Chapter Seven

I spent the next day at Sam's, helping Seth and Kim with my parents. Sam looked worse, he had never woken when my mom got there, never knew that she had come back. I sat with Kim and Seth in the kitchen, drinking coffee, talking, and laughing as they recalled stories of people I was just learning about.

Kim left after lunch; her kids would be coming home from school soon. She hugged me when she left, telling me that she would check in later.

I turned to Seth, asking about his sister Leah, asking where she was, why she hadn't visited yet. "My mom used to talk about her all the time, about how close they were growing up. I was hoping that she would be here, that I could finally meet her."

Seth could only shake his head, "Leah left the rez not long after you and your mom did, for a while we thought she might have put your mom up to it, might have been helping her." He looked down, shamed by something. "She never really forgave us for accusing her of helping you; she hasn't been back in quite a few years."

"Where is she now?" I was curious, hoping that maybe once my mom was better they could rekindle their prior relationship.

"The last time she was here, she and Sam fought; after she left she said she didn't want to talk to anyone anymore, that she wasn't coming back." I saw a smile on his face, "I still write to her, she sends me postcards every now and then. She moved to San Diego, she went to school for a while before deciding to take up photography. She does a lot of freelance now, she's really good." I could see the pride in his eyes for his sister.

I swallowed, not sure if Seth would tell me, I asked anyway. "Do you know what happened with her and my mom? All I know is somehow Sam came between them and that my mom chose Sam over Leah and it was never the same after that."

I watched as Seth nodded his head. He glanced towards Sam's room, his voice low. "Sam and Leah were high school sweethearts, everyone assumed they would get married, live happily ever after, all that." He grinned. "When your mom came down to visit one time Sam saw her, that's all it took, he imprinted." I saw his eyes quickly look into mine. I had no idea what imprinting was.

"What's that? Imprinting?"

"I'll get to that, but once he imprinted on your mom that was it. He and Leah split, your mom was the only woman he saw, the only woman he wanted." His voice trailed off, his eyes glancing back down the hallway towards my mom and Sam.

I wrapped my hands around the mug, pulling it to my lips, speaking before I took a drink. "Explain what 'imprinting' is, what is that? Does it have something to do with the cult, or whatever it is," I qualified as I saw the look of annoyance on Seth's face at my use of that word. "How does it work, how could it make Sam fall for my mom if he loved Leah?"

"Are you sure your mom never talked to you about this, never explained?" I could tell Seth was uncomfortable with my line of questioning. I shook my head, most of what I was learning in La Push I was learning and hearing for the first time.

I saw him exhale, staring into the space next to me, not meeting my eye. "First of all your dad didn't lead a cult or anything like that. We're a pack, a group that protects the tribe. Imprinting comes with that, it's like nothing I can really explain." He struggled for words. "I think the best easiest way to explain it is to think about it like 'love at first sight,' 'soulmates,' and finding the person that completes you all at once. It's almost spiritual, a love that binds you to another for eternity. In that moment, time stops." He shrugged a smile on his face.

I made a face, trying to fit that into what I knew about myself, about my mother's fear that I had been 'promised' to someone, to what I saw last night with Seth and Lauren. "How does it work? Even with kids?" I could feel the anger in my words.

Seth scrambled, his words a rush. "No, no, not like that. Not what you're thinking. It only happens to certain people, to people who, it's hard to explain." I could see him trying to find the right words, to explain it in a way that I could understand. "It's not always a romantic type love; sometimes it's a protective love, a brother/sister type of relationship." His face contorted. "Yes, sometimes the imprint happens with an adult and a child, but it's never a sexual thing, never like that." He looked angry that I had even thought it. "As protectors of the tribe it ties us to another member, binds us to them, and makes us more willing to do whatever it takes to make them safe."

I still wasn't sure I really understood. "Isn't that what the police are for? Don't they protect and serve?"

His voice was strong, his face serious. "There are things that the police can't protect you from. That's what we're there for." He stood, going to the sink and pouring a glass of water. I pushed away from the table, still trying to figure out what he could mean as I walked down the hall, checking my mom and Sam again.

I cried out, yelling for Seth when I saw. I stood in the hallway horrified as I watched everything going on around me. Embry flew in the house, his uniform giving him authority as he directed the other arrivals. I crumbled, crying as I saw my mother and Sam both wrapped in white sheets being rolled out and into waiting ambulances. There were no lights, no sirens, nothing that could be done for them.