Chapter 2

Tonight was the night of the bonfire and the night that I was to tell Bella I imprinted on her. And I was, of course, drop dead nervous. I mean, what if she doesn't except it? And then I'll be doomed to be forever miserable. I don't think I could live without her in my life.

I watched her carefully as she and Jacob walked down the beach as she smiled a shy smile at all of us. She looked gorgeous. She was wearing black, skinny jeans, a midnight blue, long-sleeved top that showed a bit of cleverage and clung to her curves in all the right places. Her outfit was complete with some silver pumps and a little makeup.

"See someone you like" Jared grinned, nudging me. I retaliated by punching his arm.

"Hey, vampire girl!" Embry greeted her loudly. I wish he wouldn't call her that.

"You're forgetting, Embry" Bella called back to him, a shit-eating grin plastered all over her face "that I am no longer a vampire girl."

My heart soared and Embry laughed loudly at her comment. You'd have to be a werewolf with super-sensitive hearing to hear the murmurs of approval from everyone around the bonfire, mainly from the elders.

I watched as Emily squeezed Bella's hand reassuringly when she and Jacob sat on the cool stone ground beside her and Sam.

Throughout most of the night, I threw out teasing comments about keeping the bloodsucking stench downwind to Bella and she would laugh along with the rest of them. I'm guessing she sensed the double meaning in my words. Really, I just wanted her to me a wolf girl forever, and not a vampire girl.

"It's getting late" Bella murmured to Jacob, and I snorted, a small smile creeping across my face.

"Don't start that" Jacob said, rolling his eyes and chuckling. "The best part is coming."

"What's the best part? You guys swallowing an entire cow each whole?"

I watched her gaze flicker to look at me and smirked.

Jacob chuckled again. "No. That's the finale. We didn't meet here just to eat through a week's worth of good. This is technically a council meeting. It's Embry's first time, and he hasn't heard the stories yet. Well, he's heard them, but this will be the first time he knows they're true. That tends to make a guy pay closer attention."

"Stories?"

Jacob scooted back beside Bella and put his arm over her shoulders, speaking even lower into her ear. I growled, not liking how close they were together even though they were like brother and sister, and nothing more.

"The histories we always thought were legends" Jacob said. "The stories of how we came to be. The first is the story of the Spirit Warriors."

The atmosphere around the low-burning fire changed abruptly at his words. I and Embry sat up straighter and Sam nudged Emily before pulling her gently upright. She produced a spiral-bound notebook and pen. Sam twisted just slightly beside her so he was facing the same direction as Old Quill.

The fire crackled, sending another explosion of sparks glittering up against the night.

Billy cleared his throat and, with no more introduction than his son's whisper, began telling the story in his rich, deep voice. The words poured out with precision, as if he knew them by heart, but also with feeling and a subtle rhythm. Like poetry performed b its author.

Once Billy had finished, there was silence all around me for a long moment. All of us staring at each other with sadness in our eyes. That was, until I broke it.

"Burden" I scoffed in a low voice, pouting slightly. "It's not that bad."

Billy chuckled, low and long and the magic seemed to fade into the glowing embers. Jared flicked a small stone at me, and everyone laughed when I jumped. Low conversations murmured around me, teasing and casual.

Emily touched her Bella's arm as I started towards her and Bella looked at her, looking a little startled. Emily jerked to her head to me and I met Bella's curious gaze.

"So us all a favour and keep an open mind" Emily whispered.

Confusion crossed Bella's face. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"You'll see" Emily replied.

"Do you mind taking a walk with me?" I asked, uncharacteristically nervous. Since when did I get so nervous when it came to talking to women? Oh yeah, since I'd met Bella Swan and imprinted on her.

"Sure" was all she said and followed me along the beach.

AN: Yippee! Another chapter done and dusted, lol

Thank you to:

Renesmee2000, Daddys little crazy bitch, HeaRTBReaK-CoLLiSioN, Serenityalexis, Vaantje, Easypeasy, TheMightyRen, 143iloveyou143, Nutmeg1985, Priscina Alice Malfoy, Mrslisablack, .., Jennylabob, Alexandra and twin Alexande12, greeneyes8, Mizzcatherine113, tabby1216, Tenshi Kudaino, Twilightfan871, Firefox Shai, Midnitekiss13, Deliah69 and YankeeGirlINJ for putting my story on your story alert

Thank you to:

Cullensforever123, GenesisS198322, Narugaaralover, Daddys little crazy bitch, Easypeasy, HelsBells, 143iloveyou143, Jacob black rulez, Priscina Alice Malfoy, KittiKat666, Kellz86, lailalove1024, arbabyangel188, DarkEclipse206, imprintlove, Meg5442, hvnslllbbygrl, Starriver92, Mizzcatherine113, buffy9704, Tabby1216, sesskagsfan1711, Stjarna8, aggy13, Paul'sImprint20, Deepsoul1004, heatherific, SWEETLYVAMPIRELOVER101, midnitekiss13, Caggie and Red-Rose459 for putting my story on your favourite story list

Reviews:

Daddys little crazy bitch: I'm glad: D

143iloveyou143: Sorry for the wait. I just needed a little break from fiction and a little of reality. You believe how much my stories affect my life.

Priscina Alice Malfoy: Neither can I lol

Twilets: Good. I was worried that I'd done it a little OTT: D

MingaMae: Ooooh, could you? I've been looking everywhere for a beta, but no-one's replied back to me yet.

Delilah69: That is exactly why I wrote it in the first place.