I'm finally wrapping this story up, somehow my very first published story ends up being the 10th completed story on my page. Thank you guys for sticking around so long (beginning of 2016?) and encouraging this story, I'm so glad I started writing and publishing on FF, it's been so much fun. Be warned, this chapter is a long one, but it'll tie up all the loose ends and wrap things up well.
When you're done reading this, leave me a final review! Also, feel free to check out my other completed or in progress stories, I just published two brand new ones in the last couple of days!
Enjoy the last chapter of Lone White Wolf, thanks for reading!
Paul's POV
Now that Lake and I are back on speaking terms, I feel it's my duty to find Embry and give him an update. I find him at Emily's, talking with Sam and eating everything in sight. He hears me coming and turns around.
"Paul, you're not dead!" He finally says, frowning and examining me. I do look much better than I had just three days ago, my undereyes were a normal color again and I'd put weight back on.
"Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better. I started getting things sorted out with Lake. We want to talk to you and Sam." I explain, nodding at our alpha. Lake had expressed an interest in figuring out what had happened with the whole imprint situation, and I for one was all ears.
"Okay, well let me get Sam and we'll head over there." Embry still seemed suspicious of me, and I don't exactly blame him after seeing myself in the mirror.
The three of us headed over to Lake's house for a meeting of sorts, and to our surprise, both Billy and Jake were there already. Lake walked up to me.
"I thought of asking Billy to come after you left, he might have the answers." She said to me quietly, although everyone could definitely hear her anyway.
"Okay, good idea." I smiled at her, resisting the urge to hug her or seem possessive of her at all. Billy's voice quieted all of us, and we all stopped talking to hear what he was saying.
"You all know the legends. The legends tell us about the male shapeshifters and their female human imprints. There is nothing in the legends about the female shapeshifters nor about faes." Billy paused for effect, leaning down to pick up a book from the coffee table and opening it to the dogeared page. "However, the legends are not all we have. We also have the records kept by the witchdoctors, white settlers, and even by our own chiefs. These records do mention female shapeshifters - not in great detail, but it's better than nothing." He began to read from a few different pages of the book, citing chiefs, settlers, and the most disturbing account of a witchdoctor trying to "cure" the shapeshifter out of a woman. Or maybe the woman out of the shapeshifter. The woman died, but her body turned back into a wolf when they came to take her corpse away. I frown.
"What can we make of these stories, Billy?" I ask, and Billy's keen eyes look me over.
"At this point in time, anything is possible with the female shapeshifters. We know so little about them, that there is no one correct answer. We also have to bear in mind that this young lady is not half human, she's half shifter, half fae, and that in and of itself changes everything again. The best we can do here is to record what we have seen so far and try to figure out what our next move is."
Sam pulled out a laptop and started typing while the rest of us found places to sit down. This is probably going to take awhile. I think back to just a few months ago when everything had been normal. Well, at least my version of normal. I banged a different girl every time, didn't have anyone to answer to in my personal life, and wasn't entangled in some weird mystical shit.
"What do we know so far?" Sam prompted, and Jake spoke up first.
"We have two female shifters, Leah, full Quileute and of counsel blood, and Lake, half Quileute and half fae spirit."
As Jake finished speaking, Lake continued.
"My abilities: shift into a wolf; transport short distances; attach myself to a tree dryad style; charm certain things, I haven't devoted a lot of time or thought to that one."
Sam took notes as people took turns speaking. Joel shared his experience as a shifter as well as everything he knew about their father and mother. Embry and I were asked to describe in detail exactly what happened when we first looked into Lake's eyes as well as any remarkable feelings since then, and Lake was asked what it felt like both times. I was in the middle of explaining our first encounter when I realized what happened.
"Guys. Embry imprinted on a wolf. Not a fae, a wolf. I imprinted on a fae." I looked around. Everyone seemed confused except Embry, who looked to be putting things together for himself.
"I didn't feel a consistent pull to her, not like when she's in wolf form." Embry explained. "See, when Lake was ignoring us, Paul was a mess. I was fine except every now and then. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think those were the times where Lake was in wolf form." He stated. "I feel basically nothing right now, it's very weak."
Sam paused his typing and frowned.
"Why don't we test this theory out. All three of you, outside." He put his laptop down and we all followed him. Embry and I started stripping immediately, but Lake went into the woods, saying she'd come out in a second. The two of us phased into wolves, and I felt exactly the same amount of pull as before, and could tell Embry felt the same. We looked at each other, waiting for something to happen. All of a sudden, Embry's pull increased and mine shifted slightly. It was still very there, but not the same. Lake came out of the woods a second later, and it all made sense.
Sam must've realized that to understand the situation, he also had to be in wolf form, because a second later, a third wolf mind joined me and Embry. Sam told Lake to go phase back and yell when she was human again, and although I couldn't hear her mind, I figured she had just agreed when she walked back into the woods. I looked at Embry again, and both Sam and I felt the pull go away right as we heard Lake's voice in the woods.
We all phased back and dressed again, talking while we waited for Lake to rejoin us.
"So you guys were right, Embry imprinted on a wolf and Paul imprinted on a spirit. That's why neither one of them was quite a normal imprint. The fae spirits are flighty, which is why the imprint felt like nothing at first. I think I have a way to make this work out." Sam told us as Lake jogged up. We went back inside and sat back down. Sam wrote down everything on his laptop while Embry and I took turns explaining what happened. Since Lake is not part of the "hive mind" yet, she couldn't feel what we did.
"Paul, you actually are smart after all." Jake teased, shaking his head. "Could've fooled me." I resist the urge to flip him off, focusing instead on Sam as he cleared his throat.
"I think I have a solution that would suit all parties involved. This is just a suggestion, I'm not going to force any of it on any of you three." He told us, looking specifically at Lake. "It seems to me that while Embry first seemed to have imprinted, his imprint isn't as strong as Paul's. Lake, we've been talking about you joining the pack, I think it would be beneficial for you to be your own alpha of sorts - not a separate pack, but more on your own since you have specific abilities that the rest of us don't have. And if it's cool with you all, take Embry as your beta. He has a strong imprint on your wolf form, so having him as your beta means he'll always have your back and you two will function as a well oiled machine. Lake and Paul... you guys can do whatever you feel like doing. Paul is obviously into you, Lake, and he's very... passionate... so I recommend cutting your losses and just going out with him. He can join your 'pack' if that's something you want. Feel free to choose from any of the rest of our pack if you want more wolves to join you." Sam stopped talking, looking at the three of us expectantly. I shrugged.
"I don't really have a choice to make, it's up to you, Lake." I tell her calmly, although on the inside, my heart is pounding in my chest. Which almost everyone in this room can hear.
"Paul, we can talk later." Lake told me, and in my disappointment, I heard Jake's 'ooohhhh.' "Embry, I would be honored to have you as my beta." She tells him, smiling, and I curse Embry in my head. He nods.
"Wow, a promotion, I'll take it." He leaned forward so he could see me on Lake's other side. "Suck it Paul, I outrank you now." He grinned, and I moved like I would attack him, laughing when he flinched. Lake rolled her eyes, putting one hand on each of our legs.
"That's everything then. Sorts out nicely." Lake said, and Billy nodded. Everyone moved to get up, but Lake caught my arm before I could leave. "You, meet me in the clearing at 8 this evening." She whispered in my ear so quietly, that it was drowned out in the rest of the noise in the room. I nodded at her, and we joined Joel and Emma in waving everyone off.
"Wait, Sam, does this mean I won't be a part of the big pack's joint brain when I phase?" I heard Embry ask Sam, who shrugged.
"I don't know, maybe. Figure it out."
I almost laughed at Embry's fist pump of celebration. He's effectively a free man now, his imprint is totally platonic and it's likely that she'll be the only one he'll have to share a brain with, at least until I join, if they want me.
"Good to see you again, Paul. Glad you figured things out." Joel said, patting me on the back. I look at Emma, who shrugs. I guess I'm being kicked out now, so I shake his hand and wave at the girls. I head towards the woods, wanting to go for a run to clear my head before I meet Lake at the clearing tonight.
As I strip down and tie my clothes to my leg, I smile. It feels like a huge weight is gone from my shoulders, and I feel free.
I phase and take off running north. I don't have a destination in mind, I'll just keep running until I'm halfway tired, then turn around and come back.
I feel good. I'm all rested up after that weird week of separation, and between my mom, Emma and Emily, I've had so much to eat that I'm actually over where I was before. I have plenty of fuel, and plenty of time.
I think about me and Lake, that first day we met, the day we kissed, the day I woke up with her sitting on me... I laugh to myself. That was pretty awesome. I know I have to be prepared for her to tell me - again - that she doesn't want a relationship. But I can't help but think now that everything is so nicely cleared up, maybe she'll change her mind. Either way, as long as she's in my life, I'll be good.
I hear distant thoughts as another wolf phases in for patrol, but I tune it out, listening to the thump of my paws against the dirt. I've missed this feeling.
I realize a few dozen miles in that I don't have a watch or clock or basically any way of telling what time it is, so I phase and walk into the nearest city, looking for any timepiece. I stop a couple of people to ask, but everyone looks at me like I'm crazy. What? I'm just a shirtless really buff Native American dude wandering around Washington... Geez, who was here first?
Finally a girl comes up to me smiling.
"I'll tell you what time it is, handsome." She bit her lip and pushed her chest out in a ridiculous attempt to seduce me. Maybe three months ago, that would've worked on me, but now my standards are higher and my heart is taken.
"Oh good, I forgot my phone at home and I don't have a watch..." I tell her, patting my empty wrist for emphasis. She blinked her fake eyelashes up at me and handed me her phone, a new contact form pulled up. I took it and glanced at the time - just after 6:30. I passed it back to her. "Perfect, thanks!" I tell her, running back into the woods - maybe just a little too fast for a normal person.
I looked back at her as she gaped after me, grinning as I jumped into the air, phasing before hitting the ground. I might have been a little too dramatic with that one, but I heard her scream and yell 'ohmygod it's a werewolf!' at some uninterested people standing nearby. I ran like hell to get out of there just in case someone did take her seriously and try to find me. Risky? Yes. Hilarious? Hell yes.
I ran back towards La Push, feeling the burn in my legs and shoulders as I pushed myself. I'm currently the fastest wolf, and I don't intend to let a week without practice change that.
I finally reached the clearing, and phased back to wait. Unfortunately, my little stunt with the chick in town shredded my shorts, so I could either stay naked - which would probably annoy Lake, or I could go find the nearest pair stashed away. I decided on the second option, although I didn't know what time it was. I chose to risk it, taking off for my nearest hiding spot. I heard Lake's voice at the clearing a couple minutes into my search, and I stopped, torn between two different methods of irritating her. Be late or be naked? I could explain the nakedness, it's a common occurence for us. The lateness would probably piss her off more, so I headed back to the clearing.
"Lake!" I yelled out before I was in sight. "I'm naked, prepare yourself accordingly." I warned her, not really sure what she would do.
"Why the hell are you naked, Paul?" She asked, turning around with a roll of her eyes.
"Long story, but I phased before I had stripped. Don't worry, I have more clothes around here somewhere. I'll find something on my way back." I promised, holding my hands in front of my man-parts. "You can look." I tell her, wondering if she actually would. It's not like she hadn't seen me naked before.
Lake turned around, and to my surprise, she did look. At everything.
"Move your hands." She ordered, and I dropped them to my sides. I was glad for my boner for a change, as it looked much more impressive than when I'm soft.
"What-" I started, but she cut me off.
"Paul, I underestimated you quite a bit. I'm sorry." I had no idea what she was talking about. Does she mean she thought I had a small dick?
"I don't understand."
"When I first met you, I knew you were a fuckboy. Everyone did. But then you just... stopped. Every time we hung out, I was surprised by how much fun we had, and I kept coming back for more. When this whole thing started going down and I shut you out, I was more miserable then I'd been in years. It sucked. And then, when you figured out the whole imprint thing and solved the mess... Well, that was really great and I appreciate it. I didn't give you enough credit for being smart." She stopped talking, taking a step closer to me. "Turns out, I do really like you, Paul."
My soul was screaming.
"Well, I'm happy to hear that, Lake, I really like you too." I told her, totally faking my calmness. She rolled her eyes.
"I can hear your heartbeat, dumbass. You don't have to pretend to be cool."
Thank GOD, I thought, a huge grin bursting out on my face. I grabbed her hands and kissed each palm.
"I'm so glad I don't have to fake it because really, I'm over the moon and I don't just like you, Lake, I'm in love with you and I wanna be your weird wolf imprint that you come home to every night, am I getting too intense because I can go back to faking it-" I ramble, and Lake cuts me off by pressing her lips to mine. The force knocks me off balance and I instinctively grab her as I fall. I lay on my back on the dirt with her on top of me, and I'm deliriously happy. Damn, this whole imprint is going to screw up my image. Lake pulled back a bit and looked at me.
"Paul, you're ridiculous."
"Yeah I know, but you like me." I grin back at her, pulling her down for another kiss.
"I do like you. I want to be your weird not really human imprint that you cuddle up with every night. Also, banging would be fun every now and then, damn, Paul." She looked down between us and back up into my eyes. "Hope you know how to wield that."
"Oh you bet I do. Say the word and I can prove it." I promise, and she laughs.
"Okay, let's hold off on that for a bit. You'll have plenty of time to prove it later." She gets off me, holding out her hand to help me up.
"Lake, seriously, I really care about you and I'd do literally anything to make you happy. Just want you to know that." I swear. She smiles.
"I know you would." She takes my hand and leads me back in the direction of our houses. We walk until we hit the fork in the road where I go one way and she goes another.
"By the way, Paul?" She grabs my arm as I turn to leave. I look at her with a smile, and she surprises me again with a kiss, which I have a hard time not smiling into. She pulls away slightly and murmurs against my lips. "I love you too."
