Two and a half weeks went by and it was almost as if nothing extraordinary had ever happened.

Almost.

Seth was careful to patrol alone when he could and, when he couldn't, he made a point to focus on cataloging every scent, sound, and sight he could to keep the others from knowing just how messed up he really was.

He had mostly only seen positive things about imprinting but the last few weeks had been a lesson in reality, and Seth suddenly understood why Jacob had to leave them behind.

To put it simply, this sucked.

His chest felt tight, like some invisible string was tugging at him. Go back, it demanded, Find her. Now. Go! But Embry's words were on repeat inside his mind.

When they'd phased back to return to their respective homes after cluing Sam's pack in to what had happened, Quil's confusion had reached a tipping point. What if they followed your scent?, he kept wondering, his imagination running over the worst possible outcomes on a loop, an image of Claire, broken and lifeless. If there were that many shifters on your trail, that means there could be more, Em. We have to do something!

Embry had snapped on him then. Man, calm down. If they'd followed us, we'd know. You can't mistake their scent. Besides, we got out just in time.

Seth hadn't missed the subtle accusation in the look Embry had given him and, despite his order to stay calm, both Seth and Quil could feel his apprehension.

We know Sam enough to know he'll double patrols around the area, so we'll extend our reach and do the same. Let's leave the rez to Sam's pack and cover an arc down to the Quinault reservation and back. Wouldn't hurt for us to cover as much of the park lands as we can. Hopefully, we never have to worry about this again.

Between the three of them, that had been a huge swath of land but their speed gave them an advantage. Embry had been right so far. In nearly three weeks, there hadn't been a single thing. Not even a rogue vampire.

As much as Seth wanted to head back north, his conscience couldn't leave that amount of territory to only Quil and Embry though, and there was no way Embry would call the three youngest—River, Levi, and Tyler—back from college for this. He'd been adamant about letting them live as normal a life as possible.

Hopefully, we never have to worry about this again.

But now though, the idea of not seeing his imprint again was wearing on him. Hard. They had the luxury of that option. Claire was within easy distance and Embry hadn't yet imprinted on anyone.

"I think you should find her," Leah said to him, bringing him back to the present. She came behind him and placed a fork, spoon, and knife down at each plate on the dinner the doorway to their parents' kitchen, she stepped lowered her voice. "I know you're hurting, Seth."

He frowned, turning his attention to the noise in the kitchen. His mother, Sue Clearwater, and step-father, the Forks Chief of Police Charlie Swan, were still hovering over the stove from the sounds of it.

"You don't think I want to? If I leave, it could make things worse. Pretty sure Embry blames me anyway."

"Don't be stupid," she bit back, "How could you know this was going to happen? You've been to Coquitlam how many times?"

Leah knew that answer already. While going that far north had been a relatively new thing, he'd been every month since Angela Weber ripped his heart out back in April and it was August now. But that was neither here nor there and, thankfully, that wound was suddenly a little less raw.

Desperate to change the subject, he said. "Besides, we're just getting things back to normal since someone decided to bail. Guess Sam doesn't think Embry's got the chops."

She grinned, taking the bait. "Well, that's a nice change of pace. Almost makes me wanna come back and show you boys how it's really done." She winked. "But not quite. Still, I think the pack'll forgive you and Sam can learn to mind his own damn business."

Seth snorted. "You get to say that. Some of us are stuck here."

While Leah might have gotten away with moving to Seattle, there was no way in hell Sue Clearwater was going to let both of her kids be that far away from her. But, he considered, Leah might be right about one thing: if he could somehow find his imprint and convince her to come back with him, no one would ever need to know.

Of course, there was the matter of her obviously inhuman scent. Seth might live just off the reservation—and out of the Uley territory—but it was close enough for the others to consider it a danger.

Throughout their usual, biweekly family dinner, he tried to focus on their conversation but his mind kept playing out the scenarios. He could go back to Coquitlam and then what? He thought he might track her pack down until he remembered the look of terror she'd had as they approached.

Maybe, if she wanted, they could wait for the perfect moment and smuggle her out. But what if he'd misread the situation? Her fear could've been for him. Why else would she have gone straight toward them?

Seth's head began to hurt with the web of possibilities playing out in his mind.

After dinner, he gave his goodbyes and headed back to his cozy, two-bedroom house. The quaint, brick abode he'd painted a pale sky blue was his pride and joy. Other than his truck, it had been one of the few things that truly belonged to him as opposed to something he had to share with two packs of wolf-shifters and a pushy sister.

He'd saved up for years, had been fixing it up with his own hands, and had hoped to start a life there with someone. He'd thought it would have been his ex but, clearly, fate had had other plans.

Like the house, he knew every inch of the heavily wooded, 2-acre property with his eyes closed. That was how, even with the windows rolled up and the stereo going, he knew something was wrong. As he pulled off the road and onto the long driveway, he cracked the window and let the outside air into the cab.

His heartbeat stammered before kicking into overdrive. It had been weeks since he'd smelled this scent but he knew that honeysuckle sweetness immediately.

It was her.

He breathed in deep, a wide grin pulling at his lips as it flooded into the cab of his truck. Something about it...He sniffed again, his foot coming off the gas and his hands punching the radio silent so he could focus. Something was definitely off.

The mix of earth and honeysuckle that had locked itself in his psyche had a metallic twang to it that hadn't been there before.

Seth's gut clenched. Blood.

He slammed down on the gas, the truck lurching forward before picking up speed and shooting up the drive. Seth hit the breaks, grinding the massive truck to a halt just in time to miss the front-right leg of his carport. Through all this, his ears were wide open, pushing beyond the hammering drum of his own pulse to survey his environment.

There was only one other heartbeat here besides his own unless you counted Bambi and friends, and the busted window on the side of his house told him where she was.

Seth entered his house through the front door. She truly was here. He followed the scent to where it was strongest: the bathroom. Cautiously, he gripped the handle of the door.

Inside, he heard the hushed grunt of pain and a bitter, "Goddammit."

He pushed the door open, his eyes snapping to the tub where his imprint lay slumped, bleeding through the bandages wrapped around her otherwise bare chest and torso. His legs buckled at the sight as he loped forward, bringing him to his knees by her side.

Her eyes fluttered open and her lips curved into a weak smile. "Hey, darlin'," she drawled. "Hope you don't mind the mess." She choked out a weak laugh and let her head drop back against the tile wall.

"What happened?" He demanded, suddenly pissed that he didn't have an immortal doctor on call anymore.

She waved her hand which, he noticed, was also bleeding. "Oh, this? Just a scratch." She attempted to sit up straighter, hissing with the effort before finally giving up. "You, uh, wouldn't happen to have any more medical supplies on hand, would you? I think these are run clean through."

Seth took stock of his bathroom. All the cabinets, drawers, and shelves had been emptied onto the floor, the discarded remnants of which sat alongside the frayed backpack tucked beside the sink. "Afraid not, beautiful," he answered. "I can go—"

"—No!" The word was full of terror, loud and immobilizing as it hit his ears. She cleared her throat. "I-I mean, I quite like the view."

She stared up at him as if she were seeing him for the first time. He realized then that she was; the only other time they'd seen each other, he'd been in wolf form.

"I'll be fine," she added after her breathing slowed. Her eyes pinched shut, a clear signal that she was not, in fact, fine.

Seth glared. "Like hell you will," he snapped, taking in her wounded body, bloodied shorts, and tangled hair. "Tell me what happened. I can help."

Cracking one eye open, she gave him a look that said she resented the order but, at least he thought, appreciated the concern. "Huge wolf. Dark, maybe silver. Probably why it's taking so long to heal. One of yours, I take it?"

Paul.

His expression darkened, "Not exactly," he muttered. "He attacked you?"

It was a small movement really but the slight nod set him off. One second, he was filled with worry and the next, rage. As the wave of fury crashed over him, the room seemed to shrink, the world shifting out of focus. He couldn't imagine why Paul would attack her...unless it'd been yet another one of his tantrums and she'd just gotten caught in the crossfire. Everything shook around him and he gritted his teeth, trying to reign in his anger.

Her slender hand curved around his, bringing him out of his head and back to the scene before him. He exhaled deliberately, focusing on the grout lines of the shower wall to take his mind off of beating Paul's ass.

"Sweetness," she whispered, swallowing audibly. Her voice was a balm, smoothing out his frustration. "I get the rage, trust me. He'll pay his due soon. But, at present…"

Right. Seth slid his cellphone from his pocket, quickly tapping his sister's name. As soon as he heard the click of her answer, he spoke. "Leah, listen. I need you to bring mom's travel kit, like, now...Yes, that one. Hurry. And don't get caught, please."

"Vodka'd be nice too," the bleeding woman in his tub mumbled, her eyes on the busted window on the wall above them.

"Got it. Be there in 10."

The line went dead.

Seth didn't know how Leah planned to get here that fast but, frankly, he didn't care. He had more important things to worry about.

He turned his attention back to his imprint, eyeing her injury. "Can you move?" he asked slowly. She stared up at him and wiggled her toes. Rolling his eyes at her misplaced humor, he added: "I meant to stand. I'll be right back."

Her eyes widened, her teeth gnawing nervously at her lip.

Seth sighed, leaning down to smooth her hair back from her face, his thumb rubbing a gentle path against her forehead. "I'll be quick, I swear. I'll be right in the other room." He paused. "Just listen for me. It'll help take your mind off things."

He often used his sense of hearing to ground himself when he got too heated or anxious. It didn't always work but the subtle creak of floorboards, the whistle of wind outside, the steady inhale and exhale of a person breathing—they all helped in some way.

In this case, it was her heartbeat. Like his, it was faster than a normal human's but it had evened out some as she started to relax.

Seth headed back into his kitchen where he surveyed the table. It was thick, heavy, and sturdy enough to hold his weight so she would be a piece of cake. Plus, it was easier to clean blood off this than his couch and more accessible than the tub.

He swiped all the work files onto the cabinet behind the table before running back to the bathroom. "This is probably going to hurt," he warned as he bent down to hook one arm under her legs and the other around her shoulders.

"I've had worse," she answered, gritting her teeth as he lifted her up into his arms. "Trust me."

On one hand, Seth felt a surge of warmth radiating through him everywhere her skin touched his, the tightness in his chest easing for the first time in weeks now that he knew she was safe. On the other, her proximity was the only thing keeping him from phasing and hunting Paul down like the animal he was. Like they both were.

Cradling her as gingerly as he could manage, he made his way back to the kitchen where he set her down atop the table. Though he could see just fine, Seth flipped the light on for comfort—being this close to her stirred a strange feeling inside him, a desire somehow sinfully primal and full of adoration at the same time. Even covered in dirt, leaves, and blood, she was still the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

From what he could see, the wound on the right side of her body was the perfect size for a wolf bite. How she'd sewn herself up through the pain, he had no clue. Truth be told, that wasn't the only thing he didn't understand.

Last he'd heard, Paul hadn't been set to patrol that night and, even if he had been tapped last minute, Sam usually left the area around Seth's house for him to handle.

On the off chance that she'd gotten the coat color wrong, that perhaps it had been Embry or Quil, both would have recognized her scent from Seth's memories and shouldn't have attacked.

The woman on his table leaned her head against him, the heat of her thighs on either side of his hips making his mouth dry. Get a grip, sicko, he chided himself. She's literally bleeding all over the table. Misplaced desire aside, that she trusted him enough to let him tend to her touched a different part of him that was starting to make him nervous.

Pulling his attention away, he clocked a strange sound in the woods a few moments before the front door flew open and Leah rushed toward them, leaves in her short black bob and a giant, black case in her hands. Seth hadn't heard a car which left only one option. Leah had phased.

She moved him out of the way, gloved up, and set to work unwrapping his imprint's bandages. His imprint cut her eyes to him and he turned around quickly to give them privacy, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks.

"You got a name?" Leah asked. To Seth, she barked out an order. "Grab me some warm water and a washcloth."

Seth pulled a clean bowl from the cabinet and headed back to the bathroom. As he filled the bowl up and grabbed a few clean wash clothes, he silently cursed himself. He'd been so busy trying to calm his nerves that he hadn't listened for the answer.

He came back, careful to keep his eyes on the ground as Leah traded the dirty bandages for the clean water. Leah made a noise of surprise. "Nice sutures. And you're healing pretty quick," she noted. "Faster than us, that's for sure."

"Us?" Seth questioned without thinking, tossing the dirty bandages in the trash and washing his hands, all while keeping his eyes down.

He still felt the scowl Leah sent his way. He heard her sniff. "Not a wolf though, so what are you?"

The woman eyed his sister, wary, her shoulders and back stiffening straight. "You ask an awful lot of questions," she pointed out, her eyes shifting between Leah and him.

Leah bristled, applying an unnecessary amount of pressure as she cleaned and re-dressed the wound. "Yeah, well, you broke into my brother's house and wrecked his shit. I think we're entitled to some answers."

"Leah—" Seth went to cut in, to warn his sister to cool it, but his imprint stopped him.

"Fair," she shot back. "If someone was hangin' around my little brother, I'd want answers too."

Seth waited to hear what she would say next, unnerved by the desperation he felt to look up, to return to her side and make sure she was actually okay. He wasn't used to this level of concern, though he'd seen enough of it secondhand from Quil and the other imprinted wolves over the years.

"You can turn around now," Leah called.

He was at the kitchen table in an instant. Both women looked up at him, Leah with a hard eye roll and his imprint with a smirk of amusement on her pink lips. Her skin didn't look quite as sallow as it had just minutes before, the warm undertones bringing life back to her cheeks.

Leah cleared her throat. "I told mom I was gonna go see Rachel and Emily as a cover, though I'm thinking maybe I really should. You know, give you two some, er, privacy."

"You don't have to do that," Seth pointed out. "It's a little small but there's an extra long twin bed in the spare room."

She blinked as if Seth was missing something obvious. Leah and his imprint avoided eye contact, the latter opting to watch his face for a signal he didn't understand.

Then it hit him. "Oh! I, uh, I meant—I can take the couch," he clarified. "And one of you can take the spare and the other can have my, uh, my bed. If you want, I mean."

Fuuuuccckkk, Seth was entirely certain his face was as red as those discarded bandages. He cleared his throat and bowed his head, setting about cleaning up the medical supplies Leah had lifted off of their mom. Sue had always kept an extra kit on hand with enough to do what she could when one of the wolves got injured. How Leah had carried it 20 miles was yet another mystery.

"You're welcome, by the way," Leah muttered as she discarded her gloves and washed up in the sink. "For patching up your little girlfriend."

"I'm right here, you know," the woman snapped.

Leah grinned. "Yeah, I see that." She turned her attention back to him. "You got some clothes I can borrow? I'm gonna go hose off outside before I go see Rachel and Emily, and, well, her scent is all over me."

His imprint made a noise of disgust. "Yeah, well, you wouldn't smell too hot either if you'd spent the last week as an animal and got attacked by a rabid shapeshifter, now would you?"

Seth tried to fight off his laughter at Leah's shock and his imprint's indignation. "She meant because we aren't sure if the others should know you're here yet or not."

Her mouth fell into a small 'o' and she grimaced. "My bad. In that case, thanks, doc."

Shaking her head, Leah left them in search of shampoo and fresh clothes, leaving him alone with his imprint who watched him with a look he didn't quite understand.

Seth noticed that was a trend. He couldn't seem to get a read on the woman before him. When he thought she'd say one thing, she'd go and surprise him.

"Weird pack dynamics y'all have here," she noted, attempting to slide off of the table.

Without thinking, Seth stepped closer to the table to block her exit. She narrowed her eyes, knocking her thighs against his in defiance. "Paul's not in my pack," he corrected, stepping closer. "And you should take it easy. Fast healing or not, you're still injured."

She leaned back, propping herself up with her hands so that she could see his face. "I don't get it. How'd they let you two out of the pack?"

"We've been out, so have a few others." He kept his answer vague like she had and turned the questions on her now that she seemed healthier. "How did you find me?" The words had come out sharper than he'd intended, but it was too late to take it back now.

She turned her head, taking in his small kitchen and modest living room. If he didn't know any better, he thought she looked...hurt. Though, given his track record at deciphering her mind, she could be elated and he'd have no way to tell the difference.

He took a short step backward, unfolding his arms from his chest. "I just meant that," Say it. "I didn't know if I'd see you again."

It was his turn to look away, his chest suddenly home to a knot of anxiety. From his peripheral, he could see her eyes back on him. This time, she spoke. "When you didn't come back, I figured maybe I got it wrong. That you didn't actually…"

"No," he said, confident this time in where her thought was headed. "I didn't want to leave you behind but—" He paused. While Embry had given him a direct order to turn around and leave, Seth had also made the choice not to go back immediately. "—The situation here is...it's complicated and I couldn't risk putting my people in danger. We had no clue there were others out there, you know."

She leaned forward, drawing his hand into hers. "That's kinda silly. Haven't you read the lore?"

"Mythology's not really my thing. I know the history of my tribe and I knew what I'd become. That was enough for me." Seth watched her weave her fingers through his, aware that Leah had disappeared out the back door. He could no longer hear the rush of water from the spigot outside. "But now, it's different," he whispered, his voice thick with the truth.

She caught the shift in the register of his voice, her eyes fixed on his face.

"I was working up the nerve," Seth admitted in a hushed whisper, unwilling to look away for fear of disrupting whatever moment was passing between them. "Didn't know what I'd do when I found you or if it'd even be safe to come back, but I couldn't…"

He swallowed hard on his confession. Perhaps some things were better left unsaid. Though the imprint was making it hard to get a handle of his feelings—the culprit responsible for the sudden urge to do any and everything that guaranteed her happiness and safety—Seth understood that he was treading into dangerous territory. He still didn't even know her name.

"Truth is," she whispered once it was clear Seth wasn't going to finish that thought. "You were right not to come back. My pack is...even less tame than your boy Paul. When they found out I'd imprinted on a wolf, shit hit the fan real quick."

Seth wanted to repeat Leah's query, to know exactly what or, rather, who he was dealing with.

"But it hurt to stay away from you, too.."

Her hand pressed against his chest, flattening the thin fabric to his skin, her head tilting as she listened to the sound of his erratic heartbeat.

Seth had never been one to deny what was in front of him. When he'd become a wolf, he accepted it, reveled in it even, because it had been the best thing that had ever happened to him. After his dad, Harry, died, it took a minute but he came to grips with it. When Jacob split from the pack and Sam had used the alpha voice to order them to kill an innocent infant, the reality had hit him like a ton of bricks then too and Seth had done what came natural: he left too. When he'd met Angela, it felt natural, so he went with it, and when she'd broken up with him after three years, it hurt but he'd bounced back. Mostly.

Life had always presented challenges he could usually roll with no problem. Now, the reality was that there was a gorgeous—but still bleeding—woman whom nature had linked him to for life, and her to him in turn. What felt natural was protecting her at all costs, making sure she was never wanted for anything again. Despite every natural inclination his mind and body was shouting at him, the reality was that they were nothing more than strangers. Seth tried to hold onto that, just like he always had.

Yet, her words had been enough to make him doubt. He tried to remind himself that there was a difference between attraction and imprinting, between affection and obligation, but that was a hard thing to do when the intensity of her gaze left him powerless. Hook, line, and sinker.

He exhaled a shaky breath, his large hand wrapping around her slender fingers. "Yeah, it hurt me too." Reluctantly, he tore himself from her stare, letting their hands fall between them. "My name is Seth, by the way. Seth Clearwater."

"Annalise Montgomery. It's very nice to meet you, sweetness."