CHAPTER 1
Quil:
Quil looked up toward the ceiling as he tried to keep any moisture out of his eyes. He cleared his throat roughly as he tried to force himself to not think of it as Caire leaving him. He could barely force his feet forward as he continued to move away from the spot she had left him in. He was looking up already but immediately pivoted so that he could see the board of incoming flights. Jacob's flight was twenty minutes ahead of schedule. Perfect. He quickly thought to himself as he took a deep breath filled with heavy emotion and sat down at the bench in front of the baggage carousel that Jacob's luggage would eventually come out on.
Quil spent the next forty-five minutes hanging around baggage claim, tossing the tennis ball that was still in his pocket from the day before, up in the air and trying unsuccessfully to not think about Claire currently boarding her flight while he fingered her promise bracelet in his hand and wondered what it would mean for them.
"Um…why do you have makeup on top of two ridiculously large hickeys?" Jake voice suddenly greeted him from behind before he had even started watching for him.
"Hey!" Quil greeted him excitedly as he stood to hug his oldest friend before grazing his now shoulder length hair with his hand as he pulled away. "Nice hair, Man. It's very Fabio."
"Yeah," Jacob laughed unfazed, "Nessie saw a picture of me from high school and suddenly she wants me to grow it back out again! Aw well… my dad would have liked to know that I grew it out long again at least one time, and it gives me a chance to teach the kids more of our heritage instead of all the fifteenth century vampire crap Carlisle is always spewing on them!"
Quil had to laugh in response to just how bizarre Jacob's life truly was. At least he Quil would never have to worry about his kids learning more vampire than human history.
"So, Claire doesn't mess around does she?" Jake commented. He looked up at him in confusion before Jake gestured at his own neck and said, "That's some serious work there."
"Do me a favor and don't mention it. Claire clearly doesn't want anyone to know about it." Quil said while thinking of the makeup on the skin of his neck.
"Sure, sure." Jacob nodded unconcerned, "Where is Claire? I thought she would have come with you."
Quil had to bite the side of his cheek and look away before he cleared his throat so that he could speak.
"She just got on a plane… She's leaving for a while." His voice shook when he admitted it.
"You're kidding. What happened?" Jake asked sounding obviously confused.
"Bennett Callahan. That's what happened." Quil answered, suddenly irrationally frustrated.
"The kid? What did he do?" asked Jacob.
"He imprinted." Quil said as an explanation.
Jake just stared at him blankly for a solid thirty seconds before he said,
"Hold on. Let's get my bag and then you need to catch me up on whatever the hell has been going on here. Do you have anything to drink? Because I have a feeling I'm definitely going to need a drink."
Quil nodded and said, "I have some beer at my place."
Jake gave him an unsatisfied look but then Quil remembered, "Oh, I have that bottle of bourbon my mom gave me for Christmas!"
"That'll work!" Jacob said eagerly as he pulled his bag off the carousel and followed Quil out to his car.
The drive back from Seattle with Jacob was filled with Quil telling him everything that had happened (in deep detail) over the past two weeks with the pack. They were only about twenty minutes to the Makah Reservation when Jake surprised him by asking,
"So, what's happening between you and Claire?"
"What do you mean?" Quil hedged.
He realized that he probably should have expected the question but didn't particularly want to answer it.
"Well two weeks ago she was dating this kid Bennett… who is now a wolf… and has an imprint…. who it sounds like Claire knows personally…. And she just got on a plane the same day….AND left you with two hickeys that are pulled so deep they look like they hurt…. So, what's going on?"
Quil shrugged and stayed focused on the road instead of looking over at him as he said simply, "Yup. That's pretty much the gist of it…."
Jacob stared at him, obviously annoyed with his vagueness.
"So, why'd she leave?"
Quil's hands clenched down on the steering wheel and he had to force himself to loosen his hold on it before it snapped. He forgot sometimes exactly how long he had known Jacob Black and how Jake had this way of seeing straight to the heart of the matter. He knew he couldn't get away with anymore vague responses, Jacob would just keep bugging him until he gave him real answers, so Quil took a huge breath to brace himself before he could bring himself to admit,
"She's in love with Bennett… She didn't take it great when he imprinted today…in fact, she left because of it…"
Jake seemed a little shocked, but he took it in stride. He nodded his head for a second before he clarified,
"But she's giving you hickeys?"
Quil automatically rubbed at his neck suddenly resenting the hickeys and the way they made the situation look.
"It's not like that…" he said quickly.
"So… she didn't mack on you while she was still in love with someone else? I'm not going to lie, Quil, this looks pretty bad." Jake said like he was pointing out the obvious.
"It really wasn't like that….it was just a one-time thing…." Quil tried to lamely explain.
"Aw, shit, Quil!" Jacob immediately responded, "I left you in charge man! This isn't good…"
"What the hell are you talking about, Jake?" Quil demanded.
Jake had left him in charge and it wasn't a responsibility he had ever asked for or even wanted and yet it was the responsibility he lived up to every single day without fail.
"The way I see it, it's looking like you just took advantage of an emotionally confused sixteen-year-old girl- At least in Washington the age of consent is sixteen, so we won't have a legal issue but, seriously Quil, I should not have to be googling stuff like the age of consent for minors from my flight…" Jacob said like he had a headache at the thought.
"I didn't take advantage of her! Age of consent!? What the hell are you talking about!? I never touched her!" Quil instantly defended as he turned to give Jacob a hard stare, furious at the insinuation.
Jacob just turned to give him a skeptical look. "...Your neck says otherwise."
Quil quickly scoffed.
"I told you that was a one-time thing!"
"Okay, so you touched her just one time." Jacob said with a shrug, clearly not liking that thought much better.
"NO! I never touched her at all! She just sort of ….. snuck up on me yesterday… but we made out for like twenty minutes, that was it, end of story!" Quil rushed to defend, he couldn't believe that Jake actually thought that they had a problem here.
He raised his eyebrows and asked skeptically,
"Claire did that to your neck in twenty minutes?"
"YES!" Quil insisted.
Jake seemed like he was trying to digest the idea. "Damn Quil. I'll never be able to think of her as 'sweet little Claire' again…."
Quil laughed in response, he was just relieved that Jake finally believed him that he hadn't done anything with her.
"You have no idea!" Quil told him truthfully.
"What do you mean?" Jacob asked.
"It's likes she just has no idea the effect she has! She drives me completely CRAZY but then acts like it's normal to walk around the house in just her underwear and I'm the one who's insane! She still thinks I don't notice her somehow like that's even possible… How could someone not notice her!?"
It was a huge relief to finally express his pent-up frustration to someone and Quil blew out a huge breath he felt like he had been holding in for weeks now.
Jacob just gave him an evaluating stare before he said,
"Finally got there, did you?"
"What are you talking about?" Quil asked confused.
Jake just shrugged and then said,
"We've just all been wondering when you would get to this point since Claire was about thirteen…. Took you long enough…. but hey, you finally caught on."
"Who's 'all'? What point?" Quil asked even more confused.
"You know…. me, Sam, Seth, Leah, Paul, Embry,….basically all of us…." Jake answered casually.
Quil shook his head in disbelieving confusion, "So what? Are you saying that all of the original pack has just been getting together to wonder when I would notice Claire?"
"Well not officially, we've just all mentioned it in passing over the last few years that we wondered when you would FINALLY hit this point. We all knew Claire was young, but you wouldn't know it just by looking at her and so we just expected you to hit it sooner than this. Brady hit it with Sofia before she was even sixteen and then we all figured you wouldn't be far behind but that was what? Three years ago now…?" he explained casually.
"What are you talking about? What phase? What point!?" Quil asked more confused than ever and starting to feel frustrated that so much of the pack had been talking about it behind his back for so long.
Jacob looked slightly exasperated like it was obvious as he tried to explain, "Claire's your imprint, right?"
Quil just nodded, obviously Claire was his imprint.
"So that point, the point where she became your imprinted relationship."
"What?" Quil asked still as confused as ever.
"Look, believe me I get it. I imprinted on Renesmee the day she was freaking born, okay? So, for a while there was nothing else there, just her and me basically chilling through her childhood, right? And it was great, we had a ton of fun." Quil started nodding, remembering Claire's childhood the same way. "But then one day she just came down the stairs in a short dress that she had worn probably a million times before, but that day… whoa… man she just hit me like a ton of bricks… it was this crazy, intense, physical attraction that made me want to rip that dress off her right there." Jacob sounded blown away just remembering it. Quil nodded again understanding exactly the type of attraction Jacob was describing. "And after that it was always there, I could never not notice her again."
"So, it always starts that way? With that intensely crazy need for her?" Quil asked him finally understanding the point Jake was referring to.
"Yup. Well for those of us that find our imprints when their still young… the others, it all hits them at the same time when they first imprint." Jacob replied.
Quil nodded remembering the sensations he had experienced in the minds of some of the other wolves.
"So, I'll always…?" Quil started and then trailed off suggestively.
"Want to rip her clothes off every time you see her? Yup. It never seems to get much less intense." Jake answered his unfinished question.
Quil had to shake his head, dazed at the idea of having to live the rest of his life with that fire in him burning so intensely for Claire that it was almost painful, that had been messing with his head so much for the last week.
Jacob laughed like he could see directly into Quil's thoughts.
"It does get easier to handle when you're actually getting some real action… this type of teasing shit…" Jake said as he poked Quil hard right in the neck, "just makes it worse."
Quil nodded thinking that made sense but not seeing any relief in sight.
"How long has it even been since you had any real action?" Jake continued undeterred.
"Since before Claire." Quil admitted with a shrug.
Jacob started laughed again, "No wonder you aren't handling it!"
"Did Renesmee ever do this to you?" Quil suddenly asked him sincerely while gesturing at his neck.
"Oh yeah! She teased me all the time that first six months we got together. Drove me absolutely insane. Why do you think we got married so fast? She made it clear she wasn't up for anything less than a real permanent commitment and I knew that there was no way I wanted anything else but her so…." Jacob answered lightly.
Quil nodded with understanding, that all made perfect sense to him.
"So, what happens next?" Quil asked him, hoping for guidance.
"You fall stupidly in love with her until you can't think straight anymore." Jake said simply while rolling his eyes like the whole thing seemed ridiculous.
Quil nodded before urging, "Then what?"
Jacob turned sharply to look at Quil, obviously surprised to realize that he was already at this stage.
"…Then you tell her." He said while obviously watching for Quil's reaction who just kept nodding and asked significantly,
"And then?"
"…Then she has to choose you." Jacob said simply as if it was the only answer he had to give him.
Quil blew out a huge breath in frustration, wishing that he was at a step where he could actually actively do something instead of leaving the ball entirely in Claire's court. They were just pulling up to the garage. Jacob just sympathetically clapped him on the back.
"Come on let's go get that drink you promised me."
Quil nodded and led him inside where Butch seemed as sad as Quil was that Claire wasn't with him.
"You got a dog?" Jacob asked sounding surprised.
"Yup. With Claire…. two days ago." Quil emphasized as he pulled the bottle of bourbon out of the bottom of his nightstand, for some reason Claire never looked back there.
Jake just whistled long and slow as if he was sympathetic to how badly Quil wanted to have some sort of real commitment from an undecided Claire.
After that, they sat drinking together in silence for about thirty minutes before Jacob seemed to take a bracing breath and then said,
"Alright. I need to meet the kid."
Quil finally felt the relief of Jacob taking his responsibilities back. He blew out a relaxed breath and answered,
"I'll have to track him down."
Jacob nodded his head at Quil as he pulled out his phone and pulled up Bennett's contact. It rang six times and then went to voicemail. Quil didn't trust himself to leave a voicemail that wasn't full of undue frustration toward this kid who hadn't chosen any of what had happened in the last ten days…
"Any idea where he'd be?" Jacob asked him when he hung up without leaving a message.
"Nope." Quil said, popping the P.
Bennett wasn't on patrol tonight and Quil had no idea what the kid did with his time if he wasn't being babysat. Quil knew that even before he was a wolf he spent all his time either playing sports he was now no longer allowed to play due to his new supernatural abilities, or with Claire.
"He imprinted on Claire's friend today, right? So, let's track her down." Jacob replied.
It took less than twenty minutes before they spotted Bennett's mom's car parked behind the football field of the high school. Quil pulled the Camaro up less than six inches behind it before he and Jake got out and walked around to the driver's side. Bennett and Macy were going at it so hot and heavy in the backseat of his mom's crossover that they didn't even see the two giant sized men coming for them.
Quil had zero hesitation when he abruptly yanked opened the back door and grabbed Bennett by the back of his neck from where he was on top of Macy, mostly horizontal, and yanked him roughly out of the car.
"What the hell!? Quil?" Bennett asked, clearly shocked.
Quil just threw him directly to Jacob as he grabbed his T-shirt off the floor of the backseat and then slammed the door on Macy who was hurriedly re-buttoning her blouse.
"Bennett, meet your real pack leader. Jake, meet the newest dumbass to join our ranks." Quil said as calmly as he could manage.
Jacob let go of Bennett, so he could shrug into his shirt as he calmly asked Quil,
"I thought you said Claire's friend that he imprinted on had a boyfriend?"
"She does as far as I know… Bennett?" Quil asked pointedly as Jacob joined him in staring him down.
Bennett just shrugged sheepishly and said, "We're soulmates, right?"
"Oh… they're soulmates, Quil! That explains it! …How long were you with your imprint before you ever kissed her like that?" Jacob asked Quil pointedly.
"Fourteen years, Jake." He answered readily.
Jacob whistled through his teeth and said, "I think that's a record… I know Sam didn't wait that long with Emily."
"Or Jared with Kim." Quil added helpfully, knowing exactly where Jacob was going with this.
"True! How long did Brady wait with Sofia?" Jake asked him while grabbing onto the back of Bennett's neck again.
"About a year. How long did you wait with Renesmee?" Quil replied.
"Almost five years." Jacob admitted with a casual shrug. "Now that's nothing on Quil waiting for Claire but it sure as hell beats one freaking DAY!" Jake continued seeming to get louder and slower with each distinctive word.
"Too true!" Quil agreed readily.
"Now I think Paul was the fastest with Rachel. Man, that sucked Bennett, let me tell you because she's my sister and I got a front row ticket to Paul's dirty mind, but remind me Quil, how long did it take Paul to get to her like that?" Jake continued.
"Maybe a week and a half." Quil mused.
"A week and a half… That was the record to beat… and boy did you beat it! Quil, how long has it been since Bennett imprinted on Claire's friend back there?" Jacob's tone seemed to find a threatening edge underneath its continued friendliness.
"Well Jake, it looks all of about eight hours!" Quil answered seriously.
"Eight hours, Bennett! Wow. You must be a real badass! Look at you already hooking up with Claire's friend! What's her name again?"
"Macy! And quit calling her 'Claire's friend', it's not like that!" Bennett shot back, and Quil was impressed with his nerve if nothing else. If Quil could take him down in two seconds than Jake could do it in one…. Or maybe half of one…. not to mention the fact that Jacob was about a solid three inches taller than he and Bennett.
"Oh, I think it's exactly like that! Let me make something clear to you, Bennett. You think you have pull with the pack because you're a wolf and what? Because Leah is a sucker for a side kick?"
"That's exactly what I said." Quil chimed in casually, backing Jacob up from where he was leaning against the car a few feet from them.
"But Claire has been a part of this family for the last fourteen years. In fact, that girl was still in diapers when you found her, wasn't she, Quil?" Jake asked without looking away from Bennett as he kept staring him down,
"Yes, she was." Quil responded confidently.
"So, when I see the newest member of MY pack, disrespecting her, along with whatever her name is in the backseat there, not to mention what's-her-name's boyfriend. Well then… it's my job to teach that dumbass his place." Jacob told him just as Quil's phone started vibrating in his pocket.
Quil pulled it out to see Claire's beautiful face from her caller ID photo showing that she was calling him much sooner than he would have expected her to. He could hear Jacob saying, "Does she even know what you are yet!?" As he railed into Bennett which felt immensely satisfying to Quil. He didn't hear Bennett's response but then Jacob said furiously, "Oh, she knows she's your imprint!? Well what would we do without that!?" Just as Quil answered Claire's call,
"Hey, babe! Did you land already!? How was your flight?"
"Hi!" Her sweet voice responded sounding much happier than she had when she had left, as Quil continued walking away from Jacob still railing into Bennett behind him. "Yup. I'm just taking the tram to baggage claim, but I wanted to tell you that I landed, and the flight was good! Is that Jacob yelling in the background!?" She asked surprised.
"Yeah, it is! We're just getting some business done. So, tell me about your flight!" He responded quickly trying to distract her.
"There's not a lot to tell, it was pretty uneventful. The flight crew was really overly helpful because of my broken arm!" She offered up helpfully.
Quil just laughed knowing how important it was to her to feel independent and how much she didn't enjoy being fussed over publicly and being made the center of attention.
"I'm sorry, Claire, that sounds awful!" He teased her cheerfully.
She laughed in response and then asked, "So, what's Jake so upset about?"
"Just …..Collin…" he answered vaguely as he heard Bennett say indignantly to Jacob behind him, "Quil has two hickeys on his neck right now!"
"Mmhmm, is that right?" She said disbelievingly.
"Yup!" Quil said innocently.
"'Kay, well I want to talk to him." She replied without hesitating.
"What? Who?" He asked surprised.
"Jacob. I want to talk to him, you know before he rips 'Collin' apart for my benefit." She answered unfazed.
"Ooh… I don't think that's such a good-"
"Quil…." She said with a distinct warning tone in her voice letting him know how serious she was about her request.
"Alright." He instantly caved. "Whatever makes you happy."
"Thank you!" She replied immediately sounding bright again.
Jacob cut off from his angry rant at Bennett standing two feet in front of him as Quil whistled for his attention.
"It's Claire. She wants to talk to you!" He said as he tossed the phone at him and saw how nervous Bennett immediately looked about the fact that Claire wanted to speak with Jacob.
"Hey, Claire!" Jacob said in a surprisingly bright tone considering how deadly he had sounded when Quil interrupted him.
Quil couldn't hear Claire on the other end so she must have been purposefully speaking softly enough so that no one would overhear.
"Oh, great! Yeah, Nessie and the kids are great… Yeah, they miss you too. We need to fly you and Quil out to Paris this winter for a visit …." He laughed at something she said, "….. is that so?..." he asked doubtfully. "…well that's true… and what about Quil…. Well I can't argue with that….." laughter again "Alright, Claire, well it was great talking to you!... Okay, I will, I'm sure they send their love back." Jacob finally looked back at Quil as he tossed the phone back and said, "She wants to speak to you again."
Quil quickly walked away again before he turned and said into the phone, "Hey, what was that about?"
"Just setting the record straight." She answered simply.
"You didn't trust me to do that?".
"More like I don't trust you to be unbiased." She said good-naturedly.
"So, then what did you say to him?" He asked her curiously.
"Oh, just making sure we're on the same page." She responded. He laughed a moment later when he realized she was quoting him from the day before when she had asked what her dad had said to him.
"Touché." He replied.
"Isn't it!?" She laughed and then said, "Hey, I gotta go though, my bags just came up."
"Alright, sweetheart. Call me before you go to sleep?" He asked her easily even as he bit down on the inside of his cheek and waited for her reply.
"Promise." She answered sweetly without hesitating, "Oh, gotta go, there's my aunt! 'Kay love you!"
"I love you too." He responded though probably with a lot more meaning. He was completely surprised that she had chosen to say it at all after their goodbye at the airport. "Bye, hon." He said at the same time she said, "Bye!" And hung up.
Quil got back to Bennett and Jacob just as Jacob was saying,
"Quil's going to take Macy home now. You get to be my sidekicktonight while I get to go sort Collin out next."
"I should at least take Macy home!" Bennett immediately resisted.
But Jacob just laughed as Quil scoffed and said, "Bennett." At the same time he clapped a hand down on his shoulder. "I had to trust you with my imprint for four solid months… It's time for me to return the favor! Besides, you need a chance to get to know Jacob better!"
Bennett seemed like he would be fine to not know Jacob any better but didn't have any choice in the matter as Quil let him go and opened the door to the backseat where Macy was still hiding out.
"Hey, Macy. I'm Quil, I'm going to take you home now, so why don't you grab your stuff and hop in my car." Quil said in a friendly tone not wanting to freak her out.
She just looked at him in what seemed confusion for a second before she said, "Wait, aren't you Claire's uncle?"
"What did she just say!?" Jacob asked in complete disbelief before he started laughing hysterically, "Is that what people think!? That Claire's your niece!? No wonder she doesn't want people to know about your hickeys! Talk about awkward questions!"
"Claire gave you those hickeys!?" Macy immediately asked sounding both disbelieving and scandalized.
"Thanks a lot, Jake!" Quil immediately responded annoyed.
"Sorry!" Jake said as he kept laughing.
"Come on, Macy, I'll take you home." Quil said already counting down until he could get home and wait for Claire to call again.
He said goodbye to Jake by kissing him serenely on the cheek the way they only ever did when they wanted to freak out a new wolf into thinking they were now a part of the Quileute wolf mafia or something.
Jacob responded with his usual perfect timing when he said seriously, "Welcome to the Family, Macy. We always take care of our own." before he clapped Bennett hard on the back.
The entire drive home Macy hounded Quil with questions. This wouldn't have been surprising since she was now Bennett's imprint and entitled to know everything, except that Bennett hadn't told her anything about being a wolf yet and all of her questions were about him, Claire, and their relationship.
"So, you aren't Claire's uncle?" She accused him.
"Definitely not." He responded immediately, wanting to make that as clear as possible.
"Then why would she say that you are?" She instantly challenged him.
"Because our relationship is complicated and it's not something most people can understand." He quickly explained trying in vain to answer her questions as quickly as she was asking them.
"So, you're in a relationship?" She fired at him obviously looking to find the dirt.
"Are you and Bennett in a relationship?" He fired right back at her.
"How old are you?" She shot next without answering his question.
"Twenty-four." He answered, immediately trying to make himself as close to Claire's age as he could believably get away with.
"And Claire kept her relationship with you a secret? That's why she lied about you being her uncle?" She instantly asked so she must have believed his lie about his age.
It was exhausting. She kept up like that until he literally shoved her (gently) out the door she had already opened while continuing to barrage him with personal questions that were honestly none of her business. By the time he left her on the sidewalk in front of her house and drove quickly away he had a much better understanding of why Claire couldn't stay here to be around Macy and Bennett.
He just wanted to go home and wait for Claire's call saying she was going to sleep so that he could too. He was relieved when she called right as he was walking through the door and he didn't have to wait at all to hear her voice as he threw himself down on his bed exhausted. Butch immediately curled up next to him and laid his head on Quil's stomach where Quil pet him lazily as he got to hear the most beautiful sound of the voice of the woman he was so in love with, speaking softly to him for over an hour about nothing in particular before she quietly said 'love you!' again and said goodnight. Quil hung up the phone and smiled to himself as he fell asleep on top of his bed fully clothed with Butch on top of him.