A/N: So yeah, the conflict's not going to last long because we're growing as character, yo! Anyways, enjoy!
To say Jared is panicking is a gross understatement.
Emotional whiplash doesn't even begin to cover what he's going through.
He watches as Kim rushes upstairs, listens to the pounding footsteps. She pauses in the dark of her room, looking at his truck. Waiting for him to go, he realizes.
That's when the shaking starts.
He drives as carefully as he can manage, making it all the way to the closest tree line, before throwing the car door open and bursting into a wolf right there, in the cab of his truck, in public. He hasn't spazzed out like that since he first turned.
He struggles out of the car, claws against the seats, stuffing spilling out and sticking to his fur. He leaps out and flat out sprints into the woods, leaving woodland rubble in his wake. The wolf begs him to turn around, go back to his mate, and convince her, but the rational part of Jared's brain—what's left of it anyways—decides that would just make things worse.
Jared!
What happened?
Paul and Sam are hot on his trails and suddenly, the feeling of claustrophobia burst into his chest, pushing his to move faster, run harder, do whatever it takes to get out. He can't help but think about Kim's expression, the hurt there and the guilt.
Shit, Jared, slow down!
You're headed straight for Forks. Stop.
Jared fumbles, buckling under the weight of Sam's alpha command. His body moves against his will and he's forced on his belly, snarling and squirming. Kim's words swim through his mind, phrases like "not real" and forced".
Sam paces around him anxiously. He's not exactly used to giving commands like that, not often, and he feels the weight just like they do, in the form of guilt.
Just, wait a minute, please.
Jared huffs and pulls himself up, panting. His head still dips against his will, a product of Sam's presence, a reminder that the wolf and he are still separate.
A look of concentration passes over Sam's face, an odd expression for a wolf, and suddenly the pressure eases. Jared's pulled back into his body again, given control of himself.
I hate this.
Neither Paul nor Sam respond, but Paul comes to sit by Jared's side, a silent show of solidarity.
Show me what happened, slow so I can understand.
Jared obliges, letting the memory play out. Paul whines sympathetically, settling on the forest floor. Sam paces a bit, his own mind jumbled. Flashes of Emily come into view, her far-away expression when she doesn't know Sam's watching, the bittersweet taste of an errant kiss.
That's not all the way right.
I think Kim had a good point. That's why I don't want to imprint. Why give up all my control for some girl?
Paul, asshole that he is, has a point. Jared thinks about the past few months, about Kim and her smile, the light in her eyes and the warmth in her smile. Eyelashes that go on forever and wit to match. Is this what losing control feels like?
No, losing control is this.
Paul plays a memory from last week, clutching his desk in English class, fighting back the wolf, an invader in his body. Jared feels the ripping apart of a human conscious, the human hanging on by shred, reduced to claws and fangs and anger.
Being with Kim feels like the opposite of that.
Being with Kim is feeling more human than he has in months. Being with Kim is finding a balance, not wolf versus human, but wolf and human, spirit and soul merged into one. Being with Kim is warmth and kindness. It's not easy, at times, pushing through their combined insecurities, but breaking apart those walls leave him more content than anything.
There's nothing forced about it.
Think about it. The imprinting led you to Kim, makes you be what she needs. Does she need some idiot head over heels for her?
No.
Right, so what does she need?
It's a loaded question, one that asks Jared to unravel their relationship to the core, but as he thinks, the imprinting isn't about his relationship with her at all.
She wants to feel strong. Comfortable in herself.
You do that for her, don't you? Give her space to do that?
I fucking hope so. All this emotional bullshit is grating on my nerves.
Sam snarls at Paul, but Jared understands. She doesn't need a boyfriend, she needs someone on her side, someone to reminder that she has a voice, that her opinions are worth hearing, that she is someone worth putting out into the world.
The realization feels too heavy and too precious for a seventeen-year-old to come by, but this goes deeper than a high school romance. This is cosmic, two souls coming together just when they need each other the most.
Let's go back. I'll talk to Kim tomorrow, explain some of this to her.
I smell a pot roast.
Why is that you only have heightened senses when it comes to food?
A growing boy needs to eat!
The only growing you do is horizontal, Paul.
Jared neatly dodges the ensuing wrestling match, laughing at how effortlessly Sam can lay into Paul, knocking him flat in a minute. There's no weight hanging above them right now, just three wolves caught up in themselves and the moment.
It's pretty perfect, if you go for that emotional, sappy bullshit.
Smell you losers later!
Jared takes off, tongue lolling. He's the fucking champ of emotional whiplash. The mad dash to Emily's pot roast doesn't take long, but he stops short when he realizes he totaled his clothes.
Sam, who has the uncanny ability to go from wise mentor to immature asshole, laughs for a solid few minutes, and only brings clothes out at Emily's insistence. Something about refusing to have nudity where she cooks.
Jared takes the offered sweatpants between his teeth and trots back into the tree line. While he's cool with changing in front of the pack, changing where Emily could potentially see his dick isn't ideal. It would feel like disappointing your mom, or something.
Vaguely, he hears a phone ring, a ringtone similar to his, and he curses. He forgot about the truck.
A/N: Uh, yeah, so RIP to Jared's truck, but all's fair in love and war. Anyways, let me know what you thought!