Chapter One: Drawn
Werewolf. Jacob black was a werewolf. Three weeks of unreturned phone calls, a worried father, and a weak excuse of "mono", caused Bella to drive down to la push and demand and explanation from her best friend, only to have him tell her they couldn't be friends anymore. He was different. He wasn't her Jacob anymore, not since he had been following Sam Uley around. Jacob told her to remember their conversation, the first one they had on the beach, but all she could remember was the Cold Ones. What vampires have to do with Jacob, she didn't know. Not until last night, when she remembered the whole story. Quileute's were supposedly descended from wolves.
The house was quiet when Bella made her way down stairs, she found Charlie sitting at the table reading the local newspaper silently. "Morning Dad," Bella said. "Morning kiddo," Charlie replied. "I'm going to be gone for a couple of nights. I have to drive up to Seattle to help with a missing person investigation so I shouldn't be gone for more than three nights. You can fend for yourself for a couple of days, right?" Charlie looked at his daughter expectantly. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm going to head down to La Push today." Bella said. "Well okay then," Charlie said awkwardly, "I'm off, I'll see you in a few days." He kissed her head and made his way out the door.
Bella stood at the sink with her keys in hand tapping her finger against the counter top anxiously. She didn't know if it was dangerous or not to be around werewolves, especially with all the deaths of hikers going on, but Jacob was her best friend and she was willing to take that chance.
It wasn't raining when Bella arrived at Jacob's house. Getting out of her truck she made her way to the front door, she knew Jacob was inside. Before the made it up the ramp the front door opened. "Bella," Billy said with a tight smile. "I need to see Jacob." Bella stated. "Jacob isn't here," Billy replied. She knew he was lying to her. "I'm sorry Billy; I really need to see him." Bella said stepping past Billy's chair into the small house and walking straight to Jacob's room.
She slammed open the door, and saw Jacob asleep on his bed. His feet were hanging off the edges, and one arm hung off the side with his mouth open slightly emitting a soft snore oblivious to the loud bang from opening the door. His face was relaxed, and he looked like her Jacob again. She looked up and out the window and saw Sam Uley with three other guys walking towards Jacob's house. Bella closed the door quietly and made her way back down the hallway. "He's sleeping. Can you tell him I'll be at the beach?" Bella asked Billy. Not waiting for a reply, she walked out the door to confront Sam.
"Bella," Sam said. His voice was smooth and calm, but held power. "What did you do to him?" Bella shoved him, getting straight to the point. Her push did nothing to affect him. "What did we do?" The one next to him sneered. "What did he do? What did he tell you?" He subconsciously took a step closer to her but was stopped by Sam's hand on his chest. She looked at him then, his eyes were dark, and deep, almost black and his cracked lips were pulled into a sneer. Besides Sam, he was the biggest.
"Nothing! He tells me nothing, 'cause he's scared of you!" Bella yells at him. In response he laughs at her, angering her further. Bella pulled her hand back and slapped him across the cheek, silencing him. She noticed then, his fists were shaking, but she somehow knew he was no danger to her. "Paul, calm down! Bella get back!" Sam ordered. "It's too late for that." One of the other boys said, but she was not focused on whose the voice belonged to, she knew the animal inside of the man in front of her was about to come out.
"Bella!" she heard Jacobs voice behind her, causing her to turn and run towards him. With only about three feet left between then Bella tripped, the same time Jacob leaped over her. Pulling herself up off of the ground she saw shredded material on the grass and two oversized wolves in place of Jacob and the other guy. She couldn't move, on watch as the two wolves fought, making their way into the forest, tearing at each other in the process. She saw Sam speak to the other two before running after the wolves.
"Hey Bella, I'm Jared," one of the two guys smiled and offered his hand to help her up. "Hi," Bella said quickly, taking his hand. "Hi Bella, I need your keys, we're going to go to Emily and Sam's place, Sam said he'll get Jake and Paul then meet us all there." The other one said to her, she looked at him and noticed he was Embry, the shy one who used to be with Quil in Jacob's garage. "Paul? He's the one I slapped?" Bella asked handing her keys to Embry. Jared laughed, "Yeah. You sure do have some guts to do that. Everyone is usually scared of him." "Do you think he hates me now?" Bella asked, he voice timid. "Nah," Embry said, sliding into to the driver's side the truck as Jared jumped into the bed. "Out of all of us, he's the most hot headed, it doesn't take much to cause him to phase." "So, its anger that triggers it?" Bella looked out of the window and heard the truck wine in protest at the speed. "The truck can't do over fifty." She stated. "Mostly," Embry answered and eased his foot off the pedal.
They pulled up into a dirt driveway that was in front of a wooden house surrounded by trees. "Don't stare at Emily. Sam hates that." Embry warned and jumped out of the cab, following Jared inside. Bella followed slowly and made her way into the kitchen. She could smell a mix of different foods wafting through the home. "So you're the vampire girl." A woman said from the kitchen. There were the large scars running down the side of her face pulling the left side of her face into a grimace but was hidden behind a layer of thick black hair. She was beautiful, Bella decided, but knew what Embry meant by not staring. "And you're the wolf girl?" Bella replied. Emily laughed, "I suppose you could say that, help yourself to a muffin." She gestured to the half empty bowl of large blueberry muffins. Bella smiled in return and grabbed a muffin then leant against the counter top, rather than joining Embry and Jared at the table. "Save some for your brothers." Emily scolded the boys who were now each on their third.
Sam entered then, walking straight over to Emily and peppered her face with kisses. Bella averted her eyes away from their private moment. Jacob was next to enter, he spotted her in the corner of the kitchen and made his way over to her, grabbing two muffins on the way. "Hey," Jacob said. "Hey." Bella said back. The door opened again and in walked Paul, his gaze immediately landed on Bella. As soon as she met his eyes, he dropped his gaze to the ground. Paul walked to the table just as Jared shoved the last muffin into his mouth. "Thanks for saving me one." Paul said his voice thick with sarcasm. He walked over to the oven and looked inside to see a muffin tray filled with raw batter. "Sorry, you'll have to wait about thirty minutes." Emily said from Sam's arms. He huffed in response. "Paul," Sam said.
Paul turned towards Bella then. "I'm really sorry Bella," Paul said sincerely. Bella wasn't expecting that. Their eyes locked. "It's fine," she said in a small voice and handed him her muffin. "You're smaller than me, you need it more." Was Paul's response to Bella handing him her muffin. "I'm not hungry. You take it." Bella said. Paul sighed and took her muffin and broke it in half holding half of the muffin close to her mouth. "No, no," Bella started. "Humor me." Paul interrupted. Bella opened her mouth and took a bite and chewed, taking the rest of her half that Paul handed her. What they didn't know was that the whole pack silently watched their interaction, slightly shocked and curious at Paul's behavior towards Bella.
Jacob huffed from beside Bella and Paul dropped her gaze to look and Jacob's hard glare. He then noticed everyone was staring at him and Bella, whose face was bright red behind the curtain of hair that had fallen to hide her face. Paul was confused at the urge to tuck her hair behind her ear. He didn't want her to hide from him. Paul cleared his throat.
"Jacob, you have patrol, right about now." Sam told him. Jacob groaned "Are you fucking serious?" Bella was shocked at his sudden use of words. "Language," Emily warned. Bella got the feeling that Emily was like the pack mother. "Sorry Em," Jacob said, "Embry, can you cover for me?" "Sorry bro, I gotta go home." Embry replied. Jacob then looked to Jared. "Kim," was all Jared said and Bella wondered who Kim was. Jacob lastly looked at Paul, who gave him a dead stare. Jacob sighed. "Are you going to stick around, or go home?" Jacob asked Bella. "I think I might head to the beach for a while before heading home. Charlie's in Seattle for a few days." Bella replied. Paul's hand twitched at the thought of Bella being in her house alone for a few days, while there were vampires on the loose. "Okay, I'll walk you out." Jacob said taking her hand. Paul felt the sudden urge to rip off Jacobs arm and beat him with it. "Bye Bella," Embry smiled. "Bye. It was…. Nice… meeting you all." Bella looked at everyone, her gaze on Paul lasting the longest.
Jacob opened the truck door for Bella and she climbed in. "I'll call you after patrol if that's okay." Jacob said. "Yeah, that'd be good." Bella said. "Bye Bells," Jacob sighed. "Bye Jake." She replied and started up her truck as Jacob
Bella parked her truck and walked down the beach. She followed a path through the forest that lead her to a cliff. Sitting on the cold rock ground, Bella pulled up her hood in an attempt to keep warm. She pulled her knees up against her chest and let her mind wonder as she looked at the rough Pacific Ocean.
"Do you mind if I sit?" a familiar voice asked gently. She jumped. "Oh, no, you can sit." She gestured to the spot next to her. Paul sat down next to her, leaving a small gap between them. The silence was comfortable, but Bella had so many questions to ask. She looked up at Paul who was glaring at the scene in front of him. Paul looked back down at Bella, his gaze softened.
"Your eyes, they have flecks of green in them." Bella voiced her thought, then blushed and looked down, her hair falling down. Paul lifted her chin back up and pushed her hair away from her face causing Bella to blush even more. "You don't have to hide from me, and I get it from my dad." Paul's voice was thick and alluring. "Can you tell me about it?" Bella asked. "About what?" he replied. "About being a werewolf," Bella said. He chuckled, "Well technically, we're just shape shifters that take the form of a wolf. Full moons don't affect us, neither does that silver bullshit. We run at a constant temperature of about 108, heal quick, heightened senses, have faster reflexes, a much higher metabolism which causes us to need to eat a lot more than a normal human, and when we're in wolf form, our minds are connected, we hear each other's thoughts no matter the distance. We were pretty much created to destroy vampires"
Bella was quiet for a moment. "So, those hikers that were found dead in the woods," she said. "Vampires," Paul answered. Bella was relieved. "We protect humans, Bella." He said. "There's a long story behind it, but I'm not so good with storytelling, I'll talk to the elders about you coming along to one of the pack bonfires, since you're already in the know." "You'd do that?" Bella asked, eye's wide. Paul just looked into her big doe eyes.
"You look…. Never mind." Bella looked away. "I look what?" Paul asked. Bella sighed before answering. "Sad," she whispered. "I am," Paul mumbled. "Why?" Bella asked. "I'm alone." Paul simply said. To hear Paul say that, Bella's heart almost broke. "How? You have people around you that care." She said quietly. "I was born in Tacoma, parent's divorced when I was eight. I haven't seen my mother since and my dad died about three years ago. I phased a little after that. I have anger problems, so that tends to make people steer clear of me." Paul said while looking ahead at the sea. "I don't even know you and I'm telling my life story to the leech lover." He sneered. Bella winced. "Sorry, I didn't mean that." Paul apologized. "It's okay." Bella mumbled. "I just feel so comfortable around you," he explained. "Me too," Bella admitted. "I don't even know why." He added. Bella nodded in agreement. "Who do you live with?" Bella asked. "No one," Paul sighed. "Oh," Bella said quietly. "My dad won't be home for a couple of days, you're welcome to stay with me if you want some company." "I don't want to impose," Paul said. "You won't. I'll be lonely myself anyway." She replied. "Can I think about it?" Paul asked. "Sure" Bella smiled. "I'll probably decide tomorrow, if that's okay." He said. "Okay," Bella said.
It was quiet for a moment. "Sorry I slapped you." Bella said suddenly. "Hmm, you did, didn't you?" Paul said thoughtfully and poked her side cause Bella to jump. "Ticklish?" Paul smirked. "No." Bella answered too quickly and loudly. Paul started tickling her then and Bella giggled loudly. "Stop! Please!" She begged between laughs but Paul kept tickling her. Bella hadn't laughed a real laugh in a long time, and she decided it was good.
"Ow!" Bella said after smacking the back of her head against the rocky ground. Paul froze abruptly. "What's wrong?" "I hit my head," Bella groaned. Paul lifted his hand and caressed the back of Bella's head, her hair was soft under his rough hands. Bella blushed when she noticed their position. Paul was in between her legs, which were positioned at his waist. One hand was beside her, holding himself up, the other at her head. Underneath him, Bella's hands were resting at his broad shoulders. She could feel how warm he was. Paul's eyes closed as her fingers trailed to the back of his neck where her finger nails scraped the nape of his neck. A deep purr emitted from Paul's chest which caused an unknown feeling to arouse in Bella. Paul's eyes snapped open with a lustful stare, his nostrils flared and he breathed in deep. Smelling Bella's arousal he growled quietly.
Right then and there, on top of the cliff, Paul's wolf wanted to claim his mate. Paul moved suddenly from between Bella's legs and stood up abruptly, leaving Bella lying on the ground. "Sorry. It's my wolf. He wants to..." Paul stopped and sighed. "Wants to what?" Bella asked as she too, stood up. Paul shook his head.
"You'd better get going, before it gets dark." "Kay." She said, suddenly cold. Lifting up her hood again, she started walking back towards her truck with Paul at her side. The wind had picked up and Bella's teeth started chattering. "Whoa," Bella gasped as her feet were scooped up from underneath her. Paul had scooped her up into her arms to keep her warm. "Thanks" Bella said quietly and smiled. "No problem." Paul replied.
Paul put her down once they reached her truck. "Drive safely, and I'll think about you're proposal." "Okay, bye Paul." Bella smiled. He hummed and watched as she drove away.
Bella didn't know what, but there was something about Paul she was drawn to.