First let me thank those of you who have reviewed. I really appreciate you taking the time to leave comments!

Chapter title taken from the song "Across the Sky" by Emilie Autumn from the album "Enchant"

"Look into the shadows, step into the mist

Search your land but doubt never I still exist."

-Emilie Autumn

The minute I walked into the lobby of the restaurant Jill and I had agreed to meet at, I got a very bad feeling. It was a lot fancier than I had expected. Jill had suggested it and since my end of the conversation had consisted of a lot of 'umms' and 'yeahs' I was just happy she was still willing to meet up with me. Now I was thinking we should have met at Applebee's or something. I mean any restaurant called "Mangez Bien" wasn't a place I wanted to consume anything.

As I stood in the lobby I tugged nervously at my T- shirt. I hadn't bothered to bring a change of clothes to work with me as I had assumed I would be heading straight home. Unfortunately that meant I was stuck wearing the plain black T-shirt I wear under my work uniform. Standing there in a T-shirt and slightly dirty pants, I was feeling extremely self-conscience. Especially with the Maitre'd staring me down like I had "Property of the State" tattooed on my forehead.

"I'm waiting for someone," I finally said abruptly after he threw yet another dirty glance in my direction.

"Of course sir," he said, his voice laced with contempt. "But perhaps you'd be more comfortable waiting outside."

I looked outside where it was currently pouring rain and made a face. "No I think I'm fine here."

The Maitre'd - whose name was Roland by the way, who the hell is named Roland? – glared at me.

"It's just that this is a high end establishment and you…" He waved a hand at me, but didn't finish the sentence.

"I'm sorry?" Was this guy serious?

"Well it's just that our clientele are not usually…" he trailed off again.

I snorted in disbelief. "The clientele aren't usually what? Mechanics? Native American?"

"Sir, I'm only saying that perhaps next time you could dress a little more appropriately."

I wanted to say that perhaps the next time he spoke to me I would stick my boot up his ass, but I refrained. What a complete tool. I was just beginning to wonder if I should cut my losses and bolt at the speed of mach, like, infinity rather than deal with him anymore, when Jill walked in.

The minute I saw her, my anger at the Maitre'd lessened a bit. She was wearing a very attractive dress in black and white. The hem of the dress just skimmed the middle of her thighs. Not to revealing, but just right. As I watched her approach I decided Jill was definitely worth taking a little abuse at the hands of a complete jackass.

She walked up to me, confidence exuding in her every step. "Hi, you made it," she said.

"Umm, yeah what…how're you doing?" Can you believe I don't date more often? I'm so awesome at it.

Jill smiled. "I'm fine. I'm glad you made it. I thought maybe you wouldn't come."

"Yeah well, I always come when I say I'm going to."

"Good to know," Jill grinned.

My eyes widened as I realized how that sounded. "What? No, wow, okay that came out very wrong. I totally didn't mean the double entendre that that was. I'm really sorry, I suck at this." I ducked my head when I felt my cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"It's fine, I knew what you meant," Jill said with a giggle.

"I'm sorry," I said again.

Jill gave me a beguiling smile. "You're sweet. And very tall by the way. How tall are you?"

I shrugged. "Umm, I don't know like six three, six four, something like that."

"Wow that's tall."

"Yeah, though I'm not the tallest guy I know. There are a few guys taller than me on the rez, so….yeah. We can practically have our own basketball team." I gave a nervous chuckle. It sounded a little maniacal and I winced internally. Maybe I should just carry around a cardboard cutout of a hot chick and put a little sign on it that says 'If You Are This Hot Do Not Speak to Me Lest I Make a Complete Fool of Myself'. That'd keep 'em away if my sparkling personality and outstanding conversational skills didn't do the trick.

"The rez?"

"Umm, yeah, the Quileute rez in La Push."

"So you're Native American?" Jill sounded shocked. "Wow, I just thought you had a great tan."

I gave her a bewildered look. She wasn't serious right? "Sorry, what?"

Jill burst out laughing at my confusion. "Embry, I'm totally joking with you."

"Oh." I couldn't think of anything to say. An awkward silence filled the air and I was really beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea at all. This chick was way out of my league and maybe she had just realized that. It seemed like forever before Jill spoke again, and thank God she did because at that point the sands of time had all but washed back into the ocean.

"I've never been to La Push, though I've heard it's really pretty up there."

I had just opened my mouth to speak when the Maitre'd cleared his throat rudely. "Would you care to be seated?"

"Oh yes, thank you," Jill told him.

His eyes roved up and down me again and with a sneer he said, "I found a lovely table in the back."

I made a face. "Actually I was hoping to get a table put right here." I indicated the middle of the lobby. "That way everyone can check out the badly dressed mechanic eating at your 'high end' establishment."

Jill gave me a quizzical look.

Roland glanced nervously at Jill. "I'm quite sure I don't know what you're talking about sir," he said snobbily.

I just shook my head. "It's okay. I understand your contempt. I mean I'd be miserable too if I had to tackle life toting around the name Roland."

Roland glared at me but just snapped up two menus and motioned a hostess over.

"Show them to table C3." He all but threw the menus at the poor girl.

"Follow me please," the hostess said confusion evident in her voice.

I patted Roland on the shoulder as I passed him and said, "Well as much as I would love to stay here and be offended, I'm going to go eat. Have a nice day, douchebag."

"That was amazing," Jill said after we were seated.

Roland wasn't kidding. He had us hidden so far in the rear of the restaurant I was beginning to wonder if we'd have to signal a passing ship to make our way back to land.

"What was amazing?" I asked as I unfolded my napkin and put it on my lap.

"The way you dealt with that jackass Maitre'd back there." She gave me an intrigued look.

I shrugged. "Guys like that bug me. I hate it when people think they're better than someone else."

Jill smiled. "You're not what I expected at all."

"Well, I mean you don't know me. Why would you expect anything?"

"Oh, no, I didn't mean anything by that. It's just that at the dealership this afternoon and on the phone you were sort of…." She trailed off.

"I was sort of what?" I wasn't sure I was going to like the direction this conversation was headed.

"Well, you were sort of, I don't know bumbling and nervous." At my mortified look she added, "It was cute and endearing!"

"Cute?" I groaned. "No guy wants to be referred to as cute."

"I'm sorry!" Jill leaned her elbows on the table and gave me a sexy smile. "I also thought you were totally hot."

"Oh umm, thanks." I felt myself blushing again and was thankful that my dark skin helped hide my embarrassment. "So, Jill, umm tell me something about you."

"Like what?"

"I don't care. Anything." Anything please to keep me from having to speak.

Jill thought for a moment then said,"Well I'm eighteen and I graduated in May from the Andrews-Osborne Academy."

I frowned. "Andrews? Never heard of it."

"It's a private boarding school in Ohio."

"You went to boarding school in Ohio? They have boarding schools in Ohio?" I was stumped.

Jill laughed. "Yes they have boarding schools in Ohio. Andrews has an excellent equestrian center which is why I chose to go there."

"You're into horses huh?"

Jill had a laid back air about her that I liked. It made me feel a little less self-conscience and I was actually starting to relax a bit.

"I love them," she said with a huge smile. "I have two right now, a Dutch Warmblood that we imported from the Netherlands and a Selle Français imported from France."

I nearly choked on the sip of water that I had just taken. "You imported your horses? That had to of cost a lot."

I mean I had figured Jill had money what with driving a Lexus and all, but now with the boarding school and imported horses I was beginning to wonder just how much money she really had. It was very disconcerting. Why would some rich girl be interested in a mechanic from La Push? I began to really wonder if Jill's asking me out was some sort of rebellion against her parents. Which was definitely within the realm of possibility. I could just imagine what her parents would say if I showed up at their door. I felt myself tense up again.

"Yeah, well I do jumpers and if you want to be competitive, especially back east, you have to have a good horse. It's all very snooty," she said with a laugh.

"Sounds like it," I said.

"So Embry, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well, you said you lived on the reservation. What's that like? Where'd you go to school? How'd you end up working in Port Angeles? Give me the scoop."

"Umm, I don't know there's not much to say I was born in La Push I still live there and I work at the dealership." My words came out in a rushed jumble and I wondered if she had been able to understand anything I just said.

She reached forward and put her hand over mine. "Embry, relax. I promise I'm not going to bite."

"Yeah, sorry I can't help it," I said. "I just, I kind of suck at this, in case that wasn't painfully obvious."

She smiled. "It's okay, it's cute. "

At the look on my face she amended, "Sorry, not cute. It's charming." She took her hand off of mine and sat back in her chair. "So you grew up in La Push and work at the car dealership? That's your whole life in a nutshell?"

"Well for a while there I was in elementary school," I said.

Jill laughed. "All right. So did you graduate high school?"

I took another sip of water and nodded. "Yeah from the Tribal School."

"Did you have a high school sweetheart?" She asked with an impish grin.

I shook my head. "Not really."

"Really? That surprises me," she said.

I shrugged. "Well a lot of girls think you're weird if you're smart and I don't know how to act dumb. Well, I mean except for when I attempt to have a conversation."

"So you're smart huh?"

I frowned. "What I don't look like a smart guy?"

She held up a hand. "I didn't say that."

"Because I am," I said indignantly.

"Modest too," She laughed.

I made a face. "Who needs modesty?"

"Ohh, he's getting lively. I like it. So since you're so smart, do you plan-"Jill was interrupted by our waitress.

After we placed our orders she continued her questioning. "Do you plan on going to college?"

"I'm taking some classes at Peninsula right now." I said.

"What do you want to do?" She asked.

"I want to eventually get a degree in biochemistry," I told her.

Jill gave me a surprised look. "Really?" Her tone was one of amazement. "You didn't strike me as the science nerd type of guy."

"I like science. I like knowing how things work. Why things are the way they are. I don't just look at something and say, oh that's a pretty tree or whatever. I look at it and think, how is this tree working on a molecular level. What makes it do what it does, what makes it tick inside. I mean if you think about it, it's fascinating. Everything we see and touch on a daily basis is made up of all this matter. Take this table we're sitting at right here. It's composed of millions of molecules….." I trailed off. "Sorry I sometimes get carried away."

Jill was looking at me as though she was seeing an interesting, if somewhat perplexing animal exhibit. After a few moments when she still hadn't spoken, I began to fidget. "Sorry," I said again. "I know what you're thinking. You're thinking 'why not just throw in a filibuster on CNN and an accountant explaining how to do income taxes and make this officially the most boring date ever'."

Jill slowly shook her head. "No it's fine. I'm the one who's sorry, I don't mean to stare but I honestly didn't think you could get any sexier and then you just you know….blew me away."

My skin burned hotter than ever and I shifted my gaze to the tablecloth.

"You're really uncomfortable when I talk about how hot you are, aren't you?" Jill sounded amused.

I shrugged, but didn't look up. "Not really," I said quietly. I busied myself with picking at a loose thread in the tablecloth's elaborate embroidery and debated whether I should file a complaint with Roland about the substandard material they used to cover their 'high end' tables.

"Well I have a tendency to speak my mind. Don't worry you'll get used to it." she informed me.

"Okay," I said quietly.

We sat in silence for a few moments. Finally Jill spoke. "How come you're not going to a four year school? I mean you're very smart, and you certainly aren't old or anything. How old are you?"

"Almost twenty," I said. "But it's a moot point because I can't go anywhere."

"Sure you could. Fall semesters don't start for a few months. You could still apply and get into a really good school."

"It's not that simple," I muttered.

"Yes it is."

Ahh yes, spoken like someone who has had everything handed to her on a silver platter.

"Can we not talk about this," I snapped. "It's just not something I can do right now."

My tone surprised her and she closed her mouth abruptly. I was saved from having to apologize yet again by the arrival of our food. Unfortunately our conversation had left a bad taste in my mouth and I suddenly wasn't very hungry. I pushed my food around my plate for a few minutes and then set my fork down.

"Look, I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just things aren't always so cut and dry. There are a ton of reasons why I can't go away to college right now and it's kind of a sore subject for me. I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"It's totally fine. I shouldn't have been so pushy about it. It's none of my business."

I gave a forced laugh. "Well, now that you can see what a schmuck I am when dealing with the ladies, what do you want to talk about?"

"You're not a schmuck," Jill said.

"At this point you're lucky I'm speaking in complete sentences. In case you've missed it, I'm not exactly the smoothest operator when it comes to chicks."

Jill made a face. "Well it'd probably help if you didn't refer to us as 'chicks'."

I grimaced. "See what I mean? How about you just escape while you can. I'll pretend to look the other way as you go."

"How about you give me your phone number instead."

I looked at her in surprise. "After how spectacular this date has been going so far, you actually want to hang out with me again?"

"Yes I do."

I couldn't hide my look of surprise. "Well that's aces. The bad news is I don't currently have a phone at my house." Quil had smashed the one house phone we had during the whole situation with Jacob. We hadn't had the opportunity to replace it yet.

Jill shrugged and grabbed her cell phone. "That's okay just give me your cell number. I didn't think people even used house phones anymore anyway."

"I don't have a cell phone."

Jill nearly dropped her own phone and stared at me. "You don't have a cell phone?"

I shook my head. "No."

"How can you not have a cell phone? How'd you call me this afternoon if you don't have a cell phone? I mean EVERYONE has a cell phone."

"I called you from my work phone because I don't have a cell phone. So obviously not everyone has one."

"How is that even possible? It's like basic technology."

I made a face. "Technology is for suckers," I said.

"Says the guy who wants to study biochemistry."

I laughed. "It's not that, it's just I mean La Push is literally like one square mile. Everyone I know lives there. What would I need a cell phone for? If I need to talk to someone I just walk down the street."

"How about for when a girl who is really into you wants to get in touch with you. How about for that?"

"Well to be fair that doesn't happen that often," I said.

"I don't believe that."

When I didn't respond she added, "Well what if there's an emergency? What if you're in a terrible car accident and you have to call nine-one-one? What then?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I just hope that I don't get into a terrible car accident." I couldn't tell her that even if I was in a car accident I couldn't call for an ambulance anyway, lest I become a pincushion for a bunch doctors wondering how someone whose body temperature is a steady one hundred and eight degrees is still alive in the first place.

"Well how am I supposed to get in touch with you if you don't have a phone?"

I thought for a moment. "I guess you can call the Tribal Office on the rez. You can leave a message with them, they can come find me, and I can call you back."

Jill pouted. "That's an awful lot of work just for a phone call. Are you on Facebook?"

"Facebook? What's this Facebook you speak of?"

Jill's eyes widened. "Tell me you aren't serious. The no phone thing is bad enough."

I chuckled. "I know what Facebook is and no I'm not on it. Again everyone I know lives within a mile of my house. It sort of negates the need for electronic relationships."

"Okay." Jill shook her head and motioned our waitress over. "Can you box our meals up and bring the check please?" she asked when our waitress came to the table.

"No problem, I'll be right back," the waitress said.

Well, I guess I really blew it. Apparently it's in bad form to have no way of communicating electronically. Our waitress returned with our check and boxes. As she set about emptying our plates into the boxes – Styrofoam by the way, not exactly what I would call 'high end' – I took the check, over Jill's protests. She had asked me out after all she reminded me. I hushed her and counted out the payment from my wallet. For two meals the check was almost sixty bucks. I tried not to grimace too noticeably as I handed our waitress basically every cent I had in my wallet.

Jill grabbed our boxes off the table and stood up. "All right, let's go," she said.

I stood up as well and trailed in Jill's wake toward the lobby of the restaurant. I was so absorbed in my thoughts on how I had just blown my chances with her that I nearly ran smack into Roland. Barely refreshed from his first round of making me hate him, Roland gave me a nasty sneer. "Have a good evening sir," he said in a tone of voice that made it very clear he hoped I in fact did not have a good evening.

I only shook my head in disgust. I wasn't in the mood for anymore verbal sparring with a complete imbecile.

Jill and I made our way outside and stood in front of the restaurant. It had stopped raining but there was still a gray mist hanging in the air.

"Well," I said. "It was nice to meet you."

"Oh you're not getting rid of me that easily," Jill laughed. "We're going for a ride."

"We are? Where?"

"Best Buy," Jill said.

"Best Buy? Why are we going to Best Buy?"

"Because we are getting you a disposable cell phone," Jill informed me.

I shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. "That's a good idea in theory, but I don't have any money to buy a phone."

"First of all those phones are really cheap-"Jill held up her hand to stop the protestation that was forming on my lips. "-secondly, it's my gift to you. I mean, I want to be able to get in touch with you and if you won't get a phone for yourself, then I'll just have to get one for you." Her tone indicated that there would be no further discussion on the subject.

I gave her a small smile. "Well, okay. You do realize though that if you buy me a phone, that means when you call, it's really still going to be me on the other end."

Jill smiled. "That's what I'm counting on."

Jill pulled the Lexus into Mangez Bien's parking lot and stopped next to my truck.

I looked over at her and fidgeted with the small black phone I was holding. "Well, thanks for the phone," I said.

"Thanks for dinner." Jill countered.

"Oh sure thing, no problem," I rambled. "I know you didn't really get to eat any of it, but it will make nice leftovers I'm sure-"

Jill pushed her finger against my lips. "Stop talking."

I nodded slowly. "Okay," I managed to say around her finger.

In one sudden, smooth movement, Jill was out of the driver's seat and in my lap.

"Oh, wow, okay, umm, hi, hello," I said clumsily.

"I have been wanting to do this all night," Jill whispered as she pressed her lips to mine.

After a moment she pulled back and smiled. "Just as good as I thought it would be, though I wasn't expecting you to be so warm." She pressed her palm to my cheek and frowned. "Do you feel okay? You're burning up."

"Well," I said, "It might have something to do with the gorgeous woman making out with me."

"Gorgeous, huh?" She leaned forward and kissed me again.

Man I forgot how good this could feel. I'd been so caught up with work and school and the pack that I hadn't dated anyone in ages. Jill's dress had been pushed up slightly when she had crawled out of her seat and my hands were resting on her thighs as we kissed. The smooth skin of her legs felt so delicious under my rough palms, I couldn't help the shiver that ran through me.

Jill pulled away again. "Are you sure you're okay?" She asked her voice laced with concern. "You're shivering."

"I'm okay," I managed to say hoarsely. "It's just been awhile since I've been in this position. You feel really, really good."

"How long is awhile?" Jill asked with a saucy smile.

"Too long," I admitted.

"Well we're just going to have to change that aren't we?" She pushed herself closer against me and ran her fingers through my hair, her nails scratching small circles on my scalp. I closed my eyes and swallowed heavily. My entire body was tingling in anticipation. I had just leaned forward to capture her lips in another kiss when there was a knock on the window.

I looked up into the harsh glare of a cop's flashlight that was being shone into the car. "Everything okay in here?" The cop asked gruffly.

Jill slid off my lap back into the driver's seat. I rolled the window down a crack. "Yeah, no, well, yeah we're fine. Everything's fine, yeah. We were just uhh, yeah, no, yeah." Doh. The bumbling idiot returns. I was wondering when he'd make another appearance.

"Make it quick kids. The Maitre'd called in a complaint."

Of course he did. Douchebag. "Sure thing, we were just leaving."

I rolled the window back up and groaned. "Well that was ten kinds of embarrassing," I muttered.

"I had a good time tonight, Embry," Jill said.

"You did?" I tried not to sound to dumbstruck.

"Yes, I did," she laughed. "Plus you're a really good kisser."

"Ahh, so the truth comes out. Fred Durst was right. You did in fact do it all for the nookie."

She laughed. "Damn right I did. So, I can call you right? I mean since I got you a phone and everything, it's only fair that I get to call you on it."

I nodded quickly. "You can most definitely call me."

She smiled. "Good." She leaned over and lightly brushed her lips against mine once more. "I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Please do." I reached down to pick up the phone from the floorboard where I had dropped it during our little make out session then opened the door and climbed out. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, Jill."

I closed the door and waited until she had pulled out of the parking lot before walking over to my truck. I leaned heavily against my door for a moment. Then with a stupid grin, I climbed into the cab and started my drive back to La Push.

"Where in the hell have you been?"

I was startled out of my make out daze by Seth's yell as I walked in the door.

"What's your problem?" I asked.

"You got off of work at five. It's now-" Seth glanced at his watch "-ten forty two. So I ask again where in the hell were you?"

"Sorry mom, I didn't realize you wanted me to check in," I gave him an annoyed glare.

"Well we were worried," Seth said.

"I wasn't worried," Quil informed me as he joined us in the living room. "I didn't care where you were." He leaned over towards me and inhaled deeply. "Though I can take a guess as to what you were doing."

I shoved him away. "Don't do that," I said.

"I made dinner and now it's all ruined because you weren't here," Seth pouted.

"Okay first of all, Rachel Ray here heated up a family pan of lasagna, so I wouldn't exactly call that cooking. Secondly he wouldn't let me eat until you showed up," Quil grumbled.

I spied the empty lasagna pan on the stove and raised an eyebrow.

"I got tired of waiting and I'm bigger than him," Quil explained.

"So? Where were you?" Seth asked again.

"Take a whiff of him, he was with a chick. Or hanging out in Bath and Body Works, which since its Embry is entirely possible," Quil said.

I held up my arm when Seth took a step towards me. "Don't even think about it," I said.

"I like Bath and Body Works. I like that one Sweet Pea smelling lotion. Leah used to wear it and it always made the bathroom at home smell good." Seth said.

"I'm partial to the Coconut Lime, myself," I said.

"Oh my God, could you two be more gay?" Quil sounded revolted.

"Well, we could be two guys who don't like girls and wanted to have sex with other guys. That would be more gay," I said.

"Whatever dude can we get back to the relevant topic? Who's the girl?" Quil asked.

"No one really," I said offhandedly. I didn't want to go into details with the two of them until I got to know Jill a little better.

"Ohhhh, did you imprint?" Seth asked.

I snorted. "No, I didn't imprint. I think it would have been a bit obvious if I had," I lowered my voice and indicated Quil. "Do I have that stupid look on my face?"

Quil frowned. "You should only be so lucky," he said.

"Well, are you going to see her again?" Seth pressed.

"I don't know, maybe," I replied.

"What's her name?" Quil asked.

"You know what, I really don't want to talk about it," I said.

Quil made a face. "I knew it. You're a lying liar who lies. You were hanging out in Bath and Body Works." He shook his head. "Such a disappointment."

"Is it too hard of a concept for you to grasp that I want to keep my personal life personal?"

"Like it matters, we'll just see it when we patrol anyway," Quil said. "Come on give me something. I'm not going to be dating for the next thirteen years, I need to live vicariously through somebody and if I have to hold my breath waiting for Seth to get a date, I'll keel over dead."

Seth glared at Quil. "Ohh you magnificent bastard," he said slowly. "You'll be sorry that you said that. I've totally got game."

"Really? When was the last time you went on a date?" Quil challenged.

"It was….I went…..it was with…shut up," Seth glowered.

"It doesn't matter anyway. Quil you were right. I was hanging out at Bath and Body Works. They have their new summer scent collection in. I was trying to get a buzz from the aromatherapy. It didn't work."

"Damn it," Quil muttered. "I hate it when I'm right. Did you buy anything?"

I shook my head sadly. "No, I was window sniffing."

Quil narrowed his eyes at me. "So you really weren't on a date?"

"Nope," I said. And then my pants burst into flames. Just kidding.

"Man, you guys are boring. I need new friends," Quil sauntered towards the kitchen.

Seth turned to me. "You know what I'm going to do the next time he tries to strong arm me?"

I shrugged. "Bend over?" I suggested helpfully. Thank you, I'll be here all night.

Seth sighed. "Very funny." He glanced over his shoulder to see if Quil was listening. "But seriously did you have a date?" He whispered.

"Yeah, but if it's all the same, I'd rather not talk about it."

"Well what's her name at least?" Seth asked.

"I'm not going to say her name," I said.

"Ohh, it's like that evil guy in Harry Potter. I mean no one can say his name." Quil piped up from behind the refrigerator door.

"And you're calling us gay?" I retorted.

"Fine, keep your secrets. I'll pry them from your mind eventually," Seth informed me.

I snickered as Seth took off for his room. Now my only goal was to keep my mind as occupied as possible so that I could have some privacy. That was the one of the suckiest things about being a wolf. The telepathy could really be a pain in the ass. I was determined to defy the odds and keep my thoughts to myself.