Chapter 1:

Reagan looked around her new room and loved it already. She loved every little detail about the spacious room. It already felt like home to her and she had been in it for less than an hour. The French doors that opened onto the balcony that overlooked the dense verdant forest were her absolute favorite part of it all. The room was half the size of the room she had at home in Seattle but the rustic, woodsy color palette suited her better than the bright and modern designer room at home. She would have to convince her father to instruct the newly hired decorator to leave this room alone. Reagan didn't want anything changed in this room. It would be her temporary sanctuary until she was forced to return to the misery of her normal life. She looked at her watch and realized it was closer to dinner than she thought and she had a few things she needed to pick up from the store before she could begin cooking.

Reagan and her father had only arrived a little earlier that day, to their new vacation home. Her father was downstairs busy with the interior decorator that he hired to update the "dingy cabin" as her father called it. Reagan had wondered why he had bought the place if he hated it that much. She figured the rising costs of the lands in this part of the state were what drew him to the hundred acre vacation spot. He was seeing it as an investment and not as a getaway location. He would never think of buying groceries so that they could eat, something like that was too mundane for him to even consider doing. It was up to Reagan to go shopping so they could eat.

She walked down the stairs to see her father standing in the cathedral ceilinged living room listening to the perky interior decorator rattle on about all the wonderful improvements she had planned. Reagan interrupted long enough to tell her father where she was going before escaping the house. Already she could tell that her father was going to destroy the warm feeling of the large home.

She climbed inside her black H3 and made her way out of the driveway. She turned left while fiddling with the buttons on the radio trying to find a good station out here. The distraction caused her to miss the sign telling her that she had entered the reservation instead of heading to Forks.

When Reagan entered the small town it became immediately obvious that she hadn't gone into Forks. She was about to make an illegal u-turn when she spotted a grocery store on her right. Reagan turned into the store on her right and parked in the nearly empty lot. The store wasn't large like that supercenters at home, but it was big enough to have everything she would need for the simple dinner she planned for tonight. Her father had mentioned hiring a local woman to be the cook/housekeeper for the summer. She was scheduled to begin in the morning so this would be the last night she would have to worry about cooking for a little while.

Jared, Embry, and Quil waited impatiently outside of the grocery store while Emily was inside shopping and Paul was busy flirting with the cashier. It was hot and they wanted to be at the beach, not waiting outside the store. The boys watched as a black Hummer pulled into the parking lot. It gleamed in the weak light of late afternoon like it was new. The engine was cut and to all of their surprise a petite girl jumped down out of the truck cabin. She looked over at them and said hello as she walked past them and into the store.

"I wonder if she's lost?" Jared asked out loud.

"Probably," Quil answered as all three of them continued to check out the black truck with the enthusiasm of young men.

Inside the store Reagan was pushing her shopping basket idly through the store picking up her favorite foods, as well as some of the ingredients she would need for the dinner she was making for her and her father tonight. She couldn't seem to find the minced garlic and was getting frustrated, she couldn't even seem to find a store employee. The one cashier she had seen was too busy flirting to realize that Reagan had a question. She could hear his deep voice cajoling her and the responding giggle of the girl from this distance. Not that Reagan could blame the pretty blonde girl, the man occupying her full attention was smoking hot. She had been drawn to him the moment she had entered the store. He was possibly one of the best looking men she had ever seen but as usual she wasn't even worth a quick look from a handsome man.

Finally Reagan turned an aisle and saw another woman shopping, her cart laden down with food. The amount of food was astonishing, it looked like she was stock piling enough to feed an army for a month. Reagan smiled and walked up next to the woman and stopped next to the taller brunette.

"Excuse me?" Reagan said to get the woman's attention. Her eyes were inadvertently drawn to the scars that ran down the stranger's face, before she forced herself to focus back on the soft brown eyes of the other woman. "I was wondering if you knew where on earth I would be able to find the minced garlic? I have wandered all over the place looking for it." She smiled again.

"Sure, I'm actually going that way now. Follow me I'll show you where they keep it hidden." The woman smiled and Reagan watched as she tried to quickly and covertly look her over. She was sure that this small town didn't get too many visitors so Reagan was sure that the other woman was just curious about the stranger in her store.

"Thanks," Reagan said as they walked side by side. "I'm Reagan, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Reagan, I'm Emily. The garlic is down on the bottom there." Emily pointed to a dark shelf tucked out of the way.

"I would never have seen that shelf. Thank you so much. I'm new around here, obviously." She smiled at Emily who smiled back. "How far is the beach from here?"

"La Push, it's not too far. Just keep heading into town and you'll see signs pointing the way." The tone of her voice was nice enough but there was a definite bush off in there. It was immediately obvious to Reagan that Emily was not going to open up to an outsider. It was just as well, Reagan had a hard time befriending people anyways.

"Thank you. It was nice meeting you." Reagan smile and Emily did the same before Reagan walked away.

Emily watched the girl walk away. She was nice and pretty but an outsider. Emily wasn't trying to be rude, but there was no place in her life for anyone outside of the pack. She had enough on her plate just being the "den mother" of the pack so to speak. She finished getting her produce and walked to the cashier right behind Reagan, who had just walked up.

Paul and the cashier, Katy, never even noticed the two women and their baskets standing there waiting to check out. Emily was about to gain Paul's attention when Reagan beat her to it. Emily watched as she tried a polite 'excuse me' first. When that was ignored Emily watched as Reagan took her basket and ran it into the back of Paul's ankle. She heard Reagan's fake apology and watched as Paul swung around in anger. She hoped that he remembered to keep his cool.

In that instant when his eyes met the innocent look of the petite woman Emily saw it happen. His brown eyes went from anger to a stunned realization in a micro-second. He literally looked like his world had been torn away from him and then handed back in a completely different form. Emily watched as Paul stumbled back slightly and looked to Emily in panic. She was lost about how to act too. None of the others had imprinted on a complete stranger before. Everyone else had at least had some kind of local connection to ease the bond along.

Before they could figure out what to do Reagan had paid and was wheeling her basket out the door. She was entirely oblivious to the man whose existence she had just altered irrevocably forever. Emily and Paul finally shook out of their stupor and looked around, but she was gone.

Reagan felt bad about hurting the handsome man in the store but she was in a bit of a hurry, well not a hurry, but she really should be getting back to her father to cook him some dinner. She pulled her keys out of her pocket and pressed the button to open the back of her Hummer. The same three men were still standing there looking bored. She walked to the back and started unloading bags into the dark interior. All three of them were watching her. She finished the last bag and looked over at the three of them watching her.

"You know it doesn't bode well for my summer to be any fun if it's so bad around here that the locals stand around in front of the grocery store for a good time." Reagan smiled. She watched as they all ambled over to her with smiles on their handsome faces. Up close they were younger than she thought and all very good looking. Their size made her think they were college boys in town for the summer. Now that she had a chance to look at them closer she guessed that they couldn't be much more than her own 17.

"It's not quite that bad. I'm Jared."

"I'm Reagan." She looked at the other two.

"Quil," answered the one standing in the middle.

"Embry." She smiled at each of them, they were so attractive and not at all like the boys she was used to talking to. The boys she was usually forced to interact with all acted like they were gods among men. These three, however, didn't have to try to be a man's man- it seemed to be something that just flowed out of them. It was a little overwhelming for Reagan. She thought they seemed very nice but she would never want to be on their bad side.

"So you just moved here or something?" Jared asked her.

"Well, I don't know where here is. But I did just move into a house just up the road. I thought I was going to Forks but I don't think that's where I am." She smiled at her own folly.

"Opposite direction from Forks actually. You are on the reservation." Jared told her. The conversation was interrupted by the door to the store opening. The soft voices of Paul and Emily arguing floated out on the air conditioned wave of air.

Reagan took that moment to let her eyes travel towards Emily and the guy from the checkout counter. He was even better looking in the sunlight. Reagan shook her head and started closing the back of her truck. The noise ended the argument as Emily left the guy and her basket and headed in her direction.

"Boys go help Paul load up the car. I'm sure Sam is waiting for us." Reagan noticed that Emily's whole demeanor had changed. Inside she had been polite but guarded. Now Emily approached her with an open smile and her body language was now open and welcoming as well.

"Nice meeting you Reagan." Embry said as they all walked away without argument.

"I'm glad I caught you. I wanted to invite you to dinner."

"Tonight?" Regan felt a little confused by the Jekyll and Hyde act of Emily.

"Sure. It can be a welcome to town thing. Sam and I always have a big crowd so I can introduce you around."

"That would be great but I can't. It's our first night in our cabin and I'm making a special dinner for my dad and me."

"That's nice of you to do. How about tomorrow instead?" Emily kept smiling. "Let's exchange numbers and you can call me for directions tomorrow."

"Sure. I'd like that very much." The women spent a few moments entering the others number into their cell and then said goodbye. Reagan looked towards the car with the four large men leaning against it. Jared, Quil, and Embry waved back at Reagan while the other stood looking anywhere but at her. She didn't know him but it hurt her for some reason that he was ignoring her. Reagan climbed inside her truck and drove home confused for even caring in the first place.

Emily walked back towards her car. She watched as Quil and Embry checked Reagan out as she levered her petite frame up into the high cab of the truck. Paul, she noticed, tried to look at anything but the small brunette.

"You are lucky that your brothers were there to keep her talking. What would you have done if she would have disappeared?" Emily accused as she got closer. Paul didn't answer and Emily huffed. The other three looked back and forth between the two. "Get in the car boys. Or run home but Paul needs to go see Sam." The other boys wasted no time cramming into the cramped back seat of Emily's car. They weren't about to miss this conversation. Emily very rarely lost her cool with any of them, so this had to be interesting.

"So what'd we miss?" Quil asked once Paul shut his door and Emily began driving out of town.

"Dammit!" Paul growled into the small space. "Why her? It's supposed to be someone we know. Not some outsider, rich bitch here on vacation."

"You know it only happens for a reason Pau." Emily tried to reason with the agitated shifter.

"Wait, what are we talking about?" Quil asked confused.

"Paul imprinted, numb-nuts." Jared answered as he looked his best friend over critically.

"On who, Katy?"

"That Reagan girl?" Embry asked catching on. Paul groaned again at her name.

"She can't even have a decent name. She might as well go by Muffy or something like that." He grumbled to the passing scenery.

"Give it a chance, Paul. Fate picked her for a reason," Emily reasoned. She pulled up in front of the house she lived in with Sam, she had made record time making it from town. "Everyone that can hear this better be out here carrying in sacks or you don't eat here tonight." Emily stated towards the house without raising her voice. In seconds several more boys were outside grabbing sacks.

Emily smiled as Sam walked up and hugged her. He let her go and looked at her. It didn't even take words for Emily to tell Sam that he needed to talk to Paul. He always knew what she needed. Sam nodded and set off to find the volatile boy. He found Paul not too far in the woods. Sam wondered what kind of trouble Paul managed to find this time.

"I guessed Em would send you after me," Paul stated without turning around. He knew it was Sam by the scent and the sound of his footsteps, Sam had a distinct walk.

"Why would she think to do that? What's happened?"

"I imprinted today?"

"That's great! Who is it? Rebecca? You and her have this thing going on I know. I thought she might be the one."

"Nope. I wish it were though. As usual I gotta screw up one of the most natural and basic things of our wolf natures."

"What do you mean?"

"I imprinted on a stranger. Some out of towner."

Sam didn't speak for a minute, just trying to process all of this new information.

"It will be okay. We will find a way to find out who she is and introduce you."

Paul let out a derisive snort. "Oh Em already took care of it. She invited the rich bitch over for dinner tomorrow."

"Don't talk about your imprint like that." Sam was appalled that Paul was acting so strangely towards his imprint.

"You didn't see her Sam. She drives this brand new Hummer. She wore diamonds in her ears and a fucking Rolex on her wrist. I can't compete with that."

The problem became clear to Sam then. It wasn't the imprint Paul was fighting, it was his own insecurities.

"You don't have to Paul. She is your sacred mate. It'll be the easiest thing you ever do." Sam clapped Paul on the back and walked away.