"Tell me you didn't," was Collin's first thought when we phased. But it was kind of just washed away with all the swarms of thoughts and conversations going on. I really wasn't expecting this much chaos. We quickly got over to where the whole pack was situated.

"I'm gonna hurt you so bad," Paul just kept thinking repeatedly, glaring at Seth, his paws scraping up the earth, his body arched and ready to attack as Seth just kept whining and trying to get to Moose, hurting at being ripped away from her.

Leah was just moaning about how unfair it was that Seth imprinted. It was a bit of a slap in the face considering she's older and her life had been drastically changed because of imprinting and yet her younger brother was the one who got to imprint when she was the one who wanted to imprint so much more.

"Cheers for bringing it up, douche," Leah thought bitterly and I took a few steps back from the group of angry and distressed wolves.

I was just happy that Paul had a new punch bag. He loves Zoë, but Moose is his blood sister and so now he will automatically hate Seth more than me.

Leah was also pissed that he had to imprint on Moose. I can't say I blame her, to be honest. I would particularly like to have imprinted on her.

Seth's head span to me, his thoughts quite angry and I just took some more steps back.

"No offence, dude. She's great," he nodded and went back to ignoring Jacob, Sam and Quil who were all trying to calm him down and talk to him.

Embry came and stood next to me. "It's quite amusing watching this lot, to be honest," he admitted and I barked out a laugh.

"I'm sorry," Paul growled at Collin, suddenly catching onto his thoughts. "But why the fucking hell do you care if Seth imprinted on my sister?"

When you're asked point blank about something like that it's kind of hard to hide your feelings and thoughts. So, naturally, everyone found out about his feelings towards her. And needless to say neither Paul nor Seth were very happy.

"Why the hell does everyone want to dick my freaking sister?" Paul muttered – well, thought. It's hard to explain what it's like to be in peoples head's so I'm just tell you as if they spoke it.

Seth span around to Collin, looking slightly hysterical. "You like her?" he murmured, stalking towards him. He was really upset at that. "You went on a date with her?" he said angrily when Collin thought back to when we went to the movies. But it was Seth; you knew he wouldn't do anything. I mean, I've never even seen him angry before. However, like I said, your emotions are all over the place when you imprint. You could tell that deep down ickle Sethy wasn't angry at anyone apart from himself.

"Shut up, you don't even know her!" Collin shot back angrily, not backing away.

Ooh, that was the wrong thing to say, buddy. One of the reasons why lovely little Sethy was angry was because of exactly that – he didn't even know her and there was this chaos about it before he'd even introduced himself. It was his fault in his eyes and if I were him, and found out my Zo had gone on a date with one of the guys, I would have been pissed, but I would have known it was my own fault.

I walked up to them. "Come on. Why don't we all just phase back and have a nice, calm, little chat?"

None of them even listened to my proposal. I think it could have been the best way to end this argument. Being in everyone's heads isn't exactly going to help anyone think clearly, is it?

Quil bit my tail and I let out a yelp, jumping up, spinning around and pawing him in the face lightly.

It seemed to deter the attention from Paul and Seth for a moment as they laughed at us. It's not funny – that shit hurts. The tail is a no-go area.

"Real funny, jackass," I muttered, but he wasn't apologetic at all, just thinking happily in that carefree way he has, his thoughts more than often drifting to Claire.

"Everyone, take four steps away from the wolf next to you, right now," Sam commanded and we indubitably did as daddy wolf said.

"Stop calling me that," he snapped and my tongue lolled out of my mouth as I grinned at him.

"Now," he started, looking between us, ignoring me. "I will not have fighting between the pack," he shot looks at Collin, Seth and Paul. "That will not help anything. You are brothers. You shouldn't be fighting over anything. You need to be able to rely on each other completely or else we won't be able to survive," his mind flashed to images of fighting vamps and everyone was struck with the reality of what he said. It was true. "Paul, you accepted Brady, do we really have to go through all of this again?"

Paul tried thinking of a reason but just came down to the fact that he just didn't want anyone to imprint on her. And because I went through all that hoo-ha when I broke the news to Zoë. It was a nice awkward silence when I relived that.

"You can't just accept me and Zoë just because you feel sorry for me," I said, slightly hacked off by that. "I thought it was because you realised that I'd never hurt her?"

"Yeah, well, I don't know that about Seth, do I?" he retorted, earning a disbelieving snort from everyone.

"Seriously? Seth is the most unlikely person to hurt anyone," Jared said, who had been trying to calm Paul down he whole time.

"Not necessarily," he said, sticking his nose in the air but we could all read his thoughts and could tell his resolve was thawing out.

"I won't. I promise," Seth said and we could all tell that he one-hundred percent meant it. "Please, can I just go see her?"

I still don't get how he hadn't even imprinted on her until now. Everyone seemed to agree.

"Didn't you feel anything towards her?" Jared said and we all looked at him in surprise. He's not exactly one to ask that considering he sat next to Kim for god knows how long. He sent me a look when I thought of that. He doesn't like to be reminded. "No, I mean after you changed. Surely you'd feel something? Even a little tug?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think I'd imprint," Seth thought, embarrassedly. He was the sort of cute little kid of the group, to be honest. I wouldn't of that that he'd imprint, either – even though I'm younger than him. "And she doesn't exactly like our group," he admitted and we all winced when we saw the pain that brought him.

It was true. She held a major grudge against us. I thought it was just me but she hates all of us, I guess. We did sort of steal Zoë and Paul, who are her two favourite people, away from her.

"Helpful," Jacob thought sarcastically as Seth whimpered.

"She never looked at us because she was always in a mood with Paul, or you," he added the last bit, nodding towards me.

"That's true," both Paul and I said.

"Today was just a coincidence," he said wistfully.

"But, still, you would have thought it would have happened earlier," Quil said and Embry nodded his head.

"Didn't you go around staring at all the girls you met in the eyes for like five minutes straight to see if it would happen?" Embry asked and Seth looked at him like he was mad.

"Why would I do that?"

Collin, Paul, Embry and Jacob all just snorted. "So naïve," Quil thought jokingly, shaking his head.

But it is true. I would of. It was to prevent this exact situation – you can't just go around when there is a possibility that your soul mate is in the room over.

"Dude, think of all the times you walked past her," Jared said and Seth let out a little whine again, this time at his stupidity. "I only went a day at school before I imprinted on Kim."

"You're in her year, you're in some of her classes, and you freaking sat next to her!" Seth said exasperatedly. "How was I supposed to know I should be going around and staring at every girl I meet? Didn't everyone think you were really weird?"

"Yeah, we got really weird looks back. But at least we're not in your position. How are you gonna explain to her that it's been – how many months? And you only just now imprinted?" Paul said, looking at him disdainfully.

"Look on the bright side, Paul," I said. "At least now you can actually tell her the truth."

"Oh, yeah," he said, suddenly a lot chirpier about this whole situation.

That'll make my Zoë happier, too.

Collin sent me a look so I just tried to shut up as they now continued on their conversations, but it was much calmer than before.

"Oh, by the way," I added. "Moose is really freaking out."

Seth, for the millionth time today, let out a whine and sent a pleading look at Sam.

"I told her that you would maybe pop round her house," Seth then sent his pleading puppy dog eyes to Paul. Without sounding like a pussy, you have to be really mean to turn him down when he looks at you like that, especially with his pure mind, which really is only focusing on making sure Moose is okay. There are literally no dirty thoughts in his mind right now. I was probably having sex with Zoë at this point in time after imprinting. All he wants is to make sure she doesn't hate him.

"If Paul hadn't killed you, that is," Collin added regretfully. He wasn't happy; he was hurting but, you know, bros before hoes. Plus, I don't think any of them wanted me to go through in my mind having sex with her again. That's the type of stuff that makes it really awkward when we phase. Especially when they have to then see her, after having seen her in my thoughts. It's really weird for everyone. It's about a gazillion times worse for Leah when Sam thinks about Emily, though. Luckily, I don't think the imprintees ever notice. That would be really bad.

We're not so bad with each other, simply because we have to get naked to phase so we see each other like that pretty much every day. It's just awkward hearing the thoughts about the imprintees. "Plus, she was about two seconds away from running into the woods to find you two when we left." Collin sent me a really disgusted look and I tried to look apologetic and get my thoughts off Zoë.

Seth then started panicking and everyone sent Paul the 'just let him go' look and thoughts.

"Fine," Paul spat and Seth hopped up.

"Come on," I said, already racing Seth there. "I'll go with you." And we did get there pretty quickly. Chances are that Zo is gonna be there, so I was nearly as excited to get there as Seth was.

We phased and quickly pulled on our clothes.

"Thanks," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder and I grinned at him.

"Trust me, you're gonna need as much help as you can get."

He rolled his eyes as we walked up the driveway, getting more fidgety when we could hear them talking. They were, as expected, talking about us. He was getting more and more excited and eager with every step we took – but also getting equally as nervous. Suddenly he halted and span towards me. "How do I look?"

I burst out laughing at him. "You're seriously asking me that?" I asked sceptically through laughs before knocking on the door.

"No! Wait, stop!" he said, panicking before trying to flatten down his hair and straighten his clothes, as well as rub some of the mud off of his face.

Moose opened the door and his hands snapped down to his sides. I could see Zoë poking her head around Moose, who was standing about as straight and still as a post – just like Seth, who was just staring wide eyed back at her.

I nudged him with my shoulder and he cleared his throat and stuck his hand out. "Hell-lo," he started nervously and then cleared his throat. "My name is Seth Clearwater."

… I don't think I've ever had to try so hard not to laugh. Who does that? Who even shakes hands anymore? Who introduces themselves like that at our age?

Zoë was biting down her lip, her eyes shining as she took tried to hold down her laughter, too. That's what made it even harder not to burst out laughing.

Moose just looked really bewildered. She shot a look at Zo over her shoulder, who just nodded encouragingly and nudged her forward. Moose looked awkward but took his hand to shake. I would have just left it hanging, to be honest.

They both froze, again, and stared at their joined hands. Ahh, yes. It definitely is a shock when you first touch your imprint. I grinned over at Zoë and she smiled back. I could tell she was thinking back to when I imprinted on her as well.

"Molly," Moose said then her eyes snapped up to Seth. "Wait, no! Moose. It's Moose. Please don't call me Molly."

He smiled down at her and her panicking ceased, a smile lighting up her face as she stared into his eyes. I think him knowing she's as nervous as he was helped a lot. They then just stood their smiling, until they laughed awkwardly. Definitely puke-worthy.

"Why don't we all go into the living room?" Zoë asked and they both turned to look at her, as if only just remembering she was there. As if someone could forget about my baby.

They both walked through, keeping very close and sending each other glances. Zoë waited and grabbed my hand before pulling me through, smiling at me excitedly.

We all sat down and after a moment of awkwardness, everyone got talking. "We'll go get everyone drinks!" Zoë offered and then proceeded to drag me out of the room. She really does like dragging me around today.

We got out the door and she half closed it before bending over slightly and peeking through the gap, watching them. I wrapped my arms around her, and did the same, my body fitting perfectly around hers.

"They're so cute," she whispered as they talked awkwardly, smiling and looking at each other.

"You realise Seth can hear, right?" I whispered back and she nodded.

"He won't care."

I laughed and she squeezed my arms around her. I let her watch them for a bit before picking her up, taking her off to the kitchen. She went to complain but I just put my finger over her mouth.

"Has he…?" she asked, turning to me, grabbing my forearms when I shut the door to the kitchen behind us.

"What do you think?" I asked and she grinned.

"Yes!" she answered, even if it was a rhetorical question. "She's being so weird! Like, the opposite to her usual ways! She even asked if Seth had a girlfriend! How cute is that?" she whispered excitedly and I laughed and pulled her forward, kissing her.

"This means I won't have to hide things from her! This means I will actually have someone to talk to about all of this!" I was a bit gutted when she said that. Because I don't see why she can't just speak to me about everything. I guess I should understand that she needs to talk to other people about things, and that there are things that she might not want to tell me – but I just don't get it.

"This means I won't drift away from her!" she said happily before hugging me quickly and then grabbing the drinks and dashing through to the others in the living room. I shook my head at her in bewilderment before following her.

They both accepted the drinks with thanks and then gulped down a large amount of it – Seth finishing the can in one gulp.

"I need to pee," Moose announced suddenly before getting up and vacating the room quickly, sending a very worried and confused look at Zoë, who nodded and smiled once more – something she seemed to not be able to stop doing.

"I'm gonna tell her," Seth said, staring at the doorway she just went through.

"Obviously," I said and he looked at me.

"I mean today. I'm gonna tell her now."

"You're shitting me!" Zoë breathed as I looked at him, startled.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked, my eyes wide and disbelieving.

He nodded. "Yes," he replied, certain.

"Mind sharing your reasoning?"

"Well, she knows there's something going on, and she hates everyone for keeping it from her. Seems like the smartest thing to do. Plus, all the other girls have always been annoyed that you kept it from them for so long. I think it makes sense. I'd rather get that all out of the way to begin with and just get down to knowing her without having to be hiding everything from her."

"Dude," I said, getting up and sitting next to him. "There's a reason we don't just tell them straight away. It's a lot to take in."

He nodded, frowning. "I know."

"And you literally just imprinted. Do you think she can handle it all?"

Zoë snorted. "If anyone can handle it, it's Moose."

"Still," I said, biting my lip. "Do you know what you're gonna say?" I asked him and he turned to me.

"No. I hadn't thought that far ahead," he said, starting to panic. "Crap! What do I say?"

I slapped my hand over my face. Oh boy.

"Just tell her that you don't want to keep secrets from her, and that you want to be honest, unlike me and Paul. Okay? Bring up the fact that this is the secret we couldn't tell her and then she won't just kick you in the nads for saying something stupid. She'll just think you're mental."

"Comforting," I said sarcastically and she laughed and smiled at me as Seth thanked her. He's just so nice. I really don't quite understand how Moose is his soul mate. They're complete polar opposites.

"And show her. She won't believe you unless you show her. And explain what you do – that what you do is help," Zoë said, eyeing the door and standing up. "Tell her you won't ever hurt her. Don't tell her you want to protect her or that you care for her more than anyone you've ever met."

"What?" we both said, confused.

"Trust me. It's been a couple hours. If you tell her you care for her then she'll just ignore you. Explain imprinting, but mention that you don't have to have babies and get married – that'll freak her out."

"Right," Seth said, staring at her, his mind reeling. "Wait – run through that one more time."

Zoë laughed and smiled. "You'll be fine," she then disappeared out the door just as Moose came out the bathroom. Zo pushed her back in and gave her a mini pep talk about trusting what he's about to tell her, that it'll sound insane but to just stop and listen. And to come talk to her as soon as possible.

Moose tried to get information out of her, as she was really quite alarmed, but Zoë just pushed her out.

"Thank you," Seth breathed to me. "Tell her I said thank you, too, please."

I nodded and smiled. My girl is so amazing.

They both walked in and we stood. Those two just looked each other straight in the eyes as I walked towards Zo. "We'll just get going," I said and we both hurried out the front door.

"Oh my god!" she breathed, jumping on my back as we shut the door and walked down the driveway. "This is so exciting!"

"I'm so bored," she groaned for the millionth time, turning to face me, her head still on my stomach.

I rolled my eyes but smiled down at her. "Oh, dry up," I teased, playing with her hair.

She laughed but then pretended to sob pathetically. "Why are they taking so long?" she moaned. "Do you think they've sorted it out and are just purposefully not calling to frustrate me?"

I grinned as I pushed her hair off her face. "You know, this isn't just about you."

With another laugh she climbed up me to lie at my side, draping her arm over my torso.

"I'm sorry, but I can't stop thinking about it!"

I smiled as I hugged her tightly, leaning my head back against her pillows, stroking her back.

"It is very aggravating," I admitted, kissing the top of her head.

"That's what I'm saying!" she said with a laugh before tilting her head up to kiss me. I put my hand on her neck as our kiss got more heated.

"Yuck," Dean said from the doorway – which we're now made to leave open… yay – and Zoë let out a frustrated screech that kind of hurt my eardrums. She pulled back and chucked a cushion at him. "That's disgusting. Aren't you guys like thirteen?"

"Seriously, fuck off!"

He mimicked her voice as he walked down the hallway and she let out a breath as she flopped back onto her bed, her hands covering her face. I think his rules about us spending alone time together are a bit stupid, but I'm not gonna tell him that it's too late for all of that. I would like to keep my balls, after all. I'm thankful that Paul isn't going to break the news that Zo and I are sexually active. It would be a bit awkward for him to have to tell Dean that, so we're keeping him firmly in the dark.

I moved over to lie on top of her, one leg in-between hers and my other on the other side of hers, my arms crossed across her stomach, my chin resting on my arms as I stared down at her. However, I could only just see her face over her boobs. I seriously don't understand how they can be so big – although that's definitely not a complaint.

"When do you wanna move out?" she asked and I frowned slightly.

"Move out?" I questioned.

"Of your house. When do you want to leave home?"

"Is that a hint?" I asked, grinning and she smiled.

"Actually, it wasn't. But I do want to live with you," she said, as if it was the most casual thing to say in the world.

"I don't know. But it will be soon, probably after graduation. My parents said they're moving away to Italy as soon as I graduate to live in our holiday home over there."

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head and she sat up abruptly, leaning on her elbows. "You're kidding!"

I shook my head, confused as to why she was so shocked.

"They're just going to leave you here?"

"Yeah…? They've said that's what they've wanted to do for about five years now."

"Oh my god!" she said, lying down again and then pulling my face against her chest as she stroked my face comfortingly – it was really quite nice if I'm honest. "How could they do that? They can't just up and leave you straight out of school!"

"It's no big deal, Zo. Really," I said but she let out a horrified breath.

"Yes it is! How could they just move to a different country and leave you on your own?"

"Well, they did offer to take me with them. Which was more than what I expected."

She scoffed and let out an exasperated squeak at the 'offered'.

"But I'd rather stay here. Plus, they said they'd give me money to pay the rent or deposit on a place to live until I get a good job."

"They are the most stupid people I have ever met in my life," she said, shaking her head as she stroked my face.

"It's really not that big a deal," I said, although I was very pleased with the amount of attention she was giving me.

"Do they even speak Italian?" she asked, and I nodded.

"I speak Italian."

Her head whipped down to look at me. "No way!"

"Yes way!" I replied jokingly and her eyes widened.

"I didn't know that!"

I wiggled my eyebrows at her mysteriously. "There's lots about me that you don't know."

She looked at me dubiously. "Doubt it."

"There is!" I exclaimed and she raised an eyebrow before dismissing that claim. I was totally bluffing it, anyway.

"Why didn't you say you could speak another language?"

I laughed at her being so shocked by it. She does know that I've been over there lots, I didn't think it would be that much of a surprise. "Because you never asked me if I could speak another language. Was I supposed to just slip into random conversation?"

Zoë shrugged and leant back down. "Italian men are really beautiful," she said softly and I picked my head up, narrowing my eyes at her.

"I'm never taking you to Italy."

She let out a really loud laugh at that but I still wasn't happy. She kissed me and leant back, still laughing. "Well, you speak Italian… that makes you more beautiful. Italian is, like, one of top romantic languages."

"Being able to speak Italian doesn't actually make me Italian."

She carried on laughing and giggling. "I know, I know, I know! I'm sorry, Brady," she said through giggles, grinning at me. And she knows I can't be mad at her. Especially when she's looking at me with such a happy look in her beautiful eyes.

"You're still never going to Italy."

She laughed and then closed her eyes, lying her head down as she breathed deeply, trying to stop laughing. "Sorry. I love you," she said, running her hand through my hair. Mmm. "I wouldn't ever run off with some hot Italian guy."

"That's because you're never going anywhere near Italy," I said, smiling lightly as she ran her long fingers up and down my neck and face too. I love her hands. They're always so soft. And her fingers really are so long. And she has quite long nails, which I like for some reason.

How can someone even have pretty hands?

"What do you want for your birthday?" she asked me randomly and I shrugged.

"Nothing," she looked at me disapprovingly. "You, then," I said and she rolled her eyes.

"You already have me," she said and I smiled.

"Exactly. I have everything I want."

She kept staring at me with that disapproving look. "That was so cheesy."

"Oh, bite me," I said and she looked at me with that 'you know I will' cheeky look that she has.

"Seriously, Brady, you are the hardest person to buy for," she grumbled.

"You honestly don't have to buy me anything," I said and she looked at me like I was stupid.

"I'm not going to not buy you anything, you idiot." I just shrugged. I really don't care.

"What are your parents going to get you?" she asked in a tone that let me know she now disliked my parents more than she did before. It really doesn't bother me that they're moving away. It's not like I'd never see them ever again.

"Probably just money like usually. Although, I think I am getting clothes considering I only have about three items of clothing that actually fit me now."

"Yeah, you are a bit chubbier now," she said, rubbing me 'sympathetically'. I narrowed my eyes at her again and she just smiled back at me.

"Some people wouldn't even put up with this much teasing and sarcasm," I said and she smiled and then just started squeezing my cheeks like I was some little child. Kind of like what my Nan does when she's had a couple glasses of wine.

"Aww, Brady, you love it!"

"Mmm," I said, trying not to let her know that I actually do love it. "I do know something you could do for me?"

"Yeah?" she said eagerly as I slipped my fingers through hers.

"Come meet my Nan," I said, slightly embarrassed at having to ask this. "I know you probably don't want to… but she's kind of been harping on about meeting you for a while."

"Err, yeah, sure," she said and I bit the inside of my lip.

"You really don't have to. I mean –"

"No, no, Brady, I want to," she said, cutting me off. "I'd really love to meet her. I'm just... nervous. I really don't think she'd like me," she said and I looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"You don't have to worry about that. She loves you already."

"Yeah, but…"

"No buts," I said. "She'll like you even if it's just because I like you so much."

Zoë let out a groan and I put my hand on the side of her face so she looked up into my eyes. "How could anyone not love you?"

"I'm pretty sure a lot of people don't love, or even like, me."

"Well, they're dicks. And my Nan's not a dick, so you're fine."

She let out a breath and shook her head at me, only slightly amused. "This still doesn't help me with your birthday present, though," she said, deciding to change that subject.

I groaned this time around. "I don't want anything!" I repeated. "Please. I hate birthdays."

"Nope. You're gonna get, like, the biggest present off of me, ever. I just need to think of what it will be."

I just laid my face against her chest again. "I don't like presents."

"I'm gonna get you loads, then," she said and I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn't see.

"Really?" I said, slowly stroking her stomach.

"Yup."

"I thought you couldn't even think of one present to get me? Let alone loads."

There was a brief silence. "Shut up."

"You're an idiot," I said, laughing and she rolled her eyes and then her cell phone started vibrating in her pocket and she groaned but then sat up quickly, me rolling off of her.

"Oh!" she practically screamed, obviously not realising that it could be Moose and she then shimmied around to get the phone out of her pocket as her jeans are really tight – they're my favorite jeans of hers.

"Yes?" she breathed down the phone but it was Paul's voice that answered.

"Hey," he said, in a seemingly bored tone.

"Why are you calling me?" she asked, confused and he snorted.

"Cheers. Really polite."

"Sorry," she laughed but it was still glaringly obvious she was disappointed. "I was expecting your sister."

"I know. She says you can come over now. And tell Brady to head to Sam's, as that's where we'll all be. I'm assuming he's with you?" he said and Zoë put the cell near my mouth.

"Hello!" I said in a very sing-songy voice, drawing out the word.

"Right," he said with a deep, exasperated breath. "You're so camp."

I pulled an outraged face at Zo, the both of us laughing at him.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, shut up. I'm now leaving! Yes, yes! She says she's coming. Jeez. Cool it, will ya?" he said to Moose, who I could only just faintly hear through the phones.

"She says make it pronto," Paul said in a bored tone.

"Will do!" Zoë replied. "See you later."

"Bye," he replied with a sigh before hanging up, Zoë already half way down the stairs by this time.

"I'm going to Moose's. See you later, mom, love you!" she called over her shoulder as she quickly exited out the door, pulling on her shoes as I grabbed her coat. I gave it to her as soon as we got out the house and she looked at me.

"What? It's cold!" I said and she rolled her eyes but thanked me, putting it on.

Admittedly, it wasn't really that cold. But it could get cold. Or it could rain or something. And then she might get ill.

We have to take these precautions.

"How do you think it went?" she asked and I shrugged.

"Probably okay in the end."

"Yeah?"

I nodded. "'Cause Paul seemed really calm. And if he was then going to Sam's and had killed Seth he'd be a bit nervous. And if Moose had kicked Seth in the face and told him to leave, then he wouldn't be so laid back. He may hate us, but he does care for us as brothers nonetheless." She raised her eyebrows at me in surprise and I nodded. "Oh yeah. Deep down he loves me," I said, grinning. "I've been in his mind. He thinks I'm a 'harmless little twerp' now."

She laughed at me. "And you took that to mean he loves you?"

"Of course."

Zoë rolled her eyes but took my hand and we walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence – we don't always have to talk. We spend a lot of time just simply being in each other's company. I feel calmest when I'm with her, as I'm not panicking, thinking about what she's doing or if she's hurt so it's usually easiest to think when I'm right next to her.

"Thanks for walking me here," she said – I don't know why she was thanking me, but I usually just don't bother asking when she thanks me for doing normal, expected things like this. "Have fun at Sam's." She then leant up and kissed me and I stroked her arm.

"See you, I love you."

"You too!" she said before disappearing through the door. Ever since I mentioned my dislike for her saying 'goodbye' she hasn't said it. I' really grateful.

Zoë's POV.

Her head was in her hands when I walked into her room. In silence, I sat down next to her on her bed.

"Tell me you don't believe in this shit," she said in a low, groaning voice.

"Sorry. Your brother, my boyfriend and all their friends, including Seth, are vampire-fighting, super-human werewolves."

She looked at me with startled eyes. "You're kidding. You really believe this?"

"Yes," I said, nodding. "Didn't he show you?"

"Yes," she said with a deep breath, moving to sit up, leaning against her wall. "He and Paul both did. I was kind of hoping someone slipped something into my drink."

"Nope."

"How the hell do you even believe this?" she murmured, shaking her head. "How do you just tell yourself this is real? Because I really don't believe it," she said, looking slightly distressed.

"It gets easier," I said, crossing my legs. "It's really quite interesting and… cool once you learn more about it."

"How did you take it?" she asked and I took a deep breath and let it out nosily.

"Not very well. Not very well at all."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad. I was probably exactly the same."

I leant forward and put my arm on her forearm. "I slapped him, punched him, told him I hated everything about him, said that he was just a lying, sick, murdering monster and that I never wanted to ever see him ever again because he made me feel so sick."

She looked at me as if I was mental.

"Okay. I wasn't as bad as that," she breathed and I nodded, trying not to tear up at the thought of all the pain I put him through. If Brady said half of what I said to him, with just a fraction of the hate I spat those words at him with, then I don't even know if I could live. "You can't… you can't have said all that?" she asked disbelievingly in astonishment.

I rubbed my hands over my face. "Yeah. I thought they killed Richard. I thought they were some gang who were really sick in the head and had planned everything."

"But… how come you're like you are now? How did Brady forgive you? How did he get you to change your mind? What happened?" she asked in bewilderment.

"I still to this day do not understand why he forgave me. But to change my mind he just explained things. And I listened. And then I apologised for sixty minutes straight without stopping."

"Wow," she said, pulling her knees up and leaning her elbows against them, her hands in her hair, keeping it off her face. "This is so messed up."

"Tell me about it."

"And you've known about this…?"

"For quite a while, yes. I would have told you but…"

"I understand," she said. "Sorry. For everything. I can't have helped."

I shrugged. "How were you to have known? Thanks for caring about me."

"Thanks for telling Seth what to say," she said with a laugh. "It did help."

"I just gave him a few pointers, he did the rest."

She nodded, staring at her knees for a few minutes. "This is so bizarre," she said, starting to laugh a humourless laugh. "We can't honestly be sitting here talking about werewolves!?"

"Believe me, I know. You don't know how many times I've had to actually pinch myself and get Brady to show me again because I thought it was a dream or something."

She just shook her head, breathing out heavily.

"So… imprinting," she said after a couple minutes.

I nodded, trying to gage her reaction. "What the fuck is that about?" she said in a light joking tone that made me laugh. Trust her to try and ease the situation with something like that.

"Yeah. What is it about?" I said and she smiled.

But then her smile left her face and her eyes filled with sadness. "Is it true? Am I his freaking soul mate? His 'sun'? His 'gravity'? His 'reason for being'?"

I pursed my lips lightly but nodded. "Man, he pulled the freaking short straw there, didn't he?"

I let out a laugh and moved to sit next to her. "Not at all," I said and she just shook her head, staring at the wall ahead of us, her weird screamo band posters looking back at us.

"I don't like that bit," she whispered and I took her hand. "It's not fair on him, is it? He's suddenly permanently attached to me. We haven't even spoken before and now I'm his 'soul mate'."

"You're not necessarily his soul mate. You don't have to become his girlfriend."

She turned to me. "Yes I do."

I shook my head, frowning. "No, you don't."

"Yes. Yes, I do. Everyone who is of similar age has. I can't just turn around and be like 'Yeah, you say I'm your soul mate but I'm just going to ignore that', can I? How would that make him feel?"

"Yes, you can do that! Just because everyone else is romantically involved, doesn't mean you have to be! When have you ever done something just because that's what everyone else has done?" I asked, surprised at what she was saying.

Her lower lip trembled and her eyes filled with moisture, causing her to let out an angry breath, staring up at the ceiling. "I don't want to hurt him. Already. I can feel it. I don't want to hurt him at all. I couldn't live with myself if I did."

"You won't. If you let him in," I said and she let out a mocking breath.

"Because I find it so easy to 'let people in'," she said, turning to stare at me. "Have you even seen him? He's like… so nice. And… sweet!" a tear fell down her cheek and I was near tears as well. "How can I be his soul mate? How am I ever going to not hurt him? I won't be able to 'let him in'! I can't – you – you don't understand how hard that is."

I wrapped my arms around her as she closed her eyes, more tears falling. "I'm not sweet or nice or anything like that. I'm a freaking bitch and I cannot live with knowing that I hurt him. I can't just break someone so innocent! Because I will. I'm freaking messed up and you know it. My own freaking mom didn't even want to stick around."

"Come on," I said. "You know that's not your fault."

"What the hell am I going to do? Go up to him and be like, 'Oh, hey, Seth! I have major issues because my mom left when I was six, as she just 'couldn't possibly live here any longer without going mental'. And my dad is an alcoholic, which is why he's never at home. Oh? You're attached to me for the rest of your life? Jolly good! By the way, I can't trust people I don't know, I hate talking about my feelings to anyone because I just quite frankly find it embarrassing. And I will probably just be mean to you if you're nice to me. And if we do get close, I'll be a major control freak because I will never believe that you won't want to punch me in the face and run away. Good luck with that for the rest of your life!'" she said sarcastically, letting out some sobs.

We just sat there and cried for a bit, holding onto each other till we calmed down.

"Don't you get it? This is great for you. Perfect. Seth would never betray you – he's actually going to stick around and unwind all the little messed up mixed messages that you send out. He's going to wait until you open up. He's not just going to want to have sex with you and leave. All he wants to do is listen to you and get to know you. If you don't want to be his girlfriend, guaranteed he won't even think anything of it. He'd probably find it better as he gets to find out who you are as a friend."

She looked at me doubtfully.

"I meant it," I said, looking at her sternly so she'd believe me. "You don't have to be romantically involved, and I mean it. Brady said Seth wasn't even thinking about that! He only imprinted on you a little while ago, he can't have formed those sort of feelings yet. Plus, hasn't he told you about Quil? Who imprinted on a two year old? Ew. Imprinting definitely isn't about being in love."

"Aren't they just forced into it, though?" she whispered, leaning back, breathing deeply before letting out a few sneezes, which made me laugh. She has such weird sneezes.

"No," I said, still smiling. "That's what I always thought. But it wasn't. They want this. All the imprinting does is make them attached to you emotionally. It doesn't form any emotions."

"That doesn't make sense," she said. "You… you said that your emotions for him changed so drastically after you saw him – I'm assuming that's when he imprinted."

I nodded. "Yeah, but that didn't make me love him. He just changed and looked really freaking hot. What I felt when I saw him is nothing like the actual love that I have for him now."

"I think everyone who is with their imprint romantically is like that because when you care and love for someone so much, and they're so hot like the guys are, that you're so attracted to them then you do just naturally fall in love with them along the way," I said. "Me and Brady just sort of did it backwards 'cause we're horny teenagers." She let out a laugh. "I think that's why everyone is always really doubtful when there is a girl and a guy and they're really close and say that they're 'just friends'. Because when you care for and love someone so much, most people will just start to fall in love with them if they're interested in that gender because that's just the way our bodies work sometimes. But there are a lot of people out there, who can be best friends with someone who is of the sex that they're attracted to, without wanting anything else. And Seth would be the best friend you ever had – bar me, of course," she grinned and I smiled. "Don't feel pressured. You don't know if you'll fall for him. He might not even be your best friend; he could be more like a brother to you. But you'll always have him; he'll always be there for you. And you'll always make each other stronger. Because that is what imprinting is for, I think. Brady said it was to make the wolf stronger and to give them something to fight for. It's complicated and weird but it doesn't mean that you're stuck with each other. You could go off and marry completely different people – but be the best man or maid of honour at their wedding. Brady said it could be like that for us, but he 'fell in love with me' before he imprinted and was too selfish and loved me romantically so he couldn't do that." I rolled my eyes. "Guaranteed if you told Seth you just wanted to be friends, he wouldn't even blink an eye and would be so ecstatic."

"But if he doesn't want to be with me, then he can just leave and we'll be friends, right?" she asked. "I don't want him secretly hating me because he's with me and he doesn't want to be. I want him to have a choice."

I smiled and wrapped my arm around her shoulder. "I don't think Seth could ever hate anyone. But he will have a choice – and you always have a choice, too. I know you find talking about mushy stuff really hard, but I swear, he will turn you to mushy peas inside. I've spoken to him before and he really is adorable."

"Okay," she breathed, wiping her cheeks and eyes.

"Okay?" I asked, staring at her with one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. I'm done."

"Done?"

"With all this crying and feeling sorry for myself shit. I'm not used to having people making me feel better with their comforting words. But thank you. I love you and you mean more to me than anyone in the world."

I just smiled.

"Is it normal to miss him already?" she asked, looking at me embarrassedly and I laughed and nodded. "It feels really weird inside, doesn't it? The whole imprinting thing."

"Yeah," I laughed. "Weird is definitely the word for it."

We sat there for ages, just thinking.

"Isn't the whole super hearing, smelling and all other senses thing really weird?" she said and I turned to her, wide eyed and nodding.

"Yes!"

"Because they can hear you pee when you're downstairs and they're upstairs, can't they?"

"Yes! It is so hard to go to the bathroom when you're in a house full of werewolves." She shuddered at the thought and then turned to me, her hands coming up to cover her mouth.

"Oh my god! What about when you're…!"

"On your…?" she nodded and I agreed. "Yes. There's this Bella Swan girl who hangs out with these vegetarian vampires (they're not really vegetarian, though, because that's when you don't eat animals so it sort of defies the whole meaning as they just eat animals and not people) but she hangs out with vampires, who like, really want to suck her blood. Wouldn't that be even worse?"

She nodded. "Ew. Yuck. That's rank. Why the hell does she hang out with vampires for, anyway?" I shrugged.

"Long story. I'll explain it to you another time."

"Okay," she said and then just started laughing. "We're so not normal. I just found out that I have potentially found the person that I could spend the rest of my life with and we're talking about going to the toilet and periods."

I laughed and nodded. "Yeah. Definitely not a normal reaction."

She shook her head and we both seemed to have calmed down a lot. "So, how did you take it? What did you say to Seth?"

"Well, I tried to listen to what you said, but I just really didn't believe what he said. But after he showed me I sort of just let him speak and I took in everything he said. Then Paul came and was like 'So, do you believe him?' and I just said no and then they both phased and told me some more about it. And it sort of made sense, but I just didn't want to believe it. I just sat there as they spoke and then just said that I needed to have a think and that I wanted to talk to you. Seth then asked me to please call him whenever I wanted to, made me promise that I didn't hate him, and kissed me awkwardly on the cheek," she explained and I rolled my eyes as I stood up.

"Fucking hell, Moose. Just show me up, why don't you. You took it so well!"

"Have just forgotten the little freak out I had then?" she asked slowly, as she stood up, looking at me confusedly.

"Yeah, but that's fine! Everyone's entitled to one little break down when discovering something so huge. I told him you'd take it like a trooper!"

She just shook her head at me, bewildered.

"By the way," I said. "Your insides are already turning mushy."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Say what?"

"You almost squealed when mentioning he kissed your cheek."

"Shut up!" she said, blushing hard.

I smiled at her. "I think you should take it very slowly, though," I said and she snorted.

"Hello, Mrs. Hypocrite, we haven't spoken in about, pwoah," she tapped her chin and pretended to look at the 'watch' on her wrist, "ten minutes!"

I rolled my eyes and shoved her as we made our way downstairs.

"But, yes. Seth is so cute, but I don't know about getting together with him. Although I probably will, I just can't see it being soon."

I nodded. "Right. Shall we go to Sam and Emily's house? You can meet Em and Kim properly as our newest wolf girl."

"Wolf girl? Really?" she asked, obviously unimpressed.

"Come on, you love it! It's wicked."

"I'm sure," she said sarcastically. "And now… onto something more serious." I turned to her as she locked her front door behind us and turned to me. "Does Leah want to tear me apart with her she-wolf paws?"

Look! A second chapter in the same month! I hope you like this - as always, feedback is immensly appreciated.

I'm going to make this short as I always ramble. I hope you had a great Christmas, and if I don't update, have a brilliant New Year everyone :)

Thanks again to everyone whose reading this, fave'd, alerted or reviewed :)