Book Two: Kim and the Wolf that Loved Her

Chapter 3: Jared's Promise

"I can't believe you got a doctor to see you on Thanksgiving," Rachel sighed looking around the small private practice. Claire sat on her lap with a naked Disney Barbie and a bored expression.

I was actually surprised she wasn't bouncing off the walls already, but her prolonged absence from Quil seemed to have subdued her. The feeling went across the board, my ache for Jared was unbelievable, it was as if we were just starting our relationship again and I didn't see him enough to satiate my craving.

The pit of my stomach constantly felt a pull to him, and I couldn't follow it. I rarely saw him anymore since Jake's imprint fiasco, and I yearned for him, everything was up in the air and I just wanted to be with him, he was my only sense of normalcy in complicated times.

I tried not to bitch and whine about it too much, but I was reaching my limit. Even with the addition of the new wolves, all of our boys were working nonstop with barely a few hours a day to rest. Jared came home well past midnight and was off working construction with Phil by morning.

He came home for dinner tired and ragged, then had to start with patrol all over again. The only times we had together were before the sun kissed the horizon, making my sleeping and loving schedule all out of whack. We never went more than three days without sex before, and if I didn't get some soon, I was going to explode.

"The doctor's a friend of Aunt Sue. Besides she's Indian, as in from India, so she doesn't care about Thanksgiving," Emily whispered as we sat in the ultrasound room waiting for the small woman to return.

"And neither should we," Rachel said with a huff. She wasn't pleased we were having a celebration for what she called "Native American Exploitation Day".

"It's just food, Rach. The boys are stressed and we're just going to eat as a family. No prayers, no pilgrims," Emily said rubbing her quickly growing belly with a smirk.

Her belly was growing fast, too fast, it freaked me out. I had heard the tales of Bella's demon baby and it seemed equally unnatural. I was young when my mom had Matty but I know at four months she had barely a bump; Emily had already broken out the stretchy pants.

"Where's Qwil and Mbee?" Claire asked tossing her Mulan doll across the room.

"They're with Sam and Jared, honey," Emily said rubbing her belly.

"Qwil said he was going to live with Unca Jay. Where is Unca Jay?" Claire asked looking up at Rachel.

"Uncle Jay is with the Cullens, sweetie," Rachel said with a plastered smile.

"What did Quil say, Claire-bear?" Emily asked looking over at me. We shared a nervous glance, and she looked at the door biting at her nails. If Quil and Embry left Sam's pack, our boys were screwed, and who knew how many more preteen werewolves would start phasing.

"Qwil said he was going away, but I miss him. Tell him to come back," Claire said with a pouty bottom lip.

"None of us have seen the boys recently, baby," Emily said smiling at her sweetly.

"Anyone know why? It doesn't take this long to train a newbie, and I heard Collin telling Brady something about the little psychic Cullen jumping ship," Rachel said covering Claire's little ears, Claire squealed swatting at her hands frantically.

"I don't know, but why would she leave unless something big is going down?" I said looking to Emily for answers, but the blank worried face told me she was equally in the dark. We all fell silent as the door creaked open, a small Indian woman in a pale blue tunic peeked into the room then with a giant smile and an ID card that read Dr. Sandeep.

"Hello, Miss Young, have you been taking the prenatal vitamins I gave you?" Dr. Sandeep asked in her heavily accented voice.

"Yes, Dr. Sandeep," Emily said politely, nodding her head.

"Call me Vinisha, honey," she said, motioning for Emily to lie back on the table. "Oh I think this time we might get a nice good view of the little one." Dr. Sandeep pulled up Emily's red and black flowing peasant top, rolling a clear gel on her swollen coppery belly.

The ultrasound process was very exciting to me, watching Dr. Sandeep press what looked like an electric shaver across Emily's belly. I'd never seen one in person, it was a lot more exciting than on ER.

"There we go," the tiny lady said pointing at the screen.

"It wooks wike a painting, Aunt Emy," Claire said, hopping off of Rachel's lap and toddling over to the side of the table, pointing at the ultrasound machine.

Since Claire entered daycare, her Qwil was indulging every one of her hobbies, which now included finger-painting and clay sculpting. He showered the toddler with posters and books of great artist and sculptors; she was turning into a regular baby Picasso.

"No, it's my baby, sweetheart, can you see the head?" Emily asked, pointing at the indiscriminate blob, then turning her head to the side in confusion. "Wait… is that the head?"

"Actually that's one of the four arms," Dr. Sandeep sighed using her pinky to outline the blob.

"Is that like a Hindu goddess joke?" Rachel asked chuckling.

"Miss Young, do you want to have this conversation in private or—"

"No, these are my sisters," Emily said sitting up. It was twins, I got that with the whole four arms comment and the two rapid beats heard through the ultrasound, but apparently Dr. Sandeep and I were the only ones who put two and two together.

"Babies have two arms, Aunt Emy you gunna have a puppy or two babies!" Claire said hopping around the foot of the bed.

"What?" Emily looked down at Claire and then back up at us.

"Can you hear the heartbeats?" The doctor asked, her head tilted towards the machine.

"Heartbeats," Emily gasped.

"Heartbeats," I said solemnly, standing and patting her hand.

"Heartbeats," Rachel sighed holding her heart and slinking back in her chair.

"HEARTBEATS!" Claire squealed, dancing around the small Indian doctor who smiled widely at her.

"Twins?" Emily cried, wiping the access goop on her stomach and pulling down her shirt. She hopped off the table and used me for support, turning paler by the second.

"Twins," Rachel and I confirmed.

"TWINS!" Claire screamed shaking her naked Mulan Barbie like a weapon. We drove her home in relative silence, Claire humming to herself a self made ditty that was just repeating the word heartbeats at different volumes.

Emily lost her holiday cheer and sat nearly catatonic as Rachel, Sue and I got everything ready for the night's festivities. Jared's mom Cindy came early as well and with her guidance the meal was done just before the boys returned en masse.

"Twins?" Sam breathed dropping down on a seat at the kitchen table. The entire kitchen was packed with people from Jared's parents to Quil Sr. and Charlie Swan, and Emily blurted it out as soon as he was in sight.

"I know," Emily whispered, she had not spoken above a whisper since we left the doctor's office.

"That's great!" Sam said grabbing and lifting her into a hug.

"That's expensive," Matty whispered from my left, he was down for the weekend again and I couldn't be happier.

As time went by it got harder and not easier to be away from him, even though I knew his life was shaping out nicely in Port Townsend. He came more often now that we had a room for him though, which I suspected had more to do with Jordan than me. Our weekends were great though and we were basically inseparable, unless Jordan was free.

True to form, Matty squeezed my hand, leaving my side when Jordan, Michael and Crystal arrived together. Crystal was in their kitchen when her brother Michael exploded into wolf form for the first time, so there was no need to keep secrets from her. It was amazing having my lifelong friend in the mix. I rushed to greet her and she eyed the crowd of guys around her with dramatized excitement. This was the first time she'd seen them all together, mine too since the addition of the last two wolves. After losing Jake, Seth and Leah the pack was now eleven strong.

"That Solace kid's hot," she nudged me, pointing towards Solace and his girlfriend Anna who stood meekly at his side.

"He's got a girlfriend," I giggled, sneaking a glance at Matty and Jordan who stood chatting in the living room. Jordan had always been older than Matty and therefore bigger, but now, as a wolf, he towered over him and their age difference was magnified.

"I'm prettier," Crystal cooed, toying with her collar as she eyed him.

"He's fifteen," I shot back, and she scoffed throwing her hands in the air.

"Fine, if you want to get all moral on me.," I put my arm around her shoulder laughing so hard my sides hurt. Jared finally emerged from the kitchen, rubbing his stomach as if he had eaten an entire turkey, which, considering there were ten, was a possibility.

The party was in full swing, but Quil and Embry were still missing from the festivities as the night got darker. It was the first sign that Claire's kiddie gossip about Qwil leaving the pack might be right.

If they left it meant I would be seeing Jared, the newly appointed Beta even less, so I clung to him the second he reached my side. I didn't blame Embry and Quil for wanting to leave. Jake had been their best friend for almost their entire life and it didn't help that Sam wasn't handling this situation well. He backed off of the Cullens when Jake imprinted but with news of more Vampires (the real human eating kind) heading to Forks he was not interested in playing nice.

Quil and Embry did show eventually, Claire screaming so loudly she served as a trumpeter announcing Quil's entrance. Claire's dad shot nasty glares at him with every turn.

Her father was furious about the imprint once it was badly explained to him by Sam. Jared tried to smooth things out but he wasn't having it. Claire's mother could take her baby sister Emily's word on it, but her husband wouldn't, and with two children, their future as a couple became more complicated. He was already talking about uprooting the family and moving to California, and the very mention of it made Quil turn green.

"Do you wanna get out of here beautiful?" Jared whispered in my ear, he already had my coat in his hand.

"But Matty—"

"Is sleeping at Jordan's tonight," Jared said with a wink.

"What was that wink? Should I be worried about my gay pre-teen brother sleeping over at his crush's house?" I asked searching the room for Matty.

"No! That was a wink for us. I've been in Jordan's head, I don't think he's gay… at least he's never thought about it," Jared said, helping me with my coat.

"What's it like in there? In Jordan's mind," I asked, after hurriedly saying my goodbyes to the crowd. Of the wolf magic stuff I'd heard reading minds interested me most.

"Weird, it's super chaotic, and you need a thesaurus sometimes just to understand half of what he thinks. Like what does elucidate mean? Do you even know?" he asked, unlocking our car door.

"It means to clarify or explain," I said as he gently helped me into the passenger seat.

"You're so smart…and sexy," he moaned, leaning to whisper in my ear.

The three minute drive home was unbearable. The sexual tension and desire was like a back seat driver, barking at every turn. He practically ripped my seat belt off when he park and I hopped on him like a frog kissing every inch of his face. Jared fumbled with the keys and raced up the stairs taking two at a time.

I nibbled his ear lobe as he kneaded his fingers into my hips and used them to grind me into his erection; my skirt riding up higher. The soft cotton of my underwear rubbing against the rough texture of his jeans had me clawing at his back.

Inside he laid me flat on my back slowly undoing each big button down the front of my coat. One. Two, Three. Four, leaving small kisses on my neck as he went. His warm lemon scented breath came out in puffs against my exposed skin.

"I missed you," I whimpered, bowing into him as he climbed between my legs. He kissed me head on, running his scorching hot tongue along my lips and fluidly into my mouth.

"I missed you more," he whispered lifting me up and gently removing my shirt.

"What's going on Jared?" I asked, as he trailed down my body, pulling off my furry boots and kissing up my legs.

"Can we not talk business tonight, baby," he whispered lapping his tongue up the inside of my thigh, my toes curling in response.

"Uh-huh," I whimpered convulsing. He ripped off my skirt and underwear in one fast swoop and it made my stomach drop.

"Jared," I moaned. He was his tongue along the edge of my underwear, painfully teasing me, my entire body was pulsating.

"Yeah, baby," he whispered, dipping his tongue under my panties and to my core.

"I can't—can you not… can just fuck me already," I stammered tearing at the sheets.

He chuckled then pounced. He filled me, his lemon and grass scent enveloping me like a cocoon.

He read my urgency and with as much force as he allowed he pounded me into the bed, lifting my legs at the knee so that he fit to the hilt.

"God, I love you," he moaned after I came in a burst of uncontrollable curses.

Jared pulled back giving me a moment to catch my breath just as the front door slammed.

"Fuck!" I moaned and Jared dressed faster than I thought humanly possible closing the door behind him.

Legs still weak I wrapped myself in my robe, and followed him out of the room ready to attack anyone who barged in our house and interrupted the sex I so desperately needed, but only found Matty, curled in a sobbing ball in Jared's lap.

"What's wrong, baby?" His tears were huge, like dimes, dropping steadily down his face.

"Jor-Jordan doesn't want to… I can't talk about this with you," Matty said shooting a timid look in my direction.

"Matty. I know," I said kneeling at his feet.

"You don't know everything Kim," he shot back, his face turning red.

"Matty, I know you like him," I said, looking up at Jared who still held him gently.

"I-I love him," he sobbed, his whole body shaking violently.

"Sshhh," Jared hushed him, cooing in Matty's ear. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. I hated to see Matty in pain, of course, and love was the kind of pain nothing could really help, but seeing Jared with him, comforting him so lovingly, made my chest swell.

"What happened, Matty?" Jared asked tucking Matty's head under his chin.

"I-I told him," he cried, grabbing onto the front of Jared's shirt. Jared rocked him steadily, nodding in understanding.

"What did he say?" I asked, the curiosity killing me.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK HE SAID?" Matty screamed, balling his hand into a fist and pounding it against Jared's chest.

"Calm down, big boy," Jared said shooting me a disapproving glare. I backed off, curling into the recliner chair next to them.

"B-but he's my best friend and h-he was supposed to say it too."

"Sometimes, um, things don't work out the way we want them to. I know it hurts, but it will get better," Jared said, kissing Matty on his temple.

"How?"

"I don't know buddy, but I promise, Matty it does, and one day you're going to find someone who loves you back," Jared said wisely. Matty didn't respond, crying himself to sleep, before Jared laid him down to bed.

"I love you," I whispered as he came back into the living room smiling at me through tired eyes.

"I love you, too."

"You're going to be the best dad ever," I yawned as he pulled me to my feet.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, the best," I said kissing his nose when he lifted me into bed.

"Kim?"

"Um-hmm," I kept my mouth closed trying hard to stifle my yawn.

"At the risk of sounding lame, do you mind if we just cuddle? I think I'm about to collapse." I giggled softly examining the dark circles under his eyes and nodding.

"Are you ever going to tell me what's going on?"

"The very second Sam says I can and not a second later, I promise," he said seriously, lying next to me, his eyes already shut.

"Good night, Jared."

"Night, babe," he yawned one last time before his soft snores lulled me to sleep.