Revised 10/12/16…ugh when the revision started. Revised 8/25/17.
Side note, this bastard WILL be completed!
(Hopefully before the 10!, what the fuck!, year anniversary, I am not giving up!)
Thank you for all of those still sticking with the story, and for all new readers.
Warning: Rated M for language and sex.
…
Chapter 4
May
Paul POV
A never-ending cycle. That's what my life can be summed up as at the moment. Hell, probably ever since I was 17. In the past seven years since I found out I could phase into a wolf, shapeshifter if you want to get technical, all I do is sleep, eat, school, now work, and then patrol. It's not a bad life, but it's not one that I imagined for myself growing up.
The only variation of this routine was the two vampire wars started by Bella Swan. I know she was a teenage girl and true love and all that bullshit, but we sure as shit would have been better off if she had never moved to Forks. At the very least the young pups would have never phased. There are 10 of us, and thank the gods that the bloodsuckers moved away before any of the younger boys phased. Collin and Brady phasing at 12 was bad enough.
All I have to say is that thank fuck no one on our side died, and it was the best day that I had in years when the Cullen's finally skipped town to parts unknown with their creepy vampire baby. No matter how it seemed, and regardless of my out of control teenage temper, I didn't have a damn death wish at 17 and I still don't at 24.
After the vamps finally left, they soothed their path of destruction with money and were soon they were a footnote in the history of Forks. Some money came toward the pack, but we went on with business as usual. It was months of tension and us being on high alert for those weird as fuck "royal" vamps and their curiosity of things they should have never been read in on.
I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the vamps, but it's insane that the way they fit in is repeating high school over and over again. One would think there would be better options if you were immortal and your future telling family member could make sure you were set for life. Once was quite enough for me, and that was a struggle in itself. I graduated two years after I was meant to, but I did it. The pack took some of that "thanks for being our lap dogs and not killing us" money and opened up a handyman/car repair shop. We were better priced and better at our jobs than the competition in Forks and Port Angeles. I wouldn't say business was booming, but we were doing all right.
Things settled down with only the occasional red-eyed vampire passing through. That was the only break in the monotony that a wolf was able to enjoy around here. Sam was still a fucking hard ass about patrolling though. He insisted that it kept us fresh to stick to a patrol scheduled, and Jake was content to let him rule there. As annoying as it could be, he was right. It's better to be prepared then look back and wish we were on top of our shit.
My love life is a study in monotony as well. The occasional anonymous hook up out of Port Angeles or Seattle to satisfy my baser urges when my hand is no longer enough. Any single women in La Push were looking for a more serious relationship, and on the off chance I imprint, I am not disappointing someone like that. Still, I looked toward my pack to see many of them settling down with their other halves, and I wonder if mine is out there. We've heard legends of how rare imprinting is, but fuck so is a pack of 10. Embry, Seth, Brady, and I were the last wolves standing in the lack of an imprint department. And we all try and pretend that we aren't constantly on the lookout for the extension of our souls.
Although I'm real fucking glad that I didn't imprint when I first turned wolf, I wouldn't have been able to handle it. I can only fucking imagine what my temper at 17 would have done to a fragile, breakable imprint. My nightmares tell me what happened to Emily would have been child's play with how out of control I was. My lack of impulse control already led to regrettable outbursts that I still cringe about to this day. Maybe I'll never imprint, but thank the gods that the angry, out of control 17-year-old didn't imprint and do something that he wouldn't have been able to come back from.
But I hope that my imprint is out there and will come into my life one of these days. Being around all the imprinted wolves is enough to make someone throw up, but fuck it looks damn good.
The pack has finally settled down and settled into our bonds of love and family. The peace and restructuring of the pack was touch and go with Jake and his small pack returning, but it eventually worked out. I respected that the other wolves did what they had to do, and looking back, they kept us from making a mistake that we couldn't take back.
Jake and Sam had a big blow out, but at the end of the day, Jake was in charge and Sam was happy to secede the main mantle of power. If he hadn't, we would have been two motley packs of five, Quil and Embry would have left to join Jake without a doubt. Leah would have never come back with Jake and Seth on the outside. Just the thought of not having them in my life is incomprehensible.
Jake further chilled out when he imprinted on a girl named Codi, putting his feelings for Bella Swan to rest. He was able to help her deal with some trouble that had sent her running away from Denver. It also led to Codi's brother Creed coming to town. That guy looks scary as fuck on a good day, but he was the perfect match for Leah. Her imprinting mellowed her out, and we had built up a friendship that was rock solid.
My musings on my life were cut short when my phone rang. I looked down to see an unexpected call from Quinn Younger.
"Hello," I said cautiously.
"Paul, this is Quinn. I was just calling to tell you that Louise had a stroke and is in Intensive Care." He sounded more broken up than I had ever heard before.
Holy shit though. This was the absolute last thing I expected him to be calling about.
"Um, I'm so sorry to hear that. How is she doing?" I sounded like a dumbass, but fuck, I was shocked.
Quinn let out a huge breath, "She hit her head when on the way down, so we won't know more until she wakes up. I was just calling to let you know what was happening and that no one would be at the house." Each word sounded like it was painful to say aloud.
"Okay sir, I'll be keeping you both in my prayers. Is there anything I can do for you?" I asked. Still awkward as fuck.
"Thank you, son, but I wouldn't want to have you go out of your way." He was dismissive, but nowhere near as firm as he normally was.
"I really don't mind Quinn, honestly, anything I can do to help." I was earnest. The Youngers had done more for me than they probably knew.
I first met them when I was finishing up my senior year of high school at 19 years old. I was still that pissed off, angry teenager who had a hell of a time controlling his temper. I was also desperate for cash, and there weren't any jobs to be had around home for someone with my skill set, or lack thereof, at the time.
I ran into Mrs. Younger, Louise, at the hardware store in Forks and to this day I have no idea how I ended back at her house with a list of chores to get started on. Her husband Quinn was a former military man who was used to dealing with kids who needed direction in their lives. He helped redirect my anger and grow as a man. Louise would just smile and dazzle me in such a way that I would be halfway through a project before I even realize what I am doing.
What started as helping around the yard turned into painting and projects, basically anything they needed done around the house. Quinn was a handy guy and he helped me channel all the burning anger and energy into projects that I could make a tangible connection that this was something that I finished and was worthwhile. It took me a long time to realize that the fact that no one died on our watch as wolves was just as important and tangible as those projects I finished.
They were a godsend to my parents who struggled to help me turn my anger in to something productive, especially after my own grandmother died.
"… so if you're sure you don't mind, then I will just text you the flight details. Thanks again Paul." Quinn's brusque voice came across the line.
I shook my head and wondered what the hell I agreed to, "Sure thing sir. Please let me know if there is anything you need done at the house or if you need me to run over supplies to you at the hospital."
"Thank you, Paul, I might take you up on that. I know once Annie gets here we will be settled, but I will let you. Goodbye." He hung up the phone rather abruptly. At least the mention of Annie meant their daughter was coming in to town, and flight details meant I agreed to pick her up. Doable.
Like Louise gaining her strength back regardless of what the doctors would come in to Quinn with. Fuck these normal human conditions and getting old though.
…
The next day I headed towards the airport in Port Angeles to pick up Quinn and Louise's daughter who managed to find a connecting flight from the international airport in Seattle.
There was a prickle of uneasiness that had me surveying my surroundings a little more carefully. There would be no warning that this was the step I would be taking to cementing the future that I longed for.
I pulled into the short-term parking lot, as I would be picking up my mentor's daughter straight off the curb, even at this small ass airport. I would smack my own self upside the head before doing so, no need for Quinn and his lessons on manners to remind me.
The wolf nose came in handy as most people have a certain familial scent, which was weird as fuck to get used to when we finally figured it out. Even Rachel and Rebecca, Jake's sisters who no one had seen in years, had smelled like Jake and Billy. Their homecoming was actually what made all the other smells and what we could term incidents, not stalking thank you Emily, make sense. It made it damn useful to track someone you have never seen before through an airport.
My ears pricked as I caught a glimpse of the woman who looked like the shorter, more feminine version of Quinn Younger. That stereotypical All-American look of old, straight blonde hair and blue eyes. She was on the phone, talking about getting murdered? What the fuck.
As I moved closer, she smiled at me and finished her phone call, "Oh I see him, love you Lily and talk to you later!" I could hear this Lily, her daughter or friend maybe, respond with the hope that she didn't get Criminal Minds murdered. Again, what the fuck?
The Younger's daughter might have been a replica of her father, but she had that same easy-going yet steamroller manner as her mother. "Hello! I'm Ann Hawkins, and you must be Paul? I've heard so many wonderful things about you from my parents. Thank you so much for coming to get me! I was afraid my father was going to insist on doing it himself, and clearly, he is in no shape to be driving. I told him I would rent a car, but he insisted he knew a nice young man who would have no problem driving an hour and a half out of his way to come get me." She paused, finally, with a conspiratorial smile up at me, inviting me to join in on the joke about her father.
"Um yes, it was no problem at all Mrs. Hawkins. Your father has done a lot for me over the years." I felt a bit blindsided, which was odd after the years Louise had done this to me. Quinn only every shook his head and muttered about his daughter being worse. Which is obviously true after being in her presence for all of thirty seconds.
"Excellent, well thank you again. Please call me Ann! I didn't check a bag, so we can be on our way." She maneuvered us around, and she did not let me take her suitcase as she started walking in the direction I had come from.
Once we got to my truck, I was able to take the suitcase and put it in the backseat with no fight as Mrs. Hawkins, Ann she said to call her, who walked around and took a picture of the license plate.
"Sorry," she said sheepishly, "My daughter is convinced I am going to be murdered, but this will appease her."
"It's fine Mrs. Hawkins, I mean Ann," damn she had the mom look of narrowing the eyes down to a science. I started the car, and I headed back to the hospital in Forks.
...
