A/N: I hope the person that reads this has an amazing day! You're all beautiful and you're all awesome!

PAULPOV

She yawned and stretched as she woke up.

"Good morning." I smiled at her.

"Morning. Where are we?"

"We're about to hit Montana. You looked pretty tired so I took it upon myself to not wake you up and drive all night. I figured we could get to around here," I pointed to the middle of Montana. "In the next couple hours, get some well earned rest and then we drive eleven hours to get to Washington. Once again, get some rest and it's like a four hour drive to La Push from there."

"Wow. I'm impressed. You wanna get breakfast?"

"You know I do."

"Where do we go?"

"As long as I can eat it, I don't care." We drove for a few more minutes until we found a little diner. It looked nice. Until Ellie opened her door. I reached across her and pulled it shut, starting the engine up again. The scent was stinging my nose, even as I drove away.

"What the hell was that?!"

"I'm sorry."

"No, I didn't ask you to say sorry, I asked you what the hell that was?! You nearly shut my foot in the door, you idiot!"

"I'm sorry, I can't-"

"You can't explain?! I don't care! You give me an explaination for why you nearly broke my foot, right now!"

"I can explain everything to you in a couple minutes Ellie, you just need to let me calm down."

"What is there to be angry about?!"

"I WILL EXPLAIN YOU JUST NEED TO-!" I stopped myself and took deep breaths, just like Sam had instructed me.

"Paul, are you okay? You're like shaking."

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine." I kept taking the deep breaths. My wolf was going crazy and I was really struggling to control him.

"Paul, are you like gonna throw up or something?"

"I wish." I grumbled. Her hand rested on my bicep.

"You're okay. You're fine. You're gonna be fine. Just breathe." I took my hand away from the steering wheel and allowed her to lay her head on my shoulder. My wolf was in two minds. He wanted to phase and attack the blood sucking scum that we'd caught the whiff of but Ellie's touch was so relaxing.

"I wanna say thank you and please don't take this the wrong way but I need you to get as far away from me as possible Ellie. I really appreciate this but if what I'm trying to prevent happens you could get hurt and I don't want that."

"What, are you like the hulk or something?" She giggled.

"Not exactly."

"Not exactly? What do you mean 'not exactly'."

"I mean there are things in this world that you don't know about that I would prefer not to tell you about until we get to La Push."

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"Because I don't want you to run from me."

"We're in a car and you're driving. I can't exactly run very far, Paul. Come on, talk to me." I could sense that she was a little scared by the way her heartbeat picked up. But I had no doubt that she could take it.

"My friends and I... We're not friends because we choose to be. And I know it sounds really horrible but there is literally one person from my pack that I would choose to be friends with, had this not happened to us."

"Wait, you call yourselves a pack?"

"We don't just call ourselves a pack. We are a pack."

"Like wolves?"

"Not 'like wolves'."

"So you're telling me that if you get angry or whatever you turn into a dog?"

"Essentially, yes. But we're not just any type of wolf. We can hear each others thoughts-which can be VERY disturbing- and we're not exactly small either."

"What's that supposed to mean."

"It's supposed to mean that if you stood me next to a horse I would be the same size, if not bigger."

"Okay... So what happened back there?"

"We can't just turn into wolves for no reason. We need to hunt and kill our enemy."

"So, what, are you gonna tell me that vampires exist too?" I looked over at her. "You're kidding."

"They're not exactly your typical mythological vampire. They don't burn in the sun. They can't be killed with wood. Which is where we come in. Their bodies are like marble. They're hard and cold and it takes tearing them apart and burning them to completely get rid of them."

"And you can do that? How can you tell if one's around?"

"We don't usually go after them alone, incase they have friends but we can tell by their scent."

"Their scent?"

"It's like a... sickeningly sweet bleachy smell. It's disgusting. And it's even worse when you burn them." I stopped when I heard her breathing pick up. I pushed the lock down.

"You're crazy. I'm driving with a crazy person. Let me out of the car."

"I can't Ellie. I promise you, I'm not crazy."

"You promise me?! You promise me?! How can you prove to me that you're telling the truth?!"

"I'm not gonna change in front of you if that's what you're getting at."

"Well, until you do, I don't believe a word you just said to me."

"Well, until you believe me, I'm gonna keep driving. Why do you think I can stand outside in -8 degree weather and not get cold? Did you think that that was normal? Why do you think I eat so much?"

"Paul, you need help."

"You know what? I can prove it to you."

"Really? How so?" I looked around the truck. I needed something sharp. "What are you looking for?"

"You'll see." I grabbed one of the cans from the trash bag we had kept in the car.

"What are you doing?"

"Proving that everything I just said is true." I pushed my thumb into the drinking hole and pushed against it, sliding my thumb around the sharpened edge.

"What are you doing?! Oh my God!" I pulled my thumb away and she hid her face.

"Look Ellie. I don't wanna have to do that again." She pulled her hands away slowly and watched my skin knit itself back together. She grabbed my hand.

"That's impossible. I- it was just there, I saw it! There was blood and- and-"

"The scar won't be there in an hour."

"Let me out. Let me out!" She pulled on the handle. "Let me out of here!"

"Ellie! ELLIE!"

"WHAT?!"

"I'm not gonna hurt you. Hurting people is the last thing that we do. We protect you. Or we try our hardest to. And we feel even stronger about-"

"About protecting women?"

"No, women and men are equally as weak against a bloodsucker or a shifter." She glared at me. "We feel stronger about protecting our imprints."

"What the hell is an imprint?" She sat as far away from me as possible.

"An imprint... It's when a shifter finds his soul mate if you will. He'll be whatever she needs, whether that's a lover, a friend, a brother or a protector. He'll do whatever she wants him to do. And he'll be happy about it because it makes her happy."

"Have you... Imprinted?" She asked. I looked over at her. "On who?" She asked, gulping.

"Ellie-"

"ON ME?! HOW DARE YOU?!"

"It's not like I had a choice, okay?! If I did, I would've imprinted a whole lot sooner. I wouldn't have left La Push had I found her where practically everyone else did."

"You don't have a choice?"

"No. I didn't have a choice in any of this! I would never have become this... this monster if I had the choice!"

"You're not a monster." She whispered.

"If I'm not a monster then why are you so scared of me?"

"I- Paul, I'm not scared of you. I'm just a little freaked out by this whole thing."

"I'm sorry. I didn't wanna tell you like this. I wanted you to be with me first. I wanted you to be around others so that you weren't so scared."

"Paul, I'm not scared."

"I'm still me when I'm him but I just look a whole lot different."

"You don't have to show me. And you don't have to think that you're a monster. Paul, I've known you for less than a week and I already know that you're not who you think you are. You hide behind your anger and you use it as a shield to keep you from getting hurt by others. But your anger doesn't control you."

"It has. For so long. But- but finding you. I know that this will make me so much better, not only as a person, but as a shifter. With you, I'll have more of a reason to wipe out those things."

"You told me about them before, didn't you?" She asked. I nodded in response. "In the diner, the 'people' that aren't allowed on your land." I nodded once again.

"Ellie, I don't want you to be afraid of me." I stopped the car and she scooted closer to me.

"Paul, I'm not afraid." I looked over at her and she put her hands either side of my face. "I'm not afraid of you." Her lips brushed mine softly, our foreheads pressed together.

"Ellie..." I whispered, asking permission silently. She nodded and I pressed my lips against hers. My wolf was leaping with joy, however, I pushed him away, focusing solely on Ellie in this moment. I never wanted it to stop. Kissing her was even better in real life than it had been in my dream. I was overjoyed. Her arms wound around my neck and my right hand raised to her cheek, my left holding her waist lightly.

We sat together in the car for a long time, occasionally stealing a kiss or two, but the majority of the time spent in silence, holding hands.

"It's getting pretty late." She sighed.

"It is. I don't wanna stay in Montana tonight."

"Because of the thing or...?"

"There is nothing that could make me sleep anywhere near that thing."

"Do you wanna get some sleep and I'll drive?"

"No, it's okay." I started the car again. "We'll stop in Idaho. That should be far enough away from the thing."

"Okay. But we need to find somewhere for me to go to the bathroom first." I chuckled. "What? I'm only human y'know."

"Well, even if I'm slightly less than human, I understand the need to pee."

"Well we better find somewhere soon then." She pressed a kiss to my cheek before laying her head against my shoulder.

A/N: THEY KISSED! They finally kissed for real! I'm so happy! This chapter just kind of flowed for me and I didn't stop writing for a while so I'm kind of pleased. Next chapter will be out soon and in the next one I think I'm gonna let Paul release some tension... That's right people, I'm gonna let him phase!

Hope you enjoyed!xx