Natural Instincts - Jared Cameron

.sixteen.

"Dude, okay now that you know about everything, I gotta tell you. Every time you go to school, you come back stinking of vamps." Jacob whined loudly as I stood in the doorway, the guys silently agreeing with him.

"Don't change the subject, come on, Edward wouldn't tell me but he said I could ask you and you'd explain. I'm sick of being out of the loop!" I stomped my crutch on the ground in a make-shift tantrum gesture, putting on my best puppy dog eyes, to which Seth audibly "awed" and Jared smiled in weakness.

"I could make you tell me, you know, so you may as well do it on your own terms."

This seemed to finally be enough. I knew I was going to find out anyway but didn't understand why this was seemingly such a big deal, on the same scale as our DNA revelations. 

Jared turned to Sam as if asking for permission to which Sam smiled proudly at him, encouraging his beta. He then stood up and walked to me. "Come with me," he offered, hand grabbing my free one, once again sending a lightening shock through my arm and making my heart speed up.

I glanced behind me on the way out to see all the guys with mischievous grins and pride painted all over them, Paul doing a little happy dance in the living room.

Jared and I walked beside each other in silence, the only sound being our footprints on the sand once we had reached the beach. Every time he brushed beside me and I felt his arm against mine, my heart picked up speed again. And knowing now that he could hear that with his wolf senses only made it worse, especially when I saw him smirk. 

"Shut up, I can't control it." I whined, playfully pushing him, though he didn't move an inch. 

He laughed harder now, evaporating some of the nervous tension he was carrying. "Sorry doll, I can't control the effect I have, either." he joked, sending me a sly wink that made the whole situation 10x worse. 

"Uh just tell me already," I demanded, changing the subject from my humiliation.

He invited me to sit with him on a perch of sand overlooking the whole beach. 

"I've wanted to tell you about this for a really long time. But you had to know about what I was first, and then obviously that got postponed, and it's just been dragged out. Plus I'm nervous as fuck, so I apologise in advance for my stuttering." he explained nervously rubbing his hands up and down his legs.

I smiled at his jitters, placing a hand on his knee. "It's okay, whatever it is, I think we've proved I'm not gonna be scared off." 

He smiled but pulled a face with raised eyebrows, indicating he wasn't so sure. "This is on a different wavelength, Julio. Just promise me you won't blame me, and no matter what you think, I need you to know that this doesn't have to force anything, it's not like that, just keep an open mind." 

"Always do."

He sighed, no longer able to put it off. 

"So when a wolf phases, their animal instincts kick in. And one thing that kicks in is our ability to do something called imprinting. Once a wolf phases for the first time it can happen once in their life, though it isn't guaranteed, but it can happen." 

I nodded, encouraging him to continue. "Essentially what an imprint is, is when that wolf lays eyes on someone for the first time since phasing, their life is no longer about being a wolf or being human or school or anything. It becomes about that person. The legends tell it that imprinting is our way of finding a soulmate, and that it's our ancestors choosing that person as our 100% perfect match. You're literally made for that person, born to be their soulmate." 

He searched my eyes for any signs of catching on, and though I had a tiny hunch, I dismissed it and listened intently. 

"When a wolf imprints, that person becomes their whole entire world. Nothing can come between them, they have to protect their imprint, they have to be near them, it's literally unbreakable. And the other person feels it too. It's an incredibly strong bond, nothing to be underestimated. It draws the two together."