Issues From Outsiders

Embry's POV

La Push gets old. Like, really old.

If it wasn't for the fact that the Pack held me here I'd be running as fast as my legs could carry me. Don't get me wrong – I have the greatest of friends, who are becoming more and more of a family for me for every day that goes by, we all go to the same school, my grades are decent, my mom is kind even though she yells at me for staying out late and not being home at night (I don't want to let her in on the Pack secret), the beach is close, and I have everything I need here.

But hearing about the great city – and seeing it on television, visiting from time to time – that really makes me want to run.

Honestly, which kind of 16-year-old wouldn't dream of clubbing?

Only there are no damn clubs around, and even Forks is not an option. It's ridiculous. Even hosting a party in someone's house is a challenge, seeing as everyone knows everyone and news travel fast in this god-forsaken town. We've tried, believe me. But it always end up with the cops at the door and weeks of house-arrest.
The only places teens are safe are in the woods and at the beach – well, we, the Pack, are safe in the woods – everyone else is in danger. But the beach is out of hearing range of the town and to be honest I don't even think the cops have any interest in stopping a party out there. They certainly know they exist. Not that I'm complaining, in the contrary.

So that's where we were going tonight to blow off some steam. Everyone had been on edge all week because of a faint trail of a bloodsucker's scent cutting through our territory, but since it hadn't reoccurred we accepted the fact that the stranger was just passing through. Took us a few days, though. Nothing sets a shape-shifter on the brink of sanity like a vampire.

I wasn't aloud to drink and neither was Quil tonight, since we had patrol later. Fucking right, they chose the night of my shift to go out partying – figures. But Sam was pack master and there wasn't much Quil and I could do other than complain. Which we did all day, just to show how miserable we felt.

“Alright, enough,” Sam snapped for the 10th time that afternoon when Quil mumbled something intelligible under his breath and I glared at everyone around us. “I'm sick of hearing you two bitch and moan, so we're leaving, dropping you off at the beach.”

Quil piped up, “Does that mean we're off the hook?”

Sam smirked. “No. It means we're giving you a lift to the patrol-area after picking up Paul.”

I banged my head down on the table, narrowly missing the empty plate of pancakes in front of me that Emily had made for us earlier. Quil whined next to me. “It isn't fucking fair...” he mumbled.

“What about Jake?” Jared asked lazily from the couch.

Sam shrugged. “Doesn't wanna come. I'm guessing it's because he knows who will be there...”

Jared rose his brows, Quil snorted and I pursed my lips. We had all seen what had been going on in Jake's head a few days back after he'd made amends with Delilah.

Yeah, if 'making amends' means sticking your tongue into each others mouths now-a-days.

“Get into the van, kids,” Sam finally said, chuckling, and walked out the front door, Jared in tow.

I didn't find it one bit funny.



“Embry!” a girly voice called from behind me. I recognized it instantly.

Of course she would be here.

I turned from Sam, who was giving me clear instructions on what to look out for tonight while on patrol, only to find the owner of the voice on the back of a guy, waving wildly with a huge grin on her face.

“Delly...” I called back reluctantly, still trying to figure out what was going on. Behind her, the beach was booming with laughter, music and loud talking – people were already wasted, it seemed from the few people we could spot from the parking lot that were stumbling around on the sand. And so was she, definitely, as was the guy who was carrying her, based on the way he zig-zagged his way up the path with Delilah pushing them away from trees when they came close enough.
What she didn't realize was that for every time she did that, she only pushed them further off the path in the other direction.

I had never encountered a drunk Delilah, but it seemed she was quite a handful, I noted as she giggled until she was out of breath, completely disregarding the fact that this guy could fall over at any moment and take her down with him.
Her arms, that were wrapped around his neck, loosened their grip and I watched as her hands crept down his chest, letting her nails rake over his muscles. She turned her head, whispering something into his ear and planting a small kiss under it.

It didn't seem like she knew what she was doing to the poor guy, who instantly smiled goofily and got so distracted he almost ran them into another tree. Dumbass.

Sick of seeing their theatrics, I set off down the path to meet them – and to catch her if he suddenly dropped her.

“Embry,” she breathed out, smiling as happily as ever, “Say hi to Benjamin.” One of her hands moved from his chest to the top of his head, giving him a little pat. I heard a 'Yo' from somewhere under her but didn't dignify that with a greeting of my own.

My eyes could only focus on her bright blue ones, and I noticed how the bruise under her eye had almost disappeared. Good, that would diminish Jake's guilt a little.
Her eyes could barely focus on mine. Her hair was a complete mess, her clothes and skin were covered in sand and let's not forget how both of them reeked of liquor – yup, she was wasted.

“You're fucked, aren't you?” I asked dryly.

“Not yet,” the guy mumbled from under her and she fought to hold back a laugh.

I felt my hands curl into fists in the matter of seconds. I really didn't like this douche, no matter who the fuck he was. Benjamin. It didn't sound like anyone she'd mentioned before. Was she seriously going home with that moron?

She was, I concluded as I saw her cheeks heat up. Oh, fucking great, what now?

“Yeah...” she said guiltily, clearly referring to my question. The asshole laughed loudly and I fought to ignore him. “And you're not,” she noted and said sympathetically, “It's okay, Em, there's a lot of booze left on the beach...”

I really couldn't deal with this right now. I know I wasn't exactly responsible myself but I was supposed to be patrolling right now, not dealing with her crazy-ass drunken mind. Pinching the bridge of my nose, something I often saw Sam doing, I heard Paul snicker from behind me.

I had to at least say something to her. She may be completely shit-faced, but somewhere behind that, Delly was hiding.

“Yeah...” I started awkwardly, feeling Jared shift uncomfortably behind me. He had always been weird around her, god knows why, but I ignored him and said, “Listen, Delly, I know I can't tell you what to do, but I really think you should think this through...” I trailed off awkwardly, finally looking at the asshole who was carrying her. Tall, though not nearly as tall as me, I noticed with satisfaction, with a hole in his ear and short dark brown hair. She could do better.

Now, Delilah was normally a smart girl, but right now, her facial expression didn't give any of that vibe off.

Of course, she didn't know what the deal with Jake was, so it was hard for her to understand – actually, none of us did. But he had definitely marked his territory with her, claimed her and made it more than obvious that she was his and that no one was to touch her.
I didn't know if it was entirely a Pack thing – this wasn't imprinting, and nor was she his girlfriend, but we all felt it when she was concerned – totally off limits.

Besides, just by looking into his head while in wolf form, we could all tell that there were some more complicated feelings involved. Though it didn't even seem like he himself understood what was going on there.

Paul suddenly said from behind me, “Come on man, just let her have her fun.”

Fucking idiot.

I spun on my heel and shouted in a voice that wasn't very manly, “Do you even care that Jake will rip my fucking head off!?” He merely shrugged and sauntered off down the path and to the beach. Really, man, thanks!

Jared sighed. “Listen, just get her home, I'll take your shift for the night.” He gave me a slap on the shoulder and nodded when I furrowed my brows at him.

“You sure?” I asked.

“Yeah, I surely don't wanna take care of her,” he said and gave me a crooked smirk. “Have fun,” he called over his shoulder while disappearing through the trees, Quil in tow, who gave me half a smile himself – though in the contrary to Jared, he looked rather concerned and apologetic.

Sighing, I turned back to Delilah and Jerk, only to find them gone.

“What the...” I started, looking up the path towards the parking lot only to find Sam trudging that way with heavy, quick steps. Uh-oh.

I made it up there just in time to find Sam yelling at Jerk, gripping his shoulder tightly and pushing him up against the car – one he apparently thought he could drive in, I gathered from Sam's shouting.
Shaking my head, I grabbed the opportunity and took a hold of Delilah, silently pulling her away from disaster.

“Come on, let's get you home,” I said lowly, not wanting to draw attention to us – not that Jerk could have done anything, seeing as Sam was still reprimanding him and holding a tight grip on his shoulder.

“Where?... No, I'm supposed to go home with Benjamin,” she said hurriedly and I laughed out loud.

“Yeah, right!” That opportunity was long gone.
I slipped in-between the trees with her in tow, keeping a hand wrapped around her arm to make sure she followed me. Her steps were slow, heavy and not very straight-lined. I kept forcing her to walk straight by tugging at her arm, which she didn't comment on. Vaguely remembering where she lived, I followed the path in mind, which was generally straight through the wilderness. Easy for me, not too much for her.

After a little moment I sneaked a look at her, evaluating her expression. Pretty much empty, which was what I had gathered from her earlier as well – damn, alcohol really killed those brain cells of hers.

Wanting to figure out just how dumb she was when drunk, I asked, “Were you really going to get into that car with him?”

“Yeah?” she asked rather than answering, her large blue eyes looking up at me questionably.

OK, an IQ of maximum 80 whilst drunk – good to know. “You're so dumb, sometimes... What the hell am I going to do with you...” I mumbled more to myself than her, but I'm sure she heard me. Oh, well. It could only do her some good.

She suddenly tripped, and with a reflex I didn't even know I had, I grabbed her by the shoulder and waist and rescued her from face-planting the mud. “Sorry,” I mumbled when she stood upright, wrapping my arm around her slim shoulders securely to make sure she wouldn't trip again. I could still remember the horror on her face when Jake accidentally elbowed her eye and sent her flying face-first into the ground – it wasn't something I specially wanted to see again.

“Where are we going?” she asked again.

Disneyland.

“You need to get home,” I sighed.

“No, no,” she said abruptly, stopping dead in her tracks. “I can't go home. I'm drunk.”

No shit!

“Obviously.” I couldn't help but snort. She looked up at me with those great blue eyes again. Even in the darkness of the woods they looked very bright, shining out with sadness and betrayal...
“Fine,” I gave in, “You can sleep at my place.”

A few minutes went by in total silence – well, not total. Even though I wasn't in wolf form, I could still hear better than humans, so every little sound in the area reached my ears: birds snuggling into their nests, fur rubbing against fur when the hare turned its head, muscles contracting in the deer's legs when it heard us and ran away, flapping of insect wings everywhere around...

“Em...” she suddenly said, catching me off guard.

“Yeah?” I answered distractedly.

“I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

She then asked in a small voice, “Are you mad at me?”

I was the one to stop in my tracks, now. She thought I was mad?
I turned to her, resting my hands on her shoulders to keep her still – her balance had a way of failing her, just like Bella. One of the little signs that made them sisters.

I didn't know what to say, exactly. I wasn't mad, just... worried.
What could have happened if she had gotten into the car with that guy? She could have been raped, or even murdered! - that is, if they hadn't died in a car crash first.
“No, I'm not,” I finally said, “I just wish you would be more careful. Did you even know that guy?”

She grimaced at me, scrunching up her pretty face. “Yes, he's a good friend of Hadley's. I know what I'm doing, Em.”

Right...

Her firm answer only made me want to nag at her naivety. “Alright, good. And I'm sure you would also have felt just as much in control when he drove that car off the road into a tree – or worse, into another car.” I tried to hold her eyes with mine, but she dropped her gaze to her feet. Seemed like something seeped into that head of hers...

“Alright,” she finally sighed, “I get it. Bad Delilah. Don't drink and drive.”

I smiled slightly. “Bad Delly. Don't get into the car when the driver is drunk.” When she nodded, I wrapped my arms around her tiny frame and pressed her into me. The top of her head only reached my chin, and her hair smelt strongly of cigarettes, a smell I hadn't encountered in a while. Nobody in the rez ever smoked other than pipe now and then, which smelt differently.

I let her go, catching her eyes again and said, “We'll talk this through again tomorrow, because I'm not sure you got any of what I just said.”

All bright smiles, that girl.

“Just what I thought,” I concluded and dragged her along further into the dark forest.

Her skin was cold in comparison to mine (obviously) and I ran my hand up and down her arm, trying to warm her halfheartedly – because behind us, I could suddenly vaguely hear the sounds of paws hitting the leaves on the ground.
Jake.

Having him there sent my nerves on end. What, he didn't even trust his best friend, now?

I looked around us after making sure that her eyes were glued to the ground, but couldn't see him in the darkness – he was hiding for her sake but knew I could hear him. Narrowing my eyes, I walked faster, which proved to be a challenge with Delilah in tow.
What was he here for? And why was he following us? Didn't he think I could get her home safely on my own?

We reached a fallen tree and I easily jumped over it, reaching my hands out for her to take so she could climb it herself. Seeing something move in the corner of my eye, knowing it was Jake, I put my hands on her waist to help her over the trunk – just to piss him off.

He might have been my best friend and all, but still, come the fuck on...

“Hey, Em...” her voice reached my ears, distracting me from my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“I have another question,” she slurred.

Seriously, is this ever going to end?

“What is it?”

“What did you mean when you said that.. uh...”

“What?”

“I forgot.”

I laughed loudly. Alright, she wasn't so bad when drunk. Just hilarious and a little bit reckless. “Brilliant...”

“Wait, I got it,” she giggled after a moment, “What did you mean by 'Jake is going to rip my head off'?”

Oh, so she caught that, huh?
I pursed my lips shut and thought about what Jake might be thinking somewhere behind us. Finally, I decided that I didn't care. Shrugging, I said, “You know how he is. Mr. Protective. Besides, Delly, how do you think he was going to react when you made out with him barely three days ago and are now going home with random guys-”

“He wasn't a random guy,” she interrupted harshly, or as harshly as you can with 10 shots flowing through your system. “... Wait, he told you?!”

Whoops.

“Um.”

Yes, Jake was definitely going to rip my fucking head off.

She gasped and said shrilly, “I told him to forget it ever happened, what the fuck is wrong-”

“He didn't tell me,” I said quickly, shushing her in the process. Okay, brain, think now, quickly... Shit Delilah, stop looking at me like that... I looked around and spotted Jake in-between the trees. Even in wolf form, his glare was terrifying. Fuck. “He only told...” I started. Then, I got it: “Paul. Yeah, Paul told me. Can't keep a secret to save his life, that guy,” I said lightly, chuckling halfheartedly in the end.

Her brow rose. “Whatever.” I let out a relieved sigh. “His life does depend on it because I'm going to wring his neck next time I see him...” she mumbled. “Your friends are assholes,” she concluded.

“True dat,” I answered, which made her giggle again and almost fall over her own feet. Yep, just like Bella would do. Minus the alcohol. “Jesus, how much did you drink?” I asked astonished.

Wished I hadn't, though, because then she suddenly started rapping a Drake song and wouldn't stop for the life of me.

It wasn't until we reached the clearing that held my humble home that I heard Jake's light breathing and paw steps vanish behind us. I pushed Delilah up the front steps and hurriedly locked us in silently, but not before casting a dark look over my shoulder in the general direction of where I thought him to be.

If he didn't want us to be alone with her then maybe he should just take care of her himself – because someone had to, obviously – or at least man up the courage to talk to her without attacking her with his damn tongue.
Best friend or not, I flipped him the bird.

Jealous, ball-less fucker.