Authors note: I was thinking about how one of the pack members would react if in fact they couldn't stop phasing to grow old with their imprint, i chose Sam well i probably didn't write this well but nonetheless i thought i would put it out there and now it will be out of my head and i can think about other things for my stories instead of making an imprint die suddenly which i dont want to happen
The rain is pouring down, the air has a chill that I cannot feel and nothing is right in the world as my feet draw me closer to my destination. My thoughts drift back to imprinting, my recollection of the very moment my eyes met hers, she is what held me to this earth. Her life and my life intertwined to the most extreme, it is a mystery to me how my feet are still moving. Can it be that I am meant to survive this? Paul's arm rests heavily on my neck as he offers his condolences as we walk through the misty rain. I never thought I would live to see the day I say to him absently before he leaves me to my misery. No one can help me now, they all know it.
I stand here now with my children, though to the outsider looking in I appear to be more of a child than my family surrounding me. She lies there, her face wrinkled with age, her hair streaked with the graying of old, and I remain the ever ageless man I was when I met her. She is gone and nothing will bring her back, I never got to grow old with her and as she started to fade into the throws of time I watched her slip further away from me.
My children, all but two appear older than myself. The curse I have bestowed upon them which will led them to a life of suffering and pain keeps them looking young. It is my duty to protect, to claim the dead and soulless monsters who threaten the earth, but my will to live lies there in the casket before me. I was the first to phase, I am the first to suffer this great loss—will I have the capacity to go on?
I scan those around me, their tear filled eyes meet mine, the old man, trapped within a body of a 25 year old. Nothing holds me here, everything is gone, the pack's reassurance grantee nothing.
Her eyes are dead to the world, closed now for all eternity, the lines on her face bidden to memory just as the laughter that rang in her voice never to be heard from again. I am trying to be strong, putting on a face of calm, no emotion it is all not enough for her.
I reach for the first handful of dirt to cover the casket, clacking, thudding against the top sending a shock through my body. I collapse to my knees, it is final and unbearable, my children surround me as I feel my great heart shutter. The breath in my lungs forced outward, my eyes tear as I feel everything darken. My last thought is of Emily, her face just a memory, but still calming as ever.
