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"Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?" Collin sang as the music played.

"In the lane, snow is glistening!" I sang back. "A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight. Walking in a winter wonderland!"

Emily sang the rest about the bird, while Collin grabbed my hips and brought me close. We danced, gradually wrapping the tinsel ourselves. We were decorating the house for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, and Emily wanted to be done before Claire got here. So, the decorations came out, we started playing Christmas music, baking cookies and drinking hot cider.

"So, Sammy Jade!" Embry said as he strung lights with Jake and Quil around the tree. "Why do you like Christmas?"

I grinned. Anyone could tell that I loved Christmas to an extreme. Everything about it made me happy, and I loved the cheerfulness, the secrets of presents, the decorations, and reading about Jesus and Christmas miracles. But, there was another reason.

"Well, a week before Christmas, Dad sobered up." I said as I stapled green and white tinsel on table. "He would buy a Christmas tree and for me decorate. He'd stop hitting me for that small amount of time. It was a time that I could forget everything, and feel like I had an actual father."

It had gone silent, and I noticed that Collin was gone. I looked around the room before Embry spoke. "He had to leave. The thought of you being hurt by your father is too much for him; he phases every time someone mentions your father."

"Imprinting thing?" I asked quietly, stapling more tinsel.

"Soul mate thing," Jake corrected softly. "He'd be like this even if he hadn't imprinted."

I smiled. "That's like Collin."

Then he came back in looking paled. Even in front of everyone, he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, kissing my neck—kissing my bruises that had yet to fade. I noticed everyone had gone back to their own conversations. They gave us privacy.

"I shouldn't have brought it up," I said lightly. "I'm really sorry."

"It's okay," he whispered. "I just...the thought of him hurting you..."

"Well, he'll never touch me again," I said, turning to face him. "I promise you that I'll be fine. Even if I leave..."

"You aren't leaving," Collin said fiercely. "You can't."

"We don't decide that," I reminded him. "The government does."

"I can't think about you leaving," Collin said, going pale again. "If I do, it tears me apart. I can't think straight, and I just...lose it. The thought of not being with you kills me."

"You know the whole, 'my pain is your pain?'" I asked.

"That's how I feel if you're hurt."

"Well," I said. "It's the same for me. It's not only my pain is yours, but yours is mine. It works both ways."

"I guess I've never thought about that," he looked at me lovingly.

"It's true. So, please try to be happy. It's officially the Christmas season, and my favorite time." I batted my eyelashes sweetly, but subtly and pouted my lips seductively. "Please, just be happy. For me?"

His eyes turned adoring and he grumbled "Damn it," before smiling. He leaned down and pecked my lips softly. "I hate it when you do that."

"No you don't, you love it." I rolled my eyes and turned up the music.

'Santa Baby' was playing.

I laughed and walked over to Seth, grinning. He grinned back, and reading my mind, stood up and took my hands. We started dancing slowly to the music. People began pairing up with each other, but the guys weren't with their imprints. Paul was dancing with Emily, Jared with Rachel, Jake with Kim, and then I was passed around from guy to guy. I sang along to the song when I was with Colin, smiling and he twirled me and dipped me. When I was dipped, he kissed me, making me slightly dizzy.

When he brought me back up, he wrapped his arms around my waist and led me outside. I walked with him, ignoring Sam's look. We sat on the porch, wrapped in each other's arms. We honestly spent a lot of time like that. Normally, we didn't talk, and didn't kiss all that much. We just held each other. The week before, he told me that he was scared that they would take me away. That he would never see me again. Since we only had a month before we found out, we were both scared.

He also held me a lot at night. He would come in through my window at night, even though Sam was next door. He'd slip into the bed next to me, and I would curl into his warm chest. Sometimes I had bad dreams about my father, or losing Colin, and I would wake up crying into his chest. He stroked my hair, kissed away my tears, and told me everything would be okay.

People touching me hadn't improved. It was still only Sam, Emily, and Collin who could touch. I wasn't as picky about people coming near me, but if someone tried to hug me or wrap and arm around me, I would cringe away, trying to get out of reach. When I had to go to court about my father, it wasn't that hard to win over the jury. When the lawyer came close to me, I cringed into the seat, and tears formed in my eyes. It wasn't on purpose, but I did picture my father sometimes.

The people who stopped by every two weeks were nice to me, asking simple questions to me, occasionally asking Colin or Sam or Emily. Only three people had come by so far, and I felt confident that I would be staying. They could hardly complain about Sam or Emily, who treated me with all the love in the world. Emily was a loving mother and a great teacher, Sam a protective and caring older brother. The past two ladies even liked Colin.

Suddenly, Colin stood up, bringing me with him. "We should go inside. I hear a car heading this way." I smiled and nodded, following him inside. Once the car was apparently outside, and we could hear voices, Emily walked out there, acknowledging that it was Claire. After a few more minutes, they came inside.

She was so not what I was expecting.

Okay, what do you think when someone says "Cancer patient?"

A tiny little person with bruises on their skin and no hair? Yeah, that's I thought. Boy was I wrong.

Claire was a girl about my height, with jet black, stick straight hair that she had in a short, adorable bob. She had on a good bit of makeup, but it looked natural in a way. Her eyes were round and a really pretty brown. She was beautiful, dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, with a pink short, off the shoulder boyfriend tee over a white long sleeved shirt and black boots that her jeans were tucked into.

But that was at first glance. After looking her over again, I noticed how thin she was. Her sharp features were made by the lack of meat on her face, and her clothes hung loosely on her frame. Even the skinny jeans were a bit saggy, and she had a small purse that looked like it was a heavy burden. Her beautiful eyes looked dull and in a slight amount of pain.

After we were all introduced, it reminded me slightly of my first time meeting everyone. She was nervous looking and quiet, and flinched when the guys touched her while she shook hands with them. Oh yeah, and she got imprinted on by Quil.

Crazy, right? When they shook hands and met eyes, she looked different. Something sparked in her eyes, and they seemed to be holding hands, rather than shaking. Quil bent down in a small bow.

"Pleasure to meet you," he said, kissing her hand. She giggled and blushed.

"The pleasure's all mine," she responded, her voice quiet. The rest of the evening was spent eating cookies and drinking cider while I engaged Claire in conversation. Colin chatted with Brady, all the while keeping our hands intertwined, stroking my hand with his thumb.

"Sammy Jade?" Claire asked me hesitantly.

"Yeah?" I said. Embry, having introduced everyone, decided to introduce me as Sammy Jade, the new nickname that everyone seemed to like.

"Can you do me a favor and just go ahead and ask me?" she said.

"Ask you what?" I said innocently, drinking my cider.

"Just ask," she insisted, looking down. "I know you have a bunch of questions. I can tell by the look in your eyes and the hesitant stance. I have questions for you too. How about this; You ask me a question, then I'll ask you?"

I sat shocked at her boldness for a second. She could obviously read me really well. Then I regained my posture. "Okay, that works. I was just wondering...why you have hair?"

"Don't most human beings?" she grinned. I tried not to laugh, but grinned back.

"Well, yeah," I said. "But, I thought people who had chemotherapy lost hair."

"I stopped treatment a few months ago, and the doctor gave me a pill to help my hair grow back faster," she explained. "They have me doing radiation therapy at the moment."

"Oh," I said. "That makes more sense."

"Now it's my turn," she smiled. "Why are you living here? Emily can't stop talking about you."

"Well, I was abused by my father," I said quietly, looking down. I needed to stop being so scared about telling it, and this offered me an opportunity to get used to it.

"Princess, you don't have to talk about it," Colin said. He leaned closer, his arm moving to wrap protectively around me. "We can do this later."

"No, it's fine baby," I said, kissing his hand that he had placed under my chin. "I need to do this." he nodded painfully before I turned my attention back to Claire. "Umm, awhile ago, my Dad got sick of me. He was tired of taking care of me, giving me clothes, and being responsible. So, he dropped me off at my unknown brother's house. We've gotten close lately, and he and Emily are like my parents."

"Where's your mom?" Claire said.

"She died of cancer when I was little," I said, memories of her flashing through my mind. I missed her warm and loving eyes, and the great hugs she used to get. Tears welled up in my eyes. "I need to go to the bathroom. Excuse me." I felt my heartbeat quicken as I stood up, going to the bathroom. I glanced back quickly. Claire looked like she wanted to apologize and Colin was in visible pain. I felt bad for doing this to him.

I shut the bathroom door and leaned my forehead against it, taking quick breaths, trying to calm myself. With thoughts of my mother in my head, scary images of my father, and the pain coming from my side that seemed to only hurt when I was upset all combined to threaten me to burst into tears.

The night my dad dumped me on Sam's doorstep, he had taken a good blow to my side that tended to ache if I strained the muscle at all, got upset, or slept wrong. I wondered if it would be a lasting pain.

I moved my shirt to see if the bruise was gone. It seemed that finally, after all this time, it decided to fade away. It was only slightly red, as if I scratched it too much. My skin had cleared up extremely well, so that I only had a few sore spots, but no more bruises.

After wiping my eyes and trying to hide the tears, I went back into the room. Claire was now talking with a very happy looking Quil. I went took my place next to Colin again and Paul immediately had a cup of hot chocolate waiting for me. I thanked him and snuggled back into Collin's side while Embry, Quil, and Jared began cheering me up and making me laugh.

I don't know if it was because I was Sam's sister, or if it was because I was the youngest imprint, but the pack was always taking care of me. It was like it was with Emily. She was the pack mother, and I was the pack sister. Apparently, being the alpha's sister puts you pretty high up in the pack's standards, and all the guys loved me and listened to me. If I needed them, they were there. And I loved them all just as much.

"I really am sorry," Claire said sincerely. "I shouldn't have been nosy."

"It's fine," I said. "We're going to be living together for a month; we have to get to know each other. Anyways, it'll be great having someone my age around here. I know we'll be good friends."

She smiled at me. "You're really nice. A lot nicer than most girls I know. And you seem so much more mature than people our age."

"With the life I've had, you gotta grow up fast."

"I know exactly what you mean, believe me."