Siren's Call

In the Offing

For a moment, Embry sat dazed on the beach. He could hear Quil and Jacob yelling at him, but they were still a way off. He could only turn and stare at Freja as she continued to run down the beach away from him. He then shook his head and jumped to his feet, knowing that he couldn't let her get away this time. Not until they talked. He had seen the look in her eyes. She had rescued him, after all, though he still wasn't sure how which only created more questions.

But more than anything, he wanted to know why. Why she had cut off all contact. Why she seemed to think that this wouldn't work. He took off after her, easily catching up though he was winded and stumbling slightly.

"Freja! Please! Stop!" he shouted.

She ignored him and kept running.

"Please! Can we talk?!" he shouted.

She slid to a stop and dropped her head, her back tense. Embry came to a stop as well, keeping a few feet in between them. She then spun around, her eyes now a dark steely grey. They hadn't been that color before, but that was the least of his questions at the moment. Her hair hung in wet strands, clinging to her as she shook her head.

"We can't... we can't be around each other, Embry," she said.

He felt his heart drop into his stomach. While he hadn't been expecting her to say something different, it still hurt.

"I.... I don't understand," he said.

He wanted to tell her she was wrong - that they were meant to be together - but it didn't seem like the right thing to say just then.

"It's too dangerous," she continued, starting to back away from him.

Embry then remembered the way her grandmother had looked at him, treated him. As though she suspected something. Shit. Freja knew. Her grandparents knew. He didn't know how this was possible, but they had somehow figured out what he was. That's why she was doing this.

She thought he and the others, that they were dangerous.

And she had heard the stories. That night at the bonfire, Sam had practically told her what they all were, though at the time Embry thought she had assumed they were just legends. And she had seemed enraptured with them, not scared. But that had apparently changed. Even though she had said that it wasn't about him, she had clearly put two and two together.

"I swear, I'm not dangerous," he said, pleading with her. "I would never hurt you. I've got it under control."

Freja looked confused, not understanding what he was saying. Which was strange. She knew, right? He took a step closer to her.

"I know we might seem dangerous, but we're not. We only protect. And... I only want to protect you," he continued.

Freja's eyes widened in some sort of realization. Embry hoped she was realizing that he was being honest. That he would never hurt her.

"I... I think you don't understand, Embry," she said, a quiver entering her voice as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I'm not afraid of you... you can't hurt me, but... you should be afraid of me."

He stopped moving towards her, his brow furrowing in confusion as he took in her lithe frame. There was no way that she could hurt him.

"I'm not, I'm not what you think I am," she continued. "This thing that you're feeling? You may think it's love or something like that, but it's not. I'm... I'm making you feel this way... But I didn't mean to... I swear it was an accident... No one was supposed to be around that morning..."

Embry was completely confused as to what she was talking about. It was obvious that they were both coming to two completely different conclusions. He wasn't sure just exactly what hers was. But one thing he did know was that his feelings for her were 100 percent real. And now he had to find a way to show her that in a way that she would believe and hopefully wouldn't scare her off.