Disclaimer: I own nothing

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: The Invisible Line

I woke to the feeling of heat. The sunlight, streaming down through the window, tangled under dark blue covers, and a hot, smooth hand, sliding comfortably against my bare belly. I exhaled contentedly, perfectly relaxed with the warm weight, so much so that I started to smile in my state of blissful unawareness. It felt like an almost unconscious movement as the fingers slipped under the hem of my shirt and eased upwards, massaging my ribs as it went.

I gave a strangled yelp when I realized what the fuck was going on.

"Seth!" I hissed, batting his hand away—and not a moment too soon. Had he gone any farther and he'd have found a new set of curves, above my ribs. I looked over my shoulder and sighed—I had been right. It was an unconscious movement; he'd been asleep. Or faking it, which was honestly just as likely. Seth had taken to pushing his limits on a frequent basis.

He opened one eye and smiled blearily at me. We were entwined together in his bed, both fully-clothed (I had to sneak out, as soon as possible, because if Sue or, God forbid, Leah caught us together, I was doggy chow). I grimaced, correcting the statement.

We were fully-clothed, when I went to sleep. Seth had even been wearing a shirt at my insistence. Somehow—somehow—in the middle of the night, Seth had ended up out of his shirt and track-pants, left in just his boxers. It wasn't unusual. In fact, I was surprised he even bothered keeping his boxers on.

I rolled out of bed, dropping a lazy kiss on his chin. He was still grinning (I rarely lost my temper with him, in spite of his childish games) and as I retreated into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I heard him slink out of bed (hopefully to put some pants on, although I wasn't going to bother holding my breath).

My sneaky little imprint was constantly toeing the boundaries, crossing any invisible lines I'd made and pushing me as far as I dared go. Not that I really was complaining—and he knew it. Damn it, he knew I was helpless to resist him.

But I couldn't do it, not yet. So I did resist him, for the both of us.

"Morning," Seth chirped, coming around behind me and wrapping his lanky arms around my waist. He was growing, and fast. He now stood a few inches over my head and was positively gleeful about it. I rolled my eyes but smiled, turning around to come face-to-chest with his bare skin.

"Seth," I scolded, frowning mildly at the taut pectorals directly in front of me. At least he'd put on his sweat pants. My nose nearly brushed his skin—his very sculpted, defined, soft skin—bad Lucy! I raised an eyebrow up at him, "Where is your shirt?"

With a giddy shrug, Seth said, "Must've gotten lost."

"Oh indeed. If you don't mind…" I nodded to his dresser, "We've got class soon."

Yeah. School. I'd stopped going when Victoria, the bitch of the century, came and started killing humans on our land, but now that the Cullens were back and pulling their weight, I was 'free to return to class.'

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Now all the Pack—minus Sam and Leah, because they were graduated, and minus Seth, because he was smart—had tutors and sessions that were fucking mandatory to attend (and I do mean mandatory. Sam had pulled the Alpha-bullshit and ordered our asses to school. The only times we were allowed to skip was if we were on patrol or there was an emergency. He also defined emergency for us in very, very clear terms). It was the only way the principle would let us back into the school, Sam's Disciples or not. The Council had pulled some strings—more like ropes of steel—and wrangled us back into our classes, after a two months' absence.

Today…I was going to class.

It all felt so surreal. I had thrown the hissy-fit of a lifetime when Sam told us we, the Protectors of La Push, were going to fucking high school, like normal kids. What a joke. I chased vampires for a living, spent most nights in my soul-mate's bed and—oh yeah—exploded into a wolf on a day-to-day basis.

High school. Honestly.

Of course, having Seth helped, immensely. He was actually excited to get back, for whatever reason. I couldn't find one; he couldn't speak to his old friends, he couldn't play any of his sports, he couldn't join any clubs, and catching up in class was going to be a pain in the ass. But whenever I broached the subject, he blushed and shrugged casually, a tiny grin flitting over his face. I dropped the topic; I'd find out what he was so pleased about soon enough.

And today was that day.

"Hey, Lu!" I looked over my shoulder, already throwing on my jacket (fucking appearances to keep). Immediately, I groaned and looked away.

"Oh, for the love of…" I snuck another peek at Seth, who was still shirtless and now, to my dismay, without pants, as well. His black boxers sat low on his hips, and if I looked close enough, I could see dark curls forming a happy-trail down, down, down—fuck! "Seth!" I snapped, "Where are your clothes?"

A tiny pout flitted over Seth's face. He wasn't arrogant, I knew that, but he knew what I thought of him. He knew I loved him and, because of the imprint—fuck it, with or without the imprint—he knew sexual attraction was bound to follow. The problem was, even if there were individual instances that pointed to the contrary, I didn't see him like that. Gorgeous, beautiful, attractive—yes, yes, yes. I wouldn't deny that I was attracted to him, that would be a blatant lie.

But how on earth could I take someone seriously with that face?

I loved Seth, all types of Seth, and there were many. One of my favorites, of course, was the just-woke-up Seth. His hair was tousled, his eyes still half-lidded and, when he saw me, a goofy, still-sleepy smile curved his mouth. He looked so sweet, so innocent, so young. How was I supposed to be sexually attracted to him?

Still… With that body?

How could I not?

"I wanted your opinion," he said, letting out a loud yawn. He held, in his hands, two shirts. One was blue with a kooky slogan on the front, the other was red with stripes. I fought a smile, pressing my lips shut.

"I like both," I said, unable to hide the grin. "What do you want?"

Seth thought about it, staring between his hands for a long time, before he finally shrugged and said, "I want to go back to bed. With you," he added, smiling sweetly at me.

Yeah, I pretty much melted like butter in the sun.

I sauntered over to Seth, surveying him speculatively. "Unfortunately"—and it was damn unfortunate—"we have school. And I have to run home and get some clothes. And you," I leaned in close to his mouth, feeling bold and enjoying the way his eyes went wide and his tongue wetted his lips, "you really need to get dressed." With a playful smack on his rump—mmm nice ass—I stepped around him and leapt out through his window, startled and horrified by my own actions.

What the fuck was I doing?

I couldn't keep this up. I couldn't—my ovaries were going to implode if I wasn't careful. Everything he did was so sweet and cute and fucking innocent. And I was corrupting him. Me and my fucking horny wolf.

You want him. He wants you. The boy is clearly sexually ready—what's stopping you?

What's stopping me? Oh, lemme see… the law?

Human laws don't apply to wolves.

Maybe not, I reasoned, but they certainly apply to their human counterparts.

"Can't believe they're back."

"Thought we finally got away from them."

"Who do they think they are—running around like God's gift to men?"

"Hot damn, I hope Paul's back."

I grimaced as the onslaught of voices ruthlessly attacked my ears. Tell me what was it, exactly, that made humankind so damn nosy? I hefted my backpack higher on my shoulder, sneering at two girls as I walked over to Seth and Embry.

"Never thought I'd be back here," Embry admitted lowly to me. I glowered at the same two girls who were eyeing Seth with extreme curiosity.

"Never wanted to be…" I added miserably. And I didn't—however much I'd wanted to graduate and work at Jacob's mechanic shop, I had not wanted to suffer through four years of high school to get to it. It was torturous before I phased and it sucked just as badly now. Worse, because I had no life outside of school other than phasing. I mean, sure I'd made my peace with it—how could I not, when it gave me Seth?—but it didn't stop me from wanting things.

"Aww, c'mon, Lu," Seth bumped our shoulders, jostling his own backpack. He'd opted for the blue shirt, in the end, with black shorts. He looked good—when didn't he? "We're together now!"

I glanced up at him, unable to withhold the suspicious tint to my gaze. "Yeah," I agreed slowly. "That's pretty awesome." And it was, but why did I have the feeling Seth was planning something that was not pretty awesome?

Seth kept grinning as he entwined our hands together. Great, because I needed any more people looking at me than there already were. But he looked so damn happy and his hand was so warm and soft and I really, really loved holding his hand, so…

"How long till first period starts?" I asked, trying to sound upbeat. Paul and Jared caught up with us as we walked.

"Bout…ten minutes," Embry said, with a glance to his watch. I didn't know why he bothered wearing one, truthfully. I'd given up after destroying three.

I took in a deep breath and clutched Seth's hand. Fuck, now I wasn't going to want to let go. "Well, no use waiting."

"Fuck, I hate this place," Paul grumbled darkly, the angry scowl on his face only serving to make several heart-beats from girls at the school go a-flutter.

"You and me, both, man," I sighed, "You and me, both."

No sooner had I spoken than Seth had started gesturing to the end of the parking lot. An unknown car was parked sideways across two spaces, and through the dirty windows I could barely make out a face—a girl, young, but a little older than me. I was confused one minute as to why Seth had pointed her out, then suddenly, I saw her and it all made sense.

She stepped out of the car—she looked no different than the last I'd seen her, wearing tall black boots and a tight pink tank top that just reached the waistline of tight skinny jeans. Her hair was done up in an unusually conservative manner, and though her sunglasses hid her eyes, I knew she was frowning. Her mouth twisted ever so slightly at the corners and her brow was pinched, knotting together as she caught sight of me. While she smiled wickedly at Paul—who scoffed and walked away—she watched the rest of the boys with disdain.

Me, she ignored entirely.

"Kyrie?" I was surprised. I hadn't seen my sister anywhere near a school in ages. Nor had I seen her behind the wheel of a car. I took a careful whiff as she approached us in her high-heel boots—at least she was sober. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk," she said tersely, taking off the glasses in classic Kyrie-fashion. Her movements were slow, deliberate, almost overly-planned, as though she was trying to be prepared at all times to look 'cool.' "Alone," she added, sneering at my hand linked with Seth's.

I made eye contact with Seth who just shrugged; he knew from my memories that we weren't close, like he and Leah were. My sister and I had always tolerated each other, if you could say that. Truthfully, after she went to high school, we never really spoke to one another on a personal level. Jake, Quil and Embry became my confidents—I had no use for the girly chitchat. Any advice I needed, I got from the internet.

Kyrie led us away to her car, where she reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. It didn't surprise me—even if I hadn't smelt it on her before she'd even stepped out of the vehicle, I knew her well enough to expect that she'd take up smoking or drinking or other drug activities.

She took a long drag and sighed, peering at me after a moment. "I'm leaving."

I blinked. It was not what I'd expected. "What?"

"You heard me. I'm leaving."

I rolled my eyes; I knew what she'd said, but I didn't have a clue what she meant—or what I was supposed to do with this information. "Yeah, I got that. Where are you going?"

"Does it matter?" said Kyrie, raising her eyebrows in disbelief at me. "Will you really give a shit when I leave?"

Would I? I felt like I ought to, since she was my blood and all, but honestly…

I looked to Seth and relaxed. I had a family, a damn good one. I wish I'd gotten along better with Kyrie, but the fact of the matter was that we didn't, and we wouldn't, ever. Any chance of that happening was ended when I phased into a wolf and she sold her soul to the bottle of Jack Daniels I knew she kept in her bedside dresser.

And yet…

I shrugged mildly. "I guess I'll miss you. Where are you going?"

She smiled in her typical twisted way; she was too similar to Leah when she did that. I shuddered at the comparison—having Leah as a sister, as my own flesh and blood, would suck ass. Seriously. That girl was as temperamental as a pregnant woman. It was only her tie to Seth that saved her ass from getting beaten by me, on countless occasions. Sure, I felt bad for her, but I couldn't bring myself to bother trying to help. She brought too much of it on herself.

That's cold, the voice that sounded like Seth scolded. I shoved it aside—I'll deal with that later.

"Dunno," she admitted with a blush. "I just… I need to get outta this dump. I got enough money, I won't starve, so you don't have to worry about that shit or nothin'," she promised crudely. "Probably head for Port Angeles for now. Maybe Seattle. Work my way out of the state." She released another puff of smoke. I pulled a face, trying not to cough too audibly.

"Well," I scrambled for words. "Good luck." My offering made her both grin and grimace.

"Yeah. You too," she nodded towards the boys not too far from me. My boys. "You still stickin' with them?"

I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the question. Oh yeah, I was in this for life. "Yup."

"You're happy?"

Was I? I glanced over at Seth's smiling face, as he chatted amiably with Embry and Jared.

"Yeah," I whispered, smiling serenely at them. The smile almost felt strange being on my face; I wasn't used to the feeling of peace. Nowadays, my life was built on excitement.

"Well," Kyrie laid a hand on the handle of the car door. "You have my number. Take care."

An odd lump formed in my throat. Huh. Maybe I'd miss her more than I thought. "Yeah. You too."

She didn't answer, just hopped in the car and sped off, leaving me standing silently in the absence of her car. My parents had left. I had no other immediate family. As far as blood went, I was well and truly alone. The realization shattered me momentarily, leaving me stunned on the blacktop. I stood there where she'd left me for a good five minutes—it seemed the others knew to leave me alone for a moment.

But more and more cars were showing up, and I knew the bell would be ringing soon. I was wasting time moping out here over someone I really didn't know that well—when I heard footsteps behind me.

"I leave you for five minutes, and you become a mindless zombie? Typical, Spencer. Typical."

A grin flitted over my face, unable to help myself, before I drew my face into a somber sneer, turning slowly on my heel to the owner of the voice.

He looked just as I remembered him, if somewhat rougher 'round the edges. He was wearing dark blue jeans with ripped knees and a form-fitted white shirt to show off his hardly-earned muscles—great, because I really needed to deal with slutty girls throwing themselves at his feet, more so than they already did.

"Jacob Black," I greeted blandly, in a flat tone. "Still as much of a dumbass as ever. Good to see some things don't change—no matter how I wish they would." My face turned sympathetic, "I mean, how does your father do it? Putting up with you all the time. That man deserves a fucking raise."

Jake laughed good-naturedly. He smiled differently now—not quite the sunny, funny Jake I knew as a little girl, but someone else now. And only someone who knew him like I did could've seen it. He was something else. Someone more bitter, more jaded, more cynical.

Heartbroken.

"Luce," he murmured, a touch of fondness lingered in his gaze even as the sorrow took over. I heard the unspoken words, the hidden apology—I always did.

Behind him, Seth, Jared, Embry and Paul stood uncertainly, watching the reunion between us. Seth had a mild frown flickering in his features that I knew I'd have to talk to him about later—I could recognize the signs of jealousy as much as anyone else. And it was stupid of Seth to feel that way—as if I'd ever feel romantically for Jacob Black. Puh-lease. We're talking about the kid who put worms in my hair after his dad told him the story of Medusa. It's not the kind of thing a girl just gets over.

Which was just as well, I thought sourly, since he was madly, helplessly, foolishly in love with one Isabella Marie Swan.

(I may have called Victoria the bitch of the century. Let me retract that statement: she was tied for it.)

"Missed you," I said shortly. Jake grinned and relaxed—I hadn't noticed the tenseness in his shoulders. He fell into stride with me as I walked to the rest of the group.

"S'up, Baby Alpha," Paul sneered at Jake—it was a touchy subject with Paul Lahote, always had been. Alpha-status was always something that Paul had felt belonged to Sam. Sam Uley had worked for it, hurt for it, suffered for it. Sam earned it. And now Jake had phased and was the true Alpha and he didn't even want it.

According to Paul, "Ain't no fucking way I'm following some dinky little kid who's pussy-whipped by the leech-loving bitch."

Regretfully, he wasn't the only one that shared that eloquent opinion. I knew Jared was somewhere along the same lines and, deep inside him, Sam was, too. But Sam was smart, and he knew that his wolf wasn't meant to be the Alpha. He knew it—no matter how much he loved us, loved us all—and he knew Jacob would eventually succumb to the demands of his wolf and step up.

He also knew if it wasn't done peaceably, it was gonna be one hell of a showdown.

Jake snarled at Paul, who I didn't worry about considering I knew he could give it as good as he got and then some, but starting a bloodbath in the middle of the high school's parking lot was truly undesirable for all of us, so I shuffled easily between the pair, linking arms with Seth. He'd come to my side fluidly, as though he'd known what I was going to do before even I did.

The creepy magic of imprinting, everyone.

"Let's go," I urged, giving Jake a push forward with my free hand. He moved forwards, albeit tightly and moodily. Embry walked over to him and the pair began chatting on the way to class.

"That fucker's gonna get it if he's not careful," said Paul, his eyes blazing angrily at my oldest friend. Jared was silent beside him, like myself and Seth. If it was one thing my momma taught me, it was to never get involved in politics, if I wasn't willing to take the fight.

And this was a fight you couldn't pay me to touch.

Paul was messed up and all, but I still loved the guy. Yeah, I said it—I loved Paul. He was pretty awesome for a big brother. He'd turned eighteen a week ago and, ever since, had been the sole owner of the house, after his mom moved out to live with her sister on the Makah reservation. I didn't blame her, her house held some pretty screwed up memories. But Paul blamed her. I knew, as well as anyone with access to his most private thoughts, that he was pissed that his mom had ditched him like his dad did.

At least she gave him an address and weekly phone calls. Which, you know, was more than I could say for my parents. And now, it seemed, my sister.

But Paul hadn't kicked me out when his mom left, to my surprise. Nor had he ditched the house at his first chance and moved out. No, he actually stayed. And let me stay with him. So now I shared a house with the resident man-whore of La Push, who, for whatever twisted reason of his own, had decided to put up with my bullshit.

So I loved Paul, but I also loved the crap outta Jake. And I respected Sam, if not loved him in some sense, too. And now Sam wanted Jacob to become Alpha who didn't want to be Alpha but who didn't like Paul who wanted Sam to be Alpha who kinda wanted to be Alpha but who wanted to eventually retire to live with Emily and stink up the sex-bed and pop out a few kids.

See? Not touching that mess with a ten foot pole.

The bell went, and kids began flocking to their homeroom classes. I glanced down at my schedule—it had been so long since my last time in class, I'd honestly forgotten which class was first. That probably wasn't a good sign.

"See you on the other side," Jared muttered grimly to me, headed off to class, along with Paul. Embry and Jake had already left, which left me standing in the hall with Seth Clearwater.

He smiled sweetly down at me, his eyes crinkled in the corners. "I'll save you a seat at lunch," he promised, and I giggled before I could contain myself. The combination of nerves, dread and, of course, suffused happiness from the imprint connection made me act erratically.

Perhaps the reason why Seth thought he could get away with what he tried.

I went up on my tiptoes to hug him—he smelt so good, felt so nice—and he slowly leaned down, what I presumed to be, to hug me. In a sort of slow-motion effect, he bent down, tipped his chin out, raised his hands and cupped my face—

Holy shit.

When I realized what he was doing, I did the only thing I could think to do.

I flung my face into his shoulder. As hard as I possibly could.

"Mmmm," I moaned in pain, squeezing my eyes shut and feeling for any breaks in my nose. No blood—a good sign. Seth was awkwardly kissing my neck, from when he'd meant to kiss my mouth. Horrified, I stood there in his arms for a full three seconds when I pulled away.

Talk about crossing invisible lines…

I opened my mouth to say something, then shut it with a click. At least no one was watching us.

That's your first concern? No one's watching you? Who gives a shit—look at your imprint!

I obeyed my conscience—who I was starting to realize was actually my wolf—and shifted my guilty gaze to meet Seth's. There was disappointment in his eyes and a dejected glaze to his face that made my heart clench. His head drooped—wasn't I the biggest fucking bitch on the face of the planet?

I decided to salvage what little of the morning I could. Stretching up on my toes, I leaned in and pressed one tight, closed-mouth kiss to his cheek. "See you at lunch?" My uncertain half-question snapped him out of his stupor, and he grinned feebly, nodding once at me.

"Yeah. I'll see you, Lu."

And with that he was off. I watched him drift between people until his shaggy mop of black curls had vanished, receded from my sight. Only then did I allow myself to sag against my locker, dimly noting that I was definitely going to be late for class.

I couldn't bring myself to care. My eyes shut tightly as I banged my skull on the locker door a few times for good measure.

"You fucking idiot," I whispered to myself. Now you've done it, Lucy. See? You let Seth blur all the lines and now you're going to have to define them all over again. Not that I'd ever really set them in the first place—which was my first mistake.

I couldn't date Seth. Not now. It wouldn't be fair; it wouldn't be a real relationship. I'd be constantly telling Seth no, like I already was. When I start dating him—and I have every intention of doing so—but when I start, I have no intention of telling him no. Ever.

He'd be sixteen soon enough. All I had to do was wait a little longer. I knew it wasn't that bad, I knew some girls were fine with it—but I wasn't. It was me who was holding our relationship back. And I knew that, but I couldn't change it any more than Seth could change his age prior to his birthday.

Age is just a number! my wolf whined.

But it was an important number. The age of consent. Sure, I knew "it" was technically allowed, so long as I was within 60 months of his age—yes, I did look that up online—but it felt wrong. I was too old and he was too young, just for now. It didn't have all that much to do with the age difference between us, actually, as much as it was Seth's age alone. He was too young. I couldn't ask him for the relationship I wanted, being just that much older. I was just that much more ready than he. Not to sound cocky, or anything, I was just stating the truth. But Seth would be older soon. He was growing up before my eyes, literally. He'd sprouted up in height, put on some pounds of muscle, gained a wisdom to his gaze that excited me as much as it did unnerve me. He was so close but not close enough.

So all Seth had to do was wait. Just a little longer…

Then you should talk to Seth, a voice nudged and insisted—my goddamn wolf. I ignored the scolding as I always did and sat for a few minutes before running to class.

I couldn't decide which I was angrier over: that I'd almost kissed a fifteen year-old or that I'd pushed him away.

I'm baaaaack! I thought long and hard about this chapter, since it really sets up Seth's personality in their relationship. And in the end, I couldn't picture him acting any other way. Stephenie Meyer never really gets any deeper into his character than his pure heart. Sure, he's pure, but he's still a teenage boy. A boy who has access to his dream-girl's mind and knows that she loves him, too. Ergo, he makes the logical jump to dating. Besides that, sneaky-Seth is just my favorite Seth in the whole world! (fangirl squee)

And I know the age difference isn't so extreme. Two years? Big whoop. For Lucy, though, it is. Please don't take it as me critcizing anyone's choice in partners. I have a good feeling Lucy'll come to her senses. *winks* It just might take a while...

(Thanks for reading, as always. Reviews are extremely encouraging!)

NEXT CHAPTER: The Week from Hell