MAYA CHAPTER FIVE: FIGHTS AND SURPRISES
The vamp in front of me growled and stared me down, her gold eyes burning. “Next time, watch where you’re going, bitch,” she hissed, her voice low and deadly. “Or you’ll regret it.”
I couldn’t help it; I had to laugh. I always found it funny when people –especially blondes – tried to be controlling over me. My own alpha had problems controlling me. How was this Cullen bitch any different?
“What the hell is so funny?” the blonde growled at me, pulling her lips back to reveal her teeth. If I didn’t have a really dark and twisted sense of humor or have a burning sensation in my nose from her stench, she might’ve looked scary.
I stood up and looked her straight in the eye and smiled a sarcastic grin. “What’s funny is the fact that you think that I’m actually afraid of you,” I said, still laughing. “Please, Blondie. I eat bitches like you for breakfast.” This wasn’t a complete lie – I’ve dealt with many parasites before this and attacked quite a few of them - . She growled again, forming no words, just threatening me with the rumble in her tone.
My smile grew. “Aww, did I piss you off?” I asked mockingly. She said nothing so I laughed and stepped aside so I could walk around her, letting my guard down.
That was my first mistake.
The blonde stuck her arm out in front on my chest and wrapped it around my neck a second later, choking me. I pushed her arm from around my neck and pushed her back as far as my strength would allow. She flew back from me, stopping when her back hit a tree, which broke and fell on impact. She jumped right back up, looking at me with both confusion and anger. To piss her off even more, I did the same thing to her as I did to my father: I shot a bird at her and whistled for a dog.
That was my second mistake.
She shrieked in anger and ran after me, grabbing me by the collar of my jacket and tossing me deeper into the forest. As she did, I also hit a tree, which only cracked at my impact. Wood from the tree imbedded itself into my skin, causing blood to drip from my wounds. I hissed in pain, but stood up anyway, just in time for the blonde to grab me and turn me so her lips were only inches away from my neck.
“I don’t know what you are,” she snarled next to my ear, sniffing me, “but I’m going to enjoy killing you and putting you through absolute hell.”
Okay, this vampire was seriously pissed off with me and was about to dig her teeth into my skin. That being said, I should not have done what I did next. “Get the fuck off of me, Dracula!” I yelled, scratching at her arms around my neck. “My blood is not a fucking snack.” And then, out of sheer frustration and no ounce of thought, I lifted my foot and kicked her in the lower stomach, probably breaking a few bones in my leg.
The blonde leaned in and stuck her teeth in my neck, and the pain was excruciating, like nothing else I’ve ever felt before. I yelled out in pain, which was not usual for me. I thrashed and screamed, but she wouldn’t release me. Finally, after what seemed like hours but I knew was only five minutes, she stepped back from me. Her hand was on her forehead as if she had a headache. I, too weak to stand, fell to my knees and watched her back farther away from me. Then she dropped to her knees like I did and started screaming at the top of her dead lungs. I watched in horror and fascination as she screeched for help and moved her hand from her forehead to her stomach, which was convulsing like crazy.
The rest of the Cullens and the guys from the reservation came minutes later, the vamps rushing to aid the blonde, while the guys were coming over to me. Embry was the only one I could pay attention to, his expression so worried that I was worried he was about to pass out. I tried to smile and reassure him that I was okay, but the pain in my neck was so intense that I could only hiss in pain. I raised my hand from the ground – no small accomplishment – and used it to cover up the blonde’s bite marks on my neck.
“Maya, what happened?” Embry asked hoarsely, sounding like he was choking on something. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I sighed angrily and shook my head, showing him that I didn’t have my voice at the moment. Then I rubbed my hand against my wound, hoping that no one would notice that I even had one.
But of course someone would…
“Maya, what are you covering with your hand?” Seth asked, reaching over to remove my hand from my neck. I would have fought him off, but I was too weak to do so, so I just let him take my hand away. And as soon as he did, Embry growled softly and turned to stare angrily at the blonde vampire, who had finally stopped screaming and was attempting to sit up.
“I am going to kill that bitch,” the blonde huffed out, glaring golden daggers at me. The others looked at her like she was crazy, but Edward, the bronze haired boy, stared at her in utter disgust. Well, at least someone else felt the same way I did about her.
“Rosalie,” he whispered in astonished reprimand. Then he looked at me in concern. “Are you okay, Maya?”
“Do … I look … okay?” I hissed, struggling to stand. “It’s not every day that this type of shit happens, you know.” When I finally stood up, I walked over to Embry and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Embry turned from facing Rosalie to staring worriedly at me. “Embry, I’m fine,” I promised him, smiling sweetly at him. Embry took my hand in his and brought it to him mouth, kissing my palm repeatedly. It was both endearing and relieved, as if he thought I was gone…
As if he would genuinely care if I was…
Shit. Now I was getting all mushy and insecure about myself. Damn you Embry.
Rosalie growled. “Of course you’d take her side, Edward,” she accused, her eyes narrowing as she looked at him. “After all, you just love to help the ‘innocent’, don’t you?” It was easy to hear the quotation around the word innocent, as well as the double meaning in the word. She didn’t believe I was an innocent, huh?
“You’re the one who jumped me, asshole,” I yelled at her, about to start again. She stood up and hissed at me, showing off her teeth. “You can show your teeth all you want, Blondie, but it won’t help your case,” I sneered.
“Oh, go to hell, mongrel,” she muttered. She flicked her tongue out at me and walked towards the direction of the house. Emmett smiled apologetically at me before running off after her. I rolled my eyes. Typical bitch – leaving right when she knows she lost. If she had a heart, I’d rip it out.
Is it obvious that I really don’t like blondes?
A wolf howled not far into the forest behind me – Lila. She always was an impatient little thing. I had to get over the pack before they ended up doing something that I might regret. To let her know I was coming, I growled quietly, knowing that she could hear me from where she was. This was basically wolf-speak for “calm the fuck down.”
“Um, I appreciate the concern, guys, but I still have something to take care of since … Rosalie interrupted me,” I mumbled, heading into the forest even more. I heard my name being called from behind me, mainly by Embry, but I kept running. They didn’t need to know my dirty little secrets….
“It’s about time that this loca got here,” Lila exclaimed, tackling me to the ground. I flipped over and pinned her on her back, fed up with being the one to lose a fight. “Damn, Maya, you are so fucking irritating,” she complained, her voice that of a whining child. “You always have to ruin my fun, don’t you?”
I smiled fiercely, still not letting her up. “You are going to need one giant-ass umbrella, Lila, because I’m going to be raining on your parade a lot,” I responded, laughing. I finally got off of her and stood, facing the rest of the pack.
The pack consisted of me, Lila, her sister Camille, Garret Richards, Sara-Mai West, Zoe Valentine, and the ever-so-much-a-bitch Alpha: Danielle Johnson. Seriously, the chick sucked. She said that no one in the pack could be able to mate because it, and I quote, “slows us down and makes us weak.” I’m dead serious. She was a bitch.
“Maya,” she simply greeted me, nodding her head once. She never gave me any other indication that I existed, which further proves my point that she was a bitch. Her voice tone sounded as bored as ever, as if she didn’t even care that I just got my ass kicked by a parasite or that I had a bite mark on my neck the size of a baseball.
“Danielle,” I replied, nodding my head once in her direction and keeping my tone as uninterested as hers. The others stood to the side as they always did, knowing that I easily erupted whenever I talked to Danielle.
“So I see you’ve been in one hell of a fight back there,” she chuckled.
“Yes,” I answered, nodding.
“And I see you got your ass handed to you,” she continued, still giggling a little. “And by a vampire, might I add.” Then she threw her head back and laughed as if she had just told the funniest punch line ever and sighed as she sobered. “Oh, my God, Maya. Look at you, the wolf that couldn’t defend herself against one mere leech! Oh, that is something I’ll be remembering for a while.” She laughed again.
I said nothing while she was rambling, mostly because I was so infuriated by her words. I mean, here she was: my own Alpha, teasing me about losing a fight to a hundred-year-old, probably well-trained vampire when I was a seventeen-year-old, untrained newbie in this game! What the hell? If she had bothered to train me – to teach me how to fucking fight a vampire – than that’d be another story. But she didn’t, so she had no right at all to say the things she did.
“Danielle, she’s new at this,” Garret said from the sidelines, sticking up for me as always. “She doesn’t even know how to fight. If we taught her how, she wouldn’t have lost.”
Garret was the only male in our pack, which made him one of the strongest members. He was also one of the nicest, following right behind Lila. He was the person I could always count on to back me up, even in a fight with Danielle.
“Shut up, Garret,” Danielle barked, causing Garret to back down and back away. “I’m well aware that this little pup is untrained, but she always strutted around like she was the strongest of all of us, so I assumed that this would be the chance for her to prove herself.” She looked at me and laughed again. “And, just as I thought, she failed.”
I started to lose it while she spoke. A cloud of red haze crossed my vision and I was filled with bloodlust. My instincts were just screaming at me to end her. “Kill her now, you idiot,” they commanded. It was hard to ignore them, and I felt my rage claw at my insides, urging to make itself known. I was a stick of dynamite, and this asshole just lit the fuse.
“Is this why you came here, Danielle?” I hissed, keeping my eyes locked on hers. “Was it to mock me? If so, you’ve succeeded, and you can get the hell out of here.”
Danielle sobered up and glared at me, shocked by my forwardness. No one talked to the Alpha that way, but I was too pissed off to give a damn. “We actually came to warn you,” she replied, still frozen with shock.
“Warn me?” I repeated, confused. “Warn me of what?”
“We’ve been found out, Maya,” Zoe answered, sounding depressed. “The Volturi found us.”
EMBRY CHAPTER SIX: DAMNED
When Maya ran off after her fight with Rosalie, I had to find her. I was still worried that she was injured. I ran after her, following her scent into the forest. I could hear her voice as I got closer – just not the words.
And she was with others.
What the hell were they up to?
I followed Maya’s scent even further, until I heard her yell out: “What the hell do you mean they found us?!” I froze when I heard her tone – her scared yet angry tone.
“Maya, calm down,” pleaded another female voice, a Spanish accent lurking in her words. “Everything’s going to be okay, chica.”
Chica. Yes, the girl was Spanish.
“How the hell can you tell me to calm down, Lila?!” Maya yelled back in response. “The bane of our existence has found us, and you’re telling me to calm down? They’re the reason we’re such a rare species, and they’re coming after us.”
“Maya, calm down. Now,” ordered another female voice, authority booming in her voice like the sound of thunder during a storm. Ah. This must’ve been the pack’s Alpha – Maya’s Alpha.
“I think she has a point, guys,” a male’s voice added. “I mean, this isn’t something we can take lightly. They could make our kind truly extinct.”
“Lord knows how long they’ve been planning to do just that,” Maya muttered, sounding depressed. “We can’t just sit here and wait for them to come, Danielle, and you know that.”
“I hate to admit it, but she’s right, Danielle,” yet another female voice agreed. “We have to strike before they do.”
“Yeah, and put the Eleventh Commandment into use,” yet another female chimed in enthusiastically. “You know, ‘do unto others before they do unto you.’”
“Don’t get too enthusiastic, you guys,” the Alpha, Danielle told them. “Besides, we don’t even know if this information is true or not.”
“She has a point, Maya,” one of the earlier females said.
“Don’t be such a kiss-ass, Sara,” the male voice demanded.
“Guys,” a quieter female voice interrupted the fighting. “The words I spoke are true,” she said. “I saw it. We have a month before they come here for us, after they finish off the other packs.” She paused as the others gasped. “It looks like we’re the main targets, especially…” she trailed off, and I wandered closer towards Maya, trying to see what I was missing. But I couldn’t.
“What?!” yelled both the male and the female, Lila. “They can’t do that!” screamed only Lila.
“Why her?” the male questioned furiously. He seemed to be affectionate about this … target, whoever it was. I walked closer towards the group and I finally was able to see, including who the main target was.
Maya. Of course it would be her. Who else would it be?
“They see her becoming something strong, something worth obtaining,” the quiet girl with short, curly brown hair continued. “They think that her abilities might become useful one day, and apparently, they decided that now is the time.”
A girl with pinkish-red hair laughed loudly. “What the hell would she be able to do that would be so goddamn important?” she asked, still laughing. I felt the desire to punch her in the face for saying such things.
Suddenly, it felt like a huge pulse of energy pushed against me, until I found myself on my knees, gasping in shock. I looked up at the group of people and saw that they were all on their knees as well, with the exception of Maya, who was gasping and holding a hand up to her head.
The quiet girl stood up slowly. “I think she just answered your question,” she murmured, helping to pull the others off of the ground.
The pink-haired girl groaned as she panted. “I really hate it when you do that, you know,” she hissed in pain.
“Then stop pissing me off,” Maya replied, also hissing in pain. “It’s powered by anger, and you seem to be my number one source of that, Danielle.”
Danielle stood, still grunting in pain. “Fine,” she said. “So she can hurt people with her mind, but they already have a chick that can do that. Why do they need two witches?”
“Theirs can only harm one person at a time,” the now not-so-quiet-girl explained. “As we’ve just experienced, Maya can cause harm to multiple people at the once. Maya’s ability is stronger than their witch’s as well. It leaves permanent damage to her victims, where Jane’s can wear off.” Maya bowed her head at that last sentence and walked away from the group to jump up with extreme height and sit on a tree branch.
“Guys, maybe we should continue this later,” the male suggested, looking worriedly at Maya, who was now lying down on the branch. “Maya needs to be in full energy to discuss this, and it’s obvious she’s not.” He was right. Maya’s skin was paler than usual and there was a little bead of sweat on her forehead. She looked exhausted.
“I agree,” Maya added. Her voice was rough and tired. “I’m too damn drained for this.”
Everyone in the group nodded and murmured their agreements and then said their goodbyes to Maya, leaving her alone … with the male.
Oh, joy. This ought to be good.
“Maya, I’m sorry that you had to hear that,” the male apologized, looking up at the branch where Maya was lying.
“Right now, Garrett, I don’t even care,” she replied, flipping herself sideways off of the branch so she was facing him. “I’m too tired to care.”
Garrett sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re telling me you don’t care that they’ll make you a monster once they have you?” he demanded, both shocked and angry. “Are you insane? They’ll make you a slave! Do you not understand that?”
“Of course I understand that, Garrett,” she growled at him, truly over the edge now. “I’m not an idiot. But I simply don’t care at the moment and I don’t understand why you’re so concerned. It’s my life, my freedom, on the line, not yours. I won’t allow you to become a victim because of me. This is my problem, not yours or the pack’s. Please back off,” And with that, she turned away from him and bent to her knees, hanging her head.
“What’s wrong?” Garrett asked, rushing to her side. I became furious with him immediately. I felt it was my job to comfort her – hell, it was my job – not his. I had to control myself before I jumped up from my hiding spot and ripped him apart.
“Nothing that I can’t handle,” she replied, not looking up from the ground. Her voice was still low and hoarse. She was still weak. That much was obvious.
“Are you sure?” Garrett asked, seeming to hope that the answer was no. Okay, this asshole was starting to piss me off. If he looked at her that way again, like she were his piece of heaven, then I would jump out of my hiding spot and kill him.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she told him. “I’m just gonna sit here for a minute and then head back to the … place where I was before.”
Garrett looked like he was about to argue, but then he just nodded and walked away in the same direction the others did.
“Maybe I can be of some service?” I asked, stepping out from my hiding spot and walking over towards her. Her head snapped up and a brilliant smile came across her face, but it soon gave way to pain. She was still hurt.
“Why, as a matter of fact, you can,” she replied, hiding her pain with humor. “I need a handsome tour guide to lead me back to the vampire house. Do you know where I can find one?”
I smiled with her. “Well, I don’t know about handsome,” I mused, “but I am a tour guide, and I would love to help you.” Her smile grew as she stood up and took my hand, which immediately warmed several degrees at her touch. She waved with her hand for me to lead the way and so I did, dragging her along.
“How long have you been hiding in that bush?” she asked as we were walking.
“You knew I was there?” I asked her, shocked.
She giggled, which proved to be one of my favorite sounds. “I’m a werewolf, remember? Some of our senses are more developed. Plus, I knew you were coming to find me.”
Now I laughed. “Am I really that predictable?” I joked.
“No,” she answered. “I just had a feeling that you wouldn’t let run off alone. You were worried about me, so you followed me.” She shrugged, as if we were talking about her favorite color. “It’s simple.”
“Simple?” I repeated, incredulous. I stopped walking and looked at her, staring straight into her deep green eyes. “How is this simple? We’re werewolves for God’s sake – part of the supernatural, unexplained world. How is anything in our lives simple?”
“Well, for one thing, there’s the fact that I’m here with you in this forest,” she said, mischief lurking in her eyes and smile. “What do you say about taking advantage of this and … get to know each other better?”
“Are these the nerves talking?” I questioned, suspicious.
“Absolutely,” she replied, winking. “I’m a bit of a slut when I get nervous; being best friends with Lila means a lot of brain damage.” She shrugged again and continued walking, pulling me along with her. “Do you think that the guys left me some cake?” she added, never taking her eyes from the trees in front of her.
“I seriously doubt it,” I answered, knowing how large our appetites were. “But I think they have something else there, if you’re interested.”
“That’s cool,” she agreed, smiling. “As long as they have something sweet; I have a huge sweet tooth.”
It took us ten minutes to find our way back to the Cullen’s home. We learned a lot about each other on the way there – our birthdays, our likes and dislikes, our taste in music, et cetera. I was glad to discover that we had a lot in common.
“Hey, look who came back,” Jake joked as we came through the front door of the house. “You okay, Maya?” he asked, suddenly turning serious.
Maya nodded and sighed, apparently tired of being asked that question. “Yeah, I’m fine, Jacob,” she replied. “I just need to eat before I collapse on the floor.” Seth got up and handed her a piece of Nessie’s birthday cake – probably the last piece – and then sat right back down on the floor. “So, what’d I miss?”
“Emmett kicked Jacob’s butt in an arm wrestling contest,” Seth told her, chuckling. “He practically flew across the room when Em smashed his arm on the floor.” Maya started laughing with him, putting a small piece of cake in her mouth.
“Poor Jacob,” she giggled. “You’re losing your edge, dude.”
Jake didn’t respond, only rolled his eyes and smiled a bit.
“To be fair, Emmett cheated,” Nessie said, quickly coming to his defense. Then she looked at Maya, who was still shoveling small pieces of cake in her mouth. “Hey, uh, Maya?”
“Yeah?” Maya asked.
“Edward wanted to talk to you. He’s out back.” She jerked her thumb to show where he was. “He said it was kind of urgent, but he wouldn’t say anything else about it.”
“Great,” she groaned, setting the cake down on a coffee table next to her. “This is just my day to attract bad attention, isn’t it?” She sighed and walked away in the direction Nessie pointed. “If I’m not back in twenty minutes, call Animal Control,” she called, causing Emmett to start laughing really hard.
“You might want to leave this one alone, dude,” he said once he was sober. “Edward looked pretty pissed.”
“And a pissed, mind-reading vampire is never a good thing,” I finished, sighing. “Thanks for the heads up.” Emmett nodded in return and I began to hope – well, pray, actually – that nothing would go wrong.
MAYA
So, one of the Cullen boys wanted to talk to me. And I just heard the shittiest news I’ve ever heard: the Volturi were after my ass. Great. Somebody might as well kill me now, all though that’s probably what the red head had in mind. Or at least I hoped that what he had in mind.
“What do you want, Cullen?” I asked, keeping my voice calm. Being alone with a bloodsucker wasn’t exactly my idea of fun and I wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
“Please, call me Edward,” he replied, smiling just the tiniest bit. But, of course, you could still see the anger in his expression. Maybe he was going to kill me after all. “No, I won’t kill you,” he added. “But I’m not particularly happy with you, either.”
“And you just read my mind,” I accused him, my voice not-so-calm anymore. “Let me just warn you now, Edward, my mind is not something you want to look into very often.”
“It isn’t voluntary,” he told me. “And that isn’t the point. The point is, I know the Volturi are after you, but I don’t know why. Tell me. Now.”
I sighed. Of course he’d ask the question that’s been pissing me off all day. “Fine. The Volturi are after my pack … well, me, really. Apparently I have this ability that they find useful. I guess they figure that if they have someone … like me as a part of the guard, then the others like me will follow, and they’ll rule the supernatural world or some psychotic shit like that.” I sighed again. “You know you vamps are some weird-ass people.”
Edward chuckled. “You act like you wolves are any better,” he countered, still laughing. “And what ability do they find useful?”
I grinned as soon as an idea came. “Do you want to find out?” I asked, still grinning maliciously.
“Now that you mention it, not really,” he replied, taking one step back but still smiling. He had a good poker face, I’d give him that. And I know you heard that, bloodsucker, I thought at him. He laughed and nodded. Stay the fuck out of my head; you won’t like what you see very much.
“I know,” he agreed. “To be honest, I already don’t. You have some very disturbing ideas in there, don’t you?”
“Not really. They’re my friend Lila’s ideas, not mine. She’s sort of a …”
“Nymphomaniac?” he supplied.
“In the nicest of terms, yes,” I chuckled, and then sighed. “Why are you so concerned about the Volturi? It’s not like they’re coming after you or the rest of your family.”
“True,” he agreed. “But my family has had a … difficult relationship with the Volturi over the past few years. It’d be better for all of us if they didn’t so close to our home.”
I sighed. “Then how can we keep me from becoming a guard dog without you guys being involved?” I asked. “I could leave, but I don’t know if that’ll do any good.”
“I don’t, either,” he replied, his eyebrows furrowing together. “Maybe there’s another option besides running?”
“I don’t think so. Running is always a good option in these situations, I understand. And it would only be for a little while, until the Volturi are gone … or until something else happens. I just can’t put anyone else in this situation.”
Edward nodded. “You’ll still need someone to keep you safe,” he said. I could honestly see the wheels in his head turning as he tried to come up with a plan.
“That’s what the pack is for,” I reminded him. “I’ll just hide out with them for a little bit before I go face this on my own.”
“But if you stay with your pack, you put them in danger,” he mused, truly getting me thinking. He was right, I had to admit. I was the main target, after all. If I got away from the pack, the Volturi wouldn’t touch them. Right?
“You have a point,” I admitted. “But what other option is there? If I stay in La Push, they’ll come after Jacob and the others, and you guys, too, if you’re serious about this whole ‘bad relationship’ stuff.” And I had a feeling he was. People don’t joke about stuff like that.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Good luck,” he said, nodding once. “Something tells me you’ll need it.”
I nodded back to him and turned back towards the house. While walking I sent Edward a thought: see you in hell, bloodsucker.
When I walked back into the house, all eyes were on me. Some were worried, some were just happy or completely clueless (Emmett), some were angry and full of hate (Rosalie), and some were unusually bright yet made the owner of these eyes look like they were about to piss themselves (if you can’t guess this one, you’re an idiot.)
“Guys, do you mind if I borrow the truck?” I asked. “I have to leave.”
“What’s wrong?” Seth and Embry asked at the same time.
“Everything,” I replied. “I just have to go before I do something stupid.”
“Are you sure you can’t stay for a little longer, Maya?” the mother figure of the vamps asked me. What was her name again? Esther?
“No, I can’t,” I replied, getting even more irritated. “I really have to leave. Can I borrow the truck?”
Embry saw the desperation in my expression and dug inside his shorts’ pockets for the keys. Once he found them, he handed them to me. “Let me walk you out.” I didn’t argue – I couldn’t even if I wanted to – and instead just nodded, grabbed his hand and walked outside with, who has to be, the guy who I might actually be in danger of falling love with.
How about that? When the world was coming to absolute hell, I was still found the chance to fall in love with a guy I’ve only known for a day.
“Let me come with you,” Embry insisted, his eyes going intense as they stared into mine. And, much to my discomfort and ultimate embarrassment, my heart started racing when he locked his eyes with mine.
They say the heart wants what the hearts wants. If so, my heart just fucking screwed me over. And at the worst possible time, too: so close to either my incarceration or my impending death. Either way, it was one hell of an event, huh?
“I can’t do that, Embry. I can’t let you come with me, as much as I want to.” And I really wanted to. “But I can’t drag you into this shit any more than you already are. I’ve seen the consequences of being involved in something that wasn’t meant for you to be messing with.”
“But you need someone to go with you,” he pressed, becoming more angry as he spoke. “You need someone to make sure nothing harms you.”
If any other boy had said to me, or even suggested that I couldn’t take care of myself, I would’ve punched them in the neck. But this was Embry saying this, and although it still stung a little bit, I couldn’t be mad at him like I wanted to.
“I can take care of myself, Embry,” I assured him. “I’ve been doing it for the past seventeen years. I’ll be fine, I promise.” I kissed him on the cheek and got into the truck. Sighing, I put the keys into the ignition, started the car, and drove away.
As I drove, Cold by Crossfade started to play on the radio. I always hated that – how the music you hear always relates to the situation you’re going through or the emotions you’re feeling. And right now, I was definitely feeling cold. I couldn’t explain it, but it was like my heart physically hurt from being separated from Embry, even if it had only been seconds.
Man, the next few weeks were gonna suck.
The vamp in front of me growled and stared me down, her gold eyes burning. “Next time, watch where you’re going, bitch,” she hissed, her voice low and deadly. “Or you’ll regret it.”
I couldn’t help it; I had to laugh. I always found it funny when people –especially blondes – tried to be controlling over me. My own alpha had problems controlling me. How was this Cullen bitch any different?
“What the hell is so funny?” the blonde growled at me, pulling her lips back to reveal her teeth. If I didn’t have a really dark and twisted sense of humor or have a burning sensation in my nose from her stench, she might’ve looked scary.
I stood up and looked her straight in the eye and smiled a sarcastic grin. “What’s funny is the fact that you think that I’m actually afraid of you,” I said, still laughing. “Please, Blondie. I eat bitches like you for breakfast.” This wasn’t a complete lie – I’ve dealt with many parasites before this and attacked quite a few of them - . She growled again, forming no words, just threatening me with the rumble in her tone.
My smile grew. “Aww, did I piss you off?” I asked mockingly. She said nothing so I laughed and stepped aside so I could walk around her, letting my guard down.
That was my first mistake.
The blonde stuck her arm out in front on my chest and wrapped it around my neck a second later, choking me. I pushed her arm from around my neck and pushed her back as far as my strength would allow. She flew back from me, stopping when her back hit a tree, which broke and fell on impact. She jumped right back up, looking at me with both confusion and anger. To piss her off even more, I did the same thing to her as I did to my father: I shot a bird at her and whistled for a dog.
That was my second mistake.
She shrieked in anger and ran after me, grabbing me by the collar of my jacket and tossing me deeper into the forest. As she did, I also hit a tree, which only cracked at my impact. Wood from the tree imbedded itself into my skin, causing blood to drip from my wounds. I hissed in pain, but stood up anyway, just in time for the blonde to grab me and turn me so her lips were only inches away from my neck.
“I don’t know what you are,” she snarled next to my ear, sniffing me, “but I’m going to enjoy killing you and putting you through absolute hell.”
Okay, this vampire was seriously pissed off with me and was about to dig her teeth into my skin. That being said, I should not have done what I did next. “Get the fuck off of me, Dracula!” I yelled, scratching at her arms around my neck. “My blood is not a fucking snack.” And then, out of sheer frustration and no ounce of thought, I lifted my foot and kicked her in the lower stomach, probably breaking a few bones in my leg.
The blonde leaned in and stuck her teeth in my neck, and the pain was excruciating, like nothing else I’ve ever felt before. I yelled out in pain, which was not usual for me. I thrashed and screamed, but she wouldn’t release me. Finally, after what seemed like hours but I knew was only five minutes, she stepped back from me. Her hand was on her forehead as if she had a headache. I, too weak to stand, fell to my knees and watched her back farther away from me. Then she dropped to her knees like I did and started screaming at the top of her dead lungs. I watched in horror and fascination as she screeched for help and moved her hand from her forehead to her stomach, which was convulsing like crazy.
The rest of the Cullens and the guys from the reservation came minutes later, the vamps rushing to aid the blonde, while the guys were coming over to me. Embry was the only one I could pay attention to, his expression so worried that I was worried he was about to pass out. I tried to smile and reassure him that I was okay, but the pain in my neck was so intense that I could only hiss in pain. I raised my hand from the ground – no small accomplishment – and used it to cover up the blonde’s bite marks on my neck.
“Maya, what happened?” Embry asked hoarsely, sounding like he was choking on something. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I sighed angrily and shook my head, showing him that I didn’t have my voice at the moment. Then I rubbed my hand against my wound, hoping that no one would notice that I even had one.
But of course someone would…
“Maya, what are you covering with your hand?” Seth asked, reaching over to remove my hand from my neck. I would have fought him off, but I was too weak to do so, so I just let him take my hand away. And as soon as he did, Embry growled softly and turned to stare angrily at the blonde vampire, who had finally stopped screaming and was attempting to sit up.
“I am going to kill that bitch,” the blonde huffed out, glaring golden daggers at me. The others looked at her like she was crazy, but Edward, the bronze haired boy, stared at her in utter disgust. Well, at least someone else felt the same way I did about her.
“Rosalie,” he whispered in astonished reprimand. Then he looked at me in concern. “Are you okay, Maya?”
“Do … I look … okay?” I hissed, struggling to stand. “It’s not every day that this type of shit happens, you know.” When I finally stood up, I walked over to Embry and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Embry turned from facing Rosalie to staring worriedly at me. “Embry, I’m fine,” I promised him, smiling sweetly at him. Embry took my hand in his and brought it to him mouth, kissing my palm repeatedly. It was both endearing and relieved, as if he thought I was gone…
As if he would genuinely care if I was…
Shit. Now I was getting all mushy and insecure about myself. Damn you Embry.
Rosalie growled. “Of course you’d take her side, Edward,” she accused, her eyes narrowing as she looked at him. “After all, you just love to help the ‘innocent’, don’t you?” It was easy to hear the quotation around the word innocent, as well as the double meaning in the word. She didn’t believe I was an innocent, huh?
“You’re the one who jumped me, asshole,” I yelled at her, about to start again. She stood up and hissed at me, showing off her teeth. “You can show your teeth all you want, Blondie, but it won’t help your case,” I sneered.
“Oh, go to hell, mongrel,” she muttered. She flicked her tongue out at me and walked towards the direction of the house. Emmett smiled apologetically at me before running off after her. I rolled my eyes. Typical bitch – leaving right when she knows she lost. If she had a heart, I’d rip it out.
Is it obvious that I really don’t like blondes?
A wolf howled not far into the forest behind me – Lila. She always was an impatient little thing. I had to get over the pack before they ended up doing something that I might regret. To let her know I was coming, I growled quietly, knowing that she could hear me from where she was. This was basically wolf-speak for “calm the fuck down.”
“Um, I appreciate the concern, guys, but I still have something to take care of since … Rosalie interrupted me,” I mumbled, heading into the forest even more. I heard my name being called from behind me, mainly by Embry, but I kept running. They didn’t need to know my dirty little secrets….
“It’s about time that this loca got here,” Lila exclaimed, tackling me to the ground. I flipped over and pinned her on her back, fed up with being the one to lose a fight. “Damn, Maya, you are so fucking irritating,” she complained, her voice that of a whining child. “You always have to ruin my fun, don’t you?”
I smiled fiercely, still not letting her up. “You are going to need one giant-ass umbrella, Lila, because I’m going to be raining on your parade a lot,” I responded, laughing. I finally got off of her and stood, facing the rest of the pack.
The pack consisted of me, Lila, her sister Camille, Garret Richards, Sara-Mai West, Zoe Valentine, and the ever-so-much-a-bitch Alpha: Danielle Johnson. Seriously, the chick sucked. She said that no one in the pack could be able to mate because it, and I quote, “slows us down and makes us weak.” I’m dead serious. She was a bitch.
“Maya,” she simply greeted me, nodding her head once. She never gave me any other indication that I existed, which further proves my point that she was a bitch. Her voice tone sounded as bored as ever, as if she didn’t even care that I just got my ass kicked by a parasite or that I had a bite mark on my neck the size of a baseball.
“Danielle,” I replied, nodding my head once in her direction and keeping my tone as uninterested as hers. The others stood to the side as they always did, knowing that I easily erupted whenever I talked to Danielle.
“So I see you’ve been in one hell of a fight back there,” she chuckled.
“Yes,” I answered, nodding.
“And I see you got your ass handed to you,” she continued, still giggling a little. “And by a vampire, might I add.” Then she threw her head back and laughed as if she had just told the funniest punch line ever and sighed as she sobered. “Oh, my God, Maya. Look at you, the wolf that couldn’t defend herself against one mere leech! Oh, that is something I’ll be remembering for a while.” She laughed again.
I said nothing while she was rambling, mostly because I was so infuriated by her words. I mean, here she was: my own Alpha, teasing me about losing a fight to a hundred-year-old, probably well-trained vampire when I was a seventeen-year-old, untrained newbie in this game! What the hell? If she had bothered to train me – to teach me how to fucking fight a vampire – than that’d be another story. But she didn’t, so she had no right at all to say the things she did.
“Danielle, she’s new at this,” Garret said from the sidelines, sticking up for me as always. “She doesn’t even know how to fight. If we taught her how, she wouldn’t have lost.”
Garret was the only male in our pack, which made him one of the strongest members. He was also one of the nicest, following right behind Lila. He was the person I could always count on to back me up, even in a fight with Danielle.
“Shut up, Garret,” Danielle barked, causing Garret to back down and back away. “I’m well aware that this little pup is untrained, but she always strutted around like she was the strongest of all of us, so I assumed that this would be the chance for her to prove herself.” She looked at me and laughed again. “And, just as I thought, she failed.”
I started to lose it while she spoke. A cloud of red haze crossed my vision and I was filled with bloodlust. My instincts were just screaming at me to end her. “Kill her now, you idiot,” they commanded. It was hard to ignore them, and I felt my rage claw at my insides, urging to make itself known. I was a stick of dynamite, and this asshole just lit the fuse.
“Is this why you came here, Danielle?” I hissed, keeping my eyes locked on hers. “Was it to mock me? If so, you’ve succeeded, and you can get the hell out of here.”
Danielle sobered up and glared at me, shocked by my forwardness. No one talked to the Alpha that way, but I was too pissed off to give a damn. “We actually came to warn you,” she replied, still frozen with shock.
“Warn me?” I repeated, confused. “Warn me of what?”
“We’ve been found out, Maya,” Zoe answered, sounding depressed. “The Volturi found us.”
EMBRY CHAPTER SIX: DAMNED
When Maya ran off after her fight with Rosalie, I had to find her. I was still worried that she was injured. I ran after her, following her scent into the forest. I could hear her voice as I got closer – just not the words.
And she was with others.
What the hell were they up to?
I followed Maya’s scent even further, until I heard her yell out: “What the hell do you mean they found us?!” I froze when I heard her tone – her scared yet angry tone.
“Maya, calm down,” pleaded another female voice, a Spanish accent lurking in her words. “Everything’s going to be okay, chica.”
Chica. Yes, the girl was Spanish.
“How the hell can you tell me to calm down, Lila?!” Maya yelled back in response. “The bane of our existence has found us, and you’re telling me to calm down? They’re the reason we’re such a rare species, and they’re coming after us.”
“Maya, calm down. Now,” ordered another female voice, authority booming in her voice like the sound of thunder during a storm. Ah. This must’ve been the pack’s Alpha – Maya’s Alpha.
“I think she has a point, guys,” a male’s voice added. “I mean, this isn’t something we can take lightly. They could make our kind truly extinct.”
“Lord knows how long they’ve been planning to do just that,” Maya muttered, sounding depressed. “We can’t just sit here and wait for them to come, Danielle, and you know that.”
“I hate to admit it, but she’s right, Danielle,” yet another female voice agreed. “We have to strike before they do.”
“Yeah, and put the Eleventh Commandment into use,” yet another female chimed in enthusiastically. “You know, ‘do unto others before they do unto you.’”
“Don’t get too enthusiastic, you guys,” the Alpha, Danielle told them. “Besides, we don’t even know if this information is true or not.”
“She has a point, Maya,” one of the earlier females said.
“Don’t be such a kiss-ass, Sara,” the male voice demanded.
“Guys,” a quieter female voice interrupted the fighting. “The words I spoke are true,” she said. “I saw it. We have a month before they come here for us, after they finish off the other packs.” She paused as the others gasped. “It looks like we’re the main targets, especially…” she trailed off, and I wandered closer towards Maya, trying to see what I was missing. But I couldn’t.
“What?!” yelled both the male and the female, Lila. “They can’t do that!” screamed only Lila.
“Why her?” the male questioned furiously. He seemed to be affectionate about this … target, whoever it was. I walked closer towards the group and I finally was able to see, including who the main target was.
Maya. Of course it would be her. Who else would it be?
“They see her becoming something strong, something worth obtaining,” the quiet girl with short, curly brown hair continued. “They think that her abilities might become useful one day, and apparently, they decided that now is the time.”
A girl with pinkish-red hair laughed loudly. “What the hell would she be able to do that would be so goddamn important?” she asked, still laughing. I felt the desire to punch her in the face for saying such things.
Suddenly, it felt like a huge pulse of energy pushed against me, until I found myself on my knees, gasping in shock. I looked up at the group of people and saw that they were all on their knees as well, with the exception of Maya, who was gasping and holding a hand up to her head.
The quiet girl stood up slowly. “I think she just answered your question,” she murmured, helping to pull the others off of the ground.
The pink-haired girl groaned as she panted. “I really hate it when you do that, you know,” she hissed in pain.
“Then stop pissing me off,” Maya replied, also hissing in pain. “It’s powered by anger, and you seem to be my number one source of that, Danielle.”
Danielle stood, still grunting in pain. “Fine,” she said. “So she can hurt people with her mind, but they already have a chick that can do that. Why do they need two witches?”
“Theirs can only harm one person at a time,” the now not-so-quiet-girl explained. “As we’ve just experienced, Maya can cause harm to multiple people at the once. Maya’s ability is stronger than their witch’s as well. It leaves permanent damage to her victims, where Jane’s can wear off.” Maya bowed her head at that last sentence and walked away from the group to jump up with extreme height and sit on a tree branch.
“Guys, maybe we should continue this later,” the male suggested, looking worriedly at Maya, who was now lying down on the branch. “Maya needs to be in full energy to discuss this, and it’s obvious she’s not.” He was right. Maya’s skin was paler than usual and there was a little bead of sweat on her forehead. She looked exhausted.
“I agree,” Maya added. Her voice was rough and tired. “I’m too damn drained for this.”
Everyone in the group nodded and murmured their agreements and then said their goodbyes to Maya, leaving her alone … with the male.
Oh, joy. This ought to be good.
“Maya, I’m sorry that you had to hear that,” the male apologized, looking up at the branch where Maya was lying.
“Right now, Garrett, I don’t even care,” she replied, flipping herself sideways off of the branch so she was facing him. “I’m too tired to care.”
Garrett sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re telling me you don’t care that they’ll make you a monster once they have you?” he demanded, both shocked and angry. “Are you insane? They’ll make you a slave! Do you not understand that?”
“Of course I understand that, Garrett,” she growled at him, truly over the edge now. “I’m not an idiot. But I simply don’t care at the moment and I don’t understand why you’re so concerned. It’s my life, my freedom, on the line, not yours. I won’t allow you to become a victim because of me. This is my problem, not yours or the pack’s. Please back off,” And with that, she turned away from him and bent to her knees, hanging her head.
“What’s wrong?” Garrett asked, rushing to her side. I became furious with him immediately. I felt it was my job to comfort her – hell, it was my job – not his. I had to control myself before I jumped up from my hiding spot and ripped him apart.
“Nothing that I can’t handle,” she replied, not looking up from the ground. Her voice was still low and hoarse. She was still weak. That much was obvious.
“Are you sure?” Garrett asked, seeming to hope that the answer was no. Okay, this asshole was starting to piss me off. If he looked at her that way again, like she were his piece of heaven, then I would jump out of my hiding spot and kill him.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she told him. “I’m just gonna sit here for a minute and then head back to the … place where I was before.”
Garrett looked like he was about to argue, but then he just nodded and walked away in the same direction the others did.
“Maybe I can be of some service?” I asked, stepping out from my hiding spot and walking over towards her. Her head snapped up and a brilliant smile came across her face, but it soon gave way to pain. She was still hurt.
“Why, as a matter of fact, you can,” she replied, hiding her pain with humor. “I need a handsome tour guide to lead me back to the vampire house. Do you know where I can find one?”
I smiled with her. “Well, I don’t know about handsome,” I mused, “but I am a tour guide, and I would love to help you.” Her smile grew as she stood up and took my hand, which immediately warmed several degrees at her touch. She waved with her hand for me to lead the way and so I did, dragging her along.
“How long have you been hiding in that bush?” she asked as we were walking.
“You knew I was there?” I asked her, shocked.
She giggled, which proved to be one of my favorite sounds. “I’m a werewolf, remember? Some of our senses are more developed. Plus, I knew you were coming to find me.”
Now I laughed. “Am I really that predictable?” I joked.
“No,” she answered. “I just had a feeling that you wouldn’t let run off alone. You were worried about me, so you followed me.” She shrugged, as if we were talking about her favorite color. “It’s simple.”
“Simple?” I repeated, incredulous. I stopped walking and looked at her, staring straight into her deep green eyes. “How is this simple? We’re werewolves for God’s sake – part of the supernatural, unexplained world. How is anything in our lives simple?”
“Well, for one thing, there’s the fact that I’m here with you in this forest,” she said, mischief lurking in her eyes and smile. “What do you say about taking advantage of this and … get to know each other better?”
“Are these the nerves talking?” I questioned, suspicious.
“Absolutely,” she replied, winking. “I’m a bit of a slut when I get nervous; being best friends with Lila means a lot of brain damage.” She shrugged again and continued walking, pulling me along with her. “Do you think that the guys left me some cake?” she added, never taking her eyes from the trees in front of her.
“I seriously doubt it,” I answered, knowing how large our appetites were. “But I think they have something else there, if you’re interested.”
“That’s cool,” she agreed, smiling. “As long as they have something sweet; I have a huge sweet tooth.”
It took us ten minutes to find our way back to the Cullen’s home. We learned a lot about each other on the way there – our birthdays, our likes and dislikes, our taste in music, et cetera. I was glad to discover that we had a lot in common.
“Hey, look who came back,” Jake joked as we came through the front door of the house. “You okay, Maya?” he asked, suddenly turning serious.
Maya nodded and sighed, apparently tired of being asked that question. “Yeah, I’m fine, Jacob,” she replied. “I just need to eat before I collapse on the floor.” Seth got up and handed her a piece of Nessie’s birthday cake – probably the last piece – and then sat right back down on the floor. “So, what’d I miss?”
“Emmett kicked Jacob’s butt in an arm wrestling contest,” Seth told her, chuckling. “He practically flew across the room when Em smashed his arm on the floor.” Maya started laughing with him, putting a small piece of cake in her mouth.
“Poor Jacob,” she giggled. “You’re losing your edge, dude.”
Jake didn’t respond, only rolled his eyes and smiled a bit.
“To be fair, Emmett cheated,” Nessie said, quickly coming to his defense. Then she looked at Maya, who was still shoveling small pieces of cake in her mouth. “Hey, uh, Maya?”
“Yeah?” Maya asked.
“Edward wanted to talk to you. He’s out back.” She jerked her thumb to show where he was. “He said it was kind of urgent, but he wouldn’t say anything else about it.”
“Great,” she groaned, setting the cake down on a coffee table next to her. “This is just my day to attract bad attention, isn’t it?” She sighed and walked away in the direction Nessie pointed. “If I’m not back in twenty minutes, call Animal Control,” she called, causing Emmett to start laughing really hard.
“You might want to leave this one alone, dude,” he said once he was sober. “Edward looked pretty pissed.”
“And a pissed, mind-reading vampire is never a good thing,” I finished, sighing. “Thanks for the heads up.” Emmett nodded in return and I began to hope – well, pray, actually – that nothing would go wrong.
MAYA
So, one of the Cullen boys wanted to talk to me. And I just heard the shittiest news I’ve ever heard: the Volturi were after my ass. Great. Somebody might as well kill me now, all though that’s probably what the red head had in mind. Or at least I hoped that what he had in mind.
“What do you want, Cullen?” I asked, keeping my voice calm. Being alone with a bloodsucker wasn’t exactly my idea of fun and I wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
“Please, call me Edward,” he replied, smiling just the tiniest bit. But, of course, you could still see the anger in his expression. Maybe he was going to kill me after all. “No, I won’t kill you,” he added. “But I’m not particularly happy with you, either.”
“And you just read my mind,” I accused him, my voice not-so-calm anymore. “Let me just warn you now, Edward, my mind is not something you want to look into very often.”
“It isn’t voluntary,” he told me. “And that isn’t the point. The point is, I know the Volturi are after you, but I don’t know why. Tell me. Now.”
I sighed. Of course he’d ask the question that’s been pissing me off all day. “Fine. The Volturi are after my pack … well, me, really. Apparently I have this ability that they find useful. I guess they figure that if they have someone … like me as a part of the guard, then the others like me will follow, and they’ll rule the supernatural world or some psychotic shit like that.” I sighed again. “You know you vamps are some weird-ass people.”
Edward chuckled. “You act like you wolves are any better,” he countered, still laughing. “And what ability do they find useful?”
I grinned as soon as an idea came. “Do you want to find out?” I asked, still grinning maliciously.
“Now that you mention it, not really,” he replied, taking one step back but still smiling. He had a good poker face, I’d give him that. And I know you heard that, bloodsucker, I thought at him. He laughed and nodded. Stay the fuck out of my head; you won’t like what you see very much.
“I know,” he agreed. “To be honest, I already don’t. You have some very disturbing ideas in there, don’t you?”
“Not really. They’re my friend Lila’s ideas, not mine. She’s sort of a …”
“Nymphomaniac?” he supplied.
“In the nicest of terms, yes,” I chuckled, and then sighed. “Why are you so concerned about the Volturi? It’s not like they’re coming after you or the rest of your family.”
“True,” he agreed. “But my family has had a … difficult relationship with the Volturi over the past few years. It’d be better for all of us if they didn’t so close to our home.”
I sighed. “Then how can we keep me from becoming a guard dog without you guys being involved?” I asked. “I could leave, but I don’t know if that’ll do any good.”
“I don’t, either,” he replied, his eyebrows furrowing together. “Maybe there’s another option besides running?”
“I don’t think so. Running is always a good option in these situations, I understand. And it would only be for a little while, until the Volturi are gone … or until something else happens. I just can’t put anyone else in this situation.”
Edward nodded. “You’ll still need someone to keep you safe,” he said. I could honestly see the wheels in his head turning as he tried to come up with a plan.
“That’s what the pack is for,” I reminded him. “I’ll just hide out with them for a little bit before I go face this on my own.”
“But if you stay with your pack, you put them in danger,” he mused, truly getting me thinking. He was right, I had to admit. I was the main target, after all. If I got away from the pack, the Volturi wouldn’t touch them. Right?
“You have a point,” I admitted. “But what other option is there? If I stay in La Push, they’ll come after Jacob and the others, and you guys, too, if you’re serious about this whole ‘bad relationship’ stuff.” And I had a feeling he was. People don’t joke about stuff like that.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Good luck,” he said, nodding once. “Something tells me you’ll need it.”
I nodded back to him and turned back towards the house. While walking I sent Edward a thought: see you in hell, bloodsucker.
When I walked back into the house, all eyes were on me. Some were worried, some were just happy or completely clueless (Emmett), some were angry and full of hate (Rosalie), and some were unusually bright yet made the owner of these eyes look like they were about to piss themselves (if you can’t guess this one, you’re an idiot.)
“Guys, do you mind if I borrow the truck?” I asked. “I have to leave.”
“What’s wrong?” Seth and Embry asked at the same time.
“Everything,” I replied. “I just have to go before I do something stupid.”
“Are you sure you can’t stay for a little longer, Maya?” the mother figure of the vamps asked me. What was her name again? Esther?
“No, I can’t,” I replied, getting even more irritated. “I really have to leave. Can I borrow the truck?”
Embry saw the desperation in my expression and dug inside his shorts’ pockets for the keys. Once he found them, he handed them to me. “Let me walk you out.” I didn’t argue – I couldn’t even if I wanted to – and instead just nodded, grabbed his hand and walked outside with, who has to be, the guy who I might actually be in danger of falling love with.
How about that? When the world was coming to absolute hell, I was still found the chance to fall in love with a guy I’ve only known for a day.
“Let me come with you,” Embry insisted, his eyes going intense as they stared into mine. And, much to my discomfort and ultimate embarrassment, my heart started racing when he locked his eyes with mine.
They say the heart wants what the hearts wants. If so, my heart just fucking screwed me over. And at the worst possible time, too: so close to either my incarceration or my impending death. Either way, it was one hell of an event, huh?
“I can’t do that, Embry. I can’t let you come with me, as much as I want to.” And I really wanted to. “But I can’t drag you into this shit any more than you already are. I’ve seen the consequences of being involved in something that wasn’t meant for you to be messing with.”
“But you need someone to go with you,” he pressed, becoming more angry as he spoke. “You need someone to make sure nothing harms you.”
If any other boy had said to me, or even suggested that I couldn’t take care of myself, I would’ve punched them in the neck. But this was Embry saying this, and although it still stung a little bit, I couldn’t be mad at him like I wanted to.
“I can take care of myself, Embry,” I assured him. “I’ve been doing it for the past seventeen years. I’ll be fine, I promise.” I kissed him on the cheek and got into the truck. Sighing, I put the keys into the ignition, started the car, and drove away.
As I drove, Cold by Crossfade started to play on the radio. I always hated that – how the music you hear always relates to the situation you’re going through or the emotions you’re feeling. And right now, I was definitely feeling cold. I couldn’t explain it, but it was like my heart physically hurt from being separated from Embry, even if it had only been seconds.
Man, the next few weeks were gonna suck.
