Hello, chapter 8! Again this one might be a little short, but I feel that it's pretty packed with a nice punch. And as you can see, a new POV! Now, I love Morgan. She's a favorite of mine. *big breath* Soooo, I have decided to give you guys a lemon. Next chapter. So look forward to chapter 9. It's the golden one...if I can write right. Wish me luck on that. I'll need it.

*Disclaimer here*

Please Enjoy!

MorganPOV

Stepping out of the house, I took a deep breath. The air was cold and felt like an icepick in my chest. It was nice. Let me know that I was still alive. Also let me know that Jacob had used that door to leave the house…and he was pissed off. Beyond pissed off. Usually anger was warm, fury was hot, but rage? Rage was utterly cold. Cold was what his scent was in my nose. He'd cut himself off from his other emotions. I knew what that was like.

Following that cold draft, I kept my human form. The run would help me stretch a little, work me out. The woods were quiet. That was usual when Jacob entered the outdoor world. It was like nature knew he was the king of the woods, even if he wouldn't acknowledge it.

Stupid idiot. He thought he was just another one of us, but that wasn't true, was it? Absolutely not. He was bursting with aggression. And again, he kept it under wraps. Sure, Seth, Sam, and Paul were dominants, but they weren't Alphas. That belonged solely to Jacob. And that Alpha-ness was like an extra layer of testosterone that made other big human men feel puny…as they should.

Well, that actually hadn't been the case lately. He'd been chained, collared, leashed. Ever since he'd gotten with Nessie as in relationship, he'd become soft. Used to be, nobody would question him. Now, more and more of us were looking to Seth, who had kept his head and objectives after imprinting on Shelby, whom I actually liked. Don't get me wrong, Nessie was great and she took care of us, but there was still a soft innocence to her even after what happened back in November. She didn't quite understand that she wasn't the queen. Though she was supposed to be Jake's mate, he still had his power even over her. Though clearly he'd allowed her to influence him into pansy territory. And it was all really starting to piss me off. He was a male, a man, and he was our leader, born Alpha. He should be allowed his aggression without fear of hurting poor Nessie's feelings. If she couldn't deal, then he'd imprinted on the wrong gal.

Of course, fate had a tendency to fuck us all over…multiple times. But the point was Jacob loved Nessie. And she loved him. Whatever their problems were, they needed to get over them otherwise the pack would fall apart. Seth was a damned fine second, but he wasn't Alpha. Alphas had acute instincts, and as much as I loved Seth, his weren't near what Jacob's were.

It wasn't long before I was on the road that led into the rez. Jacob was walking, so he could be anywhere by now. His rounds were always random so that people wouldn't pick up on his patterns and change their ways long enough to pacify him. So with that happy little knowledge, I stopped, closed my eyes, and inhaled deeply.

"What are you doing here?" a low voice growled behind me.

Automatically my head went down as did my eyes. "Jacob. Alpha."

"I really wish you'd stop that."

A shiver shimmied its way down my spine. "You are equivalent to a king for us. How could I not show respect?"

The growl that came was frustrated. "I asked you a question, Morgan."

I sighed. "You shouldn't make your rounds alone. I can smell your anger. Your head isn't level enough to deal with our people alone."

"And yours is?" he growled

Well, didn't that just hurt my feelings. My body jerked as if he'd just punched me in the stomach. Yeah, sure, I wasn't always a happy camper, but I could be civil. And it hurt to think that he thought so little of me. I'd never known Jake to have this kind of temper. But in his normal anger, he was quick to flip his lid if anybody so much as sneezed in his direction. With this new mood? I wasn't even sure I was supposed to be breathing.

Those hurt feelings didn't last long. My own version of anger came boiling up, ready for a fight.

"Fine," I growled. "You wanna throw shit? We'll throw." Turning to face him, we came nose to nose. The one thing my bastard father had gifted me with was his height. "You're the Alpha of this little family. I'm not. I don't have to have a level head. And yours is so far up your ass you can wear your intestines as a frickin' necklace. You need to grow a pair and quit letting your female control how you run things. You're too fucking nice about everything. Man the fuck up!"

His growl came up from his gut. "Don't you dare bring Nessie into this!"

"Why not? She's the reason you tip-toe. Ever since the two of you became a couple, it's like she threw a choke-collar on you. Haven't you figured out that the pack needs you, too? What happened to all the pack gatherings that we used to have?" Sticking my hand on my hip, I tapped my chin in false thinking. "Oh, right. You're too busy getting all over her, getting her and yourself hot, and then running away like a fourteen year old girl."

And then, I had an enormous moment of stupidity. I slapped his chest, right on the spot where Nessie had sucked his skin and marked her as his own. An empty token of belonging. His body jerked in surprise at the contact, his eyes flaring. It was stupid, but I had a point to make, so I pressed my advantage.

"You think that mark means something?" A laugh devoid of any humor left my throat. "It means nothing, Jacob. You think that they mean that you belong to each other? Wake up, Jacob!" I spread my arms out from my body. "We're animals. Wolves. We haven't been human for years, and we have instincts. Nessie doesn't truly belong to you, and for that matter you don't truly belong to her, until you seal the deal. Until you have sex, she's still unmated in our world. I don't know what the fuck is going on between the two of you, but we're going to fall apart fast without at least one of our Alphas with their head out of their ass. Both you and Nessie are in head fucks right now, and Seth is performing beautifully as second, but that crap can't last long. So on behalf of the pack, jack up your big girl panties and show our alpha female who the hell is boss!"

Jacob's surprise turned to a blank face with an eyebrow raised as I breathed hard. Looking around, I saw that we'd gathered a crowd. Kids with soccer balls, moms with babies on their hips, store owners, and girls with jump ropes had all stopped to gather at the sidewalk.

"Are you done?" he asked in a dead tone.

The anger came back full force. "Even if I weren't, you wouldn't listen to me. Now, are we going to walk the rounds or are you going to keep staring at me with that damned eyebrow raised?"

He turned his back on me and started down the street. "You aren't coming."

Grinning without amusement, I followed. "You can dismiss me all you like, but I'm coming with."

"Not if I order you."

"So order me, then. Go on."

He whirled around and glared at me, mouth open. Closed it. Opened it. Growled and turned away.

"That's what I thought." Weakness. Utter weakness. He couldn't even give an order when he wanted to be alone. For self-preservation.

Jacob's broad back stiffened. There was no time to brace myself before he spun around, came at me, gripped my upper arms in a tight grip, and pulled me to his face. He rip-shit pissed as he pulled me close enough to touch eyeballs.

"Order you? I won't take someone's free will away from them. Never. I know what it's like to have it taken away from me. If I wasn't who I was or embraced who I was, Bella and Nessie would be dead. Sam and the rest of the pack would have killed them both, and I would have helped them. You think I like knowing that I had to pick the lesser evil? You think I like living each day and watching Nessie grow every day that I would have helped kill her? The woman I love?" He shoved me away in disgust. "Don't you ever take for granted the fact that I don't use that little present on my pack."

Dear God, I hadn't thought about that. If he hadn't embraced the role of Alpha, Sam would have ordered him and the entire pack, including Seth, to go after the Cullens.

"Jacob, I'm sorry. You obviously have your reasons for not using that tool, and now, I respect you for it. I'm sorry that I didn't before. But I know why your leadership is slipping." When his eyes narrowed, I took that to mean, continue. I took a deep breath and did just that. "Your wolf is dying to take her, to make her alpha female for real. Once you do that and mark her as your own, I have a feeling you won't have the need to constantly be around her."

His dark eyes glared at me as he shook his head, growling. That look of disgust was back. Man, I just couldn't say the right things tonight. Turning on his heel, he started back down the road.

Gathering my courage and taking my own advice of growing a pair, I jogged and planted my feet in front of him. Thankfully, he stopped instead of pushing me out of the way like I knew he wanted to.

"Wait, Jacob. Please hear me out."

Lips pressed into a slash, he crossed his massive arms and lifted that eyebrow again.

Swallowing hard, I continued. "Look, I've been paying attention to the differences between you and Seth when we're all phased together. When Seth first met Shelby, he was all over her, constantly thinking about her. Nothing ever took his mind off her. That all changed after they'd had sex for the first time. He knew she was his then, and suddenly, he was back to thinking about the welfare of the pack and you. But you? You're still stuck in the obsessive part. Unfortunately, it's making you a pansy. In all honesty, we've started turning to Seth. You've been making quick decisions just to get back to her. The other day with that slaughter? You cleaned it up and haven't thought of it since. Nessie, Nessie, Nessie. That's all you've been thinking about and obsessing over. If you'd done the horizontal tango with her already, you'd have been more interested in a pack search party of that scent than grumbling about Nessie all up in your head. It's affecting every decision you make, and it's starting to topple the pack."

When I was finished, we just stood there, breathing at each other. I was talking so fast that I wasn't sure that I'd actually taken a breath. My chest was heaving as our eyes stayed locked.

After a moment, he leaned forward to say quietly so prying ears wouldn't hear, "You're telling me to just fuck her to make the pack happy."

I quickly shook my head. "No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm asking you to treat her as a woman and I guarantee she'll treat you as a man. Take her, make love to her, be good to her, and I doubt she'll question your love for her. Frankly, we're all wondering why it hasn't happened yet. And no, it's not our business, but again, we can't help but wonder."

Aaaaaand, it was time for me to shut my face. Clamping my lips shut, I just stood there and looked around. Jacob's eyes did the same. He nodded to people here and there, before those dark eyes landed on me.

"You're right. It's none of your business."

My shoulders tensed for the lashing I was about to get.

But it never came. He took a deep breath through his nose and said, "And you're also right that it's a pack problem. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. And right now, Nessie and I are weak. I'll think about things as we walk our rounds."

When my eyes flashed to him in surprise, I found him smiling a little. He jerked his head toward the people standing around watching us.

Stuffing my inner girl back into her cage, I squared my shoulders and plastered a bored expression onto my face as I followed him into the crowd, as if I were his guard.

JPOV

Damn. Morgan's little scream-fest had drawn a crowd, but she'd been right. Her comparison of me and Seth had sealed the damn deal. I didn't like it, but there it was. All this time I'd been denying that the wolf and I were one being. Unfortunately, we were, and he needed her. That's why things had been strained. We'd been together, but not belonging to the other. The marks we'd given each other had helped calm the animal part of me, but now he wanted something more. He wanted to get inside of her, mark her in other places, roll around on top of her to make my scent as permanent on her as a tattoo would be.

And I wanted it, too.

When she'd walked in on me in the bathroom earlier, there had been no embarrassment in her eyes as she looked me over. Heat had come from her body, as hot as the steam that had billowed around us. She'd wanted me. And no doubt when my body hadn't reacted to the fact that she was seeing me naked for the first time ever because I was surprised, she'd taken that as me not wanting her in return. Which absolutely wasn't true. Her stare had told me everything I needed to know. And even after she'd taken off in a fit, my body decided to get with the program. I'd hardened so fast it was painful and erotic as hell at the same time. All I'd wanted was to go to her room, strip off the towel around my hips, strip her clothes off, and make love to her. There had been no thoughts of her parents, the other Cullens, or Seth and Shelby. She'd been all I could think about, which was a first.

It had occurred to me that even though she'd always been on my mind, the worry of Edward and Bella had always been there, too. But it in that moment, I was pretty sure I wouldn't have even noticed if they'd been in the room when I'd taken their daughter to bed.

Daughter. The word that had always caught me. It was such a daddy's girl word. Not a woman word. Nessie really wasn't a girl anymore. She was a woman. Morgan had been right in telling me that I was running.

Well, no more of that shit. Nessie and I were going to a have a talk. Hopefully before I ravished her. My wolf was having too much fun envisioning her underneath my body, completely naked, skin flushed, breathing hard.

Rotating my neck and shoulders, I tried to get rid of the tightness that came with the visions of me over her, supporting my weight on my arms as I moved against her, inside her.

"Jake?" Morgan asked softly.

I shook my head a little. "I'm good."

She stepped back away from me as we performed our meet-n-greets with the tribe. I went back to scanning the crowd, nodding and smiling. There was one person I was looking for. And stupidly enough, I was looking down instead of up.

"Jake!" a voice called.

Looking up, I found who I was looking for. Grinning, I stepped forward to slap palms and shoulders with Lucas. "What's up, man? Damn, you got big."

He grinned and blushed. "Dad says it's a growth spurt."

I chuckled. "I'll say."

The kid had been only around five foot eight a couple months ago. Now, he was nearly my height. And he'd started with hitting the gym, bulking up what had probably been lean muscle on his tight frame. But in a way, he now fit his features. His wavy black hair hung in his face over deep set chocolate eyes. And unlike him, I knew this wasn't just a growth spurt. He was about to phase. Given his mood, though, it wasn't going to be next week. He was still peppy. Usually it was anger or fear that brought on the change. With me, it had been anger. Billy had just told me that I'd looked weird and I'd nearly ripped him apart by phasing in the damn kitchen. Maybe it could just be a timing thing, though. Lucas was a good kid. It was hard to believe he'd gain a short temper the way I had. From what I knew, he didn't have the stressor of a girl or any family issues to spark an anger session to trigger the phase.

With our palms still clapped together, I pulled him closer to me, my eyes serious but smile still in place. "Listen, you're about to go through some hardcore change. You need anything or feel anything weird, call me, ok? And nothing is too weird or mundane to call over."

He pulled back a little to study me. His eyes went over my body and came back to my eyes. In a rush of understanding, his widened. He leaned in again. "Will I be like you?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It'll be rough, but we'll get you through it."

I felt him nod against my ear. "Aweso-whoa."

"What?" I asked , pulling back.

He didn't answer and I followed his stare. Morgan. He was looking at Morgan. No, not looking. More like salivating over. What got me, though, was that it wasn't entirely sexual. It was more reverent. What made me grin was that Morgan was staring right back at him as if he were an old lover, one that she was actually in love with.

Awesome. Another imprinted couple.

Rolling my eyes, I nodded her over. The expressions crossing her features ranged from love, to confused, over to denial, plummeted to anger, and then went on repeat back to love. Love and denial were the winners of the couple's tug-of-war. She knew she'd just imprinted, but wasn't quite ok with the idea.

"Morgan, this is Lucas. Lucas, Morgan."

When Morgan didn't offer her hand, Lucas didn't either. They just stared at each other.

"How old are you?" she asked. Her voice sounded as if somebody had taken sandpaper to her throat.

"Nineteen," he said.

She swallowed hard. "Well, at least you're legal."

When he looked confused, I leaned in. "It's a wolf thing. But pretty much, you just became her universe."

"Did not," she said weakly.

He looked between us, startled. "What, like, insta-love?" he asked with a blush.

That made me chuckle. "Kind of, but not really. There's a connection there. You can either choose to build it up or let it just stand there. But whether she likes it or not, she'll be drawn to you."

"Like she doesn't get a choice?"

Sighing, I rubbed my eyes. Oh, this was a great conversation. Especially with Morgan looking like she'd like to throttle him, but wouldn't dare so she'd settle with me. Perfect.

"Let's put it this way. She'd never hurt you, but what just happened wasn't her choice. However, you get the choice of whether you want to try for something between you. Unless, of course, there's another girl in your life."

The growl that came out of Morgan was so vicious that the whole sidewalk took a few steps back. Lucas just stared at her like she had some sexy clothes on, the heat plain in those dark eyes. Calmly, I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry," she whispered. That growl was still there.

"I thought it was beautiful," Lucas said. His eyes hadn't left her yet.

Morgan shook her hair over her shoulders to try to hide the blush while I rolled my eyes again.

"Hey, stay here, ok? I'll be right back." Lucas turned on his heel and ran in the direction of his father's flower shop. No doubt he was going to grab something dark and exotic for her.

As the crowd dispersed, I leaned over to Morgan's ear. "You stay here with him. I'm going to go over to Sam's. Need to talk to him."

Her eyes shot to me in a panic. "You can't leave me with him, Jake. I don't do relationships."

I chuckled. "You do now. You'll always be drawn to him." I leaned to her ear again. "And now you're going to obsess until you get him between the sheets. Remember our little conversation a while ago? Yeah, you are now me. Good luck."

With that, I walked off toward Sam's house.

RPOV

I was back to staring at the pictures. Again, it was sometime in the afternoon. This time, I'd gone down on my own to eat lunch with the others. My conversation with Caden had helped. The past needs to stay in the past. That was true, and I completely agreed. But it didn't keep me from wondering what was in Jacob's past that had caused him pain or hell or both? What had caused him to change? To slather a mask over himself? How bad had things gotten for him?

As I got busy chewing my lip off, a knock came at my door effectively saving its life. "Yeah? Come on in."

The door opened a bit and Leah stuck her head in. "Hey. I was hoping you were awake."

I nodded, my hands stroking over the long plait of braided hair that was slung over my shoulder. "Yeah, I'm just thinking over what everybody has been telling me. You have a smart mate."

Her grin was equal parts proud and loving. "Absolutely. He's great." The smile dimmed a little. "But, hey, I was wondering if I might be able to give you something else to think about."

Sighing, I dug my palms into the floor and pushed myself higher up into a sitting position. "Honestly, Leah, I don't know if I can handle any more talks."

Coming in all the way and closing the door behind her, she came over to sit-forgive the pun- Indian-style next to me.

"I don't want to talk at you and tell you all the ways that you and Jake are being stupid. A long time ago, I yelled at your mother for hurting Jacob. It wasn't my place and I was rude about it. But what I came here to tell you is something that I'm pretty sure will make you understand Jacob."

That had me at attention. Anything to help me come to a conclusion about what to do would be points in my favor. I nodded for her to continue.

"It's a story, Nessie. His story. Now, I need you to remember something. He loves you. Plain and simple. But there are things that I'm going to tell you that will make you want to recoil from him. However, in order for you to understand him, you need to understand his past. Do you think you can handle that?"

I sat there for a good few minutes thinking about it. By the tone of her voice, some of the things she was going to tell me would break my heart. No doubt about it. But they were obviously things to help me understand Jacob. And though the past really did need to stay there, there were always exceptions to rules. This was an exception. Someone was offering me what I needed, what I craved.

Nodding, I was going to take it.

About an hour later, I sat there in numb silence. I'd been right. My heart had broken…multiple times. Jacob's life had had the dramatic lows and highs of a movie, a carefully written novel thought out and performed by fate. And I fell in love with him all over again, even though he was now a different man in my eyes. All these years that he'd been at my side had truly made him happy, according to Leah. And she could get into his head when they were in wolf form. She knew his thoughts.

His every thought was me, if I was ok, or if he'd taken things too far with me. Fate had been a cruel mistress, putting him through a fabricated love and heartbreak just to keep him near my mother for the sake of meeting me. For the sake of imprinting on me. Fate had put two soul mates together at the cost of the pain of one of them. So much pain Jacob had gone through just to wait for me. Pain that I really couldn't comprehend in the slightest.

Hearing Leah's story, I realized that my life was utterly perfect.

"Nessie?" Leah's voice drifted over to me in a whisper.

Slowly, my eyes focused and I met hers. "Yeah?"

Her hand touched my knee. "You ok?"

I couldn't help but swallow hard. Her voice brought me back into my room and out of my head to the point that I realized the pain in my palm was coming from my nails digging into the meat of my hand.

I blinked fast. "Uh, um, yeah. It's just a lot to take in."

She nodded as if she understood.

"I see him differently."

"That was the point, Nessie. You had this picture perfect Jake. He's been through so much and with you and your growth, he got scrambled over the whole imprint thing. You have to understand that he's still struggling with that. It's not that he doesn't want you." She made a push away gesture with her hands. "Trust me, I know how badly he wants you. Even though he covers the thoughts of you, I can still feel the echo of the ache in his body, even with him…relieving…himself."

"But…" I whispered. This was the one thought that I just couldn't get over. "He wanted to kill me."

She shifted uncomfortably next to me. "I'm not gonna lie. That's what he went back into the house to do that night. But honestly, I don't think that it was the urge to kill that pulled him back into the house."

"You don't?"

Leah shook her head, her short hair falling out from behind her ear. Pushing it back, she scooted so that her back was against the bed again.

"The night that I imprinted on Caden, there was this tugging in my gut, this pull that was pushing me to the door to go outside. I didn't know what it was, but I followed my instincts knowing full well that the 'meeting' with Caden was going down outside. And then, lo and behold, there was Caden. That moment I saw my future clearly for the first time in my life…and I loved it. That night that Jacob went to…find you, I think he was feeling the pull, but he was too caught up in his grief to realize what it was. The pull had transferred from Bella to you. He hadn't felt the drive to go up and pump vampire venom into her blood to even have her back as a vampire. He was just so caught up in…murderous…thoughts of you, pulled toward you that Bella no longer existed to him. That was the imprint, fate, pulling him to you with a mask of homicidal rage. The same happened to me. The moment that tug hit me, Sam was no longer there. I was being pulled toward Caden. And honestly, even if Jacob hadn't imprinted, I don't believe he would have killed you."

"You don't?" Wasn't that my phrase for the night?

Again, she shook her head. "Nope. Honestly, if the imprint hadn't pulled him in, I doubt he'd have gone back in to even look at you. I think he would have just run off to have nothing to do with any of the Cullens. But he was meant to see you, Nessie. I don't know how else to tell you that. But that's what I believe."

I was about to answer her, when there was a sharp knock on the door. Needing to get up and move my stiff limbs, I got up to answer it. And wished I hadn't.

On the other side was my very angry father. He just stood there, glaring at me. His eyes were once again a gorgeous topaz gold, but instead of their usual loving warmth, they were full of warm anger.

"What is wrong with you?" he bit out between clenched teeth.

Flinching away from his cold tone, I backed away from the door. "Wha-,"

"You just can't stand being happy, can you? Is that it? Is that why you always cause drama? That man," he said, pointing to somewhere further out than down the hall. "That man loves you. He could have died saving you in that fire. Jacob is a good man with a good heart."

And all of a sudden, anger bubbled up in me. So many people were always in my business. Leah was the one who'd given me what I'd truly needed to see clearly. The others had been weightless thoughts to bounce around my head.

"I had to know if he loved me beyond the imprint, dad."

He growled and stalked into my room. Leah came to stand beside me, her body rigid and tight, ready to step in.

"You are so blind! Let me explain something to you, Nessie. Imprinting is like speed dating for soul mates. It's one of the best assets of the wolves because it allows you to pass all the frivolous prospects of having to go through dating and falling in love. You get all you need in one look. Also, no matter if it hadn't existed or he hadn't imprinted then, it still would have happened."

My father had never yelled at me in my nine years. And now he was a roaring presence in my room, making me feel positively tiny. Wrapping my arms around my torso, my anger left me as I huddled into myself.

"What would have happened?" I whispered.

"Love. You would have still fallen in love. It just would have taken longer. You got the best deal out of life and you're just going to throw it away because you're not sure that it's the rightkind of love?! Love is love in all its many forms. There are humans, wolves, and vampires alike that would kill to have what you have with him. What is wrong with you? I didn't raise you to throw away the gifts that life gives you. A man loves you and would protect you with his own life. How can you be so ungrateful like that?"

I was crying while he was breathing hard from telling me what a brat I was as Uncle Emmett came up to wrap his arms around him to pull him into the hallway. Uncle Jasper wasn't far behind, his mental gift aimed more toward Dad than me.

"You are such an ungrateful drama queen, Renesmee. And right now, you don't deserve him." With that, Uncle Emmett dragged Dad down the hallway with a hand clapped over his mouth.

Mom appeared in my doorway, watching them with shock written all over her face. And then she turned to me, holding my heart in with hands that trembled as tears streamed down my face. When she came to me with her arms spread out wide, I dodged past her and darted into the hall.

Going for the stairs, I knew I couldn't stay in this house. I needed isolation. And I knew just where to go.

MorganPOV

The nearly black rose that Lucas had just handed me smelled like Christmas. Heavenly. It reminded me of cold, snowy nights huddled next to the fire watching as the world turned white with a cup of hot chocolate in my hands.

The strange thing was I could picture Lucas there with me. The image I got was of us on a pallet of blankets on the floor in front of the fire, cuddled up together.

Which was utterly gross. Blech. The girlie, Hallmark crap had never been me. But right now, smelling this wonderful rose, I wanted it. And I wanted it with him. Damn.

"It's beautiful," I muttered, hoping he didn't hear the blurt-out I hadn't approved.

But no such luck. When I looked up, he was grinning ear to ear.

"I think you're beautiful."

I damned myself for blushing. "Am not."

"Are, too. To me you are."

Taking a deep breath in on a growl, I looked everywhere else but at him. A group of guys in their mid-twenties passed us. When one of them met my eyes, I knew nothing good was going to come out of his mouth. Especially when he grinned like that.

"Hey, Lucas!" he called. "You better watch it with that one. She's a toad hopper. Literally."

The group laughed heartily and stalked off. The blush on my face couldn't be stopped, but it felt strange. I'd never been embarrassed about my love life before, but standing here in front of my imprint, I felt dirty compared to him.

"Go screw yourself, Zach!" Lucas yelled back. He looked at me and shook his head. "Don't worry about them. They're assholes."

Shaking my head, I held out the rose. "You know what? They're right. Here, take this back. There shouldn't be anything between us anyway. The imprint isn't a sure thing."

When I met his eyes, he was staring at me with a pity expression. Putting his hand over mine, he pushed the flower back to me.

"It's yours and I want you to have it. Look, I know about your reputation." My shot to his and he shrugged. "There's only one Morgan in the pack, and people talk. But in all honesty, I don't really care. They didn't mean anything to you, right?" When I shook my head, he continued. "And you didn't mean anything to them. No offense."

I thought about getting angry. Really, I did. If it had been anyone else, they would have ended up on the ground either swallowing or spitting out their teeth. But I was just too tired to fight the pull of him.

One finger came up to press under my chin to get me to look at him. "Have you eaten dinner yet?"

I shook my head. "No," I whispered.

His grin was bright in his permanently tan skin. "Great. I was going to fire up the grill. I make a mean stake. My second love is the kitchen."

Again, my mouth moved without my consent. "What's your first?"

He turned to me with a smile that told me I probably wouldn't like his answer. "The flowers for now. I plan on changing that."

Again, the blush rushed up my neck…and got worse when he reached back to take my hand in his.

Well, wasn't dinner going to be interesting.

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