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Under various trees, a small rustic home lays perfectly as if the forest had grown around it. Unlike the Cullen home, this one is more secluded and closed, allowing for a more comfortable and warm feeling to gather. Standing before it reminds her of autumn and the leaves falling down in perfect sync. It feels more like home, which is the feeling she's been searching for the past couple of months.

"Oh, by the way," Jacob stops halfway into reaching the entrance before turning to her, "About Emily, Sam's fiancée, don't stare. It bugs Sam."

Mia furrows her brows in confusion, wondering why she would even stare. She knows better than to ask questions, so she just nods along and follows him in. The pack is gathered around the kitchen grabbing blueberry muffins from a tray. Two of them fight over who gets more, but Emily slaps their hands off and reprimands them like a mother scolding her children.

"Leave some for your brothers," Emily takes the second muffin from Jared's hands, who stares at her pleadingly as if hoping she would cave.

"About time you guys got here!" Embry stands up to greet Jacob, both of them beginning their handshake while Jared rolls his eyes at their antics.

"So you're the infamous Mia," Emily places the tray of muffins down and walks over to her, surprising her by pulling her in for an embrace. "It's nice to finally meet the girl these guys won't shut up about."

Now she understands why Jacob told her not to stare. A scar runs down the side of her face, stopping shortly just before her chin ends. She does what she was told and only focuses on her eyes before glancing away. "Hopefully it's good things."

"Believe me, it is. I'm Emily," Emily introduces herself and offers her a muffin that she eagerly takes.

"I'm Mia, which you probably must know if these guys kept talking about me," she bashfully says before taking a bite of her muffin. "For Merlin's sake, this is really good."

"Well, thank you," Emily softly laughs. "So I take it that you're the witch in love with a vampire."

Nearly choking on the pastry, Mia shakes her head vigorously. "Not anymore. That's in the past." She notices the brief look of sympathy in her eyes, but appreciates how quickly it vanishes. "So that means you're the girl in love with a werewolf then."

She smiles, "I guess so. Well, I'm engaged to one."

"I'm Jared, the better wolf of the pack," Jared joins the conversation and offers his hand, causing Emily to roll her eyes at his interruption.

Paul scoffs in offense, "Excuse you, but you couldn't be more wrong."

"Exactly. We all know it's me that's the better one," Embry prides himself as he manages to steal the muffin from Paul's hand.

"You're all wrong. It's me that deserves that title," Quil teases them, earning a few scoffs and shoves from the rest of the pack.

A warm feeling gathers in her chest and for the first time in a while, a genuine laugh is formed. It's been so long since she's felt enjoyment, which leaves her perplexed at its foreignness.

Slowly, she gathers enough courage to join them, "Come on, guys. I'm placing my vote on Jake. It's obvious he's the better wolf."

Glaring at her like she had said something ridiculous, Embry's unable to contain his displease hidden. "That's cause you're biased. You've known him the longest and it doesn't help that you haven't seen us in our full form."

"Maybe one day I'll be able to see it."

"No way," Jacob intervenes as he flails his hands for emphasis. "It's dangerous when we phase, so you're never seeing us like that."

"Calm down, wolfie," she rolls her eyes, scoffing lightly at his overreaction. "Obviously I won't be near you when you phase. I just want to see you all in your wolf form and then I'll be able to judge for myself."

"And she'll see I'm the better one of the pack," Paul interjects, which is enough to erupt a fit of arguments between them.

Despite seeing the tray of muffins right next to Jared, she chooses to take the one he managed to steal from Quil. Knowing how much it will annoy him, she wastes no time in taking a bite without a care.

"Did you just-?" Jared points at her, eyes widening and mouth hanging agape.

Shrugging nonchalantly, she leans back against her seat and continues eating with ease. Clearly, food here is deeply valued and it just so happens that she stole from the wrong person.

"Come on now, there's enough for everyone," Emily laughs as she slaps Jared's hand for attempting to steal his pastry back. "I'll bake more if I have to."

"I'm afraid you won't be able to stop with these guys around," Mia jokes, earning playful eyerolls and scoffs from them.

"Good thing you're a witch and can pop as many as possible," Embry eagerly comments once remembering the main topic he wanted to talk about. "So what's magic like? Is it like those fairy tale books or way better?"

"Can you shut Embry and Paul up?"

"Even better, can you turn them into frogs?"

"Can you make them disappear?"

All of these questions are nothing but innocent and playful, but it's just a reminder that she's no longer a witch. She's no longer a bearer of magic and they're so excited to see her casting spells.

How can she keep this a secret anymore?

Jacob notices the subtle change in her expression and tries changing the topic of conversation. "How about you guys grow up and stop bothering Mia with your stupid questions?"

She nods at him appreciatively, a relief overcoming her when the pack decide on returning to their mutual banter.

"So, how was the whole being surrounded by vampires like?" Quil rests his elbows against the table as he stares at her curiously, wondering how a witch could have gotten herself involved with someone like the Cullens.

Mia only shrugs, "Pretty uneventful, except for the part when I had a coven want to kill me."

Embry laughs at how casually she said it, "You make it sound like it's not a big deal."

"Well, where I come from, there are worse things than vampires," she fiddles with the muffin in her hand, her mind wandering to all the danger happening back at home. "You learn to be afraid of your own kind that eventually, nothing else seems to matter anymore."

"So, witches are evil where you're from?" Jared asks, narrowing his eyes in dubiety.

Some of them.

"No, it's only a few," she notices how attentive everyone has become and it's only then when she realizes how in the dark they are over other supernatural beings. "It's like with vampires. Some are evil and some aren't. Just like everyone, I guess."

Paul scoffs, "Not like us. We're the protectors and better than the rest, especially vampires."

Embry agrees, "Oh, and check it out, we can hear each other's thoughts."

So she was right in guessing shapeshifters had the gift of telepathy as well. It's honestly amazing how many secrets had been lurking in the shadows all this time.

Jared slaps him on the back of the head, "Would you shut up? These are trade secrets. Damn it, she's a witch who's fought and ran with vampires!"

"I fought two," Mia raises two fingers, priding herself for having grappled both James and Laurent and come out alive. Not everyone can say that. "And I've never ran with them. Those assholes never let me."

"That's cause you're a slowpoke," Jacob ruffles her hair and she simply glares at him in annoyance.

"It's because vampires are fast, you idiot," she defends herself, but it earns nothing but disagreement.

Knowing it will annoy her, Jared ruffles her hair just when she's done fixing it. "That's where you're wrong, little witch."

Little witch.

She internally winces at the nickname and despite wanting to ask him never to call her that again, she decides on staying quiet. She needs to move on and to do so, learning to live with the memories is the first step.

"We're faster," Jared prides himself with open arms and proceeds to gesture to the rest of the pack.

Laughing incredulously, she shakes her head in disagreement, "I've seen you running and you guys are definitely not faster than vampires."

Paul furrows his brows and she nearly considers he's actually offended, but it's hard to tell with him. "We managed to catch up to that vampire with locks, so I say we're pretty fast."

Mia raises her hands in surrender, "Hey, I never said you guys weren't."

"He knows that," Emily assures her. "He's just being a little pain in the ass."

Mia laughs with the rest of them, but it doesn't go well with Paul, who's now glaring at them as if they had committed the most heinous act. Something is telling her that he's the grumpiest of the group given the way he likes to tease, but doesn't like to be teased back.

"Uh oh," Quil staggers back at Paul's irritated look. "Looks like the wolf's out of the bag."

"Come on, Paul. Don't want to freak Mia out already," Embry punches him on the shoulder, but groans in pain once being landed a hit on his abdomen. 

"Oh, please," she moves closer to Paul, smirking in satisfaction when receiving a harsh glare from him. "It's going to take a lot more than moody wolves to freak me out."

"Right, cause you used to waste your time with vampires," Paul wastes no time in returning the teasing and leans closer to her. "You've spent enough time with the freaks, so dealing with other monsters won't affect you, huh?"

She knows what he's trying to do, but she's not letting him off that easily. "Not even in the slightest, so try all you want. I'll have fun watching you fail."

"Oh, really?" Paul speaks in a lower voice as an attempt to subdue her, but this is the oldest trick in the book.

"Really," Mia challenges him and forms the ghost of a smile when noticing a moment of bafflement in his eyes.

"You're really good at handling all of this," Sam points out as he marches from the door to Emily's side. He smiles when seeing her and wastes no time in pulling her in for a kiss. She chuckles at his affections, especially when he begins showering her with more.

A sense of longing gathers in her chest as she remembers how she used to have that type of love, but has now been sentenced to live without it. Edward's kiss made her feel like she was the most fortunate to be alive. He brought her the stars and shone the darkest parts of her, but it was a lie. He faded her light into obscurity and shut any attempts at finding peace, so in truth, how real had they ever been?

"We've gotta go," Sam announces and they groan in annoyance as they stand up.

Noticing the concern between the pack, she can't help but ask, "Everything alright?"

Jacob sighs heavily, "A hiker reported to the police that they saw wolves in the woods, so now they're blaming the missing hikers on us."

"Shoot," Mia runs a hand through her hair, a part of her feeling at fault considering they had only been there because they sensed Laurent. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not unless you can make the hiker and half the police department forget the report," Paul grumbles on the way to the exit, but pauses when remembering she has the ability to do so. "Wait a minute. Isn't there a spell you can do?"

Jared points at her all eagerly, "That's right! Magic is literally in your fingertips!"

"Maybe you can alter their memories or make them forget."

"That's a good one!"

Their words are bombarding her and she's nearly tempted to run off, but she can't let anyone else know about her loss. They'll start treating her differently since it's obvious they're only interested in her because of her magic. It's the only reasonable explanation as to why they're so comfortable talking about their abilities with her.

"So, can you do it?" Quil asks through an eager smile.

Everyone is staring at her expectantly and she'd hate to diminish their excitement. She tries speaking, but the words have become trapped in her throat. If she denies helping them, they'll view her as stuck-up or a possible traitor. If she tells them the truth, they'll lose interest and she'd be casted into oblivion.

There's no good option.

However, Sam decides on stepping up when seeing the dismay in her eyes. "We're not using her to do the work for us. Just because she's a witch, it doesn't mean she'll be at our disposition. Come on. We have work to do."

The pack defeatedly run off into the forest, but Jacob decides to stay back just a little longer. "Are you going to be okay without me?" he teases and she only rolls her eyes in response.

"Just shut up and be careful out there," Mia practically shoves him out the door and waves her hand in more of a taunting way. He only frowns at her before turning away into the woods, leaving her and Emily behind.

"Don't worry. They'll be fine," she reassures her while gathering the mess the others left.

Mia moves a few plates out of the way and helps her out, "How often do they run off like this?"

"More times than I count, but it comes with the job," Emily glances at the door as if hoping their patrol would be cut short and they'd come barging in. "I try not to worry, so I only focus on the facts. I know they're patrolling and they're together, so unless I hear otherwise, I know they're fine."

It's obvious that in spite of this, Emily still worries. Mia understands her completely, seeing as she's constantly on edge after learning how horrible things are getting back home. She's been waiting for the worst to occur, but the silence is a reassurance that her friends are safe and sound, so she settles on that.

"I get it. I mean, I'm always worried about my friends," she sighs heavily as she wonders how they're doing with the war approaching. It's getting harder to keep in contact, especially since Remus has been ignoring her letters for months. "Sometimes I wonder if silence can be a good thing, but I try to tell myself that they're strong, so I have to trust they know how to care for each other."

Emily nods in agreement, "I should really come to you more for reassurance."

"Please. Anytime," Mia glances out the window, noticing it's sunset and Jackson must probably be waiting for her. "I hate doing this, but I really should get going."

"Meeting Jackson?"

Mia wonders how she knows, but something is telling her that it's all due to his big mouth. He doesn't seem like the type to hold anything, which only makes her wonder why he hasn't said anything about that night to anyone.

Instead of asking Emily about it, she only nods in response, "Sadly, yes, but thank you for everything. It was really great meeting you."

Emily smiles, both of them embracing the other before bidding their farewells. "Likewise and come back soon. It's great having someone to talk to amongst all these guys."

Mia turns around, but catches sight of the last remaining muffins on the counter. She knows better than to appear like she's a bearer of gluttony, but she's starving. With all the research and refusing to sleep, she hasn't been getting much food into her system. Nothing seems appetizing, but the muffins are surprisingly the only thing to come down easily.

Already knowing what she's thinking, Emily softly laughs and packs the pastries for her. "Don't let the guys see you with them."

Offering a grateful smile, Mia hastily agrees before taking a bite. "You're a lifesaver and even if they do see me, I'm pretty sure I can take them on."

"Please do. They need to be taken off their pedestal," Emily jokes one last time before Mia says goodbye again and finally walks out into the afternoon.