Chapter Nineteen

The wolf was massive.

If Kim hadn't just seen Jared change into a wolf right before her eyes—if she had just happened across it while walking in the woods—she would have run as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

As it was, though, she did know the giant, slightly ferocious-looking animal was actually the legends of her tribe come to life. Because she did see it happen right in front of her. This was just Jared. And clearly he had been telling her the truth.

And so she took a resolute step towards. And then another. And another and another until she was standing right beside him.

For his part, after phasing and then turning to face her, Jared hadn't moved an inch from where he was standing. This close to him, she could see how tense his stance was; clearly he was nervous about having her this close to him while he was a wolf. However, up this close she could also see his eyes. And they were without a doubt Jared's eyes.

The sight of those oh so familiar (ahem beautiful) eyes calmed any lingering doubts on Kim's part.

With only a slightly shaking hand—okay, so maybe she'd had a rather debilitating fear of dogs as a child that she maybe wasn't one hundred percent completely over quite yet—she lifted her arm and scratched lightly behind his left ear. Immediately, she felt Jared relax under her hand.

He had himself firmly under control and she wasn't afraid. All was well.

"You're kind of cute, you know," Kim informed Jared, still scratching his head. She found it relaxed her just as much as it did him. Being here with him like this was comfortable. She continued, "Completely massive and potentially deadly, yes. But also cute."

Clearly Jared didn't like being labeled 'cute' though, because he proceeded to nudge Kim's shoulder with his nose. It wasn't hard enough to knock her off her balance, but it did manage to get his point across to her.

"Don't look at me like that," Kim's hand dropped from his head only for her to firmly plant both of her hands on her waist. "I'm sure you don't know this, but I've never been a dog person. 'Cute' is as good as you're going to get. And besides, I implied that you're dangerous; aren't guys supposed to like that kind of thing?"

Jared's tongue lolled out of his mouth then in what she supposed was the closest thing he was going to get to a grin as a wolf.

Suddenly, though, one of his ears perked up and Jared cocked his head to the side, listening.

"What is it?" Kim questioned, her panic level immediately rising—and she'd been doing so well handling all of this, too. "You hear something—is someone coming? Oh my god, is it…what did the legends call them? Cold ones! Is it a cold one? Jared, why aren't you answering me!"

And then instead of a wolf, it was suddenly Jared-the-human standing before her.

"Kim," he began, and she could tell he was forcing himself to remain calm, "I can hardly answer you when I'm a wolf and can't talk."

"Well you aren't a wolf anymore!" Kim exclaimed. "So tell me what—hang on, are you laughing? Why are you laughing at me?"

And indeed, Jared's earlier control had snapped and he was currently laughing uproariously. At Kim. Because what else could he possibly be laughing at right now? And just what did he find so funny about their current situation?

"Jared!"

"I'm—sorry—" Jared said brokenly, in between laughs. He appeared to be trying to get himself under control, but to dubious results. He sobered quickly enough, however, when he saw that Kim was not nearly as amused as him right now. In fact, she was not amused at all.

"Sorry," Jared repeated swiftly, his expression as serious as possible. Then he cracked a small smile, "It's just…you always have such a cool head—recent events included, because I definitely deserved that reaction earlier. I just thought it was, er, funny, that that was the conclusion you'd jump to."

"Well," She began curtly, "If that was such an outrageous conclusion to jump to—and really it wasn't because there's obviously some kind of threat around here currently, or else you wouldn't have become a protector in the first place—then what did catch your attention? Excuse the déjà vu, but I'm going to jump to conclusions again—though this time I'm assuming it wasn't anything dangerous, because we're still standing here and you're not a wolf anymore. Of course, if that conclusion is wrong, too, then I'd just like to point out that this tribe is completely screwed if you're supposed to be it's protector."

"Hardly," Jared scoffed, but rather than be insulted by her rambling—which he was mostly sure she hadn't meant to be offensive by the end of it—he merely smiled. "I heard Kylie; she's awake now, by the way. Oh," he frowned suddenly in the direction of the house, "Actually, she's calling for you now...I think she needs help…oh, she can't find her crutches…"

"That's kind of creepy," Kim informed him before swiftly turning and making her way back towards her house. She had been angry that he was laughing at her panic, but now that she knew what he'd heard, she could see some humor in the situation…although she was a bit embarrassed.

There was nothing to be done about it now, though. She needed to get back to her sister, and so she continued walking. And although she couldn't hear his footsteps, she knew instinctively that Jared was following her. After spending the last few weeks with him, and especially after his remorse earlier, she just had a feeling he would follow her anywhere. He was good like that.

"Before we go in," Jared said suddenly, placing his hand over Kim's on the doorknob. She turned slightly to look up at him, only to see that wary expression back on his face. "I just need to know for sure: you believe me now, right?"

"It's hard to argue with what I saw right in front of my eyes," Kim pointed out wryly. "I think this whole thing is completely insane, for sure, and I definitely don't really fully understand it yet. But yes, I do believe you."

"Thank you," Jared breathed softly, bending down slightly to be more level with her. And then his lips were on hers, softly but firmly, and they were kissing for the first time in days, and Kim was positive there was no other feeling in the world quite so wonderful as this one.

It ended far too soon for Kim's liking. But that was probably for the best, because now Kylie was hollering her name loud enough that even she could hear it from where they were standing outside.

"You're staying for breakfast," Kim informed him, the corner of her mouth quirking up in a small grin as she turned back to the door and opened it.

"I'd like to see you try and stop me," Jared replied, following her inside.

"I did not know that child could eat so much," Jared commented as he re-entered the kitchen to find Kim cleaning up the breakfast dishes from the table. After eating, his services had been enlisted to provide Kylie with a piggyback ride into the family room.

"You're one to talk," Kim retorted with a grin. "You definitely ate more than she and I did combined."

Jared grinned back. "Wolf thing."

Kim rolled her eyes at him, but then her grin faded abruptly and she bit her lip as she placed the dirty dishes in the sink.

"Jared," She began slowly, hesitantly turning to face him. "I've been thinking about something you said earlier that…well, that I don't quite understand."

"I know there's more I need to explain in more detail to you. I'll answer any questions you have, Kim," Jared told her earnestly. "You just need to ask."

Kim bit her lip again, and then, "You said your parents aren't allowed to know about any of this. They're your parents and I'm…me. So why am I allowed to know?"

Although she was equal parts beyond nervous and embarrassed, Kim made sure to maintain eye contact with Jared as she spoke. And, sure enough, he seemed to freeze when she asked her question. For her part, she continued staring, anxiously awaiting his response. She had a gut feeling she wasn't going to like it.

"Okay…" Jared exhaled slowly once he finally unfroze. "I'm going to tell you, I promise. I'm going to tell you right now. Just bare with me, because as you may have noticed, I'm not always the greatest at explaining things. And I really don't want to mess things—this up."

"I'm listening."

Jared sighed deeply. "There's a thing that can…happen to us wolves; it's called imprinting. It isn't heavily mentioned in the legends we're taught in school, so you're probably not familiar with it."

Kim shook her head in agreement.

"Imprinting is…" Jared trailed off thoughtfully. "It's finding our soul mate. It can only happen after we phase, even if we…even if we've met her before that. But when you do meet her…" He trailed off again, his gaze dazedly unfocused, as if he was remembering something…well, something wonderful, if she was interpreting that look correctly.

"She becomes the center of your universe," Jared continued reverently. "You would do anything for her, be anything for her. And it's all…perfect," he concluded.

Perfect sounded nice, Kim mused to herself, her frown deepening. Kind of like how she felt things were going in her life when the boy she'd had a crush on for years finally noticed her.

"You imprinted on me, didn't you?" She questioned, her frown deepening, unable to keep the slight hint of accusation from her tone.

"I did," Jared answered.

"Hmm," was Kim's noncommittal response.

"And you're angry," Jared surmised, his expression falling. "I was worried that would happen."

"I'm not angry," Kim said decisively, then she sighed. "I'm disappointed."

Kim didn't think it was possible for Jared's expression to fall any further, and yet it did.

"I'm disappointed," She continued, "Because I should have known all of this—us—was too good to be true. I did know and I ignored it."

"Oh god, Kim," Jared scrubbed his hand over his face, and when he put it down, he looked completely heartbroken. With a few long strides, Jared was across the kitchen and Kim found herself trapped between the sink and his warm body, his hands resting firmly on her shoulders. "I knew I wasn't going to explain this perfectly right. Besides, I told you once before that the only reason I ever asked you out was because I wanted to, and that hasn't changed."

"But the imprint—" Kim tried to protest, only for Jared to cut her off.

"No," He stated firmly. "As awful as this might sound and as much as it might make me out to be a complete dick, all the imprint did was make me notice you and want to spend time with you, and do whatever you needed. At first. The imprint is the reason I showed up at your house that first day, but you are the reason I kept coming back."

"I don't understand," Kim admitted.

"I kept coming back because you're so…you," Jared said. "Because you get this adorable expression on your face when you try to figure out your math homework. Because you're so kind-hearted, especially when you're taking care of your sister. Because you really can make a mean burger. Because you have an amazing sense of humor, and your sarcastic replies to whatever is said on T.V. are hilarious. Because I love you."

Kim's could feel her eyes widening dramatically at his words, though she wasn't aware of much else other than him. She had no idea how to respond to that, but it didn't matter because Jared just continued on speaking.

"Imprinting didn't make me falling in love with you. You did that all on your own and I didn't even know it was happening at first. All I knew was that I needed to be there for you, to support you in any way possible because you didn't have anyone else to do that for you. But when I did figure out that I was falling for you, I was terrified that you would turn me down. Because I'd gotten to know you and I didn't want to scare you away; I wanted to be a part of your life. It may have started as a need due to supernatural meddling, but being with you became a need because I can't imagine my life any other way and I don't want it any other way."

If Kim had been rendered speechless by his previous declaration, then she had no idea how to describe how she felt now. This…Jared…she had no words.

And the best part was that what he said made complete sense.

Because she had gone through something similar...though she hadn't quite reached the in-love stage yet. And now she knew exactly the right words to respond.

"I've had a crush on you since at least the seventh grade," Kim confessed. "Possibly earlier, to be honest. I can't pinpoint the exact moment I first decided you were the cutest boy I'd ever seen. As the years went on, I thought you got even cuter. And even though I knew things about you—like where your locker was and your favorite color and who you ate lunch with—it was all still pretty superficial. I didn't actually know you."

Then she cracked a small smile at him.

"And then I got the chance to, and spending time with you was brilliant; better than I ever could have imagined. And I got to learn things about you that actually mattered, like that English is your favorite class because it gives you an excuse to read. And that even though you'd rather play than watch, if given the choice you'll choose the Seahawks over the Mariners any day because your grandpa always used to say the Mariners were bad luck and he'd take you to Seahawks games every year. And that family means everything to you—but the people that count as family to you aren't just limited to actual family members. And," suddenly she gave a snort of laughter, "How you can shape-shift into a wolf to protect the tribe."

"To protect you," Jared murmured.

Kim's smile widened. "And that even though I still get nervous sometimes, because that's just how I am around people, there is nothing I would rather do than spend time with you, too."

Jared smiled softly at her.

"You're perfect," he informed her, "I only wish I could have noticed you sooner."

"It doesn't matter," Kim stated resolutely, "Because you have me now. And if I really am your soulmate—"

"Oh you definitely are," Jared cut in.

"—then we have years together ahead of us," Kim finished.

"Can I tell you something?" Jared asked softly, his head slowly dipping lower.

"Anything," Kim breathed, her hands coming up to rest on his chest while his drifted to her waist.

"I thought this conversation would involve a lot of screaming."

Kim rolled her eyes. "I can't argue with the truth. And I was there developing a solid basis for my feelings, just like you were. Besides, I don't yell that much."

"I have never heard someone yell at someone else so much as you did when Rose let go of Jack, even though you knew exactly what was going to happen. And don't even get me started on the swearing. My ears may never recover from it."

Kim could hear the teasing smile in his voice even though their faces were now so close together that she couldn't see anything other than his eyes. He had really beautiful eyes.

"Oh just shut up and kiss me already."