Dalliance | Paul Lahote

━ FIVE: FIRE MEET GASOLINE

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PAUL FELT AS IF he couldn't breath. He had gotten so caught up on the moment, on those beautiful hypnotic green eyes, that he'd forgotten who those eyes belonged to and what it meant to have gravity move. He never wanted to imprint, Paul wasn't the type of person that had a soulmate. But on those seconds after he gazed into her eyes, the whole world faded away, including any though about ever having not wanted to imprint, or any reminder of the things he knew about the woman whose eyes he now never wanted to look away from.

But he was brought to reality as soon as the voice of a child was heard, calling for the woman that now was the center of Paul's world. And now he couldn't breath.

If it wasn't for Sam's strong grip on his arm steering him away from the kitchen and out onto the back porch, Paul probably would've stayed rooted in place, absolutely frozen. As soon as they steeped outside, the cold air hit him and he got out of his daze, making the panic was settle in.

He'd just imprinted.

And his imprint had a kid.

"Calm down Paul, let's go for a walk, ok?" Sam reasoned, Paul didn't look like he was about to shift, he wasn't angry, just in shock, but the man wasn't taking any chances. Emily had a strong policy against shifting inside after a friendly brawl ended up with some torn furniture, and Sam didn't want a repeat of the scolding.

As they walked away from the back of the house and closer to the woods, the thoughts going through Paul's mind started to become more frantic. He didn't want an imprint, and much less one that came with a kid. He wasn't ready for a relationship. He hadn't had one for as long as he'd shifted, even before that he wasn't the relationship type of guy, but ever since he shifted, he didn't sleep around anymore, counting on less than one hand the number of times he had actually been with someone. Shifting changed him, his wolf wasn't a fan of being with any girl that showered her attentions onto him, and with all honesty, he'd lost the charm that was necessary for that type of thing. Paul just didn't have the patience to fool around, so he didn't.

But an imprint wasn't anything like that. It wasn't a one night stand or a fling, it was a lifetime commitment, and that wasn't something that appealed to Paul. Or at least he never though it did, because ever since looking at her, nothing he'd ever though before seemed right anymore.

"She has a kid Sam! How do you deal with an imprint that has a kid?" His words were rushed, he didn't know how to begin to put his thought into speech, so the first thing that came out of his mouth was the loudest of them all.

"You take care of her and the kid, simple." Sam replied calmly. He understood where Paul's panic was coming from, but in the end, it was still the same as any imprint.

"I didn't ask for an imprint, much less a two for one type deal!" Paul exclaimed, the panic more clear in his eyes. "I don't think I can even be a decent boyfriend, and now I have to be a father too!?"