7 Chapter 6: Imprinting and the Black Family

Waking up earlier than usual the next morning, Derek changed his clothes and went to the bathroom to wash his face. He didn't have to go to school because it was a holiday today, but he was going to meet Billy with Charlie...

Yesterday, after speaking to the Cullens, he had come home and, with some manipulation of Charlie's thoughts, had managed to set up a date to watch baseball match with Billyle. He was basically sulking and acting like a teenager who wanted to spend time with his father.

This was a little embarrassing for him, but as Derek White, he never got the chance to get to know his parents. But as Derek Swan, he had a father, a mother, and a sister. Although their relationship was a bit of a communication problem, the gap between having a family and not having a family was truly huge.

Maybe that's why he still lived here and acted like the original Derek Swan. There were times when he felt like a fraud, of course, but the original Derek had given up on this life and this family by committing suicide. And the current Derek was taking care of this family.

It might be a little immoral to judge the behavior of a frightened young man and take his place.

Derek chose to ignore it. Living with guilt for what one could not choose was a life-destroying thing. That's why the young man chose to continue his life as Derek Swan instead of feeling guilty. And this has proven to be the best for everyone. At least according to him...

The young man frowned, his thoughts shifting from his family to the Cullens. After returning home from a visit to Cullen's house yesterday, he had thought long and hard, and after seeing Carlisle, he understood why he felt abnormal.

It was possible to describe this situation in one word: Imprinting... Derek was imprinted to Carlisle... It wasn't supposed to happen, but it did...

Imprinting is the involuntary mechanism by which Quileute wolfs find their soulmates. It is a profound, intimate phenomenon that exists among the Quileute shape-shifters.

When a wolf imprints on a specific girl or woman, he becomes unconditionally bound to her for the rest of his life.

When it happens, the experience is described as being gravitationally pulled toward that person while a glowing heat fills him, and everyone and everything else in his life becomes secondary, and only the imprintee is left to matter, leaving the shape-shifter with a deep need to do anything to please and protect his soulmate. (This part is taken from the fandom.)

Derek hadn't the faintest idea why this was happening. Just like why he woke up in this world… As why he became a werewolf… İmprinting was supposed to belong to the Quilete wolves, but Derek had heard in his little espionage adventures that werewolves could, on rare occasions, be imprinted. And it was really depressing for that to happen to him.

But being imprinted was different from what was described in the movie or the book. At least, according to Derek… He hadn't seen things the way Jacob saw Reneesmes future. And he didn't feel what Jacob was feeling. But he found the scent of Carlisle and his family infuriating, realizing he craved Cullen vampires. Each of them... And very intensely...

Fortunately, thanks to his telekinetic power, he isolated himself from the environment and mastered his desires. Now the situation was really complicated, but Derek had already decided that he wouldn't contact the Cullens unless there were any threats in the area.

For someone who has acted with rationale all his life, it was easy and familiar to suppress his desires and emotions. What was difficult and new for Derek was suppressing the wolf's instincts inside him. But he believed that in time he could achieve that too.

Suddenly he thought of Renesmee. Edward and Bella's daughter... If Bella fell in love with Edyth as in the movie, it would be impossible for them to have children... So the young man thought of his niece, who would never be born, and went down the stairs and headed for the kitchen.

Noticing that Charlie was making breakfast and waiting for him, the young man shook his head and greeted his father.

"Good morning, Dad… The omelet looks delicious," Derek said, mocking the burnt omelet.

"Good morning, Derek," Charlie said, looking at his giant son. No matter how hard he looked, he could not find a single resemblance between his thin tall son a year ago and the muscular giant of today. Maybe the handsome face was the only resemblance... But he had witnessed his son's transformation. And it was clear that he preferred the occasional chattering teenager now, rather than the previous quiet teenager...

"I did my best, son... Of course they're going to look delicious," the middle-aged man said, keeping pace with his son.

Derek sat down at the table laughing and enjoyed a delicious (!) breakfast. After breakfast the two men cleared the kitchen and got into Charlie's police car and drove to school.

Derek's old pickup truck was still parked in the schoolyard. When he shared this with Charlie, the middle-aged man made fun of his son and explained that if he had taken his car to old joe, such a thing would not have happened.

Derek responded by rolling his eyes. Old Joe has been old and Charlie's mechanic for as long as he can remember. Derek didn't think the old man could tell between his bronze pickup truck and Rosalie's red Ferrari... This was an exaggeration, of course, but a little irony in explaining how old Joe was might have been necessary.

The next hour was spent calling the tow truck and driving the truck to old joe's repair shop.

On the way to the repair shop, the middle-aged man was laughing and teasing his son. His father was pouting and the young man bit his cheeks to keep from laughing as they left the workshop.

Derek couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. Charlie initially glared at her laughter, but eventually he started laughing, joining his son.

The reason for this was actually quite simple: when they entered old joe's repair shop, the old man greeted them with delight and said he would do the truck for free. But the funny thing was that the old man thought Derek was Charlie and he thought Charlie was Derek.

So much so that because of the height difference between Derek and Charlie, Joe mistook Charlie as a middle schooler Derek and told him to focus on his studies. The old man had even looked at Charlie's face and asked if he was still a virgin. Old mechanic told Charlie that if he was a virgin, he would sneak his father to come to him and find a woman who would graduate him from his virginity.

At these conversations, except for Charlie and Joe, the other men in the repair shop did their best not to laugh. In order not to make him feel bad for the old man's blunders because of his growing age, Charlie kept playing and the others didn't laugh, no matter how funny it was.

Now, alone, neither Derek nor Charlie couldn't help but laugh at the strangeness of the situation for a few moments. And then they couldn't help but pity the old man's condition.

Joe Adams was a really good guy and a good mechanic. In his youth, he could distinguish dozens of car parts, knew the names and families of all his customers. But now, with old age, he couldn't even tell Charlie and Derek apart.

Realizing that the atmosphere in the car was freezing due to the harsh realities of life, Derek asked, wanting to break it up.

"How is Bella? Have you spoken to her lately?"

"They're moving out of Phoenix with your mother and her boyfriend. It's good to have a little bit of curiosity about your sister...". ' Charlie said curtly.

Noticing the nervousness in Charlie's voice, Derek sighed. He could see that Charlie was still in love with his mother, which unfortunately was killing the middle-aged man's private life.

But knowing that even if he spoke to him, this situation would not change, the young wolf replied in silence. Repeated unsuccessful attempts could teach one that some things are impossible. For example, dissuading Charlie from his mother...

After a few seconds of worrying about his father's situation, Derek made sense of what he had said and realized what he had missed. Her mother and boyfriend were to move from Phoenix.

So Bella would soon be in Forks and the world-renowned love story would begin... Thinking of Edyth, the young man was unsure for a moment. Maybe this love story wouldn't have started. He had no clue about his sister's sexual or emotional preference.

In fact, he had only spoken to Bella twice since coming into this world. On the phone...

Realizing they had entered Black family territory, Derek used his telekinesis several times to make sure the shield around him was intact.

With the help of telekinesis, his scent mixed with the scent of the wolves in the area, basically no one of the Black wolves could tell he was a werewolf. Except for Billy and the old shaman in their tribe… Derek knew that these two men suspected him of being a wolf.

The young man did not understand how it happened, but despite his shield, both Billy and the shaman realized at their first meeting that Derek was no ordinary person.

This was evident in his eyes. However, for some reason, they did not share this with anyone and kept it a secret among themselves and implicitly gave various advices to the young wolf.

'Maybe he didn't tell anyone because I'm Charlie's son,' Derek thought as he got out of the car and watched his father hug the cowboy hat man in the wheelchair.

After his father's hug, the young man hugged Billy himself and placed the beer cans they had brought on his lap.

Billy and his father then proceeded to Billy's house. Derek followed them and glanced around, noticing the muscular youth with a tattoo on his right arm.

They didn't seem to go unnoticed. Although weather was cold, they were all bare at the top, showing their sweaty muscles to each other and wrestling with laughter.

They reminded young wolf why Derek hadn't made a single effort to join the Black pack. They were all acting like stupid and wild creatures, listening to their instincts, not their brains. Knowing that he had to act like them if he joined them, Derek stayed as far away from them as possible, choosing brain-wielding vampires as his first ally.

However, seeing them once again, the young man thought really carefully about what to do. If he couldn't ally with the Cullens or the Blacks, he could try to form his own pack.

Werewolves' biggest difference from shape-shifting wolves, and their biggest similarity to vampires... was that they could turn someone into a wolf by biting. However, this possibility was very, very small. The number of people who would die from wolf venom could be counted in the thousands to form a pack for the young werewolf himself. So much so that Derek never warmed to the idea.

So this idea was the last possibility. If one day he truly has no allies and has to fight off too powerful or too supernatural creatures, the last solution he considers to come to life is...

This was not in Derek's hands. It had become a reflex for him to think that things would get worse due to the environment he grew up in and to produce various solutions.

These were the thoughts that ran through the young man's mind as he walked through the door of Billy's house.

Meanwhile, his father was still chatting and joking with Bill. The environment was very nice and warm. Until his father took the beers they bought to the fridge and went to the kitchen to get some snacks from there.

With his father gone, Billy's sharp gaze found the young man. And the man in the wheelchair leaned back and looked briefly at Derek.

Derek, unable to make sense of his gaze, couldn't help but speak.

"You want something, Uncle Billy?"

"I just want you to be well, son…" The middle-aged man replied.

Sighing into the young man's bewilderment, he continued: "I wouldn't recommend seeing the Cullen family... They're not like us...". Billy's voice rose when he said us, emphasizing it.

Realizing what he meant, Derek was involuntarily angry, but he controlled his anger. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his mind and comfort Billy. The middle-aged man just wanted to warn him.

"Don't worry Billy... I've visited them once just out of curiosity. This won't happen a second time."

"That would be for the best, Derek! You know, the most venomous animals in nature are those with the brightest and most attractive skin. Don't be fooled by the Cullens' good looks... They're like sirens seducing men and feasting on their flesh..."

Ever since Billy opened his mouth and started talking about the Cullens, Derek had wanted to smash the other man.

Unfortunately, the middle-aged man's being a friend of his father, the fact that they were separated from the Black wolves by only thin walls, and even the kindnesses Billy had done to him in the past, did not lessen his desire to kill middle aged man a little.

He was just getting up from his seat when Charlie appeared through the kitchen door. His father's arrival gave Derek some relief and helped him calm down by taking deep breaths.

Derek felt his mind clear again as Charlie walked into the room, laughing, placing the beers and snacks on the table and slapping the young man on the shoulder.

And it was then that he realized for the first time that succeeding in suppressing the wolf's instincts within him might not be as easy as he thought.