A/N at the bottom.
The air shimmered around him and his skin gave way to a sand colored fur. By the time he was on his feet again they were paws and he was facing the four remaining men. I tried to creep backwards silently, never taking my eyes off of the wolfman who had yet to see me. Unfortunately I tripped over God knows what and managed to fall hard on my ass. All five heads snapped my way in synchrony. Again my vision blurred, but this time it was do to the unrelenting tears streaming down my face. One of the men stepped towards me and I screamed.
Oh God. Quil, Paul, Embry... They all stared at me along with the wolf and an older face I didn't know. Fuck my life. Paul knew the wolfman. Shit, Paul probably was a wolfman. Did that mean they all were?
I pushed myself away with my feet as fast as I could while scooting on my ass. I knew I looked stupid, but I didn't want to look away from the stranger who was slowly creeping closer to me. I'm pretty sure I started begging him to leave me alone. He either didn't understand my blabbering or was ignoring my pleas completely.
Eventually my scooting caused me to hit something hard and hot behind me. I looked up and Brady was towering over me. "Oh God," I cried. "Don't fucking touch me."
His eyes looked pained, but he ignored me, picked me up and wrapped me in his arms. I don't know if the heat was coming from me or him, but all of a sudden it was unbearable and I let out a strangled cry.."You need to calm down Madds, you're gonna be alright," He whispered as he rocked me. "We're friends remember? Please don't forget that I'm your friend."
I struggled in his arms, trying to get away. He held me tighter and I realized that he was as strong as the woman in the woods.
The incredibly strong woman in the woods who was so terrified of the wolves that had surrounded us. Those wolves that were about the same size and the sand colored one not five feet away from me.
I stopped struggling and sagged in Brady's arms. They were going to eat me like the Big Bad Wolf who swallowed Grandma whole in Little Red Riding Hood. Oh crap, grandma. Qhala was going to be heartbroken. Shay was going to kill me when she heard that I was dead if anybody had the sense to contact her. Ellie and Stephanie were going to be pissed that I never called them to talk about my date with Tyler. I wondered if the wolves would dig right in with their canines or cut me up and cook me to eat in human form.
I hoped I could go to heaven with my dad and not have to wait for Lissa to join me in hell. I wondered if he would recognize me after all these years...
"Madison we're going to take you into the kitchen to discuss this." Said the stranger while Brady moved towards the front yard. I guess they were going to cook me up. Would they serve me with ketchup or hot sauce? I hope I'll taste like cat fur when they finally get around to eating me.
Brady set me down in a stool at an island in the misleading kitchen. I realized that this was were the cinnamon smell was coming from. Maybe they'd bake me into apple pies. I looked around and saw that I was surrounded by giants. I recognized all of them, but two.
I finally locked eyes with Paul. He stared at me, anger and disgust radiating from his pores. He couldn't even be nice to me before they ate me?
"I should start by introducing myself. My name's Sam," said the stranger. "This is Jared. You know everyone else. This isn't usually-"
"Before you all eat me, I'd like to request that Brady and Paul not be allowed to take part in the meal."
Quil, who was drinking from a water bottle, coughed and choked while Embry patted his back with more force than necessary. Sam stuttered and stared at me as if I was crazy.
"Eat you!" He exclaimed, eyes wide and disturbed. A woman decided to waltz into the kitchen and settle comfortably next to Sam. I noticed that she was beautiful, but scared. Three long, angry slashes ran from her temple, down her face and underneath her shirt. I could see that the scars ran deep into her otherwise perfect skin.
"Seth," Chimed the woman. "Take that pie out of the oven for me." Seth, who I had discovered was the sandy wolf from outside, reached into the oven sans oven mitt and pulled out the piping hot pie without so much as a flinch before setting it on the stovetop. My eyes widened and Collin laughed so hard that I'm sure the house shook.
"Why would you think that we wanted to eat you?!" Boomed Sam, who apparently was stuck on convincing me that I wasn't an afternoon snack to eat before the pie.
"Didn't you eat the redhead in the forest? And it looks like someone tried to take a swipe out of that poor woman. Did you Stockholm syndrome her ass into cooking up people and sleeping with you all? I'd rather be eaten." I said. I refused to slut my butt just to be a prisoner with benefits. I knew I sounded hysterical and was being rude to the women who I hadn't properly met, but I didn't care. For all I knew sh enjoyed the smell of cooking flesh and cinnamon.
Jared gagged a little and stared at me with a horror-struck expression. "What's wrong with her Paul?"
I glared at Paul, daring him to answer. "She's just a bit eccentric, I guess." He answered with a shrug. Eccentric my ass, everything I said had both rhythm and reason.
"I'd like to reiterate that Paul will not be allowed to eat me."
"Nobody's going to eat you!" Screeched Sam.
"Don't bullshit me. I will kick your furry ass." I screamed.
"Control your imprint Paul." Was Jared's response.
With an exasperated sigh, Paul strolled across the kitchen and threw me over his shoulder. He walked me through the house and out the door into the backyard while I beat my fist against his back. He took me into the forest and stopped a few yards away from the house. Paul dropped me onto a tree stump and sat on the ground in front of me.
The stump was tall enough that I was sitting higher than him and I recognized that he was attempting to appear both submissive and harmless. It was bull because I knew that Paul was both dominant and lethal, but the gesture did relax me just a bit.
"Are you familiar with any of the tribe's legends?" He asked. I shook my head no.
He went on to tell me about men whose flesh and souls were bound with wolves and protected their tribe with the help and guidance of their spirit warriors. Along with the wolves he told me about the cold ones who were the wolfmen's natural enemy, he said they drank the blood of innocents and threw away the dry bodies with no remorse. It was a frightful tale full of monsters and gory fights, until he told me about the Third Wife who bravely, yet foolishly, gave up her life for her husband.
"Why on earth would she do that? Wasn't it very common then for women to remarry after a husband's death?" I asked.
Paul looked at me strangely and let out a heavy sigh. "I forget how young you are sometimes. I guess you wouldn't understand with how immature you are." The tone of his voice suggested that he was not trying to be offensive, but I still regarded his words as condescending.
"Who are you to call me young? I'm almost 15. You're 16, last time I checked that wasn't much of a difference and you have no clue what I've been through." I jumped up and started to stomp away. Before my foot could complete its first fall Paul was in front of me and pushing me until I was once again sitting.
"I'm sorry, you're right. I didn't mean to offend you, but if you stay i'll explain why she did it." He said levelly. Unfortunately for me my curiosity was stronger than my pride so I remained seated and looked at him expectantly.
"She did it because she was his imprint. He would have easily done the same for her. In fact he would have done more." He explained.
"So what's an imprint? Is an imprint another word for wife?" I asked.
"No, an imprint… It's almost indescribable. An imprint is this girl, or this woman, that a wolf is bound to through destiny or magic or genes. We arent quite sure what causes it. But its this unbreakable, unseverable tie that connects you to this person. But the thing is that this girl…. She's so amazingly perfect that you don't ever want to break the bond. From the moment you see her, it's like BAM! That wolf is ready to die for this girl, but he's also ready to live for her too. Whatever she needs, whatever she wants…. he's gonna do everything in his power to make it happen. And she's supposed to feel the same way, but to a much lesser degree.
"It's total bullshit," He finished.
"It didn't sound like you thought it was bullshit when you were describing it. You almost sounded dreamy." I noted. In turn he rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Have you imprinted?"
"I have and she's a total pain in my ass. The first time I ever spoke to her she kneed me in the crotch." He said. I stared at him with wide eyes and he hurried up to explain himself further. "I'm not in love with you or anything and you're not going to get the urge to jump in front of any bloodsuckers to save me so don't worry your red little head about that. We're just friends or at least we can be. We don't have to be lovers- unless you want to," He said with an eyebrow wiggle.
This time I rolled my eyes and patted him on the shoulder. "Nice try,but no thanks. I'm not really into beastiality. Are we going to be best friends now?" I asked.
He nodded his head as an answer. "I'm afraid so, clearly you got the long end of the stick." He graced me with a sly smirk that made me smile in return. He stuck his hand out and winked at me, "Friends?"
I stared at his hand for awhile as if I was contemplating his offer before I gave him my hand. He grabbed me and pulled me into a warm hug that made me feel whole.
"Right," I said. "Friends…"
A/N: For Tabby- if you're still reading. Madison was not her own wolf, but was Paul. She doesn't know what's happening in her dream, she only knows that it feels like an out of body experience. This'll be explained in a later chapter.
For everyone- If you're all mad at me I give you full rights to throw buckets at my head. Yep actual buckets, if you want to fill them up with water you guys can do that too. If you're still around or new to the story review and let me know what you think. I promise to update at least every two weeks. I am a college student now and don't have as much time on my hands as I used to.