Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

STORY NOTES: The pack have always lived in Mystic Falls, end of. The phasing started when Stefan and Damon returned to Mystic Falls. Bella does not exist, not many of the Cullens do but Rosalie will make an appearance. Elena sort of replaces Bella's role – Jacob was in love with her, but she was with Stefan. He pursued her until he imprinted on Bonnie. Bonnie was with Damon, but left him for Jacob. You ask why the pack hasn't destroyed Damon? Ah, good question. I have the answer – Bonnie cares for him still, therefore hurting him would hurt Bonnie, they can't hurt Bonnie because she's an imprint of a pack member. BOOM.

DESTINY
Leah Clearwater/Tyler Lockwood
Imprinting is supposed to be easy, but nothing is ever easy for Leah Clearwater or Tyler Lockwood. Both of them hot-heads and with hidden secrets, will they be able to bond or will they tear each other apart?

"What the fuck have you done to my car, Leah?"

A booming voice full of rage and irritation echoed off of the car park walls, bouncing around the large area and announcing the arrival of Sam Uley – the owner of the now beaten down and damaged car. Leah was almost surprised by the fact that he had managed to sneak up on her like that, normally she sensed his arrival a mile off, but this time, she didn't see him or smell him, just heard him bellowing at her. She hadn't been paying attention her surroundings. Right now, the only thing she could focus on was Tyler and even as Sam began to shit bricks about the state of his once-upon-a-time-Volvo, she couldn't even find it in her to look at him or acknowledge his presence. She didn't laugh cruelly or spit insults at him. She didn't protest her innocence and pretend she never did it. She literally just stood there, eyes fixated upon Tyler and his gorgeous physique. Sam's voice was nothing but an annoying hum in the distance, like the buzz of a bee at a barbeque.

Tyler could feel it too. He couldn't feel it as strongly as her, but it was obvious he was feeling something – some form of strange bond that he couldn't explain which was drawing him closer to this sexy little female in short shorts. His eyebrows were formed down into a frown of confusion and even suspicion, unsure of what these knots in his stomach actually meant. Normally when Tyler felt knots in his stomach it was due to too much alcohol the previous night, never to do with a female. He didn't get stomach knots or sweaty palms or anything of that crap. He just got some and got gone. Yet, despite this, he couldn't force himself to look away – he couldn't break the eye contact between himself and this other chick. It was as if they were both magnets trying to repel against each other but unable to deny the connection. He shifted his body weight from one foot to another in an attempt to stop himself from just striding towards her and closing the distance between their bodies.

He wanted her. He wanted all of her. He wanted to move forward and envelope her in his arms. He wanted to press his body against hers, mould them together and be able to feel the pleasure of her curves pushed against him. He wanted to let his hands roam freely over her, explore her. Another part of him, the part that was controlled by lust, wanted to turn and punch this douche of an ex-boyfriend in the face for ever leaving such a delicate thing. Whoa – what the fuck – Delicate? Since when did Tyler ever refer to a woman as delicate, especially one who had just been seen beating the shit out of another dude's car?

Something was wrong with this scene and Tyler began to grow uncomfortable – just as Leah was. See, imprinting was supposed to be simple. It was supposed to be easy – it was supposed to be a happy moment. But imprinting was commitment and here stood two people who found the very thought of such a thing absolutely terrifying. Therefore, they weren't quite feeling the simplicity right now. They were merely feeling the fear as they began to feel less and less in control of their bodies and emotions.

Leah wanted to run. For so long now, she had whined and bitched that she wanted to imprint or have someone do it on her. She had thought it was what she wanted, but now it was happening, she wanted to escape it as soon as possible. She wanted to stop floating – she wanted to come back to reality. She felt like a puppet on strings and she didn't appreciate that. She didn't even know Tyler apart from the behaviour she'd witnessed in the past and the things people had told her, not to mention the fact that he was three, maybe four, years younger than her. She was twenty two and he was what...eighteen, maybe nineteen?

"LEAH!"

Sam wasn't shouting as a pissed off ex-boyfriend anymore. He was shouting as a pissed off Alpha and Leah bit down a whimper as an electric shock of pain shot down her spine at the fierceness of his command. Her hands clenched into fists, fingernails digging into her flesh and she considered ignoring him, but she knew she wouldn't be able to. Oh, how she hated this part of being what she was – against her will, she would always be at Sam's orders. As if he hadn't put her through enough shit. Swallowing hard, Leah slowly turned away from Tyler to look at Sam, her expression almost dazed, as if she wasn't sure where she was or even who she was. Her eyebrows lifted upwards and she said nothing, almost as if she had no idea why he was so angry.

"You carved your fucking name into my seats?" He hissed through gritted teeth. His eyes were wide, looking like pits of darkness as he glared at her. His hair wasn't its usually neat self, but untidy where he had clearly grabbed and tugged at it several times in frustration. As usual, no shirt adjourned his body, leaving his muscular and tone chest out for all to see though for once, it didn't bother her. His fists were clenched and his shoulders hunched, as if he was trying his hardest not to phase right there and attack.

"Uh..." Leah's hand came up to rub the back of her neck nervously. What was he talking about? For just a few seconds, she had completely forgotten what she had done. Her eyes searched the area, falling upon her master piece and she frowned slightly. She wanted to mock him – to laugh at him, to tell him that was what he deserved, but she couldn't even remember why she had done it now. He'd said something to her, something that hurt her feelings...but now her feelings were consumed by Tyler Lockwood and they couldn't remember anything else. "Yeah...apparently I did." She finally responded, shrugging her shoulders lamely and turning to look back at Sam.

Tyler sniggered at the sidelines, clearly thinking she behaving like that on purpose and Leah's pride swelled slightly at the fact he'd found humour in her words.

"Apparently you did?" Sam repeated slowly, disbelief in the tone of his voice. "Apparently you did?" Now he sounded raged again.

"Did I stutter? That's what I fucking said, Sam." Leah snapped, her tone ice cold. She didn't need his dysfunctional shit right now. She had just imprinted which was terrifying but glorious at the same time. Everything was so confusing – so much was going through her head and she wanted to escape it all, but no, Sam had to put some blame on her first. Okay, sure, she was in the blame here, but Leah was choosing to ignore that fact right now.

"You know what, Leah, what the fuck is your deal?" Sam demanded, taking a step towards her. Leah stood firm and didn't back down.

"Judging by the state of your car, I'd say probably you. Just a guess though." Leah responded sarcastically. She sounded bored and she was – she was bored of him trying to boss her around, she was bored of his attitude, she was just...bored of him full stop. And that was when she realised something – right now, as he stood there, screaming at her, glaring at her...all she felt was boredom. She didn't feel that usually pain in her heart. She didn't feel that horrible nostalgia shit. She felt nothing. It was as if, all of a sudden, her feelings for Sam had been wiped, like a slate being cleaned. One of her hands came up and she ran it through her hair. This was all too overwhelming – her whole life felt like it had suddenly drastically changed within seconds and she couldn't take it. She needed to just...get some space, find some time to think.

Sam strode towards Leah and his fingers curled around her arm, snatching it in his tight grip as he forced her to make eye contact with him, his temper getting the better off him. His fingers were going to leave bruises, but they'd heal within the hour anyway. "This is the last straw, Leah. I was lenient with you at first – I've tried to make it easier on you, I've tried saying sorry, but this is it. You can't just go around behaving like some spoilt little brat who can't get her own way, destroying people's properties and – "

Her alpha never got the chance to finish his little rant because suddenly, a hand curved around his arm and yanked. Sam growled slightly, his eyes widening in surprise as he physically stumbled backwards, being forced to let go of Leah on the way. He caught his balance to stop himself from falling over and his head snapped in the direction of the person who had grabbed hold of him – he was angry, but at the same time, confused. No human should have been able to move him like that – not as easily as Tyler had made it seem anyway. The kid didn't even look stunned by the unusual body heat Sam's skin had nor had Sam felt any coolness when the hand had snatched hold of him.

"I think you need to back the hell off, mate - looks to me like the lady doesn't want you touching her." Tyler growled through his teeth. He looked just as enraged as Sam. His eyes were dark, his lips pursed into a thin line and his own fists clenched, preparing himself for a fight. He wasn't sure what had happened – one minute, he'd been dazed and drawn to this woman and now, all he wanted to do was kill Sam. He wanted to tear him limb from limb just for daring to grope at Leah like that. Tyler was known for having uncontrollable anger issues after all.

"Looks to me like this isn't any of your business." Sam growled back, tilting his head to one side. He was trying his hardest to remain calm – attacking a human, especially on the territory he was supposed to protect, would go against everything he and his pack stood for. But then, he was reminded of how easily Tyler had pulled at him, moving him and he had to question the word 'human'. "Leah, why don't you tell your new friend to clear off before he gets himself hurt?" He mocked, turning to look at Leah, who was once again staring at Tyler. Sam finally picked up on it – he could see the twinkle of adoration in her eyes as she gazed at the other male and he frowned. She'd imprinted? His head snapped to look back at Tyler and he licked his lower lip, feeling a slight pang of concern and even a twinge of jealousy.

"Uh...I – "It was unsure if Leah was trying to talk to Sam or Tyler. She rubbed her lips nervously together. For once in her life, she was speechless. There was so much she could say, so much she wanted to say. Her body, soul, heart...every fibre of her being was urging her to talk to Tyler, to ask him if he wanted to come for a walk with her or something shitty like that, but she was denying it. She was denying it so much that it hurt her – it made her muscles and joints ache, it made her body feel as if it was being tightened and squashed in all sorts of different ways. It made her head throb in pain and she even felt a little dizzy. "I have to go." She finally announced, shaking her head. She couldn't stay here. She needed to go, she needed to do what she did best and hide from the truth rather than face it. "I have to go." She repeated and on that note, she turned. Her feet broke off into a run, the wind suddenly whipping at her damp face, still sweaty from beating on the car. The further away she got from Tyler, the more it hurt, but she forced herself to keep going. Once she was out of sight, she phased, her paws pounding at the ground as she urged herself to keep going, urged herself not to look back and tried to ignore the mocking laugh of Paul inside of her head, who was now getting cinema-like images of everything that had just happened.

Sam listened to Leah go, but he did not once tear his gaze off of Tyler. Tyler didn't tear his gaze off of Sam either. It was like they were challenging each other for authority, neither of them refusing to back down. Tyler was silently urging Sam to make a move, to try and fight him, his fists still clenched and his eyes taunting. Sam was trying his hardest not to accept that challenge and teach this kid to respect his elders. Both of them were breathing heavier than necessary, their chests puffed out more than need be and quite honestly, both of them seemed to have this wolfish glint within their eyes. It was like two dogs circling each other, preparing for an attack. It was a surprise they weren't growling and snarling at each other.

After a few moments, Tyler smirked and he relaxed. His shoulders shrugged slightly as if he was trying to get comfortable in his own body and a sigh of relief parted from his lips, which caused Sam to frown. There was no fear emitting off of this boy's body, he couldn't smell it, so why was he relieved? It was almost as if Tyler was proud of himself for not fighting, as if he was proud he'd managed to keep control. "You should probably put a shirt on and get someone to look at that." Tyler drawled out sarcastically, nodding his head towards the battered Volvo. His smirk widened and Sam's eyes narrowed even more.

"Get the fuck out of here before I do something I'll regret." Sam warned, shaking his head and unclenching his fists.

"Right." Tyler laughed and shook his head, his eyebrows looking up in disbelief. The fact that this boy showed no sign of fear was nothing but irritating for Sam – he was so used to being in control see becoming alpha, but Tyler was taking that control away from him with such ease. At least none of the pack were around to witness it, though they would surely see it soon enough the next time they all phased and got a good look inside of his head. "I'll just...be going then, before you...glare at me some more." The younger lad shook his head and laughed once more, before shoving his hands in his pockets and finally turning his back on Sam.

Sam's eyes watched as he began to walk away, examining nothing but Tyler's back, suspicion on his face. There was something quite not right about that boy – and despite him being Leah's imprint, he vowed silently to keep an eye on him. If Tyler was dangerous, Sam would soon find out, even if it would give Leah more reason to resent him.