PREVIOUSLY-

He phased and walked out as a wolf, leaving his shorts behind, before Jared walked behind the tree.

Jared came out and rubbed his neck before looking up at me.

Then the world stopped turning.

I saw my life flash before my eyes, but it wasn't my past. It was my future and it was absolute. Set in stone. Unlike Alice's visions, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this future would come to pass. This was the reason I was meant to be on the reservation. This was what beckoned me. This was my gravity. This was everything.

Jared's eyes remained glued to mine the entire time. I could feel his shock and surprise at what just happened.

Wait. Feel it?

Yes. I could feel it. How strange. It was such an odd sensation that I could genuinely feel his emotions running side by side with my own.

"Jared?" I asked him, snapping him from his trance. "What just happened?"

"I just- Bella, I just imprinted on you." He replied with assurance. "Why did it only happen just now? I've seen you so many times before." He seemed to mutter to himself.

I gave him a confused look. "What's an imprint?" I felt like I knew in my heart but I needed him to say the words.

He sighed and ran a hand down his face seemingly trying to figure out how to explain it.

"How did Sam explain it?" He murmured quietly.

"Is it like what Sam has with Emily?" I questioned curiously.

His eyes flashed back to mine. "It's exactly what Sam has with Emily. He imprinted on her, just like I did with you."

My mind went over all the times I'd seen Sam and Emily together. They were incredibly close, closer than I'd ever seen another couple. His devotion to her was indescribable. I was legitimately awed by it.

"What does that mean for us?" I asked him with a genuine intrigue.

"It means that I'll be whatever you want me to be, Bella, no matter what that is. My life is connected to yours like a million steel cables attached between the two of us. My entire universe revolves around you now. I'd do anything for you. Be anything for you. Anything at all to keep you happy and safe."

Wow. That was… a lot.

In an instant I was so suddenly permanently tied to someone. Almost like an instant soulmate, though it very nearly sounded so much more than that. I could literally feel that he was telling the absolute truth. I already trusted him with my entire being. There wasn't even a question about it.

When I hadn't said anything, he continued. "Look, I know it's a bit overwhelming right now. When I say that I'll be anything you want me to be, I mean it. If you want me to just be a friend, that's what I'll do. We don't have to jump into being like Sam and Emily right away. If you do, then I'm all for it. It's all at your pace. You don't even have to make up your mind yet."

I thought about what he said for a moment and how I already felt the need to be close to him, to touch him and just be surrounded by him. That wasn't friendship. "It would be nice… to have what Sam and Emily have." His eyes lit up and I could feel a surge of hope within him. I knew immediately that I'd made the right choice. "It's not like I don't already know you, Jared. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing where things go, if you want to try."

He let out a breath and walked right to me, wrapping his arms around my middle, lifting me up and spinning me in a circle before putting me back down.

"I'd really like that." He smiled at me happily before continuing. "We need to get going. The guys are going to start wondering what's taking us so long."

I laughed and looked around, only now remembering that we were standing in the middle of a forest. "Oh yeah, I completely forgot what we were supposed to be doing. I was kinda lost in my own little world."

"I was too. They'll understand, or at least Sam will." He hesitantly took my hand and I squeezed it, letting him know it was okay.

We walked through the forest and he lifted me over fallen trees until we made it to the road where I could see a car sitting off to the side with the drivers side door still wide open.

I turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I-uh- might have phased really quick. I can't explain it, but I knew immediately when you were coming to the res. I knew I had to come to you. I guess the imprint would be why." He explained as he opened the passenger door for me to climb in.

"I had the same feeling. Like I needed to be here and I couldn't shake it." I replied to him.

"Paul had to come too. We phased in at the same time. He said he had to make sure you were safe." Jared told me as he started the car, and we began to drive toward Emily's.

"Why would he want to keep me safe? If I recall correctly, to him I'm just a 'leech lover'." I questioned with a hurt voice.

I could swear I heard Jared growl. "I don't know. It wasn't the same thing I was feeling as I ran to you. When I got to the border and you were there, all I could smell was leech scent on you and I needed so bad to get it off you. I needed you to smell like wolf. I needed you to smell like me. I still do and it's driving me nuts. Paul was more concerned about just keeping you safe and getting you away from the danger. I mean I was too more than anything, but in our minds there was a different type of need about it. It's difficult for me to describe, but I was in his head, and I could feel the difference. I guess we'll find out when we get to Emily's."

I nodded and we kept driving until he pulled into the familiar driveway.

"You ready to face the music?" I asked him.

"Better now than later." He grumbled, getting out of the car and coming to open the passenger side for me to get out.

When we walked inside, all eyes were on us.

"Congratulations, Jared and Bella." Sam said immediately causing me to look over at Jared in question.

"Dude, the entire pack knew when you imprinted and Bella accepted it." Embry stated.

"Seriously?" Jared questioned, clearly confused.

"Yeah brother, it was like when we automatically know there's a new pack member for the first time. Bella was an honorary pack member before but now she's official." Sam explained to him. I guess it made sense.

I looked over to where Jake was walking up to us. He first shook Jared's hand and bumped shoulders before coming up to me and giving me a hug.

"I'm surprised you're okay with this." I mentioned to Jacob as Jared watched us very closely.

"As soon as we all felt the imprint, all of the romantic feelings I had for you were just gone. To be honest I'm really relieved. It would be rough to have a crush on my pack brother's imprint. I don't think Jared would take that very well." Jake laughed.

It made me so relieved too. I couldn't even describe how happy that made me. Being able to have Jake as my friend meant a lot.

Next was Paul. He had his head down as he walked up to us and he sucked in a breath before looking up at me.

When his dark brown eyes met mine, I was transported again. This time my visions were different though. It wasn't like with Jared at all.

I was brought back to reality when Jared touched my arm.

I looked at Paul who seemed just as confused as I was.

"Did I just-?" I heard Paul ask Jared quickly.

"Uh yeah, bro, you did." Jared replied surprised as I looked between the two of them.

"Dude, I swear it's not like that. It's completely different than yours." Paul told him quickly while I stared in shock.

"I know. I can feel it too." Jared said to him, leaving me completely and utterly confused. Jared turned to Sam. "Hey Sam, the three of us need to go talk. Just us. We'll be back."

Sam nodded, still in shock with no words, and the three of us made our way outside toward the woods. Leaving a room full of confused wolves in our wake.

"Okay, so again, what in the world just happened?" I asked them both with wide eyes.

"He imprinted on you, too." Jared told me. "But it's so weird. Like we said, it's different than mine. It's definitely an imprint, but without being the romantic/soulmate type in any way."

"What I saw in my head… it was almost like Paul is destined to be my—"

"Yep, looks like we're going to be BFF's, Swan." Paul cut me off. "Yeah, I saw the same thing you did. Seriously how do I manage to imprint on someone and automatically be friend-zoned for the rest of my life? I mean, I'm more than happy to be that for you, but how the fuck does that happen?"

A/N- Another chapter, yay! Well, what do you think? Were you expecting Paul to imprint as well? If so, did you think it would be in this way? Don't forget to review!