Chapter 1

My teeth cracked through marble, cold poison coating the inside of my mouth. She jerked her shoulder out of my grip and leaped onto a nearby tree. Circling the conifer, I growled up at the redhead. Sam and Embry skidded to a halt by my flank, viciously snapping at the red eyed leech perched on a branch out of reach. Our breaths ragged; from a combination of the adrenaline coursing through are veins and the hours this bitch just made us run. Not to mention the ever rising anger within the pack mind. My lips drew back revealing perfectly sharp razor teeth and my hackles perked as she spat each word.

"You can't protect her forever" she hissed.

'Protect who?' Embry growled.

'Focus Embry'. I barked,

He crouched to lunge forward as the leech turned to disappear into the thick canopy of the Canadian forest.

'Stop,' our alphas voice vibrated through our linked minds 'This is not our territory, ba-'.

'That's the fourth time she's slipped through our teeth, Sam!' I piped up. The fucker had us chase her all the way to the Canadian border three times already; And what the hell kept her coming back for more? Who was she trying to hunt?

'She is no longer on our territory and a risk to our people. we'll deal with her if she comes back.' Sam's voice held the undertone of an alpha command, indicating that this conversation was over. He turned towards La Push and bolted, the imprint pulling him to Emily.

'Whipped,' I thought.

'Careful,' Sam warned.

'Yeah, yeah' I chuckled. And we followed.

The pack knew my views on imprinting. To have your choice taken away from you was not appealing. Being stuck with the same person for the rest of your life was a terrifying concept. I mean what if my imprint was this ugly, fat chick that had a bad case of facial hair. What was a wolf to do then?

'Love her for who she is…' Embry questioned.

Snorting, I flashed images of my latest conquest through the link. Images of me buried balls deep in the fuck hot pussy of a skinny blonde. Of her riding my cock, sucking me off and her full lips wrapped around my shaft.

The virgin groaned.

'Not a fucking chance with the women I've been with,' I laughed. Between patrol, school and work I didn't have a lot of spare time. What time I did have was spent getting laid. I've been with my fair share of women, hell I'd been with Embry's share of women. And I wasn't about to stop on the account of some voodoo magic shit. I didn't want to be tied down by one girl. Where the hell was the fun in that? What if I imprinted on the preacher's daughter, who had sworn herself to abstinence? Or some, barely legal kid who had no idea where I could put it? Embry's wolf huffed.

'Something bothering you, pup?' I asked gruffly.

'N... no,' he stuttered.

'Spit it out'

'It's just I thought… I thought that the imprinter is supposed to be what the imprint needs.'

'Yeah, and?'

'Well, you keep thinking about yourself. What about what she'll need? You're supposed to know what you're imprint needs, right?'

Sam joined in, 'Absolutely, but Paul here thinks he's above that, don't you? Emily always said she wanted me to stay away from her. But that wasn't what she needed. I tried fighting it for her, but that was never gonna work. The pull got stronger every minute I was away from her. And then I…'

The rest of the sentence went unsaid but not unheard. We all knew what Sam had done, how he had scarred his mate. He could still feel his claws slice through her delicate skin. The feel of her blood under his paws and see the matted fur in his mind. Sam had never forgiven himself for what he had done to Emily and he never would.

Silence graced the pack mind, nothing but the humming of the forest, our paws and breathing could be heard until Jared phased in. I had wondered why we hadn't heard him for a while, guess he was about to tell us.

'There's a problem,' He exclaimed. 'It's Jake… he's injured.'

'What!?' Embry's voice rung painfully through the pack mind.

'Jesus Embry!' I growled.

'Quiet,' the command rippled through our skulls. 'Jared, what happened?'

'He tried to take on a nomad, by himself. I got Harry to take a look at him. He's got a broken arm that should be healed by tomorrow.'

Sam snarled. 'Boy thinks he knows it all. I trust you took care of it. Where is he now?'

'At home sleeping it off. It wasn't his fault. I should've been paying more attention. I never should have let him patrol the eastern border alone.' Jared whined.

'You should've known better, but what's done is done.'

We were now approaching the forks border, home was in sight and my bed was calling to me. I was dying for a shower and some sleep.

'Meet us at Jake's in 10.' Sam ordered Jared. 'We'll check on him, maybe take him to Em's if he's up for it.'

I could see the little red house and garage in Jared's mind, he was already there. There was a shift and just like that the image was gone. Jared had phased out.

We had just passed the La Push border, and it felt great having my paws pounding on familiar soil. I relished in the freedom running gave us, but it was closely followed by the weight of the responsibility that phasing brought. Morphing into a giant vampire killing wolf had it advantages. The growth spurt was one but the pain it caused was a down fall. Never getting cold was useful but never being about to feel cool was frustrating. The strength the change gifted was awesome, but never being able to fully let go around humans was disappointing. People assuming you were part of some steroid pumping cult is never an upside. But that did keep them at a healthy distance for the pack though, which was great.

Sam reduced his speed, Embry and I followed. Jared was waiting for us just shy of the tree line clad in this usual cut-off's and the only pair of sneakers he had left. Each of us had ripped our clothes and shoes trying to get a hang of our anger and phasing. Eventually, we got the hint and stopped wearing shit that wasn't necessary. Good thing we never got cold.

We phased back, not bothering to try to hide our junk. We'd seen it all before, but still, we had the decency of turning away from our pack brothers to get dressed. I crouched down and untied the bungee cord from around my ankle, which secured my clothes to me when in wolf form. I unrolled my cut-offs and slipped them on; I zipped the fly and snapped my button secure, before turning to talk to Jared.

'Let's go,' Sam interrupted as he passed. We broke through the tree line in classic V formation, instinctively. Embry and Jared announced our arrival by shouting their pathetic 'wolf call'.

To the side of the red house was parked Billy's old truck, which could only be one person. The leech lover had finally lost the last sliver of her dignity and paid Jake a visit. I chuckled, and Jared eyed me suspiciously. Before I could bite his head off the porch door banged furiously against the side of the house. I snapped my head around to see the small figure of Bella Swan storming down the steps and hurtling towards the pack.

Stupid little girl, I thought. Give me a reason to rip you apart, just one. I couldn't stand her for using Jake to put her back together after her precious leech left.

"What did you do to him?!" her voice rung out as she stepped to my alpha and pushed him with her feeble, skinny little forearm. Her brows furrowed with fury.

"Hey. Watch it," Jared and I warned simultaneously.

"Easy," Sam stuck out his arm to stop us making any moves.

She shrunk back. That's right little girl, be afraid.

"He didn't want this!" she declared. No shit. Nobody wanted this.

"What did we do? What did he do? What did he tell you?" My body tensed. Jake had no business telling the leech lover our tribe secrets. My breath became uneven, and a familiar anger rose from my core, making my skin ripple. Sam grabbed my arm and pulled me roughly backwards.

"Both of you calm down" Sam's placid voice brought back my restraint. But I could still feel little tremors under my skin. My breathing evened out but was still laboured from fighting the phase. The girl glanced at Jared and turned her pretty little head back to me. I could only imagine what his expression portrayed, anger no doubt. I looked at her full bottom lip as she spoke.

"He tells me nothing because he's scared of you!" she provided. For real? About fucking time, the boy was fearless. The notion, so ridiculous Jared and I both started laughing. I trailed my eyes to look into hers, about to tell her just how wrong she was, and then my universe shifted, every little thread that had tied me to this world broke. Instead, steel cables wrapped around my heart, shot through my torso and straight to her. Shit.

I just imprinted. On Bella fucking Swan, the leech lover.

Next thing I see is Jared's panicked face. I was too busy lost in her brown doe eyes that I hadn't noticed her tiny hand raise to slap me. She slapped me? My imprint had just slapped me. She might as well had taken a knife and stabbed my heart and twisted it. That shit hurt. Yet again, I was fighting to remain calm. Sam placed his hand on my shoulder and he pushed me back.

"Paul, don't." he said but I was way past the point of return. My imprint hated me.

"Too late now." Jared's voice held amusement, as he backed up.

Sam raised his hand towards her, "Bella, get back." my shoulders heaved from my fizzling resolve. I could feel the tremors return to full out shakes. Spittle flew from my mouth as she backed up. She looked at my feet and then her eyes shot right up to my face. She looked terrified, this only fuelled my anger. She hated me and she was scared of me! Great going Paul! I was her imprint she wasn't supposed to be afraid of me. And just like that, I crouched forward and phased. Fur exploded from my skin, sharp teeth displayed through a snarl and claws digging into the dirt. I stepped forward and she countered my advance by stepping back. I lowered my head to look less intimidating but she turned and ran for the house.

Her breathing developed to gasps as she dashed towards the safety of Jake's house. The baby alpha was already on the porch.

"Bella!" he shouted and jumped over the railing and over the stream. What the fuck happened to the broken arm?

"Run Jake, run!" she shouted while running towards him and away from me. Fuck that shit. She was not choosing him over me, ever. I growled, stalking towards my brother. He was getting too close for comfort. I could see his muscles shaking, and I knew he was about to phase.

Just as he reached her, she fell at his feet. Wow, she really was clumsy! Jake jumped as Bella impacted the ground, phasing in mid-air.

'You have to go through me first!' he growled ferociously.

'Step aside Black, she's my imprint.'

Beta:MissElenaMasen