IMPRINT

Nina woke up in her own bedroom at home.

She tried to remember how she'd gotten there.

Last night she had gone over to Sam and Emily's for dinner. Henry had canceled again.

She had met Paul.

The memories rushed back to her.

Paul was on top of her, pinning her down.

The look in his eyes had been one of wanting, possession, claiming and a hunger so fierce she had trembled.

She had wanted him too.

Nina remembered wanting to give in to him, to let him take her as he so clearly wished to do.

The heat between them had been a fire like she'd never felt before.

When she remembered that she was married, that Henry trusted her and she had pledged herself to him, body and soul, it had almost been too late.

He was too strong for her to fight off on her own. He had been in some sort of trance from the heat of the moment.

He couldn't hear her.

She had called out to Sam for help and Paul's weight had been lifted off her in an instant. Paul went flying into the wall.

Sam got him outside and Emily comforted her while she cried at her own weakness.

When it was time to leave she had gone to the backyard where Paul was surrounded by the Pack. One of them had slapped him. His hands were tied.

She hadn't hesitated, hadn't even stopped to think.

She had run to his defense.

She had stood between Paul and the people he claimed as his family. She had stood her ground against the intimidating Pack.

In the end it hadn't mattered at all. She was weak.

She had a panic attack.

That was the last thing she remembered.

Her breaths had come in gasping intervals. Her heart had raced.

She wasn't in control anymore and then...darkness.

What had happened after she passed out?

Nina remembered that Sam had been worried about her safety. He thought Paul was a danger to her.

He didn't understand that Paul wouldn't hurt her. Not really. Not on purpose.

But he had seemed to sure that Paul was dangerous; that it was Paul she should be afraid of.

Nina hadn't been afraid of Paul. She had been afraid for Paul. Sam and the Pack thought he was trying to hurt her and they were treating him like a threat.

Paul clearly felt that Sam was the threat.

Nina knew that they were only truly a threat to each other. She had never been in any real danger so long as she kept her head.

But then the panic attack had come on.

What had they done to Paul after that? She needed to make sure he was okay. Needed to make sure that everyone was okay. Sam and his friends had looked like they were ready to tear Paul apart after what happened.

He didn't deserve that. Neither of them could help that they were so drawn to each other.

Nina got out of bed and started to get dressed.

Then she thought of Henry. She remembered that her husband was probably worried sick about what happened. What had he been told when she was brought home?

...Where was he?...

Nina searched the house for signs of her husband. There were no dishes in the sink, no dirty clothes on the floor. The other side of the bed was not rumpled or slept in.

When she got to the kitchen she saw the blinking light of the answering machine.

"Nina, I'm working late tonight and I have an early meeting in the morning. I'll be staying in Seattle tonight."

No greeting. No goodbye.

At least he hadn't worried about her.

Nina continued getting ready for the day ahead. She had a lot of apologies to make.

PACK

"Paul?" "Wake up buddy."

Paul felt someone slap him. He groaned as he rolled over on his side and opened his eyes.

He was in the forest, bright sunlight shown down on him. Jared and Sam and Jake were looking down at him.

"Where are we?" "In the woods behind the house." "What happened?" "How much do you remember?"

Paul shook himself awake and fought hard to remember the day before.

"I attacked Nina. How could I do that? Is she okay?"

"She'll be fine. She wasn't harmed. I got to you and pulled you off of her before anything could happen."

"I chased you. I bit Leah. Is anyone else hurt?" "Leah has a sore throat but she's healing quickly." "Everyone else?"

Sam and Jared shared a look. Jacob didn't take his eyes off of Paul.

"Tell me." "When Nina passed out I grabbed her and ran. You chased us for a while. Leah bought me some time and you turned on her." "How bad?" "You incapacitated her and came after us again."

"She's okay then?" "She's pissed off but she'll recover." "How did you get me to stop?" "We didn't."

Paul looked up at his alpha in confusion. He tried to remember the previous night but it was all a haze of passion and fear and rage.

He shook his head, "I don't remember." Jared took over the story for Sam.

"We were chasing you, you were hunting Sam, and Sam was running for Nina's life. Then you just stopped. You were you again. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"You were human again. But...you weren't really here. We wondered if your mind had snapped when you attacked your imprint. Then you transformed but you weren't talking to us. You just sat down, right where you were. Then you said 'she chose' and that's all we got out of you. We led you back here to Sam's place and we've been guarding you ever since."

"How's Nina?" "She had a panic attack and passed out. After you stopped chasing us I took her home and put her to bed."

Paul sighed in relief before his heart stopped again.

"What did Henry say? Was he mad at her?"

Sam grinned at his brother's obvious fear before he answered, "Henry wasn't home when I dropped her off. Lucky that she told Emily where the spare key was in case of emergencies. There was a message on the machine saying he would be staying in Seattle overnight. As far as I know she slept quite peacefully, alone in her bed."

"What if something happened to her? What if she choked in her sleep? Has anyone heard from her? Oh God..."

Paul trailed off and his brothers looked at him in concern.

"What is it Paul?" "How will I ever apologize to her? She must hate me. I hate me. What have I done?"

"Let's not start that again, buddy." Jared was quick to put a stop to his tirade of pity.

"When Jake and Quil tried to get her out of here before she sued you for assault, she came back to talk to you. She saw me slap you when I was trying to get you to snap out of whatever loop you'd fallen into. She jumped in front of you and tried to protect you from Us.

"You were still kind of...off? Sam and, well all of us, were worried that you might hurt her or, you know, try to claim her again." "I would never hurt her. I can't." "That's what we all thought. No wolf has ever hurt his imprint on purpose. Sam called the council together to discuss what could have happened to you. But anyway, we were trying to protect her and you were kind of possessive. Sam tried to talk her through it, calming you down and maybe distracting you so we could get her out of the way."

Jared looked to Sam for approval and then continued with the story. "She was doing fine. You were calm so long as we didn't get too close and she seemed unafraid of you. She...pet your head, ran her fingers through your hair. She talked to you and managed to be a soothing influence to whatever was going on in your head."

"What do you mean?" asked Paul, still not clear on the details of the night before. Jake cut in at that moment, "We had to restrain you so you didn't hurt yourself. You kept saying that you needed to be punished." "Oh."

"Yeah, like we said: you were in a bad way after what happened with Nina. You wouldn't talk to us. You didn't seem to even know that we were there. When Nina showed up you at least reacted to her. But none of it made sense. She should have been terrified of you and possibly all of us. Instead she kept telling us to back off and let her handle you. I don't think you've done anything you can't fix. So chill out."

None of this made any sense to Paul.

He had betrayed his imprint's trust. She was married and had made it very clear that Paul was not allowed to come between her and her husband.

He hadn't intended to.

His intentions had been pure. He just wanted to get to know her, to spend time with her.

She set the rules on the relationship. That's how imprinting works.

So what the hell had happened last night?

What had snapped in his brain to make him jump his imprint like that? She had given no indication that she wanted to be kissed or was okay with his claiming her.

When they talked during dinner she had made it clear that he was going to stay within the bounds of friendship or he would never see her again.

So how had he ended up pinning her to the couch trying to claim her against her will?