Total eclipse of a heart (Embry Call)

14. Like a cancer

"You're awfully ready to kill people today." Jacob plopped down beside me, nesting in his seat before leaning against the wall with a shortened inhale.

"Very trigger happy." He adds with a light nudge as if nothing is wrong and this is just another day for us...Like everything hasn't changed in a blink of an eye.

"I'm defending precious Bella. Is that not what we're both here to do?" I retort, tone hostile and without so much as glancing at him. I could sense he wasn't exactly happy with my snappy response, but I could care less.

Alright, that might not be entirely true. I care. I do.

"I'm here to help a friend. You're here because you have secrets and can't handle when others keep things from you. Am I wrong?" Jacob snaps back, his tone more playful but his words noted.

I roll my eyes, looking at him in irritation. If he's fishing for an apology, he will die waiting for it. I've never apologized for anything in my life and I'm not about to start today. He's the one that's hurting people, not me. I'm just trying to make this world safer so others don't grow up motherless like I did.

Losing your mother leaves a mark, let alone losing a mother in your developing years as I have.

That pain changes you.

"You guys are a pack of werewolves and that very pack is coming here to kill a human. I'm pretty sure I was right to leave." Disgruntled, I recheck my crossbow, taking special interest in the string. If the string is loose, the weapon is useless, if it's too tight it won't work either. It has to be perfectly set to help my aim.

"We don't usually do this. It's vampires we hunt. They're scared the baby will be a blood thirsty vampire without self control which would lead to a bloodbath. They're not the bad guys, only jumping the gun a little." Jacob explains, purposely playing on my heartstrings. I can't help but think of one specific wolf, the one I hoped would do the right thing and give the slight possible future we could have a chance.

"Embry is not a bad guy." He adds and I shake my head lightly. It's like he's read my mind.

I miss him, though. Both of them. Rachel too. I miss the reserve and how welcoming everyone was and feeling like I'm part of the family. I miss it all.

"He didn't even tell me I'm supposed to be his imprint." I gauge his reaction, noticing the way his eyes widen when he realizes it's no longer a secret.

"It's a custom for the wolf to tell his imprint when he think she is ready. Explaining such a thing to humans isn't exactly easy and he was scared it will make you run for the hills. He wasn't wrong." Jacob puts a hand to my shoulder and I tense up, feeling my entire body go into defence mode should it be necessary.

"And now it might never happen. I'll never know how or why and he won't ever know..." I shake his hand off, just now feeling the loss of warmth like the sun has gone down. I don't know if I would ever share that part of me with anyone - the hunter doesn't love, doesn't feel at all. It's a part of me he'd hate and if he hates one part of me, he hates me entirely because I can't be with someone who doesn't understand and love all of me, even the parts that are unlovable.

"Why did you keep your own objective a secret? We barely know anything about you, but we know you're inhuman." Jacob pushes and I chuckle at his guess.

"I'm human. A hunter. Silver or Argent whatever you prefer. A family that kills supernatural beings. Kills monsters." My sentences are short and to the point, revealing just enough but nothing crucial for him to use against me. Perfectly concise.

"Not all monsters do monstrous things. You seem to have forgiven these...vampires for their transgressions when we've done far less evil than them." I can tell he's bitter and even sense his hatred for the creatures, making me look to him again. His jaw is clenched, his eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed.

He's barely holding onto control.

If he has any to begin with. Wolves are explosive, bursts of aggression can't always be controlled and that makes them dangerous.

"I haven't forgiven them for anything, I just know to pick my battles and this would be a lost battle for a single hunter. I'm not stupid to get myself killed." I nudge him, smiling softly for the first time in a while. For a moment it feels...almost right. As if it's just him and I, back at the reserve and he's talking my ear off about the stupidest of things.

"I was fine with you...I planned to return before you came back with the news. I would have heard him out...Embry. I feel the connection between us. But there is so much you don't know. Too much I can't reveal." I ramble, biting my lip to stop myself from going further.

"Someone's here." Jacob perks up, standing quickly and I follow suit. He's already heading for the door, making me rush after him to see the newcomer. My heart beats wildly, hoping to see his face emerging from the woods. I longed to see him, to talk...to explain myself and damn it, give him every bit of information he wants to know.

"Leah?" I cock an eyebrow at the girl who glared at the house with hate. Every ounce of her being hates this, it's not hard to see, but I can tell her escape from Sam is what she needs and if being around vampires is a price to pay, she'll do it.

Rachel told me her story in detail...I don't blame her.

"I know their plan." She shuts Jacob and Seth right up and I just realize Seth came here earlier as well.

"Do you think they know you're here?" I ask, but I get my response just as I finish when a series of howls sound around us.

"They do now."

The howls bring back my edge, reminding me to be on guard. I can sense them around us. They're on the prowl, ready to attack at any given moment and now that their plan has been uncovered, we have the upper hand once more. The hunter inside me spreads like a cancer, taking over all that's soft and warm, anything forgiving and every cell that wistfully clings to what Embry represents.

The hunter inside will make sure us being soulmates accounts for nothing once he's before me with bared teeth and ill intentions.