The drive to Emily's house had to be the shortest drive ever. All I could think about was wolf equals Paul and Paul equals wolf.
Paul. Then poof. Wolf.
People didn't just burst out of their skin and transform into something else. If so it would have been all over the news.
Embry sighed as he parked the car and lifted me out.
"Seriously. This has to be worst imprinting episode ever. I knew Paul's would be bad but hell… You know. There are actual bets about you two. About when you will get your stepfathers shotgun and just shoot him. And the images. It`s like being tuned to the Jan channel. No offence to you but the things that goes on in his head is just plain scary."
I registered the words but they made absolutely no sense. Imprinting? Wasn't that something ducks did towards their mother? And the way he spoke was like he could read Paul's mind. Which of course was impossible. The shotgun part I got. It was one of my favorite fantasies since I moved here.
Embry carried me into the house and placed me on a chair in the kitchen. Emily, Bella, Leah and Kim were all in the kitchen and from the worried looks they all gave me I had to look like hell. Not only did I have wounds from the fight with Lucia and her drones but I was probably as pale as pale skin could go. Well Leah didn't exactly look worried. More like amused really.
"Jan was kissing Josh at first beach. Paul found them."
Leah snorted and Embry glared at her.
"Let me guess. He went apeshit and phased?"
Embry looked down at me again, still with a worried frown on his face.
"Not exactly. He went for Josh and we had to pry him out of his hands. Quil managed to get Josh out of there and then… Well."
Embry trailed off and Emily sighed.
"Go and hang out with your brothers and tell them not to come in before I tell them to."
Emily sat down with a sigh, pressing a glass of soda into my hand.
"Jan. The legends are true. Some Quileute are shape shifters and turn into wolves."
Yeah. I sort of figured that one out on my own thank you very much.
"We shift so we can rip vampires into pieces."
Leah's grin didn't even falter when Emily glared at her. Werewolves. Vampires. I had stumbled onto something I would rather not. Ignorance fit me just fine if this was the other option.
"Does fairies exist? Mermaids? Leprechauns?"
The four girls in the kitchen looked at me like I was insane. Except from Leah. She looked like she was having the time of her life. Taking a sip of the soda made me feel calmer so I took another.
"What? I bet you didn't always know there were vampires and werewolves running around so is it so unbelievable that there could be leprechauns and fairies also?"
I downed the rest of the soda.
"Look. Never mind. I won't tell anyone. Not that anyone would believe me either and I don't fancy spending years in a rubber room. Can I go now?"
My hopes for a quick escape were shot down by a sympathetic looking Emily and a crackling Leah.
"Oh I so got this one."
Leah's grin promised pain. She had always been sort of mean and after Sam dumped her she had gone from mean to pure evil. If Leah was smiling then people should be running away screaming. Which was exactly what I would have been doing if one of her hands was not pressing me back into the chair with a strength that shouldn't be possible for someone so skinny.
"You see. Wolves imprint. One day they look into a girls eyes and from that moment on everything in their lives revolve around that girl. They think about her all the time. Want to make her happy and if they don't see her for a while, they get sick. And if she rejects them they go mad. No one they ever loved can compare with an imprint. They call it finding their soul mate. The one that is perfect for them. I call it finding their broodmare to create perfect little pre puppies and becoming her bitch."
It all fell into place. The look he had given me when he looked me in the eye that day in the hallway. His sudden transformation from my bully to my creepy stalker. Taking care of me when I was sick. The puppy eyes and his violent outburst on the beach.
"Oh my god."
Leah snickered and let go of my shoulder which probably had finger shaped bruises on it.
"Quil so owes me twenty bucks. I knew she would be more freaked out by Paul imprinting on her than the whole wolf thing."
"Leah!"
Leah didn't seem the least bit chastised by the harsh tone in Emily's voice. Emily turned to me and gave me a sympathetic smile.
"It isn't that bad. I am Sam's imprint. Kim is Jared's and Bella here is Jacobs."
"And how does that compare?"
I sounded like a frog the way my voice croaked.
"You got Sam who is known as a gruff but otherwise nice guy. Kim got Jared who she had a crush on since she was like twelve. Bella got Jacob who is a freaking ray of sunshine. And I? I got a psychotic jackass."
My hands trembled around the soda glass and I tightened my grip.
"Paul is the guy that made my life a living hell since I moved here. He is an inconsiderate jerk who lives to make other people's lives difficult not to mention he blows up with regular intervals. That's who imprinted on me."
"Jan. It isn't that bad."
I rolled my eyes at Kim.
"Yeah right. If it was you Paul imprinted on you would have been begging your mom to send you to boarding school."
Kim flushed and averted her eyes.
I needed a drink. Hell I needed a whole bottle. Paul's soul mate. What a load of crap. Paul and I weren't compatible at all and his instincts or whatever that made him imprint on me was clearly wrong.
"Can`t it be broken or vodooed away or something?"
Emily patted my shoulder again.
"No. A imprint doesn't break even if the imprintee dies. If an imprintee dies then the werewolf soon follows."
Oh great. Fucking freaking fantastic. For the rest of my life I would have a Paul shaped shadow. A Paul shaped shadow that went crazy every time I kissed a guy.
I would die a virgin.
If I didn't sleep with Paul and that was not going to happen. Not in a million years.
"I want to go home. Now."
Emily sighed like she was disappointed in my reaction but her eyes were nonjudgmental.
"I`ll drive you. Just… Don't spend too long thinking about it. No matter what role you choose for Paul in your life, he does need you. If they are not in any contact with their imprints, they suffer."
For a second I wanted to tell her that Paul could suffer all he wanted and I didn't give a damned but then I remembered the way the wolf had looked at me at the beach. Fear, sorrow and heartbroken all at once. I didn't know what to do about all this but if it hurt that much and I could do something about it then I would. It was the right thing to do. No one deserved to go mad. Not even Paul.
Authors note: Oh Leah Leah Leah. Such a fun character to write. To have her explain imprinting. Precious.
I have gotten a couple of questions about imprinting and I just wanted to say that this will be my take on imprinting. Some of it will be different from the original imprinting of the books. I might explain myself further later as Jan herself understands more about it. Thanks for all the reviews.