Chapter 21: Kim Validates

"Paul, if you go through my underwear I'm going to cut your fucking fingers off," Kim threatened only half-heartedly.

"I've seen you in your underwear way too many times to count, those memories keep me going, Kim," Paul said patting her back.

"What are you talking about?" Kim shouted, but Paul didn't have time to explain as Jeremy reentered the room.

I had never thought about mentioning the shared mind concept, but now that Paul brought it up I started to fear Kim's reaction. I don't think there was a girl in the world who would be happy about her naked images being shared among her boyfriend's friends.

"Yea, it's pretty nice if I remember correctly," Jeremy whispered, winking at Kim who glowered.

The three of us were unpacking her new apartment. I should say the four of us but Jeremy Sullan didn't really count as a person, he was more an annoying emo dick that was sent by the gods to test my patience. I had been trying to remain cool, but snide comments are sort of like diarrhea—you couldn't hold it in no matter how hard you try.

"With all the drugs you're on, I'm surprised you remember anything."

"Jared," Kim hissed, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from them.

Her new place was small, a garage apartment previously occupied by Jeremy's older brother before he went off to college. It was situated above the two car garage behind Jeremy's house, which is why I was being subjected to Jeremy's pompous presence.

Her new place was pretty much a loft, it was airy and the four walls had all been freshly painted four different shades of blue, Jeremy's idea—he was after all planning to move in once he finished school and became a DJ or something equally useless. It wasn't much, on the far right there was a mini-fridge microwave combo, with a small sink and a cabinet. There was a very small bathroom that was literally the size of my closet, it contained a toilet and a shower stall I was sure I wouldn't fit in, and the rest of it was open.

She had a painted room divider that shielded her bed from the rest of the room, which held the leftover black leather sofa, and the most hideous coffee table known to man, which Kim rolled her eyes at every time she entered the room.

It was round and short, the top was glass and the base, was deer antlers. Yes, deer antler furniture was apparently all the rage in the south, and the Sullan's didn't seem to have gotten the memo about Washington state being in the North west. Along the far wall there was an oversized entertainment center which held a tiny TV that looked lost in the wooden monstrosity.

Most of this was left over from the days when it was a bachelor pad for Jeremy's equally useless older brother Lewis, but my mom and Kim had had some success at garage sales, Walmart and the Salvation Army in Forks. They got a set of mattresses that didn't require a pump, a Japanese room divider at a garage sale in Hoquiam from an elderly couple who were hell to bargain with, and a large dresser for her clothes because there was no closet.

"Be nice Jare-bear," Kim kissed me extremely passionately, an unwise move because I was more than ready to mark my territory in front of both Paul and Jeremy.

I lifted her off the floor, fondling her butt roughly which I knew she liked. Zhe purred but pushed me away, passing me a small cardboard box and a tool box.

"Not now, Romeo. Here— find a place for these pictures." The pictures were all framed, a collage of colors and shapes; a handful of the newer ones containing me and one even had my mom.

"Where'd you get this one?" I asked examining a picture of me and her, it wasn't like most couples pictures, we weren't looking at the camera posing in a cheesy embrace.

She sat next to me on my parents sofa, my arm around her shoulder whispering in her ear; she was grinning her sexy 'let's do it' smirk. I remembered that moment, just before exchanging presents at my house on Christmas, whispering about how we had reached a record of more than twelve hours of celibacy. We didn't make it thirteen. We discovered the magic of quickies in my mother's butlers pantry.

"Your mom gave it to me yesterday, she said it reminded her of your father. Apparently he likes to whisper naughty things to her. Which… is sorta weird cuz they're old, but also a little hot," she said from the floor. She was unpacking plates and silverware they had bought at a different garage sale. I didn't miss the irony of buying plates from one garage to move to another.

"Gross," Paul called from behind the folding wall. He volunteered to help her after he returned to La Push to find me spending every moment of my day with Kim.

In what Paul liked to call 'the dark days' I had spent the majority of my free time with him and we had bonded far more thoroughly then like brothers. So now that Kim was in my life again the two of them had to deal with each other, like a package deal.

They, especially Kim, were handling it pretty well. In the last two days they had, watched a movie together, played guitar hero together, eaten at a restaurant together, and now the ultimate test, they were now in a small enclosed space together, and still no blow ups.

"I think it's cute! You know your parents are still getting it on right?" Kim smiled wickedly.

"Oh come on stop torturing the poor guy!" Paul theatrically gagged, coming into the room followed by Jeremy.

I tossed Paul the small pink tool box my mom ordered off of the home-shopping network and continued rifling through the box of framed photos. There were eleven all together, and none of them seemed to be the same size, so I had no idea exactly how she wanted me to put them up.

"What's up with the pink set Pansy?" Paul said wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

"It's my mom's, Fairy!" I said pushing his arm off of me. He lunged at me trying to put me in a headlock; I twisted away from him giving him a quick kidney jab.

"What's up will all this unnecessary homophobia. Love is love, man," Jeremy said lighting a joint from the floor.

"This place stinks, that might actually improve the smell," Kim said grumbled, opening the window behind Jeremy with a groan.

She dragged a box to her side and carefully unwrapped each dish. I watched as Jeremy place his hand on the small of Kim's back holding the joint to her mouth.

She didn't flinched, she didn't even move, she just continued to unwrap the newspapers around the dishes and take a deep drag of the devil's weed.

My hands started shaking before I even realized I was angry, the boiling heat rolling through my stomach. Paul stopped in the middle of hammering and gave me a warning glance, grabbing my arms and gluing me in place.

"Chill bro," Paul attempted to calm me. I had stopped shaking but my nails were still digging deep into my palms.

"Jeremy, do you mind going to the car and getting the lamp for me?" She said in her sweetest Kim voice.

"Sure," he said streaking out the door.

"Can you help him get the rest of the stuff?" Kim turned to Paul and he scoffed.

She cocked her head and smirked.

"Paul, I want to talk to my boyfriend about my period and emotions, so if you don't—" he was out the door before she could finish.

"Jared, my place is way too small for you to go furry on me."

I grunted, turning away from her.

"What's your problem?"

"Jeremy."

"Jeremy, what?"

"He touched you!" I didn't mean to scream it, but it came out louder and angrier than I liked to talk to her.

"Yeah, his hands have been pretty much all over me. You're gunna have to get over that," she said dryly.

"No, right now! He touched your back, like inches from your ass and you didn't even move away."

"I don't like the way you're talking to me, Jared. He's my friend, friends touch sometimes!" She huffed standing to face me.

"Exes aren't friends, you're so naive sometimes Kim!"

"Jared, you're being a huge douche right now! You're the only guy for me, remember? You're mine. My werewolf soulmate slash sperm donor." Of course I remembered, but it was going on a week now and this was the first time she had brought it up.

I realized that's what was putting me on edge—after our initial conversation she had all but pretended that night didn't happen.

"Yeah. I remember," I whispered, I could hear him coming back up the stairs.

"Well then don't forget it," she said finishing with the dishes. I watched her all mopey.

"Jeremy says he has some beats to mix," Paul said making quotation marks with his fingers and rolling his eyes.

We put the last touches on her place in silence. I just finished building her bookshelf when I smelled it, a vamp.

Paul who was straightening out the photos he just finished hanging in a haphazard but cool looking cluster, turned his head to the door sniffing loudly. Paul's sense of smell was lacking, so the fact that he could smell it too meant the cretin was close.

"Vamp," I said, pulling off my shirt. Kim ran forward.

"What?"

"There's a vampire. Close by. Stay here, do not move okay Kim!" And for once, she nodded listening without argument. Paul was already down to his boxers before she said anything.

"Jared, be careful okay? Please?"

All tension between us had disappeared, it didn't matter right now, there was a vampire was near Kim. The knowledge that something so disgusting could be close pissed me off to no end.

"I'll be fine, so don't move!" I called following Paul out onto her porch and down the stairs.

Her new place wasn't close to any of the bordering forest so I phased in the open running towards the scent. It was just me and Paul and I led the way. It was raining, the drops penetrating my thick caramel brown coat and tingling against my skin. The scent led me east and as I was faster than Paul I was into the forest and tracking it at least fifty feet ahead of him.

Dude. Is it alone? Paul asked as Embry's mind joined us, making a trio. Embry's mind was on his mother who had forbidden him from leaving the house because of a bad grade in Geometry.

It's alone. Embry answered. I doubled my speed and the smell became overwhelming. It was very close.

Wait for us man, I didn't listen. I felt reckless and I wanted it dead now.

I saw her before anyone else, she was a tall, stick thin vampire, shimmering slightly with the help of the last rays from the setting sun, too low in the sky to be covered by the huge heavy rain clouds above. She turned to me, her wide smirk faltering when she saw my size.

That's right, be afraid bitch. Be very afraid.

Jare-bear, don't go solo. Paul warned and if he hadn't emasculated me for the 10th time today I might not have done it.

I lunged at her, Embry's mind shrieking as I sunk my teeth into her arm, ripping it off with my all force. I landed behind her and she let out a high pitched roar. I dodged just in time to avoid her teeth as she lunged at me.

Paul's thoughts were focused on getting to us as fast as possible. I curled and rolled away from her, staying low to the ground and she made a swipe at me. I quickly made my way behind her, using my back legs to kick hers from under her. She made another snap at my front leg and I clenched down on her neck, ripping the majority of her throat away in one swipe, but not before she took my front paw in her hand and crushed it with one quick squeeze. It felt as if the bones turned to dust under her fingers.

It happened so fast that I didn't have time to shift my weight to one side and when she let go the pain was so intense my eyes watered. I crouched as she flung herself back in standing position, a mixture watered down blood spewed out of the open gash on her neck.

The blood wasn't hers, vamps didn't have blood, it had to have come from a very recent kill. The blood was mixed heavily with her venom and when it splattered on my paw it burned, sizzling the skin under the fur.

I stood on my hind legs an extremely uncomfortable maneuver with a wolf this size and threw my body on hers; it dazed her. She lie squirming for a second on the forest ground before I reached for her legs, digging my teeth in and tearing the stone hard flesh.

She pulled at the fur on my head ripping on at chunk that made a sickening sound at it went. The warm blood coated the fur around my eyes, but I didn't stop. I ripped a huge gash in her stomach as she went for my ear. I kicked at her but she fought my back leg and hurled me off.

A trickle of blood travelled into my eye and I tried to blink it out while keeping my gaze on her. She was all but immobile now, but she used her remaining arm to sit herself up.

The chunk I had taken out of her neck left her head supported by her spine, windpipe and a few inches of muscle. With one last desperate effort I launched myself on her, snapping the last bit of neck off with my front teeth. My wrist had snapped further with the effort but it was worth it. With the pain doubling I phased back involuntarily, appraising my injuries.

"WHAT THE FUCK MAN, I THOUGHT SHE BIT YOU AND YOU WERE A GONER!" Paul screamed pushing me painfully into a tree when he arrived.

"Shit man. I'm fine," I whined rubbing my head with my good hand and wincing. The chunk of missing scalp was already halfway healed, but my wrist and ankle stung like a bitch.

"You okay man," Embry said softly, coming to my side naked and examining my head. "You got a little bald spot now," he said chuckling.

"Sweet," I said sarcastically. "Anyone got a match?" I asked and Embry rolled his eyes. He ran off and he came back dressed and holding a lighter. They piled the pieces like a creepy vampire jigsaw puzzle and set her ablaze.

I had thrown my shorts about half a mile back and I traced them, pulling them on gingerly, trying not to put too much pressure on my burning wrist. Once I was dressed, I was up her stairs and in Kim house, relieved to see she had listened to me and sat perfectly still on the couch.

"Oh shit. Jared, are you okay?" Something about the way she said it as she softly examined my face made me angry.

"I'm fine," I said pushing my way into her bathroom examining the damage.

I had blood all over my face and down my chest, and just like Embry said I now had a small but noticeable bald spot near my right temple. There were no towels in her bathroom so I came back out, ready to head home, but she already had a small first aid kit and a bowl of water set up. With a sad face she motioned to the couch and I did what she requested.

She used a small pink towel, dipping it into the hot water and very softly removing the dried dirt and blood from my face and head. When she got to the bald spot she gasped lightly, taking extra care to clean around it. Her free hand was rested lightly on my cheek and I leaned into it, her touch making me forget about my throbbing wrist.

"Is it dead," she whispered, removing her hand so she could rinse off the access blood on her rag. She continued down, wiping behind my ear and down my neck, examining every inch for injury and occasionally leaving fiery kisses. I sighed, my pulse and heart rate finally slowing to a normal pace.

For a few seconds I had thought I was going to die, it took a while to wind down from that, but Kim somehow made it better.

"Yeah. She's gone," I said as her hands trailed down my chest, still gently removing the blood, some of it mine and some of it the vamp's dinner. Her hands always elicited the most calming but exciting reactions from me.

"And you're okay?" She said throwing the rag in the bowl and straddling me, grabbing my face so I was looking in her eyes. Her long fringed eyelashes batted as she watched me, kissing the peak of her cheeks, waiting for me to speak.

"Yeah, more or less," I didn't want to commit to anything, my wrist was still hurting and as long as I had been a wolf nothing seemed to hurt this bad for this long.

"How much less," she asked kissing me softly.

"I'm fine," I spoke into her lips, kissing her again. She sucked softly on my bottom lip, her hands trailing down my chest, when the door burst open again; Paul and Embry coming inside without bothering to knock.

"That is sooo not going to become a habit," Kim said climbing off of me and rolling her eyes at the guys as they barged in.

"How are you?" Paul asked squishing Kim between the two of us.

"What's wrong?" She asked craning her neck to look at me.

"It's nothing. I'm fine," I sighed. I was getting tired of saying 'fine'. "Hungry though," I called walking through to the kitchen finding an empty refrigerator, just as I expected.

"Emily called before the leech thing. She wants everyone over tonight because she's spending New Years Eve tomorrow with her nieces on the Makah rez," Embry said.

"Great, she'll have food!" I cheered, pulling Kim out the door with my good hand.

Emily's house was hopping already with two tiny girls running back and forth as their mother ran pointlessly after them.

"Claire you cannot and I mean cannot eat another cookie," Emily's mother screamed as the girl stuffed two more cookies in her mouth with a devilish cackle.

"We have to get out of here, I'll see you tomorrow night," she said kissing Emily's scarred cheek and lifting her sugar infused toddler. The older girl followed behind twirling her hair and humming loudly.

"Your nieces are adorable," Kim said looking after them. I smiled. So much for not liking children, the first kid she sees she's all mushy.

"Oh thank you Kim. It's nice to see you again," she said timidly, taking a seat on the couch and motioning for Kim to follow. She did and we all filed in the living room.

"What's for dinner?" I asked, genuinely curious until Paul spoke and I lost my appetite.

"Jared took out a vamp all on his own today," he said looking to Sam. Kim gasped, turning in her seat to gawk at me.

"You what?" Sam and Kim harmonized.

"It wasn't a big deal," I said sitting on the loveseat and pulling her on my lap, I hissed when my wrist made a crinkling sound.

"Your wrist is broken," she said grabbing it firmly but carefully. She pressed on it and even though it hurt I didn't flinch, she felt around the bone with a look that went from serious to disgusted to mortified.

"Babe you need to get that checked out," she said releasing. I felt it myself. I wasn't a medical expert but even I could tell it wasn't right. It's hard to describe the exact problem, but it definitely wasn't healing properly.

"It'll heal, super healing powers. Seriously, I'm fine."

"Why would you go after a leech alone?" Sam asked looking at me with his arms crossed.

"Cuz he wanted to prove he's a man," Paul said cocking his eyebrow as if challenging me to a debate, I didn't bother.

"What?" Sam and Emily were now singing the duet.

"Kim and his mom have been emasculating him and he took it out on the first woman he could kill," Paul continued. I really wanted to hurt him right now.

Kim lowered her head, looking down at her lap as if something very important was written there. Sam reamed me for being stupid, which I deserved, and I ate in silence with an equally and uncommonly quiet Kim.

Kim's new place was one two blocks from Emily's but on the way back to her place the rage in Kim built up. She stopped, turned to me as if she was going to launch into a stream of attacks, stomped her foot and started to cry, which was much worse.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, lifting her face to see my eyes.

"Jared, you can't—please don't— god, I suck at this! I knew something like this was going to happen. I'm not supposed to be in a relationship," she sighed, wiping her tear, tiny drops clung to her long lashes and I kissed them away, kissing her lids for good measure.

"It wasn't like that, not really," I couldn't lie to her, it was an imprint thing.

"Jared if I have ever made you feel less than—I don't know. Less than the most amazing, smart, loveable, sexy, strong, amazing—did I say great? Guy in the whole world, I'm sorry!" This was the most heartfelt of Kim speeches I had ever encountered so I wasn't quite sure how to respond, she continued. "But it's not an excuse to go out there and be some caveman wolf guy. You're smarter than that."

"I handled it," I defended my manhood. I did handle it, I would be fine by morning and the world was free of one more sparkling abomination.

"I know you did, and I know you can. I know Jared. I have seen you lift a refrigerator over your head. I know you are strong. That stuff doesn't matter to me, I wouldn't care if you couldn't lift the fucking refrigerator box, Jared you are so much more than that."

She was doing it again; being this loving was so out of character it threw me for a loop.

"What am I?" I wasn't fishing for more compliments, I honestly needed to know what I amounted to in her eyes.

"Are you seriously asking me that? Jared you—ugh! I'm not the person to be giving you words of encouragement; I'm so shitty at this kind of stuff. Jared, do you know when I knew I was in love with you?" She didn't wait for me answer, she plowed on. "I knew I was in love with you, really in love with you the night I told you about sending Matty away. The way you held me, the way you looked at me, whispered to me, it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me and you did it more than once."

"I won't do it again, promise," I said crossing my heart, she smiled but tears continued to fall.

"I love you," she whispered, sniffling.

"I love you too," I don't think I'd ever get tired of hearing her say it. She grabbed my good my hand and led me to her house.

"You know I'm going to miss staying with you," she said as we reached her door.

"Really? Even if my dad's an ass," I said kissing her cheek.

"Yup. I got used to sleeping with you every night," she giggled fishing out her key and opening the door. "You know I like that you're a momma's boy right?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, you're a really good cook," she said kissing my wrist gingerly.

"Thanks. And you know I'm not going to leave your bed unless you tell me to right?" I asked closing the door behind me.

"I was hoping our bond worked like that," she said smirking. "I feel it too you know?" She said pulling off her jacket and her soft blue sweater, distracting me fully.

"Feel what?" I asked dumbly, tracing my fingers up her ribcage, which after a good week of stuffing her with cookies and sweets was back to its normal healthy meat covered way.

"The imprint. I feel it. When you're near me, I can feel you, like a tug. And when you're gone I'm craving you," she said as I fiddled with the hook of her bra.

"Yeah?" I breathed, my lips brushing against her neck.

"Um-hmm," she nodded, her heart beat speeding wildly as I slid my pointer to the middle of her breast and pulled the bra down and off of her.

"Then we'll just try not to be apart too long," I said, cupping her bare breast in my hand, running my thumb along the center, feeling her nipple harden under my touch.

"It's a plan," she gasped, walking backwards towards her bedroom.