A/N: Please feel free to berate, ridicule, curse me and send me hate-mail. After such a long delay between updates, I have earned your ire.
All I can do is offer up this next chapter and beg for reviews.

"Oh Holy Hell…" she hissed. "Leah imprinted on him."

Michael stepped towards her, and then whispered, "Its you!"

The tension in the room was almost palpable. It finally broke at Seth's muttered comment, "It's like the freaking twilight zone around here."

For some reason the incredulity in his tone seemed to send every there into peals of laughter. Rachel was sure that there was a tinge of hysteria to it, but she welcomed any distraction from what she could see happening in front of her.
She was sure Leah had imprinted on Michael, and she was still reeling that it had happened right in front of her. But looking at the way Leah was gazing at him, she could recognize the expression in her eyes. Intense emotion, but it was tinged with something else. Something Rachel couldn't fully put her finger on at the moment. Realizing that everyone had seemed to settle back into wherever they were sitting, she sighed, knowing that no-one was going to be decamping to their own residences any time soon.
She stood to get some more coffee for the newcomers, when she was surprised by Leah getting up to join her. Once they were in the relative seclusion of the kitchen, Rachel turned to face her friend only to stop short at the desperation in her eyes. "Leah?" She started to ask what was wrong but she was interrupted again by an additional presence in the tiny kitchen.

"I need to talk to you… Now" was Michael's abrupt interruption.
That was when Rachel recognized the the other unidentified emotion in Leah's eyes.
Uncertainty.
It explained why it took so long for her to figure it out; Leah had never looked uncertain about anything in her life. "Umm… Ok?" Leah seemed to ask more than agree. "Maybe you guys could talk out back, coz if you go through the living room, you can bet most of them are going to follow you." Rachel offered. Nodding silently, Leah led Michael out the back door and a little away from the house, just far enough so that the other wolves wouldn't hear their conversation, but close enough to keep in sight of the house.
Leah knew her pack, they would go ballistic if she disappeared with someone they didn't know and hadn't vetted themselves.

But Leah was confused. She knew what imprinting felt like, having seen it so many times through the other's eyes. She started to wince at the thought of Sam and Emily and realized with a jolt of shock that it didn't hurt anymore. But she didn't feel that sappy overload of adoration either, even though she had assumed she would. She felt a strong… attachment was the only word for it.
Her world didn't revolve around this handsome stranger studying her face, but he was a major part of it. His presence didn't blind her to everything else, but it seemed instead, to put things in perspective.
Not so much the sun as the sky.

Shaking herself from the ramblings of her mind, she tried to pay more attention to owner of those intense blue eyes locked on hers. "Leah, right?" he inquired. She was puzzled. Who had mentioned her name? "Yeah… and you're Michael, aren't you? Rach's friend from college…" she asked in turn. He nodded stiffly and then opened his mouth to ask something, before closing it just as quickly. Sighing to herself, she closed her eyes and took the plunge. "Michael… How much do you know of our tribal history?"
"Umm... I nearly insulted Rachel pretty badly once, by accident… after that Jason made me go buy a book on your tribal customs and history and stuff… I remember reading quite a bit. Why?"

"There's quite a bit of stuff about us that you need to know first, but there are one or two things that I think I should explain…about us, as a people. And some of our legends are going to freak you out…" she mumbled the last part to herself.

Looking up, she was surprised she had to look up actually, after her wolf initiation, she found that there weren't too many men taller than her. His blue eyes seemed very confused and yet very determined as he finally asked the question she knew he had wanted to ask from the beginning. He was going to ask if she was mentally instable and needed help back to her asylum.

Her jaw dropped at his next words.

"Did you imprint on me?"

Back in the house, Rachel had expressly forbidden the others from following Leah and Michael and just said that they needed to talk. Luckily, she didn't need to fabricate an excuse for this strange behavior for Kaia; that problem had been solved when she had very conveniently passed out on Seth after Michael had followed Leah into the kitchen.
Knowing the girl was exhausted after the emotional day, Seth had laid her in bed, following what was fast becoming a pattern with her. He smiled to himself as he slipped her shoes off and covered her with a blanket. He loved that she was comfortable enough with him to fall asleep and trust him to take care of her. As cheesy as it sounded, Seth loved the feeling he got when he held her sleeping form in his arms, knowing he could protect her, knowing he would always protect her.

Rejoining the others in the living room, he took note of all the sulking faces and had to strain to keep himself from laughing. He knew his brothers didn't like the idea of Leah out there with someone they didn't know. And despite knowing she could personally rip apart anything as remotely dangerous as a vampire; it didn't stop their macho tendencies from surfacing.

A few minutes later, Leah walked back in the house, Michael following her, looking shell-shocked, with a distinct aura of confusion around him. The wolves in the living room looked at him with closed expressions on his face, none of them missing Leah's downcast eyes. "Leave him alone boys… he's had a lot to digest" she said in a low voice.
Embry's eyes narrowed and Seth's mouth became a grim line.
Jake simply nodded and spoke up, "Whatever you say Leah," reminding the others that this was her call. Standing, he gestured to the doorway, and looked at Michael questioningly. He still wasn't sure if the new arrival wanted to come with them or not, since he had no idea what Leah had told him.
Michael, for his part, nodded immediately and started to follow Jake out, when he suddenly remembered something and turned to Leah. "You're gonna be around tomorrow right? If I need to talk to you? I promised Kai an explanation, but could I see you afterwards?"

With a small smile, Leah nodded and said, "Sure… Give me a call when you're done talking with Kaia, although from what I know of her, that might take a while."

He grinned briefly, and then as if he had suddenly made up his mind, gave her a quick hug and then dashed out the door after Jake and Embry. Rachel just stared at her best friend and was left wanting more when she just shook her head and mouthed 'later.'
Knowing that the night was finally at an end, the others filed out, intending to go to their respective homes, or, in Seth's case, camping out below Rachel's window tonight.
Paul interrupted his departure however, by throwing a blanket at him and telling him to take the couch. If Kaia woke up in the night and needed comfort, Seth would be more use than anyone else could possibly hope to be. Rachel watched this proceeding and just nodded.
She and Emily had long since come to the conclusion that the wolves were not the only ones who felt the pull of the imprint. She knew that if Kaia couldn't sleep in the middle of the night, no one would make her feel better the way Seth could.

Satisfied that his Alpha's sister was ok with this arrangement, Seth settled in on the couch and dozed off not long after. In his opinion, Rachel was by far the scarier Black, and he had no shame in his fear for her. Hell, even Jake and Billy were wary around her when she decided something was not right. After being asleep for what felt like minutes, Seth was aware of a presence in the room.
Coming awake and alert immediately was something they had all gotten used to, and fast, during their preparations for the showdown with the Volturi that spring. His eyes, already adjusted to the darkness, spied a small figure standing in the doorway, the hall-light behind them silhouetting them clearly. He said nothing, just raised one side of the blanket in silent question.

Kaia slipped into the room and under the blanket, turning to him and burying her face in his chest. He felt her silent sobs and knew that there was nothing he could say to make her feel better. It had been an emotional roller-coaster for her the past few days. Learning of her brother's death, attending the funeral while they buried the last of her family, dealing with relatives that she obviously couldn't stand, the however short moment that she had thought her brother might have been alive, the reunion with someone else she had assumed lost forever. His mind staggered under the onslaught of everything she had been dealing with. Holding her to him, he wished there was some way for him to alleviate her pain. But he understood that she took comfort in his presence; he drew comfort from that.

But come morning, he knew things might change.
It was time she had an explanation.

Would she still let him hold her like this after she knew what he was?

Would she forgive him for not telling her earlier?

Sighing to himself, he hugged her dozing form tighter and begged whichever spirits were listening, to give him strength.
This was not going to be easy.

A/N: So Michael knows, but I didn't want to put his explanation and reception in here, it would get too tedious, so that will be going in my out-takes – Howling By Moonlight.

I just want to take this chance to apologize and tell you guys that I am so so sorry I took so long to update. I can blame nothing and no-one but myself. Work and other things got me so distracted that I just lost track… So so so sorry.

Hope you liked this chapter, I can see this story coming to an end shortly, but the next bit should be up and running soon enough. I havn't got enough of this universe yet.
So expect more of Kaia and co. I plan on doing a short segue with Ryan and Michelle next, but I'm taking requests for who you want to see immediately after that. Embry, Collin or Brady? Answer the poll on my home-page and check out the character pics that are up as well.

Loves as always.