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THE ULEY HOUSE
IT WAS REALLY QUIET.
Augustine managed to finish her story, managing to wrap it up with tense jazz hands, too, but the sheer anger that was radiating from the boy who'd moved even closer to her was insane.
She tried to reassure him. "Really, it was all a long time ago. Totally over it."
"I wouldn't say less than two years ago was that long ago, Augustine."
At that, the heat in his tone, the use of her full name, she grimaced. She'd promised him to spare her the pity, and in return she got anger— she didn't know what was better, honestly. "So, thoughts?"
Paul's forehead was creased in frustration, the hand that migrated to her knee was wound up tightly. "I'm fucking furious, those are my thoughts," he said, brown eyes piercing. "And for your asshole of a brother just left you there—"
Augustine bristled slightly. "Don't speak about my brother like that," she warned him, her frown deepening on her face. "We had to look out for ourselves... I would've done the same if I had the chance."
"I don't think you would have," he told her, shaking his head. "You're the most stubborn person I know, and you're loyal. So if the roles were reversed, you wouldn't have left him behind without a fight."
His words settled uncomfortably in her chest, aching. For years, even after his departure, she had idolized Mason. He was her cool older brother, her first protector, and he was always the hero she wrote about when teacher's asked. Yet the truth remained that he left her there, in a house where deep down, they were both more than aware of June's savagery.
But she loved her brother, his abandonment aside, and couldn't blame him for looking after himself. She couldn't see the wrong in that. "I don't blame him," she said, dismissing Paul's very valid statements.
"You should." She watched as his jaw locked tensely, his eyes averted to the Eagles poster on his wall.
"Well, I don't," she responded pointedly, suddenly bouncing up from her seat near the headboard to stand in front of him. "Now, can we please do something fun?"
Paul scoffed, though there was no heat behind it as he looked back at her. "What? Talking about how much I wanna rip your mother's throat out isn't fun?"
Augustine's lips were pressed in a firm line. "Super morbid buddy— but no, no it's not."
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After some more convincing, Augustine and Paul found themselves back in the boy's truck, headed in the direction of Sam Uley's house. The shifter said that anything fun on the rez usually happened at Sam's, and he'd ensured Augustine that she would be welcome there.
Though, she didn't know it was a half-truth, considering he didn't bother telling Sam about their arrival until the minute they rolled down the street. Paul heard a rough groan ring throughout his brain, but there was an air of passivity to it; meaning, she was allowed to come.
In Augustine's mind, if she had gotten the stamp of approval from Paul's father himself, surely she could handle a few wolves.
Rolling up to the house, the main doors were already ajar, and thanks to her vampiric hearing, she could hear at least three voices chattering away. A tentative sniff to the air once she stepped out alerted her that there were two wolves within and a singular human.
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Who's the human in there?" she asked, confusion in her tone given the fact that she thought the wolves only consorted with one other human: Bella Swan.
"Emily, she's Sam's Imprint," Paul supplied, rounding the car to join her on the other side of the truck. "Just— don't stare, alright?"
This time, she didn't let her confusion show outwardly. She only nodded, pulling her lip in between her teeth when Paul's hand migrated to her lower back, urging her towards the house.
From inside, the smell of wet dog was barely tolerable, thanks due to the opened doors and windows that let the summer air through. Immediately upon venturing into the home, two wolves she hasn't been acquainted with yet were in the living room, a human woman among them as she passed them muffins.
Though she couldn't eat, the smell of them would've sent Augustine's stomach ablaze with hunger.
When the woman turned in their direction, lingering in the doorway, her face was overcome with mild surprise— and it was then that Augustine realized why Paul told her not to stare. "Oh! I didn't know you two were coming over this afternoon," she said, rising from her place in a nearby loveseat next to the coach that the wolves were lounging on.
This woman had scars across the side of her face, almost looking as though she'd been mauled, but the tentative smile she tossed the vampire's way curbed all her inquisitive questions down. "I'm Emily— and you must be Auggie."
"Augustine, yeah." She couldn't help it, the sound of the nickname that Paul bestowed upon her from anyone else's mouth just sounded wrong. And she didn't need to be looking at the boy stood slightly behind her to know he had a shit-eating grin plastered on his tan face.
Thankfully, the woman knew she meant no disrespect, nodding in her direction. "We were starting to wonder when Paul would bring you around," she added with a small chuckle.
Paul groaned once more, leaning against the doorframe as he gestured to the two other boys among them. "That's Jared, and that's Seth."
Whereas Jared only gave her a tentative smile of his own, mouth full of blueberry muffin, the younger of the two quickly bounded his way over towards them. "I'm Seth!" he greeted rather enthusiastically, as though Paul hadn't literally just gave the girl his name. He put his hand forward to shake her hand and the ravenette couldn't help but put her left hand forward, too. This boy, despite being a shifter, was certainly no threat. "So, is it rude to ask how many people you've eaten? Or is that a big no-no in vamp culture?"
Paul's palm collided with the back of the younger boy's head with narrowed eyes. "Don't be nosy, Seth," he growled in annoyance.
Augustine was quick to dispel the obvious tension that rose into Paul's figure with a laugh of her own. "It's not rude, but I've found most people don't like sharing tidbits like that," she answered, immediately seeing the younger boy nod in acknowledgement.
"Makes sense, makes sense," he mused, looking as though he was mentally filing away that information for later until his eyes met hers, crinkling at the sides. "C'mon, let me take you on the official tour!"
Before Paul could even utter out a sound of discontent, the younger wolf was eagerly dragging a rather frazzled looking Augustine out the back door, towards the backyard where most of the pack bonfires took place.
Hanging been in her presence for multiple hours at a time, Paul felt the brief separation hit him like brick. The rational part of his brain told him to stay put, that she'd come to no harm around Seth. But the primal part wanted to go after her and bring her to his place, where she could be wrapped in his scent and his alone.
Breathing through his nose, he all but stomped over to the couch where Jared was holding a tupperware full of muffins. He grabbed one and bit into it a little more harshly than he would've liked.
"Dude, she's right outside," Jared chuckled as he chewed, but a glance from Emily had him swallowing before he continued. "You're acting like she just went off to war."
Emily clicked her tongue against her teeth, a joking smirk on her face direction at the Cameron boy. "Don't act like you weren't this obsessed with Kim when you first imprinted, Jare."
Paul stuck his tongue out childishly in Jared's direction, who only groaned. "Okay, yeah," he admitted, shaking his head before his attention flickered back to the Lahote boy. "She's pretty cool, y'know, for a—"
"Don't finish that sentence," Paul snapped lowly, already feeling his anger climb now that his own Imprint was off without him. He could smell her scent, still, and knew she had to be close to the forest but just close enough to the house.
Jared's hands were thrown in the air, not really in the mood to start a fight against the boy next to him. Though he was second-in-command, meaning that by definition he was stronger, he knew Paul's hotheaded nature made him a force to be reckoned with.
"Chill, dude," he said, nudging the boy's knee against his own. "She's nice, alright?"
The Lahote boy only rolled his eyes, but Emily was quick to see how his lips quirked upward only slightly. For his packmates to admit that yeah, she was nice for a vampire, was a victory he hadn't anticipated. And boy, did it make him wish he started being nicer to her sooner.
Better late than never, right?
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[ wyn's note ]
augustine's got emily, seth, and jared's approval haha! thanks for reading guys, i cant believe we surpassed 40k!
till the next one! xx