Seth POV

As soon as her car was out of reach there was a longing feeling in my heart, but I couldn't dwell on that, I knew I'd see her soon, at least I hoped I'd see her soon. I let the warmth flow through me and suddenly I was on all fours with voices screaming in my head.

You did it! Jared screamed.

Congrats man, Paul hoarsely said.

What the fuck, man? Oh, god, this was the voice I was hoping I didn't have to deal with. My cousin! Jesus, Seth! It was just us two now, Paul and Jared probably though it best to leave us alone.

I'm sorry, man. I couldn't control it! You know what it's like; you have Clair! I explained.

Yes, but on my cousin. On Isla! I missed her already, I needed to see her. Stop thinking about her!

Well then stop saying her name! Listen Quil, I know it's annoying that I imprinted on your cousin, but you know how it works. You know that I only want what's best for her.

Fine, I guess we're cool, I know you didn't mean to be a jerk. I replied. Just don't hurt her, or I'll hurt you!

Hah! Like you could! I'm such a better fighter than you! I joked.

You wish! I got to go, Isla's arriving.

Isla? A wolfy grin spreading over my muzzle.

Just let her get settled, come over in a couple hours. And with that, he was gone.

I spent the next few hours dreaming about Isla. I needed a game plan, I needed her to trust me, to like me, and in the future, to love me. I'd had some experience with women in the past, but I wasn't exactly "smooth". I showered, loving the feeling of the warm water washing away all the grime from the woods. Staring in the mirror I wandered what I'd look like old. I hadn't aged for over 5 years, but I didn't look 15. Because of my muscles and height I looked 18.

I dressed in jeans and polo, something simple but nice, I wanted to make the best impression on Isla. Hopefully, this would work. Looking at my watch, exactly 3 hours had passed since I talked with Quil, so I raced to his house.

I ran in human form; I didn't want to get my clothed too dirty. I knocked on their door, thinking it would be weird if I just barged in. Quil lived on his own, he was studying to be a doctor and Quil Sr was lending him some money. Quil always wanted to be a doctor, so the whole pack was proud of him, but with all the time he spent studying, patrolling and seeing Claire many of us were worried he was taking on too much, but he promised he was okay. And now with his cousin staying over, I was scared he'd breakdown from stress. Isla could always stay over at my house? Stop it, Seth! Gain her trust first!

"Hi, man," it was Quil. I was a bit nervous seeing him face to face. I didn't know how protective he was of his cousin; well he didn't mention her before so I didn't think that protective.

"Hey," I said, shaking his hand. "Where is she?" I whispered to him.

"She's in the kitchen," he said and I was immediately spinning on my heals in the direction of the kitchen, but then there was a strong grip on my hand. I turned around to see Quil giving me a look which meant "Be careful", so I nodded in return and he let me go.

"Quil, how spicy do you like your chilli con carne?" Isla asked as we entered the small kitchen, even with 3 people in there, it was a bit crowded. She spun round to look at us with her hair up in a messy bun, apron tied around and reading glasses on. She gave a little gasp when she saw me and a red tinge spread across her cheeks, she was obviously not expecting more guests from what she was wearing, but she was still extremely beautiful.

"Really spicy, please," Quil replied, plopping himself down on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Hi Isla," I said, not able to wipe stupid grin off of my face.

"Oh, hi, Seth. Erm, let me make some more chilli, you're going to stay for dinner, right?" She enquired, reaching into the cupboard.

"If that's okay, I don't want to cause any trouble," I replied, whilst reaching up and grabbing the spice she couldn't reach, from the cupboard. Smooth, Seth.

"No, it should be fine. You'll have to wait a little longer though," she laughed whilst winking. Oh, boy! I thought, whilst the wink stopped my heart. This girl was perfect, she cooks, jokes and is gorgeous. I don't know how I lived without her.

We spent the rest of the evening laughing, joking and eating. We sat for 2 hours around the dining table; we told stories and just learnt more about each other. Quil was really forgiving about the situation and didn't make it awkward. I think he was jealous, I felt bad for him. Claire was only turning 8 and he couldn't wait until the day when he could have a normal adult relationship with her.

There was a question which needed answering immediately and whilst Isla was clearing the table I pulled Seth into the cramped living room, our heads just hitting the ceiling.

"What was that for, man?" Quil said, rubbing his arm.

"Does Isla, you know, know?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows in the hope that he would get my meaning.

"No. Well, she know the legends, Quil Sr told them to all of us but she doesn't know the truth," he replied. That was not good, that meant I would have to explain everything and that could potentially mean she might get freaked out and leave me, or just never be with me.

"Don't worry man, it'll be fine," Quil comforted, my disappointed was clear, apparently.

"I think I'm going to go to bed, I'm kind of tired from the journey," Isla said, appearing in the living room. "Night guys, it was nice meeting you, Seth," a blush spreading over her, and then she left for her room.

"She likes you," Quil said, punching my arm. I couldn't trust my face, so I just smiled, staring back at the stairs.

"I should probably go, I have work early. I'll see you soon," I said, shaking his hand. I thought suddenly occurred to me and before I closed their front door I popped my head back in. "Could you tell Isla that she's welcome to come by the garage tomorrow so that we can look at her truck?"

"Sure, man" Quil laughed, and with that I left. I was proud of my plan, I had an excuse to see her, and it wasn't a creep stalkerish one either.

I ripped into my wolf form as soon as I hit the gravel, not caring about the destruction of my clothes, I was too happy to care. I could hear her in her room, and I smiled. She was truly perfect. I wanted to see her through her window, but I didn't want to be a peeping-Tom so I settled with listening to hear through my expert wolf ears.

I wanted to make sure she was okay, so I stayed for a while. I guess when you imprint you get this over bearing sense to protect your imprint, from anything; the weather, a fall, themselves, other people… vampires. I couldn't let anything bad happen to her. Just as I was about to leave I heard a whimpering sound, I listened carefully and realized it was someone crying. I slowly approached Isla's window and sure enough it was her. Isla was hunched over sobbing into her hands. I didn't know what to do; it felt like an anchor was pulling on my heart and at the same time I was so angry at whatever was making her upset.

I whined quietly, hoping Quil would hear me and thankfully he did.

Seth, what's wrong? He asked, he'd phased instantly in his room.

Why's Isla crying? I asked with a hint of anger in my voice.

She's going through some stuff at the moment, man, he tried.

Stuff? What stuff?

I don't think it's right if I tell you, it's not my place, he explained.

No, she's my imprint I have a right to know! I was full out yelling now. I dropped from the window, hopping my growls weren't loud enough for her to hear.

Look, she'll explain it to you if she wants, but don't go asking her. It's a big deal.

No! I need to know! I need to make it better! But Quil never answered, he phased back.

I stared there that whole night, I couldn't leave, not with her upset. I wanted to ask her why, but I could hear Seth's tone and I knew I shouldn't. She would tell me, she had to tell me.

As soon as the sun came up, I awoke from the little den I made nestled into the woods next to Isla's room. I peeked through her window making sure she was okay, she was asleep, peacefully. The skin around her eyes was red and there were tear marks on her cheeks and to see her like this physically hurt. I didn't want to leave her, but I needed to get to work, plus talking this out with Jake will probably help.

I arrived at the garage early, hoping I could speak with Jake in private before too many people arrived and thankfully I arrived just after him.

"I believe congratulations are in order," he said whilst patting my back.

"Thanks, but, erm; I wanted to talk to you about that," I said whilst helping him open the great garage doors, "I might need some help."

"Sure, no problem. Your brothers came to me when they imprinted and I went to Sam," no need to be embarrassed. I respected Jake a lot, he helped us as a pack and now we were so much stronger and closer, but more than that, he was a good friend.

We walked into the empty garage, surrounded by tools and the smell of oil and grease. I like the garage, spending time here relaxed me, Jake taught me all that I needed to know and I was one of the best, but he will always be the fastest with a spanner.

"So, how's Nessie?" I asked when he led me into his office on the side of the garage.

"She's good, she's graduating soon and I think I might propose soon," he added.

"Wait, what? You're going to propose?" Jake nodded from behind his desk, "Congrats man, that's amazing. Did you ask Papa Vamp?"

"Yeah, I asked this morning. He wasn't too happy about it, but I abided by all his rules, so I guess he can't say no."

"Rules?" I asked, while making myself comfortable in the terribly tacky customer seats.

"Yeah, well he had a few," I nodded as if in encouragement, "I needed to tell her about imprinting before engagement, which I did on her 4th birthday, I needed to make sure I never hurt her and I needed to make sure we would wait till our wedding night," he said, getting quieter and quieter with every word.

"What? You mean you're still a virgin?" I half yelled, half laughed.

"Yeah, I'm only ever going to do it with Nessie and we had to wait! It's not like you're running around town exactly," he joked, but with her tender hint of anger in his tone.

"Okay, okay, touché, touché," I said throwing my hands up in surrender.

"Okay, so I'm guessing you had a real reason you wanted to talk to me and not just to find out about my sex life or lack thereof," he enquired.

"Oh, yeah, well I had one major question really," I replied looking at my hands, I didn't know how to phrase this well, but Jake was patient and gave me time to think.

"Well, we all know I imprinted, and we know that the chances of us being together or just being in each other's lives forever is high," Jake nodded". So, I guess what I'm asking is, when is it the best time to tell her about everything? I know now isn't a good time as we hardly know each other, but I feel like I'm lying to her and I don't want to do that to her," I finished, twiddling my thumbs.

"I guess you can never really know. The thing with telling her everything isn't just about how she'll take the information, but also what she'll do with it," I looked at him in confusion. "What I mean is that telling her is about trust, so, when she feels she can trust you with some private or meaningful information, you can trust her." Jake's theory made sense, I guess all I could do was be there for her now and be patient.

"I guess you, right. What did Nessie tell you to make you know you could trust her?" I asked, completely curious.

"Hah! Like I'll tell you," He joked, with a roaring laugh.

"How come we don't know? I mean, surely you've thought about on patrol or something."

"Seth, when you are alpha you are able to control your thoughts more and more. Didn't you realize that when we're together I'm hardly thinking?" It started to make sense, all of us younger or more inexperienced wolves found it harder to filter our minds but our alphas, Sam and Jake, were more guarded with their thoughts.

"Oh, yeah, I see that now. Well thanks Jake, I better go work on that Chevy I saw out front," I said waving. When I left the office, everyone had arrived and luckily people were too busy to see me walk out and question me.

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