┏━━━━⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆━━━━┓

MOMENT OF TRUTH

THE STORIES THAT BILLY BLACK TOLD AT THE BONFIRE WEREN'T STORIES OF FICTION— THEY WERE REAL.

The Quileute legends weren't real, and truly she'd been grasping for straws when she remembered how adamant she was about the wolves and cold ones being symbols for something greater. No, no; the stories were literal, not symbolic, and definitely not figurative.

The shifter gene got passed along through the generations, the magic awakening when the cold ones were near. Meaning, Sam's bunch of cronies with cropped haircuts had been in on it for almost two whole years— all because vampires moved to town.

And now, Nelly was the next one to succumb to what she thought was some sort of disease. She hated dogs, had a right fear of them ever since she was a kid, and here she was being told that her anger could turn her into one.

By the end of it, Nelly felt like she'd been plunged into the Arctic sea. "So, you've all been lying to me since I got back," she concluded, looking around the room that consisted of Sam's pack.

Yeah, that would definitely take some getting used to.

Paul winced at that, arms crossed over his chest from his place beside Sam. "More like withholding the truth, but yeah."

"Yeah, dumbass; that's called lying," she emphasized with a snarl, tugging the blanket that was wrapped around her shoulders as she aimed her next blazing look upon someone else, "and can we just talk about why the hell Kim is here right now?"

Said girl was nervously standing at Jared's side, fidgeting from time to time, and her eyes went wide at Nelly's question. "Uh— I think that's a question that Embry should answer."

At the mention of his name, Nelly found herself leaning closer to him, on edge from the girl's tone. Ever since the forest, since she'd inherited the pesky Quileute shifter gene and locked eyes with he who shall not be named, she felt this sort of visceral warmth in her chest. It was like she was being gravitated towards him, a magnetic pull that was like something straight out of a movie.

And quite frankly, the feeling was starting to piss her off.

The walk back to Sam's consisted of Nelly taking up residence right beside Embry, even though the Nelly of before wouldn't have even stomached the thought of being that close to him. Now, it was like she felt physically sick at putting any distance between them, and it was getting so damn annoying.

Before she could even voice this, Sam piped up and looked at the two teens sat side by side on the couch. "You two should talk," he started, giving the boy a more pointed look, "outside."

Nelly's eyes narrowed at the man, and she found that all her words of retort died in her throat. She turned to Embry, the boy also finding it hard to say no, and watched as he stood up.

Something in her chest made her stand immediately after, and she was utterly confused as to why she followed after him so willingly.

˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚

The inside of the home, swarmed by her fellow pack members, had been one thing; but the backyard, with Embry standing so nervously in front of her, was an entirely different ball game.

If the poor dude could perspire, she knew he'd been a sweaty, nervy little mess. Part of her brain revelled in that fact, but the newer half resented her for feeling in such a way.

"Start coughing up your secrets, Call," she said, feet tapping firmly amidst the grass of the outer yard.

He combed a hand through his short hair. "Okay, but you gotta promise you won't flip out on me."

Her eyes rolled on their own. "I'm not promising shit," she muttered out, a tightness coiling in her stomach. "Fess up. Why's Kim been allowed to know?"

A beat of silence passed before Embry exhaled. "It's about Imprinting."

"I beg your pardon?" she questioned back, her mind immediately having gone to the type of imprinting that baby ducklings did on their mothers or stray humans they found a liking towards. "People can't imprint on people."

"Yeah, but we aren't normal people anymore, are we?" Nelly swallowed around nothing at his words, eyes averting to the ground. "It's not like love at first sight, really. It's not the earth holding you here anymore, she does... and you become whatever she needs you to be; whether that's a protector, or a lover, or a friend."

Nelly was following along, because the onset of Jared and Kim's relationship did seem like it had come out of thin air. "Okay; so Jared did that on Kim— right?"

"Exactly," he confirmed with a nod. "Once you imprint on someone, Sam says they need to be told everything."

A fraction of a pang radiates in Nelly's chest, because although Jared had been sworn to the Alpha's secrecy, Kim hadn't. She could've told Nelly, or even Akira for that matter, instead of letting her believe she was some foolish little girl the night of the bonfire.

"So because I wasn't anyone's imprint, I couldn't know," she deduced in a half-whisper, figuring that she had finally cracked the code of why everything was all so hush-hush.

She caught Embry's grimace the minute it morphed into his face. "About that..."

The Sequoia girl blanched. "Don't tell me someone did, and I still had zero clue," she responded, the words grounded out through her clenched teeth.

"I imprinted on you the day you left for Lummi."

It was like Embry was trying to rip off the bandaid, the rush of albeit calmly stated words felt like they'd slapped her across the cheek. Her head reeled back, followed by an involuntary step away from the boy. "What?"

"I wanted to tell you, Nell—" he started, shaking his head before going in a different direction, "—why do you think I've been trying to talk to you all summer despite it being so very clear you wanted nothing to do with me?"

For some reason, Nelly felt her eyes well up. She angrily brushed them away, blinking at him. "If this is some sort of sick fucking joke, I'm not interested."

"I'm serious," he exasperated in return, rubbing his own temples, "you've gotta believe me, Nell. I wouldn't lie about something like this."

"No yeah, I definitely believe you!" she spat sarcastically, suddenly getting very defensive. "Did you do your little imprinting before or after you let our friendship die that day?"

He paused with a sigh. "After," he answered, and her chest hurt hearing the remorse in his voice. She tried shoving it aside, but half of her mind wasn't her own. "Sam made us cut all ties with everyone outside of the pack... and for me, that included you."

The distress was surely rolling off of Nelly in powerful waves. "That's why you shut me out?" she asked, clearing her throat to control its wobble. "That's why you said all that horrible shit to me?"

"Nelly, you're my best fucking friend," he breathed out, his eyebrows scrunching with earnest, "and as much as it was killing me to do that to you, I had no choice."

Her head was killing her, trying to keep up with all the information it was readily absorbing. She'd been under the impression that Embry simply grew tired of her, grew tired of having to deal with her; it was a fear she'd carried close to her heart, always worried if she was too much to handle.

But now, hearing his regret and his side of the story, oh she so desperately wanted to cling onto her resentment towards him. Resenting him was easier than whatever this was.

"There's still something you're not telling me," was her next response, eagerly trying to diverge away from the events from that day.

It was at that mere sentence that Embry looked her dead in the eyes, his gaze unblinking and sturdy. "In the forest, when you looked at me, how did you feel?" 

And now that Nelly knew everything, she knew what he was implying. She began shaking her head. "No— no, Embry."

She'd imprinted on him. That was why she felt a sudden urge to be closer to him, why she felt her stomach churn at every negative thought of him that passed through her head. It was why she could now tolerate being in his space.

And somehow, his nod of confirmation was like her fate had been forever sealed. "We're... y'know..."

Her eyes narrowed slightly with a, "did you know that I would imprint on you? And don't lie to me."

He shook his head. "We didn't even know if you'd phase or not," he replied, and she knew his was being honest, "but when you did, I guessed that you would."

"You guessed," she scoffed out, though there wasn't any heat behind her quip, "or was it wishful thinking?"

"I've never had anyone the way I had you," he said, and suddenly Nelly remembered that she'd used those very same words to describe her brother. She closed her eyes, squeezed them shut while he finished talking, "so please, give me another chance to fix this shit."

After the events of the day, one disaster tumbling onto the next life-changing one, Nelly was run ragged. She was in no capacity to start offering out her forgiveness like it was something akin to free goods, and no matter how much half of her wished to give him a hug, the other half that won was the one that wanted to go home. So, answer came in the form of a croaky whisper.

"Let me sleep on it."

⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆

[ wyn's note ]

money moves, baby... money moves...

I LOVE ME A CONFESSIONAL!!!! like yes king tell her all ur secrets!!!! grovel for forgiveness!!!!

thanks for 11k my cutie patooties!! all my love xx