Currently Seth was not very happy with me. We had been on patrol together today, and I had been worried about how Claire was the whole day, so that's what my thoughts had been on about 97 of the time.

As soon as I done with patrol I showered, and then drove to Claire's school. When I got there, there were still a few minutes left before she would be let out.

Finally I heard the bell ring and kids started filing out of the school. I could see Claire. She was one of the people who at the front of the crowd. As soon as she saw my pick-up she ran towards it. I got out and opened the door for her.

"Hey there honey. How was your first day of school?" I asked.

She shrugged. "It was fine. We took a test today to see how much we knew about adding and subtracting. I don't think most of the kids knew what it was about, but Miss Jacobson said that was okay because that was one of the things she was planning on teaching us. We also had to take test on reading to see how many different words each of us knew."

"Did you make any friends?"

"No. Some the people were loud, and they didn't always listen to what the teacher was saying."

"Don't you want to have friends at school? I'm sure that going there would be easier for you if you had some people to talk to." Claire just shrugged; she didn't seem convinced. I realized that I wasn't gong to be able to change her mind, so I might as well change the subject. "Do have any homework tonight?"

"Yeah, we're suppose to read with an adult, and then have them sign something saying that we read."

"That doesn't sound like it would be something that you should have any trouble with." Unlike some parents who read to their children before going to bed, Claire usually ended up reading to me. Sometimes it would be a long book, sometimes it would be a short book, but overall we usually read her favorite book. It was the story about the little girl and the wolves that helped her to survive.

Claire was looking out the window of the pick up humming.

"Do you want to go home first and do your homework, then go to Sam and Emily's for the bonfire, or do you want to go to Sam and Emily's, then leave early to do your homework?" I asked.

"Let's go home first."

"As you wish." She giggled at my reference to Princess Bride.

When we got home Claire dashed into the house, dropped her backpack in a chair, and ran up to her room. "Claire you better change into warm clothes, and then pick a book out to read. The faster you do that the sooner we can leave," I yelled up the stairs.

"Alright," she yelled back down the stairs.

I went over to her backpack pulling out her three-ring binder. There was a letter in it from the teacher to all of the parents/guardians.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Today all of your children took test. These tests will tell us how much your child remembers from kindergarten. It is not expected that they remember much. We do this to get the basic level that everyone is at right now. It will also show us if there might be any students who may need extra help this year, after we compare last year's tests with this year's tests.

I want to remind you all how important it is that you make sure that your child comes to school as often as possible. Right now they are building the basics to their next 12 years of school. It may be hard for you all to think that far ahead right now; I'm sure that most of you don't even want to think about how your child will be as a teenager. I just want to remind you that the more you make sure they are getting the education that they need now, the more likely they will be well educated in the future. If they are pushed to attend school everyday now they are more likely to be willing to come to school when they are older.

Right now there will not be very much homework for your child. Since it is the beginning of the year we will start off slow and slowly build up to. As of now your child will be expected to read something every night. The things that they read don't have to be hard words. There is a list attached with words that they should have learned in kindergarten. If you want to you can just have them read this. Even though you may think that you're helping them don't let them skip over words! You can tell them what the word is if they can't figure it out, but they should try and be able to recognize that word in the future. Don't worry if you think your child isn't at the reading level that they are supposed to be at. (They're going to school to learn these things.)

We have a very exciting year ahead of us. I can't wait to get to know you and your children!

Miss Jacobson

I looked at the other things in the binder. The list of words was far below Clair's reading level. There was also a sheet that was separated into columns. The first column had date written on the top, the second had title; the third had author, and the fourth said parent's signature.

Claire came prancing into the kitchen wearing a sweater that she hadn't had on before. She immediately went to her bag a pulled out a book. "Quil let's read this one!"

It wasn't one that I recognized. "Where is that book from?"

She got an excited grin on her face. "The library. We got to go there for a few minutes today. They have a ton of books there that I have never read before. I can't wait until tomorrow. If I get to school early they said that we could go look in the library in the morning."

"That's great honey." Maybe we wouldn't have to spend a fortune buying books for her than if they have lots of books at the school's library. We finished the book that she had grabbed from her backpack. Then she filled out the information on the sheet, and I signed. Finally we could head off to Sam and Emily's.

The closer that we got the more nervous I became. I had talked to Sam about it, and finally got him to agree to let me tell Claire. I wanted to tell Claire about werewolves soon because if I waited to long she might be upset with me for not telling her. Although I wasn't completely ready to explain imprinting to her, she would find out a lot of the information.

As I was pulling into Sam's driveway Claire asked, "Quil are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said trying my best to act casual.

"You don't seem fine. You seem upset." A frown crossed her face. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked me.

"No! Of course you didn't. There's just some stuff that you might hear tonight, and I'm worried about what you're going to say."

"Quil it doesn't matter what happens; I will never be able to be mad at you for anything. You made everything good and whole when things were bad." She leaned over and gave me hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then she hopped out and ran up to the house. I got out slower than she did. I hadn't realized that she was feeling whole and happy again like she had before her mom had died.

When we finished supper at Sam and Emily's we headed out to the cliffs overlooking the Pacific. Earlier that day some of the boys had gotten some wood and set up a fire pit. They had also had grabbed some larger logs that we could sit on.

Only some of the pack had come out tonight because there was a party down on first beach, and the boys were there to supervise. I'm pretty sure that they were planning on being part of the activities.

When we got up there we all got settled in; Claire was sitting on my lap with a blanket over her lap. It was pretty cool up here especially with the wind and I didn't want her getting cold. Since Old Quil wasn't here anymore it was Sam's duty to pass on the legends. He told all of the stories including the more recent ones, but the way he told them made it sound like it had happened as long ago as everything else. Through the stories Claire became very relaxed. A few times I actually thought that she had been sleeping, but her eyes had been wide open the whole time.

After Sam finished his story we walked back through the woods. I was carrying Claire because I was pretty sure that if I didn't she would topple over from exhaustion. The pack was spread out. They all knew that I was planning on explaining things to Claire.

"Quil, that was even better than when mom use to tell me," she whispered into my ear.

"Well honey I'm glad you liked that." I was actually considering not telling her tonight when she whispered into my ear again.

"What were you so nervous about earlier, Quil?"

There was no getting around Claire. "There are a few important things that I want to tell you tonight."

"What."

"The thing I'm going to tell you are secrets. You can't talk to anyone about it unless they already know about it, okay."

"Alright, I promise I won't tell."

"All of those stories are real."

"You mean that there are real people who can be wolves?" I nodded. "Where are they? Can I meet them? Can I talk to them?" She looked wide awake now.

"You have already met them."

"Who?" she asked, her eyes were filled with wonder.

"Me, and Sam, and Embry, and Seth, and Brady. All of those big guys around here." I was waiting for her to become angry and upset, but it didn't happen.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"I was scared that you would be scared of me then."
"Thank you for telling me."

"Claire I also wanted to tell you that because I'm part wolf I have this thing in me that tells me when there is someone special who has come into my life. When I met you I knew that you were going to be very special to me."

"So is the reason that you're taking care of me because you are a werewolf? You wouldn't be otherwise if you had been normal?" Her voice had become upset. I'm sure that she was feeling unwanted.

"Claire if I had been normal I'm sure that I would have eventually realized how special you were. The only difference here is that I knew right away. Claire it made me see how truly special you would be."

"I see. Does my dad know about all of this?"

"Yeah, we told him about it when he came to visit you earlier in the summer."

"He got to know before I did. That's not fair!"

"Well life isn't fair, and you'll just have to deal with it.
I walked for a while in silence. Finally Claire started talking again. "Can I see you as a wolf?"
"No!" Her acceptance me being a werewolf was one thing, but actually wanting to see was something completely different. I'm sure that if she were to see me in my wolf form she would be terrified of me.

"I really want to see you. Please?"

"It isn't safe. You could get hurt." I didn't want to tell her my real reason for not letting her see me. I knew that I would do everything in my power to keep her safe. I also knew that when Sam had mauled Emily he didn't have full control of shifting, unlike how we were now with a few years of practice.

"Quil I want to see you so much. I bet you look wonderful!" Her voice got excited as she contemplated how I would look as a wolf.

"Claire for now you'll just have to trust me on saying that it's a bad idea. Maybe someday when your older you might get to see me as a wolf, but not anytime soon."

"Fine," she said, sounding really disappointed.

We walked the rest of the way back in silence. On the way home Claire fell asleep. It was about an hour past her normal bedtime so I wasn't surprised. I carried her into the house when we got home. She woke up slightly as I carried her, and I heard her whisper. "Don't worry Quil; I'm not mad at you."

My heart felt so much lighter at her words. It was as if she had known that the whole way back I had been thinking about her being mad at me for telling her 'no'. Every once in a while I would start thinking about how Claire and I might not truly be meant for each other. In my heart of hearts I knew that I were destined to be together, but it always helped to know that she understood me well enough to tell was I was worried about something. Oh, how special my Claire is.

A/N Please review!!