typical disclaimer: Embry and the Twi-characters are not mine, property of SM. I'm making no money off this.

I swelled with a sense of joy as little Kai played in the sand with Claire. My heart raced with happiness as they shared and giggled with each other.

The first time I saw Kai was at Claire's third birthday party. The pack was invited as well as a few of Claire's daycare friends. Kai was there with her princess tiara and big fluffy pink scarf. I knew she was my imprint the moment her bright chocolate eyes glanced my way. I loved her more than any brother could love a sister.

"Embie, help." Kai's sweet voice begged as she swept her long black hair from her face.

Quil and I stood off the bleached log and wandered over to the two girls. A grin touched my face as I sat down in the warm sand next to Kai.

"Help make a san' castle." She said as she held out her pail and shovel.

"You got it kiddo."

The next few hours were a blur of sand and piggy back rides as was every Saturday. Kai and Claire's parents weren't sure why we always wanted to babysit, but they allowed it on the recommendation of Sam and Emily.

When it was about dinner time we started getting packed up. We were on our way back to the rez when Quil and I froze. A scent assaulted our nostrils like the sweet burning of bleach. A bloodsucker was near! No, not right now!

It was then that a pale man stepped from the trees with a sly grin on his face.

Quil dropped our things and picked up the girls in one swift movement. "Embry, you're faster! Go!"

He didn't have to tell me twice. I phased quicker than I ever had before. Kai would be safe!

"You think you can fight me Mutt?" The blonde freak smirked and bent to a defensive position.

I howled into the air and pounced. He was not ready for me and fell backwards. My jaws came down hard on his shoulder, a shrieking of tearing metal sounded through the air as I tore it away from him.

The leech screamed in pain and kicked me off of him. I flew in the air and fell through the trees, branches broke around me as I hurled to the ground.

When I looked up the bloodsucker was nowhere to be seen.

"EMBRY!! .. ANYONE!!!" Quil yelled from the north.

The bloodsucker had run for the girls! My eyes saw red. He would not hurt Kai! I jumped to my feet, forgetting about the scrapes into my skin and ran towards the sound.

In an instant I burst through the trees and took in the leech circling around Quil. The girls were crying with fright and clutching at Quil's chest. Quil looked terrified with fear for the imprints.

This would end now.

In one leap I was on top of the bloodsucker, ripping and shredding with all my might. I would not stop until he was merely dust on the ground.

"Kai! No!" Quil yelled from behind.

Before I knew what was going on, I felt like a slash had cut through me, my shoulder to hip.

"KAI!" Quil screamed with all his might. "EMBRY!!"

I twisted from the destroyed vampire as the scent of blood saturated the air. Kai's spine-chilling shriek sounded in my ears. My heart thumped with terror.

Quil was kneeling on the ground, an abandoned Claire twenty feet away. The tear at my chest opened with a torturous feel again. But a look down to my wolfen body showed no such sore.

No-no-no-no! Please! God no!

Quil stood and turned with Kai in his arms. She looked like she was drowning in blood.

Her blood.

My feet were knocked from under me in agony. I phased to human with all the strength that I could drag from my body and reached for my Kai. I pulled her small bloody body away from Quil and to my chest. Her screams of pain thundered in my ears. Three large gashes seeped blood from her right shoulder across her chest and down to her lower arm and wrist. The blood was coming so fast.

"Embry. Let me have her. She has to get to the hospital." Quil pleaded.

Tears fell from my eyes in scorching rivers. With all the power I could muster from my worn body I pushed my imprints tiny body away from me. Quil would have to take her. I knew I couldn't do it. I couldn't even move.

He ripped her from my arms and already started his run. "Get Claire to Emily's. Please Embry!" He begged over his shoulder.

With the slowest movement, I stood on my bare feet and trudged toward the crying child.

I grabbed her hand and silently led her towards Emily's.

I had hurt my imprint.

***

Kai was life-flighted to Seattle's children's hospital. It was one of the best in the US and I hoped that if anyone could save her, they could. Kai's mother flipped when Emily reported the news and was on the first flight there.

The doctors put Kai in a medically induced coma while she healed. She was at the hospital for weeks while we waited. She had countless blood transfusions and I never dared hear how many stitches she ended up having.

Kai had been scared for me and wanted to help. How she managed to squirm from a werewolf's grasp I'll never know. She didn't know the danger; she just wanted to be with her wolf friend. It was a step too close. One step too close. That's all it took.

Forever.

That's how long she'll have the scars.

Forever.

That's how long I'll remember what I did to her.

Quil apologized profusely and thought it was his fault she escaped from his grip, but I knew better. This was my fault. The scars that will follow her for the rest of her life will also haunt mine.

The pain of my imprint was too much to handle.

I tried to stay in Seattle to watch over Kai's progress, but her mother didn't want any of us close to her. Emily told her that Kai was attacked by a wild animal and there was nothing any of us could do, but her mother would never forgive me for not keeping Kai from harm's way. It would have only been worse if she knew the truth: that I had done it. I could never forgive myself, but I would do everything in my power making it up to both of them for the rest of my life.

So I would have to wait. Whatever it took. I would do it.

.

.

.

Hours.

.

.

.

Days.

.

.

.

Weeks.

.

.

.

They all passed in a haze of unforgivable sorrow. I did that. It was my fault I couldn't spend my Saturday watching her play in the sand. My fault I couldn't see her in her princess dress up. My fault I couldn't hear her sweet giggle.

My fault.

I watched out my second story window staring at the bit of ocean I could see peeking out from between the tree tops. My life passed with every tide flowing in and out.

Steadily Kai got better and the doctors pulled her from the coma. Tears of joy dotted my face the day I heard she would come home in only a few days. Even if her mother would never let me see Kai again I could watch her from afar. See her grow. See her be healthy.

Kai would forgive me and eventually, her mother would too. Even if it took years, I would wait to have her back near me. I wouldn't give up.

***

The day arrived that Kai would come home. I was out of my skin with suspense to see her. My heart ached for even a mere glimpse. I phased and waited in the trees for hours.

My eyes popped up when I heard a large truck pull into her driveway and cut the engine.

KAI! My heart flared with happiness.

I wandered passed a few trees to get a better look at the front of the house and what I saw stopped my heart.

It wasn't Kai. It wasn't even her mother.

It was a moving van.

If anything was left of my heart it was just shattered. Kai was leaving? My head started to shake rapidly. No! NO! She couldn't leave! Kai couldn't! She was my imprint!

I phased and slipped my shorts on as quickly as I could. I ran towards the men dressed in yellow jumpsuits.

"What's going on?" The frantic edge on my voice quivered with panic.

"What does it look like, kid?" The driver asked annoyed. "We're movers. Some lady hired us to move her stuff."

"No. No! Where are they going!? Why are they going!?" The beating of my heart dared to burst through my chest.

"We don't know where they're going. The lady said something about this not being a safe place to live. Wild animals or something."

I fell to my knees, no longer able to hold myself up. My body was bent forward steadying myself with my arms. My voice was no more than a whisper. "Are they coming back?"

"Not that I know of," he snorted. "The lady said she never wanted to see this place again."

The breath left my body completely and my heart no longer beat. I was at a standstill.

"Go home kid. They aren't coming back and I have work to do." With that, he walked away, leaving me a crumpled shell in the middle of Kai's yard.

My life was over.

***

I waited for the possibility of Kai coming back to me, but years passed and her mother never even contacted anyone from the reservation. She had completely disappeared.

Years of my life were spent patrolling and working to save enough money to travel. I hit just about even continent of the earth in search of her but with no luck. I did nothing but work and patrol. My life was tore from me and I worked myself to death trying to earn it back.

It didn't work.

Kai would have grown up by now. She never came to find me herself either.

She didn't remember, or she didn't care. Both scenarios were too hard to comprehend, but if that was the case I would try to move on. If she forgot me, I would try to forget her.

It would be the hardest thing I'd ever have to do, but I could. I would move on.

*

***

*

Almost thirty years had passed when I had finally became the friendly guy I once was. It got easier and easier to deny my imprint connection until I didn't consciously feel it.

I had dated around, but no girl caught my attention fully. I'm sure that was my fault though. Once someone started to get close I would push them away. I was happy to just live day to day and be free.

At least that's what I told myself.

Other wolves came and went. Sam stopped phasing years ago to be with Emily and likewise with Jacob for Bella. It was hard at first to watch Claire grow up, and her and Quil to get married and have children, but eventually even that didn't bother me. I was genuinely happy for my fellow wolves, and they pretended to be genuinely happy for me.

Brady, Collin, and I went down to the beach one sunny Wednesday. We were just going to goof off and have fun after work.

It was a nice hot, clear day so the beach was filled: a family flying kites to the south, a mom watching two little girls play in the sand, a group of high-schoolers in the water, various other families and couples, but our personal favorite was the trio of college-age bikini chicks sun bathing.

Brady smirked and elbowed me in the ribs. "Hey check 'um out."

"Whatdya' think I'm doing dummy!" I pushed on his shoulder making him step back to steady himself.

Three of them, perfectly paired for one for each of us. Red bikini had blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail. Yellow and blue stripes was a red head with short hair spiked around her shoulders. And black and gold was a long haired brunette with a dark colored tint to her skin. She was pretty.

Brady and Collin called Red and Stripes already following my gaze. I was thrilled to be left with the dark skinned beauty.

We walked down the beach passing the crowds and my stomach tightened with anticipation. There was something different with this girl. Something was in the air that made me feel like I had never felt before.

Joy.

Companionship.

Love.

It was like all the emotions that I had always tried so hard to push down deep within myself. She brought them bubbling to the surface with just the happiness of being here.

The guys and I put on our tough guy air and pumped our chest muscles out a bit as we walked only feet away from the bikini babes.

"Hey boys," they waved with a seductive tone about them.

"Girls," we acknowledged and winked.

Playing our hard-to-get routine we passed them and wandered up to the cliffs. We would impress a bit before coming back and taking them out.

We hit the cliff face closest to the beach and looked down over the girls. Even from this high we could tell they were watching us. One of the many perks of being a wolf for sure.

On three we all jumped.

It was the best feeling. We sailed through the air in free fall, not a care in the world. The wind flew through our hair and against our skin until we plunged into the cool water below.

Our heads popped out of the water and we all smiled and laughed at the fun of it. Diving was a release. Something that helps us forget our worries and fly away from the world. This time it was all about showing off.

The girls had sat up off their beach towels and were watching us. We waved from the water and they shyly grinned back then laid back against their towels.

Brady, Collin, and I all high fived. They totally watched.

We swam from the water and walked the beach to stand in front of them. The girls sat up and took their sunglasses off. Black bikini bit the tip of her sunglasses as she met my glance.

"Hey," she grinned.

"What you girls up to?" Brady asked.

"Not much," Red replied. "Just soakin' up the sun. We saw your dives. Pretty impressive." She winked.

My eyes trailed over Black's body. She was toned and had smooth flawless skin; she was pretty hot.

My raking was interrupted when I felt something smack against my calf. It may have hurt a normal person, but the blow was only enough to startle me.

I looked down to a yellow Frisbee stuck in the sand. My eyebrows pushed together and I bent to pick it up.

A small girl about three with rich dark black hair skipped before me. "Sowwy. Fwrisbee pwease." She held her hands out together and her sweet milk chocolate eyes bore into mine. I felt like I was seeing the face of a forgotten angel.

"Here you go." I genuinely smiled as the happy feeling swarmed again in the pit of my stomach.

"Sanks!" She said in the highest adorable voice, and ran back down to the beach to her mother and sister.

Brady and Collin had started up a conversation with the bikini girl's but my side of the conversation was slight if anything. My eyes kept wandering back to the little girl trying to throw a Frisbee around the beach. A laughy breath came from my throat as I realized why the toy had hit me. She was just chucking it any which way.

"Isn't that right, Embry?" Collin asked.

I turned back, "what was that?"

He rolled his eyes. "I said... we work down at the repair shop on center."

I nodded quickly. "Oh right, right. Yeah. Jake's." I said and tried to follow the conversation some more.

A few minutes later I heard a tiny whimper of a cry and looked over to see that the little girl had gotten her Frisbee caught in the branches of a tree just off the beach.

"Guys, I gotta go." I interrupted and left all in the same breath.

I jogged over to the girl and hopped up into the tree to retrieve her disk. I grabbed it and jumped down to the sand beside her.

"Here 'ya go sweetie." I smiled and kneeled to her.

Her beautiful eyes got wide and her smile followed as she grabbed her toy. "Sanks!"

My heart beamed for this little girl. Something about her just brightened my soul.

"Claire, are you okay?" Her mom called from her beach lounger.

The girl grabbed my hand and started leading me back to the ocean side. A grin touched my lips and I followed her back to their little area. My muscles tightened as I pulled an amazing aroma off the air. It was striking and familiar.

"Mommy, he help!" She pointed up to me.

"Thank you sir," the mom said with the most beautiful voice I'd ever heard. It momentarily stunned me. "I guess I should take that Frisbee away. She's been all over the beach with that thing."

"No, that's alright. She's really sweet."

"Oh, well thank you. She's my angel, that's for sure." She took off her sunglasses and looked with pride to the girl who began to play with her sister in the sand, but I couldn't take my eyes off the mother. She was gorgeous. Her face was bright and her coloring was a brilliant deep russet. Hair coal black, fell in shiny waves down her long sleeved shirt clear to her hips.

She looked back to me and caught me in her perfect chocolate irises. Something stirred inside of me that I couldn't place. My heart seemed to thunder about something I had once known.

Her voice slowed at the end to a snail's pace as she stared into my eyes. "Thanks for grabbing that for her." I couldn't look away. Everything about her was sticking me to this spot. I'd never felt so attracted to anyone as I did right now.

She tore her eyes from mine and looked back down to her kids.

"What's your name?" I asked quietly.

She glanced back to me and smiled. It took my breath away. "Kylie. And this is Claire, she's three, and Ammie, she's five."

"I'm Embry."

"Nice to meet you Embry."

I sat down in the sand feeling like I wouldn't be able to leave this spot. "So Kylie, you from around here?" Something, anything to hear her speak again.

Her skin darkened as she looked shyly away. "No, my girls and I just moved her. I – I just got divorced, and we wanted to get away."

"What made you choose here?"

She laughed a little. "I was doing some family history and found out I was Quileute. I decided to move here to find out a bit more about the people."

The dark color of her skin was definitely native, but to be Quileute I was surprised. "You're parents never told you that you were Quileute?"

She shook her head with a sigh. "No. My mother even grew up here, but she never talked about it. Something about bad memories I guess."

I thought about that a minute and then grinned. "Hey, well if you're new, I can show you around. I've lived here my entire life."

A smile danced on her face but then she took a breath and caved in on herself. "Thank you Embry. You're very sweet, but I'm sure a young guy like yourself doesn't want to hang out with a crazy old woman and her kids." She motioned with her eyes over to the guys. "Besides, there are some pretty girls over there that haven't taken their eyes off you. You can go back with your friends. You don't need to stay here."

I laughed and waved over at the guys. "I don't mind. Really. I have friends of all ages. I hang out with people in their late forties sometimes. My best friend is in his thirties and has a wife and three kids." My eyes came back to hers. Again I seemed to be caught in the splendor of them. "Maybe you'd like them. Their kids are around Claire and Ammie's age. In fact," I smirked at the coincidence. "His wife's name is Claire."

She laughed. It was a musical tone that beat straight to my heart. "Claire is pretty common."

Ammie came and started tugging on Kylie's sleeve. "Mom, look." Ammie pointed off somewhere but my eyes were stuck on Kylie's arm. Three bleached white scars passed down her wrist.

"Ammie, stop. What?" Kylie subconsciously grabbed her sleeve and tugged it down. "That's a nice sand castle."

Three scars.

My breathing became intense and labored. A chill ran down my neck.

Three scars.

Protectiveness, adoration, and love started to seep into every inch of me. It was something I long since tried to forget. I tried to cover it up with all my being, and here it was flowing back capturing me like a tidal wave.

It couldn't be.

Kai?

She turned back to me, her eyes stunning me with her utter perfection. I sat back and tried to catch my breath. It was her.

Her head tilted to the side in concern. "Are you alright Embry?"

I knelt up close to her and grabbed her hand. The heat and energy that pulsed from her was exquisite. She was startled with the sudden affection but allowed it. I slid my hand up her sleeve and moved the material out of the way, tracing the three raised lines that crossed her wrist.

She tried to pull her hand back, suddenly embarrassed, but I wouldn't let go of her hand.

"My mother used to say…"

"Kai?" I interrupted, gazing deep into the expanse of her eyes.

"What?" She leaned forward slightly.

"Is your name Kai?"

She shook her head slightly in confusion. "That's the name my grandparents called me when I was a child. How—How did you know that?"

A smile wider than I have smiled in decades pulled my lips. "Kai, I can't believe it's you."

Tears couldn't help but form at the edge of my eyes. She grew up and she came back.

Kai came back to me.

"Did your mother ever tell you that you lived here until you were three?"

She shook her head, "My grandparents told me growing up, but my mom always said they lied."

I looked back to her scars and traced over them. A sudden pang of regret stung me. She had lived with these her entire life. I tried to clear my throat to speak. "She moved you because you got hurt. She didn't want to see this happen again."

Her eyes raked over her scars. She spoke in an ashamed whisper. "I have them clear across my body. She said I got them when I was a baby."

"Kai, can we go somewhere? Would you like to meet Claire? I'm sure she misses you."

She swallowed as she looked back to me. Her eyes starting to glimmer with a sheen of fresh tears. "Claire?"

I squeezed her hand still in mine and nodded. "Claire was your best friend here. She still thinks about you often."

Her voice was soft. "I always thought I had imagined Claire."

I smirked sadly to her. "No. You lived here, Kai."

"Can we?" she asked in a whisper.

"Yeah. Definitely." I smiled and pulled her up out of her chair. "Ammie, Claire? Would you two like to come meet your 'Aunt Claire'?"

"Claire!? Like ME?" Little Claire hopped up and asked with bright eyes.

"Yes. Just like you." My heart soared for these little girls.

Yesterday I just wanted to be alone.

Today, I can't wait until I can call all these girls... mine.