Hi, all! First and foremost, I'm super sorry for how long this update has taken, I'm working stupid hours at the moment and half my laptop screen has died, so writing isn't really much of an option until I can fix my laptop and get some time alone. That being said, I've done what I can and I hope it's alright!

As always, thank you so much for the kind words about the last chapter and about the story in general, I'm really loving writing this and equally loving hearing your thoughts on it, it really does make my day. So, enjoy!

Chapter Thirteen

As soon as River's truck halted, kicking up a little dust around the small parking area, she felt something akin to worry settle in a ball in her stomach. Sure, knowing that Paul was nearby helped a little, but this bonfire was a big deal, she could sense it somehow.

When he'd asked her to go, she seriously contemplated saying no. She'd figured, after the last one, that maybe she wasn't exactly welcome among his friends anymore. Of course, she hadn't ever really cared about being welcome before she and Paul were whatever the hell they were, but now? Well, now she cared. She wanted for them to like her, not for them to think that she was some asshole out to hurt him. It was funny how time changed things.

Still, when she hopped out of the truck and ran a nervous hand through her hair, realising that she actually got a couple of inches of fluff to play with now, she felt him not far away. She wondered, albeit briefly, if she could have simply closed her eyes and followed that feeling to him. She was sure that she could, but she wasn't dumb enough to test that theory while half way up a cliff face.

Slowly but surely, she made her way down. There, all the way at the bottom, she saw him.

Against his usual character, he looked nervous. Equally strange, he seemed to actually be wearing an entire outfit. Well, he had his pants rolled up his calves to avoid the sand, no socks and no shoes, but he was actually wearing a shirt and some pants that weren't shorts or sweats. She was shocked and actually a little horny, but that was beside the point.

Of course, as quickly as she'd taken the sight of him in, he'd turned. Whatever turmoil he'd been feeling seemingly melted when he saw her. From the look he gave her, she wondered silently if she had something on her face, or if she'd spilled something on her shirt, but no. As they got closer, both walking toward the other, she realised that he was, in fact, just an adorable weirdo who seemed thrilled to see her.

She wasn't dressed in anything fancy, just a pair of jeans, some sneakers, a jumper and her bike jacket, but the way he looked at her? She felt a million bucks to say the least.

She tried not to think about everything that could go wrong as they neared one another, instead looking at him and nothing else. It wasn't exactly a struggle to block everything out and focus on just him, so there was that at least. Still, when they met, she wondered briefly if she could hug him around everyone. She still wasn't entirely sure what exactly they were, so deciding what lines to draw was a struggle.

As if he felt the worry in her mind, he gently shook his head with a smile as they reached one another, extending his arms and drawing her immediately in. She didn't even have time to feel a moment of shock before his lips came down so very gently on hers. They touched for barely a second, just a brief greeting, calming her, but it worked.

With a single breath out, she felt perfectly calm. On some level, deep down, she knew that she was safe with him. They may have had some issues to sort out, but she knew in her heart that he wasn't out to hurt her.

They didn't speak a word to one another as they headed toward the bonfire, hands clasped in one another's. River, as they walked, mentally noted who was there. It was an odd gathering, consisting of Paul's friends, a few tribal elders and her. She immediately wondered what kind of bonfire this was. Even Billy Black was there, sitting not far from the fire, looking wistfully into the pieces of wood that burned in it's core.

She noticed that, as everyone gathered, she was getting a few looks. She tried to ignore the knots as they tied themselves in her stomach, but with each passing glance, she couldn't help but want to pull her hand from Paul's and curl in on herself. Through each second though, right up until they sat beside on another on a thick log, mere feet from the fire, he kept his hold on her, running a gentle thumb over her knuckles.

It was strange, she decided, how the two parts of her warred. One, the part that sided with her head, fought every step of the way, biting and kicking as it screamed that something simply wasn't right here. The other though, the softer, more caring side, simply knew that things were fine. While the first tried to convince her to run, the second told her to simply enjoy Paul's hand in hers.

All the same, once everyone had settled around the fire, her wondering mind was slowly put to ease. It seemed, as Billy Black began to speak, that they were all there to talk hear the tribe's legends.

Growing up, feeling like an outsider, River had always loved the legends of the Quiluette tribe. She found, when she thought about it, that they seemed to mirror those from her own tribe. Her legends also spoke of brave and mighty spirit warrior fighting to protect them. It was nice, having that piece of home away from home. La Push may have been her home too, but a part of her was always itching to go back to Utah and learn as much as she could about the Cahnol people. She felt an odd disconnect from them at times.

"Before we go deeper," Billy's voice brought her from her thoughts just in time. "I would like to remind everyone that we are here tonight with a new guest." Oh shit. Her stomach dropped. She hated attention. "Miss River Nivalis."

Quickly, before she could compose herself, all eyes were on her, including Paul's. Crap. "Yo." She muttered awkwardly, waving with her free hand and immediately regretting both the word and the gesture before she was even finished as she saw a few smiles break loose. She really didn't want to be laughed at. "I, uh, I meant hi. Or hello." She tried not to clench her jaw, but as her mouth closed, her teeth pressed firmly into one another to stop her from speaking again.

Smiling a little, Billy nodded. "Welcome, River." He spoke with such a calm, soft voice that she immediately felt a little more at ease. "I know that your parents made an effort to teach our legends to you when you were younger. Tell me, do you remember them?"

Put on the spot again, she shuffled awkwardly, clearing her throat. She wished Paul had told her to expect twenty questions. "Not all of them, I'm afraid, Sir." She responded, feeling as though she'd admitted to a teacher that she hadn't done homework. "The gist of a couple, I think. Spirit warriors. Thunderbirds. Cold ones. Mostly that." She wanted to shrink into her seat and be swallowed up by the ebbing and flowing of the ocean, though she didn't suspect that the spirits would be so kind.

Billy nodded, smiling deeper into his cheeks. "Well, luckily, I happen to tell these ones often enough to remember them. I must say, I don't think any of us know them all, so I wouldn't worry on that, dear." She knew that he was trying to make her feel a little better, a little less on the spot, but it wasn't working. She had an odd feeling in her chest that she couldn't quite shake.

For what felt like hours and minutes all at once, she listened. She listened as Billy recounted the great tales of Taha Aki, of the spirit warriors of the tribe, of their victories and of their losses. He spoke, as most of them did, as though it was certain history.

River had always enjoyed the legends, sure, but she hadn't ever put any stock into them as true stories. After all, men turning into wolves? Well, she found it laughable.

It wasn't until much later, as Sam Uley stoked the fire, gently adding more logs, clearly planning to be there for longer, that Billy turned to River once more. She felt an odd chill at the base of her spine, noticing as she looked around, that everyone seemed to be glancing at her again. She also noticed that there was a space between Sue and Leah Clearwater. Hadn't Seth been there a moment ago?

"The legends are true." Billy spoke confidently across the fire, though she could see a softness in his eyes. "All of them."

With all eyes on her, she knew that it was on her to respond. "Right." She muttered, feeling Paul's hand fall away and reappear on her back, comforting. "I-" She found herself confused. "I mean, what is this?" She wanted to turn and look at Paul, but dammit, there was something so very serious in Billy's eyes. A familiar emotion swelled in her. Was it anger? No, not quite. She decided that it was something in the realm of embarrassment. She wasn't sure what was going on, but it felt like she was the butt of the joke once more.

"River," Paul's voice almost shocked her, especially when she turned and found such sad eyes looking down at her. "I wasn't sure how else to tell you-"

"Tell me what?" She cut him off, feeling the chill at the base of her spine grow, branching out and gripping her stomach, making her feel sick. "Look, I... I don't want to join your D&D group, or whatever this is, okay?" She made to stand, annoyed, but a great rumbling behind them stilled her.

Fear shot through her at the noise. What the hell was that? She began to turn, but Paul's gentle hand caught her face, holding her gaze for a moment. "Don't be afraid." He begged her desperately.

Against her better judgement, she turned.

"What the fuck is that!" She barked, stumbling, falling over the log only to have Paul catch her. She could feel the heat of the fire, but nothing mattered. Nothing mattered because she was about to be fucking eaten alive.

Had she looked around, she would have seen that no one else was afraid. No one was running and hiding. No one was screaming. No one else was considering grabbing a flaming log and throwing it at the beast. Alas, she was. Of course, Paul managed to stop her, gathering her in his arms as she began to truly let panic in.

As her breaths sped up, falling from her mouth in rasps, her eyes never once left the beast.

It was, to put it mildly, enormous. "There's a huge fucking dog." She practically whimpered. "Please tell me you see it." She demanded, unable to take her eyes away from it's form.

Had she had to guess, it was at least six and a half feet tall, probably weighed well over a tonne and it was looking right at her. It's paws were the size of her whole chest, claws longer than her whole fingers, teeth like kitchen knives. Just as she worried she would faint, it moved. Granted, it didn't move far, nor did it move closer, but it lay down and scared the crap out her.

"I can see him." Paul assured her, sinking beside her as her legs gave out. He kept his arms around her, trying desperately to comfort her, but he didn't know what to do. "You're safe. He won't hurt you." He told her, though she didn't hear.

Shaking her head, she closed and opened her eyes, hoping that it would go away. To no avail.

She simply couldn't take her eyes off the wolf. It was looking back at her, making her think, for just a second, that perhaps she knew those eyes.

With each passing second, her breathing didn't once slow, nor did the panicked beating of her heart. "What the fuck is this?" She practically wheezed, feeling that all too familiar blackness as it began to leave spots in her eyes, dancing across as she and the wolf held one another hostage.

Gently cupping the nape of her neck, stroking, Paul took a deep breath before speaking. "It's Seth." He told her softly, looking down at her and nowhere else.

"It's Seth." She laughed harshly, disbelief evident in her tone. ""Seth's a huge fucking dog now?" She ground out. She wasn't sure where she got the control to suddenly rip her eyes from the monster before her, but as quickly as she looked away, she screwed them shut as tightly as she dared, raking in each breath, feeling as though each one threatened to be her last.

Not really knowing how else to comfort her, Paul simply scooted to sit behind her, pulling her back into the safety of his arms, thankful when she sank willingly into him. He hated feeling the chill of fear on her skin, but this was for the best, wasn't it?

.

.

.

.

.

Sighing, Seth settled as deeply as he could into the sand beneath him. He could tell that Paul wasn't mad at him for scaring River, none of his brothers or sister was, but he didn't feel great about it. He figured, knowing how the guys felt about their imprints, seeing her scared like this must have really sucked for Paul.

He really didn't like scaring her, either. He liked River. Sure, she and Paul hadn't always been great, there was that time that she punched him at school, all those times that they rammed one another in the halls or cussed one another out in various classes, but they seemed good now. If Sam's efforts to shield his mind from giddy Paul were anything to go by, he figured that they were more than just happy.

So yeah, he hated being the one scaring her.

Looking at her, even he could tell that she was somewhere close to passing out. The heat from the fire probably wasn't helping, but he couldn't really voice that without giving her an entirely nude show. He didn't mind being naked around the others, but she clearly didn't even think that he was who he was, so a suddenly naked kid where a giant wolf had just been? Well, he figured that probably would have been too much confusion.

From his place on the ground, he watched her. He watched everyone, scanning the sadness on their faces. They all understood why Paul didn't just tell her in private, you know? They understood that, understandably, something like this probably would have seemed like the elaborate prank that they all knew she still feared. So yeah, they got it, they got that seeing Billy and the other elders made it more official, but Seth really wasn't too sure that this was the best way to do things.

He tried to stay as still as he could, keeping in as submissive a pose as he could muster, but it seemed that the movement of him so much as breathing was spooking her.

They all watched as Paul, king of the assholes, tried desperately to comfort his imprint, though they could all see what a tough time of it they were both having. Seth was trying to stay positive, just like always, but as she eventually screwed her eyes shut and slowly but surely lost control of her breathing, it was clear that this night wasn't going to end well.

River, it seemed, was working herself quickly into unconsciousness. They could all hear the thrum of her heartbeat, they could hear as it jumped and skipped, fearful. With each wheezing breath, her hold of her own movement seemed to wane until eventually her head fell slack against Paul's chest and her tensed muscles finally relaxed.

Paul continued to comfort her, seemingly unaware that his imprint had passed out in his arms. No, not unaware, but seemingly somewhere else entirely. Seth would never tell the others, but he spotted a tear on his brother's cheek.

The voices of the others were hushed at first, gentle and probing as they spoke. They were, of course, speaking to Paul. Everyone wanted what was best for River, and that sure as hell wasn't remaining passed out on the beach. A few of them, mainly the humans among them, tried to reason with the defeated looking wolf, telling him that they needed to take her home, to tell her parents that she'd fainted. Anything to get her out of the cold and into some comfort. Sue, however, was first to step forward and lay a maternal hand across River's forehead, checking her temperature.

Paul's reflexes, however, were as alive as ever. He caught the offending hand with ease, trapping it in a painful vice. They all knew, or at least the wolves among them did, that no wolf was himself when protecting his imprint. He didn't actually want to hurt Sue, but she couldn't just touch his imprint.

Seth stepped quickly, careful not to tower over the passed out imprint as he bared his teeth as his brother. Leah was as quick, putting one hand on their mother's arm and another on Paul.

He released her just as quickly as he'd grabbed her, offering a half-hearted apology, in some kind of daze as he scooped River up and stood.

Sue looked almost embarrassed as she stepped back, behind her children, gently rubbing her sore hand. She seemed embarrassed that she, someone who lived with two wolves, someone who had taken her husband's seat on the council, someone who had personally tended to an injured imprint, had been stupid enough to try to come between a bereft wolf and his imprint.

They all watched, silent, as Paul walked away, River curled softly in his arms, and eventually drove them both away in her truck. No one said a word about him not having his license, nor about where they were going. Instead, they began to quickly formulate what they would tell her parents, knowing that Paul wouldn't be taking her home.

Upon phasing back, Seth couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he didn't think he'd ever rid himself of the fact that the mere sight of him was enough to give someone a panic attack and make them faint. He felt like a monster.

Okay, I promise that not every chapter is going to be River having a mental breakdown... but this one was. I will also just warn you, she isn't going to just immediately be the perfect little imprint, she has her own mind as I'm sure you've noticed by now. That being said, this is meant to, overall, be a happy, somewhat cute fic, so don't fret.

As always, please let me know what you think, whether it's good or bad. I love hearing thoughts and opinions and always strive to do better.