*WARNING HEAVY CHAPTER*

I felt it was best the beginning of this chapter was told from Embry's point of view.

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Chapter 9: The Ugly Truth

Embry POV

"Relationships were different back then, rarely a tribe member would marry for love." Billy began to explain to us all, "The Elders and parents ultimately decided who would best fit together, based upon bloodline. My mother Judith came from a long line of respected women who gave birth to healthy strong children." He scoffed shaking his head.

"In the beginning neither my mother or father loved one another, my father was already in love with another woman. A woman from Makah. Your grandmother Ruth, Embry." Shocked speechless, I felt myself trembling. I clenched my fists trying desperately to calm down, but still wishing I were somewhere else, anywhere but here. "My father tried to stay faithful to my mom even though there weren't any romantic feelings between them. He tried to resist ever seeing your grandmother again. Eventually she married the man who you call your grandfather, Theodore Call. My father and your grandmother resisted temptation for years, but eventually their restraint crumpled, and they had an affair that lasted until the day he died, and my mother knew all about it."

All that was left was that one burning question that still needed to be answered. The one question that plagued my mind for years.

"So, who's my dad?" I was shaking with anger.

"Embry, sometimes not knowing is better than knowing." Billy's facial expressions showed pain from bad memories he'd rather forget.

"Sometimes the truth can be very ugly." Old Quil added.

"I don't care how ugly the truth is." I replied slowly, each word coming out angrier than the next, "I have a right to know who I am!"

Billy looked at me and the rest of the members on the Council. Daniel comfortingly held Sue's hand as she appeared to be near tears, and Old Quil shook his head slowly, while Josiah just glared at us all looking straight forward. "When I reached out to Tiffany, I could tell she was a very troubled teen."

"A few years into your grandmother Ruth's marriage, she was riddled with guilt, so she confessed to Theodore that Tiffany wasn't his child." Billy swallowed hard, "Theodore became physically abusive to your mom after that, and as your mom got older the physical abuse changed. It became," Billy's voice hitched, "I can't even speak it out loud. I would like to believe if my father knew, he would've killed Theodore. Tiffany confided in me that she was pregnant by Ruth's husband."

I just sat there for a long moment in stunned silence allowing every horrid word to sink into my emotionally overloaded mind. I felt all eyes on me. I could see sympathy and embarrassment in my brothers' eyes, which made me even more irate. Feelings of anger, rejection and disgust overwhelmed me. There were so many emotions jostled in me that I felt sick.

"Fuck this!" I rushed out of the auditorium.

I felt this penetrating distress, with an unrelenting urgency to move. It started off as a brisk walk as I began to wrap my mind around the fact that my entire life was a lie.

My identity had been made a mystery to protect my unfaithful grandfather. My legal surname was biologically mine from the conception of sexual abuse. Thoughts of killing Theodore Call, only kindled the rage that was running its course through my veins, causing my body to tremble with anger. I fought the urge to phase. I needed to feel this without the help of my wolf.

As a man.

The anxiety and rage I felt was unbearable. I increased my speed and started to run, until I made it to the woods. Feelings of fury and treachery continued to stir within. I ran faster, hoping to exhaust myself, but my supernatural endurance only increased my speed. I wanted to be tired, worn out, so tired that I would just pass out.

I didn't want to hurt anymore my soul couldn't take it.

It felt like I had been running forever, before finally, feeling winded. Thankfully, I couldn't last much longer. My heart was beating hazardously, my lungs hysterically expanding and collapsing, trying to keep up with my greedy need for oxygen. My throat burned from the rasp of air. As my legs buckled beneath me, I went down onto my hands and knees in a semi-controlled fall.

Bile seemed to rise from my intestines and make its way up my throat, damn near choking me. My muscles heaved and my stomach finally loosened and released its contents. An overwhelming sadness washed over me, and tears welled in my eyes, tumbling out of me like lies being exorcised from my body. I'd never had a father in my life, but I always thought I had this man out there who could redeem himself for not being in my life whoever he was.

But rape has no redemption.

Was this why my mother hated me so much? Was this the explanation behind why she couldn't show me any love or compassion? Was this why she drank so much? To forget? To drown out her demons? And still, I loved her. I always forgave my mom, never hated her not once, just was saddened that she treated me the way she did. Hot tears continued to fall from my eyes. Hurt and shame overwhelmed me, and I wept until my sides hurt.

Suddenly, soft sensuous arms wrapped around my body and pulled me close. I knew those arms and that natural alluring fragrance. She cradled my head, whispering to me, "It's okay to cry Embry." Mercedes' sweet voice was like a gentle water that washed over me, calming the terror that was building inside me. "I'm here for you. We're going to get through this." How did Mercedes even find me? Her comforting scent surrounded me and stilled the simmering in my blood.

We held onto one another for what felt like hours, but I knew that when I looked back on it, it wouldn't have felt like long enough.

"How did you find me?" I finally managed to ask.

"You may not have noticed Embry, but you're in our backyard." Mercedes murmured. I lifted my head and took in my surroundings. She was right. Even in my midst of my fury and turmoil, the imprint willed me to the only person who could truly calm the storm raging within. "Let's get you inside and cleaned up."

For the past couple of weeks Mercedes and I were ironing out our own path with this thing known as imprinting. We decided to take our time getting to know one another. Even though Mercedes grew up rich and I came from modest beginnings we often could relate to craving our mothers love and acceptance, but never truly got it. My mom was addicted to alcohol and Dolores was addicted to money. We had the same emotional issues and found ourselves determined to heal together. We had the most deeply profound and heartfelt conversations that would last for hours at a time. We were becoming great friends, but romance and intimacy wasn't a part of our deal.

At least not yet.

Mercedes led me to her bathroom, I brushed my teeth and washed my face, while Mercedes turned on the shower and walked over to a cabinet to grab me a towel. I found myself watching her every graceful move.

She was so damn beautiful I could watch her all day. My feet moved on their own record. I couldn't stop myself, just as she turned around to face me. I could see the most tender and compassionate look in her eyes.

"Por favor, Bésame," Mercedes begged me trembling. I said a mental thank you for all the years I took Spanish in middle and high school.

Taking her face in my hands, sliding my right hand down to the small of her back, I hauled her to me. Nipping at her lips, I looked at her mischievously as her lips parted, I pressed my lips against hers as she sighed, and my thumb rubbed her neck, exactly where I wanted my lips.

I eased back a bit, catching her bottom lip between my teeth and then placing a light kiss on it. Mercedes slowly opened her eyes, dazed and consumed by my effect on her. All I could see was her, everything else momentarily slipped away. I could heal her pain and she was already starting to heal mine. This moment would last a lifetime. The moment I knew, we were falling in love.

Daniel POV

Standing outside Tiffany Call's house, Embry's lack of presence already showed. The same night of his brush with death, he hadn't returned home, and the front yard was already showing signs of neglect.

"I don't think we should be here." Leah remarked looking around with her arms folded across her chest. "Why the hell should we help her anyway? She's treated Embry like shit his entire life." My beautiful mate was accurately speaking the truth, and I always appreciated her stone-cold honesty. Still, I felt a bit differently now that I knew the whole story.

"She didn't stand a chance Leah, she was lied too as well in the beginning. She was abused. Mentally. Emotionally. Physically," I exhaled deeply, "sexually." I could barely say it. "for years. What she did to Embry was wrong, and there is no excuse for how she treated him. However, we must acknowledge the parts played by others. No one taught her how to love the right way." I noticed Leah's hard glare begin to soften, "and even after Billy let her live in La Push, her identity was still a secret and our tribe treated her terribly because they thought she was some common whore sleeping with women's husbands."

Leah stood in silent contemplation before finally finding the appropriate words. "You're right Daniel, if our tribe knew Tiffany Call was in fact Tiffany Black, the daughter of a chief, a survivor of rape, perhaps they would have approached her with more compassion and understanding." She took deep breath before continuing, "it still doesn't excuse her shit-poor treatment of Embry."

"That's true Leah, but we all react to trauma differently, perhaps she wouldn't have treated Embry badly if she was given the proper tools to recover from her own trauma in the very beginning." I was about to knock on the door, but Leah grabbed my hand.

"Why do you have to fix this? You didn't lie about Tiffany Call's true lineage. Why get involved with something that has nothing to do with you?"

"Because two wrongs don't make a right. Because I have the financial means. Because I am the lone-wolf and it was prophesized that I would fix things within the pack, and in order to help Embry, we have to have to help Tiffany as well." Leah looked deeply into my eyes, and slowly released my hand. She dug in her pocket pulling out a key.

"I have a spare, Embry gave it to me in case of an emergency."

Upon entering the house, we could see that it was in complete disarray. Dirty clothes were strewn everywhere; empty beer cans and take-out wrappings cluttered the coffee table. A sour, rotting smell hung in the air.

"I'm leaving the front door open to air this place out. It stinks in here." Leah mumbled.

We navigated past the kitchen and noticed heaps of dirty dishes were piled in the sink, and on the counters. Down the narrow hallway, littered on the floor was more dirty laundry. We finally got to Tiffany's bedroom and Leah opened the door. There we saw Tiffany Call passed out on her bed with an empty bottle of vodka on her nightstand.

It was clear to me that Tiffany Call had once been a beautiful woman. She had good bone structure and strong jawline, that still gave her a sculptural force. But years of alcohol abuse caused her to age horribly. It was hard to believe that she and I were in fact the same age. She looked almost forty. She also smelled as though she hadn't showered in days.

"Wake up Tiffany!" Leah jostled Embry's mom for a while before she started coming to.

"Go away!" She groaned turning away from Leah.

"Not gonna happen, so you might as well wake your sorry ass up!" My mate snarled shaking her some more.

"I said," Tiffany sat up a bit to take in Leah with fury in her eyes, "Go away bitch!" She then turned back over away from us. Leah stood for moment in an angry silence before storming out of the room.

"Leah!" I tried to call after her. Soon, I heard the clanking sound of dishes followed by a running faucet. Seconds later Leah returned with a pot of water in her hands,

"I got your bitch right here, you lush!" She growled before splashing the water in a sleeping Tiffany Call's face. Embry's mom immediately stumbled out of bed gasping for air and fell on the floor with a hard thud. "I'll get her sobered up, you might want to start cleaning, it's gonna be a while."

It took almost two hours to get Tiffany's house habitable again.

If it hadn't been for Bella and Jake coming over to help it would have taken even longer. By the time Tiffany and Leah emerged, Tiffany looked and smelled a whole lot better, but I could tell she was pissed, as she sat down on her sofa.

"Who the hell do you think you all are? Storming into my home and invading my privacy." She demanded with venom in her eyes.

"We're the only people who give a damn about you Tiffany." I explained to her.

"We are trying to help you." Jake added sitting down next to me.

"Help me?" Tiffany gestured towards her incredulously, before breaking out into a sarcastic laugh. She laughed for what seemed like forever before the irate look appeared in her eyes again. "It's a little too late for that. I'm too broken to be fixed." She added rolling her eyes.

"No one is too broken to be fixed Miss. Call." Bella interjected. She was speaking from personal experience.

"How the hell can you possibly help me?" Tiffany glared at me, as Leah handed me all the appropriate documents. "What's all that?" She asked probingly.

"Power of Attorney signed by Billy Black, your brother." I explained just as Tiffany's eyes went wide with shock. "A judge has ruled you as unfit to make any sound decisions on your own." I continued to explain. "and this," I held up another packet, "is your patient check in documents for rehab, all sighed by Billy Black." I could see the panic set in Tiffany.

"He told you…I was his…sister?" She stuttered, her eyes began to water.

"That's right." Leah replied, "he also told us who Embry's father is."

"Oh my god!" Tiffany exclaimed burying her face in her hands. "He wasn't supposed to find out!" she looked up at us, "he is alright?"

"Why should you care?" Jake spat, "you've treated him like a punching bag since the day he was born Aunt Tiffany!" The way Jake said aunt sounded more like he called her a bitch. There was so much anger in his voice towards the woman who had hurt his best friend, his cousin.

"I love my son!" She yelled back at Jake.

"You have real fucked up way of showing it." Leah interjected angrily.

"You have no idea how hard it is to love someone, who looks so much like the person you hate." Tiffany began sobbing, "that man made my life a living hell, I was just a kid when he started tormenting me. I could never fight him off, he was so strong!" she continued sobbing, "and as Embry got older and started resembling him…I know he hates me!" She couldn't finish another sentence. "What's wrong with me! How could I hurt my own baby!" Seeing Tiffany in such a weak state must've did something to Leah, because she took a seat next to Embry's mom and took her by the hand. Tiffany was so damn startled by Leah's kind gesture that it made her cry even more.

"I think, we understand. You weren't fighting Embry, in your mind you were fighting him, and you used alcohol to block out the pain and all the horrible memories. Not to mention you had to lie about who you were." Leah spoke gently, "but that ends today. Billy is going to call a Tribal Meeting and tell the entire tribe who you are to him and Embry as well." I could tell by the shocked expression on Tiffany's face that she wasn't expecting that. "After that you'll be taken to The Alcohol Rehab Center in Apache Junction Arizona."

"Embry will be visiting as well to do some group therapy sessions, along with Billy." I added.

"For how long, do I have to stay there?" Tiffany whispered seeming resigned to her fate.

"Until dad feels you're ready to return." Jake replied looking at his aunt. "It's time you got the help you needed."

I just hoped we weren't too late.

Translations:

Por favor, Bésame - Please kiss me

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