Immediate And Forever (A Paul Lahote Fanfiction)

Chapter Seven

[May 28, 2005]

    Things have been going well since Paul told me about his world. I was still adjusting, but realizing they're just regular people trying to protect their land made it a little easier...only a little. It was late at night, Charlie and Bella were both asleep, and I was lying on my bedroom floor talking to Paul. We'd been talking about random things, and it had fallen silent for a few minutes.

"So, with being a shape-shifter, there's some other...genetic...abilities we have. There's this person we call them imprints. Imprints, in a way you'll understand, are soulmates, but it's a lot deeper than that. Imprints are our other half; the only person holding us to the Earth. No one else compares to them, and you would do anything...be anything for them. As soon as you look into their eyes, it just happens," he explains, and a mix of emotions flow through me. It all sounds so beautiful and amazing, but if he brought it up, did that mean he found his?

"That's intense," I mutter, looking out the window to the trees behind my house.

"Yeah,"

"How do you find them?"

"Well, there's no way of knowing who they are. It just kind of happens,"

"Have you found yours?" I ask, and he looks at me. His eyes filled with adoration, and a knowing feeling filled my gut. Oh.

"It's you, Katherine. You're my imprint," he confesses, and my heart skips a beat. Excitement, nervousness, relief, and disbelief were only some of the words I would use to describe this feeling.

"So...what does that mean for us?"

"It means whatever you want it to, and I'll be whatever you need me to be. A best friend, protector, partner in crime," he jokes, but I knew he was serious. I sigh, running my hands through my hair.

"This is a lot to take in, Paul. Between vampires and wolves, and now I have a soulmate?"

"I know, and I'm sorry for dragging you into all this. But I promise to protect you no matter what you decide," he replies, turning my head so we were looking into each others eyes, "I don't expect you to make any decisions tonight, but I want you to know you have them. And if you decided this life isn't for you," he pauses, and my heart aches at the thought of not having him around.

"I want you in my life. It's just going to take some getting used to," I reassure him, and he smiles softly, glancing out the window. He nods, kissing my forehead, bidding me a goodnight, and then jumps out of my window; disappearing into the woods.

    The next morning, I got dressed and asked Bella to drop me off at Billy's. When I knocked on his front door, I wasn't sure what to expect, nor what questions to ask. Jacob was the one to answer the door.

"Hey Kathy, I wasn't expecting you," Jacob says, a confused look on his face.

"I asked her to come over," Billy calls from behind. Jacob nodded, letting me in, and I didn't say anything to Jacob about the fact that his dad was lying. He didn't ask me to come over, and I didn't ask; I just showed up on their doorstep. Jacob tells his dad he's going over to Quil's before he leaves Billy and I to ourselves.

"Did he tell you?" he asks, and I walk over to sit on the sofa closest to him.

"He did,"

"But you don't understand?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I understand, but...I don't know," dropping my head in my hands

"Kathy,"

"It's just so bizarre. I'm only fifteen, and he's telling me that we're soulmates? I've never even had a boyfriend before, and now I have some supernatural, wolf soulmate?" he chuckles at me, nodding his head.