Early Imprint [Book 3] ✔️

26 • New Threat

QUIL'S POV

Claire would be coming home from California next week. We had been dating for the past six months now. It hadn't been easy as most of our relationship so far had been long distance, but we had somehow made it work.

On the night of our New Year's date, we had gone back to Claire's dorm and then passed out from exhaustion. Well, she passed out. I had taken a shower to wipe off the rest of alley grime and when I was done, I had found Claire sleeping soundly on her bed. I'd held her in my arms all night, but that was as far as it had gone.

We established a routine after that. We talked on our webcams every night at 8 pm. Between my job, Claire's school and work, and my now nightly patrols, there was very little time to see each other. Sundays had been our day though while she still attended school in Seattle. I'd leave at 6 am every Sunday, would drive five hours to Seattle, and would get there around 11 am. From there we'd spend the day together, and then I'd head for home again around 7 pm, so that I'd be back in time for my shift to patrol. It would have been so much easier if I could have just run back and forth, but we usually needed a car for our dates.

Claire had gone straight from school in Seattle to her apprenticeship in California. I had flown down there with her when she first moved, but since then, I had only seen her once in the past nine weeks. And the one time I did see her, I had made a special trip to California so that I could celebrate Claire's 19th birthday with her. But we still talked every night on our webcams. That made the distance a little more bearable.

I was more in love with her than I ever thought possible, and I knew she was in love with me too. It was strange how we never said the words though. That was something I needed to establish when she got back. I planned to tell her that I was in love with her, and that I'd been falling in love with her for years.

I looked at the clock on my DVD player. Ten more minutes until 8 pm and then I'd get to talk to her. I couldn't wait for Claire to come home, though I knew what it meant. Telling her that I loved her wasn't the only thing I needed to say to her. It was time for me to tell her the truth. I planned on telling her about the pack and the fact that she was my imprint. I knew it would complicate things, but I figured that if she loved me as I loved her, we'd make it work even with her still attending college. I was thinking that if she wanted me too, I'd move to Seattle to be near her when school started up again.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason I wanted to move to Seattle. Since I killed that leech on New Year's Eve, there had been some mysterious deaths taking place over the past few months. Five bodies had been found completely drained of blood. The murders started around June in the Colorado area, and had since started moving west, getting closer and closer to us. The latest victim had been found on the outskirts of Seattle.

Sam had called Jacob and the Cullens and had given them a description of the bloodsucker I had killed on New Year's Eve. They didn't know who the vampire was, or if his destruction had something to do with the new string of murders. There was some concern that the new leech would bring the Volturi back to the area, but the Volturi now avoided this part of the world like it was the sun.

Glancing at the clock again, I noticed it was close to webcam time. I got up from my chair and got my computer set up. Soon Claire and I were talking face to face. God, how I missed her!

"Hey, how'd it go today?" I asked.

"Quil, you wouldn't believe it! I got to work on a cartoon today that they're putting on the market. Some of the scenes I did might end up in the film. It's going straight to DVD, but I'm so excited."

"That great!" I told her, overjoyed at the sight of her enthusiasm.

"And guess what? I got a new neighbor today." Claire told me, her eyes brimming over with mirth. Claire was staying in a temporary apartment, completely furnished, while she was in California.