Wow, 21 reviews! You guys are amazing. I love all the feedback, no matter how small. So, here is the much anticipated Chapter 9.

Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review: D


Disclaimer: I don't own any of Stephanie Meyer's amazing characters--only sarcastic Tala and her secretive dad.

Born To Be Wild

Chapter Nine:


Edward and Jacob both immediately pulled Nessie away from me with super-human speed. But the damage was done. I looked at them all in shock and horror.

"What are you people?"


I glared at the group around me, waiting for an answer. Everyone in the waiting room was watching—the receptionist had already dropped her tube of bright red lipstick in shock while mothers were shushing their kids so they could eavesdrop.

"This really isn't the right place, Tala," Edward concluded finally.

"Hell, it is. Your demon child just showed me an image of you drinking blood," I hissed at him. Edward tensed and suddenly a large, hot hand appeared on my shoulder. Seth was shaking his head at me. "Not now, Tal. There are other people here."

I narrowed my eyes. "So? It's a hospital! She needs to go to an institute or something anyway." Nessie started tearing up and Jacob gave me the dirtiest look before gathering her up in his arms. I glanced around and saw that Emily, Jared, Embry, along with the rest of them had some pretty repentant faces. Well, scratch that. My cousin just stood there without a single damn emotion.

"What's going on?" I emphasized each word while holding back the exhaustion that was trying to overcome me---answers were more vital than anything. And I would get them, dammit.

"We'll tell her," Sam told the Cullens. "Please refrain Renesmee from doing this in the future."

"She didn't know any better!" Bella went into full maternal mode. "We all thought that she," her finger pointed to me, "already was informed!"

At least I knew for sure that they were hiding something. Bella didn't leave much for the imagination. Edward shifted uncomfortably. "We'll make sure Nessie understands the full extent of her actions." The whole clan then stiffly walked out toward the electronic sliding doors. Edward was going to have to deal with the wrath of Bella later---no doubt about that. With an angry look at my supposed friends, I shut my eyes, not wanting to speak to them.

Whatever they 'forgot' to mention must be huge, I thought bitterly. And of course I'm kept in the dark. Well that wasn't really new. In case they didn't know, I detest being blissfullyignorant. Seth held me closer to his unclothed chest, almost protectively. Like a caveman. Soon I'd be dragged to his lair. What was sad was that the thought didn't totally repulse me.

"Tala," he pleaded after a few minutes. "Please cut the silent treatment."

I cracked open one eyelid and found his intense, dark brown eyes looking down at me. I felt a little pull that made me draw in nearer towards his chiseled face. What was wrong with me? I shook my head in attempts to fight off the feeling. Vulnerability was not in my agenda for today. A flash of pain crossed his face before he started again.

"Tala…" I looked around. We were on First Beach. Alone. I cut him off quickly. "How'd we get here so fast? We were just at hospital."

"I have something to tell you," he gently laid me on the sand and sat down next to me. I struggled to get into the same position, but Seth held me back. I peered at him before huffing and crossing my arms at the darkening sky. I knew he was only trying to make sure I didn't break any more ribs, but still…it was freaking annoying.

"What Seth? What big thing did you guys refuse to tell me about earlier?" I retorted.

He seemed offended and shot right back, "We only did it because we wanted to protect you."

"Sounds familiar," I drawled, trying to act uninterested. "Any other lies you want to feed me?" I knew I was just fueling the fire, but I was furious. I hated secrets almost as much as lying. They'd been kept from me my whole life.

Seth leaned towards me, his low voice murmuring in my ear, "I just didn't want to hurt you anymore. You're already going through a lot."

The flames were doused. His words unfroze my ice cold heart that had come with my bad mood. Was he a magician? Why did I feel like I was melting whenever he was around? My face visibly softened and a huge smile dimpled his cheeks. I could just imagine the words going through his head--- 'Sweet success.'

"Tala, do you remember the Quileute legends that you heard at the bonfire?" I nodded, what the hell did that have to do about anything?

Seth brightened, "What about the ones explaining the tribal protectors and the Cold Ones?" The corners of my mouth drooped slightly. I had fallen asleep right before Old Quil had gotten into those stories.

"I think I was out before then," I confessed. "The last thing I heard was the one about the wife who sacrificed herself."

He bit his lip, hesitant and unsure of himself---emotions I had never witnessed from any of the La Push boys. It brought him more down to my level. "Okay," he took a deep breath giving me that intent look again. What did it mean though? "What happened in the woods with Leah?" I wrinkled my nose. Again, why was he going onto these random topics? I wanted to yell for him to get to the point.

"Umm we swam at the hot springs, some wolves came up and Leah told me to run for it, then a bear attacked me." The chocolate orbs were wary, and for some weird reason, I was getting déjà vu. They seemed oddly familiar---I'd definitely seen them before, but not on Seth. "Anything else?"

I racked my memory. "There was the wolf that saved me," I confided to him. "I saw it again at the beach at noon before you found me." My voice faded out as everything instantly clicked. I gasped and glanced at Seth's piercing, brown eyes and compared it the ones of the animal.

They were exactly the same.

"No," I jumped up to my feet---wincing at the pain---and backed away from him. "No, you can't be." I felt dizzy with shock. This was not happening. He tried to grab my arm to calm me down, but I wouldn't let him.

"Don't touch me," I screeched. Seth flinched and held back, clearly hurt.

"Tala, just listen to me, please?" I didn't know what to do. My mind was telling me to run, but my heart wanted to give Seth a chance to explain. Who knows? It could just be coincidental. He waited for me to regain my breath and I slowly dropped to the grainy surface. I made sure Seth was a good six feet away though---just in case.

"Are you that wolf, Seth?" I whispered, not wanting to know the answer. He inhaled slowly before dipping his head slightly.

"How?"

Seth went through the legends about how our ancestors turned into giant wolves in order to fight the Cold Ones. He reminded me of the magic that ran through the tribe's veins—how the blood had been passed down for many generations. Seth elaborated about Ephraim Black, the last chief, along with the story of the yellow-eyed vampires.

I listened attentively in silence. None of this freaking made any sense!

"So you're a…" I choked, not able to finish off the sentence. He was joking. He had to be. My chest was hurting from my rapid breathing.

Seth winced, "Tala, I'm a werewolf." My eyes bulged as he said the magic word and my mouth dropped open. I really wish he was kidding with me, but I'd already seen the proof with my own two eyes.

"Or a shapeshifter," he corrected himself. "We're not completely sure." As if that would make anything better. I slid back another inch, putting more distance between us.

"There are no such things as vampires and werewolves," I told him, almost not believing my own words. I lay back in the sand. There was now a vivid red edging with my vision--but it wasn't from anger.

Seth gazed at me for a few seconds before answering, "The Cullens are those vampires that our great-grandfathers made a treaty with." If I thought I had been thoroughly shocked before, I was completely wrong. Horror and skepticism once again washed over my features. He furrowed his brow. "Well, besides Bella and Nessie. They're new. Nessie didn't mean to scare you, by the way. She just wanted to show you her life story. It didn't even occur to her that we hadn't told you."

Why was he lying to me? I shut my eyes to comprehend everything. "If she's a vampire, why'd she have brown eyes and rosy cheeks? Aren't they supposed to be cold with the same colored eyes as me?"

"She's special," Seth confirmed. "Bella was human when Nessie was born. Vampires can't have children. So, she's half vampire and half-human."

I shuddered. That was so freaking messed up. "Wait? What about Bella?" I remembered that picture from Nessie's mind that showed Bella covered in blood. Was that when she was in labor? Oh god, I was getting re-runs of it now.

"Bella married Edward about a year ago and he changed her. Well, after she gave birth to Nessie. Anyway, at first Jake was heartbroken because he had a crush on her, but then he im—got over it."

"That fast?" I caught Seth's slip and wasn't planning to let it go.

Seth just shrugged, "He found something else to make up for it." I shook my head in disbelief--this was all happening to fast. Couldn't he have, oh I don't know, told me in stages? I may like the truth, but usually, it just plain sucked.

"So, mythical creatures are real?" I stammered before groaning, "Please don't tell me that faeries and mermaids exist too. I don't think I'd be able to handle it."

Seth laughed for the first time that evening. "Not thatI know of. Wait, you don't mind that I morph into a huge wolf?"

I felt like shrinking into the corner. I did mind, but I did not want to hurt Seth's feelings. He was so happy and well, alive. "Seth..." I stuttered, trying to figure out what words to use. "My mom." The playful expression on his face wiped away instantly into one of worry and concern. He walked over and lay down next to me. There was an awkward silence before he started speaking again.

"I didn't understand it at first. I couldn't figure out why you kept shying away from me when I was in my wolf form. Usually people get curious after the initial freak-out. Then, I followed you from the beach and found you near that gravestone." He stopped as if remembering something. "I didn't know you were Sam's cousin."

"Neither did he," I muttered. "I told him earlier. I was sick and tired of my dad being all evasive. I wasn't allowed to tell Sam or anyone because of him. Something about questions." I shrugged--- my senses were on high alert with Seth right next to me. My heart had already started beating erratically. Lovely. He suddenly seemed amused and I realized that he could probably hear it.

How embarrassing.

"So," I said trying to change the subject. "How's being a modern day werewolf?"

"It has its perks. We run a temperature of 108.9, we have super speed, sensitive hearing, and we heal fast. Not to mention we can hear each other's thoughts when we're in our wolf form."

"That's how Leah knew that I was here," I said more to myself than him. It also meant that the La Push boys weren't packing on steroids after all. Good. If he hadn't told me that, I probably would've eventually slipped something in their food to deflate them. Not kidding.

Seth nodded, "Yeah, you gave Sam, Paul, and Jared quite a scare. They didn't know Sue was having any visitors. By the way, I'm sorry about that, Paul's usually pretty calm nowadays." Ha. They might want to work on that lie about more. That wolf had been going nuts.

I moved uncomfortably, "So, it was werewolves that Leah and I saw near the hot spring? No wonder she wasn't worried. More mad than anything."

He grinned, "She phased right after you left and gave them quite a mouthful. That was Ryan, Alex, and Miles. They thought they heard Leah laugh---which by the way is very uncommon---and went snooping. Complete idiots, Sam told them to stay away from you guys."

"Wait, how many of you are there?"

Seth crinkled his forehead, "Umm I think there are about seventeen of us."

What!? "In one pack?"

He shook his head. "There's two---Jake's and Sam's. It used to be one before Jacob broke off. He had Alpha blood, even though with Sam he was Beta. But it usually doesn't get in the way anymore, we just split patrols in half."

Brilliant. My cousin was Alpha. If he thought he could boss me around like he did to his pack, he was dead wrong. Seth flipped onto his stomach, now looking down on me.

"Tala, don't be afraid," he moved a piece of black hair out of my eyes and tucked it behind my ear. Goosebumps ran down my arm as I finally identified the hidden emotion that lay in Seth's expression.

Love.

"Seth, we just met." He paused and stopped guiltily. "Why does it feel like I've known you for so much longer though?" I swear that did not sound as cheesy when I was thinking it. The corners of his mouth began twitching as if he were trying to hold in a smile.

"There's another side effect of being a werewolf. It's called imprinting---almost like gravity. It's when we find our soulmates, our one true love. One look at our other half and the whole world shifts, the sun is no longer the center of our gravity. It's them. They are our everything."

I smiled, it was kind of sweet. "How many have imprinted already?"

"Six. Sam, Jared, Paul, Jacob, Quil,…and me." I looked at him in question. He imprinted? I wondered who his soulmate was. Maybe it was one of the girls I saw back at the house. Jealousy filled me up for a second while I groped for an answer. That's why he didn't want to hurt me.

Seth watched me hesitantly, wondering why I was fidgeting with myself. Ugh, I couldn't help it. I sort of kind of liked this guy and now he was telling me he was practically betrothed to someone else. "So, who is the lucky girl?" I blurted out. He smiled at my expression and scooped me up gently into his lap.

My muscles tensed up. What was he doing?

In one fluid movement, he reached his hands down to my face and pulled my mouth up to reach his. I froze for a second, trying to fully register what was happening. And then, I felt myself kiss him back, my lips in sync with his. Seth's were so soft and warm. I began to lean forward, twisting my hands into his inky, black hair. In response, he growled and wrapped his arms around me, caressing my back as he pulled me in closer. Yeah, I was so going to hell for kissing somebody else's soulmate.

"I imprinted on you, Tala Uley." His husky voice caused shivers to go up and down my spine. Stunned, I stopped and saw how his eyes radiated with such love and passion. My stomach was literally doing flips. Uh what did he just say?

"I'm your soulmate?" I squeaked. Either he was lying, or I was dense. I prayed for the latter.

"That's why I was so shocked at the beach yesterday morning. It's not every day you find the person you're meant to be with." He went in for another kiss and I submitted to him gladly. My previous anger and fear had been wiped away and now I was only filled with the want to be near Seth.

He insisted on carrying me back to Emily's, saying that I was in deep need of sleep and that my ankle was probably killing me. It wasn't, but I complied anyway. You would too, believe me. His touch melted butter. Everyone was waiting for us, darting glances from Seth's love struck expression to mine.

"Finally!" Quil shouted. "It's too hard keeping secrets around here." May I point out that they suck at it? At least the part about being inconspicuous? After that lovely outburst, people came up congratulating both of us. I don't know whose was worse, my blushes or Seth's. The extra snide comments from Embry and Jake did not help whatsoever. Seth then carried me into the guest room and laid me on the soft comforter.

"Don't go," I moaned as he headed out to leave. I think he was secretly rejoicing inside. Seth grinned and rested his head next to mine, wrapping his warm arms around me. I sighed happily, breathing in his woodsy smell. I'd never felt like this before, I was practically floating on cloud nine. Snuggling up closer, I drifted off to sleep, my ears ringing with the words, "I love you."


Loud noises were coming from downstairs. I rolled over, my mind still groggy. The heated conversation could be heard through the floorboards.

"I'm taking her with me, no way am I going to allow Tala amongst you mongrels!" The voice sounded vaguely familiar.

"It's already too late. If I had known earlier, I would have sent you both back immediately. Just let her stay here. Do you want it to happen in the middle of nowhere? May as well let her be with family and friends." Sam bellowed. I stirred and brought the blanket closer, what was all the commotion about? It hurt my ears.

"Family? She has no family here."

"What am I then? A ghost?" Sam was more than pissed---he was probably shaking too by the sounds of it.

"She didn't…what else have I missed?" Who was that? And why were they yelling so early in the morning? I wanted it to go away.

"She'd be with me," Seth's quiet voice rang out, the front door slamming shut. What? He was right there next to me…I looked over my shoulder and found his indented spot on the bed missing. No wonder I was so cold.

"Seth, what do you have to do with any of this?" I must've missed a couple of pieces of the conversation because the next thing I knew that voice was shouting at the top of their lungs.

Everything suddenly went it to focus and I gasped. Now I knew exactly who it was.

It was my father.


Ahh what will happen next to Tala? She has now officially found out about the mystical world--and imprinting (yes, I decided to let her know now….any more later and she'd flat out reject Seth) Hmm wonder what her father will do. Any guesses?
If you haven't already figured it out, I update about every 2 days or so. I try to be consistent. Sadly, school is starting up again so the chapters might get a little more spacey. :( Depressing, I know. Homework is def. not my favorite past time, I'd much rather do this. Which reminds me...I still have to do stupid summer reading. Ugh. I haven't even touched the bks.

Anyway, please review! Feedback and critiques are always wanted :D