A/N: Happy New Year's everyone! :) Wherever you are in the world and whatever time the New Year rings in for you all, I hope that it's a great one! I love each and every one of my readers, and thank you for sticking with this story. As always, leave your thoughts on the story so far and what direction you think/want it to head in! And as a final present for 2015, here's a new chapter of Full Moon! Enjoy!

Full Moon: Chapter 38

"He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious."

~ Sun Tzu

It's Jake's Turn to Talk

"Embry!" I roared out as I approached his house. The single heartbeat in the house told me that his mom wasn't home, so I let myself in and stalked to his room. He came out before I had a chance to rip his door open, and he calmly looked at me, like he was expecting me to come.

"Let's go outside, Jake, before you do anything you regret," he stated as he walked by and out the door.

I growled lowly and followed him out the door. By the time we were in his backyard, I had caught up to him, and I grabbed onto his shoulder to turn him around and punched him square in the face. He clutched the side of his face with a scowl but he didn't punch back. Angered, I pushed him down to the ground.

"What the hell were you doing with Hayley?" I forced out.

He rubbed his jaw and got up before answering. "It has nothing to do with you, Jake. She wanted to tell me something that's between her and me, and I'm going to keep it that way until I'm ready."

"You guys looked pretty comfortable with each other."

And then he laughed. "Jake, seriously, I've been spending a lot of time at Sam's house, so of course I'm going to be close with her. Besides, I love her like—"

And then I punched him again in the face. This time, I could see him trying to control his anger.

"I thought we had a code about imprints. We wouldn't get in each other's way," I growled, trying to edge him on. I had all of this pent up anger in me that only a fight would quell. "You went against your own brother."

Embry appeared enraged as he looked at me one final time before he phased into his grey wolf form. Silently pleased with myself, I felt the familiar morphing of my body as I phased. Once my paws landed on the ground, I was assaulted by a whirlwind of Embry's memories.

"Mommy, why don't I have a father? Jake and Quil and most of my friends have one, but why don't I?"

Mrs. Call picked up a young Embry and held him on her hip. "Sometimes, honey, people have to leave us, and you're father was one of those people. He loved you though, Embry. I want you to remember that."

"You know what I heard? My parents were talking about how Embry's a bastard child. His mom was a whore who slept with all the men on her reservation, and she came here when she found out she was pregnant. I bet she doesn't even know who his own father is."

A 14-year-old Embry pushed the boy into the wall behind him. "Never speak about my mother like that again. She didn't sleep around, and she knows who my father is. If I hear you talking about my mother like that again, I'm going to smash your huge nose into your ugly face," he threatened.

"Mr. Call!" Embry whipped his head around to the voice and moved away from the boy once he saw his principal. "In my office, now!"

"You alright?" Hayley asked as she looked up at Embry, concern clearly in her eyes.

"I'm great. Thanks, Hale. Thanks so much."

Hayley quickly engulfed Embry in a warm hug. "I'm so glad you're my brother."

I staggered back and landed on my butt. He was Hayley's brother. He found out who his father was. That's why he was with Hayley.

I'm such a damn idiot.

Of course you are. Embry's voice rang through my mind, but instead of the angry tone I thought he was going to have, he seemed as calm as he was earlier. But you wouldn't be Jake if you weren't slightly idiotic.

I chuckled. I'm really sorry though, I said in a more serious tone. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions so quickly. I've just been so tense with her lately that I don't know what to do around her and I guess I was jealous that she seemed to act so natural and happy around you.

He nudged me lightly on the cheek. Go talk to her. I'm sure she's overwhelmed with everything going on too, and she needs you.

And what if she doesn't want to talk to me? I asked as I laid down with a huff.

You're one of the most stubborn people that I know. I'm sure you'll find a way to get her to talk to you.

I stared up at Hayley's room from the edge of the forest. What am I going to say to her?

Just talk to her. You'll know what to do.

You haven't left yet?

Nah, Jake. I wanted to stay to make sure that you would make things up with my sister.

I'm trying, Embry, I'm trying.

Then go.

As I felt Embry shift back to him human form, I followed his lead and shifted back. After pulling on my pants, I walked to Sam's back door and let myself in. I said hi to Emily before heading back up to Hayley's room.

"Hayley?" I asked as I knocked on the door.

"You can come in, Jake."

I slowly opened the door and peeked inside. She was sitting on her bed texting on her phone and looked up at me. I walked in and closed the door behind me before I looked at her again.

She motioned to the end of her bed. "You can sit down if you want."

I took her invite and sat at the edge of her bed, trying to give her as much space as possible. I knew we were a little better than before, but I still didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

"So," I started. "I was hoping we could have that talk?"

She nodded, keeping her eyes averted from me. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I know that you were upset about Bella." I could see her tense up, and I knew I hit a sore spot. "But I want you to know that you have nothing to worry about."

"I want the truth, Jake. No lies. What's with you two?"

"No lies," I breathed out. "Okay. I used to like her. It was before you came to live here, and I had grown up with her, so I think I always had a soft spot for her, so when I saw her when she came to live in Forks, I started to like her. But when I met you and I started to hang out with you, I realized how crappy our relationship was and how shitty she treated me. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize that, and I'm sorry that I didn't explain everything to you sooner. But I don't like her anymore. No one could come even close to you, Hale. No one would ever be as good as you."

I looked up at her and saw a single tear trail down from watery eyes. I gently wiped away the tear, but she started sobbing as soon as the tear was gone.

"I'm sorry too, Jake. I overreacted," she stated through her muffled cries. "After everything with Victoria and Charlotte and the Cullens, finding out that you could possibly still like Bella set everything over the edge. I felt like I wasn't good enough for you, and I just couldn't take it. I'm sorry, Jake. I didn't mean everything I said to you."

I pulled her into a hug. "You don't need to say sorry, Hale. You were already forgiven a long time ago."

She grabbed me tightly around the waist and returned the hug. Her head rested in the crook of my neck, and I could smell her pomegranate shampoo. I ran my fingers through her hair, and slowly, her tears subsided.

"I love you, Hale."

"I love you, too, Jake."

A few days later, I went over to Sam's house again after patrol and saw everyone at the table eating lunch. Sam looked a little on edge, and I knew that I wasn't going to like what he was going to tell us.

Sam noticed me walked in, and stood up a little straighter. "Now that everyone's here, there are some things we need to discuss."

I took a seat by Hale and took hold of her hand. She looked at me and smiled brightly before looking back to her brother.

"The Cullens reached out to us and asked us to meet with them tonight to talk about the upcoming fight with the newborns. They still don't know the exact date that they'll becoming, but they say that it'll be soon."

Everyone nodded in agreement with the idea. We needed to talk strategy with them and soon if they were right about when the newborns were planning to come.

"And they want us to bring Hayley with us, too."

There was a pause before the entire room erupted in protest.

"We're not fucking bringing her there with all those leeches!"

"If they think we'd agree to that, they're crazy."

"No. It's not happening, Sam," I sternly added in.

"They know she's an imprint. Why would think that we'd say yes to that?"

"I'll go."

Everyone shut up immediately and stared in silence at Hayley. My grip on her hand tightened and I silently pleaded with her to retract her statement.

"I'm going to go. If they want me there, I'm sure that they have a reason. Dr. Cullen knows what I am. He wouldn't intentionally put me in danger."

She looked up at Sam, and Sam nodded. "You can come," he agreed through an obvious grimace. "We're meeting them tomorrow at 5. Everyone meets here at 4:30. Brady and Collin, you'll be staying here to protect the reservation."

There were various okay's and some grunts, and everyone was sent off to their own homes to prepare for tomorrow.

When 4:30 the next day came around, everyone and the imprints met at Sam's house. As we gathered everyone to head off to the Cullen's, I could tell that some of the wolves, especially Jared, Embry, and Sam, weren't entirely okay with the idea of Hayley going, but the look that Hayley gave anyone who tried to convince her not to go shut them up right away. She's was determined about going, and I both admired and detested that aspect of her right now.

We all headed outside after giving Brady and Collin clear instructions, and we went into the woods to phase. I then went back to the edge of the forest to meet Hale, and she climbed on top of my back.

"I swear, Jacob," she whispered once she was settled, "if you make me fall off of you or do any stupid tricks, I'm never going to forgive you."

I snorted in laughter and started running. I took it at a slower pace to make sure that she would stay on, so but the time we arrived at the Cullen's, the pack had already become situated, and the Cullens and Bella were standing by the deck. I stopped and let Hayley off my back, much to my dismay. If anything bad happened, I at least wanted her in a position that would allow us to get out of there quickly, but she refused on stay on.

She scratched my neck. "It'll be fine, Jake. Bella's here, too, and you know that they wouldn't let anything happen to her. I'm in the same position as her," she whispered. I leaned into her touch and grunted.

"I'm glad you all could make it," Dr. Cullen started. "There have been some new developments, and we thought it would be best to tell you them in person. Alice's visions have become less clear these past few days, but it appears that Victoria and her army will be here within the next week. Our plan as of now is for Bella to go up into the mountains with Edward and Seth, and for Hayley to go along with them. However, I want to make sure that you are okay with that, Hayley?"

As Dr. Cullen looked over at her, she nodded. "Wonderful. Alice has also been seeing flashes of the Volutri in Seattle, but they do not appear to be concerned with the present situation nor do they seem to plan on visiting our family anytime soon. In case they do visit, however, we wanted to inform you of who is here. Four members have come: Jane, Alec, Demetri, and Felix. Jane and Alec are the twins. Jane can project immeasurable pain to a person she is looking at, and Alec can take away a person's senses. Demetri is an exceptional tracker, and Felix has impressive strength. If you can avoid them, do it. For your pack's safety, do not voluntarily and intentionally go into battle with them. The Volutri do not yet know of your existence, and if they do, they will compare you to werewolves. They have a vendetta against werewolves, and they will kill you without a second thought as they did with the rest of the werewolves."

Sam nodded at Dr. Cullen's direction.

"They want to know how many vampires there will be and why the Volturi are here," Edward asked for Sam.

"At the moment there appear to be around 20, but their numbers have been increasing, so we can't say for certain," Carlisle replied. "And we are not positive on why they are here. Usually they would come to stop a newborn army from growing, but their decision to not interfere suggests that they may have an ulterior motive with our family and Bella. As I said before, do not get involved with them. You are already helping us enough with the newborn army; let us deal with the Volturi.

If those damn Volturi come here, I'm ripping them to shreds, Paul said.

Sam growled at him. No you will not. You heard what Dr. Cullen said. They killed the other werewolves, and if they are as against werewolves as he suggests, if they find out that we exist, they will involve the imprints and our family to try and destroy us. We need to protect out people, and if that means staying away from the Volturi, then that's what we're going to do.

But what if they eventually come for the imprints? Jared asked. We'd be better off destroying the Volutri now if they end up coming than waiting until they decide to come after us. At least now we'd have surprise on our side.

And what happens if they end up being too strong for us? Sam questioned back. They're not like the other vampires that we've gone up against before. We need time to strategize, especially if they come right after the newborn attack. We'll already be weakened, and we won't be able to fight against vampires with that many gifts if we're tired.

I'm not going to—

Let's talk about this back on the res, Leah snarled, interrupting Paul in the process. I want to get away from these leeches.

Paul grunted back in response and Sam turned to face the Cullens once again.

"They want to know if that's everything you had to tell them," Edward relayed.

Dr. Cullen looked over to Hayley again. "I just want to warn you to be careful. Keep Hayley as far from the vampires as you can. Victoria already has a fascination with her, and if she finds out her location, she will stop at nothing to get to her. Keep her safe, and try to block her scent. Her mate was a matchless tracker, and Victoria learned many things from him over the years."

The slight pressure at my side increased the more that Dr. Cullen talked, and I wanted to tell him to shut the hell up because he was scaring Hale. Luckily enough, he had no more to say, so Hale climbed back onto my back and we went back to Sam's house. I let her off before we all phased back, and after changing, we walked back to the house. I could feel the weight of all the stress radiate from my brothers, and I started to become nervous. We still had no idea the numbers we were going to face in the next few days, and we had never battled a high number of vampires. We were inexperience with this, and I hoped that it wouldn't show on the battlefield.

When we walked inside, Hale was already sitting at the kitchen table with Emily. She looked up at all of us and asked, "So what now?"

"Now," Sam said, "we make sure that we are as prepared as we can be."