chapter 9

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.


When Leah came back to herself, Paul was still above her, staring at her intently. They were both sweating, now. She felt that post-orgasm relaxation; ultimate stress relief for her. He smelt good to her wolf. And she hated it.

"Get off me," she snapped.

He moved. He didn't argue, smirk or make some witty wisecrack.

She stood and looked around. "Now, where did I put my clothes?" She was talking to herself, but Paul fetched them for her. He stood in front of her with his head down and handed them to her. Their hands touched as he passed them across.

"Did you want to stay?" he asked quietly.

"No." After a pause she added, "Thanks." It seemed churlish not to say thanks.

"Okay." A head nod. "Do you need a shower first?"

She frowned. "Ummm."

"You don't want to smell like me when you go home," he pointed out.

"Bella's not a wolf; she can't smell that."

"No. But she knows what sex smells like."

"I suppose." What was he doing? He was being very unlike Paul.

"It's okay. I will leave you alone in there," he added hastily, as if he had picked up on her concern.

"Okay. Just a quick shower, then."

He got her a clean towel.

She was completely weirded out. This wasn't like Paul. He should have thrown the towel at her, made some snarky joke about scent and towels or tried to follow her into the shower. She thought about it. And then she had an awful realization. She knew exactly who he was behaving like - Brady. The smallest and weakest of the wolf pack. Paul was being submissive to her. Wow.

Maybe that wasn't so bad?

Her ego swelled. She was Leah Clearwater and she was a fucking alpha female wolf. Yeah.

A small internal voice added, who was going home to her human lover.

Her human, female lover.

When she had dried and dressed, she came out of the bathroom to find him standing there, also dressed and holding her backpack.

"I cleaned it for you," he said.

The dildo. Fuck. She had forgotten about that. "Thanks."

She stood there indecisively.

He took a tiny step closer to her.

"The harness and the dildo…" she stopped.

"You can't take them home," he suggested.

"No. Bella will find it in one of her mad house cleaning sprees." And she didn't even know how to begin explaining that one to her.

He nodded. He knew Bella. "Leave it here."

"That's okay?"

"Sure."

"Okay." She rifled around in the pack, found the harness and the dildo and handed them over to him.

She felt better now that his hands were full. "Thanks for looking after Bella."

"It was my pleasure."

"Right."

He dipped his head but looked up at her. "Thanks for looking after me."

She smiled. "It was my pleasure… as well."

"I know." A small smirk. A tiny glimpse of the real Paul.

"I should go," she said.

"Yes."

Just as she got to the front door, he called out.

"Leah?"

She stopped.

"When? Next time," he pressed. "The forest?"

She sighed. She wanted to say 'no' but she had used him to fulfill her fantasy; she owed him. And he had looked after Bella.

She wanted it over as soon as possible. "Tomorrow? You around?"

"Later. Just before dinner. Come here first?"

"Yes."

He nodded. "Might work up an appetite." More of the real Paul.

"Okay then."

She left.


Paul wanted to smack himself in the head.

"For fuck's sake," he swore aloud. "Why didn't you just roll on your back at her feet and expose your soft underbelly?"

He did remember a line he had heard somewhere: 'Sometimes, when you roll on your back, you get your belly scratched.' She'd scratched his belly all right. He had enjoyed that way more than he thought possible. He had a new appreciation for foreplay, for a start. No wonder girls needed it.

She had really done him over well. Fuck, it was actually intense; so intense that he was glad of the day to recover. He didn't normally think like that, either. He was always up for sex.

Until Leah Clearwater had fucked him.

And next time, it was his turn.

Fuck, yeah!

And hopefully, by then he would have got his stupid wolf back under control. "Christ, she said fetch and you rushed off to get her clothes for her."


Bella was asleep. Leah could tell by her breathing pattern. She was curled up with a book open on her chest. Reading again.

Leah woke her up. She needed to.

"Hey," Bella mumbled at her, with a tired smile.

"Are you okay?"

"Tired. Stock-take. I haven't moved so many boxes in my life." She yawned hugely. "Come to bed."

"I just need to brush my teeth."

When she got back Bella was asleep again. Sprawled across Leah's side of the bed. The book was on the side table with a receipt as a bookmark.

Leah turned the lights off and slid in next to her. Shifting her around to get comfortable.

Bella made small, snuffly sounds at being moved. Leah held her close.

Breathing her in.

She had told Bella that she was doing wolf stuff. It was partially true. But she had to tell her that the forest sex was happening tomorrow night, before she did it. She had to; this keeping secrets thing was eating at her. She wasn't sure that she had a right to tell her about pegging Paul, but should she just tell her that she had already had sex with him? Bella had done it with him. Fuck! She didn't know what to do. Fucking Paul; having him be submissive to her had made her feel so powerful.

But now she had crashed back to earth.

Her wolf had wanted to bite Paul. Leave her teeth imprints on his neck, fuck him hard and mark him.

Why?

She had never wanted to do that to Bella. Bite her like that. She had never wanted to fuck Bella in the ass with a strap on. Was it because Bella was human? She knew she couldn't take that kind of treatment. Paul was a wolf, he could take it. He had admitted that he had enjoyed what she had done to him.

Paul had been weird, but then another realization struck her. So had she.

This wasn't how she behaved. She didn't know what was going on. Was it her wolf? Was she unhappy?

She had left him the paraphernalia. She hadn't just thrown it away. She had made a joke about using an internal vibrator next time.

Next time.

She was freaking herself out.

She held Bella even tighter. She made a mumbled complaint in her sleep; a small grizzle.

Watching and experiencing that memory of Paul and Bella together had unnerved Leah. She knew they had been together; she had even arranged it. But to see it like that? With all the details and from Paul's point of view. And worse, the wolf memory was even her idea, if she remembered it correctly. She had suggested it. She had no idea it would be so intense.

She had wanted Bella to have sex with a guy. She had wanted her to get it out of her system, but now she was not sure she could get that memory out of hers. She had a feeling that Bella would not have let herself go quite as much, if Leah had been there. She guessed that she would never know, now. She was desperately jealous. Jealous that Bella had so obviously enjoyed herself. Terrified that she might want to do it again. And where did that leave Leah? She couldn't lose her lover again. She pretended to be invincible, but she didn't think she was strong enough to survive it. Not again.

How had this crap all started? Bella. Bella wondering about guys and Leah trying to do the right thing by her.

She was glad that she had taken the offer of a shower; she would have hated to come home reeking of him.

She lay awake for too long; her mind full of images of what she had done to Paul and what he had done to Bella. Her Bella. With his big hands on her. Going places that she couldn't go. Doing things to Bella that she couldn't do.


Paul was standing in the shower. Thinking. He often thought in the shower. He could not believe how much self control it took to not just fuck Leah. He had nearly lost it more than once in that session.

He had known when she wanted to bite him, and there was no way he was letting her do that. It was enough to let her fuck him. He had to admit it, though; he had enjoyed that. He didn't think letting another guy do it was on the cards, but Leah was all woman. She smelt like it, felt like it, fucked like it. He was lucky in one sense, that she really hadn't gone for it. She could have hurt him. She had even bought a smaller dildo. All kinds of thoughtful.

And he'd got his reach around, too. His cock twitched at the thought. He absentmindedly grabbed it in his hand and stroked slowly.

She'd surprised him with the rim-job, as well. In fact, he thought she'd surprised herself with that one. His inner wolf loved it.

"Yeah, yeah," he said out loud. "Your turn next."


Both girls had work the next day.

Leah grabbed her at breakfast; hugging her fiercely.

"What's the matter with you?" Bella asked.

"I have something to tell you."

Bella looked a little panicked.

"The forest sex… we are going to do it tonight."

"Oh," she sounded relieved. "Okay."

A pause.

"Can I watch?" she asked again.

"No."

"You won't let me watch?"

"No." Not negotiable.

"I don't think he will hurt you," Bella argued. "I think you are being unnecessarily cautious."

Leah shrugged. "I do not know what he is capable of." Wasn't that the truth.

"You'll be hungry afterward. I'll cook. Tell Paul to come back, too."

"You want to feed him?" Leah wanted to snap that it wasn't a social occasion, but then Bella kept talking.

"He'll be hungry as well and I've fed him before. He used to come over all the time." Bella's face looked sad.

"Yes, he used to," Leah almost growled. He hadn't been over to the house since he and Bella were together. But the look on Bella's face. She had missed him.