Chapter 19 – Key To You

Veronica's muddy blue eyes widened in shock as she watched the guys carry a body from the tree line into the house and now she was suddenly aware it was Embry. They had been told by Esme and Emmett Cullen that one of the wolfs have been injured but they weren't sure what had happened, Carlisle was with them and would be accompanying the guys back to Sam and Emily's house to help the injured party.

Paul broke off from the group before they walked into the house as he grabbed Veronica. He knew she noticed it was Embry. He pulled her into his arms as he held onto her. "What happened Paul? What happened to Embry?"

Paul frowned. "We got the vampires; every single one of them. A leech charged at me and Embry that friggen idiot jumped in front of me. The bloodsucker ran Embry through with the spear and Sam, Collin and Leah tore him apart. I can't believe he jumped in front of me. He kept begging me to take care of you and your mom. Almost as if he knew he was going too…"

Veronica looked up at Paul with sadden eyes. "He was saving you for me. And I've been behaving so terribly. All I've been doing was ignoring him. I should've talked to him. I should've forgiven him. He's my brother how could I have ignore him for eight months?"

Paul cupped Veronica's cheeks as he attempted to wipe her tears with his thumbs. "Calm down baby, Dr. Cullen will help him. I promise. He's the best at what he does. Embry is going to be just fine. I swear on my life." Paul calmed Veronica down as he walked her back into the house. Everyone was sitting around the kitchen table, Paul pulled out a chair and sat Roni down and grabbed around chair and sat next to her, trying his hardest to keep her calm.

Seth walked into the living room and saw Leah pacing back and forth as she was talking to herself, under her breath. Seth went to grab Leah's arm when she jerked her arm out of his grip. "No Seth; just no."

Seth frowned. "Leah it's not your fault, it was an accident; accidents happen."

"An Accident?" Leah snapped. "An accident is tripping someone or a car crash those are accidents. I stupidly ignored my fiancé for the last eight months. I mean I know when all the shit happened between Sam and Emily I was a bitter bitch and no one could stand me, but Embry evened me out. He completes everything about me life. And I could lose him because of my stupidity."

Seth had to reason with his older sister. "C'mon Leah don't talk like that Embry is a strong guy. He loves you and he will fight to love you the rest of your life. There's no way he's going to let some stinky vampire get to him and keep him away from you."

Leah turned and looked at her baby brother. "That's just it though Seth; Embry came by a few weeks ago and said he didn't want to be a wolf anymore. He said it wasn't as fun as it used to be when we were younger. Embry's the best part of me Seth. What am I going to do if I lose him forever? I can't lose him, I just can't." Seth had only ever seen Leah crumble one other time in their life; when their father died. As Leah sat on the couch and sobbed into her hands, Seth walked over and sat next to her and wrapped his arm around his sister. Seeing her so fragile was almost more than he could stand.

The other wolves had never heard Leah so emotional. She didn't ever cry around them for any reason; not even when her father died. She didn't show emotion, she never wanted the girl side of her life to come out. Especially not in front of her pack brothers to her it was a sign of weakness and with her being the ONLY girl in the pack she never wanted to show weakness.

Golden eyes looked down at the body on the bed. Going over every patch of tan skin making sure the only injury on the body was the one with the spear sticking out of it. By the time to boys got back with Embry; Esme and Emmett were waiting at the house with the imprints. Emily the dear hearted one invited both the Cullen's into her home without even a flinch she and Esme cleared out the spare room downstairs; they stripped the sheets and blankets off the bed and then covered it with a few towels so blood couldn't sink through and stain the bed.

Dr. Cullen shooed everyone out of the room except Esme, Emmett and Sam. Since the spear was actually all the way through Embry's body, Dr. Cullen stabilized the spear as Emmett held Embry down and Esme broke off the spear head and quickly and carefully jerked the rest of the wooden shaft through his body. Dr. Cullen quickly packed the wounds with several gauze pads. Emmett applied pressure to the gauze covered wounds as Carlisle slipped a snake camera into the wound.

Carlisle sighed with relief. The spear that went through Embry's mid-section hadn't cut or sliced into any major organs and it didn't splinter inside of him, which would save him from getting any kind of infections while he was healing. Carlisle carefully cleaned the wounds as he started stitching them up and then wrapped his mid-section.

Dr. Cullen walked out into the kitchen and saw everyone standing or sitting waiting for him to emerge and tell them something about Embry. Most of the pack stood up as soon as Carlisle walked into the kitchen with Esme and Emmett. "There's nothing left we can really do. I removed the weapon, cleaned out the wound then sutured and bandaged him up. He was lucky the spear head was insanely sharp and didn't his any major organs or muscles. Some of his accelerated healing had started to kick in once we pulled the spear out, but I'm not sure how long it will take him to heal fully. He's still unconscious and more than likely will be for the remainder of the night through till tomorrow. I've got him on a morphine drip to help with the pain."

Leah was the first to walk over and thank Dr. Cullen as she turned to Esme. "Can I go see him please?"

Esme softly touched Leah's arm. "Of course honey. Just be prepared he's a little pale. I'm sure once he starts to heal more and wake up tomorrow he will start to get his skin tone back."

Leah nodded as she felt someone grab her hand and looked over and saw Veronica. Leah nodded at her as they both walked into the room, closing the door behind them. Leah shook her head negatively. "God, I'm such a heartless bitch. He tried to talk to me about us getting back together, but I wouldn't hear any of it. I should've just listened to the words coming out of his mouth."

Veronica's silent tears slid down her cheeks as she walked over and knelt down next to the bed as she took his hand; it was cold to the touch. That was a foreign feeling coming from someone in the pack. All of them had insanely high body temperatures at least 108 or a little higher. "Embry…Embry please wake up. Please you have to be okay Embers. You're my big brother. I can't have a life without you in it. I know I was selfish to not speak to you and you tried so hard. I was just hurt because of the things you'd said. But I swear on my life if you wake up I'll forgive everything you did. Please Embry…Please."

Leah and Veronica stayed in the room with Embry all night. Paul and Seth stayed with them just to be on the safe side. Paul found himself sitting against a wall near the bed and didn't sleep much that night, he watched as Veronica lay with her head against his chest, he ran his fingers through her hair to keep her calm, even while she was sleeping he could feel her plagued with worry for Embry. Somewhere around 2 am, Paul took Veronica to the spare room upstairs; he didn't want her back to be bothering her in the morning.

Seth was in and out of sleep most of the night and Leah sat and stared at Embry all night long; just waiting and hoping he would wake up, just sit up and argue with her or growl at her when she would tease him.

In the morning as the sun was coming up Leah watched as Embry moved around slightly. It was the first time he'd moved an inch since he was sat there the day before. She suddenly noticed his tan colored skin was finally glowing again and the paleness was gone. She watched as his big brown eyes fluttered open as she jumped from the floor and gingerly sat on the edge of the bed. Her hand went out and rested on his chest over his heart as it beat against the palm of her hand.

Embry moved around slightly and groaned a little from the general stiffness. He felt the soft hand that was lying over his heart. He reached up and touched the hand and it felt so familiar. His eyes opened more as he watched Leah lean over, she couldn't say anything as he watched tears slide down her cheeks like two rivers. Embry's free hand went up and cupped Leah's cheeks. "What are the tears for my beautiful Leah?"

Leah let out a shaky breath. "I'm just so happy to see you with your eyes open. Embry I'm so sorry. I don't want you to stop being a wolf. You're the only one who keeps me grounded. I can't continue being a wolf without you. I can't live the rest of my life without you either. I love you so much Embry. I was so stupid to even try to stay away from you; let alone being away from you for eight months. I want to marry you, I have to marry you. You're the only person in the whole wide world who can stand me and make my insides turn to mush. And I…"

Leah didn't get a chance to finish her thought as Embry pulled her down and captured her lips. His arms wrapped around her body as he pulled her down onto his body. She pulled her lips from his as she braced herself over him. "Embry, no I don't want to hurt you."

Embry smirked at her. "You could never hurt me. Besides I think this morphine drip is working pretty well." He kissed her lips softly again. "Now what was that about you wanting me to marry you? Let me tell you something Leah Clearwater, if I hadn't imprinted on you someone would've swooped you up a long time ago. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever known and I'm the luckiest bastard in this world because you chose me; you could've just as easily ignored the imprint, but you didn't."

Embry tightened his arms around Leah forcing her to put her weight on him as she stared at him and ran her fingers through his hair. "I missed you so much Embry." She whispered as their eyes remained locked on each other. Leah felt Embry moving around a little as he suddenly produced her engagement ring. She couldn't help as more tears slid from her eyes. "You had it with you the whole time?" She watched as he slid her ring back on her finger.

Embry smiled softly. "Of course I did. I couldn't go anywhere without it. It's my only key to you." Embry kissed her lips again as he pulled her all the way into the bed and wrapped her up in his arms. They both drifted off to sleep again. Clearly both needed to rest.