Chapter VI.

In which much is explained.

Amelia's POV

"So, first things first." Harper said in a professional tone. "We haven't been properly introduced. So Hello, I'm Harper Neil." She smiled and extended her hand to the less massive of the two men. He grinned huge as he took her hand and brought it to his lips.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Harper Neil. I'm Embry Call." He smiled at her serenely. She positively beamed at him. They stood there for a moment, staring at each other. I wanted to laugh at the picturesque moment, but resisted. Harper shook her head, and looked away, she looked embarrassed. I watched, as she moved over and shook the hand of the other man.

"I'm Jacob Black." He said simply. Then he looked over at me. I realized I had been standing here like a silent idiot, watching as my best friend casually introduced herself to the wolf-men she had only recently been afraid would eat us. I shook my head.

"I'm Amelia Thomas. Call me Mia." I said. I extended my hand, and wondered briefly whose idea it was to shake hands when meeting someone; it was rather odd, wasn't it? I smiled at my own random thoughts.

I looked up at Jacob and took him in fully. He was beautiful. His russet skin seemed to glow, and his sculpted body was breathtaking. He was tall, enormously so. His face was perfect, angular, and strong. And his eyes, I could get lost in those amazingly familiar eyes. He looked as though he was the origin of the phrase "Tall, Dark and handsome." His hand was also very warm, incredibly so, and I could feel the heat radiating form his body. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at him. I could tell I was very attracted to him, more so than I should be without knowing him, but he was well out of my league. My league could explode and his would never even hear the blast. He was the image of perfection, and I was not even remotely close to being so. He smiled at me tentatively. I moved on to shake Embry's hand. Embry looked very similar to Jacob, though he was more slender and a little shorter. His skin was also incredibly warm. He was attractive too, I could tell Harper thought so; I caught her check out his back side when he turned to shake my hand. She winked at me and mouthed the word "nice" from behind his back. I couldn't control my snort of laughter. Harper grinned at me. Wow.

"So, anything you boys would like to tell us?" I asked, Embry had started looking between Harper and me trying to figure out what I had found funny. "Should we start with why two giant wolves burst into our campsite and turned into you two?" I continued to distract him; he didn't need to know Harper just checked out his butt.

"Maybe we should sit down somewhere." Jacob suggested. I giggled.

"Ok then! Story time!" I gestured the two camp fire chairs and pulled Harper onto the ground with me in front of them. I wrinkled my nose slightly at the dirt. I found it odd that it was so easy to joke with them, to laugh. We had only just met, I didn't know anything about them, other than that they could turn into giant wolves. Yet it was just so easy to be near them.

"Are you sure you two don't want to sit in the chairs?" Embry asked.

"You two are telling the story, so you get to sit in the chairs." I said in a tone that said "well Duh!"

Jacob Chuckled. "You want a story then?" He asked sitting down in the chair that was mine. Harper and I nodded like eager children. He and Embry laughed. "Ok, well this might take a while then." I sat there, looking at him expectantly.

They told us they were from La Push, the Indian reservation on the Pacific Coast in Washington State. Then they told us the Quileute legends, of the Spirit Warriors, and of Werewolves and of Vampires called Cold Ones. Harper and I oohed and ahed and gasped at the appropriate times. They seemed to feed off our reactions, getting more animated as the story continued. They told us of their Pack back in La Push, and how it was their job to protect their tribe from the Cold ones. From what I gathered their leader, or alpha was named Sam, they both held respect in their voice as they spoke of him. Jacob it seemed was second in command though. He seemed a little embarrassed when Embry mentioned it. But seemed happier when I told him that was pretty amazing. They told us about some of their traits as werewolves, how they healed super fast, how they could hear each other's thoughts in wolf form, how they all had incredibly high temperatures. Harper and I hounded them with questions, asking about everything. They seemed fine answering all of them. Although, one round of questioning, lead to a story about an alliance they had with a coven of vampires that were different from most. The Cullens'. Jacob didn't particularly like this story. Embry told the whole thing, while Jacob stared off at the trees over my head. I figured he just didn't like it because he was hurt during the fight. Pretty badly from what Embry said. Jacob glanced at me when I gasped as Embry described the injuries Jacob had sustained, they were pretty gruesome. Embry laughed and told us about how Jacob was pretty funny when he was high on pain killers. I noticed that Jacob seemed less animated after this story. Men and their macho egos, I thought, wondering why men didn't like to admit when they are hurt.

"Tell me about this Emily. How is it that she can handle all of you at her house eating her food all the time?" I asked after Jacob told us about the time Embry broke Emily's table in an arm wrestling match with one of their "brothers" Jared.

"Emily doesn't mind us being there. And she likes to cook for us. Good thing too considering she's Sam's imprint and his wife." Embry said joyfully.

"Sam's imprint?" What does that mean?" Harper asked.

Embry looked at her and smiled slightly, his face held reverence. "Imprinting is another one of those Wolf things." He explained. "It's really hard to put into words." He was looking only at Harper now. "It's like love at first sight, only it's not. It's stronger, it's a bond. It's how we wolves find the ones we're supposed to be with. Our soul mates." I could tell he was trying very hard to find the right words. "Jake, how was it that Billy explained it? His way always seemed like the best explanation." Embry turned to ask Jacob. Jacob looked at him, then to Harper and back to Embry. Then he turned and looked at me as he spoke.

"He said it was like gravity moves, when you see the one, suddenly it isn't the Earth holding you here anymore, she, or in Leah's case he, does. She becomes your everything; you would do or be anything for her." He said passionately, he looked had been looking directly at me as he spoke, I flushed and looked at the ground. He couldn't possibly be that…. No certainly not, I was just letting my emotions get carried away again. It did sound wonderfully romantic, love at first sight, absolute devotion, soul mates, all of it were things I had dreamed of for as long as I could remember. I had always wanted to have a true love, fairy tale, romance things, and that was what this sounded like.

"So," I said looking at the ground. "Is Sam the only one who's imprinted, or have others in your Pack found their soul mates as well?" I asked, more interested in one pack member, but trying not to show it.

"Oh sure." Embry said. "Jared imprinted with Kim, a girl from his English Class. Paul imprinted on Linda, they bumped into each other at the movies. Quil imprinted on Claire. That was interesting, since Claire was two when he saw her. Good thing we don't age, so he can wait for her, be her protector until she's ready for him." He explained. "And Thank God Leah finally found Corbin. It was so awkward with her and Sam for a long time." He grimaced slightly, but then he laughed.

"Why was it awkward with Leah and Sam?" I asked.

"Well you see, Sam was the first to go through the change. He and Leah had been high school sweethearts, and they really did love each other." Embry said calmly. "But Leah's cousin Emily came to visit, and well one look at her, and it was out of his control, Sam imprinted on her. Fell instantly. Emily was a little upset at first, but they were made for each other, she couldn't resist him for long. Leah was heart broken, Sam felt terrible about it, but there was nothing he could do. When Leah joined the pack, things got even more interesting, because she had never gotten over Sam, and with being able to hear each other's thoughts, well you can imagine." He explained, shaking his head slightly. "But now that she's found Corbin, so it all worked out."

This startled me. I didn't know what to think. Which love was true? The love that formed naturally between Leah and Sam, or the magical imprinting? Who's to say that if Sam and Leah hadn't been Werewolves, that they wouldn't have been happy together. Or was the magic behind imprinting much wiser. Their Imprints were supposed to be their soul mates, that meant that they weren't each other's soul mates, so would their love ultimately faded? There was no way to know. I decided to let it alone.

The sound of someone's stomach growling broke me out of my trance. Jacob was looking rather embarrassed as I looked up at him. "Hungry?" I asked him.

"Starving." He laughed. "It's been five days since we've eaten; what with the race and all."

"You two are so stupid. Do you have any idea how unhealthy that is? You could have done some serious damage, all for a stupid competition." Harper scolded. Embry looked sheepish, Jacob just shrugged.

"I've gone longer than that. I went two weeks straight, non-stop running, though that did take a major toll, I will admit." Jacob said, though his brooding mood was intensified as he did so.

"Who were you racing that time?" I asked.

"No one." He answered, looking away.

"Then why were you running?" I pressed.

"Because." He said shrugging, still not looking at me.

"Because why?" I continued stubbornly. He ignored me. I huffed angrily, but then Embry caught my eye, he was shaking his head frantically. "Not now" he was mouthing. I glared at him to let me know I was not going to let it go, I was interested in Jacob's reaction. It didn't make sense to me. I wanted to know.

"Why don't we get some food?" Harper offered.

AN: Did i leave too much ut of the Explanation? I just didn't want to repeat everything we already knew about the wolves. And I wanted some things for the girls to discover with time. Well let me know if you like it ir not.

Much Love, Bridget