CHAPTER ELEVEN:
GIANT DOGS

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

MAE'S FIRST INSTINCT WHEN she woke up the next day was to run as far and as fast as she could. Emily's living room was empty but she could hear voices out on the porch so she knew the boys weren't far. She slowly sat up as a familiar voice — Embry's — got louder through the whispers, the blanket someone had placed over her slipping down her shoulder. Her neck still hurt, she deduced as she swallowed and felt the familiar sensation of a marble hand pressing down on her throat. But her head wasn't pounding as much, and it didn't hurt to move anymore. She took this as an opportunity to stand, inching closer to the half-closed door to hear what they were saying.

The last thing she had said to them was 'vampire.' Did they think she was crazy? Hell, how had she even ended up at Emily's house to begin with? There was no way Maggie and Kim could've carried her all the way there.

Speaking of Maggie. "We have to tell her," she heard the girl insist over the arguing boys. "Guys, she saw Victoria. Not to mention she saw you. It's not fair to keep her in the dark anymore."

"It's Embry's choice, Maggie," Sam said with a sigh. "And he doesn't—"

"Who cares what he wants?" Maggie cut in, her frustration evident. From a quick peek through the window, Mae glimpsed Maggie standing beside Paul with a scowl on her face. Sam just watched her impassively, encouraging her anger. "Embry, I'm sorry, but you've had time and now look what's happened. Paul told me when he needed to. Why can't you do the same for her?"

Embry stayed quiet, his head bowed. Mae couldn't see his face as his back was facing her, but Jacob could. He stood up straight as he caught the flash of her hair disappearing behind the door.

"Guys, we've got company," he muttered loud enough for Mae to hear.

She stumbled back as the door swung open but it was no use. The group stared at her with wide-eyes, a mixture of emotions on their faces. Sam and Jacob seemed unimpressed but she didn't really care what they thought of her listening in. Maggie and Emily were trying their best to smile at her but Mae could see through it without trying. As for Embry, he refused to look her in the eyes as he finally turned in her direction. His hair was a mess, and Mae found herself wanting to reach out and fix it. She probably would have had Sam not suddenly moved towards her.

"Get away from me," she snapped, and fruitlessly attempted to run past him.

"Maeve, we need to talk," he insisted as he latched onto her arm and pulled her back. Mae shook her head, yanking her arm away as he forced her into the centre of the circle the group had formed. She didn't like the way they stared at her, like some sort of cult about to initiate her into their ranks. "This isn't negotiable."

Panicked, she clutched her heart with an over-exaggerated wince, and swayed on her feet like she was about to pass out. "Oh, would you look at that? I don't feel too good."

Oblivious, Embry went to steady her before Sam stopped him with a roll of his eyes. "Maeve, this isn't a game."

"Look, whatever it is you have to say, I'm not interested," she scowled, standing up straight so she could meet his stare head-on. "I need to get home before my family thinks I've been kidnapped and murdered."

"I already messaged Lina and said you were with me," a soft voice spoke up from behind the row of boys. Mae craned her neck to find the source, locking eyes with a sheepish Kim who was sitting beside Seth Clearwater. "Sorry, Mae. I thought it would help..."

"It's fine, Kim," she sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. Sam's smirk of triumph was an expression that Mae would've been more than happy to knock off his face had she not had a gut feeling it would've only hurt her and not him. She hadn't missed the way that Maggie said she'd 'seen them.' Mae's memory was fuzzy but she knew for a fact the only other creatures she, Maggie and Kim had seen apart from that woman were wolves. "Why does it matter anyway? From the sounds of it, you don't want to tell me your little secrets, so don't. I just want to go home."

All eyes flickered to Embry. His face heated up under the attention and he shuffled awkwardly on the spot, but he looked resigned, like he knew what he had to do. Mae wasn't sure if that scared or reassured her. Instead, she watched as he hesitantly approached her, her arms crossing almost protectively over her chest. Once again, she didn't miss the way his face dropped at this action. She wished she could feel bad about it.

"Let's take a walk," he said as the others slowly made their way inside. Mae wanted to join them but she knew that Sam wouldn't allow it, not until she spoke to Embry first. "Please?"

"Will you tell me the truth this time?" she asked, the distrust evident in her voice. If it was possible, Embry's frown deepened with hurt.

"I will," he nodded, though he didn't sound happy about it. "So can we go?"

He held out a hand for her to take. Mae stared at it for a moment, her own hand twitching to feel his skin against hers. But she stopped herself at the last minute, brushing past him to make her own way down the porch steps.

"Well? Are you coming?" she called out when he didn't follow her, just lowering his hand defeatedly to his side like the breath had been knocked out of him. "Some time this century would be great, you know."

He hurried down the steps. Mae spared one last glance at Sam looming in the doorway before they disappeared into the forest.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

BEING AT THE CLIFFS when she knew that Embry was about to reveal a big secret to her gave Mae an eerie feeling. It wasn't that she didn't trust him — in some way, she still did, regardless of the distance between them caused by his own hesitation — it was the thought of Sam and the others being so sceptical about letting her in that made her feel uneasy. What would they do to get her to keep their secret? Did Mae even have a choice in this? Oh God, were the rumours true about them being a gang? Had Mae unintentionally gotten involved with the mafia or something?

"I don't know where to start so I'm just going to say it, alright?" Embry sighed. Mae frowned as he gestured for her to sit down on a nearby rock, pacing back and forth like fire was licking at his heels. "Promise to keep an open mind?"

"Embry," she scoffed, though after seeing the pointed glare he shot her, she breathed out a sigh and dropped her arms to her sides. "Fine. I promise. Now can you please just tell me? I'm really tired of this."

"Believe me, I am too," he muttered before nodding to himself. "Well. Here goes nothing. That lady at your house last night, she was a vampire. We believe she was there for Maggie since she and Maggie have history with each other, and you just happened to catch her interest by chance. A wrong place, wrong time kind of situation, you know?"

Mae nodded slowly, the word 'vampire' echoing in her head like a broken record screeching on a record player. She'd known just by looking at Victoria that she was an otherworldly creature, but hearing Embry say it so casually was jarring for her. Even if there was some tiny chance this was all a lie, Embry said it with such honesty that Mae would've believed him anyway.

"Okay, and how exactly do you know this?"

He took a deep breath, as if to brace himself for impact before saying, "Those wolves you saw... they were me, Sam and Jared. The boys, and Leah as well, we're all wolves."

For a second, then two, Mae only blinked at him. It wasn't what she expected him to say, but as he frantically offered to 'show her proof' and began to strip off his shorts so he wouldn't rip them — much to Mae's surprise, but she wasn't complaining — a smile split across her face.

"So you're all giant dogs?" she asked, then chuckled like she'd said the funniest thing in the world. "Sick! Where do I sign up?"

Embry gaped at her, his fingers pausing as they unbuttoned the top button of his denim shorts. "That's it?" he stammered when he found the will to speak. "You don't want me to show you?"

"Show me what?" she giggled. "Your stripper routine?"

Embry's face flushed with embarrassment that Mae found all too endearing. "I thought you'd need to... you know, see my wolf form to believe me. It's not everyday that someone tells you they're part of a wolf pack that exists to hunt vampires."

"True," she hummed. "And you can show me if you want to, but I already kind of saw you last night. Oh, and I saw that Victoria woman when she almost killed me with her bare hands. So unless she was a paid actor and this is all one big prank you decided to pull on top of ditching our date, then I've got no reason to think you're a liar." Mae was beginning to blush herself as he continued to stare at her. She found herself rambling to fill the overwhelming silence. "Am I being too trusting? I don't know how someone's meant to react in this situation. It's not like my friends from home ever told me they were werewolves..."

"Not werewolves," Embry corrected softly. "Shape-shifters. I know it doesn't sound like much of a difference, but there is."

"Good to know, I guess."

"I want to show you," he said again. "If that's okay?"

She shrugged casually, though Embry couldn't help noticing the way her eyes lit up with excitement. Maeve Cooper craved adventure, with a dash of adrenaline and a pinch of danger on the side. Sure, she never expected to get that and more when she first moved to La Push, but she'd take what she could get.

In the blink of an eye, the spot where Embry had stood was taken up by a wolf that towered over her even after she stood up. His fur was a pale shade of grey with dark patches on his back and head. His nose was a darker grey that Mae recognised from the previous night. He'd been flanking a black wolf even taller than him, his teeth pulled back in a furious snarl as he lurched forward to free Mae from Victoria's grasp. Now, he was nowhere near as violent, his tail wagging in a way that reminded Mae of an overactive puppy. He wandered over to her and nudged his nose into her outstretched palm, and Mae realised then that his eyes hadn't changed from his human form. They were still that warm shade of brown that brought her so much comfort.

"You're beautiful, Em," she murmured, then laughed when he huffed and backed away from her. "Okay, maybe beautiful isn't the right word to use. But you know what I mean, idiot."

He retreated into the woods after snatching his shorts up from the ground with his teeth. Mae turned around to give him that extra bit of privacy, only faintly listening to the rustles of leaves as she observed the endless plain of water behind them. It really was quite beautiful, something that her and her dad would marvel at on one of their hikes, but she hadn't been paying attention to the view with Embry there. And her attention was caught once again when he wandered back out with a sheepish smile.

"Beautiful?" he echoed her in disbelief. "Really?"

The two found themselves leaving the cliffside behind and making their way back to Sam and Emily's place. Mae shrugged as Embry grabbed her hand and helped her down a particularly steep part of the cliff-edge. "Jeez, sorry I don't know the right word to use," she grumbled much to his amusement. "It feels weird calling your wolf form handsome."

"So you'd call human me handsome?"

Mae immediately turned to gape at him, not expecting her shy Embry Call to be so bold suddenly. It was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders now that she knew everything (well, almost everything) and he could breathe a little better, more free, around her now.

"I'm going to take your silence as a yes."

"Oh, piss off, Call."

"You're still not denying it, Cooper. You think I'm handsome."

And so the teasing continued the rest of the way home, though it was occasionally broken up by Mae questioning him about the different aspects of the supernatural world (Were witches real, too? What was Victoria's beef with Maggie? The list went on forever.)

Embry had almost told her about imprinting, almost, but the thought of potentially taking the smile away from her face, of ruining her experience with the supernatural world by tethering her to him, was too much for that day. Maybe another time would feel right.