Howl.

"Why are you dragging me to this thing again?" Mary asked, pushing her hair over her shoulder as we walked along the boardwalk. Neither one of us had been to a bonfire since we were freshmen in high school.

"Because Embry is making me come," I said softly, "and I don't want to have to deal with his friends all by myself." We neared the group, where I could see all of the familiar faces of my childhood. Jacob had gotten incredibly attractive, but they all were, even the nerdy, obnoxious Quil Ateara Jr.

We waved at our old friends, bumping into Kim. I had English with her sophomore year, and we always worked together, even if she was kind of annoying. "Oh, Lilly!" She beamed. "It's so good to see you!"

I patted her shoulder as she hugged me, and prayed that she didn't bring up the party. Please, please, pl-

"Are you feeling any better?"

I sighed, and nodded. "Yes."

Mary stayed close by, but I could tell that her concentration was on something else: the rather irritated looking Paul Meraz. Kim left us, wrapping her arm around Jared's and heading towards the fire. "Mare?" I said, gently touching her shoulder.

She looked at me quickly, turning back to Paul after a moment. "I'll be right back. Stay there." I watched her head straight towards him with a look that I had seen before. Mary was determined to talk to him, and knowing her, it was going to happen whether Paul wanted it to or not. So much for Logan.

I watched her for a moment before someone reached out a hand on my shoulder. "Lilliana, it's so good to see you around here again. It's been so long." I turned to see Sue Clearwater, one of the only nonrelative adults I'd ever been close to.

"I hate to admit it," I said quietly, "but I didn't come here on my own idea. Embry wanted me to." Sue smiled, and it was refreshing.

"Good, good. Now, shall we take a seat? It looks like Mr. Ateara is going to speak." She led me to one a set of lawn chairs that had been placed around the fire. "He always tells the best stories."

I didn't listen when Mr. Ateara spoke. I had heard the stories so many times that I couldn't bear to hear them anymore. They were imprinted into my brain, after years and years of repetition and memorization. I still couldn't understand why they wasted so much time retelling the stories, especially to us, who had heard the stories countless times.

I tried not to look at Embry when he sat next to me. "I'm really glad you came," he said, gently bumping his shoulder into mine.

"Yeah."

Mr. Ateara continued to speak. "Hey," Embry said, "you should listen to this part."

I sighed, and looked at Mr. Ateara. He was standing on the other side of the fire, waving his hands around to help himself speak. "Now, what is the definition of imprinting? We've heard the term so many times, but it's almost as if it's been thrown around so much that it's lost meaning." He paused, looking at me. I shifted uncomfortably. "The techinical definition, as recorded by our ancestors, is the behavorial phenomenon among shapeshifters where they find his.. or her.. soul mate. It is completely involuntary and once it happens, it's been said that there is almost a pull towards that person, almost like without them, your existence is impossible."

He continued to speak, and I looked at the sand mindlessly.

"Lilly?" Embry asked, and when I looked up, I saw that everyone had started to eat. "You alright?"

I rubbed my face, and sighed. "Yes, I'm fine." I stood, and looked at Embry. "So, something strange happened today."

He stood up and we walked over to the table filled with food. I saw Jacob and Quil piling hot dogs and baked beans onto their plate, almost like they were both taking enough to feed four people. "Really?" Embry asked, handing me a paper plate. "What's that?"

"I was walking through the woods this morning, on the trail? and I saw a wolf. He just stood there, and stared at me." I picked up a hot dog and shoved it into the bun. "It looked so familiar but there was no way that I could've seen him before."

"Yeah, that's weird." Embry piled some chips onto his plate and I stared at him for a moment before grabbing a soda can from the cooler.

I looked at him, adoring the way his golden eyes shimmered in the firelight. When he smiled at me, I felt my stomach drop, twisted in knots. It was so weird - his eyes were almost exactly the same as my wolf's. I stared at him for a moment longer, before he took my arm and led me over to Mary, where she was still trying to get Paul to talk to her, even after the two hours we'd been here. He wasn't looking at her, a strange expression on his face. Why were these guys so weird?

When we entered their little circle, Paul looked at Embry, and gave him a strange look. Embry nodded, and I looked at both of them, eyebrow raised. Paul glanced at me, an awkward smile at me. "What's up, Lilly?"

"Nothing," I replied smugly. "How are you?"

He shrugged, and raised a red plastic cup to his lips. Mary stared at him adoringly, and I found it funny, the way he tried to ignore her. Paul was a few years older than us. He was probably twenty-three by now, but I have never been good at remembering little things like that.

"Lilliana!" Mary yelled, and I looked at her. "God, I've been trying to get your attention for like two minutes."

I made a face, and walked over to her. "What?"

"I want to leave. No one here is talking to me."

"That's because you're being fucking obnoxious."

I turned away from her, and returned to Embry and Paul. "She's going to figure it out sooner or later. You should just tell her." Paul looked at me nervously, and took a long drink from his cup. "Hey, Lilly."

I raised my eyebrow, and looked at Embry, who sighed. He took my hand, and pulled me towards the water. I followed with reluctance, my feet kicking up the sand so that it hit the back of my legs. "We need to talk about something,"

"Uhh .. ok?"

He pushed his hair out of his face. "It's very important that you don't tell anyone this. Do you understand?" I nodded hesitantly. Embry sighed, and let his head fall back. For a brief moment, I wanted to hug him, but I doubted it would make the situation any easier. "I really hope that you were listening tonight," he said after a long silence.

I shrugged, and he looked at me. "I heard the part about imprinting..."

Embry sighed again, and pushed my hair out of my face, letting his fingers brush alongside my cheek. "Well, in that case, it's you, Lilly. Everything Quil's dad said was true. The part about werewolves, and vampires, and imprinting. That's all true, and if you don't believe me, I can prove it to you."

I stared at him, confused. "It's me?"

"I imprinted on you. At the mall." He looked at me as I thought this over. I tried to remember what happened at the mall - and who was with him. They were here at the bonfire, and had been as big as Embry was, yet I still had no idea who they were.

Embry's words sunk in, and I let the breath out that I hadn't realized I was holding. None of it made any sense.

"Lilly?" He cupped my face and I almost couldn't bring myself to look at him, to see those warm, golden eyes that I could never get sick of. "Are you alright?"

I sighed, and pouted my lips. The waves surrounded my bare feet, almost like they wanted to take me with them. "I don't know what to think, Embry," I said finally, my voice soft. "What does it all mean?"

"It's pretty simple: we're soul mates. You're my best friend, and you always were. Nothing has to change, you know."

I groaned, and put my hands on his waist. "This is a lot to take in," I said, closing my eyes. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled against him. My head fell onto his chest and I absorbed his extreme body temperature. We stood like that for a long time, until I caught myself almost falling sleep. "I... um... this is so weird."

"For you, maybe. I'm quite enjoying it." He rubbed my back.

I sighed, and lifted my head to look at him. "I really don't know what to make of this, Embry. I mean, if we're soul mates, what does that mean? I love you Embry, but I don't know -"

"Shush. Trust me, I know it's weird. I'm still trying to make sense of it all, too." He pushed my hair out of my eyes and kissed my forehead, just like he used to. It sent tingles down my spine. "Like I said, nothing has to change."