-
Ever since Cayla had fainted in his arms that night, he hasn't been able to see his imprint since and it has been killing him. The last time they saw one another was after Paul set down Cayla on the couch, he had been pushed out of her parents.
The next day he texted her to ask if she was okay, no response. He then called her, sent to voicemail. Texted her again, left on delivered. Paul even called the family house phone, but all he got was Cayla's angry mother on yelling at him that she was busy, and would be for a few days, but that seemed like a vague answer, that made Paul wonder if his imprint was actually safe.
Everyone could see how Cayla's absence was affecting Paul. He had lost his appetite, and wasn't as rowdy as he usually was. Instead of his main emotion being anger, it morphed into sadness. Sam knew that Paul needed to get his head screwed back on so they could refocus on training him to be a better shifter, so he decided that he would stop by the Hyan household.
Sam refused to tell Paul. He just knew if he went to go check on Cayla, Paul would want to desperately go, and then while they were there he could lose control and— well we all know what would happen after that.
So, Sam went up to the door of the home of four and rang the doorbell. Her mother opened it and crinkled her eyebrows. "Do I know you?"
Sam shook his head. "No, but I think there's something we need to discuss." The Hyan rose her eyebrows in surprise and gestured for him to continue. "We know that Cayla is different."
"Come in, come in." Mrs. Hyan hurriedly said to the pack leader, closing the door behind him.
Sam walked in and sat on the couch, Mrs. Hyan joining him. "Hi, I'm Cayla's mother, you can call me Florence."
"I'm Sam— uh Sam Uley." The man opened his mouth to speak again but stopped as he heard a weak voice call out.
"Mom?" The frail voice spoke. Sam twisted his head around to see Cayla at the top of the staircase. His face dropped instantly as he viewed her condition. Her skin looked paler than it already was, there were deep purple bags resting under her eyes. She looked skinnier, almost deathly. Her hair was scraggly and all over the place. Death seemed to be radiating from the poor girl. "Oh Sam, how nice to see you." She smiled as best as she could, with the little to no emery left in her.
"Cayla! You should be resting." The mother barked at her child. Sam glanced at the older woman in shock, wondering why her she was letting her daughter suffer instead of taking her to get professional help.
"I know I'm sorry. I'm just tired of being stuck in my room the whole day." Cayla started to carefully walk down the stairs. She put most of her weighty on the handrail, seeing as her legs were about as brittle as spaghetti noodles.
It suddenly licked for Sam. No wonder why Paul was feeling weaker and it was harder for him to shift. His imprint was weak, so that made him weak as well. Seeing Cayla struggle for a few seconds, he hopped off of the couch and went to Cayla's side, helping her down the stairs.
She talked to Sam for a few minutes before she felt herself having the heavy need to sit down. Sam helped her with the stairs, once again. Cayla also almost collapsed twice on the way back to her room, which only made Sam's worry increase more.
-
Sam rejoined Florence on the couch. "What the hell is going on here?" It seemed like Cayla's health was being endangered and he did want any harm to come to her. He had only just met the girl, but he could tell that she was a genuine person who didn't deserve whatever this sickness was.
"Do not be rude, you don't even fully know what is wrong with Cayla."
"You're right. And that's exactly why I came here. Because even though you don't know, what's going on Cayla is very deeply affecting someone that I care about."
Florence sighed. "Do you think that I don't know about you and you're pack of dogs that run around through the forests? And the Cullens with their special 'abilities'? I didn't move to Forks for no reason. And it definitely was not for the weather."
"Who told you?"
"I was raised learning about the supernatural, about all of the different monsters and magical creatures. Alright, you tell me what you know first, and we'll work from there."
"Obviously you know about us shifters and one of us imprinted in Cayla so—"
"Imprinted? What's an imprint? It sounds like it definitely not a good thing." Florence asked, quickly questioning her daughter's safety. She knew a little about werewolves, but not a lot.
Sam rubbed his hand up and down his thigh a few times before continuing. "So an imprint is basically a soulmate for a us. It's like, with one look in their eyes and you know that they're the only one for you. It's not the earth holding you down, she does. You become whatever she needs you to be. Wether that be a friend, lover, or a protecter. Every second away from her gets more and more painful. You feel this pull and have the overwhelming desire to keep her safe, no matter the risk."
"You have obviously been through this, is there any way to stop it?"
"Stop it?! Like break the bond?"
"Sam, I know that someone in your pack has imprinted on Cayla. She can't be involved with you guys. Who knows when one of you gets a little too mad, huh? With her transition coming in soon she's already coming close to crossing the bridge of death and I do not want her in any more danger than needed!" Florence yelled as her eyes watered.
"Cayla could die from this? What is wrong with her, tell me please. Her imprint, Paul won't be able to live his life fully and happily if Cayla isn't in it." Sam pleaded. He couple barely deal with being away from Emily (his imprint) for more than twenty hours, so he couldn't even begin to imagine not ever seeing her again.
Florence nodded solemnly. "She can. As you know, Cayla is different. She just doesn't know it yet. In my family, every new generation at least one child has to go transition on their seventeenth birthday. If they make it, they become a new creature. And well if they don't—"
"She dies."
"Yes. And the same thing will happen to my son, Conner." Florence's eyes started to water. "I-I've tried so hard to keep them from this Sam. I have looked and looked for a way to get them out of this. W-what if they die? How am I supposed to survive without my babies? You know what— maybe it's my fault. If I had told them sooner then maybe I could have helped them be prepared. And god damn it Sam, they're so young and they have so much potential. They haven't even gotten a taste of freedom as an adult." Tears stroked the mothers face and landed on her arms.
"We will try to find a way out of this. But I need to know, what is she?" Sam asked.
Small footsteps could be heard approaching. The two adults turned to see Cayla, water glimmering in her eyes. And with a watery voice she said:
"Yeah Mom, what am I?"
authors note
hi!! how are you guys? now you guys know a little bit more about what cayla is :) . i wanted to do a chapter that wasn't really about cayla and paul just to make this story not so focused on romance. i also wanted to show a little bit more of cayla's parents and their storyline teehee.
and i just hit 6k??? what the heck, thank you guys so much for reading even though i suck at updating frequently. i never thought i would get this many views so thank youuuu.
there will probably be a new chapter soon because tomorrow i have a tournament in another town that's two hours away so i'll have a lot of time to write n stuff.
i'll see you guys soon! have a good day.