Seth's POV

Felicity wrings her hands together and paces, not looking at me.

"Seth, I don't think I can do this."

"It's okay," I assure her. "We can go back down-"

"No, I want to do this," she huffs. She takes a couple of steps towards the edge of the cliff, my nerves spiking in response. I move closer to her just in case she accidentally falls over. "I'm just saying that you might have to push me."

I grin wickedly, believing her. "Alright, but you said to."

And before she can protest further, I wrap my arms securely around her and plunge us over the edge of the cliff.

She screams as we fall, and I have to laugh, though the sound does send off warning bells in the back part of my brain. But she's with me, which means she's safe.

The cold water shocks my body as we make contact, sinking deeply. Immediately, Felicity and I kick our legs, working our way to the surface. The minute she can breathe again, she's laughing, the sound infectious.

"We're gonna have to do that again!" Remnant water drops down her face, sparkling in the evening sun.

I agree easily, happy to do whatever she wants today. I'm nervous, of course, for what I have to do tonight, but I know in the long run it will be better. Felicity doesn't deserve to be lied to.

"Hey, Seth?" Her soft voice pulls me from my thoughts. She looks at me, exhilaration from the fall still in her eyes. "I adore you."

My breath leaves me in a quick exhale and I can hardly contain my happiness, nor the feeling of right that settles over me. This is how it's meant to be. I answer the only way I can: with complete honesty. "You have no idea."

She kisses me then, and I want nothing more than to stay in this water forever, wrapped in each other's arms under the glow of the sunset.

But Quil shouting from the shore interrupts us, calling us to something I both dread and excitedly anticipate: the bonfire.

Felicity pouts comically when I pull away, but that quickly turns into laughter when I splash some water towards her face.

"Let's go."

Still, we take our time swimming to shore. The blanket of warmth provided by the water and myself evaporates when we hit the ground and Felicity immediately begins to shiver. Thankfully, Emily had the foresight to meet us at the beach with our changes of clothes plus a large blanket for Felicity. I grin in thanks and usher Felicity farther into the woods so we can change.

"Ya decent?" Her voice travels from behind a nearby tree.

"Yes ma'am," I call back, peeking around the tree of my own. She emerges into view then, looking adorable in her fleece leggings and sweatshirt, completely wrapped in the chunky knit blanket and hair in a braid and hat.

I chuckle at the differences in our appearance.

"You are insane," she laments, lightly smacking my bare shin where the shorts cut off.

I just grin impishly, giving her a light shove. "You're just lucky I'm wearing a shirt."

She just rolls her eyes, muttering under her breath that lucky isn't the word she would use.

I bite back a grin, knowing it's not something I was meant to hear. Instead, I throw my arm over her shoulders and begin the walk back to the beach.

My friends had been busy in the five minutes we were gone. The bonfire is set, flames of blue and orange reaching towards the sky. Someone thought to bring a table and load it with hot dogs and, per Felicity's request, s'more supplies. She immediately takes notice and makes a beeline towards the graham crackers.

While we load our plates, I take note of who's here. It's a relatively small gathering, which makes sense seeing as everyone here has heard these stories at least twice already. Billy sits in his wheelchair, surveying the area. Scattered on the logs around the fire are Sam and Emily, Quil, Claire, Paul, and Embry. Catching my eye, Quil gives me an encouraging smile.

Felicity and I take our place on a log. Kindly, but unnecessarily, she throws the blanket around my shoulders, too. I smile, using it as an opportunity to scoot closer to her. By now, the sun has set completely, and the light of the fire gives Felicity a hauntingly gorgeous glow.

She kisses my shoulder and then makes a noise of protest as her marshmallow falls straight into the fire.

I chuckle at her luck.

She rolls her eyes, grumbling. "That'll show me, I guess."

Approximately two successful s'mores later, Billy calls the group to order.

And he begins the telling of our history.

I can't help but be incredibly tense through the whole thing. Felicity senses this and runs her fingers over my back in an effort to calm me, but still, I don't relax. To Felicity, these will be just legends and stories. But to me, they're history, inseparable from who I am and my present reality. A reality that, in just a couple of hours, Felicity will have to face for herself.

Still, it pleases me to see that she is listening attentively, a look of wonder on her face. Hopefully, that bodes well for her reaction later. Billy heeds my request and omits as much as he can regarding the Cold Ones as they relate to the Cullens. That's for them to tell. Still, it's not possible to separate our histories entirely, so Felicity definitely learns a little.

It's eight o' clock when the stories end. The only light comes from the fire, the moon, and the stars. While beautiful to me, it could be seen as ominous, and I hesitate to go forward with my plan of telling Felicity tonight. Again, Quil seems to sense my hesitation and gives me an encouraging nod. I sigh, deciding to just dive in and tell her. Lying to your imprint is very difficult, I've realized. And it just plain sucks. I want to be able to share every part of myself with her. Deep down, I want her to accept every part of me. But the serious part of my brain reminds me that she might not. And honestly, I'm not even sure what I'll do then.

I stand and offer Felicity my hand to pull her up. "Wanna go for a walk?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice." She smiles. "We should probably help clean up first, though."

I chuckle, throwing my arm around her shoulders. "Silly Felicity, you're a guest. And guests don't have to help clean up."

Rolling her eyes, she pokes my side. "Yeah, and what does that make you? Don't you live here?"

I shake my head, pulling her towards the water. "I'm a guest of a guest, since technically, I'm here with you. And if guests don't have to clean up, then guests of guests definitely don't have to."

At this, she laughs fully and snuggles further into my side. In this moment of closeness, I allow myself to imagine a positive reaction to the 'wolf' bomb. Felicity would be able to truly know me as I am. She would be able to know pack business. I could run with her on my back. Oh, she would love that! I can't help but grin. She would understand the strength of our bond, and why we feel as we do even after such a short amount of time. And she would understand why I'll never be able to leave her. She might be able to better understand the sheer intensity of my love for her.

That serious voice in my head makes another appearance to tell me to back off with the L-word. Knowing what we do and feeling the full force of the imprint typically makes us 'all in' quicker than our imprints. For some, it doesn't take long for them to catch up. But for others...I chuckle, remembering the entire year Rachel took to come around with Paul. He was miserable of course, but now that they're so happy it's easy to look back and laugh at their crazy journey.

"What's so funny?" Once again, Felicity pulls me from my thoughts.

I press her tighter to me. "Just thinking of all the trouble Nessie and Jake could get into tonight." Lie. My stomach churns uncomfortably.

Unaware of my deception, Felicity snickers. "They're home with her parents tonight, so I'm gonna guess zero trouble."

As we get closer to where the beach meets the woods, my nerves grow, and I can't make myself chill out enough to respond.

"Speaking of trouble…" Felicity's voice is a little hesitant, and I wonder if she can sense my unease. "Where are we going?"

I take a deep breath, hoping to calm us both. "There's an alcove behind those rocks there where the beach lines up with the forest. I think you'd like it."

She smiles now, more at ease. "I'd wager you're right."

We finish the walk in silence. My palms start to sweat, and I idly wonder how fast my heart rate must be for me to get sweaty. When we turn to go behind the rock she gasps, evidently enjoying the area as much as I thought she would.

I'm antagonizing over how to start this life-changing conversation when she reaches up to kiss me and essentially does the work for me.

"Thank you for including me tonight. It was really nice. The bonfire, the stories...it's all so interesting." She saunters over to a large, slanted rock and takes a seat, looking confused when I don't join her.

The confusion turns to nervousness when I stand squirming a few feet in front of her.

"Seth?" Her tone is unsure, and there's a twinge of hurt in there. Inwardly, I grimace, hating the pain I'm causing her already. It's time to stop beating around the bush.

"Okay, so you know all those stories Billy told?"

"Yes, the ones we heard ten minutes ago." Even now, obviously panicked, she finds room to tease. I force down a smile, knowing this isn't the right time to be laughing.

"Yeah, exactly." Semi-subconsciously, I start to pace. "So to some people, that's all they are. Stories, legends. But to me and my friends and a handful of others, they're our history. And…" I verbally stumble as I near the incriminating words. "And our present."

At this, I freeze my pacing, anxious to see her reaction. It confuses me when all I see is her raised eyebrow.

"Okay…" She trails off with a question mark.

She doesn't get it.

I stifle a groan, not at all wanting to have to say this again. Already, it feels like I'm drawing it out. Like I'm hedging telling her the truth and deliberately extending her dread.

"I turn into a wolf." The words are out of my mouth before I can even consider a more delicate way to phrase them. My heart stops.

She stares at me for a second, her eyebrows furrowing. Her mouth opens slightly as she continues to stare.

And then, she laughs.

Unable to form any more words, I just stare at her, my gaze level as I wait for her to come to the conclusion that I am completely and utterly serious.

Her laughter slowly dies, and she looks at me now like she can't quite figure out what sort of game I'm playing.

She scoffs and looks at me, still unsure. "Seth, c'mon."

I don't say anything. I can't. Because my heart has dropped down to my feet and a slow, heavy dread is creeping through my bones.

With a huff, Felicity stands and begins to walk towards me. Two steps later, she changes her mind and begins to pace in front of the rock.

"No...no. No! Seth," she gives a nervous laugh, her pacing quickening. "Seth." Her voice is insistent now, almost demanding. "For Pete's sake, you do not turn into a wolf."

"Yeah, I do." It shocks me by how sad my voice sounds. She shakes her head wildly, hands flying up to take off her hat. "Felicity."

Upon hearing her name, she roots her feet, stares at me, and clenches her jaw. I can do nothing but stare at her and wait for it all to click.

I can see it in her eyes the moment it does.

She lets out a shuddering breath and sways before quickly dropping to the ground and putting her head in her hands. My first instinct is to rush over to her and make sure she's alright, but something about her demeanor tells me I should keep my distance. For all I know, she could be terrified of me right now.

The space around us is painfully silent except for her jagged breathing.

Seconds pass, then minutes. I shift on my feet, discomfort growing. What if she never speaks to me again?

But thankfully, she does, even if her words don't do anything to indicate her being okay with this information. Instead, she gulps and gives me a wary, tired look from her place on the ground. "How is that even possible?"

She's giving me a chance to explain myself. I jump at it, nearly desperate at this point.

"It's part of who I am, who we are as a tribe. We change-activate the gene-by being near the Cold Ones, the vampires. It's not anything we can decide on, it's just part of our genetics. We do it to protect those in our tribe and the people closest to us. I-" I swallow then, realizing that my words aren't doing much to calm her racing heart. "I could protect you if it came to it." I sink slowly to the ground, palms open in a show of harmlessness. "You don't have to be afraid of me, Felicity. I swear I am not a danger to you."

She scoffs and looks away, and when she speaks, her voice thick, I can guess it was to hide the tears in her eyes. "I'm not scared of you, Seth."

I gulp, my heart soaring dangerously high with hope.

She continues. "I should be...I really, really should be. And I shouldn't even believe you, because this is obviously so ridiculous but I…" she shrugs, looking at me now with clear unease in her eyes. "I do. Like, there's no doubt in me that you're telling the truth or that any of this is real but it can't be because-" she cuts herself off then, burying her head in her knees.

I sigh, hoping the next bomb I'm about to drop on her doesn't ruin her precarious calm. "That's probably because of the imprint."

She looks at me then, eyebrows furrowed. "The what?"

I buy some time by pretending to look into the forest, really not wanting to freak her out. But unless I tell her about the imprint, she'll be missing a large part of the picture and it will only lead to more lies. And I am so done with lying to her.

"We don't exactly know why it happens or what triggers it, all we know is that it seems to be specific for our tribe and our brand of shape-shifting."

As I speak, I can see the hesitant curiosity in her eyes, her trademark academic brain seeking out new information, even if she's not yet made the decision to be okay with it all. Still, it encourages me and I continue.

"Basically, it's like a really strong bond between two people. Stronger than anything in the world, to the point where the other person is your world. Anything they want or need, you provide or you are. It's a life-long bond and one that can never be broken. It's...supposed to be rare, but because our pack is so big it's...a little more common." I falter as I get closer to the words I so badly want to speak but am so hesitant to say.

Felicity is smart though and catches on quickly.

"Are we…?" She seems nervous, embarrassed almost, to be asking. I so badly want to alleviate those feelings, but all I can do is nod as I'm bombarded with all the potential outcomes of this conversation.

"We are," she confirms, looking at the ground.

Then she does the most amazing thing.

She smiles.

It's hesitant and soft, but it's there.

"I mean it makes sense now." She nearly rolls her eyes, chuckling. "Why I'm so attached to the lovable dork I met only a few months ago."

I can't help the breathy laugh of wonder that escapes me as I stare at my world cracking jokes after she finds out that her boyfriend is a werewolf who essentially just made a proclamation of perpetual devotion. Wait, have I even asked her to be my girlfriend yet?

But she opens her arms then, allowing me to rush to her and pull her close, and I lose all my thoughts other than, "I'm so glad you know." My voice is tight with emotion and I press my head into her neck, not ever wanting to let her go.

Her own voice is small when she responds in my ear. "It's still a little freaky, I'm not gonna lie. But I trust you." Her words fall over me, comforting and assuring. "I obviously have a million questions though."

Now, a shaky laugh escapes me, and I pull her impossibly closer. "Of course you do." I lean back to look at her, grinning widely. "I'll answer them all."

"And I want to see."

I freeze now, shocked that she's asked so soon.

She furrows her eyebrows, looking nervous now. "Is that...not okay?"

"No, no," I rush to reassure her. "No it's perfectly fine, I just didn't expect you to be ready for that so soon."

She chuckles, biting her lip. "Maybe not tonight, it's too cold. Tomorrow morning."

Now it's my turn to laugh, burying my face in her neck once more. "Whatever you want."

She kisses the side of my head. "Thank you for being honest."

How did I get her? I shake my head, just thankful that I did. "Thank you for not running away screaming."

She chuckles. "Oh, it was a close call. But I decided that I care about you more than I care about freaky supernatural things."

Elated, I stand up, pulling her into my arms bridal-style. "Thank God."

She snuggles into my chest, evidently enjoying her mode of transportation almost as much as I'm enjoying having her in my arms.

"Hey wait." Something seems to occur to her and I pause, suddenly nervous that she's changed her mind.

But her next words are so harmless that they actually have me laughing. "When you dream, is it from the perspective of a wolf or a human?"

"What?" She shakes in my arms as I laugh and soon, she joins me.

"It's a valid question!"

"But out of all the questions, that's where you go first?"

She rolls her eyes, butting me with her head and whining. "Shut uppp."

I chuckle but decide to answer her question seriously anyway. "As a human. It's hard to explain, but even when we're wolves, we don't have the minds of wolves. We're ourselves just in a different body. So even when I'm a wolf, if I fall asleep, I dream as I would if I were in human form."

She's stopped laughing now and gazes at me in wonder. "That's fascinating."

I kiss her nose. "Do you wanna stay over or should I take you to Miss Gertie's or the Cullens'?"

She raises her eyebrows. "Stay? Like at your house?"

I roll my eyes. "No in my wolf's den. Yes, my house!"

She throws her head back and groans, but the grin never leaves her face. "You know what I mean! I've just never been to your house! Unless you mean Charlie and Sue's?"

I shake my head. "Nope, my actual home where I spend my free time and keep my clothes and my food."

She perks up, her interest obviously piqued. "Yeah let's go there."

I purse my lips absently. "I can't believe I've never taken you there. Sorry about that."

She shrugs, not as affected as I'd been concerned she'd be. "No worries! But seriously, pick up the pace. It's freezing out here."

I laugh and pull her tighter against me in an effort to warm her. "Yes ma'am."

And I as I break out in a run, she laughs wildly, the sound causing my already speedy heart to beat even faster.

{***}

We stay up well into the night talking. I answer all of her questions, even the ridiculous ones about full moons and silver bullets.

She does seem surprised by some of my answers though, like when I tell her about my extended lifespan.

"You don't age?" Her voice is incredulous.

"Well I do, just differently. I only age when I go for a few months at a time without phasing."

She shakes her head. "That's crazy...so how old are you really?"

I'm quick to reassure her. "Twenty-four as advertised. After the initial chaos right after I phased for the first time, what with the influx of vampires and all that, the guys made me stop and age normally for a while. At the time I was annoyed and felt left out, but now of course I'm super grateful. I had time to actually be a kid for a while and to grow up properly before being thrust into all this responsibility. I only started phasing regularly a few years ago. So physically and mentally I'm twenty-one but I'm twenty-four legally."

"That's crazy," she breathes, taking the information in. Then, sadness crosses her face and I'm quick to grab her hand.

"Does that bother you?" My mind immediately goes to her having a problem with one of my ages. Too young or too old? She already thought I was twenty-four and the five and a half year gap didn't seem to bother her but maybe she was just covering that up or-

Her response cuts my inner voice off. "Not in the way you think."

I gaze at her expectantly, waiting for her to explain.

She sighs, not looking at me. "So what does that mean for...for the future and everything? Like if I age normally but you don't what happens when I'm in my thirties and you're still barely the drinking age? That's gonna be so weird and-"

I rush to put her mind at ease. "It's up to us. If you wanted we would just wait for you to catch up to twenty-one or twenty-four and then I would stop phasing and age normally with you. Or if you were fine waiting until you're older we could do that, or if you wanted me to stop right this second I would." I move so that she can see my eyes, wanting her to understand how serious I am about this. "You have as much control over this weirdness as I do. And you mean more to me than anything else."

She closes her eyes and smiles, pressing her forehead to mine. "You mean more to me than anything else. We'll cross that age bridge when we get there."

I kiss her then, unable to wrap my mind around how amazing it is now that she knows everything about me.

She pulls away from the kiss to yawn, causing me to chuckle. "Wanna go to bed and continue this in the morning?"

She rolls her eyes. "You wimping out on me at 2:30?" But despite her words, she's already fluffing her pillow and turning onto her side, obviously ready to sleep.

I chuckle and give her head a quick kiss before sliding under the covers behind her, pulling her against my chest, and quickly falling asleep.

A/n Hello! So, what did you think? Let me know! Also, a lot of you said your favorite side-character couple is Alice and Jasper and they're mine, too! I just love their dynamic. Now on to the next QOTC: If you could live in any fictional world/universe, which would it be and why? Looking forward to hearing your answers and your reactions to this chapter!