{Chapter Nine}
Streaks of sunlight penetrate the window as I blink, close my eyes, and blink again. The only sound I hear is the sound of birds outside. I want to stand but my legs give way to gravity and I collapse. I blink as the blurriness fades from my vision and my surroundings become clearer. My grip on the bed rail is so tight that my knuckles are white. I try to get to my feet again, but gravity stands in my way. This time before I can hit the floor, a familiar pair of arms circles around my waist.
"Easy there, gorgeous," Seth says.
Seth helps me back onto the bed and I try to take some deep and steadying breaths.
"I'm fine. I'm fine," I gasp, waving him off.
"You're not. You feel from a second story window."
"Really, I am. I'm just having...having some trouble bre...breathing," I gasp out.
As if summoned by magic, Carlisle appears at my side. Before I can protest, he fits an oxygen mask over my face.
"Deep breaths, Mia."
I nod and inhale as he continues to check my vitals. Seth intertwines my fingers with his and I squeeze his hand in reassurance. After a few minutes, Carlisle removes the mask and asks me to breathe on my own. I take a few deep breaths as he listens, and after a few minutes, he nods in satisfaction.
"Good, your breathing is back to normal. I would suggest not attempting to walk on your own again. At least not for a few days, your body is still in recovery," Carlisle says.
"So, what happens next?" I ask.
"You recover. A discussion on what happened can wait until you are back on your feet," Carlisle says.
"But..."
"Doctor's orders," Carlisle says.
I sigh or rather sigh as best as I can since sighing feels like a stab to the gut. Carlisle leaves and Seth takes a seat in the chair next to the bed. His gaze wanders over me like he is terrified that any moment I will fade from existence. He runs his hand through his hair before shaking his head and scoffing.
"What?" I ask.
"You have no idea how much I love you, do you?" he asks.
"What are you talking about?" I ask.
"I thought I had lost you. I thought you were dead, that I had just watched you die. I felt so...so..."
He closes his fist before opening it again, "helpless. I felt helpless."
"Seth..."
"You risked your life for me."
"You would have done the same thing," I say.
Seth shakes his head, "it's not the same."
"Why isn't it?"
Seth stands up and starts pacing the floor. He is mumbling to himself as if he is trying to talk himself into saying what he wants to say. He finally stops at the end of the bed, his gaze locking onto mine.
"It's not the same because you can live without me, but I can't...I can't live without you."
"Seth..."
He holds up a hand, "let me finish."
I nod for him to continue and he takes a deep breath.
"You can live without me, but I can't live without you because I don't want to. You are my everything, Mia. Believe me, I know how intense that sounds but it's true. Without you, I would be...I would be lost. Our connection is a lot more than just two kids in love. It's..it's almost fundamental to my existence. I would do anything for you, be anything for you...I..."
He growls in frustration as the words leave him and I gesture for him to come closer. He walks closer and I pull him down for a kiss, pouring all of my love into it. He pulls away but rests his forehead to mine. His eyes are still closed.
"Seth, look at me," I whisper.
He opens his eyes and I gaze into his, hoping that my eyes show my absolute dedication to what I'm about to say.
"You're wrong."
He squints in question and I press my lips to his again.
"I can't live without you. You're my soulmate, the love of my life, the one. You're all of it. Like you said before, you and I are endgame and nothing... nothing is going to change that. I love you, Seth Clearwater."
The smile that lights up his face as I say those three little words is the biggest and brightest I have ever seen. His lips are one mine in an instant and I can feel all the love and passion in that one kiss. He pulls away again before smiling at me.
"Say it again."
"Say what again? I didn't say anything," I laugh.
He laughs before pressing another kiss to my lips.
"I love you," I say.
He laughs again before pressing another kiss to my lips.
"I love you," I say.
He laughs again before laying back in his chair.
"I just...I'm just the happiest man on the planet right now."
He jumps up from his chair, smiling like an idiot the entire time.
"I have to go run off this excitement. I don't think I've ever been this happy."
I laugh, and he presses a kiss to my lips before running out the door, almost crashing into Emmett.
"Sorry!" he yells out.
Emmett mumbles something about dogs before shooting me his signature smile.
"So, I leave you for what? Like eight hours and you almost kill yourself? That has got to be some kind of record, Wolfe."
I roll my eyes, "I wasn't trying to die. I was stopping Asher from choking out Seth."
"Speaking of, what was he so happy about?"
"I told him that I fully believe he could kick your ass," I say.
"Haha, very funny. It's not nice to fill his head with fantasies."
Emmett pulls me into a hug which I gladly return. He then takes Seth's recently vacated chair and puts his feet up on the bed, his arms behind his head.
"Comfortable?" I ask, one eyebrow raised.
"Very."
I'm about to make another comment when Gabriel walks in, worry etched on his face. It fades once he sees me smiling. He doesn't hesitate to pull me into a massive hug.
"You trying to send your old man to an early grave? You scared the crap out of me, little wolf."
"I know and I'm sorry," I say.
He pulls away and looks at Emmett, "you yell at her yet about tackling a guy out of the window yet?"
Emmett shakes his head, "nope. Thought I would leave that to you and Carlisle."
Gabriel shakes his head before pulling up another chair, "I wasn't planning on it. I can't really yell at her for something I would have done if I was in her position."
"What do you mean?" Emmett asks.
"She wasn't reacting as a normal person would. She was reacting like an imprintee who saw their imprinter in danger. Or maybe as an imprinter who say their imprintee in danger. I'm not sure how her and Seth's imprinting works since they are both wolves," Gabriel says.
"Imprinting? What's that?" I ask.
"Sounds like you printed something on a tee shirt," Emmett says.
Gabriel laughs, "it's what draws you to Seth and what draws Seth to you. When a shifter finds their soulmate, they imprint. They become unconditionally bound to whoever they imprinted on. We aren't sure why it happens, although Sam seems to think it is whoever you have the best chance of reproducing with. Billy Black and I believe that imprinting is designed to make us stronger."
"How do you know if you've been imprinted?" I ask.
"Well, I can't describe the feeling for the imprintee. But the imprinter will feel pulled towards whoever they imprinted on. A kind of heat feels you and everyone and everything else becomes secondary. Even your own life."
Emmett and I are silent as Gabriel's eyes mist over for a second, almost like he is lost in a memory. He shakes his head to clear it before shooting us a smile.
"Anyway, that's probably why you charged Asher out of a window."
I nod, and Emmett gets up feeling the tension in the room.
"I think I'll go check and see if Rosalie needs help with picking out her latest hair accessory."
He walks out of the room and leaves Gabriel and me in silence. Gabriel opens his mouth to say something, but I cut him off.
"It was my mom wasn't it?" I ask.
Gabriel is silent for a moment before he closes his eyes and sighs.
"She was my best friend. My everything, I thought... I thought..." he sighs again.
"I thought we would spend the rest of our lives together, but she wanted to leave the reservation. I told her I would leave with her, that I would relinquish my right as Alpha to be with her. But she...she didn't want that. Said that it was my responsibility to protect the reservation and all who live on it. I refused, told her I didn't care about anything except her, that nothing else mattered to me. But it was something she felt strongly about, so in order to get me to stay, she... she rejected me. Chose Hunter instead, I guess because he was already leaving the pack, so he didn't have any responsibilities to anyone. God, it felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. I wanted to die. A few years later they asked me to fly to New York and I fell in love all over again. Except for this time, it's different. This time it's with this beautiful little girl full of laughter and smiles, who looked up at me and called me uncle Gaby."
He smiles over at me and takes my hand, "I knew then that I couldn't go anywhere. That the little girl had captured my heart 100%, I was as whipped as a person could be. I was going to spend every waking moment being the best damn uncle on the planet. Then years later, I come to find out that, that little girl is my little girl..."
He blows out a breath, "my whole world changed. It felt like a piece of me had been put back. Everything started clicking into place. I knew that there was no going back. I was terrified that day you found out that you would reject me. Tell me to go to hell. But then you looked at me and I saw that little girl all over again and you said you wanted me to be your dad. That you wanted to give me a chance. You gave me the greatest possible gift I could have ever gotten from anyone. You have my life meaning again. You gave me a reason to live, a reason to fight, you gave me everything."
He wipes the tears from my face because I am openly crying at this point and laughs.
"Hey, none of that. This is supposed to be a happy moment."
"It is. These are tears of joy," I say, sniffling.
I wipe my face and he shakes his head, "come here, Little Wolf."
He pulls me into another hug and I bury my head in his chest. For years I have always felt closer to Gabriel than anybody else. He always had a way of making me feel safe like nothing bad was ever going to happen to me because he would always be there. He was the one that made it to every recital, every soccer tournament, every birthday party. Hunter was always at work or away on a business trip, so my mom was always forced to say "sorry sweetheart, but daddy couldn't make it." She never had to say that about Gabriel though, he always showed up. I pull away after a minute and look up at him.
"Thank you," I say.
"For what?" he asks, one eyebrow raised.
"For being there when he wasn't."
"Believe me, little wolf. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else."