Disclaimer: I do not own the amazing characters or marvelous places from Stephanie Meyer's the Twilight Saga however I do own my characters and plot line of this story such as Zoe, Liam, their mom, and what other characters/places you peoples don't recognize blah blah blah. I'm sure you get it by now.

Chapter 8

Instead of just standing around and waiting like an idiot, I decided to watch some television until Jacob came back…if he even would. I flipped through the channels until I stopped at some music channel. There was a playlist marathon like always so I lied down on the couch and closed my eyes. I just started to daydream when there was a loud banging on the door. Who the hell could that be? I grunted and got up off the couch and shuffled my feet to the door. Waiting on the other side was a guy who looked really familiar. He was tall and tan like Jake but was considerably slimmer. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's got muscles too, but not as large and steroid-like like his. He also has short cropped black hair and brown eyes with a slightly dimpled chin…wait…that can't be…

"Embry?" I gasped.

"That's me." He smiled. I ran up to him and jumped into his arms to hug him tightly.

"I missed you!" My old friend said as he hugged me back by lifting me off the ground and spinning me around.

"I've missed you too! How have ya been?" I said as he placed me back on the ground.

"I've been good. Life's been weird but I'm sure Jake told you all about that."

"Uh…no…He barely speaks to me." I said looking down.

"Oh…is he here?" He asked scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Nope. Bella came by before and well…Bella came by." I said shrugging.

"He's such a jackass…" Embry mumbled under his breath.

"Do you want me to tell him that you were here?" I asked. His slightly angered expression changed as a smile grew on his round-ish face.

"That won't be necessary….say…how do you feel about visiting Quil?"

"Sounds good to me. It's better than just sitting here alone. Let me just lock up." I grabbed my jacket and closed the door behind me. I then locked it with the key from under the ratty old welcome mat. I looked around and expected another car to be blocking me in but there wasn't one.

"Where's your car?" I asked Embry. He started to laugh but I couldn't understand why.

"I don't need a car. We can…walk." He held out his hand and I took it. We walked like that through the cold rain for what seemed like a mile, maybe less until we arrived at a house that looked almost completely covered up by trees but was a little more visible when you got closer. The wooden boards covering the house were a rustic, worn brown color. There was also a small front porch that matched the rest of the house.

"This isn't Quil's house…" I said as he dragged me up the steps and to the sliding glass door. He chuckled and made this weird noise as if he was 'calling' someone. Soon enough shirtless boys about his size flooded the room, followed by two girls. I didn't really see their faces but one was way shorter than the other.

"Hey guys! This is Zoe." Embry said stressing my name. Weirdo.

"The Zoe?"Yet another familiar voice said as he made his way through the heap of shirtless guys.

"Quil!" I yelled running up to him and giving him the same greeting I gave Embry.

"Wow. You look so…different…" He said scanning my body up and down.

"Thanks." I scoffed playfully.

"No, I mean…good different." I rolled my eyes and diverted my attention to the crowd of half naked strangers in front of me. Embry chuckled as he smacked himself. He then introduced me to everyone. They're all cool people except for one girl named Leah. She seems to hate me for NO reason what-so-ever but oh well. There is one person I like in particular is Emily, Sam's fiancée. While she really is quite beautiful, there are three long scars on the right side of her face and one long scar reaching down to the end of her arm. I was in such deep thought about her and everyone else that I didn't even notice that I was shivering.

"Embry! What is wrong with you? Did you make this poor girl walk in the rain?" Emily said reaching up and smacking the back of his hand before walking into some back room. When she emerged, she had a nice warm towel fresh from the dryer in her hands.

"Here." She said wrapping it around my body.

"T-thanks." I shivered.

Within seconds everyone was loud and rambunctious again so I decided to sit in the far corner away from the group of people and observe them. They behaved like they were a wild pack of animals. They hooted and hollered and even attempted to wrestle before Sam stopped them, announcing that dinner was ready. We ate some turkey and stuffing …or at least I only had some. The others ate one fourth of a turkey by themselves and since there were at least eight guys there, that means there were two, plump turkey carcasses on the table by the time dinner was done. (Oh yeah, look at who can do math in her head.)

"Man Em, that was delicious." One of the boys, I think it was Brady, said wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Thanks Brady." She responded smiling. Emily then stood up and collected everyone's dishes and proceeded to the kitchen.

"Do you want me to help you with that?" I asked.

"No, it's alright. I can do them." She said sweetly before turning the faucet on the sink. I got up and grabbed a dish towel and helped anyway.

"Thank you." She whispered to me.

"You're welcome." I whispered drying a dish. When we were done, we all decided to hang out and watch some television together. Since the couch was small and the guys are, well, not, I sat on the cool hard wood floor by Leah and her brother Seth.

"Hey Zo, why don't you come sit by me?" Embry offered patting his upper thighs. I said thanks as I sat on his lap and snuggled up close to him.

"You're so warm." I said as he wrapped his arms around me.

"I've heard." He said resting his head on mine. Soon after, I started to drift off to sleep in his arms. His lips kissed my forehead but didn't say a word nor did I move an inch. Strangely I was quite comfortable. I flinched a tiny bit when I heard the sliding door open but only pulled myself closer to Embry.

"What the hell is going on here?" An angry voice boomed. My eye shot wide open and Jake was glaring at Embry and me. He was…shaking. His teeth are bared and a deep growl vibrated from his chest.

"Why are you here?" He asked me as his anger grew. I opened my mouth to respond but Embry cut me off.

"I wasn't going to leave her home alone Jake. You should have known better than to do that." Embry said to him sternly.

"Shut up! YOU should've known better than to bring her here!" He yelled. Embry's grasp tightened around me almost painfully. Jake's face scrunched up furiously as he watched this.

"Jake, go outside and calm down." Sam ordered.

"Get…your hands…off...of…her…" He snarled ignoring Sam. His body shook more violently than it did before and his eyes were filled with such rage that words can't describe.

"Jacob, calm down." Sam said with authority in his voice.

"First that leech takes my Bella away from me and...now…" Jake growled without finishing his sentence as Paul and Jared were now at his sides, holding him back.

"Embry protect Zoe!" Sam ordered and in one swift movement, I was moved off of Embry's lap and on to the couch. Then he shielded my body by protectively putting his arms on each side of me.

"Close your eyes and whatever you do, don't open them." He said to me. I slapped my hands over my eyes and did as he said. The sudden yelling and the sound of breaking glass burst out of nowhere and Embry was now straddling my body. I tried to hear what they were saying but something warm cupped my ears. Something was wrong, really wrong and it absolutely scared the living day lights out of me. My fingers started to felt wet as the tears had nowhere else to go. Then warm hands were removed from my ears and now scooped me up into muscular arms.

"Shh. It's okay." Embry soothed. I sobbed into his bare chest and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"W-what happened?" I sobbed.

"Nothing. Just close your eyes." I closed my eyes once more and felt the force of the cool wind as I was carried out of Emily's house and out into the cold. Suddenly a loud howl caused me to take my hands away from my eyes. In the blur of trees, a large angry wolf stood watching Embry carry me away. It was clearly not a normal wolf seeing as it was the size of a horse and probably a lot meaner by the looks of it.

"E-Embry…there's a-a…" I said too terrified to finish my sentence. His body tensed and he his legs moved faster, carrying me away.

Quickly, the scene changed as I was placed inside my car and was now behind a glass window. The wolf still stood there and stared at me in the car. It seems so sad, filled with such regret. I placed my hand on the cool window and the wolf looked at me one last time before running off into the woods. I sunk back into my seat and pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs.

"You aren't going to pass out on me are you?" Embry half chuckled. I shook my head back and forth even though I probably was. He nodded and pulled out of the driveway. We didn't speak one more word as he drove me home, or at least back to Billy's. I just sat, silent. What was that thing and why was it there? I mean, I know it was a wolf but it doesn't look like normal. I got this weird vibe from it like it was some supernatural creature or something. The strange part was that I was scared of the beast. I wanted to…go to it.

"Zoe. What did you see back there?" Embry said sternly, not breaking his focus on the wet pavement.

"N-nothing. I think my head was playing games with me." I stuttered as I lied.

"You need to tell me Zo."

"I saw nothing. Just drop it." I said before turning to look out the window. He sighed heavily and started to tap the steering wheel as he drove. When we got back to Billy's, I immediately pushed the car door open and ran inside.

"Zoe?" Billy called after me as I ran past him and into my room. I jumped onto the bed and hugged one of the pillows tightly and sobbed. There was a knocking at the door but I just ignored it. I ended up crying myself to sleep. I dreamed that I was at Emily's house and I was standing by the edge of the woods alone. Suddenly the russet wolf appeared causing my heart to beat rapidly. Please don't hurt me I said, only for it to chuckle. It slowly took small, well smallish steps for a wolf, towards and stopped just a few feet in front of me. I looked into his big brown eyes and visions of…Jake…flickered in and out quickly. Jake I said before a sudden loud noise caused my strange dream to vanish. I sleepily sat up and rubbed my eyes. I listened and realized that the yelling was coming from the living room. Slowly getting up and tip toeing to the door, I cracked it slightly and peaked out.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Jacob yelled.

"I was thinking that she shouldn't be here alone. You know that the redhead is circling nearby. Do you want your imprint dead?" Embry yelled followed by a loud crack and then groan. I slapped my hand over my mouth to keep them from hearing me gasp.

"Jacob William Black!" Billy's voice yelled from his wheelchair.

"I think…you broke…my jaw." Embry said fixing his shattered jaw as blood started to trickle down his chin. Jake ran up to him and gripped his shirt tightly as he spoke to him.

"Don't you EVER say that again, do you hear me? You know how I feel about her and that I would never, ever want that."

"It doesn't seem like that Jake. All you do…is obsess over Bella but guess what dude…she's gone. Hell, you even have an imprint and yet you still chase after her. Get it through your thick skull. Bella is with the leech and she's not going to leave him for you. Even if she did, it wouldn't matter because you aren't destined to be with her."Jake was silent after that. He released Embry and covered his face with his hands and then dropped them.

"She saw you Jake." Embry added. All the color drained from Jake's tired body and his face now wore a horror-filled expression.

"Did she see me…" Embry shook his head and Jake sighed in partial relief. He stared at the wall for a moment before his head snapped towards me. Scared, I slammed the door shut and ran to a far corner in the room. The door swung open and Jacob just stood and watched me before he took a deep breath.

"How much did you hear?" He growled.

"Nothing. I heard n-nothing." I stuttered.

"Stop lying!" He yelled as he slammed the door shut behind him. He started to walk, more like stalk, closer to me. My eyes widened as they met his. Even with just the moonlight illuminating the room, I could see them vividly. His usually warm brown eyes now were a dangerous glowing gold. His pupils were no longer human. He was no longer human.

"Just go away!" I sobbed while pushing against the wall as if it would move. He stopped walking and just stared at me…just like the wolf did at Emily's house and in my dreams. I fell to my knees and looked up at him, then back at the floor, praying he wouldn't come any closer.

"You're scaring me Jake." I said softly. I glanced back up at him as he towered over my body and watched as his inhuman eyes faded back to his big brown eyes that I love so much. Yes, they were back to normal, but not quite how they should be. I saw pain, so much pain in them that it made my heart ache. He appeared so fragile, almost as if he was going to fall apart any second now. I just wanted to hold him in my arms and make all of his sadness disappear but I knew I couldn't.

"I-I'm sorry Zoe." He said shakily before quickly leaving the room. I remained kneeling on the floor and stared at the door, mulling over what just happened and what could have happened. There was a sudden noise that kept ringing and ringing until it eventually snapped out of my gaze. I searched through my covers for the source. I found my phone and sighed when I saw that it was my boss calling. I picked up and soon regretted it when Ricky told me that he needed me at the diner ASAP because Jenny and Kara left along with Millie and now there are only two waitresses working. I told him that I would be there as soon as I can. He thanked me numerous times before I hung up and dug through my bag and pulled out my clean work clothes.

Later at the diner...

"Zoe, could you be a doll and go serve the handsome young man sitting over there?" Gladice asked me nodding with two large trays in each arm. It's four o'clock in the morning and I'm still working. I'd better get some serious overtime for this…

"Sure. Which table?" I asked. She pointed over to the corner where a large russet skinned man was sitting. Oh god.

Jake turned around and looked at me with dark, tired eyes. Before I went over to serve him, I quickly grabbed a mug and a pot of fresh coffee.

"What would you be having this morning sir?" I said as I poured him a cup of coffee and acted like I didn't know him. He barely glanced my way before taking the scalding hot coffee in his hands. I sighed and walked away to continue with my work. On my way back to the kitchen, my mind filled with insane thoughts of Jake and me. We were sitting together on the couch, his head in my lap, laughing about something. He reached up and pulled me down so I could kiss him. We were so…happy. Maybe something like that is…no, stop. I have a boyfriend that I love and it's not right to be thinking this way about another guy. I then thought of the wolf. It was such a strange, yet beautiful creature…

I was too busy trying to stay awake and keep my mind off of Jake and the wolf and in return thinking about them more that I didn't notice the 'CAUTION: WET FLOOR' sign. One minute I was sliding and then the next thing I knew, I landed flat on my ass.

Glass shattered as it impacted with the ground and made it sparkle like there were thousands of little diamonds scattered all over the floor.

"Are you okay?" Jake said walking closer to me worryingly. I held my hand up, motioning him to stay back.

"I'm fine. Just…stay over there. I can handle this." I made it this far without him. I'm sure it won't be that hard to get up. I struggled to find a way out of it that would include me getting up and not making a fool of myself but excluding getting myself hurt.

"Are you sure?" He asked quirking an eyebrow and reaching out to me.

"I-I'm sure." I put my hand to my side and pushed up quickly, launching me to my feet once again.

"Damn!" I examined my hand and was disappointed. Although I had managed to get myself up without looking like a fool, I ended up having fourteen large-ish along the about a dozen small pieces of glass sticking out of my hand. Before I could take a step out of the mess, something swept me off my feet and held me in its scorching hot arms.

"What the hell?" Looking at the figure, the color left my face, then the rest of my body.

"W-what are you doing?" I asked Jacob, who look as if he was ready to pass out.

"Obviously you can't handle this." He said as he carried me into the kitchen, grabbed a bowl, a towel and brought me to the women's bathroom. Thank god no one was in there or else we would have had a serious issue.

"How okay are you with blood?" He said with a fake smile.

"I'm o-whoa…" I raised my hand up and blood ran down my arm too fast to be okay. My stomach churned and the world was spinning just from the rusty smell.

"I'm taking that as a no. God, you really haven't changed. Just look at me." He shifted my body into one arm and cupped my chin to make me look at him with the other. It's not my fault he makes me lightheaded.

"I'll get even dizzier." His russet face grew a deep shade of red as an almost legitimate smile barely spread across his lips.

"Shut it." I spat, my face also getting redder. I tried to wiggle out of his grasp but it was no use.

"Stop your squirming." He sat down onto the cold white tile with me still in his arms.

"What are you doing?" I swallowed the lump in my throat when I saw my hand.

"Remember what I said." He forced me to look at him once more.

"Now, this may hurt a little." He added.

"Great." I closed my eyes and pretended like some gorgeous guy who I was once deeply in love with wasn't going to be pulling glass out of my hand slowly and painfully.

"Ow!" I jumped a little from the sudden sting and gripped onto one of Jake's bulging biceps. He then dropped it into the bowl on his right side. By the sixth piece I was in tears.

"Please stop. It hurts." I begged.

"I'm almost done. There are only a few more pieces left and then it will be over." He said soothingly. He pressed his cheek to my head as he ripped out another and another and then another until he got the last one.

"There. All done." He hugged me lightly from behind as I sobbed a little.

"Shh. We need to clean out the cuts. I'll be right back, okay?" He kissed the top of my head, got up and left the bathroom. When he returned, my eyes widened.

"Hell no! You keep away from me with that crap. There's no way in hell that I'm going to let you put salt in my cuts." I shrunk back into the wall as if it would suddenly give me an escape route.

"Come on Zo. I have to or else they will get infected." He said putting the salt down and reaching out to pull me off the ground.

"Screw you." He rolled his eyes and grabbed me arm and pulled me up. He then ran warm water over my hand.

"I'm sorry." He apologized in advance before opening the salt and tilting it over my hand.

"Ow ow fuckityfuck-fuck ow!" I jumped up and down. My cuts started to foam and got really disgusting making me dizzy. Jake wrapped an arm around my waist to keep me on my feet.

"I hate you Jacob! Gahhhhh!" I shrieked while dancing around in his grasp like an idiot. I felt his body wince when I put 'hate' and 'Jacob' in the same sentence. He gulped and his smile had dissolved completely. Without another word he ran more warm water out of my hand, which felt really good and then he wrapped the towel around it and applied pressure.

"Feel better?" He said emotionless.

"Yeah. Thanks Jake." I said forcing a smile. I mean, I wasn't lying, it truly felt better, especially when he rubbed the bandage covering the wounds but I felt really bad now.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." Wait, he went all ape-shit on me and scared the crap out of me and I feel like shit being mean to him. Now I feel even worse after he helped me. My fake smile faded and was replaced with a slight scowl and my eyes somewhat narrowed. There is no way I am going to forgive him so easily, especially after what happened just a few hours before.

"It's okay." He said also forcing a smile.

"Zoe honey? Are you okay?" Gladice called from the other side of the door.

"I'm fine." I called back not looking away from Jake.

"Okay. Rick said go home. You're off for the night but be back next Sunday." I mentally screamed 'hell yeah!' and danced around like I won the lottery.

"Happy much?" Jake teased. I stuck out my tongue and continued to dance.

"Do you have a ride home?" He asked sheepishly. I stopped dancing and bit my bottom lip.

"No I don't but don't worry about it. I'll find one." I said starting to walk out of the bathroom.

"I could take you. I mean, my car isn't the coolest or the fastest but it gets the job done." He said scratching the back of his head.

"Sure."

"Cool. I-I mean…uh…never mind." He said shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down at the ground. He legit has to be the cutest guy I have ever seen.

"I'll just go get my things and we can go. Okay?" I said smiling as I opened the door.

"Sure, sure." I walked out and I swear I heard him yell 'Yes!' from inside. First he hates me, then he scares the crap out of me and then out of nowhere he helps me and offers to drive me home? I truly don't understand this boy sometimes and I don't think I ever will...