A/N: Any wolves you recognize from The Twilight Saga belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Basically everything else, including past and present wolf pack members, imprints, wolf families, and additional characters in this story belong to the universe created by the amazing, brilliant, and wonderfully talented yay4shanghai!

First off, congratulations to yay4shanghai for winning The Sparkle Award for Best Original Character for her story The Pathetic Ramblings of a Homosexual Werewolf!

This is Part I of a two part chapter and Part II will be up Friday.

Once again, thank you everyone who reviewed, it really means a lot to me. I love the feedback and it's a great motivator to write faster and update sooner.

As always I recommend you read the other stories written in this universe. They are fantastic worth taking the time to read them…this is directed particularly towards my amazing and supportive mother, who I will be driving cross country in a few days to see and is reading this, but needs to get a move on with the other stories ;)

And finally, yay4shangai must be the sexiest, encouraging, incredible beta alive, so thanks!

Confusion and Phantoms

14 June 2041

When I woke up, I felt rejuvenated, more so than I usually felt after a full night's sleep. Typically, naps left me groggier than I was before resting. I rolled sideways to check how long I'd been out for and was astonished to see the blocky green 6:08 AM shining back at me. I slept the evening and night away without meaning to and now I was up, but had well over an hour to kill before needing to leave for work. Sighing, because I knew there was no way I could spend them asleep; I was already too wide awake. I might as well get up and get started on my day.

First order of business, was finding breakfast. I rubbed my stomach, noting that I was absolutely starving since I missed dinner last night. Before leaving my warm cocoon, I arched my back, popping it, and stretched out as much as I could to loosen my slightly stiff muscles. The action resulted in my feet getting all tangled up in the extra blankets on me. Bree must have shoved them onto my side of the bed at some point during the night when she got too overheated.

I fought a loosing battle against the covers until my struggles jostled Bree enough to wake her up as well. She only looked at my imprisoned legs, and now arm, for a second before bursting into hysterical laughter and shoving me off the bed.

I landed with a jarring thud and a backlash bounce, following the initial impact that left me sprawled across my floor in an ungraceful heap surrounded by the ivory and gold quilts my mother made. Reclining back, I glared up at Sabrina's giggling head currently hanging over the side of my bed with her curly hair dangling on the way to the floor.

"That was for ignoring my call last night then waking me up so early this morning," she informed me with a ridiculous, fake stern look that did nothing to mask her amusement or conceal the occasional giggle that slipped past her pink lips.

"Well, good morning to you too then," I said dryly, rolling my eyes for added effect. My response earned me a final cheery grin, but it was fleeting and when she sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed with her legs pulled underneath her it was gone. In its place was a sober expression; slightly pursed lips and a wrinkled brow that emphasized her concerned stone blue eyes.

"Are you ready to talk about what happened yesterday? You already know we will eventually, so why not just get it out now rather than letting it fester like I know you were last night and will again later?"

It all came rushing back when she brought it up and I felt like I'd been steamrolled when it crashed back to me. I sat up struggling to pull any air at all into my lungs. I pressed a hand over my heart as an ache in my chest grew, spreading throughout my body now that I was finally acknowledging its existence. It had been there for a while, a dull throb that I ignored in favor of mindless curiosity. In fact, it was there all along, ever present since I watched him run away, because it honestly felt like he took a part of me with him when he left. It was no longer a dull pain; instead, it was sharp and burning.

"He ran away," I choked out, softer than a whisper, after a few gasping breaths.

Bree was at my side in an instant, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me back for us to lean against the side of my bed. I wasn't crying; I never did. Not since it became Beth's weapon of choice for manipulating our parents and every other authority figure she needed something from.

I wasn't crying, but it hurt. It hurt to think about because I didn't understand what exactly happened or why. I was confused, but I knew that somehow I had done something to make him leave. It was ludicrous to admit, even just to myself, but I was hoping that I had just offended him by staring because the only other option I could see, was that I repulsed him. And that was the last thing I wanted. Either way, I couldn't help feeling rejected, as unreasonable as it was.

Simply accepting that it was over and I couldn't change anything, instead of beating myself up anymore and dwelling on it, was already helping restore my composure and having Bree here helped even more. Although it did nothing to eliminate my desire to understand what happened.

We remained like that for a couple minutes, but time dragged on so slowly, I would have sworn an eternity passed. My eyes followed a sparrow's path as it hopped along my window sill, but when the silence got to me I pulled my knees against my chest and rested my chin there while picking at a thread on the hem of the sundress I never changed out of yesterday. I gathered what courage I possessed, then jumped into a conversation I wasn't sure I wanted to have.

"I don't get it, why did he run?" I asked, proud of how unexpectedly steady my voice was, but not moving to see her or look away from the sparrow. I hoped her considerable experience, relative to me at least, had given her the wisdom necessary to have the answers I was seeking.

"I can't answer that, Kris…but I don't think it was for any of the reasons you're probably afraid of," she replied honestly and I could hear the compassion in her voice.

"Then why? Come on, tell me what you're thinking—please," I begged, finally turning to her, separating a single blue and a single purple lock from the rest and twisting them together. It was a habit she did when trying to figure out how to word a controversial topic she was trying to discuss.

"Well…I, I really don't think he was running to get away from you. He seemed surprised and more than a little overwhelmed, so maybe he just needed to clear his head. You do the same thing, so you should know," she nodded along to what she was saying, making sure she believed it herself.

"Maybe…," I trailed off. I didn't want to get my hopes up, in case she was wrong or I never even saw him again.

"So just to be clear, you're actually interested in him? This isn't just about him running away?" She inquired with an intent look that I could do nothing except shrug at. She focused a searching look on me and I knew her eyes were penetrating my deepest secrets as she continued in a discerning voice, "I saw the way you looked at him. You've never looked at anyone that way before…and I have never seen you get this worked up over a total stranger."

"It doesn't matter if it's all one-sided," I replied hardly daring to breath and without breaking our intense eye connection, but biting my bottom lip to have actually said that much and half wishing I had just swallowed the words. This was as close as I would get to confessing how powerfully I felt an all encompassing pull, drawing me to the alluring Levi.

"I didn't just see you yesterday, I saw him too. He looked at you the same way you looked at him…like, I don't know…like it was just the two of you and the rest of us ceased to exist. I seriously doubt he even noticed me sitting right next to you," she said trying to convince me. It was starting to work. I was dangerously close to hoping she was right.

"Enough of this. I have to get something to eat and change before I'm late to work," I told her then jumped up and rushed through my morning ritual, pausing only to grab an apple and a granola bar on my way out.

Work was the same as always, restocking produce and returning things left around the store that people had changed their minds about buying. It was a Saturday so the store was busy enough that I didn't have time to sit around obsessing about Levi, which was a relief after this morning. Bree was right, a trait of hers that can be tremendously annoying at times; it felt good to talk about what happened and I'm sure I would not have been able to focus at work if I hadn't. My parents even let me go early when they saw how excited I was when I looked outside. They assumed my reaction was about it being sunny out again and I had no intention of correcting their mistake. For once my enthusiasm was not for the sun being out, but because it meant I could head to the beach now and possibly see him again.

I raced home to grab Bree and my sister, who was just as keen as me and already waiting outside on the porch so it wasn't long before we were on our way. I had worn my swimsuit to work under a pale yellow sundress so I wouldn't have to waste time changing when I got back to the house.

Have you ever heard the urban legend about your stomach exploding if you drink coke while eating pop rocks? Well I felt like that kind of chemical reaction was building up inside me the whole ride to the beach. I kept gripping the wheel too tight or gradually speeding up on the way there. Beth kept up a constant stream of chatter, as usual, from the backseat and Bree indulged her because I was too preoccupied to form a coherent response or listen in the first place.

It was already crowded when we got there and I let Beth lead us to an empty spot while I searched for him. Several times I tripped, too busy craning my neck as far as I could in every direction trying to see over and around people to pay attention to where I was stepping. When we arrived at a spot very close to where we had been the day before, I still hadn't spotted him. I was certain I would have noticed him by now if he were here. He stands out too much not to.

Waves of disappointment washed over me and I tried to resign myself to the possibility of never seeing him again when I felt it. I have no idea how to describe what I felt, but as if a voice were telling me to, I looked towards the trees where I saw him disappear yesterday and there he was—staring directly at me.

He was even more striking than I remembered. His black air was tousled and wind-blown, his expression unreadable at this distance. He stood with his shoulders hunched down slightly like there was a great weight on them. He was barefoot and his shirt and shorts were both black; it made him seem illusive, like a phantom.

My heart speed up, faster than would be considered healthy, and I was frozen. I hadn't put any of my stuff down yet so I must look like an idiot standing there like that. The blood rushed to my head making me fell faint and my cheeks burn; I understood that it was because I had forgotten to keep breathing, but before I could try to do anything, he vanished. I gasped at the suddenness.

"Still think he wasn't interested?" Sabrina's amused voice asked from beside me.

"He left again didn't he? And what makes you think he was looking at me and not someone next to us?" I questioned back uncertainly as I chewed my lip in worry. I didn't turn away, in case he returned. It was just too unfathomable that he experienced the same reaction I did when our eyes locked.

"Really, Kris? Believe what you want, but we'll see," was all she said using her most skeptical voice, but it was enough to break my trance.

Accepting that he was not coming back, I turned away and avoided Bree's look as I got settled in for the day by laying out my towel and stripping down to my suit. I took a mental note that Beth had located her new friends from yesterday and was sitting near the water animatedly talking to them. I didn't fight myself over it this time; any attempt would be hollow considering I still had chills. Instead, I freely admitted that I was already wishing he would show up again, because that look hadn't lasted long enough.

~x~*~x~

22 June 2041

This last week or so had been one of the most exhilarating in my life. Everything had changed since I first saw Levi. Well ok, not everything, in fact one of the only things to really change was that the number of times I nearly fainted each day skyrocketed. Another thing was that I had never quite looked forward to visiting the beach as much as I did lately and it had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with seeing him.

I didn't know what to think or if I was reading too much into recent events that actually weren't even worth the disappointment I would feel after trying to figure things out.

Our eyes met four more times the Saturday before last at the beach and each time shocked my nerves into a frenzy and left them humming for a good while after. I measured time by how much past between looks, while the anticipation built until it was nearly unbearable. Then I would feel and easily find his gaze locked on me. I didn't get the chance to take in anything else about him, just his eyes.

It was odd, as out of control as my mind was when I left the beach that day, I slept just as well as I had the night before. Originally, I had not expected to get any sleep, but instead I was out cold the moment I laid down and can't remember ever waking up feeling that refreshed and revitalized before. In fact, I've managed a repeat performance every night since. The combination of extreme emotional spikes and all the extra sun must be wearing me out, no other plausible explanation occurred to me.

Everyday after that was the same too. Get up, work, pick up Sabrina and Beth then drive to the beach where my day really began. Nothing before I saw him for the first time each day registered. I went through the motions because it was necessary, but I came to life when I saw him. And like any good drug, once I got my fix, the high lasted for hours. It was enough to get me through the evening like a semi-sane person.

I went over those thoughts as I pulled into the parking lot at the beach and I was just climbing out of my car when I felt a tingling dance along my spine; my eyes sought him out immediately. He was already staring at me with a look so intense I felt sure he could see inside my mind and knew exactly how many times and what I had thought in regards to him during our time apart. And just like every time before, I was frozen in place with his eyes paralyzing me and then he was gone.

He didn't run anymore, just fluidly melted into the people zipping around. As if he had never been there in the first place. And like everyday, it happened several more times as the afternoon wore on and the sun traveled across the sky. Today it happened six more times, but he never stayed for longer than a minute once our eyes met.

I felt the irritating sensation of being stared at more often than not, but now I spent an enormous portion of my concentration determined to not search for the source. I know it's him, but he always disappears again moments after I discover him and I like it better when I know he is watching so I avoid looking as long as possible. The first couple of days I looked for him the second I felt it every time, but now my only slip-up is when I first get to the beach because I can't help needing to see him right away.

He never makes an effort to come closer than how far apart we were the first day, keeping the distance separating us at about ten meters. This confuses me more than anything else. I wanted him to make the first move more than anything, but I was reluctantly grateful he didn't because I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it if he did. I would, sort of already am, as Bree constantly predicts, 'wimp out.'

I probably should have been a little freaked out or thought he was being creepy. Instead, I found it stimulating and him endearing. He made me feel strangely safe and protected as opposed to hunted and trapped, the way I'm positive any other guy doing this would make me feel.

At night, once I came down and the buzz wore off, the need to understand what was happening kicked in again. It hadn't eased up, just grew more instead and I was no closer to unearthing any miraculous revelations that would answer my questions than I had been at the beginning of all this. I was obsessing and my brain was working overtime. Half of me, the rational realistic half, listed and painstakingly explained all possible reasons he could have for staring at me. The other half, the childish girly half, created elaborate tales of romance, intrigue, and fate spun from my deepest most private desires. These whimsical thoughts had us destined to become lovers, sure he was sent to sweep me off my feet and take me away to embark on wild adventures the likes of which were only found in fantasies.

I didn't dare let myself believe or even wish that this would somehow end with me getting the prince and riding off into the sunset. That just didn't happen in real life and guys like him ended up with supermodels, like the women he gravitated towards during the rare times I stared at him when he wasn't already looking at me. They were phenomenal, so what chance did I have?

Sabrina was the only thing stopping me from going to see a doctor, confident that the entire episode was no more than an elaborate hallucination. She was so attuned to my moods, that she was able to catch a good portion of our intense confrontations. If she hadn't seen them happening as well, then I would have been sure he couldn't possibly be real, at least not with me involved, but she did.

Bree was blown away by what was transpiring. We spent hours each night analyzing and breaking down everything that happened in a vain attempt to understand what Levi's motivations were; she swore I was being stubborn when I wouldn't believe her ideas. It was the most frivolous and girly endeavor we had ever partaken of. It was even sort of fun when I pushed my own involvement aside and looked at things from an outsiders perspective.

We left the beach early today. It was only about three in the afternoon, but Beth wanted plenty of time to get ready. She was attending a party back here tonight starting just after sunset. One of her new friends had invited her and she was thrilled about going. Beth, her two new friends, and another couple girls that they were already friends with had quickly become attached at the hip. From what she'd mentioned during dinner the other night, they were two sets of sisters that lived here on the La Push reservation, and today was one of their birthdays.

The birthday girl's name was Chloe. She was young, but already growing into her exotic beauty that Beth said she inherited from her mother who, as she put it 'was some crazy ethnic combination that resulted in the kind of glamorous looks people paid fortunes trying to imitate.' She was really sweet the one time I talked to her, when she begged me to let Beth come to her party since our parents had said she could only go if I drove her and picked her back up after.

I truly had no problem taking Beth. There was nothing else I had to do tonight and Beth had been great lately, not arguing with me at the beach when I told her it was time to go, making lunch for me when I worked late last Wednesday, and for the first time ever since her feet became the same size as mine, remembered to ask before borrowing my shoes. Taking her also created the enticing possibility that Levi would be there and I would have an opportunity to see him again.

We weren't even home yet and I was anticipating seeing him again. It was insane how much I craved him and how addicting the very sight of him was.

~*~ ∞ ~*~