Sorry about the lack of updating...my work schedule has been insane. But here you go...this chapter is pretty long but it's all in Jared's POV. I thought that that would be fun since I almost always write in the female's POV. But yeah. Anyways. Enjoy and review please. :)

From the moment that I first phased into a wolf, I knew that my life had changed. I wasn't the Jared that I used to be; I wasn't the same person anymore. But the question was…who was I?

Before I met Kimberley Connweller, I had been able to phase into a wolf for about one year. I didn't have some sad sob story like the other guys; I felt weird one day, and went for a walk in the woods. Luckily I was completely isolated when I phased. Okay, so I sound super cool about it but really I was scared shitless. Sam was there almost immediately, trying to help me and calm me down. I immediately bonded with the other guys, which I was told was a given. In this world, we didn't have a lot of people to depend on or people to talk to. Our brothers were the only guys we could depend on. I had phased when I was in high school, but luckily it was towards the end of my senior year. I spent what time I had left with the guys, and not really paying attention to much else. I hadn't even been with any girl-in the sexual sense, anyways. I'd dated a few girls here and there, but nothing too serious. And then after phasing, there was no chance of dating again. What if I lost control? What if I imprinted? And that was another problem. After hearing Sam's story, I knew that I never wanted to do that to anyone; no girl deserved that. My family life wasn't bad; I grew up with both of my parents, and they had a happy marriage. They rarely fought, and they seemed to love each other 100% of the time. They were the reason why I have always respected women; why would you mistreat the person that brings you happiness? It just never made sense to me.

They day I met Kim started like any other. I had the morning patrol, and then decided to invite the guys over to my house that night for a party. I lived in an apartment complex on the edge of town, where the apartments were separated from each other. My neighbors never complained, since they knew all of us. We always kept the noise down, and made sure to be polite to the other neighbors. The last apartment had been empty for a while, but there were rumors floating around that one of the ladies in town had a niece moving in soon. I didn't think twice about it, but the idea of her being my imprint had never crossed my mind. I was in the house, getting food and stuff ready, when Paul ran in.

"Dude, Jared, I just met the girl next door!"

"What?" I asked, my mouth full of food. Okay, so I was eating the food, not getting it ready.

"Your new neighbor," Paul explained, "She just moved in today. Anyways, I invited her over."

"Paul, you can't just invite some random girl to my house!" I said, exasperated.

"Why not?" he asked confusedly, "I was being polite!"

"Dude, it's her first day in town. I doubt that she's going to go to some random guy's party," I explained.

"I don't know, man," Paul said, running his hand through his hair, "This one…is different." I shrugged it off, and continued stuffing my face until Paul pushed me away from the refrigerator. For some reason, I felt the need to go to the left side of my house. I walked to the end of my house, trying to figure out why I felt the need to go there. After a few minutes I gave up, trying to ignore the pull. A few minutes later the guys started arriving, and we got music playing and the video game systems set up. There were only about twelve guys there, and ten of them were from the pack. The pack now consisted of me, Paul, Embry, Quil, Brady, Seth, Leah, Collin, Sam, Jake, Cam, and Kyle. Sam and Leah weren't at the party, but the guys had brought a few girls over as well. An hour or so into the party, a heard a knock at the door. I opened it and saw the most beautiful girl in the world. I would later learn that her name was Kim, but right now I referred to her as "the most beautiful girl in the world". All I knew was that nothing mattered anymore. All that mattered was her…she was the only thing holding me to the earth now. I vaguely heard her introduce herself, and I was perfectly fine with simply staring at her. That is, until Paul came up, exclaiming that this was the girl that lived in the apartment next to me. A second later, he realized what had happened. He dragged me away from the door and into the back yard, leaving her at the door. I felt pain…I didn't like being far away from her. Away from my imprint. When we got into the backyard, Paul slapped me on the back, waking me from my trance.

"Dude, you just fuckin' imprinted!" he yelled, smiling.

"She…her…love…mine…" I muttered, not being able to make sense of my words. Paul just laughed.

"So what are you going to tell her?"

"Tell…her?" I asked uncertainly. Didn't she already know?

"Jared, dude, she doesn't know. She doesn't know about the imprinting, she doesn't know about you being a wolf. You're going to have to tell her."

"I can do that," I said, and turned around to go into the house and tell her. Paul stopped me immediately.

"Jared! Are you fuckin' psycho? You can't just go in there and say 'Hey Kim, I'm Jared. I'm a wolf and oh, guess what, you're my imprint which means we're going to be together forever. That cool?' She'll think you're a fuckin' lunatic." This made sense to me, I realized. I needed to start small. "Start with a date, man," Paul continued, "Make her like you. Then start to get her used to everything. Anyways, you stay out here. She knows me so let me go clear things up real quick." I nodded, watching him go inside. I stood out there for about ten minutes until Paul came back, looking defeated. "Damn, man. She knows something's up. She talked to me and then turned around and left." My shoulders slumped down. "Listen, go enjoy the party. We'll come up with a plan tomorrow." I agreed, and spent the night having fun with the guys, trying to ignore the pull I felt…the pull that I realized was coming from her house.

The next day, I had morning patrol again. All of the guys laughed when Paul replayed the events from the night before, but he stopped when I barked at him, reminding him what happened when he imprinted on Rachel. That, of course, irritated Jake, and his unhappiness effected all of us. So, to say the least, it wasn't a good morning. Paul left, then came back about thirty minutes later, exclaiming that Kim had gone to Rachel's to get vegetables, when he showed up. Rachel, who was aware of the new imprint, didn't realize that it was her until Paul said something. He said that they almost gave it away but then covered it up…a façade that Kim seemed to believe. I asked what she said she was going to be doing later in the day, and Paul said that she had said something about lunch with her aunt. After I phased back I went over to Emily and Sam's, deciding to grab some food before heading home.

"Hey, Em!" I yelled when I got into the house.

"Jared!" she squealed, running up and hugging me, "I heard about your imprint!" I smiled.

"Yeah, she's amazing," I murmured, blushing a little. Emily sighed happily.

"Aw, I'm so happy for you!" she said, hugging me again. She gave me some food and sent me on my way, telling me to "go get her". When I got home I saw her car in the driveway and knew she was home. I went to my house, put on some nice clothes, trying to make myself look presentable, and went over to Kim's. I knocked on her door, and relishing the look of surprise on her face when she saw me.

"Jared?" she asked, confused, "What are you doing here?"

"How are you doing today?" I asked her, thinking that she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

"I'm…good?" she replied, "Um, Jared? Why are you here?"

"Well, I realized how weird last night must have seemed to you," I said, looking at the ground, "And I really can't explain what happened. But I did want to apologize."

"Don't worry about it," she replied, "It's not that big of a deal."

"Cool," I said, smiling. "Anyways…I guess that this might seem weird, but I was wondering, would you maybe want to go catch a movie and go out to eat tonight?" Lord, this was nervewracking. What if she said no? Was she disgusted by me?

"I would love that, Jared," she said, smiling, "What time works for you?"

"Can I pick you up at 7?" I asked nervously.

"Of course," she replied, "I'll be ready at 7." I left her house and went back to mine, walking straight into my bedroom.

"Well, you look happy," Paul remarked.

"HOLY SHIT PAUL," I yelled, "DON'T FUCKING DO THAT!" He laughed, while I was certain that I was having a heart attack.

"Dude, you kill vampire for a living, and you get scared because I'm in your house?" He asked tauntingly.

"Yes, yes I did get scared by you," I replied, "But dude. I have a date with Kim."

"Way to go!" Paul said, clapping me on the back, "When?"

"Tonight at 7," I replied, smiling.

"Well, it's four," Paul said, "Whaddya want to do for the next two and a half hours?"

"Dude, I have to get ready!" I exclaimed.

"And do what? Change your shirt? Brush your hair? Jared, that'll take ten minutes. We can at least play some Call of Duty for the next two hours."

"Fine," I agreed; he was right, it wouldn't take me long to get ready at all. After we played Call of Duty for two hours (and I kicked his ass, I might add) Paul left, saying obnoxious shit like "use protection". The only thing worse than that was when I got a text from Emily saying "Don't be silly, wrap your willie!" I rolled my eyes and replied with, "very funny, Emily." I changed my shirt, ran a brush through my hair, and threw on some nice-ish sneakers. After spraying some cologne on, I headed over to her house.

We had a great date, and even fooled around a little bit when we got home. Of course, I wanted to go all of the way, but I knew that the timing wasn't right. I got her to talk about her past, which I knew was a painful subject for her. We fell asleep in each other's arms, and all I could think was how I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.

When I woke up the next morning, Kim wasn't in the bed next to me. At first, I was scared that she had left. Then I fully woke up and smelled bacon. Climbing out of bed, I saw her setting a table outside, on the porch. The fact that she actually made breakfast for me made me smile. She came inside and saw me standing in the doorway of the bedroom.

"Sleep well?" she asked, smiling. She had changed into a pair of shorts and a long sleeved shirt, but her hair was still disheveled—she looked adorable.

"Better than ever," I replied, walking up to her and hugging her. We had agreed to date-I knew that this whole imprint thing wasn't easy, so I wanted to take it slow.

"I made you breakfast," she said, smiling, "I don't know what you like but I made pancakes and eggs…that's mostly all I could find at the La Push General Store."

"Don't worry about it, sweetie," I told her, "Anything is fine. And I'm sure it'll be perfect." She blushed, grabbed my hand, and led me out onto the deck. She had everything set out for us: plates, silverware, food, the whole shebang. I sat down, and damn. The food was amazing. When I told her so, she denied it.

"Oh, I can't cook," she said, looking down at her lap. I grabbed her chin lightly and brought it up so that she was looking at me.

"Kimberley. This food was perfect. Thank you," I said firmly. She smiled, and I realized again how much I loved this girl.