Give Me Love

My heart swelled and I let a small creep onto my face. "Collin said it's over for now."

Seth nodded, "For now." He seemed to finally notice we were standing in the middle of a rainstorm. "Let's go inside?"

I laughed as he set me down, "We can talk on the porch." I moved to walk away, back towards my house and felt Seth's giant paw-of-a-hand slide into mine. I turned back and grinned at him before squeezing his hand; I twined our fingers together as we raced to my old rickety porch. Mud squished between my toes as we rushed for cover, but I couldn’t have cared less. My clothes were suction cupped to my body and sagging with the weight of the rainwater and I nearly tripped on the pants legs twice. When we reached the shelter of the covered overhang we took a moment to just look at the other.

"You look lovely," he laughed motioning to my drowned appearance. I blushed and squirmed a bit under his gaze but he pulled me into an embrace. The warmth of his body came as a surprise, because of how chilled the air and rain were, and I welcomed it. I tense for a moment before I felt myself melt and mold into his arms.

"I'm so glad you're safe," my arms looped around his torso as I mumbled the words. I pressed my cheek against his bare chest and I could almost hear the droplets sizzle from the heat his body gave off.

He reached his hand and brushed the wet strands of deep brown hair from my face before mumbling, "I told you I'd be anything you needed. You said safe, so I made sure I was."

Our eyes caught and I bit my lip, "Can I ask you what you want?" I pulled out of the warm embrace and waited. My stomach was in knots as he surveyed my face for what felt like hours, he finally sighed and looked away from me.

He took another moment to think and leaned against the side of the house. "I want you,” Seth said simply. He took my hand again and played with my fingers as he spoke. "We're young, I know, but I want you. Only you, forever. And I need you in my life, but I don’t care how, as long as you’re always there.”

I couldn't help but feel butterflies and knots in my gut as I watched him fiddle with our woven hands. "Okay, but what kind of relationship do you want to have with me? Friendship or...?"

He bit his lip and surveyed me; my nerves were so bad I had to keep my eyes and head down to try and hide the embarrassing blush in my cheeks from showing. "It doesn't matter what I want. I know how I feel and what I feel is intense. I don't want to make you feel pressured because of the Imprint."

I sighed and let our hands fall apart. I turned my back to him and moved to the porch railing to watch the pouring rain. I rested my forearms on the old railing and leaned on the rickety wood. I watched the rain like it was my favorite movie as my thoughts raced inside of my head. "We're still in highschool and I feel like I'm forty something."

"You're almost out of high school," he said simply as he tried to calm the tense, nervous energy that I knew was radiating from me.

I nodded and let my shoulders drop. "Do you know... why I’m you’re Imprint? Is there some code or system to it?” I heard him suppress a light hearted chuckle.

I heard the floorboards creak as he shifted his weight. The laughter stopped and his next words were serious, "All I know is that you're everything to me, and you will be for... well forever."

I licked my lips and tried to keep my eyes out at the rain. "Seth, you're sixteen years old."

"Almost seventeen," he mumbled, like an automatic response.

The sound of the steady downpour filled our ears as our words fell silent. My pulse raced a bit as I thought about it all. Seth and I were bound through this Imprint, though neither of us knew why I was chosen to be gifted with being his Imprintee. He was perfect, I could already see how much he cared for me and how I felt. I knew in my heart that he was everything I could ever want and dream of in a boyfriend and lifelong lover... But I hadn’t ever thought of fairy tales coming true and almost forcing this on us. Not that this Imprint felt forced. It felt right. It felt more right than anything else in my life. It just also was a really intense and really sudden feeling. I knew I had fallen for Seth the moment I connected eyes with him in Sam’s house just over a month ago, but it felt like this romance was stuck in a tornado.

"This is going to be really, really hard isn't it? Are things like vampire babies going to pop up and make you go away for a long time again?”

I heard him sigh from behind me, "I have a duty to the Pack, and I might have to go away again, but I don't know for sure." I felt my eyes tear up and I was thankful he couldn't see my face.

"What if you get hurt next time? Or if Collin, or anyone did?" I felt a sob rise in my throat but I choked it down. “What if you get killed with all of this fairy tale-nightmare stuff?

He made hush noises and I felt the floorboard behind me sink down a bit as he stepped over. "Hey," he cooed as his fingertips brushed the length of my arm. "It'll be okay, I'm not going anywhere."

I kept my back to him as silent and slow tears trailed down my cheeks. He slowly slipped his arms around my waist from behind me, careful to see if I resisted. Instead I leaned against him, once again welcoming the warmth he provided. “I can’t believe how crazy this is.”

“What exactly?” He asked as he rested his chin on the top of my head.

I let out a pitiful laugh through the silent tears, “Well, the fact that you have to ask which particular thing, is one.” Seth chuckled softly too before he pulled his arms in tighter and held me closer.

“I’ll never hurt you,” he whispered softly. I turned to face him and he instantly began to gently wipe the tears from my face.

I looked up into Seth’s deep chocolate eyes and felt my heart melt. “It’s not me I’m worried about.”

I sighed and leaned down to rest his forehead against mine, never breaking the connection our eyes held. “Tell me what you want. I told you.”

I held his loving gaze as I whispered, “I want you.”

His eyes teared up a bit and he suddenly lifted my body into the air and sat me on the railing, bringing my face closer to the level of his. He paused for a moment as the smile on his cheeks reached his eyes and spread itself onto me. “Forever?”

Our faces angled themselves and our lips aligned as I whispered my answer, “Forever.”