A/N:

Thanks for the reviews and feedback. So nice to know people read and dig what I write and also your thoughts on the story and characters. Made me produce this quick-ish update.

More Kim and Jared towards the end here. A bigger moment between then happens in the next chapter.

Anna and I found ourselves slogging through muddy woods somewhere around Forks, Washington on a vampire hunt. The whole time I was mentally at war with myself.

At first it was: This super hot dude is into you, FINALLY, and now you want to jump on the bus out of here?!

But then I thought: Yes, you have to leave. What the fuck is this anyway? Vampires? Werewolves?! You don't belong.

And, then: But he smells so good!

And there was a lot of: Why now? What changed? Am I some how fucking up Twilight World??

I was completely in my own head about the whole thing. So much so that I screamed bloody murder when Anna lightly put her hand on my shoulder as we trudged through the forest.

"Whoa there, Kim. Maybe it's time to switch to decaf."

I caught my breath.

"Har, har, har," I gave a small smile. If I had to go through this was anyone I was glad it was her. Twilight Anna was so much like Tampa Anna. Brilliant, but down to earth. Compassionate, but logical. They were like near carbon copies, like soul sisters.

"I get you are in some deep internal debate with yourself, but it has been at least an hour and we haven't found this magical vampire house. What's the plan here?" She said all of this with a smile, letting me know she was still on team Kim.

But, in truth, I had no plan. I remembered the Cullens living in some fancy architectural digest type of house in the middle of a forest and figured that would be easy enough to spot. But it wasn't and I was realizing that as I went further and further away from Jared I began to physically ache. My heart felt heavy, I couldn't focus on the task at hand. I started push out air harder and harder as we started up again.

"Why are you heaving like that?" I was starting to get out of breath as we walked on flat ground.

"What?" I said all breathy, stopping to look at her. "I'm.. I don't know.. I guess I'm just out of shape…"

She gave me side eyes. I tried again.

"The air is thin up here."

"Try again, Kim."

Dammit. I scrunched my eyes shut, willing myself to muster this one out.

"I… I may now have a Insta love, paranormal soul mate connection with one of the werewolves, Jared, and now that we are moving further away from him… it's physically getting harder for me to breath."

She stared at me in disbelief, so of course I stammered on like a babbling buffoon.

"It's something about the first look — after he first becomes a — whatever he is. But with Jared, I mean the other Kim must have looked him in the eye before, right? There are like seven people at that school. And me, I saw him at the hospital and then in my room… but it didn't happen until today after science. We imprinted."

A vision of me hugging Jared outside of the school washes over me and I feel whole again and less out of breath. I closed my eyes, just for a moment, and see his beautiful face.

When opened them Anna was staring at me, her body completely still. She was staring at me like the lunatic I obviously was.

"Come again?"

"I don't know! It's part of the whole book that I now find myself in! This is your bizarre sci fi world, not mine. All I know is that I am connected to him now and as we move further away from him… it hurts and I guess, I'm having trouble breathing. Like this connection is physically willing me to stay closer to him. I don't know…"

Anna crossed her arms, looking all professorial. "Kim, there are scientific theories about time travel, and alternate universes. I went out on a very, VERY long limp for you about werewolves and vampires. But magical, Cupid's arrow soul mates? That "imprint"?

My shoulders were slunk down and my jaw was tight. I was loosing Anna. And I needed her and her geeky Mensa brain, that also had a flare for Twilight, to get me out of dodge. I quickly wracked my brain.

"Ducklings!" I shouted, slightly reenergized.

"What, now?" She drawled skeptically.

"It happens in nature. Ducklings imprint, right?"

She looked at me in disbelief as she slowly nodded.

"They do. Usually on the mother or siblings. So they know who to follow, who is safe. An impression is created on the brain during a sensitive period…"

"See! Well, it's happening to me but instead of family it's with, I don't know a partner… but it doesn't matter because…" I stop for a moment, part of her words catching up to me.

"Wait. What do you mean by a sensitive period? For duckings, it's not always immediate?"

"Well, it's usually the first days of life, but not necessarily immediately. It's about trust."

Trust. So, Jared's wolf had to trust me. And for whatever reason, he didn't do that until today.

"Kim. You and Jared are not ducklings."

"But, Jared is a wolf! Or part wolf or whatever. He's from the animal kingdom, kinda. It could be possible."

"I mean anything is possible, but Kim." She took a long breath. "I need evidence."

I nodded. I needed to show her some of this paranormal crab in the flesh. We needed to find those vampires being vampirish.

"The house has to be this way." I started to feel a bit better as we moved forward. Maybe a sign we were close?

We made out way through the thick green forest mostly in silence until Anna's hands reached out to my shoulders, stopping my steps completely.

"Kim…" shook out of her. I looked at her line of sight and saw…a giant wolf. Correction: My giant wolf, evident by his green glowing eyes.

"Jared." His ears perked up at that, acknowledging that I recognized him.

Anna was frozen still. Petrified of the enormous wolf not 30 feet away from us.

"He won't hurt us, Anna. Look at his eyes. That's not a regular wolf."

"No… definitely not. Green, glowing eyes Kim! It could have rabies…" she was shaking.

I grabbed her hand. "Jared, Anna is scared."

He leaped behind some large boulders.

"What's he doing?" She whispered to me, as if she couldn't hear her.

"I don't know, leaving?" I felt a pang of guilt. "I guess I'm not suppose to tell you about any of this…maybe he's upset…" I tried to read the bond to sense any additional feelings he may be having, but was then fully distracted by Jared in all his glory. He stepped out from the rocks, covered in a brilliant sheen of sweat. He was barefoot and shirtless with only a pair of athletic shorts slung low on his hips.

"Holy hell." That was Anna.

"So he's… he can…?"

"Shape shift." That was the strong and steady voice of Jared.

He spoke to her but was once again looking at me, his eyes soft and green. He stood tall, hands on his hips, like a sheriff in a western who was decisively taking no shit. He looked delicious and his smell became more pungent, starting to make me go all banana brains again.

Without even thinking I moved close to him, like I was on one of those moving sidewalks at the airport, being delivered directly to him. His face softened as he opened his arms, welcoming me to him. He then wrapped me up like a blanket on a chilly evening. So warm and strong. He brushed his heavy hands up and down my back, chuckling, as I deeply breathed in.

"Kim. What are you doing?"

I barely registered Anna's question. I'm sure I looked insane to her. All I could focus on was the intoxication of Jared filling my nostrils.

"I… smell… he smell's…so good." Well that was articulate.

"His smell?!"

I couldn't even formulate any words. Not that I really knew what was happening anyway.

"It's cause it's so new," I looked up at him. "And he haven't had a change to really bond yet. You won't always feel so —"

"Love drunk?" We booth looked over at Anna who continued to eye us, suspiciously. Jared gave no fucks and I was high as a kite on Jared juice. He dropped his head back down to look at me.

"What 'cha doin' out here, babe? It's not safe for your guys over here right now."

"Not safe?" Anna looked at me. "I thought they were vegetarians, or whatever."

Jared's whole body stiffened. "We're leaving," came out in a gruff voice. His switch in demeanor snapped be back a bit. I looked at Anna wondering if this all was enough "evidence". She seemed to know exactly what I was thinking,

"We're good. Fully in paranormal universe. He's a shapeshifter and you have some weird animalistic connection. Got it. No vampire sightings needed."

She let out a huge breath and turned back on the direction we came from.

"I need to go to the library. Brush up on quantum mechanics and string theory… and maybe" she looked back at Jared, "animal behavior." I nodded. Jared's fingers slinked down my arm and grabbed my hand, leading me behind him.