Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: Here's another chapter, something I wrote while procrastinating on physics. I'm off to do my problem set now, send me reviews to keep me going?
Seriously though, you guys are wonderful. I love y'all for all your kind words.
Now I must warn you, this chapter may polarize you against me a little, but I promise that this has been planned from the beginning. If you've read my other stuff, you know I enjoy a few twists and turns to my stories, but if it comforts you, I'm a BIG fan of happy endings!
Can't wait to hear what you have to say!
-S
Miss Imprint
Chapter 15: An Evolutionary Advantage
Billy was hunched over before us, his scruffy salt and pepper beard glinting silver in the firelight. It was poetic like you wouldn't believe.
He'd been talking about the history of the Quileute tribe for ages and ages and as awful as it sounds, sitting there surrounded by Seth's deliciously warm arms, I was beginning to fall asleep.
"Cass." He whispered in my ear.
"Mmm." I replied, slightly dazed. I mean come on, how was a girl supposed to stay awake in the lap of luxury. Get it? In the lap of luxury—I was sitting in Seth's lap. Yeah I know… I'm wit personified.
"Listen, okay?" He sounded a little nervous, so I swung my head around a little to look at him.
I narrowed my eyes at him but he just smiled his little half smile and nudged my head forward. "Right, sorry, listening." I was dying to know what was so important but I guessed that the only way to find out was to wait.
"The connection between these spirit wolves, these brethren half way between the animal world and ours was only second to a single other. Imprinting." He paused and ran his eyes across the circle, pausing briefly at each of the faces of who I assumed were the other wolves.
Seth squeezed me a little tighter and I soothed his hand a little. We'd already talked about this though; he'd told me it was a story. I wasn't sure exactly what he was so nervous about but I tried to comfort him by leaning into him.
"Imprinting was a mythological connection that was described by our ancestors as the joining of twin souls, two halves separated on earth."
"Seth?"
"Yeah?" And then he pinched me in the side lightly, "and asking questions totally does not count as listening to him."
"I'm clarifying something, calm down. I thought you said the imprinting thing was just a story."
He tensed slightly before nodding. "I did—just listen, okay?"
I didn't reply, just sunk further into him and returned my gaze to Billy.
"There were stories of our spirit brothers—finding their mortal halves. But it is as rare as it is precious. This gift—this destiny is not to be taken lightly. As our ancestors have told us, and as I am telling you now, imprinting binds the wolf and woman instantly upon first sight, twining their souls together as one. It is not only for their happiness but an evolutionary advantage—for the spirit brothers were bound to the women that would bear their children and the future of the guardian race." His voice dropped to a hushed whisper and I could've sworn the wind stopped howling for a moment. "We thought it was too fantastical—and then it happened to one of our own."
I sat up straighter at this, scanning the circle rapidly and then again. Who was it that had imprinted—was it Jared on Kim? I mean her boots definitely deserved that kind of respect because hello those were definitely Madden.
"And then it happened again." Billy remarked even slower and I watched as Sam pulled a tiny little thing into him, her face half hidden by shadow. And then Jared tugged Kim a little closer.
"We don't know why it has happened so frequently but our guess is that in these dangerous times, when we are so close to the cold ones, the need for future generations of spirit wolves to protect our people catalyzes the imprinting process." Billy turned his head finally to me, and a soft, gentle smile grazed his face.
"The people who are here tonight are privy to an ancient secret—one that has been kept within the elder's council for centuries and as such it must be kept." He breathed deeply before bowing his head to me. "It is not an easy task to protect a secret so vast, and so we thank you." He shifted his gaze around the circle, "all of you."
Jacob got up and started to wheel Billy off after that so I got the distinct impression that this little hoe-down was coming to a close. But I felt a little frozen. Billy had said that it had only happened twice but he had looked at me for so long…did that mean that Seth would imprint on me as well?
No—that's ridiculous Cassie, boy-wonder behind you couldn't lie to you to save his life, no way he would have kept that secret from you.
"Cass?" There it was again, that freaking nervous tremble to his voice. I wasn't used to that and frankly it made me nervous as hell because Seth was generally the calmer one out of the two of us.
I stood so that I was just above face level with him and I pulled him to his feet. "Let's take a walk, huh?"
"That sounds good." He paused for a second like he wasn't sure if he should take my hand or not but I just shoved them into my pockets. As much as I loved the kid, I needed to keep my head on straight for this conversation because all of the mythological crap was seriously starting to mess with my head.
I followed him a ways away until the light of the bonfire was just a speck in the distance, replaced by the soft, silvery glow of the moon. "So—all this imprinting stuff isn't just a story, huh?" I nudged him in the side.
"Yeah—sorry about that."
"No—I mean I get it, but like, it's pretty serious huh?"
"Yeah—I mean it's supposed to be like gravity, " and then seeing my dubious look, "you know, like the only thing that ties you to the earth is that one person?"
"I'm not sure I get it, so if you imprint, that's it right, I mean it's like wham, bam, married right?"
Seth chuckled at that a little, "Yeah, basically. I mean if you want to suck the romance out of it." He stepped a little closer to me.
I tried to think of a way to ask my next question without seeming presumptuous or needy or pathetic or whatever but I couldn't think of anything and even though this was Seth who I'd seen in suspenders in eighth grade when he thought they were bees knees, he was Seth now, all dark and brooding and gorgeous and I was feeling a little inferior.
I mean minus the wolf, he was a little out of my league, but add that in and I really didn't hold a candle. Not that he needed to know that, I mean, I love that he worships me a little bit. Really does wonders for my self esteem. But I had to know, because this imprinting thing was a big deal and if he was going to on me, then I wanted to be ready.
"So will you?"
"Huh?"
"I—I know we're just figuring us out, but do you think one day you could-could, um," I stammered flustered," you know, do that with me?"
He stopped walking and turned me towards him. "Cassie, it's not a choice."
What?
"I thought that when you met the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with—and like you were sure about it, then you like," I waved my hands a little, "made the magic, happen you know?"
"It's more like it chooses for you."
"So how—when does it happen?"
He hesitated at that. Clearing his throat he took my two hands in his and kissed them softly before looking me in the eye. "The first time you see them—after you change."
"But then…" I trailed off as I started to realize what this meant. The heaviness of it—imprinting was like forever and yeah I guess I could see my self with Seth forever but I mean we'd just kissed for the first time like two days ago. And I wasn't even legal yet and we'd be going away to school next year and who knows what would happen.
"Cassie?" He interrupted my train of thought and I smiled, sheepishly at him.
"Sorry—just processing," I took a deep breath and looked at him, straight in the eyes. No matter how much I didn't want to know the answer to this question, I had to ask. Leave it to Seth to make this ridiculously complicated and make me do all the work for him. "So did you?"
He looked at me for a long moment, before shaking his head. "No—I don't think so."
And for a second it felt like my heart just exploded, right there, shattered into a million pieces, but that was ridiculous because I hadn't wanted him to—we didn't even know what we were and to have the pressure of knowing that his freaky, canine genes had determined that I was his personal baby maker was really not helping, besides it really ticked my inner feminist off and really, no body likes an angry feminist. They're just down right unreasonable.
But back on topic, because Seth had this awfully tragic look on his face like he'd just confessed to being a Montague or something.
"Okay," I said slowly, "is it weird if I tell you that it's kind of a relief?"
He let out a whoosh of air and tugged me under his arm. "Yes. That's what I fucking said. But Leah went all Armageddon on me and freaked me out."
"Is that what the argument was about the other day?"
"Yes."
"That's crazy boy, so what if you don't know you want to worship the ground I walk on the minute you turned into a wolf, I've got tons of time to convince you that you do." I winked at him and he laughed loud and full.
"That's my girl." He bent and kissed me on the lips, once, twice and three times and I was just about to pull him down for more when a icy thought crept into the back of my mind.
Leah had told me to be careful that day. I had thought she was talking about the wolf but if she was talking about imprinting then that changed things.
I cast my mind back to the bonfire, Sam had been all cozy-like with a girl that was definitely not Leah. It must have been Emily—his imprint. But I knew how this story went, I was around when it happened. I remember Seth the day it happened and how scared he'd been.
"What's up, Sethasaurus?" I squeezed his shoulder affectionately as I went to steal the seat next to him in the cafeteria.
"Hey." His voice was dull and his eyes were staring distractedly at salt and pepper shakers.
"Um, hello, Earth to Seth. You okay?" I snapped my fingers in front of his face and he looked at me in surprise almost as if he hadn't noticed me.
"Sorry."
And then I saw the pale red bruise on his cheek, it was so faint, that I thought it was just the light at first.
"Seth! What happened to you?" I leaned over and brushed my fingers across his cheek gently but pulled back when he flinched.
"Leah." He said softly and then looked at me, his eyes wide and nervous. I'd never seen him so freaked.
"She hit you?"That was it, I didn't care what her deal was, or that she was possibly a foot taller than me, she needed to know you couldn't do this to Seth. I mean the boy idolized her. "What happened?"
"I don't know, Cass, she came home and she was crying and I went over and I thought something serious had happened, you know?" He was rambling a little but I just tightened my grip on his wrist a little, hoping it was comforting.
"Of course."
"Anyway, I just started asking her if something happened at work or if Sam had done something to piss her off again and she smacked me. Her eyes were so dead, Kim, it's like she didn't even know what was going on."
"She shouldn't have hit you."
"I know…but I don't think she was right in the head, you know?" He shook his head and sank back in his seat.
"Anyway she went all white, and then told me not to say his name again." He rubbed a hand through his hair. "And she hasn't left her room since."
"Shit—I guess the broke up huh?"
"Yeah—but mom talked to me this morning. He's with Emily now." His voice twisted darkly as he finished.
"As in your cousin?" I asked outraged.
"Yeah—how fucked up is that?"
"Are they together right now?"
"She's actually in the hospital—apparently she got mauled by some bear and he hasn't left her side since."
"Shit. Rough weekend."
His fingers tightened around mine before he slipped his hand from mine and slung his arm around my shoulders. "No kidding. I had no idea he was such a bastard."
We'd spent the rest of the way trying to think of ways to make Leah feel better and to get back at Sam.
And now I knew why he left her, he didn't have a choice. This imprinting thing, what ever it was, it was strong because it broke through Sam and Leah. They hadn't just been dating, they'd been in love.
So if Seth imprinted one day—would he do the same to me? But more importantly, did I care?
I felt my heart speed up and a dull ache start to build, just the thought made me want to wretch. But as I looked at his dear face, so light after he'd confessed everything and so familiar as always, I realized it didn't matter.
Because who knew what would happen with us but I was willing to bet it would be worth whatever time we got together. Screw Leah—just cuz it happened to her, doesn't mean it would happen to us because Seth and I didn't need a mythical connection, we had a real one—from years and years of friendship, you didn't just forget about that because freaking destiny told you to start dating Mary-my-uterus –is-ready. You just didn't.
If it happened, we'd figure it out, but right now, when there were endless days full of possibility stretching out before me, I couldn't imagine giving him up.
I wanted to give us a chance—we deserved it.
So I threw caution to the wind.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Seth tilted his head and rubbed across my cheekbones with his thumbs. I shivered at the delightful sensation.
"Nothing," I pressed a kiss into each of his palms before pulling him down to me, smiling softly at him, "nothing at all."
