𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕 - 𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫

To avoid further complications that night, I slept in Abi's bed, next to Maia. There was no way that I was sleeping in Theo's room now that he knew something was going on between me and Ryder, and I didn't want to give Ryder too many ideas if I slept in his room — besides, I was pretty sure that Ryder was supposed to be watching Jade for the second half of the night.

Chris was still a little worry that I'd had at the back of my mind ever since I found out that he saved my life in Lake Oldoy... How he saved me, I hadn't yet got a chance to ask. I felt like, despite everything, Chris could become a friend of mine — much to Theo's disgust and jealousy.

I trusted Chris and it wasn't only because he saved my life, it was how he was willing to sacrifice everything he had to help me help Jade.

As soon as I'd found out that Chris was marked as absent the other day, I instantly began to worry about him, whether he was okay, and what his family would do to him if they found out that he'd given me that cure for Jade.

Theo, obviously, believed that the cure was a trap and that hunters couldn't be trusted one bit. But Jade was already dying. And as much as Jade didn't like me, and I didn't like her, I still didn't want her to die.

I just hoped that Jason made the right decision when it came down to it.

I had just woken up from a restless sleep when Maia also woke up, lying next to me.

"Have I just died and gone to heaven?" Maia wondered aloud when her eyes fluttered open; Ryder stood over us.

"Not yet, sweetheart, not yet." Ryder chuckled at her, and his eyes did a quick scan of my body.

Pulling the covers further up my body, I felt slightly embarrassed that Ryder was here so early with me probably looking tired as hell. Regardless, Maia was more important right now.

"How are you feeling?" I questioned Maia, anxiety gnawing at me.

"Like I've just died and gone to heaven," Maia said dreamily, still staring at Ryder.

"Ryder," I told him bluntly, "Scram."

"See you later, sweetheart, hot stuff." He winked at both of us before leaving — player.

"What happened? How did I get here — where is here?" Maia looked around her, squinting at Abi's room.

"That's what I was about to ask you." I smiled sadly. "You're in Montana, in the US — this is Theo's... friends' ranch house." I was about to say Theo's pack, but I didn't want to go into that just yet.

"What..." She blinked. "What happened to my leg?"

"You were... bitten," I said hesitantly — this conversation was already veering way out of my comfort zone; I had no idea how to answer her questions without explaining the entire supernatural world to her, and we didn't even know if that was necessary just yet.

"What by?" Her eyes widened at me after she saw the huge bandage wrapped around her right leg.

"A werewolf." Jason appeared in the doorway.

Don't these guys ever knock? I pulled the duvet even further up my chest.

Maia laughed, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, a werewolf? You know those don't exist, right?"

"Maia..." I said in a warning tone, but she just continued.

"Sure, I'd love it if the supernatural world was real; it would be awesome if it were... But life's just too normal to be paranormal." She inspected her fingernails nonchalantly.

"Okay then." Jason strode over to us, a look of fury brewing on his face. "Try this for 'normal', Maia."

Brutally, he tore the bandage off Maia's injured leg, and I thought that I was going to be sick when I saw that awful bite mark, with blood and pus pouring out of it profusely, the signs of infection tinging the edges.

Yet there was no bite.

It had completely healed. Not a trace of it remained, apart from on the inside of the bandage which showed that bite had been there at one point.

Maia's bottom lip quivered, but she couldn't find any words to speak that seemed appropriate — and neither could I.

"Ryder!" Jason growled, and Ryder ran into the room within 30 seconds.

"Yeah?" He walked over to us, and then saw Maia's healed leg, "Holy shit!"

"You know what this means, right?" Jason murmured to Ryder, but we could still hear him.

"What does this mean?" I questioned, as Ryder nodded his head.

"Ember, maybe you should come outside," Jason said, and I rose to my feet.

Seeing that I wasn't wearing very much, Ryder pulled his hoodie over his head and handed it to me.

"Thanks." I smiled as I took it from him, and pulled it over my cold body. I stepped outside Abi's room and insisted that the two of them tell me what the hell was going on.

"Because the bite healed," Jason explained, "It means that she's going to make the transition... If she wants to that it."

"So, she has a choice?" I whispered back.

"Not really." Ryder shuffled, looking down at his feet.

"Either she can transition and become a werewolf, like us, or if she doesn't want that, then we can... help her." Jason eyed me.

"Again, what the hell does that mean?" I asked incredulously, wishing they'd just tell me the goddamn truth already.

Theo was clearly going down to his shift watching Jade, and as he walked past us, he told me harshly, "It means that we can kill her before she transitions."

After that, everything went a little blurry.

I think that I heard Ryder tell Theo, "Man, you can't just drop a bombshell like that and then leave."

Then Theo responded with something like, "Man, you can't just hook up with my ex whenever you feel like it."

Why not? I felt like responding; Theo didn't want me anymore, did he? But instead, I had to rush to the nearest toilet.

Throwing the toilet lid up, I leaned over and emptied my stomach, not that there was very much in it. And so, most of what came up was bile and left a rancid taste in my mouth.

Clutching the edge of the toilet, I trembled and sobbed uncontrollably.

I didn't want Maia to become a werewolf, and live the way that we were living, but, equally so, I didn't want her to die because of it. Though, ultimately, it was up to her. I wouldn't change her decision, even if I tried to.

Then it was like everything hit me at once — everything that I'd been through ever since Theo showed up in my life at Ashley's on the last day of the summer holidays, ever since everything went wrong — and I threw up again.

Tears streamed down my face, partly due to the smell of my sick, partly because I was so tired of everything going on.

I want a normal life.

I didn't want this stupid Phoenix inside of me anymore; it was useless and only hurt others. There seemed to be no purpose to it living within me. I couldn't learn to control it, so Uncle Rob taught me how to conceal it instead.

"Ember, are you okay?" Ryder knocked on the bathroom door, that I'd somehow managed to close in my haste to get to a toilet.

"Just... just a minute," I called out and flushed the toilet. I then washed my face in the sink and scrubbed my hands clean.

Glancing at my reflection, I swallowed back more tears; I looked as useless and as unimportant as I felt. Though I knew that there was virtually nothing I could do to change it or stop it.

The Phoenix was too powerful to let me end myself. I'd learnt that back on Svalbard.

Ryder came in through the door, and I collapsed into his arms.

"Are you okay?" Concern filled his voice.

Instead of responding with the automatic 'I'm fine', I admitted the truth, "No." Hot tears slid down my cheeks again, and I continued, "I just feel so useless, and empty... I can't control the Phoenix."

"Maybe it's not about control." He shrugged, as he held my body tight to his.

That's new. Ryder seemed to be full of new and refreshing things and ideas... He was so positive and optimistic (unlike Theo).

"What's it about then?" I questioned, looking up at him, getting lost in those dark green eyes.

"Maybe you have to embrace it." He placed a hand on the side of my face, and I leaned into his palm.

"What if I hurt someone? What if I hurt you?" I placed my palm against his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heart.

"I'll help you," he promised. "It took me a long while to learn control over the wolf, and even now, I have little blips where I end up lost..."

"Why was it so hard for you?" I frown up at him.

"I have ADHD, and anger management issues." He closed his eyes. "They were bad before my mom died, but when my dad started beating me, I got worse. I got angrier, and angrier, and couldn't find a way to release it."

"What did you do?" I whispered.

"I took up basketball. and boxing." He smiled weakly. "I found a little outlet for a while. But then when I was turned, it got harder again."

"What was... is your anchor?" I asked, expecting it to have been Hayden or maybe his mum.

"Myself," he responded, surprising me, "Even with Hayden, I still had to depend on myself to keep control."

"So... I need to find an outlet for the Phoenix?" I frowned up at him again.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." He smiled and pushed his lips against my forehead.

I sighed into his arms, "I'm not starting a sport. And I hate basketball."

He laughed lightly, "You don't have to find a sport."

"Haven't you got a basketball game coming up?" I asked, remembering something that Theo had said.

"Yeah, but I've not even been to one training session yet, so I doubt that Coach would let me back on the team," he mused aloud, as we left the bathroom.

"Well, if you can trust the word of Brooke, then he's pretty desperate to get you guys back." I huffed.

"Wait, Brooke — Brooklyn Towers?" His eyebrows furrowed at me.

"I don't know her last name, but she's that cheerleader with unnaturally blonde hair that's all over Theo," I replied, irritated. "I don't like her one bit."

"Because she's all over Theo?" He questioned sadly.

"No," I denied firmly as we sat down on the sofa in the lounge. "Because she thinks she's better than everyone else — that's why I don't like her. In fact, I don't like anyone that thinks they're better than everyone else, regardless of whether they're a perfect-bodied bitch or not."

Ryder chuckled. "She is a bitch, always has been."

I looked at my nails that I'd been biting down to stumps whilst asleep; my night terrors were horrendous whilst I was having them, but when I woke up, I never seemed to remember them.

"Hey." Jason stepped into the room and sat down on a sofa.

"Have you explained everything to Maia?" Ryder asked as I inspected my non-existent nails.

"Yeah, and she took it all surprisingly well." Jason sighed, leaning back with his hands folded behind his head.

"What... what does she want to do?" I asked, raising my eyes to the Alpha's.

"Right now, she wants to talk to you," he replied.

I stood up and — after Ryder had squeezed my hand — headed to Abi's room.

"What's going on with you and her?" I heard Jason ask as soon as I was out of eyesight.

I lingered a moment longer to hear Ryder's response.

"I like her. She likes me — there's nothing more to it," he responded.

"You do know what she's capable of, right?" Jason checked.

"Are you telling me that a person shouldn't be cared for just because they're different?" Ryder retorted.

"Different?" Jason echoed and laughed exasperatedly. "She has a Phoenix inside of her — literally a demon of fire."

"We all have our demons," Ryder replied shortly.

I walked off then, glad that Ryder had stood up for me, but feeling miserable that Jason thought I was such a threat to Ryder — to his pack.

"Hey, Ember." Maia smiled as I walked into Abi's room. Her face was pasty white, but she wasn't sweating like she had been the entire time since she'd showed up.

"Hi, Maia." I sunk onto the bed next to her and took her hand in mine.

After being around Americans for so long, it was strange hearing Maia's British accent. Her presence reminded me so much of home.

"So, I got bitten by a werewolf." Maia nodded slowly. "I can tick that off the bucket list now."

I smiled at her optimism. "What are you even doing in Montana?"

Maia's smile slid away, "I honestly don't know... I was with Tom in the woods by Lake Oldoy, and then the next thing I know, I'm crawling through some woods with a throbbing leg and a huge badass bandage, heading towards the nearest house I can see, which is here."

I swallowed. "You don't remember anything?"

She shook her head, "Nope, nothing. I..." She blinked back some tears. "I don't even know what happened to Tom."

"Were you and him dating?" I asked gently.

"Yeah... But I don't even know if he's alive anymore..." Her eyes locked on mine and widened like a deer caught in headlights. "Ember! What if Tom was bitten as well?"

I shook my head quickly. "He's probably fine."

Wow, Ember, that was a pretty convincing lie you told right there.

"Either way." Maia tucked her hair behind both her ears. "Now I have to decide whether I want to become a werewolf or die."

"Putting it bluntly, yeah." My eyes clouded over, so I blinked — I couldn't cry in front of Maia; I had to be strong for her.

"Ember." She squeezed my hands. "I think I want to transition and become a werewolf."

I swallowed, trying not to let my face betray my emotions. "Are you sure you want that? Are you sure you want to throw away your normal life?"

"Ember, it's better than dying." She said wisely, taking on a tone that I'd never known Maia to have.

"Is it?" I asked incredulously.

Maia didn't respond for a little while and looked out the window to see the gorgeous Montanan mountains. When she spoke, her voice was certain, decided, "It's my decision. And I want to become a werewolf, I don't want to die."

A tear tracked down my cheek. "As long as you're sure."

"I am."

Jason stepped into the room, and I wiped my tear away.

"You'll have a few more days of being normal," Jason told Maia; voice calm. "You're most likely to first transition on the night of the full moon, in a couple of weeks..."

"'Most likely'?" I repeated, brow furrowed. "Why only 'most likely'?"

"Because it depends on how long ago she was bitten, how deep the bite went and how infected it became whilst she was out in the woods," Jason explained.

"What do we now, then?"

"We continue with life." Jason shrugged. "With Maia here as well now, we can't really afford to have Jade in her current state... I'm going to give her the vial Chris gave you and—"

"I'd like to be there when you do," I rushed, interrupting him. "When you give it to her, I'd like to be there."

"Okay." He nodded. "I understand that. We'll give it to her tomorrow."

"I have a few questions at this point in the conversation." Maia pulled our attention back to her. "One: who is Jade? And two: what are we giving to her?"

"Jade is another werewolf," Jason explained, "Whilst we were being held by some hunters, they did something to her that made her — more aggressive, let's say. She attacked Ember on the last full moon, and we've kept her locked up in the cellar ever since."

"Are you okay?" Maia turned to me.

"I'm fine." I nodded. "I'm healing."

"We're going to give a cure to her," Jason continued, "But we don't know whether it will work or not, because the son of a hunter gave it to Ember."

"Chris only wants to help us," I muttered, inspecting particles of dust on the bedspread.

Maia's eyes widened, "Don't you think that giving her a cure like that on a Sunday is a bad idea? You know... superstition and religion and all that?"

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Jason reassured, walking out.

"That basketball game is tonight," I mentioned to Jason as he was leaving the room.

"I know. I'm gonna let Theo and Ryder play, and I'll stay here to watch Jade," he responded, not turning back, as he left, "You and Maia can go watch them if you want."

"Fancy going to watch a basketball game?" I raised an eyebrow at Maia.

"Hell yes, I need some normality after all that..." She grinned. "But first I need a shower."

"Come on, then." I pulled her carefully to her feet. "I'll show you to the girls' bathroom, then you can borrow some of my clothes."

"Girls' bathroom. Do the guys have a separate one then?" She clung to my arm as I led her out of Abi's room.

"Yep, they do." I sighed. "Be thankful that I'm telling you now; I wasn't told, and so Ryder and Theo walked in on me showering."

Maia giggled. "Bet that was interesting."

"You have no idea." I huffed, shaking my head.

I'd never watched a basketball game before that night, whereas Maia used to go watch basketball games with her dad every other weekend. I wish I could've done something normal like that with my dad. Or my mum.

"You ready for this?" Maia asked me as we were about to walk into the basketball court.

"Yep." I breathed out a sigh.

It felt weird that we were about to do something completely normal, that normal teenagers do — but it also felt kinda great as well.

"How long do these games last?" I asked Maia, as I followed her up the bleachers to some free seats.

"Anywhere between 48 minutes and two and a half hours," she explained, "The set time is 48 minutes, including a 15-minute halftime. But because the game clock can stop quite a lot in basketball, games tend to run an average of about two and half hours, unless they go into overtime."

I blinked, "I understood all of that, right up until you started talking about the set time."

Maia laughed. "It'll be fun, trust me on this one."

I trusted Maia on that one, but an hour and three-quarters into the game, I was beginning to question her definition of 'fun'. All basketball seemed to be was: run, run, throw, throw, shoot, shoot. I couldn't even pick out Theo or Ryder amongst all the running, throwing and shooting.

Suddenly, I thought I heard someone shout out my name, "Ember!"

Glancing around, I searched the packed hall, before my eyes locked on who shouted to me. It was Chris. He was waving up to me from a few rows below, smiling, looking glad to see me.

I smiled and waved back, but couldn't help but be a little shocked at his appearance. He had a black eye, a split lip and looked like he'd been beaten up. Probably because he helped the pack, probably because he helped me. Because he gave me that cure.

Damn it, this is all my fault. He got beaten up because of me. But why did he have the cure with him at school if he didn't intend to give it to me or the pack?

"You know him?" Maia asked, dragging my attention back to her.

"Yeah, he gave me the..." I glanced around us. "The medicine to help Jade get better."

"Ohh!" Her eyes widened.

"Who's winning anyway?" I squinted down at the scoreboards.

"The Knights," she replied.

"And who are they, again?" I frowned.

"They're Hellgate's team, Ember. You know, with your boyfriend and his best friend on?" She rolled her eyes.

"My boyfriend?" I echoed before it hit me — I didn't tell her I'd broken up with Theo. "Maia, Theo and I decided that a long-distance relationship wouldn't work out. We broke up."

"Yeah... But living in the same house doesn't exactly scream 'long-distance', does it?"

Sighing heavily, I admitted, "He told me at the airport that he loved me, and when I showed up in Montana, after four or five months apart, he told me that I'd 'changed'. Now, nothing can go back to how it used to be."

"So, you're hooking up with Ryder, his best friend?" She questioned, basketball game forgotten, all her attention on me.

"It's not like that." I waved a hand in dismissal, "Ryder just... He just talks to me about stuff, you know? Stuff that Theo never talked to me about. And Ryder isn't afraid to show how much he cares for me, or how much he's willing to protect me."

Maia rolled her eyes. "It's so obvious that he cares about you too. This morning, when I woke up and was saying all that crap about having died and gone to heaven, he just ignored all that. All his attention was on you, Ember."

I was about to say something else before a buzzer sounded.

"What does that mean?" I yelled to Maia, as the crowd started cheering.

"It means the game's over — and that our team has won!" Maia stood up, cheering as well.

Not finding the energy the same energy that Maia had to stand up and cheer, I just stayed sat in my seat, waiting until we could finally leave.

Don't get me wrong, the game was great (I think...), but something was worrying me at the back of my mind — a similar feeling to the one I got the day before when Maia showed up.

"You guys were great out there!" Maia was literally bouncing with energy when Theo and Ryder came out of the changing room.

Despite them having left the changing room, they were still in their basketball kit.

"Yeah, totally." I nodded, sounding unenthusiastic.

"You alright?" Ryder stepped toward me, eyes fixing on me entirely.

"I just—"

"Jason texted," Theo interrupted me. "It's about Jade, and it's important, we gotta go now."

"Why do I never get any important texts from Jason?" Ryder grumbled as he walked next to me, as we headed towards the car park.

"Maybe because you're totally unreliable and always forget to turn your phone off silent?" Theo retorted; his tone unnecessarily bitter.

"Woah, chill out." Maia raised her hands up. "I'm not in the mood to hear you two start bickering."

As we clambered into the pickup, with all of us squeezed in and Theo driving, it started to rain — a light drizzle to start, quickly morphing into fat droplets of water.

When we got back to the ranch, after a silent journey — an important text from Jason always seemed to shut everybody up, even Maia — there weren't any lights on.

Once Theo had unlocked the door, I rushed in past him, and began racing down the stairs to the cellar. In the meat locker, near an open cage door, I found Jason sitting on the floor, holding Jade in his arms, the vial of cure now lying empty beside him.

"I had to." He brushed some hair off Jade's face, and I couldn't tell if she was breathing or not. "I had no other choice."

I sunk down onto the damp cellar floor beside them both.

I think that Theo, Ryder and Maia also appeared at some point, but I was too transfixed on watching Jade to see if she was alive and healed. I don't know how many minutes passed, until her eyes slowly opened, and she took a deep breath, staring around at all of us.

"I'm so sorry." She burst into tears instantly. "I'm so sorry for what I did to all of you. Ember, I swear I never meant to hurt you like I did... I'm so sorry. And I can't believe that you kept looking after me after all the terrible things I said and did to you."

"Of course, we kept looking after you." Jason told her, rubbing her back, "We're your family, that's what we're meant to do."

She continued sobbing as Jason embraced her.

I rose to my feet. If it hadn't been such a great moment for the pack, I would've yelled at Theo for not trusting Chris. But I didn't. We had a lot to thank Chris for — part of me hoped that us owing him wouldn't end up backfiring on us somehow.

He was a son of a hunter, after all.

But he did save Jade, after all.