Early Imprint [Book 3] ✔️

2 • Rifles & Crowns

QUIL'S POV

In the three months since I imprinted, my life had become somewhat routine. Every day I would patrol and then around Claire's bedtime, I would run up to Makah and would sit outside her house for a few hours before I had to head back to my reservation to go back on patrol. Luckily for me, I was on summer break and I didn't have a social life anymore. I had broken up with my girlfriend of six months a few months before I imprinted on Claire and the only people I wanted to hang out with were in my pack.

Sometime, if I got really lucky on my nightly jaunts to Makah, I would get a glimpse of Claire through her bedroom window as one of her parents, Stacy or Ronnie, put her to bed. It sometimes bothered me that I was basically stalking a two-year-old. I even tried once to not go up and see her, but the pain it caused me was something I never wanted to go through again. It had physically hurt to the point where it had crippled me. Even if I wasn't able to see her physically on my nightly visits, I could still hear her breathing from the house. The sound soothed away any agitation I felt when I couldn't see her.

The good news was that we had caught the elusive redheaded vampire and Edward Cullen, one of our allied enemies had been the one to kill her. Her death took place during an event that we nicknamed the Newborn War. We had been attacked by 20 crazed, out-of-control vampires, but we were able to get rid of them within minutes. Of course, we had some help from the Cullen family. I don't think I'll ever forget the image of Emmett Cullen taking a newborn's decapitated head and bouncing it on his knee like a soccer ball.

And now that the threat of mass bloodsuckers was over, I could concentrate more fully on my obsessive need to make sure that no harm came to Claire. Emily Young, Claire's aunt had been my greatest champion. She was an imprintee herself and knowing how painful it was for a wolf to stay away from their imprint, had talked her brother and sister-in-law into letting me watch Claire and Cora, Claire's older sister, on occasion.

Emily had explained to them that Sam was basically considered chief of the Quileute tribe. She had told them that Sam and a few of his friends, me included, were considered "bodyguards" of the tribe without adding the detail that we morphed into wolves whenever our tempers hit us. Because Claire and Cora were part of Emily's family, they were also under the protection of the Quileute bodyguards. She managed to convince them that I was the best person to babysit the girls.

While her brother I think secretly thought I was some sexual deviant, Stacy had looked at me with relief. She was pregnant with her third child and was willing to accept any help she could get. I spent most weekends now driving to Makah to watch Claire and Cora while Ronnie and Stacy ran out to do errands or have date nights.

Another thing that helped turn the tide in my favor of getting more Claire time was that ever since I had imprinted on Claire she had become quite unruly. Emily told me that Claire had become incredibly restless after I met her the first time and constantly asked for me. After I made a special trip to Makah with Emily, I had talked to Claire and told her to be a good girl for her parents. It was during this trip that Emily had talked Ronnie and Stacy into letting me babysit Claire and Cora. My talk with Claire seemed to work, because she had become more settled after I had spoken with her. Stacy now thought I had a gift with children and called me all the time to help with hers. Not that I minded one bit.

I would have been perfectly satisfied with my life if it weren't for the fact that one of my best friends, Jacob Black had taken off in wolf form into the wilderness of Canada. He had had his heart broken by Bella Swan who had gotten engaged to the bloodsucker Edward Cullen around the same time as the Newborn War. Jacob had been injured during the war, but as soon as he recovered, he had taken off.