@BadBoyEmbryCall - for another punch to his nose this time. And I took the step forward to do it. But something stopped me. Something pulled my hand back from hitting him.
And in all this time, Hand In Hand by Walking On Cars was playing like a soundtrack.
@HotHeadSheWolf
Something hot flared to life in me. But in a split second, it was doused I knew it was coming when she planted her right hand on my chest. I didn't block or duck.
He fist struck my jaw and tasted blood as the inside of my cheek spilt against my teeth.
I saw stars and stepped back. reaching a hand out to lean on the wall behind me. I squeezed my eyes shut until the stars receeded. Which luckily didn't take that long, because when they opened she was stepping towards me.
>
@HotHeadSheWolf
<
"Leah." I held out a hand in surrender. "I might have deserved that one... but..." I saw her stop and disappear into her thoughts again before I asked her not to hit me again. Mostly because she'd hate herself for it later.
The song still played through the head the hanging over the collar on my jacket, freed from my ears with the blow. My eyes set on hers still... The trickle of blood in my mouth was already stopping and even with the coppery taste on my tongue, >
My heart was pounding in my chest, and in my ears too. The scent of his blood was the only thing to bring me out of the mind trap I had fallen into. What the actual fuck had just happened? Why did he do that? What was he thinking?
“Fuck!” the word was low and a rumble in the depths of me. I didn’t do screaming and shouting, I just did getting even. I took another step back from him until I heard his voice, and it slowly fell into place.
-
“You aren’t sorry? The Fuck is wrong with you?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. And my mind was calling on the moment as it played in my head on replay. He came back in, he moved into me, his lips lingered over mine and then…. “What were you thinking? What in the name of the Spirits were you thinking? I’m not one of your shorties Embry Call. I’m not warming your bed to make you forget tonight.”
-
But even as I said the words, they felt wrong. This wasn’t him. This wasn’t the Embry Call I had somehow found on my door step these past days. He wouldn’t kiss me …. I didn’t let that thought finish, because if I let myself believe that he had just come over tonight to conquer me… He wouldn’t be leaving this house alive.
"Fuck!" Mine was louder than hers... But of course, that was what she thought. My hand worked my jaw and then I dragged it through my hair.
"Spirit's Leah is that what..." I stopped myself because it's what I'd spent years making people think of me. I couldn't be annoyed at her for thinking what I had wanted people to.
"What was I thinking..." I repeated. I shook my head and clicked my jaw again... Fuck! That hurt. I'd hate to think what her right fist could do... but >
@HotHeadSheWolf
<That thought just flashed memories of her fist connect with another jaw and blood spraying onto her face.
"I was thinking that walking away from your door was the biggest fucking mistake of life! Which clearly makes me insane!" Leaned back against the wall and dragged my hand roughly through my hair, yelling at her really just made all of this even crazier. I lowered my voice."I don't know why.... or how... I just..." My eyes found hers again... searching. >
He was yelling at me? Embry Fucking Call… was yelling at me?
‘Listen…’ oh she finally woke up from the nap of a life time now? And she replied herself. ‘Listen.’
Hadn’t I been doing that all this time? Listening, understanding, or at least trying to?
His question took me off my guard again. Once again he was saying something that I was thinking. I knew that wasn’t him, I knew he lived up to what the tribe and people expect of him, just as I did. And so I knew it was -
@BadBoyEmbryCall - wrong the moment those words left me lips. And yet he was still here. Why hadn’t he run?
“What are you even talking about? Insanity is thinking that I wouldn’t react, insanity is thinking you could do that? Fuck Call!”
I pulled at my hair that came apart and fell open, falling down past my shoulders. “What am I meant to do with this? I am your BETA! This…. Fuck… this….” My words never came out when I needed them. It’s why I didn’t use them much.
@HotHeadSheWolf
I laughed humourlessly and ushed off the wall, standing on my own two feet... or... well shuffling awkwardly from one to the other. Biting my lip until it sent a twinge along my jaw.
"Do you think you're the only one here that was blindsided by this?" I shook my head like she should be able to guess what was running around my hectic mind.
"Don't make this about the pack Leah... we both know where those priorities stand. I didn't kiss my Beta... I kissed Leah Clearwater." <
@HotHeadSheWolf
< And fuck!!!
All I could think about was that I wanted to do it again. But I couldn't cross that line... I touched her three times tonight and two of those... she thought all the worst things that everyone thought about me.
I was sorry for the second one... which was insane because it was a small touch to her. Her question rattled around the loudest in my head. "Tell me what you want me to do?" I shrugged in answer. >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< "Tell me... and I'll do it. Tell me to walk out that door and forget this ever happened and I'll do it... if that's what you want. Just say it." I wasn't sure I could forget it... but I knew I would try.
But one thing I knew I couldn't live with was being the one to choose to walk away.
That laugh of his grated on me. It wasn’t truly his laughter…. And 𝙒𝙝𝙮 was i thinking about what his laugh said to me right now?
I rubbed my forehead, his words… the ones my wolf told me to listen to replaying.
𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦! 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦!
Insane? Walking away from a door that had been closed?
-
My eyes were back n his feet now, seeing that awkward movement he did when he was trying to say something, and not knowing it was coming across correctly. And then my glance was on his face and that lip bite again. But this one was again full of uncertainty?
“Blindsided? You.. you were blindsided by an action you took?” Was he for real here? What was I missing in this picture set before me?
And before I could go on my words dried up.
-
𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘩... 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘢... 𝘐 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘩 𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳.
What did that even mean? “I am Leah Clearwater.. and I am…” and then I stopped.
𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘢... 𝘐 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘩 𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳.
He didn’t kiss his Beta… he kissed me…? My stomach twisted and turned. I placed my hand over it trying to steady myself. I ended up falling back into the wall behind me. Leaning over half way to breathe.
-
His kiss still replaying in my head. “Tell you? Tell you what to do? When I don’t even know what just happened. Why it happened… how…”
I peered up at him before straightening up. The sting in my hand was forgotten. And I was looking at him again.
Swallowing hard, trying to put the words together. “Walk away Embry, you were emotional, upset… you didn’t mean to do this. -
@HotHeadSheWolf
I didn't reach out for her when she leaned back against the wall. It went against every natural instinct in my being. And Not because she needed saving...because it was what you did for people you cared about when they were clearly in distress...
The punch had landed softer than those words. "Okay..." I sighed... I tried... but she seemed do determined to keep herself behind those walls and they had been flung back up between us. "Okay... I'll go, because I told I would do >
@HotHeadSheWolf < what you asked me to... But nothing else you said..." I forced myself into her eyeline. "𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕖𝕝𝕤𝕖" I pressed the words. "Is true. I'm thinking more clearly than I have in week Leah. And as for the kind of woman you are... do you even know the answer to that? Because every day since that night in my mother's kitchen I've seen parts of you I never existed... and probably a few that you don't even know about."
I opened the door and stepped out, >
What did he mean? Seen what? In who? In me? I hadn’t shown him anything. I hadn’t said anything that was any different to who….
My thoughts stopped when the air began to dance on my skin. The early morning had been quite unusually silent like they were all holding their breaths. And now their whispering began to sing in my ears.
‘Alewisdodi nasgi asgaya.’ ( Stop him )
But I couldn’t. Why would I stop him… I was his Beta, his protector, -
I was meant to be there for him. And this…
𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘢... 𝘐 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘩 𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳.
They replayed his words back over and over again. And then the snap shots followed.
Embry walking into #HwH smelling of cheap perfume, and the night before.
Embry on the top of the cliffs, grabbing me and jumping.
Embry on the beach, climbing the cliffs and holding his hand out for me.
Embry stood in Ms C’s Kitchen.
Embry at my door in the rain.
-
Embry sat in shock at the boxing match.
Embry pushing his way into the locker room.
Embry cleaning up the blood from my hands and face.
And so many more, they didn’t stop the images. The pain my chest was back and this time I couldn’t hold in the gasp.
I didn’t move, I didn’t stop him. I had no right to. I had 𝘕𝘰 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵!
Each step was heavier than the last. This was wrong. I letting her retreat behind those walls. This would be it… everything that had charged between was going to disappear.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
I could hear her heart beating from across the street, air suddenly stirred from eeriest still to a sailing rustle that carried Leah’s gasp to me.
There was nothing could do for her. “Leah.” I stood across the street from her door, waiting for her attention to turn to me. “Just >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< breathe.” I spoke just like I was standing next to her. “It’s okay.” I nodded and took an exaggerated breath. “Breathe… you’ve got this.”
I waited and watched… I couldn’t walk away when she was like this… if I wouldn’t do that to one of the guys I couldn’t do it to get.
“One breath at a time, don’t think about anything else. Just your next breath.”
What was happening to us? Why were they doing this to us now? Why here? Why after what had taken place tonight?
So many questions and they gave me no answers. They were waiting on something, but what?
His voice sounded in my ear as if he was stood right beside me. I closed my eyes tight, why hadn’t he left? Why hadn’t he just kept walking?
-
@BadBoyEmbryCall - Swallowing back the next gasp I finally looked up and across the street as he stood glancing back at me. His guidance to get me to breathe Infuriated and calmed all at the same time.
And somehow I started to breathe once again. I saw him as the day started to break over his head. The boy who had once stood at my door full of fear, had become a man full of certainty and confidence. He wasn’t doing this for himself, just like he had in Seattle.. he was still stood there for -
Me.
Spirits… How? How had I missed this? What he had seen in me? How had I let those walls down?
Even more questions filled my mind.
@HotHeadSheWolf
My heart faltered again when the looked at me again. But I smiled when she started to take even breaths. It was real, but beneath I knew I don't belong here. I should cross the street and stay with her until this... Whatever it was... passed.
But that would be a betrayal of what is promised her. Though then again she had told me yo walk away... And I had... I didn't get far... But...
I shook my head at my own stupidity. Looking away as I stuffed my hands into my jacket >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< pocket. The music in the breeze was gone.
Even from here, I could see her spiralling down into too many thoughts. “Just your next breath. Let the rest fall away Leah. Everything’s going to be okay.”
I wasn't convinced of this... It was just us here... So it would be. It felt uneasy. And I was rooted the spot now, I couldn't go to her... I could leave. Not until the fear in hef was gone... It was my fault it was there at all.
Alewisdodi nasgi asgaya.’ ( Stop him )
They whispered louder this time and I shook my head, I planted myself to the spot. Telling them No! This wasn’t right, I had rules… I had reasons, I had a path to walk.. and I.. I… I was an alone wolf in a pack full of wolves.
My heart was pounding in my chest as the realisation dawned on me. It was like the light had broken through all the whispering that was going on in my mind and around me.
-
The air whipped around me, blowing my hair off my face and pushed me onto a path I didn’t see coming.
My bare feet, started to move forward with intent. My eyes were locked on to the man who stood across the street looking back at a woman who was usedto her life being a certain way.
“Every step of the way… every turn Embry Call… you have fought me… whenever I think I have nothing and no one to talk to, you’re stupid face showed up.”
-
I knew that was childish, but I didn’t care.
“Every one knows to stay away…. And here you stand, even after two punches… with no holding back…. Here you stand.”
My voice was even, it was together, I was taking slow and steady breaths now.
“And of all the things… of all the nights…. Of all the people….” I was crossed the street, my hair was down, my mind and eyes only saw him.
“You show up before me…” I was stood before him, my eyes searching his. I didn’t even -
know what for. I just knew that if I was going to follow the path of the spirits, he was apart of it.
I curled my fingers around his neck and bought him down towards me. I didn’t know how this would end, but this was the start.
My lips touched his and the wind engulfed us, pushing me closer into him as I slowly kissed him like I had never kissed another before.
@HotHeadSheWolf
The moment her feet started to move I knew that everything was about the change. Anyone would be expecting another blow… But not here. Not when the world was about to wake up any second the wind pushed me two steps closer to her. The heat of her hand on the hand on the back of my neck was an unexpected surprise. And the kiss… was everything and nothing like the first.
I closed my eyes because this could last for mere before she came to her senses and slugged me again. When >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< She didn’t stop; I leaned closer to her, my stomach twisted and leapt. My lips parted just slightly against her and I lifted my hands to her cheeks one at time like each touch would shatter the moment.
I didn’t think that I had ever kissed anyone like this before. Slow and gentle and thinking only of the feeling of her lips on mine. This was not a conquest, there was no claiming of a victory. Just a kiss with a purpose I didn't understand yet. I didn't to know right now. >
I wasn’t thinking, or was I? Was I recalling thinking about where this was going to lead, what this all meant, or how would this play out? That is what I expected to happen. That was what I should have been doing.
But as his lips touched mine, and he kissed me back all those thoughts melted away. In the moment on this new morning, as the birds came to life, the the light started to clear away the darkness, and as the spirits started to sing like I’d never heard them before.-
I had taken the steps towards him, I had taken a hold of him, I had kissed Embry Call… And it felt right!
His hands touched my cheeks one at a time, and it didn’t make me stop. It should have broken me free from the dream state I was in right? I should have pulled away and sloged him in the face again?
But no… there was a heat building in the depths of me, a flutter in my stomach that I couldn’t explain, a heat crawling it way up the sides of my neck that had never -
@BadBoyEmbryCall - been there again.
What was this?
His whispering against my lips was the thing that stopped my lips from moving over his.
“If this is a mistake… I don’t know what right feels like any more.” My eyes were still closed as those words slipped out.
I swallowed hard resting my forehead to his for a second before taking a step back and letting my hands slowly drop from his neck. The reality of where we stood hit hard.
I was a private person, who didn’t do these things for -
The world to see. Not this tribe anyway. They had lost the right to have visibility into my life.
Finally I opened my eyes and it wasn’t a dream, it wasn’t the land of the spirits, Embry Call was real and still stood before me…
“Still Real?”
Two more words that slipped out as I thought them.
@HotHeadSheWolf
My lips still hummed with electricity from the kiss. I swept my tongue over my lower lip and the combine the feeling of her forehead against mine and the taste of her on them had my heart skipping a beat.
But her words made me open my eyes and there she was... The Leah from behind the walls was showing in her eyes again. “Still real.” I assured her with a smile. Just a slight lifting of the corners of my mouth... But Spirit’s! It was a real smile... Pulling at something much >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< deeper than I was used to.
I let my hands fall away when she stepped back and the world came into sharp focus again. “Ask me to come back inside, Leah.” It wasn’t phrased like a question, but my tone made it one. Her words in her hallway rushed back to my...
“No ulterior motives... I won’t even kiss you again unless you want me to... Hell I won’t even talk if you don’t want me too.
There was a hum of something underlining my being. The way my lips could still feel him, the taste of him, the sound of that heart of his bearing. All thing I never questioned before, never paid must attention to. Those things in a blink of an eye started to fall into sharp contrast to the rest of the world around me.
And then there was his question… was it a question or a request? He wanted me to ask him to come back, to come back into my home… My space…
Standing there -
My mind slowly starting to come into force once again, and I knew I should turn and run, that is what I did, I didn’t open my door for people in that way. And yet my feet were on solid ground, at the realisation of what he meant.
My words from earlier.. what I had said to Embry about not being his bed warmer, I hadn’t meant it. Not deep in my heart. I’d seen the real Embry Call, and the man stood before me now, with the smile that was so small and -
still was unapologetically true.
“I.. I shouldn’t have said what I did before…” I didn’t apologise, because in the moment it’s was a truth I didn’t want to bring to life.
And yet here we stood. The question still hanging in the space between us.
I took two steps back into the middle of the street, my mind fighting my heart. My soul flight the head of reality, and what this all meant to us now. My eyes never once left his until I turned to cross the rest of the street-
Tilting my head to the side once I was on the path of my house.
“Are you coming?” It was a whisper, but it reached his ears.
“No ulterior motives, I won’t talk… Spirits.. I won’t even punch you…”
I repeated his own words to him with a slight change so it fit me.
I was doing this? Every step after the first kiss, he’d asked for permission. Made sure I was the one to make the decision.
@HotHeadSheWolf
I smiled and shook my head. “I know... Don't worry about it.” even though it hit harder than I expected at the time. I knew that she didn't mean it. And I really didn't blame her... I'd seen how guys thought they could treat Leah. Not that they ever walked away unscathed.
I followed her across the street and laughed, as mused at the fact that she was barefoot in the middle of the street. This time I recognised the sound.
I listened to her ramble and followed her inside, >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< pushing her door closed behind me.
“Can I get that last part in writing?” I teased her.
I honestly had no idea where this was going or what any of this was. But the only thing that really I knew absolute certainty was that I was in the right place.
But I had a feeling that Leah probably wasn't as okay with the unknowns that were happening here. “Is or too late for another drink?.... Or...” I laughed and glanced to the window. “Too early?”
I knew how this would go if I let my brain kick into action so instead, I called for me wolf asking her if she was there.
‘Here, but this is for you and him to work out.’ And then she turned around and went to sleep. She was never fully gone; she could hear and see everything. But we had an agreement and of course the times were mad at one another.
Glancing over my shoulder at him again. “My word means a lot more than a bit of paper.” And I was ten steps ahead of him. -
I was stood in my kitchen, opening the cabinet, and pulling out two fresh glasses, and then went to take out the two bottles of liquor.
“It’s not too early if you’ve not been to bed. It’s still the same night.” That was my story, and I was sticking to it. Because I most definitely needed a drink or five. “The real question is… do you want a double or should I just hand you a glass and the bottle?”
Because I knew I was going to end up having one more. Ten minutes ago, -
things had been very different to what had happened. And it dawned on me again... Embry Call kissed me... And I punched him…
“Do you need ice for the lip?” I asked looking my left hand over once.
She had a point... neither of us had slept a wink. but I wasn't going to apologise for that... because that would be like saying I was in the wrong place at the wrong time... but that was the further thing from the truth.
"A double is fine." I had completely forgotten the ache in my jaw until she mentioned it again. I pressed my tongue against the spot inside my cheek that had bled, it was practically healed and the coppery taste was fading away. "That probably a good idea."
>
@HotHeadSheWolf
<
I didn't need to explain to Quil why I'm been punched twice by another Spirit Warrior during the course of the night.
"How's your hand?" I asked her as she flexed her knuckles. "Never realised you were a southpaw." I chuckled. She really pack a hell of a left hook. "And fair warning... three is my limit... next time I'll hit back." That really was true... depending on the situation. But I would never need to defend myself from Leah... she'd never do any serious damage >
@HotHeadSheWolf <
to me. Even if I deserved it.
I couldn't stop watching her now... all the things about her that caught my eyes in the past were now clear as day all the time, not just in those rare ungiarded moments
Unscrewing the bottle cap I poured a free-handed double, before reaching out and handing it over. Then I stepped around him to walk to the freezer, pulling my hair out of the way and then back up into a messy bun.
I went to grab a couple of sandwich bags. “It’s a good thing I always keep ice in stock at home as well as at the bar.” I pressed my fingers into my left hand, the smarting was all but gone, the swelling would take a little longer. “I’ll live to fight another day.”-
Opening the bag of ice, I half filled the two bags. Stopping for a second before continuing.
“Southpaw…” There was a word I hadn’t heard since the Cullen’s had left. “Hmm… It was something Emmett pushed me on. He said it was up to us to strengthen our weaknesses. And for a right hander, it’s always the left. Make the left as strong or better, the other guy won’t know what hit him.” I turned to look at him for the first time, and my stomach did that twisting thing. -
What was that about?
“I wouldn’t expect anything less. It’s a little telling that you need more training time. Two punches and I had you hit the ground without a stop. You need to work on that.” My eyes searched his face, looking for marks I must have left. The swelling was still visible, and I felt something in my chest knowing that I was the one to do it. ( Which was a new feeling too. )
ᒪEᗩᕼ ᑕᒪEᗩᖇᗯᗩTEᖇ
Embry Call