Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for things you do not recognize. Song credit to The Dirty Heads

Thanks for the immediate response to this story already. This story is going to take me a little longer to get out because I'm disconnected to my inner sixteen year old and I have an essay due in two weeks. Also, I wanted to tell you that this will probably be the last update until next week since I'm going home this weekend.

Thanks again for all the great reviews!


"Check the level 'cause something's coming over me!"

Check the Level


This summer was already turning out to be pretty boring. It was the third day of break; three days since Steve had died. And the only thing I had achieved in the three days was making Joel angry enough to phase into a wolf for the first time and taking Stevie on daily walks after lunch.

Our walks were therapeutic for both of us. I could tell that he missed his Father and I needed a chance to get out of the house away from Ian, Livy, and Mom. I loved them and everything, but there's only so much a girl can take before she's had enough tea time.

I was pulled from my musings when Stevie suddenly jerked on the leash, causing it to go flying out of my hands. We both knew that the leash was only for appearances since he usually was well enough behaved to trust without a leash. Well that, and the fact that he was way stronger than I was. Nonetheless, the bastard took off running towards the woods.

"Stevie!" I yelled and started to chase after him.

What had gotten into him? He knew better than to just run off like that. By the time I reached the line of trees he was already way ahead of me and I suddenly found that I couldn't move another inch towards the forest.

I hadn't been in there since I was seven and I had planned on never going back. Yeah, I knew that there were good wolves like my uncle, but there were also real wolves; wolves that wouldn't hesitate to attack me. Or worse, there could be bears.

But Stevie was my dog and after just losing my other dog I couldn't just let him run into the woods all by himself. So I took a deep breath and ran into the forest, following the sounds of his excited barking.

When I finally found him, he wasn't alone. He was looking up at a very naked Joel Uley. Neither of them noticed me at first, which gave me ample opportunity to rake my eyes over the very sculpted body of my former best friend while he rubbed my dog's back.

I sucked in a breath when my eyes dipped below his waist and both his and Stevie's eyes met mine. What happened next was pretty weird. I had expected Joel to at least try to cover himself when he realized I was there, but instead he just kept looking at me. I started to fidget under his intense gaze and was thankful that Stevie had finally wandered back over to my side.

"Would you put some clothes on or something?" I finally said.

He was quiet, but when I dared to look back up at him again he had on a pair of low slung cut offs and his brown eyes were still staring right back at me in wonder.

"Let's go Stevie."

"Wait." Joel called.

"Why should I?" I snapped back before I picked up the other end of Stevie's leash and started back to where we had come from.

***

After the little incident in the woods I stuck to my room. I came down to eat dinner, but right after I finished I wandered back up to my room. I couldn't get the image of him out of my mind! It seemed like only days ago he had been a lanky thirteen year old, but now at nineteen he definitely was not lanky. He was…well I wasn't going to think about that anymore.

"Hey is Addy there?" I asked once Aunt Kim answered the phone.

"She is, but let me pry her away from Embry first."

I knew the story behind their imprinting and now that Addy was eighteen things were starting to heat up between them just like things were between Abby and my uncle. Jared was not happy, that was for sure.

"Hi." Addy breathed into the phone. "What's up?"

"I saw Joel naked in the woods today."

"Whoa!"

"Yeah tell me about it." I rolled my eyes.

"Did you see his…?"

"Yes, but I'd rather not think about it right now thanks."

"No problem- what's going on? Why are you leaving Embry?"

"Meeting at the Mires." I heard him reply.

"What? There's no meeting here!" I cried into the phone just as I heard the front door open followed by the sounds of loud male voices. "Okay so apparently there is. I'll call you back okay, Addy?"

"Alright."

After I hung up with her I opened my bedroom door and listened to what was going on downstairs. This little meeting was definitely not a happy go lucky one, if the raised voices were any indication.

"Hell no!" I heard my Dad yell angrily. "She's only sixteen! This is unacceptable!"

"Paul, we knew this could…" I couldn't hear what else Mom said as she used her quiet soothing voice to calm Dad down.

"He doesn't have a choice, Paul." Sam stated. "You know that just as much as I do."

"That doesn't mean I have to like it."

It was at that point that I got fed up listening to them talking about something that so obviously concerned me. So I walked out of my room and boldly headed down the stairs to where everyone was gathered in the living room.

"What is going on?" I demanded, immediately gaining everyone's attention all at once.

My eyes met Joel's first before I quickly looked away and into Dad's eyes.

"Go back to your room." He ordered.

"No!"

"Viola Lee, go to your room now!"

"She needs to know, Paul." Jake said from his position in the corner. "Joel, tell her."

What the hell was going on? I quickly turned my attention to Joel, hating that I had to find my answer from him. When our eyes met his face seemed to brighten and my rebellious body shivered as I remembered what I had seen earlier in the woods.

"I imprinted on you."

"No." Was my reply.

"What do you mean no?" Jake demanded. "You're his imprint."

I shot Jake a glare. "It means that I don't want to be his imprint."

Jacob chuckled darkly, "Don't be a brat; you don't get a choice."

"Don't talk to her like that." Dad demanded. "I will handle her, she's my daughter. For now I want everyone out except for Joel."

Whoa! What the hell Dad? Don't get rid of them, get rid of him!

I was still glaring at him in shock when everyone else was gone. Mom stood up from the couch where she had been sitting next to Dad and turned to face the three of us.

"I'll leave you three to it; Livy needs a bath."

No! Don't leave me Mom! That's what I wanted to say, but instead I kept my mouth shut. Once Mom was out of the room Dad patted the spot next to him on the couch which also happened to be across from where Joel was sitting in the easy chair. After a moment's hesitation I sat down and waited for Dad to begin.

"Alright, this is how it's going to be. Joel, you're nineteen and she's sixteen. That means that until she's eighteen years old you are not allowed to pursue anything romantic with her."

I scoffed; as if I would let him try to get all 'romantic' with me.

"And Lala, you have to agree to let him see you at least one day a week until you're eighteen; then you can decide for yourself. Don't give me that look, young lady. If you remember correctly I imprinted on your Mother years ago and I know that nothing is worse than being away from your imprint. I don't care that you're still mad at him, figure it out or something because you will be seeing a lot more of each other."

Joel had the nerve to smile at that, which of course set me off.

"You ass-"

"Viola."

Damn, Dad could be really scary when he wanted to be.

"Fine, he can be around me, but that doesn't mean I have to actually talk to him."

Dad sighed, "Someday you're going to look back on this and realize just how immature you were. But what else do I expect from a sixteen year old?"

"I don't care, Mr. Mire, as long as I can just make sure she's okay." Joel stated.

Oh gag me. He could've cared less before whether I was hit by a car or not.

"Now that that's settled, you should be going on patrol and we should be going to bed."

"Good night, sir." Joel stated before he turned to me with a hesitant smile. "'Night, Lala."

***

"He imprinted on me, Addy." I whispered into the phone.

Even though Dad had stopped phasing years ago, he still had pretty good hearing, which meant that if he heard me on the phone at one in the morning he probably wouldn't be too happy about it.

Addy gasped, "He did?!"

"Yeah, as if things couldn't get worse now his life is 'devoted' to me."

"Don't make it sound like that, Lala. Embry is my best friend; being an imprint is wonderful."

"Yeah well Embry never broke your heart and then spit on it."

She sighed, "People change."

"He's only changed because fate has decided that I'm his perfect mate."

"Well that's because you are, but you're just being bitter about the entire thing." Addy stated. "I know you're not happy about this, but don't be too hard on him, Lala. I've got to go now, I think I hear my Dad coming down the hall and I don't want him to think I'm on the phone with Embry this late."

"Alright, I'll talk to you later."