Growing up, I had few friends. My parents didn’t approve of most of them, and wouldn’t let me have or go on sleepovers or outings. I hated it, it made me the outsider. As I got older I learned ways around their disapproval, and made a few friends, but no one really close. Even within my family, my cousins were not allowed to get too close.

So when I got to La Push, it was like a curtain had been drawn back and sunshine was finally allowed in. One of the first people to…

From the very first moment I found out that I was pregnant with Embry, I promised one thing. That he would always know he was wanted and loved.

My parents were not warm, nurturing or affectionate. I cannot number the times they showed me that I was a burden to them, a disappointment, an albatross.  My grades were never good enough, the classes I took weren’t challenging enough, I didn’t have enough friends, they didn’t like my friends, I should go out for all the sports, I should have…

I have known the Black family since Embry and I moved back to La Push when he was little. He and Jacob were the same age, so starting with day care, then pre-school; I saw Billy and Sarah at drop-offs and pick-ups, parent’s days and special events. Sarah and I became friends, and would occasionally have lunch together or take the boys to the park. Sometimes, they would watch Embry if I had a late shift at the store. Sarah was just getting ready to teach me about throwing pottery when she…

Once I was able to control my quaking body, I called Chief Black. He could hear it in my voice, he knew that I now knew Embry’s secret. I was not sure I could drive, so he came to the house. When he arrived, I was cleaning up, finding small pieces of Embry’s clothes everywhere. It explained why he suddenly needed new clothes a few years ago. I had thought it was just a growth spurt. Some spurt.

I had some tea ready for Chief Black and set the tea service in front of him on…

To say finding out that the legends of the Quileute tribe were real was a surprise would be an understatement. The biggest surprise, though, was finding out that the father of my son was a carrier of the gene that forced my son to become a wolf. Not a werewolf, although that term has been thrown around. He is not affected by the moon. His trigger is something much colder and much closer in proximity; the vampires.

He had first changed years before I found out. He hid it from…