Chapter 5 – Embry's Blow Up

Just as everyone was about to settle down to eat, a knock sounded at the front door.

Sam heard the knock at the door as he excused himself from the table and walked over and opened the front door. Sam saw three of the elders of the council were standing on the other side of the door. He stepped aside inviting them into the house immediately. The pack stood and followed Sam and the three council members down the hallway to a private room.

Veronica swallowed hard when she watched as Embry told her to stay put and all the men and Leah left the table and walked down the hallway. "Is everything okay?" She noticed that the once homey feeling in the house was tense now; VERY TENSE.

Emily smiled at Veronica, "Everything is fine I'm sure. The boys all work for the tribe's council when they aren't working at the fire station. They should be returning to the table in a bit. No worries sweetie."

Jake had watched as the tribal council vanished into the house and knew he had better get his ass in there or he was going to get it. Jake jumped up and jogged back into the tree line as he phased and pulled his shorts on then jogged to the house, up the stairs of the porch and went crashing through the door. As soon as the back door slammed shut, Emily looked at Jake glaring he shrugged, "Sorry Em. I didn't mean for it to slam like that. Where is everyone?"

Emily nodded towards the office at the back of the house as she, Veronica and Kim sat at the kitchen table.

Veronica watched as the guys walked back out and sat back down at the table. Veronica made sure to push Embry to sit next to Leah, as she took her original seat back next to Paul so they could continue their conversation. Embry started to move towards her to probably move her again as she pointed her index finger at him, "Don't even think about it Embers. You will be sorry for being rude again."

Quil's eyebrows shot up and couldn't stop the laugh as it busted out of his mouth, "Damn Embry, your sister is a spit fire. I wouldn't be rude to her again; she may slap you into next week and meet you on Tuesday to do it again."

"You don't understand, Roni. I want to spend time with you; we've barely seen each other." He frowned, glaring at Paul when he had a smirk on his face, scowling. He ignored his sister's protests and moved her chair away from the table and away from Paul. "You stay away from my sister, Redson." He ordered, refusing to subject to his whoring ways. "We're friends, but I know what you're like with women and you're not about to touch my sister, are we clear?"

When Veronica went to say something, Embry held his hand up. "SHUT UP RONI!"

Paul growled, not appreciating the tone Embry took with his sister. "She's a big girl and can make her own decisions, Call. So why don't you back off!" He threatened, his hot temper flaring instantly, eyes darkening. "I'll talk to her if I want to and sit by her if I want to."

He groaned when Embry's fist suddenly plowed into Paul's nose. The impact caused Paul to fly back and crashed right through the table.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!"

Jared dragged Paul out of the house before he could get himself into trouble.

Veronica frowned as she stood from the crunched table as she looked at Embry, tears pricking the back of her eyes. She'd barely been in town for a little over a week and her brother just yelled at her like she was a five year old. "I can't believe you. You know, you're the one who stopped coming to see me the last couple of years. Paul was doing nothing wrong and neither was I. We were just talking. If you think I'm going to let you talk to me like that then you're sadly mistaken. Maybe I should've stayed at the institute. I'm going home."

Roni watched as Embry grabbed her wrist, she pulled her wrist out of his hot hand, "Don't touch me! And don't follow me!" Roni hissed as she looked over and Sam and Emily, "Thank you for the lovely evening. I'm sorry about Embry's outburst; I need to leave right now." She turned and left the house. She couldn't believe the way Embry was behaving. It hurt her to hear him yell at her that way. She began walking towards the beach needing a breather. She sat in the sand and finally let the tears slide down her cheeks.

Veronica sat down in the sand as she pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her knees. What the hell had gotten into Embry? Why would he be so cruel to someone who was one of his friends? She wasn't doing anything wrong. Or at least she didn't feel like she was. She and Paul were just talking. He had been such a nice person to talk to. It wasn't like Veronica was stable enough to have a relationship. Even SHE knew that. Embry acted as if it was a mortal sin for her to have a descent conversation with one of his friends; he acted like a complete fool.

A few minutes later, Roni heard shuffling in the sand behind her as she looked up and saw Paul standing there. Roni jumped up to her feet as she touched Paul's forearm. "Oh my god I'm so sorry Paul. I can't believe Embry attacked you like that. I don't know what the hell he was thinking." A fresh batch of tears sprang to her eyes.

Paul frowned; he had just barely imprinted on her and could already feel the sadness that infiltrated her entire body which her idiot brother had inflicted on her because of his blow up at Emily and Sam's. The little fucker had caught him off guard with that fist to the nose; he was definitely going to pay him back for that. Paul touched Veronica's shoulder as she looked up and they locked eyes. "I'm sure he is just being an overprotective prick. I know he didn't have any intention of hurting you, it just came out rougher than he wanted."

Roni shook her head. "I just got here, I've only been here a handful of days and he's sitting there trying to run my life. I realize I'm the outcast of the rez because of what I've seen and been through. I'm sure you already know about me being at the institute in Seattle. He used to come with our mom ever weekend to see me then suddenly five years ago he stops. Mom came by herself for five years and every once in a blue moon I got some sporadic phone call from him. We would talk for ten minutes and that was it. I just don't understand why now all of a sudden he wants to suddenly spend time with me when it was him who stopped coming around."

Paul's frown deepened. "I'm sure I don't know Roni. But maybe he has a really good excuse for it. Just give him a chance he's still your brother and I know he loves you so much." He might have had revenge on his mind towards Embry, but he wasn't going to use it to get Roni more upset at her brother. Because he knew Embry missed and loved her for the ten years she's been gone. Paul had crept around in his head on more than a few occasions when they were in wolf form and saw mainly the two people he always had on his mind were Diana his mother and Veronica his sister.

"I'm not sure what kind of excuse could warrant someone to just up and stop coming around for five years. But I really hope it is a good one. We have always been so close. Then our dad was…gone and then I was completely gone for ten years and I thought for sure it was going to be nice to be home. But it feels so different, mom and Embry are walking around on egg shells, and tonight was the first night Embry has ever blown up, but he didn't have any reason too. You weren't doing anything wrong, and I wasn't either but Embry freaked out just because we were talking."

Paul could see she really was trying to keep it together. Paul stepped closer and gathered her into his arms and the flood gates broke as she started to sob against his t-shirt covered chest. She had two handfuls of his t-shirt as she held onto him and continued to cry. Paul was pissed that Embry had hurt her this bad. But he had to control his anger. He was holding his imprint in his arms and he'd never heard someone cry so hard in his life; his hands gently running up and down her back as he was listening to her slowly calm down. "Let me take you home. I don't want your mom to worry about you if Embry gets home before you."

"You don't have to. I can make my way home from here." Veronica backed away as she wiped under her eyes, getting rid of the un-shed and already shed tears. "Sorry I didn't mean to cry on your shirt. I just want a little normalcy in my life right now. I spent ten years in a padded room because they thought I was going to hurt myself, not saying I didn't think about it a few times. But it's been ten years. A few things have changed."

Paul put his hand on the middle of her back. "C'mon let's get you home. I don't mind walking you home. I just want to make sure you get their safe." He watched as Roni nodded and allowed him to walk her home. Once they got there he handed over a piece of paper with his number and told her to feel free to call and talk anytime; then watched as she walked into the house.

Paul growled as he phased and took off into the trees.