womenstennis
- Reads 2,346
- Votes 223
- Parts 22
Embry Call isn't looking for forever.
At eighteen, newly graduated and still carrying the memory of teeth snapping inches from his throat, he's the only wolf in La Push without an imprint waiting at the end of every patrol. Sam has Emily, Jared has Kim, Paul has Rachel, and Quil has Claire, while Embry has an empty passenger seat, a father he cannot name, and an entire life he isn't allowed to explain to anyone outside the pack.
So he makes a dating profile.
It's supposed to be harmless-some flirting, a few coffee dates, proof that somebody might choose him even if destiny never does. Then he matches with Matilda "Tilly" Vale, an aspiring children's-book illustrator who has recently traded the coast of Maine for a tiny, brightly painted house in the Forks woods.
Tilly is strange, beautiful, and impossible not to adore. She sends voice messages at midnight, drives a butter-yellow Ford Ranger, and avoids Embry's invitations for an entire month despite talking to him every day. Embry calls her his girl before they ever meet, half teasing and already half in love.
When a rainstorm finally brings him to her door, one look is enough to rearrange his entire world.
Neither of them mentions it.
Instead, they burn grilled cheese, pretend the air between them hasn't changed, and end their first date curled together beneath Tilly's quilt, both quietly hiding the impossible thing that happened when their eyes met.
Because Embry isn't the only one with a secret.
Tilly comes from a family whose stories have never stayed safely on the page, and after the wolf leaves her little house, every drawing inside it begins to change.
Some love stories are written.
Some are chosen.
And some come padding out of the dark, leaving paw prints in the margins.