Seth POV

I am out with both packs tonight and while I know that this club is probably the safest kind of fortress against a vampire attack, I can't help but feel the way I felt when the newborns had attacked. Jittery. Nervous. Like some sixth sense was telling me that I was missing something major. Something important. A huge piece of the puzzle in front of me that I hadn't seen before, but was nonetheless expecting. The feeling had crept up on me from the time we had pulled into the parking lot down the street. It had gotten worse when we got inside the club.

It was subconscious, but it made me so jumpy that I had snapped at Kim when she had put her arm around me to ask if I was ok. If it wasn't for the way I had immediately apologized or if Jared hadn't seen the look on my face when I realized it was Kim, then I might have been in realllly deep trouble with Sam's beta.

Kim had shaken off my strange behavior with a warning look at Jared, that had meant she could take care of herself. It didn't make me feel less guilty for snapping at her anyway.

"Seth, sweetie, there is something wrong and I just want you to know, that if you need to talk, well… I AM better at keeping a secret than most of the others around here," she grinned as she indicated the rest of the pack; who were all studiously ignoring us, but I knew their supernatural hearing had picked up every word of our talk, like we were standing right next to them.

"I know you have a big sister to talk to in case something is bugging you, and I know you can take your pick of older brother figures" she lowered her voice before continuing "but just in case you need someone with an objective opinion, you come get me ok? Anytime you need to"

"Thanks Kimmie" I mumbled, while she grinned at the nickname only I was allowed to call her. I hugged her to show that I really did appreciate her offer, and that I was truly sorry about snapping at her earlier. Jared raised his eyebrow at me, and I smirked at him before smiling and letting go of his imprint.

The evening seemed to flow around me, without me noticing anything in particular, except for this nagging urge in the back of my head that seemed to be pushing me towards the other side of the bar. I knew the dance floor extended to both ends of the bar, as it took up one entire side of the club. This meant that my brothers were probably heading to the floor as well. We had a couple of shots earlier, but I wasn't drinking anything after that, making sure I was stone cold sober when it came time to leave. Being designated driver was something we ALL took very seriously.

Jacob had lost his mother thanks to a drunk driver and we had all felt his pain whenever he thought of her and how she had been snatched away because someone was careless.

It was just then when I noticed Embry in some kind of altercation in the middle of the dance floor. I was already up, out of my seat and walking towards him, before I had even realized what I was doing. Jacob grabbed my arm and I noticed that Paul had joined Embry out there. I shook my head at how distracted I felt. Jake looked at me and was about to ask something when a flash of brown curls peeked at me from the other side of the floor. He saw the way my head snapped around and his face took on a thoughtful expression. I heard Embry laugh and he was joined by Paul when I heard this extra edge of music to their laughter. It made my insides twist to the point of discomfort.

I shook my arm out of Jake's slack grip and went back to my table, ignoring the stabbing in my gut that was telling me to walk the other way. I felt confused and disoriented and when I got to the table, it was all I could do not to just slump to the floor. Instead I rested my head on the table and the cold of the marble top seemed to help a little. But only for a few seconds. That was when the gut-wrenching returned full power.

I got up, and made my way towards the exit. I needed air. Just a breather. I couldn't think, or even make sense of the way my head seemed to feel tonight. I heard Embry ask something as I had left the table, but I had no clue what he said. The irony of having the best hearing in both the packs crashed over me, and then disappeared a second later, like every other thought I had had tonight. I couldn't understand feeling this way. As I walked to the door, I felt rather than saw people move out of my way. And even that was like it was happening a million miles away.

The only time I had felt this disconnected before in my entire life, was when the twins and I had stolen a bottle of vodka from their Dad's collection and we had drunk the entire thing. This was back when I was 14 and the twins were just 13, long before phasing had come into the picture. We had gotten so ill that we had sworn to never look at alcohol again.

But I knew this wasn't the same, because I had had 2 shots. And ONLY 2 shots. To someone whose body burned off the alcohol so fast, it was the same as a normal human being taking a sniff from an open bottle of vodka.
It had no effect whatsoever. So I knew I wasn't drunk.

Then why did everything feel so fuzzy and out of focus tonight? I got outside and took a deep breath. I felt Collin's presence behind me and I couldn't even summon up the energy to turn to him. I knew he was concerned, but the only thing I could concentrate on right at that moment was the way my stomach was twisting inside me. This was how I imagined red hot pokers would feel if they were bundled up in someone's insides.

"Dude, I have no idea what the hell is making me feel this way" I told him. "I mean, we run at a temperature that would mean death for a normal human being, so we don't even get sick, so why the hell does it feel like my gut stepped out for a walk and is currently running through broken glass." Collin winced and was about to say something when the door opened again and something happened.

I couldn't put my finger on it. But somehow I knew. This was it. This was the answer. It was staring me in the face, but I still couldn't clearly recognize it. It felt like looking at something through a slowly clearing fog. Or at a math problem I knew I could solve. The answer was in my brain, but I had to work it out first. I was relieved for about a nano-second when suddenly I caught the scent of something lemony, tangy almost. With an undertone of the way the cliffs smelt when we went diving the day after a storm. It was comforting, and yet there was something about it that made my brain seize up.

And then I heard it. It was music. It was so beautiful it made me want to sing, and cry, and laugh. All at the same time. It was a voice.

"Whew, good idea to party away your last night of freedom with a hyper best friend K… Sheesh, when are you ever going to learn girl?"

I saw Collin looking around and watched his face as he realized she was talking to herself. He looked like he was about to comment on it, when he saw me; his expression as he did a double take, made a corner of my mind note it down. I was going to ask him what he saw in my face right then, to make his eyes widen like that.

Right now my insides felt different. Not the nervous clamor of earlier in the evening, but like pins and needles. Like when your foot falls asleep and you have to shake it about a bit before it wakes up completely. Like that last foot of water as you surface after a dive. When you know a deep breath of salty air is just that close.

That scent hit me again, just as I heard the music of her voice.

"Oops, sorry guys, I didn't know anyone else was out here. I'm just hiding from my bestie, so if you see an energy ball with red hair, just say that you haven't seen me ok" she grinned. When she smiled I felt like I had never been sad before. All the bad stuff seemed to fade away. "Sure sure" I heard Collin reply. Before he could say anything else, the door opened again and the light fell across her face.

I felt my breath whoosh out of my lungs as I looked into eyes so green, they reminded me of a Jade pendant my Mum always wore. I could feel everything else fading away. Everything except her eyes. And her smile. I was amazed at how easy it was to forget. School. The essays I had due Monday. The fact that I had patrol tomorrow. Sam and Emily's engagement. Jake, my alpha. The pain at losing my Dad. The way I loved my Mum and Leah. The twins; my best friends now, even though we were a year apart. None of it mattered. Except…why was she frowning? What happened? The urge to tear apart her reason for being even mildly unhappy was overpowering. Unreasonably so, said the back of my mind, but the rest of me said 'Shut Up.'

Only then did I realize that Collin was shaking me, and I could dimly hear him ask if I was ok. OK? What a ridiculous thing to ask. Of course I was Ok. I was MORE than ok. I was great, in fact. I had found her, my imprint. I was complete. And then I saw something in her eyes that froze me to my core.

She was turning to leave.

The movement was microscopic. Barely visible. But I had seen the intent in her eyes. Collin was still worried; still asking if I was ok. But I couldn't concentrate on him anymore. I needed her to stay. She couldn't leave. Please, God, don't let her leave.

Then I blurted out the only thing that had registered in my panic stricken brain. 3 words I had never said to a girl before.

"Dance with me?"

A/N – Hi guys.

A big shout out to Michelle (animated gemini) for being the first to favorite my story. You totally made me "Squee" with excitement. Look out for your special mention soon girlie. All I need now is a review so that I have the name of my secondary character. If you don't want your full name up on a public review, you can always PM me.

Also, with this chapter, I just felt like I had to show what I thought Seth might have felt like when he imprinted. I know SM says that its like gravity moves, but I felt that when it actually happens, a guy might just not think in terms of Newton and his theories.