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— 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 to hear a lot of things from Embry.
A lot of shitty excuses, half-assed apologies, and despite her warning — more words to insult Edward — to be more specific.
But she was NOT expecting her once-upon-a-time best friend to tell her he could turn into a giant furry dog.
Nor was she expecting him to actually do it.
Right. In. Front. Of. Her.
And she DEFINITELY wasn't expecting him to reveal the existence of vampires. Or that the Cullens were a whole family of them.
"Willa-bear? Are you alright?" Embry gently waved his hand in front of her face in hopes of getting a response. And when she didn't react right away, he started to panic.
"Crap. Paul is so gonna kill me."
But the mention of the Quileute boy seemed to break Willow out of her trance, and she suddenly narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "I have a lot of questions. But I'm going to start with asking what Paul has to do with any of this?"
Embry blanched, and he chuckled nervously. "Could we maybe get back to that question later?"
"Embry!"
"Okay, okay! He's also a shapeshifter. And there's more to it — because of course there is, but it's not my secret to tell. You'll have to talk to Paul about the rest."
Willow sighed, before turning around and walking back toward her house. By the time she finally reached her door and didn't feel the presence of Embry behind her, she turned around to see him looking at her like a kicked puppy.
She crossed her arms and shot him an expectant look, though her tone was much more gentle than she intended. "Well? Are you coming in or not?"
— 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 the two settled into Willow's room, she had no idea where to start.
The silence surrounded them in a tight bubble, pulling tighter and tighter until the brunette finally burst.
"Why are you telling me this now? Why didn't you tell me this when we were still friends?"
"We are still friends! Or at least...I hope we can be after all of this." He paused, before continuing.
"Look. I know I hurt you when I left you. But believe me when I tell you I didn't want to do it either. But my alpha — he has very strict rules on not revealing our shape-shifting abilities to anyone except for our imprints."
Willow scrunched her nose and reeled back a little. "Imprints? Like the thing baby ducklings do?"
Embry laughed. "Sort of. I'm told imprinting feels like your whole world shifts. It happens when the shapeshifter locks eyes with them for the first time after phasing, and suddenly nothing else matters except for that person. The imprint becomes the shifter's rock. An anchor to keep them from drifting when things get to be too much. There is no one else for them, though they can be a brother, lover, or friend — it really all depends on what the imprint wants."
"So like a soulmate?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Willow nodded slowly. "Got it. So Paul imprinted on me, right?"
Embry nodded, "Mhm- wait a minute! How did you know!?"
She smirked, "You said there was more to Paul than being a shapeshifter, and you weren't speaking from first-hand experience as to what it feels like to imprint on someone. So I put two and two together." She shrugged.
"And you're...not upset?"
Willow titled her head in thought. "I think I'm still in shock and haven't fully processed the weight of your words. I'm basically bound to Paul for the rest of my life, right? But it's on my terms, and if we're meant for each other the way you say we are — it can't be that bad."
Embry only stared at her in shock. "You are so chill about this, and I'm honestly confused."
She smiled. "I keep telling myself that it could've been you that imprinted on me, and any annoyance goes away immediately."
"Hey!"
— 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐘 at school, Willow was surprised to find Paul smiling at her when she closed her locker door.
She knew she shouldn't have, considering what Embry had just revealed to her the night before — but the boy's presence still caught her off guard.
"Hey, Paul." She smiled awkwardly, at a loss of words for what to say to the boy.
"Hey." He moved to lean his right side onto the locker next to hers.
"Listen...I wanted to apologize for the way I acted when me and Embry approached you the other day. I know you made amends with him last night, and I'll be honest — I kinda wanna kick his ass for telling you about the whole...you know — imprint thing. But I just wanted to make sure things between me and you were okay?"
Willow smiled, "Yeah! Everything's good. I know why you felt the need to try and keep me away from the Cullens. I mean, it makes sense — you guys are literally natural-born enemies. But I need you to know that I plan on talking to Edward and his family about what I know about them now." She paused as she noticed him tense up a little.
"And I'll probably still be friends with them by the end of that talk as well." She finished.
Paul sighed, before standing up straight once more. "I don't agree with your choice of friends, but I respect your decision to hang with the leeches. It's just- could I come with you? I don't like the idea of not being close enough to protect you."
Willow bit her lip in thought. She knew Paul was coming from a good place, but her mind couldn't help but drift back to the time in the parking lot.
"If you come with me — and that's a big if — you promise there won't be any fighting?"
