It was time for the final battle. We had 25 witnesses and they all agreed that if it comes to a fight then they will fight with us. We did have 26 but one left after we asked if they'd fight with us if it came to it. Assuming that was a no, we started preparing. Jacob was with us the whole time. I was starting to get suspicious that he had imprinted on C.J or Nessie but immediately wiped the thought from my mind. He wouldn't do that. Jacob knew better.
Everyone went hunting. Edward even agreed to fight alongside us, which was obviously shocking. Edward had put his revenge aside...for now...I decided to stay in with C.J and Nessie, Jacob also stayed with me as he didn't need to hunt because he wasn't a vampire. Suddenly, he spoke...
"Tammy...I need to tell you something," Jacob said quietly.
"What is it?" I asked, confused as to why he was so quiet.
"Don't be mad okay..." I knew it! He had imprinted on one of my children!
"Okay," I agreed, composing my voice and expression so it wouldn't tip off that I was already mad.
"I... imprinted," Of course, he had!
"On who?" I spat the words as if they were venomous.
"Y-You..." At that moment I was in utter shock he had imprinted on me?!
"What?!" I said with a mix of shock and anger.
"When I saw you after you had C.J and Nessie..." He trailed off.
"You imprinted?" I finished questioningly.
"Yes..." He said inaudibly to human ears.
"What does it feel like?" I asked curiously.
"When you imprint... It's not like love at first sight, really. It's more like… gravity moves. It's not the earth holding you here anymore, she does or in my case you do… You become whatever she needs you to be, whether that's a protector, or a lover, or a friend. When a shape-shifter imprints on a specific girl or woman, he becomes unconditionally bound to her for the rest of his life. When it happens, the experience is described as being gravitationally pulled toward that person while a glowing heat fills him, and everyone and everything else in his life becomes secondary, and only the imprintee is left to matter, leaving the shape-shifter with a deep need to do anything to please and protect his soulmate." He started.
"Imprinting can occur any time after a wolf's first phasing. It can happen with anyone, regardless of previous personal feelings. It happens the first time we see the person we're imprinting on."
"Imprinting can't be forced on anyone, no matter how much a wolf may want it, as shown when I tried numerous times to imprint on your sister. The same is also true for Leah Clearwater, who didn't look for someone to imprint on, like I did, but admitted to either wanting to imprint or be imprinted on. How imprinting will be for her is currently unknown because she's the second female wolf in the tribe's history and it was just lucky with Tiff."
"What would happen if a wolf is rejected by the imprintee?" I asked, again curious.
"What would happen if a wolf is rejected by their imprintee is also unknown, though this is assumed to be virtually impossible. The imprinter is deemed to be the 'perfect match' to the imprintee—we'll be anything they may want or need, making rejection unlikely. Should it happen, however, the imprinter may feel unspeakable pain, and may even want to commit suicide." He explained.
"Wow..."
"There are stages to imprinting, especially if the wolf imprints on a child, or otherwise someone very young. It starts with direct eye contact with his imprintee," He started again.
"1st stage:
If the imprintee is young, the wolf will act as an older sibling.
2nd stage:
As the imprintee grows older, the wolf will also come to be their best friend.
3rd stage:
They become intimate friends, meaning, their feelings for each other are changing into romantic feelings. This stage may or may not happen to the imprintee, but the imprinter will fall in love with their imprintee. They will not see any other woman at all. Our imprintee is all we care about, and we will love them even if they reject him.
4th stage:
When the imprintee is old enough, the wolf's feelings grow into romantic love." Jacob explained.
"That's a lot of stages,"
"Yeah, but it's just how it is,"
"What's the reason for imprinting?" I asked with a curious expression.
"The reason for imprinting is unknown. Although some members of the Quileute tribe have theories.
Sam Uley believes that a wolf imprints on the person with whom they have the best chance to reproduce. How this applied to Tiff and Renesmee is debatable because they're obviously both females.
My dad, however, thinks that imprinting is designed to make the shape-shifter stronger. While never stated directly, his theory may explain Tiff's imprinting on Renesmee. She may have provided him with the greatest support, or, if they could've reproduced, some vampiress traits, such as hardened skin, perfect memory, or supernatural gifts may have been transferred to their offspring, reducing their weaknesses in human form.
So far, only male wolves have imprinted on girls or women, regardless of their ages, with Tiff being the exception. While Sam Uley, Paul Lahote, and Jared Cameron imprinted on teenage girls or young adults, Quil had imprinted on a young child. Tiff was the only wolf known to have imprinted on a hybrid.
Unlike the imprinter, the imprintee can choose whether they'll accept the wolf as their 'soulmate' or not. It is, however, implied that rejection is highly unlikely since it has been said that it would be very hard to resist the levels of 'commitment, compatibility, and adoration.' It has also been noted that the imprintee feels incomplete without their soulmate nearby.
If the imprintee chooses someone else, their imprinter will be in deep emotional pain. Nevertheless, they would still respect their choice as their happiness was all that mattered to the wolf."
"Oh. What're the aftereffects of imprinting?" I asked curiously.
"Even though the wolf has imprinted, it doesn't necessarily mean they won't suffer, though they would instantly break the heart of a loved one before imprinting. In Sam's case, he felt horrible breaking Leah's heart after imprinting on her cousin, Emily. The wolf has to be very careful around their imprintee if they're angry - especially if they're standing too close to the imprintee and phases—a wolf could kill or scar their soulmate for life.
In Sam's perspective, when he first saw Emily after his first phasing, he instantly felt compelled to go to her side and touch her hand, and every step he took away from her was physically painful but getting back to her was a physical relief on him. This would explain the wolf's constant need to be around their imprintee as much as possible.
If the imprintee is too young to date, the imprinter would wait, since he does not 'see' any other girl or woman.
Emily wanted Sam to work out his problems with Leah, but Sam refused. Emily then told Sam he was just like his father by refusing to take responsibility for the decisions he made. Sam hated his father for abandoning him, and he was standing too close to Emily when he phased into his wolf form, and he slashed the right side of her face and arm. Sam was so distraught and guilt-ridden that when he visited her in the hospital, he told her to tell him to kill himself.
In addition to imprinting, the wolf's sense of duty toward the pack and the tribe is probably the only other important element in their life, leading to some hardships, among which have to balance their duty toward pack and tribe against time spent with their imprintee, and their aging on two different tempos due to the phasing while the imprintee does not. Though based on what my dad stated on imprinting, that all other commitments in their life—even their pack—become secondary, it's obvious that if the imprintee wants their imprinter to leave the pack so they can live on peacefully together they would without any hesitation.
If something horribly drastic were to happen so that the imprintee sacrifices themself for their family and tribe, then the same consequences of the Third Wife's sacrifice are bound to occur, bringing much pain to all involved.
Apparently, even after the wolf has stopped phasing and lived a so-called "normal" life with their soulmate, they could still phase back into a wolf if given enough incentive—especially if their soulmate is harmed or killed."
"I see. What are the pack laws?"
"If a wolf's soulmate is killed, the wolf will never forgive or forget whoever's responsible for their death. In the case of the killer being another pack member, purposefully or by accident, the inevitable result is a fight to the death. To avoid this, the La Push wolves, which is the pack I'm part of, established their most strictly followed law, by which no wolf may harm or kill a fellow wolf's imprinted one, no exceptions.
It is currently unknown whether or not a wolf can imprint on anyone else if their soulmate is killed."
"Oh, is that the only law?"
"The only law we can't break under any circumstances,"
"Oh. Okay,"
"Anyway, we should prepare more for the battle!" Jacob quickly said.
"Wait, but what about Jasper? I need to tell him!" I exclaimed.
"After the battle, we need him thinking rationally for the battle,"
"Good point. Let's prepare some more,"