12

My tongue swirled around the ice cream, the taste of sweet chocolate was a lot stronger to my senses. Dad and I were in Forks sitting in the parking lot of the ice cream shop.

"Are we not humans, Dad?" I asked staring at my ice cream now.

"We wouldn't be lions if we weren't." he answered casually, taking a bite of his strawberry ice cream. I looked up at him.

"But how is it possible for a shifter like Paul to… imprint on me?" I asked.

"You are a living being, just like he is. He did not imprint on your lion half, he imprinted on you, the human half. It's not up to us to question why things like this happen. The fact that we exist is still a miracle itself." he said. I just looked back at my ice cream licking it slowly.

"So it's not bad that this happened?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"I don't believe so." he said. I winced some.

"But Mom thinks so." I responded, and he looked at me turning his body some to me.

"Your mother is… traditional. As a matriarch she is held at a higher standard than all of us. She must keep the pack safe and uphold our ways of the past." he said. I nodded slowly.

"You weren't born of our pride, so you see things differently. You're so lucky." I said, and he laughed from deep in his stomach.

"Yes, that is true. I was a soldier in both world wars and I have seen and learned much." he explained, and I tilted my head turning to face him in my seat.

"Did you meet any shifters?" I asked. He shrugged and nodded casually.

"A few. There aren't many of them, but when I met I spoke to them and learned of their past." he said. I nodded looking down some.

"Should I accept this imprint thing?" I asked. He inhaled some before patting the top of my knee.

"That's up to you. Sure your mother will be upset it happened, but there isn't much she can do about it. What happened was planned out by Ra himself. We cannot question him or his decisions in the spirit world." he said tilting his head back and drinking the melted ice cream before crunching down on the cone. His words gave me great comfort. It helped in my belief that this wasn't my fault.

"So it'd be okay for me to date Paul?" I asked.

"Absolutely not!" he snapped making me jump before suddenly smiling and laughing. "I'm joking, love. Date who you want to date. But I will warn you now, if you decide to truly go along with this then you must make sure this boy is the first one you mate with for when a female goes into heat, she isn't thinking about the boy she is merely dating. The only thing in her mind would be to mate with a strong male and have babies. I can imagine that will tear a riff between you two if you aren't dating already."

I winced at his words and felt worry devour me.

"Is the power really that strong?" I asked. He nodded.

"Every male will smell you from states away. The closest will come immediately for you. If your will and feelings for this boy isn't strong, it will not matter. Mating to our kind is equivalent to blood for a new born vampire. The scent is strong and the only thing you will want is that male and that will determine your future mate." he explained seriously. God it was basically having the sex talk, except way worse. I've seen my older cousins go into eat. Their bodies were drenched with sweat as they moaned and writhed on the floor in desperation to feel the touch of a man. The scent alone was different. Sweet and hot. The males went crazy and fought each other to get to her. Life is all about starting and maintaining blood lines. My mother's bloodline was long and guaranteed to be everlasting.

We returned home and I received little backlash from my mother. Of course she was asking my father everything.

"Well why was she there in the first place?" she asked.

"She's a teenager just acting out. We had a long talk about it." My father said.

"Bullshit. She doesn't act out." Mother replied. I just sat in my room and listened to them.

"She's just curious of the wolves. They are her first wolves ever. Lord knows you made sure to keep any other shifter out of Africa. You can't get upset when she wants to explore a little. All of the cubs are curious. Is that such a bad thing? We're in their territory, we can't avoid them or act like we own this land. Things will never work out." he said. I smiled at his words happy that I was not the only one wanting to know these wolves. I expected a lecture from Mother, but it never came.

Saturday was exceptionally sunny today and so the family visited the beach. The sun made the water warm and so the cubs were splashing in the water. I sat with Mother and my aunts watching a few of the new mothers playing in the shallow end with their babies. I looked over to see Dad and Emery playing volley ball against the twins. Some humans asked to join and they agreed. Mother's eyes were glued to a book. She was in a gold on piece that had patterns in the back. Her hair was braided down and touching her blanket.

"Cleola is really enjoying the reservation school." Kimani, her mother said to the others.

"Vitanja, how are you liking the school?" one of my aunts asked. I smiled some.

"Been going to high school for many years. It's nothing new to me." I replied noticing some jeeps and trucks parking beside ours. It was Sam Uley with his fiancé and pack. We all noticed them and looked at our matriarch. Her reaction would be our reaction. She glanced up and saw the wolves who were moving to pull out surfboards from their trunks. Father and the others stared at her as well, confusing the humans who were playing. Mother looked with little interest and then looked back down at her book. All was well. I was ready for a swim. The sun was blazing, and I didn't want my skin to dry out anymore than it had.

I got up and ran to the water, diving directly in it. The water beneath was cold and relaxing. I opened my eyes feeling an extra layer of skin form over my eyes so I could see a bit clearer underneath. I looked up to see my cousins joining me and we swam together beneath the water before meeting the air. I felt Bithia wrap her arms around my neck and we swam around with the rest of our cousins. Further down the beach, I saw the wolves setting up their blankets and had bags of food. I could see some of them sitting with girls between them. Jared was sitting next to a small native girl with onyx black hair. Sam was sitting with Emily. Imprints. I noticed Paul, Jacob, Seth and Embry were playing soccer. My dad's volleyball game was what separated them from my mother.

As I was finally walking into the shallow area, I looked towards my father to see Micah running up fast and hitting the ball hard. The ball sored through the air pegging Embry right in the back of the head. My eyes widened as I watched Embry turn with a growl. Immediately, Paul and the others huddled around him.

"Hey what's your problem, asshole!" Jacob snapped. Micah smirked.

"Sorry." he said acidly. I tensed the confrontation and Father moved beneath the net and over to the boys. Sam met him half way.

"I'm sorry. We get a little intense when playing. Our way of getting excess energy out." he said. I was walking over to the scene. As I passed the twins, I hit Micah in the back of the head. He jerked forward from the unexpected hit and hissed at me. Leonardo smirked and I walked under the net and over toward Father.

"It seems your boys are asking for trouble." Sam said. I moved around my father's body and Paul harsh glare faded as he looked at me.

"Micah's just being territorial. Making sure no one gets too close to the cubs. How about you guys join us. Have some real fun." I offered. Dad looked at me stunned.

"You're playing?" he asked, and I batt my eye lashes at him innocently before looking at Sam.

"How about it? Us vs. You." I offered. Dad looked at Sam and his pack who looked amongst each other. Sam smirked.

"Okay. Let's do it." he said. I smiled and turned to walk toward the net. Father followed leaning into me.

"But you will be putting a shirt on before you play." he demanded. I smiled and nodded.

"Yes, Father." I replied jogging over to our spot. Mother's eyes didn't leave her book as she just raised her hand in my direction, my t-shirt in hand. Why am I not surprised she heard everything? I took the shirt surprised she was letting this happen. My young cousins were definitely interested to see this play out. I returned over to my family and too a position at the front left. As I prepared, I noticed Paul moving to stand in front of me on the other side the net.

"Good idea for diffusing the situation." he said. I smirked.

"I know a thing or two about keeping the peace." I said. He grinned.

"Want to do something later?" he asked. I looked him over.

"Trying to get in my head already? Scared you'll lose?" I teased. He smirked.

"Yeah that's exactly it. How about this, I win we see a movie? You win we go to dinner." he offered. I looked him over with amusement.

"Looks like there's no lose-lose outcome." I replied liking the idea of both. He shrugged.

"See I'm smart." he said. I nodded and backed away from the net.

"Okay." I replied and he smiled happily before backing away himself and we began to crouch some preparing for Sam to serve the ball. We watched as he threw the ball high. Our eyes were locked on the white orb.