I own nothing. All credit goes to the lovely Stephenie Meyer

I was thoroughly grateful for everyone in the room at that moment. They gave me enough time to pull myself together while they were welcoming Alyssa. By the time Skip was given the chance to introduce the two of us I had regained enough composure so that speaking was possible. As he pulled the beautiful angel in my direction my eyes were locked on her glorious face.

"Alyssa this is Jake. Jake this is my daughter, Alyssa."

"It's very nice to meet you Jake. My father had some lovely things to say about you." As she was speaking to me the only things running through my head were perfect, perfect, perfect, Alyssa, Alyssa, Alyssa. She then extended her arm toward me for a handshake. This beautiful creature wanted to make contact with me. When her hand met mine it felt perfect. It was like I had been missing a vital organ my entire life and it had found its way back to me. Nothing else could describe my reaction other than overjoyed.

"It's really great to meet you too Alyssa. Your dad here has told me so much about you." It was true, her dad had spoke of Alyssa often but it wasn't nearly enough. I wanted to—no I needed to—know everything about her. I wanted to know what made her happy so I can see her smile. I needed to know her fears so I can prevent them from ever causing her pain. I needed to know what her dreams were so I could make them come true. I needed to know anything and everything about this beautiful woman.

Alyssa turned away from my intense stare back to her father. "Dad, I think I'm going to go up to my room. I need to call Nana and tell her I made it alright. I'll be down in a little while. Is that alright?"

"Of course it is sweetheart. I'll see ya in a little bit."

With that Alyssa was walking away from me, toward the staircase that would lead her to her room. Before I realized what I was doing I had jumped to attention. All I really knew was that I couldn't let her leave my sight, not yet at least. There was only one logical option I had if I wanted to stay with her—even if it was only one extra minute. I grabbed her bags before she had the chance to reach for them.

"Jake that really isn't necessary. Really I can carry my own bags."

"Nonsense, it's no trouble just lead the way and I'll take the bags."

"If you're sure. . ." I nodded and she shrugged her shoulders then headed toward the stairs.

Once we were at the top of the stairs we were completely alone. Everyone else was either still in the lobby or they had gone back to work.

"So I heard your moving into a dorm soon. Are you excited?"

"Yeah. . . I think I might be more nervous than excited though. I've never lived away from my family."

"Yeah I know what ya mean. This is my first time away from home too. So what school are you going to?"

"Oh I got into the University of Washington."

"Oh really, I'm from Washington. Actually my hometown is only a few hours away from Seattle."

We came to a stop outside a room at the end of the hall.

"Well this is it. Thanks for the help Jake. I owe ya one. You'll have to tell me all about Washington sometime."

"It was no problem, and anytime."

She unlocked the door and took the bags from me. She smiled at me as she closed the door behind her, leaving me in the hall and taking my heart with her.

As soon as the door was closed a slow ache spread through my chest. This wasn't like the hurt that I experienced when Bella left. When she was gone my heart was broken. When Alyssa was away from me it was like my heart was missing all together.

I had no idea what I should do. I had to be near this girl. She had consumed every thought and taken up residency in every cell of my being. She had had this huge effect on me but she didn't know anything about me. What if she didn't like me? What if she thought I was some big mysterious freak? I couldn't handle that. I had to tell her everything. I needed her to understand who I was. How was I going to tell her about the legends, about Taha Aki and the cold ones? Making this sane, rational, intelligent woman believe in silly superstitions of vampires and werewolves was going to be the hardest thing I've ever done. I could feel it.

I needed to talk to Sam to tell him what had happened and ask what I should do. I knew that I didn't want to phase and hope that Sam would be around and that nobody else was. Hearing everyone else's thoughts on my imprinting was not something that I needed right now. I ran down stairs and caught up with Skip. He was on his way to his room and I barely caught him.

"Skip, Skip, can I borrow your phone. It's really important."

"Sure kid, here ya go. I'm going to sleep for awhile so just leave it with Judy, okay?"

"No problem, thanks."

I ran back to my apartment, locked the door, and sat on the edge of my bed, staring at the small silver phone. I had to call, I wanted to call. This was good news and I should share it with the pack but guilt was starting to slowly work its way into my head. I had told Bella not to get her hopes up. I had said that she was the only one I saw. That was a lie now. I had seen Alyssa a thousand times clearer than I had ever seen anyone else. I know Bella made her choice and she wasn't coming back to me but I had told her that she was the only one for me, and that wasn't true anymore. As soon as I made this phone call Sam would know I imprinted, and then the whole pack would know. It wasn't going to take long until it got back to Bella. I knew I had to get it over with, they would find out sooner or later. I dialed Sam's number and waited for the familiar happy voice I knew that I would hear.

"Hello?"

"Hi Emily. It's Jake."

"Jake! Oh it's so good to hear your voice. How are you? Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine Emily. How are you?"

"Good, the usual, feeding the guys, cleaning up after the guys."

"Figures. . . Well is Sam around? There's something I need to talk to him about."

"Yeah he just got home actually. I'll get him."

She set the phone down and I heard her walking into the living room

"Sam sweetie, the phones for you. You'll never guess who it is."

"I swear if that's Embry again I'm going to kill him."

"It's not Embry sweetie. . . It's Jake he. . ."

Before she could finish I heard Sam picking up the phone.

"Jake, what's wrong?"

"Nothings wrong Sam. I just need some advice."

The nervousness was clear in his voice now. "Okay, what is it?"

"I sort of . . . Well I did. . . I mean. . . Sam I. . ."

"What is it Jake? You're killin' me here."

"I imprinted."

"What? I. . . I. . . I don't. . ."

"Her name's Alyssa. She's perfect. She's Skip's daughter. They're staying here for four days before she moves for school… I can't lose her Sam . . . She's everything."

I had started to get slightly hysterical. Just the thought of losing her made me physically sick to my stomach.

"Calm down Jake. First things first you have to tell her about us. Everything. It's the only way to be fair to her."

"But Sam . . . Emily and Kim already knew the stories and Claire. . . She'll grow up knowing them too. Alyssa knows nothing about the legends. How the hell am I going to bring that up?"

"I'm not sure Jake but I do know you have to do it. It's the only way."

"I know. I'll figure it out, I guess. Thanks Sam. Will you tell my dad . . . that I'll be okay now?"

"Sure, sure" his tone was slightly sarcastic. "Keep me posted Jake."

"Alright, Bye."

"Bye."

As soon as I hung up I started planning. I needed to be subtle yet to the point. 'Hey Alyssa, I know we've only known each other for an hour but I'm in love with you. You're my soul mate and oh by the way I'm a werewolf.' Oh man, I was screwed. After a few hours of thinking and cleaning the gutters on the outsource building I had a general plan. The execution is what I was sketchy about.

I had to make her trust me. That night I would see if I could eat with her and Skip or even if I could catch her in the lobby and talk to her. We would get to know each other better. Four days was a really short amount of time but I would have to work with what I was given. Make Alyssa fall for me enough so that I could tell her the truth about me. I didn't know how well that was going to work.

Around 6:30 I made my way into the restaurant for dinner. The place was packed. Every table in the place was full. I was about to leave so I could go to the café down the street when I heard someone calling my name.

"Jake, over here." Skip had stood up and was waving me over to the table he was sharing with Alyssa. Perfect. I thought eating dinner with them was the long shot option but apparently not. As I got to the table I saw that Alyssa was smiling. Was she happy because I was there? I can only hope I guess.

"Take a seat Jake you can eat with Dad and me."

"Sure, I'd love to."

We sat in the dining room eating our dinner; conversation flowed like we had all known each other forever. By the time conversation slowed and I had a chance to look around the entire room had become almost entirely empty and more than two hours had passed. We decided to get desert and as we ate it another hour passed. Skip had been yawning for the past half hour and decided it was time for him to go to bed.

"Alright kids . . . I'm going to be." He leaned over and kissed Alyssa on the forehead. "Love you sweetheart." He was about to walk away when Alyssa spoke up.

"Wait Dad, I forgot my toothbrush at Nana's house. Can I borrow your truck so I can go get a new one?"

"Want me to go with ya? It's kinda late."

"No Dad it's okay. You're tired I can go."

I wasn't about to waste an opportunity like this. "Well, if you want. . . I can go with you. That way Skip, you can go to bed and Alyssa won't have to go alone. Sound good?"

"Sure that sounds great. Dad . . . keys?"

"Oh here. You take care of my little girl Jake."

"Oh I will. No need to worry."

"Thanks, 'night Daddy." She hugged Skip and whispered in his ear. I was sure I wasn't supposed to hear it "thanks daddy, you're right . . . he's really nice." then she looked at me. "I have to run up and get a jacket. I'll be down in a minute. Okay?"

"Sure. I'll wait right here for you."

This was perfect. I was getting time alone with my angel and it seemed that she wanted to hang out with me too. Could things possibly work out for me this time? I could only hope I guess.

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