Finding Home in Your Arms

Chapter 5: Telling Charlie

As soon as Billy, Nina and Jacob arrived at the beach, Sam, Jared, and Paul surrounded them and immediately started grabbing food from Nina and running off to the set it down.

Nina began looking around earnestly but didn't see Charlie yet, so she decided to go converse with a few people.

Seeing Emily Young sitting off to the side speaking with few tribe members she decided to walk over and say hello.

"Hello Emily," Nina spoke when she arrived at the girl's side, "How are you doing this evening? she asked,

Emily Young was a very sweet young woman, so while she wasn't exactly fond of how much time her fiancé was spending with Nina Black, she wasn't going to be impolite to the woman, "Hello Nina, I'm doing just fine, thank you, it's very nice to meet you as well, I've heard so much about you from Sam."

They staying and talked for a little bit longer and got to know each other some more. Emily was a sweet girl, if a little shy.

Finally Nina looked up from her conversation to see Charlie walking towards her, a slight smile on his lips.

Nina excused herself and met his half way, "Hi, for a minute there I was afraid you had changed your mind."

Charlie smirked, "I would never stand you up."

Nina beamed up at him, "I'm glad you're here, and you're just in time for the legends. Daddy's getting ready to start, so lets get you some food and join everyone around the fire." She said as she grabbed his hand and led him over to the food table.

The boys were standing over there as well, filling up their third plate, but stopped and stared when Nina brought Charlie over and they began filling up their own plates. They hadn't had a chance to meet Charlie yet and were quite shocked at how much older than them he was.

But with the way he and Nina were staring at each other, it was obvious how much the two cared for each other.

"Hey Nina, you gonna introduce us to your boyfriend?" Jared questioned playfully as Sam and Paul snickered

Nina sent them a mock scolding look before beaming up at Charlie, "Charlie, this is Sam Uley, Jared Cameron, and Paul Lahote they're some boys I'm tutoring."

Charlie reached his hand out for the boys to shake; with the way theses guys looked he had a hard time even calling them boys, "It's nice to meet you two."

Sam gave him a respectful nod, "It's nice to finally meet you, we've heard so much about you from Nina." Sam was the most mature of the three

Jared smirked at him as they shook hands but didn't say anything.

It was Paul she had to watch out for, "Oh yes, she never stops talking about you. It's sickening, really." The boys were snickering at their own inside joke.

By now both Charlie and Nina were blushing furiously. And Nina was getting ready to throttle the three of them.

Before she could say anything to them though, Billy began calling everyone over to the fire to begin the story telling.

"You know," Charlie stated as they made their way over, "In all my years of friendship with Billy I've never heard the legends. I'm really looking forward to it."

Nina send him a small smile, her nerves were starting to act up again. She just knew she would be on edge all night till she finished telling Charlie her secret.

Once everyone was situated Billy began, "The Quileutes have been a small tribe from the beginning, but we've always had magic in our blood. We were great spirit warriors... Shape shifters that transform into the powerful wolf. This enabled us to scare off our enemies, and protect our tribe."

Nina looked over at Charlie to gauge his reaction, and he looked completely enraptured by the story so far. Billy starting speaking more on becoming spirit warriors. She just loved listening to how her father told the legends. Billy then moved onto imprinting and Nina couldn't help but move closer to Charlie. He noticed and smiled as he wrapped his arm around her waist. Nina looked around the fire and her eyes landed on Sam who had a very familiar look on his face as he stared at Emily, Leah's cousin.

Billy continued, moving on to the story of the cold ones, "One day our warriors came across a creature, it looked like a man, but it was hard like stone, and cold as ice. Our warriors' sharp teeth, finally tore it apart... But only fire would completely destroy it. They lived in fear that the Cold Man was not alone. And they were right, he had a mate. She took her vengeance out on the village. Our elder chief, Taha Aki, was the only spirit warrior left to save the tribe, after his son was killed. Taha Aki's Third Wife could see that he would lose. The Third Wife, who was also Taha Aki's imprint, was no magical being, no special powers, but one... Courage. The Third Wife's sacrifice distracted the Cold Woman, long enough for Taha Aki. Over time, our enemies have disappeared. But one remains... The Cold Ones. Our magic awakens when they near. And we sense it now, we feel the threat in our blood. Something terrible is coming. And we must all be ready. All of us."

There was a deafening silence and when Nina turned to look at Charlie, he had this look of complete fascination on his face. She decided that it was time to tell him before she lost her nerve.

"Can I talk to you?" Nina asked Charlie softly and when he nodded she guided him a bit farther down the beach away from prying ears.

Nina took a deep breath and turned around to face him, "There's something I need to tell you Charlie, something you got to know before we go any further into the relationship."

Charlie gave her a confused look, "Okay what is it you need to tell me?"

"The stories you just heard about the Quileute tribe, about how we are spirit warriors and the blood of wolves run through our veins. It's all true."

Charlie stated at her for a while before asking, "What the hell are you talking about Nina?"

Nina let out a shaky breath, "I am a spirit warrior, a werewolf. It happened a few weeks ago when I was still living in New York. Do you understand what I'm telling you? Werewolves, cold ones, its all true. Don't you feel the connection between us, it's different that anything you've ever felt before, right? That because I am a shape shifter created to protected my tribe from the vampires and you are my imprint."

Charlie sat down on a rock and tried to wrap his head around what she was telling him. He didn't want to outright accuse her of being crazy or lying because she was right, he did feel this intense connection with her. But at the same time there was no way what she was saying could be true.

"So you're telling me all the stories I just heard Billy tell, they were all true? The tribe warriors tuning into wolves, the vampires attacking, the fact that werewolf have this one person meant for them that you all call imprints, and I'm what? Yours? I'm you soul mate or whatever?" he exclaimed, slightly hysterical

"Yes" Nina whispered nervously

Charlie stood up and began pacing back and forth, before stopping and staring at her suspiciously, "Can you prove it?"

Nina was happy that he hadn't called her insane and tried to run, but she could also tell that he was wary of her now, "Yes I can prove it to you."

Nina then backed away a good bit and began removing her clothing.

"What the hell are you doing?" Charlie exclaimed as he closed his eyes and turned away.

Nina scoffed, "You don't think I'm going to ruin my clothes do you?"

Charlie laughed slightly but stayed facing the other way, till he felt something nudge him in the back. When he turned back around there was a giant solid White wolf standing in the place of Nina.

Charlie hesitantly reached out and placed his hand on her snout, "Nina?" he whispered in awe.

The wolf huffed at him before lying down on the ground. She let Charlie pet her and even began purring when he rubbed a certain spot behind her ear.

Charlie chuckled , "You can turn back now, I think we need to have a long talk."