A/N: So if you're reading this for the second time, you'll realize that I updated and changed the ending. A couple reviews got me thinking about all my character progress and the writer's block that I had and I finally, finally figured out an ending that was acceptable and that will lead me to where I originally wanted to end my story.

So thanks for everyone who's sticking around to read this and even if you have to reread it again and again every time it takes me a million years to update because you've forgotten the story, I love you all. And I want to make this story great for you guys. So I'm changing the ending and getting back on track. I've been inspired. I love you all.

There are a lot of times where having an epiphany would have been acceptable. A wedding reception is not one of them.

There was a time where being at Emily and Sam's wedding reception would have been like a second nature to me. Hanging out with all of my friends, maybe even having a few sneaky sips of champagne while nobody was looking. Jared would take my hand and guide me out on to the dance floor while we cuddled up and swayed slowly to the music. I would probably be twirled around the floor and dipped upside down by Paul and even steal a dance with the groom himself. As the night drew on, we would send Sam and Emily off on their honeymoon happily and Jared would drive me home like a gentleman but I would be the one to casually suggest taking me to his place instead of mine. It would be the perfect night.

Instead, I'm sitting at the wedding party table by myself quietly. Jared is sitting next to me and he is also silent, but I can still feel his eyes on me. Our spontaneous moment in the car on the way here is long gone, and I'm back to feeling uncomfortable in his presence for the first time in a few days. My warm and fuzzy feelings from the ceremony about wanting a change are long gone. Especially now that I am watching Sam and Emily's first dance and noticing the way he tenderly cups her face or leans down to kiss her every few seconds. The cameras are flashing like crazy and everyone is oohing and aahing but I can't help but feel like I'm about to throw up.

The way his body follows her every move. His eyes never leave her face and he occasionally kisses her scars. The scars that he gave her.

Sam gave up everything to be with Emily. His girlfriend and his past and the person he used to be. And Emily gave up everything to be with Sam. Her best friend and cousin, her previous life, the future she could have had and her body. And yet here they were, dancing on the day of their wedding like nothing else mattered. There wasn't even an air of forgiveness to their relationship. It was like these things never happened in the first place. Because in their hearts, their love was the only thing that was important. The imprint was stronger than everything and anything that could come their way.

Why did the imprint bond them so strongly? Why did it work so well for them, or for Quil, who looked past the fact that Claire was only five every single day? What about Paul, who imprinted on the sister of someone he couldn't stand? And how could we forget Jacob, who imprinted on the half vampire daughter of the woman he used to love?

Why was my imprint not as strong as theirs? It should have been easy. I loved Jared for as long as I could remember. I was already bound to him. And when he looked at me, fell in love with me, imprinted on me, it should have sealed the deal. It should have been unbreakable. He was never supposed to hurt me like he did. I didn't think it was possible. But he did. Why did it have to happen to me?

I'm so lost in thought and overwhelmed by the sickening feeling in my stomach that I jump when Jared's warm hand grabs mine and pulls me up out of my seat. I realize that the bridal party has joined the dance floor. Paul and Rachel are already wrapped up in each other, twirling around as gracefully as Paul can manage with his awkwardly large limbs. Jacob and Leah are dancing as well, although they aren't as wrapped up together. He has a hand gently on her waist and is guiding her around the dance floor and I can see his lips moving. He must have said something funny because she's rolling her eyes and laughing simultaneously.

Jared places his warm hand on my waist. I can feel his skin burning through my dress and I lightly place my own hand as far up his shoulder as I can reach. He smiles as me and I can tell he wants to make a teasing comment about me being short, but he stops when he realizes that I'm refusing to make eye contact with him. "Are you okay?" He asks me.

I realize that I can question myself about Jared's actions and intentions until I'm blue in the face, but I will never get an answer unless I actually talk to him. So in an extremely quiet voice, although I can't tell if my voice is quiet because I don't want any werewolf eavesdroppers, or if I'm just too nervous to speak up, I ask, "why did you do it?"

He tenses up. "Why did I do what, Kim?" I hate the way he has to say my name every time he talks to me or asks me a question.

"You know what." I whisper.

I can tell he's shocked. "This is definitely not the time or place to talk about this."

"I don't understand how you could hurt me like this. How you were able to hurt me." I'm still whispering, but I know that Sam, Jacob, Paul and Leah can all hear me because the movement around us has slowed down and the atmosphere is tense. "Maybe you didn't really imprint on me. Maybe I'm still in high school and this is some sick joke that everyone is playing on me so that they can laugh at my heartbreak."

Jared finally smartens up and twirls me over to the end of the makeshift dance floor, where he promptly grabs my wrist and hurriedly pulls me around to the front yard. "Of course I imprinted on you! You are the only thing that holds me to this Earth and you are constantly consuming me. I think about you day and night. How could you ever doubt that you are my imprint?"

"You don't love me like the other wolves love their imprints. It's scientifically impossible according to the collection of data that I've recorded." I'm babbling and speaking nerd, a bad habit of mine that I had all throughout school. Summer used to tease me about it, saying that I sounded like a prerecorded lecture that teachers sometimes played during class when they didn't want to teach. Summer, another causality of my so-called imprint. "Although others have made mistakes, they have never purposefully caused internal heartache to their imprint, nor has the imprintee ever rejected their apology or held a long lasting grudge towards any of their ill actions. So I've come to the conclusion that either you have mistaken your imprint, or that our connection is weaker than the others."

He is staring at me, gaping with his mouth wide open. "I don't understand where this is coming from. I thought that things were okay between us… I thought…"

"Most women don't take back a cheating man, Jared. Why should I be different?"

"Because… It was a mistake, an accident. Because I love you and we're soul mates. Because of the imprint…" His voice is starting to tremble. "Because being without you is killing me." The end of the sentence is caught, because he's starting to cry.

My insides are twisted with guilt at his tears, despite the fact that I have cried many more than that for him. "Do you think that maybe you could un-imprint?" I ask gently. Un-imprint. I don't think it's a thing, but maybe it could be. Maybe reversing the imprint could ease the pain of separation and heartache from both of us and help us go back to living normal lives.

"What!?" He spits out in surprise. "Un-imprint? What the hell is that?"

I shrug meekly. "I don't know. Maybe seeing me inside Paul's mind all the time was too hard. Maybe me associating myself with La Push made things worse. Maybe if I went somewhere far away from everyone and we had no contact that we could un-imprint. And then being apart wouldn't hurt. And it would be like our relationship never existed."

"Kim… I could never forget about our relationship. I could never forget about you. I could live for a thousand more years, all of them without you, and your smile, your laugh, your scent, the taste of your lips and the softness of your skin would be as fresh in my mind as the day we first kissed." He moans loudly. "What can I do? I will do anything? What can I do to fix this? I need you."

My eyes shy away from him awkwardly. Looking at him makes it worse. "Maybe you can't."

I expected begging. I expected more tears and a whispered apology and his hands trying to pry my face towards him. Instead, Jared snarls suddenly. "Damn it Kim! I can't do this anymore!" His words are closer to a inhumane growl than actual English. "Do you understand how this feels for me? The human side of me, the person who hurt you, wants to let you go and be happy and free and away from all of this misery, away from me. But my wolf is fighting with me. Literally tearing me apart. He has claimed you as his own. And everyday since you've been back, I've had to physically restrain him from grabbing you against your will, throwing you into my bedroom and fucking you into submission. My wolf wants to dominate you and I don't know how much longer I can fight him off."

My heart drops into my stomach and I can tell that I'm gaping at him, but I can't seem to find the part of my brain that controls my mouth. His confession has rattled me to my core in multiple ways. "Tell me more about your wolf." I ask in a quiet voice. He doesn't seem shocked that I'm asking.

"My wolf hates me for what I did to you." He says without batting an eye. "My wolf fights with my humanity everyday. He's constantly watching you, the way your eyelashes dust your cheeks when you duck your eyes down shyly. He basks in your smell and feels angry when you aren't around or when you smell like another wolf. It doesn't matter who it is. Paul, Jared, Quil… It drives him insane with jealousy." I don't think Jared realizes that he is holding both of my wrists and that he has me pressed up against the outside of the wall. He's boring his eyes into mine and they have a reddish glint to them. It's almost feral. He's not trembling, so I know he's not close to phasing, but I also know he is more wolf than man. "My wolf wanted me to chase you down in Portland and drag you home screaming by the ankles and lock you up. He wanted to punish you for running away. He wants to punish you."

His forehead is touching mine. He's breathing heavily, I can feel the hot air blowing across my face. "Don't." I whisper. But it's so weak and I don't mean it, so I know that there's no way in hell wolf-Jared has heard it.

"My wolf wants you, needs you, loves you. I want you. I need you. I love you." He bites his lip hard and then he looks at my own lips, like he wants to kiss me. But I beat him to it. I wrap my arm around his neck and pull him down. He kisses me like he did in the car before the reception. Only this time it is not gentle or chaste, and I don't want it to be. Our lips crash together hard, almost bruising. His one hand is still restraining my wrist above my head and the other has made its way up to entangle tightly in my hair. His whole body is flush against me. And my own inner self has given up the fight. I let all of my misery and my pride go and I grab hold of his tuxedo collar and continue to kiss him with all my might.

I cannot fight the wolf anymore.

We don't go back to the reception. Jared takes me back to his place. And when I wake up, I'm laying on his chest while he strokes my hair, while my dress is crumpled up somewhere by the front door and my shoes are probably still somewhere in the grass out front. I don't even try to move. I can barely feel my legs and I'm sure that Jared's large handprints are imprinted into my hips, my back, and my thighs. In fact, I can't think of a place that he didn't touch me.

There's a large red mark at the base of my neck. It looks like it's turning purple and starting to bruise already. I touch it and I flinch, knowing exactly what it was. Jared's wolf had marked me.

I was his.

"What have I done?" I whisper in horror to myself. "What have I done?" I repeat.

Jared's body shoots up with me and I scramble out of bed. "Kim? Kim wait, don't do this. Don't run. Please." He's panicking, I can hear it in his voice. I have to get out of here.

"I can't. I can't. Oh my God, what did I do?" I'm muttering to myself, running basically naked out of his room to collect my strewn clothes. "I need to leave." My voice breaks. I'm about to cry.

Jared appears in front of me in nothing but a pair of basketball shorts, palms stretched forward in surrender. "Calm down. Kim, let me just take you home okay? We can talk about this?"

He steps towards me and I break into a run out the door and down the road, in nothing but my bridesmaid's dress and my bare feet.