"Hey," I heard a voice drift through the veil of sleep; his voice.

Embry.

I felt completely enveloped by him. His smell filled my lungs, his voice at my ear, his hand on my back brushing small circles on my spine with his finger tips just as he'd done before I fell asleep. "Paul," he whispered again pulling me further from sleep.

"You didn't watch me the whole time I was asleep, did you?" I croaked without opening my eyes.

"No," he laughed quietly. I could see his smile without cracking my eyelids. It felt totally bizarre and absolutely right being there with him; in his room, in his bed, in his arms. I'd fought it for so long, worried that it would feel forced and like I was giving into something that wasn't right, but that was all gone now. I felt completely at peace with all of it; with everything.

"You need to get up." He pressed his palm flat against the small of my back, curling his fingers into my skin. It was like he'd pressed a start button, the familiar flame of longing leapt up inside me immediately. I opened my eyes to find him watching me intently.

"I'm up, but if you keep doing that neither of us are going to be getting out of this bed," I warned.

His lips twitched up in one corner, and his eyes sparkled like I'd just challenged him. "Don't tease. You've got patrol soon." Despite his words, his hand drifted lower down my back and over my ass, his fingers running rough trails over my skin as he went. I arched up into his touch; instantly wide awake.

"Who's teasing?" I asked before reaching over and pulling his mouth to mine. "We have unfinished business, if I remember correctly," I insisted, pulling him roughly by the hip across the mattress as I rose to my knees. I reached for the button of his shorts; I'd wanted his cock in my mouth more times than I could count in the weeks since this had begun.

"Paul..." he gasped as I pulled the zipper open and hauled his shorts down his hips.

"Emb, shut up." I kissed him hard to ensure he did just that, and then sunk between his legs. I pulled his half-hard dick from his shorts and wrapped my hungry lips around it. I had done my homework since that first afternoon in the woods and if I had been keen then I was downright fervent now.

"Ah fuck!" he groaned and ran his hand up my neck to rest on the back of my head; not to force me, just to touch me I think.

The first time I had had his cock in my mouth had been rushed and heated and my panicking mind had over shadowed the specifics, but I allowed myself to fully experience it this time. I let the weight of his quickly hardening cock rest against my tongue a moment—it was heavier than I would have thought—before curling my hand around it. I slid my hand down to the base, pulling his foreskin with it, revealing the head to my wandering tongue. He drew in a hissed breath and flexed his fingers against my skull as I flicked my tongue over the tip. I breathed deep, filling my lungs with his scent as the slick bead of precum coated my tongue.

Giving a blow job wasn't that much different than going down on a chick, really. Sure the equipment was different, and called for different actions, but from my point of view they were pretty similar. He made it pretty easy to take my cues from his responses to what I did; when to suck, when to lick, when to stroke him with my hand or play with his balls. I learned pretty quickly that foreskin was totally fucking amazing, and that gagging as his cock touched the back of my throat was possibly one of the hottest fucking things I had ever experienced.

It wasn't long before Emb was clutching his fingers in my shoulder. "Fuck, Paul, I'm close," he panted as he bucked his hips up into my mouth. I was really going to have to lose the gag reflex, because I really wanted him to just fuck my mouth.

I hadn't really thought about what having him come in my mouth would be like. It wasn't like I hadn't tasted my own come before though, so I hummed my acknowledgement around his cock and stroked in time with my mouth sliding up and down over the head.

He stiffened under me briefly, before thrusting up into my mouth one last time and coming with a throaty grunt. Even though I thought I was prepared for it, the first shot of come hitting the roof of my mouth caught me off guard. I swallowed the thick mouthful as I pulled my mouth off him with a choked cough and a moan I couldn't seem to help echoing his. The bitter saltiness coated my tongue, making it feel like all the moisture was sucked out of my mouth while somehow making me drool like crazy. I gasped and swallowed again as I pumped him through his orgasm. I swiped my tongue up his length one last time, tasting him again as he relaxed down into the mattress, seemingly boneless and limp. I ran my tongue over my teeth, testing the slick yet squeaky feeling in my mouth even after swallowing a few times.

"Shit," he sighed heavily as he ran his hand up the back of my neck from where it had been clamped around my shoulder. "C'mere," he said quietly after a moment, pressing lightly on my neck. I crawled up the bed and lay down next to him again. He pulled me in with his hand still curled around my neck for a slow, sloppy kiss. I shifted, pressing my hard on into his hip without urgency, just enjoying the relaxed hum that buzzed between us. It was such a huge fucking shift from everything we'd been going through; it made me feel drunk.

"Want me to help you out with that?" he laughed against my lips as he reached down to my hip and pulled me tighter against his side.

"No, I'm good. Like you said, I'm going to be late if I don't get up." I kissed him again and forced myself to get up. "You got anything to eat, though? I'm starving."

"Yeah. Come on," Emb said heading into the kitchen, doing up his shorts along the way.

I spent the few minutes walking through the woods behind Embry's place to try and get my head in a place to phase in. Whoever was on patrol was bound to know that I'd accepted the imprint—accepted Embry—the second I shifted, but they didn't really need a firsthand view of how things went down; especially if Jared was the one running.

'Did you get any sleep at all?' Jacob's laughing voice filled my mind as soon as I phased in.

'What are you still doing out here?' I shot back. He'd been coming on shift when I first showed up at Embry's early in the morning; someone else should have been patrolling. Not that I was upset about it, at least I knew where Jake stood on the whole situation between Emb and I.

'I figured it would be better for everyone that Jared not be around when you got on,' he said in way of explanation. 'You didn't actually think I didn't know where you were headed this morning, did you?' Jake scoffed.

'Thanks man.' I shot back as I headed off in his direction to get caught up on patrol happenings.

Of course Jacob knew I was going to Embry this morning. As much as he complained about the responsibility and said he didn't want it, Black was already more of an Alpha than Sam in a lot of ways. He paid attention to the rest of the pack and what was happening with all of us. Maybe it was a matter of he hadn't imprinted on anyone so his head wasn't pre-occupied the way Sam was with Emily so he could focus. Or maybe it was that being the leader was in his blood, who knows.

'Dude, I've never seen you this calm,' Jake joked, pulling me out of my thoughts again.

'Yeah,' I agreed. The pull I'd been feeling to Embry was still there, but it was easy and comfortable where it had been fraying my nerves before. 'It's fucking weird.' Despite still thinking about Embry almost constantly, I didn't need to worry about where my mind wandered off to; it just seemed to come naturally to keep the personal stuff to myself. It was like my brain just automatically filtered that stuff and kept it in; which was actually a relief. It made it easier to focus on patrol too. I felt sharp and alert for the first time in weeks.

'So, what's out there today, Black? Anything interesting happening?' I asked as I pulled up alongside him and kept pace with his final circuit of the territory.

'I'm pretty sure Seth's going to be joining us sooner than later, but Sam went to talk to Harry this morning, so he's on watch there,' Jake explained as we rounded the Northern border and headed back toward town. 'I caught a fresh scent along the trails along the beach this morning, but the water seemed to have washed most of it away. I've been checking again with each pass, but haven't caught it again, yet. Just pay attention out there for now. I told Sam already.' We'd been catching hints of a bloodsucker on the beach for a few days but hadn't been able to track it yet.

Embry was standing, talking to Jacob when I arrived in Sam's backyard after patrol. I nodded at Sam who was talking to Emily on the patio and walked over to them. Jake gave us a goofy grin and walked away shaking his head. I'm positive he rolled his eyes even though his back was turned and I couldn't see him do it.

I felt suddenly awkward. It was clear from the looks we were getting that everyone knew things had changed between us even if they didn't know the details for sure. We had both been awful to be around for the last few weeks, and there was a definite change in our moods since this morning.

"Hey," I mumbled nervously. I felt like a fucking idiot. He just smiled at me. "How do I...greet you, now?" I asked.

"How do you want to greet me?" he responded with that fucking sexy quirk of his eyebrow.

"I really want to fucking kiss you," I admitted to myself as much as to him.

"What are you waiting for?"

Challenge accepted. I clasped my hand around his neck and took his mouth with mine possessively. Four hours—that's all it had been since I'd seen him—and it felt like way too fucking long.

"That'll do just fine," he beamed at me when he pulled away.

"It's about time!" Quil called out from the deck as he came through the screen door from the kitchen.

"Can it, Ateara!" I shouted back, as I made my way up the steps to report in with Sam. I felt ten feet tall and bullet proof. I had been fucking miserable so long that it was a seriously heady experience; I felt drunk.

I could feel Embry's eyes on me as I walked away from him. I could feel him watching me the whole time I was talking to Sam, but I refused to turn around and look back to him. I didn't need to, I could feel everything he needed to tell me just as easily as if he were whispering it in my ear. He just wanted me to know he was there; that he was close. It was the same thing we'd been trying to reassure each other of for the past couple of weeks with the little touches, only I didn't need them now. I could feel that he was there.

"Paul?" Sam's voice broke through my thoughts. I'd lost the thread of the conversation, having drifted into my own mind.

"Sorry Sam, what was that?" I gave my head a shake and tried to focus.

He laughed at me. "That will get easier," he stated knowingly, and I could feel my face flush in response. "I was asking how you're doing now, but I can see that you're fine," he laughed again.

"Yeah," I agreed. "It's been a long time since I felt this good, actually."