"Against my better judgment, I was still human."
"Cursed"
"Hey Red! I haven't seen you at my place in a while… or in any place for that matter. Is something wrong? Please call me. Love ya!"
Kim.
"Where the hell have you been Red! Kim's in hysterics, please answer the phone or we'll have to bombard your house!"
Leah.
"Hey sis, I'm not sure when you'll get to hear these but please, if you're there, pick up."
Jake.
"Red, you're scaring me. Where are you?! Leah and I came by the house. It's deserted. It looks like you haven't been there in weeks. If that's the case then this phone call is pointless, but I need you. Please."
Kim once more.
"Baby girl, please."
Paul.
"Raylina, we need to talk. You can't run from this."
Billy.
Paul raked a pair of unsteady and very shaky hands through his dark hair. He leaned forward, pressing his feverish forehead against the cool hard wood of the table. Jake brought no comfort to the aching man, as he himself was caught in a predicament of his own. Weeks before Bella had run off with one of the leeches to save a suicidal bloodsucker. Edward. And now, not only has been Victoria been sighted more frequently, but Bella is back to being held over heels for the leech. So not only is Paul feeling the loss of a mate, but Jacob is as well.
But Paul was not sure who felt worse at this point. Paul's whole being felt like it was being ripped apart, piece by piece, atom by atom, molecule by molecule.
His very soul was shattered, his very essence undone. There was a gaping hole where his heart should be, growing and expanding through every fiber of his being until, at some point, he will disappear in a swirling vortex of pain, agony, and loss.
His limbs were heavy, and he felt no need to move. Infact he would not mind if he fell asleep and never awoke. Because then he would be able to see her face again, feel her skin, soft and fragile, beneath his fingertips, hear her breath and sing and speak. She would be living, warm with a heartbeat, and in his arms.
Now he had no idea if she was alive or dead.
H couldn't smell her lovely strawberry and cream scent.
He could no longer feel her essence, her pulse.
She had disappeared. And even his wolf could not find her. There was no tug, no pull. Nothing. Nothing but a void.
And it tore Paul apart.
"What does my father know?" Jake murmured almost silently, replaying Billy's message repeatedly.
"Raylina, we need to talk. You can't run from this."
Rewind.
Repeat.
Crescent moons began to appear along Paul's tan palm, and he cast his eyes away from the droplets of blood that began to well up from them.
"Better yet, what do you know?" Paul asked absentmindedly. Though he hadn't realized the words that had spawned from his mouth until Jake's hand grasped his throat tightly, the air escaping his parted lips.
Yet Paul made no move against his pack mate, to stop the air that was quickly leaving his body, and the new numbness that was familiarizing its way through his joints.
"Don't you dare accuse me in her disappearance Lahote. I know nothing of why my father was calling, and she hasn't been at my home." Jake paused, his eyes ablaze with anger. And remorse, Paul detected a hint of that. "You're not the only one suffering. You're not the only one who loved her."
Something snapped within Paul as he sat there, taking the brutality of Jake's anger and he roared, twisting Jake's arm away and slamming him against the wall in a matter of seconds. A crack appeared behind Jake's head. Their faces were close, breaths mingled and anger over flowed.
"She's not dead!" Paul bellowed, and immediately the anger fled from Jake's deeply colored eyes. He knew his mistake. He talked about their Raylina as if she was gone, but in truth, they had no idea where she had disappeared to. Even though it's been weeks, and there is nothing.
It was as if she never existed to begin with.
He saw this and Paul's arm slipped away from Jake's throat, neither of them noticing that it had been there to begin with. Paul's legs could no longer support him and he slid down the wall, to catch himself. Jake sighed.
"I'm sorry man, I didn't mean it like that."
"I know," was the barely audible response.
There was a slam of an opening door and Jake's head snapped up at an alarming rate. But Paul didn't bother to lift his head. He knew, just by the way the door opened, that it was his precious Raylina. And he was right. Instead, by the counter stood their Alpha.
"We caught its scent again."
"Which one," Paul muttered numbly, feeling his rage begin again. "The bloodsucker or the rogue?"
"The rogue." Sam answered grimly, and Paul's dark eyes flickered upwards. His canines lengthened of their own accord; his wolf showing its first sign of life in days. His eyes flashed with a familiar anger and Jake stood back as Paul stood. His wolf was barely contained in his human skin, his teeth longed to taste the blood of the rogue wolf upon his tongue. Sam turned his body and just as Paul moved to pass his arm snaked out.
Paul snarled, despite who's hand was holding him back. "Don't kill him, I want to know why he's not part of the pack."
Paul's wolf growled a threatening growl; one that reverberated through their minds with such force it astonished Sam. They weren't supposed to be able to contact each other in their human forms.
"I won't be able to help it if my jaw locks around his neck," Paul hissed, doing all he could to control his breathing.
His grip tightened on Paul's shoulder. "That's an order Lahote. Do not disobey me."
Blood began to dribble down Paul's chin as his canines pierced his lower lip.
"No promises," and Sam allowed his own hand to fall. Paul began to storm away and Sam looked on with such sadness. He knew Paul's wolf was too far gone to obey orders. And Paul knew it too.
So just as Paul stepped through the threshold his wolf erupted from human bonds; the remains scattering and dissipating within the wind. Paul's clothes lay in tatters upon the ground and he looked upon his brothers and sister with such contempt and anger, it frightened most of them.
Sam's bulking form emerged from the cramped kitchen and pushed through the threshold. Paul didn't bother to whimper as some of his own ribs cracked, being squished between his Alpha and the door. He didn't care. He welcomed the pain.
"Do not kill the rogue. Injure hum, strip of his pride, but I forbid you to kill him."
Sam's massive, deep voice echoed through their minds and Leah snarled.
"If that bastard helped the leech kill Raylina, I will refuse your orders." Leah threatened, backing up on her haunches to leap before the rest of the pack.
"One way or another, he will die."
To Paul's utter surprise and delight his brothers agreed.
Sam bared his teeth. "Refuse me and you will all suffer the consequences. Do not KILL THE ROGUE!"
But his followers were already gone, disappearing among the trees.