"In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine."
In which Montana learns that the legends are true, and that they have more impact on her life than she could ever have imagined.
[The Twi...
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Montana sat quietly in the corner of the room, nibbling on a chocolate bar.
She and Dakota had taken the shape-shifter revelation much better than Embry had anticipated, though the single fact that Montana, of all people, had been silent for over half an hour was beginning to worry him. She hadn't uttered a single word since he'd explained the truth of the Quilute legends– well, almost everything, since he'd obviously had to leave out the parts about imprinting.
It wasn't that Montana was scared of them; in fact, she thought the whole shifting process was quite incredible. But she simply could not get her head around the fact that her best friends now turned into gigantic wolves. Of course, Montana was well aware of the legends, and had been throughout her life. She'd attended the annual bonfires where the stories had been told, but that's all she thought they were...stories.
Dakota stood in the kitchen, humming to herself as she made them all a hot chocolate drink. Embry watched the older girl for a few moments, becoming slightly concerned with how well she had taken things, especially in comparison to Montana. His wandering eyes flickered back to his best friend in concern, whose mind was clearly still elsewhere. Montana placed the last square of chocolate in her mouth, chewing slowly. Embry suppressed a heavy sigh as he watched her stare blankly at the wall, worried he'd accidentally traumatised his best friend.
"Laurent was a vampire." Montana's sudden statement caused Embry to jolt, his eyes widening in surprise. He hadn't quite expected those to be the first words out of her mouth. "And he was going to...eat me."
Embry bit the inside of his cheeks, forcing back a laugh as her innocent brown eyes met his. "Well, I mean–"
"But you guys saved us," Montana carried on. "Because you're giant wolves..."
"And that's what we do," Embry added, smiling softly over at her. "It's our job to protect the people in this community."
Montana fell quiet again, shifting her position to sit up properly. "So this is why you guys stopped hanging out with us?"
"To protect you," Embry clarified. "It's hard to be around people when you first shift." Montana nodded her head in understanding, feeling guilty about the hostility she'd felt towards him and Jake. Everything made sense now. It was why her friends abandoning her was so unexpected, and why it felt so wrong. They never wanted to, they just didn't have a choice. "Also, we were physically unable to tell you."
"Um, is Quil..."
"No." Embry shook his head before she could finish. "At least, not yet. You can't tell him, though." Montana's heart sank at that thought. Never in a million years did she want to hurt Quil by knowing a secret that he didn't. She couldn't abandon him now that she knew, she wouldn't ever do that. "Hey, look, I'm really sorry, about everything," Embry added sincerely. Montana's gaze softened. "I missed you so much, like, to the point that I was seriously bumming the guys out with my thoughts. And then Jacob phased and he was so angry that he was hurting you too, and there's nothing we wanted more than to just tell you everything, but we couldn't and it was so hard watching you and Quil look so hurt all the time, and–"
