It was midafternoon and one of the area's rare nice days, and Bella and Paul were taking full advantage of. While everyone else was inside, they were outside on Sam's porch, Bella sitting on the railing in the sun, and Paul standing in front of her between her legs, just watching her enjoy the warmth. Clearly, it had been a while since she had.

The vitamin D was doing her so much good, in fact, she didn't even react when Leah walked by heading to the beach, saying something or other about 'Nothing going on, huh', because of course that was when Paul decided he wanted to slobber all over her. Bella personally thought it was funny when he would nip at her jaw or push at her cheek with his nose. She had merely rolled her eyes at Leah as she tried to shove Paul away with a laugh, but it was when Jake and Quil passed on their way that direction that nothing was really a laughing matter, and it took more out of Bella to hold Paul back than she thought it should have. Not that she was a fan of being called a whore, but the way Paul's eyes ignited when it happened truly left Bella fearing for Jacob's long term health.

In the end, with a growl in his throat, and a shine over his eyes, Paul gave Jacob the finger while his face was buried in Bella's shoulder. Once the two boys were around the side of the treeline, he pulled back, and leveled her with the glare he just couldn't get off his face. "You just need to let me stomp his ass into the ground once, and I promise he'll never bother you again."

With only the patience she possessed, Bella sighed. "Paul..."

Cutting her off with another growl, his lips pulled back slightly. "That little mother fucker..."

"Paul..." When he growled again, this time much deeper and much more feral, and getting a little concerned for her own safety because the man had a temper and she knew what happened when he lost his temper, Bella did the first thing that popped into her head. She grabbed Paul's face and kissed him, something he seemed to respond nearly instantly to, though maybe not necessarily how she thought he was going to.

He instantly took the reigns.

His hands, that had been set on the railing to either side of her legs, moved to grip Bella's hips and pulled her closer to him. While the day before he was against the notion of pushing her too far too fast, when her arms snaked around his neck and her chest pressed harder against his, that notion went out of the window. He bit at her bottom lip once, before he deepened their kiss as much as he was physically capable.

For Bella, she didn't really know what she was doing. She had never kissed a guy like this before, and she knew she stumbled more than she didn't, but if Paul noticed, he didn't say anything or even let it slow him down.

By the time he slowed himself down, Bella was completely out of breath, lightheaded, and panting hard, while all Paul did was growl again as his forehead laid against hers. His eyes were slits, but open as he looked her in her own. "No one calls my girl a whore."

Face pinching, she decided which part of that simple sentence she wanted to address first, and when she figured it out, she pulled back slightly, her hands sliding around his neck and down his chest into a more comfortable position because he was like 6'6, and she was not. "But... don't you generally like whorish girls?"

Snorting hard, Paul looked up before looking back at her. "Well, yeah, usually. Way better in bed, which is also generally all I want from a girl. That's not the case here. However, do you have any idea what it's like to fuck a prude?"

Pressing her lips together, Bella slowly shook her head. "No... no I don't." She didn't know what it was like to fuck anything, because she had never fucked anyone before.

Paul, however, just grunted as his eyes slanted towards where Jacob vanished. "It's like fucking a doll. No thank you." Returning his eyes to her, he moved his hands back to the railing, bent at the waist, and lowered himself to her eye level. "Black doesn't even know what it's like to get his dick wet, and I'll be damn if someone who's still waiting for his balls to drop gets away with calling my girl a whore. You got your one save, Swan. If he does it again, I'll knock his fucking teeth down his goddamn throat."

Hearing him say it again, Bella couldn't let it slide a second time. She looked at him with a sly look and cocked a brow. "Your girl, huh?"

There wasn't even a moment's beat before he answered. Leaning in more, he was so close, his lips brushed hers when he spoke. "Damn straight mine." Pulling back just enough to see her eyes, he locked them, a growl entering his voice. "If Black has a problem with that, he's more than welcome to come take it up with me. I'm really easy to find."

With his new position, Bella once again wrapped her arms around Paul's neck, a grin on her lips and a quiet giggle in her throat. "And... what if I have a problem with it?"

Smirk sliding into place, he chuckled as his forehead once again rested against hers. "Do you?"

Looking up at him through her lashes, she hummed. "If you think for one min..."

Cut off from finishing the sentence, Bella jumped and nearly fell off the railing she sat on backwards when the sound of an ear splitting howl broke what was otherwise a completely peaceful afternoon.

"Fuck..."

Looking back at Paul, she watched his eyes dart all over the treeline as Sam, Jared, Kim, and Emily came running out of the cabin. Looking at their faces, she grimaced. "That didn't sound good."

Picking Bella up off the railing and setting her feet on the ground, Paul shook his head as Sam grunted beside them. "It's not."

Grabbing Bella by the side of her face, Paul forced her to look him in the eyes, and his showed just how serious he was. "You. Stay. Here. Do NOT leave."

She nodded her head, he kissed her, and lept the banister, taking off in a full sprint after Sam and Jared, who hadn't waited for him because their girls knew the drill.

Bella watched after Paul for a moment before she looked over at Kim and Emily, who stood next to each other by the door. "What's going on?"

A frown on her face, Kim turned to look at Bella as Emily turned and headed back inside. "Someone phased."

Eyes going wide and law going lax, Bella looked back to where the three other guys vanished in the trees. "Who?"

Moving to stand next to her, Kim crossed her arms and shrugged. "We'll find out when they get back. And, to answer your next question, it happens when too many vampires get too close to the border, which is why Paul wants you to stay here. There are enough scents here to cover yours until they get back." Reaching over, she grabbed Bella's forearm and gave it a tug. "Com'on. Let's go inside. This could take awhile, and Emily could use the help. There'll be another wolf to feed once they find him."

Grunting at the statement, Bella followed behind kim back inside, taking up her dictated job of cutting up more carrots and potatoes than any one house really had a right to have while she listened to Kim and Emily try and figure out who the guys could be out looking for.

Kim paused in peeling as her head tilted to the side and she held the peeler in her hand flopped over. "Maybe it was Quil. I mean, he's Old Man Quil's grandson, so wouldn't he have the gene?"

Bella snorted without meaning to. "If it was, we have a huge problem, because Quil was with Jacob on their way to the beach not too long before the howl. Leah was heading that way, too, and since there wasn't a scream, we can assume it's not him."

Frowning, Kim then hummed. "Well, who else could it be? If Quil and Jake are together, it can't be either of them." Kim then glanced at Emily. "Henry is a descendant."

A look of horror overtook Emily's face. "He is, but... Seth is what? 12? 13? Certainly there are older descendants than that. Jared is the youngest of the ones that have the activated gene, but he's still nearly 20; will be in a couple of months. I would even think Jacob was too young, and he's almost 17."

Dropping the knife in her hand, Bella snapped to attention as she whipped her head to the side, looking at Emily like she started speaking some foreign language. "Jake?"

Blinking once, Emily then nodded slowly, almost sad. "Yes, Jake. He's Billy's son, and Billy is the son of one of the last wolves. Jake could shift if the lands have need of him."

Frowning, Bella then looked at Kim who jumped in. "This is why Sam wanted those vampires from the cliff to mind the border and keep a very measured distance from the reservation. Sam once said each wolf is tasked to defend against two of them apiece. No more, no less. When the Cullens were all around, there were five of them, so three wolves would have been enough. Seven would have to be close to kick another gene into action." Kim then cocked her head. "You know more about them than we do. How many do you think are in the area?"

All Bella could do was shake her head. "I don't know. I never met Aro or any of his guard before, so I don't know how much we can take what he says at face value." There was a rock forming in her stomach, and she set her knife down. "But, I don't think it's them. So far, everything he said he would do, he's been doing. It didn't look to me like he was anymore interested in more wolves than the guys where. There was always a flip flop between Jane and Alec so there was still only six in the area." Looking back at the other two girls, she frowned. "They killed Laurent, bringing the total down to five. The only time there was more than that was two weeks ago when Paul had that... issue, and he faced off with that Felix guy, but that was still after Laurent was caught, so it was still within the six." Lifting a shoulder, she leaned back on the wall, and sighed. "No... I think this has more to do with Esme, Rosalie, James, and Victoria. They said they would make more... and I think they might have."

Several miles away, Paul, Jared, and Sam were having one hell of a time corralling the newest addition to the pack. It wasn't any different than when any of them shifted for the first time, but damn...

It wasn't that he was any faster, but he was still a cub, more or less, and therefore, smaller and more agile. It didn't long to find him, but he was proving to be as much of an asshole to them in wolf form as he was in human. Embry kept a wide berth from them, and he was trying to do the same thing now, and his mind flew faster than his legs, making talking to him all but fucking impossible. That, however, worked in their favor. Sam gave the order to take him down if he wouldn't stop running, and that's exactly what Paul did.

He knew every inch of the forest around the Rez, so splitting off, he took a detour. Lying in wait, he shot forward when he heard the paw falls and, not actually out to hurt the kid, but certainly out to stop his game, Paul shoulder checked the little bastard into a thick oak tree. It might sting for a new minutes, he would have broken anything, and it gave Jared time to fully catch up and take up blocking exits with Paul while Sam took control of the entire situation and the lean in calming Embry down.

Of the four of them, Embry proved to be the easiest to talk down, but it still took some time. Thankfully, as far as personalities went, he was pretty laid back and tended to go with the flow, which made the guys happy because they had been gearing up for a four day standoff like they had with Paul. Once he stopped running, and calmed down enough to actually listen, it took less than an hour to get him to phase back. Just over two hours of that first howl, the four of them came out of the trees behind Sam's.

Before they got to the back door, Paul turned and held up his hands. His ears trained on what was going on inside, he looked them all in the eyes. "No one tells Swan."

While Embry was confused as to what he was talking about, Sam and Jared glanced at each other before Jared looked at him. "Are you sure? I mean, I know you two are finally getting somewhere, and this whole thing is still rainbows and sunshine, but she kinda needs to know."

Sam nodded as he crossed his arms. "I agree. I don't think keeping her in the dark is a good idea, Paul. If for no other reason than vigilance on her part, she needs to know."

Snorting a scoff, Paul crossed his own arms. "This is Bella, Guys. Give me a couple of hours to figure out how to tell her the game has changed and she's not so much as taking a piss alone for the foreseeable future."

Drumming his fingers against his bicep, Sam hummed as his eyes moved from his Third-in-Command to the house behind him. "Let me be the one to tell her." Before Paul could argue, he returned his eyes to him. "You are only just now in the girl's good graces, and this, as you said, is a game changer for her. It doesn't really matter much if she doesn't like me. It does matter if she dosen't like you."

Jared just raised his hand. "I'll tell her. She already hates me." Pausing, he chuckled. "I take that back. She fucking hates me." Then he tilted his head and smiled. "Worth it, though."

Eyes narrowing slightly, Paul locked his glare on Jared. "The fuck you say to her last night?"

Unrepentant, Jared mirrored Paul's stance. "I told her the fucking truth. You have a vested interest in allowing her to basically do whatever the hell she wants. You can't help it. The imprint will not let you. But, I don't and I can because she's not my imprint. The fact is, you cannot fight with her about vampires anymore, Paul. I shouldn't have to point this out, but you have the worst fucking temper out of all of us. If that shit kept up, it was only a matter of time before there was another accident involving an imprint." When there was a strangled whine from Sam, Jared winced, but went on anyways. "Sorry, Sam, but it's true. We all know you didn't mean for that to happen, but it did. Paul's temper on a good day is worse than yours on a bad one," looking back at Paul, "and Bella isn't as forgiving as Emily is. Let one of us deal with Bella, and you just be there when we're done."

Lips pursing, Paul cocked a brow. "You do realize that sounds like you intend on assaulting my girl, right?"

Lifting a shoulder, Jared grinned in a good natured way. "The day is young and your girl pisses me off."

Pointing a finger in Jared's face, Paul growled. "I'm going to hurt you... really, really badly."

Sam just rolled his eyes and side-stepped the two to head in the house, as Embry looked confused between them. "Wait... Wasn't it just last night you two were just friends?" Shaking his head head, he sighed. "Jake is going to be so pissed."

A much deeper growl rumbled in the yard, and Jared grabbed Embry's arm and jerked him behind him. Sure, Paul would spar off with him, but he would fuck Embry up. Lowering his voice, he gave Paul a wary look. "We uh... we don't talk about him around Paul."

Eyes covered in a shine, Paul locked them dead on Embry's wide one. "Swan is mine, and Black can suck my dick. Trust that is the closest he will ever get to her pussy."

Blinking and a hand covering his mouth as his eyes widened, Jared choked on the bark of laughter that clogged his throat. Rubbing his fingers over his lips, Jared chuckled. "Wow... okay, that was unnecessary." Pointing behind the glaring Paul, "take your crass ass in the house, Man. I'm sure by now Bella is waiting for you." Watching after him as Paul did just that, Jared looked behind him at Embry, who was looking back at him with wider than normal eyes. "He will hurt you. Not only only will he hurt you, he will take great pleasure in doing so." Walking backwards toward the door, he level Embry with a very serious look. "You'll learn eventually why that is, but until then, don't talk about Black where he can hear you."

Frowning and following, Embry grunted. "Jake's a friend of mine."

Making a face, Jared hopped up on the back porch and paused before crossing the threshold. "Not anymore."

Crossing his arms, Embry grunted. "That hardly seems fair."

Snorting, Jared made a flat face. "Welcome to the pack."