Thank you for the reviews and likes, more explaining in this chapter and the next one will be up shortly! We will start to see Kim and Jared's relationship change quicker after this.

KPOV

The entire weekend had felt like an out of body experience. Seeing Jared in his wolf form had left me utterly reeling, my mind could not compute what it had seen, I think I was still in a state of shock. It was as if a rug had pulled from under my feet, everything I thought I knew; was wrong, monsters and mythical creatures existed, and I lived in a town full of them.

As if that hadn't been enough to comprehend, Jared had told me about imprinting. Just the word itself made me feel uncomfortable, I still didn't fully understand it. I'd been so shell-shocked I had hardly asked a single question.

The way he had described it made it sound like something amazing, that he had been drawn to me, that seeing me had been life changing. I didn't understand it though, what did it mean? Was I meant to do something for him, to help him be a wolf? Was it just that I would know his secret? I thought of Sam and Emily and Paul and Rachel, two couples that seemed attached at the hip, and my heart constricted.

It made more sense now, why Rachel had moved in with Paul so suddenly, why Emily and Sam were getting married so quickly. But wasn't that the exact kind of life I had wanted to avoid for so long? When I thought about them though, they didn't seem trapped or like they'd given anything up, but it still felt so final, like there was no choice involved.

I shuddered when I thought about Quil and the little girl I'd met, Claire. I had felt sick initially when Jared explained what had happened, but then it helped calm me at the same time. Hadn't I assumed Quil was her older brother at the bonfire? That was exactly how Jared had described the imprinting; that the wolf would be whatever the human required.

Did that mean I required something? Did the spirits know something that I needed, that I hadn't worked out yet?

I shook my head at myself even thinking about the spirits, this whole thing was just mad.

Jared had walked me home when I'd said I needed space to think, and we had barely spoken, he hadn't pushed me to talk any further and I had been grateful. As I'd entered my house, he had whispered, 'See you at school,' and I'd almost laughed out loud. The idea of seeing him in a classroom hadn't even crossed my mind yet, what would I say? How could I ever be normal again?

I had spent the rest of the evening on the sofa, watching mindless TV shows, trying to pluck up the courage to call Tokala. I really needed to see him, aside from this complete mind fuck of a weekend, I needed to assess what I was going to say. I knew deep down that our relationship was already over, my whole life seemed to make no sense now.

It wasn't just the fact that I'd found out about Jared, or that we'd apparently formed some deep and mystical connection, but I just knew my mind had switched off. I think I had been distancing myself from T for a couple of months, and all this just tipped the scales.

I had to at least be civil to Jared now, which would drive T up the wall, I needed to talk to him, to explain that I was friends with these guys now.

I knew the fallout from that kind of conversation would ripple through the rest of our little group too, I could say goodbye to having Dakota and Meda as friends any longer. I realised I didn't care that much at all about that fact, but it would put Bly in a difficult position.

This was a fucking disaster of epic proportions. How had my life changed so much in such a short space of time?

I'd slept fitfully and poorly, waking on Monday morning feeling groggy and with a pounding headache. I had contemplated calling in sick, but I knew that I was just avoiding the inevitable and prolonging the mayhem that was coming.

I had managed to shower, and blow dry my hair when I heard my mom going downstairs. I'd hardly seen her this week at all. It was crazy that my whole world had been tipped upside down and I felt like I was living someone else's life, and hers just kept on turning as normal. I knew I couldn't tell her, but it was sad that she hadn't noticed, hadn't picked up on anything.

I pulled on some dark blue jeans and a white long-sleeved top. I left my hair down for once and headed to the kitchen.

She smiled as I walked in, 'Morning Kim, sorry I was back so late last night, did you have a nice weekend?'

I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times and then shrugged, 'It was fine,' I managed to choke out.

She studied me for a second then nodded, 'We should try and do something together soon, I feel like we haven't hung out in a while.'

Try for about three years.

'Sure, that would be nice.' I replied, trying to keep my tone light.

She smiled again then grabbed her bag and headed out the door. I sighed; it was almost like living alone. It was as if the moment her relationship with my dad ended, she'd given up on being a mother too. I never really felt lonely as such, but right now I felt tears forming in the back of my eyes.

She had no idea what was happening in my life, and probably never would.

I pulled myself together and grabbed my bag, heading out the door to my car. By the time I was pulling into the parking lot, I had a ball of nerves in my stomach and I felt sick. I didn't know what to say to T, to Bly, I had no idea what to say to Jared or any of the other guys, I just wanted to hide in my car and not face anyone.

I took a deep steadying breath and jumped out, making my way towards the school. Tokala wasn't waiting for me this morning and I felt slight relief, I was more used to him not being there now and at least it would give me a few minutes to get my head together.

I pushed through the doors and made my way down the hall to my locker. Stood, leaning against the wall directly opposite it, was Embry. I swallowed hard and made my way towards him. He was almost as tall as Jared, and even more built if possible. He was grinning at me as I approached, ignoring the looks we were getting from other students.

'Morning Kimberley!'

I shot him a look as I opened my locker, 'What the hell are you doing Embry?'

He laughed and waited as I got my books together. 'We have History together, with Quil and Jake. You're about to be in a room with all three of us, and I was just checking you were okay?'

I looked at him for a second, 'What, you think I'm going to go running around the classroom screaming about what you guys can do? You think I'm going to lose it?'

He shrugged and stood from the wall as I shut my locker, 'You're handling this different to the other girls. You've hardly asked any questions. I'm just checking.'

I rolled my eyes and walked next to him, not caring about what others thought now. Hell, the whole school probably thinks I'm dating the entire reservation at this rate, may as well fuel the gossip.

'So, are you okay?' he questioned as we moved through the corridor.

I nodded slowly, 'I think so. I think I'm still in shock honestly. I'm not scared…I'm just…it's a lot.'

He smiled down at me, 'I know, I'm glad you're not scared of us though, we'd never hurt anyone.' He chuckled lowly, 'And Jared would literally kill us if we let anything happen to you.'

I blushed and looked at the ground, 'So that's what this really is, a protection detail?'

Embry laughed again as we approached the classroom, 'Something like that.'

He opened the door for me, and we walked in. Bly was sat in her usual spot and did a double take when she saw me walk in, followed by Embry. Quil and Jake were there already too and they both grinned at me as I walked past them to my seat. By the time I sat down, I was sure the whole class was staring at me.

Bly said nothing for a second then turned in her chair to face me, Embry on my other side.

'Okay, what is going on?'

I looked up at her and tried to smile, 'What are you talking about?'

She narrowed her eyes at me and nodded her head towards Embry, who was just leaning back in his chair watching us with amusement. 'A week ago, you were convinced they were trying to pull you into a cult, and now you're being walked to class by him?'

I heard Embry laugh behind me as I closed my eyes for a second.

'Yeah, I know. I kind of hung out with some of the guys this weekend, kind of by accident, and met some of the Elders and yeah…they're not in a cult…' I trailed off, not knowing what to say. I could see Jake and Quil trying to suppress their laughter at the front of the class and blushed.

Bly looked at me like I'd lost my mind, which I think I have.

'Right,' she dragged the word out, shooting me another stern look. 'Is Tokala aware of your new friends?'

I blushed further and shook my head. 'I need to see him and explain.'

She turned away from me as the teacher walked in and didn't talk to me for the rest of the lesson. When the bell went, she got up quickly and left, not even looking behind her. Great.

I swallowed back the nerves and packed my own things up, the three guys behind me as I left the room. I whirled round to look at them and took a deep breath.

'Look, I understand that you think you need to keep an eye on me, but please, this is making it worse. I need to talk to my friends, to my boyfriend.' I looked at the floor and back up at them, 'Just tell Jared I'm fine, I promise you all that I'll talk to him soon. I just need to figure some stuff out first.'

I didn't give them a chance to reply before I took off in the direction of my next class. I thankfully had no more lessons with any of the wolves and I made sure to head to the library at lunch to avoid any confrontation.

I texted Tokala towards the end of the day, I'd not caught a glimpse of him at all today.

'Can we meet after school; I think we need to talk.' My hands shook as I typed it out, I felt sick.

He replied a few minutes later, 'It's Monday, I have to work at the shop.'

I swallowed and tried not to respond in a cutting way.

'This is important.'

He didn't reply for a while, and I thought he wasn't going to, then just before the last bell rang, he finally did.

'Okay, I'll come to yours after work.'

I let the air out of my cheeks and sighed, this day was going worse than I had expected.

I managed to get out of school without seeing any one of the several people I was trying hard to avoid and almost cried with relief once I got home.

This was exhausting. I was avoiding my friends because I knew that they knew something seriously weird was going on with me. I was avoiding Tokala because I knew the conversation we were going to have, was going to be awful. I was avoiding Jared like the plague, because I had zero idea how I would even look at him right now, and I was avoiding his friends because they were treating me like I was immediately in their group, and that was the scariest thing of all.

I had been at home for a couple of hours, pacing my room and trying to figure out what I wanted to say from T, when I heard knocking on my front door. I looked at my phone, he was almost an hour early, but I was glad he was finally here so we could talk.

I threw open the door and took a step back in surprise.

Jared was stood leaning on the post by my front steps. His dark eyes seemed to light up when he saw me, his hands were shoved in his pockets as usual. Once again, my breath stopped in my throat, I was so surprised to see him that the thoughts of feeling scared or awkward completely left my mind.

'Hey,' he breathed, looking me up and down quickly.

I calmed myself down and managed to reply, 'What are you doing here?'

He looked at the ground for a second then back up at me, his eyes pulling me towards him, 'I wanted to see how you were, after the weekend.'

I let out a breath and nodded, 'I'm okay. I'm just trying to get my head around everything.'

His eyes continued to pierce mine as we stood there staring at each other. I wasn't ready to invite him in, but the tugging in my stomach gave me away to how much I wanted to see him.

I stepped towards him and sat down on the top step, right by where he was standing.

He hesitated for a second before lowering himself down next to me. He was so big he took up most of the space, our arms and legs were almost touching. Heat engulfed me instantly and I swallowed heavily.

'Is the heat part of the whole wolf thing?' I asked quietly.

He chuckled softly, 'Yeah, we run at around 108 degrees, I don't feel the cold at all.' He looked down at me and I kept my eyes to the ground. 'Would it help if I told you everything we can do?'

I nodded; I didn't seem capable of asking questions in his presence. All my anger and my worries from the day I'd had seemed to melt away.

He took a breath and leant forward, resting his elbows on his legs.

'So, on top of the ridiculous body temperature, all our senses are massively heightened. We can hear, see, smell much further than normal, for miles in wolf form. We're faster and stronger than normal, we have insane appetites.'

I laughed slightly at that; it explained a lot.

Jared smiled at me, tilting his head to the side so he could look at me properly. 'We can hear each other's thoughts as wolves.'

I snapped my head up when he said that, my eyes widening. 'Seriously?'

He nodded, 'Yeah, it's cool for the most part, but there's times when I really wish we couldn't. It's hard to get privacy.' He grimaced and I laughed at the look on his face, I could only imagine the thoughts of some of the guys.

His eyes sparkled as he watched me, I couldn't help but relax with him, it was like my walls fell instantly the second he was next to me. Was that because of the imprinting?

My laughter died in my throat and Jared raised an eyebrow, keeping his eyes on me the entire time.

'It's the imprint thing that's getting to you the most isn't it?'

I blushed and nodded, breaking my gaze.

He sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair, 'I'm really sorry Kim,' he started, 'I know it's a crazy concept but please believe me, I don't expect anything from you.'

I shook my head slightly and forced myself to look at him again, 'But that's just it. I don't understand it, what do you think I think you expect?'

He looked nervous for a second, his gaze breaking from my eyes to his hands, and back to my eyes again.

'Imprinting is meant to show us our soul mate, the person who is completely right for us, who we're made for.'

My heart started to pound against my chest as he spoke.

'It can be in whatever form you need. For Emily and Rachel, they wanted a romantic relationship, for Claire, she obviously has no idea what is going on, but she doesn't have much family, Quil is her brother, her father figure. Her mom is Emily's older sister, she has 5 kids and Claire is the youngest. She isn't with Claire's dad, she works full time, Claire often gets side-lined. Quil looks after her, makes her happy, makes her feel loved and protected. He fills all the roles she needs filling.'

I was silent for a second as I processed this, it made sense in a way.

'Are you meant to fill the role of my dad then, as I don't talk to him?'

Jared burst out laughing and I couldn't help but smile, it was infectious.

'I seriously hope not Kim.' He turned fully to face me, 'But I'm here for whatever you need.'

I blushed profusely, silent for a while before I managed to whisper, 'But…why me?'

His eyes softened as he moved closer to me. Electricity seemed to crackle in the air between us as I fought the urge to scoot into his lap and bury my face in his neck. The pull in my chest was difficult to ignore, the air seemed to thicken and grow heavy.

He reached out his hand and slowly ran his thumb over my cheek and down my jaw. This tiny gesture felt so intimate, so personal, that I struggled to take a breath. My heart was pounding against my chest, all the fibres in my body on fire.

Jared lips tugged into a small smile, 'I can hear your heart beating you know.'

I blushed further, 'You can?'

He nodded slowly, moving closer still, his hand still resting against my face. 'It's one of my favourite sounds.'

I closed my eyes for a second, leaning slightly into his touch. Warmth was spreading through my entire body, my skin tingling.

'Why me?' I kept my eyes closed as I asked him again.

He waited until I opened them before he answered. 'Because you're perfect for me.'

He was looking at me with such intensity that my hands started to shake. I clenched them into fists, digging my nails into my palms to keep them still.

'Jared,' my voice was trembling, catching in my throat. I couldn't think, couldn't breathe, when I was this close to him. My mind was spinning, my body aching for him. I was trying to have rational thoughts, everything was happening so quickly, too quickly, it was too much at once.

He seemed to sense my inner turmoil as he moved away from me, dropping his hand from my face.

He smiled crookedly at me as he stretched his legs out down the steps.

'I think, right now, you need me to be your friend.'

I nodded slightly, able to think clearer now he wasn't so close. 'I think I can do friends.'

After a minute of silence I peered up at him, 'What do you need?'

He paused, eyes running over my face, 'Honestly? I need to be around you.'

My heart started beating faster again and he chuckled, 'But I can do friends. Friends is good.'

I let out the breath I hadn't realised I was holding and smiled. I opened my mouth to ask him about the other guys when he suddenly stiffened beside me. I turned my gaze to the car that was pulling up in front of us and my stomach sank.

Tokala stepped out and started to walk towards us. He stopped at the end of the path, by my gate and stared at us.

'Are you fucking kidding me?'

I winced; he rarely swore. He wasn't looking at me though, he was glaring directly at Jared.

Jared took his time standing up, stretching his arms above his head as he lurched slowly down the steps. He was revelling in Tokala's discomfort.

'Chill man,' he snapped, 'I was just leaving.'

Tokala started to walk towards him, eyes blazing he turned to me. 'What's going on with you? What the hell is he doing at your house?'

Jared tensed in front of me as I hurriedly stood up, 'Nothing T, just calm down.'

He looked from me to Jared a couple of times before shaking his head. 'This is ridiculous,' he began, 'I'm not going to stand here and be made to feel like an idiot. I'm leaving.'

'No! Wait, please.' I moved forward, we really needed to have this conversation. 'Jared's leaving T, we need to talk, please.'

He stopped and looked at me for a minute and my heart clenched. As immature as he'd been acting, none of this was fair on him. He didn't ask for this at all and he didn't deserve it. I narrowed my gaze at Jared, and he rolled his eyes.

'I'm going, I'm going.' He took a step down the path then suddenly stopped. He paused for a split second, then strode back to me. Before I even registered what was happening, he had reached his long arms around my back, and had pulled me against his chest. I froze. I could hear his heart beating under his T-shirt, his scent was overpowering me. His arms were holding me tight, yet so gently, I could honestly have stood there forever. Heat was washing over me, seeping into my skin, disabling all rational thoughts.

As quickly as he had done it, he released me. Smirking slightly, he sauntered past Tokala, who was stood staring at him in complete shock. My heart was beating so quickly I thought I might actually pass out for a second. I struggled to get my breath back as walked slowly away from us, down the road.

Minutes passed before either of us said anything.

I cleared my throat and brought my eyes to Tokala's face. 'Do you want to come inside?'

His eyes were hard, he shook his head.

I let out a breath, 'Okay.'

I took another breath to calm myself down before I began. 'T, I'm sorry. I'm really fucking sorry. I'm sorry we haven't spoken much, I'm sorry you think I've been acting so weirdly. I can't really explain it, just something's changed for me. I think it has for you too?'

He folded his arms and looked at me. 'No Kim, nothing's changed for me. Everything was fine until two weeks ago, when Jared started fucking following you around like a lovesick puppy. Stop lying to me, I don't deserve this!'

'Tokala, I swear to you, nothing has happened with Jared.'

He looked incredulous, 'Kim! You were literally sat staring into each other's eyes ten minutes ago, give me a break!'

I blushed, 'Yes, we were talking when you arrived. This is going to sound ridiculous I know, but I want to be friends with him T, that's it. I want to be friends with all of those guys, they're not what we think they are. They're good people.'

He started laughing harshly, 'What the fuck is going on? I feel like I'm in the twilight zone! You had nothing to do with these guys 3 weeks ago, yet now you're spending time with them and avoiding me, avoiding your real friends!'

I closed my eyes for a second, trying not to get worked up. It wasn't his fault, I'd be exactly the same in his situation, it was so hard trying to make him understand without being able to tell him anything.

'T, you've been avoiding me too. You just give me the silent treatment, you don't text back, you don't try to communicate. You literally never ask what I'm feeling. You could have spoken to me; you could have listened to me when I was trying to talk.'

He pursed his lips, 'I can't believe you think I never ask how you're feeling.'

'You don't!' I threw my hands in the air, getting exasperated, 'You shut down every conversation I start about what I want in the future, what I want after graduation. This goes back long before your hatred of Jared, T, you know that. You know what my life is like here, you know what it's like living here for me. You assume I'm just going to drop what I want and stay with you.'

He said nothing, his eyes softening slightly. I continued.

'You're amazing T, I think you're an incredible guy. But you want something different to me. You're settled here, you want easy and simple and that's not me.'

He looked at the ground and then back to my face. He said nothing for a while before he took a step closer to me, 'Kim, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I never took you seriously on that, I figured you'd just graduate and travel a little and then just come back.'

'And then what?' I pressed, trying to keep my voice even.

He shrugged, 'I don't know Kim! Then I thought we'd move in together and…be together. Is that so bad?'

I shook my head, 'But that's what I'm talking about. When have I ever said I wanted that, when have you ever even asked me? It's like you've come up with this whole plan in your head, just assuming I'd go along with it. Do you understand how patronising that sounds?' I was becoming angrier, I tried to breathe deeply, tried not to say anything hurtful.

He ran his hand down his face, looking fed up. 'Kim, you're making it sound like I don't care about what you want at all. I don't understand what's got into you, you're never normally like this!'

Now I really was angry. 'Like what Tokala? Opinionated? Disagreeing with you? Calling you out? This has been building for months, you supress my ideas, you make me think I'm crazy for wanting more than this. This isn't love T, you've settled with me because you've told yourself this will make you happy!'

'Stop shouting Kim,' he began, 'You've been different, completely different, since Jared started sniffing around. Stop pretending this has nothing to do with him!'

I let out a strangled scream, 'For fucks sake, you're still not listening to me! I've just told you that I've been feeling like this for a long time. You know full well that I've tried to have this conversation with you countless times but you just shut me down! This isn't about Jared, but in all honesty, Jared has asked me more about myself, and more about what I want, in the last few weeks than you have in three years!'

I stopped and ran my hands through my hair, T was silent, just staring at me like I had lost my mind.

'I don't even know who you are any more.' He spoke softly, sadly.

I sighed, letting my anger go, 'I'm still me Tokala, I've just found my voice.'

He shook his head, 'No, you're different. This version of you isn't right. He's got into your head.'

I supressed the urge to swear in frustration and focused on steadying my gaze instead. We were silent for a while before I finally looked at him.

'I can't do this any more T. I'm so sorry you feel like that, I'm sorry it's come to this, but we want different things.'

He looked sharply at me; his eyes narrowing.

'You don't mean that Kim, you wanted what I wanted only weeks ago.'

I shook my head, 'No I didn't T, and that's the worst part.'

He balled his hands up against his sides and swung around, heading towards his car. He took a few steps before he turned back to me, anger and hatred swirling in his eyes.

'Everything I did for you Kim, all the evenings I sat with you after your dad left, all the times you called me crying, how could you do this to me?'

I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach, 'T…,' I was so shocked at what he'd said I couldn't form words.

He laughed harshly, 'I'm such a fucking idiot,' he muttered to himself, 'I'm done.'

He flung his car door open and jumped in, slamming it behind himself. He sat there for a second before starting the engine and speeding off.

I stood rooted to the spot for a few minutes before turning and heading inside. I hadn't even noticed the tears leaking from my eyes but when I got to my bedroom, the floodgates opened. All the tears I'd been holding in came poring out. Anger, confusion, frustration, sadness. It felt like every emotion I had ever supressed was flowing out of me.

I was still sat crying on the floor over an hour later, when my mom got home. I heard her call for me a couple of times before she made her way upstairs. She looked shocked when she found me and sunk to the ground beside me.

'Kim? What the hell has happened?'

I just cried harder as she snaked an arm around my shoulders and pulled me against her chest.

'Shhhh,' she murmured softly, rubbing circles on my back. I felt like a little girl again and managed a smile through my tears, I pulled back and wiped my face with my sleeve.

'What's wrong?' she asked again. I honestly hadn't seen her look at me like this in years.

I swallowed and then hiccupped, trying to get my breath back.

'I broke up with Tokala and he hates me. Now Dakota and Meda and probably Bly will also hate me. Some guys at school have decided they want me to be their friend, and told me something huge, like incredibly huge, but I can't tell anyone and now I don't know what to do and I'm graduating in four weeks and I have no plans when all I want is a plan but all this has happened and everything is all wrong…' I trailed off as she looked at me, eyes wide as I spoke.

'Wow,' she began, 'That's a lot going on.'

I laughed slightly and nodded, 'Yeah.'

She moved in front of me and smoothed my hair back from my face.

'I'm sorry to hear about you and Tokala Kim, really, he's a lovely guy, but I don't think he was right for you. And if your friends are real friends, they'll understand that and move on. I have no idea what this secret is you're keeping for these guys, but I hope you'd tell me if you were in some kind of trouble?'

I nodded again, 'It's nothing bad mom, it's just different.'

She smiled and raised her eyebrows. 'Welcome to adulthood.'

I chuckled again and looked at her, 'Is it just downhill from here?'

She laughed softly, 'No. There's some amazing highs coming your way, don't you worry.'

We sat in silence for a while before she spoke again, 'I'm sorry I've not been around Kim. I've used work as a distraction and completely pushed you to one side. I thought you were fine, that everything was…fine. I had no idea all this was happening'

I looked at my lap, 'I think everyone thinks I'm fine, and I think I'm good at pretending that I am, but actually I've been feeling not fine for a while.'

She stayed silent so I continued, 'Tokala said something similar this evening, that I'm a different person. And I feel different all of a sudden. But I don't think it's a bad different?'

She sighed and reached out to squeeze my hand, 'Honey, you're growing up. Changing is part of that. You're going from a teenager to a woman and you're learning what you want as you go. There's nothing wrong or bad about that. It's natural.'

I nodded, feeling suddenly exhausted and drained.

She held my hand for a moment longer then patted it softly. 'Come on, let's order a pizza and eat it in our pyjamas like we used to when you were a kid.'

I smiled at her, 'That sounds perfect, actually.'

She stood and straightened herself out, 'Take a bath Kim, relax for a bit and sort your mind out. You've not done anything wrong.'

I stood up too and wiped my cheeks again. My mom was right, I knew that how I felt wasn't wrong or bad or out of character, it was just I'd been used to keeping my emotions in check for so long that this all felt so hard.

I stared at myself in the mirror for a second and then sighed. This was becoming one of the most emotional few days of my life but perhaps it was for the best. I hadn't had such an open and honest conversation with my mom in years, I felt closer to her than I had in a long time.

Come to think of it I'd had several of these conversations over the last few weeks with different people, and as emotional and draining as they were, it felt like I was starting to realise who I really was. And I quite liked it.

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