My ears were ringing too badly to hear what was going on. I felt sick, and as if my head were about to float off the rest of my body. I was shaking, I could feel that much. I was still on the ground, and it was vibrating with movement. My head was throbbing.
I don't know how long I laid there, falling in and out of consciousness, before a blanket was draped over me and Carlisle went to work on my back. I barely felt the stitching needle, or heard his voice. I could hear Emmett though. He was right next to me, talking in my ear, trying to force a response out of my hand.
I could feel my heart trying to pump the blood I had lost, and it felt like it was losing the battle.
I finally could hear Carlisle speaking in hushed tones to Edward and Emmett.
"… Poison to her," Emmett said quietly, quickly. Whatever they were talking about, Emmett was strongly opposed to it.
"We could use a small amount," Carlisle replied smoother more evenly. "If I'm right, it should give her heart enough energy to bring her back."
Edward cut it. "But how would we administer such a trace amount?"
"Too little, and she dies," Emmett said harshly. "Too much, and she dies."
Carlisle interjected. "That may not be true. She's still a new wolf, it could just change her."
Emmett growled fiercely, flinching towards Carlisle. "I will never let that happen. I won't let her change." I was still extremely confused.
Edward snorted. "That's what you think." I heard another growl, a familiar one.
It was Sam. "I don't think it would work. Her blood before her first phase was still wolf-like, just not as pronounced. The wolf bloodline in her is as pronounced as mine is."
"I see."
"Do it." Emmett said, his voice determined, but scared. "If it'll save her, I'll bite her."
Bite me? He was going to… bite… me?
Then it fit together. They were right. The venom could keep my alive, but I would feel every ounce of the hurt. I remembered Sam telling me of when he'd been bitten.
It just burns. For days I felt as if I was in the furnace, dying slowly. One more drop of poison and I would have died.
It was precise. His heart hammered like a hummingbird's, they said.
It would save me. Slowly, painfully, but efficiently, the venom would save me. Emmett's venom would save me.
They were planning it when my heart starting fading again. "Emmett, you'll bite her on her shoulder, then wait thirty seconds. Then you'll take her blood until it tastes almost clean." Emmett grunted. "Do you understand?"
"Yes."
And then he was beside me, then I was in his arms, and his breath was on my neck and shoulder.
I opened my eyes, and I saw the sun.
Emmett, looking into my blue eyes. Emmett, my everything. Emmett, leaning down and kissing me one more time, unless anything went wrong.
And then there's me. Me, knowing I have to make it through this to be with him.
Me, Imprinting on Emmett while he was biting me.
Thinking about it, I can't explain how it feels to have my heart pumping mercury through my veins. I also can't explain how it feels to imprint. It's like being repeatedly hit over the head with a frying pan when you see them in the best way possible.
The two things together are… Stupid.
I remember once being told by Rosalie that screaming doesn't help with the pain. I beg to differ. I screamed like a banshee for two days. The third day, I played guitar and tried not to kill everyone.
And then I slept. When I woke up, I was laying on Emmett's chest. My chest felt tired, sore, and healthy. The feeling flooded into the rest of my body. His chest wasn't moving; he was holding his breath until I moved.
His breath hitched in his throat, and I noticed his freezing hands on my back. They moved quickly up to my face, and then he gently pulled my face up to look into his seriously thirsty eyes.
In that instant, nothing else mattered. My world was right there, under me, realizing I was okay. Emmett was everything. The world could have been collapsing around me, and as long as he was okay, I didn't care. I couldn't look away. It was as if I was seeing the sun for the first time.
And then his arms were back around my waist, straining me to him as he realized I was okay. He felt warmer, somehow.
I squirmed in his arms, wanting to see his face again. His grip relinquished instantly, and when I propped myself onto my elbows, I felt very strong. I tried to prepare myself for seeing his face, but was again struck silent. He was so perfect, so right.
"I love you." The words slipped out of my mouth out of their own accord. His face was confused for about a half-second, and then he was smiling broadly. My thought process stopped.
"I love you, too, Brooklyn Marie." He kissed me gently, and my heart started skipping beats. He heard this and sat me up with him.
I couldn't look away from him, his face was hypnotizing me. It wasn't until I realized that Edward was talking to me that I turned, reluctantly, away. When I did, I noticed two things.
The first was that my mouth was too crowded. As I ran my tongue across my top molars, starting on the right, I couldn't get past my canine teeth. They had swollen to almost twice their size, falling over my bottom teeth. I opened and closed my mouth once, and I could feel my new fangs scraping, sharpening, on the bottom.
The second was that I could hear Jacob, although he was silent in the room. His voice fell into my head like a slow trickle of water, getting louder as I realized I was hearing him think. He was thinking about Bella, of course. About how Edward, that leech, didn't deserve her.
Edward caught my attention again, hearing my own thoughts in his head. I realized how weird it would be, hearing not only one person's thoughts, but everyone's. "You can hear him?" He asked quickly, disbelieving.
I could only nod as Jacob decided he wanted to leave. Sam walked into the room then, and I could hear him too. Thank God she's okay. My girl's okay.
"Your girl?" I asked suspiciously. What could he have meant by that?
It got very quiet in the room then and I looked back at Emmett, momentarily losing my head, then regaining it. "What? What's going on?" He looked away from me and I looked to Sam.
"What is it, Sam?" My voice went softer.
Jacob left the room, thinking only This is going to be interesting.
"Emmett, let's give them a second," Edward said, cocking his head to the door. Emmett got up and followed him out the door, leaving Sam to me.
I stood up and looked up into his eyes fiercely. I have to tell her, I heard him think.
"Tell me what?" I snapped, crossing my arms across my chest.
"How do you do that? Can you hear what I'm thinking?" He said.
"Yes, now what the hell is going on, Sam?" It came out angrier than I had meant. "How am I "your girl"?"
He sighed. "I knew I'd have to tell you about your dad someday, Brook. I just wish I didn't have to now…"
His thoughts were scattered, not thinking at all about what was happening.
"Spit it out."
He looked up at me, his eyes tortured. "I'm your dad Brook."
My jaw dropped. I stopped breathing. Sam couldn't be my dad! I didn't… I do look like him. People have told me that before.
"How long has everyone else known this before you decided to tell me, Sam?!" I screamed at him, throwing my arms in the air.
"Brook, I-" I turned away from him.
"After I begged and pleaded with you to tell me! How could you- ugh!"
I whirled and hit him as hard as I could in the chest with my closed fist. You could hear the impact from downstairs; I could hear Jake thinking about it. Two of my knuckles cracked without pain, and my ring finger broke, and I let out a screech of pain. Carlisle, Edward, and Emmett were beside me in an instant.
Carlisle quickly tried to realign my finger, but bone had already been replaced there. He muttered an apology, then broke my finger again, reset it, and told me not to move through the eye-watering pain I was experiencing.
"It's okay, Brook." Emmett's silky voice erased the pain from my mind. I turned to him and gazed at his face, losing interest in whatever was happening.
Propping myself onto my tiptoes, I pressed my lips to his, loving the feeling of his ice cold lips against my own. He kissed me back carefully, keeping a barrier between his venom-coated teeth and my less then healed body.
Sam voice quickly flooded my head. She's imprinted on him. How is that even possible? Imprinting is to carry on the bloodline, which she obviously can't do with him. Not after what happened to Paul.
I pull away, look at him, and say acidly, "Tell me I can't then." I step away from Emmett's loose embrace and step right up to Paul, my eyes blazing. "Not only could you five me an Alpha command, but you're my father, for fuck's sake. I have to listen, right?"
He glared back down at me and contemplated giving me and absolute command. He wouldn't. "Let's go home, Brooklyn."
"I am home, Sam." I would never be able to call him Dad.
I got a color from his thoughts. Red. "Now, Brook."
"No."
Sam began saying something, but I remembered something that shook me. I forgot everything as I turned to Carlisle, who hadn't left the room.
"Where's Paul?" I asked.
The room went deadly silent. Everyone's gaze dropped to the floor. Sam's mind was silent. Jacob had left the house and I didn't reach out to find his mind.
I turned slowly to where Emmett was standing, to find that he wasn't there. I stared at the spot for a second, then looked up to Edward.
"Edward, what happened?" My voice was shaking, because I was afraid that I knew the answer. He couldn't have… Could he?
Edward looked up at me, his topaz eyes distant and tortured. My lips parted at the same time he opened his mouth, but Sam interrupted him.
"Emmett killed Paul." His voice was so blunt I felt the stab in my chest.
I turned to him as two tears fell down my cheeks. "No." Sam's face was past angry and furious. Words couldn't describe the way he looked.
Edward stepped between us, facing me.
"When Emmett saw you hurt, he lost it. He lost control, Brook." Sam's voice sounded almost triumphant now.
I stopped listening as Edward turned and reprimanded Sam, raising his voice for the first time since I'd known him.
It was my fault. If I hadn't stepped in, Emmett would have just taken Paul down a notch. Because I got in the way and Paul hurt me, He was dead. Because I had chosen Emmett over Paul, Paul had gotten angry and decided to try to kill Emmett. Everything that had happened was
"My fault." I whispered. I collapsed onto the bed, putting my face in my hands. Edward stopped yelling at Sam and turned to me, having heard all of these thoughts.
"Don't you dare think that," Emmett was suddenly in my face, pulling my hands away roughly from my face. "None of this is your fault. The reason he's dead is because I overreacted." He took my face in his freezing, perfect, marble hands and made me look at him. I didn't forget what was going on this time; my vision was partly clouded by the water falling from them. "Do you understand me?" He was speaking through his teeth, the pain so obvious in his voice. "This is my fault. It's not your problem Brook."
"But if I wouldn't have-" I started, closing my eyes.
"No! Listen to me, Brook!" He roared into my face, making me open my eyes and see his startling, blazing red eyes. "This isn't your fault. I killed him. You had nothing to do with it." He dropped his voice and looked down, closing his eyes. "This is my fault."
Edward tried to step in, "Emmett-"
He didn't even seem to notice. "I saw you hurt… Saw you dying in my arms, and I lost it so completely. I don't even remember what happened… It was so primal… So, disorienting." He looked up at me. "I only know that he's dead and it's because I killed him." He stood and turned to Sam. "I'll take the punishment you give me, Sam."
Sam sighed. "No punishment." He registered the confused looks on our faces. "Your actions were justified, Emmett. Not only did Paul attempt to kill you, he almost killed someone in his own pack. His actions could not be forgiven." He put a hand on Emmett's shoulder briefly, then walked from the room, Edward tight on his heels.
"Emmett…" I started, but before I could begin to think what I was going to say, Emmett had crossed the room and was crushing his lips to mine hard.
His tongue gently entered my mouth, tickling my own. I didn't try to push my tongue into his mouth, because I knew he wouldn't let me. I could taste the sharp tang of venom on his tongue, but my own spit counter-acted his, diluting the venom completely.
When his lips released mine, sensing my need to breathe, we were laying on the bed, and his shirt was lying on the ground, next to my own shirt and my pink bra.
The realization dawned on his face as I tried to stretch my lips to meet his again. He was suddenly across the room, looking out the glass wall to the river. I sat up, pulling the thin sheet around my torso.
"Emmett?" I asked, not really knowing the question myself.
He turned to me, his burgundy eyes gazing into my own, then his gaze dropped to my lips, which were numb. His perfect lips parted, revealing his flawless teeth in a grimace that hurt me. He turned back to the window and I stood, dropping the blanket and walking to him in just my jeans.
He turned as my bare feet padded across the hardwood floor, and this time his eyes went to my neck, where I could still feel tingles where he had kissed me.
"What is it, love?" I asked, taking another step toward him. He took an almost immeasurable step back as his eyes traveled down my arm. "Emmett, what's wrong?" He gently took my hand and made me look into the glass wall.
I saw my reflection there and what Emmett had been looking at. Around my lips, neck, and down my arms there were bruises. Small ones, but they weren't healing the way they should have on me. They should have been yellow and healing by now, even if Emmett had just caused them. I also noticed another bruise above my left breast.
I didn't linger on the image in the window, but instead turned to face Emmett.
"I hurt you," He said bluntly, bringing his gaze back up to my eyes.
"I'm fine," I replied simply, reaching forward to take his hand. He leaned his back, careful not to touch me.
"Look at yourself Brook." He fit the bruises on my arms to his fingers, put his lips to the one on my chest. His tongue caressed their ever so briefly before he stood and looked at me again.
"I'm fine," I repeated. "This doesn't change anything. I love you, Emmett."
His eyes went fierce. "This changes everything, Brook!" As he threw his hands to either side of him, I stood solid. "I've hurt you! I can't… Can't stand to let myself do that again."
I threw my arms around his middle, pulling myself close to him. He rested his chin on the top of my head, inhaling deeply, as he wrapped his arm around my naked torso.
"Emmett… I imprinted." I said softly.
With hands like feathers, Emmett moved me back to look into my eyes. I smiled so huge it would surely split my head in half. "On who, may I ask?"
I smile softened as his burgundy eyes did the same. "You."
He smiled at me ever so gently. "I love you, Brooklyn Marie."
And when he kissed me, I forgot everything all over again.