AN: Is there even a point in apologizing for the incredibly long wait? My excuse is that I'm almost 19 years old and life has gotten the best of me. All I can do is shrug and sincerely apologize to whoever is still sticking around and reading this. There was 22 reviews last chapter- holy shit, guys. I'll be responding to those hopefully sometime today or tomorrow. I'm sorry for the wait. xx.

"You're shaking," he said.

"I do that sometimes," I whispered.

We were sitting on my sofa in the dark and Jared still hadn't let go of my hand. I could see his face through the moonlight coming through the curtains. His face was stoic.

"What's wrong?" he asked me. I shrugged.

"I'm not sure."

"Are you sure you're okay from earlier?" he asked. "Don't lie to me to try to make me feel better-"

I frowned, although I knew that he couldn't see me.

"I would never lie to you."

"Then tell me what's wrong," he whispered in my ear. I sighed, concentrating on the way his hand felt in mine.

"I'm afraid you're going to disappear," I said quietly. "Like you'll slip through my fingers like smoke-"

"You said that this morning," he told me. "And I told you that I wasn't going anywhere. Why do you think that?"

"Because it just doesn't seem real," I said quietly. "You- you probably know this already, but-"

I stopped.

"What is it?"

"I've liked you," I whispered and closed my eyes as my stomach rolled in fear. "I've liked you all year, for so long. And you've never looked at me- once. And when you finally did, and you- you started talking to me- it was like…like a dream come true, or something." My face was bright red, and I was extremely grateful that he couldn't see me in the dark. "And I feel like- like if you were to just- just leave without an explanation, I just-" I shook my head. "I don't know what I'd do."

There. I'd said. I told him that I liked him.

He didn't say anything at first. His thumb moved across the back of my hand and he sighed.

"I haven't been completely honest with you."

My heart skipped a beat. "What?"

"I haven't lied to you," he said, backtracking. "I couldn't lie to you. But I haven't exactly…told you everything you need to know." He leaned his head back on the couch. "I've just been- afraid to tell you because I don't know how you'll react. And I haven't wanted this-" He held up our hands. "-to end just yet."

End. This was ending. My breath was gone, but he was still talking.

"How well do you know our legends?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" I gasped. My whole body hurt; my heart was aching, my stomach was churning and my head was pounding. I could hear the blood flowing in my ears. "What-"

"It has to do with everything," he said grimly. "Everything. Do you know them?"

"Yes," I struggled to say. "I do."

"You know how we're descended from wolves? The Cold Ones, and the third wife?"

I nodded, trying to wrap my mind around what he was saying. Everyone knew those stories. Before Maqahla and Raven's dad ran off with his secretary, he used to tell me and Dean the stories of our legends before we went to bed at night.

"They're not legends."

"I- I don't understand," I said quickly. "Jared-"

"I'm a wolf."

I blinked. "What."

"I'm a werewolf," he repeated.

Before I knew what was going on, I let out a bark of laughter. "Yeah. Okay."

"I'm not joking, Kim," he said. He didn't sound amused. "I'm not."

I stared at him in disbelief. "A werewolf."

"I just told you I would never lie to you?" he reminded me. I nodded. "I'm not lying."

"How is this even possible?" I said after a minute. "How-"

"We don't know," he said quickly. "We're not sure how-"

"We?" I asked. "There's more?"

He nodded. "Paul, Sam Uley and Embry. And Jacob Black now," he added quickly. "That's why I had to leave this morning. He phased for the first time."

"Phased?" I repeated.

"When we change from human to wolf. It's called phasing."

"And Jacob Black changed into a werewolf today?" I clarified. He nodded.

"We had to go help him," he told me. "The first time it happens…it's scary. Not fun." He shuddered.

My disbelief and skepticism left as quickly as it came and was replaced by a sudden sadness. I tried to picture Jared turning into a wolf, but all I could picture was a puppy. I moved closer to him, leaning my head on his shoulder and he put his arm around me.

"Was it scary for you?" I whispered. He sighed and I settled deeper into his warmth.

"It's always scary the first time," he said. "It's- not a good feeling. It's horrible, actually. I was home alone. My mom was shopping. I was having really wicked mood swings; happy and excited in one second and the pissed off and depressed in the next. I started getting really hot- that's what scared me the most. I thought my blood was literally boiling. I thought I was on fire. I went outside to get cool, but it didn't do anything. Then Sam ran into my backyard and then that was it- I was on the ground and I had four paws."

"That was it," I repeated. I felt him nod.

"Yeah. And then Sam changed and I could hear him, in my mind-"

"Wait, slow down," I said. I felt wide awake now. "You could hear him?"

"When we're all wolves, we can hear each other's thoughts."

My jaw dropped. "Everything?"

"Everything."

"Wow," I said. "This- this is crazy."

"I know," he said with a small laugh. "Believe me, I know."

"What else can you do?" I asked him. He laughed for real this time.

"I can fly," he said sarcastically and I giggled. "No. I can heal really fast."

"Heal?"

"Yeah. If I get a cut or something, it takes, like, a day to turn into a scar." I frowned, not even liking the fact that he could get hurt. But that was stupid, anyone could get hurt. Just thinking about him in pain made my head hurt. "And my body temperature is up, obviously."

"I've always wondered about that," I told him. "I'm not cold when I'm with you. I haven't even had to take my medicine anymore."

"Really?" he said in surprise, pulling away to look at me. "For your anemia?"

I nodded. "I haven't been as tired. I'm not cold anymore."

"Did your doctor tell you that you could stop your medicine?"

I shook my head. "I'm going to go in a couple of days and tell him. I just wanted to see if I'd be okay."

"Oh," he said, but I could tell that he didn't like that I wasn't taking my medicine. "You should- you should keep taking it…just in case. Just until you go to the doctor to find out what he says," he said quickly when I started to protest. "I'd feel better. Please?" He gave me an innocent look and I groaned. He kissed the side of my face, and I stopped groaning immediately.

We sat like that for a few moments before he sighed again. "That's not it."

"What else could you possibly tell me?" I said with a laugh. "Harry Potter's real too?"

He chuckled. "I wish. That'd be cool, wouldn't it?" I nodded, and then waited for him to continue. "This was what I was nervous about telling you."

"Why?"

"Because it could screw everything up," he whispered. "It could. And I'm terrified to tell you."

"Just try," I offered, but he spoke over me quickly.

"Iimprintedonyouandi'msorry."

I blinked. "What."

He took a deep breath. "I imprinted on you. And I'm sorry."

"Well I don't even know what that means," I said. "And sorry for what?"

"Imprinting," he said slowly. "Is supposed to be a rare thing-"

Shit's supposed to be rare, man!

Paul had said that to Jared the day that Jared started talking to me. Rare.

"Supposed to," I said. "But it's not?"

"Well, it's happened to me and Sam," he said. "But it's really not supposed to happen at all."

"What is it?"

"It's how we find our soul mates," he whispered. I froze. "It's an instantaneous thing, one that I can't control. Like falling in love at first sight. When I saw you on the first day that I came back- I just looked into your eyes and- and I knew. You're my imprint, Kim," he finished a little lamely. "My soul mate. And I'm sorry."

I'd never been more confused, excited and sick to my stomach before in my whole life.

"Soul mate," I said. "We're soul mates."

"I might not have a choice in this," he told me. "But you do, Kim, you do. That's why I'm sorry. You don't have to stick around if you don't want to. I can be your best friend. I can be like your brother. I can be more." My heart picked up. "I could be anything you want me to be and I'll be okay with it. I just- I need you in my life. The soul mate, love at first sight thing- it's not just because I'm a werewolf, Kim," he pulled my face close to his. "You have to believe me. We were made for each other. We were born because we were meant to be together, in whatever way you want. We were always meant to be soul mates. The imprint just made me open my eyes, Kim, that's it- it didn't create these- these feelings I have for you, it just made me see you. But like I said, you don't-"

"Stop," I told him. "I don't have a choice in this."

"Yes, you do," he said quickly. "You always do, this is all you- if you want me to be gone, I'll go- I mean, it's going to hurt me, and it's going to hurt you too, but if that's what you want-"

"No, stop," I said, holding his face and shutting him up. "That's not what I meant."

"Then what do you-"

"I didn't have a choice from the moment I saw you," I whispered. "I just- I wanted you and only you. You didn't know-"

"Don't try to make excuses for me," he said in astonishment. "Kim, we could have had weeks, months, maybe even years before this- if only I'd looked for you in the hallways or- or turned around sooner in class," he said sadly. "We could have been friends or- or-"

I shook my head. "I would never have been okay with just friends. I don't want that. Not by a long shot."

He looked broken. "Then what do you want, Kim? I'll give it to you."

Swallowing the hard lump in my throat, I leaned forward and kissed him. He breathed out through his nose and it fanned across my face. He wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me closer so that my knees were on either side of his body and I was sitting on him. He cupped my face gently and I couldn't feel or think about anything except the way that our lips molded together.

"I just want you," I whispered against his lips. "You're the only thing that I've wanted."

"I'm yours," he said quietly. "And I won't be anything else unless you ask."