"There are many soulmates, but only one can understand the howling of your heart."

-L.L.

OoO

"Tragedy has struck the small town of Forks Washington as the search for missing eight-year-old Molly Anderson came to an abrupt end last night only hours after she was reported missing by family members. Her body was discovered on a remote hiking trail about a half-mile from where she was last seen getting off the school bus yesterday by local authorities. According to the County Sheriff's Office, her death appears to have been the result of an animal attack, one in a string of grisly attacks that have swept through the Olympic Peninsula. We turn now to our chief correspondent, Ken Richard's, who is on the scene. Ken, what can you tell us about these animal attacks?"

The scene on the television switched from the female reporter to a man in a black suit and a tan trench coat surrounded by police. He stood in front of the woods with an umbrella.

"Thanks, Gina," he said as everyone in the small diner stared up at the small television set that hung over the counter. Sue Clearwater, who had been in the middle of pouring Paul another cup of coffee paused before hastily grabbing the remote off the counter and turning the volume up as loud as it would go. "Right now, I am on the scene of where yet another grisly mauling has just taken place in the State of Washington, one of many strange animal attacks that have occurred throughout the area within the past few weeks leaving at least four dead and two in critical condition. Eyewitness accounts from the survivors on these maulings have stated that it appeared to be some sort of rabid wolf, which does seem to corroborate with the testimony of local farmers in Clallam County who claimed to have seen a large wolf-like creature attack their livestock, ripping out their throats and their hearts as well. Now, whether this wolf is the same one that is responsible for the human deaths, including that of Molly Anderson, remains unknown. Joining us after our scheduled break is Director Bob Seaworth of the Department of Fish and Wildlife here to explain to us the situation more in-depth as well as any plans on locating and hunting down this man-eating wolf before any more innocent lives, like that of Molly, are lost."

"Thank you, Ken. I can't imagine that the town of Forks will ever be the same after this tragic loss as the community grieves for one of their own today. Forks Elementary School will be holding a candlelight vigil in memoriam of Molly tomorrow night in which all are invited to attend. For more information on how to survive a wild animal attack, please visit our website at—"

Paul and the rest of them finally turned from the screen as Sue Clearwater shook her head in dismay. "How awful! I can't imagine the pain her poor family is going through! What sort of animal would do something like that?"

"They said it was a man-eating Wolf," muttered Embry under his breath as he dipped a fry into his ketchup. "I don't know about you guys, but I've never heard of a Wolf ever doing anything like that before now."

"Because they don't," replied Paul as he threw a wad of cash down on the table, enough to pay for his, Embry's, and Leah's food before he rose from his seat. "Come on, we need to find Sam and the others before a bunch of crazy nutjobs with guns start scouring the woods for a man-eating Wolf."

"Cause that's exactly what we need at the moment," muttered Leah as she pushed her salad away from her and rose from her seat, "a bunch of idiots with big guns and even bigger egos on our lands."

Leah bid her mother farewell before following Paul, Embry still seated as he desperately tried to finish off as much of his half-eaten burger as possible before he quickly downed it with the rest of his Pepsi and rose from his seat, following Paul and Leah out of the diner.

News of the man-eating Wolf had spread like wildfire, hence why the entire Wolf pack was converged in the woods behind Sam and Emily's house for an emergency pack meeting, all of them on edge about what this meant for both Forks and for La Push.

"How did we miss this?" asked Quil through the pack bond, his worry felt by everyone as he thought of Claire, who was the same age as the girl who had just died. "Our patrols should've picked something up!"

"Nevermind that," added Leah, "do you know what this will mean for us? Now everyone in the whole damned state is going to want to hunt this stupid Wolf down! The County Sheriff's Department and the Department of Wildlife are talking about deputizing a posse to hunt down all the Wolves in this region! That includes us!"

"They can't! Not on our lands!"

"Charlie won't let them!"

"What's a posse?"

"What do we do if they start hunting on the Reservation?"

"What if—"

"That's enough!" barked Sam, his voice loud enough to break through the chorus of worried and panicked thoughts of the pack. "I know you guys are worried, but we need to stay calm and keep focused. The Elders will not allow anyone to hunt on our lands. Period."

"What about patrols?" asked Paul. "We can't continue to patrol around Forks if they're going to have hunting parties looking for this thing."

"But we can't stop patrolling there," replied Seth before adding; "the people of Forks need us too, maybe now more than ever. A little girl is dead."

"Agreed," said Sam. "That's why we'll be increasing patrols both here and around Forks. Three of you will be permanently assigned to patrol around Forks while the rest of you patrol around here. We'll need to be careful and everyone will need to stay alert for humans in the area and avoid them at all costs."

"But what about the Wolf?" asked Embry as he stepped forward. "Shouldn't we try to hunt it down ourselves before anyone else gets killed?"

A chorus of agreement surged throughout the entire pack as Paul made his own opinion on the matter clear; "our duty is to the Reservation first and foremost. If this thing wanders onto our land and kills someone here, then that's on us."

"So what are you suggesting?" asked Sam as Paul stepped forward.

"We hunt it down and kill it," he said, snarling. "I volunteer to track it down before any more lives are lost."

"I volunteer as well," said Quil as he came to stand next to Paul, his thoughts on protecting his imprint. "I'll go with Paul."

"I didn't ask for your help," sneered Paul as Quil rolled his eyes. "I can handle it on my own."

"Just accept my help and shut up Paul," replied Quil as Jared stepped forward.

"I'm the best tracker of all of us," said Jared, his thoughts also on his own imprint. "I'll go with Paul and Quil and see if I can pick its scent up."

Paul was about to protest when Sam nodded in agreement, clearly pleased with the abilities of the volunteer group. "Go to Forks, but be careful. The woods are full of Rangers and hunters. Make sure no one sees you. Stay in range of the pack mind and report everything you see. Is that clear?"

All three of them bobbed their heads in agreement before darting into the woods, running as fast as their legs could carry them to Forks. They ran until they reached the area where Molly's body was found, the scene itself still blocked off by the authorities as CSI's, Police, Wildlife Rangers, and Reporters were still working the scene. Paul watched quietly from the shadows as they did their job, yellow tape sectioning off the area where the girl's body was found, the smell of which still lingered in the air like a bad stench. Even though the body was long gone, loaded into a car and taken to the Morgue, he could still smell death in the air and it was beyond disconcerting.

While he watched, Quil and Jared ran around the perimeter, getting as close as they could while also taking care not to be noticed as they tried to lock onto the scent as much they could. The rain had washed a lot of it away, making it harder for them to pick it up.

After about twenty minutes, they left to search the woods around Forks, the sun beginning to dip low on the horizon as they ran. When they finally did catch a scent, it was faint, diminished both by the passage of time as well as the rainfall. They followed it towards Forks, and then when they found something weird.

And by weird, what Paul meant was down-right freaky.

"Uh, guys?" called out Quil, his thoughts a jumble of confusion and uncertainty. "I think— I think you guys should take a look at this."

Jared trotted over to where an ansty Quil was circling around a large patch of mud, "what'd you find— Holy Shit! What the fuck is that?!"

"What?" asked Paul as he too made his way over to where they stood, "what is it?"

Restless, Quil began to paw at the ground as he nodded towards the ground, "look."

At first, Paul had no idea what it was they were both looking at, but as soon as he saw it he too felt a cold shiver run through him like an electric current as he stared at the huge paw prints, his eyes wide and his mouth open in shock.

"Those— those are too large to be ours," thought Jared bleakly before adding; "what sort of animal—?"

"They're not Wolf prints," thought Quil, his voice barely above that of a whisper. "They don't look right and they're way bigger than ours…"

Paul didn't know what to think as he stared down at the strange tracks. They almost looked like Wolf tracks, but there was something— wrong with them. They resembled a Wolf print, but there was something distinctly human about them too as if it were a strange amalgamation of the two. He had never seen anything like it before in his entire life. None of them had.

"That's not possible," thought Paul, adamantly. In Wolf form, the Quileute Wolves were the size of bears, far larger than the average North American Wolf. But these tracks? They were far larger than anything Paul had ever seen in his entire life and as far as any of them were concerned, they were the largest animals around. "It's not possible. It's not—"

"Paul," snapped Quil, "look at them. They're too legit to be fake."

"Maybe they belong to a bear?" added Jared as he tried to sound hopeful, but even he knew that them being bear tracks was just wishful thinking. Bear tracks didn't look that either.

"No," said Paul as he shook his head, "no bear paw looks like that."

"Maybe we should follow them?" suggested Quil as Jared and Paul shared an uneasy glance. "See where they lead?"

Hesitantly, they began to follow the tracks, taking care not to ruin them as they followed them through the woods. They followed them for a half-mile before something truly bizarre began to change. The tracks were beginning to change in size and shape, growing smaller and smaller with every step until there in the mud was a set of two distinct and very human footprints.

And that's when all three of them turned tail and ran.

OoO

Words were unable to describe the full extent of the panic and confusion that either one of them was feeling as they hauled ass back to La Push, the bond between them a chaotic mess as they made their way back to the pack to report their strange and terrifying discovery.

"What was that? What the fuck—"

"…human! They were human!"

"…it has to be a joke! It's not possible—"

Looking back, Paul couldn't quite remember what happened next, the sequence of events from finding the tracks and running off were fuzzy. Maybe it was the panic or maybe it was just a lack of situational awareness. He wasn't sure, but what he did know was that what happened next changed everything.

Quil, being the moron he was, ran onto the road without looking both ways for cars. Paul watched as a black Jeep swerved to avoid the giant Wolf, braking hard as it skidded across the asphalt.

'Quil!" shouted Jared as Quil stood frozen to his spot, much like a deer in the headlights. He didn't move as all three of them watched the Jeep plow into a tree with a sickening crunch. Paul could tell that the accident was bad from where he stood in the treeline. He was, after all, a Mechanic and he knew a bad accident when he saw one. He knew that there was probably a good chance that the driver was injured, or worse.

"Quil," hissed Paul, "come on. We need to call for help!"

"Oh my God," thought Quil as he began to fidget. "Are they okay?"

"We don't know—" began Jared as the car door swung open. All three of them watched as a woman stepped out, her boots hitting the water with a big splash as she scanned the scene in front of her before coming to rest on Quil, who was still frozen to the spot as Paul and Jared shared a glance.

"Come on, Quil," hissed Jared, trying to coax him back to where they were. "She's fine. Let's go."

"Her scent—" began Quil as he sniffed the air. "Don't you guys smell that?"

"Quil, I swear to God—" began Paul before he too froze as soon as her scent hit him, the fur on his back rising as his instincts kicked in. He didn't know why or how, but his instincts were telling him that she was a threat.

As if sensing his thoughts, Quil crouched down low into a defensive position and began to growl at her, his teeth bared and his fur sticking straight up. Usually, the sight of a large growling Wolf would be enough to scare anyone away, but not her. She stood her ground as she watched Quil, unfazed or scared by his aggressive behavior as both Paul and Jared slinked out of the trees to join their packmate, the both of them growling at the woman with their teeth bared. They knew she wasn't a Vampire, but she wasn't human either.

"What is she?" thought Jared as they watched the woman clutch her phone tightly, two frantic voices calling out for on the other end, but even then, there was no fear in her eyes. Only fascination.

"I don't know," replied Paul, still growling at her, "but she's not human."

As if sensing that he was thinking about her, she turned her gaze on him, their eyes meeting for the first time as Paul felt gravity shift. There were no words to accurately describe the feeling as Paul stared into her warm, brown eyes, unable to look away as he felt his entire world turn upside down in a matter of seconds. For years he had watched as his fellow pack mates imprinted one by one, felt their emotions through the pack bond as they looked into the eyes of their other half. And every time Paul had witnessed it, he had prayed to God that it would never happen to him. Nothing, and he meant nothing in his entire life had prepared him for this.

"Paul?" asked Quil as he glanced at Paul, his growl dying in his throat as he felt the force of his pack mate's emotions. "Did you just—?"

"He did," added Jared as they both gaped at him.

"No," thought Paul as he began to shake his head in disbelief, his voice cracking as the horror of what had just happened settled in. "No, this isn't happening—"

"I think it just did," added Quil as Paul pawed at the ground, restless. He hadn't wanted to imprint in the first place, always feeling pity for those who did, glad that it wasn't him. He had thought, after all these years, that he might be one of the lucky ones. He had thought that it would never happen to him.

"Dude, are you alright?" asked Jared as Paul tore his eyes from her and ran off, unable to look at the woman anymore without feeling anger over what had just happened. He didn't even fucking know her and yet he was bound to her like some fucking slave. He hated it. Absolutely hated it, and yet there was not a single thing he could do about it.

"And another one bites the dust," thought Quil, grimly as both he and Jared looked back at the strange, woman who they knew was not human before taking off after an angry and confused Paul.

OoO

AN: You guys are awesome with the comments. Thank you so much!

Coming Next: Coffee, research, and a chance encounter.