SheWolf.

Chapter Three: The World's Greatest Loser.

"JACOB EPHRAIM BLACK! You will stop this ridiculousness this instant!"

Came a male voice. Whilst it wasn't loud nor in its prime, the voice still held a lot of authority in it. Especially over Rachel Black. She froze, skidding to a halt before her teeth could come close to Paul's throat, and realised that she had been mistaken for Jacob due to the similarities in their coat colours as a wolf. Timidly Rachel turned around to face a man who would always be able to bring her to her knees.

Her father.

"Wait... Jacob?" Billy began, noticing now that his son wasn't the wolf fighting with Paul but actually sat nearby amused. His gaze returned to the other wolf noticing as it turned around there was something significant missing between its legs. Of course the way Paul was looking at the wolf was another confirmation that indeed another female wolf had appeared in the Pack.

Rachel watched wearily, her gaze briefly going to Sue Clearwater who had been rolling Billy across the grass towards the thick forest behind his house. They must have heard the commotion. She felt rather foolish actually realising how they hadn't even tried to hide what they were with the noise they were making. They were lucky no humans had stumbled across them. Then again there were very few that would walk towards the loud wolf sounds whether willing or unwilling.

"Dad! Guess what?!"

Jacob gushed, running out from behind of a nearby tree as he quickly zipped up the denim cut-offs he had shoved on. Rachel turned her head to look at her little brother only to realise he was definately not little anymore. He was huge both in height and muscle. That wasn't normal! Oh, and his hair... that adorable, long black hair that she used to be envious of was all gone. What had this wolf-thing done to him?! She couldn't help but look at him sadly, completely oblivious to the conversation he was having with their father. Then another thought occured to her. What had the wolf-thing done to her body?

"Rachel?"

Billy whispered, causing Rachel to turn her gaze back to her father. He looked so much older then the last time she had seen him, and the sight of seeing him in a wheelchair brought the guilt flooding back. Especially since now she realised that he was having to look after a Pack of hormonal wolf-boys, once of which was his son and supposed to be the Alpha whilst keeping the humans of the tribe clueless. She had a feeling that her days of living off the reservation had just come to an abrupt end. She might have been able to go back to college somehow after she'd gained control of this new superpower but knowing the responsibility her father was holding, especially as Chief with a Wolf Pack, that she could never leave him to do it all alone. No, she had to stay and help him as well as protect her little brother. She supposed the wolf-boys needed someone to bring them to heel.

Oh daddy...

Rachel sighed mentally, eyes sad as she lowered herself down onto her belly and stretched her head out towards him.

"You need to relax and let the anger go."

Jacob supplied helpfully, interrupting the emotional father-daughter moment. She couldn't help but snort in response at that. She wasn't angry. She was fustrated and she had a feeling that wasn't going to go away any time soon.

"Maybe Paul-"

Sue began only to have Jacob growl, despite being in human form. Rachel couldn't help but look at Jacob curiously, wondering why - despite the obvious - that Jacob seemed to hold such a grudge against him and why Sue had wanted to suggest Paul do something in the first place. It seemed like they were connected.

"Jacob you can't keep them apart. No matter how much I may want to and believe me boy..." Billy began and at this point glared at the silver wolf still focused entirely upon Rachel, "I do."

"I can try."

Jacob responded sulkily, folding his large arms across his bare chest. With a sigh Billy looked back at Rachel, his expression softened.

"Do you remember the tales your mother used to tell you when you were a little girl about soulmates and Imprinting?"

He asked softly. Rachel knew had she been in human form her eyes would be tearing up right now but since wolves do not have the capacity to physically cry she could not. She slowly nodded her head remembering the tales of romance and love at first sight. Rachel had believed in it just like her mother, and still remembered when she thought she had found it.

She hadn't been that old, probably about ten or twelve, and she'd come across a boy at the park. He'd looked so cute despite having a scowl on his face as he kicked stones at the old roundabout. She remembered when her honey brown eyes first met the dark, stormy gaze of Paul Lahote. She had been stupid and niave enough to believe it was Imprinting, for some reason feeling it strong within her little body, and despite the harsh 'Go away freak' that had left his mouth she hadn't been able to give up on that feeling. Rachel remembered thinking a few times whilst she was at school over the years how odd she still felt so strongly for him despite him showing to be a merciless bully. Then it had been the Prom and the pain of heartbreak seemed to feel so much more painful then it should have been. After all they hadn't been dating, she'd worried deep down it had been a prank, and when it turned out to be she knew she should have felt angry. Well, she had felt angry but she hadn't just felt that. She'd felt true heart-aching pain that seemed to bubble up and overflow without end that night. It had been ridiculous, she had known that, but she couldn't stop what she was feeling. So she left, not just because of Paul but due to painful memories of her mother too, and had started a new life for herself.

Whilst she didn't believe in the feeling of finding 'the one' any more, nor did she trust her own emotions on the subject, a part of her did still believe that maybe true love was real. Therefore at the mention of Imprinting it wasn't hard for Rachel to believe it was true.

"Its true and it seems one of our wolves have Imprinted on you."

Billy told her, knowing he didn't need to say anything more. She was after all a smart woman. It didn't take long for Rachel to put two and two together to get four. She was Paul's Imprint. He had Imprinted on her. Great(!) She thought briefly but closing her eyes as she sought to process this information. From what she remembered it would be painful for an Imprinted pair to be apart, especially for the wolf who had done the Imprinting. She also remembered that anything romantic or sexual with someone else would cause pain for the other person. So she couldn't exactly boot Paul out of her life. She would have to find a way for him to be a part of her life. She didn't want to cause anyone pain, even Paul, and so she knew if she didn't seek the romantic route with Paul then she wouldn't be able to do so with anyone else. As much as she didn't want to she knew she would have to give Paul a chance but not before he proved himself worthy enough for that chance. She wasn't going to let him get away with treating people as he had been doing so far.

God, he's younger then me!

Rachel moaned mentally, wondering if he would look younger then her now or not. If he was anything like Jacob she had a feeling he'd end up looking older then her. She was doomed or at least it felt that way to her.

She had to focus on something else. That black wolf should not be Alpha. It didn't feel right and if Jacob didn't want to take up the mantle of Alpha then she knew she might have to. After all she was a decendant of Ephraim Black herself and she was a Spirit Warrior now too. Why not? Sure, it would be a lot of work and she would need a lot of patience, especially since she realised that would technically make Paul the Alpha Male since she was his Imprint which he would never let anyone forget if he hadn't changed, but at the end of the day it was her or the black wolf. Something about that wolf rubbed her the wrong way...

First things first though, Rachel was exhausted and malnourished. She needed to change back to human form so she could see to her needs, rest, and then tomorrow she'd challenge the black wolf for the title of Alpha and then deal with Paul afterwards. Once all that was done she'd get the Pack together and see where things were as well as who was currently a Spirit Warrior along with any others they thought might turn into a Spirit Warrior. She knew she'd have to take a look at any patrol schedules or other Pack business to see if anything needed to be changed or got rid of. Most importantly though she had to see if they had a Pack Den where everyone in the Pack could stay or hang out. She knew a successful wolf Pack worked in harmony and if they couldn't even hang out together like normal people then they had no chance of going out and killing the cold ones.

I need to relax. I need to relax. I need to relax...

Rachel thought to herself, doing her best to ignore the fact she could feel a large, soft head rubbing against the side of her neck and a long leg thrown over her shoulders casually as a very wet tongue did its best to groom that spot behind a canine's ear which would have their leg going. It had to be Paul. She knew it was. She found herself growling under her breath as she tried her best to focus on changing forms. Eventually she managed to tune him out and moments later she'd shrunk to her very human form.

This time it wasn't her growling and before she knew it she felt a very large wolf lay on top of her, covering every inch of her skin from the neck down in its thick fur.

"Oh god, this is disgusting!"

Rachel moaned, doing her best to try to turn on her side and push Paul off her only to freeze as she felt something...

"Damn it, you can't honestly be excited by all of this!"

She snapped, glaring at Paul who didn't look sheepish or ashamed in any way. Infact she was pretty sure he looked pretty smug right now. It changed however when he heard someone approach. She watched as his head snapped round and snarled in the direction of the sound. The fact that it was Jacob heading their way with a blanket for her didn't change Paul's reaction.

"Its just Jacob you idiot now get off!"

She said exasperated as she continued pushing against his large, furry body. Eventually Paul reluctantly stood up and stepped away from her allowing Jacob the chance to throw the blanket over her. Grasping the blanket Rachel wrapped it around her body before slowly standing up. Upon catching sight of her father again she couldn't help but tear up as she made her way towards him without any thought to her muddy, dry, cracked feet. Once she was stood infront of him she collapsed onto her knees, burying her face into his lap as she wrapped her arms around his middle.

"I'm sorry daddy. I missed you so much, you and Jakey, but I couldn't... Its so hard, and now... now I have to and I'm not going to leave you ever again."

She confessed, tears sliding down her cheeks as she gave in to her emotions. It wasn't long before she passed out due to exhaustion whilst crying, the tears still trickling down her face with the feeling of her dad's fingers stroking her hair.