┏━━━━⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆━━━━┓

THE SHIFT

IT WASN'T DIFFICULT FOR EMBRY TO FIND NELLY.

He'd catalogued her scent the minute he locked eyes with her at school that day, a mixture of something that was so distinctly Nelly; she smelt of green tea leaves.

With his nose doing all the work for him, he tracked her through the woods and was confused as to how she got so far away from the burial site. Even with his own speed once he was out of view from the others, he still found himself running for a solid five minutes.

Embry knew he found her when his ears finally caught the sound of heavy, almost erratic breathing. His eyes then migrated to where the sound was coming from, and found a sight that made his chest tighten.

Nelly was curled up against the foot of a tree, her body rocking as her head was in her knees that were pulled straight to her chest. She was mumbling words that were incoherent to him, even with his increased hearing, and took a small step forward.

His foot connected with a branch, the snap sounding like a gun had just gone off throughout the forest. The mumbling ceased, but the rocking and volatile breaths did not.

"Leave me the hell alone, Call."

She hadn't even lifted her head to see who it was; she just somehow knew it would be Embry that must've been selected to check on her. The annoyance in her tone was there, it always was whenever she talked to him or talked about him.

Embry winced, but took another daring step forward. "I've let you push me away for months; I'm not leaving you here like this."

Her head snapped up at him, a snarl forming on her lips. "I don't need you," she spat, and it was then that Embry noticed the rigid shake of her shoulders, "what I need is my brother!"

The girl was getting worked up, blinking away her tears ferociously. "You think he'd want you to wallow like this?" he questioned in retort, hands on his hips like he was scolding a child.

He was trying to reason with her, but it wasn't working based on the borderline animalistic growl. "You don't know what he would want!" she snapped, and in a flash she was rising to her feet. "In fact, you'll never know what he'd want because news flash Embry; my brother is dead!"

Like she was hearing her own words echo back at her, she blanched, angrily wiping her eyes with a pained look on her face. Her chest was rising at a rapid rate, and Embry knew this wasn't because of what had just happened. "Nelly, are you feeling okay?"

"How many times are you losers going to ask me if I'm fine?" she asked heatedly, her feet beginning to pace back and forth. "And more importantly, how many times do I have to say that I am before it fucking clicks?!"

He scoffed in disbelief. "Yeah, because what I'm seeing right now is the epitome of someone who's fine." Her left eye gave a twitch, and Embry's hands went up in the air. "Nelly—"

"You're a fucking asshole, did you know that?" she snarled, her hands curling at her sides for a beat before something metallic wafted into Embry's nose. He'd never seen her this angry, not since whatever happened at the bonfire. "You're getting on my last nerve, you piece of sh—"

˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚

The change happened in mere seconds.

Embry watched with wide eyes as the girl before him was replaced by a wolf with dark brown fur, the creature stumbling on its legs as it looked around in what he knew was utter fear.

Holy shit.

At first, Embry was overcome with a wave of relief at seeing Nelly like this. It meant that u like Tate, she was strong enough to succumb to the phase. However, he was also devastated that her first phase happened at a time like this.

It wasn't supposed to be like this for her.

He was still for a moment before a figure he knew all too well emerged from where he'd just came from. Sam and him exchanged a tensed look, and given that the man was the Alpha, Embry knew he must've felt the shift in the air.

Both of them observed the skittish wolf, its whining echoing around the forest around them. "Nelly, you gotta calm down," the man tried, slowly approaching her with his hands outstretched in defence.

His tone was authoritative, both shifters hoping that Nelly would recognize him as the man in charge around here. All it warned him was barred teeth; though, the fact that the action was immediately followed by more whining meant that she hadn't meant to be aggressive— she was simply scared.

"Embry, help me out here," Sam muttered out with haste, still trying to advance on the shaky creature before them that was showing zero signs of letting them help.

Embry jostled at that, and immediately whistled. He'd shoot himself in the foot for it later, given the agitated growl that sounded from Nelly's obvious distaste for being beckoned like a dog, but it was successful in getting her attention. "Nell, can you please calm down?"

The moment the wolf's eyes locked on Embry with the snapping of its teeth, there was a stillness that enveloped the forest. She went rigid with her wide eyes never leaving Embry's, and based on the odd warmth that crept up his spine, he knew exactly what had just happened.

Nelly imprinted on him, their bond solidified in the universe.

Due to the aftershock of what she was feeling, it was no surprise to them that within the blink of an eye, Nelly was back where the wolf once was. She'd tumbled back onto the ground, staring at her hands as her lip wobbled.

Both boys rushed forward, Sam tossing his jacket over the girl to provide her with some semblance of decency. Neither was quite sure what to say next, knowing a thorough conversation had to happen immediately, but she beat them to the punch.

"What the fuck just happened?"

⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆

[ wyn's note ]

IT FINALLY HAPPENED Y'ALL!!! nelly has phased for the first time in the worst of circumstances for sure, and she imprinted embry back! girl's abt to be soooo confused BUT the next chap's title (spoiler alert) is called moment of truth so...

also notice how there's been a lack of michael sequoia... major yikes...but that's all for now...

thanks for 10k my darlings xx