TPI: Chapter Two: Claire

Opening my eyes I looked around the silent room. My head ached slightly as if I was coming off a hangover. How would I know what a hangover is at seventeen? Well, Quil let me have a few glasses of wine here and there whenever they celebrated and one night I had more than he to say I learned a valuable lesson and kept to the limit he set for me.

Who was the mystery guy I saw earlier? Why did I feel so strange when I saw him?

Where was everyone? Oh no, did Quil phase after all and kill the poor guy? Maybe he was out burying his body right now. Jumping up off the couch I raced out of the house and stopped in my tracks on the front porch when I saw that both Quil and mystery guy were standing a few feet apart with Jake Black between them. Jake was shooting them both a threatening look that caused my stomach to cringe in fear. Stepping down the steps and onto the yard I could hear what they were saying.

"This isn't possible Jake and you know it! No one has ever had a dual imprint. This kid strolls into town and into our tribe and brings a shitload of trouble for us to deal with and now this! OH hell no! He isn't staying at my house. I want him out now!" Quil was screaming at his best friend and tribal chief.

Jake rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms over his chest and let out a long sigh.

"We don't know for sure what happened between them. It might not have been imprinting at all. They are close to the same age, maybe it was like love at first sight." Jake started to smile but when Quil growled, he dropped the smile instantly.

"Not funny Jake!" Quil snapped.

"What are you two talking about? I don't know nothing about imprinting. All I know is that when I looked at her, I felt something inside of being literally ripping me in half. It was some scary shit man" The mystery guy exclaimed,looking equally as angry as Quil.

"Ryder, calm down. You don't need to get yourself upset. Remember what we told you about keeping control over your emotions. If you don't, you could accidentally hurt someone." Jake's voice vibrated with power.

"I know what happens when I phase. Trust me!" Ryder replied back, shoving his hair back as he exhaled loudly.

I stood there in total disbelief. I knew now the mystery guy's name was Ryder and he apparently was a wolf like Quil. However, I didn't think anyone outside the tribe had the ability to shift. This whole scenario was bizarre and I couldn't stop myself from staring at him. I knew Quil noticed my arrival and I felt his eyes on me but I couldn't break the trance I was in. Ryder looked to be around my age, perhaps older and there was something about him that made me want to run straight to him and just kiss him.

Whoah! Where the hell did that come from? I've never been sexually attracted to anyone, not even Quil, so why did it feel like someone had just injected me with some serious teenage hormones?

What did Quil mean by "dual imprint"? Was Quil implying that what I experienced with Ryder was the same situation that happened with us? Uh, funny I don't remember feeling anything remotely like that but then again I was only two years old at the time. Shaking my fuddle thoughts from my head I brought my attention back to the scene between the three men.

"Quil, let's not act rash just yet. Can you wait a couple of days for us to try and figure this all out before we make other arrangements?" Jake's voice pleaded with Quil to think more rationally.

"Are you serious? I don't know." Quil ran the palms of his hands over his face. He looked at Ryder with a stern frown and then his face softened as he glanced at me.

Ryder's head whipped around and his eyes locked with mine. My heart hammered in my chest and once again my senses were hit with a storm of electrical currents that made me want to claw his clothes off. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath of air and exhaled slowly. Opening my eyes I forced my attention away from him and focused on Quil. All the sexual turmoil I'd been experiencing suddenly stopped and in it's place I felt something warm and safe. It was a natural feeling and one I was accustomed to.

"Are you okay?" Quil's voice was soft and soothing to my ears.

"Yes." I gulped hard.

"Who is she exactly to you?" Ryder asked with a dangerous tone that sent my pulse racing. I continued to keep my back turned to him. I feared what might happened if we locked eyes again.

"She is my imprint." Quil replied with an equally dangerous tone.

"What is an imprint? Does she have an actual name?" Ryder snapped.

"Could you stop talking as if I'm not here." I felt my voice and my courage returning as I shot him a dirty look before quickly turning my eyes back toward Quil's direction. I knew I could trust my body and hormones whenever I was near Quil.

Jake approached me as the other two men kept a safe distance from me. It was incredibly hard on me not to look over at Ryder. The urge to get to know him and every possible way continued to arouse me. It was sickening and I hated myself for feeling anything for this stranger who clearly disliked what was happening just as much as me.

"Claire, I think it might be best if you went back to Emily's until we get this all figured out." Jake stated with a compassionate smile.

"What figured out? Who is this guy? Why is Quil so mad?" I asked as a sob broke out between my last question.

"He is worried that you and Ryder somehow imprinted." Jake replied.

My mouth flew open and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. That wasn't possible? Was it? If that was the case what did that mean for me, for Quil and this Ryder who continue to look as confused as I felt.

"NO! I will admit something freaky happened but it couldn't be that. I'm Quil's imprint. I've always been his." I cried out furiously.

"Clairebear, it's going to be okay." Quil spoke from behind Jake. Looking past Jake I saw that Quil, like me, was scared about our predicament.

"I...I don't even know him." I looked over at where Ryder stood with his hands on his hips and his face lowered while he stared at the ground beneath him.

"And if I have any say in the matter, you never will." Quil snorted.

"I think for now it's best you go home and once we get this settled then Quil will come talk to you." Jake looked at me with such a pleading look that I felt my frustration sizzle.

Jake was like a big Uncle to me and I knew he was trying to protect me from whatever was happening. It sucked but I knew it was for the best to go like he asked of me.

"Fine." I reached in my pocket and grabbed my keys and walked past him.

Quil walked with me to my car. I could feel Ryder's eyes burning a hole in my backside but I refused to look back at him. It would only cause me to react in such away that made me feel defenseless against myself. These incredible urges to reach out and touch him were confusing and frightening.

Quil opened my door for me. Turning to thank him I saw the pain in his eyes and it nearly ripped a hole in my heart as I drowned in his eyes.

"Quil I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen." My voice crackled.

"Shhh...I know that. No one has a choice in matters like this. Don't worry hon. You know I love you and I won't let anything happen to you."

The feel of his hand as it stroked my cheek gave me such a comforting feeling.

"Go home. I will come see you. I promise." He kissed my cheek where his hand had touched.

Nodding my head I got in my car and drove away without bothering to look at Ryder who I knew was watching me drive away.

XXX

It didn't take me long to get home and it also didn't take long before Emily and Bella showed up. They were both like my adopted mothers and although I loved them dearly at the moment I didn't want to talk about what happened at Quil's. I just simply wanted to take a hot shower and go to bed. Maybe I would wake up in the morning and discover the whole thing had been a terrible mistake.

"You need to talk about it. I know how scary it feels." Emily nudged my shoulder as she sat a plate of homemade cookies and milk in front of me.

Turning my head sideways I stared at her in disbelief. Did she really think cookies and milk were going to solve this dilemma? Bella sat across from me wearing her usual sober expression.

"You look like you need to eat something." Emily shrugged her shoulders as I glared at her.

"I'm not hungry." I pushed the plate away.

Bella grabbed a cookie and nibbled on it silently.

"What happened exactly?" Emily continued to barrage me with questions from the second she stepped inside the house.

"I don't know. I went over to Quil's and then this guy whose name is apparently Ryder stepped out of the spare room and suddenly everything inside of me began to explode like the fourth of July. Then I passed out."

That was all they were going to get out of me at the moment. I didn't dare share with them how I also felt like my whole body combusted into flames and how I knew that one touch from Ryder would ease the burn between my legs. It was ridiculous to even think much less say out loud. I wasn't really ever comfortable talking about the birds and bees with them before this and I definitely didn't want to hear their opinions on why up until today I felt frigid around all men. Even Quil.

"Wow! The Fourth of July, uh." Emily glanced over at Bella who cracked a smile.

"They were saying something about a dual imprint. What does that mean?" I asked curiously.

"Dual. Well, that means two." Bella mumbled between bites of her cookie.

"Duh! That's not helpful." I rolled my eyes sarcastically.

Bella and Emily merely shared a laugh despite my rude behavior toward them both.

"I've never heard of a dual imprint ." Emily replied.

"Hey, I've never even experienced an imprint." Bella shrugged her shoulders.

"How can I be imprinted to two men? And what does that even mean? I mean...how can I...you know...be with the both of them." I gulped hard as unwanted images of both men naked surrounding me made me lightheaded.

"Do you mean as in sexually?" Emily gulped loudly.

Bella pressed her lips together and stared down at the table.

"Yeah. I think so." I frowned at them.

"I don't know if that is what a dual imprint implies but once Jake and the others get this all settled we will know more. I wouldn't worry about the ….well...intimate issues of it until it is necessary." Emily suggested.

"Who is Ryder? I've never seen him before today." I asked suddenly as it occurred to me that I never did learn why he was here in the first place. Quil mentioned he brought trouble with him.

"Oh that. Well, let's just say that Sam got a rude run in with his good for nothing Dad earlier today. It seems that Josh Ulley went off to California and met a woman he claimed to love enough to have another offspring with. Ryder is Sam's half brother." Emily explained.

"No way! Ryder is ...one of the pack." I covered my face with my hands as the pieces began to fall into place.

If Ryder was Josh's son then he must have learned he had the wolf gene and that was why Quil jumped to the quick possibility of an imprint. Poor Sam, this couldn't be easy on him. For years everyone wondered if Josh was dead or alive. Now it seemed he was less concerned about the son he abandoned many years ago and started a new life for himself.

"Yes." Emily said.

"Wow, funny Ryder didn't look anything like him. In fact now that I think about it, he looks more like Embry than Sam." I thought out loud.

I noticed that both Emily and Bella once again shared a knowing look between them.

"What?" I demanded.

"There has been rumors for years that Josh could be Embry's biological father." Bella replied.

"Dang! This day just gets better and better." I snorted rudely.

"Why did Josh bring Ryder here now, after all this time?"

"I think we all know the answer to that." Emily sighed heavily.

"Do you mean he phased?" I chewed on the corner of my lip.

Emily nodded her head.

"I only thought the wolf gene would kick in when they were in close proximity to vampires."

"Yes and apparently there are vampires in California." Emily replied sadly.

"So Josh brought him here to what? To be trained?" I looked between them and saw that like me they were just as frustrated by the arrival of Ryder.

"Yep." Bella answered.

"I'm tired." I stood up and started to walk away but the sound of a truck pulling up stopped me in my tracks. Running to the front door I hoped I would see Quil. Instead I watched Embry stepping out of the vehicle. I half waved at him as he made his way up to the house.

"Hey Claire. I hear you've had a rough day too." Embry chuckled roughly before pulling on the tip of my nose. It was a habit of his since I was a small child.

"Something like that." I sighed.

"Don't worry. Quil will straighten this all out and before long we can get rid of Ryder and our lives can go back to normal again." He smiled tenderly at me but I saw the doubt in his eyes.

We both knew that once Ryder was trained the only way he could really get permission to leave La Push was if he quit phasing and even then it would take at least six months before permission would be granted. The council would need hefty assurances that he wouldn't lose his cool somewhere and burst into wolf in public. Just like the cold ones, we were very protective of our sacred supernatural abilities.

"I wish it was that easy."

I turned and walked away from the three sets of eyes that were watching me closely. Walking into my room I grabbed my night clothes and then went to the bathroom where I soaked in a hot bubble bath until my skin wrinkled. Normally a bath such as this one would ease my heartache or any other worries I might have but tonight it didn't have the same effect. Climbing out of the lukewarm water I changed into my clothes and brushed my hair and teeth before I snuck off into my room. Closing the door behind me I sat on the edge of the bed and stared out of my window where a full moon shined a brilliant ray of light into my room. Tears trickled from my eyes as I wondered if this new imprint would somehow destroy or break my old one with Quil. Once upon a time I would have been excited at the prospect of not belonging to Quil due to imprinting but tonight I wished harder than ever that I would never lose Quil and the magic between us.

XXX

I wasn't sure how long I had cried but eventually I fell asleep with tears staining my face. A soft nudge to my leg woke me up and I sat up abruptly in my bed and nearly smack my head into Quil's.

"Shhh...it's just me." Quil whispered as he pushed my messy hair out of my face.

"What time is it?" I yawned.

"It's almost midnight." He replied.

"What took you so long to get here?" I snapped harshly. I saw the pain that flickered across his face from my foul mood. Instantly guilt washed over me. He didn't deserve my anger. Neither of us planned this nor expected it to come our way.

"I'm sorry. I just..." I tried to apologize but before I could get the words out his lips brushed over mine. My body jolted from the foreign feeling of his mouth on mine. We'd shared kisses on the cheek before but nothing quite this intimate. Quil wanted to wait until I was legally of age before we allowed ourselves the pleasure of exploring one another.

"You know I love you Claire, right?" Quil asked.

"Yes." I licked my lips tasting the flavor of his kiss. I was pretty sure he'd been drinking before his arrival.

"I don't have the answers you need but I promise I will get to the bottom of this. I don't plan on sharing you with Ryder or anyone else. You are mine. You've always been mine." His voice was raspy and filled with sadness that tore at my heartstrings.

"Quil, I'm scared." I admitted.

Quil wrapped his arms around me, pulling me up against his muscular chest. Laying my head against him I enjoyed the sound of his familiar heartbeat as we shared a quiet moment between us.

"I will fix this. I don't know how but I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe." He vowed and sealed it with a kiss on top of my head.

"I know." I whispered. "Can you stay with me?"

It had been so long since he slept in the same bed with me and I longed for his nearness so badly.

"Sure." He answered without hesitation.

Lying down with his arms wrapped around me, we fell into a contented sleep and for a few hours we were able to forget everything that happened before today.

XXX

A/N: So what do you think so far? More to come soon if you guys are interested in reading how I saw things changing for Q/C and how they find "real" love with other people. Sorry if the Q/C scenes freak anyone out but keep in mind she is 17 almost 18 and not a young innocent child in this story. Xoox August