AN: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews. I know I say this every time, but I truly do appreciate your feedback. I know that some of you are probably annoyed at my use of a cliffhanger. I just enjoy them so much! Plus it let me decide where to go with this chapter, so I hope you enjoy the end result! And now, we'll go to a cutaway scene that has nothing to do with the situation! No, not really, but that would be kinda funny...

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Whatever you're looking for will actually be in the first place you looked. You just missed it the first time."

Quil's POV

I watched in horror as the creature's head descended towards my neck. I momentarily wondered if it would be smart to phase back, but the vice grip hold from the leeches on either side of me prevented me from going through with it. It would just mean I'd be ripped apart in one quick motion. Instead I tried to struggle, but the leader closed his fist around my windpipe.

"Now, now, none of that. Just be a good little dinner and stop squirming" he chuckled.

All of a sudden, his smirk disappeared and he turned around quickly, only to have his head taken clean off his body. What was left of him collapsed to the ground and over the remains stood a grey wolf. It was smaller than me, but was obviously fast. I'd never seen this wolf before, but I was grateful for its appearance.

Suddenly the vampire to my right was knocked off of me, tackled by a blur that looked to be a sand-colored wolf. The grey one helped it rip the leech apart, and in the confusion, I was able to reach around and quickly destroy the remaining bloodsucker on my left. I could hear through the link that my brothers had taken care of the other group that had emerged, but none of us recognized the pair of wolves in front of us.

"Thanks for the help, but who are you guys?" I asked, not feeling anything from them. Were they even pack? Could they understand me?

Slowly I felt their consciences rise through, overcoming their wolves' dominance of the situation. They were pack alright, and it was suddenly obvious who the pair was. As images and thoughts flooded out of them, we recognized them quickly: the Clearwaters.

"Seth!" I heard Jake exclaim, just as Paul called out to Leah. The two newcomers collapsed to the ground, finally being overcome with the draining feeling of the transformation. We also got an inside look at what had happened.

Apparently Harry had had a heart attack. Despite attempts to restart it, he hadn't made it. Upon hearing the news, Leah had phased as she ran out the door. Seth had seen her and the dual revelations of his loss and seeing Leah phase had triggered the gene to prematurely activate in him. He hadn't gotten out of the house, however, and we saw as he scampered towards the nearest door, breaking everything in his path to escaping the house. If it wasn't for the tragedy of knowing that they'd just lost a family member, I'd have been tempted to joke about the mess. Not even I was that callous though and I felt bad for the pair. I only barely remembered finding out about my father's passing, but I knew this was hard for them.

It wasn't long before Paul broke through the trees, quickly making his way to Leah and wrapping around her sulking figure. This wasn't too much of a shock, and I guess he'd just been saved the trouble of explaining about the wolves. What nobody expected was the russet-colored wolf to burst through just after Paul. He was immediately beside Seth, trying to provide as much comfort as he could to the depressed pup. I'd heard that Jake had been acting odd for a while, blocking his thoughts whenever possible. Nobody had been able to see anything that he didn't want them to, which was apparently rare for such a new pack member. I hadn't really been around very much since I'd first phased. In all reality, this was the first time that I'd been phased with all of the others, with the exception of that brief loss of control earlier today. I've been by Embry's side since I found him in the cave, so it was weird to hear everyone's thoughts. I didn't have the control that Jake did, however, and they all had become immediately aware of the fact that I loved Embry. Not that I cared, but I knew that Em might want to keep things private. Oh well, nothing could be done about it now.

I watched in amazement as both of the Clearwaters looked up at the wolves beside them and could feel the change in their demeanors immediately. The feeling of watching them both imprint simultaneously was completely overwhelming. We all stood in awe as the double imprints were sealed. The emotion flowing between the two couples was something that no one had experienced like this. Still, even though they were feeling the pull, we could still sense the sadness in the siblings over the loss of their father. I felt bad for them, but I had to admit that I was a bit jealous of their imprinting. I wanted to imprint on Embry; to show him how much I really cared for him.

Even if by some crazy circumstance I didn't imprint on him, I wanted his wolf back. If he could phase, at least I could let him see and feel how much I cared for him. How even without the imprint, I wanted to make him happy and protect him. If I was better with words, maybe I could convey that, but I'm not very elegant. I just wanted my Embry back.

That's when I was pulled from my thoughts by remembering what had happened to start this all. I ran over to Embry, phasing back as I got to his side. Embry was unconscious, but his heart was still beating. There was blood running from a gash in his head and as I lifted up his shirt slightly, I could see the quick bruising that indicated that he likely had some broken ribs. He was hurt and even if he had our healing, I'd have still been worried. Considering that he was basically a human now, I was terrified.

Sam burst through the woods and phased back beside me. I looked over at my Alpha and saw that his face showed an uncharacteristic amount of fear. I'd never actually seen him show that before and it did nothing to help me.

"Let's pick him up, gently. I've already sent Jared to the Cullens. They'll be ready for him when we get there." He stated. I don't know why the neighboring vampires were so friendly to us, but I wouldn't complain. I trusted Dr. Cullen more than any other doctor in the region, even if his kind was supposed to be our enemy.

We carried Embry quietly through the woods. It was a miracle that we'd been near the border to the Cullens' house, so the trip wasn't nearly as long as it could have been. Still, every grimace that Embry made caused me to cringe. He might not be conscious, but by the looks of it he was still feeling a lot of pain.

We reached the house and found Jared and the doctor waiting for us. Carlisle took one look and quickly had us lay Embry down on what looked like a hospital bed in one of the side rooms of the house. The place had all of the equipment of a hospital and I at least knew that we'd brought him to the right place. With Sam and a couple of the Cullens inside, they pushed me out of the room and closed the door behind them. Sam felt that I would be at risk to phase if I was in there, and I hated the fact that he was right. My emotions were completely unstable and watching them work on Em would have probably set me off. I was told to sit and wait for them to get back to me. This was all too familiar. I just hoped that he'd power through once again.

I sat in the living room for what felt like an eternity. It was probably only an hour or two, but every minute seemed to take forever to pass. Jared had briefly attempted to keep my mind off of it, but he quickly picked up that I wasn't in the mood to talk. I spent most of the time lost in my thoughts, not sure what I would do if things turned out badly.

Finally, I jumped up as Sam and Carlisle walked out of the room, both covered in blood. I looked between them anxiously as I waited for one of them to give me the verdict.

"It took a lot of work to repair some of the internal damage, but we think he's going to be alright" Carlisle said.

I felt all of my breath rush out of me in a sigh of relief. Still, I needed to be in there with him. I looked pleadingly at Sam and his nod was enough to send me dashing into the next room. Inside, Embry was lying on a different bed with a light blanket covering him. His torso and head were heavily bandaged, clear indicators of how much damage had been done. I sat down in the chair beside him, taking his hand in mine.

"Come back to me Em. Please come back to me" I whispered. Just like last time, I knew I wouldn't be able to leave his side for long until he woke up. I just hoped it was soon…

Embry's POV

I took in my surroundings. I was fully aware of where I was. It was the same world that I'd been in barely a week before. It was my wolf's world.

I began my search immediately. I knew that I needed to find him. This was probably going to be my last chance. I didn't know what state he'd be in or what kind of welcome I'd receive, but I had to try and get him back.

I felt that there was only one place that he would be. As I approached the cave where I'd last seen him, I sensed his presence within it. I sprinted inside and sure enough, he was there. I ran to his side, throwing my arms around him again. He whimpered in pain at my embrace and I realized that he was badly wounded.

Running to the river, I took my shirt off and soaked it in the water. I began to try and clean his wounds, returning to the water to rinse out the blood that kept filling my shirt. After over an hour, I had most of his large wound cleaned up, but the gash were still there. I looked through the cave, but the only thing that I found was the tool that caused the wound in the beginning.

I'd have preferred medical supplies, but I'd have to make do. I stripped off my cutoffs, not caring that it left me nude. This was my wolf's plane of existence, what did it matter? I sliced the denim, creating a long strip to wrap around his body. It took some maneuvering, but I eventually had it wrapped around him, my shirt placed at the large injury that I'd inflicted on him. It was enough to provide pressure and I had to hope that it would help. He looked weak and I knew that he couldn't hunt. When he'd last eaten was beyond me and he needed energy to heal himself.

I headed out of the cave, following my senses. I still felt like a predator in this world and I was going to use that to my advantage. Sure enough, my instinct led me to a deer that I was quickly able to overpower. Dragging it back to the cave, I placed it in front of the injured wolf. He looked at me guardedly as I nudged him.

"You need to eat. Please…" I murmured, running my hand over his head. He turned and grasped my bad arm in his mouth, a sad look in his eyes as he squeezed his jaw slightly.

"I know. I know what I did betrayed you too. I'm so sorry for hurting you. I understand if you don't trust me, but please accept my help to get you well again. Even if you won't stay with me, I don't want you to suffer…" I said quietly. Of course I'd love for him to take me back, but he had to recover to ever have a shot at that and no matter what, I still felt guilty for harming him so willingly. I needed him to get better, even if he would never trust me again.

He released my arm, turning his head to the meal I'd brought him. I pushed it closer to him as he opened his mouth and began to devour the creature. Sure, the move was purely an animalistic will to survive, but it was a start at least.

After that, I ferried water back and forth to help him wash down the carcass. My hands weren't the most efficient way to bring large quantities of refreshment, but it was all I had. He lapped it out of my hands each time I returned. Eventually he turned his head away and attempted to get some sleep. I was tired, but I needed to make sure nothing attacked us. Staying up to watch over him was well worth it.

This went on for a few days. The wolf seemed to be regaining some of his energy. By the third day he even limped to the river himself. I still hunted for him, but he was making a lot of progress. I didn't know if he was going to forgive me, but at least he looked like he'd be all right.

As time passed, I began to talk to him. His ears perked up when I mentioned Quil, so I told him about our time together, hoping that we'd be able to find him. I even talked about how Quil's wolf had wanted to punish me for hurting his mate and how I didn't blame him for his anger. The wolf seemed to be taking in everything, but I had no clue what he thought of it all.

On the fifth day, I was woken up by a nudge from his snout. It was the first sleep that I'd had since arriving here. As I looked up, I could feel elements of the world beginning to slip away and knew that I was about to depart back to my realm. I looked at my wolf sorrowfully.

"Are you going to be OK?" I asked him. He nodded slowly.

"I know I don't deserve it, but I hope you'll forgive me. I'll understand if you move on though" I murmured, running my hand over his ear.

He licked my face and for the first time since I'd betrayed him, I felt his presence inside me. It was extremely weak right now, but it gave me hope that maybe we'd be able to be one again. The world disappeared from around me and I was suddenly awake, slowly looking around the room that I was in. I didn't recognize it, but the windows reminded me of the Cullens' house.

I saw Quil sitting beside me, sleeping with his head on my hand. I watched him resting, glad that he was at my side. After a while, he slowly lifted his head before jumping at the realization that I was looking at him.

"Em! You're awake!" he exclaimed.

"Hey to you too, Quil." I chuckled, stopping immediately as I felt the throbbing in my ribcage. I vaguely remembered getting thrown into a rock after being chased through the woods by a couple of leeches, but not much else.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

I was about to answer when I felt an odd tingling in my arm and looked over to see that the wound that I'd inflicted was beginning to seal itself. It wasn't nearly as quick as it had been back before all of this, but I think it was my wolf's way of showing that he was there. I knew it was too soon to try and phase, but this was better than nothing.

"I've got a feeling that everything's going to be alright" I said, a slow smile forming. It might take some time, but I had my first real hope that my wolf and I were going to be back to how we were, if not even better. Maybe then I could finally be the mate that Quil needed…

Well then, there you have it! Quil got saved (even if it was from an unexpected source), there were more imprints, and the dream world struck again! What did you think? As always, I encourage you to leave your feedback, positive or otherwise. It seems that the weekends are the only time I get to write, so it probably won't be until then that I get another chapter started.