Cause Baby, You're My Better Half

My head was killing me and my whole body was in pain when I finally woke up. It took me a moment to remember what had happened, but when I did my eyes opened and my body shot up. It hurt a little sitting up, but I ignored it and stared around the room I was in. It was white and there were a couple of chairs here and there, but the thing that was brought to my notice right away was the sleeping form of Embry in a chair right beside the bed, his warm hand in mine.

"Embry, what the hell are you doing?" I demanded. His head shot up and he stared at me with eyes filled with a mixture of feelings.

"Roni, your okay," he whispered kissing my hand. Any other time, I would have drawn my hand back, but as much as I hated to admit it, I loved the way his hand felt in mine. So instead of shooting an insult at him, I asked, "Where's my mom?"

"I'm right here honey." I turned my head to see my mother walking into the room, which I had guessed was a hospital room, followed closely by Sam, his fiancée Emily Young, Jared, a girl a knew from school as Kim Connweller, Tory, Beth and the very last was Paul.

"Sam, what happened to Lean?" I demanded to know, a shaky feeling overwhelming me. Paul growled and so did Embry, but Sam looked calmish.

"We got rid of her, she'll never be able to get to you again," he assured me. Then something hit me and I looked at my mom. She didn't look one bit shaken by what Sam had just said.

"Does she know?" I asked pointing to my mom.

"They just told me," she answered walking up to me. "How do you feel Roni? Are you in any pain?" she asked, looking me all over, her motherly side taking over.

"I'm fine, just a little sore," I answered, reassuring her with a smile. "What do I look like though? Is anything broken?" I wondered.

"You've got a couple of broken ribs and a minor concoction and a few scars, but don't worry, you're scars aren't on your face," Emily Young assured me, smiling a beautiful smile, but it looked like a grimace on one side, where three long, pale scars covered her face. The story told around the town was that she had been mulled by a bear and everyone had believed it, but I took in her words and it hit me.

Did you get those scars from a wolf?" I asked in a small voice. I didn't want to get beat up if my assumption was wrong. But she just smiled and nodded.

"I'll just say it now, don't go getting one of them mad," she laughed a little, smiling up at Sam. He smiled back at her, but his smile was filled with a little pain.

"So Roni, what went on back there?" Beth asked, now perched on the end of my bed. "Why'd you jump in front of that psychopath vampire?" When she said this, Paul sent me an apologetic look.

"I've no idea. In any other situation, I would have run the other direction, but there was something in the back on my mind that told me to jump. It was weird the way that voice seemed to be controlling me…" I trailed off, looking into space.

"What was the vamp going to do to you before Paul got there?" Embry asked, rubbing circles on my palm.

"She was going to take me to Mathew, the vampire from back in the field the day I got sick," I answered, thinking back to what Lean had told me about the whole blood singer thing. I hated the idea now that I was thinking strait, someone saying that they had claim over you just because of something stupid.

"Did either of them say anything about Mathew being your blood singer?" Sam asked hesitatingly. Everyone in the room, minus my mom and Beth, turned rigged and Embry's hand tightened around mine.

"Yeah, the first time I met him, he said something about my being his blood singer. And then when I sent Embry away after he found me,"-I gave Embry a sorrowful look-"Lean came around and told me that she was a friend of Mathew's and that he'd asked her to collect me, his blood singer. Then she went on to explain what a blood singer was. Weirdly, I listen to it and was ready to go with her when Paul burst out on wolf form. And you guys know what happened after that." The room was silent, Paul staring at his hands. "It's not your fault Paul; I was stupid to jump in front of her."

"No it's my fault Roni, I should have waited for the pack before trying to take out that bloodsucker," he intervened suddenly standing at my side. "Please forgive me baby sister." He was begging me, his bottom lip pulled out.

"It's not your fault, but whatever, your forgiven," I laughed weakly.

"It's neither of your faults," Sam spoke up. We both looked at him. "Some vampires have powers and I was talking with Carlisle and he agrees with my theory that this vampire, Lean, had the power of mind control."

The room was quit while we all mulled this over.

"There's something else," I whispered. Everyone looked at me. "When I was in the clearing with Mathew, he said he'd be back for me, not send someone. What if he sent Lean as a kind of distraction, something to blow you guys off his track."

"I think Roni's right," Tory agreed. "I did catch a whiff of something when we were tracking Roni, but it was gone before I could place it to a bloodsucker."

"But what could he accomplish by killing off that girl?" Jared wondered putting an arm around Kim.

"I don't know, but what I do know is that we are going to have to start watching over Roni," Sam said. "Embry, you and Paul will take turns with her when you're not on patrol." Embry nodded.

"Why can't Paul just be with me?" I asked, the words sounding meaner then I had intended.

"We can't just take Paul away from his imprint all the time," Jared said in a duh voice, earning himself glares from almost everyone in the room.

"Imprint?" I looked at him, confused.

"Imprint is just something that happens to werewolves," Paul said slowly. "It's sorta when we find our soul mates. Like when we first see them, we fall for them and they are the thing that keeps us alive, we live for them." During all this I noticed that Paul's eyes never left Beth, Sam's never left Emily and Jared's never left Kim.

"So, I'm guessing that you guys imprinted?" I guessed, smiling a little. Though I didn't like the idea of someone having a claim on me, it was still a cute idea for someone else.

"Yeah, we did," Jared grinned, placing a kiss on Kim's mouth. I turned away from them and looked at Beth. She was staring at the bed sheets, blushing slightly.

"Guys, can I talk to Beth alone for a minute?" I asked. They all nodded and left, Embry a little slower than the others. When the door finally closed, I leaned forward and took Beth's left hand in mine. "I'm so sorry Beth, I was such a bitch."

"Don't Roni, I was the bitch. I shouldn't have embraced that stupid feeling; I should have tried to be a good friend. I'm so, so sorry," she apologized

"Nah, you were just doing something that was expected of you. I mean, if I were imprinted on, I probably would have done the same thing," I assured her, smiling kindly.

"No, you would," she laughed, her eyes twinkling a little.

"What do you mean?" I asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow. She just grinned and shook her head.

"I can't tell you, but you'll find out soon enough," she giggled.

"Huh?" I was completely confused. Before I could question her further, though, a nurse came in and kicked her out, saying I needed my sleep. She put some liquid into my IV, which I hadn't noticed I had plugged into me, and in a moment a started getting sleepy. The nurse left and turned out the lights, leaving me to sleep. I did sleep, but it wasn't a deep, dreamless sleep. No, my dream was filled with vampires, wolves and imprinting. Oh my!