After a few minutes, Callas sat up, the message was branded into her mind and it sent a shiver down her spine. As she removed her hands from her face, she turned to look to her left, staring at her jumper and jacket that hung off the back of the desk chair, sitting up to lean on her elbows, feeling her phone slide down to her lap. Callas grabbed her phone and stood up, slipping it into her back pocket before she quickly pulled her boots on, without tying the laces, then picked up her jumper to put on, without untucking her hair before she picked up the flight jacket and made her way towards the stairs after she closed the bedroom door behind herself. With a deep breath, Callas began to walk down, slowly. Each time her foot met the next step, her fists balled up tighter. When she got to the bottom, she noticed that Sam was in his usual chair, with Emily sitting on the armrest; Reed and Leah were sitting on the table, picking at some of the snacks that Emily left out; the rest of the boys were sitting on the sofas, silent as they heard Callas pause before her eyes met with Embry's.

Embry was sitting on the sofa that was pressed up against the wall, beside Quil and Jared. He was picking at the fraying fabric of the blanket that was thrown over the back of the sofa and hung on the armrest. The knitted blanket was a light beige with a black pattern, although she couldn't make out what it was. Callas awkwardly stayed standing at the bottom of the stairs, holding the flight jacket in her arms while she looked over at him. Discreetly, Embry motioned his head towards the sliding doors. She nodded back slowly and Embry stood up. No one spoke as the two of them made their way towards the doors to leave the house. Callas slid the door open and stepped out, Embry followed and closed the door behind him while Callas slipped the flight jacket on, pulling the jumper hood up over her head as the cold wind continued to blow around them. She shoved her hands into the flight jacket pockets and turned to face Embry. He turned his head back towards the house and, although no one was looking, he still knew that they were listening in to what he was saying.

"Maybe we should move away a bit, you know, have more privacy?" He suggested.

Callas looked inside as well and noticed Reed's jaw clenched and his hands tightened before Leah rested her hand on his while staring at the wall in front of her. That caused Reed to relax more and turn his head towards the doors, not looking directly out as his eyes were trained to the ground. She nodded. "Yeah, maybe we should."

As she looked away from Reed, Embry began to walk into the forest. She trailed behind him closely, taking her hands out of her pockets as she quickly held onto his arm to climb over a few of the roots and fallen trees, as well as climbing up small slopes and over the rocks. Her hands began to warm up as she continued to hold onto his short-sleeved covered arms, somehow not being as freaked out as she was the first time she found out the reason why he was a lot warmer than the average human would have been. Embry seemed to have visibly relaxed at the contact, feeling better knowing that Callas wasn't disgusted by him or angry about what had happened an hour ago. He turned back to look at her, smiling to himself as he noticed the look of concentration on her face as she continued to step over the uneven terrain. Without much thought, he gently pulled her closer to his body, smiling even more to himself when she didn't move away from him.

A few minutes later, Embry walked out towards a clearing, edging towards the side of the cliff. Callas held onto him tighter knowing that it was the highest point where he and the others would go cliff-diving for fun. He sat down on one of the rocks, leaving enough space for her to sit down next to him. She let go of his arm and sat down, shivering to herself before she slid closer to him, shoving her hands into her pockets. Only a few pieces of her hair flew around her face while the rest had been left untucked from the hood when she put it on, that and when she had lifted it up over her head. Embry noticed and tucked a piece behind her ear before he turned back to look at the water. She was certain that he could hear the erratic rhythm of her heartbeat as he did that.

"You know," she started, catching his attention. "I was going to ask Emily a few questions, considering she's in the same position I am, only because I didn't want you to think I was rejecting you with the way some of them sounded," she admitted, "because I'm not..." Callas spoke quietly.

"You can ask me," he told her nodding.

"First of all, I just have to get this out of my system," she paused.

"What?" Embry asked worriedly.

"Do you remember the first day we met?"

"Yeah?"

"I guess you could say that I fell for you..." Callas smiled to herself and looked down at the damp patches on her knees. Embry breathed out a laugh and shook his head.

"Really?" He asked with a laugh. "How long have you been sitting on that one?"

"Oh, I just thought of it now," she admitted sheepishly with a shrug. "Is it okay if I ask you real questions now?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Right, okay." She cleared her throat. "So, we're... soulmates?"

"Yes."

"As in: perfectly designed for one another?"

"Yes." Embry nodded again, looking down at the laces of his trainers.

"Am I bound to you for the rest of my life, like Jake said you are to me? Is that how it works?"

Embry winced at the question. "You don't have to be with me if you don't want to, Cal."

"That's not what I asked you."

"It would be difficult to feel the feelings you will get with me with someone else," Embry answered. "The pull would be too much to ignore."

"So, that's a yes," she mumbled, internally ticking off a small portion of questions that she had waiting. "Wait, what do you mean the feelings I will get with you? Do I not get a choice of how I will feel?"

"Well, like Sam said, an imprintee won't be able to ignore how committed, and how compatible, or how much adoration the imprinter has for them. It will happen over time, I'm not sure how long because everyone is different, and we're new to this, but remember that I don't have to be anything other than a friend to you, you know that, right? I will be anything for you."

"Can't you just be Embry?" She asked with a sigh. "That doesn't seem fair to you."

He shrugged. "It's how it is."

"But Jake said you won't be able to see other people. What if I just want to be friends and be with someone else? It just... It just doesn't seem fair that you can't do the same. What if you hated me? How would that be fair? You would be forced to change how you feel. That's—"

"Not fair? I know."

Callas looked at him sadly. "So far, imprinting seems like a curse." Embry turned his head away from her, and, automatically, she regretted what she said. "What I mean is—"

"You don't have to stay with me," he whispered, "I won't force you."

"—Knowing that you're essentially being told who you're meant to be with and being forced into those feelings, it just doesn't seem as natural as slowly falling for someone, obliviously." Callas ignored him, trying to phrase it correctly. "Like Reed and Leah, they knew about imprinting and now that they have each other—"

"Yeah, it's a real curse, I get it." Embry scoffed.

"—They won't get to experience the feeling of slowly liking someone that you body slammed into accidentally on your first day."

The solemn frown that Embry wore on his face was replaced with furrowed eyebrows and confusion. "What?" He turned his head towards her. "Leah didn't—" His expression dropped into a blank look before his eyes widened.

"Maybe I should have saved that for the end of my questions..." Callas muttered, slowly raising her hand in front of his face, waving it. "Did I—? Have I—? Are you dead?"

"No," Embry whispered. "Not dead."

"Great, so I have other questions—"

"You like me," he interrupted her with another whisper.

"I think we have established that... So, can I ask you—?"

"You like me back," he interrupted again.

"I'll give you a minute before I continue." Callas turned her body away from him slightly and stared out at the water. The dark waves crashed against each other and there were a few seagulls flying around. From the corner of her eye, she could see the growing smile on his face as he closed his eyes and breathed out a small laugh. Callas had to bite the inside of her own cheeks to stop herself from smiling as well because she knew that if she did she would be too distracted to ask important questions that she knew couldn't be avoided for too long. Embry shook his head before he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. After a few more seconds of silence, he composed himself.

"You can ask."

She waited for a second, looking back at him, to make sure that she really could ask and that he wasn't going to be distracted. "Okay. So, what happens if I wanted to move away, for college?"

"I would go with you." Embry nodded his head as if it was the most obvious and normal thing in the world. Which, of course, wasn't the case, it was far from normal.

"But your duty is with the pack, here."

"My first and foremost duty is to be with you, to protect you, to make sure you are safe," he stressed.

Callas paused, letting that sink in, at least that answered a few of her questions. But she still had a lot more. "What's expected of me now?"

"What do you mean?" Embry raised an eyebrow, although Callas didn't see him do that.

"As an imprint, what does that mean? What do I have to do?"

"Be yourself? I don't think there's anything really expected of you. It's Sam's personal idea that an imprint is meant to help continue and pass on the strongest genetics for the next generation. You know, pass on the better traits to a new set of wolves, if the children were to phase. There isn't a rulebook or anything that says that's law."

Callas nodded her head, feeling a heavy pressure on her chest as the word 'law' reminded her of something a lot more serious. "I'm switching topics again, but I'm assuming you know about the texts?"

"The ones from Will? Yeah. Reed showed Sam, who got us all together."

"If he did what he said he would. You know, turn me into what he is. Would Sam have killed me?"

Embry didn't answer straight away. He stared out at the water, his eyes were dark, yet seemingly glazed over as he didn't blink. His jaw clenched, and his grip on her had tightened, keeping her close to his body as if she was about to be ripped away from him. There it was, her heart began racing again at the fear of the answer. It was an uncomfortable looming feeling and she wanted to get sick. Her head hurt. Her hands shook and no matter how much she concentrated, the shaking only seemed to get worse. The thought of being killed only dawned on her now that she asked the question. Then, suddenly, Embry's voice broke the silence with a deep, dark tone. One that put her on edge.

"No."

"But, what would have happened if I was turned and I couldn't control myself? What if I was too dangerous?"

"No," Embry repeated.

"Your job is to protect La Push, even if it's from me."

Embry turned to face her, placing his hands on her shoulders. Callas could see the tears collecting in his eyes while his lips trembled. "No," she could hear the break in his voice.

Callas whispered, "Embry."

"I have only just got you. No one will ever hurt you. No one is being turned. No one is dying. You aren't dying."

"It wouldn't be safe," she reminded him.

"It's a pack law that an imprint can't be killed," he also reminded her.

"What about the Volturi?"

He shook his head in confusion, squinting his eyes as he blinked quickly. "What about them?"

"It's a pack law that an imprint can't be killed by another pack member, but it's the Volturi's job to ensure that vampires don't become known to the world."

"They won't touch you," he reassured her.

"They would have to kill me."

Embry shook his head, placing his hands on her face, rubbing his thumbs against her cheeks softly. "I'll kill them."

Callas frowned and spoke quietly, "Embry—"

"I will kill them," he repeated much clearer. "They won't take you away. We're done talking about this."