Chapter 7: Meeting The Pack

Sunday afternoon, I swallowed down my lunch as fast as I could, for Jacob told me that he will introduce me to the pack. Even though I was ready to leave, Jake took his time to finish his fourteenth sandwich. When He finally got up, I was already at the door with my shoes on.

"Hurry up Jake!" I urged.

"Coming, be patient"

"I have been patient for the past HOUR!"

"Here, let's go." With that, Jake lead the way out of the house and got into the driver's side of his car. Meanwhile, I scrambled into the passenger seat. Jake glanced my way and chuckled to himself. Jake drove silently, and he smiled every now and then to himself. I gazed out the window, as I saw how the scenery changed from homely neighborhoods, to large highways, and finally to a gloomy city. We had arrived, to Forks, where our family originated from. Native American heritage was everywhere. So many memories rushed back to me, the good and bad ones. Memories of my horrible father, and my good times with my friends at La Push, or the reservation. How Jake and I would run around in the La Push beach, throwing wet sand at each other.

Then another face ran into my mind. My childhood best friend, Isabella Swan. Wow, I hadn't thought of her for all these years. She was ordinary looking and awkward to the rest of the world, but I knew that she was a very funny person. Isabella, or as she preferred to be called, Bella, was my best friend. Jake, Bella, and I would spend hours playing in Bella's backyard. We would go fishing with Bella's dad, Charlie, and Jake's dad, or my late uncle, Billy would tell us stories about the Quileutes. Of course he left out the wolf part. Wow, Bella must be 17, or no, she should be 18 by now. Bella is a year older than me, and a few years younger than Jake. I then decided to ask Jake if he still remembered her.

"Hey Jake, do you still remember Bella Swan?"

Jake's eyebrows pulled together in confusion, but he quickly smiled as the memories returned.

"Oh yes, Bella, oh my, I really haven't talked to her in a long time, I wonder how she is..." And Jake trailed off.

I remember Bella clearly as a child. She, like me, had a very pale complexion, but was quite awkward and clumsy. She had the ability to trip over her own two feet. The thought made me laugh. Maybe, now that she is an adult, her clumsiness might be gone. Would I still be able to recognize her? She had a very simple face, but her chocolate brown eyes were so deep. They were warm and inviting, and had the ability to brighten up a miserable person's day. The same way she would brighten up mine after my father would give me one of his "lessons", or if I had one of my long gone "episodes". I always knew that I could count on Bella. My Bells. I had nicknamed Bella, Bells. I wanted some name to keep just between us, and so I did. Even Jake or Bella's parents couldn't call her Bells, only I could. For some weird reason, my heart swelled with pride.

Suddenly the car slowed down, and then stopped all together. While I was buried in my deep thoughts, we had arrived to La Push. I was bummed a little, for I wanted to see Bells first.

"We're going to meet the pack first and then we'll go see Bella" Jake said, as if he read my mind.

I nodded and slid out of the car, and shook my legs. They had gotten stif from the long ride. Then I heard some obnoxiously loud laughter. I looked towards the beach, to see three guys running towards Jake. As soon as they met, they immediately showered Jacob with hugs.

"Hey guys, how are ya!" Jake said to them in excitement. The three said they were well.

Jake then turned in my direction to introduce them to me.

"Noah, this is Jared, Paul, and Quil. You know, from the pack" Jake hinted.

I stepped forward to shake hands with them, but Paul just brought me into a strangling embrace.

"So you guys are ware wolves?" I said as soon as I was free from the embrace.

"Yeah, but try not to say it too loud, there may be humans on the beach too" Quil chuckled.

"Come on, Leah's been talking about you nonstop" Paul said to Jacob.

"Yeah, "when is Jacob getting home, I wonder how Jacob is right now, did Jacob eat?" she has been saying that nonstop" Jared said, mimicking a female's voice. I too was excited to meet my cousin's girlfriend. Jacob was never the romantic type, he loves to joke around. Sometimes, people would even misunderstand him for that, people other than me. I loved Jake's joking.

We walked down the beach, talking and laughing like we had known each other forever. It was so easy to talk to them, as if they knew how I felt. We finally reached a nice beach house. Jacob took a few longer strides and made it into the house before the rest of us. As I stepped in through the doorway, I saw Jacob, his arms wrapped around another tall, slightly muscular looking, lovely female. She must be Leah. They were busy in an extremely passionate kiss. Their heads only pulled away for a short second to look at each other, but Leah's eyes fell on me, and she jumped away from Jake, blushing.

"Hi, you must be Noah" Leah said in a surprisingly strong voice.

"Yeah, and you must be Leah, nice to meet you" I took a step forward to shake hands.

The heat from her hand burned into mine, the same way when Paul hugged me.

"Where's Sam?" Jake asked Leah.

"He's with Emily, they're getting ready for Emily's niece's birthday" Along with her empowering voice, Leah added a smile.

"It's your girlfriend's birthday, aren't you going to get her a gift?" Jared jokingly elbowed Paul.

The confusion on my face was clear, because Jacob noticed.

"Emily is Sam's girlfriend" Jake paused, as if he weren't sure to go on or not.

"Emily's one year old niece is, um..." Jake stalled.

"-she is Paul's mate. Paul imprinted on Emily's niece." Leah finished Jake's sentence.

I stood there frozen. What did I just hear, Paul imprinted on a child? Jacob noticed my unease.

"You guys go on to Emily's place, Noah and I will follow" Jake said, and everyone nodded. Leah left with a quick peck on Jake's face. Paul stopped at the door to give me a quick smile.

Jacob's strong hands pulled me to the couch, and sat me down.

"Noah, I know what you're thinking, and it's not like it seems" Jake looked me, measuring my expression.

"Imprinting doesn't just mean to be in a romantic relationship. It means to be anything she needs you to be. You can be a brother when she is young, a protector and a friend when she is older. In a few decades, when she has matured, he can be her soulmate. That's what imprinting means, to love in all ways. I know it's weird, you may even feel uncomfortable, but that's how it is." Jake finally stopped to take a breath. I was still silent.

"What are you thinking Noah?"

I paused, and then spoke.

"So, does the child not get to make any decision on who she really wants to be with?"

"No. She has a few decades to get to know Paul. Anyways, imprinting happens from both sides, it's not just under anyone's control. She will fall in love with him too. It just suddenly happens. Paul has no bad intentions, right now, he is like a brother or a friend to her" Jake explained.

I guess I could understand that.

"Ok" I said.

"What do you mean ok?" Jake looked at me as if he had finally broken me with all this information.

"Ok as in I understand what happened and I am not uncomfortable. Now, let's go meet Sam, he will be my Alpha some day" I grinned.

Jacob responded with a grin and led me out of the house.

We walked down the beach, towards the woods. After walking through the tall shrubs, we made it to a trail in the woods. We walked on the trail for fifteen minutes. Then we finally reached a cozy bamboo house. The porch was was made of bamboo rails and was wrapped with ribbons of leaves and flowers, that gave it a slight touch of elegance. The door was wide open, with sounds of laughter coming through it. Jake grabbed me by the arm and ran up the stairs, dragging me along with him. The room was not too small, but was cozy. The dining table chairs were filled with Jared, Quil, and four other boys. Jake introduced me to them too, for they were also part of the pack. The total pack consists of Jacob, Paul, Jared, Quil, Seth (Leah's brother), Embry, Collin, Brady, and the alpha, Sam.

The love seat was occupied by Paul, and there was a small child on his lap. Paul was reading a book to her. When I first saw him, he seemed very jocular, now he was a totally different person. On the couch were two other people, a very tall and muscular man, and a small petite woman. They must be Sam and Emily, and I was right, as soon as Jake introduced me to them. Jake sat down on the floor, while I sat on the other end of the couch.

"So, Noah, why don't you tell Sam about your vampire girlfriend" Jake smirked.

"Vampire girlfriend?" Sam asked, intrigued. Emily's face was covered with horror. She excused herself and went to the kitchen.

"Sure, what do you want to know?" I asked.

"Tell me everything, from the beginning." Sam leaned in enthusiastically.