I felt warmth like his next to my side. The scent was slightly off, though. It had a slight spice that would have complemented Sam's sweet. Almost like they had been two generations of the same cologne.

"We need to find out who she imprinted with before we cut any imprint" The male demanded.

"Why? You haven't been been there in years! It doesn't fucking matter who my baby girl imprinted on. It only matters that they are not here now, and she is in pain" Renee sounded more motherly then I had heard in years.

"My son is there" the male's voice burned.

Chapter 37: Fate and Time Limits

As Always Happy Reading

POV: Embry

I got to hold Flic's hand as the plane landed. I could tell she was trying to be brave, yet, something told me she would want the contact. Almost as much as I wanted it.

The tingles that traveled up my arm to my heart at our contact had my head spinning. If this simple touch could make me this happy, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if I looked into her eyes. Would my entire world change?

Shaking my head, I knew we needed to focus on finding Bella.

The airport was a fast experience, luckily for us. Flic needed to take three steps for our one. She never faltered, though, if Seth or I slowed down she kept going.

I caught Seth's eyes as she powered past us. He had a half smile brush his lips - I could see he had feelings developing for Flic, too.

Waiting for the jealousy to kick up, I took a deep breath. I tried to prepare myself to push the feeling back down, and remind myself that Seth was my best friend.

Yet, the jealousy never came. Instead, I felt like I wanted to support him in his pursuit of Flic. An even deeper desire shook my soul - I hoped that Seth would support my pursuit of Flic simultaneously.

Usually Seth and I didn't need to have verbal conversations to know how each other felt. This, on the other hand, was new to me. I had never felt a pull to a girl like I did to Flic. If Seth felt the same way, I would need to have a conversation, so no one got hurt.

Before an imprint occurred, some of the pack brothers talked about feeling a pull to the girl. It wasn't something unheard of to know you would imprint before the imprint occurred. The difference for me, well I guess potentially us, was that we had been banned from imprinting on her.

The air in Phoenix was dryer then I expected. Stupid. I should have been expecting this, it was a desert. I coughed as the dusty air infiltrated my lungs. Flic flashed me a knowing smile, I could see it from the corner of my eye. Yet, no matter how much I tried, I was unable to force myself to look into her eyes.

Flic reached her arm out into the street, hailing a cab. One yellow cab was not paying attention. I reached for her the same time Seth did, pulling her away from the curb just in time for the cab to bump up on the sidewalk. It readjusted itself like nothing happened, not stopping. If we hadn't been here, Flic would have been pinned under the cab. She would have been hurt.

I met Seth's eyes above Flic's head. He shared the same concern, I could see the panic in his normally relaxed face. Imprint or not, it was clear that we would not be leaving this girl alone. We didn't need the confirmation of the imprint to know she was ours.

"Well, maybe we should take an Uber." Flic sighed.

She relaxed into both Seth and I as she pulled out her phone, ordering a car. I had a rumbling in my chest that I hadn't experienced before, it was like a happy vibration. Seth's mirrored my noise. I tried to think if I had ever heard any of my pack brothers making this sound, and came up blank. I knew it was uniquely ours, just like Flic was ours.

The Uber came faster then I had wanted. Even though we were standing in public, just outside of an airport, having her between Seth and I made it into our own world. When the Uber pulled up Flic had to be the one to break the fragile shell we had created for her. She climbed into the backseat of the car. Seth and I pilled in on either side of her.

Flic opened up her texts. I was surprised to see what looked to be a file from the police station. It was all in Charlie's writing. The subject was Bella. It had details like her Phoenix school's address, a list of potential friends that Bella had made, as well as her mother's house address.

Flic filled in the house address, updating the Ubers drop off location. Pocketing her phone after that, I wondered for a moment how she had gotten a photo of a file that Charlie made. Maybe Beck asked for it, though the text had come from the heading 'Mom'. I wanted to ask her, but, the environment around us changed at a staggering pace, distracting me.

We went from upscale houses to ones that looked like a good wind would topple them. I watched as the people dotting the streets went from a choice to be outside, to people that had no inside to go to. The streetlights illuminated the only pieces of the sidewalk that humans could see. I could see more in the darkness with my enhanced vision.

It is not like we didn't have poverty on the reservation. I was one of the people who had been experiencing it since I was a child. Being a single income household, with an unstable mother, had me at the highest risk of an unstable income.

At times I wouldn't know when my next meal would be. I could see the difference between my experience and those on the streets here, was that I knew I would have another meal. Seeing some of the faces, it solidified how important the role that my community played for me to become who I am. If these people had community members looking out for them, maybe just maybe their experiences would be more positive.

Flic reached over, tentatively grasping my hand. I squeezed hers, the contact allowed me to take a deep breath. As I focused on the task at hand, I was slightly worried what we would be walking in on.

Bella had expressed to me that we had similar upbringings. We could be walking in on anything. If Renee was like my mom, she could be in a state when we got there. Uncertainty knotted in my stomach. A part of me wanted to beg Flic to not come inside. Looking around the neighbourhood made me realize that if this is indicative of where Bella's house was, I also didn't want Flic standing outside alone, in the middle of the night.

"Can you make me a deal?" I spoke low enough so that the Uber driver shouldn't have heard me.

Flic turned to look at me. Her back cuddling more into Seth. I watched as happiness erupted in Seths eyes at the increased contact. Still waiting for jealousy to take hold, and the opposite occurred, I was happy at their connection. This should be weird, but it wasn't.

"It depends on the conditions of the deal" I heard a playfulness to her voice.

The desire to look into her eyes was like a burning in my soul. I wanted to be able to read what secrets she held in her eyes, imagining a twinkle of playfulness that could be there now.

"Can you please stay close to Seth and I. I don't want anything to happen to you. I think you will be safest with one of us" I let the vulnerability of the truth about the deepening of my care lace my voice.

"I think I am safest with both of you" She whispered back.

"We will protect you. Always" Seth vowed.

I met his gaze, in it I saw the truth in his vow. He narrowed his eyes slightly as if asking me if I agreed with him. I nodded. He visibly relaxed, as if the thought of us not sharing our imprint offended him.

The Uber stopped in front of a house that was in desperate need of maintenance. I could hear multiple voices I had never heard inside, none of them seemed to be Bella. Until she let out a soul shattering scream.

POV: Beck

"I thought I said seal the room!" I couldn't help the frustrated yell escaping my lips.

It had been a crazed few hours. I wasn't the chosen one to be the next Chief, Jacob was. It was a long few hours of fixing his mistakes.

"We just got more things" Jacob barked back.

"Sure sure, now we only have the next 24 hours of her scent. That is Fucking Max 24 hours, Jake!" I walked away from him.

Rachel was trying to act as sibling defence. She stopped Jake from following me to the kitchen. Much to Paul's frustration. It's not like Jake would hurt either of us, giant wolf or not.

I kicked one of the newly obtained Bella scent bags. Its like Jake didn't fucking listen! Was he even being trained in this shit!

Grabbing a bag of chips from the cupboard, I paused only to ensure that Sam was still in his room. Collin was acting as a sentry, standing at the top of the stairs. With his wolf hearing he would be able to hear if Sam was starting for the door. I had a timer on my watch going for the next dump of her scent. It still had fifteen minutes until then.

I walked out onto the porch. It had started to rain, but at this point I didn't care. I needed the space from Jake.

Opening the chips, I popped some in my mouth, there was no one here I was trying to impress. Why was I here? Obviously Jake was going to make his own fucking choices, even if it was to the detriment of Sam, and therefore the pack.

"I talked to the council" Dad spoke behind me.

I hadn't heard him wheel up.

I let the toe of my shoe dig itself in the mud, using the action as a distraction, keeping me from running. It would be easy enough to get away from Dad, there was an entire forest that he couldn't follow me into.

"Why don't you tell your darling boy. Its not like he is listening to my input anyway" I could hear the bitterness in my own voice.

I had left my loving boyfriend and ideal life to come here to clean up a mess. A mess that I didn't cause, the council had. If they didn't exile members of the last pack, Bella would have been raised here. Not like they would be taking any responsibility for that. Hell, they gave Sam a leadership role to keep him here, just on the off chance his father offered him a position in the exiled pack.

Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that Jake was probably not informed of the exiled pack. It was after that news that I realized how much my life wouldn't have been mine if I stayed here. The council played with our lives like a blind person pointing out shooting stars, lots of accusations with very few, if any, correct.

"I will tell Jake too. Just thought you would like to know that we are going to break Sam and Bella's imprint."

Dad sounded so relaxed about it. Like he wasn't breaking the most sacred of gifts from the spirits. Imprints were meant to be the one thing the council left alone. I guess not, when they assumed we didn't actually deserve the most basic of truths.

"That is not protocol" My voice shook with shock.

"He needs to get back to his duties. We will replace his imprint with someone, someone local"

"When?" My heart slowed fear burrowing deep within me.

"Tomorrow morning at sunrise"

"That's in" I looked at my watch counting the time "6 hours" I let the horror soak into my voice.

Authors Note: Hi Friends! The countdown is on! You know what you need to do, go blow up the reviews! What assumptions do you have about this story, I would love to hear them!