A/N: Lotta F-bombs in this chapter. I seem to like having the pack guys swearing. Oh, I've started writing a book. Dunno what it's going to turn out like...
Thicker Than Blood
The Imprinting(s)
Jacob threw the now black rag to the side, walking over to the open garage door to greet the three making their way towards him. There was a girl with dreamy and slightly scary eyes, a tall teen with electric blue hair, and a white-blond male behind them. The white-blond had stopped at the newspaper box and was trying to wrestle a paper out of it. The damn thing liked to stick and it was quite amusing to see the guy struggling with the metal box.
The other two had reached him by then and the girl smiled dreamily up at him. Jacob shifted uncomfortably. He didn't like it when people looked at him like that.
"Can I help you?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah," the blue haired boy replied, the girl having wandered off and was inspecting a potted plant sitting by the corner of the garage door. "We were told that you're the best mechanic in town. Are you good with bikes?"
Jacob snorted. "Good enough to disassemble and rebuild them." The blue haired guy was putting him on edge. He felt familiar but different; feral and dangerous but wrong. Normally Jake would think that he was a pack member or something, but the guy was freaking British.
From behind him, Seth snickered.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean that in an offending way, it's just that our brother was looking into buying a bike, but the only one he could find was really run down, so we need someone to repair it." The blue haired teen took a breath and smiled sweetly, obviously used to getting people to do what he said with the smile. It was craftily made, all innocence. He struck Jacob as a real prankster.
"Never mind. Bring the bike around and I'll look at it. It'll most likely be pricey though."
The white blond had made his way over to them by then, a slightly torn newspaper clutched in his hands. He snorted and Jacob turned to look at him. Jake froze.
White blond hair, silver eyes, tall, but not as tall as himself, and utterly regal. The male seemed to glow with an inner fire and it was impossible for Jacob to look away. He blinked and tried to drag his eyes away from the other, but damn if it wasn't impossible. It was almost as it-
No.
No friggin way.
Had he just imprinted?
Jacob swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling too dry. It was impossible. There had been no recorded cases of a pack member imprinting on someone of the same gender. It went against the whole logic of imprinting. One imprinted on their ideal mate, the one who would bare the strongest pup- er, children, the one who would be their submissive. For him to have imprinted on a male who seemed decidedly dominant, it made no sense.
There had to be some other explanation for this. Maybe the guy was a sorcerer. Yeah, that worked. The guy had enchanted him and made him his unwilling slave.
Oh shit, the guy was speaking.
"Er.... what?"
One pale aristocratic brow rose. "Pardon, not what. What is it with the people here having no manners." Lips tightened and Jacob nearly whimpered. 'So not good.'
"P-pardon?"
"That's better," the blond said, a condescending smirk on his face. He calmly tucked a thumb into his pant pocket. "I said, money is no problem."
Jacob stared. No wonder the guy seemed so perfectly groomed. Jacob actually felt grungy next to him, clad as he was in torn up jeans and a white tank. His (possible) imprintee was wearing form fitting black slacks and a soft looking silver button up. Damn. Even if he was imprinted on this guy, there was no way in hell they could get together. It would be like the prince and the pauper.
Jake glanced over to where Seth was beside the only female in the group, and almost went through with the urge to bash his head on the metal beam beside him. Seth was crouching down beside the girl, an adoring look on his face as she talked to him while stroking the plant. It seemed like he wasn't the only one who just went through an imprinting.
There was a soft clearing of the throat from in front of him and Jacob turned. The blue haired teen was staring at him with an amused glint in his eyes, the blond glaring.
"Right, right. Uh, bring it by whenever you like." Jacob quickly backed away, moving back to Chief Swan's car. "I'm rather busy at the moment, so yeah..." He quickly ducked down and practically collapsed onto the car engine.
"Sure. Well, I'm Trevor Masen and this is my brother Damian. We'll be back soon."
"Okay." Jacob tried to sound distracted, but it was not very convincing, even to his own ears. Damian Masen. At least the guy had a cool name.
He could hear them moving over to where the girl and Seth were and heard them gather her and leave. Seth's disappointed sigh reached his ears shortly after. At least that bastard knew for sure that he had imprinted, and imprinted in the customary way. First Bella, now this.
Seth moved back over to him, shuffling his feet as he went. Sitting down on a pile of spare tires by Jacob, he stayed silent. After a few minutes of it, Jacob could not take it anymore.
"Fuck, just say something."
Seth looked at him, crossing his arms. "Did what I think just happen to us really just happen?" It was uncanny how well Seth could read Jake.
"I... I don't know. If it did, it makes no sense! Why would my wolf imprint on someone that is unable to have kids? Isn't that the whole purpose of it?" Jacob leaned back against the hood of the car, running his fingers though his short black hair, making it stand on end. "I wish we had a manual guide for being a shifter. It would be so much easier."
Seth chuckled lightly. "Ah, but where would be the adventure in that?"
"Screw adventure. I'm going to have enough of it to last a lifetime by the end of the day. I have to go tell dad and the elders about this. And Sam." Jacob tried really hard not to sneer when saying his alphas name, really, he did, but it was so difficult not to. Sam was really pissing him off lately. Sometime Jacob wished he could just rise up and kick the shit out of Sam, or just leave the pack.
"Damn. Good luck with that. Want me to look after the shop?" offered Seth, grimacing sympathetically. He knew how Sam could be, and Billy Black was a terrify force when he wanted to be. Hopefully he would take the news of Jacob's imprinting well.
"Yeah." Jacob shoved himself off the car and walked over to the back room. "I should be back in a few hours."
oOo
A crash resounded through the house of Masen. Harry, who was puttering about in the garden, looked up with a start, just on time to witness Draco smashing another window in his room. The blond looked furious and upset, ranting to himself as he darted around his bedroom. Harry cocked his head to the side, leaning back on his heels beside the sweetgrass and stared. How come he could not hear Draco?
Deciding to investigate, he got up and quickly (but not too quickly) made his way into the house and up the stairs. Reaching Draco's room, he opened the door. Instantly, he was assaulted by Draco's loud ranting and a mug the blond threw at him.
"-damn bloody wolf just had to be it, didn't he? And Merlin, why do I always have to act like that when surprised, it could have just ruined everything! Fuck, fucking fuckity fuck!"
Harry stared. Draco was terrify when like this, but it was nice to know that the refined aristocrat was capable of cussing up a storm and anger. "Uh, Draco?"
Draco ignored him, or did not hear. "Of course Luna got the nice end of the deal, getting someone she can be around without ever worrying about gagging on their scent! Why, in the name of Morgana, did it have to happen like this?" He ripped a chair apart, seething.
Suddenly, as if all the wind went out of his sails, Draco slide down against the wall and sat, arms resting on his knees. He looked up and stared at Harry. "Karma is a bitch."
Harry snorted and sat down beside the distressed blond. "Tell me about it. Try living my life." He grinned as Draco shuddered and muttered something about unruly hair.
"So..." Harry leaned his head back against the wall and knocked Draco's knee with his own. "As the Americans say, Wuzzup?"
Draco shot him a scathing look. "I think I just pulled a Potter, as the wizarding world likes to say." He smirked slightly at the confused look that adorned Harry's face.
"What?"
"Pulled a Potter. I just got into far more trouble then I wanted to." He chuckled at the understanding "Ooh..." that Harry made. "Teddy, Luna, and I went into town to ask the local mechanic about motorbike repairs and suchlike. While there, Luna met a young man who seems to be very interested in her. I," he huffed and dragged a hand through his hair, annoyance colouring his voice. "I met the mechanic and instantly realized that my vampiric side acknowledged the bloke as my mate."
"We have mates?" asked Harry. No one had told him about that!
Draco gave him a look. "You have been a vampire for how many years and you did not know? We have ideal mates, the one who completes us and will keep us from going insane or killing ourselves in our extremely long undead life. I met a bloody shape-shifter and it turns out that he is mine."
"Huh. Well... it's not as bad as him being a werewolf, isn't it? I mean, sure he can shift into a very large wolf and was built to kill us, but at least with him you know that you won't have the constant urge to kill him." Unlike werewolves, shifters only nauseated them with their scent instead of spawning an instant berserker like urge to maim and kill.
"Right. And the urge to vomit up my blood is so much better then that. My ideal mate causes me to be ill. Bloody brilliant."
"Ah. Well... Maybe because he's your mate his scent will become better? Or, worst case scenario, just cast the scent muffling spell on him." Harry suggested, getting up. He reached a hand down to Draco which the blond took and they started to head out of the room.
"Perhaps. Well," Draco clapped his hands together, switching moods rather quickly. "Shall we go a hunting?"
"Indeed, my good sire." Harry flicked out his wand. "Scent spell off? Let the prey have a slight chance of escape?"
Draco considered it before nodding and Harry broke the charm. "Let's go."
They walked out of the back doors and headed off into the woods at a run, failing to notice the large wolf hidden in the shadows and brush nearby.
"Draco?" Harry asked, a half hour later while Draco crouched over a deer he had captured.
"Yes?"
"How can you tell if someone is your mate?" Harry carved patterns into the bark of a tree beside him, biting his lower lip in concentration.
"It's just this feeling you get. Instant attraction, curiosity, some lust, and a bit of an urge to bite them."
"Oh." Harry stared off into the woods as Draco gulped down mouthfuls of blood. "I think I just pulled a Potter." He grinned at the usage of his surname in such a way.
"Hm?"
"I think my mates are Jasper and Edward."
There was a gagging sound as Draco chocked on a mouthful of blood.
oOo
"You did what?"
Jacob flinched back slightly, his eyes widening. He had expected Sam to take this badly, but to actually look like he wanted to kill someone was something he did not expect.
"I just imprinted. The Elders and my dad already know. What's the big deal?" He straightened his shoulders and glared at Sam. Once he had a chance to calm down and look at his situation (the fact that Billy had fairly calmly accepted his imprinting on a male helped), Jacob realized that he was fairly lucky. His imprint was attractive, well off enough that if something were to happen to Jacob he would be fine financially wise, and he appeared tough enough to stand up to any situation they could happen upon.
The fact that Damian was not Bella certainly helped a lot.
"You imprinted on a fucking vampire, that's the big deal!"
Wait, what? Jacob blinked, turning to attention back to Sam. "Pardon?" Seemed like Damian already had an affect on him.
Sam paced across the floor, fists clenched. "You imprinted on a vampire. I had Paul steak out their home and they slipped up. One minute the blond guy smelled like a normal person, just slightly off, the next he didn't. Paul saw the other leech enter his room and they were up their for a while. When they came back down and went off into the woods they smelt just like the Cullens."
"Other leech?" Who the hell could the other be? The brother he had not seen? The teen with the wicked cool blue hair did smell strange, but it was far too wolf like to be anything vampiric. The pale girl was strange too, but not in the same way as Damian.
"Short, black haired with green eyes. That's the thing I don't understand; they are vampires, but that leech has green eyes and your imprint had silver. And how can they change their scents?" Sam frowned, clearly distracted by his thoughts.
Jacob took the chance to mull over his situation. Damian was his imprint. Damian was a vampire, but because he was his imprint, Jacob could not imagine being without him. But every single one of Jacobs instincts were screaming at him to go take care of the threat, to make sure that the people of Forks were save, that the people on the Rez were away from harm. If he reacted like this just by thinking about his imprint being a vampire, could he actually handle smelling him?
Yes. No. Maybe?
There was only one way to solve this.
Jacob whirled around and headed out of the house. As he reached the door, Sam asked "Where the hell are you going?"
Jake looked over his shoulder at his alpha. "To solve this." Ignoring the confused sound Sam made, he stalked out and into the woods, shifting as he made his way to the Masen's house.
oOo
Bonus: Seth and Luna's conversation
Seth snickered to himself while he watched Jacob talking to the blue haired teen that had just reached the shop. Jacob had the reputation as the best mechanic in town for a reason.
After a short conversation between the two before him, the blond haired guy who had been wrestling with a newspaper for the last minute or so approached. One look at the expression on Jacobs face and Seth knew that his pack mate had just imprinted. Sighing, he backed away from them, leaving Jacob some time to converse with his potential boyfriend.
Spotting a blond haired girl crouching by the potted plant in the corner, Seth decided to talk to her. Anything to get away from the river of drool practically flowing out of Jake's mouth.
Approaching her, he crouched down beside her. "Hi."
She turned to him, a brilliant smile on her lips and Seth froze. She was not gorgeous by societies standards, a bit too eccentric looking, a bit too bug eyed, but she was the most attractive female he had ever met.
"Hello."
Huh. So this was what it was like to imprint. "What are you looking at?"
She turned to the potted plant and pointed at it. "Your primrose plant. It's looking a bit down."
Seth looked at the flower and noticed that it was looking a bit wilted. "Ah. I guess I should water it then."
"Yes. The fairies would be very upset with you if it died. They take these things very seriously." Seth stared at her as she stroked the flower gently. She was completely serious about the fairies being mad at him, that much was obvious to see.
"I'll look after it better then. I'm Seth." He held out a hand to shake with hers, and her smaller hand slipped into his perfectly.
"Lexi. Short for Alexandria." She smiled up at him, and just like that Seth was lost.
Unlike Jacob, it did not take three hours and a conversation with his father and the elders to make Seth realize that his imprint was perfect. After Lexi walked away with her brothers and Jacob set off for his dramatic meeting with the elders, Seth calmly went to get some water for the plant.
The next time Lexi dropped by, he wanted the plant to be in perfect condition.