Chapter Three
They bid farewell to Mrs. Fields and began heading towards the bonfire. It was a short walk but Jared took pleasure in it, holding Kim's hand and watching her eyes sparkle in the moonlight.
They walked into the campfire circle and saw that most everyone was already present. Sam was talking to Billy Black and Quil Sr., with Emily nearby setting up the food. Harry Clearwater was conversing with Paul, who had his usual scowl on his face.
Jared led Kim over to Sam who had a knowing smile on his face.
"Kim, I'd like you to meet Sam Uley." Jared introduced, "Sam, I'd like you to meet my friend, Kim."
Sam pulled Kim into a big hug before drawing her over to meet Emily. Jared just watched how well his imprint fit in with the pack. Soon her and Emily were chatting as Kim assisted with the final preparations. He retuned to her side and slung his arm over her shoulders smiling. This felt right with his imprint at his side and his pack around.
When the girls had finished setting up, they were all called over to get plates and dig in which the pack did readily. He piled his plate high and led Kim over to sit. He could see her yes open in amazement at the quantities of food on his, Sam's, and Paul's plates.
The meal passed quickly as all focused on eating and watching the flames lick up the logs in the fire pit.
Jared watched Kim as they listened to Billy Black tell of the spirit wolves, trying to gauge her reaction to the stories. His hopes of a good reaction to his confession were holding up. She was interested and actively listening to the stories without fear.
When Billy was done, it was quiet for a few moments as everyone around the circle contemplated what they had heard. This was the third time he had heard the legends since becoming a werewolf but every time he heard them it hit him anew. He had a type of magic in his bloodlines enabling him to protect his tribe and now that magic had gifted him with a wonderful girl that he never would have noticed before.
Once everyone started moving around and getting up, he drew Kim aside into the woods around the campfire circle.
"What did you think?" he questioned
"I enjoyed the legends. Thank you for bringing me Jared; I've never had a chance to hear the legends before." Kim gratefully answered,
"Kim, I really don't know how to put this easily so I'm just going to come out with it. The magic is still alive, there are still tribe protectors. I guess I should say we are the tribe protectors."
"Jared what are you talking about? Who is we? What magic?"
"Kim relax. I'm trying to explain, it's just hard to put into words. The magic of the tribe, the spirit wolves, is still alive. Because of the cold ones, the vampires, came back to Forks the magic in our blood got activated. The group of us—Sam, Paul, and I—are werewolves. We have the ability to transform into giant wolves in order to protect the tribe."
"Really?" Kim asked in amazement, without fear, "Can I see?"
Jared was struck, he had half expected Kim to run in fear. "Give me one second," he instructed as he quickly went behind the trees to strip down and change.
He came out slowly and walked towards Kim keeping eye-contact with her continually. He laid down when he got close to her, letting her cove the rest of the distance.
Kim came to stand right next to him and gently laid a hand on his head. He gave her a wolfish grin and internally sighed in relief.
She spent a couple minutes petting him and hugging him as he relished in attention. This felt completely right being with his imprint.
After a couple of minutes, Kim addressed him, "As much as I am enjoying this I still have a few questions so go change, transform, whatever you do."
He trotted off, smiling at Kim's easy acceptance but he knew he still had more explaining to do. Jared quickly phased back, pulling on his jean shorts and shoes, and quickly returned to Kim's side.
She started up the conversation, "Why me? Why did you tell me?"
"Part of the magic in our blood is the ability to find our soul-mate once we transform. It's called imprint as our entire world becomes attached to our perfect soul-mate the first time we see them after we phase."
"So, that day you came back in Spanish class—"
"I imprinted on you." Jared concluded, pulling Kim into him crushing her lips to his in a desperate, passionate kiss.
Time seemed to stop as both Kim and Jared were caught in the blissful moment. All too soon it came to an end as Paul's booming voice came through the woods, "You finished telling her yet?"
Jared groaned as he pulled away from Kim. Leave it to Paul to ruin the moment.
Kim asked, as they began to return to the campfire circle, "So Emily is?"
"Sam's imprint yes. Sam was the fist and didn't understand what was going on and had so much trouble phasing back. Once he saw Emily he imprinted on her. He didn't mean to break Leah's heart, he feels guilty for what he did to her."
Emily grinned at them as they came into view, "You took it better than I did Kim."
She laughed, "While it kinda helps when your wolf is the guy you've been crushing on for years."
"You did?" Jared questioned,
"Yeah, I had your last name and mine together scrawled in the margins of my notebook." Kim giggled as she confessed
"We'll I'd better get you home." Jared began
"Yeah but I don't want this to end." Kim warily interjected
"It's not going to end. Don't you get it Kim, You're mine forever. I'll get you Monday morning for school."
After dropping Kim off he quickly phased and met the guys in the woods. He could hear Sam's voice in his head congratulating him on how well that had gone. After a couple runs down the border line, they all returned home, Paul and Jared elated that they didn't have to face school the next morning. The elders had interjected on both their behalf, claiming they were part of a tribal mentorship/co-op program and gotten them out of some of their work, as well as their first period classes but school was still exhausting, keeping their cool.