I don't know anymore what it's for

I'm not even sure

If there is anyone who is in the sun

Will you help me to understand?

Cause I been caught in between

All I wish for and all I need

Maybe you're not even sure

What it's for anymore than me

"In the Sun"

-Joseph Arthur

Chapter 27:

Whoa! Information overload!

I'm not going to get angry. I'm going to stay calm. I was just trying to stay composed so I didn't burst into fur and accidentally knock Embry off of the cliff. I don't know how long the silence between us had lasted. It felt like an eternity, but it had probably only been a few minutes.

"What do you mean a while ago?" I was able to stutter out.

"Why the hell do you think I've been following you around like a sad, little puppy dog?" Embry questioned.

"But…are you sure?" I didn't feel this "pull" that everyone was talking about.

"Sam says it's different when a werewolf imprints on another werewolf."

"And how does Mr. Know-it-all know this?" I questioned.

"Because I went to him when it happened. I wasn't sure what it was. He wasn't sure at first either, since you're the only female that the tribe has ever had. But Sam had this theory…"

"Just because he was the first one of us to ever phase doesn't mean that he knows everything about us," I grumbled.

"He spoke to an Elder about it."

"Great, because this isn't embarrassing enough," I snapped. I thought Embry would look upset. But his face was completely calm and void of any emotion, I was suddenly curious. "Did he say who he spoke to?"

"I always assumed it was Billy. He goes to Billy about pretty much everything." God, wasn't that the truth? Every time I turned around, Billy was talking to me about something I had done to piss Sam off.

A thought occurred to me. Billy had known about this? That meant the night that I left the pack, he wasn't trying to convince me to stay for Sam. He wanted me to stay because he knew how Embry felt about me.

"Anyway, Sam's theory is that because I imprinted on you, you were supposed to imprint on me. But since you're different than the rest of us…because you're a girl, we're not sure that your brain works the same way as ours."

Great. I was a freak. I always knew it.

"No, there's nothing wrong with you, Leah." Embry seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. He must have read the expression on my face. "You're just built differently. Sam says he's not really sure if female werewolves can actually imprint…"

"How incredibly sexist of him." I rolled my eyes.

"Well, he has a point. He says the female mind works a lot differently than the male mind."

"I didn't realize that Sam was a psychiatrist." I was still annoyed that Sam knew about this. How had he kept it from me? How had Embry kept it from me? How long had this been going on right in front of my face? Which brought me to my next point. "When you say this happened a while ago, how long exactly do you mean?"

"I think I knew for sure a few days before Edward and Bella's wedding. You remember, before we went on the run that day when the entire pack had lunch together?"

"Sure. At Sam and Emily's place." I cringed. I remembered that day quite well. I remember seeing the engagement ring on Emily's finger and being heartbroken that I wasn't the one that Sam would be walking down the isle with. Of course, I had known for quite some time that Sam and I were over. But the feelings were still there. Stupid first love.

"After Paul and I got into it, you defended me." He laughed. "You told him he was just pissed because he had a tiny penis and would never be able to please a woman."

And that was one of the nicer things I had said to Paul that day.

"Well, I'm afraid to admit this, but before that day, I'd never really looked you in the eyes before. But when I went to thank you, I actually looked in to who you are. I knew then. I didn't get why we weren't together yet because I was so pulled to you. And naturally, I thought you would have been pulled to me as well. But you just went about your business as normal. So, I went to Sam. And after he talked to…I'm still assuming Billy, I don't know for sure, they both seemed to think that my brain was confused because it kept telling me that you were supposed to be imprinting on me. But since that never happened, I imprinted on you."

"And what happens if, God forbid, someone comes into my life that I imprint on?" I hated to ask the question. But I knew that Embry must have had some time to think about every possibility.

"Won't happen. If you do have the ability to imprint, you'll end up with me. For you to feel the pull, you have to let go of all the resentment you're holding on to. You have to let it go, so you can…imprint on me…"

I shook my head. How had I not overheard this in his and Sam's thoughts? How could this all possibly be true? If he really loved me as much as Jacob loved Nessie, and cared for me as much as Sam loved Emily; if I really meant that much to him, why was I not constantly in his thoughts? Was I really so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I had missed something that big?

"So if the pull is so strong, how come I never knew this when we were wolves?" I questioned.

"I didn't want to say anything until I was sure. I wanted to give you time to see if you would imprint. And I wanted you to do it on your own, not because you felt pressured because of me imprinting on you. So, I got some help from Sam with controlling my thoughts. And with everything that was going on at the time, it wasn't hard to keep myself distracted. But even then, you don't know how hard it was for me to keep my thoughts occupied with anything other than you."

"So then, why didn't you come with me when I left?"

He looked down and sighed, "I couldn't get past Sam's Alpha hold." He looked ashamed to admit that.

"Sam knew that if he pushed you not to see me, you would be able to pull free." I finally understood. "That's the real reason you were able to talk to me after I left without Sam ripping your throat out."

"That, and he knows how hard it is for a wolf to be away from the person they love," he said. I cowered down. I really wish he didn't feel so strongly. I would only break his heart. Again, he read my expression. "I know you don't feel the same way at the moment, but you will…"

"How can you possibly know that?"

"Because you and I, we belong together, Leah. You may not see that now, but once you're able to let go of your emotions, you'll see me the way I see you." He smiled. "And I'll wait for as long as you need."

"This just…can't work." I shook my head.

He huffed a little. "And why not?"

"Well, for one thing…I mean, you're only seventeen. You're still a kid." My brain seemed to be looking for any excuse possible.

"Come on, Leah, give me more credit than that." Embry shook his head. "And don't throw the age thing at me. I mean, look at Quil and Claire. There's a huge difference there. Jacob's seventeen years older than Nessie. And if you really want to talk numbers, Edward's ninety-one years older than Bella. Age means nothing."

Crap. He had me there. I paused to think about the age difference. Wow, Edward was almost a century older than Bella. Geeze, I'd never thought about it, but I hung out with a bunch of pedophiles.

I stayed silent. I mean, what was I supposed to say?

Embry put his hand on top of mine. And to my surprise, I didn't pull back. But I knew he could sense my resistance.

"I get that you don't feel as strongly as I do. But I can't change what I feel. I do love you, Leah. But that doesn't mean that you have to love me back. Not yet, anyway. You're not ready." Embry seemed very calm about this entire situation. I guess he'd had a while to think about exactly what he wanted to say. I, on the other hand, didn't even know where to begin.

I figured I might as well be honest with him.

"Embry, I might not ever be ready."

But he seemed as confident as ever. "I'm pretty patient." He paused. "Well, as patient as a werewolf can be." He laughed.

It grew silent again. The only thing I could hear was the gentle current of the ocean at the bottom of the cliff. But even though it was quiet outside, my thoughts were pounding loudly in my head. I could barely think straight. I just needed some alone time to figure things out.

"I'll let you think things through." I felt Embry stand up next to me. He'd read my thoughts again. How did he keep doing that? It was annoying, but at the same time, convenient and kind of exciting.

"Well, alright." My mind was back to not being able to form coherent sentences again.

"If you wanna talk, you know where to find me…" And just like that, he was gone.

I stared into the trees after him. This night couldn't get any weirder. None of this made any sense. It was like some really bizarre dream. All this ludicrous stuff happening could not be real

I started to laugh hysterically. I finally got it! This wasn't real! I must be dead. Yes, that's it. After I finally snapped at Bella, Edward must have flipped his shit and ripped me to pieces.

I shook my head. "God, get a grip, Leah." I muttered aloud to myself.

I suppose it wasn't the worst thing in the world. I really didn't want to end up alone. But…Embry Call? Why would such a sweet kid imprint on such a self-loathing bitch? I was hardly a good catch. Was this some kind of fluke? Was Embry confusing his feelings for me? Would this one day pass, leaving me alone and heartbroken again?

Now that I knew this, a lot of things were starting to make sense. I wanted to kick myself for not seeing it sooner. How could I have missed something so blatantly obvious? Duh, Leah!

I still wasn't sure what to do. Time felt like it was at a standstill. I couldn't feel anything. I was completely numb. But it wasn't a bad feeling of nothingness. I think my body was just absorbing the shock.

I lost all track of time. It wasn't until I saw the clouds starting to turn a light purple color that I realized I had been sitting out on the cliff all night. Damn, what the hell had this imprinting done to my brain? My head was empty. I smirked a little; that must be how Bella felt all of the time. Brainless twat.

It might be wise for me to go home so my mother didn't think I was dead or something. I'm sure Seth had probably phased to check on me. But since I had stayed human all night, he probably had no clue what'd happened to me.

I didn't remember standing up, or the walk home, or opening my front door for that matter. When I walked into my house, I found my mother and Charlie, fast asleep on the couch. They were all cuddled up. I might have thought it was cute, if they weren't so old. I did my best not to make any noise, but apparently my brain was still missing. I had been so busy watching Charlie snore that I didn't see the board games laying in the middle off the floor.

I was able to catch myself from falling, but I kicked the games all over the room, creating a very noisy echo. Both of them leaped to their feet.

My mom exhaled sharply, "Oh! Leah, I thought you were out running with Seth and Jacob."

"Uh…not exactly." I didn't know whether or not I would be able to tell the story about Embry imprinting on me. My brain capacity was at like negative zero right now.

Charlie looked extremely flustered. He wasn't sure what to say. He started stuttering stupidly just like his daughter did when she was nervous.

"We were just…and we must have drifted off. And…uh, I don't know why I'm not wearing any pants…"

Hmmm, he was sporting a pair of boxers. I hadn't noticed that until now. Shows how far gone I really was. They probably had no idea that this shock written all over my face had nothing to do with their hanky-panky. I could care less about that.

"Right. Okay. I'm going to be in my room for like the next twenty years if you need anything." I started to walk down the hallway to my bedroom.

My poor brain had enough to deal with without having to comprehend my mother and Charlie Swan sucking face and swapping spit.

Just as my hand reached for the doorknob, I felt my mother's hand on my shoulder,

"Wait, honey, I can explain."

I could hear Charlie rummaging around in the living room, probably trying to find his trousers.

"You're an adult. You don't have to explain yourself to me." Please don't talk about old people sex, please don't talk about old people sex. I begged in my thoughts.

"Charlie stayed over last night."

"Obviously," I nodded.

"He was overwhelmed by the situation with Bella. I knew that I could ease his tension…"

Yeah, no doubt. A good roll in the sack would ease just about any guy's tension.

"Mom, it's okay. Really. I don't need to hear the details…" God, I didn't need to hear the details!

"When he came over for dinner last night, he was just very stiff…"

Ah, mom, bad choice of words.

"I knew it had to do with him knowing about the werewolves and the fact that his daughter is not the same as she once was. So, I talked to him about my experiences with the supernatural world." She was just determined to explain this to death. "It seemed to help him. After Seth took Billy home..."

"Wait, you let Seth drive?" I couldn't believe this is the thing that bothered me most about this situation.

"He'll be sixteen in a few months. He already has his learner's permit," she said.

Right. I had forgotten that my brother was almost legally able to drive. Time really goes by quickly.

She continued, "He took Billy home, and then told me he was going back to the Cullen's to hang out with Jacob. I figured since you weren't back yet, that you were running, too."

I wasn't. But I didn't feel like explaining anything to my mother at the moment. She was already horrified that I had caught her and Charlie…without his pants. I couldn't imagine the shock she'd experience knowing that I had been imprinted on by Embry Call.

"We...just," I saw a smile forming on her face. It was so warm. I was glad she was happy again, "we talked all night. Now that he knows about the wolves, I don't feel so guarded around him anymore. For the first time, we were both able to let our guard down last night. It was very pleasant…"

"Say no more." Really, SAY NO MORE. "You two played board games, got a little tipsy, and one thing led to another?" I guessed.

"More or less," she nodded.

"Fantastic." I faked a smile. "I couldn't be happier for you. Charlie's a great guy. Now, I'm completely beat, so I'm going to go fall into my bed now…" I opened my bedroom door.

I turned around and faced my mom. She still had a look of concern on her face. "Relationships don't always make sense, Leah. Things happen that are beyond our realm of thinking." I cocked my head as I listened to her. "Sometimes, you just have to let go of the control and give in to fate." And there it was. We weren't talking about her and Charlie anymore. "Give Embry a chance," my mom suggested.

My jaw dropped for probably the hundredth time in the past twelve hours. Jesus, did everyone know about this but me? God, I was a moron.

"Well Sue, I think I'm going to take off and see Bella and the baby!" I heard Charlie exclaim in a higher pitch than normal. I really hoped he wouldn't feel awkward around me now. So he banged my mom, why should I care? It was her life.

She turned around and exclaimed back, "Give me a few minutes to get ready, and I'll go with you. I was going to take Jacob some leftovers and check up on Seth, anyway. We might as well ride together."

Now my mom was going to the leeches place? What was going on around me?

"We'll talk about this later, Leah. I promise." She gave me a slight wink. "Charlie needs all the support he can get right now." She quickly kissed me and told me she loved me.

After the car left the driveway, I crawled into my bed and pulled the covers over my head. For the first time in my entire life, I was terrified.