CHAPTER 23
THE L-WORD

THE majority of the wolf pack in the room made it their duty to sprint out of Emily's house at a moment's notice. As soon as Margo's question hung in the air, they were gone. Jared and Embry were out first, almost tripping over their feet because of their slip-up. Margo watched them with a confusion expression, before her eyes settled on Sam, who was shrugging lazily. "I'm sure Emily can explain a great deal," he answered and strode out of the house to rile up his pack members.

Margo scoffed, turning to Emily as she sat down beside her at the table. "Why did they all run away when I mentioned imprinting?" She asked, beginning to pick at the muffin's leftovers on her plate. "Is it that much of a big deal?"

Emily's eyes shifted. "Well," she paused, "yes. It really is a big deal."

Margo furrowed her brow, allowing Emily to continue with her definition. "Imprinting is ... well, it's this psychological mechanism that happens when the Quileute wolves find their soul mates. To put it lightly."

She blinked quickly. A soul mate? Margo was only seventeen, and as much as she cared about Jacob, she felt as if she didn't have enough experiences to find a soul mate. "That's lightly to you?" Margo felt like she was going to choke on the piece of muffin she placed in her mouth. The taste of blueberries was suddenly so foreign to her.

"Do you want a longer version?" Emily raised her brow, and Margo nodded. "From what Sam's told me – when a shape-shifter imprints on a specific female, he becomes unconditionally bound to her for the rest of his life. No matter what age. There's no specifications. It usually occurs when he sees his imprintee after the first phasing." She sighed longingly. "Everything else in his life becomes secondary, and only the imprintee is left to matter. And their most important law, above all, is that no wolf may harm or kill a fellow wolf's imprint – no exceptions."

Margo felt her chest flare up with heat, and she rubbed at it gently. She leaned back in her seat. She almost felt overwhelmed about the matter, but she refused to express this, in fear she would insulting. This was a lot to take in at her age, and she couldn't even imagine how Jacob was feeling.

"It seems kind of convenient that Jacob imprinted on me after we were already dating," Margo muttered with a hint of bitterness. "Does imprinting pertain to past personal feelings?"

Emily shook her head, allowing Margo to get another look at her scar. She felt a pang of guilt afterwards, knowing that she disobeyed one of Sam's rules. "Maybe fate had brought you two together before the imprinting," Emily suggested with a smile.

"Doubt that," she replied, before releasing a sigh. "I know I may seem unconcerned about this, but ... god, this is just a lot. I haven't even been here an hour."

Emily chuckled softly, placing her hand on Margo's. The brunette looked up and met Emily's kind eyes, knowing that she could sense her nerves. "Jacob has told us that you're very smart," she began, "so I'm guessing that you would also like another reason to why this all happens?"

"I mean," Margo shrugged, "there has to be another explanation other than it being some kind of supernatural phenomena."

"It all depends on what you believe," Emily replied. She poured herself a glass of orange juice from the pitcher on the table. After taking a sip, she continued, "Sam believes that a shape-shifter imprints on the person with whom he has the best chance to reproduce. But ... it's also been said that some of these men have imprinted on females much younger than them. So that theory is debatable."

Margo's eyes went wide. Reproduce? First, soul mates, then reproduction. She was too young to be thinking about this! She was only seventeen, just trying to keep her head above water before graduation and going to college. But now everything had to be dropped because her boyfriend became a werewolf and she's supposed to be his soul mate for life? It was all too much.

She never questioned her care for Jacob. It was apparent through everything. She truly cared for him on a deep level, mostly because he never ceased to be there for her, and understood her personally. But this ... everything was different now. Was he even the same Jacob? Physically, no, but mentally ... he had to still be in there, and he had to understand her hesitation on the matter.

Margo wasn't stupid. She knew this was something that was an important part of her life now that she couldn't get away from, and on the inside, she didn't want to run away. It was simply the shock of more duties thrust on her plate that made her brain almost explode. Her heart was beating at a mile a minute.

"You look like you're overthinking this." Emily stated, bringing Margo out of her thoughts. "I've dumped a lot on your plate."

Margo exhaled heavily. "My life hasn't exactly been a walk in the park lately. I've been overthinking a lot."

"I felt the same when Sam imprinted on me," Emily replied, looking down at her hands. "It was very confusing for me. Apparently, when he first saw me after his first phasing, he instantly felt this ... compulsion to go to touch my hand. He said that every step he took away from me was physically painful, but coming back was such a physical relief."

Margo began to bite at her nails again. Did this mean that the week Margo took to think everything over was physically painful to Jacob? Had he been suffering? She felt an instant pang of guilt.

"I was ... very hurtful to Sam during the beginning. He had been dating my cousin, Leah, and after his imprinting on me, he broke up with her. I was really upset about it. Whenever I told Sam to leave, he would do as I asked, but would just come back to me to try to explain how much he needed to be with me and how we were perfect for each other." Emily grabbed Margo's hand again and squeezed it. She hoped her explanation silenced her many doubts. "Sam and I had a ... rough process, but we're together now – for life. No one has ever made me happier.

"Imprinting and pack relationships are difficult. Don't sell yourself short, Margo," Emily cooed, her mouth twisting upwards. "Embry has told me about your friend named Melinda. He really enjoyed his dates with her, but since his first phasing, he realized she wasn't his imprint. He didn't want to put her through the hurting Leah went through when he found his imprint. He was helping Melinda."

That was a shock to Margo. She lifted her brow for a moment, but then it shot back down. When she thought about it more, that made Embry's silence towards Melinda understandable. He was doing a good thing for her, and if the breakup between Sam and Emily's cousin was so bad, then she guessed it was better for Melinda to not be involved with him anymore. As much as Margo wanted her best friend to be with the boy she really liked, their worlds were so much different now.

Margo smiled slightly, squeezing Emily's hand back. Her chest was no longer tight, and the erratic beating seemed to cease. Margo breathed in deeply. "Thank you for explaining this all to me," she said. "I really do appreciate it."

"It's no problem," Emily nodded her head in thanks. She stood up and took the plate sitting in front of Margo, placing the other dish wear in her sink. "Now, I think what you need to do is go out to First Beach and find Jacob. I'm sure he's literally suffering without you."

•••

"When did you plan to tell me?"

Margo's exclamation lifted into the air of First Beach, almost like smoke emitting from a campfire. Despite her boots squishing into the wet sand, Margo marched confidently towards her now imprinter. Her conversation with Emily had settled some doubts, but she still felt slightly angry that Jacob hadn't told her sooner, like when he visited her a week ago. Maybe he was protecting her, allowing her to take everything in slowly, but Margo was ... Margo. No matter how uncomfortable, she had to know everything at once or she felt completely out of the loop. Jacob keeping probably the biggest secret about his phasing for a later time made her annoyed.

She knew she was acting irrational, but as Margo planted her feet in front of Jacob, she didn't care all that much. Looking to the left, she spotted another male walking away from where Jacob sat in the sand. She assumed that was Paul, who Sam said Jacob had been walking with. Jacob's sneakers were dirty from the sand, and his jean shorts were wet.

He continued to look out at the ocean shimmering in the cloudy sun, causing Margo to tug at a part of his short hair to get his attention. (She somewhat wished he still had longer hair to make her point more prevalent.) "Are you going to answer me?!" She shrieked again.

"I'm going to assume that someone told you about imprinting," Jacob replied, almost calmly.

"Yeah, your friends ratted you out," Margo huffed, plopping herself into the sand beside him. "They left Emily to explain it all to me."

Jacob pulled his knees to his chest and hung his arms on them. "Let me guess, it was all Jared."

"Ding, ding, ding," Margo muttered, "we have a winner."

"Why do you sound so angry with me?" Jacob narrowed his eyes. "You act as if you haven't had a big secret before."

Margo blinked. "Because you could've told me sooner! This is a big deal!"

"You're such a hypocrite sometimes," he muttered, causing Margo to glare at him. "How can you be chastising me when you never told me why you moved to Forks –"

"It's because my parents abused me!" She interrupted, her exclamation hanging in the air. "Is that what you wanted to hear? My parents treated me like shit because they always wanted me to be the smartest person in the family. Nothing I ever did was good enough. They made me suffer for most of my childhood until my aunt got custody of me. There. You have your answer."

Jacob swallowed hard. The two continued to share a long stare before Margo finally looked away from him. Her conscious urged her to walk away, and she almost feared Jacob would get mad enough to phase again. But Jacob was trying to breathe slowly, and she eventually heard him calm himself from her left. He cracked his knuckles and muttered, "Thank you for telling me." He paused, his voice growing quiet. "That was so stupid. I'm sorry for arguing. You shouldn't have had to tell me under those circumstances."

Margo sighed, not knowing how to reply. She appreciated the gesture nonetheless and turned towards the ocean.

He hesitated, shaking his head slowly. Jacob glanced to Margo, who was squinting at the waves in front of them. He wanted to reach out and push her hair behind her ears like he always did, but he was cautious to touch her, due to his temperature. He wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, but she already knew that. Jacob chewed at his bottom lip, hesitating before reaching out to take her hand in his. Margo felt the burning immediately, but didn't find herself recoiling away.

"I know I should've said something when I visited you last week. You know – about the imprinting thing." He finally stated when their eyes met again. "I just didn't want to freak you out. I'm already a part wolf; the last thing I wanted to confess is that –"

"We're soul mates?" Margo finished with a lifted brow.

Jacob's jaw shifted. "Yeah, that."

"Soul mates," she sighed heavily. Margo held their hands together tighter, and she stared at them as she collected herself. "That's a pretty big word."

"Yeah," he agreed with a nod, "looks like you're stuck with me."

Margo giggled softly, her lips turning up in a grin. Her agitation from before had vanished like a leaf blowing in the wind. "Don't you think this is all happening so ... fast?"

"Time has a funny way of making things difficult for us." Jacob frowned slightly, allowing Margo to rest her head on his shoulder. He leaned into her, inhaling her sweet scent. He loved her usual perfume, which was a mix of exotic flowers and a hint of old books. "Guess this all means that we're – um – you know."

Margo lifted her head. "We're what?"

Jacob wiggled his brows, causing Margo to shake her head when she realized what he was implied. "You know, in L-word."

Margo smiled, her eyes filling with warmth as she looked at Jacob. She felt almost wrong saying this at her age, but ... somehow having the word roll off her tongue right now just felt right. Jacob was still her Jacob. No matter what form, he was still there.

"Guess I'm kind of in L-word with you," she replied, shrugging as if it were casual.

Jacob grinned big. His heart beat fast, but he still found the strength amongst his nerves to lean in close. His lips just about grazed her, and he felt her sharp intake of breath heat up his skin. Before he could kiss her, he felt her finger land on his lips, causing him to open his eyes.

"Slow down there, wolf boy," she smirked, "you still have mono."