A/N: I want to go to sleep. But it's only eight-thirty at night, which makes me feel really weird, but I had to get up really early today...Eh. Never mind. No one cares about Author's notes anyways. Especially not mine. I ramble too much. And NOW I'm done.

Warning: This is rated T. As in teen. As in, these are crazy angst-ridden teenagers. They swear, and they will most likely swear in almost every chapter, mmkay? So no complaining about it.

Other warning: If Hayley ever says anything offensive, I most likely don't mean it, it just fits with the moment. And if I do mean it, then I'm sorry. So no complaining about that either!

Songs:

Secrets- OneRepublic

Everything I Asked For- The Maine

Seth POV

Never in my life have I been that afraid. Not even when I heard the car halt and smash into that tree, not even when I smelled the blood and knew that it was Hayley. At least then, I was kind of numb. My mind shut down, realizing that freaking out would not help my imprint, and focused and getting her out of the car. Of course, once she was actually in the hospital, it was a different story, but...

I'd just gotten her back. And if I answered her question, there was no telling what would happen.

But then I realized that I hadn't even been giving away any hints at being a werewolf, that there was no way she could have seen anything. Embry had told me that Hayley was intuitive and suspicious, so she had to have noticed a few strange things, but there's absolutely no way she could have just randomly come up with werewolves. Sorry, but we're not that common. Vampires, on the other hand, are a totally different story.

"Why in the world would you ask me that?" I asked her incredulously.

She sighed, and I couldn't help but notice that even covered in bruises and cuts that made me cringe, she was still beautiful. Small and strong, her green eyes looking a little sad but hiding a spark of amusement and annoyance in them, her red hair laying across her shoulders.

"Can you just...not lie? For once, can you tell me the truth about you and your friends? Because I know you're not normal, Seth, and neither are Paul and Embry and all of your friends..."

Well, of course we're not normal. We morph into giant balls of fur at will. And then we go and kick some vampire butt.

But it's not like I could tell her that.

I gave a little nervous laugh and said, "Hayley, no one's normal. But that doesn't make us mythical creatures." I hated having to lie to her, it was almost impossible and my voice choked at the end, but I don't think she noticed.

"They're not mythical," I heard her mutter.

I knew that I shouldn't have heard it, which also means I shouldn't have responded, but I did anyways. "And what makes you think that?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Because I've seen it, okay?" She leaned forward so that her face was only inches away from mine, and I struggled not to flick my eyes to her lips. "I want you to answer me, Seth. Just...please." She pleaded. "Are you a werewolf?"

I shouldn't have answered. But the imprint part of me forced my lips to utter that one simple word: "Yes."

She flinched back, as far away from me as she could get on the hospital bed, and brought her legs up so that she could wrap her arms around them. I reached towards her, but she flinched back again, and my arm dropped lifelessly back to my lap. "Hayley, it's not what you think, we-"

"NO!" She screamed. Her eyes were closed, and she was shaking. I needed to comfort her, but as much as the imprinted part of me told my head that I should reach for her and pull her to me, I knew that that would just make it worse.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER, CLEARWATER?"

I shut my eyes briefly, sighing. I should have known that Embry would choose this convenient time to come back.

Embry started walking over to the bed, all his anger dissipating as he stared at the girl that he considered to be his sister. "Hayley-" He reached for her, too, but she flinched back again, shuddering. It was then that I remembered that Hayley had just found out that he was also a werewolf.

He turned to me, all that fury and hatred back in his eyes faster than I would have thought possible. "Out." He said quietly. I started shaking my head, but he walked over to me, yanked me up by the arm, (Ow, by the way) and practically threw me out of the room.

No matter how worried I was, no matter how much I didn't want to leave, I knew that Embry wouldn't let me back in. And I also knew that no matter how angry he got, Hayley was the one person he would never hurt, even accidentally.

So I left. I went back to my house, completely ignoring Mom and Leah, and trudged up the stairs to my room.

I knew I was being like a sulky kid, but I couldn't bring myself to care too much. Hayley had almost died just four days ago. I'd dragged her out of the wreckage and held her while she bled, waiting for an ambulance. I hadn't left her at all when she was in the hospital, (Except to go to the bathroom, but I don't really think that counts.) and now I knew that she was going to be okay. And I'd finally gotten a chance to tell her everything, but she'd cowered in fear and screamed at me. Granted, she'd screamed at Embry too, but that didn't make me feel any better. My own imprint couldn't even handle what I was, and that tore me up inside. Because of what I was, I might never get the chance to love Hayley the way I'm supposed to. The way she deserves.

And now I'm starting to sound like a whiny lovestruck teenage fangirl.

Oh, shit.

Hayley POV

After Seth left, for some reason I didn't feel any better. I actually felt worse. I knew that I'd hurt him, and somewhere deep down I also knew that he didn't deserve that. But the memories kept flooding in front of my eyes, making it damn near impossible to think of anything else.

Embry walked over to my bed after he shut the door, making me shake even more. I knew that it wasn't a full moon or anything like that, but from what Eleazar had told me, it didn't matter when it was, werewolves generally liked the kill. It was just easier and less conspicuous when they were actually wolves.

Embry sighed and sat down in the chair that Seth had just vacated. He didn't move to comfort me, although I knew that he wanted to.

I'd never really even considered the fact that they could all be werewolves. I mean, I'd realized pretty quickly that they weren't normal, (Well, maybe normal isn't the right term. Like Seth said, none of us are actually normal. Least of all, me. Blue unicorns and psychotic koalas...Yeah. Not normal.) But I'd known Embry since I was four years old, and I'd never thought that he could be that malicious. He's the only one that knows what happened to me, and he'd always helped me through it. Every time I had a breakdown, a setback, anything, he was always there. He'd calm me down, and although it would generally take him awhile, he'd always eventually do it.

And Seth...I don't know when I stopped thinking of him as a creepy stalker, but I did. He was sweet and innocent, always worrying about other people. I noticed that he had this habit of looking to the left when he was embarrassed or had been caught staring, and that he was a horrible liar. His disgust of lying was very obvious, and I wondered if he knew that. His brown eyes were almost always sparkling and warm, and I don't know how he could be something that's so...evil. Seth is just...not evil.

But the thing about Seth was that he could calm me down much faster than Embry. Seth didn't even know what had happened, but he'd helped me through it, just by being there.

I was grateful when Embry started talking. All this serious thinking was making my brain hurt.

And besides. It's not like he was going to try to kill me when we were in a hospital full of people.

"Look, Hayley, you need to listen to me. I know exactly what you're thinking. No, we're not those kind of werewolves." I snorted, but he ignored me and continued. "Those...things that attacked you..." I could hear the disgust in his voice, but he still continued, acting as if he hadn't said anything about it. "They're the real Children of the Moon. We're more...shapeshifters. We don't change at the full moon, and you should know that, because the first weekend you were here was a full moon and I was with you practically the whole time.

"We don't kill anyone, except vampires," Seeing the shocked look on my voice, he hastily added, "Only the ones who are killing others in our area. We call ourselves protectors, and if they come onto our land, that's when we kill them. We work as a pack, yes, and Sam is the Alpha, and yeah, we have to obey him. And the Alpha is determined by bloodline, which is another difference between us and the real thing. The Alpha for the real werewolves is determined by who kills the most and who defeats the old Alpha...We try not to fight between our pack."

Holy shit. Pack. That's what I'd already been calling them, before I'd even been considering the whole werewolf idea...

Too much creepiness. It's going to give me agoraphobia or something.

"I don't think I really need to tell you who's in the pack, I'm sure you've already figured that out. But like I said, we shapeshift at will. We can control it. Maybe not at first, because we can shift if we get angry enough, but there haven't been any new wolves lately, so everyone in the pack right now is perfectly adequate at controlling themselves." He finally took a deep breath, and when I looked up to meet his eyes, I saw that he was looking extremely nervous, as if I was about to attack him.

Hey. It's been known to happen. And just because I know he has all that supernatural strength now, doesn't mean I'm going to stop attacking him. Where would the fun be in that?

And of course, instead of processing what he just said, I think about eating a bagel. A blueberry bagel with cream cheese, not butter, because butter on a bagel is just...not right.

And of course, instead of asking him something about why he didn't tell me earlier, I ask, "Can you go find me a bagel?"

After a few seconds of shocked laughter, Embry burst out laughing. I giggled a little with him, knowing how ridiculous it was, but still having a craving. He looked up at me and smiled, relieved that I had forgiven him.

Afterward, he started explaining how the pack and shapeshifting worked, about how the first time you 'phase' is the scariest because you have no idea when it's going to happen. We talked all night, (even though it was technically morning, but it was still dark out, so that counts as night.) and by the time the sun actually came up and Paul, Jared, and Kim came to visit, I was pretty sure I understood everything.

And I was pretty sure I was done freaking out.

Although I wasn't sure. Freak outs tend to be unexpected.

After another four days, I was finally allowed to go home. I think when the doctor told me that, I'd literally started bouncing up and down on the bed, clapping my hands, and shouting, "YES! FREEEEDOMMM!"

But then I stopped. Because I was kinda bouncing on some painful bruises.

I could walk fine, limping just a little, and I was lucky that it was my left hand that was broken. Because when I was twelve and broke my right arm, I think I almost died. I couldn't do anything. I could barely eat with my left hand, let alone open a door. A lefty, I am not.

Embry had to do a lot of patrols, something about punishment from Sam, although he wouldn't tell me what it was for. I was fine being left at home, because I could do almost everything perfectly, but there were times when I felt just horrible. I had this aching loneliness in me that didn't go away when Embry, or even Paul stopped by.

And then I finally realized what it was. So I called Kim and told her that if she didn't get her ass over here and drive me where I needed to go, I'd tell the whole pack that she was considering going lesbian because of Paul. I mean, sure, it's not like they would believe it, but Paul would never hear the end of it. Which meant, in turn, that Kim would never hear the end of it either.

When we pulled up to the Clearwater house, Kim stopped the engine and twisted around to look at me. "Hayley, just know that...He hasn't been doing so well lately. He feels horrible about what happened, about scaring you, and he's refusing to talk to any of us, so he doesn't really know that you're okay with it all. He's afraid that you hate him, and he won't come out of his room. He hasn't been on any patrols since before the accident, and Sam doesn't really want to force him..."

I smiled softly, feeling incredibly guilty. If I'd let him explain, if I'd listened to him, then maybe he wouldn't be so upset right now. I undid the seatbelt and started to get out of the car when Kim said, "I would wait here for you, but I have a feeling this might take a while. And I'm sure Seth would take you home when you're done."

I smiled at her and muttered a quick "thank you" and started walking up to the door.

The Clearwater house wasn't huge, I noticed as I waited for someone to answer the door, but it was two stories and looked quite cozy. It was definitely something I could see Seth living in.

A beautiful but tired looking woman answered the door, and I immediately knew that she was Seth's mother. She looked confused for a second before her eyes widened and her face brightened. "Oh! You must be Hayley. I'm glad you're here." In a completely unexpected move, she leaned down and hugged me, muttering in my ear, "I think you're the only one that can help Seth." She pulled back and said, "His room is the last door upstairs." And with that, she walked back into what I assumed was the kitchen.

After a few seconds, I broke out of my daze and started walking up the stairs. I stopped at the last door of the small hallway, knocking quietly. When I got no answer, I tried the doorknob, but it wouldn't turn. Sighing, I did what would have been my first option. "Seth, open this fucking door before I break it. This cast is pretty hard, and it's not like I would feel anything..."

Like I said. That would have been my first option, but people don't generally take too kindly to you threatening to break down your door when it's not needed...

I didn't hear anything at all, and the door suddenly opened to reveal Seth.

He looked horrible. His hair was sticking up in every direction, he had horrible circles under his eyes, and he was paler than I'd ever seen a Quileute. He looked as tired as a cancer patient, and his eyes were dull and lifeless.

Although he wasn't wearing a shirt, and his abs looked better than ever...

But that is SO not the point.

I sighed again as I brought my eyes up to meet his. I raised an eyebrow and said, "You gonna step back and let me into the room? Or are you just gonna stand there like an invalid?"

I think he almost smiled as he soundlessly stepped out of the way, closing the door as I walked past him. I went straight to his bed and sat down on it, crossing my legs pretzel-style while he went and sat at the chair by his desk.

The walls of Seth's room were kind of distracting, they were a bright green (Hehe! My favorite color) but they had other colors splattered all over them.

Hey, if he splatter painted, how come I wasn't invited?

The room was fairly small, but had enough room to walk in with a simple bed, a dresser with a few pictures on top of it, and a desk that was entirely covered in papers. The bed was in the corner of the room, and right next to the window, so I stared out it into the forest for a few moments before turning back to Seth and raising an eyebrow. I wasn't going to talk first, and he knew it.

After a short stare-off, which I won (obviously), he looked down at his feet and said, "I was going to ask why you're here, but I guess I don't really have to."

"No, you don't. Look, I'm sorry for the freak-out at the hospital, but Embry explained everything, and I'm okay. It's just...when you said werewolf, I wasn't exactly thinking of giant furballs."

He snorted and shook his head, still looking at his feet. "Yeah. Except, you know, we call them wolves. We're not even remotely associated with cats." I laughed, and he finally looked at me, his eyes seeming a little less dull. "You don't have to be sorry. I'm the one that just threw it at you. While you were in the hospital, no less."

His eyes were looking sad again, so I smiled softly. "Yes, but I asked. And I tried using mind control to get you to answer." I joked. "I think it worked."

He rolled his eyes at me, the asked, "So...Are you sure Embry told you everything?"

What else is there to know? They're fast, they all have high temperatures, they can read each others minds when they phase, they heal fast, and you know...They turn into wolves. "Uh...I think so. Why?" I asked curiously.

"Did he...tell you about what happened to Sam, Emily, and Leah?"

"Just that Sam used to date Leah, but then when Emily came it was practically love at first sight for him. I can't say that that's an okay thing to do, but Sam and Emily seem really happy together..."

It sounded like Seth said something like, "Damn you, Embry," under his breath, but I wasn't really sure. He brought his eyes up to meet mine, and I knew that he was about to tell me something really important.

Well...Lots of things are important. Like the fact that if you're not careful, those scary blue unicorns will unite with the green sea monkeys to come and get you...or me...yeah. Most likely me.

I know. My brain is messed up. But everyone's entitled to something, right? I guess mine is my insanity.

FOCUS time.

"Well, see, there's this thing called imprinting. It happens to us wolves, and it's like...Gravity shifts. You look into her eyes and you can't look away. You'll do anything for her, be anything, and without her, you wouldn't be able to survive. She's basically your main reason for living. I mean, it's not like you forget about everyone else, but she's your number one priority. When she's not there, you feel like you're missing a part of you." Whoa. Sounded pretty intense. He continued wryly, "Kinda like...a shortcut. This way you don't have to date half the state."

The ends of my mouth quirked up and I asked, "So who's imprinted?" And then it dawned on me. I knew Sam wasn't a bad person, he would never intentionally do something like that to Leah. "Sam and Emily, right?" He smiled and nodded. "Kim and Jared?" He nodded again, and I shook my head a little, not knowing who else in the pack had imprinted.

He smiled a little adorable smile. And the fact that I found it adorable made me want to throw myself out the window. "Well, Brady imprinted on this one girl named Katherine. They've got a few issues, mainly because her parents, like, want her to be a nun or something and think that she can't date. They've already got some guy lined up to marry her...God, that kills Brady. And then Jake imprinted on someone...Not even going to explain that. And then Collin just imprinted a few weeks ago on Emily's niece, Carla. Absolutely no drama there, 'cause Carla lives in Forks, and she's the exact same age, so it works."

After a few moments of silence, I realized that he was done speaking. "So...Is that all? You haven't imprinted?"

He hesitated for a moment before murmuring a very quiet "No."

Is it bad that I was kinda relieved that he hadn't imprinted on someone?

Then he stood up, walked over to me, leaned down, and put his arms around me.

And I...hugged him back. He was incredibly warm, and putting my arms around him felt right.

"Thank you." He whispered into my hair, making me shiver a little.

Oh yeah. This is REALLY bad.

See? Long chapter. And it was a quick update, too! But it's 4th of July, so I didn't have to babysit at all. YAY!

Review, please. And I try to respond to them all, but my laptop is messed up and sometimes it refuses to let me, doing that stupid 'error' thing. But...Just review, please! In case you hadn't noticed, they make me update faster.

Oh, and by the way, if you're Team Jacob, don't go see Eclipse. There are way too many Bella/Edward lovey-dovey moments, and they make it seem like Jacob has absolutely no chance! So...Yeah.

REVIEW.