PAUL'S POV
As soon as I looked into her eyes, I knew.
I knew that no matter what, she had to come first. I knew that anything and everything else that made me who I am, lost all its value. I knew that my family, my friends, my enemies, and even my own name no longer held any meaning, that she triumphed all of that. I knew that I couldn't hurt her or let her be hurt. I knew that in some way I was going to spend the rest of my life with her. I knew, that even if she rejected me, she would be part of who I was forever. I knew that gravity no longer held me where I stood, but instead it was her. I knew that you could hold a gun to my head and I would still pick her. I knew that I would never pull a Cullen and leave her alone. I knew that I would become her protector. I knew that my duty to the pack and to the tribe were nothing compared to my duty to her.
But most of all, I knew that I loved her. And I knew that I would love her until my final breath and I knew that in my final breath would be the words "I love you." I knew that she was my oxygen, my gravity, my hearts reason for beating. I knew that I had never been so sure of anything else in the world. I knew that I should have been scared but instead I felt elated. Like a weight had been lifted, like my other half had finally returned to fill the void I hadn't even known was there.
"Imprint." Was all I had managed to choke out. "Let me go." She had told me, and I released her without meaning to. She walked away. Away from the building and away from me. I slumped down in my seat, already wanting today to be done with. "Paul?" Emily asked softly. My eyes snapped open and a glare reappeared on my face. She didn't seem at all phased, probably used to my outbursts at this point. "What?" I snapped. "Are you okay?" that did it. I had no idea why that made me so angry, but it did. I stood harshly and ran out.
I ran into the woods and phased, not caring if someone saw or if someone found my now shredded clothes. Paul! Calm down man, this is a good thing! Embry's annoyingly optimistic thoughts somehow only succeeded in making it worse. Fuck off! This is not a good thing! This is horrible and life ruining and I'm not gonna talk about it, so don't even try to get me to with your bullshit cheerful routine! I could feel the hurt coming off him in waves, and I immediately knew I went too far, but I couldn't stop. It's getting old really fast okay? Nobody is actually that cheerful! It just doesn't happen. The faster you learn that, the better off you are kid. I was still running, and I could still feel Embry's presence in my head, but he was finally silent. After a few minutes, he started again. Maybe. But maybe it's you who needs to learn that not everybody is gonna hurt you. I'm not as cheerful as you think I am either, but I am optimistic. Blake…she's the one man. She's your imprint and nothing is gonna change that and I know now what you were thinking when you looked into her eyes I can guarantee that if you say even half that shit out loud you'll get the girl. You'll get a beating from the pack to go along with it, but you'll get her. She's yours, and you've got about an hour and a half to come up with a game plan. He was still there, but he was silent again. I've never been hurt. Was the first thing I could think of. I've cut off everyone before they could do any damage. I had been trying to sound tough, but I just came out as pitiful, even to me. That's not good, man, that's unhealthy. You're also wrong. He told me. How am I wrong? I wasn't trying to be menacing, I was curious as to how this kid I've known a whole two moths could possibly know anything about me I didn't already understand.
Sam and Jared. They hurt you. When Sam left, you were upset, so you and Jared made a pact never to ditch each other and then six months later he left you too. You were alone for two months and when you finally got to be with them again, it was because you were phasing. They were gonna leave you alone forever. Plus, they used everything they had against you. You used to be a fragile, nerdy, mellow kid. You remember Jared kicking you in vivid detail. I was pissed right off now. STAY OUTTA MY HEAD! I mentally roared. I felt Embry phase back and then there was silence. I kept running. I had no idea where I was going until I came across a clearing. I lied down and decided to sleep outside that night.
BLAKE'S POV
"REALLY? A DRAGON! OF ALL OF THE CREATURES YOU CHOSE A DRAGON!" The stupid smile never left his face. "Yeah! Don't you like him? Look, he likes you!" the dragon was circling my legs, nuzzling every once in a while like a cat. "Yeah, it's cute, but do you have idea of how big this thing's gonna get?! Because I can guarantee that your place won't hold him." Dad nodded. "He'll grow as big as a small husky and his breed is real easy to train too. He'll be a great pet." Dad was just so happy, and again it broke my heart. "Daddy, you know the rules." I started, but he cut me off. "Yes, I know the rules, which is why I talked to the Covenant before even looking for an egg." I sighed. "What's the little shit's name?" I asked. "It's up to you, he's yours." I could hear the smugness in Dad's voice. "He's mine!" I was amazed, all Dad had ever wanted was a dragon, and he's giving him to me? "Yep! He's yours." Dad was grinning like a fool. "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I launched myself into his arms. He chuckled. "His name is…Fred!" Dad looked confused. "Fred?" I nodded. "Fred." He shrugged.
"You seemed like you had news when you came in, what's up?" I sighed. "I was offered a place to stay down on the rez." Dad looked happy. "That's great! Who with?" I slumped my shoulders. "Sam and Emily." Dad flinched. "Okay, if you want to, I'm okay with it." I smiled. "That's not all." I mumbled. "What else?" he seemed almost angry.
"One of the wolves, Paul Lahote, imprinted on me." Dad had no emotion in his face. "Daddy?" he shook his head and let me go. "Is he your Et Media Pars Mihi?" his voice was tight. "I don't know. I-I think so." Dad sighed.
"I have to go back down to La Push; I'm going to talk over the details with Sam and Em." He nods. "Take Fred with you." I rolled my eyes. "Daddy!" he shakes his head. "Either Fred goes, or you stay." Tough love. "Fine! Are you sure he'll be okay though? He's only a baby." Dad nodded. "Dragons are tough creatures, plus, I've already fed him." I nodded. "Thanks Daddy." I turned and walked away, scooping Fred up as I went.
The thing about Fred was that at that point in time he was the size of an abnormally small kitten, but with claws, he crawled up and sat in my shoulder. "You are not a cat, you know?" he just made some murpy noises and blew some smoke.
I went outside and threw myself onto the bike, starting off down the road. It took about 20 minutes to get to Sam and Em's, since I decided not to cut through the field that time. When I walked up to the door, it was opened before I had a chance to knock. "Hello Sam." I said, trying to be cheerful. "Hello Blake, come on in, Em and the pack are in the kitchen." I stopped dead. "May I ask why the pack's here? Because, uh, yeah I was never told the whole pack lived here." I trailed off and he chuckled, realizing that we were both enjoying the obviously faked politeness. "You may. The pack's here because Em has become a sort of mother to them and yeah, they're also nosey little shits." He said with obvious affection for both his imprint and his pack. "May I ask in return what exactly is sitting on your shoulder?" we were in the kitchen now. "His name is Fred and he's a present from my Dad. I only got him, like, 20 minutes ago I swear." I heard the pack chuckle. "Okay, but what is he?" I stood there. "A dragon." That got a loud roar of laughter. "Ignore them, Freddy, we're better than that." That shut them up.
"So, you said you talked to Leah?" Emily asked. "Yes, and like I said before, as long as I don't make her interact with you guys, she'll be okay." Emily and Sam nodded. "So, we have conditions too." I nodded, mentally already agreeing with them all. "One, no using magic unless asked or it is desperately needed." I nodded. "I can live with that." They smiled. "Sit down; you're making even me tense." Sam joked. I looked around and sat lightly on the arm, since the only other places were the floor or next to Paul in the loveseat. "Two, no sitting on the arms of my furniture." Her tone was joking but her eyes said 'You'd better listen'. I slid off and onto the floor. She frowned but continued to speak. "Three, if he doesn't burn the place down, you can keep Fred." I beamed. "Thank You!" I really was starting to enjoy the company of the little shit sitting on my shoulder. Fred made a little murpy noise again and blew a smoke ring in the shape of a heart toward Emily.
"Awwwww, he's so cute!" she cooed. I shrugged. "He's something alright." She giggled. "Can he fly?" I turned to Embry and I shrugged. "Until, like, an hour ago I didn't even know he existed." He nodded and I turned my head to look at Fred. "Can you fly you little shit?" he made a squawking sound and bit my ear. "Ow! What the hell?! You little tyrant! What gives?!" he ruffled his wings at me. "You, my dear lizard, are a piece of work." He blew smoke in my face and I pulled off my shoulder and onto my lap. "If I have to pull a George, I will." He looked at me funny, and so did everyone else. "Nevermind!" I sighed.
"Right," Emily trailed off, "four, no excessive drinking." She said firmly, and I knew that even if I tried, I wouldn't get out of this one. "If it helps," I threw out, "I'm not even 100% on the whole intoxication of the magical community thing. The Covenant forbids drinking at meetings and that'd be the only place I could even get anything strong enough to knock me on my ass." Emily laughed. Like, full on body shaking laughed. "Are you okay? Oh my Gods, what's happening?" once the laughter turned to giggles, she answered. " You have such an odd way of speaking." I sighed, but nodded. "Pretty much yeah I do." She giggled again.
"Okay, I agree to all of your conditions, but, I want you to understand what exactly it is you've just done." They looked worried. "You've just invited a Witch into your lives. I am a protector, and that will always come first. I also have a bad habit of using magic for the dumbest shit." They were starting to relax. "But, you've also let in an upper member of the Covenant." They looked confused. "I have, since I am exceptionally powerful, been trained in combat in order to protect and provide for my Covenant and my charge. It's almost like your wolves. You, Sam, are at the top, but Jared and Paul are too. You all have to fight and, like, keep everyone below you safe." Sam held up his hand. "Are you trying to tell me you're the equivalent to a magical Alpha?" I laughed, I couldn't help it. "No, I'm more along the lines of a beta. The "Alpha" of the Covenant is Maria Sanders." He nodded. "You're powerful?" I was shocked over the fact that it was Paul who asked, not because I thought he wouldn't, just because it was very soft and quiet. I nodded my head and pursed my lips. "Yeah, I am. Fire manipulation is the hardest thing to grasp, and that's my area of expertise, so they want to keep me on their side. I'm pretty high up in ranks, and only about three people are above me, but that's because I'm their junior by about 150 years each." There was a stunned silence. "150 years?" Jared eventually spit out. "Yeah, it's a common know fact that Witches are damn near immortal." I said in a 'duh' voice. I saw Paul smirk out of the corner of my eyes, but he also seemed way too happy about that.
"Are you still willing to let me stay? It will only be until I can find a job with a steady paycheck." They chuckled. "Of course! Sam told me about your little fire thing, so we figured you were powerful when we asked." I felt like the world had just been lifted off my shoulders. "I can't thank you enough for this. Seriously, I had no idea what I would have had to have done for a place to stay." I heard Paul growl. "Are you okay?" I asked him, he nodded, but the evil look never left his face. "Right, I believe you. Thousands wouldn't, but I do." I teased, and a small smile tugged at his lips.
"If you were worried about not having anywhere to go, why were you so defiant when we asked you the first time?" Em asked. "Leah." Jared scoffed. "What does she have to do with anything?" I growled at him, like actually growled. So did Fred after hearing me. "Watch how you talk about her." I snarled. "Why?" he challenged. "She's a bitter old bitch with anger issues." I stood up, Fred clinging to my hip for dear life, and walked over to him, getting really close to his face. "She's also one of my best friends." I backed up slightly. "Now, I want you to look at this through her point of view. She loved Sam, and was devastated when he left her. But, she respected it, because he said something about being too dangerous to be near. Skip ahead not even two years later. He's planning on marrying her cousin, who she trusted, and I've already ranted about this at Burger King!" he looked scared. "I know it's out of your control, but she thinks you willingly hurt her. Both of you." Emily and Sam flinched.
"I respect your loyalty for Leah, really I do, but is it really above finding a secure place to stay?" He asked. "Yes." I didn't even hesitate. "It is. Leah, she's had enough shit happen to her in the past. She deserves at least one person she's still confident in. Seth," I sighed. "Seth is that person, not gonna lie, but I want her to be able to trust me too. If it means clearing things over with her, then so be it." I was kinda angry still, and Fred was on my shoulder making angry growling noises, supporting my decision. "Couldn't you have just done the phoning thing to her?" Jacob asked. "Calling? Yes. I wouldn't have though." he looked confused. "For the same reason Sam doesn't push his power onto you. In the end, it's taking away someone's will, someone's right to make decisions." He nodded, and, for once, didn't follow through with a smart ass comment.
"When do you move in?" Sam asked. "When can I? Because Emilia will want to help me and she too is a nosey little shit." They chuckled. "As soon as this Emilia character is up here, feel free to start unpacking your things." I nodded, smiling. "Thanks again." He shook his head. "No worries." I nodded and stood up, using the counter to pull myself. "Well, I'd bett-" Emily cut me off. "Would you like to spend the night?" I smiled. "I would love to." I snapped my fingers and pjs and clothes appeared, and a note explaining to Dad why I wasn't gonna be home appeared there.
"How'd you know when exactly to come to Forks?" Embry asked out of the blue. "Uncle Charlie called, and I would have been here way sooner but teleporting over long distances takes a lot out of me." He nodded. "It was dumb luck." I shrugged. I like Embry, I really did, but he wasn't the most social creature ever.
"Well, you can sleep in the spare room, which I guess is your room now." I nodded, and then a wall of sleepiness hit me and I stumbled. "Are you okay?!" oddly enough, it was Paul who asked and he was at my side in a heartbeat. "N-no, I-I think something's wrong." I mumbled, leaning right into him. Well, I am his imprint, might as well make it official the he's my Et Media Pars Mihi. He buried his face in my hair and that's when I felt it. The burning of the Mark. "Ow…" I whimpered pitifully. Usually, burning doesn't affect me, but this was different. It had been out of my control and burnt like a motherfucker. "Ow!" I said more urgently. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" It was stupid painful at that point. "What's wrong?" Paul asked. "It hurts." I sounded like a little kid. "What hurts?" His face was still in my hair, and my eyes were shut in pain. "The Mark." I grumbled. He pulled his face away. "That-that doesn't help." He mumbled, but I knew everybody could hear him.
"Look at your arm." I choked out. The pain had been getting to be too much, like fire had been curling around my arm. "GODS DAMMIT!" I sobbed out, crashing against Paul. He scooped me up bridle style and took me to the spare room. The entire time he was mumbling words of comfort. "Don't worry, I've got you, you're safe here." And "I won't let you be hurt." Or, my favourite "I'm here for you, we'll do it together, I promise."
After another five to ten minutes, the burning stopped. "Thank you, Paul, for staying with me." He nodded. "I know you're tired, so I'll let you sleep, but, before I go, do you need help with anything? Getting dressed or undressed?" I smiled. "Even in the darkest of times, you still have a sense of humor don't you?" he nodded. "I try." Him smile turned sincere. "Seriously though, do you need help?" I shook my head no. "Okay and Blake? You should probably what the fuck just happened tomorrow." I chuckled. "Goodnight Paul." He nodded and walked away. "Goodnight Firecracker." I heard him mumble to himself.
Eventually, after about 20 minutes of just lying there, I dragged myself out of bed. I stripped and pulled on my shorts and old Korn tee shirt I stole from Dad. I walked up to the mirror I had in the room and examined the mark. It was intricate lines that started from the same point on my right arm the Paul's tribal tattoo is on his. I smiled. We match now Iratus Unum.
I fell asleep with a smile on my face that night, knowing that tomorrow was going to be interesting.
If only I had known just how interesting.