Early Imprint [Book 3] ✔️

31 • New Developments

QUIL'S POV

I went to Sam's house and knocked on the door before letting myself in. It was a nice clear day, though we were supposed to get a bad thunderstorm later. I let myself in and walked towards the kitchen. I saw Sam, Emily, and Ryan sitting around the table. Ryan had his face in his hands.

"She'll come around Ryan, it's just Gracie's age." Emily assured him.

"It's been months," Ryan said tiredly, before looking at Sam. "She's talking to you and Nate."

"Yeah, she is, but it's not the same as before," Sam replied sadly. "Besides, our situation is different. We're her blood and we live with her. She doesn't really have a choice but to talk to us."

"What should I do? Should I force her to talk to me?" Ryan asked.

Sam snorted, "When has anyone ever forced Gracie to do anything? She's too stubborn."

"She's like her father," Emily added with a smirk.

"Hey!" Sam replied before picking up Emily's scarred hand and holding it in his.

They looked at each other for a moment, but their expressions said so much. Sam and Emily were the best example of what imprint love was all about. All they had to do was hold hands and you felt like a voyeur spying on something intimidate.

"Just give her time Ryan," Emily said, looking away from Sam. I cleared my throat to make my presence known.

"Hi Quil," Emily smiled at me.

"Morning everyone...Claire ready yet?" I asked.

"She's been moving around upstairs for the past half hour so she's at least out of bed." Sam answered.

"I've got some stuff to do." Ryan muttered, getting up slowly. Emily reached and squeezed his hand.

"Don't give up, she'll come around." Emily told him.

"I can't give up," Ryan replied sadly. He nodded at me and left.

"So Claire said you have a big date planned," Sam said.

"Yeah," I responded, trying to shake off the dark feeling Ryan had left in his wake.

"Good, I'm glad to see you two back on track. Any new developments on that other situation?" Sam asked. Emily frowned at her husband.

The situation was that a vampire had been in the area again. In fact, it was the same vampire we had been chasing the day Claire had been attacked. We'd picked up his scent several times a couple of months ago. We had found that he had been to different locations around the reservation. We had almost caught him once, but since then he seemed to have disappeared.

"No, but I'm sure Nate would know before I would." I replied.

I heard some noise and turned around. Claire came down the stairs wearing jeans and a form fitting long sleeved shirt. She carried a white thick sweater.

"I wasn't sure what to wear," Claire remarked.

"You dressed perfectly." I smiled at her, holding out my hand to her. She walked over and grabbed it. I turned back to Sam and Emily, "See you later."

I walked Claire to my car. She paused when she saw the row boat attached to the back of my vehicle.

"We're going out in that?" Claire asked.

"I thought we could go fishing." I smiled at her, opening the car door for her.

Claire stopped dead and glared at me. She'd had the same stance since she was a kid. She flat out refused to eat anything that didn't come from a store. If someone went out and hunted something, she wouldn't touch it.