0.4

*

Sophie's night was hard. Sleep wasn't her friend that night and her thoughts were louder than they had been in a long time. Caius' confrontation had hurt more than she had initially thought, and Sophie hated that she was associating her mate with bad feelings.

Her left bicep was wrapped tightly in her hand for most of the night, her slim fingers reaching desperately to connect fully. She really tried her hardest not to blame Caius – from what she knew of the Volturi, they didn't interact with humans much, so she was trying to give him a little slack.

But his words were true, and they struck her deep.

She hadn't changed at all since they'd first met in Volterra. The weight she had gained back after Bella's depressive episodes was still there, but that was only noticeable to her and the people she'd always had around her.

There was no way for the kings to know how much she struggled with losing and gaining and Sophie had really been trying to not worry about it too much. Some small, stupid part of her thought that having the kings here would instantly make her recovery easier.

One afternoon with Caius had banished that fantasy immediately.

Her recovery would never be easy. She'd been stuck in the same cycle of repeating and relapsing for four years with no end in sight – the kings' arrival into her life would make no difference.

She wondered how accurate Alice's visions were. Surely, the vampire couldn't be one-hundred percent accurate one-hundred percent of the time. Perhaps this time she was wrong.

Sophie wished Alice wasn't wrong for the sake of her dad, Bella, and Jacob. The three of them had watched Sophie struggle for years and it wasn't fair for them to be dragged into the cycle.

She wanted them to break free of it.

Tired of her overwhelming thoughts and the feeling of her body, Sophie stood up from her bed and laid down on the floor, restarting her cycle all over again.

___

Most of the next day passed torturously slowly. The house was empty with Bella at school and Charlie at work and Sophie struggled to keep herself busy and her mind empty - she should really get a job. Although she and Bella weren't leaving for Florida for four more days, Sophie had already packed in an attempt to keep busy.

Now, with nothing to do, she could slowly feel dark thoughts creep in again. She hadn't heard a thing from her mates today and, while she was waiting to meet Marcus alone, she wasn't willing to sit around until he showed up.

A quick glance at the clock had her jogging up the stairs to change and she was in her car 5 minutes later, heading towards La Push. It felt like it'd been ages since she saw the boys and Emily and she was due for a visit.

There was still an hour left of school for most of the boys, but Sophie knew that Emily would be around, if not some of the older pack members as well.

Sophie completed her drive in a little under twenty minutes. As she pulled into the Uley's driveway, she noticed Emily's car and smiled, glad that her friend was actually home. She locked her car once she'd shut the door and headed towards the house, knocking when she reached the porch.

The door opened a moment later, Emily's scarred face popping into view and spreading into a grin once she spotted Sophie. Emily pulled the girl into a hug. "Hey! How are you? It's been so long."

Sophie hugged her back. "I've been good, just busy it feels like. Sorry for just coming over, I should have called."

"You're welcome anytime." Emily said once she pulled back. She held the door open for Sophie as they both disappeared into the house. "The boys should be back anytime. Sam, Paul, and Jared are all out on patrol, butthey'll be back once the others get here to get a little break."

Sophie nodded. Emily's house smelled heavenly – she was baking something in the oven and Sophie's mouth watered from the smell. "What are you making?"

"Chocolate chip cookies." Emily smiled, moving towards the oven to check them. "They'll be done soon. The boys say they're the best, so that means you have to try them."

She laughed this time. "They say anything you make is the best."

"And you've tried my food before, so you know it's true." Emily joked back. She threw her oven mit on the counter before leaning her back against it and crossing her arms. Her expression turned more serious as she fixed her dark eyes on Sophie. "Jake told us about your situation. How are you feeling?"

Sophie blew out a deep breath and turned to pull out a kitchen chair before sinking into it. She rested her hands on the table, fumbling with her shirt sleeves. "I don't know. Sometimes I still think that I'm in some kind of nightmare. I didn't even know about the supernatural a year ago and now I'm supposedly a mate to three vampires?"

She shook her head and reached a hand up to run it through her hair. "I don't necessarily want it."

Emily nodded, her expression solemn. "Have you met them?"

"I've met two – Caius and Aro. Aro is nice enough but Caius... I don't know how I feel about him." She saw Emily's confused look. "He can be a bit harsh. I think he means well, he just doesn't know how to communicate it."

"And the other?"

"Marcus? I haven't really met him yet." Sophie shrugged. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, contemplating if she really wanted to tell Emily the whole truth. "I don't think I want to."

"Why not?"

She didn't know what it was about Emily that made her want to tell her everything. Sophie hadn't even really talked to Jake about how she felt, but Emily made it feel easy. She moved her gaze back to the table, finding it easier to speak when she wasn't looking at Emily. "I don't want to let any more people down."

Emily sighed and Sophie could hear her moving closer. She kept her eyes on the table even as Emily pulled out the chair next to her. Emily grabbed Sophie's hand. "You're not letting anyone down. You're trying your hardest."

"I'm not." Sophie shook her head. "I don't care to try."

"If you didn't care to try, you wouldn't care about letting them down." Emily told her softly. "It's hard, I know. But your mates care for you, your friends and family care for you. I know Jake has been trying to give you space while they're here, but he worries about you all the time. He would do anything to help you, you just have to tell him how."

Sophie huffed a quiet laugh. "I can't tell him how if I don't even know how to help myself."

"Let them in." Emily said. "It doesn't have to be today or tomorrow but letting people in is going to help. Talk to them like you're talking to me or, if you can't do that, write it down. If they're anything like my own imprint, they will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes until you're better."

Sophie looked towards Emily, her throat growing tight when she saw her sincere and genuine her friend looked. She squeezed her hand tightly before letting go and pulling Emily into a hug. Emily hugged her back just as tight, rubbing her back as she did. "We're all here for you, Soph."

The back door opened a moment later and the girls separated. Sophie wiped her eyes. "Thank you, Emily."

Emily smiled at her once more before standing to check the oven once more. Sophie could hear the loud voices of the wolves and couldn't help but smile at their energy. She wished she'd make more time to come to La Push.

Jacob was the first to see her when he pushed his way into the kitchen, and his face lit up in a grin. He dropped his bag and moved in to hug her. "Sophie! What are you doing here?"

"I stopped by to hang out with Emily and say hi to the boys." Sophie explained, hugging her friend tightly before letting go. The others were filing into the kitchen. Embry and Quil shoving each other to get to her faster.

They both slammed into her, their arms becoming a tangled mess as Sophie tried to hug the both of them while laughing. "Nice of you to finally come see us."

"Yeah." Quil agreed, still hanging onto Sophie. "Jacob gets to see you all the time and he's not nearly as fun as the rest of us."

Jacob made an affronted noise behind them. Sophie laughed again before releasing the boys. "I don't doubt you. I'll have to start coming down here more often."

"Get as much time in before your vampires decide to keep you hostage." Embry rolled his eyes as he moved towards the counter where Emily had set out her batch of warm cookies.

Sophie winced, her smile sliding off her face at the reminder. "Can we not talk about it? I need a break from my life at the moment."

Embry shrugged, stuffing his face with a cookie. Jacob moved to her side, shooting his friend a dirty look before turning back to her. He motioned behind him, towards a young boy with cropped black hair and kind brown eyes. "This is Seth Clearwater."

Seth grinned at Sophie. "I've heard a lot about you. Jake talks about you all the time."

Sophie nodded at him. "He's mentioned you a few times, too. It's nice to meet you."

His cheeks turned rosy, and he ducked his head, embarrassed by Sophie's attention. Jake smirked at him, and he playfully ruffled Seth's hair, which caused the boy to swat at his hands.

"Is Leah coming?" She asked no one in particular, trying to act nonchalant as she reached for a cookie. She had just bitten into it when a laugh behind her startled her.

"Yeah, right." Paul Lahote was still laughing as he walked into the kitchen, his face stretched into a wicked grin. "I haven't seen her once since she shifted. Sam needs to get on her about coming to meetings."

Jacob bared his teeth at Paul. "Back off."

Paul rolled his eyes and smacked his shoulder against Jake's as he moved past him. "Jacob's still a little touchy on the subject."

This time, her friend stepped towards Paul, his face contorting into anger and Sophie shrunk back, remembering their fight that had happened at Jake's house. She didn't want to imagine what would happen if the two shifted inside Emily's kitchen.

"Knock it off." Sam's loud voice boomed throughout the room. Sophie turned to look at him, noticing Jared and the others also cowering at his tone. "Paul, stop pestering Jacob about Leah. The situation's been taken care of."

Paul snapped his teeth at Jacob one more time before moving into a conversation with Jared. The two didn't spare her a glance. Sam nodded towards her once, then moved to pull Emily into a short kiss.

Sophie diverted her eyes, suddenly feeling unwelcome. She turned towards Jake and tilted her head towards the door. He nodded back and Sophie faced Emily once more. "Thanks for the cookies, Em. And the talk."

Emily pushed past Sam and briefly hugged Sophie one more time. "You're welcome. And come around anytime – I love your company."

Sophie smiled at her and took one more cookie from her hand before following Jake outside. Quil, Embry, and Seth had also followed, and the group all leaned against her car.

Jake shot her an apologetic look. "Sorry about those three. They're assholes."

"That's your alpha you're talking about." Embry said, though he didn't sound serious. Jake only rolled his eyes.

"What'd he mean about the situation with Leah being handled?"

"He talked to her." Jake shrugged, his eyes shooting to the ground. "She's going to start coming."

"And you feel...?" She asked slowly, trying to calculate her friend's expression. He hadn't spoken to her at all, had barely even seen her since he imprinted.

"He's thrilled." Quil interrupted with a smirk. "Finally getting his chance to woo her."

"Shut up, Quil." Jake bit out.

"Good luck Jake." Seth said through a mouthful. He swallowed before continuing. "She's mean on a good day, but now that Sam's forcing her to come to meetings?" He blew out a sharp breath of air.

Sophie looked between the boys and then towards Jake's sad eyes. She placed her hand on his and squeezed, reassuringly. "It'll be okay, Jacob. She'll come around."

She shot looks to each of the boys, warning them against arguing back. Embry held up his hands while the other two pulled off their best innocent looks. Sophie only shook her head with a fond smile.

"What'd you and Emily talk about?" Jacob changed the subject and Sophie sighed.

"We just talked a bit about the whole situation." She shrugged, before crossing her arms. "It was nice to talk to someone who's not too involved, you know?"

"Yeah, how's that going?" Embry asked. "Can you get out of it?"

The thought sent a sharp pain through her chest, and she winced, reaching to rub above her heart. Jake reached out to her, making sure that she was okay. "I don't think so. But it could be worse."

"Worse than being tied to ancient vampires for eternity?" He snorted. "Right."

"Yeah, thanks for that, Embry." She said, dryly. "I didn't necessarily ask for this."

He looked sheepish at that comment and Sophie sighed again. "Sorry. This whole thing is just really stressful."

"It's alright." Jake told her. "How about we all get your mind off it tonight? We could order in some food, watch a movie?"

The idea was tempting, and Sophie took her bottom lip between her teeth as she thought. She hadn't heard from anyone about when Marcus wanted to meet, so she was technically free for the rest of the day.

She just hoped he didn't show up unannounced like Caius had done the day before.

"Yeah, that sounds fun." She smiled.

"Great! Let's all meet back at Sophie's and I'll order a pizza. Or..." Embry pushed off the car, his eyes locking on Sophie. "What do you want? I can pick something else up on the way?"

"Um." She paused, looking back towards Jake, her mind going through the things she'd ate that day. But then she remembered her conversation with Emily, about letting people in and leaning on her friends for support. Pizza was a hard food for her to eat but tonight she wanted to try. She turned back to Embry. "Pizza's fine."

Behind her, Jacob's face lit up and he shared a hopeful look with Quil. He pushed off her car as well and bumped his shoulder against hers. "Come on. Let's get back to your house and we'll pick a movie. Sound good?"

"Sounds great." She nodded. Jacob took the driver's seat as Sophie slid in behind him, Seth ducking into the back seat. She took a moment to smile to herself, feeling positive about the night before her.

***

Caius is a bit of an a*shole until he can figure out how to communicate but he'll eventually get there.

hope you're all enjoying this story and you're all doing well!

thank you all for reading! <3

pleuvoirx