The woman's face was pale, but a natural blush was in her cheeks. Her hair was long, thick, curly and bronze colored. It was down to her waist and down. Her eyes were a strange golden brown. She was thin, muscular and shapely. She looked about twenty-seven or eight. I scowled. She definitely didn't look human, what with her high cheekbones and grace. She could break Miss America's heart, as well as ballerinas everywhere. I had no idea why she was at this cookout, meant for wolves and imprints.

"Mel, please. All will be explained in time," Levi whispered in my ear. I surprised him by turning my face and kissing him swiftly. He chuckled and responded, "All right, enough of that. Let's hear what she has to say." I scowled then pouted angrily. The woman began to talk.

"Leah," she said calmly to the woman listening to her iPod, "I'd like you to hear this."

Leah scowled, like me as she pressed the pause/play button and turned it off. "It's not like I wasn't there for most of it."

"Only my part. And my part has to do with my parents' part, of which you weren't there for."

Leah's scowl got deeper. "Well, Jake here had some choice thoughts and feelings for your parents. Both of them."

The other woman laughed with many others. The man sitting next to Leah squirmed in his seat and blushed. "Yeah, Jake, what is it with you and Cullen women?"

"Embry, you have problems!" the bronze-haired woman called out. "For surely my mother was not born a Cullen!"

"Poor Uncle Jake," Levi whispered in my ear. I nearly jumped out of my seat.

"That's your Uncle Jacob?" I responded as Embry replied.

"Yeah, but she belonged to your dad once she met him!" Embry called back to the woman. "See! I filled up your hole in my logic!"

Among laughs, the woman raised her eyebrows. "Embry, did I ever belong to a Cullen?"

Embry retorted, "Before you met Jake! Duh!"

The woman laughed, and so did Levi's uncle. "Reality check! I was barely an hour old."

Embry tried to come up with a retort, but he couldn't. It was only now that I realized the musical quality of the woman's voice.

"Now enough of this. It is time for my story," said the woman.

Anger bubbled up and exploded in my stomach. "Who do you think you are? Why are you even here? This is just a cookout for regular wolves and their regular imprints!" I refrained from saying that I had been imprinted on two days ago, when I came to visit my cousins, the Atearas and I didn't know most of the wolves and their soulmates. "You don't belong here! You're not even human!"

Everybody went silent. Some of the people's faces displayed anger, including the mutilated woman named Emily and her husband. The man called Jacob was visibly shaking, trying to get in control of himself. Leah, also, was having trouble with her control. However, the gorgeous bronze-haired woman's face displayed no emotion. Instead, she walked over to Jacob and placed her hand on his cheek. It was so pale against his brown skin. She kept her hand there until Jacob had stopped shaking and instead looking up at her with calm eyes, obviously hiding some other emotion. The woman blushed, and pulled her hand away.

She turned to Leah, who was pretending to gag. She put her hand on Leah's and after a few seconds, Leah laughed. "That was priceless!" The tension in the circle relaxed, but faces still displayed anger. Emily was starting to shake with suppressed anger. A tiny smile played about the corners of the woman. She walked over to Emily and placed her pale hand on Emily's darker. After a few seconds, Emily was smiling up at the woman. The woman smiled a real smile and then walked back into the middle of the circle. She faced me.

"Who am I?" Her hands were out on either side of her, palms up. "On one hand, I am Esme," her hand lifted up slightly, "And on the other I am Bella," the other hand raised, "So together," the two hands flew at each other and joined, fingertip to fingertip, "I am Reneesme."

Reneesme's answer to my first insulting question aroused whistles, murmurs, hisses, and several other responses from the the other wolves and some of their imprints and children.

Reneesme waited for silence, and then continued. I was slightly afraid of her now. "I am here for the exact same reason as you, Melinda. Except for one difference. As you said, I am not normal. None of us are, if you put it that way. But, I more so than others."

"Conceited much?" I muttered.

Reneesme's face blanched and she seemed to be remembering. Jacob got up from his chair and walked over to her. Jacob's hand found its way into Reneesme's and he tensed up also. He reached up and tucked a curl of Reneesme's hair and tucked it behind her ear. He kissed her on the cheek swiftly and sat back down. Reneesme returned to the present.

I snickered quietly.

Leah took this chance to jump in and protect this woman, this Reneesme. "You hear that, everybody? I'm normal! Get that! Leah Clearwater, normal! I'd never see the day!"

Wolves all around the circle laughed, including Levi. I scowled. "What's so funny about it, Leah? You're just a normal imprint, like me!"

Everybody exploded into heavy laughter, and I mean everybody. Levi shook with it, Reneesme and Jacob as well. But no one laughed harder than Leah herself. I think there were tears on her face.

"Imprint!" she managed to sputter through her laughter. "Me! An imprint!" Leah was barely able to shape the words as she said, "I'm not an imprint, I'm a wolf! Simple girl!"

I felt dissed. "Oh."

Reneesme nodded, a crooked grin came across her face, looking as if she were trying not to laugh. "And you know, you are remarkably observant for a normal human."

Rage boiled up in me again. "Then what are you?"

Her grin widened. "Be patient, Melina, all will be explained in time."

I have to say, I really couldn't argue with that.