Chapter 9: High ground
"What? No! I'm not going to attack you! This is insane. What if I hurt you?"
He snorts. "You aren't going to hurt me babe, trust me."
I stand there with my arms crossed and don't give in. Goddamn arrogant wolfman. But for whatever strange reason I do, trust him that is. I know that despite the off-putting jackass attitude, he takes his duty to protect the tribe very seriously. He seems to have a reverence and an acceptance of his wolf that not even Sam can match. While I'm thinking about why this could be, I'm suddenly rammed from the side.
'OW! FUCK! You fucking bit me you big shit! What was that for?'
'Nice phase on the fly there little girl.' Huh I didn't even notice turning into a wolf. Cray.
'I'm still not going to fight you, Paul. This is stupid.'
'No!' He snaps. 'It's not stupid! Stupid is standing there in human form when a vampire is about to attack. Stupid is hesitating to fight. They won't wait for you to get angry enough, Bella. They will kill you before you can blink.' I can tell he's getting worked up, and I have no idea where it's coming from. It's not like he really cares if I die or not.
He roars and charges at me. I barely get the chance to sidestep out of the way before he's right on top of me. He snaps and I jump, trying to get out of the way, but not before he gets his jaws in me once again. I manage to make it away from him and we're staring at each other from across the small clearing deep in the woods. I'm huffing to catch my breath and getting increasingly pissed off. I know he's riling me up on purpose but DAMN those bites fucking hurt. Just because we heal quickly doesn't mean we don't feel pain. I think I hear him whimper a little at my thoughts and I growl at him, baring my teeth. If he's gonna be the one to bite me in the first place, then he better fucking take it like a man and deal with my pain. If he thinks he's going to get away with hurting me and being forgiven, he's got another thing coming. I'm never getting into that shit again, not ever.
I charge at him fearlessly, blinded by deep-seated rage. I made myself a promise and I intend to keep it. He sees me coming and darts out of the way at the last second so I don't have time to turn and catch him. He doesn't account for me being smaller and more agile, though, and I catch him in the back leg and try to drag him back. He kicks me in the face and I yelp, but I'm not deterred. I run after him snapping at anything in reach but he suddenly stops and butts his head into my side, sending me crashing into the near-by tree. I huff out of my nose and shake it off, knowing I shouldn't keep my eyes from my enemy for a second. Maybe he thinks he can finish me off now because the next thing I know he's rushing me. I don't know where the inspiration comes from, but out of my periphery I see an outcropping of rocks where the hill starts to ascend and I run past him, hoping he follows me. Sure enough, he's right on my tail (hah. punny considering I actually have a tail now) but I stay ahead enough that he can't get his teeth into me. Seeing my destination up ahead, I quickly dive through some foliage, around a few trees and up the back of the rocks. I don't hear him on me so I hope I lost him and I climb up the rocks.
It's actually kinda pretty up here. Huh. My head snaps when I see him lope in from my left, looking and sniffing around for me.
'It's over, Paul. I have the high ground,' I smirk in my head and leap. He looks up at me just before I pounce on him and take a big bite into his shoulder. Ah, so satisfying. He yelps and whines as we roll until he is able to shake me off. I take my teeth out of him only to bare them in his face while I put my paws on his chest, forcing him to submit. He concedes and I get off him. It takes me a second to catch my breath and get back to myself. Whoa, that was weird. It's like I checked out for a bit.
'Shit, Paul! Are you ok?' I notice that he's bleeding, but fuck I didn't think I did that much damage.
'Girl, you are one scary motherfucker.'
As much as I would normally love that, I'm too confused and worried to appreciate it at the moment. 'I'm serious, Paul! I… I don't know why I did that to you. Shit, I'm so sorry. It's like I wasn't in control.' Can you whisper in you head? Because that's what I did, 'I think it was the wolf.'
'I'm fine geez it's just a scratch.'
Holy mother of balls, enough with the macho crap! 'Scratch, huh?' I nudge his side and his wolf whines while the man in my head shoots off a litany of curses. Oh good gods. 'Phase back.'
'What? I don't have any pants, Bella.'
'I don't fucking care. Phase. Back!'
He sighs in exasperation but turns back human. I phase as well and go to help him up.
"You look like shit."
"Yeah well it's your fault," he slings back. I feel a pang of guilt mixed with worried confusion. Am I going to go all Xena Warrior Princess on everyone that attacks me? I didn't want to fight Paul at first but then something in me just snapped. How do I control this shit?
"You asked for it."
He grumbles something like "ungrateful little … help … maim me … pfh family." He doesn't say anything intelligible, so I assume he agrees with me. A fight is what he wanted and a fight is what he got.
"What the… what are you two doing! What's wrong with him?" A furious Sam storms out of his house, looking hella mad and a little uncomfortable. I look down, oh right, no clothes. Now that's awkward.
"I beat up Paul." I can practically hear his surprise and incredulity as he looks at Paul
"Yeah, she whooped my ass," Paul answers to Sam's silent question. He actually sounds kind of proud of me?
"And you're… ok with this?" Sam drawls out questioningly. He doesn't get it either I guess.
"We need to make sure this girl can fight and hold her own. She's definitely on her way to being a great wolf." He sounds like a proud papa bragging to all of the family at Christmas dinner. What the fuck? I thought Paul hated me and people in general, and women in specific. I'm sure Sam is looking at him like he has grown a second head because Paul coughs and looks uncomfortable. "You know, wouldn't want her dragging us down and being the reason we get our asses kicked."
"It sounds like that's not something we're going to have to worry about, now does it? Not with all of the ass kicking that's been going on today." Sam sounds highly amused and yet skeptical at the same time. Hell, I've known Paul for little more than a week and even I know he's being weird. He goes to scratch the back of his neck, a nervous habit I'm guessing, but clenches his teeth and sucks in a sharp breath.
"Come on, let's get inside and I'll take a look at it." I tighten my grip on his waist and pull him into the house. I'm sure Sam could be more helpful, but I need to do this for Paul. I hurt him when he was trying to help me and he didn't even get mad about it, I have to help him.
"Ohf. Stay there."
I come back to Paul sitting on the couch right where I left him and throw some basketball shorts at him. I'm clothed now too and notice that Sam is missing. Probably checking on Jared's patrol or something.
"Here. Sam won't mind." They land on his face and I laugh internally at my perfect aim. He slips them on while trying to be mindful of his upper thigh where I bit him. The bites are looking better but they're still pretty nasty and you can tell that I definitely didn't go easy on him like he did with me. I don't even hurt at all. Once I've cleaned the wounds of dirt and blood I lean in to Paul's shoulder and stick my tongue out.
"Woah woah! What are you doing?" He looks at me with wide eyes like I'm crazy. We both turn into wolves, is it that weird that I would lick him?
"You know I've been looking into the old tribal scribes about the ancient wolves, right?"
"Yeahhh," he drags out. "What does that—"
"I found a sort of medicine book that describes healing procedures and herbal remedies. Frankly it looks like it could be a potion book to me, but there was something useful scribbled in about wolf saliva speeding up healing because of our natural abilities." He lifts an eyebrow at me with his 'are you serious' face. But yes I am serious. "I don't know if it will work on a wolf because you already have your own speed healing, but I thought I could give it a try."
He still looks skeptical but allows me to do what I want.
I hear someone come in while I'm sitting on Paul and licking his shoulder. Uh oh. I turn around and see Sam's whole form shaking with his fists clenched at his sides, barely keeping it together.
"Woah dude! It's not what you think!" Paul rushes out, probably trying to avoid being pummeled a second time today. "Bella wants to see if wolf-shifter spit helps us heal faster like it helps humans."
Sam noticeably calms down when I get off Paul and stand next to the couch. I gesture to the first aid supplies strewn about the coffee table and say, "He's right. I cleaned the wounds out, that I caused might I add, and asked if I could try this out. Paul didn't even really want to but I'm really curious and it could be important for my research about the pack."
I look to Paul for some back-up and gasp. "Fuck yes! That's so cool…" I say reverently.
"What? What is it?" Paul tries to crane his neck around to see but the wound is mostly on his back. Silly puppy.
"It's gone. The bite on your shoulder is gone." So freakin cool. I mean, it was my idea but I never really imagined it would work so fast. I wonder what else I can find in those books. Billy was really nice about helping me get access to some books and scrolls but there are still a few elders that don't trust the pale face. Besides, the stuff I did get to see was often in Quileute and a lot of it was pretty damaged to the point of being illegible, making my grand discoveries few and far between.
"How do we know that it isn't just my wolf healing doing that?"
I patted his left leg hard.
"Ow!"
"That's how we know."
"Fucking … little … pain I go through… Hey! Where are you going?"
"To take a shower. I'm gross. I smell like dirt and you," I jab, playing with him. I think Paul and I are going to be something else and I can't wait to figure out what.
"But what about my leg!"
"If you can't reach it, you can always ask Sam to lick it for you," I say innocently. Paul looks at Sam and Sam gives him the lifted-eyebrow crossed-arms combination. Paul fucking deflates like one of those dancing air guys at the car wash.
"Bitches," Paul grumbles and I laugh all the way down the hall.
AN: Don't you guys feel special? Two awesome chapters and I'm not even home yet.
So what did you think? Why did Bella go all wolf-hulk on Paul? What is her research going to uncover? Why is Paul suddenly… dare I say it… nice to Bella? And caring?
More goodies to come in a few days. Start getting ready for some new wolves to appear and have you been wondering where all the vampires are? Bella definitely has been.
Stay frosty
