The disclosed invention is directed to pulp fibers suitable for forming a wet-laid paper product which include amino-functionality which is non-extractable in an aqueous phase. The pulp fibers may be prepared by applying an amino-functional additive to a fibrous web prior to the finishing operation at a pulp mill. The fibrous web may then be repulped at a papermaking machine to form a paper web which includes the amino-functionalized fibers of the present invention. A paper web formed of the amino-functionalized fibers may display unique and/or improved reactivity toward certain papermaking additives. For instance, the paper webs of the disclosed invention may show dry tensile strength increases of greater than 40% when treated with a permanent wet strength agent such as a polyamine epichlorohydrin wet strength agent, whereas a paper web which does not include the amino-functionalized fibers of the present invention may show less than a 20% increase in strength properties when treated with the same strength agents.