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The next morning, I woke in my old hospital room, to find Paul holding my hand, "Is this real?" I asked him, feeling a whole lot better, "You're not dead?"

Paul's face was worried, ashamed, "Of course not! Not a scratch on me, silly girl. What were you thinking?"

The previous afternoon's activities came back to me and I frowned, worry and utter confusion washing over me again. "What were you thinking? YOU JUMPED OUT A WINDOW, PAUL!" I half shouted at him, forgetting where we were for a moment. "You could have been killed. And then…I saw…" I cleared my throat- what if he thought I was crazy? Truth be told, I didn't know what I saw. Well, I knew what I saw, but it wasn't natural. Maybe my brain had become destroyed in the accident. The reasonable part of my brain, that is.

Paul's face had become completely frozen- and I wondered how he was feeling. He seemed to know something: he had to. "What did you see?" he whispered, voice low. I wondered if he was angry…or scared.

"When you fell out of the window…you seemed to change before you hit the ground. There were two of you…that other guy." I remembered the two of them falling and shuddered again. Paul didn't move, but I could tell how hard it was for him to stay still at this point. Something was up.

"Go on…" he whispered, encouraging me.

"You changed into wolves. Right there, during the fall." His expression didn't changed, and I quickly went on, "But of course, that's impossible. I mean, human beings don't change into wolves. It just doesn't work like that. The natural world does not work like that." Paul still didn't react, "Does it?"

"I need to talk to Sam." Paul whispered.

I stared at him, "What do you mean?" I tried to grin, even though I could feel my heart racing. "Just tell me that you're not a giant wolf, and I'll relax."

Paul's eyes were full of pain, "I promised myself I wouldn't lie to you, Liz." I could barely hear his voice, it was so low. I felt a cold horror come over to me. Either he thought I was completely crazy…or…No. I did not want to even think it. Because it was impossible.

"Paul, please don't think I'm crazy. I'm not crazy. I promise." I half begged him. "Listen to me Paul! I'm not…"

He put a finger to his lips. It was trembling. "I know that Lizzie. I could never think that."
"Wait…if I'm not crazy, than that means…" I stared at him. "I want an answer Paul. Can you change into a wolf?" The question came out of my mouth casually, as though I were asking about the weather, or what was on the hospital menu. I think I was numb- I just couldn't process that this was actually happening. It was surreal.

"Yes." He didn't look at me. "I can."

"Oh.." I couldn't think of anything else to say. What could I say? I had just found out that my little crush- or boyfriend (I hoped)-transforms into a wolf occasionally. My mind rejected the knowledge. I couldn't understand it, or perhaps I just didn't want to understand it. Either way, it made absolutely no sense to me.

That's when I noticed that Paul had stood up and was across the room, shaking from head to toe. For a second, I thought that he was having a seizure, and I moved to buzz for help. I called his name, "Paul? Do you need help?" Immediately he stopped shaking.

"That was dangerous." He whispered, "I can't lose control like that around you. Ever."

I just stared at him, trying to main expressionless, to repress my emotion. Because, really, I didn't know what was going to come out if I let it go. And if anything else, I didn't want to scare Paul like that. He was telling me the truth about himself. I knew that. And I didn't want him to be afraid to tell me the truth. "Can you tell me what you are? Exactly? What makes you different from me?"

"I'm not human, for one." He whispered, taking my hand and closely monitoring my expression. "I believe you've heard of us before. Werewolves. We can change, generally at will, into wolves."

"What do you mean by 'generally at will'?"

"We change when there's a very strong emotion running through us. It's easy to phase anyway, but when we're upset, we can lose all control. That's what happened in your room the other day. I got too upset." His face was ashamed. "You have no idea how dangerous that was. If you had been to close…If Sam hadn't gotten me out…" He looked at me, face intense with so many emotions: I couldn't place them. I was too involved in his story. "You could have gotten very hurt."

"Why's that?" I whispered. I knew I should be worried that he could transform like this, and that I was in serious danger. But I wasn't. I still didn't feel anything. In shock, I supposed.

"I am very…strong. It comes with the territory. But, as a human, I can control that strength. Not as easy when I'm a wolf- we rely much more on instinct. And, of course, I have no control while I'm phasing." Paul locked eyes with me, expression becoming even more intense. "But I will never hurt you. You need to understand that. No matter what I am, no matter what I'm built for, I will never hurt you. I'm here to protect you. I swear it."

"Why?" I whispered. "Why do you care so much? Surely you're not all like this for everyone. What makes me so special?" I bit my lip as the question left my mouth. Part of me wished that I could take it back, even though it was a question I so desperately wanted to know the answer to. But what if he didn't feel the way I did? I didn't know if I could take that. I was way too emotionally invested in this relationship, or whatever it was. I knew that.

Paul's expression became quite tender, and he reached up to stroke my face. "There's a separate phenomena with us wolves. It's called imprinting.

"Like a duck?" I interrupted him. I was becoming more aware: my emotions were coming back, the awful cold feeling leaving my body.

Paul half snorted, face becoming a little more lively. "I guess that's where we get the name from, though I don't appreciate being called a duck."

"Quack quack! Quack quack. Who is my little ducky?"

"Hey, did you want to hear the rest of the story or not?" I think he was trying to sound angry, but the fact that he was smiling made it really hard to believe him.

"Ok, ok, I'll be quiet." I made a big show of zipping my lips and throwing away the key.

"Anyway, it's kind of like what happens with ducklings when they see their mom or whatever. When we see…her, everything changes. I don't even know how to describe it: it's as though there's this invisible rope, and you are tied to her. Forever. You lose the ability to look at other people in the same manner. You know that you'll follow her anywhere. Through anything." He looked at me. "That's what happened, in the parking lot, when I first saw you. I wanted nothing more than to run across all those cars, at wolf speed, and scoop you into my arms. Get you away from Seth," he smiled a half smile, "I thought he was hittin on you or something. And I felt so jealous, so angry. Sam forced me to get out of there: I nearly ripped his head off for taking me away from you. I was already bound to you, even then, when I hadn't even spoken to you." He chuckled, "I'll bet you didn't even notice."

"I noticed you," my voice was quiet, "That very first day. I wondered why they had to pull you into the woods."

He frowned, "I must have seemed nuts. I'm surprised you even talked to me."

"I was fascinated by you. I had no idea why. I kind of felt attached to you, in a strange way. I knew that there was something special about you, even though I'd just see you from afar," The truth came easily to my lips; I was surprised at how easy it was to tell Paul exactly how I felt about him. "And then…I heard wolves out my window that night…was that you?"

"I couldn't leave you alone. I wanted to protect you, worried all night, and finally I went to your house that night to check up on you. I just had to see that you were safe." He stroked my face, "You meant everything to me, even then, when I barely knew you."

"I looked you up in the yearbook the next day." I smiled at the memory. Never had I thought this boy might be something incredible. Never had I thought that he would wind up becoming the most important person in my life. But I had known there was a connection there, even when I had no idea as to why. "I wanted to know more about you."

Paul kissed the top of my head. "I guess the connection goes both ways. But still" He looked me in the eyes, "You know that you're not forced to be with me right? I am here to be whatever you need, whatever you want. I don't want to go away, but if that's what you need…well, I wouldn't hesitate." His words sent a jolt of pain through my body- I didn't even want to think about him leaving. He couldn't leave me. I didn't know if I could survive that.
"Please don't leave me." I whispered to him. He took my hand in both of his, eyes tightening in response to whatever he saw in my face.

"Look at me. I am yours- bound to you. I will always be there for you, for whatever you need. I'm by your side until you make me go away."

I could feel the muscles in my throat closing, and I almost felt like crying. This was the best thing that had ever happened to me. Ever. "Don't hold your breath for that," I whispered.

And then, right there, in the middle of the hospital, Paul brought his lips down. I felt a warm softness grace my lips as he gently brushed against them. I pushed my lips up to his, inviting him in. He traced the inside of my mouth with his tongue and I reached my good arm up around him.

"Ahem…" I jumped, and Paul pulled away, winking at me. Dr. Jenkins came into the room. "Having a nice afternoon are we?"

I blushed, a sheepish grin spreading across my face, "Uh-huh."

"Yes, well, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I want to check you out after your little…excursion yesterday. Mr. Young, if you could be so kind…" Paul squeezed my hand, then stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him. "Miss Smith, I know that I told you that you couldn't have children, but I still suggest practicing certain safe sex techniques. You never know what people might have."
I turned an even brighter red. "Um…thanks, but we're not…you know. We've only been dating for a week. That was our first kiss. We're not ready for that."

Dr. Jenkins turned to me, looking surprised as she began her examination, "Really? That is a surprise? I'd assumed, from the way that he was attached to your side all day, that you two were much more serious than that. He seems very….connected to you. I don't see that a lot, and I deal with a lot of families."

"I do like him quite a bit," I admitted to her, blushing once again. "He's just such a good guy."

"He'd better be. You deserve a lot, honey. Don't ever sell yourself short." She brought over an ultrasound machine. "I'm going to take a look at that lunch, but everything looks pretty good. Even your test results from the ER aren't terrible, and that was after your little adventure. If your lung is healing well enough, I'd think that you might be able to go home within 4-5 days." She turned to me, smiling wryly. "Just so long as we don't have any more excursions. You need the rest, my dear."

She poured some good onto my chest. It was cold, and felt really funny. "Here we go…yes, that is healing quite nicely. How would you say your breathing feels?"

"Much better than when I first came in here. I can take deep breaths without being in so much pain I feel like collapsing, anyway" I shuddered at the memory of my first visit to the hospital.

"I would definitely say that you are on your way to a full recovery. I want you in here for the next few days just to keep you close and under observation, but you should have a little less than a week with us." She winked at me, "Then I'm kicking you out."

I felt excited at her statement. After all, I had been locked up in this sanitary prison for just over half a month. I felt as though I were going absolutely crazy in here. I could not wait to see the sun, to go outside, and to have some degree of freedom again.

But something worried me. Paul had been by my side almost constantly since I arrived, or at least, since I'd been awake. What would happen when we went home, and got back to our regular lives? He'd certainly be away from me more- I knew that. There was no way that Paul could stay by my side constantly at home-surely, he had a life to get back to at home. I knew that he was probably putting a lot aside to be with me at the hospital- definitely a lot more than he let on. I wondered how he had gotten all of the time of work. Jared's parents must have been really understanding.

"I'm going to have you CAT scanned and MRIed again today." Dr. Jenkins told me as she cleaned off the ultrasound machine. I made a face at her- I'd really started to dislike the MRI machine. Not only did it induce a great deal of claustrophobia, but it was also loud beyond belief. The metallic banging and whirling always gave me a headache.

She saw my expression and laughed, "This may be your second to last one while in here. Just remember that."

"I can't wait."