We had bonfires pretty often, we would roast hot dogs at the fire and the elders would gather round and tell us the stories of our tribe.
Everyone from the pack and their families was at the beach for one of our bonfires.
Since Claire and Nora lived with Sam and Emily, they always came to the bonfires. They were so fascinated by the stories that the elders told, and always loved coming. They didn't suspect that they were true, nevertheless their imaginations would run wild.
It was pretty cool on the beach, and the sky's pale grey shade turned into a dark blue as the sun set. The weather was not unexpected, considering it was late February.
Claire was curled up with her sister in a sleeping bag, but still shivering. Nora seemed warm enough, staring at the fire with a sparkle in her eye.
Claire slowly stood up and walked over to me, with a small smile on her face. She spoke quietly, probably because she didn't want to disrupt the story, but almost everyone around her had werewolf hearing and could hear everything she said anyway.
"Quil, could I sit on your lap? I'm so cold and I dunno why."
I nodded and pulled her onto my lap, wrapping my warm arms around her. She was automatically warm, and settled in to pay attention to the story again.
I looked down at her, thinking about how lucking I was to have her in my life. Her brown eyes sparkled with the glimmer of the fire like her sisters, but there was something more there. As Billy told the tales about the cold ones and the shapeshifters, curiosity filled her eyes.
I shook my head because I knew I would have my hands full with her.
It started to get really late and everyone was starting to leave. I brought Claire and Nora to my truck and we headed back to Sam and Emily's.
As soon as they were in bed, I set off for patrol. Sam wanted us to patrol a little extra around the reservation lately, because we could sense some vampires around the border. This just meant long hours constantly, but we were fine with it as long as everyone was safe.
As I ran along La Push's border, it felt like something was off. I brushed it off and made sure I didn't smell any vampires around. As I was heading back, a howl broke the silence and peace of the woods.
I felt Embry phase and suddenly we were sharing thoughts.
Quil we need your help
What's going on? I heard a howl but I didn't recognize it.
Someone new phased for the first time. It was Cole, Sarah's kid
What? But he's only 12
I know, the vampires that we have smelled by the border must have set him off
That's insane
We were finally at Sam's house and in his backyard was a small, dark brown wolf.
Collin and Brady were closest to Cole, trying to comfort him because they had experience with phasing that young.
Cole, I know you're flipping your shit right now but the sooner you calm down the sooner you can phase back and we can explain everything Brady thought towards Cole
Flipping my shit? That's the understatement of the year! I just exploded into a wolf when my mom asked me to take the trash out! Cole thought back, obviously not calm..
And also, what is this? Some weird sort of cult?
Cole please just calm down and imagine yourself in your human skin… picture it in your mind
Brady added
A little while later, a human Cole was laying on the ground, sad and confused.
Embry threw him a pair of shorts and motioned for him to come inside.
As soon as we got inside, we explained everything.
"So let me get this straight, you guys are like gigantic, furry bodyguards that save people from bloodsucking assholes? And I am too.. but you guys are so much older than me, why is this happening now?" He said with an extremely confused look on his face.
Sam spoke up, "Brady and Collin both phased for the first time when they were thirteen, so it's not completely new to us. We have been finding signs of vampires at the border, so that's probably what set you off."
He nodded, processing everything. We stayed in Sam's kitchen answering questions for a while, until we heard footsteps coming downstairs.
Nora suddenly appeared, rubbing her eyes and looking up at all of us. "Uncle Sam, why are all of the guys here?"
"Oh just a meeting about work stuff, why don't you go back to bed."
She nodded and looked around the room at us. Her eyes suddenly stopped, halfway around the table. We all looked up to see what she was looking at, when we saw Cole had a rather familiar, stupid grin plastered on his face.
"Oh god, seriously?" Sam said, his voice dripping with annoyance.
Hoots and hollers filled the room as one by one, as everyone in the pack realised what had just happened.
"Why can't anyone in this pack NOT imprint on my nieces." Sam's voice boomed, then looking at Nora hoping that she didn't hear that.
She was too busy staring at Cole, looking lost in his eyes to hear anything.
"Cole why don't you, Quil and I have a chat outside for a minute." Sam said, while ultimately giving him no choice in the matter and tugging him out of the room.
"What just happened?" he asked.
"You imprinted, on Sam's eight year old niece." I answered with a grin on my face.
"This is what you meant when you said before, keep an eye out if you ever start staring at a girl like they're the only one in the room?" He questioned skeptically. "But aren't they supposed to be your age, so you can like date them and stuff?"
"You will not be dating my eight year old niece!" Sam yelled into his face.
"Yes, yes I know, I'm not into that."
Sam rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, but you have it easy." I said to him.
"Why, all the other imprints can actually date each other…" he said glumly.
"I imprinted on Nora's sister… when she was three." I stated clearly.
"Woah, jeez man that sucks… but Nora? That's her name? That's so pretty." He said, zoning out thinking of her.
"Snap out of it! You won't be dating until she is old enough and you explain everything to her." Sam said to him as he started to walk back inside.
"Yes obviously. I just want to spend time with her and be her friend." He said back to Sam.
"Let's go back inside and give you two a proper introduction." I said to Cole.
We went inside and Cole and Nora sat on the couch, reading a book.
Everyone else went home, exhausted after our eventful night. Me and Sam stood at the counter, watching Cole and Nora.
"What am I gonna do with you guys?" Sam asked me while rubbing his eyes.
"Well, we can just promise you that we will be there for the girls, and trust that we are good people. And Cole and Nora don't even have that big of an age gap, it's just that they are both so young now, that it seems weird." I said reassuringly.
"Yeah, your right, but I just hate that even though how much I know that you and Cole are the best for them, that they couldn't figure it out for themselves. Some supernatural energy already did." He said thoughtfully.
"Yeah I get it, I wish it happened in a different way too, but I just feel lucky that Claire and I will get to be in eachothers lives for so long, and I'm grateful for that." I said, simply.
"When did you get so grown up?" He stared at me.
"When I stepped back and realised what my life was, and that I had to look at in a certain way, to enjoy it." I said, shaking my head. "But don't worry, I am still plenty immature to look sixteen for the next thousand years."
He chuckled at that and stood there for a minute, gazing at his niece.
Emily came down the stairs with Gabe perched on her hip since it was now the morning, and said "What's up?"
"Well, let's just say we don't have to worry about Nora as much." Sam said with a smirk.
"What are you talking about…" Emily replied slowly.
I decided to head home as Sam was filling Emily in about everything and get a couple hours of sleep before I went back over there to hang out with Claire. As I was running home, all I could think about was how crazy life was sometimes, and how amazing it could all be.
Hey guys, did you like this chapter? I really wanted Claire's sister to get an imprint, because in a lot of the stories, I feel like she's left out.
Also should start making chapters from Claire's point of view yet? Please review and let me know.
Thanks for reading!
Soph