Alrighty, guys...Ch. 19 is here. The cliffy answered. And I have some good stuff coming up. A lot of you have been asking about Embry. Well, wishes granted. He's gonna be around a lot now. YAY! I really don't know how you guys are going to react to this one, but we'll see.

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Please Enjoy!

JPOV

"Where?" I demanded of Caden as soon as I set foot on the Cullen porch. "And how do you know?"

The tall male leaned over to kiss Leah and then came over to meet with me. Amber eyes shifted to Nessie.

"Maybe you should wait inside," he said. It wasn't a request. I had been just about to say the same thing, only with a pleading, puppy dog look.

Unfortunately, Caden's direct order perked her right up. And ruffled some feathers. She gripped my hand and kicked up her chin.

"I'm going with you. I need to know what's going on, and since some people like to beat around the bush and leave stuff out, I'm not sitting here waiting to be lied to or treated like an invalid."

I sighed and swung a look at Caden. "You couldn't have asked nicely?"

He shrugged.

"Hello. I should be involved in the important stuff. I am the alpha female, am I not? And this is important."

"How do you-,"

Nessie made an exasperated noise. "I saw the text you sent Jake."

Caden turned his amber glare on me. "Is nothing private anymore?"

"Hey, when Leah gets out of this 'honeymoon' phase with you, let me know so I can watch you try to keep something from her. I'd love to see what happens. Now time's wasting. Let's go." I turned to Ness. "Any chance of you-,"

"Don't even think about it," she said, crossing her arms over her stomach.

"Are we ready?" a voice said behind us.

We all turned to find Seth and Shelby making their way up the path that led to the porch. Both of them looked messy and disheveled, sporting sex hair and rumpled clothes. When they reached us, Caden shook his head.

"Shelby's not going."

I nodded. "Agreed." I turned to her. "Shelby, you wait inside with the others."

Surprisingly, she didn't argue. After a kiss with Seth and a glance at Nessie, she went into the house and locked the door.

Caden pushed past us to leap off the porch. "Come on. We need to hurry. I'll explain everything once you're there."

"Edward," I said in a normal tone. "I want you out here with us. Carlisle, too."

Not two seconds later, both of the men I called appeared in the clearing, as well as Jasper and Emmett. Nodding to the two fighters, I took Nessie's hand and followed Caden, who had already begun tromping through the woods at the edge of the yard. Leah was close behind him, but not touching him. It was clear that he was agitated, his shoulders twitching, voice sharp, eyes shrewd.

As we all made our way through the woods, toward Forks, Nessie's hand squeezed mine. My back tightened with uneasiness. And it took me a while, till we were almost there before Caden stopped, that I noticed the woods were quiet over here despite the warm weather.

Abruptly, the scent of blood assaulted my nose. Though my sense of smell wasn't as strong as it was in wolf form, that coppery tang filled my sinuses and slipped down my throat. Next to me, Nessie grimaced and coughed like she was trying to get the taste out.

Edward and I shared a look over her head. He'd already seen what was in Caden's head-

He shook his head and frowned.

Great. Caden was blocking him out somehow.

"Brace yourselves. Once we get through this thicket, we'll be in a clearing." He paused for a moment, his eyes growing distant. Swallowing hard enough to hear, he finished, "It won't be pretty."

Caden cleared a path for us. As the smell became stronger, I decided to go ahead of Nessie, just in case. With those nightmares she already had, there were just some things that she didn't need to see.

Instinctively, as soon as I was through the bushes, my eyes scanned the perimeter of the clearing. I frowned. There was nothing out of place here. It was all green and warm with some little flowers blooming. Knee-high grass on everyone else brushed my calves. But that copper tang was here. It was centered here. My head started pounding with the force of it. Looking around found Caden standing over to the right, hands on his hips. Leah was with him looking like she was about to throw up. When Nessie started over, I followed.

"Nessie, wait-,"

Before I could grab her, she was next to Caden, looking at whatever it was that he was staring at. A strangled gasp left her. She spun around with her hand over her mouth, eyes glassing over with tears.

Edward and the others were over there in a flash. All eyes went to Caden.

Ok, it was my turn. As soon as I reached her, Nessie flung herself at me, pressing her face into my chest. Her tears caught in my shirt. Holding her tight, I leaned over to see over the grass.

Though it was horrific, I was instantly pissed off. I knew who had done this. And I was pretty sure I knew why.

In the midst of the tall grass and weeds, a young male was sprawled out, limbs arranged neatly with his arms at his side and his knees together, like he was arranged that way after the attack. Strips of skin and meat were missing from here and there on his body. His eyes were closed, thank goodness. Blood covered him, saturated his clothes and slicked up his skin.

Carlisle lunged for him, the doctor in him wanting to heal and check on the wounded. Jasper grabbed him and shook his head.

A growl came out of me. "Caden, start explaining."

"Tristan," he said with his own growl.

"We need to call the police."

Caden shook his head. "He's not dead. Look, they left him here for a reason. It's a message. If we don't take him with us, Tristan will come back for him. No doubt he's recruiting." Caden's eyes met Edward's. "Right from your own backyard. And your kind have rules. I bet anything Tristan is looking to put unwanted attention on you."

"You couldn't possibly know that," Seth said.

Caden turned fast and furious. "Don't you underestimate how smart Tristan is. Right now, with him having the back up of a vampire army, he knows things about all of you. Never doubt that."

"Never underestimate your enemy," Jasper spoke up.

"Exactly."

"Wait, wait, wait. How do you know he's still alive? And why are we just standing here?"

Caden growled. "I know he's not dead because this is what Tristan does. He likes to cause pain, so while he's turning somebody, he does as much as he can. He's infuriatingly god at just barely keeping people alive. Not to mention, if you watch him for a minute or two, you can watch his chest rise and fall." We all looked toward the guy lying there in the grass. "Look, not one major artery was hit. Tristan knows what he's doing. So, we have a choice. We take him back to the house to be treated and finish healing, or we leave him here to let Tristan have him."

I scrubbed a hand over my face as the other held onto Nessie. If we took him back to the house, he could be a threat to us when he heals. But I couldn't just make the decision to leave him with a psychopath and have another wolf added to Tristan's pack.

In the end, it was Nessie who decided. She mumbled something against my chest but I couldn't understand her. Edward took in a sharp breath, though.

"What?" I asked still stroking her back.

She lifted up just enough to say, "I know him," in a small voice.

Caden's eyes widened. "How?"

"School. His name is Walker." Leaning further back, she met my eyes. "Remember that day you went to have a word with Luke?" When I nodded, she continued, "Walker is friends with him. He was there that day. But Walker is nice. He was always nice to me."

While Caden went on a cursing rant, I sighed. "He's gotta come with us. I can't just leave him to Tristan. Not to mention the elements. Who knows when the weather will go cold again."

"What about grampa?" Nessie asked.

"What do you mean?" Seth asked.

She shrugged. "If we keep Walker with us, his parents are going to go to Charlie for a missing child. We have to see if he can buy us some time." Her eyes went to Caden. "Caden, when he's healed and can shift, can he still be around his family? Can he go back to them?"

The other wolf was stalking around the clearing. I didn't think he was mad at us. More at Tristan. For all the trouble he was kicking up. Leah followed him like a shadow. She put her arms around him, stroking his neck. Slowly he calmed down, the tension in the small area dropping considerably.

The scrubbing of the face must be contagious because he did it, too. "Eventually. But he has to have complete control of his wolf or he would risk attacking them."

Edward stepped up. "Why don't we discuss this more at home? I'm sure Walker would like to be up off the ground."

"I'll get him," Emmett volunteered. He'd been ghosting around the clearing, making sure that nobody or nothing snuck up on us.

Emmett picked up Walker's bleeding, broken body as carefully as he could. Carlisle called ahead to house asking that Esme and Rosalie get the medical rooms set up. Once he was off the phone, he kept up with Emmett, taking vitals as we all trooped back through the woods. It was nearly midnight, now. The owls were high up in the trees, hunting for their next meal. The deer were all tucked in for the night while smaller rodents darted here and there around us. We all kept our eyes and ears out for anything bigger stalking us. Because this would have been the perfect time to ambush us, especially if Tristan wanted both me and Caden out of the way. Even with Edward here we'd be outnumbered.

It wasn't until we hit the clearing that the Cullen house as nestled into that we all took deep breaths. We were almost to the porch steps when the door was flung open. Shelby darted out to greet Seth. He met her halfway, scooping her up into his arms. But when she got a good look of the guy in Emmett's arms, her eyes went wide.

"Oh my god! Walker!"

She shimmied out of Seth's embrace to run around him. Her eyes filled with tears as her hand hovered over the male's dark hair.

"You know him?" Seth demanded. Jealousy as well as distaste threaded through his voice.

Shelby shot him an angry glare. "He's a friend, Seth. I went to prom with him both years. He's a good guy."

Seth didn't back down however. "Who also probably wanted to date you."

With a growl, Shelby whipped around. "It's none of your business, but yeah, he asked me out. I said no. I just didn't feel anything for him. I was waiting."

"For what?"

"For you, you dumbass," she nearly screamed. "Ugh! Let's get him inside." Marching forward, she pushed her mate out of the way of the path so Emmett could follow.

"Where do you think you're going?" Seth demanded as Shelby stormed up the porch steps.

"I'm going to go sit with him. No doubt he's hurting and going to be confused and scared when he waked up. You don't want to hear this, but we were good friends. He knows me and that familiarity could help him."

"I don't think so." He lurched forward but her glare stopped him.

"Don't you dare tell me that I can't take care of a friend. If one of your female friends was hurt, I wouldn't hold you back from helping her. Don't ever think you can tell me what I can and cannot do, Seth Clearwater." And then she marched off into the house.

When Seth made to follow his mate, no doubt to tell her he wanted her to go home, I stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Seth, man, why don't you go up to the cabin? Chill off a bit. Let her stay with him. They were just friends. And if he wakes up soon, it would be good for him to see a face he recognizes. He may not recognize Ness. He only saw her for one year. I'll watch over Shelby."

I heard his teeth snap together as he clenched his jaw. "Is that an order?"

"Not yet. Don't make me make it one."

After a moment of a stare-down, he ripped his arm out of my grasp and went for the woods.

"Embry," I called. I knew he'd stayed with the females in the house while we'd gone out. When he came through the door, I said, "Go with him. Make sure he's safe and doesn't do something stupid."

As he loped off, Nessie pulled away from me. Her face was red and tear-stained. Before she could, I swiped the tears from her cheeks, and then pressed a kiss to her forehead. She hugged me around the waist and held on.

"Jacob, what is going on?"

"I don't know, sweetie. Why don't we go check on them and then we'll go home, ok?"

She nodded. I could practically feel her gather her strength as she pulled away again and took a deep breath. Squeezing my hand, she pulled me toward the house. Surprisingly, it wasn't as chaotic as I thought it would be. Rosalie and Emmett were missing, probably because Emmett needed a shower and to change clothes. Alice and Jasper were tucked into a corner. Alice's face was all scrunched up into a frown, her eyes focused on something not in this room. Japer was hovering near her protectively like he did every time she had a vision. Bella was in the kitchen with Esme. No doubt Edward was upstairs with Carlisle helping out with the medical stuff. Caden was missing, too. Leah sat in the kitchen while her male was up with Edward and Carlisle, watching over the process of them taking care of Walker. Shelby's voice drifted down the stairs, letting me know she was up there with the others.

I knew Shelby was safe. Nobody in this house would leave her alone in that room with Walker. Someone would always be with her. Seth just needed to cool off. He knew that Shelby loved him and wanted only him. He just didn't like that another male that Shelby knew and he didn't was going to be near her without Seth around. Seth wanted to stay near her and assert his claim on her around any male that had any doubts. But I doubted Walker would be in any mood to hit on any female once he woke up. The guy was probably in a lot of pain.

Ness and I made our way up the stairs to the first room with the hospital bed in it. Edward and Carlisle were moving around, sticking needles, wires, and tubes into the unconscious Walker.

"You were right," Edward said.

It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me. "About what?"

"He is in a great deal of pain. None of these wounds are fatal. The pain knocked him unconscious."

Edward moved and I saw that Shelby was sitting beside the hospital bed with a bowl of what I assumed was warm water and a rag. She was cleaning the blood, dirt, and grass from his skin gently. Now that his face was clean and hair brushed back, I recognized him. Sun-kissed skin, dark auburn hair, strong features. Classically handsome.

"Nessie was right, though," Edward continued. "We need to tell Charlie. This boy's parents will be missing him and going to the police. Charlie can't come over here and be blindsided by this. And we can't use the sick excuse to keep him away. He knows too much."

Nessie and I shared a look.

"I think Shelby should handle it," I said after a moment.

The entire room looked at me.

"Why? Shelby asked.

"Because you know him. Not to mention Charlie likes you. You know more of what Walker's in for. Before you say it, I know Caden does, too. But Caden doesn't know Charlie the way you do."

Caden moved away from the wall and headed for the door. "He's right. You handle the police chief. And now that our patient is all settled, I'm going to have a talk with our second in command."

"I've never seen him like that," Shelby murmured. "Is it because I'm pregnant?"

Caden stopped took a deep breath and turned around. "That could be part of it. Can I ask you something?"

Sighing deeply, she shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"When the two of you are behind closed doors, what's he like? Does he act different?"

Shelby's expression turned cautious, as if the answer was yes, but she wanted to know if it was the same difference that others noticed. "What do you mean by different?"

Caden took in a deep breath and let it out with frustration. "Is he more dominant? Less…nice."

Shelby's wide eyes were the answer to his question. He nodded. "I thought so." Those amber, alien eyes met mine. "Let me go talk to him, and then I'll come back to explain what I think is happening. Is that alright?"

His asking permission let me know that he was acknowledging me as Alpha, which was good. Didn't want him thinking that he could take over. Though he was a dominant, I already had a second in command. Granted that second was having raging jealousy issues. Maybe it was good to have a backup for a backup.

I nodded. He was the creature that he was trying to change the rest of us into. It made sense that he go to talk to Seth. Caden had had a family once. I didn't know details, but I knew that he'd had a mate and a child with one on the way and that they'd been ripped away from him, slaughtered for their association with him.

"Yeah, go on. He wouldn't listen to me right now anyway."

Caden nodded and ducked out of the room.

Shelby looked like she was close to tears as she continued to gently clean up her high school friend.

Nessie and I shared a look before we both pulled up chairs to sit with her. Going back home could wait.

SethPOV

There was no way I could go into the cabin without smelling Shelby, and right now, I needed some fresh air. Currently, I was pacing at the edge of the lake. Across the expanse of water was Nessie and Jake's cabin. The lake should have been peaceful. Instead, it was dark and muddy, ripples washing up on shore from something breaking the surface. Felt like my head at the moment. Thoughts of Shelby standing next to that stranger, prom close, were like those creatures surfacing, the ripples casting out and crashing over my mind. These thoughts were irrational, I knew that. She loved me. I knew that, too. But just the thought of another man touching her, wanting to do the same things with her in the dark that I'd had the privilege of doing, made my blood boil.

Which was irrational. She was pregnant with my child. She knew I loved her, and I knew that she loved me.

"I was waiting for you!"

I knew she didn't mean that literally. She didn't know that she'd meet me specifically. But I knew what she'd meant. She'd been waiting for the kind of feeling she got from being around me, with me. It wasn't a conceited thought. That was just the way of the imprint. Some instinct told her that I'd be everything she'd ever need and had guided her heart to follow. For which I was thankful.

A rustle behind me had me spinning around ready to phase. It had been stupid to stay out here alone, in the open, with enemies somewhere in or around our territory.

But instead of an enemy, I found Embry standing there with his hands out, palms up.

Straightening up, I held out my hand to him. "Hey, man. What are you doing out here? Everything ok at the house?" My pulse had sped up but I tried not to show that I was worried.

He shook his head as he grasped my forearm. "Everything's cool. Jake just wanted me to keep an eye on you…just in case."

"Oh…well, thanks."

"Not a problem." He came to stand beside me to look out at the lake and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Seth, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. G'head."

"What's it like to be imprinted?"

Well, that wasn't what I had been expecting. But I thought about the answer. Probably wasn't the one he wanted to hear since he wanted to imprint so badly, but I had to say how I felt.

"It's nerve-racking. I mean, you know what went down. Even though she didn't date him or feel anything for him like that, it still makes me see red just to think that she's in the same room, taking care of a guy that wanted what I have with her." I hesitated at what else was sitting on the tip of my tongue, but in the end, I went with it. Embry deserved the truth. We'd been friends since grade school after all. "But it's one of the biggest reliefs I've ever felt. To know that I'd been found by my soul mate had put me over the moon. I love her. I would do anything for her, even die for her. And now she's pregnant. With my child. She privileged me by allowing me to be with her, to agree to have a part of me inside of her, growing. It's…It's a feeling beyond words, really."

To that, Embry had nothing to say. He just nodded and stared out over the lake. I was about to open my mouth to reassure him that his would come when-

"Why do you think I haven't imprinted yet? And be honest."

I hadn't realized I was going to lie, but ok.

"Embry, I really can't say. I don't know. But I do know that she's out there. Something will happen, some piece will fall and domino events in your life until you run into her."

"How do you know that?"

I shrugged. "That's the point. I don't know. But it's what I believe." Mimicking him, I shoved my hands into my pockets and faced the lake, which was now calm once more. "What I wanna know is what the hell is wrong with me? The old me would never had treated Shelby like that, like I don't trust her."

"It's the wolf in you," an English accent said behind us.

Embry and I whipped around to find Caden leaning against a tree.

When I finally swallowed my heart back down, I said, "What are you talking about?"

"The animal in you is coming out. Male wolves are incredibly protective of their females, especially when they're pregnant. Even the prospect of an ex-mate in the hypothetical can make a male mental." His eyes narrowed at me. "It's not just that you've accepted the training. It's that you've embraced it. And want it. You want to learn to become more dangerous. You want to learn to use all the abilities at your disposal."

I fidgeted. To lose bits of my humanity was against everything my father had taught me, but to be taught to have and control that kind of power? To wield the abilities to really protect my mate and young? I'd give up a hunk of my soul for that.

"It's not against the law to want to protect my family. From what you've told us, Tristan is a sadistic sociopath. Forgive me if I don't want that near my pregnant mate."

He held up his hands in surrender. "I never said otherwise. Trust me, I understand what it is to want to protect what's yours. Seth, you know about my past, my family. And I know the aggression you're feeling. When one of Alora's exes came into town and wanted to see her, just as friends, I nearly hunted the man down even though he knew she was pregnant with our first son and happily mated, or married as was the case. He'd even invited me to come along to make sure. The point in this story is that I let my aggression bleed over onto her and forced submission from her. It caused a huge rift between us. Now, here's the lesson: pick your battles. She loves you. You love her. He's a person of the past for her. And now, he's more than likely going to be part of this pack and he's going to need a familiar face."

I could feel the glare on my face and it felt alien. "So you're telling me to let him near her?"

Caden made an exasperated sound and then glared right back at me. "Use your head. He's near her right now, taking comfort from her. Though he's out cold, she's a familiar presence. And we need him under control if he wakes up." I must have made a move forward because Caden placed a hand on my shoulder. "Nessie and Jake are with her. She's not alone with him. What I'm telling you to do is trust her to bust his balls if he tries anything. That's what you bruised. Her trust. That woman loves you and would never choose another man over you. Ever."

He pushed me back toward the lake.

"Think, Seth. Think through the rage. Don't end up like Jacob and Nessie when they fought. Cool off and think about it. You show up there and demand her to stay away from him, you're pulling the foundation out from under the house of trust you've built. Don't do that. I'm telling you from firsthand experience. I've always hated myself even though I apologized and she forgave me. Stay here, at the cabin with Embry. Give her space to show that you can trust her. That's what she wants. This isn't about you, remember?"

We met eyes and stared at each other. After a few tense moments of Embry edging toward us as if he'd break us apart if we went after each other, I turned away to the ripple-less lake.

"You're right." My voice sounded dead even to me. Just the idea of sleeping alone in our bed made me want to just phase and run all night until my paws were nubs. "This anger isn't me. I won't let it control me and cost me Shelby."

"Good man," Caden said. "Learn from my mistakes."

There were a few heartbeats of silence like he was expecting me to say something. When I didn't, there was a rustle of leaves and then a heavy hand on my shoulder. Looking over, I found Embry nodding at me with respect.

"Keep your head cool, man. You're doing the right thing. Shelby will always come back to you."

"God, I hoped he was right.

ShelbyPOV

That wasn't him. That wasn't Seth.

I kept repeating that as I sat next to the hospital bed that Walker was scarily still on. Carlisle assured me that he was just unconscious. He was just passed out from the pain. Once a steady stream of meds was in his system, he should come and go.

"Shelby," Jacob said from the other side of the room where he had Nessie in his lap, who had abandoned her chair for the warmth of him.

Man, I wish Seth was here.

"Yeah?" I said instead.

"Seth's ok. You just caught him off guard. He's not used to you showing that much concern for a guy he doesn't know. It rattled him. That's all. Plus, Caden went to talk to him."

"That's right," Nessie said. "If anyone can talk sense into Seth, it's Caden."

"Absolutely. Just let him cool down-,"

"Was I wrong?" I asked in a whisper.

Nessie and Jacob shared surprised looks followed closely with confusion.

"I'm…what?" Jake asked.

Quietly, I turned the chair so that I was facing them. "What I mean is, was I wrong to contest him? Out of all the books and myths that I've read, nobody refuses a direct order from an alpha, a dominant. Not without it being a challenge to their authority."

Jacob sighed and came to kneel in front of me. He took both of my wringing hands in his. "Shelby, listen to me. One, we aren't normal wolves. Duh. We change into humans. Hell, we were human first. Two, we aren't normal werewolves either. That's more Caden's script. Look, of course Seth is going to be ridiculously overprotective now. It's not just you and him anymore. There's a third to your group now. One more person he's got to keep safe, to protect." He held up a hand as I opened my mouth. "Yeah, I know you can protect yourself. But you are pregnant. You're vulnerable right now. Not to mention, he's the male. It's ingrained in us that we protect the females and the children. The women keep us emotionally attached so that we learn to become bloodthirsty, but it's our job to protect. Even though I know that Nessie can protect herself, my first reaction is to put my body between her and any threat. And having an animal inside of us, even one that's more tame than that of Caden's and your type of werewolf, makes it that much stronger. So, please, don't read too much into it."

I squeezed his hands, nails biting into his skin. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind. "But Jake, he's today, he was…off. Something's up."

He nodded like he understood. "All of us are on edge. The training that we're going to go through is going to be strenuous on all of us. That kind of power being unleashed in us is something to be wary of, but all of us are ready to learn about the dangerous parts of ourselves. With us trying to bring our 'beasts' to the forefront in our human bodies, we'll be ten times more powerful. But like Caden said, we might have that second voice that we'll have to learn to control. What we're about to try to go through is close to conversion. Some would even call it an upgrade."

My voice cracked as I said, "I can't lose Seth to this. He's everything to me. The father of my unborn child. What if-,"

Jacob reached up to take my face in his hands. "Shelby. I won't let anything happen to Seth. If I have to beat him into the ground to get him to be himself, I will."

I gripped his wrists. "Swear it to me, Jake. Swear to me he'll still be mine once all this is over."

Those deep chocolate eyes were steady on mine when he said, "I swear on my mother's grave that I will do my best to keep him coming home to you, body and soul."

The relief that washed through me was surprising. I hadn't realized that I was depending on Jake and Nessie for support. Yes, Nessie, too. She'd gotten out of the chair to come around behind me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

Suddenly, the meaning of family became utterly clear. And blood had nothing to do with it.

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