Wolf-Girl recap!

Other than the original girls you know and love, here is a recap of the imprints in my world (if you haven't read my other stories, check them out. They may take your mind off waiting forever for updates on this story! ):

Tala – Seth's imprint (from Power of an Imprint)

Abby – Embry's imprint (from The Protector)

Ashley – Collin's imprint (mentioned in The Protector)

Chapter 21

"Are the kids home?" I asked Aunt Emily as we approached the front door of the home she and Uncle Sam owned on the mountain. I swore I could hear giggling and "shushing" coming from inside the dark house.

"What? No," Emily answered nervously as she tried to put her key in the deadbolt. "Sam and the boys went over to Seth and Tala's to hang out."

I peeked around Emily to catch a glimpse through the narrow window next to the door and thought I saw a dark figure flash in front of the window.

"Is there someone in there?" I asked. Emily rolled her eyes and pushed her way into the house.

"Surprise!" I was assaulted by the house lights all coming on at once and a loud group of people shouting. I stood there shocked and confused.

"You guys can't keep quiet for nothin'! I gave you a heads-up." Emily scolded the group, but still had a smile on her face. "We both heard you all before we got to the door."

"What's going on? My birthday party isn't until next week." I looked around the room and noticed the group was made up of all the women from the pack, or what we liked to refer to as the "Wolf Girls." As I recently found out, they were all imprints of the wolves.

"Well, since you officially know about imprinting we thought we would throw you an official 'welcome to the Wolf Girls' celebration." Emily explained.

"I'm not an official Wolf Girl, but I am a girl-wolf so I get to be included too," Leah said as she gave me a quick hug. I smiled because I had always considered her a Wolf Girl anyway.

"And, since your birthday is coming up we wanted to give you gifts as well, but they wouldn't be really appropriate for your party with all the families." Kim continued.

"What do you mean?" I asked skeptically.

"Come, sit and we'll explain," Abby Call patted the spot next to her on the sofa eagerly. "We have stuff we want to explain and maybe help you out with."

"O…okaaay…" I replied and slowly made my way to sit next to Abby. All eyes were on me and they were making me nervous.

"I'm late!" Renesseme Cullen Black came bursting through the front door. It looked like she had run to Emily's house. She probably did since she was half-vampire and running for her, was usually faster than driving in a car. Nessie ran all the time and loved it. "I told Jake we should've taken my car 'cause it was faster. We drove his piece of crap from our house to Grandpa Charlie's." She complained as she tried to tame her copper curls. I smiled at her frustration. She inherited her love for speed from her vampire family.

"Ness!" I jumped up and ran to her for a hug. It had been so long since I'd seen her last. "You came all this way for this?"

"Yeppers! Jake and I are staying until after your birthday. So we'll be here for that too!" She squealed in reply. Nessie was very much a girly-girl. She was always wearing the most beautiful jewelry and her clothes were perfect. She and my sister Katie always got along very well.

I rejoined the group and someone handed me a plate of my favorite snacks. I looked around the room and noticed they had decorated Emily's house with gaudy wolf decorations and goofy novelty werewolf items. It looked like they were throwing a bachelorette party for me. There were even some gifts wrapped next to the food table. I knew the decorations were supposed to be silly because the Wolf Girls knew how to throw a party and everything was usually so beautiful. It was obvious this party was not supposed to be taken seriously.

We spent about an hour eating and getting caught up with Nessie. She explained what her family was up to and everyone took their turn filling her in with their own family updates.

"I'm so excited to see everyone! But even more excited to get this party started," Nessie eyed me. "Emily, what do you girls have in store for our Claire-Bear tonight?" Uh oh. Emily was flitting around the room picking up plates and refilling drinks like the perfect hostess she was.

"Well, we thought we would go around the room and tell Claire about our imprint stories so she can compare." Emily explained. My eyes darted back and forth between Leah and Emily remembering the story Quil told me. Since I didn't know the story behind the three of them until recently, I never had a reason to think the two of them would be uncomfortable around each other. Maybe talking about Emily's imprint was a sore subject. But it seemed they weren't bothered by what had happened with the three of them way back when.

"Aunt Em, you don't have to tell your story. Quil told me already," I said quietly as I eyed my aunt and Leah. Emily stood next to Leah and must have interpreted my concern for Leah and lightly gave Leah a one-armed hug.

"Ok, we can skip that one," she said with a smile. Leah looked at Emily and smiled back. It wasn't a sad smile, it was more like they were remembering the good old days.

"Me first!" Nessie bounced in her seat next to me. A couple people giggled but no one objected as they settled into their seats for the story.

"Ok, as you know I remember my birth vividly," Nessie started.

"Gross," Tala murmured.

"Freak," Leah heckled from across the room and the other ladies laughed.

"Shut up," Nessie said with a smirk. Apparently this was the usual response whenever she started to tell this particular story.

"The first face I see is my dad's. It was all bloody because he had to tear me out of my mom's womb…"

"Ness please, spare us the gory details," Leah complained with a shudder. "You're bringing up bad visuals!" I remember hearing that every one of the wolves can recall Nessie's birth because Jake was there and then he happened to share it with the wolves while their minds were connected.

"Sorry. Ok, so Dad's face…bloody, Mom's face…sweaty and practically dead," Nessie said quickly, her hands mimed wildly and her face was animated to match her words. "Then Aunt Rose was so beautiful and she held me while I snuggled into her hair. Then I could feel a presence walking towards me and it felt so good and loving. Even when I looked up at Jake through Rosalie's hair I saw Jake's eyes looking at me with a hateful glare that lasted only a moment," Nessie paused with a snap of her fingers. "But I still smiled back at him. He tells me he was setting out to kill me because he thought I was a demon baby, but once he saw me smile at him with my big, brown eyes staring back, he was a goner." Nessie sat back and smiled with satisfaction when she ended her story.

"So, it happened when you were a baby too?" I asked.

"Yes, it always happens the first time they see their mate after their first change." Emily answered.

"Do you remember what I told you on the phone?" Nessie asked. "How you and I have very similar relationships with our wolves?" I nodded, finally realizing what she was referring to.

One by one each Wolf Girl told their story. Jared and Kim imprinted during class in high school. Jared had never paid any attention to Kim before that day, but Kim had a huge crush on Jared and was thrilled when it happened. Tala and Seth imprinted at the scene of a car accident Tala was involved in. She good-humoredly blamed Seth for making her crash into a tree after seeing his massive wolf form in the trees. Ashley and Collin met on the beach and have been practically inseparable since. Embry imprinted on Abby at her work while Embry was picking up Tala's and Seth's daughter Vanessa as a favor to Tala. Abby was Vanessa's preschool teacher. Rachel came home from college to visit her family and Paul imprinted on her. Rachel had always thought Paul was so annoying, but changed her mind after that first visit home since the wolves all went through their first change. Jake, being Rachel's brother, was not too pleased.

All the stories sounded similar. There was a strong draw towards the other person like an imaginary cord binding the couple together. I felt like I missed out on that part since Quil's imprint happened when I was only two. I didn't feel that love at first sight feeling as the others did. But I've known all along Quil and I had a special bond, I just never quite knew until recently what that bond was. Most of them, except for Nessie and Jake, fell instantly in love with strangers or people they hadn't ever given a second glance to. And now they were all still so much in love. I was lucky to have great relationship examples around me, especially since my parents' relationship couldn't survive through their hard times.

"Now don't think just because we've found our perfect match means we all have perfect relationships," Rachel added.

"Well, except for maybe Kim," Ashley interrupted and everyone nodded or murmured in agreement.

"You all are just jealous that I got the perfect one," Kim smirked teasingly.

"Anyway!" Rachel continued, "Paul is hot-headed and stubborn and such a smart-ass! So that can be challenging, but on the other hand he's mostly sweet and adorable and very…" Rachel paused as she thought of the proper word she wanted to use, but several people beat her to it.

"Attentive?" Ashley offered.

"Worshipful?" Kim suggested with a sigh. I eyed her with a quirk of my eyebrow wondering where this was going.

"Generous?" Abby added with, what sounded like, a purr.

My eyes darted around the room and almost every woman had a satisfied, dreamy look in their eye. I looked at Leah for an explanation. She rolled her eyes and said, "I know way too much about my fellow wolves' sex lives."

And then my naïve little mind finally understood what the women were prattling on about.

"Uh-oh. Oh no," I groaned. "Is this why I'm here? You all are going to have the sex talk with me?" I looked at Emily and lowered my voice. "I thought this was just going to be like, just you and Kim?" Emily smiled and shrugged one shoulder. I faced the group, "Look, Quil already gave me the sex talk so I'm good. I know how things work. We really don't have to do this."

"Quil gave you the talk?" Nessie asked. "That must have been interesting," she added with an eye roll, sipping her drink.

"It's more than a sex talk Claire," Emily replied. "It's more like a 'How to Handle Your Wolf' talk."

"How to handle my wolf?" I asked. I thought I had handled him well enough so far.

"Yes. There are things you really need to know since your relationship will inevitably become intimate." Emily smiled gleefully. I'm not sure how she was so comfortable talking about my future sex life. She's my aunt for crying out loud. At least my mom wasn't included. I groaned at what was coming next.

"How about we go through our gifts and explain each one," Tala offered. There were words of agreement from the others.

Gifts, great. I thought to myself. I was a little nervous to find out what type of gifts when along with 'handling my wolf'. My eyes followed Tala across the room as she reached under the food table to pull out a large square, flat, wrapped package. It didn't look too heavy since she seemed to handle it with ease.

"There are a few things the girls and I have figured out over the years and we thought it would be useful to you as well," Tala said with a smile and placed the box in front of me. I eyed the box and scanned the room. Everyone had a smirk on their face and I was actually afraid to open the box.

The wrapping paper was tiled with forest scenery that included small howling wolves under a full moon. "Cute." I said pointing to the paper. Tala snickered. Slowly, I pulled the tape off the side and pulled the paper back to reveal what was inside. My eyebrows knitted together.

"A box fan?" I asked. A couple of the girls laughed. "Thanks?"

"Yep. I'm sure you've noticed how warm Quil can be to sleep with," Tala said. I nodded and I could feel my face flush, even though I've only slept with Quil to actually sleep. Quil, and all the wolves were extra warm to begin with, but when Quil slept, he seemed to warm up a few degrees. "But, when things get a little heated…if you know what I mean…he will get extra hot…"

"And sweaty…" Abby added.

"Man, there's so much sweat…" Kim sighed while fanning herself with her hand.

"So," Tala continued, "A box fan will help you from having a heat stroke since I know your house or Quil's house does not have air conditioning."

"Plus, it covers up any loud sounds!" Rachel added.

The room erupted in laughter as I felt my face become heated. I knew they weren't laughing at me, and they were actually trying to help, but it was still somewhat embarrassed. I thought about what happened between Quil and me in his bed and I remembered how warm he had become from just making out. I couldn't imagine how warm his body temperature would be if he put any exertion into it.

"Me next!" Emily jumped up and handed me her package. "Now, I know you know how to cook and I believe you'll be a wonderful chef one day with your own restaurant and everything, but you may need to know a thing or two for cooking for a group of wolves who eat like an army."

"Thank you Aunt Emily," I replied as my finger slid under the last bit of tape. Wrapped nicely in a beautiful three-ring binder were hand-printed recipe cards from Emily. There was even a tabbed section listed as "Quil's favorites."

"I made one for everyone here. They are the recipes I've gathered since I started cooking for everyone. The recipes have been altered to make enough to feed the whole pack as you can see," Emily explained with a smile and pointed to the "serves 30" on the bottom of one of the cards. "I even included blank cards you can fill out and slip in when you create your own recipes. I'm sure you know a few more favorites of Quil's that I'm not aware of."

"You'll have to share those too please," Rachel peeked around Emily to add.

"That's really awesome. Thank you," I smiled. It was a genuinely nice gift that I didn't have to feel embarrassed about and I was grateful for it after the box fan and the intentions behind it.

But then Nessie piped in. "Oh! Mine, mine, mine! Open mine next," she said as she thrust a flat clothes-sized box into my lap. I gently put the cookbook aside and tackled Nessie's gift. I looked around to see if anyone's face would give anything away, but they seemed to not know what was in the box.

I pushed away the pink glittery tissue paper inside and saw red satin material. I put on my bitch-face and looked at Nessie.

"Oh stop!" Nessie waved her hand at me. "Get it out and hold it up!"

With a sigh, I slowly pulled out the soft material and held it up to the room. It looked like a nightie the size of a tank top, it was so short. There were a lot of murmurs of appreciation from some of the girls, but my Aunt Emily was not too pleased.

"Renesemee, she is sixteen years old," Emily scolded.

"Oh hush! She's practically seventeen and there's more! Dig in there," Nessie pointed to the box where sure enough, more material was inside. "See, there are shorts too. I made sure to get a cami that would cover those babies," she said and pointed to my boobs. "There won't be any cleavage at all, but it's long enough to cover your mid-drift. And the shorts aren't too short, but short enough to show off some leg," Nessie explained with a smug look towards Emily. Emily smiled and shook her head. There were more appreciative comments from the other ladies. "Plus, red looks beautiful with your tan skin and dark hair."

"Thank you, Ness." I smiled. It was really pretty, but I liked wearing my t-shirt and sweats to bed. Maybe someday I would wear it for Quil. The thought of it made me blush.

Kim was the next to present a gift. She handed me an envelope that seemed a little thick.

"This is from the rest of us. We all know Quil's feelings towards your relationship," Kim shrugged with a guilty smile, "You know how gossipy our pack can be. We know he's been struggling with the whole transition from being your lifetime friend to something more of a serious man-woman relationship. And it's been obvious that you've been ready for it since you were a pre-teen!"

"Was I that obvious?" I mumbled and I could feel my face warm up. Everyone in the room agreed with Kim. How embarrassing.

"We wanted to give you a little something to help you push him in the right direction and get him more comfortable with the idea of being your boyfriend…instead of just your friend," Kim continued. "Go ahead, open it."

I popped open the back flap of the envelope and pulled out a few paper items. One was a gift certificate for Bella Italia in Port Angeles. The others were tickets for the outdoor music festival in Port Angeles Quil had been talking about for the past month, but wasn't sure he could afford it. His favorite local band would be playing along with a few others.

"Oh my gosh you guys! This is so nice," I said with a catch in my throat. I could feel my eyes burn a little as I tried to hold back tears.

"Now you can ask him on a date instead of waiting for his confused butt to come around," Abby said with a smile.

"We know you two aren't ready for anything more quite yet, but you can at least get used to the dating idea," Ashley added.

"You know about that?" I asked.

"Unless you specifically say 'I don't want anyone else to know,' it's going to get around," Ashley replied.

I looked around the room at all the ladies who made up my huge family and smiled. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be associated with. Everyone was always so thoughtful and we were all as close as sisters and I didn't care if they knew what happened between Quil and I. They would never judge and I knew they would all be there for me whenever I needed them because they understood my situation.

I wiped away the tear that escaped down my cheek and when I knew my voice wouldn't crack I thanked everyone. "Thank you so much everyone. I really appreciate all this. I'm really glad you are all so supportive of us and it's nice to know you're all behind me."

There were hugs and sniffles and "welcome to the Wolf Girls!" around the room as everyone started to dig into the wolf shaped cake.

"Oh wait! There's one more gift," Leah pointed out. She tossed it towards me and I caught it one-handed since the other hand held my cake plate.

On the small folded up piece of wrapping paper that substituted for a card was a note from Leah. It said "To Claire, From Leah, Good Luck!" I ripped off the paper to reveal a box of Magnum condoms.

With wide eyes I looked up at Leah and said, "Magnum?"

"Honey, remember I've seen them all naked…and you're gonna need 'em," Leah explained. The whole room erupted in squeals of laughter as my face burned brighter than it had all night.

a/n: Ok, so it may be a little cliché to have Quil well endowed. I usually roll my eyes when I read about it in other fan fic, but please, did you really want to hear that he had a small one? Plus, it's funnier this way…at least in this chapter.

Please send me a review and let me know what you want to hear about next. I have a few events coming up, but I may take suggestions :) Thank you so much for hanging in there while I SLOWLY finish up this story. If you haven't read my other stories go ahead and check them out.

Have a great weekend!

Shelby (a.k.a. McKenna Black)