Sam had once offered to be my friend, I think if him and Emily are a couple, I will do just that. Be his friend. I would miss him in my soul, for him to be my partner, but, I will take Sam however I could. I loved him enough for that.

Mom guided us inside the plane taking our seats guiding us to sit in the luxury leather. I leaned against the padded leather wall, looking out the window. Embry sat beside me, on the couch. Seth and Flic across from us on another couch. Looking for seatbelts I did not see any.

"I guess that's how you know we are in luxury." Embry let out a surprised laugh.

"This is so fancy" I smiled at my companions.

Mom decided to climb into the cockpit with Joshua. My stomach rolled as Joshua guided the plane to the runway. My homesickness was fully settling in as the tires left the pavement. In the same moment, a giddy electricity was vibrating in my veins as we traveled closer to my wolf. My Sam.


Chapter 39: Friends, Imprints, Lovers.

As Always Happy Reading


POV: Sam


Pain, Loss, Split, Shattered,Tortured, Burning, Agony, Torment, Strain, Anguish, Excruciation, Self Persecution.

My Fault.

Bella's Pain.

My Loss.

Bella Split.

I'm Shattered.

Bella's Torture.

My Burning.

Bella's Agony.

My Torment.

Bella's Strain.

My Anguish

Bella's Excruciation.

My Self Persecution.

The list replayed. The connection between our souls stretched. I prayed over, and over, and over, that the distance did not snap the bond. I rolled, smelling her in my bed.

My wolf tried to convince me that she was here. Her scent was here. She must be here. My wolf searched for her, within her scent. My stomach pitched as I realized she wasn't here.

Biting back the bile that attempted to claw up my throat, I focused back on Bella through our bond.

I felt her as strong as always, but also felt like she was going numb. Focusing on the bond, I tried to pull some of her numbness to me. It was the least I could do. I could taste cheap spirits like a whisper on my tongue.

Bella, please be safe. I stopped pulling the numbness to me, knowing that if she was drinking to numb the pain I didn't want her overdoing it because I was taking away her desired effect.

The only thing I could focus on was the stretching of our bond. Then anger lit in me. Anger at myself for letting Emily near me. She hadn't tried anything that bold with me in a long time. None of her pursuits in the past had been welcomed with anything that could have been considered consensual. She never cared about what I wanted.

Emily had been the girl to flash me when I was surfing. If I hadn't been a wolf at the time, I might have died of hypothermia many times. She would wait for me on the beach. Truthfully, she was probably the reason I was such a strong surfer, as I would use the waves to move myself down the beach, knowing that I didn't trust what she would do if we were alone together.

Had I thought she would try anything at the wedding I would have had my guard up.

WHY DIDN'T I HAVE MY GUARD UP!

I would much rather be explaining to Bella why I was weird at her father's wedding, as I held her in my bed, than feeling her traveling away from me. The bond sent whipping sensations of electric pain down my spine.

It is all my fault.

Maybe I never deserved an imprint.

No maybe. I never deserved an imprint.

I sat up in bed, letting the feeling of her loss strike my very soul.

Truthfully, I never expected losing your imprint to feel like this. Correction. I haven't lost her, not yet. Focusing, I sent love and apologies through the bond, I would be flooding the bond with these emotions until either I died or the bond broke, whatever came last.

Each second of bone crushing, soul bruising, life changing pain, I was nothing but thankful for it.

It meant she was alive.

It meant I could still feel her.

It meant we are still bonded.

It meant I had a reason to keep breathing.

I watched as the door opened slowly. My heart skipped a beat, my wolf hopeful for the impossible, imagining it to be her.

Fresh scent filled the room, enveloping me again in Bella's perfect perfume. I could smell Becks' scent mixing slightly with Bella's. This is how I knew it wasn't her. Just a kindness, done by an old friend.

I breathed deeply of Bella's scent, feeling it encase my senses with a bone-deep comfort.

If Bella was here, the scent lingering on her clothing would not cause this much comfort. It reminded me of after my mom passed away. She had made soup days before. After her funeral, I needed time to be alone. I convinced the different adults in my life that I was fine enough to be allowed to have some time alone. The elders all eyed me the entire funeral, like they were waiting for me to lose it.

It was unsettling, to say the least, as a newly phased wolf. The only wolf at the time. Everyone in the know treated me with kid gloves. They had never acted like that around me before. It made me edgy, not providing me the comfort most people would have received at their mother's funeral.

The soup should have probably been thrown away, by the time I opened the container. Not that I cared, I couldn't take comfort in her scent. I had spent too much time as a wolf, the funeral had been postponed until I could control myself. The remaining scent of hers was stale, clinging to our house like a dusty ghost. Instead, to find comfort I reheated the soup, letting the grief take over my soul as I ate her soup for the last time.

Rebecca stood in the doorway. I noticed a rope tied around her waist. Nodding slightly, I understood why. I had gotten similar training to her, it was my responsibility when a wolf was in grief. If I could feel my heart, I probably would have felt loved that she came back to care for me.

"Sam" Rebecca's tone was soft but urgent.

I didn't look her in the eyes. It was an agreement that we had since I phased. I remembered the night, Billy called me over to his house. He was no where to be found. Rebecca was sitting at the table looking like all her options in life had been stollen.

"Please don't look me in the eyes Sam" The ashy rasp in her voice had me looking at the floor. It was like she had been speaking with fire for so long, that the remnants remained in her tone.

"I won't Becks. Your dad-" I started.

"My Dad." Hate bubbled through her words.

"What's going on Becks?"

Concern for her had me straining to keep my eyes down. If I could only have one look I could place the emotion she was feeling. Out of respect for our friendship, I memorized the worn floorboards instead.

"Dad wants me to imprint."

"He just wants you to be happy" I tried to argue.

"No. Sam. He wants us to imprint"

I couldn't hold back the laugh. It exploded from me. Beck and I are friends, sure, nothing more then that though. We had been friends since forever, people joked that one day we would look at each other differently. Elders made comments that we would look at each other romantically one day. That day never came. Would never come.

"Beck. I'm sorry, please don't take this the wrong way, I don't have any of those feelings for you. Wolf or not, I'm still me. I would think I would have had an inkling before I phased if you are my imprint. It's not there, though." I tried to tell her in the kindest way possible.

The bitter laugh that shot out of her was not what I was expecting. Beck had never been bitter. We bonded over the passing of our moms with dark humour and poor taste jokes, yet bitterness had never been a trait I would associate with Beck.

"Don't look me in the eyes then" that bitterness came through her ashy tone.

"What's going on Beck?" I never liked being confused. As a friend, Beck had never left me in the dark.

"Dad gave me a drink. Practically cursed me to imprint on you. Or, I guess more fucking accurate, you to imprint on me."

"Is that even possible?"

Anger lit in me for my friend. Beck didn't want this life, I had been wolf for less then a month to know that is true. Every time Beck was required to be in the same room as me, she kept her distance. I had thought it was because I was a new wolf. It hurt my feelings that I thought she was scared of me. Now, I understood. She wasn't scared of me, she was scared of what I represented.

"I don't know about you Sam, but, I really don't want to fuck around and find out. I only have one chance to leave, and I need your help to do it" The ashes in her tone seemed to spark with her desperation.

Out of habit I stared at the floorboards now, ignoring the painful memories of the past. The solutions we needed to find with such limited time.

"You need to make a decision right now" Becks' tone was the same ash from my memories.

"What decision?"

"Do you want to stay imprinted on Bella?"

The growl that escaped my lips was primal. The man in me knew Beck well enough that she wouldn't stand in the way of me remaining imprinted. Even though she doesn't personally want to be imprinted.

"I will take that as a yes"

Becks hands went to the rope around her waist, swiftly untying it. My eyes went wide at her action. That was not apart of the training. I was even meant to have a rope around my waist when depositing scent, and I had wolf healing.

"Beck, I don't think I have that much control-" I started.

"Shut up a second!" Beck whispered.

Beck hung the rope on the dresser. She paused. Listening, I realized she was trying to pull one over on whomever was on the other end of the rope. I kept my mind focused on Bella's scent, and the comfort the memory of her provided. It was extra important for me to stay in control right now.

Beck stayed still for a minute. I wasn't sure if she was trying to analyze me, or the person who was holding her emergency rope. After the minute was up she nodded to herself.

"I need to grab something that she loves"

Beck looked around the room almost as if Bella's most loved item would magically appear.

"Well you are ignoring me. That is rude Beck. I know I fucked up, but, I am pretty sure I am Bella's most loved item" I tried to make a light-hearted joke.

"So funny. I think the elders would notice that you are missing. I need something she will recognize as 100% hers."

Beck started walking around the space, ignoring everything that was brought to me for her scent. That made sense. The reason these had her scent on them was because they hadn't been important enough for her to pack them over. I started to move on the bed, intending to get up to help Beck. She paused at my movement. Almost like she was reevaluating loosening the safety rope.

"Beck. I am in control. I know exactly what she loves, I just know I placed it out of your reach." I told her, pausing my movements until she responded.

"Okay. Am I in the way?" Beck asked.

She indeed was standing between me and the item. I nodded. Expecting her to move back towards the door, instead she walked further into the room. Choosing to stand next to the bathroom door.

Taking one last deep breath of Bellas scent I moved towards the windows, feeling how stiff my body had become in the short amount of time that Bella had been gone. My muscles had a bone deep soreness, almost as if the distance between Bella and I had taken a physical toll on me.

Reaching up to the furthest windowsill on the left, I plucked her book off the ledge. I couldn't bring myself to think too long about handing it to Beck. Grabbing a pen, I peeled open the back cover, scrawling quickly.

~ Hello My Soul. Hello My Light. Hello My Reason To Be. When you read this know that I am in love with you. Imprint or not, meeting you was the best moment of my life. Only topped by every moment after, and those yet to come. I Love You. My Bella. ~

"What are you doing?"

"Just in case shit hits the fan"

I handed her the book. I needed Bella to know she owned my heart and soul. Gladly would I lay down my life for hers. I would fight them trying to separate us.

Sorrow hit my soul. Walking to the bed, I dived uncoordinatedly nose -first into Bella's scent. I had hid the book on purpose. It was the same book I caught her reading late into the night when I was on patrol. The poor book that was thrown across the room by the love of my life. Just looking at the worn pages, I couldn't help but remember her. Now it was in Becks' hand.

"We need to find a way to pause the imprint breaking ceremony" Beck spoke fast.

A growl ripped from deep inside my chest. It was a mix of despair and a ferocity that I hadn't experienced before. Summoned at the thought of losing my imprint, my mate, my best friend. It all sounded like absolute bullshit, until I experienced it. The imprint didn't create feelings, it simply allowed us to feel what the person we imprinted on was feeling.

I remember the very moment Bella decided to choose me as her mate. Our souls intertwined in a way that I didn't think could ever be undone. They had been laced together in an intricate design that an artist could study for years, and never be able to convert to any medium.

Neither Beck nor I noticed the rope being pulled from the room. Until Paul came bursting in.

"Beck! where are you-" Paul sounded panicked.

"Paul, keep your voice down. I'm fine" Beck scream whispered at him.

"Well, how am I suppose to know you are fine, when you take the rope off?" Paul panic whispered back.

"Sam wouldn't hurt me" Beck argued.

"You don't know that" Paul and I said in unison.

Beck let out a frustrated sigh. She was rubbing her temples as if this conversation was taking a physical toll.

"Beck, Sam got some fresh scent, come on, let me put you to sleep. We can deal with whatever else we need to do after you have a rest" Paul sounded very brotherly in the moment.

You would never think that Paul would be the caring sibling type. He had grown up an only child. Paul always had everything he ever wanted, plus a loving Mom and Dad. I would often go over to his house to play on the latest game system. My mom trusted his parents to watch me when she had to work a double, so we had become like brothers growing up. When he phased for the first time, he was pissed.

The wolf wasn't something he wanted. Paul had the perfect human life. He was the captain of the football team, on his way to win state. The wolf derailed any dreams he used to have of going pro. One hit at his new full strength would turn any game into a death sentence for the humans. Let alone if he lost control, and phased in front of everyone.

His anger almost consumed him when he first phased. For a month after his phasing he lived in that anger. Nothing could make him happy. His parents begged him to go to therapy with one of the elders, Paul refused. Instead of going home to his parents, he would crash on my couch, I didn't have it in me to send him home. Even after his Mom started calling me nightly for updates, I would tell her he was doing fine, and listen to her cry on the other end of the line.

Nothing seemed to make his soul content with this life. That is, until Rachel returned home from college, on break. Then nothing seemed to be all that bad with being a wolf.

That was the thing about imprints, they completed your soul. It wasn't something that should be forced or meddled with. A natural imprint was two souls coming together, it was as easy as breathing.

"We don't have time to rest" Beck sounded exhausted.

"Yes, we do. You told me yourself, we have people going to find Bella" Paul said cautiously.

"We sent people to find Bella?" I questioned.

I wasn't upset that my friends had attempted to bring my imprint back to me. Even though I wanted to send people to bring her back, I also wanted it to be her decision. I sent another stream of love and apologies through the bond, needing her to know that whatever decision she made, I will always be here.

"Kinda. I asked Flic to go find her. Embry and Seth went with her." Beck started to explain. Then she said very fast "And a vampire drove Kyle home. He is currently hanging out at the Cullen house playing video games"

"What? Our pack pup is at the Cullen house?!" Paul sounded outraged.

"Hey" Beck held her hands up in defence "When an Alpha is upset, it affects the youngest pack members the most. Also, it was one of the only ways I could guarantee not to have the Cullens directly involved in finding Bella. I didn't think sending vampires to get her would be overly elder-approved."

"Is he safe?" I asked Beck.

"Of course he's safe. If he hasn't already, he probably has infiltrated Flic's stash of gaming snacks. Emmett and Rosalie are most likely doting on his every need, and he is trying to beat everyone in Super Smash. You would think vampires would be good at Super Smash, but there are some button combos they just haven't mastered yet" Beck shrugged.

I stretched my shoulders. Something felt different. Almost like Bella was in the other room. Yet, when I analyzed the bond I still felt the stretch.

"Regardless, we still do not have time for this" Beck was tapping her fingers against her thigh.

"Why?" Paul questioned.

I was still too stunned by the change in my pain levels to ask any questions, taking the lack of excruciating pain to send more love through the bond.

"They are going to break the imprint" Beck whisper screamed at Paul.

Paul looked at me. I could see him questioning my sanity.

"Dude. I know she ran away. Do I think that was a normal coping mechanism, no. Is that flaw worth throwing away your imprint. I would also vote no" Paul tried to coach me.

"I'm not breaking my imprint. Bella has no flaws in my eyes. She could need to leave every other day and I would welcome her back with open arms each time. She could do nothing that would make me give up on the completeness my soul feels" I assured Paul.

"Not him" Beck sounded frustrated in her exhausted state.

Maybe Paul was right, Beck did need a sleep.

"Bella is breaking the imprint?" Paul let his confusion enter his tone.

"No" Beck sighed.

"Then why are we worried about the imprint breaking? If Bella isn't breaking it and obviously Sam isn't. Then I think all signs are pointing to you being very overtired Becks

." Paul sounded very brotherly.

Beck walked up to Paul I could see the frustration in her steps. Paul raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn't gotten to see this side of Beck. I had, I was in school with both Rachel and Beck growing up. This was the same Beck that stood up to bullies, and dominated on the volleyball court.

"The elders" She whispered low enough that only Paul and I could have possibly heard. "And before you ask why, its because they had another imprintee selected for Sam. They have for a while now. At sunrise the elders will break the imprint. Then they will have him imprint on the girl of their choosing" Beck had tears falling from her eyes.

"Who is the girl? How can they break the imprint?" Paul whispered desperate need in his voice.

"I don't know how they can break the imprint." Beck turned from him.

Walking with towards the windows it looked like Beck was letting out a silent prayer. I watched as her shoulders shook with tears.

"Who's the girl?" Pauls voice shook.

"Me" Beck whispered the answer before crumpling into a heap on the floor. Exhaustion and fear finally overtaking her resolve.


Authors Note: Hi Friends! Wow, I have to say thank you. With all the reviews it really felt like I wasn't just writing this chapter just for me. I already have the next one in the works. Loving this community and I do feel the need to say sorry in advance. So please consider this my formal apology. Let me know your thoughts as always in the reviews!