Thank you for your patience, if there is anyone still out there please let me know.

"What does Jake have to do with any of this?" I asked but of course, Jake was the one in control of the whole situation at the beach.

"He's with Paul; he should be the one to explain everything." Ang said smiling at me reassuringly, and then she got up and grabbed the phone dialing a number before walking into the other room. When she came back in the room she sat down across from me.

"They'll be here I a few minutes; Jake wanted me to let you know that Paul can be a bit of a hot head so just, um…be careful," Ang told me.

"Um…ok?" a hot head…that didn't exactly put me at ease.

We waited in silence for maybe five minutes when Jake came in through the back door. I wasn't sure why he'd walked all the way around the house instead of just using the front door.

"Hey Bells," Jake said coming in. We both stood and went to him. He squeezed my shoulder before giving Ang a quick kiss. "Alright Bella, Paul is out back waiting for you but I wanted to talk to you about a few things before we go out there." Jake said looking at me.

"Alright…" I said when he didn't continue.

"Do you remember a few years ago when you came down to First Beach with your friends?" he asked me.

"Back in high school? Yea, I remember," I told him, I had gone to try and figure out what was going on with Edward.

"Do you remember the legends I told you about?" he asked. That seemed a bit random but I knew Jake had to be going somewhere with it.

"About the Cold Ones, yes." Jake laughed a very dry laugh.

"I guess it makes sense that you'd remember that part best, what else do you remember?" Jake asked me seriously.

"Um…the only other thing you said was something about wolves," I was really reaching far back in my memory; it seemed like a hundred years ago, a different lifetime, a different Bella.

"That's right, the Quileute are decedent from wolves," Jake said nodding.

"Ok?" He was really making me feel slow I still had no idea where he was going with this. Jake sighed then turned to look out the back door.

"I guess I'll just let Paul explain the rest, come on." He said holding out a hand for me to take. He walked me to the back door, opening it and motioning for me to go first.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness but once they did I saw a tall native man standing a few feet away, it was Paul. He was looking at the ground, clenching and unclenching his hands. Jake and Ang both stepped outside with me.

"Bella, Paul would like to explain a few things," Jake said from behind me but I couldn't look away from the man in front of me.

"Hi," I said making his head shoot up. His gaze was so intense it knocked the wind out of me. "I don't think we've been properly introduced yet, I'm Bella Swan. It's nice to meet you." I said, holding out my hand. He took a step forward and grabbed my hand but his eyes never left mine. The instant his skin touched mine it was like an electric current went through me but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling.

"Paul Lahote," he said. "I just wanted to say sorry for running off earlier." He said I wasn't sure what to say so I just asked the first thing that came to my head.

"Why did you?" I asked, he still hadn't let go of my hand but oddly I didn't want him to, though I'm sure we looked a little strange standing there with our hands still together.

Instead of answering me he looked up at Jacob with question in his eyes, I didn't turn to look but Paul must have gotten his answer because he nodded his head once and let go of my hand. He looked at me then turned his back and started to walk away.

I took a step forward reaching for him but I felt Jakes hand on my shoulder; Paul kept walking till he was in the tree line where I couldn't see him.

"Just give him a second Bells," he said. I looked up at him confused. "He'll be back," he told me. I turned back to the spot where he had gone into the forest. For a moment nothing happened but then I saw movement.

I was squinting, but I was sure I'd seen something but it wasn't Paul. It was dark and it looked almost silver it was…fur. I took a step back and hit Jakes chest; what was going on? I felt Angela grab my hand, and then I saw it. It was a wolf, but it was more than that because this wasn't just any wolf, it was enormous.

I felt my lungs empty for what felt like the hundredth time tonight, standing in the tree line was a wolf almost the size of a horse. It had dark silver fur covering its entire body and its eyes, they were more. It wasn't just an animal; I could see that in its eyes, I could also see something else. It was Paul, I couldn't see it in the fur or the shape, but there in the eyes I could see it.

The wolf took a step forward and I tried to take another step back shaking my head.

"I don't understand, what's going on? I don't…" I trailed off. At my words the wolf dropped down to its belly and started to whine. Then I started to feel it, hurt, rejection, fear, and self-loathing. The onset of these emotions made me drop to my knees; these were not feelings of mine. I didn't know where they were coming from but it felt like my heart was breaking in two.

"Stop, please…" I said breathless. The wolf stopped whining, though the feelings didn't go away they weren't as debilitating. I looked up at the wolf in front of me and looked into its eyes. There was such sadness, a deep sorrow that had so much more to do with than just the situation at hand.

I stood slowly and started to walk towards him, he's eyes followed me the whole way. When I was standing in front of him I decided to kneel down next to him. I reached out a shaking hand and touched the fur on his head, it was softer than I would have thought possible. I looked into his eyes and saw hope, true hope and it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

"Paul…" I said, and I knew it was over. I didn't understand what was going on but whatever it was, I was in. I was all in.

Paul POV

Quil and I had just gotten done with patrol and were headed to the bonfire. My dumbass best friend had just popped the question to his beautiful imprint and of course she had said yes. When he asked me to be the best man I was over the fucking moon, I told him I was only going to do it because that meant a bachelor party which meant strippers but there was more than that. Though I would never admit it out loud I was proud of the little shit and there was no way in hell I was going to let anyone else be his best man.

As we got closer to the fire I could hear Jake, once he saw me he waved me over. Suddenly I smelled something amazing. It wasn't the food. I could smell it and though it did smell good this smell was something else entirely. I took a deep breath in trying to place it, it was a kind of flower one that I had smelled before but not here in Washington. This flower smelled like spring, it took me a moment to place it but when I did it was like I was hit by a Mack truck. Wisteria, I had been with my mother on my way to visit my grandparents on the East Coast for the first and only time. The smell was so strong I couldn't understand why it was here on a beach in Washington.

I took another breath; there was something else there too. Vanilla, not like shitty fake vanilla ice cream smell, it was real fresh vanilla. I started walking towards the smell not caring about Jake anymore only caring about finding where this smell was coming from. I picked up my pace smelling my way there the entire time, and then I found it. It was a girl, the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. Her hair was dark brown and fell in waves almost to her shoulders. She was smiling which made me unbelievably happy, I would have been happy to just stare at her all night but she turned to look. Not at me but at Quil which pissed me off, it was then I realized he had followed me. What the fuck was he doing here? He reached out and pulled the girl in front of us to his chest and I wanted to fucking kill him, what made him think he could do that? Then she looked up at me and everything stopped.

Nothing could have prepared me for what this felt like, I had seen it in the guy's heads. Jake, Sam, Jared, and even Quil but seeing it was nothing like feeling it. For a moment after I looked in her eyes it was like gravity was turned off it was no longer holding me down to the earth for half a second I was floating but then I felt it. The pull, like someone had taken a red hot wire and tied it around my heart and connected it to this beautiful girl. She was my gravity now; she was the thing holding me down. This red hot wire between us was the only thing that made sense, how had I lived my life up to this point without this feeling?

I realized I had imprinted.

Suddenly I was turned around and being pulled away; the beautiful girl was getting further and further away. I looked around and saw Jake, Sam, and Quil were taking me away from her. I kept looking back, I didn't understand why they would try and take me away from my imprint. But then I realized I was shaking, I was shaking all over but I couldn't stop looking at her.

I didn't even know her name yet but she was my world, and they were taking me away from her. The shaking got worse and I knew what was going to happen. It had been years since I lost control like this, phased without meaning to and I was going to. It was about to happen, I could feel the familiar sensation in my bones. I remember the first time I phased like it was yesterday. I could feel the bones snapping under my skin, every single bone in my body was twisting and breaking. The sensation was much what I imagine hell to be like. Though after years of phasing it was like slipping on a second skin.

As I was failing to control my phasing I realized something, I almost phased in front of her. A flash of Emily's face ran through my mind and suddenly I exploded.

How could I have done that? It was so fucking stupid, she could have gotten hurt! It didn't matter that I was pissed at Quil for touching her! I almost hurt her, the girl I would never, could never hurt, I had almost done it.

What the fuck was wrong with me?!

"Nothing is wrong with you; you need to calm down Paul." It was Jake inside my head, he had phased too. But there was something wrong with me; I had been close to phasing, close to hurting the one person who mattered now. Another image of Emily's beautiful scarred face flashed through my mind and I felt Sam wince.

"Fuck I'm sorry Sam! Fuck!" I had to get out of there, I had to run.

"Paul, stop running!" It was Sam, he was running beside me but I couldn't stop. I had to get away, I wasn't good, I wasn't good enough for her, I'd almost hurt her. I couldn't do that, I wouldn't do it.

"You aren't going to hurt her Paul, I know you're freaking out but you have to stop". Jake said and I could see flashes in his mind, pictures of my girl in his mind. She was younger but still painfully beautiful, why did Jake know what my girl looked like? How did he have memories of her that I didn't? It seemed wrong.

"It's Bella, Paul. My friend from Seattle," I stopped dead in my tracks. That was her name, Bella. It seemed so perfect; I just watched for a second the pictures in Jakes head of my girl, my Bella. She was at the beach smiling, she couldn't have been older than 16. Then another flash, she was in the kitchen cooking maybe a year older now still smiling but this time she looked thinner, too thin. Her beautiful face was sunken in. I wanted her to smile all the time, every single day and I wanted to be the one to make her smile.

"Paul, do you think you can phase back?" Jake asked me, I didn't know if I could but then he showed me more pictures. Flashes of Bella, her stunning face, that smile that made the world make sense. I was starting to calm down, maybe I could phase back.

"That's right Paul, you can do this." Jake told me, I was about to try and phase when the pictures of Bella left Jacobs head, his phone was ringing. Now his head was filled with Angela, his imprint.

"Fuck, Angela is calling me. Stay with him Sam." And just like that Jake was gone from inside my head; I started to pace back and forth.

"How do you live with this?" I asked Sam.

"How do we live with the imprint?"

"No, how do you live with this feeling?" I asked I could feel that red hot wire but now instead of holding me down it felt painful, it was like it was getting tighter in a painful way. Gripping around my heart, trying to pull me back to where it belonged. Sam said nothing but I could feel his confusion, was something wrong? Was there something wrong with my imprint?

"Wait, where's Quil?" I remembered him dragging me into the forest along with Jake and Sam.

"Um, he stayed behind to watch Bella," Sam answered distractedly.

Suddenly Jake was back. "Alright Paul, Bella needs you." Suddenly nothing else mattered; everything that I was feeling didn't matter because she needed me.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Angela called, she and Bella are and my house, she said we need to come right now." Before he was even done talking I was sprinting towards his house.

I don't think I had ever run that fast in my life, the closer we got to the house the cooler the burning hot wire was around my heart but it was like the pull got stronger.

We were right outside his back door when Jake got in front of me and stopped.

"You can't go in there like this, you have to phase if you want to see Bella. Can you do-" Suddenly I was back, it had never felt that easy for me to phase back before it was almost like falling asleep. It was as if my body knew Bella needed me. I didn't even have to try, I just let it happen.

"Alright Paul, put these on," Jake said handing me a pair of shorts. "I'm going to go in there and bring her out here ok? Sam is going to stay back here phased just in case something happens." I nodded and stood there waiting. I listened to Jake as he walked in the house and then starting talking to Bella, my Bella.

Then before I knew what was happening they were all coming outside, I was standing there looking at the ground trying not to phase. I didn't want to look at her, I mean I did more than anything I did, but last time I almost phased so I was just going to wait here, looking at the ground.

That was my plan until I heard her voice; it was like silk against my skin. My head shot up and I was struck again with her beauty. She was talking, I wasn't sure what she was saying but I heard her say her name hand put out her hand for me to take, so I told her my name and grabbed her hand. When I did it was like getting shocked but in the most amazing way. She was quiet for a second so I decided to say something.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry I had to run off earlier," I said and I meant it. I didn't ever want to leave her again.

"Why did you?" she asked me, and I knew I couldn't lie to her. I looked up at Jake, I didn't think coming out and saying, 'Oh yea I'm a werewolf' was going to go over well. I was hoping he could understand what I wanted and when he nodded I turned around and walked back to the forest.

I slipped off my shorts and phased, my heart was pounding. Was this really the best way to tell her? I didn't have long to think about it, I started walking towards Jakes back door where they all were standing.

I had just cleared the tree line and I was trying to make myself look as small as possible when I saw her shaking her head. I took a half step forward and when I saw her take a step away from me it was like I split in two.

Of course she didn't want me, I was a fucking freak. Who the hell would want to be with someone like me? I could feel Sam in my head trying to say something but I didn't hear anything. I knew I would fuck this up before it even started, that's what I did best. Fuck things up. I was about to try and leave if I could make myself move when I saw her fall to the ground.

"Stop, please…" I knew she was talking to me so I sat there totally still trying not to think. She stood up and walked over to me and I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She was small but not as small as in Jakes memory of her. The fullness was back in her cheeks though she was still thin. And she was short, I mean everyone was to me but I had to be over a foot taller than her.

She stood in front of me for a second then bent down and ran a hand over the top of my head and I didn't know anything could feel this good.

"Paul…" I heard her say, and I knew it was over. Whoever I was before today, all the crap I'd done, it was over because the only thing that mattered was her. She was my world.