Jared:

Dude, stop!

The sound of Paul's voice screaming into my head pulled me from my daydream of Kim as we ran through the forest together on patrol. It was coming to the end of our shift and we hadn't crossed any trails, so now we were sort of just running more than patrolling to pass the time. Which gave us a lot of time to think. About girls.

Sorry. Can't help it, I told him.

Well, learn to help it! You're making me sick and I can't focus!

I rolled my eyes. He was probably just being bitter about not having his own imprint. With Quil imprinting on Claire, it was obvious that it didn't happen in order of transformation like we thought it might.

I'm not freakin' jealous, I just don't want to be hearing about your imprint all the time! he mentally yelled, fuming at my thoughts.

Well, you don't complain when Quil thinks about Claire, I challenged as I ran to catch up to him.

Because his thoughts are clean and innocent. And Claire's cute, I don't mind seeing her. But your thoughts aren't innocent, and Kim's not my type, so I don't wanna be thinking about her like that!

Fine, I told him, I'll try to stop.

When you planning on telling her anyway? he asked.

This sobered me completely, and shattered any daydreams that still might be lingering in my mind. Paul's reminder that I was still lying to her was a reality that made me feel more guilty than anything.

I don't know. Sam and Em said to wait 'til the next bonfire. Become her friend first and then tell her about the whole imprinting thing then. Just so it's not so overwhelming and it doesn't freak her out as much. But then she said she was leaving and I panicked. I kissed her about five minutes after she told me, and I guess now she's my girlfriend, but I still don't know how to tell her.

Well, you better do it soon, he added. She might start to pick up on things. Didn't you say she saw one of us running around naked in the forest before?

I internally grimaced at this. It was true, Kim was smart. Not just academically, but she was intuitive and picked up on things easily. We were complete opposites in so many ways. She was a lot more observant than I was, and more careful with her feelings. We didn't have a lot in common, but that's what I loved. She was so different to me—different to anyone I'd ever met. I could never believe that I had gone all those years without noticing her. Every time I would reflect over my years of high school, no memory of her ever registered. How could I not notice such a smart, interesting, beautiful person sitting right next to me? It sucked, but I was grateful I had found her eventually.

But now, the intelligence I admired in her was working against me. She even found shreds of my t-shirt from that afternoon a vampire was lurking in the woods. Which made it even harder for me to come up with more complicated lies to explain where I was and what I was doing all the time. She never challenged my lies though, because she trusted me whole-heartedly, which only made me feel even guiltier. I couldn't wait until she knew and all the secrets were out between us.

I wonder if it was me she saw naked, Paul provoked sarcastically. Bet she'd love that.

Shut up, Mr Paul-tatohead, I retorted, using the name little Claire had dubbed him with. The name we all knew he hated. I heard defeat in his mind, and internally laughed to myself.

At the end of our shift, we ran to Sam's place and phased back into human form, pulling on our shorts in the trees behind the house. Paul went straight to the lounge room and sat in front of the T.V to play video games. Sometimes moments like this made me feel really abnormal. Go out and kill vampires, then come back home half-naked to play videogames.

My life is so weird.

I was at least grateful for Kim. Finding her was the best part of becoming a werewolf. She made all the weird parts worth it.

And yet, I was still keeping secrets from her…

"Hey, Jared," Em greeted as I entered the kitchen. "You hungry?"

"Not really."

She looked concerned. "You okay?"

She knew something was probably wrong if one of us wasn't hungry. And she was right. I figured if anyone knew about the complications of this imprinting stuff it would be Emily. Plus, she was a girl, so her advice would probably be more helpful than Paul's.

"I don't know what to do about Kim," I admitted, dejectedly.

"Ah."

"I still haven't told her and I really want to. But I've spent so much time really just trying to open her up and make her comfortable around me, you know?"

She nodded knowingly, observing the situation.

"And she's leaving for college soon. She said she's pushed her move-in date later, but I still don't know if she plans to come back here—I don't know how serious she is about me. I've only known her for a few weeks."

It was silent for a few seconds, as Emily took in my dilemma.

"Wow," she said. "You've got quite a situation there."

I sighed. "Yep."

"Well, I'm sure it will work out. Imprinting is like magic, it just works out in the end—it's our destiny. Look at Sam and me! If that situation worked out, yours will too. You two are destined to be together. It will happen in the end somehow. Trust me," she offered.

I sighed again. I guessed she had a point. Her situation was really messed up to start with, and by some miracle, it did work out in the end.

"Thanks, Em," I said before I caught a glimpse of the clock hanging above her head.

Emily noticed, and teasingly reminded me of where I was supposed to be.

"Twelve-thirty. Shouldn't you be sleeping outside Kim's window by now?"

I grimaced. "Sam told you about that, huh?"

"I think it's sweet," she said, half sincerely, half jokingly.

"Whatever, Em," I answered dismissively, already leaving the room.

"You're like her little guard-puppy!" her mocking voice continued from a distance, but I didn't respond. I was already phasing into the forest.

I ran excitedly, knowing I would see her in minutes. I spent almost every night here, sleeping outside her window. It wasn't as physically comfortable as my bed, but it was more emotionally comforting to know she was just on the other side of the wall. She never saw me, I made sure of that. Though I don't know how she would react if she ever did. Knowing Kim, she probably wouldn't be scared. She would probably come outside to try and feed me or play fetch or something.

Somehow, she was brave when it came to the idea of monstrous animals attacking right outside her window, yet terrified at the idea of her feelings getting hurt. It pained me to realize she was scared that I could hurt her. Which was so ironic. Imprinting was proof that we were each other's perfect match; I couldn't hurt her if I tried. I couldn't even imagine doing anything to hurt her.

I broke out of the trees neighbouring her house when I noticed the light in her bedroom was still on. The closer I got, I realized her mother was in her room, leaning against the doorframe. I could just see the top of Kim's head through the window as she sat on her bed, her back faced to me.

Quietly, I crept closer, lowering myself to the ground, making sure I wouldn't be seen in the dark.

"It's not like that, mom," Kim said.

"Well, it's just strange to me. You have to admit, it's pretty strange," her mom offered.

"No, it's not," she retorted defensively.

"He doesn't talk to you for all those years, and now you're practically dating?"

My insides knotted as I realized what they were talking about. I guessed Kim had finally found the guts to tell her mom about us. She'd been putting it off for a while now.

"It just seems like a fling on his part, Kim."

I almost barked aloud in protest, but bit back my growl to listen.

"It's not, mom. It's more than that. I just know. It's something more, I can feel it," she answered, growing more confident as the words came out.

She could feel it. I knew that was the imprint bond she could feel. We were emotionally tied to one another, and it was stronger than any kind of love any other couple could feel. Even if she didn't know the reason behind it yet, I was glad she could at least feel it. The same way I could feel her internal struggle and pain, before she trusted me.

"Well what about college? What happens then?" her mom asked

I stopped breathing and listened more intently.

"I—I don't know yet. We'll figure something out. I'll come back to visit," she answered assertively.

I sighed in relief. I was so grateful that she had said that, knowing she was in this with me, regardless of the distance between us. Maybe this would work out just like Emily said.

"So he's worth it? Worth all of this?" her mom mused, her tone bordering on rude.

I had a feeling that she wasn't only talking about making the effort to travel back and forth to see each other, but maybe also the obvious tension that was growing between them.

Kim said she had always been close to her mom, and they never fought with one another. Obviously my presence in her life was changing that. Since we met, she'd been lying and sneaking around with me, and now they were arguing. Which made me feel even worse; I never wanted to make Kim's life harder. I wanted to be good for her. I would definitely need to tell her about the imprint soon, just so she knew how committed I was and her mom's rambling about this so-called 'fling' wouldn't sink into her brain. She was paranoid enough.

"He's worth it," Kim finally answered, her voice more sure than I had ever heard it.

Tomorrow, I told myself, I'll tell her tomorrow.