I just want to apologize for the long absence.

We left Seth and Amaya at home, awake in the early hours of the day after a nightmare wakes Amaya.

Seth spent the rest of the weekend at Anne's side. They lazed around the house together and walked in the woods together. Sometimes she spoke in rambling sentences that gave little away but made Seth worry nonetheless at what she had left out.

It was the best weekend of his life.

When Monday came he sighed.

She hadn't slept much this weekend, which meant Seth hadn't either. Every time she had a nightmare he woke like there was a vampire in the room, skin tingling and heart racing. He woke her up gently, with a lick to the ear and a nudge of his nose.

She seemed unaffected by the interruption. She started her days before the sun came up and the day didn't end until well after midnight.

Seth was exhausted. It was uncannily like being back in high school, trying to balance school work and pack patrol. And preparing for Bella's always-impending doom.

Briefly he wondered if he would be able to keep up with the pace. As Anne got ready for work he watched her. The lack of sleep didn't seem to phase her at all. She had a smile on her face as she chose her clothes for the day and took them into the bathroom to change. After their first night together she had refused to change in front of him.

Part of Seth, the part that was all man, was disappointed that she was so modest. The part of Seth that knew he couldn't possibly watch her undress and change in front of him without having a guilty conscience was grateful that the temptation had been removed. The more time he spent with her the more desperately he wanted her.

Seth had been surrounded by loving relationships all his life. He had seen what it could be like for a wolf and his imprint, and he wanted that with Anne. He wanted to hold her in his arms at night and wake to pull her tight against him. He wanted to dance her around the living room and make her smile and laugh. He wanted to cook with her and build a life with her. He wanted to plan a future with her and have children with her. All of the possibilities were constantly running through his head until all he wanted was to get down on one knee and propose. But Anne wasn't ready for that. She wasn't sharing a bed with Seth, but with Bear. She didn't trust Seth, only Bear. She didn't talk to him at all, not about the important things: the things that had her screaming and waking in the night.

But Seth was enjoying getting to know her even though it was slow going.

Now he knew that books were her passion and that she was a wonderful cook when it came to breakfast food, but she tended to forget that things need to be stirred. It never looked like a masterpiece but it tasted wonderful. But she just shrugged her shoulders and went on. She didn't like to sit still; it made her anxious when everything was still unless she had a book in her hands. She was adorable when she rambled and as she danced about the kitchen.

Seth loved everything about her though his mother and his pack could have told him that he had once hated the idea of breakfast for dinner and that he had never sat still to read a book in his life. Getting to be with her, seeing her happy, changed everything. He would do and be anything that she needed. The small part of him that was disappointed that she had rejected him was content that she had accepted his wolf so thoroughly.

Amaya dressed in the comfort of her tiny bathroom.

She wasn't entirely sure why she'd felt the need to lock herself in the bathroom to change when the only other creature in the place was Bear. But here she was, hiding from her dog so she could change.

She shook her head, disgusted with herself. But, even as she chastised, she recognized that there was something altogether too-human about Bear. Those eyes seemed to see straight through her and there was no doubt that he understood what she said. He followed her movements and her words without hesitation, just like a human he reacted to her words more than her gestures.

That isn't to say that he hadn't been perfectly polite about the whole thing. That first night he had turned his face away as she changed and refused to watch. Maybe that's why she felt the need to change away from him. If he was polite enough to look away, she should be polite enough to be modest and hide in the bathroom. So she did.

Satisfied with her explanation of things she finished getting ready for work and headed back into her tiny cottage. Bear was waiting just outside the bathroom door.

His ears perked up and he lifted his head to give a dog-grin at her when she came through the door. Amaya couldn't help but smile back.

"I never knew a single creature could bring me such comfort." she told him as she scratched his ears and under his chin. Then she stood and headed for the front door, grabbing her keys and purse off the counter as she went. She worried briefly of what Bear might do left alone in the house all day. But he had been perfectly behaved from the first. She would give him the benefit of the doubt today and see how things went.

He had followed her to the door and now he whined sadly, wanting to go with her or for her not to go.

"I'm sorry Bear, I have to go to work. Behave yourself and I'll bring you a treat when I get back tonight."

He whined again but he sat and let her go out the door without a fight. He really was the best behaved animal she had ever met.

Seth didn't like her leaving without him. After an entire weekend alone with her it was just depressing to see her walk away from him.

He waited until he heard her car disappear onto the main road before he shed his wolf skin.

He briefly wondered if it was wrong for him to snoop. Probably. But he didn't have to be at work until 4 and there was no reason for him to leave just yet. Besides, he didn't have any clothes here. He would have to walk naked to his mother's house and probably give Charlie a good fright. He would wait until Charlie was gone before he went in search of clothes.

He went through the small cottage and looked at the pieces of Anne's life.

There wasn't much. She had enough clothes but not an excess. She had dishes and toiletries. Her bedding was plain, something she might have found at any super center.

The books beside her bed and the couch were those she had purchased on her trip to Seattle. They were all brand new and did not show any wear.

Seth was a little confused. He went through the house again looking for what he'd missed the first time and while he'd been distracted by the presence of his imprint.

There were no pictures anywhere. There were no notes, no souvenirs. The house was completely empty of anything personal.

Who was this girl? No one would find out by going through her house, that was for sure. She was just one big mystery and Seth worried that he knew why.

He had seen her flinch when his human body got too close to her. He'd woken her from nightmares all weekend long. She had anticipated violence when she'd forgotten her key that first night they met.

His imprint had definitely been abused in her past. There was no doubt of that. But what horrors had she seen that made her pick up and move without taking the things that were significant in her life? Seth wasn't exactly sentimental but even he had things in his house that reminded him of happy times, or sad ones. He wouldn't have left any of them behind if he moved. He couldn't imagine needing to leave them behind and he certainly wouldn't do it willingly. So what happened to Anne that she uprooted herself so easily, carrying nothing with her that might remind her or tell someone else her story?

Seth puzzled over it a bit before he went to the bathroom and took a hot shower. That bothered him too: the water-heater wasn't big enough to heat enough water for two showers back-to-back.

He used her shampoo and breathed deep as her scent surrounded him.

He stayed in the shower well past when the water went cold. He didn't enjoy cold water but his wolf's natural body temperature was much higher than a human's and it didn't bother him as much as it would someone running an average human temp.

When he was able to stop thinking about what he'd learned about his imprint he stepped out of the shower and dried off. The towel smelled like her.

He got ready for the day, as much as he could without clothes that would fit him. As he went to the door he saw the coat he'd wrapped around Anne that night in the woods. He tied it around his waist and loped over to Charlie and his mom's house. The back door was unlocked and Sue was in the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything as he went to the laundry room and found the clothes she kept there for him.

When he came back out she said, "I hope Charlie won't have to arrest you for public indecency." He kissed his mother's cheek and took the plate she had made for him. "Everyone's left for work already. Thanks for the food." She nodded as if it was still her job to make sure he was fed though he was a grown man.

"What will you do until your shift tonight?" Seth grimaced at the thought of working while Anne was home alone. "I need to stop by my place and make sure everything's okay there. I also need to pick up the cruiser so I have something to drive tonight." (Jake had come and picked it up from his mother's house and driven it back to his place so that Anne wouldn't be suspicious if she saw it on the street outside.)

His mother finally asked what she'd been dying to know. With a small grin at the corner of her mouth she said, "Did you have fun this weekend?"

Seth couldn't help the smile on his own face and beamed as he said: "I was right. She isn't scared of the wolf at all. She named me 'Bear' and she shared her food with me. She's a pretty great cook." "Better than me?" Sue was teasing him but he knew the right answer: "No one's as good as you. But Anne is wonderful! She read all day yesterday between our walks and she lets me sleep in the bed."

Sue couldn't help the grimace that crossed her face. She had a long-standing rule of no animals in the house and certainly no animals on the furniture. The thought of all that dog hair in the sheets made her cringe.

"Did you have any problems staying in that shape for so long?" "Nope. My wolf practically starts singing when she's around. I'm fairly certain I would have trouble changing back to human though. My mind gets all muddled around her." Sue chuckled, "Young love can be that way." "Mom...I really don't know how I've lived without her this long. The thought of going home to a house without her is devastating. I've got to talk to Charlie and see if we can work something out and get us on the same shift. I don't like her being here by herself."

"Seth. You can't control her life. You can't be there every second of every day. She's a grown woman and she won't take kindly to being manipulated like that when you tell her the truth of it all." Sue was unwavering even when Seth gave her the puppy eyes. "How can I just go to work like nothing's wrong when she's here by herself, probably taking a walk in the woods, just asking for trouble?" Sue looked at her son for a moment, weighing the options against her son's distress. "I'll invite her to dinner tonight and try to keep an eye on her. But I'm not promising anything more."

Seth wrapped his mother in a warm hug and kissed her cheek. "You are the best mother a wolf could ask for." She shooed him away and turned to do the dishes as he headed out the back door to transform and run back to the reservation and his house.

Amaya had the morning to herself. Seth wasn't due to come in until that evening and the others never bothered her. Only Seth Clearwater had failed to see that she didn't want to get involved with the people here.

Sure, Sue and Charlie had been good to her. Sue never let her skip a meal or eat alone if she could help it. But they didn't pry, didn't ask questions she wouldn't answer honestly. They respected her privacy and left her alone even if Sue wouldn't let her be alone.

But Seth. Seth smiled at her when she entered the room. He watched her when she wasn't looking at him. He put himself in her path whenever possible and he wasn't satisfied to let her keep to herself. He was practically begging to ask the questions she wouldn't answer. And then he had actually asked her out! She had done nothing but shut him down from the very beginning and he still asked her to go out with him. Was he a glutton for punishment? Was he insane?

Even if he had been a perfectly ordinary man she wouldn't have been willing to get involved with him. But she had spent enough time with Seth Clearwater to know that he wasn't ordinary in the slightest.

She had never reacted to any man, not even Him, like she reacted to Seth. Her heart raced and her blood ran warm in her veins, like fire. She was conscious of every move he made and she watched him just as often as he watched her.

If she had been a different person, if they had met before her life was turned upside down and reduced to a race with a deadly end, then perhaps she would have said yes when he asked her on a date. She might have fallen into his arms and just let him be the protector he so clearly was. But the girl that might have let him in no longer existed.

She had been through too much. She had seen too much, suffered too much. She wasn't the trusting girl that had fallen for Him or that could afford to let her guard down and get to know someone new. That girl hadn't survived. Who Amaya was now is the person that was born when her innocence died.

UGH!

Amaya shook herself out of her thoughts. Even when Seth wasn't around he was in her head and that just wouldn't do.

She couldn't afford to get involved - couldn't risk getting attached and someone getting hurt. Besides, Seth was too intense. The way he looked at her was about more than getting laid or a crush. He looked at her like she was air: necessary for his survival. And Amaya couldn't take that.

She got up to stretch and walk around the small police station, using the movement to try and distract herself from the man. It didn't work. Ever since he had entered her life, refusing to take a hint and smiling like an idiot, he had been in her thoughts. Asking her out on Saturday just made it harder to ignore him. Before, she was able to be cool and aloof but now she held the constant fear that he would get angry, tired of waiting, and do something about it.

Seth watched his imprint from the station doorway. She was pacing, obviously frustrated about something, and she was completely adorable.

He was early for his shift. He just couldn't help himself. After spending all day and night with her, the separation was killing him.

He tried to remind himself that she wasn't interested. She had turned him down flat and then ran away from him! She was afraid of something, though he couldn't imagine she was actually afraid of him. Not if she wasn't afraid of his wolf. It just wasn't possible for someone to be as comfortable with a giant wolf as she was and still be afraid of a man who had shown an interest. And why should she be afraid of someone liking her, being attracted to her and wanting to get to know her?

Seth, not for the first time, cursed whoever had hurt her in the past. Part of him prayed the man would come to town so he could rip him to shreds. The pack wouldn't consider something like that as breaking the law, not if he had hurt his imprint.

Charlie wouldn't be happy though.

Seth watched Anne pace some more before she turned and glared at the desk where he sat to do paperwork. She went over and kicked the leg of the desk. Then she jumped up and down cursing as she held the foot she had injured barely a week ago.

Seth was worried about her but he couldn't help the smile on his face as she went through her very colorful vocabulary. Maybe she wasn't as indifferent to him as he'd thought. Maybe she was attracted to him. Though, why that would make her angry eluded him.

By the time he had schooled his features enough to enter the station she was sitting quietly at her desk.

Seth was early.

Amaya didn't look at him as he came up to her desk. In fact, she tried her best to pretend he didn't exist, though the throbbing in her foot was awfully hard to ignore. And when Seth Clearwater stopped in front of her desk and refused to move she sighed and gave up the pretense.

She looked up, and up into those amber eyes and that heart-stopping smile.

"Can I help you, Officer Clearwater?"

The smile slipped by a fragment before he leaned forward and placed a cup of coffee in front of her.

"I thought you might like something warm to drink. It's getting cold out there." Amaya took the cup and put it back in front of him. "No thank you."

How many times would she have to reject him before he took the hint? She had been almost cordial before, maybe that had been her mistake. She wasn't taking any chances now that he had so foolishly asked her out.

If it didn't pertain to work the answer was NO.

Anne handed back the coffee he had gotten for her: milk no sugar, warm not hot. Just like she liked it.

She wasn't looking at him so she didn't see the disappointment in his eyes.

"Anne, I just wanted to apologize for what I said Saturday. I made you uncomfortable, asking you out so soon. I didn't mean to."

Amaya glared. Her silver gaze was ice cold and Seth took a step back at the ferocious outrage there.

"Officer Clearwater, I have a lot of work to do." He took a deep breath before he spoke again, "Please forgive me. I promise I won't do it again. I want us to be friends." he gave a small smile filled with hope.

What would it take for him to see that she was unattainable?

"What happened Saturday was unacceptable. We work together and you were entirely inappropriate. If you continue in this manner I will file a report with Chief Swan. If you have nothing work-related to discuss with me then I suggest you let me get back to work."

Seth was startled and a little bit annoyed by the threat. His hackles raised.

"You'll report me? For what? Dating isn't a crime and if you think Charlie is going to take an accusation from you seriously you should probably try and remember that I grew up with Charlie. Whose side do you think he'll take?"

She was ice. Instantly she turned from aloof and superior to a glacier. Her silver eyes narrowed and Seth swore he felt that cold seep straight into his bones.

He had clearly made the biggest mistake of his life.

Seth Clearwater had just threatened her.

There was a time when Amaya would have cowed away from such a threat. She had seen it happen too many times not to know that what he said was probably true. Too often reports of harassment were ignored because the boss was close with the jackass who wouldn't take no for an answer.

And Charlie was Seth's step-father. Of course he would believe Seth over her. Seth had every right to feel confident that he wouldn't get in trouble if she followed through with the incident report.

He could have been happy knowing that his side of the story would be heard and he might get a slap on the wrist as punishment. He could have left it at that.

But, like other men she had known, like Him, his pride had been hurt and he felt the need to assert his power over her.

Once Amaya would have apologized. She would have placated. The old her would have been terrified and would have done anything to make that anger disappear.

Now her anger rose to match and overcome Seth's mild irritation that her report would have been to his life. She was tired of being threatened. Tired of men trying to scare her into submission. She couldn't ever get free of Him, of what He'd done to her. Amaya was not about to let this little pup run her over too. No way.

Anne stood from her desk but didn't step away. Her eyes were narrow daggers aimed straight for Seth.

Seth held up his hands and took a step back, swallowing down the lump of fear in his throat as he realized his mistake.

"I didn't mean that." "Of course you did. And you're probably right. Charlie has known you all of your life. He's known me a week. I know that he will trust you at your word and you will both laugh at how brashly I've reacted to a little attention. And if I were someone else I would take the warning for what it was: a warning that if I don't come after you, you won't get me fired. But I'm not someone else. Keep pushing your luck with me, Officer Clearwater, and I promise you that Charlie will not be able to ignore my side of the story. I'm sure you're quite accustomed to having things your way in this town. You're strong and handsome, charming and an officer of the law. I bet women bend over backwards to give you what you want. I'm not them. You can't push me around and you don't scare me. So Back Off."

She glared at him for a little while longer before asking, "Are we going to have a problem, or can I get back to work?"

Seth wasn't entirely sure what to say. He hadn't intended to threaten her, just point out how ludicrous an idea it was to file a report against him for being attracted to her. But Anne had clearly been through some stuff and she had decided that she was tired of being afraid.

Some small part of him was proud of her for standing up to him. The other part of him was kicking himself in the ass for pissing her off. Again.

She was waiting for his answer.

"I apologize for my inappropriate and unwarranted behavior. I understand now that the attraction was entirely one-sided. I won't pursue that line of inquiry again. I won't cause any more trouble."

The tight fist that had clenched around Amaya's heart and made it difficult to breathe eased up somewhat as Seth promised to behave.

No matter what she had said, she'd been afraid. She was afraid that she had pushed things too far and he would lash out. He could have gotten her fired immediately for such a speech as that.

He could have hit her.

She had been prepared for him to strike her down and prove how strong and powerful he was. That's what He would have done, had done. But he just seemed resigned and a little bit...sad.

Amaya sat down and ignored him as he walked to his desk and began the night's paperwork before his shift started.