Embry's POV
"You told her you had feelings for her! Ugh! So, romantic! Then what?" Emily gushes, completely forgetting about the heads of cauliflower she is chopping. When all the guys are busy with family or on patrol, and Sam is nowhere to be found, Emily will occasionally ask me to help with a thing or two.
Or whenever she sees something on Pinterest or in Martha Stewart magazine that she's dying to make.
Today she's trying something vegan, which is a taboo in our pack. It's some meat substitution involving wrapping cauliflower in rice paper then smothering them in hot sauce so no one will notice it's not meat. It's a solid attempt at her sneaking in veggies in the guys' diets. Which is why she called me to help with her dirty little trick. It sounded crazy enough to try.
It's rare a occasion for us to have some cooking time. When we do, the two of us gossip a bit. She told me about how her aunt Sue Clearwater got asked out by Charlie Swan—and is thinking of saying yes. That'll be top news on the rez for at least a year, since not much happens around here. For the last few months, the most gossiped story on the Res was how a middle school girl made the boys football team. Before that it was the rumor that Sam is our cult leader. Before that, well, Winnie's beach incident.
I've just been in the middle of telling her about Winnie accidentally spending the night at my house. And I haven't even told her the best part yet.
"Then she told me it was okay to kiss her."
"Tell me you listened to her!" Emily is enthralled, eyes wide with interest and the ingredients completely forgotten about on the cutting board. We should had the cauliflower cooked by now, but the afternoon got away from us.
"When Winnie first said it, I didn't believe her at first." Emily dramatically clutches her chest and calls me an idiot.
"I can believe that. You've been taking things so slow with your imprint, I think Bella's vampire baby grew a year older by now." Emily sighs, finally getting back to chopping. "Sam told me the very next day when he imprinted on me. Jared barely got to the next day before telling Kim. Yet you're about to go on month three with Winnie." Emily adds, sliding through the heads of cauliflower so vigorously, it's hard not to wince whenever her cleaver lands against the cutting board.
"I'm trying not to scare Winnie off. If I told her about werewolves she would have gotten a restraining order against me." I still have no idea how I'm going to tell Winnie. Things are so good right now I can't risk losing her just when I got her.
"When it comes to love, especially this kind of love between imprints, it makes anything make sense." Emily grins to herself. She does has a point, she's cooking nearly a dozen heads of cauliflower for a pack of shape shifting werewolves. This is just a typical afternoon for Emily.
"We haven't told each other if we love each other yet." Though I haven't said it out loud, I've silently told her I love her with every kiss, every time I've called just to hear her voice, every time I held her hand, and each time I drove her around when her buggie was in the shop. Even with all those times, it's getting harder and harder not to say it with each passing day. I can't tell which I'll blurt out first; how I'm a werewolf or how I'm in love with her.
"You haven't told her she's your imprint, haven't kissed, went on one date, and haven't told her how you really feel." Emily narrows her eyes at my smirk.
"We've kissed." My eyebrows bounce with my smirk. Emily does a double take at me her, her mouth dropping into an agape O.
"Why didn't you lead with that! Priorities Embry!" The cooking is completely forgotten now as Emily pulls a chair and a snack from the cabinet.
"Where did we leave off?"
"After you told her you like her, right after she told you could kiss her." Emily fills in without a beat as she snacks on some Oreos she keeps hidden from the pack.
"Then we had a long talk about how we treated each other in high school."
"And?" Emily is on the edge of seat.
"Then she asked me if I was going to keep wasting time by not kissing her." Emily gets a far away look in the eyes as smiles to herself.
"That's smooth. Girls who make the first move are always smooth. I just know I'd like her." Emily practically swoons. "So you two are official now? You asked her to be your girlfriend?"
The ecstatic joy I've been feeling for the last several days is instantly gone. For the first time in days I stop smiling, my face knotting up in worry. A chill runs down my spine and hits the pit my stomach, spreading unsureness like pins and needles.
When I turn back to Emily she gives me a doomed look, paired with a "Oh, Embry, you lovable idiot."
"Do you think she wanted me to ask?" The whole point of taking it slow was to ease Winnie into the imprint thing. I skipped girlfriend and was heading straight for soulmates without even realizing.
"This girl has had a crush on you since she was six, and you're actually asking if she wanted to be asked to be your girlfriend?" Emily looks at me with a pitiful look. As if, "bless his heart, he's a moron."
I would have shifted to run straight over to Winnie, but instead I went home to shower and changed into something other than shorts. Since the change, I'm outside so much I always smell like the outdoors and my hair is always a bit windswept. If I had a suit, I'd probably would have considered putting it on to ask Winnie. Though my mom said it would have looked more like I was asking for a shotgun wedding than to be Winnie's boyfriend. I took my mom's word that a shower, combed hair, some cologne and ironed clothes is more than the average man does. My mom's experience with men is just as terrible as any other woman's. She insists there's nothing more humbling than kissing a guy who doesn't floss.
So here I am, standing outside the Lodge in my best pair of jeans with a bouquet of flowers. I was already on my way here when I asked Winnie if I could pick her up. Then had to beg one of the guys to take my patrol for the evening. I'm still trying to think of a romantic date to whisk her off on so I can get a chance to properly ask.
"You look nice." Winnie rushes out the diner with her hair coming undone from her braid while retying her apron.
"You always look nice." A smirk spreads across my face.
"Please, I look like I've been serving burgers all day," Winnie grins breathlessly before noticing the flowers before I can notice she doesn't have her things. "Tulips?"
"For you." Her brown eyes go shiny with a silent thank you, the copper brown melting into a gold that proves to me no one has ever gotten her flowers before.
"You got me flowers? You didn't have to. They're beautiful, Embry. Thank you." She goes to hug me, but stops when she remembers that she's covered in food. I would have been disappointed if she hadn't gone on her tippy toes to give me a thank you kiss on the cheek. I'm even happier since I turned fast enough to have Winnie miss my cheek to instead land on my mouth.
"No, thank you." I smirk over her mouth when she lowers back down. That flushed shade of pink always looks adorable on her.
"I know I said I was getting out now but, they need me for another hour. One of the girls is running late. Is that okay?" The nervous look she gives back towards the diner makes her double knot her apron behind her back without even realizing.
"I can wait." I nod, already putting the flowers back into the van.
"No, no, I couldn't let you." Winnie's eyes go big with worry.
"I'll kill time by grabbing something to eat, you know I'm always hungry." I assure her.
"Are you sure?"
"Defiantly." The added time can give me some more time to think out our plans.
"It'll be on me." Winnie insists, before pausing.
"Let me pay you back." Before Winnie can take a step, I cup her face and plant a kiss on her surprised mouth. She staggers back, but my hands keep her in place, and keeps her close. Her head tilts back to kiss me back, and when she bops up on her tippy toes I smile against her lips.
"I'll tip you later." I smirk at her expression, it's so inviting for a second kiss. Flushed cheeks, pink lips, and hazy eyes darting across my face trying to focus. Winnie takes a minute before heading back inside, trying her best to look collected, and redoing her apron several times to try to keep her on task. I'm well aware Winnie isn't one for PDA, but I can fix that in a moment and duck the two of us into the back of my van. Just thinking about it makes me smile like an idiot.
The moment she's back inside, Winnie rushes off behind the counter to answer the phone to take a pickup order. The dinner is packed for lunch. Every table and booth is occupied, waitresses rush in-between tables, their hands busy with balancing trays or rushing to take orders on their notepads. The smell of food is even thicker than usual, with the steam from the grill filling up with the entire restaurant with the stench of French fries and meat. The sound of chatter and forks against plates is loud, so loud I can't hear the usual music without using my werewolf hearing. I patiently wait for Winnie to finish up on the phone to take my order, but right when she gets off the phone a customer flags her down for a refill.
"I'll take take your order. You look hungry." An older waitress with the name tag reading Maisie gives a fond smile over to Winnie before giving me a welcoming look, readied with a pen and paper. From her blonde hair I can tell she's from Forks. I've always seen her around. I recognize most of the staff by now, but I always sit in Winnie's section since the day I imprinted on her, so I've hardly spoken to any of the waitress besides Winnie.
"I always am." I shrug with an easy grin. Though I bet the whole staff knows that by now.
"What can I get you?"
"A grinder sandwich."
"That's it?" The way Maisie taps her notepad with her pen signals she's waiting for more. I usually order enough to feed a small army, but with Winnie picking up the tab, I'm not going to order something that can cover how much she makes an hour.
"That's it." I shrug.
"Not even something to drink?"
"Water is fine."
"I'm adding a side of fries." Maisie decides. She gives a warning look before I can cut in. "It's rush hour. You might not be able to flag one of us down for your usual slice of pie. But I'll try my best." Before I can protest she's off running plates for a table. Another waitress brings me my food, and turns out Maisie added a chili dog and a lemonade to her side of fries.
Lady really knows her customers. I have a feeling I'll get a slice of pie without even needing to ask for it. I wonder what flavor she knows is my favorite.
"Ah, Maisie got you." Winnie finally has a moment to check on me, but she's in a rush.
"Yeah, she's a pro. She knew all my favorite food." I say, surprise by how she knew I like chili cheese dogs over the native Seattle dog.
Winnie is pouring two pitchers of beer for a particularly rowdy group of guys from Forks. They're a loud handful, all old enough to drink but young enough to have nothing else to do than drink in the middle of a weekday afternoon. From their jeans and t-shirts anyone can tell they're defiantly not on a work lunch, or the usual truckers. They all seem to know each other from high school, every pat on the back and snarky grin too familiar and too coy.
"Maisie's the best." Winnie smiles to herself. "She trained me, you know." Before I can respond, one of the guys calls Winnie back over impatiently, calling her "sweetie."
My blood boils, something hot and vicious threatening to spill over. I know I should take a breath, but I can't help the heated stare I shoot over my shoulder. The table quits down enough, the look on their faces get the wolf in me to calm down just enough to not need before heading outside to run off my anger.
"Not every lunch rush is this bad." Winnie assures me, her eyes giving me a cautious look. I must look scary. I rarely get mad. Most of the time, I don't have to worry about my emotions or shifting all of the sudden as much as the others. But I've haven't had a sudden near shift like that since I first changed.
I try my best not to scare Winnie, or anyone. But I can't help the tense tone in my voice when I ask, "Are they bothering you?"
"Customers always bother service workers." Winnie gives a joke, and it's a good one that would usually get a grin out of me, but I can feel my agitation poking at my resolve, threatening to break what little composure I have left. The worried look Winnie gives me reminds me to stay calm. I force an upturn twist of my lips, but she doesn't believe it for a minute. "I don't let people like that bother me, Embry."
The matter of fact way she says "Doesn't let" isn't a yes or no. It makes me all the more protective of her.
"If they do, you can tell me." I state lowly, fighting to keep a growl out of my voice.
"If they do, they'll be dealing with Maisie. Don't let that sweet customer voice fool you. She can be nightmarish." Winnie nods, confident in Maisie's ability to wreck havoc. Winnie gives me a soft look, one that makes the heat of anger die down. "My shift will be over before you know it. Then it's just you and me, Embry. It'll be the fastest forty minutes of your life, I promise."
"Fastest forty minutes." I repeat back with a nod, feeling like my regular self when Winnie smiles at me. She tells me to enjoy my lunch before rushing off, bringing over the beers without a word and walking off without asking if they need anything else.
Winnie's cold shoulder isn't just icy, it's damn near the arctic. I would know with how I've been on the receiving end of it for most of high school. It makes my lunch go down easier knowing these guys aren't going to get through that attitude.
Regardless, I kept glancing over my shoulder between bites. Maybe it's the wolf senses, or jealously or just from how they ordered another round, but a gut feeling told me to be careful of their actions. They're the loudest table in the restaurant, just obnoxious and sloppy from how they shout mid-chew or how they always snicker whenever one of the waitresses can't avoid walking past their table.
"Fifteen more minutes." Between pouring another round of beer, Winnie has a moment to check on me. She slides me a plate with a thick slice of sweet potato pie topped with whipped cream in the shape of a heart. "That's just enough time for pie."
"You're..." Trailing off with a light laugh, I smile down at the pie, feeling warm and fuzzy all over. "You're great. Thanks, Winnie." The way she's smiling makes my all those nice warm feelings double. She looks happy, happy to see me today, happy to be with me. It's the soft look in her eyes, how it makes her bronze eyes melting into a sweet honey color.
Before Winnie has a chance to reply to my thank you, a crude shout for the "waitress" interrupts us. Without needing to look, I already know which table is being obnoxious. She sighs, waving at them to signal she's coming. "Fifteen more minutes," She reminds me before heading off to their table.
Following her across the room with my eyes, I keep them trained on her back as she goes to ask them what else they'll be needing. I silently hope she reminds them to tip their waitress. They all lean in their seats when Winnie firsts gets to their table, a move that doesn't sit right in my stomach, a move that reminds me of an animal about to pounce.
Fifteen more minutes, I remind myself. Yet, the knowing feeling in my muscles tells me something is about to occur now. I turn around in my chair to get a better look, letting my werewolf hearing cancel out the rest of the nosy restaurant to focus on what they're saying.
"Is that all?" Winnie asks in a frosty voice.
"Say," The group snickers when the guy sitting closet to winning speaks. "Do I know you?" I don't like the look of him, his faces looks sleazy by the way his mouth is always stretched in a crocked smirk and the way his eyes check out every girl whose within five feet of him. The way he dresses looks out of place in the diner. Just from a glance of his white polo with the collar sticking up just clashes against the restaurant of sports jerseys, flannels and work clothes.
"No." I almost missed it, but Winnie flinched just the slightest bit. Her shoulders tensed, just a slight shift that anyone would have missed, but the tiny movement was enough for me to know something is wrong.
"You know, you just look so familiar." The guy smirks, the entire table giving her big excited grins. The icy look in Winnie's eyes turns to steel, laser focused loathing that made the snickering momentarily die down.
"No, I know you." The guy clears his throat and sits up in his chair.
"You don't." Winnie warns.
"No, I know you. See, I don't forget a face. And I defiantly wouldn't forget a body like yours. You're the girl who flashed the bea—"
I didn't even know I got up from my chair. I don't even remember making the decision to intervene or walking across the restaurant. Yet I'm looming over the guy with my fist on the collar of his expensive polo. I haul him out of his chair, pulling him up to meet my narrowed eyes. The sudden scrape of the chair makes the entire diner come to a full halt, every chair hushing over to watch.
"Apologize." I intended to say it firm but it's thick and heavy with so much anger it sounds nothing like my own voice. Just something near a growl. I should worry about losing control, worry about shifting, but it's like I have tunnel vision. The only thing on my mind is Winnie.
"Hey, hey," One of the other guys gets to his feet to give me a warning hand. "Let him go. It was a joke. You don't want to start something. It'll be four against one..." Whatever he saw on my face makes him sit back down in his seat.
"Apologize to her." I ground more words out, each getting hasher than the last.
"It was a joke!" The guy insists, pushing at my fist. It only makes me pull him up higher, his feet hanging off the floor.
"No, it wasn't. Now apologize." This time I growl, an animalistic one that tells me I'm about to shift. I know it, I can feel it in the ways my bones are burning with rage. I'm going to change, but I refuse to move till I hear this jerk apologize. I haven't lost control yet, I will myself to keep my whole mind till I ground an apology out of the whole table.
"Embry," A cautious voice gets close. The hand on my back is suppose to be calming, but I've loss too much of control to fight off the wolf. "Embry, let him down."
"Listen to her man," One of the other clowns speak up.
"Embry, you're scaring me. If you don't let him go, Joel is gonna have to call the police. We're gonna have to close the diner for the rest of the day. There's gonna be a police report. This isn't like you, put him down." Something in me clenches, maybe it's my heart, my soul, maybe even my brain, but parts of my will get me to loosen my grip on him. It was Winnie telling me she's afraid of me, it rattled me enough to shock me back into the moment.
"Apologize now." I warn, recognizing myself again.
"Okay, okay!" the crane his neck to look around me to Winnie. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for bring it up! Now tell him to lay off."
"Embry, let go." Her cautious hand at my back runs up the length of my arm to give a warning squeeze at my elbow. I drop him back into his chair, waiting for the anger to subside enough to get a better sense of myself to manage to walk out of the restaurant to the woods.
I forgot everything Sam warns us about. I forgot to breathe, I forgot to step away, I forgot what could happen if I shift near civilians. I haven't lost control like that since I first changed. My emotions have never taken hold of me like this, not so suddenly, not so overwhelmingly. I nearly lost all of my will in an instant.
I turn back to Winnie, whose giving me big worried eyes. Nothing like those heart eyes she was giving me moments ago. She looks more than worried, she looks anxious—no, she looks scared. The anger finally starts to give, leveling out enough to the beginnings of shame "Embry, that wasn't like you. Are you ok—?"
"You asshole!" The guy lunges out of his chair, taking a dirty shot while my back is turned. By the time I look back at him, all I see are knuckles. A fist, and a chunky class ring slams into my face. There's a sickening crack of bones.
But it isn't mine.
My head doesn't even turn from impact. There's a shout of pain, then the room erupts back into noise. Chairs scrape the floor, there's shouting, sound of a crowd rushing. I just blink at the guy as he crumbles over to clutch his hand, bellowing about "My hand! He broke my hand!"
Then there's Winnie, holding onto my hand, the touch grounding me. I look over at her, realizing she's holding me back from punching him back. She's straining with all her might, needing to get on tippy toes to just get a hold of me. My arm is pulled back and ready to hit without me even realizing.
She looks scared.
"I'm sorry." I mange out. I didn't want to but I shake her off, and take off for the door. I barely made it to the edge of the parking lot before shifting.
Winnie's POV
"He's not answering his phone." After his third call, Jacob gives up trying to reach Embry. He joins me by Embry's van leaning alongside me to wait to see if Embry will come back. The parking lot is full of red and blue, squad cars of the Forks police force parked crookedly in the fire zones. After a dozen calls to Embry from myself, I had to call Jacob.
"Do you think he's okay?" I ask Jacob.
"He's not hurt. I know Embry is perfectly fine. He's just walking it off." Jacob reassures me with a sympathetic hand on the shoulder. Jacob was the right person to call. Always full of warmth and heart, Jacob has been nothing but comforting while doing his best to get a hold of Embry. He's been doing more than keeping me company, he's been keeping me sane.
"It was just so unlike him." I say it more to myself than to Jacob. "I've never seen him act like that. So... I've never even seen Embry get moody." This time I turn to look at Jacob, knowing the same look on my face from when Embry got punched is still there half an hour later. It took me ten minutes to get my hands to stop shaking, I can't get the sight of Embry getting hit out of my mind.
I know I shouldn't be this concerned, but my body has been buzzing with nerves since Embry first got upset. First I was uneasy, because I've never known Embry to get bothered by anything. Then I got concerned to downright scared. I know I won't feel better till I see for myself Embry is alright, nothing will soothe me till I know for sure.
"Even Embry has bad days." Jacob points out.
"He seemed perfectly fine one second, then out of nowhere he just got in the guy's face." I respond, glancing over at the cops questioning the table of guys. The one who actually swung at Embry went to the emergency room is curled up on the curve clutching an ice pack, the cops won't let him leave till they finish getting the story straightened out. At first he wouldn't stop sobbing, now he's quoted down to a whimper as he rocks back and forth while he holds his broken hand against his chest.
"Honestly, I haven't seen Embry get this angry since sophomore year." Jacob admits.
"When you guys dropped out of school?" I fill in the blank immediately. Jacob's pauses, his mouth clamping shut. He tries to keep his face neutral, but his eyes give him away with the caution burning in them. Whatever he's about to say next he's thinking it over very throughly to make sure nothing slips.
"No, it's just Embry... gets protective when it comes to the people who are important to him." Jacob says slowly after a beat.
"I'm important to Embry?"
"Of course you are, Winnie." Jacob says it like it's obvious, his nose crinkling up like he wants to laugh at something I don't get. By the sudden way his face drops I know Embry's back. Following his gaze, I'm already rushing towards him. Embry's lingering at the edge of the parking lot where the pavement gives into grass, then wild flowers before the thick Pacific Northwest woods begins and blocks the rest of the Washington for miles. He's not in the same clothes as before. His jeans and shoes are missing, instead he's barefoot in a pair of cut off shorts.
"Embry, are you okay?" I say slightly out breath, not realizing till now that I ran all the way over to him. Jacob is right behind me, giving a Embry a solemn nod that Embry returns.
"Yeah..." Embry's voice gives into a hesitant rasp, his dark eyes looking over my head at the mess of the police scene filling up the parking lot.
"Winnie, I—I didn't mean to... I'm sorry." Embry gulps, his eyes sweeping back and forth over the squad cars.
"Embry, what happened in there?" Once I ask his eyes land back on me, his dark eyes going guilty. "When did you change? And you didn't a bruise from that punch?" Embry struggles to say something, but he can't seem to put words together. Jacob steps in, reaching around me to put a hand on Embry's shoulder.
"Chief Swan wants to get your side of the story, but he says it's four guys' words against the entire staff. How about we go talk to him, then I drive you back?" Jacob offers, knowing exactly what to say. He's already holding Embry's car keys, which I have no idea how he got, but assume Embry dropped them somewhere out when he took off and Jacob just coincidentally found them?
"Chief Swan—he knows?" Embry asks Jacob, who gives him a curt nod.
"Yeah, he knows everything." Jacob says knowingly. "Come on," Jacob nudges his head towards chief Swan. Embry gives a small nod and follows Jacob's lead across the parking lot. Following close behind the two giants, I listen to the gut feeling telling me not to ask any questions. Embry looks back at me to see if I'm following them. The look on his face forces me to give me a small, but forced grin, trying to be reassuring in anyway I can manage. It seems to be sufficient enough to make his shoulders release some of their tension. When he turns back forward, Embry sticks his hand out behind him in a silent plea for me to reach out and grasp it. Even with all my questions that I'm not even sure I'll get answers to, I don't even hesitate locking my fingers with his.