Imprinted (Progress) by Sara Imes (great books for teens TXT) 📕

What Hayden saw in the room made her give a horrified gasp. But what made her gasp wasn’t the exact same red strapless dress from her dream, it was the person who was holding the dress. It was Kristen. Kristen smiled up to Hayden. Kristen was wearing a black silk dress that cascaded down to the floor like a black wave. Her hair was curled and she had diamond earrings in. Kirsten smiled up and waved as if they were best friends. “Hello, good to see you again, Hayden”, Kristen said cooly.

  As Seth opened the door into the night, a scent hit Seth so hard that he took a step back, knocking into Dylan. The scent was familiar, Seth could tell. Seth looked over to Dylan, and by his facial expression, Dylan sense it too.. Seth walked forward, sniffing the air. Seth, hoped that his nose, for the first time, was wrong. But it wasn't. Out of the shadows, came out Jake. He was wearing a black tank top with a leather jacket over it and black skinny jeans. Dylan and Seth looked at each other then back at Jake. Jake started back with bloodshot and angry eyes. Had he been crying?, Seth thought curiously. Looking more closely, Seth noticed that Jake was holding a piece of paper. Jake was holding the paper so tight that the veins in his hands bulged aggressively.

Behind Seth, he heard several of the pack growl low in their throats. He turned and shook his head, silencing the growls instantly. Seth cleared his throat and said, “so I guess you came back for your revenge for me throwing you out the window, huh?” Jake didn’t say anything just continued to stare angrily at Seth. Seth was starting to lose his patience. Hayden could be dead right now and i'm wasting my time on Jake. I have no time for this, Seth thought.

Before Seth could punch out whatever Jake had come here to say, Jake cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. It was obvious he was nervous. “How could you?”, Jake said softly, barely audible even to Seth’s ears. “How could you do this to Hayden!”, Jake then yelled. In a blink, Jake tackled Seth, hands around Seth's neck, fangs gleaming in the moonlight with a murderous gleam. Jake’s hands closed around Seth’s neck tighter, making it harder for Seth to breathe. Suddenly, the weight of Jake’s body was off of Seth’s body and air rushed back into Seth’s lungs.

Seth sat up on his elbow and saw Dylan walking over to Jake, who was slumped up against a tree, slowly trying to get up. Seth, even though his voice was strained, cried out a “wait”, making Dylan stop in his tracks. Seth stood up slowly, rubbing his sore throat. Jake was standing now too, glaring at Dylan and Seth. “How could you give her up to the Head Councilman? If she's your mate, then why did you do it?! Aren't you supposed to protect her?!” What is he talking about? I didn't turn in Hayden. Seth eyes caught the letter in Jake’s hand. Then the puzzle pieces started to come together in his mind.

The Head Councilman somehow knew that he had imprinted on Hayden and knew that when he told Jake that Seth had turned her in, he would come to rescue her. Jake was an obstacle to slow Seth and the pack down. But slow us down for what?, Seth thought worriedly. “Look, i'm not trying to fight you. But what you need to know is that I did not turn Hayden in. Yes I did tell her to get out of my cabin and never come back, but I was only doing it because I didn't want to admit my true feelings for her.” Seth could feel tears sting his eyes painfully, he tried desperately to hold them back, but then stopped, and decided to let them fall down his cheeks. He was tired of hiding his emotions from everybody.

“So I did the cowardly and selfish thing, I used one of my own family to drive her away and then tossed her away like a broken gardening tool, and I hate myself for it.”

The tears started to come faster now after hearing the bad things he had done to Hayden and Kristen come from his own mouth. “But you have to understand that I love Hayden. I know that now and I accept that fully, and I was a fool not to accept that before. But when I saw her with you, something inside of me just… snapped.”

“I'm sorry, it wasn't my place to throw you out of the window. If Hayden loves you, then I just have to accept that, no matter how much it pains my heart. But I swear to you that I did not give her in. She was kidnapped. The Head Councilman told me himself, he has Hayden and i'm going to get her back, no matter what it takes. No matter how many people I have to go through, even if I have to go through the Head Councilman myself.” Jake didn't say anything, just gave Seth a blank stare, and after a while, Jake looked down at the paper, and started to rip it up into small pieces. Jake then let the pieces of paper flutter to the ground like free-falling snow.

Jake then looked Seth in the eyes sternly. “You really do love her, don't you?”, Jake mumbled. Seth surprised, looked back into Jake's eyes. Seth shook his head, “Yeah. Yeah I do.” Jake nodded then, as if satisfied with Seth’s answer. Jake then tilted his head to the side and cracked his knuckles. “Well then, if she has been kidnapped that means i'm joining you guys and there's nothing you can do to stop me from coming.” Seth nodded, not even bothering arguing with the vampire. “But I have to make a quick stop to the cabin first, I need to pick up some weapons and change into different clothes.", Seth said, looking down at his clothes. 

Seth nodded and looked over to Dylan. I guess we'll have to turn. Dylan nodded and gave a nod to the pack. The entire pack’s faces grew as a grin spread across their faces. Seth watched as his pack changed into their wolf forms, furs of all colors blowing wildly in the wind. Seth smiled and then turned to find Jake staring at him. “You know she doesn’t love me. The night you and that other guy came by and threw me out the window, she said she loved you. She didn’t have feelings for me anymore, which I totally understand.” Jake stared down at the ground, hands shoved in his pockets. Despite how bad Seth felt for Jake, a small fire of hope flicked to life in his heart.

Seth was now more determined than ever to find Hayden, and so was the pack. Okay guys, enough wasting time, let's go find Hayden! The pack lifted their heads and gave a long howl to the moon, then everybody whipped past Jake and Seth on all fours, full of energy due to the full moon. Seth turned to Jake and gave a sly smile, “do you think you can keep up?” Jake returned the sly smile and nodded, “yeah I think I can manage.”

“Good, i'm glad you said that, because I wanna race you.” Jake nodded. “Okay let's do it.” Seth was about to change, but then stopped. “Oh, and sorry for throwing you out the window.” Jake gave Seth a lopsided smile and said, “It's all in the past, just like your going to be.” Jake then started running at inhuman speed, barely visible to Seth’s eye but Seth still caught glimpses of him. Seth smiled and launched off into the air, landing back down as a black wolf with yellow eyes glowing with a bright fire. 

Text: Sara Imes
Images: Google
Editing: Sara Imes
Publication Date: 09-05-2015

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