AN: Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed. I've decided that I'm going to respond to reviews via PM this time instead of posting them in the story itself. Even though not many people read the opening chapter, a lot of you chose to provide feedback on it. I am quite grateful for your words and hope that you continue to be kind enough to review. All right, let's get this going. I've decided to put a quote at the beginning of each chapter. I wish I was creative enough to come up with them myself, but alas, I am not. I just find them all to be amusing.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"To know yourself is the ultimate form of aggression."

Embry's POV

I stumbled my way in the general direction of my house. I felt like hell. I began to sweat ridiculously as the ball of fire began to tear at my insides. Is this what alcohol did to a person? I'd already spewed my biggest secret and now I felt like I was going to die. Would that be the worst thing ever right now?

I couldn't walk any further, collapsing onto the ground. Nobody was around as I rolled over onto my back, squeezing my eyes closed and groaning in pain. Suddenly I felt the fire explode, consuming my entire body. Just like that, the pain began to fade quickly. Talk about a sudden change, but I wasn't complaining. That's when I finally decided to open my eyes.

The first thing I noticed was my eyesight had changed dramatically. Even in the dark, everything looked crystal clear. Below my eyes, I could see a snout. I jerked my head down as I scrambled up, but I was no longer capable of being on two legs. Below me were four paws, covered in grey fur with lighter splotches in various places. I whipped my head around and saw my massive body and…a tail! What the hell is going on?

I wasn't sure what was happening to me, but I knew that I needed to get out of the open. Either I had somehow become some giant creature or, more likely, I was hallucinating. Whichever was true, I needed to get out of sight. I'd catch some flak for not being home, but it'd be much worse if someone found me out of my mind. I took off into the nearby woods, hoping to use the trees as cover.

Once I got into the forest, I began to run. I didn't know where I was going, but I wanted to get away from here. How could I have been so stupid? A little bit of alcohol and I'd slipped up in a way that I never thought possible. 3 words had cost me my best friends. I had no doubt that Jake would side with Quil. No matter what anyone said, I was still the outsider of the group.

I ended up collapsing at the hollowed out base of a tree. I still wasn't sure if I was imagining all of this, but the exhaustion that I was feeling from everything was very real. I curled up into a ball and lay there whimpering. Eventually my mind shut down and I was pulled into the deep abyss of sleep.

The next day I woke up to the sound of voices. I looked around, but couldn't see anyone. Still, their conversation was clearly ringing through my head.

"I can't believe that we're having to run patrols today. Would one morning off really kill us?" One of them complained.

"No kidding. It's a good thing we can't get hungover. Still, didn't get much sleep." The other replied.

"Will you two just shut up? We do still have a duty here, and I gave you last night off. Just quit complaining for 10 minutes and run your routes!" the other commanded.

"Yeah, yeah. You're the boss. I guess I'll take the east and – hey wait, do you guys feel that?" the first one asked.

"Feel what Jared?" the leader responded. Jared…I think he was one of Sam's followers.

"There's…something in the air. It's almost like someone's phased, but there's some kind of distortion. I can't see them." He replied. Phased? What were these people talking about. Better yet, how could I hear them?

"I've got a scent" the third one said. Was it me that they were coming for? If so, could I take on three of whatever was coming? I at least wasn't going to be caught off guard. If it was me they were trying to track, they'd have a surprise waiting for them.

I scampered up a large tree and perched on the largest branch I could find. Either this dream was the most vivid thing ever or I really was still some kind of wild animal. No matter what, I wasn't falling into whatever trap these other people were trying to set.

I heard them approaching through the woods. A rustling of the forest nearby gave way to three giant wolves stalking into the small area that I had been camped in.

"The scent ends here." One of them said.

"If there's someone near, we need to take care of them. There's nobody else showing the signs, so this must be a rogue or someone from another pack. We need to track it down." The leader commanded. Ok...that's just weird. I can hear a group of wolves communicating? More importantly, I was right. They were after me and weren't happy about my being here.

They began sniffing around the area. Then the brown one was right underneath my branch. If I could take him out, then I might have a chance against the other two. With that thought, I launched myself downward, driving my full weight down onto him.

"What the hell!" he screamed out. I locked my teeth down on his throat before he could recover. I didn't bite in though. Did I really want to kill him? I mean, I loved wolves and these just seemed so...human.

Suddenly I saw the other two appear several feet away. They kept their distance, knowing that I had their comrade in my grasp.

"Uh…guys, any ideas? I'd kinda like to make it back to the reservation today." He tried joking.

"Shut up Jared. We don't know what this guy wants. I don't want to risk you getting hurt." The leader said.

"Oh come on Sam. 20 bucks says you can take him before he kills me. Whatcha say? You succeed and pay up. If you don't, then take it out of my wallet." He chuckled nervously. Wow…that's pretty impressive. I guess we all have our coping mechanisms to situations.

The grey one took a step forward with his teeth bared. I closed my teeth a little tighter around his friend's neck and let out a growl. "Stand down Paul!" Sam commanded. Wait a minute…Sam, Jared, and Paul? The hall monitors?

"Wolf. Can you hear me?" Sam asked.

"Yes" I thought. But how was I going to let him know that?

"Wait, if you understand me, that means you share my pack link. Who are you?" he demanded.

Had he heard me? "Embry Call. What's it to you?" I responded.

"Wait, isn't Embry supposed to be Makah? He shouldn't be able to phase." Paul questioned.

"Umm…more important issue. Any chance you can ask him to not kill me? Or can I? Hey um…Embry. Can you not kill me?" the wolf below me asked.

"That depends. Do you plan on attacking me?" I asked.

"No. It looks like you're part of this pack, even if I can't see into your mind like I can with everyone else. We are not enemies." Sam replied.

I felt satisfied with the answer. I released Jared from my grip and backed away slowly.

"So…thanks for not ending me." He said as he scrambled back up.

"Yeah…sorry about that. I heard you guys coming and you were talking about dealing with me. Kinda got a hostile vibe there." I said, trying to be light about the fact that I could've just killed one of them.

"It's weird. I can't pick up much from you unless you want it to be seen. I thought that it meant that there was a rogue or something. Plus, you weren't really expected to be capable of phasing" Sam said.

"I could see your thoughts and your speaking to each other. It's a bit weird. Never been inside someone else's mind…" I mumbled.

"So, we're just going to forgive him for almost killing Jared?" Paul barked.

"Yeah, we are. No harm, no foul. Plus, I'd be willing to put $10 that I could've escaped before he finished me" Jared laughed.

"I'll take your bet if you want to test that theory" I chuckled.

"See, I like this guy!" he responded. All animosity was gone after that.

I spent the rest of the day with them. I learned that I was part of their pack and because of it I was expected to help protect the reservation. Talking to Sam, I learned that it was likely that we were brothers. The bloodline was only strong in a few families. Quil & Jake were the other two, but their families had always been stable. Sam's dad, however, was more known to be wild. Sam didn't seem to really like the fact, but he welcomed me into his pack anyway.

I learned the basics that first day. The fact that we had a truce with vampires nearby surprised me. Apparently we hunted those that killed humans. We also shredded our clothes if we were still wearing them, but we could avoid it by tying them to our legs before the transformation. We would have patrols, could communicate mentally while we were wolves, and needed to be careful around normal humans. I was given permission to explain this all to my mother if I wished, but I wasn't really interested in doing that right now. I was a bit afraid of how she'd take it or that she'd think I'm on drugs or something. I went back home that night, finally being told how to "phase" back. Mom wasn't pleased with my not coming home the night before, but she let it drop after a few minutes of lecturing. I felt relieved to return to my bedroom.

Memories of what had caused all of this flooded back into my head. Quil…it hurt to think about him. I wouldn't be able to talk to him or Jake anymore, but that probably was for the best since they wouldn't want me around at this point anyway. At least I had the pack. They didn't seem so bad now that I knew why they were so tight knit. Still…what would they think if Quil phased. They couldn't read my mind, but how would they react once they found out I was gay? These troublesome thoughts plagued my mind as I drifted off into a restless night of sleep.

The next day was interesting. I had my first true set of patrols, running the borders with the others. There were four of us at this point. Sam was our Alpha, larger in both his human and wolf forms than any of us. He had the ability to use an Alpha Command on anyone in the pack and no one could refuse it. I shuddered at the thought that someone had that much power, but Sam didn't believe in abusing it. I learned about his first phasing. My one night of shock was nothing compared to the two weeks he'd spent in the wilderness.

The second to have phased was Jared. Sam hadn't been able to catch the signs in time, so he hadn't been there to warn him before the change. He quickly caught word that the boy had disappeared though, and after a few days Jared had been able to phase back. Paul was fortunate in that he'd actually been prepped for what was coming. Still, as someone who was always short-tempered without the wolf gene, he had a lot of trouble controlling it. He'd been working on that though. Apparently Sam had done this thing called imprinting on a girl named Emily, but in a fit of rage had scarred her. I'd never actually met her, but the pack had felt every bit of pain that Sam had from the instance. Apparently she had forgiven him though, but everybody took the somber lesson out of it. In fact, both of the others had imprints as well. Jared had connected with a girl from his class named Kim. He hadn't told her about the wolves, but he would be allowed to if he ever felt comfortable with it. Paul had imprinted on a girl I'd seen a few times. Her name was Leah and her parents were part of the council with Jake & Quil's family heads. She was aware of the legends, but didn't know about their truth yet either. It was expected that her brother would someday join us though. I'd hung out a bit with him in the past, mainly because he was so loyal to Jake. What did this mean for me? All three wolves in the pack had found a soul mate. Was I capable of it? Would fate put me with some girl? I couldn't help but wonder if I'd be that upset if I found someone to be devoted to. At least that would get my mind off of Quil…

After several hours of patrols, Sam instructed us to all meet up at a certain location. We converged and I pulled on my cutoffs. I'd always wondered why Sam and his followers always wore such minimal clothing, but our extremely high temperatures made a full set of clothes stifling, not to mention that they'd be awkward to carry on our leg.

We walked out of the woods when I began to take in the sounds of the region. Waves were crashing on rocks. I immediately froze. We were at the ocean. I hated the ocean. I'm not particularly afraid of many things, but that endless body of water scares the shit out of me. I'd once got in a fight with a riptide as a child and never shaken the feeling of helplessness that came with it. I was on the verge of drowning, having lost the ability to fight it any longer. Some guy had pulled me out as I began to sink, but I never got over it. Since then, I hadn't left the sandy shores and I had no interest in changing that. To put it simply, standing here on the cliffs terrified me.

I began to hang back as the others called to me. "Come on, Embry!" Jared yelled.

"Uh…no, I'm good. Not a big fan of the ocean." I murmured.

"Oh come on, you're a wolf! Nothing can hurt you out there. Consider it your rite of passage." Paul said, walking towards me.

"Sorry guys. I don't really want to do whatever it is you have in mind." I said, slowly stepping back towards the forest.

Suddenly Paul was right in front of me, a glint in his eye. I wasn't fast enough to stop from being thrown over his shoulder. Panic ensued as he began walking towards the edge of the cliff. I was thrashing and beginning to hyperventilate, but Paul was just laughing at my reaction. It wasn't until I began trembling on the verge of phasing that they realized that I wasn't joking.

"Paul! STOP!" Sam's voice resonated around us. Paul just looked at him before walking back to the woods and putting me down. I slowly began to breathe again as I felt the terror beginning to subside. As the tremors began to fade, I became aware that the others were looking at me oddly.

"I…really don't like the ocean" I mumbled, reddening at the admission of my fear. Only Quil & Jake knew about that. They had been there that day...

"Sorry. I didn't think that you were being serious. Didn't mean to be so much of an ass." Paul apologized.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just gonna head home. You guys have fun." I said, turning back into the woods. With that, I headed back. As much as I appreciated the pack, I really wanted to just have some time to wrap my head around everything.

Quil's POV

I had hoped that I might get a chance to talk to him. It didn't take me long to realize that I didn't want my best friend to hate me. I at least needed to seek his friendship back. I didn't deserve it, but I couldn't imagine my life without him being near me. I just hoped he would forgive me for being so harsh to him.

I didn't see Embry the day after the fire. Jake and I hung out in his garage, but it wasn't the same. Watching him work wasn't nearly as interesting without Embry there to talk to. The next day, we walked along the beach. It was a nice day and he wanted to actually spend some time in the sun. It was a rare instance where it actually made an appearance after all. As we walked along, something suddenly caught my eye. I looked up to see Sam and his minions approaching the cliff. It wasn't unusual to see them together doing stupid things. They got a rush out of pulling stunts like cliff-diving. What shocked me is that there was another person standing near them. They may have been quite far away, but I'd recognize that tall figure anywhere…Embry.

What is going on? Embry…with them? And near the cliff at that? I watched as he struggled against one of them before getting put down and walking away. I knew he would want to put distance between him and the water. He wasn't the biggest fan of the beach, but the cliffs? Those jerks didn't know how terrified he really was. He shouldn't be near them. They don't know anything about him!

That's when it hit me. He'd chosen to start spending time with them. I'd truly driven him away. He had joined Sam's cult – a group that we had often voiced our disdain for – because I had turned him away. Not even I could fake a smile as that realization sunk in. Embry had distanced himself from me, and even though I completely deserved it, it hurt to see my best friend gone. Dammit, why did I have to be such a coward?

I kinda like writing a slight glance from the opposite POV. Obviously, it's not enough to really capture everything from both sides, but I enjoy the quick look. If enough people don't like it, I could drop it. Wouldn't want to detract from the primary POV after all. Looking forward to hearing your opinions!

Also, my goal is to update this twice a week. It may not always be possible, as real life does have me busy at times, but I will do my best to have a chapter ready for posts midweek & during the weekend.