I took a deep breath to calm myself and walked back to the tree line, hopeful that I could catch another glimpse of Charlie as he went out to his cruiser. A feeling of panic washed over me as my eyes passed over the parking lot, the cruiser nowhere to be seen. What kind of a wolf am I? I can't even keep track of my own imprint. Growling in annoyance at myself, I took off through the woods, hoping that Charlie would just head home so that I wouldn't have to risk people seeing me when I crossed the highway to get to the station.

I hit the edge of his yard just in time to hear the cruiser's tires leave the road, crunching through the gravel as it came to a stop. Only Charlie would drive slow enough not to beat me back here. Although, I guess it's kind of expected that the Chief of Police would actually follow the oppressive speed limits in town.

The cruiser's door open and my imprint stepped out, forcing me to sink back into the woods so that he wouldn't see me. My mind was racing as I watched him climb up the front stairs and stepped into the house, closing the door behind him. How could I have never really seen him before? He had always just been my dad's friend. The clueless white guy who would go fishing with us when I was younger. I let out a sigh and cautiously moved out of the woods, the looming darkness giving me a little more cover than I had had before.

The only lights on in the house were the front porch and the light coming from the television in the living room. I wasn't sure why Charlie hadn't bothered to turn on any others, but it did make me want to check on him. Hell, who are we kidding? I would have used any excuse to get another glimpse of him.

As I slowly made my way to the living room window, I could hear a news anchor blathering on about the Mariner's loosing yet another game. The Mariners, Seahawks, fishing, beer, my dad's fish fry recipe. My mind was running over everything that I knew made my imprint happy. I knew that I wanted my name to someday be on that list, but I couldn't focus on that right now.

I peered in through the crack in the curtains and couldn't help but smile. He was relaxing on the couch with a beer in his hand and his feet on the coffee table. There was something about him that I couldn't put my finger on. Maybe a sadness of sorts. Whatever it was, it caused me to do something stupid and reckless.

I moved closer to the window, wanting to get a better look and that's when he saw me. He obviously didn't get a good look, but enough to notice that someone was outside, watching him. I stuck around long enough to see him jump off the couch and then I booked it back into the trees where I could see him if he came outside, but he wouldn't be able to see me.

I could hear movement in the house as I stood there listening, all the while berating myself for being such an idiot. The back door swung open and I took an involuntary step back. So much for keeping all of this quiet. What had I done?