Jana: I have a plan for what's coming with Bella and Embry, and I think you'll like it. I'm happy you're enjoying the story.

Guest: Thanks so much.

Guest (2): Thank you. Even, or maybe especially, when a couple is falling in love, there's bound to be some awkwardness and nerves when they start exploring the physical side of things—perhaps the more so when both are virgins. But if they can communicate and respect one another, then that will be a big help.

Thanks can be attributed to Wanda and mc7575 for comments and ideas that sparked some things for me in this chapter.

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Bella POV

With what Embry and I had done this past afternoon, I probably shouldn't have been surprised that my dreams that night reflected it.

Embry lay stretched out on the bed-my bed, his complete lack of clothing putting his entire amazing body on display like a restaurant buffet. And I was definitely interested in sampling everything that this buffet had to offer.

"Don't move," I warned, and leaned down. My mouth closed over Embry's nipple and began to suck. His breath hissed through his teeth and the body underneath me was rigid with tension. My tongue laved and flicked, quickly reducing Embry to inarticulate noises. Not wanting any part of him to feel neglected, my leg shifted so that I straddled him and could reach his other nipple. I definitely got a reaction, if the nudging against my belly and the growing wet spot on my camisole could be believed.

Embry's chest attended to, I began to work my way down his stomach, following the faint, ultra-fine trail of hair ever-closer to my goal. From the way he quivered underneath me, Embry was just as eager for me to get there as I was. So, to torture us both, I turned my head to the side, letting my nose and tongue trace ever-so-lightly over the sensitive skin of his inner thigh. My hair swept over the iron hardness of his cock, and the sensation evoked a stream of unintelligible babble from my boyfriend's kiss-swollen lips.

"Bell—now—cum—fuck—"

I lifted my head to focus on the weeping erection in front of me. The sight of his pre-cum leaking from the darkened tip sent my tongue out in search of treasure. Embry growled when I licked away the moisture and then began to work my way down, around, and back up again. Then, without warning, I took him deep into my mouth and began to suck. He began to thrash, and I laid my hands on his hips to keep him still. The tightening of his ball-sack against my chin warned of his imminent orgasm; I hummed, and Embry erupted into my mouth and throat.

He'd no sooner finished than I was yanked upward, and underneath him as he rolled over.

"You know what they say about payback," he purred. "It's my turn now."

I woke to the sounds of my heaving breaths and the feel of sweat-soaked clothing and sheets. As I gradually came back to reality, there was do doubt that I was...disappointed. Part of me thought that I should be embarrassed, but...I wasn't. Things that my friends had told me in the last few days swam back up into my mind, things about it being okay for me to want Embry and for him to want me, that I should go after what I wanted. So, was I going to? I thought about it all during my shower and my morning routine. Oh, I wanted-I knew that much, but I didn't know fully what I should want, much less how to go about getting it. "Embry will look out for you," Leah had said. He did seem to know a little more than I did-a guy thing, maybe-so why couldn't I just ask him? He'd show me what he liked, wouldn't he? Like yesterday. I squashed the contemplation of what it would have been like for it to have been my hand on his-"dick, Bella. It's called a dick. Use the word, for crying out loud. How can you want it if you can't even say or think the word?"-before I ended up needing a second shower this morning. Anyway, I had to get going-lots to do today.

An hour later, I met Embry and his mom at the Forks High School. While Embry's mom got him enrolled in the joint learning program, we compared what our class schedules would be and I gave him a little tour of the school.

"All these buildings and the forest nearby…anyone ever tempted to sneak off?"

I laughed. "Probably. I never have, but…" A wink followed.

Embry laughed in response. "It's a date." For all that I'd always been a rule-follower, the idea of sneaking off with Embry was…appealing-both for the time spent with him and also for what we'd presumably be doing while playing hooky.

Our school business taken care of, I extended an offer to Embry and his mom for dinner at my house. Tiffany insisted she would bring a dessert, and headed home to make it.

"If we're going hiking, you should wear some boots instead of those Converses you love so much," Embry said. "Do you have a pair?"

"Nope. Never." But I knew he was right. So I drove us over to Newton's Outfitters—the only place in town that would have what I needed. Inside, Embry scanned the signage and pointed me in toward the aisle for footgear. Like I'd known would happen, Mike was there to 'help' almost immediately. He looked happy to see me and not happy at all to see Embry. I didn't really want Mike's help, and wouldn't have come to his family's store if I'd had another choice. But neither did I want to drive all the way to Port Angeles for a simple pair of boots. It didn't show on my face—at least I hoped it didn't—that I knew Mike had been with Eric, Tyler, and a few others at the library the other day. It crossed my mind to wonder if they'd been the reason Embry had gotten upset. But if it was true, I somehow didn't think Mike would try to start something new today, not in his family's store and with his mom standing at the checkout counter.

"Hey, Mike," I greeted him politely.

"Bella!" he was as enthusiastic as ever—and was pointedly ignoring the fact that I wasn't alone.

"You've met my boyfriend, Embry, haven't you?" I asked, using the edge of my peripheral vision to reach for Embry's hand, which quickly slid to wrap around my waist.

"Boyfriend?" Mike's face fell dramatically and obviously. "Um, no, I don't think so."

"Oops. Well, Mike, this is my boyfriend, Embry Call—from La Push. Embry, this is a classmate of mine—well, of ours now—from Forks High: Mike Newton."

Embry's hand extended and Mike took it automatically. "Newton, as in…" he gestured around with a shake of his head, squeezing Mike's hand tightly.

Mike winced a little while admitting that this was his family's business and that he worked here.

"Great," Embry smirked. "Mind helping us out here? Bella's looking for a good pair of hiking boots. I've heard that these two are good," he reached and grabbed the boxes in question, "but do you know of any others she should try on?"

I appreciated Embry running interference for me—at least I thought it was just interference until I took a closer look at the fierce expression in Embry's eyes. Obviously there was a bit of male posturing and challenge going on here.

So I stepped up for myself and added, "I'm looking for something good, but not really expensive. But I don't want cheap that won't last, either."

"Okay, well…you'll want to skip those, then," Mike scanned the shelves, muttering to himself as he considered and rejected the offerings. "This one might work, too. What size do you need?"

I gave my shoe size and Mike went to the storeroom to retrieve the boxes. He came back with about twice the number I'd expected, and some socks.

"Have to wear good socks—keep your feet dry and blister-free. Hiking's a b-pain if you've got a blister," he groaned with obvious experience. "I bought a couple sizes in each boot just so you can make sure it feels okay."

I tried them on and walked up and down the aisle in each pair to get a feel for them.

"Hey, Bella?" Mike asked.

"Yeah?"

"I didn't think you were really into athletic stuff like hiking. What's changed? And classmates?"

I knew what Mike meant. He'd been my unfortunate gym partner more than once—and ended up with bumps and bruises because of my innate clumsiness.

"I guess I'm still not into physical activity, not really,-" at least, not any kind that Mike would find out about. "But Embry is, so I'm going to give it a try. Sharing one another's interests is what a couple is supposed to do, right? Oh, and the classmates bit is because Embry's going to be doing that joint studies program that Forks High and the Quileute Tribal School do. He'll come up here for some of his classes this year."

"Uh, yeah, I guess. Great. How does that feel?" Mike changed the subject back to the boots, apparently finally getting the message that I was firmly unavailable again.

"Pretty good. I think these should work."

"Don't forget to break them in before you really hit the trails," Mike advised, as he walked us up to the counter and set the box on the top. I restrained an eye roll—just because I wasn't athletically inclined didn't mean I was completely clueless about breaking in shoes.

"Dick," Embry muttered after we'd left the store.

"Don't call him that," I protested.

For that, I got an incredulous look from my boyfriend. "Are you defending him?"

"No," I denied. "I just don't want to have a picture of Mike Newton appear in my head when I think of that word."

Embry's mouth dropped open a little, and his eyes first widened and then narrowed. "So what would you like your mental picture to be?"

I blushed-just a little bit-but maintained our eye-lock. "I think we both know the answer to that one."

"Really?" and Embry gave me a slightly satisfied smirk.

"Yes, really," my hand lightly slapped his rather muscled bicep. "The only thing is..." I trailed off suggestively.

"Yeah...?"

"I'm not sure that one viewing was enough to nail down my mental image. Could I-"

I didn't even get the full question out before Embry had pulled me flush against the front of his body. Feeling him start to firm up against my stomach made a bloom of heat rise up to fill me, which Embry seemed to echo.

"I think we both know the answer to that one," he repeated my own words back at me. Then, "Mind if I drive us back to your place? I think I need the distraction."

With only a tiny prink of regret at letting anyone else drive my new car so soon, I handed over my keys. After yesterday, I could mostly guess why Embry might need a distraction just now.

Back at my house, I paused only long enough to call the station and ask the receptionist to pass on tonight's dinner plans to my dad-who was out patrolling right now-before silently leading Embry upstairs to my bedroom. After a second's debate, I pushed the door closed behind us; Charlie would know for sure that something was going on, if he came home, but I'd rather that than him seeing what was going on.

Then I turned to face Embry, and looked up at him. "I want to see-to know-but, I don't know how..."

"No one ever does, to begin with. I don't know all that much, either, but I know what I like."

"Show me. Teach me," I requested.

Without speaking, Embry nodded, and sat on my bed to remove his shoes and socks. Standing up, he stripped off his shirt, shorts, and then his boxers. Just like last time, my gaze automatically tracked to his groin, where a long and hard erection rose from a dusting of dark hair. He seemed to exert a magnetic pull on me while he backed up to the bed and sank down onto it again, compelling me to follow him across the room to sit beside him on the edge of my bed.

Embry's eyes drifted shut and he whispered, "You don't know how much I want this. Spirits, I want this." His eyelids opened. "You really want this, too? I'm not pressuring you?"

"I want this," I promised. "Show me how to make you feel as good as you did yesterday."

"Lube is best, but I didn't bring any with me. Do you have any lotion?"

I relinquished his hand and dashed to the bathroom, coming back with tall bottle of violet-scented lotion. While I'd been gone, Embry had scooted up the bed to recline against a pile of my pillows. Without thinking twice, I resumed my previous position on the edge of the mattress.

"That's new," Embry inhaled when I opened the bottle.

"I thought maybe a scent that was just for us." Edward had really liked my strawberry scented shampoo and lotion, and I'd somehow wanted something different for this new stage in my life.

"I like it. But I'd probably like any scent you decided to wear," he teased.

"So what do I do with this?"

As directed, I poured some of the lotion into my hands and rubbed them together to warm it up. Embry gently laid his hands over mine and guided me to his upright dick. But he let me make the final move to wrap my fingers lightly around him.

"It's okay," he breathed. "Up, down, over the head, twisting...it all feels good. Just don't yank."

I hoped he didn't expect me to answer back, because I couldn't. It felt like I was holding a bolt of lightning between my hands; hot, yet smooth, hard but yet soft at the same time.

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Embry POV

Whatever nutty mental specialist had said that dreams reflected reality clearly hadn't known what he was talking about. Reality left dreams far in the dust. It was a very, very good thing we were alone in the house, because my throat kept producing involuntary groans as Bella stroked me. I didn't know if it was on purpose-I didn't think so-but her light and tentative movements were slowly, or not so slowly, driving me up the wall. My cock kept jerking spasmodically, which made Bella look up at me.

"Am I hurting you?
"G-g-g-g-gods, no! G-good. S-s-so-o g-g-good," I babbled.

Whatever I'd managed to say seemed to be just what she'd needed to hear, because her hands pressed more firmly around me. There seemed to be a matching weight over my eyes, which drifted closed even though I wanted to watch Bella. But if I'd thought closing my eyes would make it easier to bear this unbelievably wonderful torture, I was sadly mistaken. Removing one of my senses only heightened the others; my skin was more sensitive than ever, my ears caught every flutter and thump of her heart, my nose and tongue began to tingle from undetectable molecules of scent and flavor.

"Cakwa-ak, atl, wi, bu, su'c, wihl, hla'o, qa'al, ba'iyas, tasi," I mentally counted in both Makah and Quileute, trying to ward off the orgasm I knew was coming. Bella might not have known what to do before, but she was obviously a quick study. But even as I tried, I could feel fluid starting to leak from the tip of my cock. A brushing motion over that most sensitive part of my anatomy made my eyes fly open in time to watch Bella's tongue emerge from between those dusty-pink lips to carefully touch the end of her finger.

"She—taste—me—" And with that, I was lost into a blinding whiteness.

Reality intruded with the feel of something swiping across my stomach and along my softened cock. "N-n-no more," I begged.

"Sorry," Bella apologized.

My eyes cracked open again just enough to see that she'd again grabbed a shirt to wipe up my cum. The sledgehammer met my skull a second later as I realized that it was her shirt. Amazingly, my neck didn't break from the force of being whipped around to look at my girlfriend. My now-shirtless girlfriend. My neck might be okay, but my heart was in danger of exploding at the sight before me. Bella's body was creamy pale—quite a contrast next to my russet skin. A light green bra cupped the breasts I'd been dreaming of for a while now and had touched just yesterday.

"I got to touch you…" Bella whispered. "So if you want…"

Okay, now I'd died and gone to heaven. Maybe. "I want," I confessed, sitting up to look deep into her eyes. They were deep and clear, drawing me in.

With the bed a mess thanks to me, we both slid down to the floor. I pulled a pillow down to put under Bella's head and lay down beside her, propped on one elbow. Slowly, carefully, my fingers traced over her stomach, up her sides, along her shoulders and collarbone, lingering over the strap of her bra.

"Do you want it off?"

"Do you?" I countered. When Bella gave a small nod, I began to slide the straps off her shoulders. She arched upward so that I could slide my hand under her back to find the clasp on the bra. Sightless and completely inexperienced, I fumbled some before somehow managing it. Sitting up, I inhaled deeply and pulled her bra away on my exhale. I lost the ability to breathe just then, but didn't even notice, entranced as I was with the sight before me: a pair of soft and creamy breasts, topped with dark pink nipples. I hoped Bella didn't notice how much my hands were shaking as I reached out to cup her breasts. That first touch made both of us moan. Finally I started to circle my hands around, then my fingers. With fascination, I watched as Bella's nipples tighten into little nubs. My own body was tightening as well with a renewed erection. Chest heaving, I had to fight back the urge to cover Bella's body with my own, and take/give everything. But we'd only just progressed to taking clothes off—this was quickly becoming too much. With massive willpower, I fell onto my back on the floor beside her, breathing heavily.

"You're killing me, d'you know that?" I panted.

It wasn't a smirk, but Bella did seem shyly pleased to hear me confess that.

"Maybe I'm killing me, too."

I groaned. "Not helping, Bella." But now I was feeling bad: I'd come, and she hadn't. "Are you okay?" I asked.

I wasn't all that convinced by her, "Yes."

"Is there—can I—do you—want me to…" I was completely out to sea, with no clue what to do or say. So I just focused on Bella's face, rather than the chest pumping like an accordion with how fast she was breathing.

"Touch me," she finally whispered.

Gulp. "Where? How?"

Bella's hands were the ones shaking now as she unbuttoned, unzipped, and wiggled her jeans down her legs. Then she reached for my hand and moved it to rest between her legs. I could feel the heat radiating from her skin even through the layer of her underwear—heat, and moisture.

"It felt good to rub," breathed the girl beside me. "I—want you—"

With no real clue beyond that, I extended two of my fingers and stroked back and forth. Bella started to shake beneath my hand, bucking up from the floor as she screamed my name. The realization that I'd just given Bella an orgasm made my balls tighten and my own hips started to jerk. Somehow I grabbed Bella's abandoned t-shirt, wrapped it around my dick, and shuddered into my own release.

"Oh, oh," Bella gasped.

We stared at each other in a bit of embarrassment.

"Maybe we should…laundry. Lunch," Bella spoke quickly.

"I can start the laundry. Do you want—I don't know—a shower?"

"Yeah." She grabbed a change of clothes and dashed across the hall into the bathroom. After cleaning myself off again, I redressed and pulled Bella's old clothes and the bedsheets into a pile and carried them downstairs. Bella was quick, and came downstairs before I had a chance to start making our lunch.

"You can take one, too, if you need it," she offered.

It was a good idea, and I took her up on it. We ate lunch when I was done, and then sat in silence.

"Did we take things too far today?" I asked.

"No," Bella shook her head. "At least, not for me. But I feel like I'm standing in a swimming pool and I'm about to lose contact with the bottom. I know we said we weren't going to rush into needing those condoms or my birth control pills, but it seems like our bodies are saying something else."

"Yeah. I—If we'd stayed in your room any longer… We don't know what we're doing here, and we ought to," I decided. Bella was right: our previous decisions aside, we were moving closer and closer to the point of no return every day. 'Ignorance is bliss' wasn't going to work anymore.

"The library," Bella announced. "We need information, and libraries have information. And we can break in my new boots at the same time."

She put some steaks in a marinade sauce in the fridge, and left her house to walk the several miles to the library we'd visited for our first date. Bella's thought of using the library computers to look stuff up didn't last long; the filters blocked a lot of sites, and neither of us was 18 and able to request that the filters be deactivated. But the health section did give us a good option.

"'S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-To-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get You Through High School and College'," I read the title in a whisper. "Yeah, that might just cover it." We holed up in a corner and started browsing the book. When I debated going to ask the library staff for paper like I'd done last time, Bella shook her head.

"I'll just check it out."

"But—what if the person says something to your dad?"

"I don't know if they could. But, I guess I'll face that if it happens."

As it turned out, we didn't have to worry. They'd installed a new self-checkout machine since our last visit, so no one saw the book title to tattle on us. Just in case, though, I grabbed a plastic bag on our way out; no sense taking chances on the walk back to Bella's house.

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Narrator POV

Tiffany Call walked the store aisles, trying to decide what recipe she'd be using and thus what ingredients she needed. Feeling eyes on her back, she turned around and saw the long-haired figure of Billy Black sitting in his wheelchair.

"Tiffany," he said, "we need to talk, about Embry."

"Why do we need to talk about my son?" she asked. "He hasn't done anything wrong."

"I know he's seeing Bella Swan. What I don't understand is why, when he knew Jacob—"

She cut him off. "What he knew is that Jacob abandoned both of them, just like Quil. So, naturally, the two left behind started to lean on each other. And if that friendship has now become something more, then I think that's wonderful. It can never be a bad thing for friendship to come before romance. Embry is good for her, Billy, just as Bella is good for him. If Jacob is truly their friend, then he should be happy for them."

The older man narrowed his eyes. "Happy that his friend stole—"

"Embry stole nothing," Tiffany retorted, heat in her hushed voice. "Bella was Jacob's friend the same as Embry's and Quil's. If Jacob had been dating her and Embry cut in, then yes, your son would have a reason to be upset. But Embry didn't do that. He asked, and Bella used her freedom of choice to say yes. She's a living breathing girl, not an inanimate toy for a pair of dogs to fight over."

A barely audible snort of laughter from elsewhere in the story didn't distract either of them.

"They are going to get hurt."

"I happen to disagree. Your 'concern' does you credit, but neither Bella nor Embry are your responsibility. Embry will do everything he can to make Bella happy, which should please a lifelong friend of her father. Now, if you'll excuse me, my son and I have been invited over to dinner at his girlfriend's house tonight." With that, Tiffany quickly made her selections, paid, and left.

"That went well," Sam approached Billy and offered the comment sardonically. The chief gave the Alpha a glare but said nothing, other than a request to be driven home. The elder Black felt much like his son: wondering when things would start to go right again. Jacob, Bella, Charlie, Embry…everything seems to be spinning out of his control. Embry was trying to steal the rightful Alpha's imprint, Bella seemed intent on avoiding Jake at all cost, Jake was still struggling a little with control, and Charlie was suspicious of everything. Jared had reported in after dropping off the salvage money that the police chief had asked a lot of questions and given him a lot of appraising looks. Sue Clearwater had said that he'd stopped by her house after taking pictures of the ruined truck and had seemed to think that something was going on.

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From long experience, Charlie knew that Harry worked on his fishing gear on Monday afternoons, putting things to rights after weekend fishing trips. So having heard that Bella had invited the Call's over for dinner, he headed down to La Push for a long lunch break to catch his old friend.

"Hey, Charlie," Harry greeted.

"Harry. Things getting put to rights down here?"

"Yeah. Plenty of firewood for the winter now. Bella got a new car yet?"

"Saturday. Embry was a big help to her in picking the possibilities to test out in Port Angeles. Think she found a good one."

Charlie watched carefully and noted a faint twitch on Harry's face. His friend said, "That's good. Every girl should have a reliable car, for safety's sake."

"Yeah. They need a good boyfriend, too."

No doubt about it-Harry's face twitched again. This time, Charlie didn't ignore it. "You have something against him? Or is there something about him that I don't know about?"

"No, he's a good kid..." Harry really felt stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. He couldn't condemn a boy that he did know was a good kid, but he couldn't in good conscience support Embry's relationship with Bella, either.

"But what?" Charlie retorted, in an atypical display of fire. "If he's a good guy, then he's a good guy. I'm glad that he's been such a good friend to Bella all this summer, and if she trusts him enough to start dating him-well, I haven't seen anything in him that makes me question that."

"What about Jake? I always thought you and Billy kinda hoped that he and Bella would end up together?" Harry tried.

"What about him? He's been who-knows-where for a couple weeks now. All this whatever. Absence, silence, secrets, Bella's truck...all this stuff's making me glad, to tell you the truth, that Bella's not forgiving him blindly."

"Charlie-"

The police chief shook his head. "If what I've seen lately is who Jake really is, then he'd be no better for her than that Cullen boy was, maybe even worse. I just watched my little girl get her heart broken, Harry, and I'll be damned if I'll stand by and let it happen again."

The tribal elder sighed. There really wasn't much he could say-maybe there was nothing he could say. Charlie was perfectly right in everything he was saying. Realistically, Harry would feel exactly the same if it was his own daughter caught up in this mess-and Leah had been. It had killed him inside that there had been absolutely nothing he could do when Sam had imprinted on Emily and devastated Leah. As a father, he would do anything he could to keep his baby girl from being hurt again. But to encourage this denial of a future imprinting went against everything he and the other elders believed about the whole idea. Finally, Harry spoke.

"I'm not denying that Jake hasn't handled things very well lately, Charlie. And you've got every right to be-I would be, in your place. But I think things would get a lot better for them if he could just talk to Bella and explain it. I get why Bella hasn't wanted to return Jake's calls, but it's got to stop sometime. If Jake can explain, then Bella will understand."

"Did Leah understand? Did you tell her to just talk to Sam Uley?"

Harry sighed heavily. "No, I didn't. Maybe I should have, but Leah wasn't in any mood to listen to anyone or anything. Even if she had..." Harry's daughter was even more stubborn than both her parents, so even if Sam had tried to explain the truth to her-which he hadn't been allowed to do-Leah likely wouldn't have accepted any of it. Bella was appearing to be just as stubborn, so perhaps it wasn't a surprise that the two girls had become such good friends this summer. But none of this enlightenment was much help to Harry Clearwater where his friend was concerned.

Finally, Harry offered, "I'll talk to Jake, and to Billy while I'm at it. And Charlie, please ask Bella to at least hear him out. If she still wants to be mad afterward, then she'd have that right. But Jake deserves to be able to tell her himself what's been going on."

"I'll pass that along," was all Charlie was willing to promise.

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Paul POV

I was still on Sam's bad list, even if Jake hadn't ended up running to Canada again that one night. So it meant that whenever something needed to get done, I got to be the one to do it. Which explained why I was walking through the Thriftway in Forks with a cart of groceries. Naturally, the things Jared and Kim needed couldn't be found in the Cameron's store on the rez. Just as naturally, Kim had to have them now, so Sam had stopped on his way out the door to patrol with Jared to tell me to drive into town to get the stuff on the list.

I still didn't think I ought to be blamed for speaking honestly-I mean, how was I supposed to know that Jake would go flying off the handle like that? And it wasn't like I'd repeated the incident: Sam had put a gag order on me to keep my mouth shut where any other Jake/Bella bombshells were concerned. The whole pack was sitting on one right now, but as long as they weren't thinking about it, and the new kids didn't go looking for it, then Jared and Kim's secret might be safe for a little bit longer. I doubted it, personally-Jake clearly didn't like secrets, and this was a doozy. Maybe the new pups were so innocent that they couldn't see the parallels (or reasons) between the relationship of Jared and Kim to Sam and Emily's. Maybe they'd get a clue if they saw the stuff I was going to be buying…

"What the hell? 'Vanilla ice cream'? There's vanilla ice cream at the rez store! What's the difference? Vanilla Bean, French Vanilla, Slow-Churn…" I muttered under my breath. "Pickles? Crinkle cut, smooth cut, whole, baby, sweet, dill…? How the hell am I supposed to know what to get? With a growl, I pulled out Sam's cell phone and called Emily to get answers. There was no way on earth that I was going to get the wrong stuff and then have to make another round trip. To be honest, I wasn't sure how this stuff was supposed to make Kim stop throwing up-they were more like vomit-inducing things to me-but I hadn't argued.

Matter of fact, I used part of my time in the store to take care of some personal business. I hit the books and magazines aisle of the store and stocked up on the latest must-have publications: Maxim, Playboy, Penthouse, and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Had to keep up with the good stuff, especially if I was going to keep winding Jake up. Sam might have been able to seal my lips around Jacob about the end result of imprinting and where Embry and Bella were concerned, but he couldn't keep me quiet about everything. Getting under Jacob's skin the way I could made all the other stuff worth it-nothing like twisting the wolf's tail to keep the day interesting.

I got some long looks from the girl at the checkout counter when she got a look at all of my purchases—looks filled with open invitation. Some good things about being a wolf now were the muscles, metabolism, and 'Mmmm, Paul's' that I got. But my inner wolf didn't seem that interested in this girl, so I just offered a smirk and then left.

I was slowing down for a red light at an intersection near the edge of town when I saw something else I absolutely needed to keep a lid on. Bella Swan and Embry Call were standing by the side of a building. Her back was against the wall, and his body and arms bracketed her in place. With my keen senses, the scents of arousal and at least some sort of physical satisfaction were obvious; their pounding blood and gasping breaths were also big clues that things were fast getting hot and heavy. I was actually impressed that a pair of virgins could figure that out so fast.

"Want to be bookworms again tomorrow?" Embry's voice rumbled softly. "I think I need another study session."

"Mmmhmm," Bella mumbled.

Hmmm, wonder if...?

They both looked up at the sound of the music pouring from the sound system out the open windows. The glazed expressions they'd both had faded when they recognized me. Embry pushed off the wall and swung around to keep himself between me and Bella. Getting a good look at Embry, my eyes narrowed, and that little itch I'd had since that face-off he'd had with Jared in the rez store-not typical for a shy and quiet guy like him-came back. Kid was a solid six feet tall now at least, and not the string-bean he'd been last school year, either. The way that he was focused on me… Most people gave the pack a wide berth, instinctively a bit intimidated by us; Embry definitely wasn't scared, even if he was spending a lot of time away from La Push now. He just stared back challengingly, daring me to say something. But I didn't plan to, if I could help it-not to him, and not to the pack, either. I liked my head and my balls right where they were, and telling anyone about any of this would jeopardize at least one if not both. Plus, I had softening ice cream to deal with, and two pissed-off imprints if I didn't get it back home ASAP.

All the way home, I tried to puzzle this whole thing out. Bella didn't want Jake, but clearly did want Embry. Embry didn't seem to care what anyone, including Jake, thought about it, and wasn't afraid to get up in anyone's face. He didn't look like the short and skinny science geek anymore, either. Growth, attitude, possessiveness… It almost seemed like...but it couldn't be...could it?

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AN: I honestly kept trying to wrap this chapter up so I could post it, but things just kept popping up demanding to be included here (ahem, ahem, Paul and Embry). So while this took a few days longer than expected, you do get a very nice long chapter out of it. Enjoy (and review if you're so inclined).

I'll also say that I didn't expect/plan that Bella and Embry would get up to quite so much in this chapter, but they appear to have had other ideas. And who am I to argue with them? Hope you enjoyed this and that it was worth a really late night staying up to get this finished.