Chapter 63: Leah and Jake's First Date

Leah's POV:

I drove back to the reservation with a pleasant expression on my face. I just got off the phone from my mom, and I told her the news. Like Jacob said, I passed my exams. Heh, he has more faith in me than me. All B's, but I was proud of myself. My mom was ecstatic. I shushed her that she didn't need to react that strongly, but she insisted that they are something to be celebrated for. I guess it is true. For someone to be out of school in years, I did pretty damn well especially when I was busy with preparing for Ale's wedding these past few days.

On the way back, my wolf spirit was nagging me on how to behave for our first date with Jacob.

Don't be too standoffish!

If mate wants affection give it to him!

If mate wants to do the claiming ceremony, do it!

Talk about the mating season, let mate know your worries and concerns!

She was bombarding me with advices. I was so tempted to tell her to fuck off, but I didn't. I need to cooperate with my wolf spirit. Either way, she is just trying to be helpful, but I think I got it. I can handle being alone with Jacob.

Hm. Even if he is sexy? My wolf spirit asked suggestively.

Well, she isn't wrong. The glow-up that Jacob got when he became Alpha, it made him very appealing. He is basically oozing to be fucked, so I don't know if he is going to let that get over his head and become an arrogant dick. Then again, if he does, I will beat him down even if he is my mate and alpha. I don't put up with guys thinking they are the shit just because of their body when their personality is crap.

He won't be like that my wolf spirit said scoldingly.

True. His personality has gotten a lot better once he accepted his wolf spirit and became Alpha. He wasn't all moody like he was when he first phased. It felt great to finally be free from his constant thoughts about Bella.

Once I arrived home, it was probably around 4pm in the afternoon from the looks of the sky. I got into the house, and I saw Charlie's police cruiser parked in the driveway. I was about to walk to the front door when from the inside of the house, I heard Charlie and Mom speaking. I stopped because it seemed like they were having a serious conversation, but I didn't want to interrupt them. I heard Charlie saying to my mom, "Sue..I think something is off with Bella."

Mom asked hesitantly, "oh, how so?"

He said gruffly, "..she sounds different. She sounds more like the Cullens, somehow? I know it doesn't make sense but very time I asked when she is going to visit for the holidays, she would dodge the question. I..understand she wants to focus her time with Edward as newly married, but..my police nerves are telling me there is something else that is going on. Also, for the whole family to move when they got married, that seemed off.."

Sue said, "hmm...Is Bella happy?"

He sighed, "Yeah, she is…Maybe I am being too paranoid for my own good."

She said, "you might be, Charlie."

Charlie said, "thanks, Sue..you know how to see reason..Do you have any plans this weekend? I heard from the locals that you are taking this weekend off."

She said quickly, "Oh, I am just going to spend some time with Seth and Leah this weekend. Leah passed her midterms, so I am going to celebrate this weekend with them,"

Charlie said, "oh, did she now? Tell her congratulations…if you want, I could..treat you guys out for separate from your celebration with them . Would that be alright with you?"

Sue gasped softly, "Oh..Charlie. That is so thoughtful of you. I still haven't figure out what to do with the kids exactly, but once I plan them, I let you know."

He said awkwardly, "Okay.."

It seemed like they were going to keep talking, so I walked away and shifted hoping to see if Jacob is phased.

Leah? -Jacob

Hey- Leah

What's wrong? I was about to get you at your place when you phased in- Jacob

I wanted to give mom privacy. Charlie came over- Leah

Oh..wanna talk about it?-Jacob

What is there to talk about?- Leah

..something's bothering you, but Its not about..them, right?- Jacob

..Charlie's getting suspicious..-Leah

I see...I would need to talk to Sue and Ale regarding him..He needs to know..He has been friends with the reservation long before we were born. He deserves to know, and as Chief of Forks Police. We do need someone like him to protect us from being exposed..

Yeah…but since he is Bella's dad, I don't know how..Bella and the Cullens going to react- Leah

Yeah..that is why I need to ask Ale if she knows anything, but…there might be some resistance from Bella.. However, it depends on your mom if she wants him to know and how much he is willing to tolerate ambiguity from us and the Cullens..

Yeah..-Leah

Well. Since you're already phased, come to this part of the woods. - Jacob

He mentally showed me an image, and I immediately recall the time that Ale told me about the cave. I started running toward the direction of that ancient cave.

That cave?- Leah

Uh, we are going on top of the cave. We aren't going inside- Jacob

Okay..- Leah

Once I arrived, I hid in the woods to change to my clothes. I went out, and I froze. I never been to this part of the woods, and it was a wide-open meadow toward the sea. However, there were two trees close to the sea, and between the two trees, there was a huge makeshift swing in the middle. By the tree on the right, there was a handmade picnic table and there was a blue cloth over the table with a lampstand in the corner of the table. In the middle of the table, there was a tower of pizza boxes and wings, liters of soda, and nice plates. There was a wine bottle and two wine glasses next to it. When I looked up, Jake was there with a simple white shirt and pants. He also braided his hair to a side, and he had necklace of white beads on his neck.

Good thing I brought a small green dress to the date, so I wasn't too overdressed nor underdressed. I went barefoot toward the picnic table because why not. I am used to walking around barefoot. Because of phasing so frequently, I always have extra pair of clothes in my truck. I took this dress out when I left my mom's house to phase to the woods.

Jake looked at me with a nervous smile, and he said, "I, uh, don't trust my cooking skills, and I thought eating pizza and wings would be neat for our huge appetite."

I smiled softly, "I like it. It's sweet. Did you make the swing and the picnic table?"

He said while scratching the back of his head, "Y-yeah. Do you like it?"

I nodded. If he had tried to copy what Paul did to Ale, I would've hit him for not being creative. I liked that he didn't try to make it too romantic either, but a mixture of casual and romantic for the first date. He has some sense, and I appreciated that. I would've been uneasy if he had made it too romantic for the first date. Jacob smiled brightly, so he hand motioned me to sit down and to dig in.

We ate in silence, and when we finished, Jacob asked about my midterm. I told him with a huge smile that I passed with All B's. He was so happy for me that he popped the wine bottle for me. He put too much force to it, and it spilled on the table. I laughed and he looked at me sheepishly. I asked him where he got the wine bottle since I am older than him and he is only 18 years old. He said with a smirk, "I went to the liquor store in Forks, and I pass off like I am 25 years old. The store clerk didn't question it when I bought it."

Typical. I rolled my eyes in response, and he laughed whole-heartedly. We decided to g try out the couple swing, and it was so nice. Having the wing blowing on your face as you swing out to the sea while Jake pushed me from the behind. He would try to be a tease and push me a little too hard. I thought I would fall off to the sea, so I got off and tackle him on the ground. He was laughing so hard that he easily fell on the ground.

When he got on the swing, I eventually did it to him. I started laughing as well. Okay, I admit. It is pretty amusing, now I see why he did it. He was growling playfully as he was hugging me tightly as I was laughing at him. We eventually sat on the swing together and aimlessly swing to the sea.

I said, "Thanks, Jake. This is nice."

I gave him a genuine smile. His expression lit up so brightly, his smile was beaming with joy and pleasure. I was able to sense that he was very happy and relieved from my statement. I am glad that he didn't go crazy with the date. He made it small and simple, but at the same time thoughtful.

I looked over the horizon, watching the waves crashing the rocks with the small breeze passing through both of us. It wasn't cold, but it was nice. I purposely placed my hand on top of his hand as we watched the sunset. He was caressing my hand with his thumb, and it was cute, comforting gesture.

I like this.

I can't believe I was scared about this. I never thought imprinting could actually be nice. When I saw it from Jared and Kim, and Sam and Emily, I felt disgusted, nauseated regarding imprinting. They got together so quickly and so intensely at once. When I saw those two couples, imprinting felt unnatural and forced. It was like they have this compulsion, but..with Jake, it hadn't felt this way. Even though I already kissed him when I just imprinted him almost two weeks ago, it didn't feel forced. It came naturally to me like how spending time with Jake feels natural as well. Spending time with Jacob, my first impression of imprinting is slowly getting broken little by little. However, I realized it wasn't the imprinting that was creepy, it was the couples who went about it. Due to our inexperience with handling imprinting, they gave in to their bond without any hesitation. Even though there was a lot of intimacy and passion between them, they didn't slow down enough to set the foundations of their relationship properly. Just because they are imprinted, it doesn't mean they don't need to work on how to communicate, how to have boundaries, and how to resolve interpersonal problems properly without the wolf simply giving into the imprint's needs.

It was probably a good thing that I was so wary when I first imprinted on Jacob. It pulled the brakes of imprinting slow enough for me to really think what I am doing with Jacob without simply giving in to pull of imprinting. It helped me to be more self-aware of how imprinting is impacting me and understand the pull of imprinting. Because I was able to differentiate when it was actually me and the pull from imprinting, my true emotions was able to finally catch up to the feelings and pull that was coming from the imprinting bond. I admit, I pulled the brakes of my relationship with Jacob a little too tightly, but it helped my thoughts and feelings to finally catch up with the intensity of the pull toward Jacob. I didn't allow myself to just give in and accept "that it is how it is". I questioned the pull and what the pull was trying to push me to feel regarding Jacob, but as I got to spend time with Jacob, I was able to see little by little why. I was able to see that imprinting wasn't just inserting emotions inside of me to feel a certain way to Jacob. No, it was showing me Jacob in a different light with already developed emotions and thoughts regarding Jacob.

As I was gazing the horizon, it hit me. The intense love and adoration that a shapeshifter feels when they first meet their imprint, it isn't what we thought it was. What we thought it was already developed "unconditional love" toward the imprint, it was actually the intense desire to get to know their imprint. The wolf spirit already loves their imprint unconditionally because they are an animal, and they are simplistic in nature. Not only that, but the wolf spirit also already sees the potential of their imprint and the future that they can through the spirit world. That is why the spirits and the wolf spirit gives us a small vision of the future between the spirit warrior and their imprint when we first laid eyes on our imprint.

The intense desire to get to know our imprint was given so that the spirit warrior themselves get to know their imprint in the way how the wolf spirit sees their imprint. Because human relationships are more complicated and complex in comparison to animal relationships, the spirit warrior need to catch up with the wolf regarding their imprint. Even though the wolf spirit can be demanding and too eagerly to the point that it looked creepy and unnatural, the wolf spirit meant well. The wolf spirit simply wants us to be on the same page as them, so we can harmoniously enjoy our relationship with our imprint.

My wolf spirit whispered that's right.

It finally clicked to me. Because the spirit warrior.. or Jared and Sam didn't try to explore the pull of the imprinting with their imprint and misunderstood the intense need to know their imprint as unconditional love and adoration, they quickly jumped into the pull of the imprinting in order to be united with their wolf spirit. So from the outside perspective, it looked unnatural of how close the couple got, and when they are questioned of why they love their imprint, it was vague. At times, they get defensive for questioning the spirits and the power of imprinting, when really it wasn't about that. They didn't explore the imprinting pull and didn't allow their human emotions and feelings to properly catch up to the imprinting pull and their wolf spirit. If I think about it, I think they knew something was off, but they didn't question it because " it's imprinting". I mean whether spirit warriors take it 'slow' with their imprint, it is still too quick compared to normal human relationships. However, at least the spirit warrior would be certain of their feelings and thoughts to their imprint as human and as a supernatural being. Thus, imprinting really wasn't implanting artificial emotions and thoughts.

I sighed in content. Wow.

Jacob asked amusingly, "a penny for your thoughts, Leah."

I cracked a small smile, and I proceed to tell him everything that I realized. He listened attentively, and he asked unconfidently, "what brought this realization?..Was it because of Sam and Emily?"

I shook my head, "Well, I did think about them, but it wasn't because of them. I was thinking about us.."

He smiled with a happy glint to his eyes, "oh."

I said, "Yeah."

I looked deeply to his eyes.

My wolf spirit said tell him about your concerns regarding mating season.

Yes..it's time to tell him, so I asked, "..what do you feel about mating season?"

Author's Note:

I was really stuck with this chapter, so I started writing more chapters for my second story, hoping that I could finally get inspiration for this story. Finally, I was able to sit down and know exactly how to write this chapter. I already have future chapters planned, and I was working on future chapters for this story, but I didn't know how to connect them until this morning.

Sorry that I sent it a little later than anticipated. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Was the explanation regarding imprinting confusing?

As always, reviews are very much appreciated.