Hello! :D

Important note PLEASE READ- Just a heads up that for the next 4 weeks I will be lowering to one update a week on my stories, the day most probably being a Friday or Saturday night. This is due to the fact I currently am studying Maths at College and although normally it is a night course that I take after work and so it's only one night a week my final exam for it is in four weeks time meaning I really need to focus on my grade and passing, so I hope you all understand and can be patient until I get through the exam period and then my updates will be back to normal. Thank you!

The guest who put not your favourite can I just say you gave me a heart attack hahaha, I read that review and was like really sad then you reviewed again saying it was a mistake and I was like PHEW. Hahha you had me scared for a minute. But thank you for clearing it up and letting me know it was a mistake it means a lot that you like the story and that your reading and letting me know your thoughts :D Don't worry about the mistake just don't scare me like that again ahhaha xxx

Thank you to everyone else as well all your reviews helped a lot with writing this chapter! Enjoy :D xxx

I watched in silence from the kitchen table as Emily made cookies with Bailey, her cheeks were still red from the tears that had fallen earlier but she had perked up a lot once we managed to pry her from Jared. When she said she liked him I guess she meant it. Most of the guys had gone straight away and for that I was thankful because it was awkward as hell being around these huge guys. It was just Bailey and I, Sam, Emily and Jared although Sam and Jared had disappeared while Emily and I got Bailey changed and they still hadn't come back.

"Kimmie look Emily has cupcake trays, we don't have those" Bailey held up a baking tray and smiled a huge smile. My stomach clenched tightly again as she again gave away more information on our home life, it may only be a baking tray to her but to me it was information about how crap our house was and the sad smile that appeared on Emily's face showed me she knew it too. I hated this, not being here because Emily and Sam were kind as were the other guys Jared had been with but I hated the pity their eyes held as Bailey slipped up more with her words. I felt like I was a charity case, here because they knew my dad was losing his mind and that my house was depressive and dark.

I wanted to ring home, tell him we had found her but something told me he probably didn't care. He was probably passed out in bed with no memory of what he did to me or that his little girl had seen it and ran away from the home he was supposed to make her feel safe in.

"Kim would you like to help?" Emily's kind motherly voice broke through my self pitying thoughts and I looked back to where she was stood with Bailey to see them both smiling at me, Bailey's little face was lit up in a childish smile that I rarely saw on her, I guess she was comfortable with Emily.

I stuttered as I tried to find a way to turn them down, I was in such a crappy mood I couldn't even fake a smile and Bailey's faltered for a second. I didn't want to be here pretending to be happy, I was confused, I was upset, I was angry but I was anything but happy and wanting to make cookies. I was a mess of emotions, I was angry and upset with my dad but part of me was buzzing with a glimmer of hope and need to see Jared, for him to explain whatever it was he keeps saying he wants to explain and for a minute I actually thought he would tell me then he disappeared with Sam, it seemed to be a pattern with Jared that when I get upset and need someone he runs off but that was just me being bitter, I knew it was Sam who told him to leave not him wanting to leave earlier but it was nearly 8pm and they still weren't back.

"Kim?" Bailey called out and I realised they were still waiting for my answer, how could I say no without sounding rude? Damn it I couldn't.

"Sure" I stood up but my legs were still shaking and I nearly lost my footing.

"Actually I was wondering if I could steal you" A gruff voice came from behind me and I turned expecting to see Jared but it was Sam, he offered me a kind smile before his eyes shot behind me to Emily and I followed his eye line turning my head to see her quickly place a smile on her scarred face but it was forced, she looked sort of worried and I could have sworn that she made a movement as if coming towards me but stopped.

"Sure" I repeated my earlier simple reply and let my feet fall into a dazed walk behind Sam who was taking long strides back out of the house and into the dark yard. I realised that it was probably really stupid of me to be following a huge semi naked man into the darkness especially after I only met him a few hours ago but he had a sort of authoritive safety about him.

We reached the tree line and he stopped to look back at me, his smile forced like Emily's was but he seemed nervous, like he really didn't want to be here with me and for a second I felt the need to turn and run, I felt danger sparking within me but my feet didn't move.

"Umm Jared's waiting for you in there but I need to talk to you first" He spoke lowly as if trying not to be overheard and I looked past him into the woods, I couldn't see Jared. By this point my body was shaking from nerves I had no idea why he would be in there nor why I would be out here with Sam instead of him. He was supposed to be explaining something to me not Sam. "He's going to explain it to you as well but I guess he thinks it will be easier if I fill you in first. I just need you to be open minded for a minute"

He stopped and stared at me, I felt myself frown at his words. I didn't understand a word he was saying, why would it be easier for Sam to tell me? And why would I need to be open minded? I would have asked those questions out loud had I not been intimidated by Sam's size and the fact he was looming over me on the edge of a dark forest, instead I just nodded slowly like I agreed with what he said although I didn't.

He drew in a big breath and looked around the yard before signalling for me to follow him in walk and I did, I wasn't sure why I trusted him so much but I fell into step beside him as he walked into the trees.

"Ok so I guess I don't really know you that well so I don't know how to tell you this, with Emily I at least knew her enough to know what to say and what not to and now I'm rambling. You know what I'm just going to come right out and say it" He stopped and turned to me, his height nearly doubled mine and I couldn't help but cower away from him as he towered over my small self. I had no idea what the hell he was talking about or what Emily had to do with it.

"You're Quileute right?" He asked and I nodded which caused him to let up a small sigh of relief. "So you should be familiar with the tribal legends, the spirit warriors, Taha Aki all that sort of stuff?" He spoke again but this time his eyes flamed with some strange blaze when he mentioned them, almost pride. I nodded again and again I got confused.

"My mom told them to us when we were little but I haven't heard them for years" I mumbled feeling the need to explain my knowledge of them. My dad was white and knew little about the tribe so my mom often told us the stories while my friend's dads would tell them, my dad told stories of Cinderella and Disney stories and my mom stuck with our history. Sam smiled at me a friendly smile and nodded.

"Ok that's good that's good. Ok so be open minded here" He added again and started walking so I followed him, I had never been as confused as I was in this moment but I tried to open my mind to whatever he was going to say. "You saw all of us today, me, Paul, Jared, Embry and the other two" He looked at me and waited for me to nod and so I did.

"It's hard to miss you" I let out without meaning to and he barked a laugh. "I mean you're all big" My hands flew up to make a big gap signalling their size and he laughed again.

"Yeah comes with the job" He chuckled to himself this time causing me to grow confused all over again.

"Ok so tell me what you know about the spirit warriors" He stopped and turned to me letting me speak and my cheeks blushed suddenly from being on show to him. I had to really search for the information I once used to hear every night, I used to love those stories. Sophie used to tell me one day a wolf would come and save her, I never really knew what she meant by it though. She told me the same thing the night she vanished, she said right before she put me to bed that I shouldn't worry because a wolf will come and save her. I figured she had just said it as an end to the story she had told me, she made one up about a girl called Kim falling in love with a wolf who saved her. She was a big romantic.

I shook the memories from my head and looked back up at Sam who was waiting patiently. "I umm I guess I know about Taha Aki and the cold ones, the tribe men changed into wolves to save the tribe from the cold ones. The males in the tribe are supposed to all carry the gene and protect us. I can't remember the exact details, why?" I was really lost, I knew the basics but I had been told fairytale legend stories not the real things.

"No that's good, it's a start" He smiled encouragingly at me his eyes burning with the same emotion I saw back at the tree line, like he knew something, like he was in control of something. "Do you believe in the legends?" He asked this time and the question caught me completely off guard. Did I believe? I had never thought of them as anything but old stories, I shrugged at him and he smiled again but this time he looked a bit put off.

"I was a kid they weren't the really legends my mom and sister would turn them into fairytales about a wolf prince and a princess and the wolf saving her from the cold ones, I mean I never thought of them as anything but bedtime stories. Why you going to tell me their real?" I meant it as a joke and for a minute I snorted at myself that is until Sam's face stayed perfectly serious and my stomach dropped in dread that he was actually about to say something along those lines.

"Kim be open minded. The legends say we come from wolves and that we turn into wolves when we sense danger to our people. I used to think that they were purely stories my mom told me when I was a kid...that is until a little while ago I became a spirit warrior, we are spirit warriors" He spoke slowly trying not to freak me out but he failed. I fell backwards and he followed my movement. This was not funny. They weren't real. This was Jared being an asshole, they were messing with my head again. Nope. I was not believing this crap.

"Wait let me explain" He reached out for me and for some reason I stopped, for some reason my body was giving him the time to explain even though I had known this man less than a day and Jared was nowhere in sight. "All of us who you saw earlier, we turn into wolves, so does Jared. We protect the tribe from threats, cold ones. That's why we are so big, we are shape shifters" He stopped again and I think he realised he was failing at explaining this to me because he looked behind him desperately before back at me. "Will you let me show you?" He asked quietly and for some reason I nodded. Everything in me was screaming run but my head nodded and my feet moved to follow him as he made his way through a gap in the trees. I was insane, he was insane. This was insane.

I tripped over a branch but my feet managed to stay upright, I felt like we had walked for a mile and I was about to ask a question when my body went rigid, my eyes falling on something I never thought I would be this close to and my breath caught in my throat. Sam was at my side still and he was looking down at me as if watching for my reaction. I didn't know how to react, there was a huge wolf stood in front of me. What do you do in that moment? Run and cry? Scream? Or as I was doing right now just stare?

The wolf was huge, I let my eyes travel over the body, my heart was hammering and my breath refused to leave my lips but for some reason my eyes unfroze and I found myself basking in the beauty of the creature in front of me. The fur was beautiful and soft looking, its brown fur shining in the light of the moon and stars that twinkled through the rustling tree leaves, his paws were huge and I could make out the big muscles that lay beneath the fur over its legs. I moved onto its neck, it was thick and muscle's lay there too but it was its face that took me, the fur was darker there, it's nose was nearly black but still beautifully soft looking. Then the eyes hit me, my eyes locked on them and a sense of familiarity washed over me, they were a deep swirling brown, so beautiful and breath taking, had my lungs been working in that moment they would have stopped all over again. I knew those eyes, I dreamt of those eyes.

"Jared" His name left my lips before I could stop it and the wolf's head snapped up, Sam beside me shot his head down to me too and I found myself looking back up at him for some sort of confirmation but I didn't need it. It was Jared.

My feet suddenly moved forward and there was a tugging in my chest, pulling at me to get closer to the wolf that looked so much like Jared. The animal stepped back hesitantly, his eyes looking back to Sam as if needing encouragement and as if he received it he stepped toward me, hesitant still but calmer. My hand came up to his face as I got close, my finger tips smoothing over his long nose and over the area between his two eyes until I was running my hand over his head and the area of body I could reach. My eyes came back to his and I knew it was him.

"It's real. You're a wolf?" I whispered and the Jared like wolf jerked his head in a nod. I was losing my mind, I was dreaming, I was doing anything but this. But it was right, it felt right, it felt real. He was a wolf. They were wolves. "I don't understand" I whispered again as I realised I had no idea what this had to do with me or why he told me. The wolf Jared looked at me and ran backwards into the trees giving off a little yip as he went.

I turned to look for Sam but he wasn't there anymore, I didn't feel alone though, someone was here with me and as quickly as he had left Jared walked back through the trees but as a human dressed only in a pair of shorts. He walked faster than normal to get to me and when he did he grabbed for my hand before pulling to me to sit down and so I did, my body was so numb I would have done anything he told me to in that moment purely because I wasn't in full control of my legs.

"Jared" I started as we sat down but he shook his head at me to tell me to shut up.

"Kim just let me explain it to you and then you can speak" He was forward and in control obviously knowing what he wanted to say and do in this moment and I shut up to let him do just that. "I know this is random as hell and we only just met and you don't trust me or really like me" I went to protest at this because I did like him, I was wary of him but no matter how much I tried to hate him I still liked him, he still haunted my thoughts 24/7 but before I could reply he pressed on with his obviously rehearsed speech. "And maybe I shouldn't have gotten Sam to bring you out here, I should have done it all myself but he's my alpha and I thought he would do a better job at explaining than I would but he obviously confused the hell out of you. I never thought you would know it was me when you saw my wolf, and I still don't know what to say but it's true, all the legends your mom ever told you were true, we protect the tribe"

"Why are you telling me this?" I cut across him suddenly the question burning too much within me to hold it down any longer and he looked at me confused for a second. "This is a huge secret to you, why would you tell me?" I asked again and he cocked his head and shrugged as if it should be obvious to me but it wasn't.

"You told me something huge about you because you trusted me with it, I trust you with this Kim, I want you to realise that I didn't use you, I like you a lot and I want you to see that I didn't leave because I wanted to I left because I didn't know what else to do" He stopped and I said nothing, I still didn't know what else to do so I just stared at him. It felt nice I suppose to know he trusted me and a little part of me pushed back at the wall I built up named Jared, maybe he hadn't used me.

"Why did you run?" I asked this time and he dropped his head into his hands.

"I will tell you but I have to explain the wolf stuff as well, I can't just leave it at this there's more to it, there's more to the reason I'm trying so hard with you, why I couldn't handle what you told me. It's going to freak you out and I'm sorry Kim but it's true, everything I am about to say is true"

He stopped, his eyes bearing down into mine and they stayed that way as he went through everything, he explained the first time he phased, how he suddenly grew so big because of the wolf genes, why he's so hot in temperature, why his temper is all over the place, how he missed school for weeks, how he came back and saw me, how he was drawn to me from the minute he came back after phasing. He told me about imprinting, Sam and Emily, Rachel and Paul and apparently me and him. My body snapped back into focus as he said that, as he explained that imprinting was a way of the spirits showing a wolf who his soul mate was, I was Jared's apparently. In that moment I wanted to scream and run but I stayed, his hand in mine was like a lifeline and as he spoke the words my body seemed to relax into a trusting state where I just listened to him again, he apparently was desperate to get to know me, that he would do anything for me and part of me realised in that moment that it was why I felt so trusting of him why I had told him the things I never told anyone else. We were supposed to be together, he was my protector, my wolf. I mean I wasn't head over heels for the guy but for some reason what he was saying didn't freak me out or make me want to run it was sort of soothing, like a well told story.

"The day I left you wasn't because I was using you or I was an asshole Kim, I mean I was an asshole in that moment but I didn't mean to be. The man you described, the man who took Sophie I know what he was. I don't know who he was but I know what he was" He stopped his never ending story and my breath restarted, suddenly I was no longer engrossed in his words but I was desperate for them, I needed him to carry on I was desperate to hear what he had to say, Sophie he knew something. "It was a cold one, a vampire. At least I think it was, you described one perfectly but I don't understand why he would go after her. I'm sorry Kim, but vampires they" He stopped as tears rolled down my face, I didn't need him to continue, I knew enough. Vampires. I heard enough stories, stories I once believed to be fiction to know what vampires did.

"So she's dead" I croaked out and his arm draped around my shoulder pulling me closer as he shook my head.

"No, we don't know that. Don't believe that Kim. I'm going to do whatever I can to find who took her, we know a coven of vampires in Fork's they will help us" He soothed into me as I cried into his bare chest. He just let me do it, I was sure this wasn't how he planned to tell me that I was the 'love of his life' but it was what was happening and he was adapting to my melt down well.

I cried for a few minutes before calming myself down, my whole life part of me felt like she was dead but knowing or sort of knowing what took her or what happened to her hurt like hell. I wiped my cheeks off and glanced back up at Jared. "You didn't have to tell me this, it was your secret, your life" I whispered against the darkness and he shook his head slowly at me.

"You didn't have to tell me yours but you did, Kim I know we only just started talking but I really like you, and your my imprint, it's your secret to. This wolf stuff, you have a right to know about it, you're part of the pack if you want to be. I mean don't feel like you have to be or that we have to go out, I'll be whatever you want me to be" He was getting more desperate as he spoke and I found it endearing.

I could understand now, we had been out here what felt like hours just him explaining it to me, explaining the imprint. I hadn't said a word back to him but I didn't need to, I just accepted it so easily. He seemed surprised at my silence, I think he thought I would explode but it felt sort of right, like the word imprint clicked within me and I just accepted it. My mind flashed back through the times I admired him from afar as a kid, was that the imprint growing in me from childhood? Was the times Sophie spent telling me stories of a wolf prince whisking a princess named Kim away a weird way of preparing me for this moment? She wouldn't have known but those stories had to come to her from somewhere, if the spirits surrounding our tribe had an input into my life from back then I guess it could be them getting me ready for this. I probably should have resisted the secret, made more of a fight not to believe that Jared could turn into a wolf and was my soul mate but I couldn't find that fight.

The only thing that fought back was my heart, I had always had a thing for Jared Cameron, always wanted him to notice me but after everything I had been through and after the way I felt about him in the last few days, after accepting the news of imprint so well, my heart seemed to be warning me, pleading with me to take a step back from the words he was using. Soul mate, love, meant to be together. I liked Jared, but I wasn't going to fall into his arms this instance and be his.

"Friends" I said simply and as I said the word Jared's eyes dimmed but he smiled anyway.

"Friends" He copied me and nodded his head, letting me fall against his shoulder again as I let my questions come out in a flurry, I had kept quiet earlier but now I had questions. Now I wanted to know about vampires, wolves, the pack, the imprints how they happened with the other two and Sophie, I wanted to know what he thought about Sophie.

Just his eyes dimming at the word friends was enough to clench at my heart, I was scared of this, I was scared of this imprint bond he said we had, I was wary of it, I wasn't used to depending on someone, putting my faith in someone other than myself because the last time I did that she left me. No one had been there for me or cared since she left. God please don't let me fall for him because I don't think I would be able to handle anymore heart ache, I don't think I could cope with depending on someone else. God don't let me fall if he isn't going to catch me.

Hope that was ok, I didn't know how to have them tell her so I hope it worked out ok :D xx