The path to forgiveness is never the easiest one. It's rather much easier to hate

and hold onto the past than it is to forgive and move on.

- Unknown

Icy water completely engulfed her as she kept sinking down into the deep darkness of the ocean. It didn't take long for the water to slow her descent into a stop, her body floating in momentary stillness, until the current pushed and pulled at her body. Numbness clawed at her body and her chest felt like it was on fire, her mind trying to make sense of what way was up. Then finally, sweet beautiful calmness from the madness that surrounded her. And then...and then...someone called for her, the voice shining a bright light in the darkness that surrounded her.

Nina pushed herself up, the bath water splashing violently against the tub and walls as she painfully gasped for air in disbelief. Wet dark strands of hair clung to her neck as the sound of a loud boom of thunder overpowered her loud panting. Blinking wildly, she had to remind herself that she was in safety of her own home, her body immersed in peach scented bubbled hot bath water in contrast to the rough salted freezing water of the ocean that had laid its claim on her just mere hours ago.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, ignoring how the action irritated it as she leaned her head back against the bathroom wall; a flash of lightning lit up the darkened bathroom, irritating her blood-shot eyes.

He jumped after me...

Nina couldn't fathom why Embry would risk his life like that for her– supernatural abilities be damned! She hadn't been the greatest to him after all, and she wouldn't have blamed him if he had taken the more rational route i.e. leaving to get help. Instead, he had insanely jumped after her, risking his own life to save her ungrateful self.

Oh...and it didn't stop there either it seemed, her mind determined to embarrass and shame her as the rest of the night filled in the missing pieces of puzzles to explain why exactly she wasn't in the comfort of Jen's bedroom like she had planned.

Heat gathered at her cheeks, lips tingling at the memory of his lips against hers, her body feeling hotter as she remembered the soft caress of his hands on her back as coughs racked throughout her body. How he carried her to her car, wrapping her tenderly in the spare blanket she kept in her car and holding her in an attempt to warm her up before hypothermia could set in, talking as she dozed off.

"Having you hate me and fighting against the bond is a much better alternative than losing you forever."

Her eyelids dropped halfway close, her sore body sliding back downwards into the slowly cooling water, as his words rang through her pounding head.

"I don't care if you never forgive me, as long as your safe. I'll shoulder the pain from a weak and closed bond if it means you'll be alive and well."

She had to wonder what he meant by a "weak and closed bond", and why it had pertained to her. Was there more to his story about shifting into a wolf than what she had known? Could this be one of things that Seth was adamant in having Embry explain to her?

The curious part of her needed to know more about the phenomenon that had presented to her, the idea that the legends being true were just so mind boggling, that it left her craving for more.

However, a bitter part of her wanted nothing more than to ignore what was thrust upon her, determined to carry on the way she had for the past two years when it concerned the group.

No matter, she thought, rising from the now cold water, I'll find out either way whether I want to or not.

Less than ten minutes later, Nina stood in her room pulling on a burgundy sweater two sizes too big that went past the black shorts she was wearing and unwrapped the towel from her hair. As she lazily patted her hair dry with the towel, Nina grabbed her glasses and glanced curiously at the glass of water with two little white pills and a neon green sticky note next to it; with furrowed brows, Nina placed her towel down and grabbed the sticky note, the familiar spidery handwriting popping at her as she read:

take care of yourself Nina – Em

Nina's mouth twitched slightly at the scratched out unfinished sentences that lead to the simplicity of the last sentence he had written. She'd admit that he had the right idea in mind as she popped the two pills into her mouth and took a drink of water to help it go down.

"Weird…" she mumbled, wondering why he had gone through the trouble of doing this for her after he'd just saved her life. If anything, she owed him now because there was no way she would've made it up to the surface of the water and onto the shore alive.

Maybe, Nina yawned tiredly and wrapped herself in her covers as she laid down, it's finally time for later...I owe him that much.

Eyelids fluttering close, her last thought went to and lingered on the fact that despite the raging headache and sore throat, Nina was more than grateful that the burning pain she's had for a while finally silenced to a cold numbness.

"I'm glad you and Nina are friends again hon!" Tiffany Call shot her rebellious son a grin as she stirred soup. "Maybe you'll take your studies more seriously now."

"Mom," Embry groaned as he pulled a Tupperware out from one the kitchen cabinets, "I never said we were friends again. She still hates my guts."

"Mm, and whose fault was that?" Shooting him a disapproving look, Tiffany pulled the pot off the burner and continued on, "Ever since you started hanging out with that gang, your grades have gone – oh honey can you grab me the ladle? Thank you – like I was saying, your grades have gone down the drain! You used to be a straight A student, and now look, you're barely passing your classes!"

"Haven't you heard mom; C's get degrees." He shot her a charming smile, easily avoiding the swatting hand. He ignored his mother's grumbling, grabbing the ladle from her to pour the chicken noddle soup into the Tupperware.

"Oh ha ha, I'm dying here with laughter." Tiffany rolled her eyes at him, as she dug around for a lid for the container and ignored Embry's quip of, "I thought it was pretty witty."

"Honestly Embry, when are you going to take things seriously? You never used to be like this. I just want the best for you."

"I know mom, it's just...complicated." Embry didn't look up at her as she handed him the lid knowing that if he did it would be the same disappointed tight-lipped expression he received every time she caught him sneaking back in.

"It's always complicated with you," Tiffany gave a tired ragged sigh as she grabbed her purse that was hanging off the chair to rummage in it. Grasping the truck keys in her hand, she looked back at her rigid son and her frown deepened.

The last few years had been rough for them and the close-knit relationship they had unraveled easily, leaving only a poor imitation of what it used to be in its wake.

"Here, take the Ford; I don't want you getting sick on me, because that lump of machine you drive doesn't have a proper working heater."

"Hey, don't talk bad about Tina! The cold doesn't bother me anyways." Embry glanced curiously at the keys held loosely in her hand. He knew he would be fine (being a shapeshifter had its perks), and the storm had finally slowed down to a lazy drizzle. "Don't you work today?"

"Raymond called to say he wasn't opening up the shop today. You know how the tide gets when it storms." Tiffany shrugged, jingling the keys enticingly at Embry. "Just be careful okay."

"Yeah, okay mom," he smiled at her, plucking the keys from her hands before she could rescind her offer.

Clambering into the truck, Embry nervously tapped the wheel with his fingers as he drove the familiar path towards his imprint's home, wracking his brain for a suitable answer to give her when she'd demand to know why he showed up. Saying he's worried about her is the truth, but it would only result in a sarcastic reply in return and probably a slammed door in his face too.

Eight minutes apparently does nothing for a frazzled mind.

Giving a disheartened sigh, Embry parked and turned off the truck, staring at the Redtree house in apprehension.

Everything he's tried always failed, even Quil's plan failed when he tried to use Greg to bring Nina around thanks to Greg punching Jacob (the plan didn't even get a chance to start, and Embry was ten bucks richer). Plus, he told himself that if she was happy, he'd give up – but, his mind wandered to last night, she wouldn't have thrown herself off a cliff if she was happy. Confidence slightly renewed, he took an encouraging breath and grabbed the container of soup as he exited the truck.

Before he could psych himself out, Embry knocked on the door twice hearing singing coming from the living room. Nervously he tapped his foot, trying to focus on hearing if there was any type of shuffling coming from inside. I'm such an idiot. She's probably sick and sleeping it off. I should just come-

The door swung open; a grumpy pale faced imprint staring up at him unimpressively for a second before it morphed into surprise. Letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding; Embry shoved the container in front him as an offering of peace.

"So, I figured you might need some soup because you're not a shifter like me – which sucks 'cause you probably caught a cold from last night. You do look like your sick – er..I mean – I'm not saying you look bad! You…you just look less than great – wait no, I mean that – "

"I look just like how I feel: shitty." Nina cut in amused, grabbing the container Embry practically shoved into her chest. He was starting to ramble like Seth on a good day, and if she let him continue, he would've ended up digging himself deeper into the hole he was currently making "This is…?"

"Oh! Um, I might've mentioned you feeling under the weather to my mom, and she wanted to make you some chicken noodle soup." Rubbing the back of his neck, Embry averted his eyes from Nina nervously, noting how the burgundy sweater seemed to swallow her – oh man, he really hoped she was wearing shorts under that.

"Oh…" grip tightening around the container, Nina bit her lip, "that's nice of her. She always did make a killer soup."

"Yeah…uh…I'll let you get back to your movie." Embry winced, taking a step back. He definitely had a different scenario going on his head on the off chance she welcomed him in. "Get to feeling better."

He turned away from her, forcing his legs to move, but the tug of the back of his button up stopped him and sent a tingle down his spine. After a few seconds of silence, Embry wondered if hallucinations were a part of a broken a bond, but the soft whisper of invitation dispelled his thoughts immediately.

Gulping, Embry turned around and walked through the door hesitantly as if waiting for the twins to jump out at him and tell him that she was just kidding. However, nothing happened when he crossed the threshold nor when he sat down at the opposite end of the couch from where Nina had cocooned herself with covers.

"I…um.." Nina croaked, coughing to clear her throat as she kept her eyes on 'The Phantom of the Opera', "Thank you…for saving me."

"You don't need to thank me for that," he immediately shot back with a frown, fighting to keep back the words and questions that were going round and round in his head.

"You jumped off a cliff to save my dumbass, and…" she trailed off, unconsciously touching her lips before shaking her head to get rid of the memory, "Look, you have my thanks; so…uh...it's finally later."

"What?" He stared at her confused, watching as she broke out of her cocoon to grab the Tupperware and a spoon that was in the bowl on the table. Nina glanced at him from the side of her eye, putting the spoon in her mouth while she opened the container and took out the spoon to say, "Later – you know about the whole 'I can turn into a giant fucking wolf so let me traumatize you by showing you it firsthand' thing."

"You were traumatized by it?"

"Well..I mean I did see so much more of you than I had ever planned on seeing," she scoffed, her eyes determinedly staring at the movie just in time to see a noosed Joseph Buquet fall down the rafters. But he could see the red in her cheeks knowing full well that despite her putting on airs she was teasing him.

"If I didn't show you, you'd think I was crazy," Embry laughed, cheeks red from embarrassment, knowing how easily his actions could be interpreted differently (after all, she had yelled at him for being a pervert.) "Besides, what's there to say? I'm sure Seth covered everything."

If Nina could detect the bitterness in his comment, he was grateful that she didn't choose to acknowledge it.

"He didn't."

"Huh?"

"Seth only dished on the lives of the Cullen's and his misadventures as wolf," smiling fondly at the mention of the sunny teen, Nina blew on the steaming spoon a couple of times before eating it. "Everything else I asked about, he'd avoid it and tell me another story. When I asked why he kept avoiding it, he said it wasn't his place to talk about it; figured he's just waiting on me to stop breathing fire and let one of you talk about it with me."

"Oh…and are you? Um, done breathing fire – your words not mine." He winced, wishing he hadn't felt so awkward talking to her calmly like this. Usually their conversations always ended up on the worst side of what he would hope.

"Yeah, I guess I am," she paused for a moment, pointing her spoon in his direction, the action bringing some bout of nostalgia she couldn't shake. She blamed it on her sick mind playing tricks on her. "But only with you, got it?"

Licking his dry lips, Embry nodded fervently as he wiped his clammy hands on his ripped jeans a bit surprised that she was willing to listen to him now. He didn't plan on getting this far – hell, if he was being honest, he figured Nina would have shut the door on his face, so he was in unchartered waters right now.

"Look, I'm not asking you to forgive me for what happened Nina. I thought I was protecting you, when in reality, I was just hurting you even more. All I want is for you to give me a chance to prove that I deserve your forgiveness, and…and we could work from there?"

He watched her for any reactions, hoping for a good one, to give any insight of what her anwer would be to what he proposed. Instead, all he got was an indifferent imprint intent on watching the movie for her.

He should've known that the smooth sailing would've gone on for only so long. It was a miracle that she even let him in the house!

Resigned, Embry fully prepared himself to tell her goodbye, and yet the smallest whisper escaped from beside him followed by a cough. Hope blossomed in his chest, pounding excitedly against his rib cage with each passing heart-beat.

"I'm sorry?" he needed to make sure he wasn't hearing things, that this wasn't a dream he'd wake up from and realize that he hadn't officially made progress with her.

"If," she furrowed her brows as she tested the words in her mouth, "I do this, do you swear to be honest about it all with me?"

"Completely." Embry breathed genuinely, memorizing the considering expression on his imprint's face. He watched the infuriating way she bit her lip, like she always did when in deep thought, rolling it in between her teeth, and he couldn't help but be overcome by the sudden need to take her face –

"-not now, I'm still not feeling good. Will another time be okay?" Nina asked, tearing Embry away from the directions his thoughts were taking him, and his face went aflame.

What a time for hormones to kick in.

"Oh – oh yeah, definitely okay." He nodded, choosing to look around the living room in a chance to hide his burning face, noting the less than usual number of pictures that used to decorate the walls. It only took another second for him to realize he agreed to something he didn't even know about and turned to look back at his unamused imprint sheepishly. "Um, just to double-check, what's definitely okay?"

"Talking another time since I'm not feeling good right now," her eyebrow arched, watching his eyes widen and excitedly agree to her terms again.

It didn't matter to him that he would have to wait another few days to actually talk about everything, she finally agreed to hear him out! It's all he wanted, and now he finally got his chance!

Grinning widely, Embry stood up from the couch excitedly, his mind forming multiple half plans of what he could do to prove himself worthy. "You're not going to regret this Nina."

"Better not," she grumbled halfheartedly into her soup.

"I can't believe this!" Jen hissed angrily as the call went to voicemail again for the twentieth time. She paced back and forth across the living room as she redialed Nina's number again.

Not only had her best friend just up and disappeared last night without a word, she wasn't even answering her phone! If it wasn't for, he-who-can't-be-named assuring Jen last night that Nina would be okay, she would've called the police.

"Hey it's Nina, you know the drill; leave a message an-"

Angrily mashing down the end button on her phone, Jen flipped her phone close with a snap and tossed it none to gently on the couch.

"If you huffed and puffed any harder, you might blow the house away Jen." Greg snickered from his spot on the loveseat, his right hand resting on top of his chest, covered by the dark blue stint Dr. Carlisle had put it in. "I'm sure Nina's fine and probably sleeping her hangover away. Besides you know Seth sa-"

"Don't you dare say his name!" Jen screeched, grabbing one of the couch pillows to launch at her brother. "We will not speak of him!"

"He's not Voldemort," rolling his eyes at his red-faced twin, Greg deflected the pillow easily with his left hand. "Nobody told you to kiss him anyways."

Letting out a humiliated squeal, she sank onto the couch, her hands splayed over her face in attempt to calm down. She hadn't planned on kissing him, but it just happened.[DS1]

She had been worried about Greg and how the hospital would ask about what happened along with the smell alcohol on them...let's not forget that her best friend had just disappeared- she was just a bundle of jittery nerves biting down her nails down to the nubs where it all began.

Seth - oh sweet lovable Seth – said he'd call a family friend that happened to be a doctor and would know what to do without questioning anything just to help calm Jen down.

Which is how they ended up at Forks Hospital at two in the morning with the hottest doctor she had ever seen in her life, while Seth distracted her from freaking out again. And then that's when it happened; one minute she was laughing from a joke Seth had told her outside in the waiting room, and the next she was kissing him!

"It just happened!" She defended mortified as she replayed the memory over and over again in her head to see just exactly how it came to that moment, anxiously pulling at her fingers.

"It wasn't like I had thought to myself," sitting up straight, Jen shrugged her shoulders and tilted her head, "'Hey since Nina isn't going to jump on that, I'm going to do it!' or something like that!"

"So? You kissed him, no big deal." Greg adjusted himself, grateful for the painkillers Dr. Carlisle had given him last night. "Just blame it on the alcohol or something and move on."

"It is a big deal!" she cried out, ignoring her brother's failed attempts at reaching for the TV remote that lay innocently a few feet away from him on the couch's arm rest. "We both know that him and Nina are going to end up together! They're literally the setup that romance novelists drool over! Come on Greg, you got the hot next-door neighbor and the angst-ridden girl next door that just happen to be best friends? It's basically the start of half of the teenage romance movies shy of the 'popular boy falls in love with a nerd' trope."

Greg stared longingly at the remote that would be his salvation of focusing on something else other than his frantic twin. It took him forever to finally get comfortable on the couch, and now he would have to either suffer another ten minutes trying to get comfortable or listen to Jen go through this crisis – why were these his only choices?

"You know they don't see each other that way," he relented, knowing that even with the TV, the action of kissing Seth would bother her all day, which in turn would have her bothering him all day. "And don't even try and say that their feelings are hidden because they don't want to ruin the friendship."

"Greg," Jen groaned as she defeatedly sunk into the couch, "I don't want this to ruin our friendship! I already screwed it up with Seth, I don't want to do it with Nina either."

"You're not ruining anything." his mind wandered back to the day of the diner, and the intense reactions that Embry had expressed for a just a moment when Greg had talked to him. "You shouldn't worry about their non-existent relationship, because if there's anyone who wants to be with her it'd be-"

"Caleb!" Jen shouted gleefully, her expression much like the cat who caught the canary as she remembered the promise to give the jock Nina's number when they came back from the hospital.

Grabbing her phone, Jen scrolled for Nina's number as she said, "Did you see him last night? He has it bad for her, and I bet you that by the end of the semester they'd be together."

Pressing send on her phone, Jen looked up at her brother who sighed loudly and stared at the remote in front of her. Rolling her eyes at him, she traded her phone for the remote to hand to him stopping short of fully putting it in his outstretched hand. "Don't you think so Greg?"

"If I say no, would you give it to me?" He asked, putting minimal effort into a pathetic attempt of snatching the remote from her. Jen frowned at him, pulling the remote farther out of his reach. "Of course not!"

"Then yes, I'm sure they will be." he stared at her expectantly, knowing it'd be better to just agree with her to get what he wanted.

"I can't believe you." Jen scoffed, leaning back into the couch as she glared at her pouting brother. "You don't think they'd get together!"

"You were the one that was just raving about how Seth and her were going to get together and you felt guilty for kissing him! Now yo-"

"-Wait, you kissed Seth?!"

The twins turned (well Greg awkwardly titled his head back) to see Brady and Collin standing in the living room.

Jen turned red from embarrassment as she sprung up from the couch, making the towering built teenagers cower in fear as she stalked over towards them.

"No one," she hissed pointing at the two of them, "and I mean no one, will know about it because you're going to keep your mouths shut about it, got it?"

"A demon, there's a demon in your home Brady," Collin nervously whispered to his friend in fear, the darkened whiskey orbs turning to focus on him fully. "Which is exactly why I'm not going to say anything! Right Brady?!" For emphasis, he elbowed his frozen friend in the stomach hard, causing Brady to let out a small 'oof'.

"Yeah, totally Jen. What were we talking about again? Definitely not about you kissing Seth!"

"…dude."

Shaking her head at her step-brother, Jen smirked at them and gestured for them to sit down on the couch. She watched as they cautiously sat down, as if waiting for something to happen, and flinched when she sat down next to them casually.

"I'm so glad that you guys are here though," the words slowly slipping off her tongue like honey as she gave them a dazzling smile that sent chills down their spine, while Greg rolled his eyes at her again. "Greg and I were about to have a discussion, and it'd be sooo good to have your opinions on the matter."

"Really?" Brady asked in a higher pitch, as he and Collin carefully inched themselves away from his evil step-sister.

"Of course!" Jen grinned as she clapped her hands, "So I think Nina and Caleb would be a couple before school lets out for Christmas break. Greg – who is totally wrong by the way – says that they're not. Now, I know you guys are unexperienced in talking to the opposite gender and dating but let Greg down easily when you agree with me."

"Um…but she's Embry's girl." Collin scrunched up his face without even thinking about the words that came out of his mouth. Time seemed to freeze and speed up simultaneously as Jen straightened, Greg sat fully up, and Brady let his face fall into his hands as he let out a small groan.

Calmly Jen grabbed her phone again, dialing Nina's number from memory.

Riiiing…riiiing…riiiing

"Is that 'Umbrella' playing?" Collin asked incredulously as he tilted his head upwards at the music coming from upstairs.

"I'm going to kill her." Jen muttered angrily to herself as she stomped away from the boys and upstairs, the phone ringing in her ears the whole way to her bedroom.

"That was close." Brady breathed, the moment he saw his sister's form disappear up the banister, before glaring at Collin. "Are you trying to get us killed dude?!"

"Actually," Greg cut in, watching his step-brother and friend freeze at the sound of his voice. "I would love to know exactly what Collin meant. Seeing as I'm crippled right now, I have all the time in the world to listen to what you two have to say regarding Embry's relationship with my lovable best friend."

The two younger boys gulped at the razor-sharp grin sent their way, both having to remind themselves that they were all powerful shapeshifters who shouldn't get scared by a simple non-supernatural guy. Though, they would both admit that facing a vampire would be a much better choice than facing one of the Salamander twins.

Asher stared at Jen blankly, trying to understand exactly why she was standing on his porch near dinner time. He didn't remember his little sister mentioning her friend coming over, but then again, she didn't mention on having a boy (Embry Call of all people) over while he was coming back from visiting their family in Tacoma. He also didn't care that the reason of said visit was because of sickness and giving health nurturing soup for said sickness – she knew the rules of not having boys in the house while he was gone, and before he got the chance to threaten..ahem…talk to them thoroughly, Embry had left before Asher could even open his mouth.

"Nina forgot her phone at my house last night." Jen smiled brightly, holding up the purple Motorola Razr to prove her point. She kept the phone close to her, peering past Asher and into the Redtree home in search of the owner. Asher sighed knowing that teen wanted to come in, and he widened the open door before stepping to the side, "Would you like to come in Jennifer?"

"Oh, I couldn't possibly impose!" she said cheerily, already more than halfway inside the warm home, "But if you insist!"

"I do." He muttered dryly, shutting the door after her. "She's hiding out in her room right now, and don't stay too long! I don't need your mom coming after me because Nina got you sick."

"Of course, Ashie!" Jen chirped, waving off what he said with her free hand. Immediately she made her way to Nina's room, the false cheery smile on her face slowly disappearing as she neared the bedroom.

It's now or never, she thought with a frown as she began to open the door and called out, "Nina?"

There was a quiet pause, and Jen peered into the dark room, barely able to make out the lump laying on the bed. She could hear the soft rustling coming from the lump, before finally a head popped out.

"..Jen," and if she hadn't been so livid with Nina, Jen would've been concerned from the croaking of her voice, "why're you here?"

"You left your phone last night when you decided to suddenly just up and leave! Do you know how worried I was?" she pushed herself into the bedroom flicking on the light and closing the door, as she rounded on her friend. "You left without telling anyone anything last night! And you didn't even call at all today! Did you even know that Greg broke his hand last night?"

"Woah, wait what?" Nina sat up quickly, eyes wide with shock, watching her friend pace back in forth. "What happened?"

"You'd know if you stayed last night, had your phone, or actually cared to call today." Jen snapped, ignoring the hurt look sent her way. "Greg punched Jacob and broke his hand last night."

"He did what?!" Nina inhaled sharply, guilt immediately swallowing her whole. She knew exactly why he would do that, and it was all her fault. He didn't know that Jacob was a supernatural being built like a wall, and she had unknowingly encouraged him into finding that out personally.

"Where were you? Out and about with Embry?" Jen accused angrily, noting with dissatisfaction that Nina suddenly seemed interested in her gray cover. "You're not even trying to deny it! I was right, wasn't I? You and him do have something going on, and you lied to our faces about it!"

"It's…" Nina ran her hand down her face, swallowing the lump in her throat as she thought of the best way to diffuse this situation without making the pounding her in her head worse. "It's not like that."

"Then look me in the face and tell me you weren't with him last night, that there's nothing going on between you two, that you still hate his guts." Jen stopped, crossing her arms across her chest as she levelled Nina with a glare. The anger she felt only flared even more as she watched the sick teen give out soft sigh and look away from her.

"What do you want me to say..."

"Are you fucking kidding me?! After everything he did to you, the moment he gives some type of effort, you're just going to accept it and forgive him?! I can't believe you! You have some -"

"He saved my life last night Jen."

"- nerve to even say that! Just because he saved your life – saved your life…what do you mean saved your life?! What the hell did you do?"

Nina wrapped the covers around her shoulders as she brought her knees up to tuck under her chin. She watched as Jen plopped herself down onto the furry purple hang-around chair near the corner of the room, the glare still on her face.

"Running isn't enough for me anymore…it hasn't been for a while. In the back of my head there had always been this thought that maybe I needed something more to help clear my head, and John was right ya know- about the liquid courage," Jen watched as the sick teen coughed, hyper focused on each word that left her mouth, "So I jumped off the highest cliff last night –"

"Fucking balls."

"– and I got pulled under the currents…being drunk, it was just so hard to realize what was right side up, and I just kept getting pulled further under. The next thing I know, I'm on the beach and Embry's there helping me. After everything that's been done and said, he jumped after me..."

"Are you okay? Why didn't you tell us it was that bad?" Jen's anger had been quelled for the moment, replaced with concern as she got up to comfort her friend. Though, Nina had only motioned for her to sit down on the bed.

"I'm fine, but that doesn't matter. Is Greg okay?"

"It's Greg, he's making the situation more dramatic than it is. It's a broken hand, it'll heal. It's you I'm more worried about…jumping off a cliff is one thing, doing it while drunk is another, but doing it when there was a storm and drunk? That's just asking for everything to go wrong. You could've died last night! And no one would've known. It'd probably be days or weeks before they found your body, if they managed to at all! What were you thinking?!"

"I wasn't Jen." Nina sighed, leaning against Jen as her eyes fluttered close. "Please tell Greg I'm sorry."

"For what?" Jen snorted, her arm snaking around Nina to pull her into a comforting side hug. "It's not your fault he decided to punch Jacob."

(If only Jen knew the truth that it was, in a way, Nina's fault, then perhaps she might've not been as comforting. It also wouldn't help if she had known her best friend hadn't completely told her the whole truth of what transpired out there when Embry saved Nina.)

Come Monday at lunch there were more bodies at the lunch table Nina and the twins had unofficially claimed as theirs in the beginning of the year. Glancing curiously at the twins when Caleb sat on Nina's left and Mirabelle on her right while Gene and John sat across from them on the other side of the twins, Nina watched as both twins just shrugged at her unspoken question. Clara soon joined them, choosing to sit in the free spot next to Mirabelle.

"Well," Jen began conversationally, "this table just got crowded suddenly."

"Hey, someone has to make sure Greg doesn't get his ass handed to him because he decided to clock Jacob." Gene snorted as he pulled out a silver sharpie from his backpack.

"Well, I think Jake got what he deserved. He had it coming for a long time." Mirabelle grumbled as she fiddled with her milk carton. Clara echoing her sentiments while John laughed loudly, "That's because you're still pissed, he made you guys go home since it was way past your bedtime."

"Oh, screw you John." Clara glared at him as she viciously stabbed her fork into the macaroni. John glanced at her, smirk forming as he eyed her up and down. "Just tell me when and where babe."

"You're such a douche, I swear." Jen rolled her eyes, hand outstretched towards Gene for the marker once he finished signing Greg's cast.

"Why am I the only guy getting the heat here? Caleb and Gene are here for you girls to hate on too!"

"Caleb is a sweetheart, and Gene," Mirabelle paused to take the sharpie from Jen and leaned across the table to sign her name. Once she passed the sharpie to Clara, she finished her explanation, "Well, Gene is Gene. He's too dumb for you to hate on him."

"That's not nice Mira." Caleb frowned disapprovingly at his classmate who scoffed at him while Gene spluttered in offense. Flipping her hair over her shoulder, Mirabelle turned to her neighbor who happened to have the same misfortune as her in having Jacob Black as a cousin. "What about you Nina?"

"What?" Nina flushed as everyone stared at her, Clara leaning over Mirabelle to hand her the sharpie. Grabbing the writing utensil, she nervously glanced at the everyone embarrassed at having been caught not paying attention.

"What do you think about Caleb?" John fully took advantage of the situation as he sent a smirk at the reddened teen who choked when the center of attention turned to him.

"Oh! Well he's-"

"Nina don't answer that and eat your food." Greg finally cut in wanting to take some pity on the Junior who looked as red as tomato. "John stop teasing Caleb so much."

"Gee, way to ruin the fun dad."

"Well, I think Caleb is great! Don't you think so Nina?" Jen broke in before her brother and John could start bickering.

Fiddling with the sharpie, Nina looked at the Junior next to her with a shy smile as she said, "Yeah. I had a lot of fun playing with you Saturday night." Caleb's eyes brightened as he grinned at her, mouth opening to say something only to be cut off by Greg, "Nina, you haven't signed my cast yet. It's official you hate me! Woe is me for being a chivalrous friend and defending your honor, only for you to coldheartedly not sign my cast as proof of our friendship."

"Sometimes I wonder who's the bigger drama queen out of the two of you." She teased him, leaning across the table to get a better vantage point to sign on the cast.

Because Nina was too focused on figuring out the best spot to pen her signature, she didn't hear Gene and John's comment about being a cock block. Finally satisfied with the spot she picked, Nina marked the spot and sat back down to hand the sharpie to Caleb.

"Incoming!" Gene said in a sing-song way, pointing none to subtly at whoever who was making their way towards their table. Nina's entire row who had their back to whoever it was turned to see who Gene was talking about and Mirabelle groaned loudly.

"What'd I do wrong this time Jake? My skirt too short?" Mirabelle glared at her cousin, who gave her a weird look.

"What? No, I'm not even – actually yeah it kind of is – but, I'm not here to talk to you Mira, I need to talk to Nina."

"Whatever you have to say to Redtree, you can say in front of us." Gene shrugged, taking a sip of his chocolate milk while Jen vocally agreed. Rolling his eyes at the jock, Jake turned to Nina with a brow raised as if to ask "Seriously? These guys?".

"It's about the extra credit assignment on the histories." Jake supplied casually, ignoring the heated glares coming from the majority of the table, while Greg perked up at the mention of the extra credit assignment.

"Oh," Nina said softly understanding what he meant immediately. Twisting her body back forward, Nina plucked the apple off her tray just on the off the chance she'd miss lunch or if she needed to use it as something to throw at Jake. "Don't wait up on me, it might take a while."

"Hey," Greg called out worriedly as she pushed out her chair to get up, "you sure?" Do you want me to go with? Catching the double meaning in his question, Nina smiled at him and shook her head. "It'll be fine. I'll see you guys later."

Together the cousins walked out of the lunchroom and into the hallway where Quil waited on them. Glancing around to make sure no one had followed, Nina turned on Jake with a raised brow. "If this is to ask me what to get Greg as an apology gift, he'd love a gift card to the movies, otherwise I'm not interested to hear anything that comes of your mouth."

"Apology gift? He's the one who punched me!" Jake cried out indignantly, a frown marring on his features. Rolling her eyes at him, Nina took a bite out of her apple and shrugged. "Yeah and he broke his hand on your face. Don't you guys have crazy reflexes anyways? How'd you let him get the jump on you?"

"She has a point Jake," Quil added with a shrug, and gave quick grin when Jake glared at him.

"Look," Jake started gruffly, turning away from his sheepish packmate, "this isn't about that."

"Then I lost all interest in this conversation," Nina idly wondered if a half-eaten apple would have the same impact effect of a fully solid one when thrown. Then again, it'd probably feel like a mosquito bite to the shifter.

"Will you just let me finish?" He snapped, throwing his hands up in the air as Nina narrowed her eyes at him, and Quil shifted on his feet nervously.

"What do you want?"

"Rachel wants you to come to this dinner she's throwing for the other girls that know this Thursday night, said it'd help you to have some non-shifter support or something."

Nina frowned, crossing her arms as she craned her neck upwards to stare down (or would it be considered up?) her cousin. "Thanks, but I'm good. Anything I need to know I could ask Seth."

"There are things that Seth can't tell you Nina, things that Rachel and the others could help you understand." Jake argued, slightly worried that the friendship between the two might become a major issue in the future. If this wasn't nipped in the bud, and Embry didn't tell Nina about imprinting, a lot of unnecessary damage could happen.

"Jake's right Nina," Quil put in gently, "there are some things that are better left said by the girls and Embry."

Embry, Nina paused, the words she was about to say lost on her tongue as she thought back to him, and how ever since he came back in her life everything suddenly revolved around him.

Why is it so important that it's Embry who tells me anything that concerns the shifting? What could the girls know that it'd be easier for me to understand? What if this concerns-"Does this have anything to do with some type of bond?"

Time stilled for a moment, her two cousins staring at her in shock. Immediately their eyes found each other a silent conversation instantly starting up between them, emotions flitting across their face as Nina watched them intently, storing their reactions in the back of her mind to be analyzed and dissected later.

"What bond? Who said anything about a bond," Quil laughed nervously, his voice a pitch higher than normal once the silent conversation between him and Jake had ended.

"Embry did," of course, he probably hadn't been aware she was coherent enough to understand what he was say, but they didn't know that.

"Wait, he already told you about imprin-" a sharp yelp came from Quil as he doubled over in pain from the quick elbow to his gut courtesy of Jake.

Nina mouthed the interrupted word to herself; a tad frustrated that Jake had interfered before she could figure out what was going on, and probably put a word to whatever Embry had meant.

"If you're talking about the pack bond, then yeah in a way I guess it does," Jake shrugged, a sharp look sent Quil's way to silence whatever words were about to come out of his mouth. "Did Embry go into more detail about the bond he told you about?"

Nina grimaced at the obvious attempt of fishing to know how much she knew. There was so much about this new world that she didn't know about, and somehow it was up to Embry to tell her about it.

Ever since he decided to come back into her life, everything suddenly revolved around him. Though, she didn't understand why it would; was it some dumb rule that stated if you revealed the secret, you'd be the one to deal with it?

A part of her wanted to keep playing the game, to mention the words he had said the other night, but something stopped her. It didn't feel right, too personal, for her to share those words.

"Does it matter," Nina shrugged carelessly, swinging her backpack over her shoulder, "you guys made it obvious that it's up to Embry to bring me up to date on all the wolf stuff. Guess it's a good thing we're playing catch up sometime this week."

"We are?"

Nina tensed, keeping her eyes trained on her cousins with a straight face. She'd be damned if she let them in on the fact that she was just bullshitting in effort to let some more information slip from their tongues.

"Well," her body relaxed as she turned to the newest member in their group, head craning up to look at Embry, "yeah, I told you we could talk when I felt better, remember."

The world paused for a beat.

A second beat.

Then one more beat, before a beautiful wide smile stretched across his face, warm molten pools of chestnut alight in happiness as he soaked in her words, "I'd never forget anything concerning you."

Nina suddenly had an issue.

This issue had a very concerning fact.

What fact?

Oh the fact being that she forgot how to breathe all of sudden!

She could hear her heart beat pounding her ears, feel the heat rise up the back of her neck as she stared up at Embry, her mind going completely blank right at the moment he smiled at her that way, which was when her lungs decided that then and there would be the perfect moment to stop working.

"I think he broke her," Quil staged whispered to Jake, instantly breaking the weird spell Nina had went under while Jake just shook his head, "Dude…"

She flushed, coughing as she quickly turned away from Embry with one thought on her mind, that was deadly.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," Embry said whole heartedly, oblivious to the crisis that Nina just had, her lungs jumpstarting to make up for the loss air in thanks to the weaponized smile.

Quil let out a choked awkward laugh, unsure where to go with this surprising turn of events. He didn't know that Embry had made any progress with Nina, and if he didn't know anything (since he knew damn well that he was Embry's go to), then for sure Jake didn't know either – and, if he was being honest with himself, he was a tad bit hurt that Embry hadn't mentioned any progress with her either.

"So," Jake began, eyeing the beaming Embry who was trying way too hard to stifle the grin on his face, making him look constipated and Nina who was suddenly fixated on the wall behind him, "I'll tell Rach you're coming then?"

"Even if I refuse, she's going to force me to go, isn't she," Nina huffed knowing how her older cousin was. Unlike Rebecca, who was more than fine with not getting her way sometimes, Rachel was undoubtedly not and always chose to push and prod until she did get her way. Thus, Nina begrudgingly agreed with a resigned exhale, conscious of the fact that she'd be dragged to the get together with or without her consent, at least this way it'd save her the headache of a losing argument with the older Black sibling.

"For real, you're really going to go," Quil asked in disbelief. He had expected more a fight from her over going, especially since the current batting was like zero to a thousand; which means he just lost five dollars on the bet that had been made when Rachel announced that she wanted a imprints' only get together and wanted Nina to go.

The bell rang before Quil could get his answer; the halls beginning to flood with students, and Nina took an unsure step back from them, before finally melding in with one of the waves of students going to their next class. She wasn't fleeing from them, no, she was just making a strategic escap-exit.

"Hey Nina, wait up!"

Jen frowned as she watched Embry walk next to Nina, his longs legs easily keeping up with the brisk pace her friend was going. Regrettably, she was too far to hear what they were saying and knew that trying to lip read the conversation would be pointless thanks to the all the students who kept getting in the way. Instead, her overactive imagination conjured up an overdramatic conversation between the two that only consisted of how secretly in love they were and how amazing it was.

If she wasn't too careful, Jen could easily call what she was feeling jealousy, or even better, bitterness directed at Embry. Ha! Who would've thought there would come a day that Jennifer Salamander would feel jealous towards Embry; but the day had come, and jealousy had reared its ugly head.

It's all because Jen knew…she knew that this was it. She could see how in a few weeks, months if she was lucky, Nina would soon distance herself without meaning too before she just disappeared out of hers and Greg's life.

College was already going to put a strain on their relationship, and now Embry Call just added onto it. Pretty soon Nina would be the next Kim Mooney, where only one person existed in her life, and Jen's pretty damn sure it wasn't going to be her or Greg.

After all, her and Greg were just the replacements to hastily fill in the void the guys had left in Nina's life. It was only a matter of time before she finally decided to forgive one of them, and it'd only be downhill from there. Jen just wished that the time had waited just a bit longer to finally come.

"She's not going to forget about us you know." Greg bumped his shoulder against his sister knowing full well what was going in her head. "You're just stressing over nothing."

"Dad did." Jen spat irrationally. Of course, she knew Nina wasn't their dad, but losing someone they loved because of someone from the past left a bitter open wound in her that would probably never heal.

"Cheer up buttercup." He bumped their shoulders again to make her look at him. He grinned, ignoring the misting of her eyes. "Or I might have to call in La Push's friendly neighborhood sunshine to come cheer you up."

Her reaction turned a complete one-eighty, cheeks burning a deep red as her eyes narrowed into dark slits, "That's not funny!" To push her point through, Jen smacked his chest hard enough to make him wince before she stalked off to her locker.

Greg chuckled, rubbing the spot where she hit him as he followed after her. Even if it came to the worst-case scenario, he knew they'd be okay. (They were the first time around.)

Frederick grin wickedly, wiping the tear off the girl's face with his thumb. A whimper escaped from the back of her throat, as he breathed in the sweet smell of fear coming from her in waves. His mouth watered expectantly, and the craving he felt came ten-fold as he buried his nose into the crook of her neck. The blonde's fast-paced heartbeat kissed his lips eagerly, as if it was begging him to rip into her! A groan escaped his mouth, the woman's body shaking from her soundless sobs, and he had to pull himself away from her before he could grant her heartbeat its unspoken request.

"Now pet," he brushed her hair behind her ears, loving the full body flinch she made at the sound of his voice, "let's start this again. The other two didn't last quite as long unfortunately, and I would love to get this perfected before I go and collect what's mine."

The blonde nodded her head, her mind screaming at her body in protest as her body robotically moved to the chair the vampire gestured to. She held out her arm in front of her with no protest, tears falling down her face as he tied a strap above her elbow tightly. She closed her eyes tightly at the all too familiar small pinprick against her skin, signaling when the cruelly beautiful monster pushed the needle into her vein.

"Look at me."

In her mind she screamed and cursed at him, she begged him to let her go, she spat at him, she prayed that somebody would save her from this monster in front of her. Though, none of this was voiced or acted on, and her eyes opened without her consent as her dull blue eyes found his vibrant crimson.

"You only have yourself to blame for this, you know." He wiped away her tears again, a lazy smirk present on his face. "If only you had just worked a bit harder, if only you hadn't let the drugs turn you into a slave, then you would have never met me."

He gave a solemn nod.

"Oh yes, I can imagine it right now, you would be at home with your picturesque family. Your son would be excitedly telling you about his day, and your husband would be coming home after work and not to the secretary he's married to now.

Unfortunately, this is reality and you lost it all to become just another drug addicted homeless person. Oh pet, if only you made better life choices, it'd be another nameless face in this chair for me to experiment on, and not you. Yet you didn't, and now no one will ever look for you: a nameless face in a crowd of people that society could care less about."

Soundless sobs wracked her body, her mind envisioning all the things she could say or do to him at this very moment, but here she was a prisoner in her own mind thanks to this monster; forced to tell him her life story without a second thought, only because he asked – no demanded! – her too. Now that bastard was telling her it was all her fault that she was going to die here, like it wasn't the actual fucking psychopath in front of her.

Perhaps he was right…she wouldn't have followed him so easily if the promise of sweet release had come from his lips. Her body wouldn't have eagerly followed him into the depths of hell if it wasn't desperately yearning for what he offered.

Her head fell backwards, her mind foggily thinking: I'm going to die here, aren't I? She was going to die, and like he said, she had no one to blame but herself.

Satisfied at the smell of hopelessness and self-resentment wafting from his newest victim, Frederick rolled down his sleeves. He gave the blonde one last appraising look, eyes double checking to make sure that her blood was successfully pouring into the blood bag dangling innocently next to her off the rusted fishing hook hanging off of one of the basement ceiling beams.

A part of him hoped she would last longer than the first two, while another part of him hoped that she didn't. The hunt for a new victim always did excite him and watching them break after realizing there was no hope for themselves gave him such a rush.

(It was a shame though that such fresh blood had to go to waste, alas it was the drugs in their system that were to blame; it always did make their blood taste rather repugnant.)

Though, hunting for his next prey only made him even more impatient for the girl whose blood called to him like a siren leading a sailor to their death.

This time he'd be more prepared, more controlled, and he would keep her around as his own personal drinking fountain.

Last time, oh last time, he had been too excited, too intoxicated by the sweet addicting blood of a siren to truly appreciate what rare treasure the boy had held. He refused to make the same mistake…not when it had taken him centuries to find another who called out to him. It was only just a matter of time before he can finally have what's rightfully his.

Turning away from her, his eyes roved over the mindless male body sitting in front of the junkie. A self-satisfied smirk formed on Frederick's face at the dead dull look in the man's green eyes and walked past him towards the stairs. It always did him well to have some unfortunate idiot take the fall when his victims came to be known.

Once at the foot of the stairs, his head swiveled back into the direction of his newest test subject making eye contact with the blonde one last time, his eyes crinkling as he sent her a wide-tooth grin, which caused another painful wrack of soundless sobs throughout her body.

Yes…soon he wouldn't have to resort lowering himself to drink the mediocre blood that his victims seemed to have produced. Soon he would have the blood that tasted like it came from a god, and no one will get in his way of such a delicacy.

"You shouldn't press Jake's buttons like that you know." Embry commented lightly to his imprint, waiting on her to finish packing her things up. He heard her snort, wincing as she shoved her things a tad to aggressively into her backpack.

"Jake," Nina paused swinging her backpack onto her shoulder, "Jake just has one of those voices that makes you want to punch him right in between his eyebrows the moment he opens his mouth."

"He's our Alpha –"

"-You mean your Alpha," she cut in, hyperaware of everyone in the halls around them. Her eyes roved around to look for her twins, but they had disappeared on her since lunch time.

, "You know, he didn't even want to be Alpha to begin with, he originally wanted Sam to stay Alpha."

"Then why did he become Alpha?" Nina asked curiously, soaking up the new information given. Seth had been cautious in what he told her, making sure to only talk about the Cullens or just mainly his time as a wolf, but never did he really go into the system of the pack and their stories.

"Well," Embry opened the school's door for her, a shy grin working its way up as he nervously proposed, "I could tell you, but only if you let me take you out to eat or something. After all we are supposed to play catch up, right?"

She instantly deflated, torn between wanting to know more and wanting nothing to do with him. In the back of her mind, she mentally kicked herself at the bluff she had been caught in, her words from early tactfully thrown back at her.

Seth had refused to crack with her pestering questions, and there had been something inside her since the night Embry saved her demanding to know more. It was a thirst that needed to be quench, and here was Embry offering to satisfy that thirst, but she honestly didn't know if she could do it. It wasn't this easy to forgive and forget, they both knew that, and yet there was this incessant need to know about the truth of what had really happened to cause everything between the four of them to crash and burn nearly three years ago.

"What are we waiting for then?" The words spewed out of her mouth, shocking them both to the point Embry stumbled over his feet at her words in disbelief. "I mean, I said that we would talk later, and there's no point in holding it off now that I'm not wanting to puke out my insides anymore."

"Are-Are you sure?" He never expected himself to get this far if he had to be honest. Truth be told, he felt like he was pushing it when he had stepped in between her and Jake earlier in the hall and walked her to her fifth period class. But he wasn't one to be ungrateful and hurriedly added his thoughts in before she could change her mind, "Because I don't have shift duty tonight, so I'm totally down, but that's if you're free!"

Biting her lip, Nina glanced gratefully at her car in all its faded glory as she dug for her keys in the front pocket of her backpack, eager to make another quick exit. "I have shop duty tonight, so if you're cool with talking about everything there, then drop by whenever."

"Cool, cool, cool, cool," Embry repeated excitedly, not realizing she had already gotten in her car. "I'll see you tonight then!"

Glancing up at him through her window, Nina ignored the twisting in her stomach and said, "See ya later I guess."

Elated, Embry happily walked back to where the guys were, the stress of their imprint bond slowly, but surely, lightening up. Everything was finally coming into place for him, and this was a chance he couldn't give up, because who knew how long it'd be until another chance came by.

"Hey!"

Sure, things had been rough in the beginning, but that's what makes this opportunity a miracle.

"Embry!"

Quil appeared in his sight, his hand gripping onto Embry's shoulder in an effort to stop the dazed shifter from passing him. Embry only grinned stupidly at him, not caring that he almost passed his truck and Quil.

Why couldn't the day go faster already?

His fingers danced against the steering wheel as he stared anxiously at the daunting hunting shop. He had already been parked here for almost five minutes, trying to drum up the nerves to grab the food next to him and walk into the shop. But each time he reached for the door, his body seemed to freeze, and his mind would wander to if this was right time to finally tell her everything – or nearly everything; the imprinting explanation would have to wait until their bond deepened…

Didn't Seth say it'd be better to slowly ease her into it? But...but what if she wanted no part of this once she's satisfied with her answers? We never gave her a choice on whether if she wanted to be a part of this world or not. Would telling her everything really be the right choice?

He groaned lowly, rubbing at his temples to wade off the incoming headache that will be sure to form from stressing over this situation. It would be better to hurry and get this over with, and deal with the aftermath once everything was said and done instead of dealing with 'what if'.

Taking a deep breath, Embry threw his door open and hurriedly grabbed the bag of food and drinks before he could lose his nerve again, rushing towards the shop. He could see the top of Nina's head buried into her arms on top of the counter through the glass doors, and shoved the door open harder than he should have in his haste. He winced at the sharp tinkle of the bell and grinned unsurely when his imprints head shot up from her arms in a mild panic.

"Er..hey," smooth Embry, he winced again and gave a nervous laugh, "I brought food."

Her eyes zeroed in on the bag he had lifted as proof, and for some unknown reason the bag in his hands suddenly felt ten times heavier than it should have been.

Was it too late to abort?

"There's an extra chair back here if you want to sit down." She gestured to the seat behind the counter in question, and pointed at the food," What'd you get by the way? I'm starving."

"Oh," he set the bags and drinks down on the counter and began to take out the contents, " I got some burgers and fries from the diner. I also got you a strawberry shake."

She smiled at him, and his heart skipped a beat, as she reached for the shake. "Thanks…I didn't think you were actually going to come ya know."

"I wouldn't miss this for the world," and he meant it. He'd been waiting for this chance since he had first turned, and even more the moment he had imprinted on her.

She was the one he wanted to talk to the moment his world had changed forever, and he couldn't. Instead he had to wait until the guys had transformed to finally talk to someone about what he was feeling. As helpful as Sam, Jared, and Paul were when he first transformed, he needed his friends there. It just sucked they had to leave her behind, and now, now he could finally have that moment he wished he had nearly three years ago when he was lost and confused.

Nina looked away from him, focused entirely on the boxed food in front of her, but Embry didn't mind. If anything, hearing the heightened race of her heartbeat boosted his confidence now that he knew it wasn't only him who was nervous.

"Should...should I start from the beginning?" He licked his dry lips, right leg bobbing up and down out of sheer anxiety.

"Will I be able to know everything if you do?" Nina chewed at the tip of her straw, knowing it was a better victim than her abused lips. "Seth didn't tell me much...and with the way Jake and Quil were fishing for information, are there certain things I shouldn't know? I just...I just don't want to end up with more questions than answers and end up more frustrated at this whole situation."

And there was the million-dollar question that he had just been internally agonizing over.

How much should he reveal to her? Would it be easier to just rip the proverbial band-aid off and deal with the consequences? Would going slowly make or break the bond he's currently trying to mend?

Embry knew though, that no matter what path he would choose, he would honor what choice she would make from what has been given to her. Be it that she chooses to have nothing to do with him, or make it work just for the sake of the bond, or even better, choose to willingly stay by his side – choose him; he will do right by her and accept whatever path she decides to take.

"Nina look at me please," he waited for her eyes to catch his, the elation of her looking at him making the stone in his stomach feel weightless, and despite his reluctant reservations, he grabbed her fiddling hands with his own. "I can't promise you that whatever I tell you tonight, won't leave you with more questions or answer all the questions I know that are swarming in that head of yours. I'm more than willing to tell you everything that you wish to know, but I also want you to understand that there might be some things I want to wait on telling you. If you're willing to accept that," accept me, "then there might not be a chance to go back from this.

You have a choice right here, right now, to become a part of this world and all the ugly dangerous things that come with it. Whatever your choice is, I will respect it and back down if that's what you choose."

There had never been a time until now that Embry had ever been envious of Edward's ability to read minds. What he would give to know the thoughts running through his imprints head right now as he stared into her eyes that were staring into the depths of his soul.

This was his conclusion, his choice. He was giving her this out knowing full well how badly the choice of her deciding to not jump into this rabbit hole would affect him. Nina came first, and she will always come first to him, before all else.

"There's more to what you're willing to tell me tonight isn't there?" she asked bitterly, her usual sparkling golden eyes nothing more but a mudded brown under the fluorescent lighting. "Especially concerning why, you finally had the need to tell me the truth."

Embry didn't have to tell her that she was right, they both knew that despite it being phrased as a question, it was more of a statement if anything.

Nina pulled her hands back, her mouth pulled into a taut frown as she broke their eye contact to stare at her hands. Dejectedly, Embry brought his own hands back towards him, the situation entirely different from the hopeful scenarios he had played in his head.

Other than Emily, the other imprints had immediately taken to their bonds, easily falling into step with their soulmates in the very beginning. Even after the trauma between Sam and Emily, his sister-in-law had taken to the bond like a fish to water the moment she finally accepted Sam.

From the beginning, unlike the others, his and Nina's bond weren't the same. It was cracked and on the verge of breaking with each failed interaction. If it wasn't for saving her life, their relationship would have still been the same, and he wouldn't be here in this spot right now giving her this chance to finalize herself into his world. Which is why, Embry knew it wouldn't be fair to her to emerge her into his world without her knowing the ugly side of it.

Sure, he would have told her about the battles he had partaken in, the dangers that lurked around the corner, but she wouldn't know how she fit in all of this. Why he suddenly decided to break her out of her ignorance of the supernatural. Imprinting is another story, one that would have to wait until later.

To him, it felt like he was deceiving her in a way, bringing her further and further into his world, where it would be too late for her to back out. It was the selfish part of him that wanted her to fall with him, but he knew everything would eventually come to light, for eventually he would have to tell her about how their lives have been tied together the moment he imprinted.

It was better for her to have an inkling of it now, instead of later where she would end up feeling blindsided.

"Okay." Nina said firmly, Embry's head snapping up to gaze at her surprise, a light entering in her eyes. "From the beginning."

Seth wondered how long Embry would take before he would be able to get his best friend back. He completely understood that they needed time, that Nina meeting with Embry was a win that his packmate needed, but Seth also needed his best friend.

He needed to shake the life out of her, and hopefully replace it with some damn common sense!

The moment he had learned what happened at the night of the party, the first thing he wanted to do was run straight to Nina and ask why…why couldn't she trust him enough to tell him what was wrong? In all their time as friends, they have never hidden anything from each other, save for the fact he's a shifter.

They did not grow up close, not like she had with Quil, Jake, and Embry, but Nina was still there when he was younger, making sure to play with him when she wasn't off with the guys, or making sure they included him when they came over her house to play. She had made sure to be there when Harry Clearwater died, steadfast and unwavering when he tried ignoring her because Sam had told him too.

Oh man, he really tried, but she was so persistent, waiting for him to come home, always having something on hand for him to eat, always inviting him over, always checking on him to make sure he was okay, that finally one day Seth finally broke. She had been there to hold him while he cried, because he was tired of acting like his father dying did not bother him. Every one perceived him as some happy go lucky kid, that he bounced back faster than Leah and his mother after his dad died, that it was easy to go with the flow and not drag them down with what he was actually feeling. There were more important things going on, like learning how to control his shifting, helping them track down Victoria, patrolling, that sometimes Seth forgot to let himself grieve.

Nina didn't forget.

Which was exactly why, when her parents had passed, he had been there for her, just like she had been there for him; steadfast and unwavering. Sam understood when he talked to him about it, only for a little bit, he had promised. Only for a little bit turned into weeks, then months, which then turned into a year, finally leading to indefinitely.

In those years, Seth had thought they had built a deep enough friendship, that Nina would come to him when things were bothering her, not bottle them up until they could no longer fit. He had been proven wrong when he had seen Embry's memories of the night when he had shifted for his patrol the night after. Quil and Jake had stopped him, swearing up and down that Embry's taking care of the problem, which is great for him, but Nina is Seth's best friend and he needed to let her know that he's there for her.

Hence the reason why he is waiting for Nina on her porch steps, hoping that whatever Embry had revealed to her wouldn't make the situation worse. He wanted to at least scold her without feeling guilty about it afterwards.

He knew why the guys had stopped him from coming to see her, he knew the rumors about them, the concerned thoughts that would slip through the link when Embry and Nina were brought up. They all thought that he's in love with her, or at least holds some kind of feelings towards her, he knew for sure Jen had with her repeated apologies on how she didn't mean to kiss him when he's in love with Nina.

Yes, Seth Clearwater loves Nina. He loves her fully and unapologetically, just not in the way everyone thought. He isn't madly in love with her, he doesn't harbor some budding romantic feelings towards her, no he loves he like he loves Leah and his mom, as family.

It hurt, it hurt a lot when he learned about what happened, because he's not angry at Nina for what she did. He's angry at himself for not realizing what she's going through, for thinking that everything would be alright once the imprint bond deepens because his best friend now knows the only secret he kept, and he could let her know about this part of his life that he's always wanted to share with her. He had knew she was unhappy, seen the dark bags under her eyes, heard about her breakdowns, but lumped it with the rejected bond. He couldn't fix that, only Embry could, but he should've known it was deeper than that!

What good is being know as the residential sunshine, when he couldn't shine away the dark clouds around her?

"You know, a lot of girls would kill to be in this moment," Nina teased, breaking Seth out of his thoughts. He had been in such deep thought, he hadn't even heard her pull up, that he stumbled and almost fell when she jumped out.

He ignored what she had said, striding over to her, feeling his anger dissipate with each step he took. He ignored her sputtering as he pulled her into him for a tight hug, waiting until she stopped fighting to get out of his hold and accepted his hug.

"Please don't ever do that again," he whispered, feeling her hug back, "I already lost someone I loved, I don't want to lose another."

"I know," she murmured into his shirt, rubbing circles on his back to console him, "it was stupid of me."

"Very stupid," he agreed wholeheartedly, tears sliding down his cheek. "I should've known."

"No, no, don't go blaming yourself for my dumbass. Nobody knew I was going to do that – hell, I didn't even know if I was going to do that!" Nina chuckled lightly, pushing free from Seth's tight grip to look at him. Her eyes red and puffy as she gave him a watery smile.

"You know Seth, I'm sorry," she apologized wholeheartedly as he wiped away his tears.

"Yeah well don't do it again," he grumbled, still feeling the need to shake some common sense into her.

"Yeah, Jen already gave me a lecture," she shrugged, and Seth hoped she hadn't noticed the way he tensed up at the mention of her friend. The Jen Situation is one that he didn't want to talk about, not right now when he wanted to focus on Nina - that could be a tomorrow thing.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…yeah I think I will be," she hummed, kicking at rock with the tip of her shoe. "Embry told me everything regarding the last couple of years and how the bond works, and I just need some time to process what he said."

"Wait a minute – Embry told you about imprinting?" Seth couldn't believe Embry had already told her about imprinting. He knew that Embry was going to tell her about a lot of things, but here is Nina talking about imprinting bonds. Color him impressed, he figured she'd be super pissed once she found out – that's growth right there.

"What?"

"What?"

"What's imprinting?"

Oh shit. I fucked up. Seth at least hoped Embry would be gentle when he killed him. I fucked up.