My Forever Girl

Naira’s P.O.V.

My eyes fluttered open at the sound of my phone vibrating on the nightstand next to me. I peered out the window at the still, very dark sky which only meant I was not supposed to be up yet. I glanced at my alarm clock that only read 5:30 a.m. This was my winter break, why was I being awakened at this time?

“Hello,” I answered; my voice still thick with sleep and a bit of annoyance.

“Good morning beautiful,” Jayden’s voice chirped over the receiver.

“Um, good morning,” I replied back, a bit confused as to why he was calling. I didn’t expect to hear from him so soon after our argument.

He sighed before talking again. “I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I wasn’t able to sleep knowing that you were mad at me, and I shouldn’t have talked to you that way.”

“No, it was my fault; I was being a brat. I was just upset that we wouldn’t be spending the Holiday’s together. After I had a chance to cool down I realized how selfish I was being; I mean, this is huge for you. I’m glad you’re getting to meet family that you didn’t know you had. I’m even glad you and your mom seem to be getting along better,” I replied, meaning every word.

“I am excited, but I’m also sad that I won’t be with you. Are you going to be ok?”

“Mhhmm. Well, I will be ok after I do some apologizing,” I replied, thinking about Mika.

“Well, if you need me I’m only a phone call away.”

“Thanks Jayden.”

“I’ll let you get back to sleep. We’re getting ready to head out. I’ll call you later?”

“Sounds good,” I flipped the phone shut and placed it back on the nightstand before Jayden had the chance to say “I love you”.

I got a few more hours of sleep before I finally decided to get up. The house was eerily quiet; it wasn’t like mom not to be up fixing breakfast if not for the whole pack, then at least for dad. I fixed myself a bowl of cereal as I thought about the mess I created here. I knew I had a lot of repairing to do, but I wasn’t exactly sure where to start. I knew Mika was far from done with me; I was only briefly saved from his wrath by his sweet mother. Maybe if Mika saw Embry forgive me he’d go a little easier on me, or maybe that was just wishful thinking. I chickened out and decided to save the fight with Mika for another glorious day.

I paused at the basement door, trying to regain my thoughts of what I was planning to say. I was pulled back and wrapped up into a pair of strong, warm arms.

“There’s my favorite niece,” the voice belonging to the owner of the arms said as he placed me back on my feet.

I turned around to meet a smiling Paul. “I’m your only niece Uncle Paul,” I replied with a grin while rolling my eyes.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, even if you weren’t my only niece, you’d still be my favorite,” he said with another grin.

“At least someone around here still likes me,” I muttered to myself, but fully aware he would hear me. Thankfully he chose not to comment, because I really didn’t feel like going down the path that the conversation would end up going if he had. “Are you hungry?” I asked over my shoulder as I already began digging in the fridge to pull out a couple of Tupperware bowls with leftovers.

“When am I not hungry?” he asked, chuckling.

“So, what brings you over here so early?” I asked as I placed the plate of food in the microwave.

“Your dad and I are supposed to patrol this morning.” He paused and turned toward the hall leading to my parent’s room, as if he was listening to something my ears clearly didn’t hear. “But I guess he’s a little busy right now,” he finished, wiggling his eyebrows.

My face scrunched up in disgust. “Yuck, seriously Uncle Paul, I could do without knowing what they were doing in there.”

“It’s a part of life; how do you think you were made?” Paul said, laughing.

“Really Uncle Paul? I’ll be 20 in a few months; I don’t think we need to have the birds and the bees talk,” I replied as I did the only thing that would get him off this awkward subject: I placed a plate of food in front of him.

“So, what’s with the Embry look-a-like?” he asked, polishing off the last piece of chicken on his plate.

“His name is Jayden, and he looks nothing like Em.”

“Ok.” He snorted. “I don’t trust him Naira.”

“Of course you don’t, because you and everyone else here are on Team Embry,” I spat back, grabbing his plate and throwing it into the sink.

“No, I’m on Team Naira. I don’t want to see you get hurt, and I do not like this guy.”

“I agree,” my dad said as he entered the kitchen.

Great, now they were double teaming me. Anyone else want to pop in and join the fun?
“Maybe we should call Mika and Uncle Jake over; I’m sure they’d love to add their two cents. No, better yet, let’s just have a pack meeting so you can discuss how much you all hate a guy you met for 5 seconds.”

“I didn’t say I hated him; I said I didn’t like him,” Paul clarified, as if there was a huge difference between the two.

“Neither of you even know him; where do you get the right to judge him?”

“I got the right to judge him the moment he pulled up to MY HOUSE with MY DAUGHTER in his car” he said raising his voice.

“Don’t refer to me like I’m a piece of property that you own, because I’m not.”

“How long have you even known this kid”, my dad questioned.

“His name is JAYDEN, and I’ve known him for a little over a year.”

“Yet this is the first time we’ve met him. You never even mentioned his name. How much do you even know about him?”

“I know enough,” I huffed.

“Oh, well that just puts my mind at ease,” my dad replied sarcastically.

“I’m sorry I’m such a burden on all of you.”

My dad’s face softened. He rubbed a hand over his face and took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled it. “Naira, you’re not a burden. We’re all just worried about you.”

“Well don’t be!”

“That’d be easier to do if you were living at home like you should be.”

“Like I should be? So that’s what this is about? You all hate Jayden because you think he’s keeping me from moving back here?” I paused to look each of them in the eye before continuing. “Jayden’s not keeping me away from this hell whole; I’m staying away all on my own. I refuse to be stuck here and tied down to the Rez bastard.” My hand immediately shot up to cover my mouth; I knew I crossed the line, I knew it the second after those words slipped out, but by then it was already too late. As much as I wished I hadn’t said them there was no way to reverse time and choose to ignore the need to defend the relationship I had with Jayden.

A rough clearing of a throat broke the silence, indicating that there was another presence in the room. As I turned around I was paralyzed by the sight of Embry standing there with a mixture of emotions flashing across his face, anger and pain being the most recognizable. In that moment I felt connected to him, just like I used to when I was younger; feeling whatever emotion he felt and vice versa. Right now that being the pain, embarrassment, and the slight touch of anger he was suddenly feeling.

“Glad to know what you really think of me Nair Bear.” The roughness of his voice, and the use of the nickname he gave me when I was born added to the weight of guilt I was already feeling. I had this overwhelming urge of wanting to get on my knees and beg for his forgiveness; promising I’d never hurt him again. It felt like this internal flame was doused with gasoline, burning me alive as punishment for hurting the person that’d always be there to love me unconditionally.

I was still paralyzed as he walked past me and continued out the front door. Out of breath and panicking at the thought of losing him forever after my comment; I looked to my dad and uncle for help, but they just shook their heads. They were clearly disappointed in me and I couldn’t even blame them; I was disappointed in myself.

Somehow I quickly regained movement in my legs and burst through the front door in an attempt to catch up with Embry. He was halfway to the tree line when I caught up to him.
“Embry wait!” I yelled. The cold rain was stinging my face, adding to the sting from the tears I was trying to hold back; tears I had no right to shed in the first place. This was my own doing, I created this mess and I had no idea how I was going to fix it.

“You should get back in the house Naira, you wouldn’t want to be seen talking to the Rez bastard would you?” His tone was cold, his face was expressionless.

My voice cracked, “Embry, I didn’t mean…..”

“It’s fine Naira.” He coldly brushed me off. “I may be a bastard, but at least I’m happy with who I am and where I come from, can you say the same” he asked, staring back at me for a few moments, but my lack of words made him continue his journey to the woods. It wasn’t long before his clothes were shredded as a massive wolf appeared in his place.

“I’m so sorry Embry”, I whispered.