Jacob Black's Imprint

11. Her Back

Katie's POV:
I took off through the trees, not stopping when they shouted after me. Not stopping when my bare feet were ripped open from the ground, not stopping when the wind kissed my exposed stomach. I ran through the pain, hoping desperately to outrun the nightmares and shadows clawing at the back of my mind, begging to be let free.

I made it to my favorite cliff overlooking the ocean. The wind was laced with the scent of the sea. I sat down hard and curled my head over my bent knees. Oh course he found me. I would never, never, be rid of him, or my past. And now that my new family had seen, now that everyone I cared about had seen, I had nothing left here, nothing left at all. Who would want me now? Who would want someone as ruined as me? Why did I even think I could start over?

A choked sound came out of me as I clamped down on a sob building in me. No tears Katie, no tears. There's no one who would even care anyway. I though to myself. My body was so tense I thought I would snap.

The fragile, new, life I had built here. All the careful lies, careful love I had discovered. All of it comes crashing down just because that bastard I have to call father decided to show up. I clamped down on another sob, as I tried to take deep breaths, tried to reorder my mind. But my lungs refused to take more than pathetic little gasps, my mind refused to calm down.

And then I heard careful footsteps behind me. I already knew who it was, I had spent months with this person who had slowly started to piece my broken heart and soul back together. Jacob cleared his throat as he took another step forward and I heard his breath catch as he took in my ruined back. Curled up as I was, the whole expanse of my scarred back was on full display.

POV switch cause why the f not?

Jacob POV
I knew from the moment that man stepped out of the car that something was wrong. While Charlie and Bella were all smiles, Katie face had turned so, so pale. Her hands reached out to grab my arm and I could feel her fear roil up inside her through the imprint bond. Felt her hands start to shake and her heart start to race as the man stepped closer. I took a protective step in front of her. I wondered if she knew just how small she looked right then. Her shoulders curved inward as if she was trying to disappear. This beautiful, strong, confident, sarcastic, athletic girl, now looked small, nervous, and so, so scared.

But then it all happened. So fast my mind could barely register it. This man was her father yet she was terrified of him. The thing that brought me back was the feeling of Katie being ripped away from me. I growled and felt myself start to tremble with the need to phase, but I held it back. Then this horrible man, Katie's father, raised her shirt and showed us her back.

The utter fear and dread coursing through Katie through the bond and written all across her face, hit me worse than any physical blow. All my instincts were going crazy trying to get to her to end the source of her fear and pain.

Then I saw her back and I couldn't hear over the roaring in my ears and in my head. Couldn't see over the red washing my vision. This man, had hurt my imprint. Her father had hurt her, probably her whole life.

A savage snarl rang out from me and my brothers and sister. Charlie and Bella looked shocked and horrified, but my pack was simply enraged. Katie was apart of our family and this man had hurt her physically, mentally, and probably emotionally.

Before we could get Katie back, she twisted out of her fathers grip and raced off into the woods, without a single glance back. She disappeared into into the shadows as the woods swallowed her, no more than a wraith.

We all turned back to her father and Charlie opened his mouth to say something to do with the horror all across his face. But before he had the chance to my fist slammed into Katie's fathers face.