We pulled up to the edge of the woods, and Jacob started to park.
"Wait, are we here already?" I asked, glancing at the many trees.
"Almost. There are too many twigs and branches, and I don't want to ride my motorcycle through that," he explained.
I nodded my head in understanding, and waited for him to turn off the engine, and hopped off. I unclipped my helmet and placed it on the back of the motorcycle.
"Come on," Jake said, holding his hand out to me. I took it, and he led me into the woods.
We walked deep into the woods, and stopped when we reached a smaller-than-average log house. Before we could get to the door, a huge wolf with pure black fur came sprinting at us. Hot on his trail were three other wolves, one with chocolate brown fur, one with gray fur with dark spots, and another with dark gray fur.
"Sam," Jake said, talking to the first wolf. "This is Max. Max, this is Sam, Quil," he gestured to the wolf with brown fur, "Embry," the one with the gray fur and dark spots, "and Paul." His nose seemed to wrinkle at the dark gray wolf.
They started what I guessed was turning back, and Jacob covered my eyes. "What are you doing?" I asked.
"They're naked," he whispered in my ear.
"Oh," I said. That was not something I wanted to see.
He lead me into the house, carefully guiding me with my eyes closed. He told me I could open my eyes, and I saw a cozy kitchen, and four males, fully dressed, sitting at a wooden table, eagerly grabbing at the food on the table. A female came into the room, and smiled at me. She was very pretty, but I couldn't help but notice that she had a large scar running along her face.
Sam stood up and kissed her soundly on the lips, and everybody else around me groaned. "Do you have to do that all the time in front of us?" Quil complained.
"Hey, the last time I checked, you had a mate of your own," Sam shot back.
"Yeah, but she's two," Quil replied. "Can't exactly start making out with her."
"You imprinted on a two-year-old?" The words just popped out of my mouth.
"Max," Jacob started.
"I guess if you put it like that, I'm a pedophile," Quil laughed. "Don't worry about it. This pack reacted the same way when I first told them, and Emily was furious."
"She's my niece," Emily added.
"Oh, okay. So, has everybody here imprinted on someone?"
"Everybody but Embry," Sam responded. "Right, Embry?"
"I just haven't met the right girl yet," Embry defended, blushing.
"Hey, no need to be embarrassed," Sam comforted. "All these little boys jumped the gun, but it took me a while to find the right woman for me," he said, gazing lovingly at Emily.
"So you must be the girl Jacob picked," Paul spoke up.
"You told them?" I asked Jacob.
"No, they just read my mind."
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"No, literally. When we're in our wolf form, we have access to each other's minds. Usually for hunting purposes and stuff, but eventually some personal things come to our mind, and then bam, no more privacy."
I was about to say something about how much that sucks, when Paul opened his mouth again. "And you're not too bad."
In a blink, Jacob was grabbing Paul by the shirt and was growling at him. "Don't you dare."
"Calm down, Jake. I was just messing around."
"Don't mess around when you've imprinted on my sister."
"Break it up, boys," a new voice, female, broke in.
We turned to see a girl and a boy standing in the doorway, and looking past them, I could see two smaller, younger boys.
"Leah, Seth," Sam welcomed. "And you brought Brady and Colin."
Leah had a little bit of a twisted expression on her face, Seth looked like he could jump over the moon, and Brady and Colin looked shy.
"Well, don't just stand there, come on in!" Emily pulled Leah and Seth in, along with pushing Brady and Colin in.
Once all of us were settled in the small living room, Jacob pulled me in front of everyone.
"Guys, this is Max. Max, along with those four guys and Emily, this is Leah, Seth, Colin, and Brady."
Leah was a tall girl, around 5'10", and short black hair and brown eyes. Her skin was this beautiful copper color that, as Ella would say, was to die for. Seth looked just like his sister, although he was taller, almost 6'0". Brady on the other hand, was shorter, around Ella's height. He had dark brown hair with light brown highlights, and dark brown, almost black, eyes. Colin was taller, with russet skin, black hair, and brown eyes.
Generally, they all looked like siblings. And then, there was me, the blonde girl with wings, and who looked almost pale in comparison to their tan complexion. They were outside more than me, and that was saying something.
"H-hi," I barely got out under Leah's harsh stare.
"This is the girl you imprinted on?" she said to Jacob, almost in an angry tone.
"Yes, is there a problem?"
"Well, you can take one glance at her and see that she's not a wolf, so how can she keep up with us?"
"I'm not a wolf, and I manage fine," Emily piped up.
"That's different." Again with the twisted look. "You're the leader's imprint. It doesn't matter. You can do anything you want, you don't have to be like us."
"Leah, you know that's not true. It would have been best if I chose another female wolf so we could produce a strong leader for the next generation of the clan, but since we can only imprint on humans, there's nothing else we can do."
"Whatever, I'm just going to flat-out say that this girl is going to be nothing but trouble for us."
"I'm sorry, but who are you to say things like that?" I burst, unable to stand this girl's awful criticism.
"I just know that in the past, imprints with outsiders never work out. And don't try to bring Emily into this, because she's my second cousin. In a way, she's one of us. On the other hand, we don't know anything about you."
"Leah, none of it matters. Have you forgotten that Jacob has already imprinted on her?" Sam stood up with authority. "Imprints are sacred, and if he has imprinted on her, then she is the one for him."
"Whatever," Leah said, rolling her eyes, but I could tell it lowered her confidence to be yelled at by the alpha.
"It's okay, Max," Jake said, rubbing my arm.
Jacob walked me out of the house, and apologized. "I'm sorry, that didn't go the way I wanted it to. I didn't think Leah would be showing up."
"Well, better now than later."
"I wish I could walk you home, but I have to stay. Sam always talks to new imprinters about, well, imprinting right after they do it."
"It's okay," I said. "I can walk home on my own."
"It's late. I could at least walk you out of the woods."
"Really, it's fine. I know how to take care of myself."
He nodded reluctantly. "And Max," I turned around. "Don't think about what Leah said."
"Gee, thanks Jacob." Leah walked out of the house, followed by her little brother.
"Leah-" I wanted to say something to her, give her a piece of my mind, but she stormed off, not giving me any chance.
"I'm sorry about Leah," Seth said to me. "She's just naturally a little sharp."
"It's fine, I guess. I've met worse." Jeb. He was even worse, he made you feel safe, and stabbed you in the back.
"Say, Seth, could you walk Max home? I have to talk to Sam, and I don't want her walking out there alone."
"Jacob, I told you-" I tried to say, but Seth agreed.
"You never know what else is out there," Seth said.
I glared at Jake for not trusting me to be safe by myself, but at the same time, I was happy that he cared for me enough.
"Bye, Max." Jacob kissed me on the forehead, and sent me off with Seth.
Seth was a cheerful guy, and he liked to talk. Like, a lot. He was like a male Nudge.
"So, how do you like Forks?"
"I'm just crazy over this great weather," I said sarcastically.
He chuckled. "Yeah, well, after a while, you'll get used to it."
"That's what everybody says, but when you come from Arizona, it's not as easy."
"It's always sunny there, isn't it?"
"Yep."
"Do you like the sun?"
"I love it," I said. "It's really refreshing."
"So why did you have to move to Forks?" Man, this boy had a future in being a job interviewer.
"My mom's work," I said. I didn't know if it was true, but since Jacob knew my mom, I guess a lot of other people did too.
"Your mom's cookies are amazing."
It was my turn to laugh. "So I've been told."
"You should smile more," he said.
"What?"
"Smiling really lights up your face." Seth didn't blush or seem embarrassed to say it. He just said it.
"Well, thanks?"
"You're welcome," he smiled. He sure was a bubbly kid. I knew he was the same age as me, but he seemed to enjoy life so much more than me.
"See you tomorrow, Max." I didn't realize that I was home already.
"Thanks for walking me back, Seth." He took a slight bow, and turned to walk away. I wish I were able to make friends easily like Seth.
