I kept my eyes closed even though I was awake, I'm hoping that I would fall back asleep. I don't usually wake back up after I smoke but the rain sounded loud. It was a couple seconds before I realized that it wasn't raining.
Tap. Tap.
It sounded like rain.
Tap. Tap.
There it was again.
Tap. Tap.
It was coming from the side of the house. I got up and snuck over to the window. I peaked through the side of the curtain, not moving the curtain to look.
"You know I could hear you as soon as you woke up, right?" Paul says, looking at me through the thick curtain. I moved the curtain away from my face and opened up the window.
"What do you want, Paul?" I asked tiredly as he stood shirtless on the lawn. His dark puppy eyes connected with mine and I felt a slight ping in my heart. He immediately smiled at me. He smiled even after I pushed him away from me.
"You might need to stand back." Is all he says before jumping onto the tree that's between mine and Bella's windows. He swings into the window and knocks against me, I feel myself lose my balance before Paul quickly catches me from falling. "I told you to stand back." He smirks.
"Yeah, I'm not really good with directions." I can't help but smile and he smiles back at me. "You can move your hands now."
"Right." He quickly says and puts his hands that once rested on my hips into his back pockets.
"So, what are you here for, Paul?" I ask tiredly as I take a seat on my bed.
"We still need to finish that conversation." Paul says as he takes a seat next to me. He's sitting close enough to me that I can feel the heat vibrating off of his body.
"Look, I know you have a crush on me. But I'm not really looking for a relationship right now." I say, trying not to look him in the eyes. I know if I look up I'll never be able to look away. Then he starts laughing. I look up at him in confusion.
"I wasn't either." He laughs. "But, it's not really up to either of us anymore." I furrow my brows at him.
"You imprinted on me?" I ask, befuddled. Em has explained imprinting to me before, almost like he was hinting at something but I ignored it. He said it was what Emily and Sam had and that it was unbreakable.
"I promise you that I have no control over it." Paul defends, his face hardening.
"So, that means..."
"That means we're stuck together." Paul says. I get off the bed and put my hands over my face, thinking. I don't like this, I don't like not having another choice. I hear Paul get up before feeling his strong hands turn me around. He gently takes my hands away from my face and holds them in his. "Just give me one chance." Then I realize that I find comfort in knowing that Paul will never leave me, or treat me wrong. I feel safe with Paul.
"Fine. But only because I know I can't get rid of you." I say. "But I don't appreciate you spreading rumors about us."
"That was Seth." Paul says. "The little rat." He whispers under his breath which makes me laugh. Then his expression gets hard and he lets go of my hands. His face scrunches up and I can see the anger building up in his body.
"What is it?" I ask.
"Leeches." Paul says. "Last time they were hear Jacob had to practically strangle me to stop me from getting you." He turns around to look out of the window and I hear a car pull up to the driveway. "If they're here, I can't be here."
"I'll make them leave." I assure him.
"Okay, I'll be listening." He says before pulling me into his warm arms. "Be safe." He kisses me on top of my head before leaping out of the window. He gives the silver car a hard look before running into the woods.
The door to my dad's room is already wide open so I knock on the door to wake him. He grunts in response.
"Dad?" I ask, to make sure he's awake.
"What's up, Cails?" He asks as he sits up.
"Bella's back." I say and he immediately hops up and puts on his house shoes. We race down the steps before he swings the door open to find Bella in the arms of her leech. He's a redhead with eyes as dark as the night sky and purple bags surrounding them. Somehow he still looks surreal. He looks skinny, like his skin sags off of his bones. I know that the Cullens aren't blood related, but I can see how they fool people. They all have the same perfect look that can't compare to anyone else. He doesn't even seem to notice me until Dad takes Bella away from him. His eyes locked with mine and he seemed surprised to see me there. Then his face turns to discuss, as if he's trying to not breath and then quickly looks at my dad.
"Don't you ever walk through this door again." Dad growls at him in a voice so deep it even scares me a little.
"I understand, Charlie." Edward says.
"It's Officer Swan." I correct and Dad takes Bella upstairs to her room. I turn to look at the bloodsucker as he continues to stand on the porch, watching as Dad takes Bella up the stairs.
"You need to leave." I spit, his eyes are still fixed on the staircase. "You've caused enough damage already."
"I'm not leaving Bella." Edward says, still not looking at me and I feel my hands start to shake out of anger. Then he finally looks at me with intensity.
"Don't you think you've done enough? She was finally getting better before you came back." I growl.
"I know, and I'm never leaving again." He says, still looking at me with the same intensity.
"There are guards watching the house. You're not welcome here." I threat.
"Of course they are. I can smell their scent on you. It's quite disgusting, having animals around." He says and I don't even blink before my hand collided with his face, sending pain all the way up my arm. Slapping his face was like hitting a cold brick wall. My arm stung all the way to my shoulder but I didn't make a sound or shed a tear. I grit my teeth together.
"They're better company than your kind." I spit and he smiles.
"You're very difficult to read, almost as difficult as Bella. Sorry about my outburst, but I needed to test my theory. Your angrier thoughts are much easier to hear. I like you." He says in the most charming voice I've ever heard. His voice was like silk and it almost fooled me.
"Well I don't like you." I say. "And you need to leave before someone makes you."
"The wolves can't come near me as long as I'm not on their land. We have a treaty in place. So, I'll be sticking around." He explains.
"And what makes you think they'll keep it, considering they have members of the tribe here to protect too?" I ask.
"I'm positive our deal with remain intact." He says. "We really need to start getting along, for Bella's sake."
"I'm not interested." I decline. "You're not wanted here. Go somewhere."
"Bella seems to want me here." He argues.
"This isn't Bella's house." I snap.
"Nothing is going to stop me from seeing her." He says.
"Go back to hell." I growl before slamming the door shut on him. I dead bolt the door and wait until I hear a car pull away before going around and locking all of the windows and doors in the house. I made sure to lock Bella's window twice before going to sleep.
I'm startled awake in the middle of the night again. This time it's my phone ringing. I don't recognize the number, but I figure it's one of the boys by the area code. I quickly pick it up.
"I want you out of there, now." Paul growls into the phone.
"Paul, what do you mean?" I ask tiredly.
"The leech is there. Get out of there now. Emily is on her way over right now in the rabbit." Paul says and I can feel his shaky breaths through the phone.
"Paul, calm down. I'm not going anywhere. I need to stay here, with Bella." I say.
"Cailyn, so help me I will drag you out of that house myself after ripping that guys head off!" Paul yells into the phone.
"What about Bella, and my dad? I can't just take off. Don't they need to be protected too?" I reason.
"I'm not worried about anyone but you. You're apart of this pack now. I don't care about anyone else's safety but yours." Paul says.
"I'm not going anywhere, Paul." I say. "You can't control everything I do, that's now how this works."
"Cailyn, you're getting in that damn car!" He roars and I hear a car pull up to the driveway.
"No, I'm not!" I quietly yell at him so I don't wake Dad up. I hear the phone being dropped and a loud ripping sound, followed by snarling and more ripping and snarling. Then the phone is picked up.
"Cails, I think you need to get into the car before either Paul breaks the treaty, or Jake breaks Paul, or Paul breaks Jake and then breaks the treaty." Em explains in full seriousness.
"Okay. I'll get into the car." I groan.
"You can just tell Charlie that we took you to school early?" Em suggests.
"Yeah, that's a good idea." I say. "Love you Em, see you in a bit."
"Love you too, C dawg." He says before hanging up the phone. I quickly throw a change of clothes into my basketball bag and head out of my room. I quietly make my way down the stairs.
"One of the imprinted on you." I hear his voice say as I unlock the door. "That's why you stink so much."
"I don't think you smell so good yourself." I reply, not looking at him.
"This is going to be difficult for both of us with me around. But I need you to understand that I would never hurt Bella-"
"You already did." I interrupt.
"...ever again. You have nothing to worry about. We are a threat to you or your people." He says.
"Yeah.. that's why you snuck into my Dad's house, knowing you aren't welcome here." I say before walking out of the door and getting into the car with Emily.
"Thank you." She says in her soft, motherly voice. "This really helps us more than you understand."
...
I woke myself up this time. I don't remember how I got here, only falling asleep in the rabbit on the way to Emily's place. I got up off the bed and found my bag leaning on the night stand. I grabbed my phone out of it and texted my dad that Jake picked me up for school so he wouldn't flip out. It was close to 6:30 in the morning.
"Emily is up cooking breakfast." I jump at the sound of Paul's voice. I turn on the lamp that's on top of the night stand and light floods the room. He's sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, facing the bed.
"Paul, how long have you been there?" I ask.
"Since I carried you in here." He says.
"I think you're going a little overboard." I say.
"There's no such thing when it comes to you. I'm just being thorough." He explains.
"Yeah? Well, it's kind of creepy." I say and I notice the huge purple circles under his eyes and walk over to him. "When's the last time you slept?"
"Yesterday, I think." He lies and I raise an eyebrow. "Maybe a couple nights ago." I lift his face with my hands and find the long scratch on his face, that's already healing. There's a matching one on his torso. He looks like he's in pain. "It took almost the whole pack to hold me back." He laughs and I give him a serious look and shake my head. I really don't know why he cares so much.
"Paul, you need to get some rest and heal up." I say.
"No." He argues. "Not with the Cullens back in town again-"
"Paul." I snap. "I wasn't asking. You look terrible. Just sleep until Emily gets done with breakfast."
"Only if you give me a kiss." He smirks and I laugh.
"You wish." I say before walking out of the room. As soon as I get into the hallway I can smell the scent of bacon in the air. My mouth waters as I sit down at the table and watch Emily cook bacon in a huge skillet.
"Good morning sis, hope you slept good." Emily smiles at me. "You wouldn't mind getting a bowl ready for the bacon?"
"Not at all." I say as I stand up. She points me to the cabinet with the mixing bowls and I grab one and start lining it with paper towels. "Emily?"
"Yeah?" She asks, while flipping the bacon.
"What was it like....when you first found out?" I question, watching the bacon sizzle and pop in the pan. She stopped turning the bacon for a second and looked deep in thought, her dark eyes glaring into the grease.
"Well, it was difficult at first." She sighs and turns her head to look at me. "Leah is my younger cousin."
"Oh." I say. "So, are we..."
"Of course, almost everyone is." Emily says. "Our moms are basically sisters." That's the first time that someone called Sue my mom instead of my mother. "Me and Leah were very close before everything happened. We were like sisters growing up. She dated Sam throughout high school, and I had a boyfriend of my own that she never approved of. Nobody really liked him, he got too cocky and self absorbed that I broke up with him. I came down here afterwards to come visit all my cousins, then Sam imprinted, while he was still dating Leah."
"What did you do?" I ask, intrigued.
"I told him no, even after he told me about everything." She explained. "I told him to go back to Leah, and I kept telling him. Over and over again, but he wouldn't listen. He came to see me every day." She smiles, staring into the bacon. "And I rejected him, every single day." Then she stops for a second. "Then one day I ordered him to go back to Leah. I said a lot of hateful things. I even said he was just like his dad... and he lost it. When I woke up in the hospital, I couldn't feel complete without him. I realized that I loved him too. Leah was very worried for me when she heard I got "mailed by a bear", and she came to the hospital. I told her about Sam and I, then all that worry turned into hate and bitterness. I don't blame her. The truth is, she hates being apart of the pack. She gave Harry a heart attack and blames herself."
"Is that how he died?" I ask and she nods her head.
"Harry expected Seth to phase, not Leah." Emily explains. "She phased right in front of him. Then Seth phased from the pain of losing his father."
"Doesn't Jake have sisters?" I ask. "And what about me? Does that mean that we're all going to phase?"
"No." Emily says. "We don't fully know how it's possible that Leah phased. There's never been a record of women protectors in the tribe before. But I don't think she's a first. A long time ago we used to have two-spirit people, a person having both men and women spirits. I think we just lost record of those protectors, but now we have one."
"So, Leah is two-spirit?" I ask and Emily nods her head. "But that's amazing! It proves that they exist, doesn't that make her sacred?"
"It does, but she doesn't see it that way." Emily sighs. "She's afraid that she won't be able to have kids. She's been very distant and she's been staying away from everyone. I'm hoping she'll come around."
"So, I'm guessing you don't know what she thinks about me." I sigh.
"That's true, but Seth is certainly exited to have a new sister." Emily laughs.
"I hope so." I fake laugh. The truth is that I'm nervous to spend time with any of them. "Was Sam super protective at first too?"
"Sam is still super protective." Emily smiles, putting the popping bacon into the mixing bowl and I groan. "But yes, it was worse at first. And I didn't have vampires on the loose or in my house at the time. We kept the first vampire in your home a secret from him since he wasn't on patrol, but this one he was. Paul has reasons to be worried. He made sure someone was always watching your house, if it wasn't him. I think it's really sweet."
"I think it's a tad annoying." I admit.
"I'm sure it'll get a lot better once we get rid of the redhead." Emily says. "Chin up girl, at least you'll be spending more time with Seth, Leah, and I now that you're moving in."
"Moving in?!" I half yell, then I remember that Paul is in the other room. Emily freezes, realizing what she said. "Who said I was moving in?"
"The pack thinks it would be a good idea to keep you on Quileute lands. Then you would be safer and you could help out around here and you wouldn't have to drive 20 miles to school everyday." Emily explains.
"By "the pack" you mean Paul?" I correct.
"And Embry, Quil, and Jake." Emily adds.
"Right." I scoff and slump down in my chair, looking at the ground. "Like Jake cares, he won't even look at me in the eye since I cussed him out for leaving Bella."
"It's not that." Emily says and I look up at her. "He's jealous."
"Jealous?" I laugh. "Of what?"
"Of your imprint with Paul, of course." Emily explains. "He's over you cussing him out. He just wishes he could have that connection with someone." Suddenly Seth burst through the door, fully clothed and hands shaking.
"Wh-where's Paul?!" He asks urgently.
"In his room, sleeping. Wh-" Emily answers and he takes off to Paul's room. "He could at take off his shoes." Emily mumbles to herself. Paula and Seth both rush out of the room and almost exit the house before Emily stops them. "Boys!"
"Go ahead, Seth." Paul nods his head at the boy and Seth takes off. "A body just turned up in Forks. They think it's a tribal member."