A/N: I know. I'm horrible. The only excuse I have is that I typed it twice and lost it both times. I'm starting to notice that that happens quite often, so I'm going to start saving every five minutes. I'm sorry! But it's only been a month instead of some people who don't update for a year...I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Songs:

Misery- Maroon 5

Love the Way You Lie- Eminem ft. Rihanna

Seth POV

"You have to tell her, dude. And soon."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know, Brady."

It was horrible, knowing that your own imprint won't be with you because she thinks you're going to end up with someone else. It's even worse when you know that's not possible.

I thought about going after her, but I knew she would hate that. Besides, I wasn't even sure where she was, although if I had to guess I would say that she was in the forest. It would calm her down, being in the quiet, and no matter how much I wanted to go find her I knew that it would just upset her more.

"We're having a bonfire this weekend. Take her. You can tell her there." Brady suggested, giving a half shrug.

I sighed again. "I don't see how that's going to make a difference. She gets to hear the stories, sure, but she already knows about imprinting."

Brady rolled his eyes. "Just tell her. Honestly, I don't care how you do it. Of course, knowing Hayley, she'll probably try to punch you for not telling her sooner, and then she'll freak out."

I gave him a look. "Thanks, Brady. Real helpful."

He grinned. "That's me."

I snorted and looked back down at my food, suddenly not hungry.

I didn't want to tell her. She'd freaked out enough about the fact that we were wolves, what was going to happen when she found out that I was bound to her for life? She could get rid of me if she wanted to, but that didn't mean I would stop watching over her.

And what if she was okay with it? Vain as that hope was, I couldn't help that the thoughts crept into my head. If she wanted to stay with me, there could be no denying her. But did I want her to be stuck on this little reservation for her whole life?

No, I didn't. But I still had to tell her. It was her choice, not mine.

When the bell rang, I thought about going to get Hayley. But instead, I went to class, and all the classes after that, too, even though she never showed up. And when the day was finally over, I drove over to Embry's, hoping that that was where she'd gone when she left school.

But when I got there, Embry and Jared were sitting outside. The rental car that Hayley was using until her own car was fixed was nowhere in sight, and I didn't like the looks on Embry and Jared's faces.

I stepped out of my old, creaky blue car and walked up to them. "Why do you look like Emily's suddenly decided to stop cooking?"

Embry scowled at me. Okay. Note to self: Don't say anything sarcastic at the moment. "Brady told us what happened at lunch today. And Hayley's gone. She's not answering her phone for any of us."

"And it rings the usual amount before it goes to voicemail, so she's not just ignoring the call." Jared added.

Embry too a deep breath. "Seth, do you have any idea where she went after she left the cafeteria?" I could tell he was using all of his strength not to scream and attack me, his fists were clenched and his frame was shaking slightly.

"Um...She probably went to the edge of the woods behind the school."

"And you didn't go after her to make sure she was okay? The woods, Seth, the woods! Are you really that stupid?" Embry shouted. Jared put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

I hadn't thought about the things that could be in the woods. "But we haven't found any leeches around lately..."

Embry let out a noise of frustration, and Jared said quietly, "When we were patrolling with Jake and Sam today, we found something. There were two of them. We're not sure if they're gone yet."

I froze. Hayley was missing, and they'd found vampires today.

No. Hayley was okay. She had to be. I would know if she wasn't, right?

I didn't think about it much more. I sprinted towards the woods, pulling off my shirt and phasing before I got anything else off. No one else was phased at the moment, although I knew Embry and Jared would probably follow soon after me. My paws pounded on the forest floor as I headed for the school as fast as I could.

I found Hayley's scent a few hundred feet into the woods, and I knew it was recent. She'd smelled like lemons today, most likely a new shampoo, and there was a lingering scent of that right in front of me.

My nose was burning, too.

Which meant that a vampire had been here.

I hadn't noticed Jacob or Jared phase, but suddenly they were both right next to me, their thoughts grim.

That's one of the ones we came across today. Jake's thought was directed at me.

I felt like I was paralyzed. Hayley was gone, and that leech had taken her.

Uh...Seth? You might wanna come over here.

I glanced at Jared to see his standing over near a tree, staring down at something. I padded over to him and followed his gaze to see something red under a pile of pine needles.

It was Hayley's phone.

I whined at the thoughts filling my head and put my paws over my eyes so I could avoid looking at the phone.

Seth, she might be okay. Maybe it was just one of the leeches from Alaska that the Cullens have told us about. Jared's calm voice filled my head. Maybe Hayley got lost.

But no, that wasn't possible. She hadn't been that far from the parking lot. And even if Hayley could get a little confused sometimes, there was no way she could get lost in the woods when she was this close to the school. Even Jared didn't believe what he was saying.

And then I heard a distinctly familiar voice saying, "Damn it, you stupid rabbit, I'm trying to help you."

Hayley stumbled into view, holding a ball of tan fluff. She glanced up at us and did a double-take, her eyes going wide. "Uh...Hi?"

I didn't even think about it, I phased and rushed over to her, putting my arms around her. "Well, hi, Seth."

"We though one of the leeches took you." I breathed into her ear, hugging her tighter but avoiding squishing the squirming rabbit in her arms.

She put an arm around me and said, "Well, I haven't seen anyone, and-" She paused and I heard her heartbeat pick up a little. "Uh...Seth? You're kind of naked right now."

I pulled back quickly and smiled sheepishly while Jacob rolled his large eyes and peeled his shorts off the strap around his ankle, tossing them to me. I slipped them on while Hayley stared at the rabbit, blushing. "Okay. You can look now."

She smirked as she looked back at my face. "Who's to say that I wasn't looking before?"

I heard Jacob give something close to a snort (or whatever you can get when you're in wolf form) and sincerely hoped that this moment was never relayed to Embry.

I felt one of them nudge my back, signaling that they were leaving. I nodded without taking my eyes off Hayley, and I heard them turn around and pad away.

"I'm not so sure that Aiden would like that." I responded when I thought they were a good distance away.

Her smirk widened. "Yes, well, maybe he's just not interesting enough."

I gave her a smile. I was surprised that she was actually being like this with me after what had happened at lunch today, but I hoped that it would last. "Yeah, well you get bored pretty easily."

"I do." She allowed. "But I'm also amused very easily."

I rolled my eyes and looked down at the rabbit that she was still holding. "So where'd you find that thing?"

"That's the reason I wasn't over here." She explained, leaning down and picking up her phone. "It hopped past me and it looked injured, so I started following it." Of course she did. "Took me almost two hours before I finally got it, and it has this huge thorn in the side of its paw."

I stared at her for at least a minute and a half before I finally said, "A rabbit. You had all of us freaked out over a fucking rabbit." I stated it calmly, although inside I was burning with frustration and the need to laugh.

She smiled, like she knew. "Uh huh. Although I didn't think anyone was going to freak out. I assumed everyone would leave me alone after...Well, after what happened today." She wasn't looking at me, just stroking the rabbit and murmuring to it while she examined its' paw. "Ah ha!" She exclaimed, pulling out the thorn. The rabbit thrashed wildly and she gently set it down, after which the rabbit hopped away as fast as it could, seeming surprised that it couldn't feel anything in its' foot anymore.

I sighed and she looked back up at me, emerald eyes brighter than usual. "Hayley...There are...Things I need to tell you. How do you feel about meeting at the beach tomorrow around two?"

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Isn't tomorrow Wednesday?"

I laughed. "Yes, but we don't have school for the rest of the week. Teachers convention or something."

"Oh. Well, now I feel stupid."

"You're not stupid, Hayley. You're just easily confused."

She rolled her eyes. "In other words, stupid." I was about to argue, but she cut me off with a wave when her phone rang. "Hello?" She winced, and I could hear Embry yelling at her on the other end. She held the phone away from her ear and gave an irritated sigh.

He yelled at her for a good five minutes when she finally said, "Alright, I'll never drop my phone anywhere, okay? Geez, Embry, nothing happened. And if a vampire had attacked me, then what good would my phone have done?"

There was a pause. "You're right. No more wandering into the woods for you. Especially if you're alone. In fact, you're not going anywhere alone anymore, got it?"

"Embry, you can't keep me on some short little leash. You're the dog, not me."

I heard him growl in frustration while she ended the call.

"You just hung up on a very angry werewolf."

She smiled. "Exactly something I would do, isn't it?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, it is. But I'm not dealing with him when we get back to your house. Those darned injured rabbits, they cause all the trouble." I grabbed her hand and started pulling her out of the woods, walking towards her car. "Give me your keys?"

She looked up at me. "Why?" She asked, genuinely confused. "It's not like I'm drunk."

I grinned, something that I always seem to be doing in her presence.

When she's not making me want to rip my hair out, of course.

"Because. I want to drive."

She arched an eyebrow but handed over her keys wordlessly, opening the passenger door and slipping inside.

"You know, you never answered my question." I said carelessly as we drove down the road. "Are you okay with meeting me tomorrow?"

She sighed and looked out the window. "Sure, I guess so." She said quietly.

Hayley's never quiet.

"Hayley, what's wrong?' I asked, trying to keep my eyes on the road. "Do you not want to go to the beach tomorrow? Because we can stay at your house. We can even have Embry there. I just really need to tell you some things."

Hayley POV

I knew exactly what he was going to tell me. Probably something about my freak-out at lunch today, something about how we couldn't be friends anymore because he wouldn't want to 'lead me on.' I knew he would do it in the nicest way possible, just because he's Seth, but that didn't change the fact that no matter how much I didn't want him to, he was going to imprint on someone else some day.

Well, at least I can admit it now.

Despite all that, I still said, "No, Seth, it's fine. We'll meet at the beach."

He grinned that earth-shaking grin of his, his teeth practically glowing. I was glad that I'd been able to make him happy, but I knew that as soon as he left I'd start imagining all the horrible things he could say to me tomorrow.

He got in his own car when we got back home, promising me that he would explain everything tomorrow, and that I had better show up because he had something very important to say.

"Hayley." Embry was obviously trying to stay calm, but it wasn't working very well. He was shaking and I could hear the fury in his voice.

I sighed. "Look, Embry, I'm not going to apologize. I was just trying to help an injured rabbit that didn't want to get caught. I've never had to take my phone everywhere I went, but I will, okay? I promise."

He glared at me, but the shaking started to subside, so I guessed that he wasn't going to yell at me.

No, instead he had to hug me.

I stood there awkwardly, thinking of how different this was from hugging Seth.

"I swear, Hayley, if you ever do that again, I'll send you to some group home in New York."

"I don't doubt it." I muttered.

He pulled back and smiled at me. "Go to sleep. You look like you're about to pass out."

"Well, now that you mention it..." I hadn't really realized how tired I was until I got into the house. It hadn't been a particularly exhausting day, except for lunch, but it was nice to know that I got to sleep in for the next few days.

And it was also nice to know that Seth had a very nice body... Even if I couldn't have him, I would always have that glimpse I'd accidentally gotten.

Not that I was thinking about it or anything...

Okay. So I was. But you would be, too, if you had just had a hot werewolf with no clothes standing in front of you. Hugging you.

Seth was Seth. He was happy and kind and made you want to strangle him sometimes. He was almost always straight with you, and when he wasn't, he was annoyingly cryptic. He was a bad liar, but you know he means well. You never want to disappoint him. He wasn't a complex person, but all the reasons for liking him sure were.

It felt a little strange, admitting that I had feelings for him. But I did, I knew it, and I didn't think that they were going to go away any time soon.

That wasn't going to stop me from trying, though.

I know. It's been a month and then I give you this horrible chapter. But if you review, I'll update faster. :) Even if you just tell me how crappy it is.

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