Rosalie

The moment we drove away from Forks I could feel the pull of the imprint. I dreaded leaving Paul and Embry behind. They had become the most important people in my life and I didn't know how to handle being separated. I also didn't like the thought of Paul being there with Leah. He had assured me that their relationship was platonic and even sibling like, but I had seen the way she looked at him. Even if she didn't feel anything for him, I had no doubts that she would sleep with him to hurt Sam.

Alice hadn't told us where we were going, only that we needed to follow her. She felt that our thoughts weren't safe so Bella was the only one who knew where we were headed. My understanding was that Jasper had taken a list of safe destinations and put a list of possibilities in an envelope for Bella to choose from. I hoped that we would only have time to go to one of them. We made our first stop in Seattle so that Bella and Emily could eat. They chose a small steakhouse. Alice and I had to order human food for appearances, but we made sure to order what the humans had so it would appear as if none of us finished our meals completely.

"How are you feeling, Rosalie?" Bella asked me.

I shrugged. "I'm definitely feeling the strain. I really miss Paul."

Emily put her hand over mine. "They won't let us all suffer long, Rosalie." She assured me.

"I hope not." I told them.

"Would it make everyone feel better if I called Jas?" Alice offered.

We agreed and she put him on speaker.

"Well hello, darlin'." He answered. "I didn't expect to hear from you this soon."

"You're on speaker, Jas. We just wanted to check in with everyone." She told him.

"There has actually been a little excitement since you left." He told us. "Two new wolves phased, Emmett and Esme went to help Sam prepare the house for two more to stay."

Emily looked sad to hear that two more wolves had joined the pack. "Do you know their names, Jasper?" She asked.

"One of them was Seth, I think the other was a good friend of Jacob's."

"Quil?" Bella asked.

"That's it. Seth and Quil. They got in to an argument and both phased. Harry called Sam as soon as it happened."

Emily rested her head in her hands. "Seth is so young. Please look after him while we're gone."

"Of course, Em. I think they may be coming here soon." We heard two howls in the background. One of them I knew was Paul's, but I didn't recognize the other. I panicked at the sound of his anguish.

"What's going on? Is Paul okay?"

"I have to go. I will call you when I know more." Jasper hung up the call.

"Wonderful idea you had there, Alice." I grimaced at her. "I think we all feel worse now. We should go back." I stood up, but Emily grabbed shoulder and pushed me back in to my seat.

"No." She told me. "You have to trust Sam, he will protect them. Jasper and Emmett are there too. They are all safe."

I shook my head. "I hear you, Emily, but I still feel like Paul is in danger."

"Let's go then. If we want to get home soon, we need to show the council as quickly as we can that the wolves need us there." Bella told us.

We got back on the road quickly. We were headed to the east coast, but decided to stop for the night once we made it to Montana. Alice and I didn't need to sleep, but we knew a hotel would be more comfortable for the girls. I wanted desperately to talk to Paul but I knew I couldn't. We promised the guys we wouldn't contact them. We checked in to a nice hotel with a suite. The girls would each have their own bed and there was a separate sitting area for Alice and I to stay in. We ordered room service for the girls and they drifted off quickly.

The rest of the night passed slowly. This was the first night I'd spent without one of the pack since Paul had imprinted on me. Alice's company helped but it wasn't enough to ease the ache in my chest. The two of us watched part of a movie together, and I could tell Alice was becoming as anxious as I was. It wasn't painful for vampires to be separated from their mates, but she still didn't enjoy being away from Jasper for long. We needed to find another way to pass the time.

"Would you be up for a hunt? I can see the girls still being asleep when we return." She asked me.

I agreed and we left. We had prepared for not being able to hunt as often as we'd like, but this was a nice change from the original plan. We saw some regular wolves and my chest ached. We agreed not to hunt them. I wondered if Paul was okay, or if he was on patrol tonight. We hadn't ever heard from Jasper, so we weren't sure what had happened earlier after we spoke. I could still feel him through our imprint, but it wasn't reassuring. I just wasn't sure if his agony was caused by my absence or another issue that had come up.

We came across a familiar scent while we were hunting. It smelled like someone from Forks, but I couldn't be certain. We followed it for awhile, hoping that it might be Angela, but we lost it after a few miles. I hoped that she would be found safely, but the longer she was missing the more I came to doubt she'd be found safely.

Alice had been working to develop her gift so that she could see the wolves. Her progress had been much slower than she would have liked, but she was slowly starting to see Embry. She was convinced that the other wolves would soon follow once she found a way to see him clearly. I only wish she had been able to see them more accurately before we had left and agreed to no contact. We got back to the room and I decided to try to call Esme, but I wasn't able to reach her.

The morning came and the girls wanted to eat breakfast before we got back on the road for the day. We found a small diner not far from our hotel for them to eat. If they were feeling any pain, they hadn't mentioned it to us. It was a little warm in the diner and Bella pulled her hair back, revealing a mark on the side of her neck. Emily gasped.

"Bella, when did you get that mark?"

Bella let her hair back down, blushing. "He didn't hurt me, it was an accident."

"I don't care if it hurt, Bella!" Emily was angry. "Do you have any idea what that mark is? Does Jacob realize what he's done?"

Alice was upset by the hostility in her tone. "I'm sure they didn't mean to do anything wrong."

Emily put her hands in her hair and pulled them down. "I have to talk to Sam... he must not know... we have to go back to Forks, but marked mates can't be that far away from each other. Jacob could actually die, and if our legends are accurate Bella is probably pregnant."

"We can't talk to them!" Bella shrieked. "What about convincing the council?"

"None of that will matter if Jacob DIES, Bella." Emily told her. "I'm calling Billy."

"Wait!" Alice told her. "If you call him now, he blames us and they don't let Rosalie come back. We need to stay away a little longer."

"Can you see when they'll change their mind, Alice?" I asked.

She nodded. "Harry Clearwater will call Billy tonight and tell him that our kind can be imprints. He knows about the mark and tells Billy that Jacob will be in danger if they don't let Rosalie come back to the reservation."

"Should we head back then?" I asked.

"Let's go to Seattle and wait to hear from them." Bella suggested. "That way we're not too far away if they need us back quickly."

Emily was shaking her head. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would Harry change his mind? Seth wouldn't have imprinted on a vampire, there aren't any females in Forks right now."

"Except for maybe Victoria..." I added.

"I can't see who it is. But I'm having trouble seeing Esme, Carlisle, and Emmett right now." Alice told us. "That could just be because they're on the reservation. We should head that way."

We left to go back to Seattle. I was scared for the pack, and anxious to see who the new imprint might be. I suppose it could be possible that Harry had a change of heart without another imprint, but I doubted that. Emily was fairly quiet on the drive, but I couldn't blame her. She missed Sam and she was fearful for Jacob. She told me about the two new wolves that phased. Seth was her cousin, Leah's younger brother. He had blamed Emily for what happened with Sam, and she was glad that he would understand now but worried about how Leah would take it.

Leah was a sensitive subject for Emily as much as she was for me. We were both intimidated by her reappearance in Paul's life. Emily was convinced that the two had slept together and they had only told me differently so I wouldn't continue to reject Paul, which was the same thing Embry had told me. Sam still loved Leah, but he was bound to Emily by the imprint now.

"Leah is very vindictive, Rosalie. She would sleep with the entire pack if she thought it would hurt Sam. She's the one that started the rumors about them being in a gang." Emily told me.

"Do you trust Paul?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "I love Paul, but he used to be incredibly promiscuous. He's always known how to hide his thoughts from Sam, so I don't trust his version of events on anything another wolf doesn't witness."

"Promiscuous? How do you mean?"

She looked at me with a shocked expression. "Don't you know about Lauren? I assumed Embry had told you he caught them together."

Lauren? Had Paul lied to me again? "What are you talking about? Lauren Mallory?"

Emily's face turned red. "I can't believe nobody told you. It was the day you and Embry took out the leech together. Do you know her?"

"I hate that girl. I can't believe Paul wasn't honest with me."

Emily started to respond to me but was interrupted by the sound of her cell phone. "It's Sam." She told me.

"Put him on speaker."

She answered the call. "Hey, are you okay? I thought we weren't supposed to talk."

"Emily, it's so good to hear the sound of your voice." He sounded calm. "Harry is going to call Billy about Rosalie tonight, you girls can come back. Jacob really needs Bella. We didn't know he had marked her."

She laughed. "We were already on our way back, Alice saw the conversation between Harry and Billy. What changed his mind?"

He hesitated before answering. "We'll discuss that when you get here. Where are you now?"

"Almost to Seattle." I answered him. "How is Paul?"

"Hello, Rosalie. Paul is fine, he's at his place with Emmett right now." His house?

"You mean his house that's next to the Clearwater's place?"

Sam took a minute to answer again. "Emily, can you take me off speaker for a minute? I'll see you tonight, Rosalie."

I nodded at her and she took him off speaker to finish their conversation. I could still hear him, but he didn't say much else about Paul.

"I think you should call him." Emily suggested.

I was hesitant, but I took her advice. It rang so long that I wasn't sure he'd answer. I put in on speaker and sat the phone down on the console between Emily and I. Finally, the call was connected.

"Hello?"

My blood boiled. I knew the voice on the other end of the line, and it wasn't Paul's. I looked toward Emily and she nodded. It was Leah Clearwater. I grabbed my cell phone and crushed it in my hand. How could he be with her? He knew how insecure I was feeling about their relationship. Just when I had thought things were looking up for the two of us, another obstacle presented itself. Why would he be with her? Shouldn't be be in pain from being separated from me? Emily didn't offer any further input on the situation, but she seemed upset as well.

When we came up on Port Angeles, I wished I had called Embry before destroying my phone. He would tell me what was going on, or so I hoped.

"Em? Could I use your phone to call Embry?" I asked.

"I don't have his number, but if you know it you can." She handed me the phone.

I dialed the familiar number and he answered on the first ring. "Emily? You okay?"

"It's me, Embry. What the hell is going on?"

He sighed loudly. "Rosalie, it is so good to hear for you. I've missed you so much."

"I miss you too Embry, but what's going on with Paul?"

"Why is that all you fucking care about? Do I suddenly not mean shit to you?" He snapped. "He's shacked up at his house with Leah, if you really want to know."

I felt my heart breaking. For being dismissive of Embry, and because Paul was with Leah.

"Are they sleeping together, Embry?"

"You still don't give a shit about me, only Paul. I don't think they're playing checkers at his house alone." I could hear the pain in his voice.

"Embry, I'm sorry. I thought things were getting better with Paul and now it's messy again and I just can't get my thoughts straight. You know I care about you." I did care about Embry, and I wondered if he was a better choice for me than Paul.

"You say that, but you slept with him before you left. He doesn't deserve you." He paused for a minute. "I'll be waiting for you when you get home. I won't tell him we talked."

Embry hung up on me and I passed the phone back to Emily. We sped back to Forks and I could feel my anxiety building the closer we got. Emily had updated Sam on our location, so I expected the wolves to be there when we arrived.

Alice pulled in first and I pulled up behind her. Everyone was outside from the pack and our family. I scanned the crowd and noticed Leah standing next to Emmett. What the fuck was she doing here? Why was she with Emmett?

I got our and didn't look toward the family. I saw Sam walk up to Emily and felt a hand on my shoulder at the same time.

"Babe I'm so glad you're back." Paul whispered in my ear.

I spun around quickly and pushed him away from me as I did. He wasn't expecting it, and landed about fifteen feet away from me. He was shaking when he got up.

"What the fuck was that?" He yelled.

"You have got some nerve to touch me after you spent the night with Leah, AGAIN." I screamed at him.

He walked toward me again. "Rosalie, babe, you don't understand-" He reached for me and I slapped him hard across the face.

"I don't care to hear what you have to say. I was in pain being away from you, and you're out fucking this bitch? And you bring her to my family's house?" I could hear someone growling behind me.

"I didn't sleep with her!" He yelled at me. "You aren't letting me explain, again! If you'd just fucking listen to me-"

I shook my head. "I'm not listening to shit. You and Leah deserve each other, you're both fucking disgusting."

I started to walk away toward my house when I heard him yelling again. "They're her family now too, Rose! You'll have to listen to me eventually."

I turned around to face him again. "Listen to me, carefully. They will never be her family."

Leah started laughing and I heard Alice tell her to shut up. "Can we please just go to your place and talk? I didn't want to have this conversation in front of everyone." He pleaded.

"Absolutely not. Whatever you have to say you can say here, in front of our families." I told him.

He sighed. "She phased, Rosalie. And she imprinted on Emmett."

If my heart could still beat it would have stopped. There was no way this bitch belonged with MY Emmett. I laughed. "She will never be good enough for Emmett. I guess that's okay though. She may have slept with my imprint once or twice, but I spent over fifty years with hers." I turned to walk away again.

I was walking for a few seconds when I heard Paul yelling my name. He got louder and louder when I heard Embry.

"Rosalie, look out!" Embry yelled.

I turned around to see a small white wolf coming at me. I didn't have time to react before we collided. I hadn't seen this wolf before, so I assumed it was Leah. Paul was watching us from the other side of my driveway, still human. Their laws said that an imprint can't be harmed, but nobody seemed to mind that she was attacking me. She was on top of me and I pushed her off. She fell in to a tree, but got back up growling at me again.

She started running at me and I waited for her to get close enough to make an impact again. Before she could hit me, Emmett jumped in front of me.

"Enough, Leah." He told her. She stopped and whimpered. "You're not going to hurt her. Rosalie was my wife for a very long time, and I won't stand by while you torment her."

He turned around to face me. "You should go home, Rosie. I'll take Leah back to the reservation." He told me.

I didn't have the patience to fight with them anymore. I looked toward Paul, who was still standing at the end of the driveway with his arms crossed. His indifference hurt. I knew I could handle a fight with Leah, but he didn't even attempt to defend me. I shook my head and turned around to walk back toward my house, anxious for the night I'd spend alone.

I hadn't gone far when I heard someone running up behind me. I closed my eyes, hoping it was Paul. I felt a warm hand tug on my shoulder and turn me around. I fell back into strong arms and a warm embrace. I had missed this while I was away and this was exactly what I had wanted to come home to. Finally, the ache of separation had begun to dull as I buried my face in his chest. I looked up to meet his eyes and I realized it wasn't Paul. It was Embry.

I didn't let go of Embry, but scanned the area to see where Paul was. He was getting in the car with Emmett, Leah, and Seth. The pain of seeing him leave with her was unbearable. I hugged Embry tighter until he picked me up and carried me to my house.

How did both of the men I've loved end up with Leah?

I spent the night in Embry's arms as he slept, but I couldn't stop thinking about the man I wanted to be next to. Paul.