AN: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews, as always. I've really enjoyed writing this alternate realm, and you all have responded in a very supportive way. Thoughtful comments are incredibly useful for helping me develop and shape things, so I can't thank you enough. Now, we all saw some positive thoughts coming from Embry at the end of the chapter. Was that the turning point in the fight against Murphy's Law? Only time will tell hehe.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate"

Embry's POV

I stayed at the Cullens for a few days after waking up. It was while I was there that I quickly regretted ever thinking positively. You'd think I would have learned by now that things don't magically get better because one problem is solved. There's always more ready to take its place.

You see, one of the Cullens has the ability to see flashes of the future. Apparently they change as decisions are made, but that's not really the important part of the situation. The important part is that she saw a leech making an army and was intending to march towards us. I'd heard Quil talking about the redheaded one that was leading the charge. She had been mated to some guy the Cullens had killed and was friends with the bloodsucker that I had let escape. At least the pack had taken care of him later…

Anyway, she was coming to try and wreak havoc on the region. She was still furious at the Cullens for killing her mate after he'd attempted to track down Bella as his prey. They'd been afraid enough to go ahead and change Bella into one of them in order to prevent her from being the easy target. She was also not happy at us for killing the one that I've heard referred to as Laurent. They'd basically been a small coven, traveling the world together, and we'd ruined that existence. Long story short, she's been creating a newborn army in Seattle and was coming our way. Lovely.

Sam had agreed that the pack would train with the Cullens to examine the best ways to kill newborns, who apparently were a lot stronger & faster than regular vampires. Fortunately they lacked the intelligence that comes with years of experience. I was surprised at his willingness to work with the ones that we had a treaty with, but he did have the tribe and his imprint to think of. Allies are allies, no matter the species.

Quil didn't want to leave my side, but knew he needed to be at the field that they had designated for their sparring. We settled on me going and observing, even if we all knew that I wouldn't be able to fight. Quil phased and for the first time I actually got to marvel at the beauty of his wolf form. The chocolate brown looked stunning and as I ran my hand through his fur, I was amazed by how soft it was. He was amazing.

I was knocked from my musings by a slight nudge as he lowered himself so that I could climb on his back. This was the first time I'd left the Cullens' since the fight and the clean air was refreshing. Quil knew to keep his pace slow and trotted through the trees, preventing me from getting hit by them all. This was much nicer than being chased by a couple of leeches, even if what waited on the other end wasn't exactly a vacation.

We arrived in the clearing at about the same time as the rest of the pack. I couldn't hear any of them, but I understood as Quil set me down behind them and pushed me down softly with his snout. He may have trusted the Cullens to a certain extent, but he still didn't want me exposed to them during this fighting, even if it wasn't real.

I listened as the one they referred to as Jasper began talking about strategies. After explaining their strengths, weaknesses, and things to watch for, he began sparring with his family. It was lightening fast and I could only see the occasional blur. The pack seemed to be able to track every move and I was reminded of what I had lost, at least temporarily.

Over the past few days, the signs have been picking up that my wolf is getting stronger. It's almost like phasing for the first time all over again. My body temperature has been rising, but isn't quite up to what it was. My healing has picked up as well. Dr. Cullen was quite pleased that my internal injuries were mostly recovered and my leg had at least mended to a certain extent. I was sore everywhere, but it would have been so much worse if I had been a normal human.

After a while of watching, the pack joined in, fighting with the Cullens as well. I hated watching Quil step up to go against the brute of the group, a muscular vampire named Emmett. They were both strong fighters, but it took Sam blocking my path to keep me from interfering when the bear-sized vampire wrapped his arms around my imprint. Of course he didn't finish the maneuver, but we were all aware of what could have been and I could feel my wolf stirring underneath the surface. If this continued, maybe I'd be back to phasing before expected, I thought. Still, even as angry as he was at my imprint being attacked, we were both too weak to do anything about it. Hopefully that wouldn't be the case for too long though. Quil limped back over to me and lay down beside me, allowing me to run my hand through his fur. I knew he hated losing, but he was still a relatively new wolf as well.

As the Cullens wrapped it up, Quil leaned down for me to go for another ride. Instead of heading back to the Cullens' house, we were headed back towards the reservation. I was well enough to not need the doctor watching over me anymore, so I wasn't too surprised to see him trying to get away from them as quickly as possible. We arrived at his house and went inside before he called his family together. We had discussed the possibility of my living with him, but I had been somewhat afraid of another rejection. I mean, my parents hadn't wanted me, why should his?

"Mom, Gramps, I need to ask you guys something." Quil started.

"Go ahead son, you know you can talk to us." His mother responded warmly.

"Well, you guys know about what happened with Em. I was wondering if he could stay here with us in the guest room." He said, a slight pleading to his tone.

"Of course he can" Old Quil stated immediately. "We'd be happy to have him here. He's been your best friend for as long as I can remember." He concluded.

"Thank you guys…" I all but whispered before being pulled into a hug by Quil's mom. "You're already like family, hun. You're welcome here as long as you need a place to stay" she said, beaming at me. I didn't really understand their willingness to take a stray in, but I was eternally grateful.

We went up and Quil pointed out my stuff, already lying in the corner. "I kinda had a feeling that they'd not have a problem with it" he said with a little mischief in his voice.

It was nice having a regular bed again. Sure, the Cullens had me resting in one of their nice ones, but I never really felt comfortable there. Here, with Quil so close, I felt a warmth that couldn't be matched. I just wished that I could be in his room. Still, I had a feeling that he didn't want to risk his family's reaction to that news, so I understood completely.

The training went on for a few more days before the one with visions figured out when the redhead would come. Apparently she had been intentionally refusing to decide on a day until it was too soon to prepare adequately. As the small vampire announced, we had 2 days before the army would be here.

As Sam and the Cullens laid out their plans, Quil and I talked. I was going to stay with his family. They knew what was coming and as much as we tried to cherish the days that we had left together, we were afraid. He wanted me to be near others that could empathize, rather than just fretting by myself.

Those that knew of Sam and the others cherished their existence. The pack had been my first true feeling of community. Despite attacking Jared, we'd been pretty good and on the whole, it'd been a nice experience, even if I'd felt useless as a contributing member. The possibility of one of them not coming back hurt to even think about.

The night before the battle Quil came into my room around midnight. Considering what the next day could mean, it wasn't too surprising that we were anxious. He laid down on the bed beside me, pulling me close. It felt natural to snuggle into him and he sighed as I did it. There was no better place to be.

We talked throughout the night. A lot about what we wanted to do if everything turned out ok. We didn't know how long we'd be needed as wolves, but we both kinda liked the idea of it. We had never run patrols together, but we agreed that the freedom that accompanied being a wolf was unlike anything else. We just needed to get through this latest challenge first, however.

As the sun rose, I followed Quil as he headed into the forest. He was about to strip and phase when he turned and walked to me.

"Em…If anything happens to me…I need you to know that…I love you. I've always loved you, Em." He said, placing his palm on my chest.

"I love you too, Quil. I did mean it when I told you on the beach." I whispered back.

At that, he pulled me closer, smashing our lips together in a passionate, fiery kiss. Our tongues explored each others' mouth until we broke away at the sound of a howl, both breathing heavily and looking flushed.

He turned and phased into his beautiful wolf, preparing to join up with the pack.

"You better come back to me, Quil. I'll be waiting for you when you do" I said softly, running my hand through his fur one more time. With a simple nudge from his snout, he was off to war. All I could do was wait.

After watching Quil disappear into the forest, I went back to his house. After an hour or so, his mother came down and made breakfast. My appetite had been increasing over the past few days, but it was nowhere to be found today. We tried to make small talk, but we were just avoiding the main tension. She tried busying herself by cleaning house, but we both knew there wasn't anything that could really distract us. We'd be nervous until Quil came back, hopefully with news of a complete success. Anything less would be heartbreaking.

As the hours passed, our anxiety grew. I hadn't felt anything, which made me hopeful that Quil was still fine. I had to believe that I'd know if my imprint got hurt. Suddenly I caught a scent in the air. It smelled familiar, but my nose wasn't nearly as powerful as it had been. I walked out to the porch to investigate, hoping to see the pack coming through the trees at any moment. As I stepped out, a hand covered my mouth. It took me a moment to register the fact that there was a cloth in it, and by then it was too late. My vision began to fade into the darkness and I felt myself being picked up as I fell into a drug-induced sleep.

Quil's POV

After joining the pack, we made our way to the clearing. Victoria knew where we'd be. There was no hiding or deceiving. She had created an army for war and we were going to take her on headfirst. I was not going to let her creatures get through. My family, Embry, and everyone else on the reservation was counting on us, and we weren't going to let them down.

We picked up the deathly scent on the air and watched as what looked like hundreds of newborns closed in on us. We attacked as one, driving a giant wedge through the center of the mass before spreading out to clear the field of as many of the creatures as possible. I watched through the pack mind as we fought, all doing significant damage while receiving much damage. I was thrashing, tearing limbs off with every movement. There were so many that it was impossible to not connect with one of them. It was just a matter of keeping them from getting an advantage on us.

One of the leeches actually got its hands on Seth, but Jake had been quick to get rid of that threat. The two were attached, even in the midst of this chaos. The same could be said for Paul and Leah. The grey wolves worked in tandem, shredding anything that came into their path. To be honest, they were both so vicious that I don't think you could say that either was protecting the other. They were just taking care of business, side by side.

The numbers were slowly dwindling. With the strength of the pack and the individual talents of the Cullens working together, we were destroying these unorganized newborns without suffering more than cuts and bruises. Then, all of a sudden, they were no more. We looked around the battlefield, puffs of smoke rising from the countless bodies that we'd destroyed. We all had one thought on our mind: Where was the leader? We'd found her new mate leading this group, but she was nowhere to be seen.

I began to feel uneasy. I couldn't really explain it, but something felt extremely wrong. It was almost like the time that…oh shit, EMBRY! I took off through the woods, ignoring Sam's shouts. I'd only experienced this sensation once before, and that was when I'd first phased. Something was wrong and going by how I felt, it had to concern Em.

I made it back to my house when I caught the scent. The pungent, deathly odor that had been plaguing my nostrils for the past several hours was lingering around my home. I phased back, throwing on my cutoffs as I ran into the house, praying that my family was still alright. I sighed in relief as I saw Mom and gramps in the kitchen having coffee. Mom ran to me immediately and threw her arms around me as I continued to search frantically for the one person that was missing.

"Where's Em!" I practically shouted.

"I'm not sure. Haven't actually seen him in a while." She said, still holding me tightly.

I got free of her grasp and ran my hand through my hair. He'd promised that he would be here when I got back. There had been a leech here, of that I was sure, and Embry's absence pointed in one direction. Someone had taken him. I ran out the door, phasing in midair to call out to the pack. They picked up on my thoughts and immediately began heading in my direction. I didn't know who this leech thought it was, but I was going to do anything to get Embry back…

Embry's POV

I heard chatter and after a few moments I began to be able to understand the words. Whatever they had used on me had been some pretty powerful stuff.

"Do you hear that? His heart rate is picking up." A female said.

"We better put him out again. Don't want him stirring too much before we're ready for the fun" another female said.

I opened my eyes and saw the world as a blur. It wasn't long before I felt a needle being injected into my arm and as its effects began to settle in, I got a quick glimpse at my captor.

Her skin was dark, but slightly paler than mine. She had dark hair and was small in figure, but her ruby red eyes shined.

"Mom?" I asked pointlessly, immediately being overcome by the darkness once again.

I thought about writing the battle scene in depth again, but after two stories of trying to make it unique, I just didn't have any ideas for this one. Hope you found the little twist interesting enough to keep it from being too dull though!

Did you expect anything other than some type of a cliffhanger? Nothing like ending a chapter with things left unsettled! If you don't hate me yet, you might by the end of this note. It will likely be a while before I get another post up. Real life is swamping my time for the next few weeks, so I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to write again. If I get the opportunity, I might find a way to release one sooner, but there's a chance that it could be 3 weeks before I find the time to work on the next chapter. I do apologize and hope you all will rejoin me for the next chapter, whenever it comes out. As always, I love to hear your feedback and want to thank you for reading!