Forbidden Imprint [Book 5] ✔️

24 • Some Crazy Day

EMBRY'S POV

Guilt is a powerful emotion to have to deal with. Its destructive nature can make a man rethink his entire outlook on life. I, who had never committed violence against a woman in my entire life, could have murdered the woman who was my other half...the mother of my child. I saw the absolute terror in her pale face as I lunged for her. I don't think I'll ever forget how she looked. I don't know if I would have stopped either if her cry of "no" hadn't snapped me out of my moment of insanity. It was that single word that made me hesitate a second before Nate Uley's Alpha order sent me hurdling to the ground.

How would I have been able to live with myself if I'd succeeded in hurting her? It was that thought which tortured me throughout the rest of the day. Some of my anger towards her dissipated as the day went on. True she had kept me away from my son, but then again, I almost killed her. It was quite the paradox. I wanted to feel the justifiable anger I knew I was entitled to, but the shame of what I had almost done weighed heavily on me.

My guilt along with the pain of knowing I had a son, a son I didn't even know, kept me from phasing for a good portion of the day. Jake stayed with me for only a short time after pushing me away from Rebecca to get her out of danger. As Jake was no longer an Alpha, he was able to briefly transfer his allegiance to Nate, which allowed him to share my mind. As soon as he read the truth about Luke in my thoughts, he phased back and headed towards the hospital. I hadn't seen him again for the rest of the day.

Nate joined me right after Jacob left and tried to talk me down from the spastic state I was in. He wasn't much help though. His imprint was standing in the hospital a few hundred feet away. Every time he tried to tell me something, he would get distracted by the murmur of her voice or the sound of her heart beating. When the sky began to darken, he finally gave up talking to me entirely and found a comfortable place to lay down so he could keep watch over Meena.

As evening drifted into night, I was able to calm down enough that I could phase back to my human form. Grabbing the clothes I hadn't destroyed, I made my way back into the hospital. The first stop I was forced to make was to explain my absence to my superiors. I had left in the middle of a busy shift in the ER, and I was still technically a resident doctor. After receiving a sharp reprimand from the senior doctor on call, I made my way to the floor Luke had been moved to.

I started to walk by the waiting room and noticed most of the Black family was still there. Meena and Gabe were watching TV, while Jake and Nessie spoke quietly on the loveseat they were sitting on. Jake had his arm wrapped around Ness, their foreheads almost touching as they spoke softly to each other. Billy was sleeping in his wheelchair. Rachel sat nearby looking at a magazine. The only ones missing were Paul, Devlin, and Sean, but I guessed Paul had them at home. Rachel looked up as I walked by and got to her feet. I paused as she walked over to me.

"Hey, you doing okay?" Rachel asked, putting a hand on my arm.

I shrugged in response.

"Look, I know you have every right to be mad at Becks, but please just listen to her side of things. She's got a lot to tell you and I know how you get. I tried telling you about Rebecca before, but you're so stinking stubborn and would never listen."

"You knew about Luke?" I asked incredulously.

"No, I've barely seen Becks since she was last in La Push. I didn't know about Luke until today. But I tried telling you that Rebecca and Ian had separated when we were at Quil's wedding. You didn't want to listen."

"That was over two years ago," I snapped.

Rachel opened her mouth to say something before closing it again. "Like I said, Becks has a lot to explain to you."