CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When I opened my eyes in the morning it seemed as if I hadn't moved all night. Embry had turned to face the other way and I was moulded to his back, one arm under his neck and the other around his waist, my knees tucked into the back of his and my dick pressing up against his butt. I didn't want to move, but I knew if I stayed that way now I was awake I would just frustrate myself by imagining pulling his shorts down and making love to him again.

"Damnit," I muttered.

It was already too late. My erection twitched and I rubbed myself against him for a moment as he opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder at me.

"Up already?" he smirked, grasping my hand where it rested on his stomach and pushing it lower to his own hard-on.

"Oh, God, don't, Em," I groaned.

"I can be quiet," he whispered.

"Well, I'm not so sure that I can." However, my determination to behave went out of my head and I pulled my hand free of his and slid it inside his shorts. As my hand wrapped around him he whimpered rather too loudly.

"Sshh, I thought you said you could be quiet," I whispered in his ear, remembering suddenly the last time we had been lying on my bed. He had practically humped my leg until he came in his pants and his gasps and groans had thrown me into a panic.

"Sorry." He turned his head and pressed his face into the pillow.

Much to my relief he did stay quiet while I continued jacking him off, but he trembled and panted and the heat coming off of his body dampened the t-shirt he had borrowed from me. I didn't have to do any more than rub myself against his butt to get myself off and in minutes we were both hot, sticky and breathless, laughing quietly.

"If you end up staying here another night, I'm going to run out of clothes," I whispered.

"Not if we take them off." Embry giggled and sat up, peeling off my t-shirt and using it to wipe himself. "I need another shower," he added.

"Hurry up then, Dad will be up soon," I said, glancing at the clock.

Embry slipped out of the room and I dug out some more clothes. He was back within minutes, wearing another of my t-shirts and some cargo pants style shorts. I went for a shower then and as I was coming out of the bathroom, Dad emerged from his room.

"Morning, son. Have you finished in there?"

"Yeah. Do you want some breakfast?"

"No, I'll see to myself later. Just get what you and Embry want."

"Ok. We're going over to Sam's soon," I said.

"Tell Embry I'll talk to his mother again today and see what we can sort out," he told me. "If he's going to end up staying here for any length of time, we're going to have to do something about the sleeping arrangements."

My face flamed. Had he heard us after all?

"I suggested he sleep on the couch," I reminded Dad.

"I meant you're going to need a new bed - how two people of your size can fit in that bunk is beyond me."

He rolled off into the bathroom leaving me staring after him in astonishment. Much as I didn't want Embry to suffer his Mom's rejection, part of me hoped she wouldn't want him back home, because then he could be with me almost every minute.

I went into the kitchen to find breakfast and Embry joined me a minute later.

"Do you want something to eat?" I offered.

"Yes, please, I'm starving."

"Me too." I seemed to have been starving ever since I phased; at least after Embry and I sorted things out I had.

I pulled a bag of ready split bagels out of the freezer and began toasting a stack of them while Embry sliced cheese to fill them with. We ate three each washed down by juice and then set off for Sam's. It was to be our first time phasing together and considering I hadn't wanted to be involved in any of this, suddenly I was excited.

We were the first to arrive at Sam's and he let us in himself. He was wearing only shorts and Emily was busy making him some breakfast.

"You two want any food?" he offered as we all headed for the kitchen.

"No, we just had some, but thanks," Embry said.

"Did I hear someone say 'food'?" Paul burst in through the door.

"How did you hear that from outside?" I asked.

"Wolf ears," grinned Paul. "I'll bring my car around after school tomorrow if that's ok with you."

"Sure, any time." I made a mental note not to be playing with Embry in the shed tomorrow night and he grinned at me suddenly as if he were thinking the same thing.

"Eggs, Paul?" Emily called from the kitchen suddenly.

"Yes, please, and whatever else you got!"

"I'm going to make you pay rent one of these days, you're eating me out of house and home," Sam grumbled good-naturedly. "Where's Jared?"

"On his way. He's got a girl; it was a matter of life and death that he talk to her before coming over," Paul said.

Sam grinned. "You're talking about Kim, right?"

"Yeah, what's he said?"

"He Imprinted. So he'll be pretty keen to at least talk to her after what, ten hours since their date ended last night?" said Sam. "You two feeling it yet?" He glanced at Embry and me and winked.

"No, I stayed..." Embry began and then stopped abruptly, blushing furiously to his hairline. Even his ears turned red.

"His Mom kicked him out," I explained as Paul laughed raucously.

"Yeah and what's your excuse going to be tomorrow?" he asked.

"Probably the same, unless my Dad can talk some sense into her," I put in. I leaned closer to Embry to whisper. "I kind of hope he fails miserably."

"Me too. I like waking up with you."

"Please!" exclaimed Paul from the other side of the room. "Wolf ears?"

Jared arrived a few minutes later, a wistful look on his face.

"I wish I could tell Kim about us," he sighed. "Emily knows. It's not fair. You two are lucky," he added, eyeing Embry and me.

Paul snorted. "Yeah, Jake's Dad let Embry move in."

"What?" Jared's eyebrows rose.

"It's not like that," Embry protested. "My Mom kicked me out."

"Yeah, but you still spent the night..."

"Knock it off, Paul," Sam interrupted.

He continued by telling us, looking mainly at me, that we would all go to the edge of the woods and phase together, then carry out a dummy patrol of the border for practise so that I would get used to running with the pack before we needed to do it for real. We walked across the meadow and once we reached the trees, Sam, Jared and Paul all turned away, stripped off their shorts and phased rapidly. I had already seen Sam phased of course - jet black, huge and imposing. Jared was brown and Paul dark grey. The three of them wandered off slowly into the trees, leaving Embry and me to catch up.

I did my best not to look at Embry as we kicked our shoes off and dropped our pants. The last thing I wanted to be thinking about was sex when the others could read our thoughts. 'Just visualise yourself as a wolf,' Sam had told me and I wondered if it was really that easy. The one time it had happened I had been sick, agonised, filled with rage and somehow I thought I would have needed some of that in me to make it happen. I glanced over at Embry and my eyes widened. He had already phased into a slightly lighter grey than Paul. I remembered the first time I had seen him and I shivered as I remembered his wolf lying on its side whining, blood running into the soft grey fur from the wound left by my teeth.

"Oh, God," I groaned. Suddenly I wanted to turn and run away; I didn't want to do this. What if I lost my temper again? If I hurt my own Imprint, I might as well kill myself. I squeezed my eyes shut miserably.

A moment later something warm and damp touched my cheek and my eyes flew open again. Embry was standing close to me, his muzzle on a level with my shoulder. As I looked into his dark eyes, his tongue rolled out of his mouth and licked my cheek a second time. He knew exactly how I was feeling, but with him a wolf and me still human, he couldn't communicate with me. I raised my hand and rested it on his head between his ears, scratching his fur.

"I'm so sorry, Em," I said. I had to change or we couldn't talk to each other. I pulled my hand back and took a few steps backwards, then imagined myself as that huge russet wolf. Within seconds I was eye to eye with him and a brief glance at myself showed that I had phased easily.

"Don't go back there," Embry's voice said in my head. "It doesn't matter now."

"It does to me. I love you and I hurt you so badly. It kills me."

"You can't think like that; I don't. It's over. You Imprinted on me - nothing like that will ever happen again. You won't be able to hurt me and you won't let anyone else hurt me either."

"Sam hurt Emily," I pointed out, remembering the scars on her face.

"Yeah, but he told you what happened, didn't he? It was an accident. He phased when he was too close to her; he didn't go for her because he was angry. You won't hurt me, Jacob. You have to believe that."

"Yeah, I know that. I do. I just...got scared for a minute." I knew he was right; Sam had told me the exact same thing. I shook myself. "Ok, let's go."

We scampered after the others, catching them up a couple of minutes later.

"Are you ok, Jacob?" Sam's voice asked me.

"Yeah. Thanks."

The five of us began to run through the trees, roughly following the line of the river which marked the border between La Push and the Cullens' land. I had been horrified to find out the weird family were vampires. It kind of made sense, but the fact that Bella was dating one of them repulsed me. Did she know? How could anyone prefer cold hard flesh to warmth and life? I immediately began to think about Embry again; I couldn't stop myself and I completely forgot that the others could hear every thought. I imagined him in my arms, the heat of him, his mouth on mine, his hands touching me...

"Jake..." Embry's embarrassed whisper came into my head, followed by a brief flash of an image of what I had made him think - the pair of us lying in bed, wrapped around each other like we had been when we woke up that morning.

"For fuck's sake, we can all hear that!" Paul growled suddenly. "I wish you had turned out to be brothers, then the rest of us wouldn't have to listen to you getting it on!"

I stopped still, horrified and my blood boiled. I was mortified at having let the others see those thoughts, but it was quickly overtaken by anger. Paul would have to use the one thing that had caused Embry and I more pain than anything else and torment us with it. I rapidly lost control of myself and sprang at him. He reared up, colliding with me in mid-air and we rolled, snapping and clawing at each other, a flurry of red and grey fur entangled on the forest floor.

"I'll kick the shit out of you for that!"

"Come on, Jake, you can do better than that!" Paul continued taunting me.

"Asshole!" My teeth grazed his shoulder and he snapped back at me, biting into one of my forelegs. I clawed at him with the other, scratching his muzzle and drawing blood, although the minor wound healed immediately.

"Guys! Pull yourselves together!" Jared's voice exclaimed suddenly.

"Oh, God, Jacob," Embry said, sounding panicked.

"Enough!"

Sam's order forced us apart and I scrambled to my feet, shaking myself vigorously, still showing my teeth. Paul leaped up too, panting.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Paul?" Sam demanded. "That was uncalled for. And Jake - calm down. We're on the same side here."

"Yeah, looks like it," I growled. I hated feeling like this. I had never had a temper, but this wolf thing was making me crazy.

"It's ok, it gets better." Embry stepped closer and nuzzled my ear. "I lost it too a few times at the beginning."

I took a deep breath and tried to make myself relax. The last thing I really wanted to do was fight with anyone - even Paul.

"I'm sorry, Jake." Paul's apology surprised me and I glanced at him. He even looked sincere. "That was a shitty thing to say."

"Yeah, well...let's just forget about it."

I forced myself to calm down and within moments everyone else had put it behind them, although for a while I could feel Embry's anxiety that I would lose it again over something. However, by the time we returned to where we had left our clothes some hours later, I was pretty relaxed and was even getting along well with Paul which surprised me somewhat. He actually seemed to be a decent guy at heart; he just had the hottest temper out of everyone and a sharp tongue which he couldn't help using to get a rise out of everyone on occasion.

When we returned to Sam's house Emily offered to make dinner for everyone, but Jared was keen to get back to Kim and I wanted Embry to myself, so only Paul stayed. Embry and I went home to find out if Dad had any luck talking to Tiffany and we were surprised to find that he had. She had initially not been pleased to have him questioning her parenting skills, but in the end acknowledged that if she didn't make more effort to be understanding with Embry, she was going to lose him altogether and she had asked Billy to send him home so she could talk to him. He stayed with me for another couple of hours and then left, telling me he would either be back later or he would call.

The minute he was gone I missed him and I nibbled half-heartedly at the food I made for Dad and I. He asked me how things had gone for me that day and I confessed to fighting with Paul and having a hard time keeping my thoughts to myself. I constantly glanced at the clock and checked my phone and after two hours had gone by I had to force myself not to leap off the couch and pace up and down.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Embry and his Mom must be working things out," Dad said at one point. "If they weren't he'd be back here, wouldn't he?"

"Yeah, it's not that. I guess I should tell you." I took a deep breath. I should know by now that nothing much I did was going to upset him and certainly not this. "I Imprinted," I said. "Yesterday."

"On Embry, apparently."

"Yeah."

"Well...I've never known a shifter to Imprint on another male, but obviously it happens. I suppose Sam told you there are two theories on why Imprinting occurs?"

"Yes - to find a mate and to find someone who supports you and makes you stronger."

"I always believed more in the latter than the former. You should think yourself lucky. Look at what Sam has been through - is still going through - with Leah and Emily."

"I know I'm lucky." I grinned at him. I was even more lucky to have him on my side. My phone rang and I snatched it up in a second. "Em?"

"No, it's Quil. Didn't you check your caller ID?"

"No," I said, heading for my room. "What are you doing?"

"I was going to ask you the same question. I've been calling all day; didn't you see the missed calls either?"

"Sorry. No. I...um...didn't have my phone with me today," I said. "Embry and I just wanted some time alone. Sorry," I added again, feeling guilty for not telling him the truth. Embry and I were both going to be keeping secrets for him for a while, until he caught us up. Sam was certain it wouldn't be long before he joined the pack, being a direct descendant of Quil Ateara III, who was my own grandfather's Beta.

I chatted to Quil for a little while, telling him we would catch up properly at school the next day, but I longed for him to get off the phone in case Embry was trying to call me. When he eventually hung up, the phone rang again immediately and once again I answered quickly without checking the screen.

"Em!"

"No, it's Bella." She giggled. "Where have you been? I've been calling all weekend. Don't tell me, with Embry. How's that going? Did you sort things out?"

"Yeah. I won't tell you all the details, I'll bore you to death. But everything's ok again. Better than ok."

"That's brilliant, Jake, I'm glad for you. I have some news too," Bella said and I noticed she sounded happy for the first time in months. "Edward's back. All the Cullens are."

So the leeches were back. Now I knew what they really were I wasn't happy they were back, particularly because the truce between them and the Quileutes which went back for generations meant we couldn't cross swords or step on each other's lands. But we may have to fight with them against rogue vampires.

"Jake? Are you still there?"

"Sorry, Bella." I realised I had missed what she was saying while I drifted into my own thoughts.

"Aww, thinking about Embry?" she teased.

"Yeah. Always."

I wished he would call me. I talked to her a little longer and then hung up and checked my phone again for missed calls. There were none and I felt a sudden pain inside me, almost as if I had been punched.

"Come on, Em, call me," I said to the phone, staring at the screen and willing his name to pop up.

He called me about two minutes later and I almost dropped the phone as it jingled and vibrated in my hand. My heart felt as if it may leap out of my chest as I answered quickly, my hand shaking as if it was the first time he had ever called me.

"Em!"

"Hey. Are you ok?" he said.

"I am now." I knew I sounded desperate and I almost laughed. "How's it going with your Mom?"

"Ok, I guess. She changed her mind about wanting me to leave," Embry said.

"Shit," I muttered before I could stop myself. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. Of course I want you to work things out with her, I just...wish you were here."

"I know; I do too," Embry said softly. "I miss you."

"You're staying home tonight, aren't you?" I said.

"Yeah. I thought I better. I'll come over before school tomorrow."

"Ok."

I was horribly disappointed. I hated being apart from him and I had hoped fervently that he would be sleeping in my arms again that night, but it wasn't going to happen. Still, he was at the other end of the phone and I intended to make the most of it. We talked until he ran out of credit and then I called him back until I did, by which time Dad had already called out that he was going to bed and I had lowered my voice, lying in the darkness with my eyes closed imagining that Embry was next to me as I pressed the phone to my ear. When we finally stopped talking, I fell asleep almost immediately from sheer exhaustion and slept like the dead.