Everything to me (A Paul Lahote imprint story)

Wrath and profanities

Numbness is all anyone in the Clearwater household felt for a while. Leah was the first to feel anything else: bitterness and resentment for having to share a mind with Sam. So not much better. Seth had phased shortly after Leah, not being able to cope with such a huge loss. Our pack was now up to 9. The biggest the tribe has had in awhile. But with the return of the Cullens, we were glad to have the extra help. It seems Bella went chasing down her suicidal vamp boyfriend halfway across the world. Leaving Chief swan an even bigger mess, losing his best friend and then his daughter. She brought back a whole family of vampires with her though, leaving me an official member of the 'Bella is the worst' club.

Paul barely left my side anymore. Seeing me this sad was clearly tearing him up inside, but I think not being with me would tear him up more. The only thing that's been keeping me tethered to reality is feeling him sitting next to me; feeling his arm brushing up on down my own.

It's been a few weeks now, and all of Uncle Harry's belongings have been put away or donated. Aunt Sue can now walk into her living room without breaking down at the sight of her husband's favorite armchair. And Seth seems to be coping by trying to make everyone feel better with his bubbliness.

But Leah... She's gone sour. She's rude to everyone else, and doesn't say a word to me for a while. It's not until an unusually sunny day that I'm sat outside reading, that she plops down next to me.

"Paul's gonna kill Embry one of these days." I let out a snort, knowing exactly why.

"I was a sobbing mess, and all he can think about is boobs. I mean has he never seen a naked chick before!" I glance up at Leah and see a sliver of a smile. I am not at all shy about stuff like that usually, but it was a bit uncomfortable the first time the whole pack was in wolf form and Embry let his mind wander to when he'd seen me completely naked. The worst part may have been seeing Paul battling between taking in what he was seeing, and beating the living shit out of Embry. Seth had ended up being the one to tackle Embry, effectively cutting off his wandering mind.

"Boys... They really are the worst." Leah says leaning into me. We sit like that for a while until the sun sets and we hear Sam howl in the distance. Shifting into our wolves, we take off at a run into the forest.

"What's going on Sam?" I say.

"The damn redhead is back. Meet us by the ravine!" Sam orders.

Charged with a hatred for this bitch, Leah and I take off faster than we've ever run before, joining the pack in no time. We're right up on the treaty line now, and I can see the Cullen's on the other side of it, pushing her towards the middle. The way she moves is flighty and gymnastic. I get the sense that we're playing a game with her. She seems to duck out of the way at the last second every time. She's taunting us and everyone is frustrated. She's on the Cullen side right now and the big burly one is hot on her heels. I can see she's about to make a leap across the water onto our side and I brace myself to grab her. She's soaring through the air and so am I, opening my jaw in anticipation of her meeting me in the middle of this leap. All of a sudden I'm knocked sideways by a brutal blow. Landing in the water I dart upright to prepare to fight whatever hit me, but I'm met with the sight of Paul's silver form launching himself in front of me. A vicious snarl rips out of his chest. I peer around him to see who's on the receiving end of it. I can hear Paul screaming profanities in his mind at the big burly leech in front of us. I let out a growl of my own, seeing the attack stance this guy is in.

"Emmett! Let's go!" the blonde one calls to him. Emmett hesitates a bit but eventually disappears in a blur.

Paul turns around in a frenzy, checking me over for injuries - which are long healed by now - and nuzzles into me.

"Baby are you ok? I just about killed that asshole."

"I'm ok Paul. I'm ok." My heart skips a beat at the pet name. And while I see through the mind link that she's evaded us again, it's hard to feel anything but the love emanating from Paul as he checks me out for injuries.