PROMISE - S. CLEARWATER

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄: 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃𝐒

    "Again, the pack will be so lucky for that."

    "Shh," he puts his free hand over my mouth again. "Stop with the self-deprecating jokes. You're perfect and great and the pack will all love you if they ever do more than just stare at you like creeps."

    I roll my eyes. He just grins and takes his hand off my mouth, tucking the hair that's been blown across my face by the wind behind my ears. I do the same for him, but given how short his hair is, it takes a lot less work and time. He just grins at me. I let my hands come to rest on his chest. His eyes are locked on mine, his hands slowly moving down my back until they rest on my waist. My stomach does a couple little turns. My heart pounds again. Christ.

    "I can hear your heart," he whispers. I nod and look at his lips. He leans in closer, closer, until our lips meet. The kiss is soft, gentle, sweet. A lot like him. He pulls back for a second to look at me, then goes back in. This time he puts some force behind it. His hands tighten on my waist and pull me in closer. I reach up and twine my arms around his neck. My back arches a little as he leans over me, somehow pulling me in more. We kiss a couple more times before I pull away, resting my forehead against his.

    "Wow."

    He smiles and kisses the top of my nose. "Yeah, agreed."

━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━

    We walk the rest of the way down the beach hand in hand. He takes the opportunity to tell me more about the history of the Quileute Tribe and how they became werewolves. It's a sad story, but still interesting. I find it quite beautiful and cool how the Third Wife was so willing to sacrifice herself to save her husband. Seth takes note of my interest in that part and promises to ask more about her and tell me. I thank him with a kiss and a smile. We kiss a lot more.

    It's easy, being with him. Like he's been around my whole life already. I guess that's the magic of imprinting. Or not magic. I still don't fully understand the whole imprinting thing, but I guess that comes with time. Even if it doesn't, I'm fine not getting it. What I do get is that Seth is my soulmate, werewolf-weirdness aside.

    It's not until Emily finds us and calls us back that we realize how long we've been out.  It's nearly dark by the time we reach her house again. Seth insists on his ability to protect me and keep me safe if the need arose, but Emily has none of it and sets me a curfew. I have to be within ten feet of her house by ten every night. She would ban Seth from taking me out if the two of us broke this. She and Sam were both smart enough that to threaten a ban against us seeing each other fully, thank God. We'd figure out a way around that if it happened. She gave us an unsurprisingly motherly scolding once we were both inside and eating. I just smiled around my cup while Seth took all of it with practiced patience. Must be so much fun, having two moms.

    "What do you remember about being with Victoria?" Sam asks casually. I frown a little and put down the cookie I had been eating. "What?"

"Not much. Just that I was supposed to be one of the army members' snack and she decided I would be a better friend. So she kept me around and pretended to feed on me. Riley would've killed me himself if he knew."

    "Why didn't he make you a bloodsucker?"

    "Because he said I wasn't good enough. Found me all weak in an alley somewhere and decided I looked more tasty than army-worthy. So he gave me to Bree as incentive not to leave. Do you know Bree? Emily said everyone was killed, but she was good. She didn't want to kill random other vampires. And it was so obvious that Victoria was just using Riley. What for, we didn't really know. We could all tell."

    "It's because he was from around here," Sam explains. "She was using him as a sort of map. She needed someone who knew the area, and Riley was the first one she could find. And no, I don't know anyone named Bree. We killed everyone, and anyone we didn't get, the Cullens or the Volturi did."

    "Oh shit. They did come. Victoria was worried about that."

"Was she?"

"I mean, she made an illegal army to kill a peaceful coven. I'm pretty sure that's against, like, every rule ever. It also drew a lot of attention to them because of the suspicious circumstances surrounding all these missing people from the same place."

    "True. Well, everyone was taken care of. I'm sorry Bree made promises she couldn't keep. Where were you from before?"

    "Seattle. Got jumped on the way home from work. They left me in an alley, so Riley smelled my blood and came to change me. Kinda sucks that I wasn't even good enough to die. Just barely enough to be kept as a morbid sort of pet."

    "It's odd that he didn't change you, but be thankful for that. You'd be dead right now if he did."

    Seth walks back into the room right as he says that, stopping in his tracks. "Woah. What the hell are you guys talking about?"

    "How I would be dead if Riley decided I was good enough to be a vampire."

    "Stop that. God. Talk about something more pleasant or something, please. This is just sad and gross and weird to talk about so late at night."

    "Fine. We'll talk more in the morning. Doctor Cullen will most likely want to speak with you, too."

    "Okay," I reply, smiling. "Thanks for not being mean about it."

    "Yeah," he grunts in response. "I'm going to find Emily. Don't keep our guest up too late."

    "Yes, sir."

    He smiles at both of us and leaves. It's just Seth and I in the room now. "Well damn," he says. "Sam never smiles. Good job."

    "Aw, thanks."