doing anything illegal?"

Emily snorted and joined them at the table – Paul and Embry had sat down in two of the unoccupied seats – bringing a plate of muffins with her.

"No. Sam couldn't be in a gang if he tried. Their activities are approved by the Elders."

Amelia let out a breath and grabbed a muffin, tearing a piece off of it before saying, "Well, shit. Tiffany doesn't know that. So I didn't have to drive four hours from Seattle to get here and protect this little guy?"

After speaking she leaned over and ruffled Embry's hair, who immediately looked annoyed and embarrassed. Smacking her hand away, Paul watched with delight as the younger man blushed and frowned.

"Shut up. I'm like eight inches taller than you."

Amelia laughed and seemed like she was going to respond, but Paul cut in, wanting the attention of his imprint.

"How do you two know each other?" And more importantly, how had he never even heard of her if Embry was obviously so close to her?

Amelia looked at him and seemed pretty friendly considering she'd almost knocked the wind out of him ten minutes ago, and Paul felt incredibly sappy and lame when he couldn't help but notice how pretty her eyes were. He'd always liked the brown eyes of the Native girls in the tribe, but while he wasn't used to the hazel it looked good on her –

"I've known the Calls my whole life. Em is like the brother I never had."

Embry snorted and grabbed a muffin himself, taking a huge bite before talking with his mouth full.

"Ames has three brothers who're cooler than her. She just likes pretending she's not the baby of the family."

Amelia shrugged and glibly responded, "Very accurate. Always wanted to be a big sister."

Emily clearly wanted to continue the conversation, seeing as she'd been giving Paul knowing and happy looks ever since she'd invited them in. Shit, everyone was going to know in the next hour.

"So Amelia, you live in Seattle? Where do you go to school?"

"You can call me Ames, everyone except my parents do. And I'm turning twenty-two in a few months. I graduated college this past year –"

Paul's vision kind of whited out. Fuck. Fuck. Amelia was older than him. Like, a lot older than him. He knew he looked like he could be in his twenties, but he had only turned eighteen two weeks ago, which would probably freak her out.

"– started my apprenticeship at a tattoo parlor six months ago. How about you guys?"

Emily explained her whole situation, but Paul panicked. So of course, he didn't think before speaking.

"Yeah, I'm taking classes."

"Oh, what's your major?"

And once again, Paul fucked himself over and said something he knew would later bite him in the ass.

"I haven't declared yet. Maybe something to do with law enforcement?"

Amelia nodded at him, clearly thinking he was in college, and looked down at her muffin before picking off more chunks and eating with a satisfied look on her face. Embry's look, however, was much less satisfied. It kind of looked like it was trying to convey something along the lines of what the fuck, Paul?

Paul shot back a look of helplessness, which only had Embry snorting and letting out a resigned sigh. It seemed like he wouldn't rat Paul out, so Paul relaxed a bit.

Amelia turned to Embry and asked, "Is it cool if I crash at your place this weekend? I don't have work until Tuesday."

Embry smiled at her and immediately responded, "Yeah, you know my mom would adopt you if she could. And you have a ton of stuff here."

As if overcome with benevolence, Embry continued and somehow kept his nonchalance when he said, "I'm kind of busy tomorrow though, Paul could probably show you around."

It didn't actually seem that out of character when Paul thought about it. Embry had always liked the idea of imprinting, but it was still really appreciated that he was helping out. Amelia looked at Paul and raised her eyebrows before wryly responding, "You sure you want to be around the chick who laid you out flat? Could you handle wearing a shirt in public for hours on end?"

Paul smirked back at her before he said, "Yeah, I think I could handle it. And you only caught the jump on me because I was surprised. Bet you couldn't do it again."

Amelia's expression immediately became delighted and Embry let out a groan.

"Oh, I'd take that bet."

Embry leaned over and flicked her arm, saying in a jokingly chastising tone, "Don't try out your kickboxing on Paul. He has a temper, and I really am concerned about your arrest record."

Amelia seemed to get genuinely pissed at that and glanced at Emily, who had stood up and was putting ingredients away in the pantry. After judging that the woman couldn't hear, Paul stood up and walked away slowly to make it seem like he couldn't either when she leaned closer to the younger guy and hissed, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't bring that shit up in front of nice women and hot guys, fuckwit."

Paul struggled not to look too smug, which would give away that he'd heard her comment. Wanting the conversation between the other two continue, he walked over to Emily to help her with the clean-up process. Emily of course caught on to what he was doing immediately and rolled her eyes but didn't comment. The conversation turned out to be one he definitely wanted to hear.

"Paul's a dick, if anything he'll probably be jealous of your rep –"

"Oh my god, I don't have a rep, that was in Connecticut and I was seventeen."

"'Sides, he can handle it."

Amelia let out a huffing sound before she spoke again, "Fine. You'd be all pouty if you actually didn't like him, so whatever. But we can hang out Sunday, right? I really did miss you, I haven't come by in too long."

"Of course. Not gonna abandon my sister from another mister."

"Same, brother from another mother."