CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
TOO CLOSE

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A HANGOVER WAS BAD enough on its own, but a hangover while living with Allison Cooper and Lina Song as her sisters was a brutal combination for Maeve Cooper. The first thing Mae noticed as she opened her eyes was the bright light that blazed through the open curtains. She let out a pained groan, rolling over to bury her face into her pillow. Every movement hurt, and for a moment, Mae longed for sleep to overtake her again, to bury down the unwanted memories that were quickly resurfacing. But as the sound of crashing pots and pans drifted down the hallway and through her cracked-open door, Mae knew she wouldn't be getting any more sleep that morning. So she pushed herself up, massaging her throbbing temples as she inched out of bed and towards the kitchen.

"Look who's up," Allison said as she appeared.

Lina glanced over her shoulder briefly before spinning back around, her head bowed low to stare at her food. Mae furrowed her brows before dropping into the seat beside her, ignoring Lina's confused gaze on the side of her head as she reached for the pot of coffee on the table. Mae just wanted breakfast and a good cup of caffeine. She didn't care about her sister's petty bullshit right now.

With an amused smirk, Allison took a seat opposite them. "So," she began. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," Mae deadpanned. "And I've got a headache because someone was smashing plates together this morning."

"Oh, sweetie, I don't think that's why you've got a headache."

"Shhh."

For a while, they sat in silence, the only sound being the scraping of their knives and forks. Lina was pretending to read the paper so she didn't have to entertain a conversation with either sister. Allison was too busy shovelling down her food to notice, while Mae sat with her head leant against the wall, hazy eyes watching as Lina flipped the pages. She only managed to eat a quarter of her plate before her stomach began to whine in protest, forcing her to hand the rest over to an eagle-eyed Allison. With a groan, Mae pushed out of her seat, weakly searching through the kitchen drawers for where she knew Kira usually kept the paracetamol.

"Looking for something?" Allison asked as she came over to put their dishes in the sink. Just the clatter of glass on marble made Mae wince.

"What do you think?" she grumbled, voice thick with frustration.

"We've run out, you know," Allison informed her, openly laughing when Mae let out a defeated groan and rested her head in her hands. "I looked for you last night and there was none."

"Oh, God. I think I might die."

"Don't worry," Allison said, gently ruffling her hair when Mae made another sound of dismay. "I'll pick some up in Port Angeles today."

She looked up with a frown. "You're going to Port Angeles?"

"Lina and I kinda cleared out the fridge just by making breakfast," she said with a sheepish grin. "Kira will have my head if she comes home to no food."

"Then can you also get me some ice-cream?" she asked, a hopeful smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Allison sighed but nodded, causing Mae to beam. "Thank you. You're the best."

"Thanks. I've been told that before."

"Make sure you get—"

"Cookies and Cream. I know." She turned to Lina then, catching the girl's pensive stare as she sat in front of her long-forgotten newspaper. "Hey, Lina, do you—"

Before she could finish, Lina was stammering out an excuse to leave and rushing from the room. Mae barely spared her a glance as she poured herself a glass of water, fully intending to make the most of a quiet house by laying around on the couch. Both James and Kira were already out, Allison was about to leave and there was no way that Lina would bother her. So she switched the television on low, dragged the blankets off her bed and out into the living room where she curled up on the two-seater. Eventually, she began to drift off again, the ache behind her eyes fading. But just as soon as sleep came, she was woken up by a creaking floorboard. Immediately, Mae sat up, half-expecting to see Victoria watching her in the hallway, teeth bared.

"Oh. It's just you."

Instinctively, Lina scowled, ducking into the kitchen to grab an apple juice before lingering in the doorway again. "Who else did you expect?"

Mae shrugged dismissively and finished her glass of water, eyeing the clock above the television like she hoped the hour would change if she stared hard enough. Barely thirty minutes had passed since breakfast, but from the looks of it, Allison had already left for Port Angeles. Mae and Lina were officially alone, and for once, Lina wasn't locked up in her room.

Well, shit.

"Do you need something?" Mae frowned as Lina opened her mouth, then hesitated just before she could speak. "I was kind of in the middle of something."

"You were sleeping."

"Yeah, and?"

Lina heaved an impatient sigh but didn't bother to argue as she marched across the room to sit down in one of the armchairs. Mae watched her like one would approach a wounded animal, half expecting her to lash out at any moment. Though after a couple seconds went by and nothing, it became clear that Lina had no intentions of making the first move. So Mae settled down and turned her attention back to the TV. She didn't recognise the show that was playing but couldn't bring herself to reach for the remote. Slowly, the fake laughing track began to lull her back to sleep, her head leaning forward onto her chest.

And Lina just had to break the silence.

"I'm sorry."

For an instant, Mae wondered if she'd imagined it. Eyes still closed, she remained frozen, waiting for Lina to say something else. But when silence ensued, she forced herself to look up, evidently surprised by the sorrowful glint of Lina Song's stare.

"Uh..." Good God, her brain was too tired for this. "Thank you?"

Lina looked like she wanted to laugh, but the sound never came as she shuffled around anxiously in her chair, tucking her legs up so her chin was resting on her knee.

"I know I should've said it sooner," she admitted, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I was just..."

"Just?"

"Scared... of everything," she trailed off, making Mae raise an eyebrow. Was this really happening or was she having some kind of fever dream? "It's stupid, but Emmett and Rose don't like the pack and I trust them. I didn't think they'd hate anyone without a reason."

"Didn't? So, what... you've changed your mind?"

Lina shrugged, wary eyes darting left and right. Mae knew how her sister got when it came to confrontation. At some point, she'd buckle under the pressure and run. But Mae was tired of it. If Lina ran one more time, she wasn't sure if she'd follow.

"Look, I'm going to be honest, I don't like your... partners," she said, almost slipping up and saying leeches instead. But if Lina was willing to try, she would too. "But I'm not going to get in the way if you're happy with them."

"I am," Lina insisted, a small smile forming at just the mention of them.

Mae sighed. "I don't want to fight with you anymore, Lina. You're my sister. It sucks not having you in my life."

For a moment, neither of them said anything. Lina's eyes were teary, Mae's tired. But in a blink, Lina had moved from the armchair and was throwing her arms around Mae's neck, sniffling into her shoulder as Mae returned the hug. "I'm sorry I was so weird about the guys, about Embry," she said, voice muffled by the material of Mae's — well, Embry's — hoodie. It startled Mae at first, but as Lina inhaled and looked up at her knowingly, she realised that Lina had probably picked up on the scent that still clung to the piece of clothing. "You think we could come to a compromise?"

Mae hummed in exaggerated contemplation, smirking when Lina glowered at her. "Fine," she eventually decided. "But I don't want any more family dinners with your little boyfriend and girlfriend. That shit was too weird even for us."

Lina's nose scrunched up in a wince. "Yeah, it was a bit much," she agreed. "Mum was really excited and I didn't want to ruin it for her, you know? She's been really accepting and I didn't want that to change."

"It won't," Mae said. "Especially not now."

Despite everything, Kira had taken to Emmett Cullen and Rosalie Hale like a house on fire, especially Emmett Cullen. Mae had tried her best to avoid them when they weren't sitting down to eat, but even she noticed the way the two got caught up in each other. Emmett put on the act of a guy who was a perfect gentleman. He smiled at the right times, offered to help Kira set the table when both Lina and Mae complained. Rose was nice enough (objectively speaking) but she was reclusive and she stuck to Lina's side like glue. It was obvious, at least to Mae, that she only cared about what made her partners happy. Mere humans were nothing but background props to her; forgettable, easy to shove to the side.

At Mae's words, Lina sat back. Mae frowned, quick to notice the almost inaudible sigh that slipped from her mouth.

"What is it?" she asked. Lina hesitated. "Lina?"

"Emmett and Rose weren't happy when I told them I was going to apologise to you," she admitted. Mae didn't know whether or not to be offended. She couldn't give a damn what vampires thought about her, but Lina was her sister, like it or not. No matter what they went through, whether or not they were close, there was nothing that could change that. "It's weird. They think 'cause you're Embry's imprint that..."

The words were mindless, an afterthought for Lina. But not for Mae. She'd frozen at the term, staring wide-eyed at the side of her sister's face as she rattled on about the argument she'd had with Emmett and Rose. After a moment, Lina caught sight of Mae's look and frowned.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Did I say something?"

"What the hell is an imprint?"

Just like that, Lina's face crumbled. It scared Mae how quickly the air changed. One second, Lina was fine, albeit a bit annoyed but more at her partners than she was at herself or Mae. The next, everything felt tense, like the climax of a movie where the main character's whole world was about to change, for better or worse (worse, definitely worse.)

"You mean you don't know?" Lina asked, hoping she'd somehow heard her wrong.

"Know what?" Mae muttered, causing Lina to groan.

"Oh, what have I done? Shit! I thought he'd told you. They said you knew."

"Lina, you're not making any sense," Mae scoffed.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you anything else. It really isn't my place."

"But you just said—"

"I didn't mean to," shouted Lina, hands tugging at her hair. "Oh, my God..."

Then, despite Mae's protests, she jumped out of her seat and disappeared into her room. Mae didn't know what to do at first. She wanted to follow Lina, to demand to know what on earth an imprint was and how she was Embry's. But she knew Lina wouldn't cave now, not after the reaction she'd just had.

So Mae did what a normal teenager would do when she wanted answers. She went to the internet.

Her hangover long forgotten, Mae made her way into her father's study and over to the desk in the corner. It was tucked behind a row of storage boxes and Allison's suitcases, but Mae managed to pick her way through to sit on the chair they'd tucked in as an afterthought. Powering on the computer, she waited with evident impatience, foot tapping a rhythmic beat into the carpet. After what felt like forever, the monitor blinked to life, allowing Mae to quickly type in her father's password (what is it with fathers and them using 1234 as their pins for everything?) and navigate to the search bar.

"Imprinting," she muttered under her breath, typing down the word before hitting 'enter.'

What came up was not what she expected.

"What the fuck is duck imprinting?"

Clicking out of the browser, she opened a new one. "Okay, imprinting," she repeated, then added as an afterthought, "Quileute."

"According to Quileute Legends, imprinting is the involuntary mechanism by which the Quileute shape-shifters find their soulmates. It is a profound, intimate phenomenon that..."

Slowly, Mae clicked out of the browser again, though it was different this time. She didn't know what to feel. Angry that Embry hadn't told her? Sadness? There was even some happiness in there, though it was buried way under the mountain of confusion and doubt. Mae rushed out of the room, ignoring the faint sound of Lina's panicked voice on the phone as she quickly opened her texts with Embry. She needed answers, and she needed them now.

Mae: Come over?
Embry <3: On my way :)
Read at 10:55am

The next ten minutes were the slowest of Mae's life. She paced the living room for the first five with imprinting echoing in her head over and over again. When her head began to spin, she lugged her bedding back into her room and dumped it on the mattress, taking a seat on the edge to calm her breathing while she waited. Finally, there was a knock on the front door, and Mae tore out to answer it before Lina could.

"Mae, hi," Embry beamed as soon as he saw her, but Mae couldn't bring herself to return the grin.

Answers.

"You've been keeping something from me," she stated, watching closely as Embry's face dropped.

In that moment, they understood each other. He knew that she knew.

"Mae..."

"Care to tell me what imprinting is?"