Leah froze, unable to move her gaze way from the bright ruby-colored eyes that were fixed on her own dark brown ones. But the vampire's gaze wasn't predatory or threatening, even. It was merely curious, which slightly unnerved her, because the last time that she had seen crimson colored eyes so close to her had been in the battle against the newborn vampires in the clearing, where Jacob had literally saved her ass. Starting some when the vampire suddenly stepped forward, towards her, Leah instinctively stepped backwards, the heels of her shoes going just barely over the edge of the cliff, knocking several small rocks and clods of dirt loose. Just as she leaned forward to correct her balance and footing, an iron, icy hand closed around her wrist, pulling her firmly to safety with a surprisingly gentle tug. But he underestimated her own strength, and she moved a bit more further forward than intended, and crashed into the vampire's stone hard chest. She sucked in a sharp breath, and instead of the sickly sweet scent that she associated with vampires, his scent was more spicy, much more pleasant than she had been expecting. And she wanted to press her face into the smooth column of his neck and just breathe the scent in deeply. Forcing herself to take a small step back, she was startled to feel an icy thumb stroking over the pulse point in her wriest, making her heart race. Watching the vampire's face closely, she blinked, confused when he smiled.
"This is very unexpected. Carlisle mentioned the werewolves, but he never said a world about how truly beautiful they really are." He chuckled, the sound magical. "I am Garrett. And you are?"
"Leah Clearwater. I'm a part of Jacob Black's pack." Leah spoke quietly, not wanting to take her gaze from Garrett's beautiful face.
"The wolf who is constantly with little Nessie."
"He imprinted on her. He can't bear to be apart from her. It would kill him."
Leah spoke quietly, not wanting to startle the vampire, because she was slowly starting to realize how Jacob must have felt, and same and Quil and Jared, and Paul, and everyone. This was just so awkward and strange to be going through. The feelings of love and devotion and protection were strong, but the knowledge that her chosen mate was technically supposed to be her enemy made her struggle in her mind. Vampires and werewolves were supposed to be biological enemies, created to destroy each other. The presence of vampires was the cause of the Quiluete teens changing, but as long as the vampires were around, there were wolves. Which meant that there were going to be wolves for quite a while now. Not that Leah minded too much. She liked her wolf, liked the freedom she felt when she was just running through a forest, exercising and enjoying herself. And it was a way to let loose, which was why she often volunteered to take the longer perimeter runs to make sure that the Cullen house was safe, and that no one was trying to approach it that wasn't supposed to.
"Imprinting? Is that like some kind of bonding between them?" Garrett looked rather curious.
"It means that they were created for each other. That there is no other for either of them. And since Nessie's so young, Jake will be whatever she needs him to be throughout her life. Brother, protector, friend, confidante, and eventually, lover. Several of the two packs' members have imprinted." Leah tried to keep her voice casual, her gaze still on Garrett's face.
"Have you imprinted?" The tall vampire looked rather curious, his head tilting to the side, making his long hair fall towards one shoulder, even tied back the way it was.
"Yes. But only recently."
"Oh."
Leah was slightly shocked when Garrett's voice sounded almost disappointed, as if he didn't like the idea that she was pretty much bound for life to someone else. But she wasn't, and a regular relationship would have been nothing compared to the strength of imprinting. And she could now understand the struggle that Sam must have gone through when he had imprinted on Emily. Leah was shocked, though, that she no longer felt bitter about her high school sweetheart imprinting on her cousin, and the fact that she was supposed to be a bridesmaid in the wedding. In fact, she was actually now excited for the wedding. Because she knew that she no longer felt betrayed by Sam. She had imprinted herself, which proved that something very strange was going on, because imprinting was supposed to be rare, and several of the pack members had now imprinted. Sam and Emily. Quil and Claire. Jared and Kim. Paul and Rachel. Jake and Nessie. And now her. But to a vampire. That had to be a first. And she had to wonder what a blending of the two species would mean, because that was exactly what they were. Two different species. Even if she still was mostly human.
"I imprinted on you."
Keeping her voice as soft and gentle as possible, Leah watched her words be processed through Garrett's mind, the impact of them almost immediately evident by the shock on the tall vampire's face, his crimson eyes widening, the irises bright compared to his pale skin. He stepped backwards almost blindingly fast, his hand falling from her wrist, and it was only then that Leah had realized that he hadn't let go of her wrist from the moment he'd grabbed her to pull her from the cliff's edge. And well, it was slightly odd that they didn't seem to be affecting each other the way that vampires and werewolves normally affected each other. She constantly her Emmett Cullen making cracks about how much the werewolves were stinking the place up, and she hated the sickly sweet scent of the vampires, but she didn't smell it around Garrett, and obviously her scent wasn't that bad to him, or he wouldn't be around her still, unless he planned to kill her. But he couldn't see him doing that now, not after he'd waited so long and spoken to her like he had. Biting her lip some, she watched his face closely, wondering how he was going to accept all this information, that his chosen mate was his biological enemy, and one so young, really, in comparison to him, because she had a feeling that he was quite a bit older than she was. He was no newborn.
"Are you trying to tell me that you and I are chosen mates?" The note in Garrett's voice was incredulous, which was exactly how Leah felt.
"Yes. I can't explain it. I can't change it. It's my nature, who I am." Leah kept her voice quiet, her tone wavering with uncertainty. "I have no control over it."
[A/N: Sorry it took so long for the update. My computer crashed, and I only had about the first paragraph saved on my thumbdrive, so I had to re-write nearly the whole chapter. The next update will take a little bit longer, because I am planning on updating several of my others stories first. Keep the reviews coming, and I promise to keep writing as much as I can, as soon as I can.]
