This is my new story. I decided to try another pairing. As you know this will be some Bella and Paul loving (eventually), but this won't be a conventional one.
Bella won't be running into his arms in chapter three and into his pants in chapter four.
Also I hate the idea of breaking Jake's heart by his pack brother imprinting on his Bells, so I decided that nobody knows Bella prior to her entering The Pack's life.
I'm also not a great fan of imprinting as described by SM so I will work the bond matter differently (it probably still hold the same name though).
Also there will be no Emily and imprinting on kids, yuck.
Important a/n at the end :)
Ok, give me some love.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, SM does.
Bella POV.
At last, the day of my eighteenth birthday. My gift was a set of keys to my apartment. Nothing fancy, just one bedroom. All payed for till I get a job that is.
You will ask what parents get their kids a flat for their birthday. Well not mine, I haven't got any. Today was the day that I could finally leave the adoption agency. As you've noticed I was never adopted.
My mother died in a childbirth and they never knew who my dad was. What a way to celebrate your birthday, right? She was only fifteen and had no ID on her. Nobody could locate her family so I ended up in Denali in one of their foster agencies.
Despite being a cute little baby nobody seemed to be interested enough to ever adopt me.
As the time went by the, younger kids were being taken to their new, loving homes.
I became the part of the furniture in there. I was like dinosaur. Some little ones even thought I was a staff there.
Today was thirteenth of September and I, Isabella Marie Swan, was a free woman. You will ask how on earth I had a last name since my mother didn't have any ID on her.
She passed out right after she revealed her age and managed to say to take care of her baby. She knew she wasn't gonna make it.
Well, she was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a swan so they decided to name me that.
It all made sense I suppose. They didn't bother to look for my father. It would meant to DNA test everyone in the States. Difficult much?
I was in my senior year in high school. I was always a straight A student, I never got in any trouble despite a common perception of kids like me. My specialization was in computer and informatics.
I didn't really have any friends though. Not that I minded anyway.
I was always quiet and to make new friends was a stretch for me. But I always had some people to talk to, at least during lunch, or when I passed them on the street.
Ever since we had some new teachers in school last year, people tended to give me wide berth.
They were Tanya, our new literature teacher, Kate was the art one, Eleazar was responsible for history, Carmen taught Spanish, Irina – music and Garrett was a new coach of the girl basketball team.
They also were freaks. All of them were inhumanly pale, beautiful and had that strangest golden eyes. And they always gave me creeps. I could not put my finger on it, but something was wrong there. Other students didn't share my opinion on the new teaching body of course. They were mesmerized by them.
Now you will ask me how come I was a freak. You see before the white band started at our school I was an average 5'5" brunette. Sure, people in the agency always were saying how beautiful I was, but then, whatever.
Everyone figured that my father must have been a Native American since some of my features were pointing to it.
My hair was almost black with only few deep red streaks through it. It was long, silky and straight. It was always an object of envy of other girls wherever I went. I always wore it down to hide my birthmark on the left side of my neck. I hated it.
My skin had a lovely light russet color, not as dark as a true Native, thanks to my white mom. It had that lovely, healthy glow to it.
The only feature I absolutely loved about myself, without any buts, were my eyes. Often people would ask me if I wore a contacts.
You see, they were the most striking and beautiful shade of green there was, if I say so myself.
I was told they were my mothers. At least there was something I could keep with me then.
So when the paler than pale teachers joined our school everything began to change.
I was always lean, more on the tomboyish slim side of the scale, and a bit clumsy, but nothing out of ordinary. Then I started growing and filling up in places I had no idea even existed in human body.
I suddenly had strong and defined muscles and curves to die for. Nothing in your face though.
My body had the perfect proportions and for the first time seemed to work in a perfect harmony with the gravity.
The worst was my growth spurt, I was now a giant 6 feet. Where would I find a boyfriend when I was towering above almost everyone?
To my disappointment I had all my classes with them. Yeah, them, this was my new name for the white band. Bit by bit they begun to smell to me.
First I though that school cleaners were overreacting with bleach or something but during one of the classes Tanya asked me to stay after the class and talk to me. This was when I noticed the smell was coming off of her. I discreetly sniffed the rest and I was right. The sickly scent was always growing stronger and each time it would sent shivers up my spine.
It was almost two months since I was living on my own. I was walking back to my apartment from the town. I had to do some grocery shopping and giving that my place was on the outskirts of our town, right next to the woods, it was a long walk. I didn't have a car yet. A week after my birthday I decided to do a crazy and pointless thing and bought a ticket on the lottery. An I won. Seven million dollars to be exact.
Why didn't I bought the car? For a simple reason I didn't want anybody to know about the money. I decided to bolt after my graduation and start my life somewhere else. Like I said I was a straight A student. I also exceeded in computers, both programing and computer design. I always liked the art, in every shape or form. I could draw and paint too.
Once I even hacked into school files to see if I could do it. It was easier than making a cup of tea and nobody at school had a clue to what have happened.
I was nearly at my place when I smelled that awful bleach stench.
"What the hell are they doing at my house?" I thought aloud.
It was a small block of flats, only fifteen to be exact. Mine was on the second floor. I walked slowly upstairs and noticed that some doors were half open.
That wasn't good at all. My guts were in a tight knot. It was dark already, giving it was late in November. There seemed to be nobody in the building.
When I neared my door I noticed it was forced open and the sick smell was coming off from there.
I slowly made my way inside and there in the kitchen I saw him. He spotted me the second I entered.
"Oh finally, I thought I was gonna have to hunt you down," the man hissed. He looked strangely like a pale gang, only his eyes were ruby red. It was frightening. I didn't know why but I started to shiver. Not from cold but I felt like there was a fire slowly bubbling inside of me. He was still talking to me but I could not hear the word he said. I didn't see that he was coming ever so closer with every breath I took.
From then on everything was happening so fast, it was almost surreal.
His hand touched my arm and something inside of me snapped. I burst out of myself. I exploded into a four-legged monster in front of him. That was enough to startle the man and he stumbled backwards knocking over the knobs in my cooker. I could hear the hiss of the leaking gas and smell it's distinct scent.
I did not think I just acted. I knew that somehow he would kill me if I didn't do it first. I did the only possible thing and slammed my furry paw over the light switch. The spark was enough to ignite the the gas and I jumped out of the window.
When my paws hit the ground I could hear an ear splitting shrieks coming from inside of my flat.
I didn't look back any more.
I ran as fast as my furry fours were able to carry me. I felt a strange pull in my chest. It was lessening every time I was running further south. So that was my direction most of the time anyway.
Somehow I knew that I wasn't crazy. Fuck, if I wasn't, that who or what was? The world, I decided.
I was a monster now and the little of my sanity that I had left has told me to keep to the darkness and to the forest.
I kept going to the south. I waited during the day, trying to crawl into the darkest holes and I ran during the night.
On the first day of my escape I could smell that wonderful fresh scent of water. I followed it straight away.
It was a slow flowing river. More like a stream actually.
I stopped a few feet from it. I looked down. Yep, the paws of the monster were still here. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. Now, or never, I told myself.
I trotted over to the water, and looked, and what I saw made my legs buckle and I sat on my haunches.
The first thing I noticed was that from the water I was staring at my own green eyes. That filled me with a hope, that somewhere in there I was still me.
I looked again and I saw a huge midnight black wolf's head with a touch of silver here and there. I marveled at the sight.
I allowed myself to get up and look at myself as much as I could. I noticed that my body was also black with dark silvery socks on my hind legs and the tip of my tail. The very tip, maybe the last inch of it was pure white though.
I didn't know how long I was running. The days blurred together and sometimes I found that I went round in circles never really getting anywhere.
Sometimes I would try other directions but the strange pull in my chest would make me turn back. The constant pain and running exhausted me. The lack of food was not helping either.
Sure, I passed some elk or other animals, but I still thought human and I wasn't even up for any kind of chase.
It must have been a fifth day or so, I couldn't tell for sure. I was on the brink of consciousness but I knew that I was here. The pain in my chest was nearly gone and the pull was replaced by a pleasant warmth.
The forest was beautiful here. In the light of the rising sun the shades of green were awakening to the world, shedding the darkness of the night.
I looked up and I howled. I didn't know why I did this. It seemed right, like I was welcoming the sun and the forest, my home.
I collapsed on the forest floor and soon the dark has taken me.
Paul POV
I was jerked awake by a lone howl. It was faint and distant, yet I heard it. Soon somebody was tapping on my window.
"Fuck, I can hear ya!" I shouted irritated. I was glad to be twenty one and to have a house to myself. I didn't have to explain why I was leaving through my window half naked.
My parents died in a car crash last year and the house was mine. That was their wish.
Jake and Sam were already waiting for me. I run to the forest and phased.
So what's up? I asked, though I already knew.
You heard that too? Jake said. I nodded my giant head.
We think there is someone new phasing out there, though we have no clue who that is. We are going to the clearing to wait for the rest of the guys, Sam revealed.
What do you mean you don't know? I was surprised.
Well, we haven't seen a bloodsucker around La Push lately and nobody has shown the signs, he quickly explained.
After few minutes we reached the clearing. One by one, my brothers an sister joined us.
All right guys. Unfortunately nobody was phased at the moment the new wolf howled. Embry and Quil phased minutes to late to take over mine and Jake's shift. Though our senses are enhanced as human, there is no telling where the sound came from. So we spread and search the forest, Sam finished his speech.
What, you want me to waste the entire Saturday to look for a lost puppy? No freaking way! I spat, but I knew it was a lost argument. What Sam says, it goes. Damn. I couldn't even use a cold as an excuse.
Stop whining dog! You act like a girl, Jake shouted.
Whatever.
So, with that cleared, Quil and Embry will take east, Brady, Collin and Seth will go west, Leah and Jared will go south, Jake, Paul and I will go north, Sam gave the orders.
What are we waiting for then? The quicker we find the looser, the faster I can chill out at my house, I said and I could feel Sam mentally roll his eyes.
As I predicted we wasted most of the Saturday. We were more of a search dogs that the wolves. My neck hurt from constantly having my nose buried in the ground.
As I was about to throw some smart ass remark and bolt for home anyway I smelled something.
Guys, do you smell that? I asked Jake and Sam who were few hundred yards away from me in each direction.
Yeah, we did, but it's definitely human though, Sam said.
Who is stupid enough to be so far from the trails, Jake injected.
My thought exactly, I agreed with my brother.
I followed my sensitive nose and after about ten minutes the smell begun to strengthen. Sam already called the rest of the guys and they were following us.
The sweet smell was getting stronger by the minute. We soon reached an old fallen oak tree, covered in moss and huge polyporuses.
Sam, Jake and I stepped on the log and what we had seen there, suddenly made that Saturday worth every freaking effort.
Jake snorted at my train of thoughts but agreed with me.
There, on the soft bed of mosses laid the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. No it was a woman. She had beautiful long, black hair but I could notice some red in it.
Her smooth, golden skin was only a shade lighter than my own.
Her body would put every Greek goddess to a shame. And did I say that she was completely naked?
I decided to phase and carry her, she looked dead to the world.
As I was about to step from the log the rest of the guys arrived and the snapping sound echoed through the forest. Someone must have stepped on the twig or something.
I looked back at the girl and saw her staring back at me with the most extraordinary and beautiful green eyes I've ever seen in my life.
Yep, I was turning into a girl.
Nobody expected what happened next. We all waited for the screams and maybe a fainting. After all a huge pack of oversized monsters was something you don't get to see every day.
Instead her body started to shake to the point that it was a blur and in a split second, instead of that beautiful girl, an almost black wolf was barring her teeth at us and growling fiercely. And she was huge. Bigger than Leah anyway.
Well, that explains why we didn't know who phased, Jake stated.
Yay, another girl, Leah was bouncing up and down like a puppy who just got its treat.
She was even more beautiful to me now. Her strength and power and the fact that I could tell her everything made me want her so bad.
When I looked into those gorgeous green eyes again I felt as if my soul connected to hers and with one more missing piece we could be together. I would prove to her that we belonged with each other.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even realized when she attacked me. Everyone else stepped aside and we were now inside the circle formed with an oversized fur-balls.
She was weak, I could see that but the sudden adrenaline rush made her body agile again. She managed to take a chunk out of my thigh but I swiftly recovered.
I had to act quick, I could not bear to see her hurt.
I jumped on her and we tumbled over couple of times with me landing on top of her. I had to act on the instinct and I bit her soft flesh on her exposed neck. Not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to pin her underneath me.
After few moments she stilled and started to whimper.
Somebody has to phase and explain everything to her, I can't let her free till I know she won't bolt, I said.
Sam, Jake and Leah phased and tried to talk to her. Scratch that, Sam and Jake tried before Leah shut them up.
"Hey, look at me," she spoke gently to the wolf pinned by my jaws, "yes, that's a good girl. I know that this is all confusing but we can explain it all to you. As you probably figured out you are not alone in all of this," Leah looked her in the eye and nodded after a few seconds. Whatever she's seen in her eyes, must have satisfy Leah.
"All right boys, get out of sight for a moment, I don't think she want's to show you more that she already did."
"Are you sure honey?" Sam spoke to her.
"Yes."
"How?" Jake asked.
"I don't know," she pretended to scratch her chin and think hard about something, "gut feeling, intuition. You know, we women are actually equipped with those things." Leah was a mistress of sarcasm. The black wolf snorted underneath me.
"All right guys, I trust Leah, you too Paul," and reluctantly I let her go. She didn't attack me this time.
We went about a mile away so the girls could have their privacy. Next minutes proved to be the longest in my entire life.
Finally, after what seemed to be an eon, Leah emerged from the forest with the lone she-wolf in tow.
Leah, talk to me, I said to her through the mind link. She could feel my desperation.
Don't worry buddy. She agreed to join us. She hasn't got any other family anyway, she said.
Anything else? What is her name? Sam asked.
No, she said, she will explain everything once she's got some clothes on. She isn't comfortable with all the nudity, and anyway she isn't part of the pack yet anyway, Leah explained.
All right, lets go home then, we have the bonfire to organize, Sam ordered.
A/N. So what do you think?
All right I know that there will be some questions about imprinting.
I know I used it in some of my other stories but I really hate the idea, or rather the randomness and lack of choice.
To cut long story short when the wolf sees the girl he really likes, his soul, man and a wolf within are drawn to her and he has to fight for her acceptance. It's a bit like in nature, when males have to show off a bit to be accepted.
When the girl decides that the man is worthy, she will let him into her heart and soul, ultimately bonding the souls in the unbreakable bond.
If she will reject him, he won't sulk to the end of his days, he will move on in time, not straight away though.
There is an unwritten law among the pack brothers. If one of them is after a girl, no matter how hard it is, no other pack member is pursuing her at the same time.
I hope, that this makes sense.
That is my version of imprinting, where both sides have got a choice. I hope that you like it.
Another thing is Bella's green eyes. If you ever seen the most famous National Geographic cover with an Afghan girl staring back at you, you know what I'm talking about.