Give Me Love

In a pinched voice I managed to squeak out, “I’m trying not to.”

“Kara,” he whispered and I felt my heart melt a little at the way my name slipped out from his lips. “Sam, Jake, Embry, Quil, Collin, Brady, and the others, even Leah... We’re all-”

“No you’re not.” I cut him off, as I felt my heart accelerate. “But that’s just a story, that’s just a legend!” I shot up from the sofa and, regretfully, lost Seth’s hands in the process. I paced from my front window to the entry of the kitchen and back at least four times before Seth stepped in my path and took my shoulders in his giant, sixteen-year-old hands.

“Kara stop,” my steps ceased at his request. “We’re shapeshifters, Spirit Warriors, were-wolves, whatever you want to call it.”

He nodded his head but a worried look was still on his face, I could see in his eyes that there was more, “There’s something else isn’t there.”

“There’s a lot more, but I don’t know if you’re ready to hear it all,” he sounded so defeated that it tugged on my heart. I slipped out from his grasp and took his hand, leading him back to the sofa. I pulled him down to sit and he did without any struggle, though he didn’t let my hand go.

“I can ask Collin if you don’t want to tell me,” he shook his head and began rubbing his thumb in a circle on my hand again.

“Collin can’t tell you.”

I looked at him confused, “I’ll make him.”

Seth shook his head and looked up at me, “No, he really can’t tell you, it’s not that he won’t tell you.”

“But I’m his sister, he can tell me anything, he knows that.” I sounded awfully childish but it was true, I’d love him no matter what, he was my brother.

“It’s not that easy,” he said.

I let my frustration show, “Well then why can you tell me?”

Seth exchanged his previous expression to that of total nervousness, “That’s part of the ‘more’ that I’m not sure you should know right now.”

“Okay well now you have to tell me,” I begged.

He shook his head, “Ask me something else, please?”

I searched my brain for another question and one immediately popped into my head, “How many of you are there?”

“Well there’s me, Leah, Jake, Embry, Quil, Sam, Jared, Paul, Brady and Collin,” he counted on his fingers as he rattled off each name. “So ten.”

I raised my brows, “That’s a lot of you,” he nodded as a response. “Do anyone’s parents know?”

Seth shrugged, “My dad knew, but my mom doesn’t. Billy does, but I think that’s it...”

I chewed my lip, “And my dad doesn’t know. Can I...?”

Seth quickly shook his head, “No. You have to keep this a secret. Only certain people are aloud to know.”

I pointed to myself, “And I’m one of them?” He nodded again. “Why?”

“That’s part of the ‘more’ remember?” He chuckled as I let out a frustrated huff.

“Why can’t you just tell me? I didn’t freak out before!” He let out a loud laugh and I couldn't’ help but crack a smile, “Well I did a little, but I mostly kept it together.”

“It’s too soon to tell you,” he said as his eyes dropped down to our hands.

I ducked my head down and got in his field of vision with a smile on my face, “Please?”

“You’re not going to let this go are you?”

“Nope,” I popped the ‘p’ and smiled brightly at him, hoping he’d cave.

He sighed and straightened, so I did too, “Promise not to freak out.” I promised. “Okay so I swear I’m telling the truth, and if you don’t believe me you can asked Collin because he’s kind of mad about it.”

“Okay..?” He laughed at some joke in his head before getting serious.

“So, being a.. were-wolf or whatever you want to call it, it comes with some stuff.” I gave him a confused look. “I don’t really know why it happens or how it happens, but sometimes a shifter will find.. The One. Okay?”

I nodded slowly, trying my best to follow along.

“But it’s different for us, than it is for normal people, and for our The One too. It’s called an Imprint... it’s like...” He took a second to collect his thoughts. “Okay, so for most people it’s gravity holding them down, and friends keeping them sane, right?” I agreed. “Well, for someone who’s found their Imprintee, it’s not gravity or friends or family keeping them. It’s her. She’s everything to them, and I love her.” His face lit up like a red light bulb at his vocal mistake and hhe covered his face out of embarrassment.

“You... love her...?” The words came out slowly, I was trying to wrap my head around it. “So you’ve found your... Imprint?”

He nodded slowly and lifted his hands from his face, it was still beet red. His eyes rose to meet my own and he quickly blurted, “But it doesn’t have to be romantic, her and I... We can be friends, I’ll be whatever she needs, whenever she needs it.”

My heart accelerated as the pieces came together, “Who is she?”

“It’s you,” his voice came out in the faintest whisper I almost missed it.

My heart was beating out of control and my mind whirled, me. I was Seth’s Imprint and he loved me, but he didn’t have to be my boyfriend, he’d be whatever I wanted. But he was also a wolf boy. And so was my brother. And my cousin. And so were my friends, Embry and Quil. Oh God. Don’t freak out. “And you’re sure it’s me?”

He nodded, “I wouldn’t be able to tell you any of this if you weren’t and.. I knew it the moment I saw you come into Sam’s the other day.” He reached forward and took my hands gently, slowly twining our fingers together, waiting to see if I’d pull away. I didn’t. “You feel it too, right?”

I bit my lip as I thought about it, I did feel it. The kid had constantly been in my mind since I’d seen him at Sam’s and my heart pounded whenever I was near him. “This is crazy,” a laugh escaped my lips as I shook my head in disbelief. “I honestly don’t know why I’m not freaking out.”

“It’s because it’s our heritage, we were raised with the stories, now you just know they’re true.” I nodded as a response and sighed.

I looked at him, sitting with one leg tucked under the other sitting sideways on my sofa. He was big, like muscular and tall and handsome and flawless. I was little and awkward and had flaws but he’d chosen me, or fate had or whatever. I scooted closer to him and he lifted me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me. “Anything else that I should know right now?”

“The Imprinting thing was what I was afraid to tell you, the rest will be easier.” I made myself comfortable and waited for him to say the rest. “Jake broke away from Sam’s pack, oh Sam’s alpha, but I guess now Jake is too, and Leah and I are going to join Jake because Bella had a baby and is a vampire now and the baby’s potentially really, really dangerous but Sam wants to kill them all but Jake loves Bella and I don’t want to kill anyone.”

My body became rigid and I leaned back to look at his face, “What was that?”