this is me trying

chapter twelve: camping

seth

I climb out of Jake's car, giddy to be seeing Tatum again. It has only been a couple of days since I had last seen her, but honestly, it felt like years. But my giddiness was quickly tarnished by my Alpha's sour mood.

"I can't believe we are fucking doing this." Jake hisses under his breath as he climbs out of the driver's seat. "It's not like there is a bloodsucker on the loose or anything." He says sarcastically.

He wasn't wrong. The vampire that came in contact with Tatum has been lurking around the edges of La Push. I have been concerned, of course. He is after my imprint afterall. But I had faith in my pack members and I had even more faith that I could protect her.

"Hey." Nessie chirps, angrily. She hates when Jake says 'bloodsuckers' especially since her whole family are vampires and she is part vampire. "Come on, Jake. It's going to be fine. I'm sure that whoever Tatum had ran into the other day is long gone by now. Besides, if he was here, I'm sure he would stay as far away from the stinky wolves as he can." She teases, giving him a pointed look.

Jake was not in the mood for teasing as his face held a serious, scolding look. "I don't think it's safe." He reiterates. "I don't like it." The other car full of people pulls up beside us as Nessie pops open the trunk of Jake's car despite his griping.

My focus on Jake and Nessie's conversation vanishes as Tatum hops out of Vanessa's SUV. Her blonde hair was twisted into a braid and covered with a white wool hat. She was dressed in an oversized white fuzzy coat with bright yellow mittens covering her hands. She was by far dressed the warmest out of all of us, understandably. But she looks adorable. Her glowing green eyes glance over to me and a wide beautiful white smile takes over her face.

"Seth!" Jake hisses, snapping me out of my Tatum trance. My eyes move to look at my Alpha. Jake motions angrily to the collection of things within his trunk. "I'm not carrying all of this shit myself." He grumbles.

Man, Jake woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I think to myself. I collect some of the camping things before some of the other pack members gather some things as well per our alpha's commands. "Do you need some help?" Tatum's voice questioned politely.

I spin around, holding the things within my hands. "Don't worry about it." I comment, immediately. I know that Jake would never let Ness carry anything either. "We have it under control." I assure her.

After Embry, Quil, Jake, Thomas, and I had gathered all of the camping gear, we begin trekking up the mountain. Tatum, Embry and I fell to the back of the pack. At first, we walk silently beside each other before Embry pipes up. "So how has it been since you've been back, Tatum?" Embry asks.

Tatum looks over to Embry and smiles. "It's genuinely been really good." And I am grateful for her positive answer. "I just started a job a few days ago and I am really enjoying it. I am finally getting somewhat settled into my house. Everything is panning out pretty well."

"Yeah, Seth told me about your job in Forks. How is that going?" Embry asks before I can ask.

Tatum trips on a rock in the trail and both Embry and I reach out to catch her. However, she is caught by Embry. "Easy there." Embry jokes.

Tatum gets flustered by her near fall. "Oh, I-uh. I am sorry." She apologizes before settling on her feet again. Once she is steady, she answers Embry's question. "I'm really enjoying my job so far. I feel like I'm helping people and I love it. I am also starting to connect with my co-workers, who live in Forks. It's nice to not only have friends in La Push." She says with a smirk.

My stomach drops at the idea of Tatum spending more time in Forks. It was bad enough that she spent every weekday in Forks. I spent too much time in the parking lot on the look out for that stupid vampire. Too bad she couldn't have gotten a job in La Push…

The hike up the trail was a lot of Embry and Tatum chatting with each other. Occasionally I would pipe into the conversation, but for the most part, I was excluded. At first, I thought it was nice that my pack brother and my imprint were bonding. But the more they chatted and the more I was excluded, the more angry I became.

When we reached the camping spot, I nearly cry out with joy. But the joy that I feel is quickly tarnished when I get called out by Jake. "Seth, get over here!" My Alpha commands. "We need to start working on the tents."

I glance at Tatum, who gives me a soft smile. I head over to help Jake with the tents and listen to his words of anger. I guess the hike up didn't help his anger like I thought it would.

It takes us much longer than I would have ever imagined to put up the tents. I would get distracted by the giggling coming from Tatum's mouth and even more distracted when I realize Embry is the one causing those giggles. I would snap out of it when Jake would yell at me to focus.

When the tents are finally set up and Vanessa and Quil get the fire started, we all settle around the fire. I try to sit next to my imprint, yet there are no seats near her. So I settle for a seat directly across the fire from her.

We make ourselves some dinner now that the fire set up. And the anger I felt just intensified when I see Embry wrap his arm around Tatum. My imprint. A low growl quickly slips from my lips at the sight. All the wolves around the fire perk up at the sound and their eyes look to me. But Tatum remains oblivious due to the sound being too low for her ears.

Embry withdraws his arm from my imprint and looks over to see my scolding face. I hear him quickly make an excuse before standing up. I watch as Embry disappears into the woods and I take a deep breath of relief.

I watch as Tatum glances around the campfire before Nessie joins at her side. After dinner has been finished, I can't keep away from her any longer. I walk over to Tatum and seat myself next to her. Tatum's eyes widen slightly when she notices my presence and an adorable blush adorns her cheeks.

Nessie grins. "I was just asking Tatum if it was okay if she shared a tent with you tonight." I catch her wink at me when Tatum looks in my direction.

I swallow at the idea of sleeping so close to her. "Are you sure that's alright?" I question, unsure. I would never want to push her into something that made her feel uncomfortable. We had plenty of tents. But I knew what Nessie was trying to do here.

Tatum shivers and Nessie instantly wraps an arm around her shoulders. "Sorry, it's getting colder out here." Tatum blushes again. "I don't mind sharing a tent with you." She assures me.

Nessie rubs her hands up and down Tatum's arms, trying to warm her up as Tatum's shivering picks up. "We should grab a blanket for you." Nessie comments before looking over to me. "Or you can just use Seth as a big warm teddy bear." Both mine and Tatum's cheeks redden with a blush. "I'm teasing." She giggles. "I will go grab you a blanket."

Nessie stands up and heads to the blankets. "How are you all not freezing?" Tatum asks as her teeth chatter together.

I wish to wrap Tatum up in my arms and warm her up with my abnormal body heat. I couldn't stand to watch her shiver. "Genetics?" I say jokingly with a small smile.

Thankfully, Nessie comes back with a thick wool blanket and wraps my imprint up. Vanessa begins talking a ridiculous story about a guy that she dated a while back, drawing the attention of everyone round the fire. As everyone laughs along with Vanessa's words, I can't help but watch Tatum out of the corner of my eye. I love watching her laugh and I love seeing her happy. But I couldn't stop myself from worrying about her freezing as her shivering continued despite the blanket.

As Vanessa's story continues, the sun slowly sets and our surroundings become dark. Our faces glow with the light emitted from the fire. Before too long, Vanessa's long drawn out story is over and it is time for bed. And I think Tatum is ready by the way that her teeth are chattering and her eyes are dropping from tiredness. Good night pleasantries are exchanged between our group of friends. I know that one of the wolf pack members, I think it is Vanessa, is going to be on the lookout all night. I follow Tatum to our large tent tucked underneath a tree.

We both face opposite sides of the tent as we change into different clothes. When we are both dressed, Tatum and I get ready for bed quietly as we climb into the safety of our sleeping bags. "Good night, T." I call out to her before she flips off the lantern light next to her.

"Good night, Seth." She responds, still shivering. I listen on the other side of the tent from Tatum as she continues to shiver for several more minutes. I pray silently to the spirits above that she can warm up soon now that she is in her sleeping bag. I didn't want her to get pneumonia out here.

After countless minutes of her teeth chattering, I finally speak up. "How are you going to sleep with all of that teeth chattering?" I teased playfully, hiding my worried tone.

Tatum lets out a giggle before shifting in her sleeping bag. "I'm sorry. I just can't seem to get warm." She responds.

"Come over here. I'll warm you up." I say, half joking half serious. I wasn't sure if she would really take me up on that offer.

"Really?" Tatum asks unsure if I was kidding with her or not.

"Yes, really. I'll keep you warm." I promise. I try not to get too excited as I listen to the sleeping bag unzip. She takes a few steps over to me and I unzip my extra large sleeping bag to allow her in. After closing up my sleeping bag again, Tatum curls herself up next to me and let's out a content sigh.

"How come you are so warm? It's not fair." Tatum whispers.

I glance down at her with a small smile before I see her blue lips. "Jesus, T. Your lips are blue." Tatum looks up at me with wide glowing green eyes. She's still shivering a little bit. Her hands are pressed softly against my chest and this moment just feels right. I can't help myself, I lean down and press my lips to her cold bluish lips. The kiss starts off as an innocent peck but when I feel the pressure of Tatum's lips pressing back to me, I can't stop myself from making this kiss a little more than just a peck.

My tongue darts out and traces Tatum's lips, causing her to gasp. The gasp seems to snap me back to reality as I quickly pull away from her lips. "I'm so sorry." I whisper frantically. But before I could continue, Tatum pressed her lips back against mine.

Tatum's tongue runs across my lips this time, surprising me. I feel like I am soaring when my tongue begins to mingle with hers. I bring my hands up to hold her soft face and our deep kiss continues for several more minutes. Both of us are pouring every feeling into this kiss.

When we break away, Tatum is panting a little and her pale cheeks are flushed. My eyes scan over her beautiful face. Her freckles. Her green eyes. Her swollen red lips. She is perfect. "Wow." She whispers before ducking her head down to rest her forehead on my shoulder.

I chuckle and rub my hand down her back, stopping at her low back. Tatum takes a moment to catch her breath. When she finally does, she lifts her head up to see me. "Your lips aren't blue anymore." I whisper as her eyes hold mine in her gaze.

Tatum lets out a giggle. "I wonder why." She teases before she rests a hand on my cheek, fixating my face to continue to look at her. "Was that…" She trails off, unable to continue. "I'm sorry. We shouldn't have…" She finally stumbles out.

My heart breaks and my inner wolf whines. "What? Why?" I ask, confused. I thought she had enjoyed our kisses just as much as I had. Did I do something wrong?

"I…" She looks away from me. I pull her body closer to mine.

"I really enjoyed those kisses." I confess to her as she continues to bury her face in my shoulder. I swallow as I wait for a response from her. Shit. Had it really been that bad for her? What did I do? When Tatum doesn't respond, I speak up again. "Why are you fighting this?" I whisper.

Tatum lifts her head up. Her wild green eyes hold so much emotion within them. The one emotion that screams out to me is confusion. "I-" Tatum chokes out. "You are a family friend-"

"So?" I interrupt her. I cradle her face, gently. "I have feelings for you, Tatum. More than just family friends. I know you have feelings for me too. That kiss was more than just family friends." Tatum stares at me, having an internal battle. "Don't fight this." I whisper, leaning down to press a kiss to her nose. Before I can kiss her nose, Tatum tilts her head up to press her lips to mine.

Our lips massage one another's as Tatum weaves her fingers into my hair. I put every ounce of my feelings into the kiss to get her to realize that she too feels the same way. I rest my forehead on hers after separating our lips.

"Don't apologize for how you feel." I whisper to her. "Don't try to ignore it. Just let your feelings speak for themselves." I sound like some cheesy romance movie, but I don't care.

Her green orbs stare into mine with so many different emotions. I gently brush loose strands of her blonde hair out of her face as I wait for her to answer me patiently. "I like you." She whispers, her sweet breath fanning across my face. She closes her eyes. "It scares me how much I like you."

My heart soars at her confession. I knew she liked me. I knew it. I press a soft kiss to her lips. "It scares me too." I agree with her.

Tatum leans forward to press her lips to mine again. The kiss is quick. I couldn't get enough of her and her kisses right now. "Just don't hurt me." Her words are so quiet, I'm not sure a normal human would hear them.

I pull her tightly to me and press a kiss to the crown of her head. "I promise I would never let anything hurt you." I respond back to her as I think to the vampire that she had come in contact with a few days ago. "Including myself." I add. "Get some sleep." I say as I brush my fingers through her hair.

Tatum lets out a sigh and curls into my chest. I keep brushing her hair until I hear her breathing even out. I glance down to see her mouth is open and her eyes are closed. She is asleep.

I take a moment to reflect because I couldn't believe she is my imprint. She is beautiful and strong. I don't think I could have been blessed with someone better than her. She was turning into my everything and I wasn't mad about that.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I am so excited to have this chapter out for you all! So please let me know what you think in the reviews! Also, please give this story a favorite or a follow if you want to continue to follow Tatum and Seth's journey. xx M