Until Death- Paul Lahote

2

The next few days have been mostly the same. School, picking Jake and his friends up from school and then studying or hanging out with his friends or Kim and Olivia. I like my brother's friends. They're sweet and caring. Still boys though, which is quiet annoying sometimes but whatever. I was starting to become more annoyed of everything though. Even the slightest things are pissing me off right now, that's why I spent today's lunch alone, or at least that was my plan.

"Party tonight at Olivia's, huh?" Embry asks and I look up from my book as they all sit down at my table.
"You're not coming" I say annoyed. They were only fifteen.
"Yes, we are" Jared says.
"Olivia invited us" Quil says.
"Don't blame me. I just said you could come if you behave" Olivia says, as she and Kim sit down too.
"Please, we always do" Jared grins at her.

I start packing my things before I get up to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Jacob asks me.
"Away from all of you" I say, walking out of the cafeteria with fast steps. I was feeling weird ever since that evening when James showed up. It started with getting annoyed faster and faster, which was why I left.
Someone bumps into me, making me drop all my books.
"Can't you look where you're going?" I ask annoyedly. I crouch down to pick them back up.
"Wow, why are you so mad? Did I do something?" Paul asks me confused and almost a bit hurt as he helps me to pick the books up. I look at him and my face softens.
"I'm so sorry I'm just a bit annoyed today. I didn't mean to be rude. It's just that-" I say but stop as our hands touch as we both grab the same book. We look at eachothers eyes for a moment and I watch as he blushes again in the light pink shade I adore so much before he pulls away.
"You're really hot" he says confused and I chuckle.
"Thank you?" I say and watch as his eyes widen before he blushes even more into a darker shade of pink.
"No, no, no, I didn't- I- I didn't mean it like that. I meant like a fever" he says before he puts a hand to my forehead and his eyes widen again.
"You have a really bad fever. You should go home" he says and we both get back up.
"Alright. I guess I'll see you later then?" I ask and he smiles at me softly.
"Do you want me to take you home?" he asks and I grin.
"Your birhtday's next week, Paul. You're not allowed to drive yet" I say and he shrugs before he smirks at me.
"And? I can still drive" he says.
"You're here with your car?" I ask and he nods.
"I don't want you to miss school" I say but he shakes his head.
"It's still lunch. I can take you home and be here again before my next class" he says.
"You sure?"
"Absolutely" he says before we make our way to the car.

During the ride I feel myself getting worse, as my body starts to hurt excrutiatingly.
"You don't look so good" Paul says concerned as he drives faster. My father rolls out to the front of the house, his eyes widening as he spots me, one arm over Paul's shoulder and his hands gripping my waist firmly.
"What's wrong with her?" my dad asks concerned.
"I don't know. She has a really bad fever and her body's hurting, she says" Paul says and my dad's eyes widen slightly.
"Get her inside" he says, rolling over, so Paul can lay me down on the couch.
"Thank you for taking her here. I'll see you soon" my dad says, before he pushes Paul backwards out of the door again.
"Wait! I-" he starts but gets cut off as my dad shuts the door into his face.
I scruntch my face as a wave of pain washes over my body. My dad puts a hand to my face before he picks up the phone and calls someone.
"Sam, yeah, I think it's happening," he says. Why is he calling Sam Uley when I'm sick? "No, not Jacob. It's Aria"
"Yes, she's showing all the symptoms. Yes, I think so. Okay. See you" he says before he hangs up.
"Why are you calling Sam Uley?" I ask my dad as he rolls up infront of me, putting a hand to my face and brushing a strand out of my face.

It doesn't take Sam long to arrive as he knocks at our door not even five minutes later.
"Where is she?" Sam asks before I hear him walk up to me.
"Aria, this is Sam Uley. Sam this is my daughter Aria" my dad says and I smile at the man weakly. He puts a hand to my face before he pulls it back and looks at my dad. He nods at him and my dad exhales loudly. I close my eyes, trying to rest but open them again asn I feel cold water on my body. I open them as I feel the air leaving my lungs suddenly due to the cold water and find myself under the shower.
"What the fuck?" I ask loudly and look at the men infront of me. Sam's sitting on the floor infront of me, looking at me expactantly.
"Do you know what's happening to you right now?" Sam asks and I shake my head, feeling better because of the shower only for a bit before I feel the aching again.
"No, but it feels like I'm burning" I say and shut my eyes tightly again.
"There's a reason for that. You're going to change, Aria" he says and I look at my dad confused who just nods at me.
"What do you mean?" I ask and Sam takes a deep breath.
"You obviously know the tibe stories" Sam says and I nod. "Which one is your favorite?"
"I'd say the one with the wolves or with the imprints. Why?" I ask and his eyes linger on mine now. A cold shiver runs down my spine but not because of the ice water that's flowing down on me now.
"They're true" he says and I chuckle.
"Yeah, right"
"No, really. They are true" he says.
"So you're a wolf?" I ask him and he chuckles as I grin at him.
"I prefer to call it shifter but yes, we shift into wolves" he says and my face slowly drops as realisation kicks in.
"By we you mean-"
"I mean you and me now" he says.
"Wait, you mean I can shift into a giant wolf?" I ask him and he nods. I groan as my body twitches again.
"You just need to let go" he says.
"Let go of what?" I ask him.
"Let go" he says calmly again.
"Let go of what?" I shout loudly, feeling frustrated. I start shaking and before I know he picks me up, walking over to the backyard before he throws me to the ground. I lay there, crouching in pain.

"Let go, Aria" he says again. I look into his eyes, sensing that he's saying the truth before I close them and take a deep breath. My body starts feeling like I'm on fire and I scream loudly before it all suddenly stops. I open my eyes to see Sam standing infront of me, though I'm double his height.
"That's impressive" my dad says, his lips parted as he looks at Sam.
"I'm going to make sure she's alright. Lay some clothes out for her. I'll take her to Emily's for the night" Sam says and my dad nods before he rolls back inside.

I feel different, some sort. And when I look down, I notice why. Instead of my usual hands and arms I see two paws.
"Are you okay?" Sam asks me. I look over at him to see a black wolf standing next to me, just a bit smaller than me.
"What the fuck" I think but he chuckles. I look at him confused. Why can he hear me?

"Because you're in my pack now. That means we can hear eachother's thoughts. That way we can communicate with eachother" he says, confusing me even more.
"So you can hear every thought I have?" I ask him and his wolf nods. "Does that mean I can hear yours too?"
"Yes but you can train in order to keep your thoughts a secret from others" he says.
"That's sort of cool" I say. I look as his ears stiffen, looking off into the distance before he looks back at me.
"We need to go. I have to show you something" he says before he runs off into the woods. I try to follow him but drop to the ground. Walking on four legs wasn't something that I had tried before and it was definitely harder than I'd imagined.
"It's going to get easier. Now go" he says as he walks back to me and helps me up with his snout before we run over to the forest.

It doesn't take me long to adjust to the new feeling. It wasn't even weird anymore. It was fun. Like I've been born to be this way.
"You were," Sam says, running next to me. "You were born to be this way. But we only shift though if leeches are near"
"Leeches?" I ask him, jumping over a tree branch.
"Vampries. We are, as you know, protectors. We have to protect our tribe from the vampires" he says.
"What? We have vampires near?" I ask him a bit concerned.
"Don't worry. Let me show you something first" he says before he runs infront of me, speeding up a bit. I easily catch up with him and we run until we are at a little lake. He nodds for me to go forward and I do so. As I arrive at the water, I look down to see a white wolf. Snow white. Not a single other colour on me.
"You're a beautiful wolf. I would've expected you to be brown or beige" he says.
"Thank you. I like yours too" I say and hear him chuckle in his thoughts.

"Lets get you something to eat" he says before we run to Emily's. We stop infront of his house where he shows me how to calm myself down and shift back which wasn't necessarily difficult as I wasn't freaked out about all of this. When I looked down, though. I noticed no clothes. Suddenly a woman walks out, which I know is Emily, who hands my a bathrobe.
"Here" she says, putting it over me. "Didn't expect you to be the first"
Sam chuckles before he hugs her side.
"The first what?" I ask confused, as we all walk inside.
"The first to join the pack. Normally only men shift" he says. "You must be special to our ancestors"
"Really?" I ask.
"Yeah" he says before he motions towards a chair at a round table. I gratefully sit down and take a sip of the water that he hands me.

"Must be a lot, huh?" Emily asks.
"She's taking it good though" Sam says with a smile.
"So, what are the rules?" I ask him, and he chuckles.
"The most important one: You can't tell anyone" he says and I look at him confused.
"And why does Emily know? You said I'm the first to join which means she isn't a wolf" I say.
"She's something else" Sam says and then I conntect the dots.
"She's your imprint, isn't she? That's why you've suddenly cut everything off with Leah. And that's the reason why she knows" I say and he grins at me.
"You really are smart. I didn't believe Billy when he told me"
"Ouch" I say playfully, and we all laugh as he lets go of Emily as he walks over to the talbe.
"Okay, let me introduce you to all of this," he says before he sits down and gets comfortable.

This would definitely be a long talk.