Recap: "So what was your nightmare about?" Seth asked, looking down at Dekan in his arms.
"You don't want to know. Trust me." Dekan replied, looking away.
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Seth looked down at Dekan, knowing the tone of her voice meant that her dream was probably about her stepfather. He continued walking at a steady pace towards his house, still carrying Dekan.
"You're going to break your back if you keep carrying me, Seth. I'm not exactly light as a feather." Dekan said, looking up at him. Seth just smiled and chuckled, pulling her up closer to him.
"Did you ever play the light-as-a-feather—stiff-as-a-board game?" Seth asked out of the blue.
"Oh yes! I remember that! Sam and I used to play that. Well, in between dancing we did." Dekan said, a big smile on her face.
"Sam? Dancing? Oh now you have to tell me!" Seth replied, setting her on the porch of the house where he and Leah lived. Seth opened the door, leading Dekan in.
"I don't know…Sam might get pretty embarrassed…" Dekan said, chuckling.
"Aw now you really have to tell me! I need some dirt on Sam!" Seth called out from his bedroom, walking out with a big winter coat. "This doesn't fit me anymore, you're more than welcome to it."
Seth handed Dekan the coat, and Dekan took it, smiling. "You're too good to me, Seth. I'd be practically naked without you and Embry." Seth rolled his eyes at the mention of Embry. Seth could sense that Embry wanted to rip his head off. That made Seth smile.
"Anything for you, short fry." Seth said, laughing when a pillow was launched at him, ducking easily.
"I'm not that short! Well, not by normal human standards!" Dekan replied, pouting. "It's not my fault that the lot of you here in La Push drink the water and grow freakishly huge." she said, kidding.
Seth laughed deep, shaking his head. He grabbed an older pair of Leah's shoes and handed them to Dekan. Dekan took a look at the size and smiled. "Perfect! Thank you. Tell Leah I said thank you, too." Dekan said.
"Will do. Now put your coat and shoes on and follow me, Shorty." Seth said. Dekan nodded and quickly put the shoes and coat on, getting up and walking to the door where Seth was waiting. Seth held out his hand to Dekan.
"Where's your coat?" Dekan asked, seeing that Seth was wearing only a pair of cut off jeans and a wife beater.
"Don't need one. I am a space heater, remember?" Seth said, smiling innocently.
"Oh ha ha." Dekan replied, putting her hand in Seth's warm one.
Seth led her outside, pointing out where each member of the pack lived. Jake and Embry were walking out of the forest, each buttoning up their pants. To the unknowing person, one might think that Jake and Embry were doing something…secret. Something they obviously didn't want anyone else to know about. As luck would have it, Dekan and Seth saw the two emerge. Embry narrowed his eyes, walking towards Seth and Dekan, his fists clenching. Jake followed, but didn't seem nearly as tense. Dekan's mind jumped to the conclusion that Embry and Jake must be having a secret relationship. Far be it from her to rain on anyone's parade. Dekan smiled and waved at the pair. Jake smiled and waved back, then raised an eyebrow at Seth who was still holding onto Dekan's hand. Embry made no move to say hello; he just kept walking towards Seth. Embry walked by Dekan and Seth, bumping into Seth's shoulder purposely.
"Good morning, Embry." Dekan said, a bit cautious. She bit her lip; Embry didn't look too pleased at all. Perhaps he and Jake were having secret relationship problems.
Embry stopped a few feet from where Seth, Dekan, and Jake were standing. "Does Sam know you're out here with Seth?" Embry asked, his voice deep.
"Oh, no, I went to see him earlier and he was a bit…preoccupied with Emily." Dekan said, her face turning a bit red.
"He wouldn't like you being out here. Let's go." Embry said, heading towards Sam's house.
Dekan turned to look at Embry. Putting her hands on her hips, she said, "Excuse me? Sam isn't my boss." This earned Embry a raised eyebrow yet again from Jake and a narrowing of the eyes from Seth.
"Fine. I'll go see what Sam says about it." Embry said, walking towards Sam's house again.
"What's the big deal? I'm out here with Seth, not the big bad wolf." Dekan said. Jake and Seth tried unsuccessfully to hide their laughing behind a series of coughs. Embry turned to glare at them, and at Dekan. Why was she being so stubborn? She should listen to him. Seth would only try to hang all over her. Or worse, kiss her! Embry stalked over to where the trio was standing, glaring at Seth. He stopped right in front of Dekan, who still had her hands on her hips. She was also wearing Seth's old coat! And Leah's shoes! This was just not going to do at all. Quick as a flash, Embry bent over, picked Dekan up, and put her over his shoulder in one smooth move. Dekan barely had time to blink.
"Embry! Let me down! Now!" Dekan said, wiggling against him, trying to get him to drop her.
"No." was all Embry said, walking to Sam's house.
"Embry! LET ME DOWN NO!" Dekan shouted, kicking her legs and pounding her fists against his back. It didn't seem to have any effect on him at all!
"I said no." Embry said. "And quit hitting me."
"And if I don't?" Dekan retorted, smacking his shoulder to make her point.
Embry stopped. Dekan thought he was finally going to let her down. Instead, Embry smacked Dekan loudly on her rear end.
"ACK! EMBRY!" Dekan shouted, her backside stinging a little bit. "Let me go!"
"Do I have to repeat myself again?" Embry said, starting to walk again.
"I'll bite you!" Dekan said.
"You'd better not." Embry said.
Dekan moved her head and bit Embry on the back of his arm. Not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to make him notice. Embry jerked slightly, and then whacked Dekan on the butt again. Dekan harrumphed. Embry opened the door to Sam's house, walking right towards Sam's room.
"Sam! We're coming in." Embry said, waiting a minute before opening the door so he and Emily could cover up.
"What do you want, Embry?" Sam asked, and then saw him come in with Dekan slung over his shoulder; Dekan propping her head up on her fists and arms.
"I thought you'd like to know that Seth was parading around La Push with Dekan." Embry said, still holding Dekan over his shoulder.
"Yeah. Did he hurt her?" Sam asked.
"No, but he'd probably try to lure her into his bed." Embry said.
Sam rolled his eyes. "That's Paul. Don't let her alone with Paul. Seth's too innocent for that." Sam replied.
Embry dropped Dekan unceremoniously on Sam's bed. Dekan glared up at Embry, wondering why he was acting so oddly.
"You both can leave now." Sam said, pulling Emily closer to him, making sure she kept covered up.
Dekan scooted off the bed, walking out of the room, right past Embry. Embry followed, shutting the door. "You shouldn't be alone with Seth. He might try to take advantage of you." Embry said to Dekan. Dekan stopped, turning to face him.
"Please. He's been nothing but friendly to me, giving me some clothes and a coat until my stuff got here." Dekan said.
"If you need clothes then come to me. I have more than he does, and unlike his, mine aren't falling apart and smelly." Embry said, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, whatever you say, Embry." Dekan replied, rolling her eyes and walking to her bedroom.
Embry wanted to scream! Why couldn't she be reasonable? She should most certainly not be wearing anything Seth gave to her! If anyone should give her clothing to wear, it should be him! 'That's it.' Embry thought, 'I'm going to tell the pack I've imprinted on Dekan.' With that thought, he headed for the door to find Jake and tell him first. Embry stopped when he heard an odd buzzing noise. He closed his eyes, walking around the room, trying to pinpoint where the noise was coming from. Embry finally found that the noise was coming from Dekan's bag she had left by the couch. Figuring it could be something important, Embry reached in and pulled out the buzzing thing, finding that it was her cell phone. He opened it, seeing she had a text message. Embry didn't know she had a cell phone. Not looking at the message, he looked through her phone until he found her phone number, then grabbed a pen from the kitchen counter and wrote the number on the inside of his hand, setting the phone back and in purse and walking out of the house to his so he could put her number in his cell phone.
Dekan took the coat and shoes off, flopping back on her bed face first. She laid there for a while, drifting in and out of sleep. Embry walked back out of his house, seeing Seth work on his motorcycle with Jake. Figuring the pair wouldn't see him, he snuck back over to Sam's house, climbing the tree and sitting on one of the lower branches so he could see right into the bedroom where Dekan was staying. He saw her flopped out on her bed on her stomach, asleep. He was pleased to note that she was wearing the sweat pants he brought her. 'Now if I could only figure out how to get Seth's shirt and coat away from her and replace them with me own…' Embry thought, watching her sleep.
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Author's note: Thank you all so much for the reviews! A big thanks to my beta, Nessa. I also want to give a big thanks to my reviewers, especially Lecia! You're wonderful! And also I want to thank my newer reviewers, rockangel777, Misshurrrtbreak., and coco swift! Thank you all for the great reviews and the faves and alerts! It makes me so happy to read and see all of this! Mwaaaah! Feel free to email any questions or suggestions you have for me! And don't forget to visit my page and vote in my poll!