Forbidden Imprint [Book 5] ✔️

15 • Special Invitation

Part II

5 years later

EMRY'S POV

I looked down at the invitation in my hand.

"You're invited to the wedding of Quil Andrew Ateara III and Claire Elizabeth Young..."

Wow, how old was Claire now? I was startled to realize that she was almost 20. I hadn't been back to see Quil, Claire, or anyone else in La Push in five years.

Five years...since the disaster in Hawaii.

Time flies when you're having fun.

I couldn't help but snort at how ironic that statement was. My mind began to drift to that day in Hawaii so many years ago, but I forced my mind on the task at hand. It was self-protection. For a long time I had felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff. Just the slightest push would have sent me over. The only way I saved myself was by embracing the wonderful practice of avoidance. If my mind would start to dwell on the past, I would force myself to quickly occupy it with something else. Thankfully, I had found a healthy outlet to keep my mind busy.

I felt a jolt as I realized how much I had been thinking about her lately. I hadn't thought of her in years. Now she seemed to be occupying too many of my thoughts recently. I wondered what was triggering the memories and again forced myself to think of something else.

I stared at the invitation in my hand and then looked at the post date on the envelope. Shit, I had been out of the country for the past eleven months and only recently got back to the States. When I looked at the date of the wedding, I was startled to realize that it was in a couple of days! I had only gotten my mail from the post office yesterday and just noticed the invitation this morning. The La Push address was what had caught my attention, and I grabbed the piece of mail as I'd headed out to work.

I felt bad for the distance I had created between myself and the gang in La Push. At first it had been easier for me to remain physically and emotionally distant...it was less painful for me to go through my rejection without the pack in my head. And then I became too busy to even give my former home a second thought. I still phased every once in awhile, but it was usually so brief that I didn't communicate with my brothers. I would occasionally get whispers of their thoughts though, but I had gotten so careful at guarding my own, I didn't think they were even aware of me being there half the time.

I still heard their thoughts long enough to catch up on all the pack news though. For example, I knew that Collin had imprinted on Claire's best friend Lindsey when she was 15. She was Claire's age and she and Collin had recently eloped. Last time I had phased when Quil was patrolling, I had sensed he was missing Claire like crazy. Apparently she had gotten some internship in California with the Disney Company. I guess she was back in town if she and Quil were about to get married.

I also knew that Sam had retired from the pack and his son, Nate, was now the Alpha leader and an extremely powerful one at that. I knew that Sam's daughter Gracie had witnessed Nate phase for the first time. Apparently she had been fighting with her brother when Nate lost it and phased. He had rushed outside and had seen Sam in his wolf form. Nate had almost attacked his father as Sam was still the Alpha at the time, and two Alphas can't be near each other without wanting to kill each other. Sam had phased back to his human form and had refused to change back to his wolf body. He hadn't wanted to intensify his son's hostile Alpha feelings. Ryan, who was also there at the time, was forced to phase in front of Gracie to save her father from being attacked by Nate. Gracie, upon seeing three of the people she was closest to burst into large, snarling wolves, had freaked out so much that she now refused to have anything to do with Ryan.