Chapter 2: Imprinting

"Imprinting?!" I asked. "What the hell is imprinting?"

"This isn't good," Jared said, shaking his head slowly. "This really isn't good."

"I can't help it!" Paul snapped.

"I know that!" Jared snapped back. "But you've imprinted on the enemy, Paul! Don't you realize that?"

"Of course I realize it!" Paul said. "Do you think I chose this?" I saw a tremor roll through him and he clenched his fists, taking deep breaths. "You know exactly how it feels because you have it with Kim! Do any of us ever judge you for it? And Sam's imprinted on Emily—his ex-girlfriend's cousin. How come no one except Leah ever got upset about that?"

"Paul, enough," Sam growled. "Jared, back off. You know exactly what it's like. You know that it's beyond his control."

"But it's wrong," Jared insisted.

"I didn't have a choice, Jared!" Paul snapped.

"Does anybody want to explain what imprinting is to me?" I demanded, frustrated by their bickering.

Paul, Sam, and Jared all turned their eyes back to me, but nobody said a word. After a few moments of silence, Sam broke it. "Why don't we let Paul explain that?"

Jared nodded once and stalked away into the forest and out of sight.

"Natalie, do you have a phone?" Alice asked. I nodded, took it out of my bag, and handed it over to her. "I put my number in it so when you're ready, just give me a call and I'll come back to lead you to the house."

"Sounds good," I said. Everyone except for Paul and I left the clearing. Suddenly, I felt nervous around him. "So…um…imprinting?"

He took a deep breath and sank onto the ground, looking away from me. "You're probably going to think I'm insane when I tell you this—hell, I think I'm insane just feeling it."

I sat down on the ground beside him. "I've seen some pretty wild stuff in my life. I'm sure I can handle this."

"Imprinting is something that happens to us," he began. "We see somebody and everything changes for us. It's a spiritual connection between two people and it's like they're the most important thing in the world to us—that we'd do anything to protect them. It's as if they're the person who's holding you here instead of the earth."

"And you've imprinted on me." It wasn't a question.

He nodded and met my eyes again. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"Not entirely," I said truthfully. "It's something that just happens to you guys. You can't control it."

"Yeah, but that doesn't make any of this normal," he muttered.

"Neither of us are normal," I pointed out.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Sitting there on the forest ground next to him, I felt things changes for me. Suddenly, I felt human again. I hadn't felt this way in a very long time and it both intrigued and intimidated me that he'd been able to bring those feelings to the surface so quickly.

I hesitantly placed my hand on his scorching arm and I felt him stiffen slightly under my touch. I withdrew my hand almost immediately when I saw how uncomfortable he was.

"Sorry," I said automatically. "I didn't mean to—"

"What are we going to do?" he asked, cutting me off.

"I assume there isn't any way to break an imprint?" I asked.

"What makes you think that I'd want to break it?"

"You don't seem happy about this."

"It's just…this isn't how it's supposed to happen," he muttered.

"Because I'm your enemy."

"You're supposed to be," he agreed. "And to answer your question: no, there isn't any way to break an imprint. That's never happened."

"So then what do you think we should do?" I asked.

He took a deep breath. "I don't know. There are a lot of things to consider." He paused and I could tell that he was thinking hard so I stayed quiet, waiting for him to decide on his next words. "Ever since I was a kid, I was told stories about your kind—about how dangerous you are and how you're meant to be my enemy. I'm like this to protect my town from you—we're built to kill your kind.

"But then, I see you and everything changes," he continued. "You're the one person that I'm supposed to protect with everything I have in me, even though the last thing you probably need is protection."

"It sounds like you have a lot to think about," I said.

"Yeah, I do," he said, laughing humourlessly. "What do you think about all of this? You're taking it exceptionally well."

"I'm not sure what I think about it," I admitted. "Like I said, I was just passing through the area. I never expected any of this to happen. I didn't even know a whole coven of vampires lived here. I didn't even think it was possible for me to feel overwhelmed anymore, but here we are."

"And now you're being forced into this screwed up situation out of nowhere," he muttered. "God, I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for," I said. "You can't help it. How does it work?"

"How does what work?"

"Imprinting."

He took a deep breath. "A lot of the time it becomes a romantic relationship between two people—it's who you're essentially meant to end up with. If you get hurt, I'll feel it too. If you're in danger, I'll be able to sense it. If you're upset, I'll feel those emotions too. It's my job to take care of you and to make sure you're okay."

"And what's my job?"

He laughed humourlessly again. "Your job is to tell me what you need from me."

"Seems a bit selfish."

"That's imprinting."

"It doesn't work both ways?" I asked.

"Nope," he said. "In normal cases, the person who gets imprinted on feels something towards the imprinter, but not always. It's up to them to decide what happens from there." He was quiet for a few moments again. "I wouldn't want to force you into anything—I don't even know how I'm feeling about everything."

"It sounds like this is your kind's way of finding your soulmates," I said quietly.

"That's basically what it is."

"Then maybe I didn't end up here by mistake."

"What do you mean?"

"Clearly something drew me here," I began to explain. "I'd just been letting my feet guide me so that I could hunt and I just happened to end up in the forest on your land? It can't be a coincidence."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That maybe I don't have to leave Washington as soon as I planned to."

He met my eyes hesitantly. "Really?"

"I mean, I don't think Alice will let me leave as soon as I planned to, but yes, really," I said. "Vampires also mate for life, that's gotta mean something, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he muttered.

"I guess I'm just trying to say that I wouldn't be completely opposed to spending some time with you while I'm here," I said. "I'm not going to make any promises and obviously you need to figure things out…but maybe we can just see how things go? If…you'd be willing, of course."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"If you are," I replied.

He exhaled deeply. "I'll need some time to think everything over."

"Me too," I said, smiling weakly at him. "I should probably call Alice."

He chuckled. "You think they're worried about you?"

I smiled in spite of myself. "No, but I should make a good first impression with them, shouldn't I?"

"Yeah, I guess you should," he said. "I'll, uh, see you around?"

I nodded and smiled at him once more before we stood from the forest ground. We said goodbye to each other and I watched him retreat deeper into the woods. My mind was reeling with everything we'd spoken about in such a short amount of time.

How was I supposed to come to terms with the fact that this stranger had a deep spiritual connection to me? He'd said that imprinting was essentially the wolves' way of finding their soulmates, so I was sure that on some level it had to work both ways, despite what he'd said about it.

Was I ready to make a commitment like that to him after our first meeting, though? I knew that he wasn't expecting that of me right away and I was more than willing to spend some time with him to get to know him, but part of me felt hesitant to agree to anything with him, especially after how my last relationship ended.

I couldn't think about that for too long—I couldn't allow myself to think of him and how I'd left him when I knew that I shouldn't have. My last partner had gotten me through something that I never would have been able to get through on my own and then I'd left him when I knew that he'd need my support.

I'd always feel guilty about it.

While it was years ago, he'd called me numerous times through the years since I'd left and I'd never been able to bring myself to pick the phone.

I shook my head at myself. I needed to bring myself back to the present.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and found Alice's number so I could call her. Within seconds of ending the call, she'd returned to the clearing where she and Jasper had left me, grinning widely at me.

"Everyone's really excited to meet you."

"I am too," I said truthfully. "A bit nervous, though."

"Don't be, we don't bite," she said with a teasing lilt to her voice. "I should warn you, though—we have a human who will be turned soon. She's not at the house today, but is your self control okay?"

"I haven't had much difficulty with it," I said as nonchalantly as possible and trying to ignore the bad feeling in my gut as I remembered a time when I had lost control.

"Good," she said. "You ready?"

I nodded and we took off together. We stopped in front of a huge three story house that was painted a soft white colour. The entire southern side of the house was almost completely made of windows and had a beautiful view of the river nearby.

"Whoa," I breathed, taking in the beauty of the house.

"Surprised?" Alice asked.

"A bit," I admitted. "For the past few decades I've only really lived in tiny apartments. This is…huge."

Alice grasped my arm and led me into the house. I didn't have time to take in the beauty of the interior before I was face to face with the entire Cullen coven.