Author's Note: Hello, beautiful people. Look who's back so soon with another chapter? Ain't that great? Amazing? No? Okay, I'll just go cry in the corner there.
A huge thanks to everyone who favorited, followed or reviewed this piece. Y'all rock my world.
Disclaimer: I'm not the owner of anything you see here, alright? I'm just messing around with Paul's and Bella's lives a little to see if they finally get around to make out and shit.
Paul was tired. Exhausted, if he was being honest with himself. He had worked himself frenetically — not only physically, but mentally as well. It was punishment, in a certain way. After leaving the club — or rather, after Jared almost carried him out of the club — Paul had heard in disbelief as his brother told him not to freak out when the worst came. Paul hadn't been able to conceive what could be worse than the disgusting, and frankly, humiliating experience he had just went through. The bond hadn't been done screwing with him goddamn life, though, because Jared hadn't lied. The second he shifted and the wolf gained control over his body, the bond lashed out like nothing he had thought possible.
It was torture — punishment. As easy and as horrifying as that. The usually coiled band surrounding his middle expanded until it could release heat to every part of his gigantic form. It burned and ached — the parts he had been touched were even worst, though. They began to bleed as the dirty touch was expelled from his body, leaving him once more clean for his mate. It was a traumatic experience, even with his brother sitting by his side and guiding him through it.
All and all, he was already having a crappy fucking day when he heard it. The howling call of one of his brothers, alerting him to the presence of a leech in their land. Paul had to admit that the idea of ignoring the call and letting the others deal with it had crossed his mind for a few long moments before the sense of duty — and mostly the possibility of Bella being in danger — forced him to get up from the bed and shift once again.
It was the redheaded bitch, of course. It didn't surprise Paul that she would pick the worst day possible to cross the line and enter the reservation.
He was already running in her direction, seeing her from Sam's thoughts as he, Embry, and Quil chased after her a few miles away. The chance to get a piece of the bitch was almost enough to make him salivate, driving Paul to push his legs faster in an attempt not to miss the party. He came to a sudden halt, however, when he noticed she was toying with them. Her movements were meant to cause confusion — to distract.
He could see where she was going, though. To the cliffs.
As soon as he came to that conclusion, the voices of his pack mates filled his head.
'Paul, man, you have to go! Jake promised to take Bella to the cliffs today!' Quil's hurried thoughts pushed themselves into his mind.
'Jake and Bella are there!'
'Paul, go.' Finally, the order from his alpha, telling him to change directions and go to his mate. 'We'll try to distract her in order to buy you some time. Get her out of the reservation – keep her safe. We'll call you when we have new.'
Paul didn't wait for a second longer. The moment Bella's name had been dropped he had altered his direction, following the tug of the bond without any further incentive. He let Sam know he understood his order with a quick 'okay' — focusing all of his attention when he felt Jacob shift and join their mental link.
'I'm coming for Bella, keep her out of the water,' he ordered, seeing the boy's memories as he showed Bella standing next to him close to the edge of the highest damn cliff.
'I could do it,' Jacob decided to argue. 'We're not far from her car.'
'Get her inside the car, Paul's almost at your location. We need you here,' Sam ordered once more, showing how close they actually were from the leech.
'Fine,' he agreed and shifted back.
Paul tried to ignore the chase and the need to help his brothers as he ran towards his mate, feeling the ground giving under his powerful paws. The bond demanded he search Bella and get her to safety, but it didn't mean he didn't wish to be with the pack hunting the bloodsucker alongside them. That was his duty. Shying away from that was a novelty he couldn't help but dislike.
When he reached the end of the trees and could see Bella's car in the distance, where she was asking Jacob what was going on, Paul forced the fight away from his thoughts in order to calm down enough to shift back. It took a couple of attempts, but he succeeded at last.
Pushing his shorts up his legs, Paul ran to where they were, pausing only to slap Jacob on the shoulder and order:
"Go!"
The boy left the driver's seat, waving goodbye to Bella quickly before moving towards where Paul had come from to shift without being seen.
Paul sat next to his mate and immediately felt a wave of concern leave his body as he assured himself that he had made it in time and his mate was still unharmed.
Suddenly, he remembered something. Damn, he could not call in sick again.
Starting the car, Paul began to drive, hoping he would be able to get in on time.
"Where are we going?"
"I can't miss another day of work," Paul explained, not taking his eyes off the road. "And since I can't let you out of my sight, you're coming with me."
"You work outside of the reservation?" she asked, sounding curious about his job. "What do you do?"
"Port Angeles, actually. I teach Muay Thai — it's a fighting style."
"Oh," Bella murmured. "Okay, I can see it. Have you always liked fighting?"
How could Paul explain what fighting meant to him without totally freaking her out? How could he even begin to make her understand it when it involved so much of his fucked up childhood?
"Yeah," he settled for a simple answer. "It was a good way to work out some steam."
Paul should've known that Bella wasn't about to settle for the easy response. That was just his luck.
"But why fighting, though? What it is that you like about it?"
"I just needed it," Paul decided to go with the truth, knowing it would be less complicated to give her the answers she needed than ignoring the tug of the bond. "Some people talk, some people write, some people read. I fight; it's what I do."
"Do you like it?"
"Yes," Paul stressed the word, trying to show how true that was. "The adrenaline, the rush, the freedom. Yeah, I like it."
"Hm," she hummed, contemplating his words. Bella didn't sound judgmental, however, only deep into thoughts. Paul knew it wouldn't last — and that the minute she actually saw him losing control in a real fight she would run scared — but it was still nice to talk to her about it without feeling defensive.
"But what about teaching," she asked, turning to face him once again. "Do you also like having students?"
"Not really," he said, finally allowing his head to move towards her and meeting her gaze. "I needed a job, and I was good at it — that's pretty much it. There was also the fact that after I phased, my work hours needed to be more flexible, which also counted in favor of the gym because I could always cover other classes when I needed to miss one. The truth is, though, that restraining myself with the students is not always very easy for me — and it took some time to find a balance point for me, you know?"
Paul didn't know where the words were coming from, but he never felt more inclined to share parts of himself than right there, looking into his mate's eyes and sharing a closed space with her. That she seemed so immersed in their talk, holding his gaze steadily and nodding in agreement to his words, only encouraged him to carry on speaking.
"It's not terrible. I do kind of like teaching others how to do things correctly and seeing them improve in a short period of time, but it's not what I see myself doing in the long term — neither is it the part I most enjoy out of my life. I much prefer the cage fights."
Damn. He felt the last part slipping past his lips only a second after it had already been said, with no chance of rewinding back to shut the hell up before he said the words. There was no way Bella would let that go unnoticed, Paul thought, and was proven right when she opened her mouth to ask:
"Cage fights?"
"It's something I do sometimes," he tried to downplay it, hoping she would take a hint and leave it.
Of course, he wasn't so lucky.
"Is that like a competition? People in your gym compete inside cages?" Bella tried again, frowning in confusion.
Paul was not sure whether to be amused at her naiveté or annoyed at her persistence. That girl could not let things be.
"No, that's not how it happens," he said, chuckling a little at the thought. Maybe it was amusing — only just a tiny bit. "Cage fights are arranged for people like me, who know how to fight and to make a performance but cannot do it the normal — legal — way. It's programmed. Generally, the owner of an underground bar arranges for a few fighters to come and put on a show for the customers of the night. It's a gladiator contest, pretty much. The last one standing is the king of the cage."
"You do know my dad is a cop, right?" Bella asked, grinning at him and looking somewhat smug.
"You gonna rat me out?" he asked in return, trying his damn hardest to look away from her distracting face.
"I might," she responded, her smile stretching even further until it looked like she was about to rip her skin with happiness. "Or, maybe, you know, we could work some sort of deal — just between the two of us, of course."
Paul couldn't help himself, he snorted in surprise; a laugh crossing his lips so fast that it forced a weird air sound out of his nostrils. It was half-amusing and half-humiliating. On one hand Paul wasn't the easiest to surprise or entertain, so he would take amusement where he found it, but, on the other hand, if there was one person he didn't wish to be making weird noises next to, that someone was his mate.
"What did you have in mind?" he managed to push out, finally, after struggling to catch his breath once more. He was trying to sound serious, less she thinks he was mocking her.
"Well," she began, not commenting on his episode or changing her tone. "I would like to see you fight."
Well, that was a proverbial bucket of cold water to the face. The answer was easy.
"No," Paul was quick to answer. No way would he take Bella to such a dangerous place.
The smile vanished from her face at that, and an incredulous expression formed on her gorgeous face in its place. Bella looked surprised Paul had denied her something; and why did that make him uncomfortable and almost ready to backtrack and agree to anything she could want?
"No? Common, I promise not to stand in your way or anything," she tried to compromise. When he failed to respond, she added in a soft, hurt voice. "I'll even pretend to not know you... if you're worried about that."
What? She thought Paul was ashamed of hanging around her in a third class, dirty, old bar? If she didn't have such a deponent look on her face he would've laughed at the ridiculousness of the idea. She truly had no clue. Paul wanted to scream to the world about her and then some.
Sometimes, such as that one, reminded Paul that she did not, in fact, know about the imprint. There she was, sitting by his side, asking him personal questions that he would never give answers to were she anybody else, and somehow under the impression that she was just a burden to him. A trouble he had no choice but to bear with. Suddenly the thought was unbearable to him, and he wanted nothing more than to show her otherwise.
"That's not at all what I'm worried about," he said, stressing out the words as much as he dared without scaring her. "It's not a place for a girl, Bella. It's all adrenaline and blood, dirty money and cheap liquor. I wouldn't want to put you in danger."
He turned to face her once again, pleading with his eyes for her to understand how much he meant that. She had her arms crossed in front of her body in a defensive position, and her face allowed him to see how much his rejection had hurt her, but she didn't look at from him. Instead, Bella searched his face for answers, trying to gauge how much of that was true or not.
"You'd be there, though," she finally said, after several moments of silence in which Paul had been forced to look back at the road to avoid crashing the truck. "How dangerous would it really be? And don't give me bullshit — be real with me."
The order forced Paul truly to consider the possibility. She was somewhat right, even though Paul was hard-pressed to admit it. If Paul had a stronger sense of ethics and moral, he would never go to such fights — even though it was sort of bizarre to try and consider morals when thinking about cage fights — because he was so much stronger and capable than any other person in the room. He never had any competition during those fights. Paul did it to relieve the pressure and gain some fast money — that was it.
It wouldn't be impossible to watch her and win his rounds. Sure, she might come in contact with some shady people Paul much rather she avoid altogether, but if he kept her close to the cage and gave her some strict instructions… it could work.
Little Jake would freak out if he heard about his precious Bella being around those sort of violent competitions.
That was the thought that finally brought a reluctant smirk back to his face and settled the deal for him. Bella was his fucking mate, and she could go with him to wherever she wanted. Paul would keep her safe.
"Fine," he said, giving her a serious look. "But there will be some rules. I'm not kidding; those places are not a kid's park."
The shocked expression that immediately took over her face made it all worth it. Bella's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened as she heard his surrender, arms falling from their forced position into the seat.
"You-you are," she began, rushed. "Are you saying that to pacify me?"
"That's not really my style, kid."
For once, she didn't complain when he called her a kid. Instead, she fucking glowed.
"So, not backing down?" She demanded as if she was ready for him to change his mind at any minute now.
"Look, I've already said yes. I'm not going to go back on my damn word, okay? We'll discuss some rules and I'll pick you up the next time one comes up," he explained, hoping they could move on from the subject at once. Even though he had agreed to take her to see him fight, it didn't mean that he was excited for her to see him as an out-of-control aggressor.
She looked embarrassed by his little speech, blushing deeply from her neck up to her cheeks.
"Yeah, okay, I get it," she nodded her head as if her agreement hadn't been made clear. "I'm sorry; I'm just not really used to this kind of situation."
"What kind of situation?"
"Well, people around me are always trying to decide what's best for me, you know? I'm not used to having a say in what I get to do or not."
That just sounded goddamn sad.
"Bella, you're eighteen, for god's sake. You decide what you do with your life, not anybody else. You chose to walk around supernatural creatures, which perhaps complicates matters somewhat, I'll give you that, but that shouldn't stop you from making your own path in life. Nobody is gonna give you the reins of your life — you either take it or others will own your ass 'till you die."
Paul hadn't realized he felt so strongly about the matter until the words started to pour out of his mouth like an overflowing river knocking down a dam. It was a lesson he wanted to teach her. Life wasn't easy and the sooner Bella started making her own decisions, the better.
"I-I know. I've always been independent and self-sufficient," she explained, dropping her leg in the seat between them before hugging it. "Living with my mom… let's just say she taught me to grow up pretty quickly. But coming to Forks has been a dizzying experience. Suddenly humans are surrounded by these supernatural beings that are so much more capable than us — and I'm in the middle of it. I try — I do — but it's difficult to gather my wits when I'm always facing matters that are so out of my depth."
She took a deep breath, resting her chin on her knee before she carried on.
"With-with-Victoria. She's not something I can hope to face on my own. If she decides to walk into my room at night and kill my father and me, there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. So yeah, for a human I'm just fine, but for vampires and werewolves? How can I even begin to compete with that?"
"First of all," Paul said, turning into the right street for his gym and maneuvering into an empty parking space. "The leech cannot enter your room at night, not unless she goes past me — and that's not happening. It's just not. I know it's a fucked up situation, but you rest assured that she won't be murdering you — or Charlie for that matter. If the bitch comes close to your house, her ass is mine."
When the car was parked, Paul unbuckled his seatbelt, turning to face his mate and reassure her of his seriousness. He may have growled a little at the end, his wolf surging at the thought of finally getting his hands around the bitch's neck.
"Second," he added. "It's not a competition. Bella, I don't know what Jacob has told you or what you took from the stories Bill told, but being a wolf is not all that it's cracked up to be. Yes, we're stronger and faster than humans, but we're also constantly angry and alert. The smells around us are often disgusting, we hear all the soft noises and conversations nearby, we have to be in control at all times to refrain from breaking things or hurting humans… it's not pretty or fairytale-like."
"And your precious leeches, they are dead. I don't know how else to explain that to you. They don't ever grow up, grow old, evolve, reproduce… they're stuck, forever."
He leaned forward, invading her personal space somewhat and trying to come up with a good way to say what he wanted. He forced his voice to go soft and gentle for her, carefully watching her reactions, in case she looked ready to cry or slap him.
"I know you may have wanted that at some point… perhaps you still do, but there's more to being a le-vampire than getting cool superpowers and a ton of money. They need to kill to survive — for them it's a constant hunger that never goes away. Even the ones that resist, they are still at the edge all the time. It's unnatural. They are predators, and even if they pretend to be human, that's still what they'll always be."
"Would you change it, if you could?" she whispered, sounding tentative. "Being a wolf, I mean. Would you choose to be human?"
Paul didn't have to think too much. That was a question that all the boys asked themselves after a while of being a wolf, when the perks began to sound less and less interesting and the cost started to make itself known.
"In a heartbeat."
Feeling his mental barriers snapping into place after the confession, Paul turned and got out of the car, moving towards the gym without waiting for her to follow him. She would follow; he had no doubts. For now, though, he needed to get changed and step into the mat.
He had a class to fucking teach and no time to feel like crying.
