Ruthie

I spent most of the day with Scarlett. Once the boys left she sat cross legged on the couch and looked at me.

"What does it mean now that I'm Embry's imprint?" I asked.

"Honestly for you nothing will change. He's been imprinted on you since he was like fifteen years old, or so I've been told. He's been seeing you as an imprint for so long, the only change will be that it's out in the open now." She said. I thought about that for a minute. It didn't seem like a bad thing.

"It's not always this easy. Trust me." She said, laughing.

"Em told me about how Paul told you. I think it's pretty funny." I said.

"I mean it was an accident. He didn't mean to tell me. But he did because things with us were so rocky at the time. Although I suppose it didn't get much better for a while." She said, lost in her memories.

"Why?" I asked.

"When Paul first told me, I had just moved from Michigan. I had been here two days and then this jerk friend of my cousin told me that he was desperately in love with me. That really messed me up. I had planned not to stay here for much longer, get through my senior year of high school, then go to Syracuse or Florida or somewhere to play lacrosse. I didn't expect to be tied down here at all."

"I remember that. Coming into the school year it was big talk that Paul had finally committed to someone." I chimed in.

"So I did finish my senior year, and during that time Paul had convinced me that he wasn't a total jerk all the time. But then I had to make a decision. Go to my dream school across the country, or stay with Paul. Paul was really supportive of it. He didn't want to hold me back. He knew that even as an imprint I would never love anything as much as lacrosse. We spent a lot of time talking about it. Weighing the possibilities, you know? I could go, and Paul could stay here, but the physical barrier would take its toll on both of us. I could go, and Paul could go with me, but Paul didn't have that kind of money. He hadn't been planning on going to college after high school. Or I could stay here with him. I think Paul was more against me staying than anyone. But I didn't want to be without him. After a year of spending so much time together I had come to love his stupid guts." She said. I loved the way she talked about him, contradicting herself.

"Ultimately I chose to stay here. If I want to get a college degree later in life, I'll just go somewhere close or take online classes. But right now my life is in place. I'm here with Paul." She said.

"Is the imprint really that strong then? That it would affect you had you gone to school far away?"

"It takes a physical toll on you. Typically both imprints get sick and are completely exhausted. I would know first hand. I avoided Paul for a week after he told me, just to be stubborn."

"You two are quite the match." I speculated.

"Emily has this theory that imprints aren't the opposite of the imprinter. She thinks that instead of opposites attracting, same personalities attract, like finding your missing half. For example, if opposites attract, Embry would have imprinted on me. Because he's really passive and gentle, and I'm stubborn and aggressive. But instead I'm stuck with Paul, because he has the same aggression. He knows how to handle me, and I know how to handle him. You're with Embry because you've been passive your whole life. Seth and Ri are the most happy-go-lucky people you will meet. Jared and Kim both love wholeheartedly. Not saying everyone else doesn't, but they're so obvious about it. Sam and Emily both have a parental personality." She said.

"What about Jake and Nessie?" I reminded her.

"When Embry shows you what his job is, you'll understand more. But Jake had eyes for Nessie's mom for a long time. He finally met Nes, and bam. Imprint. So they're connected that way." She said. I was still pretty confused, but if decided to ask Embry about it later.

It didn't take too long for the guys to come back. It was still light out. I heard Paul laughing loudly as he approached the house. He opened the door and pulled Scarlett into a tight hug.

"We got them good." He said, kissing her. Embry followed him in, immediately coming over to me.

"You wanna see what I do for work now?" He asked. I nodded, standing up. He took my hand and led me outside. We walked into the woods surrounding La Push. Embry kept insisting that I stop and rest, but I was feeling fine. We finally made it to a small clearing. Embry took both of my hands in his own.

"Ok, what I'm about to show you may frighten you. Just remember I'm right here." He said quietly. He kissed my head again, then took a few steps back.

"I'll be right back. Don't worry." He sad, backing behind a tree. I gazed after him, wishing he would come back already. The next thing I saw was a giant wolf. It was as big as a bear at least, maybe bigger. It had come from where Embry was standing. As it approached me, I remembered what Embry had said. He said it might frighten me, so I didn't let it. I stayed where I was, letting the wolf come closer. As it did I realized it had Embry's sweet, kind, eyes.

"Embry?" I said, feeling kind of foolish. The wolf nodded his large head. I raised my hand up and cautiously put it on his fur. He smiled, as well as a wolf could, then licked my arm.

"Will you come back now? I wanna talk with you." I asked. Embry licked my arm again, then bolted back into the woods. A minute later he came back.

"How much are you freaking out that you aren't showing me?" He asked.

"To be honest not too much. Since the imprinting legends were true, why not these ones too?" I said shrugging it off. Embry looked relieved.

"Great! Now I can fill you in on all of the holes." He said excitedly, sitting down and pulling me into his lap so I wouldn't have to sit in the damp grass.

"Paul told Scarlett about imprinting first too, kind of. He explained what it felt like, she made the connection that it was her and hit him with her lacrosse stick. One of the things that cause phasing is anger. Paul was so fed up that he phased right there on the beach. Another thing that causes phasing is stress. I almost phased a lot when you were hurt. When I first phased, I wasn't sure what to do. We have to keep it a secret, so I stopped hanging out with you. Obviously my wolf wanted to be with you, because the next time I saw you I imprinted. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to feel obligated to date me. You didn't need that stress in your life. My mom still doesn't know I'm a wolf, which sucks because I'm grounded all the time. As wolves we protect the Rez, and that what we were doing today. The cold ones are our sworn enemies, except for the clan that lives in Forks. Jake's been Bella's best friend for ages, but once she had Nessie he imprinted on Nes. Long story. But now that you know I feel so much better because you told me every secret of yours and I had two huge secrets that I couldn't tell you and-" I cut off Embry's ramble with a kiss.

"Have I told you lately how perfect you are?" He said after we broke apart. I laughed.

"I think you may have mentioned it." I joked.

"What are your plans for after high school?" Embry asked suddenly.

"We've talked about this before. I have no idea. I don't have money for college, but I don't want to stay at my house."

"Will you live with me then?" He asked quietly. I thought about it for a moment. I would get to stay away from my dad, and get to be with Embry every day.

"Yeah I'd like that." I said. Embry smiled and kissed me again quickly.

"I was thinking that I could get an actual job too, and save up for a house. Then we could do what Paul and Scarlett are doing." He said. I had a momentary vision of Embry and I having a quaint little house in La Push, cooking together and watching tv together and doing homey things together. It was blissful, and I liked it. After all the chaos in my life, I definitely wanted blissful.


hello! I hope you enjoyed this! It's taken me a little bit to figure out exactly how I wanted this to happen but it did. I also hope you liked that insight to Scarlett. I promise I'm working on Never Alone, it just is taking a little while too. Slowly but surely I'm getting there. Third matter of business, I'm considering starting a Leah/OC imprint story. Feedback on any of these three things would be fantastic! :)