𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑

𝘈 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳... 

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Sam had imprinted. That much we knew. From the middle of the forest we sprinted back to the Uley's household in a rush while the wolves tried to follow my brother's scent and direct themselves towards him, but after a while, it was clear that he did not want to be found.

Hours passed before Sam barged through the front door. We all snapped our heads towards it, some of us sat on the furniture, others-– just Kim and I— paced anxiously around the living room.

"Sam?" I called him, but no reply came. So I walked towards the door, and there with unseeing eyes there was my brother, standing frozen like he had no idea of how to even walk anymore. "Sam."

He opened his mouth a couple of times trying to say something, but all that came out was just 'I' and even that, he was stuttering through it.

"We know." I said as I stepped in front of him. "I know." He had imprinted.

The others in the other room could easily hear us but did not make a move towards us or speak a word knowing that it was more than just a sensible subject for the Alpha.

Once more, Sam tried to speak, but again nothing came out.

"Come on." I softly spoke, trying not to spook him further, "Let's sit down for a second." I placed a hand on his arm but that seemed to be the wrong move to do, because suddenly, his entire body snapped upright, eyes widening, his breathing picking, almost as if he had just come out from his state of shock.

He yanked his arm making my hand fall down rather harshly. The shaking then started, his temperature rising as he was quickly beginning his shifting.

"Shit." I mumbled under my breath, losing control in that way was not something Sam had done in a long time. Before I could even make a move to lead him outside, I was tugged backwards, hidden behind a broad body. I didn't even look to know that it had been Paul.

Fortunately, Sam had still enough control in him to run out of the door alone, and at the tree line, he shifted into his ebony black wolf before with a heartbreaking howl, disappearing into the thick forest.

"No, Little Arsonist." Paul said, words whispered just enough for me to hear with a softness on his feature that took me completely by surprise. His arm wrapped around my middle, stopping me from moving any further than a small single step "He is not in control of himself now. He needs some time to be alone."

Letting out a shaky breath, eyes still locked on the forest where my brother had disappeared in, I spoke, "I don't want him to be alone."

"He is not alone. He knows that. But he needs to be by himself right now."

"I could feel his emotions." I whispered eyes that were quick began to water, "He wasn't just heartbroken. He was falling apart." I continued to look at the forest as if Sam would magically appear there, feeling my own heart breaking for the pain my brother— the most important person in my life— was in. "I knew that he did not want to imprint because it would have not been Leah, but this–- this was... I don't even know."

"He loves Leah. And fate paired him with someone else."

"I know that the situations were different but Jared did look more than happy when he imprinted on Kim. I thought that it was supposed to feel like that, that is how it's always described as. Not like whatever happened to Sam."

Paul's hand reached for my face, his thumb brushing away the stray tear that traveled down to my cheek. "It's different for every shifter." He said.

"Make me understand." I pleaded, for the first time looking away from the forest to meet his eyes, almost losing myself in them.

Paul looked away for a second, letting out a sigh as he tried to gain enough courage to speak again. "Let's go for a walk." He suddenly said, taking my hand in his and interlocking our fingers together— feeling like they always belonged like that.

The door closed behind us, we did not even inform the others of our departure. Not a single word was exchanged until I led us both on the left side of the house where an old tree house, hidden behind various trees, was built years ago by Joshua Uley.

I had no mental energy to go any further than that.

It was pretty small, barely still hanging, definitely not safe. It wasn't a happy place, not for me. Years ago I would use it to hide when he was home, drunk and angry, not even having any light at night in fear that he would have found me. And then it became a place for me to go when I would feel the bad memories arised. Papers and chalks still littered the house, messy drawings decorating the walls sporadically. The floor was completely covered in various blankets and nothing else to be found up here. What I loved about the tree house was the very small balcony on one side, the sunsets were gorgeous up there.

"You have a tree house?" There was amusement in Paul's tone, as he climbed the last ladder being careful of the nearby branches.

"Sperm donor made it so I would get out of the house." And not bother him. I did not add that, though.

I led him outside to the small balcony, our legs dangling from the broken wooden railing.

"Sperm donor?"

"My father." I replied monotonously. I hated to call him that.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh." I rolled my eyes, replying with a bite behind the single word. This was not the time to talk about Joshua, not like I ever wanted to talk about him. I frowned then, as once again the thought of Sam came back to my mind.

"He is going to be fine, Beatrice." Paul said softly, "He wasn't ready but he will be. You can't fight the pull of the imprint. I don't think that any of us would actually do it in the first place, to be honest."

"Why? I would."

"It's not just the imprinting." he said, not meeting my eyes, indeed focusing on the woods that surrounded us. "It's the person you imprint on. The bond might help with some things but it can be platonic too. Imprinting does not make you fall in love with them."

"I know that it can be platonic." I said, shaking my head slightly deep in thought, "He does too, so why is he so angry? Why is he fighting it so bad?"

His mahogany colored eyes met mine, secret words were hidden behind them other than the one he spoke. "Because we know. It's not exactly how the legends say. From the moment we imprint, we already know that in the end, with time— even maybe taking a lifetime, we know how we will end up loving them as. A friend, a sibling, a lover... But it can change I guess, like I said before, the imprinting bond does not force your love."

"So his bond was not a friendly one." I said becoming more aware of the situation.

Sam loved Leah, he really did. He would never cheat on her— he hated that. So I just knew that imprinting on a girl that wasn't her, would feel like cheating to him.

"How does it feel like?" I questioned before adding to that, "You have a tighter bond through the pack with Jared, you can hear his thoughts, do you know how it feels for him, or just in general. Is it something all wolves know?"

He let out a soft laugh that felt heavier than it should have been, "I don't think that it is something that you can fully understand until you actually imprint." his smile was gentle, eyes softening as they landed on me, "It's not that easy. One second it's just you, and next, everything changes. Your heart beats for them, your thoughts are almost always occupied by them, your body betrays you— even when you don't want to. It makes you yearn for that person— or just even for a single touch. Just being in the same room with them it's better than nothing. Your eyes always follow them, if they laugh you automatically look for them, if they are sad, your heart clenches in your chest, if they cry, you would do anything to make them smile again. It can be painful— physically and mentally— if you are away from them for too long. A wolf would do anything other than hurt their imprint. It's like a wound directly on their soul." The words were spoken in tone a mere higher than a whisper, filled to the brim with so much sincerity, feeling like he had felt them himself that for a second I thought that he had actually imprinted on someone. "We need them— want more than the air that we breathe."

✎

˗ˏˋ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ˊˎ˗

Hello everyone!

Me casually dropping the bomb of feeling that Paul feels for Beatrice.

This chapter was actually meant to focus around Sam, oops. Tirxy and Paul literally wrote themself in here. It's their fault not mine.

I changed the imprint bond because it does not make much sense for Sam to leave Leah if imprinting can be platonic too.

In this story there is no child to be imprinted on. Meaning no Jacob and Renaissance, and no Quil and Calire, sorry not sorry at all.

Imprintings can be platonic but you know when it is from the beginning. And it pushes you together but does not make you insta love the other.

This is Joshua Uley's hate club!

Thoughts on this?

Anyways, thank you for reading this chapter, I'll see you on Thursday!

˚ · ° . 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞 . ° · ˚

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞!

– 𝐋𝐨𝐥𝐚 ☾