So I have decided that both Wyatt's and Mac's POVs will be in my story. Cheerrss because I have a lot of fun writing his point of view. I especially like the first one in this chapter. =] Enjoy

Chapter 2- Unsuccessful Strategies

~Mac's POV~

Again.

No.

I growled at Ravyn who was standing in front of me as an eight-foot tall black and gray wolf. It still surprised me how we weren't identical as wolves like we were as humans. My lips pulled back from my muzzle in a wolfy sneer, and my tail swished from side to side in annoyance.

Mac, he tried to pacify me. This solves nothing. You know that. I know that.

So? I countered. It makes me feel better, doesn't it? I began to circle him, hoping his wolf instincts would take over, accepting the challenge. He resisted.

Wyatt wouldn't like this, Mac.

I howled at him and, using my hind legs, pushed myself forward and tackled him to the ground. I smiled in my head.

Ravyn was pissed as he pushed me off him, knocking me into a tree. Happy now, MacKayla?

Hardly. I tried to stand up right away but the breath had been knocked out of me and I had a bruised rib. I bit back a moan. As soon as I was able, I jumped to my feet.

MacKayla, why don't you give up? I'm tired of this.

Tired, huh? I smirked at him, pushing the pain in my chest to some other part of my brain. It wasn't hard, I'd been trained well. How about another round, Birdie.

I didn't wait for an answer. I charged him, biting into his neck. He howled, but it wasn't from pain. I didn't even break the skin. He howled because he didn't want to do this. I bit down harder, breaking the skin and tasting his rusty blood on my tongue. I didn't want him to go soft on me anymore. It was boring.

He growled and I increased the pressure of my canines against his skin. He pulled his hind legs up to his chest and before I had a chance to let it register in my mind, his powerful legs kicked forward into my stomach, propelling my body through the air. While I was flying, I smiled triumphantly; I had gotten him to lose control. However, as my body crashed into a large red wood, splitting it in two, the halves falling back down to Earth, I realized I had pushed him too far. And as my body was shuddering with the impact, I knew that I had acted selfishly.

I had wanted to forget my situation. Needed to think of someone else, of anything else, considering that fact that in an hour, we would have to leave for school and there he would be, the impossible, the one thing I wanted… and the one thing I couldn't have. The one thing that my heart had always been omitted, the missing link that had made me feel so alone when I was surrounded with people.

My imprint.

My body slammed into the mossy and damp soil. I gasped at the pain racking my body and tried to breathe but it was nearly impossible and I involuntarily phased back into my human form, shaking like a newborn baby. I had gotten what I had wanted from this, but I didn't want it anymore.

"Mac! Oh God!" I barely heard Ravyn's screams as he rushed towards my broken body and barley felt his shirt that he draped over my body.

I was a fast healer, but it would be days before I would be fully normal again. "S'okay," I garbled, my voice slurred. I tried not to cough but I couldn't hold it in. I laughed bitterly, wearily. "I asked for this."

Ravyn knelt by my side. "Don't worry. Aiden is bringing Carlisle."

I snorted and winced at the pain in my ribs. Oh, Right. Broken, not only bruised now. I cupped Ravyn's cheek in my hand. "Rav… I've had worse." It wasn't a lie. I had.

We were fighting a few vampires up in La Push with our cousins. I had caught a scent and followed it. I was young and inexperienced. Stupid and cocky. The invisible trail I was pursuing opened up to a big clearing where the male vampire stood, facing me. He didn't give me a chance to breathe before he ran at me and shattered my arms and legs. He also broke my ribs, causing one to pierce my lungs, and knocked me out, so everything after that was just a black void of nothingness. But I had survived that one. Obviously.

Carlisle showed up and I sighed. On the plus side, there was always the chance of calling in sick at school. My heart cringed. Figures that even though I knew nothing about Wyatt, the mere thought of not seeing him today would kill me.

"But not because of me," Ravyn whispered so quietly that it barely brought me out of my thoughts, causing me to back track to what he was responding to.

I closed my mouth and decided to just stay quiet. I wasn't always known to say the best things in situations like these. So I let Carlisle get to work and let my brothers and the rest of my family yell and reprimand me. Lord knows I deserved it.

~Wyatt's POV~

I didn't know why, but I stood there staring at the parking lot, had been for twenty minutes, my eyes never moving from it unless to check a car coming closer or a person passing by. I had no clue as to what kind of car she drove, the girl who haunted my thoughts like no other. The black haired, green-eyed beauty that appeared out of nowhere. All I knew about her was that she was strong, ran fast, and her name was MacKayla but most of her family called her Mac. That was it.

Though I knew what she looked like. She was tall, so tall, that it made me grin not having to look fully down at her, as I had to do with most girls. Her black hair was curly and long, hanging down to her waist in a way that when ever she moved, it swept behind her like a fan was blowing it. She was lean, built with muscle, but had such feminine curves that it would be impossible to view her as anything but a woman. Yet her eyes were what held me captivated the most. A medium green, they seemed to glow fluorescent, like light colored orbs.

She wasn't girly, either. Though she wore make up, it was just enough to make her eyes and full, plump lips stand out more against the russet color of her skin. She had worn jeans that hugged her legs in a way that should have been illegal, and her top… it had been the same color as her eyes and had fit her loosely, with a slight v-neck, it had hinted at the breasts that it hid beneath the cotton. I licked my suddenly dry lips and frowned. I shouldn't be thinking like this.

But I couldn't help it. She was in my every thought, like she was imprinted on my brain, a constant image on the TV screen that kept flashing, a broken record, an MP3 player on repeat. Over and over and over again… Her face, her legs, her smile flew through my head like a drug that my brain was addicted too. An illicit substance that I craved.

Before I knew it, I was searching for her face in everybody that passed me on the concrete steps of the school, praying she was one of them. I probably looked stupid standing there, but just to see her smile at me again was enough to endure the stares of my peers as they passed my still form.

Just as I saw a teal old Mustang pull into the parking lot, and a tall, lean, woman stepping out slowly, gingerly as if she were in pain, she stood and looked up at the sky with an expression I couldn't read, but her lips turned upward at the corners slightly as the lightly falling rain pelted her face, a pair of pail hands wrapped around my waist, slowly turning my body until I was facing her, but it was worth that small smile I had caught from a girl looking up into the rain.

"Wyatt," Amber whined. "What are you doing in the rain?" she sniffed in disdain, pulling her hood up higher over her hair, probably praying that the drizzle wouldn't ruin her perfectly straightened blond hair.

I tried to smile at her, but I found my lips not forming it until I thought of MacKayla and I started. I had a girlfriend. Another girl in my thoughts was not boyfriend behavior. It was wrong behavior. So I forced my lips to grin at her and I pulled her against my body, my lips catching hers in a searing kiss that left me feeling oddly… empty.

I pulled back to see her satisfied smile lighting up her pale blue eyes and she reached up to swipe a stray piece of brown hair away from my wet forehead. "Let's get inside, shall we," she murmured, slipping her dainty hand through mine and I intertwined our fingers, forcing myself to leave the green-eyed beauty in the parking lot without a backwards glance even though I felt eyes glued to my back, burning a hole through my jacket.

~Mac's POV~

I stared at a large, brown haired man's back as he was walking into the school holding hands with a petite blond and I frowned, feeling confused. I had felt eyes on me and when I turned to see, nobody was looking at me anymore. But my eyes had instantly flown to the guy and his girlfriend of their own accord. With a small ounce of trepidation, I had a feeling I knew who he was and it pained me to know he was taken, but it was for his own good. I wasn't good for him, not at all.

If anything, I would be his disease, the thing that would kill him. He deserved a real life, a normal life. Not a life with a girl who had just gotten the shit kicked out of her because she was depressed. And probably a little sadistic.

I sighed. Was everyone in this family so damned dramatic? It must be my grandfather Edward and his genes. I feel like my life was somehow reflecting his situation with a previously mortal Bella Swan.

"How are you feeling?" Aiden asked, eyeing the arm I seemed to be favoring.

I smiled meekly at him. "Better," I whispered.

He narrowed his eyes at me and I sighed. This was going to be a long day.

I trudged unwillingly into the school and after visiting my locker, went straight to French class, not wanting to dawdle or be swarmed by flocks of hormonally charged teenagers. Not to mention how achy I was. I was in pain but I needed to see his face. Just once. That was all I needed.

Class went by slowly until it was finally lunch. I made my way gingerly to lunch, limping slightly, and ignored the line since there were always trays at the table that hadn't been touched by some vampire family members of mine. I slipped onto the bench with only a minor wince and true to my words, a tray was pushed my way.

I picked at the bread roll.

"Mac," my mother said, her voice fretful. "Do you need to go home?"

I shook my head, pushed my pain aside, into a file 'titled too tired to deal with', and took a bite of the pizza. My mother began to rub my back soothingly and I sighed. "I'm fine Mom."

She smiled a sad smile. "Says my daughter who broke three ribs, two toes, and dislocated her shoulder this morning."

I laughed and for once, it was almost carefree.

Until I heard the voice that I would hate for the rest of my life. For the rest of eternity.

"Wyatt! You are so funny!" a nasally voice exclaimed.

I turned slowly to meet Wyatt's dark blue gaze as he stared at me. A blond was wrapped around his arm and she stared at him with an utter helplessness about her. She lifted a hand to his chin and pulled his gaze away from mine and back to hers. He smiled down at her and lightly kissed her lips in a way that shattered my heart. Broke it into so many pieces it would be impossible to glue it back together. No tape, no Elmer's. Nothing would make me feel better.

I looked away as quickly as I had turned around and looked down at my tray of uneaten food. I had wanted this. Him having a life outside of the paranormal, the mythical, but the hurt was much more than I had previously thought. Once again, I was cocky and got ripped to shreds.

"Oh baby," my mother murmured and pulled me into her arms. "I am so sorry."

I shut my eyes and forced myself not to whimper in pain that her hug caused my sore ribs. I pulled away and put a smile on my face. I shrugged but grimaced as I stood up, throwing away my food and heading to class just as the bell rang.

Sixth period came too quickly. I didn't want to go to my language class and sit next to Wyatt. I didn't want the temptation. If I were anywhere near him, I would want to talk to him and if I were to talk to him, ignoring him would be nearly impossible. And if I couldn't ignore him, leaving him would be unattainable.

So when I walked into my English class and saw the tall, tawny skinned male sitting next to two open seats, my heart rate increased and I felt a very unfamiliar blush creep up to my face and stain my cheeks a deep scarlet. My gaze locked with his blue one and I had to lick my suddenly dry lips. Yes, ignoring him would be the hardest thing I would ever have to do in my long, long, life.

~Wyatt's POV~

I watched transfixed as MacKayla Black walked briskly into class. She was blushing and it made her russet skin glow. Her hair was down again today and the light shinned down on her black curls making me wonder if it smelled as good as it looked. If it felt like silk. Would it be softer than Amber's?

I mentally shook my head. Thinking like this wouldn't get me anything more than a slap across the face. And the loss of a girlfriend. But honestly, when I thought that, my heart didn't mind it in the least. I loved Amber, right? I mean, at least used to, back when we first started going out. I was sure of it. But now that MacKayla seemed to take the limelight away from Amber, I noticed the annoying things she did. The way she would ignore others just because they were different from her or wore black with holes in their pants. The way her skirts were just barley regulation and sometimes she would get in trouble. How perfect her hair always seemed to be every day like imperfection was forbidden.

But just by looking at MacKayla made me think that she was different than Amber. The way she would smile at someone who passed by, but had a rugged appearance of someone who didn't take shit sitting down. Her eyes were oddly hard and yet soft at the same time and I knew that on the inside of her heart, past the barrier she erected around it, would be a softness that wouldn't even be comparable to a down comforter. Her façade was a bully attitude but I knew that if I got to know her, the inside of her would be gentle and kind. Compassionate. So unlike Amber.

MacKayla sat down beside me and didn't even bother to look at me. Did I do something wrong?

"Wyatt?" Amber asked sliding into the seat beside me. "Why do you look so sad?"

I frowned at her words. Sad? I smiled down at her small form. "You weren't beside me," I lied. I hadn't even realized she had been absent yesterday.

Her face lit up into an all out smile and she leaned up to kiss me. I didn't close my eyes like she did and I saw MacKayla stiffen in my peripheral vision. I pulled away quickly and looked back up front just as the teacher walked in.

"What is it?" Amber asked, a frown knitting her pale eyebrows together.

"Didn't want to get in trouble. I like being on the basketball team." That was partially the truth. But if coach knew I got caught kissing my girlfriend during class, he would tease me about it incessantly. Probably make me do a set of lines just to make it look like I was being punished.

She laughed and I found it irritating for the first time. What the hell was wrong with me?

"So, MacKayla," I said after Mrs. Williams had given out the assignment, "have you met Amber Allegar?"

MacKayla turned her head towards me rigidly and gave me a hard stare, her face a blank sheet of emotions but I noticed her wince as she moved. Was she hurt? "No," she muttered coolly. "I haven't."

Amber leaned forward to look around me and I noticed her scowl at MacKayla. "I'm Amber," she announced brusquely.

MacKayla raised a brow at her and I learned, though she said nothing to give it away, that she was a sarcastic person. "MacKayla." She turned her head back down to her lit book and began to read the assigned page.

Amber also looked away and I felt her grab my hand as she hummed the newest Britney Spears song. I forced my fingers to grip hers back but I couldn't tear my eyes away from MacKayla. Her head was rested on her hand, her palm splayed wide against the side of her soft looking neck, the tips of her fingers pressed against the underside of her strong yet feminine jaw. Her hair was so long that every few minutes she would have to re-tuck a tendril of it back behind her ear, removing the black curtain from obscuring her face from my view.

I noticed everything she did. I counted the amount of times she blinked before she would turn the page. She bit her lip three times. Laughed silently at four funny parts. One time she even threw her head back and full out laughed. The entire class had stopped to look back at her but she didn't blush until she looked at me staring at her and immediately went back to reading.

I smiled at her. However, on the inside, I was confused. So dreadfully bewildered. Never had I done something like that. I never counted Amber's number of blinks. Was never so entranced by her beauty that looking away was too difficult to face. Never sat around waiting for her to show up to school. Never.

Amber squeezed my hand tightly beneath the table, finally dragging my attention away from MacKayla. I needed to see a psychiatrist or something. "Baby, I'm going to go to the bathroom," she informed me.

I looked up at the clock. Ten minutes. I had been staring at MacKayla for ten minutes. "Okay?" It came out as a question. Why would I care? Oh, yeah, because I was her boyfriend. I cleared my throat. "Alright." There, was that an appropriate boyfriend like thing to say to a statement like that?

Apparently, since she nodded and pecked my cheek before standing up and asking the teacher if she could use the restroom, popping her pink gum loudly. Annoyingly. I hadn't noticed that she did that a lot. I looked back at MacKayla and she turned abruptly, swinging her legs over so she faced me, sitting sideways in her chair.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" she asked, her voice didn't give away any emotion but the blush told me she was either self-conscious or embarrassed.

So I opted for the truth, not wanting to make it uncomfortable for her. "I really don't know," I answered, leaning forward slightly to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear like I had watched her do so many times. It was exactly as soft as it looked.

Her breath hitched and she licked her lips, dragging my attention to them. They were light pink, and plump, begging for a kiss. When I comprehended the fact that I wanted to kiss her I leaned back into my chair and tried to calm my racing heart. I wasn't a cheater. Wyatt Braden Parker didn't cheat on his girlfriend no matter how tempting she was. My morals wouldn't allow me to. Even though my mind begged me to.

I saw a veil pass over her eyes before she inquired quietly, "How long have you and Amber been going out?"

I scratched my neck, thinking. "Uh, about four months." That long? Damn. You would think that all those things I hated about her, I would've observed before that moment. I wanted to tell her that we wouldn't last much longer, but I didn't want to make her annoyed with my problems and I certaintly didn't want to suffocate her. Or intimidate her. Or give her the wrong impression.

Wait, since when was I so insecure? And why was I acting like I hadn't ever had a girlfriend? I've had several before Amber, but it was like I was inexperienced all of a sudden.

MacKayla stared at me for a long moment before she opened her mouth to speak. "That's nice," she mumbled and turned back to her lit book.

That's nice? That's all? I would've asked her about it but Amber came back through the door and sat beside me, so I turned around and opened my book.

She was wiping her hands furiously on my jeans and I frowned at her. She looked up at me with an aggravated expression. "There was no paper towels," she sneered. "Really, how hard is it for the janitors to keep up with the rolls? Honestly. They are so lazy." She kissed my cheek, opened her literature book to the page written on the board, and started humming the same song again while popping her gum.

I suppressed my groan and stared at her incredulously. How did I not know how rude she was? Janitors weren't lazy. They had one of the hardest, most undesirable of jobs. You shouldn't be ungrateful of what they have to do. They clean the bathrooms, something I knew would make Amber gag. She hates to use public bathrooms and even carries her own toilet seat cover around in her oversized handbag.

I began reading but my gaze was dragged to MacKayla again. She felt my eyes on her and looked up, only to blush again. I laughed in my head when I realized I just liked making her blush, liked how it added a glow to her skin, rather then just liking the way she looked.

I jumped when Amber's hand landed on my thigh. I saw MacKayla turn to me with a frown. I picked Amber's hand up and set it back in her lap. She gave me an open-mouthed expression, like I had just broken some unspoken rule, but I didn't want her touching me like that. It repulsed me. So I picked her hand back up and pressed a butterfly kiss to the back of her knuckles. "I don't want to be too distracted," I lied again.

She smiled. "Sorry," she said unabashed, a mischievous glint glittering in her pale eyes.

The minute the bell rang, I noticed that MacKayla was going to leave quickly and I wanted to walk her to her next class since we shared it. "I'll see you after class, Amber," I told her not even sparing her a glance as I said it. My eyes were on MacKayla.

MacKayla stopped in mid reach for her purse and looked up at me with wide eyes. I saw fear in them though I didn't understand why she would feel that way. I wasn't some kind of rapist.

"Can I walk with you to your next class?" I asked eagerly.

"Why?" she whispered, her voice wavering. I saw the vulnerable look on her face and it killed me. She was sad and scared and all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her and soothe her, calm her down. To comfort her.

So instead, I tucked a strand of her silky hair back behind her ear and smiled kindly as I answered her. "Because I want to."

~Mac's POV~

"Because I want to."

I stared at Wyatt in disbelief. For the past hour, I had tried so hard to ignore him. To ignore her. Every time Amber touched him, I would stiffen and I couldn't help it. Your soul mate with another? Heart breaking. But I could feel his gaze on me. The entire time I had sat there reading, his dark blue eyes with gold flecks was resting on my face. It was so difficult not to look up that I wasn't sure how I fought the urge.

Yet I couldn't help but notice how when she would try to be intimate with him, he would get distant, as if he didn't like her. His eyes were emotionless when he looked at her, and hers were naïve and filled with love, until she looked at me. Then all that mushy gushy love crap was replaced with hatred. I could feel her emotions when she looked away from Wyatt and towards me. Jealousy, malice, and exasperated feelings were thrown at me. And when she touched his upper thigh, lust humming through her, I wanted to rip her head off her shoulders and drop kick it through the wall. Possessiveness was a shocker and it had kept me still rather than to go ridged again.

But what shocked me even more was how he lifted her hand up and placed it in her lap. Disgust was thrown at me from him and bewilderment and alarm emanated from her. Then he had lied to her. It made me so confused. Was my imprint a horrible person?

As he stood so close to me, his musky scent tinged with sandalwood invading my senses, I knew that he wasn't a bad person. The look on his face when he asked to walk me to class told me he wanted to be near me as bad as I did towards him. The way he wound my curls behind my ear with a tender expression caused my mouth to dry and my heart to race.

So to keep myself from kissing those very tempting lips of his, I stepped back. "Okay," I murmured and turned towards the door not waiting for him to follow me.

He easily fell into step beside me and had not problem keeping up with my brisk pace. "Here, you forgot this," he said, slipping my purse onto my arm that caused me to recoil since it was the arm I had dislocated that morning.

I didn't pause but I slowed down to look at him as we descended that stairs at the end of the hallway. "Thanks," I mumbled.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, concern evident on his face.

"Uh, yeah, I, uh, fell down the stairs at my house this morning."

He frowned. "I'm sorry."

I shrugged and forced myself not to cringe in pain. "It's no biggie."

He nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets. I felt confusion from him, like I had in class while he was staring at me. I knew that walking in silence would be awkward and though I needed to ignore him, I gave up my battle and spoke. "Do you play basketball?"

He looked over at me and nodded, his eyes enthusiastic. "It just started. Do you play?"

I laughed. Basketball? Yeah right! "No, I'm not any good." That was a lie but he wouldn't notice. I would've loved to play but as a rule, Cullen's don't partake in sports since we had more advanced speed and reflexes, it would be too much of a risk to our secret. It was why most of us don't have P.E. Here, you only need two years of it, so Carlisle lied and said the older ones had taken P.E. at their old school.

Wyatt smirked at me. "I doubt you suck, MacKayla." Why was it whenever he said my name, it made me shiver when I wasn't cold?

"Mac," I corrected, but mentally slapped my forehead. This wasn't helping the distance I was supposed to be placing between us.

I saw him smile and knew that I shouldn't have done that instantly. He stopped in front of the double doors to the gym and tucked a tendril of hair behind my ear for he third time that day. "Mac," he conceded. As his hand withdrew from my hair, his warm palm slid across my neck leaving goose bumps in its wake. I shivered, but not from being cold.

His hand slowly made its way up my neck to the underside of my jaw and he caressed my jaw line with his thumb as he cupped my cheek with his large hand. His thumb moved to the sensitive skin beneath my eye and he traced the skin there, staring into my eyes deeply. "You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen."

My breath hitched in my throat and my heart rate sped up. I wanted him to kiss me, I realized. No, I needed it, not wanted it. I closed my eyes trying to will the unfamiliar lust away. I had never felt like this before and it scared me.

Wyatt's thumb lightly stroked my eyelid and, shocked, my eyelids flew open of their own accord. "Don't be self-conscious. It was the truth." He looked sheepish and I felt guilt seeping from his pores with my gift. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." He dropped his hand and I missed it immediately.

"I'm sorry," he apologized for something he didn't need to and walked through the doors and into the gym, leaving me to stand in the hallway feeling strangely bereft without him.

I groaned aloud and hung my head. Ignoring him now would be extremely impossible now. And falling in love with him would be inevitable.

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