Disclaimer- The fabulous characters of my story, with the exclusion of a few, belong to the wonderful Stephenie Meyer and come from her Twilight series.

Sam just stared at me wide eyed while everyone else spoke at once.

"You imprinted?" Embry asked incredulously.

"What?" Quil practically yelled.

"Oh no," murmured Emily.

"Why didn't you…" began Jared.

"Alright, everyone just…stop," Sam spoke up firmly, looking around the group, his eyes settling on me again. He cleared his throat. "Uh…do you…not want to discuss this in front of everyone?"

I sighed. "Who cares…they'll hear it all later anyway."

Sam just nodded. "What happened?" he asked gently.

I finally stood and began pacing anxiously. "I was wandering around in the forest, and then I sat for awhile. And I heard something, so I went to find out what it was. And it was…it was her, and I imprinted." I kept pacing as I explained, my words coming out rushed. "And I got upset, so I just…took off running. And I stayed in the forest until, I don't know, dark maybe. And then I just went home."

A few of them began murmuring to themselves, but I didn't even pay attention. I was sure I knew the basics of what they would be saying.

Sam just nodded, then looked around. "Ok, look…why don't you guys go home? I'm gonna talk to Jake for a little bit. You don't all need to be here for it."

I stopped pacing and looked at the faces of all the pack members. Most of them had pity in their eyes, the same pity they had looked at me with for so long now. Leah actually looked a little angry and turned away as soon as my eyes met hers.

They began mumbling their goodbye's and walking away, stealing glances back at me as they left. Only Embry, Quil, Emily, and Sam remained.

"Is it alright if we stay?" Quil asked quietly.

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"Why don't we go inside?" Sam suggested.

"I can make you some breakfast," Emily said comfortingly, wrapping her arm around me and giving me a small smile.

We walked into the house, my head down dejectedly. Emily towed me to the table and pulled out a chair. I sat down, automatically putting my head in my hands. Sam, Embry, and Quil all sat down with me while Emily went to the fridge, pulling out eggs and bacon. She started to make breakfast as the rest of us sat there in silence.

I could feel a steady pounding in my head. It wasn't quite like a headache, but it was just there. Most of the pain I felt was in my chest. Like it was being constricted somehow. Every breath I drew in felt heavy, short somehow. Like I just couldn't bring in enough air.

"Why did you run?" Quil finally asked.

I reached back automatically to wring my hand around my ponytail and let out an exasperated breath. "I was just so…pissed. I couldn't believe it was happening, after everything with Bella. I kept telling myself it was the wrong time and it just couldn't happen and…" I trailed off. "I pretty much felt ok yesterday, and then I woke up this morning and…and I just…it just…hurt. It hurts."

"It's because you can't see her," Sam said softly as he looked over at Emily, whose back was turned to us, standing at the stove. "If you saw her…it wouldn't…hurt like that."

"Sam…it's only been…maybe…not even twenty four hours. It already, it feels…it hurts. How am I supposed to do this?" I pleaded.

Sam looked at me with a grim expression. "I…I don't know. I've never seen anyone…well, who wasn't around their imprint. I don't know what to say, really."

"I mean, we can try to find her though," Quil spoke up. "We can look for her."

"Where would we even start?" said Embry.

"Maybe she's from Forks?" supplied Sam.

I shook my head morosely. "I talked to Charlie this morning. No one new's moved in, he doesn't know of anyone that has visitors…hasn't seen anyone unfamiliar."

"Maybe it's someone he doesn't know about. Or, even if she's not from Forks, we can look somewhere else. She could be from Port Angeles," said Quil encouragingly.

"Or she could be from Olympia, or Tacoma, Seattle…Oregon," Embry went on.

Quil shot him an angry look.

"Quil's right Jake…we can look," said Sam comfortingly.

"You might not be the only one's looking," Emily said as she brought the food over, setting it in the middle of the table. She went to the cupboard to grab plates.

"What do you mean?" asked Embry.

"Well," she went on as she brought the plates over and sat next to Sam, "from the other side's perspective…" She looked at Sam lovingly, then over to me. "You're not the only one it will have an effect on. When Sam imprinted on me…I mean, I was upset and angry, you know, because of the whole Leah thing. But there was other stuff too. I…I needed to look at him, to see him or be near him, even though I was upset about it all. I could feel it physically. Something didn't just change in him…it changed in me too."

"Awww, that's no good," I moaned. "She knows even less about this crap then I do! She'll be feeling this stuff…even pain maybe…and she'll have no idea what the hell it is!" The idea of her being in any kind of pain just made the pain in my chest worse.

Emily gave me a small smile as she dished up a plate and set it in front of me. "But maybe she'll connect what she's feeling with…here, with this place. Maybe she'll notice it happened after she came here, and she'll come back."

I felt a small spark of hope shoot through me as she said this. Was it possible that she would be looking for me? Well, not me, but…whatever was causing a change in her. Would she come back here searching it out? I could only hope.

"But in the meantime we can look for her," said Quil confidently. Of course he would understand better than Embry, who just looked at him, slightly incredulous. Quil had imprinted; Embry hadn't.

We were all silent as we began eating. I put the food in my mouth, chewed, and swallowed, without even really tasting it. Emily's food was always great, but I couldn't pay attention to it today.

"Do you…I mean…" Embry cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. "Are you…still thinking about Bella?" he finally asked quietly.

I was amazed to find that I hadn't thought about her since the day before. Hearing her name had absolutely no effect on me. It didn't hurt or sting; I didn't have any angry feelings at just the sound of it.

"No…not at all," I mumbled.

We kept eating for a few minutes until all of us, besides Emily, were finished.

"Jake…you'll find her," Sam said. "Eventually, you'll find her. She's your destiny, it's unavoidable. It may take awhile…but it will happen."

I swallowed hard, afraid my voice would crack. "How…if it…hurts this much now, just after one day, how much will it hurt after…a week? A month...a year…" At the end my voice did crack and I swallowed again. "And what if something happens to her and I'm not there? I…I just…" I trailed off, closing my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. The thought of anything happening to this girl I didn't know was too much to bear. It tore at my already aching chest.

"Try not to think like that," Emily said, reaching over and putting one of her hands over my own. "You have to stay positive if you want to find her. It will happen…you just have to have faith."

She smiled at me. I managed a grim, meager smile in return, then looked down at the tabletop.

"You'll have to tell Billy," Sam said.

"I know," I sighed. "He probably already thinks I'm nuts. I grabbed the phone from him and started interrogating Charlie this morning…didn't even explain anything. I'm surprised he hasn't called around for me yet."

"Well…you haven't spent too much time around here lately," said Quil quietly. "He probably doesn't expect you to be here."

I looked around at everyone; they all avoided my gaze.

"I'm really sorry guys. I guess I haven't really been…a good friend. Or good pack member lately," I mumbled.

"Don't apologize Jake," said Sam. "You've been going through a lot. We knew you'd come around. We just…didn't really expect it to be like this."

"Yeah, me either," I grumbled. "Could the timing seriously have been any worse? I mean, after everything that's happened, I have to imprint now?"

"Destiny doesn't really follow a timeline," Emily said, smiling briefly at Sam.

"Guess not," I said. Stupid destiny.

"Well, we can start looking tomorrow, after school. We get out a couple hours earlier than the other schools anyway. We can look around Forks first, then if we don't find her there we can start looking around other places," Quil volunteered.

I smiled slightly. "Thanks guys."

"Where will we look for her?" Embry asked. "I mean, what places?"

"Did she look our age Jake?" questioned Quil.

I nodded. "At least…maybe a little younger. But definitely no older, I'm almost positive."

"So we hang around the schools," said Quil. "Probably the best place to look."

"We're just gonna hang around outside of random schools?" Embry said skeptically. "Might look a little weird."

"Then we'll look weird," I said firmly. "I don't give a damn. I have to find her."

Embry just nodded, while Quil smiled and Sam looked thoughtful.

"What did she look like?" Sam asked. "We'll need to know if we're all going to be looking out for her."

I closed my eyes and let the crystal clear image of her form in my mind. "She's short…really short…about a foot and a half shorter than me. Really pale skin, brown hair, not too dark, but not too light either. It's short, it comes to just above her shoulders, and it's cut into lots of layers around her face and in the back. It's parted far to the side. She's got kind of a narrow face…high cheekbones, a long, narrow nose. Thin lips. She's athletic…really toned. She definitely plays a sport of some kind or something. She was just wearing a black t shirt, jeans, and hiking boots. She looked pretty comfortable in the forest…like she hikes a lot or something."

I kept my eyes closed for a few seconds after I stopped speaking, wanting to hold on to the image of her. I finally opened them to see everyone staring at me.

"You'll find her Jake," Emily said, breaking everyone's silence. "You're meant to."

I walked in the door a few hours later to find my dad watching a game, looking a little preoccupied.

"Jake!" he exclaimed when I walked in, looking relieved. "Where were you?" he demanded.

"I was at Sam's."

He looked surprised. "Oh. Ok…what was going on this morning? You look terrible. What was all that about with Charlie?"

I sighed and went over to sit on the couch. I folded my hands in front of me, holding them together tightly and staring at them. The room was silent for a minute or so before I finally looked up and met his gaze. "I…imprinted yesterday dad."

He sat back, almost like he had been slapped, his eyes widening. "You…imprinted?" he asked incredulously.

I just nodded.

He shook his head a little. "Who?"

I could feel that painful expression come across my face as he asked the question I really couldn't answer. I could tell he saw it too. "I was wandering around in the forest yesterday. I saw the girl…I imprinted. And then I…ran away." I ducked my head down.

"You…ran away," he stated simply. It wasn't a question.

I nodded, continuing to look at the ground.

"So who was she?" he asked. I could tell he expected it to be someone I would recognize; someone from here. And why shouldn't he? Everyone else had imprinted on one of us; someone from the reservation. If not ours, then the Macah reservation.

"I…don't know. She wasn't from around here. I didn't recognize her. Emily saw her too, in the store…but we don't know who she is."

He looked confused. "You…don't know who she is?" he said, his voice incredulous. "But then…what…" He trailed off, his eyes suddenly lighting up. "That's why…with Charlie…you were trying to see if she was from Forks."

I looked up, nodding.

"But she wasn't."

"Not that Charlie knows," I mumbled.

"Oh Jake," he murmured. "I…what are you going to do?"

I swallowed hard. "I'm going to find her." I tried to sound confident, but my voice wavered. "I…have to find her."

"You ran because of Bella," he stated plainly, once again.

"Yeah."

"And how do you feel now?"

I looked down at me feet. "Like an idiot. Like the biggest idiot in the entire world. Yesterday, when I ran…even when I got home…it seemed like I was doing the right thing."

"And now?" he asked gently.

"I need her," I said desperately. "I need to see her. I need to find her."

"Has it…changed things…with Bella?"

I looked up at him. "I'm not even thinking about her anymore. I wouldn't have even thought it was possible. You know, the guys, they talked to me, saying it was maybe better she didn't pick me…that if one day I imprinted I would leave her. And I always said no, that I loved her too much, that I was supposed to be with her. But it's true. I saw this girl just once, for maybe a minute…and she's all I can think about. If Bella had been with me…I would have left her like she was nothing."

Billy nodded gravely. "Now you know…that you're destiny is not Bella. That it wasn't Bella. Maybe it would have been, if things such as these didn't exist. But they do…so it's not. And now you can move on."

I sighed loudly. "I've already moved on dad. I've already moved on."