Quil
I sat waiting for Claire in my truck, but I almost didn't want to see her. I couldn't look at her. I couldn't see the fear in her eyes and the lines of worry painted across her face. It was all my fault for getting Claire in to this. If she wasn't my imprint . . . her life wouldn't be in jeopardy.
Fuck. I was the worst boyfriend ever. We had only been dating for four days and I had already managed to endanger her life. Pathetic . . .
I jumped when I heard a knock on the passenger window. Better start apologizing to her now . . .
No. It wasn't Claire.
A sharp growl escaped my lips.
"Get lost," I grumbled. "Don't make me punch you again."
Mason rolled his eyes and opened the truck door, getting in to the front seat.
"Get the hell out of my truck," I ordered.
"I need to talk to you," Mason said seriously.
"What do you want?" I snapped at him, tightening my fist in case I needed to bloody his face.
"Claire's staying with you tonight, I assume," Mason commented in a blank tone.
"That's none of your business, Fox Boy."
Mason ignored me. "I just wanted to let you know that if you let her out of your sight for even a quarter of a second with these vampires on the loose tonight, I'll kill you before they get the chance." And with that he got out of the truck, slamming the door behind him and disappearing into the darkening forest.
Of course I wasn't the only one worried about Claire's safety. Mason was watching out for her too. I was currently undecided about whether or not that was a good thing.
Claire
Quil didn't acknowledge me as I got in the car. He looked deep in thought . . . and stress was clear on his face. It was almost dark now. Twilight. The time when vampires and werewolves in stories would come out and terrorize the people. This wasn't true of course. Vampires and werewolves could be wherever they wanted to be whenever they wanted to be there. And tomorrow, they would all be out there somewhere, fighting to the death.
Every time I thought of Quil in a fight like that, it was like a punch to my gut and made my knees go weak. I didn't think it was possible for me to love Quil any more than I did. I loved him with ever fiber in my being. I couldn't do this. I couldn't let him do this.
"Lets run away," I murmured to him after a minute of driving in silence.
He turned to me in surprise. "What?"
"I can't lose you, Quil," I told him, my voice breaking as I did. My throat grew tight as I struggled to hold back sobs. My urge to cry was almost painful, but I had to stay strong for Quil. He didn't need to see my breakdown.
"You aren't going to lose me, Claire-Bear," He said in a tired, quiet voice. It was hearing him use my childhood nickname that released the sobs from my chest.
"H- how c- can you say that?" I said in between gasps, tears falling rapidly from my eyes. Quil pulled over and then turned to me and unbuckled my seatbelt. He pulled me in to his warm arms and held me. I sobbed in to neck and he placed reassuring kisses on my head. His lips were hot against my forehead, and filled my body with liquid fire. I pulled my face out of the crook in his neck and crushed his lips against mine.
My hands flew up to his head and I knotted my fingers in his short hair, keeping his face against mine as I attacked his mouth. Quil moaned softly and constricted one arm tighter around me, like he was unwilling to let go. He let his other arm fall to the side of the seat, reclining it back. Then he put that hand on my ass and kissed me harder.
His tongue traveled around my mouth desperately, like he was trying to taste me as much as possible while he still had the chance. And that was perfectly fine with me. The taste of salt was mixed in with the kiss from the tears that were still streaming down my face. Quil removed his lips from mine momentarily to brush his thumbs across my face, wiping some tears away.
"Shh, please stop crying baby," He whispered quietly. "Please don't cry."
I thought he was going to kiss me again, (And believe me, I wanted him to) but instead he just stared at my face. He looked sad and I wondered if looking at my face hurt him. But he didn't look away for what felt like a long time. Then he let out a long sigh and picked me up off of his body like I weighed nothing, placing me gently back in my seat and moving his back in to an upright position.
"Let's go home," He said.
I nodded once, licking my lips and tasting him on them.
Quil
I carried Claire inside the house. Not because I didn't think she was capable of walking, but who knew how many more chances I'd have in my life to hold her?
"Let's just run away and get married. Please?" Claire whispered as I laid her down on my comforter.
"You're sixteen sweetie, remember?" I reminded her, even though the thought of marrying Claire now thrilled me to know end.
"So?" She asked. She didn't even care. God, I loved her so much.
"So you're too young and Sam and Emily would kill both of us."
"So?" Claire asked again.
"So that would be bad and they would probably never forgive us."
"So?"
I smiled and kissed her lips. "Be patient, Claire. I promise there will be a day in the future where I will make you my wife. But that day won't be today and it won't be tomorrow."
"Today and tomorrow may be the only days you have left," Claire murmured quietly.
"They won't be Claire. There are way more of us than there are of them, and we are going to kill them easily."
Claire didn't look convinced.
"What if today and tomorrow are the only days I have left . . ."
I growled. How could she even think that. I would never let anyone touch her. Never.
"You are going to be perfectly fine, Claire. If it's the last thing I do, you will be perfectly fine."
"Don't say that," She whispered. "Don't do that. Don't sacrifice yourself to save me or something stupid. Worry about yourself."
I just laughed. It was a bitter laugh, but a laugh all the same. I laughed so hard my sides almost hurt. "You don't get it at all, do you?"
Claire looked annoyed, and I knew that she in fact did not get it.
"How many times do I need to say this, Claire? You're my world and everything in it. Hell, I love you so much it's probably not healthy," I ran my hands gently across her face as I said this. "I will do anything to protect you. You are all that matters to me. I don't even matter to me. Only you. Only. You."
And then Claire did something that genuinely surprised me. She slapped me across the face. Of course, it didn't hurt. But the fact that she slapped me made me flinch.
"I never want to hear you say anything like that again," She ordered in a scary voice. "You are going to take care of yourself tomorrow and you are going to live. If you kill yourself trying to protect me, I will never forgive you. You think that you would be doing me a favor by saving me? Well guess what? You wouldn't be. I've never been able to live without you and I'm not going to start trying now. If you die tomorrow, so will I."
Why did she have to be so stubborn? Didn't she know that her death was my biggest fear? I would have to make an arrangement with Embry or Brady or someone that if I didn't make it, they would watch Claire for me and make sure she didn't do anything stupid. Claire was going to live and she was going to like it.
But of course, I couldn't tell her that, so I just nodded and pretended to go along with it. "Okay," I said.
Claire looked at me and frowned. "You already have a plan, don't you?" She asked sadly.
"You know me too well," I responded.
"Why couldn't you just let me die?"
"Because I love you," Was all I said. If she couldn't trust anything else in the world, I hoped she at least saw the truth behind those four little words.
She rolled over on top of the bed and got on top of me, forcing her tongue into my mouth and practically down my throat.
In the few days that Claire and I had been a couple, we were kissing almost non-stop. How could I resist those perfect lips?
One minute we were just kissing, yes, it was very passionate kissing, but it was still just kissing. But then it was like the magical force that is imprinting came in to the room and made me lose my mind.
The animal inside of me threatened to take over. My hands gripped at Claire's hips greedily, trying to remove her pants. I needed her. I needed her.
I'm certain Claire could feel the effect she was having on me, as it was pressing against her legs.
"Fuck," I moaned, pulling my lips away from hers. Control yourself, Ateara, I ordered silently.
But Claire's eyes were filled with lust, and she was pulling my shirt over my head, which kind of shattered any control I may have had. When it was off she leaned over and lightly kissed from the hollow of my neck down to my belly button.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
"Birth control . . ." I managed, even though it almost hurt me to say the words. "Yo–you aren't on birth control."
Of course, this only seemed to make the little voice inside my head even happier. It made sense, Claire was my imprint, and I'm sure the magical force that is imprinting was just dying for me to impregnate her. That was the whole point of imprinting, after all. That little voice was forceful, trying to make me want to get her pregnant.
Oh God . . . Claire, carrying my child for nine months . . .
It sounded so good.
I wish I had the option of staying inside of Claire for nine months!
No, Quil! Stop letting your dick control you! Claire is fucking sixteen! I argued with myself.
I knew that I wasn't ready for kids, but I was so, so ready for Claire. If I wasn't inside of her soon my body was going to spontaneously combust.
"We almost had unprotected sex before, Quil," Claire reminded. "Right now I really don't care about the consequences."
It sounded so irresponsible . . . Yet so good.
It was what she wanted, it was what I needed.
I couldn't resist.
I sat up quickly and took to undressing Claire with a huge grin on my face. Her shirt had too many buttons, so I settled for just ripping the shirt open and letting the buttons snap off and fall wherever. She seemed to like my sense of urgency.
At this point I didn't care if Embry came in, or if I heard a howl rip through the night. The only thing that could stop me from taking Claire right now was Claire herself. If she told me that she didn't want to, I would stop immediately.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?"
In response, Claire brought her hand down to my shorts and undid the button, trying to tug the shorts off of me while I was sitting down. I smiled and helped her out.
Her bra was pretty, a pale pink color, but I didn't bother to admire it for more than a second before I pulled it off.
I quickly took a break from the strip session to pull Claire's mouth to mine for another passionate kiss. She was on my lap now, and she saw this as an opportunity to drive me fucking insane, grinding on my erection.
A low animalistic growl escaped from my lips.
I don't exactly remember ripping Claire's panties off, but they were suddenly in my hand.
Claire . . . naked . . . brain shutting down now.
All that was stopping me from being inside her were my boxers. I reached down to remove them, but Claire grabbed my had to stop me.
"Wait. I want to do it," She breathed.
Hot damn! She's the sexiest thing ever!
I nodded. I couldn't speak right now. I felt like I was in wolf form trapped inside my human body. I'd never felt the force of the imprint this strong before. It was disorienting to say the least.
Claire's hands found the waistband and she pulled down hard. Like they had the first time, her eyes widened in a mixture of worry and surprise at the size of my dick.
But Claire composed herself quickly and smiled at me, "I love you," She told me.
Hearing her say that while we were both naked filled me with a kind of euphoria.
"Lay down," I said in an unsteady voice. Oh God, the things she was doing to me . . . I was filled with so much emotion it was hard to say exactly how I felt.
She smirked and obeyed, laying down on her back.
"Are you sure that you want to do this," I asked her swallowing hard. I would stop if Claire wanted me to, no matter how much it hurt me. Claire comes first, I told myself.
Claire looked like she wanted to hit me again, "Of course I'm sure idiot! I'm laying naked on you bed," Even when I knew she was nervous as anything, Claire still managed to be sarcastic. She was just all around magnificent.
"It's going to hurt," I told her. The thought of me hurting Claire for my own pleasure made me feel sick. I was a selfish monster. What the hell am I thinking?
"Quil, jeez you're so predictable. Stop internally freaking out. I want this, okay? Get that through your thick skull," She giggled, quickly sitting up an kissing me on the lips. Her words were sure, but I felt her trembling slightly. I caught Claire looking down at my hard member with a worried expression.
I gently laid her back down on the bed. "I love you Claire, I'll never deserve you, but thanks for letting me try," I said quietly, kissing her in between her legs before positioning myself over top of her and pushing inside of her a tiny bit.
Holy fuck!
Being even the littlest bit inside of Claire was the greatest thing I had ever experienced, until I looked up at her face.
Her eyes were shut tightly and her jaw was clenched. I was hurting her. I pulled out as fast as I could.
"I'm so sorry!" I said quickly. Maybe if I groveled she wouldn't hate me forever.
"Quil, I'm fine. It's going to hurt, I already knew that. Stop being a baby and keep going."
I got in a little further the next time, and again, it was indescribable. It felt so good it should have been illegal. I pulled out slowly, and then went back in at the same slow pace. Heaven.
With each push in, I went in a little more. I tried to stop probably eleven more times, but Claire was determined.
Slowly, Claire's face relaxed. Then it changed to one of pleasure.
"Don't stop," She moaned.
And I didn't . . .
Eliza
Amelia had no idea what was going on. She knew something was up by how on edge me, Sam, and Emily were, but we refused to tell her why. That would scare her.
She was in Claire's room tonight. Of course the ten year old would get Claire's queen bed when I was stuck with my full sized one.
Basically, I was bored out of my flipping mind. It was eleven thirty at night, everyone else in the house was asleep, Claire was at Quil's presumably getting fucked, and Lilly was still mad at me.
I couldn't shut my brain off long enough to fall asleep. There was just too much to think about. Was the redhead serious about there being more vampies coming? How many? More than the pack and the Cullens combined? Would anyone die? Would I die?
I knew the chances of the last one happening were slim. Why would they target me? I was a white-skinned, blonde-haired, green-eyed, non-imprinted teenage girl. The odds that they would kill me because I smelled like the pack, or because of the mere possibility of me . . . reproducing with one seemed small.
I frowned. I knew we were all trying to cover Embry by keeping Lilly in the dark about the imprint, but why did that need to include protecting me too? Why couldn't I just go to Port Angeles with Sam, Emily, and Amelia?
The house was cold and dead and quiet. There was just me . . . on my bed, listening to my iPod quietly in my pajamas, leaning my back against the wall and staring at Amelia's empty bed across the room.
Or at least, I thought I was alone . . .
Two gentle knocks drummed against my bedroom window. I turned to the window and scowled at the knocker.
Brady. Who else?
I had been thinking a lot about him, too. Just this morning he had grabbed me and kissed me for the second time. Then, at the Cullen's, he was just glaring at me. I thought he had finally got the hint.
What the hell does he want?
I stood up, walked over to my window, and glared at him before pulling the curtain over the window and going back to sit on my bed.
He knocked again. I turned up the volume of my music and closed my eyes, attempting to tune him out.
A minute later, my headphones were plucked from my ears. I opened my eyes in surprise. Brady stood in front of me, my headphones in his hands. The window that had previously been closed was now open, blowing cool air in to the room.
I didn't say anything, just narrowed my eyes at him. He looked back at me with a cold expression. The room (and maybe the entire world) was still and silent for an entire minute.
"What are you doing here?" I asked rudely, no longer able to stand the silence.
"Why are you and Lilly fighting?" He questioned. I hate when people answer a question with a question. Only I am aloud to be sneaky and confusing.
"We aren't fighting," I lied.
"Yes you are. I'm not blind."
Not blind, just dense, I thought to myself.
"And what's your evidence?"
"You're being bitchier than usual today. And you're only in a really bad mood when you and Lilly are fighting," He observed.
"Did you ever wonder if my bad mood had to do with the fact that you wont leave me alone?" I said slowly and sharply.
He took one step closer to me. "I did leave you alone. I tried. You ran off with the world's biggest ass hole. Do you see how that could be a problem for me?" He asked.
I rolled my eyes. "No Brady, I do not see. You don't own my life, okay. Remember earlier today, when you kept glaring at me and comparing me to evil blood-sucking monsters? Let's go back to that. I prefer you hating me."
Brady almost laughed. "I could never hate you," He clarified, "But I am more than happy to hate Mason. He's already messing with Claire and Lilly, he can leave you alone."
"I'm a big girl Brady, okay? I can make my own choices. And just because you don't like the choices I make, does not mean you can break in to my house late at night. Go worry about Lilly or Claire if they are 'being messed with.'"
"On the contrary, I think Claire and Lilly are easily able to take care of themselves when it comes to Mason. They both see he's trash. You don't," Brady sounded frustrated.
"Can we please save the lectures? I'm really not in the mood. And besides, shouldn't you be with your family right now?" I asked him suspiciously. Brady shrugged.
"Hey, wait! You never answered my question!" Damn sneak . . . "What are you doing here?"
Brady's face reddened. "Well, I mean, if the vampires tried to attack tonight . . . I wanted to be here so–"
"So when they came to kill you, you could throw me in their way and run off as fast as you can," I interrupted.
Brady looked horrified at the thought of it. "No, no! Of course not. I would never do that . . . But, if they did come here, I . . . I would be able to, um, protect you," He mumbled the last part, tripping over his words embarrassingly.
I groaned. "What is with you people? I'm safe! I'll be fine. Worry about yourselves. They have no reason to target me. Whose stupid idea was it to put me on the priority protection list anyways?"
Brady looked down at the floor. "Mine," He admitted quietly.
"Excuse me?" I tried not to raise my voice, knowing that Melia was asleep in the next room.
"Well I mean, I didn't physically say it . . . But the guys knew that I was worried about you."
"Why?" I demanded, severely annoyed.
Brady clenched his fists and looked me in the eyes, the pitiful, shy look wiped away. "Oh come on, Eliza. Why do you think I kissed you last night? This morning? I like you!"
I frowned. I had already known that . . . inside, but hearing him confirm it was so much worse. Sure, Brady was a great guy, but he would never be my guy. Why couldn't he just see that?
There were so many words on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't manage to say anything. Instead, I let out a girly growl and shoved him out of frustration. Before I could bring my hands back to my sides, he caught my wrists and held them in his hands. Then he looked up from my hands in to my eyes.
"You're going to break these if you keep trying to take out your anger on werewolves."
"Let go," I said through my teeth, trying to free my small hands from his firm grip.
"Why do you keep hitting me, Liza?" He asked, slightly hurt, slightly entertained.
"You make me so mad!" I said, still through my clenched teeth, struggling with all my might to free my hands. He didn't even look like he felt my resistance, he just kept his eyes on my face.
"Why?" He asked innocently.
I had to resist the urge to scream. I was surprised someone hadn't already come in to my room to see what all of the noise was about. "You're trying to own my life, you won't leave me alone, you kissed me twice without my permission, and you're treating me like a fucking imprint. I'm not one of them. I don't swoon at the sight of anyone and I am perfectly capable of walking on my own two feet, okay? So just get lost!"
"You're so cute when you're pissed off," Brady chuckled, releasing my wrists.
I wanted to stick my tongue out at him, but knowing him, he would probably take that as a sign and kiss me. Ugh.
"Leave!" I demanded again.
Brady let out a long sigh. "Fine. But get some sleep, okay?" As fast as lightning, Brady kissed my forehead. I rolled my eyes as he turned towards the window to leave. "Oh, and Brady," I added as an afterthought.
"Yes," He said tiredly, turning to face me once again.
"If you ever think about kissing me again, I'm going to kill you," I threatened.
I expected him to have a comeback, probably something along the lines of 'I can't die, stupid ass.'
But instead, he just smirked. "Okay Liza, goodnight." And then he was gone, leaving me with even more to think about than before.
Author's Note: I know that was like, the longest wait ever, but I hope this chapter was worth it. The next chapter will hopefully come faster, but I don't know. So much happens in these next few chapters. It's going to be amazing! (Author's promise!) If any of you don't like that the lemon wasn't really detailed, I apologize. I just feel that that was an intimate moment between Quil and Claire and they deserve their privacy. Writing details just didn't feel write this time. Please review and let me know what you think! Also, tell me if you noticed lots and lots of foreshadowing in this chapter… Because I certainly did. Oh, and one more thing, for those of you who may be curious, no, Eliza isn't an imprint…