I don't own the characters. I attach strings to them and shout, "Dance marionettes! Dance for my pleasure!"

Patrol sucked with two imprinted wolves. Especially since I'm not imprinted.

Seriously, it was like watching some Nicholas Sparks movie every time they thought about their imprinted. The kisses, the slow touches, the whispers of love. Blegh. I shook my mane in disgust and bounded towards the forest, my friends following my flank despite the fact that Paul was supposed to be leading.

I loved when the weather was like this. The sun was out and the forest was gleaming like jewels. Every leaf on a tree looked like an emerald. I could hear a pair of doves chirping and the sounds of two buck battling it out for territory. It was peaceful.

Too quiet.

Suddenly we heard a sound that froze us in our tracks. A human female screaming and a crash among the trees. I nodded to Jared and Paul and we raced across the forest bed. We swerved through and jumped over fallen trees as we came to the base of a huge cliff.

A human girl was groaning, her left arm twisted by her side at a very unnatural angle. Her bag had apparently cushioned her fall, but I could hear the cracking of glass. Probably a broken camera or a pair of broken binoculars. The trees behind her must have cushioned her fall or else she would probably be worse off. I saw the sunlight glint off of a broken piece of the shattered camera that lay beside her.

With another groan the girl pulled herself upwards, some of her onyx hair covering her face.

My world tilted on it's axis.

There were no words to describe how absolutely beautiful she was. Coal hair fell over her shoulders in small tantalizing curls. Her black eyes and peach-colored lips widened in surprise when she spotted us, but she made no move to scream.

"Should one of us transform and help her?" Quil asked us through the mind link. "Obviously she's injured. She needs medical help right away. Dr. Cullen should be in the area. He'll help her better than any human doctor could."

Paul agreed and sent a message to Collin, who was closest to the rez. I didn't say anything, just staring at the beautiful human in front of me.

Is this what it's like to be imprinted? Suddenly the sun shone brighter. The world and it's colors came into a clearer focus. My senses were stronger now, just by being near her. I inhaled. She smelled like jasmine and smog. Probably a city girl. I nearly drooled.

Paul had to nudge me to get me out of my daydreaming. "Check it out. Human girl is doing something."

I saw the girl stand up and grab a large stick. Immediately she began smacking it against the ground and shouting things, yelling for us to go away. When we didn't move she began to pound on the ground with her good arm.

Paul and Quil began to laugh in their heads. "What's so funny?" I asked.

Quil snorted. "She's trying to scare us off. I once read that normal wolves get intimidated by large noises. She probably thinks that if she makes enough noise, we'll leave." They burst into laughter again.

"It's not funny." I snapped, shocking them both out of their laughter. "She's a human from the city who's probably never seen a wild animal before, much less three wolves the size of minivans! Give her some slack, alright?"

Paul bared his teeth at me. I heard her heartbeat speed up. "Why does it matter what a human thinks of us?"

"Stop it!" I snapped back. "You're scaring her!"

Paul snorted. "Like I care."

"Guys!" Quil shouted. "Seriously, you can argue later. Her arm is broken and she needs some help. Seth, transform and then circle back so you can help her to safety. Paul and I will head back to the rez and get everything ready for her."

Paul bared his teeth at me again. "Don't think this is over pipsqueak. I'm going to enjoy kicking your sorry ass."

I snarled, startling the poor human again. "Just try it Paul. You, of all people, need a good ass kicking." I smirked. "I'm just sorry Rachel can't be around to enjoy it."

"Why you little–"

"Enough!" We both whimpered (though Paul would never admit it) as Jacob's Alpha voice settled over us. "We heard from Collin. I left Jared's car nearby so it won't look strange and Carlisle is on standby at the rez and ready to take her to the hospital. Stop arguing and do as Quil says."

We nodded in our heads, all of us turning around and running out of the human's line of vision. I couldn't wait to meet her.

"We heard that."

"Huh?"

"Is she your imprint?"

If I was human I probably would have blushed. "Yeah. At least, I think so."

Quil's wolf grinned. "Figured. Only an imprinted wolf would snap at Paul. Congrats man. Hope everything goes well."

I thanked him as I shifted.

It was a bit of a jog on the way back, but nothing I couldn't handle. I was more worried about her.

I had never felt so...I didn't even have a word to describe what I was feeling. It was like the moment I laid eyes on her I knew that she would be my entire world. That I would do anything she wanted just to please her. If she wanted me to jump off a cliff in Billy's wheelchair, I would ask how soon.

The sound of her whimper prompted me to speed up my jog.

When I found her she was struggling to stand up. The adrenaline from earlier was probably wearing off. "Hey!" I shouted to her. "Are you okay?"

Her beautiful eyes widened. "Thank God. I need help. I fell from that ledge," She pointed to the cliff above us. "and I think I have a concussion." She winced. "I definitely have a broken arm. Probably some broken ribs, but I won't know until I get my chest checked out."

I nodded. "I have a car about half a mile away from here. Do you need me to carry you?"

She thought about it for a minute before slumping. "Yes, thank you."

There are no words on this earth to describe how right she felt in my arms as I pulled her up against me. I felt like I had been missing something my whole life and suddenly she was the perfect piece of the puzzle.

A cough brought me out of my day dreaming. "Are you going to move anytime soon? There are huge wolves in the area," I almost laughed. "and I don't want them to come back."

I blushed. "Sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind." I started jogging towards Jared's car. "What's your name?"

"Scarlett." Beautiful.

"So why were you out here, in the middle of nowhere?"

"I was taking a hike, taking a few pictures. All of a sudden the ledge I'm on gives way and before I know it I'm falling." She sighed. "Kathy is going to kill me."

"Who?"

She waved off my question with a question of her own. "What were you doing out here, miles from any available phone?"

"I was jogging and I heard you scream." I quickly lied.

"You didn't see any wolves, did you?" She seemed terrified. " 'Cause I've seen some huge ass animals and I've never seen wolves that size before."

"They're not that common." I assured her. "So what's your favorite movie?"

She took in a sharp breath. "Excuse me?"

"I'm trying to distract you so you don't feel as much pain." I quickly defended myself. "So, favorite movie?"

She rolled her eyes. "Burlesque."

"What's that?"

She gave me a look that made me feel a little stupid. Thank goodness the car was only a few yards away. "You've never seen Burlesque before?"

"Should I have?" Note to self: research possible good movie.

"It's the movie that gives every straight guy a boner."

I nearly dropped her. "What?"

She rolled her eyes. "Stripping, Christina Aguilera, really sexy dancing, a semi-sex scene, the showing of womanly assets. Seriously? I thought every male would have at least watched it once."

I nervously laughed. "I'm not like every other guy."

She rolled her eyes again.

When we made it back to the border of the rez Carlisle was waiting with Jasper. Jasper was probably there to calm her down. All of them were grinning, so either Jacob or someone else must have told them she was my imprint. Ugh, the whole pack is going to throw a party once they find out.

I set her down a few feet away from them. "This is Carlisle." I introduced. "He's the best doctor around these parts. The guy behind him is one of his sons, Jasper. Carlisle, Jasper, this is Scarlett."

Carlisle came forward. "I wish we could have met under more pleasant circumstances, but it is a pleasure to meet you Scarlett."

She waved off his apologies. "It's fine." She spoke quickly. "I'd just like to get to the nearest hospital as fast as we can, if you don't mind." She looked almost as white as Carlisle. Her arm must have been hurting her more than I thought.

"Of course. If you will please follow me to my car I will personally escort you to the hospital." He turned to me. "Would you like to come with us Seth?"

"Of course." I said the exact same time that Scarlett said. "It's okay." I turned to her. "I don't mind. Really."

She looked like she wanted to protest, but shook her head and asked where Carlisle's car was.

Three fractures, two in her upper arm and one on her lower arm, a small concussion, and four bruised ribs. She was lucky, considering how far down she fell. She couldn't do anything strenuous for a few days and her arm had to be encased in a cast. Even then, she wouldn't be able to really move it for three weeks. Carlisle decided to keep her in the hospital overnight just to be safe and without an actual excuse, I had to leave her side.

"Seth!" She called to me before I left. "Thank you so much for helping me." Her smile could have blinded a lesser man it was so bright.

I walked out of that hospital a happy man.

I ended up wandering down to the beach where, surprise surprise, the pack plus Renesmee was there waiting for me. The stupid grins on their faces told me that I had some spilling to do.

Jared was the first one that pounced. "So, what's she like?"

I played dumb. "Who?"

He rolled his eyes and gave me a good knock on the head. "Your imprint, stupid. What's her name?"

I blushed. "Scarlett."

Leah laughed. "Only you would imprint on a girl whose name is the color of blood."

I blushed harder. It was no secret that I had a better relationship with the Cullens than most of my pack. Even so, mutual trust was slowly building between the two groups. Leah has yet to follow in our footsteps, but she tolerated the Cullens much more than she did before Renesmee was born. She tended to make blood and fang jokes when she could, except now we all knew that she was doing it teasingly instead of as an insult.

I nudged her. "Shut up."

Jacob sat down next to me and put an arm around my shoulder. "Don't worry about Leah. What's she like?"

I grinned. "She's feisty. She wouldn't accept the morphine Carlisle wanted to give her because she said she could handle the pain, even with bruised ribs and a broken arm. I had to distract her by asking her about herself. She is 24, drives a 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 because she likes the speed," Jacob, Quil, and Jared whistled and nodded approvingly. "her favorite food is tomato soup, and she currently lives in San Francisco, although she says she's not staying there for long. She came here to take a vacation as a break from her job. She said she was taking photos when the ledge beneath her collapsed and she fell."

Renesmee grinned. "She sounds wonderful!"

"Did you tell her about imprinting?" Sam suddenly asked.

I shook my head. "She's already gone through so much in just a day. It wouldn't be right to tell her about our pack right now and freak her out even more."

"You do know you have to tell her." He gently reminded me. "Or else she'll leave without knowing what you are to her."

I had to clench my fists to stop from snapping at him. I hated being reminded that she might leave. "I know." I said curtly. "I'll tell her soon."

Her voice stopped me from entering the door to her hospital room the next morning.

"What!" Scarlett nearly screamed. "What do you mean you don't have a hotel ready for me?"

"I'm sorry." An apologetic voice said back to her. "I've been very busy trying to reorganize your shows and find new venues. Not to mention my laptop was thrown out a window so I've been kind of a wreck all day."

"How was old Herby thrown out a window?"

"Don't ask." The voice sounded exhausted. "Anyways, I've canceled the Seattle show and we don't have to go to Philadelphia until three weeks from now. I want you to rest and try and recover as much as you can."

"What about you?"

"I'm taking the first flight I can to Paris in two hours. One of the owners of the venue there wants a meeting and since you're injured, I figured I would have to do until you recovered."

I heard her sigh angrily. "I wish I could go. Parisian managers are always the hardest to please."

"It's not like I'm totally helpless without you. I am your manager. It's my job to keep you working."

Scarlett sighed again. "I know. So you really have no hotels for me right now?"

"Sorry. I can pull some strings and get you a room at the Davenport in Spokane, but it's a three hour drive and I don't think you can make the trip on your own."

I chose that moment to knock. "Scarlett?"

There was silence before she shouted back, "Come on in Seth."

I opened the door. A woman was sitting next to Scarlett at the head of her bed. Her bright blond hair was tied back in a clip, a few small strands escaping the bun and clinging to her neck. She was dressed in a business suit, but with her tired eyes and slumped posture she looked anything but ready to tackle a business meeting in another country.

She stood up and walked so that she was right in front of me. "You must be Seth." She held out a hand. "I'm Kathy, one of Scarlett's friends."

I shook the hand. If she noticed the way my huge hand seemed to be several temperature degrees higher than her own, she gave no notice. "Nice to meet you."

Suddenly she wrapped her arms around me. I was over a foot taller than her and she only came up to the top of my chest. She smelled like breath mints and salt. "Thank you." She whispered. "Without you..." She shivered despite the fact that I was warmer than her. "I don't even want to think about what those wolves could have done to her, or if anything else happened to her if you weren't around." Kathy scrambled to write something down on a piece of paper I swear she pulled out nowhere. She placed the crinkled piece of paper in my sweatshirt pocket. "That has my business cell phone and emergency cell phone number. If you need anything at all, some money, a date, plane tickets, you call me and I'll get you what you need." Kathy grinned. "It's the least I could do for the guy who saved my best friend." She glanced at her watch and her eyes widened. "Jesus Christ, is it that time already? I need to get going if I'm going to make my flight." Kathy turned back to Scarlett, walked over to her and, to my surprise and horror, kissed Scarlett's cheek for several seconds. She then hugged Scarlett one more time, told her to call if anything else happened, and then she was gone.

Scarlett giggled at my surprise expression. "What? Was that too much for you?" I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Scarlett giggled louder. "Sorry. Kathy comes from a big family, so she tends to be really affectionate towards people she's grateful and close too."

"So you guys aren't..."

Her eyes widened adorably and she quickly shook her head. "No no. We're just really good friends."

I almost breathed out a sigh of relief. At least she was attracted to guys. It would have been a lot harder to romance her if she was a lesbian. I replaced Kathy and sat on the chair next to the head of her bed. "How are you?"

She blew a strand of black hair out of her face as she answered. "Dr. Cullen is nice, but he thinks that it's better if I stay here until tomorrow so I don't overexert my arm." She sighed harshly. "It's not like I had anywhere else to go anyways. The hotel I was supposed to be staying at was prank called and they thought that I had booked out. They already promised a refund and my stuff is safe in the hotel vault, but I don't know where I'm going to stay for the next three weeks."

If it was one of the pack I was going to kill them. "Why don't you stay at my sister's place then?" Leah was going to flay me alive. "She's got an extra bedroom and she's been talking about renting the place out. You can stay there."

Scarlett grimaced. "I don't know Seth. I mean, I've never even met your sister. Would she really be okay with me staying there?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll talk to her as soon as I leave."

"You told her WHAT!"

I winced as Leah's shrill voice echoed through the mind link. Currently we were out on patrol together and I had just told Leah about Scarlett and my conversation that morning. Several of the others groaned at the pitch of her scream. I tried to calm her down. "Please Leah? It would be creepy if I just up and offered her a room at my house. Besides, it will allow us to have her closer. Not to mention your house is much cleaner than mine." I bowed to her, my paws almost covering my nose. "Please? For me?"

She sighed. "You so owe me for this."

I sprung up and nearly tackled her with licks. "Thank you thank you THANK YOU!"

"Alright alright!" She growled. "Now get off me you mutt!"

I gladly did as she said.