Early Imprint [Book 3] ✔️

1 • Early Imprint

QUIL'S POV

When I woke up this morning, I never expected anything out of the ordinary to happen. I thought it would be just your average day of turning into a wolf to hunt some vampires. You know, your typical day at the office.

I had just joined the pack a month before. The weeks leading up to that life changing event had been dismal as my two best friends suddenly dropped me and wouldn't have anything to do with me. It wasn't until I became a wolf myself that I realized that Jacob and Embry had actually been trying to protect me by staying away.

We were meeting at our Alpha leader Sam's house for lunch before patrolling. A bloodsucker had been hunting in the area and we were having trouble getting her. We had nicknamed her the elusive vampire.

Jacob, Embry, and I had walked into Sam's house to find Emily in the kitchen preparing lunch. We offered to help, but she preferred people to stay out of her way when she was cooking. She told us the only thing she wanted was some help carrying a tray of food into the living room. Embry offered to help with that chore which was fine by me.

As soon as I had gotten to Sam's house, I had felt an anxious urge to go into his living room. It was kind of baffling really, because it was just another meeting before hunting for the leech. No reason to have this strange pulling feeling. I felt as though it had become essential to my life to get into that room.

"Jacob, Quil, these are my nieces, Cora and Claire," I heard Sam say as we walked into the room.

I saw a little girl sitting on Leah's lap and I smiled in her direction as she half-heartedly waved back. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little figure move from behind Sam's legs where she had been hiding and walked straight in my direction.

She was no more than two-years-old. She looked at me with her hand proffered for me to shake. She had light brown hair that reached her shoulders and a smile that showed she still had some teeth that hadn't grown in yet. But it was when I looked into her dark brown eyes that everything changed.

My world shifted and I felt that weird pull suddenly latch around both myself and this little girl like a vice. Everything that was important to me...my love for my parents and sister, the love I felt for Jacob and Embry and the rest of the pack...all of it faded into the background as I stared at Claire. My whole world suddenly seemed to begin and end with her. Nothing else mattered or existed.

I bent down to shake her hand. What I really wanted to do was pick her up and hold her close so that nothing could ever harm her. Nothing would ever harm her. I would kill anyone who tried to hurt Claire with my bare hands.

I heard Paul mutter something that sounded like "ew" but I couldn't be too sure. I heard Embry say something, but it was also muffled. Their voices seemed be coming from far away. Almost as though they were coming out of a transistor radio that had staticky reception.

Before I knew it, Claire was ripped away from me by Sam. He put her into Emily's arms. I didn't understand their reaction, but I didn't dwell on it as my attention stayed firmly on Claire. She was like a beacon of light in the middle of a storm.

"You. Outside. Now." I heard Sam say although I could barely make out the words as I continued to stare at Claire. She had begun to squirm in her aunt's arms as she called out for me.

"Qwil," Claire cried.

I wanted desperately to go to her and take away her pain. It tore at my heart, but all of a sudden I felt a shove. Before I knew it, I was outside. I blinked in surprise. I thought I heard Sam say something about phasing, but I was too focused on Claire who I could hear crying inside the house.