Indian summer

Chapter 13

I didn't really get a chance to talk to Sue Clearwater before I fell off the cliff. Now I found myself face to face with her while she asked me a bunch of questions about the pain I was feeling. Meanwhile, Embry stood off to the side looking extremely tormented. He'd start pacing then would stop; then start again.

"Calm down, Embry. I'm not going to die." I muttered jokingly as he paced like a wolf in a cage.

He looked at me for a second, our eyes locked. I suddenly wanted him, needed him. He must have felt it too because he closed his eyes for a second before coming and sitting down next to me; taking my hand in his warm one.

"I'm nearly positive you have a broken rib." Sue said, standing up and dusting her hands. "You come back to my house and I can tape you up so its less painful. I think you also might have a concussion from hitting the water too hard. I'll have to monitor you for a while to see how serious it is."

"That's fine," I agreed, "Just don't take me to the hospital."

"Well if its more serious I'll have to so they can check to see if you have internal bleeding. If this is about hiding this from your parents I highly doubt you'll be able to hide the broken ribs from them."

I had been caught. "I can try can't I?" Embry laughed at my determination.

Sue laughed lightly. "Yes you can try. But who's going to watch you to make sure your head injury doesn't worsen?"

She had a point. I guess I really didn't have a choice. "I'm so sorry, Dixie." Embry apologized for the hundredth time.

I glanced at him and raised my lips in a half grin, "I'm not the one who has to worry about getting shot."

Embry stared at me for a second, probably wondering if I was joking or not. I wouldn't put it past my dad.

I heard the rustle of sand behind us so I turned, hiding my grimace at the pain, to see Jacob walking toward us with a downcast face.

"Is Seth ok?" Sue asked; her eyes were full of concern.

"He'll be fine." Jacob mummbled and sat down on the other side of Embry. He looked over Embry at me. "How you holdin' up, cliff diver?"

I smiled, "I'm fine."

Jacob looked at me for a second then looked at Embry for more details. "Broken ribs and a concussion. Oh and a monster bruise from where I grabbed her arm." I looked at my arm and already saw it turning a weird shade of purple. That wasn't going to be fun to hide.

"What happened to Seth?" I asked, hoping to take the conversation off of me.

"He phased." Jacob said, Embry snickered at Jacob's bland answer.

"I knew that." I replied bitterly, "But why?"

Jacob sighed, "Seth's the last person to imprint in our pack besides his sis but she's retiring anyways. It's a little bit of jelousy and a little bit of something else." Jacob glanced at Sue; she had a tired and pained look on her face. "He's fallen in love with this girl, but she's not his imprint. He wants to tell her the secret but that's kinda against the rules. We told him he shouldn't and he should stay away from her because he could imprint and then what happens to the girl? The same thing happened to his sis, she was dating and practically engaged to the alpha of the other pack but once he phased he imprinted on her cousin. That's why she's bitter."

"Love sucks." I muttered in shock of what was happening to poor Seth.

Embry glanced at me and let out a laugh, "Sorry.' He apologized for the one hundred and oneth time. "Seth wasn't always moody like this. Actually, Seth was never moody. He rarely phased out of anger. That was the first time I've seen it happen." Jacob nodded in agreement.

"We need to get you taped up." Sue muttered quickly, putting a light hand on my shoulder. "Embry, will you drive her to my house?"

"Yeah, sure thing." Embry said, jumping to his feet swiftly. He offered me a hand and I took it, resisting a flinch at the pain and the dizziness. Once I was up I felt my body sway involuntarily. Embry grasped both my shoulders steadily with his hands. "You ok?"

"I can make it." I comforted Embry. He put an arm around my shoulders delicately and guided me to the car. When I was about to get in the car Embry stiffened. I looked up at his face and he was looking behind us. So I turned, painfully, and saw Seth running toward us with urgency.

"Wait," He called.

Embry started to shake a teeny bit so I placed a calming hand on his chest. He stopped shaking and I could feel his voice vibrate against my hand when he said, "What do you want Seth?" I could tell he was trying to hide the venom that desperately wanted to coat those words.

"Are you ok, Dixie? I'm so sorry that happened. What a way to be introduced to the pack, hu?" He let out a nervous chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck while keeping an eye on Embry.

"I'll be fine, Seth. Thanks," I replied sweetly, hoping he knew I didn't hold it against him. His face seemed to lighten.

"We have to get her taped up," Embry stated, starting to guide me back into the car. "We'll see you later." I couldn't see Embry's face but I had a feeling he was giving Seth the snake eye by the look on Seth's face. I saw him take a cautious step back.

"Ok, hope I see ya again, Dixie." He replied happily.

I waved a quick goodbye before Embry shut the door. When Embry slid in I muttered to him, "You were the one that tripped and dragged me off the cliff, ya know." Embry let out a frustrated sigh and I laughed.

"I hate hurting you, Dixie." He said softly; taking his eyes off the road to meet mine.

"I know you do," I grabbed Embry's hand and stroked it affectionately with my thumb. He shivered. It didn't seem to faze me that we had only met less than a week ago. I felt like I had known him forever. None of this felt wrong anymore. It felt perfect.