Stir-Crazy

“I imprinted.”

I stared at him like he was insane.

He had the biggest smile on his face, and I couldn’t figure out why.

He looked the same as he did yesteday.

Shaggy black hair, brown eyes.

“What?”

“I imprinted.” He repeated.

“I heard that, Seth." I sighed. "What does that mean?”

“It’s a love at first sight sort of thing.” His smile was still strong. “When a werewolf sees the person that they were meant for, they imprint on them. Imprints are like soul mates. The werewolves do anything to make their imprint happy. When we see her, suddenly it’s not the earth holding us here anymore. She does. And nothing matters more than her. And we would do anything for her, be anything for her…we become whatever she needs us to be, whether that’s a protector, or a lover, or a friend, or a brother. We’re there.”

This was a lot to take in. I stopped for a little while, and after about five minutes, it sunk in.

“Wow, so you’re her Prince Charming?”

“Yeah.”

“So why are you telling me all this?” His smile faltered at first, before turning into a full out frown.

“Well…” He struggled to find something to say and realization hit me immediately.

“Your imprint’s not me.”

“Lainey…”

“No!” My voice cracked slightly, and I realized I was about to cry. I needed to recollect myself. “Who is she?”

I felt like I had been cheated on, but I knew I had been the one who was the closest to cheating.

“Well, her name is Samantha. She likes to be called Sam. She’s fifteen, and she has the most gorgeous brown hair…” He snapped out of his reverie, and turned to me blushing.
“I’m really sorry, Lainey. We haven’t kissed or anything, but I really, really, like her.”

“It’s okay, Seth.” I smiled, regaining my composure.

Our three and a half week relationship had just crumbled to pieces. “I understand.”

And I really did.

I felt the same way with Jake.

But it wasn’t like I was going to tell him that. Some things were meant to stay in my head.

“I’m so glad you understand!” Seth smiled giving me a hug. “I love you!”

He blushed, realizing that he said it, even though our relationship was over.

“So tell me more, about this whole imprint thing.”

“Jake’s dad says that we’re supposed to imprint with someone who can make good werewolf babies. They can’t be infertile, and they have to have a strong werewolf gene. Most wolves don‘t imprint, but our pack already has a bunch of imprintees.”

“Really, who has imprinted so far?” He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "In your pack."

“Well, me on Sam, Jared on Kim, Quil on Claire, Sam on Emily and Jake on…”

“Cora?” I muttered her name, like acid on my tongue.

“Not exactly.”

WHAT.WHAT.WHAT.OH SHIT.

“What?!”

“Um…I can’t exactly tell you?”

I felt like beating Seth at the moment. Why wouldn't he tell me?

My heart sunk. It was probably Leah. She had good wolf genes.

Or maybe Jenna from Biology class. She was gorgeous.

“Well why not?!”

“You have to find out for yourself!”

“Well, that’s just stupid!” Seth laughed.

“So you’re cool about this.”

I thought for a moment. The sad part was, I actually was. I didn’t mind that Seth had moved on. It wasn’t like Seth had cheated on me.

It was like a force of nature. He couldn’t control it.

“Of course I am.”

“So we can still be friends right?”

I thought of how Seth made me happy.

He made me comfortable, and he was so fun to be around.

But our relationship wasn’t quite working, and this whole imprinting business made it about ten times worse.

But Seth was happy.

And I can move on.

Jacob still had Cora and we may have almost kissed, but that didn’t mean anything.

Because there were a bunch more fish in the sea.

And starting today, I just happened to be the fisherman. Or fisherwoman.

“Of course.’

“Good.” He smiled his happy go lucky smile. “Because I want you to meet her.”

Oh hell. No.