Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: Suggested Listening: Demons by Imagine Dragons, The Grand Optimist by City and Colour, Three Rounds and a Sound by Blind Pilot

Chapter Twenty-Six: Douchebag Delivery

"Shut the fuck up and get in there."

"You shove me one more time, Call, and you can wear those pearly-whites on a necklace. It'll really set off that new dress you've been saving up for."

I halted my pacing as their shadows approached the glass on the back door, pretty sure I'd taken a layer of skin off my palms from the desperate wringing that had taken up the past half hour. Embry promised he'd get him here, the rest was up to me.

"What's up your ass today anyway?" he asked over his shoulder, as I swung the door open to reveal a frazzled-looking Embry and his mutinous Pack brother. "Some of us had plans, you know."

"Hey, Bella," Embry said exasperatedly. "Your delivery of douchebag, as promised. No need to sign for it."

Paul tipped his head in greeting before smirking back at him. "Aww, look who sprouted some big-boy hairs on his junk. I knew you could do it!"

I didn't have time for this. Secrets amongst Pack were almost impossible to keep as it was, and I needed this to go as quickly and smoothly as I could. It was already suspicious enough that we'd dragged him away from hanging out with Leah to get here. Our time was running out, and Rachel was due in La Push this very weekend. As I yanked Paul into the kitchen, Embry followed wordlessly, rolling his eyes as he leaned back against the counter-top.

"Jesus, Swan, if you wanted me here that badly, all you had to do was ask," he crooned, letting his eyes rake over my body suggestively.

"Paul," I sighed, "I don't have the luxury of deflecting your misguided come-ons today. Sit." I pulled out a chair and gestured to it rigidly, choosing to stay standing, the need to pace outweighing the weakness in my legs and the churning in my stomach. He looked at both of us and crossed his arms, a guarded look darkening the habitual sneer of self-assuredness.

"Nah, I'm good here, thanks."

A loud sigh was heard from the corner before Embry spoke. "Just do as she says, Ass-hat. Stop dicking around."

Paul's cold glare was Embry's response before he looked at me. "You guys are freaking me out enough as it is. I'm standing."

Blowing out a weary breath, I marched towards him and shakingly reached up to grab a fist-full of his shirt for a mixture of leverage and to hold his attention. "I need to talk to you about Leah, and about how you could potentially screw things up with her forever. Sit the hell down while I figure out how to say this without making you go all Kujo between the oven and the refrigerator," I ordered, tugging on the fabric, and he surprisingly relented. Folding his arms petulantly, he leaned back on the chair, and eyed me with suspicion.

"Alright, Princess, you've got five minutes to convince me my time is better spent here than ruining another set of Leah's lingerie."

Embry shuddered violently in my peripheral vision, but I was too worked up to acknowledge him. I stared pacing again, taking up the first of my five minutes arching my fingers and clasping them again, somehow trying to filter all the nervous energy through the gesture.

Paul sighed audibly and glanced at the clock on the wall, flexing his feet at the ankles while he exercised his facial muscles, all in an effort to convey his boredom. After the second sigh, he pressed his hands onto the table top, threatening to rise, and snorted.

"Well, this has been enlightening, we should do this again some time," he said, and I turned in a panic, searching out Embry's assistance.

"You said five minutes, buttwipe. It's barely been two, or can you count that high?" he supplied, not bothering to look away from the window as he did.

"She's not fucking talking! How exactly am I meant to figure out the all-important information she has for me? Interpretive dance?" he snapped, and Embry just shook his head, muttering. "I heard that," Paul warned, and I'd had enough.

"Paul, you're about to imprint."

I didn't see any other way but blurting it out, and Embry smacked a palm to his forehead wearily, scrubbing the hand down his face with a groan. Yeah, I didn't think it was all that well-advised either, but desperate times and all that.

"...We think."

Paul's look of frustration turned to one of defiance before he leaned back again, eyeing me. It was a testament to the strides he'd made lately that his first instinct wasn't to lash out, and my mouth gaped helplessly, lost for the next words I'd thought were coming.

"I mean... there's a huge possibility that... it's not set in stone..."

He held up a hand to halt my babbling and frowned. "Back up a sec, Snow White. Where's this bombshell coming from?" The look on his face told me that the next sentence out of my mouth ought to be convincing, but I knew even before I said it that it wasn't.

"I saw it," I said helplessly, shrugging at Embry's cringe-filled sigh. Paul's gaze flicked back to him before settling on me again, and he raised a brow.

"You saw it," he repeated, and all I could do was nod. "Well, Sweet-cheeks, I don't exactly recall giving up my nuts for eternal servitude for some bitch who batted her lashes at me, so you're kinda going to have to elaborate."

I took in a steadying breath and squared my shoulders. "Look, I can't give you the absolute details, but let's just say that I have these dreams sometimes, and sometimes they come true. Not always, but sometimes they do," I began, and Paul's glare relaxed into a weary resignation. The chair beneath him squeaked across the linoleum as he moved to get up. "Wait!" I pleaded, but I knew he'd reached his limit. Luckily, Embry knew it too.

"Sit back down, Cock-munch," he growled, moving to stand in front of him, blocking his exit. Paul halted in his steps only to stare him down, chest puffed in macho insolence.

"Out of my way, Call," he cautioned, no longer bothering to look at him, but instead at the door.

Embry shook his head and jabbed a finger at me. "She didn't ask you to come here for a joke. She's trying to help you, you know, like friends do? You've had a friend before, right?" he said, eyebrow raised tauntingly. "If you just listen to what she has to say, you could end up avoiding a total trainwreck. Sit the fuck down," he finished, pointing back to the chair. Rather than obeying an order, Paul seemed to be listening to his reasoning, and looked to me curiously before shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning back on the table. But Embry wasn't done.

"For whatever reason, she seems to think you're some kind of stand-up guy," he said, throwing his hands up cluelessly as he walked back to his corner. "She thinks you'll do the right thing once you hear what she has to say. I beg to differ, but uh-" he shrugged, "Call it scientific curiosity."

Paul studied the floor for a beat before looking back at me, as my eyes darted between the two of them for my chance to speak. He raised his brows, pursing his lips in a "well?" gesture, launching me back into my explanation.I shook my head, clearing the shadow of doubt that was telling me he'd never listen to me in a million years.

"Look, with all you've seen over the past year, all you know, is it really so hard to believe that sometimes I might see things before they happen? I mean, it's a little less crazy than turning into a wolf, right?" I said encouragingly, but Paul wasn't answering. "I dreamt about wolves before Jacob told me your secret, I dream about things that end up coming true, even if they seem totally crazy at the time." I was stalling, I knew it, but none of this was going to be easy to hear.

"Anyway, the reason I've been avoiding you guys is because I saw something, and I didn't know if I should tell you – because I can't be sure it's actually going to happen..."

"The mysterious imprint," he surmised blandly, and I gulped, giving him a frantic nod as I resumed my pacing.

"I saw you imprint on a girl – a girl you know, and if it happens... well, we know how that's going to work out." I'd started talking with my hands. Yeah, the over-gesturing always made an appearance when I was reaching hysteria.

"So you decided to tell me so I could, what? Not look at her?"

I stopped, turning towards him in earnest. "I told you so you can be prepared."

He studied me carefully, searching my expression for any trace of dishonesty. "You're serious about this."

"Paul, believe me, if I was going to mess with you, I wouldn't pick something that could potentially harm one of my closest friends."

"Harm her? Like..." His face crumpled in a frown and his shoulders squared defensively. "You want me to dump Leah?" he barked, and I shook my head. Embry took a cautious step closer to the both of us on instinct. Automatically, my hand shot out to halt him, knowing that another macho-stand-off wouldn't get us anywhere.

"No! Well... I don't know, Paul," I gestured between myself and Embry "We don't know, but I was pretty sure that it's not up to us to decide this."

"So why didn't you tell her?" he asked, looking between us. I gave him a sympathetic smile.

"No offence, but it's kind of a miracle that she agreed to give you a chance in the first place. You really want to rock the boat now?"

He nodded resignedly and raked a hand through his hair. "I'd be out on my ass quicker than a gay kid at church-camp," he sighed. Embry shot me a look of disdain at the comment over Paul's shoulder, before training his eyes back out the window.

"I just thought that, if you at least knew it was coming, then you might have a fighting chance."

"To reject it?" he said disbelievingly. "Not for nothin', Bella, but the last wolf who thought he could do that.. well..." he gestured haphazardly towards me. "You're well aware how that one worked out."

I trained my gaze on the ground sullenly, acknowledging the truth in his words, and still feeling the wince of pain I shouldn't have had any more right to feel. Surprisingly, I could acknowledge that this time, the loss of Jacob from my life was eclipsed almost fully by the feeling that, for some reason, the mystical powers-that-be didn't think I had any right to be with one of their 'chosen-ones'. No matter how much I convinced myself that I was worthy, clearly someone else up there didn't.

Paul watched me carefully, a momentary look of guilt flashing over his features as he sat back down again. He let out a heavy sigh, letting his hand fall heavily on the table-top with a dull thud.

"Look, it's just – you get that this sounds like bullshit, right?" he looked between us again, almost like he was afraid we didn't. "You understand that, don't you? Not to mention, the timing sucks."

I nodded, finally taking the chance to sit down opposite him. "I know it does, but believe me, I agonised over this before telling you. I know how it all sounds, and I know what this could mean for you... I just- I couldn't have forgiven myself if we'd done nothing."

He seemed slightly appeased, but the near-permanent crease of his brow indented further as he looked back to me.

"So why now? I mean, I've pretty much seen every girl I know since phasing, and none of them have me crawling around after them like a lost mutt," he asked demandingly. I looked anywhere but at him, knowing that there was no going back once he knew who it was supposed to be.

"It's Rachel Black," I said quietly, and Paul's brows knitted together in confusion. Looking back at his expression, I clarified, "Jake's sister?"

"I fucking know who she is... it's just-" he shook his head, bracing himself for the next words with a sigh. "This explains it."

"Excuse me?" I queried, this time wearing the perplexed expression. He looked up through his brows and chewed on his lip for a beat, throwing Embry a glance before he relented.

"My wolf's been really fucking weird lately," he confessed, and a snort was heard from the corner.

"Your wolf's an asshole. If it was someone's dog they'd send it to a 'farm'," Embry sneered out the window, but worryingly, Paul didn't rise to the taunt.

"No, it's like... When Leah agreed to.. y'know. try, or whatever... he was pretty happy. He runs hot a lot, like me I guess, and it takes a little work to keep him on a leash," he explained, thumbs twitching over each other in an off-beat rhythm on the table. "With Leah, it's like.. I only had to give forty percent over to keeping him in line, instead of the usual eighty-five. Thinking about her helps some... and it changes things when I have to be the level-headed one," he said, dejected smirk falling over his features.

Chancing a look to the corner of the room, Embry's eyes had glazed over, some sort of recognition dawning in them that I couldn't place. As if feeling my gaze on him, he met my stare, before swiftly training it away, but Paul continued before I could begin to dwell on it.

"I thought it was working a little too well – he's been so subdued these last few weeks that it's like," he sighed, "We're both completely different. Content." He looked at me then, his voice and expression both becoming grave. "Except for..."

My eyes caught his in question, narrowing in an effort to coax the story out of him. "What happened?"

"I didn't make the connection before... but I guess it could have been whenever Jake mentioned – her – in passing." Raising my eyebrows as I settled back in the chair, I pulled a hand up to rake through my scalp as things started to look even worse.

"I've been having these... bursts of energy. The first time, I think he was talking about Melanie or whatever, and I felt like someone had given me a shot of adrenaline straight to the chest. Heart-attack stuff. Now that I think about it... he was saying that she was going to meet his sister soon."

Embry was regarding him curiously, as if he, too, was remembering the weird behaviour.

Paul was deep in thought, recalling the feelings he was overcome with. "I just needed to run... do something to get rid of the itch in my bones."

"Dude, we've all been antsy lately," Embry said. "Phasing takes less effort for all of us. Are you sure it's not 'cause of the leech?"

Paul bristled once again. "Oh, now you're being hopeful?"

Embry turned away once more and gave a half-shrug. "Just trying to be optimistic," he said, with a tone and posture that screamed the opposite. Paul made a noise that was partially a growl, partially a grunt of frustration.

"This decides to come along just as I have something good going, and of all people, they decide to bind me to my Alpha's sister so I spend the rest of my days blocking out the image of myself getting nasty with her?"

I shrugged, licking my lips to diffuse the croak in my voice. "It makes sense from the stronger-wolves standpoint. She's the same bloodline as him, so she's, you know, prime genetic material." It made me nauseous to even think about, but everything trailed back to that.

"So?" he snapped, nostrils flaring. "Leah's a goddamn wolf. Don't you think she'd be an even better choice than Jake's stuck-up sister? At least with Seth I don't have to worry about him beating me to a pulp if he finds out what we've been doing..."

"Sam's wolf didn't think so," Embry interjected, and we both turned to him. "If it was about stronger wolves and all that crap, they would have kept Leah human so she could, you know, actually get pregnant. She was with Sam anyway... so..." he trailed off, looking back towards the glass as he chewed over his thoughts.

"So it's probably more to do with the 'better wolves' theory," Paul surmised, brows joining as all the evidence spanned before him. After a few thought-filled moments, he sat back with a resolved look.

"Easy. I am better now, since I have Leah. She made me-" he paused, as if remembering that he wasn't the only person in the room, and that he was about to bare his soul and his heart to the both of us. He pressed his lips together, their fullness disappearing as he looked off at nothing in particular. "I don't need someone to step in and house-train me. I don't need anybody else. Problem solved."

"You know it's probably not that simple," I warned, feeling like he was looking for the easy way out. I couldn't deny that what he'd said was right, though. Leah did make Paul better. They made each other better, and it wasn't for anyone to tear apart, even if that's what I was dangerously close to doing. Paul nodded concededly to his hands.

"So what, you think now that I know what's going on, I can reject this thing?" he asked, looking hopefully to Embry as he spoke. Embry's gaze was still trained out the window, but it wasn't out of vigilance; the tense set of his shoulders and the concentrated crease of his brow told me his mind was somewhere else entirely. Finally, he looked back on the conversation, avoiding my gaze as he shrugged.

"Don't know why you're asking me, it's not as if I have first-hand experience with this thing," he said, a trace of bitterness underlying his tone. This time, I couldn't ignore the stab of dread that formed in my chest, the very mention of the fact that everything with us was still so up-in-the-air causing my concentration to lapse as I regarded my friend; my friend who was no longer just that.

But this wasn't the time for me, or for us. Paul had just been thrown head-first into a torrent and was floundering, just as I had been. What where we supposed to do when everything was so undecided?

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad you guys came clean, even if it does end up being nothing, but does anyone have any idea what the fuck I'm meant to do with this?"

I opened my mouth in the hope that the right answer would flow freely from me, but nothing came. I ended on a shrug, apologising with my eyes as Paul's gaze grew harder. He stood abruptly, drawing in a harsh breath before curses spewed from his lips.

"I should have fucking known," he grunted, beginning to pace the small space of my kitchen. "First time something good actually happens for me, someone who isn't a complete bitch thinks I'm worth having being around and the almighty Wolf-Gods decide it needs fucking up." Both hands flopped on the top of his head harshly before clasping together, and he shook it back and forth.

"This is fucked! I'm supposed to have a choice," he snarled to no-one in particular, halting his steps and clenching his eyes shut.

"I wanted to give you a choice. There's still a chance that you can stop this, somehow," I said with the last remnants of hope I had left in me. His eyes opened with a jaded hesitation and he watched me, processing all that I'd said as his hands slipped down from their place, back by his sides.

"Why are you so hell-bent on this?" he asked me, letting his gaze flicker towards Embry, who was, for the first time, watching with interest. "Why is it so important to you that I succeed here? This doesn't even directly affect you," he mused, looking back to the corner once again.

I stiffened at his question, willing myself to look anywhere but the same corner that he did. "I just don't want Leah to get hurt," I reasoned, shaking my head,

"So why not just tell her?" he queried, turning a probing stare on me. "Why not just give her an out right now, no matter what happens?"

"Because you guys deserve happiness, and you deserve to have a choice in how that's achieved."

He looked to Embry again, something unsaid filtering through his mind for a beat before he nodded. I felt Embry's stare burn into my temple from where he stood, the same realisation Paul had reached already firmly settled on his features. I turned away, trying to push down the nagging feeling that this conclusion – the one between brothers which didn't need to be said aloud - was the truth about why I really had so much riding on Paul's success.

"Alright, I got a choice? Well Leah gets one too," Paul decided, cutting into my thoughts and dispersing the feeling of tension between us. He punctuated the sentence by ripping the door open forcefully and marching off into the back yard. His t-shirt was discarded with a swift tug at the shoulders, and before I could get a chance to ask what he was doing, the waistband of his pants lowered, revealing, without apology or preamble, Paul Lahote's butt in all its naked glory. Again.

"Paul, wait!" I called after him, too wrapped up to find any embarrassment within me. A halting hand was placed on my shoulder, stopping my advances. I turned to Embry, who was still watching the tree line as Paul disappeared. "What's he going to do?" I asked the side of his jaw. When did he start looking so grown up? So tired?

Embry's gaze narrowed in the sunlight, the flare of muscles in his cheek the only indication that he was even listening to me for endless seconds.

"He's doing what you wanted, making the choice."

My brows raised as I looked back to the space Paul had occupied, feeling fearful and apprehensive, like I'd lit the spark on a bomb that was about to level half the planet. But what else could I have done? Paul had more courage than even I gave him credit for, but something in me wondered if Embry's look of dismay was the more appropriate reaction. For all intents and purposes, Paul could be about to give up the best thing in his life.

"He's going to tell her?" I asked quietly, knowing the answer and scarcely able to hear myself over the pounding in my chest and the whoosh of blood to my ears.

"He's going to tell her," Embry said.

"He didn't tell her."'

My shoulders jerked suddenly, whirling around on the spot as my hands automatically flew to my chest. He leaned against the side of my truck, parked within walking distance of Newtons and illuminated by one solitary street lamp.

"Holy shit, Em, you scared the crap out of me!" I wheezed, picking up the keys where they fell and slipping them back into the driver-side door, unlocking it as I got my bearings. It had been two days – two days that Paul made us promise to leave him be so he could work up the courage to tell Leah everything; about Rachel, about the oddness of his wolf, and to ask her to help him decide what to do about it. I'd been a mass of frayed nerves and no sleep.

His lips quirked in sheepish apology. "Sorry. Asked Sam to take a break."

I frowned. "Sam was guarding me today?" That would explain the hazy dark shadow on my lawn I'd seen briefly in the dull morning light, which hadn't left my mind all day. Until he'd said it, I'd tried to convince myself I'd been imagining things, and that it wasn't some new kind of monster out for my blood.

"He's been trying to give up phasing since Jake took over... but it's driving him and Emily a little crazy these past few days, his wolf isn't having it. She asked us to put him back on patrol."

I nodded absently, finally registering what he'd said to startle me in the first place. "Why didn't Paul tell her?"

"He tried," he said, blowing out a breath before scrubbing a palm down his face. "He cooked her this meal, the whole works, but couldn't do it. Every time he looked at her, he just... lost the nerve."

I couldn't even pretend to be surprised. It had been a shock in the first place that he was even entertaining the idea. "He showed you that?"

Embry's smile was rueful. "Guess secrets bring people closer. I think he just needed to tell someone. We spent the day running the Canadian border."

I nodded to my feet, moving to take a place at his side against the truck. Without conscious thought, I was pressed into his heat, savouring the closeness I'd been bereft of since I'd seen him last even if it was just last night. In response, he curled an arm around my waist, pulling me closer as he rested his nose on the crown of my head. A warm exhale bloomed over my scalp, and the muscles in his arms clenched and jerked; not satisfied with the still limited contact.

He was right about secrets; I hadn't felt so close to anyone in my life before. It was one thing keeping a secret for someone else, but knowing that everything I hid from others, he held in his hands, never daring to share anything without my consent was entirely different. I trusted him. Embry had fully formed a niche in my life, and now that I knew how it felt to be held by him, feel his breath on my face and his lips on mine, it was even more difficult when we were separated. It didn't help that he took every opportunity to touch me, pepper kisses across my forehead, or pull me into his embrace without warning.

"It makes sense, I guess. I mean... he doesn't have any guarantees, and what I told him could drive her away even if nothing happens," I mused, raising my head minimally to glance up at him.

Embry didn't answer, looking off into the darkness with an expression I couldn't read. It wasn't anything to do with the absence of light; I spent much of my time trying to figure him out. Did he regret that we'd taken our relationship a step forward? It was in contrast to the increased contact between us, how physical he'd become around me... but then there was his eyes. Each time I looked into them he seemed to pull further and further off into the opposite direction. I couldn't let him do that - I refused to give up hope until Rachel arrived; things would be different, here... I knew it.

"Do you think he's going to imprint?" I blurted out, no longer able to contain the anxiety I was pretending wasn't there.

Embry leaned back, and his gaze shot to mine for an extended moment, searching my face for something I couldn't pinpoint. "I don't know, Bella, but if it does happen," he sighed, "I don't think he's going to be able to fight it."

"Is that why you're so hopeless?" I asked, not hiding the frustration in my voice.

"Is that why you're so adamant that he will?" he shot back.

The question hung in the air for what felt like an endless moment, before I swallowed. "He can do it."

"You don't know that Bella. What happens if he doesn't fight it? What happens to us if he doesn't? It's not like you're my..." he asked, not finishing the statement we were both all too aware of.

My heart pounded as the question I'd been avoiding sounded in my ears. I pressed my mouth closed, not knowing how to respond in a way that would assuage his fears when they didn't even dull my own. Still pressed against his body, his warmth seeping into my bones, a war raged between wanting to pull away and needing to stay close, just in case he was right; the second side won. I hadn't seen Embry's fate in the endless dreams of another reality. I hadn't yet been subjected to the image of his smile directed at someone else; but who was I to say I never would?

"I don't know," I finally said, my voice weak and quiet as the first sting of tears filled my eyes. We'd barely even gotten used to the idea that there was something more forming between us, and already the dreaded I-word was threatening everything we could be.

"Neither do I, which is why I can't..." he stopped abruptly, focusing intently on me. "Look, I know this is new.. but Bella, I can't believe this is happening for us. I spent so long... and now it's getting threatened and I just keep wondering if you'd be better off without me, if we should just cut our losses while we can."

I looked to him frantically, wanting to speak but all moisture seemed to drain from my tongue at that precise moment.

"I tried to rationalise things and tell myself I'd be fine with out you. I mean, we haven't even established what this is, it shouldn't be so hard, so soon. And you're not there yet, I know.. I'll wait, but it's just... I'm not handling this very well." He blew out a breath of burden. "I'm sorry."

His rant ended as soon as it began, and in it, I found that his feelings mirrored everything in me I tried to ignore. We were no longer friends, not yet lovers, and maybe these feelings were more extreme than they should have been, but it didn't feel that way. Maybe Embry wasn't completely mine... but I wasn't ready to give him up yet, not for anyone. Not when it felt like he could be the best thing that ever happened to me.

No-one else could see into my soul like he could. No other person could reach into my head and organise the scramble of thoughts and fears into something coherent. Nobody could make my stomach flip with just the hint of a smile. My chest tightened with the revelation, and I shook my head.

"Neither am I," I confessed, letting my doubts finally free as the tears spilled over. He gave me a dejected look, as if he was the cause of all of this, and it only served to fuel the tight coil of anguish in the pit of my stomach.

"I know, Bella."

I closed my eyes, not able to fall further into the depths of his. If course he knew. He knew why this was so important to me, why my sanity hinged on Paul's success before I even did. I sobbed, loudly, into his chest, feeling his arms wind around me and pull me into the firm embrace I'd become accustomed to over the course of this ordeal.

Embry was clinging to me for dear life.

My sobs became shudders which shook my body with sheer force. Everything I'd been avoiding, and rationalised into a facade of denial roared to the surface and came barrelling out, right into Embry's shirt. I was making a habit of this.

He held me until I managed to gain control of myself, leaning my forehead on his shoulder as my breaths came back slowly. Gently, I felt his arms release me, but before the irrational panic could set in, his hands rested on my cheeks, coaxing my tear-stained face towards him where he regarded me with a mixture of anxiety, dread, and desperation.

His lips crashed to mine so suddenly, I gasped into his mouth, allowing him to dominate and claim it for his own. I kissed him back with fervour, my hands winding around his neck as I clung to him, needing the comfort and craving the closeness. Who knew what the future held for us? Who knew if this kiss would be our last? His life could be irreversibly changed, even on the way home, and I would be nothing but a fleeting entry in his biography. I needed him so badly that it made my stomach clench, my heart ache, and my head swim.

Obliquely, I felt him turn us, pressing me into the truck's side with urgency; his hands exploring my body over my clothes, committing me to memory and barely missing an inch. I whimpered into the kiss, my tears reforming with the intensity of everything I felt, and everything I could feel slipping out of my grasp. His lips where liquid fire on my skin as he broke the away, leaving trails and signatures of his presence over my face and neck, inhaling my scent with an impatience I'd never seen in him before.

I searched out his mouth again, needing one last touch, one final kiss to last me until morning. He complied hungrily, drinking me in before finally he pulled away, burying his face in my hair. As his arms enveloped me once more, he huffed out an anguished sigh.

"The only thing I know," he said into my shoulder, "is how this make me feel. I can't give you up for a possibility, Bella, and I don't think it's fair for you to ask me."

Squeezing my eyes shut at his words, I breathed him in, and prayed to whatever deity was listening that I wouldn't have to.

A/N: Hey guys! It's been a little while, I hope you all aren't mad at me! The good news is that the next chapter is also partially written, so you won't have to wait too long for that. Does it make up for the wait for this one?

Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed so far. I kind of suck when it comes to replying but know that I do read them all, even if I do forget to thank you, even in an Author's Note. (I know, I'm terrible.)

So let me know if you liked this chapter.. Poor Paul has a lot of stuff on his plate right now, but we'll just have to wait and see if it all works out for him. I make no promises here..

Hope this sheds a little more light into the reactions Embry and Bella had in the previous chapter. I know that it's usually the wolf who claim's he'll never imprint and Bella dragging her hells, but I wanted to turn that on it's head.

Let me know what you thought!