I opened my eyes and saw nothing but darkness. I tried to move my head around, but I was so groggy that I couldn't even lift it up. "Uhhh…" I tried to call out to someone, but it didn't work out.

Then a light turned on. I saw that I was lying on a very comfortable queen-sized bed. It appeared that that was the only piece of furniture in the tiny room, besides a portable DVD player in the corner of the room, sitting on a stack of phonebooks.

"You awake now?" Derek asked. He was sitting on the end of the bed.

"Wha…?" I found it very hard to do anything but breathe.

"I'm sorry I had to do it this way," Derek said. "I got Jake to drug you with chloroform. It should wear off in a couple minutes."

I just continued to lay there. I mean, I wasn't able to do anything else.

"Listen," Derek said, laying down right next me, face to face. "I'm so sorry that I hurt you this morning. I promise you that I will never do anything to hurt you. I love you."

I couldn't help it, but I smiled. I wish that I wasn't so groggy, that way I could make up an excuse to cover up my happiness for receiving his apology.

Derek's apologetic face turned serious then. "Now about what you did," he said, "that wasn't a funny joke."

"Sorreh…eh…" I tried to say sorry.

Derek continued. "It's never a joke when our imprint gets hurt, so I'm going to only tell you this once: don't ever fake your death again."

I chuckled.

Derek smiled then. "You're so cute," he said, and kissed my nose.

I turned all red. Maybe it was because these covers and pillows on the bed were giving me a rash.

"So then," Derek said, "because you like to play those kinds of games, I have to punish you."

I raised my eyebrow.

Derek laughed. "No, not like that. I mean, like you're kind of grounded."

"What?" I shouted. Hm, I guess I just needed to feel motivated to move and speak.

Derek smiled. "Like, you're grounded."

"What does that mean?"

"Haven't you ever been grounded before?"

"Well, yea, but I don't get why you're grounding me. And I don't get how you can."

Derek sighed. "You know Myren, some people would've grasped this by now."

I groaned. I could tell that this was going to be boring.

Derek continued: "Since you lied and faked your death, I have to make sure that you never do that again. You see, we want our imprints to be as safe as possible. So, that being said, I've grounded you. That means that I will drive you to and from school and I will have to monitor you at all times."

"…what?"

"Like, you should ask me if it's alright when you want to go out, although I'll most likely say no."

I can't believe what this mutt is saying! I might as well just check myself into some prison! He should check into a mental institute. "Charlie doesn't like people over unannounced," I said.

Derek smiled. Why'd he just do that? I told him that Charlie basically wouldn't allow him to monitor me.

"Charlie's away on a thing for the rest of the week," Derek said. "You're staying here with me."

I scoffed. "Liar."

Derek scoffed back. "Nope. I'm being 100% sincere."

For some odd reason that I couldn't explain, I felt happy that I was getting to spend the rest of the week with Derek at his house. "Can you give me a tour?" I asked.

"Uh," Derek said. "This is it. I rent a room in Jacob's house."

"…oh." That sucks. I wonder why he doesn't have a house of his own, or at least an apartment. "Why is that?"

Derek sat upright. "Long story," he said.

"I've got nowhere to go, remember?" It was obvious that this story bothered him on some level. I figured that the sooner I found out what it was, then the sooner I could feel more comfortable around him. He tells me a secret, and I'll tell him one of mine.

Derek sighed and stood up. He rubbed his face in his hands. "You really want to know?" he asked me.

I nodded.

He sighed and sat against the door. He reached up and locked it. "Okay," he agreed. "I'll tell."

I straightened up and took the covers off me. It was starting to get a little warm. I was actually surprised to see all my clothes still on me.

Derek began. "It all started three years ago. I had just moved here from Chicago and was pretty pissed about it. That year kind of sucked. My parents had another baby, a girl, Katie was her name, and they worshipped her. I guess that I was too used to being the only child, so I began to hate Katie.

"Anyways, I started a new school, over at Forks High School. There I met this one guy that was so handsome. However, it turned out that he sort of loved someone else, a lot. It turned out that he was a werewolf who had imprinted on the girl.

"Well, I not knowing that at first, decided to get her out of the picture. I gave her a fake note and said that it was from the guy telling her that he no longer wished to be with her. Well, she cried and lashed out at the guy who was shocked because he had no idea what was happening. I have to admit, it was pretty entertaining, I mean, she threw her biology textbook at him! He didn't seem phased, physically I mean. But I was able to see the pain and hurt in his eyes.

"So in the end, she ran off and he followed, but she got in her car and drove away. He was left at the school, so I offered him a ride to his house. However, he gave me the directions to the girl's house; I think her name was Nikki? And the guy's was Steven. So anyway, Steven ran into her house and tried to apologize to her, but Nikki was so pissed. She began to scream for help so I ran into the house to see what was happening.

"It turned out that Nikki was upstairs in her room when Steven had come in to apologize. She tried to run out of her house. However, Steven tried to grab her, but had missed and accidentally pushed her. She fell down the stairs.

"You should've seen it. Steven, crying hysterically holding Nikki's dead body. It was horrible. Well, word got out that I had started the fight with my fake note, and Steven went psycho. I went home after school and saw my family dead. My mother, father, and Katie.

"Jacob's father took me in after that. I never heard from Steven again. I think Embry said that he had run off to New York to be with Nikki's sister. Not that it could ever be the same, maybe just friends with benefits."

"…that's intense," I said once Derek had finished.

Derek sighed. "Yeah." He then came and laid down next to me and wrapped me in his arms.

"It just goes to say, don't ever bother a werewolf's imprint," he said.

I nodded. I was suddenly beginning to feel more close to Derek. He felt… more real.