Forbidden Imprint [Book 5] ✔️

21 • Embry's Epiphany

EMBRY'S POV

Contrary to popular opinion, imprinted wolves have freewill. We can make choices. Case in point, legends always said that wolves couldn't hurt their imprints in any way. Quil recently told me of a time where he had gotten into a huge fight with Claire when she was a teen. He had even gone so far as to call her a whore. Of course, when he woke up the next day he felt like absolute shit...like he had the flu, meningitis, and pneumonia all rolled into one. But he was still able to hurt his imprint because that was his choice.

We're able to choose our own destiny. We can choose to resist our imprints if we want. We can hurt them just as badly as they can hurt us. However, it's advised that we don't take this course of action.

And honestly, why would we want to? Why would we deliberately go out of our way to hurt the one person we were made for? Hurting our imprints was like hurting ourselves. Making our imprints happy made us happy. But isn't that normal whether you've imprinted or not? I mean, who wants to hurt the person they love? Unless you're a sadist and you hate the person you're in a relationship with, why wouldn't you want to make that special someone feel cherished? Imprinted love is no different than falling in love under normal circumstances. One of the few major differences is that we've been given a shortcut to finding our great love, while other people have to search for it.

I knew there were cynics out there when it came to anything "imprint-related." Collin used to be one. He never wanted to imprint. As soon as he met Lindsey though, he became another person. He became content...fulfilled in a way he never was before, all because of the power of imprinting. He was happy, and because of his love for Lindsey he became a better man, even under his current circumstances of being oddly drawn to Lindsey's friend Amber. Would he ever cheat on Lindsey? Hell no! A weaker man would, but Collin would never stray, which meant no one would ever get hurt from an affair. In fact, from what I could see of Collin's relationship with Lindsey since Quil's wedding, they were stronger than ever before.

Another former "anti-imprinter" was Jake. Jacob had once voiced concern that "freewill" was taken away when you imprint. But after he became imprinted himself, he realized that it was his will to be with Ness. Why would he ever choose to be away from her? She and their children made him happier than he ever thought possible. I've never heard him or any of my other brothers say, "wow, my life sucks because I imprinted." Because it wasn't true. They weren't miserable, just the opposite in fact. They would have ended up with who they did whether they imprinted or not. I have no doubt in my mind that if Quil hadn't imprinted on Claire when she was a kid, they would have ended up together anyway as soon as she became an adult. Because they were perfect for each other.

Hell, even Leah had finally gotten to a point in her life where she could see some of the positives of imprinting. I don't think she'll ever forget the pain of the past, but the happiest Leah has ever felt in her life was when she met and married her husband Dylan. She never imprinted on him, but she found a joy with him that she never had with Sam. It took her awhile to realize that she and Sam would have eventually fizzled out. Once she understood that, she had been able to accept Dylan in her life. And he gave her two things she wanted most; a love that was entirely for her and their children.

And then there was me.

I was currently laying in bed staring at the ceiling trying to figure out my life. Amy lay on the other side of the mattress as far from me as she could. There was nothing new in that. She wasn't my other half. She could tolerate the heat of my body for only short periods of time. Most women I had been with had been uncomfortable because of the heat my body exuded. I had even had a couple of women faint on me before. Only Rebecca had been able to handle my body temperature for an extended period of time. Because she was made for me.