Hunting was supposed to calm her.

Carlisle said it would help. He had that calm voice—the kind that didn’t waver, even when hers did. “Focus on the heartbeat, Amelia. Let your instincts guide you, but don’t let them own you.”

Easier said than done.

Amelia crouched low beside him, golden eyes glowing faintly in the mossy shade. She could feel her limbs trembling, but not from fear—from too much. Too much energy. Too much hunger. Too much everything.

The deer was fifty feet ahead, grazing in the shadows. Her nostrils flared.

Carlisle gave a quiet nod. “Go on.”

She didn’t need a second cue.

The world blurred. Wind roared past her ears. In a blink, she was on the deer, slamming it into the forest floor with newborn force. It struggled beneath her, hooves thrashing, but it didn’t matter. Nothing could fight her strength now.

She leaned in, breath ragged, lips parting and fangs descending—

And stopped.

What is that scent?

It hit her like lightning—raw, wild, electric. Not vampire. Not prey. Something hotter, older, alive. A scent like pine smoke and lightning storms and fur.

She lifted her head sharply, lips still curled over fangs—and then froze.

Twenty steps away, watching her with golden-brown eyes that shimmered with something ancient, was a massive wolf.

Huge. Silent. Still.

The world narrowed into a single thread between them.

And something… shifted.

In her chest. In her bones. In everything.

It wasn’t like love at first sight.

It was like gravity moved.

Like the earth stopped holding her here—and he did instead.

The deer beneath her kicked once more, but she barely felt it. Her eyes locked with his, wide and searching, and she felt it settle over her like an invisible bond. Not hunger. Not danger. Something older. Something binding.

The imprint.

Seth Clearwater hadn’t meant to get this close.

He’d just been patrolling, keeping his distance from the bloodsuckers like Jacob told him to—but then he’d caught a strange scent. Not one of the regular Cullens. It was new. Tangled in with Carlisle’s but burning brighter. Wilder.

And when he saw her?

Everything in him slammed to a halt.

The wolf inside him stopped snarling. The noise of the forest dulled. Even the faint pull of the pack link vanished.

And in its place—her.

It wasn’t love. It was something more… inevitable.

Like he’d never had a choice.

She was looking at him now, fangs bared, blood on her lips—but he didn’t feel fear.

He felt found.

And in her eyes, he saw the flicker of the same realization. Shock. Wariness. But no hate. No rejection. Just the unspoken truth settling into her posture—an invisible thread snapping tight.

You become whatever she needs you to be.

Protector. Lover. Friend.

Seth took one slow step forward, his massive paws silent in the underbrush.

Amelia didn’t move.

Didn’t breathe.

She just whispered, “What are you?”

And in his mind, the answer was clear.