Author's Note: I would like to say that on everything that I put on here, words or "" gets erased! I've already cried to Mel about this but she doesn't say anything helpful about it! It's really upset me. So if you see something funky done to the work, that's why.

Imprinting Is Like Getting Punched In The Face

I was in paradise. It has been two weeks since Chloe and I had started to date and it seemed everything was going perfectly. I gave her a ride to school every morning then we sat in the parking lot if there was time and talked. During the day we hung out as much as we could. Danny would join us at lunch then leave us alone for the rest of the day. I'd go to her house or she'd come to mine and that's when we'd kiss if Chloe was in a good mood (Example: If she was PMSing, she'd more an likely beat me with her Government book than give me a hug).

But, of course, rain and clouds would arrive at paradise every once in a while. Like when I would pick her up in the morning and give her a morning kiss, a thought would pop into my mind and bug me for a while. Chloe needed to know about me being a wolf. I think that might be kind of important for your soul mate to know. The only problem with this is that I had no idea how she would take this little secret. Chloe might scream and run away (Unlikely), she might faint or get sick (Also unlikely), or she'll get mad and probably never talk to me again (Very likely).

Danny, being wise and all, says I should hint at it. He says it would be easier for her to take in. I'm not so sure. If someone had given me hints about being fluffy, the last thing I would guess is that they could turn into a giant, fluffy wolf that ran around trying to catch vampires. I would be that one flipping out if she guessed that. Who thinks that when someone says fluffy?

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"Do you want me to pick you up after practice?" I asked Chloe when the last bell rang, telling us we could finally go home. She was standing in front of her locker, waiting for one of her volleyball pals to come with me towering over her. Chloe didn't even seem to notice that she had a huge Indian guy leaning over her protectively.

"Not today. Mom is going to pick me up from practice then take me shopping. I probably won't get to see you until tomorrow at lunch," she exclaimed, handing me her book bag to hold until her friends show up. I slung it over my shoulder and didn't complain like a good boy. Whipped, I tell you, I'm whipped.

"Oh," I grumbled. Chloe laughed at my expression and patted the side of my neck (that was all she could reach at the time). She had to leave then with her friend. Chloe stretched and kissed my cheek. I grinned and watched her walk off to the gym for volleyball.

Once I got home, I found mom, dad, and Danny sitting on the couches. My parents barely glanced up at me, but Danny followed me into the kitchen. We didn't talk but concentrated on making a stack of sandwiches like every day after school. We marched up to my room, sat on the bed and inhaled the food. I listened to my parent's breathing downstairs and the show they were watching. Danny seemed completely out of it; normally I couldn't get him to shut up.

"You know that feeling you get when something bad is about to happen? I just got that feeling," he said suddenly around his mouthful of food. I shrugged. It didn't really matter to me that someone somewhere slipped and just busted their ass. Bad things happened everyday so it was no surprise that he got that feeling.

Just then the phone rang downstairs. I heard dad answer it. There was some mumbling then he hung up and then more mumbling as he talked to mom. We both listening, wanting to know what the call had been about.

"Ian!" dad yelled up at me. I hurried down the stair, tripping on the last step. I caught myself and stood as tall as possible to regain some composure. Mom had this worried look on her face and was pacing from the living room to the kitchen. Dad had this blank look on his face like he didn't want to show anything just incase. I just didn't know what he didn't want me to see.

"Chloe got hurt at practice. She slipped on volleyball and hurt her ankle pretty bad. They're all up at the hospital waiting for her to get an x-ray," dad said, taking a step back from me as I began to tremble. Danny got a death grip on my arm and pulled me out the backdoor. I lost it and exploded into my wolf form.

I sprinted towards the hospital as a brown wolf with a gray belly. My mind was bouncing around, trying to keep up with what was going on. My imprint was hurt! She might have a broken ankle and God knows she's going to have a lot of bruises. Chloe is not going to be playing volleyball again if I have anything to say about.

Luckily, Danny was smart enough to catch up me somehow and had clothes for me with him. I barely had my pants on when I was running into the hospital looking for the Sanders. I didn't have to look past the waiting room. Annie and her father were sitting in two chairs, looking at old magazines.

They didn't bother with talking to me but just showed me which room Chloe was in. She was sitting up on a bed with her leg propped up on a pillow. Her mom was holding her hand as a doctor probed at her ankle. Chloe would wince when he hit a tender spot. I choked back a growl.

Chloe seen me and a relieved smile swept across her face. Her mother looked up also, released her daughter's hand and left the room. I took her seat beside the bed and grabbed Chloe's free hand and kissed it.

"Have you had your x-ray yet?" I asked, running my other hand up and down her arm in a soothing pattern. She nodded and leaned her head back on her pillow. The doctor took some notes and lumbered out of the room. We looked at each other until Chloe started to giggle.

"What are you laughing at? I don't see anything funny about any of this," I snapped. She stopped at once. I think she was shocked that I had used even a slightly harsh tone with her. It was always the other way around.

"It's not that bad. I think it's just a really bad sprain is all. You don't have to look like I'm dying. I've sprained an ankle before, you would know, you were the one to push me down the staircase," Chloe exclaimed, squeezing my hand. I chuckled while remembering what she was talking about. We were five at the time though, in my defense.

We talked about anything that came into our heads while we waited on the doctor to come back. I knew she wouldn't want to talk about her injure or how she'd have to miss a few volleyball games. I kept my eye on her ankle and watched it swell and some pretty ugly bruises started to appear clearly. I felt angry and concerned. Of course, I was worried about her walking ability now and angry and frustrated because I couldn't do anything to help her.

The doctor came back with Annie and her father behind him. Annie didn't seem worried about her sister, but seemed fascinated by her ankle's colors and size. The doctor released Chloe and gave her a pair of crutches to use for one week. After the first week she could start waking on it a little.

Pitiful Chloe hopped out of the hospital on one foot, leaning on me while her parents chased Annie around trying to get her crutches back. Annie was just having a good old time with the crutches, flapping them like they were wings.

I helped her into her mom's car and got in beside her since I decided that I was going home with them. She stared out the window at her family, laughing at her little sister. I wasn't laughing though.

"What are you going to do now that you don't have volleyball?" I asked, staring down at her foot. She didn't answer me right away, but stared blankly out the window for a moment.

"I'll just hang out with you and watch movies until my ankle heals then I'll start back on volleyball first chance I get," Chloe said, smiling at me. I was flattered at she would consider spending the next two weeks with me, but I pushed that emotion aside for later.

"I think you should lay out for the rest of the season. You don't want to strain your ankle just yet," I replied, making my opinion as clear as I could. She made a choking noise then started laughing.

"No way. Our biggest game of the year is coming up and I'm not going to miss it," Chloe exclaimed. We bickered about her playing volleyball again until her parents and sister got in the car.

Once we got to her house, I followed Chloe into the house as she tried out her new crutches. It was really funny if you could get past the whole "my imprint is hurt" thing. She kept getting off balance and getting her crutch stuck in the mud from the rain that we had just gotten. It was an interesting change from the "I'll kick your butt" Chloe to "Give me your arm so I can get inside" Chloe. It felt like I was actually wearing the pants in this relationship for once.

I had to feel sorry for her though once we finally got inside. She just sat on the couch, looking glum with an ice pack wrapped around her ankle, watching everyone run around trying to make her as a comfortable as possible. I sat beside her ankle and tried not to make her ice melt faster.

I stayed at the Sanders' house until eleven o'clock. I was lucky that it was the weekend or her parents would have kicked me out a long time ago. I ran home, told my parents that Chloe was okay then called Danny at home.

"What, Ian? It's the weekend and you know I have them off. This better be important," he complained and yawned on the other end. Danny liked to go to sleep early on the weekend to catch up on his sleep. I didn't though. I was just trying to keep up with Chloe's sleeping schedule is all.

"Chloe didn't break her ankle, it was just a sprain," I stated. He yawned again.

"Great. Can I go now?" he murmured. I sighed at his impatiens.

"No, I was calling to let you know that I was going to tell Chloe tomorrow is all," I exclaimed. That seemed to get his attention since he stopped yawning and was quiet for a long time.

"Why tomorrow?"

"'Cause she has a hurt ankle and won't be able to run away from me if she freaks. I think it's a pretty good idea," I explained to him. I noticed how silent it was in the living room. My parents must be listening also.

"That is not a bad idea," Danny stated. I gave a nervous laugh. We didn't bother with goodbyes, but just hung up at the same time. I barely slept that night since I was so anxious about the next day.

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My eyes felt heavy and I couldn't get my hair to lie flat this morning. My stomach was empty since I couldn't stomach anything from nerves. It kept jumping and lurching as I tried to block out what I was about to do.

When I pulled up to Chloe's house, her parent's cars were gone like I had hoped. I knew Annie wouldn't be there today since Chloe couldn't watch her while her parents worked. Annie was probably over at one of her little friend's houses for the day. That was good. I didn't want an audience when my life was ruined.

Chloe was sitting on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her and junk food in her lap and in the floor at arm's reach. She greeted me half-heartedly. Apparently, she had cabin fever already. I couldn't blame her to be honest. I don't think she's ever spent a full day inside in her life.

"Want a cookie? I made dad go out and buy me some early," Chloe said, pointing at the food in the floor. I shook my head and swallowed nervously. She seemed to get the vibe that I had something important to say since a bead of sweat rolled down my temple (I didn't even know that I could still sweat. I found something out about myself today.)

"Chloe, there's something really serious I need to talk to you about, like life changing," I think that was pretty subtle considering what I was about to tell her. Chloe pulled herself up a little so she wasn't slouching so much and put the TV on mute. Oh God, here we go.

"You remember those legends about the spirit men and wolves, right?" she nodded so I kept going. "Well, a month before school started while you were on vacation, I found out that those legends are kind of true. I know it sounds crazy, but it's the truth," I finished up my little explanation and waited for her reaction.

Chloe had this uncertain smile on her face like she was starting to realize that I had some kind of brain dysfunction (A/N: hope I spelled that right, carry on). She waited for me to say something else like, "Just joking, babe, want me to get you something?" but I didn't.

"It would be easier if you could just hobble outside and I'd show you that I can turn into a wolf. Come on," I said and stood up. Chloe didn't even try to humor me but turned the sound back on. I sighed and kneeled in front of her so I could have all her attention.

"Please listen to me. I can get a knife and show you. The wolves can heal really quickly or I can try something else, but don't think I'm crazy," I exclaimed. She ignored me and tried to look around my massive form. Fat chance of that happening.

I gave up and just went into the kitchen to find a sharp knife. Chloe gasped when she saw me walk back into her living room with the carving knife.

"What the hell are you doing?! Put that back! Have you really gone crazy?!" she screamed when she seen me raise it to my forearm. I must have looked like some half crazy emo kid that just got dumped for the first time. I wasn't going to lie but that's what I felt like at the moment 'cause I knew that our relationship was hanging by a thread.

I laughed and put it against my skin. Chloe yelled something again and threw the whole bag of cookies at me. The knife fell from my hand and made a soft thud on the carpet. We stared at each other for a moment. Chloe's face was red and her eyes were swimming with unshed tears.

"Get out," she mumbled. I suddenly felt like I was going to throw up my heart because I knew that would be better than what I was feeling after she said those words. It was a good thing I hadn't ate anything this morning or it would have joined the knife on the floor. I didn't move from where I was standing.

"I'm not suicidal and I'm not crazy. It's the truth. Why do you think I'm a stinking giant now? Why do you think I run a temperature of 106 degrees? If you'd let me give you proof and more information then it will make sense," I said in desperation now.

I think I was right to guess that Chloe would be angry with me and probably never speak to me again. She started screaming at me again and threw some of her junk food at me. I dodged as much as I could but did my best to ignore what she was saying. I noticed that while she was throwing things, she'd jerk her foot which made her wince in pain. I left as soon as I noticed this. I didn't want her to be in any pain just because she was angry with me.

I flew down the road and took deep breathes. It wasn't long that I arrived at Uncle Jake's little house that was nestled in the forest. I almost drove my truck into the house on accident. Aunt Nessie poked her head out the door, seen me about to lose it on her front lawn and yelled for her husband.

Jake didn't bother to ask me any questions, but just led me away from his house and into the forest a little ways in. I paced and punched a few trees, breaking both of my hands (they healed easily enough). My uncle waited for me to blow off all of my steam then watched me lean against a tree so I could get my breathing back to normal.

"Feel any better?" he asked as I slumped down to the ground. I shook my head and covered my face with my hands.

"I'll never get my happily ever after at this rate. I keep screwing up. Chloe will never talk to me again after today and I'm hungry," I mumbled. I just flopped down onto my stomach and laid face first in the dirt. I heard Uncle Jake sigh and walk towards me.

"It will work out. You're just an idiot teenage boy who doesn't have a clue what he's doing. You'll learn quickly," and he dragged me up by my arm, slung me over his back and headed back to his house. I let him carry me like used to when I was just a kid and set me on his couch.

The house was more like a cabin since that's what Jake preferred when Esme asked him about the kind of house the two of them wanted. Aunt Nessie just went along with it and helped her grandma make the perfect house. It looks pretty nifty when you're not depressed over a girl.

My uncle called my house, let my dad know that I'd be staying at his place then feed me some of his food. I didn't really pay attention what was going on around me but I remember having nightmares that night when I tried to sleep.

A/N: Okay, so Chloe thinks Ian is crazy and is mad at him for getting knife happy in her house. Ian is all depressed and we got to see an uncle and nephew moment. I hope this was okay even though it didn't end on a happy note. Things will get more interesting in the next chapter!