AN: I don't own Twilight, S.M does. I just like to play with the characters.
AN2: I am so sorry that I haven't updated in awhile. Like I've said I have this story finished on my computer and just have to upload the chapters. I haven't even touched my computer for more than three minutes for awhile because my life has been chaos. My father had a routine surgery and reacted badly to anesthesia so he was hospitalized and sedated, then my one year old and I both caught the stomach bug going around, after that my other two kids caught it, then my husband caught it. Like I said, chaos. Anywho, on with your chapter.
"I'm sorry about earlier, I was being an ass." Sage pouted.
"Just don't let it happen again."
Paul waited for Sage to walk away and stepped up to me, "I'm so sorry, I lost control."
We watched the trees where Sage had gone running to blow off steam. "It's fine Paul."
"He was right though. You would probably be better off with him than me. I'm not going to lie to you Bella, I want you so badly that it hurts. I'm not talking about sex, or your body, all of you. Everything inside me wants you, but I'm not good enough. I am more wolf than man, I'm an animal with no impulse control, and I don't have much to offer, but everything I have is yours if you want it."
I stared into Paul's eyes, not allowing myself to break it like I usually did. I could feel it, like a tether between the two of us. I could feel a red band around us, tying us together. It was what I'd felt around Sam and Emily, Jared and Kim, and even Quil and Claire. My heart slammed against my ribs as I realized so many things at once. Paul had imprinted on me, it had to have been before Jacob and I started dating, Jacob would have known because of the pack mind but he swooped in and stole me away.
"Why didn't you tell me you imprinted?" I breathed.
"How do you-"
"Why didn't you tell me? That is the only reason you feel anything for me, it isn't because you chose me. You only want me because you are forced to."
"That's a load of crap and you know it. I have loved you since before I was even a wolf, summer cook outs at Billy's? You don't remember it but I remember every detail. When I did phase and I saw you, it was like nothing had changed. I don't even feel the imprint like Sam and Jared did. My imprint is different because my wolf knows you need for me to have a choice, my wolf knows that you need to have a choice."
"It's true, he is not bound to you the same way I'm bound to my Emily. Besides, the imprint basically just points neon signs to your soul mate. If you acknowledge it and then try to fight it, it causes pain. If you refuse to acknowledge the imprint it will eventually fade. Paul has acknowledged his imprint, he would have been forced by that imprint to kill Jacob if it was forcing him to feel the way he does. It is pack law not to mess with imprints for a reason." Sam explained as he joined us outside.
"This, it's too much. I can't-" I cut off and ran, my head was filled with Paul and my heart was telling me that he was exactly what I needed. He calmed the storm inside me and he was the answer to all my questions. My mother would have loved to meet him. I would have loved to meet my mother as an adult.
Thinking of my mother sent a pain through my chest and a vision took over my sense of sight. It was dark and I could smell the dankness of somewhere underground. A shadow filled the room with the exception of one small window, letting light trickle in through the bars. The window was too high up to get to if small, but that didn't seem to matter. I could hear laughter as voices traveled down the hallway and my gaze shifted to the door blocking my escape and the window inside that door.
A red eyed face peered through the wire mesh and grinned. The sight filled me with hatred and made my hands tingle with the urge to strangle him. The door opened and he stepped into the room. "My dear, have you had enough time to rethink your answer?"
Saliva pooled into my mouth and I spat into his face. He chuckled and wiped it away with little effort. "I see. I will break you, I don't care if it takes centuries more, I will have your heart. That is, unless I find that daughter of yours."
My voice rose, "If you touch my daughter I will murder you where you stand!"
"But how?!" The man sang out gleefully, "thanks to this handy little invention, you are powerless here." He tucked a finger under a collar around my neck.
"Leave my daughter alone."
"Fall in love with me and I will."
"Sir, Edward Cullen is here to see you." A voice from outside the door called.
"Send him in, I haven't seen him in years."
Edward stepped into the room, took one look in my direction and froze, "Bella?"
"You must be mistaken, this vision is named Lily."
"Sorry, she just reminds me of someone. I came as you ordered, what do you want from me Aro."
"I want you to find a gift that works on the faeries."
"If I do this, can I have Mariana back? Can we be free of you?"
"I'll consider it, but you may want to hurry, that mate of yours is awful pretty and the guards are itching to play with her."
"You have turned me into a monster, alienated me from my family, what more do you want from me?"
"The last thing is a simple answer to this question, who does this woman remind you of?" The man grabbed Edward's hand and closed his eyes, Edward didn't speak but the man opened his eyes and beamed.
"Darling Lily, I have found your daughter's whereabouts, you should be proud, she is even more lovely than you are. Edward, be a gem and go fetch me this girl, bring her here at any cost and put this around her neck to keep yourself safe."
"Bella!" Someone shouted, shaking my shoulders to pull me out of the vision. I could feel my mother's panic as if it were my own. I lurched forward, clawing at my throat and trying to rid myself of the damned collar that blocked my magic.