I woke up slightly stiff, my muscles begging to be moved. I lifted my arms above my head stretching out as much as possible. After the initial pleasure wore off from unkinking my stiff body, I looked down at my chest and was immediately reminded of two things. One, I was naked as the day I was born and two, looking down at the man I loved more than my next breath sprawled across my bare chest, last night was definitely not a dream. Quil really had taken my virginity and made love to me well into the early morning hours. It was amazing, unlike anything I'd ever hope to experience. I was prepared for it to hurt, at least be a little uncomfortable at first, with it being my first time but it hadn't. It was bliss from the moment we joined as one. I'm sure it had a lot to do with the Imprint. It was like there was an open emotional channel we were communicating to each other on while we were connected. I could feel EXACTLY what he liked, and how much he liked it. I could feel every ounce of the lust, want and desire he felt and I'm sure he could feel mine as well. On top of that, I could also feel his love, adoration and devotion for me. It was the most beautiful, erotic, amazing, awe inducing experience of my life. I felt like my body was floating above our bodies in one of those astro projection sorta things when I orgasmed. I'd touched myself to climax before, but it certainly wasn't anything like that. Those orgasms had only lasted a few seconds, gone as quick as they'd come. The climaxes I was given last night lasted minutes and felt like longer. He made me feel things I didn't know was there to feel. And at the end of our night or morning I guess, he'd sunk his teeth into my neck marking me as his forever. If I thought the orgasms before were amazing, that one was absolutely earth shattering. Sam had told us about marking, explained to us the seriousness of the mark and what it meant. In the eyes of the pack and tribe, Quil and I were married. A mark was more permanent than a traditional marriage, it sterilized the imprint in the event she break the imprint and try to move on with another man, and the wolf is unable to impregnate anyone else. Not that either of us would be able to even consider doing so, apparently after being marked, intercourse would be extremely physically painful with anyone outside of your mate.

I was more than fine wearing Quil's mark, happy, proud even to. It left me feeling complete, and peaceful. My positive emotions for the mark aside, I was equally confused as to why Quil's wolf felt the need to do it now. Sam had told us we didn't have to worry about marking anytime soon because the wolf was in control of the marking, and it normally took years to get to the point of the wolf the demanding for it to be done. None of the other imprints were marked, so why did Quil's wolf feel the need to mark me the first day after the imprint? I absently brought my hand up to run over the mark. It was slightly warmer than the rest of my skin, and raised ever so slightly. Not protruding like a scar, but just barely thicker than my skin like a tattoo. It didn't feel like a bite wound would feel the morning after receiving it, It wasn't sore, or painful. I actually sighed with contentment and peace when I touched it, it wasn't even slightly uncomfortable. I moved my hand from my neck, to the back of Quil's. Running my hand over the newly tapered hair at the base of his neck. Sam had helped cut the back and sides of his hair, and took a little off the ends as well yesterday. He asked him to cut as little as possible, so his curly waves were longer than any of the guys that I saw yesterday. I was more than a little happy he had made the request. And the quick glance and semi-smirk he gave me before answering Sam's question led me to believe he knew exactly how much I loved his hair. It was odd, the newly shaven part of his hair. It felt amazing to rub my hands over though. I couldn't help it, it was growing on me.

After a few minutes of leisurely laying down, running my fingers through Quil's scalp and hair while digesting everything that had happened the night before and all the new information I was overloaded with. Eventful was a gross understatement for the evening and It stretched on into the wee hours of the morning. Even though I didn't know what time it was right now, I was sure it had to be late morning rather than early like I normally woke. Remembering that my dad should be home soon, and that Quil and I were going to be needing to head to Sam's for the beginning of his training had me trying to gently wriggle my way from under Quil. I had to pee, and see what time it was. I moved as gently and quietly as possible, managing to slide from under him, moving his head from my chest to a pillow. As soon as I was free, I was sprinting to the bathroom as quietly and quickly as possible. I quickly got my day started, getting myself freshened up after relieving myself.

As I rounded the kitchen entrance, I looked at the time on the stove. 10:47 am. We'd have to head to Sam's soon. I pulled out some bacon and eggs, keeping in mind Quil's larger appetite as I opened the cupboard to grab the instant pancake mix as well. Pancakes were the quickest food I could make in bulk. I got busy putting the bacon on the baking pan, and cracking eggs into a bowl. Once the bacon was in the oven I made quick work of the instant pancake mix and quickly started a batch on the griddle.

I was just finishing the scrambled eggs up when I felt two large and warm arms encompass me from behind. I smiled widely, immediately settling back into his chest and embrace. I leaned my head back on his shoulder, and his head rolled to the side of my neck where my mark was. He brought his hand up to trace over it lightly with his fingertips and then gwntly kissed it. I almost passed out then, genuinely. The pleasure that swept through me was unreal and unexpected. It felt like there was an electric current shooting straight from my neck to my core. I was drenched instantly. The loud, gruntal moan I let out was uncontrollable. I had quite literally just turned to putty in this man's hand. I was certainly not expecting my body to respond this way. Quil looked at me with surprise and poorly concealed satisfaction. It did him no good trying to hide it, I could feel it through the bond. I could also feel that he had no idea that would happen, but he definitely loved it as much as I did.

"That is for sure an effect of the marking. I like it." He finally admitted, breathing over my neck. Fuck did I like it too. I felt like I felt last night right before climaxing, my nerve endings were going crazy. I had to use every bit of control I'd accumulated in my short life not to turn around and push him to the floor to have my way with. Instead, I begrudgingly turned around bringing my arms up to rest around hid muscular neck.

"I understand this is a new development, but I am telling you with 100 percent certainty if you do that again I am going to jump you right here on the kitchen floor. Considering my dad should be home any minute and you have to be at Sam's in less than an hour, that's not the best idea to give me right now." I told him truthfully.

He groaned then nodded. Even though it looked like it might have actually pained him to agree. "I'll try to pull it together, so much has changed in the small amount of time we've had to get used to all this and then new things pop up and overwhelm me all over again. Like the fact that I can smell you, you're arousal. As soon as I touched my mark, I could feel and smell what it did to you. That's why you're not the only one excited right now." He said pointedly, lightly grounding his harder than a moment ago groin into mine. I was the one groaning now, still fighting off the powerful urge to march him upstairs or better yet, take him right here like I'd suggested. I briefly realized I hadn't even blushed at being told he was able to smell my arousal. I was so … idk what the word was, comfortable I guess? I was just so completely relaxed in his presence, It really felt like we were two halves of a whole now. As cliche as it sounds, there just isn't any other way to describe it. I really wasn't sure if this was due to the imprint or the marking, maybe both. He smiled understandingly down at me before leaning down to kiss me sweetly. He pulled away much too quick and I made a noise of protest moving to reach back up for more. He chuckled lightly bringing his hands to my hips and pushing me firmly but gently back to the ground attempting to cease my feeble attempt to climb up his muscular body, causing me to pout.

"I can deny you nothing Isabella. I will more than gladly continue making out with you right now if that's what you really want, but I'm not wearing a shirt so the first thing your dad's gonna see when he walks in is you lip lockin with a shirtless guy in his kitchen. Considering he just pulled into the driveway, I mean. The choice is yours kitten, although one option will almost certainly get me shot." He smirked. My mouth fell open as soon as he said my dad had just pulled in. I guess there was an almost equally fast way to turn me off. He may of well had of thrown a bucket of water on me.

"Quil! Go!" I said panickly, smacking at his arm and pushing him away. He laughed loudly and took off up the stairs just as I heard my dad's keys jiggling and then fumbling in the key hole. I quickly turned around busing myself moving the scrambled eggs from the cooling pan to a ceramic dish. I could feel my blush moving down my chest with its ferocity, and I took a deep breath trying my best to will it away before my dad came in the room. I briefly wondered how Quil coming down the stairs presumably from my room would look to my dad. I hope it wouldn't give us away. Spending the night here together, instead of supervised at Gramps like he thought we were I meant. I tried to look natural and breathe regularly as I heard his footsteps coming down the entry way.

"Oh hey Quil, mornin Bells." I heard him say as he came in the kitchen. I whipped around, trying my best to contain my surprise at seeing Quil casually sat at the kitchen table fully dressed like he'd always been there. Quil smirked, turning his head away from me to try to cover it. I cleared my throat slightly and looked over at my dad smiling.

"Good morning dad, I'm literally just finishing breakfast. Perfect timing." I said, trying my absolute hardest to sound natural. Charlie thankfully hadn't really looked at me long before sitting down heavily in the chair opposite Quil.

"Mornin Charlie." Quil said smiling lightly at my dad as I sat the eggs and bacon on the table, turning to go get the pancakes and syrup.

"Nice hair cut kid. What brought that on? Thank you Bells." He asked Quil as I sat a mug down for him, pouring him a cup of coffee. I didn't bother asking about cream or sugar, since I knew he drank it black. Insert shiver of disgust, I won't go near a cup of coffee without at least two and two in it.

"Thank you, I just started up working for the Council with Sam Uley, and he told me cutting his hair helped with all the helmets we'll be wearing due to all the carpentry and welding work we'll be doing. Said something about finding out the hard way how dangerous a braid could be, I decided not to find out and just cut a little off now." He lied smoothly, looking at the food in front of him as he piled his plate high. He never could make eye contact when lying. He wasn't as bad of a liar as me, but I knew his tell. Luckily Charlie was doing the same as Quil, grabbing food and putting it on his plate. He seemed more interested in the food that was now in front of him than Quil's answer to be honest. He did nod and say makes sense at least before tucking into his food. I chuckled, slicing up my pancakes, before drizzling some syrup over them and doing the same. I was actually pretty hungry too. Probably had something to do with last night's calorie burning activities.

"What's got you guys starting your day so early? You normally don't come home until the afternoon when you spend the night at the Ateara's." My dad asked casually. I was prepared for this question.

"I wanted to have breakfast with you, I've missed you." I said truthfully. I had been spending all of my free time with Quil lately, and Im sure it'll only get worst now that he's imlrinted on and marked me.

When I looked up at my dad, I smiled. It was both funny and endearing to see the small blush that had appeared.

"I missed you too kiddo." He smiled warmly but couldn't help but look a little embarrassed afterwards, clearing his throat and picking up his coffee mug to sip from.

"Can you pass the pancakes Charlie?" Quil interrupted the sweet but awkward moment. I laughed quietly looking over seeing his plate was completely clear of the almost comically large pile of food he had just had on it a moment ago.

"Sure kid, here ya go-" My dad started to say, grabbing the dish with them in it, pausing seeing his stack had disappeared. "Holy smokes, I thought you were going to put some back from that giant tower you made yourself." He laughed, actually amusedly looking stunned.

"I skipped dinner last night, I'm starving." Quil shrugged laughing too, accepting the pancakes.

"I was wondering why you made so many Bells, I was hoping maybe Embry was planning on showing his face around here again finally." He said a bit sadly. My dad loved Embry, he thought he was very similar personality wise and he wasn't wrong, they both got along great. He seemed genuinely sad that Embry and I had a falling out when I had told him so. I briefly thought of the looks I caught him giving Em when he thought no one was looking. I think it's longing. Embry kind of resembles us, and I wondered if my dad maybe thought if he'd actually gotten a son like he'd always wanted he'd be something like Em.

"No, I just knew Quil would be hungry and I wanted to make sure there was enough for everyone. You'll be glad to know, I spoke to Embry and hashed everything out last night though." I smiled at the genuine smile that spread across his face.

"That's great to hear kiddo, I'm glad the three musketeers are back together, tell him to stop by soon. Next thing you know Jake'll be calling you up." He says optimistically while chewing on a peice of bacon.

"Ironically…. maybe." I laughed at the surprise on his face. I hadn't spoken to Jacob in months. "We actually ran into the two of them together last night. Apparently Jacob was dealing with a personal issue all this time. Identity crisis or something, i guess he didn't know how to talk to us about it and after a while of avoiding us, he just never had the gull to fess up to what had happened after it went on too long." I tried to stick to the truth as much as possible to avoid my dad picking up on my lying. His mouth had fallen into a little o and his eyes had widened.

"Oh wow, yeah that's understandable. He should have known better though. We've all known him his whole life, he should've known none of us would care that he's gay." My dad said sadly as he shook his head. I turned my head to the side just in time to miss my plate as I spit my sip of orange juice out. Quil was immediately laughing like a maniac, almost falling out his chair as he howled loudly.

"Dad! I never said Jacob was gay!" I hissed, not seeing how he got that from what I said.

"Oh what is he Bisexual? Pan? Whatever you kids are calling it now a days, the point is we don't care about that stuff right? Errr… What I'm saying is we all love Jake for Jake regardless of all that other stuff. " He tried to explain seriously, looking at Quil still laughing hysterically annoyedly. I groaned.

"Daaadd, the crisis wasn't related to his sexuality. Pretty sure Jake's still straight." I huffed.

"Oh. Well you said identity crisis… what else was I supposed to think?" He chuckled, glancing over at Quil who was still laughing, finally seeing what was so funny. I just rolled my eyes and kept eating my breakfast.Dad asked about school and Gramps and we talked about a few other things as we finished eating.

I had just took my last bite when Quil was suddenly blurting something out.

"Charlie I asked Bella to be my girlfriend, and she said yes. I've been trying to think of a way to broach the subject subtly, but I couldn't come up with anything so I'm just….. saying it now. You deserve to know the nature of our relationship now that it's changed considering how much time we spend with each other. I just want to be as respectful as possible and fill you in.." He rushed out, out of breath by the time he finished. My mouth had dropped slightly ajar after Quil's first sentence that he'd rushed out. I wasn't entirely sure when we were planning to fill him in because we hadn't spoke about it, so I assumed it would be later. I slowly turned my head from Quil to look at my dad. He looked shocked, but it seemed like he was more surprised by Quil's outburst than what he had said.

"Thank you for letting me know, I do appreciate the update actually. I'd be lying if I said I didn't see this one coming though." He chuckled.

"What? Wait what do you mean?" I asked.

"Nothing really, you've just always acted differently around Quil than your other friends. I don't think youdo it on purpose or anything, but It's like you two are always on the same walkie talkie channels while everyone else is just doing their own thing. Ive noticed it more today too. You guys literally move when at the same time. To grab your forks, or drinks, when you move its like Quil's is almost physically connected to you like he's preparing to help you or get anything you need. " He explained seriously. Then turned to look at Quil. "You're more atuned to my daughter than any married man I've ever met. I thought a lot about it when I first noticed it a few weeks ago. I came to the decision you're either my daughter's soul mate and future husband or you're a pscycotic stalker that's obsessed with her." He continued dead serious. I was floored, it was times like this my dad reminded me he was a Police cheif and not nearly as dense as I'd like to hope. "I watched you really closely the next few days, not sure if you noticed, but I had to be sure what your underlying intentions with my only daughter were. Admirably, I quickly caught on to your seemingly pure intentions. You seem to really just adore Bella, and her you. You both seem genuinely happy in each other's presence, you two are a good match and I'm happy for you guys. I just want you to be careful. Bonds like the one you guys seem share arent common, so keep that im mind when things might not be as great as the beginning was like most relationships." I was stunned.

"Dad, Quil only asked me to be his girlfriend yesterday..." I sputtered. He had said he was observing us for weeks now. Dad half smirked.

"Does a man not love a woman before he asks her to marry him? Do you think the feelings Quil has for you were conjured the day he asked you to be his girlfriend? You guys give me a little credit, I have been a police officer for over 16 years. Speaking of, you know I love you Quil, but don't forget those 16 years have given me a pretty good idea of how to do certain things without getting caught. I'd hate for you to disappear kid." He said ominously with emphasis on disappear while taking his plate to the sink. I rolled my eyes, but I was still pretty dumbfounded. How had I expected anythjng different? You don't become a police chief, even of a small town by being clueless and unperceptive.

"Yes sir, I understand. I'd never do anything to hurt her, you have my word." He said seriously looking over at me. I could feel the serenity in his words through our bond just as well as I could feel his shock and concern through it. I'm sure he was thinking of the newly discovered things we would be hiding from him in the future, and our ability to keep it a secret.

"I'm happy for you guys though seriously." My dad said after rinsing his plate off. "I'm gonna head upstairs for a shower, thanks for breakfast Bells it was great. As usual." He commented patting my shoulder affectionately as he passed me. I smiled up at him and told him he's welcome. I should have known my dad would be so great about this though, in retrospect I knew he only wanted me to be happy. Little did he know no one could ever make me as happy as Quil, he'd never be able to give a more perfectly suited individual his blessing. I turned to look at Quil with a wide smile as my dad's footsteps faded up the stairs. He was already looking at me, smiling softly.

"That was good for the most part." I said lowly. Quil chuckled, moving out of his seat to come slide underneath me into mine. I moved my arms around his neck, making myself comfortable in his lap, glancing over at the clock.

"We need to leave now if we're gonna make it to Sam's before twelve, it's a quarter till." I sighed. I wasn't exactly in the mingling mood, right after a big breakfast and day like yesterday. I'd prefer to stay in cuddling with Quil watching a movie or reading a book. I could probably get away with staying home, but Quil would still have to go and after realizing just how much work he was going to have to put in from now on, I'd decided I would help carry that load with him as much possible.

"Yeah, we ought be on our way then little lady." He said, swatting my ass as I stood up. I smacked at his hand giggling as I went to grab my jacket and shoes from upstairs. Just as I was going down the stairs, my dad poked his head out the bathroom.

"You leaving already Bells?" He asked. I turned around nodding.

"Yeah, Quil's got to report to the council at 12 and I was gonna hang out on res for a while." I explained, even though we both knew where I was going without me having to say so. I spent everyday on the res, even the three days of the week I had school.

"Okay be safe, you gonna be home for dinner?" He asked hopefully. I laughed, what he really meant was would he be getting some more of my cooking today. It was funny that both my mom and dad couldn't cook to save either of their lives, but it was something I'd naturally taken to. Maybe because I had to, who knows but I genuinely enjoyed it. It seemed different cooking for my dad than Renee though. Renee seemed to expect it, never really showed any gratitude. Looking back, she really did treat me more like the help than a daughter. She was always traveling and more focused on hiding things from me, than getting to know me and spending time with me. My dad was different though, I knew he loved my cooking and me for that matter. He told me so all the time. But I could tell he liked the quality time we got catching up with each other and talking over the food just as much if not more. It was kind of our thing, talking over meals. He worked so much and with school and my personal life keeping me thoroughly busy as well, it was our time to check in with one another at the dinner table. I didn't feel like I had to be home to make dinner for my dad every evening, I was still free to be a teen. Some nights I spent the night at Quil's, or ordered in when I didn't feel like cooking. It wasn't a chore here, it was family time.

"Yeah, I should be. I'll probably bring Quil and Em along too if they're interested. And we both know they always are." Especially now, I added mentally. My dad smiled wide.

"Great, tell Embry he'd better be interested then. I haven't seen that kid in a month of Sundays. Be safe, love you kiddo." He called before shutting the door, I heard the shower turn on as I made my way back downstairs. I looked around, but Quil wasn't inside so I grabbed my keys and left out, quickly locking the door behind me. I turned around and smiled at Quil who was leaning on the passenger side of his truck that's parked on the street. He opened my door gentlemanly when I got closer.

"Thanks." I said sliding in. Quil was sliding in the driver seat before I'd even buckled my seat belt. He really was fast now. Not in a breeze generating, instantly there type of fast like vampires but he'd still moved faster than any human would be able to. It didn't seem like Quil and the others had any problems suppressing and controlling their supernatural abilities the way the Cullens had. Edward told me it had taken him decades to master the control needed to do simple things around humans. Things like opening and closing doors without pulling them off the hinges for example. Quil had no problems with that It seemed. He definitely didn't have any issues controlling his new strength and he moved at a regular pace, mostly. Last night he had absolutely done things at speeds I'm sure no human man was capable of. Of course it was amazing for obvious reasons, but it also made me feel special in an unexpected way. Quil wasn't a virgin like I was I knew that, but I was confident no woman had ever experienced the man I had. This was a new Quil and I was the only one that has ever had him, the last too.

"What are you smiling about?" Quil smirked, bringing his hand up to brush my cheek lovingly. Of course he would smell me, I couldn't help it. The smallest reminder of last night made me yearn for him. Again, the absolute depth of the emotions I felt for him, and the absolute all encompassing-ness of the bond left me feeling… incandescent, superlative? It was unreal, in the best way. I was absolutely still getting used to it. I tried to rein it in as much as possible to focus on answering Quil and not jumping him in my dad's driveway. I could tell he was trying to do the same, so I decided not to tell him what I was thinking of. It would only make it harder for him, figuratively and literally. I laughed out loud at my inner monologue, before responding.

"Oh nothing." I said raising my eyebrows at him as he put the car in reverse. He shook his head chuckling, reaching over to take my hand in his.

XxX

The drive to Sam and Emily's wasn't long, they lived just a bit farther than Uncle Billy and Jake. We were pulling into the gravel driveway before I knew it. Quil, parked and turned the car off.

"I know you told Sam you'd come around to see Emily today, but if you wanna leave to go to Gramps or anywhere else for whatever reason here's my keys. It's easier for me to keep them with you anyway, no where to put em when I phase." He smiled, tossing the keys over to me. I caught them, surprising us both. We laughed and I reached for my seatbelt to unbuckle it. Once I had, I reached up to grab my door handle only for the door to open before I could even get close. Honestly, I should have known as soon as I heard his door shut. I didn't mind though, I kinda liked it. I hopped out grabbing his offered hand, and leaning up for quick kiss.

"Definitely gonna take some getting used to." A voice groaned as I pulled back.

"Dude, I told you. It's lowkey gross, you know? Does she even know where that mouth has been?" Embry gagged. I rolled my eyes as I saw him and Jake walking up to us from the trees lining Sam's driveway.

"Seriously, it started when he tried to eat that beetle when we were like 3 or 4. His mom literally had to pry the fucking thing out his mouth. That's the day I knew he'd put anything in there." Jake shivered dramatically.

"Oh shut up you were only a baby, like 3 Jacob. No way you would even remember it right. Rachel dared me to do it, she said she'd sneak me a cupcake if I did it. I wasn't tall enough to reach the counter, I was desperate." Quil said matter of factly, shrugging. I was thoroughly used to their bantering by now.

"That's still gross baby." I shook my head. Then I let go of his hand and moved to give Jake a big hug.

"I've missed both of you so much. It feels like forever since we got to be us like this." I told him. He squeezed me back tightly.

"I know, you don't know how bad I felt having to do that to you guys. And when we saw you on the beach that day, I just wanted to fall to my knees and beg you to forgive me. I couldn't though, neither of us could have physically said a word to you because of the Alpha injunction not to communicate with you." He explained. I nodded already figuring as much. "But now that I can talk to you, I will. I'm so sorry Bells. I know you know everything now and you can understand what happened. I still just want you to know I would never willingly abandon you like that, especially when I knew you needed me most. It ate me up to know I had only made your situation worst after all that time we put in bringing you back to life. I'll feel guilty for it till the day I die and if you forgive me I promise to never be a shitty friend again. " He said sincerely.

"You already know I do, but I know it'll make you believe it more if you hear it. I do forgive you and just like I told Em last night, hating you guys when I wasn't in the know was impossible. I'd never hold this to you, it was completely out of your control." I assured him, I could see the guilt and shame in his eyes, it wasn't called for.

He smiled down at me, squeezing my shoulders.

"Charlie thought you were gay by the way."

"Quil!" I admonished amusedly. He was on a roll for blurting stuff out today.

"I'm sorry what did I miss?! Why does Charlie think Jake's gay?" Em asked obviously amused as well.

"Yeah, what the fuck?! I'm not gay!" Jake said crossing his arms. I giggled, it was funny I couldn't help it.

"Bella told him u were dealing with an identity crisis and didn't know how to talk to us about it. And naturally he assumed she meant your coming out of the closet." Quil laughed the whole way through with Embry joining in halfway through. I tried my hardest to contain it for Jake's sake after the beautiful apology he'd just given me, but for the life of me I couldn't control my laughter around these three. Jacob was still groaning.

"Why didn't you come up with something Quil? You know she's a terrible liar. " He groaned out swinging his arms dramatically like a child now.

"You know you're always welcome to bring the party inside folks." A voice from the porch said, I turned around to see it was Emily.

"Oh hey there Emily, I was actually just about to head in." I told her shaking my head at the guys. Quil stepped forward to walk toward the house with me but Embry put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Actually, Sam sent us to grab you so you're coming with us. We've actually been gone a while, we should get back before he comes looking for us. We've got a long day ahead of us sis, so don't you feel obligated to sit here and wait on his sorry ass." Embry said directing the end at me. I was suddenly filled with intense sadness and abrupt panic at the mention of leaving Quil's side. My breath came faster instantly and I tried to focus on nodding and pulling myself together. I was being ridiculous, I knew he was leaving for training this whole time. I knew Inwouldnt be able to go eith him, why was my body reacting this way sl suddeny? I momentarily forgot about the bond I was so caught up in my own panic.

"Shhhhhhhh…" Quil's breath fanned over my face as I realized he had completely encompassed my body with his, wrapping around me. He moved my hair back off my neck, bringing his large slightly rough right hand up, placing his palm over my mark. Instantly there was a much different response than in the kitchen earlier, it was much more this time around. As soon as his skin touched mine I nearly vibrated at the staggering feelings of contentment, love and trust that overwhelmed me. I sighed heavily out loud, it felt like he had just lifted an elephant off my chest.

"You MARKED her?!" A deep voice bellowed incredulously. My head whipped to the direction the voice had come from and I saw Sam standing at the edge of the woods and driveway. He was staring unwaveringly at my mark, his jaw was actually dropped slightly. His eyes were wide and he actually looked like he didn't believe what his own eyes were telling him.

"MINE!" Quil growled furiously, pulling me behind him with lightning speed.