A/N: Here's chapter 10! Review please! Love you all!

Chapter 10: Where We Belong

Paul's POV

I was walking on air. I couldn't come down from this high; I was on cloud 9. I was on top of the world! I spoke to Raegan for the first time in a whole week. My torture had ended, and to make things better, the unimaginable happened.

Raegan accepted me.

I didn't have to tell her about me being a wolf, she had reciprocated the idea I expressed to her when I was pressuring her into telling me more about her past. She was going to really let me tell her when I was ready! And I felt more ready now than ever before. And much to my surprise, she let me hug her.

Let me repeat: she let me hug her.

This was a milestone in our relationship! I was getting somewhere! I was getting past those walls that were obviously up for a reason. And she hugged back! I almost felt like squealing like a 12 year old girl. I couldn't believe it!

Now onto business. I drove my truck back to the road where I parked previously when I went to rescue my beloved, and the red hot anger fueled up in me. I told Sam and Seth to wait for me to get back; ensuring our fun would ensue with my return. That little bitch was going to pay for what he did to Raegan.

I ran back to where I saw my two friends, circling around Tyler, or whatever the piece of shit's name was. I grinned at his position: curled up like a scared little girl, trembling, fast heartbeat. I was glad he was scared, but he was going to be a lot more scared when I was finished ripping him a new asshole. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" I snarled, a maniacal grin on my face. Tyler scurried backwards, falling on his elbows. "L-Listen man, p-please d-don't hurt me. N-Nothing happened, d-dude." He stammered. I laughed, and delivered a swift kick to his abdomen, making him cry out in pain. Grabbing him up by the collar of his shirt, I shoved him up against a tree. "Give me one. Good. Reason. As to why I should not rip that pretty little tongue of yours, that you obviously like to force down girl's throats, tear off your tiny little dick, and shove them both up your ass." I seethed, my teeth bared against my lips. Holding his hands in surrender, he struggled to find words. "M-Man, I-I'm serious, she t-threw herself at me, b-bro." he lied. I picked him up by the scruff of his shirt, and threw him into another tree. "Fucking pussy, don't lie to me! Why were you the one on top of her, huh? Why was she screaming for help? You get off by seeing little girls cry from under you?!" I shrieked, hitting his body against the tree with each word. He was crying and pleading now, full force.

Dip-shit.

"I'm gonna tell you what you're gonna do, okay? If you ever take a step forward Raegan ever again, I will kill you slowly and painfully. I will do it without mercy, and I will make sure your body is torn limb from limb and distributed amongst the forest you obviously like luring girls into. Are we clear?" I growled, hitting his body once more. He nodded his head hurriedly, and I laughed, dropping him to the forest floor like a sack of potatoes. "And one last word of advice, Tyler. I'll know if you force yourself on another girl. I will. And I will beat the living shit out of you. Kay?"

With one punch to the face, I left, kicking some dirt on him. "Pathetic." I muttered. With that, Sam, Seth and I phased and ran back to our homes.

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The next day, I woke up with the biggest smile on my face. I had the perfect day planned for Raegan and I, and tonight, there was a bonfire (Sam demanded one last minute because of the attacks in Seattle or whatever), so I planned on telling her the wolf secrets. Although I was nervous, I didn't want to dwell on it too much, and could only hope she took it well.

Phasing and running to her house, I phased back and threw on some clothes left on the back porch, and let myself in. "Hello?" I called. Suddenly, I saw Raegan running towards me, her petite body still clothed in her pajamas, and her long hair bouncing up and down as she sprinted. "PAUL!" she yelled with a huge smile, and the next thing I knew, she jumped at me. Taken back, ecstatic, and overall shocked, I quickly responded and lifted her up, making her giggle. "What's this? Someone's happy," I said, making Emily and Sam who had entered the room a few seconds ago laugh. "You are my best friend. Why wouldn't I be happy?" she said honestly, her big blue-green orbs staring into my brown eyes.

Setting her down, she led me to the kitchen, by the hand, and Emily started making waffles. "So, what are we doing today?" she said cheerily. Emily set the food on the table, and Paul dug in hungrily, as Raegan went to the fridge to top her waffle with strawberries. "Well, I was thinking. Have you been to the zoo in Seattle?" I asked. She shook her head furiously, and I smirked. "Well, I was thinking we could go there, but we will have to leave soon since it's a bit of a drive. Then we could catch a bite to eat, and this evening is a bonfire. How does that sound?" I asked, hopefully. She squealed, clapping her hands together excitedly. Smiling happily, she quickly ate her waffles, and then practically sprinted to her room to get changed, hurriedly mumbling questions on what to wear under her breath.

My eyes followed her until she reached her room, and once I heard the door shut, I turned to Emily, who was smirking the whole time. "She's happy today." I stated nonchalantly, although I was kind of questioning what exactly made her so cheerful. Emily shrugged. "We had a little talk last night when she came home. She decided that she wants to try."

"Try what?"

"Well, in her own words, she wants to do the 'teen thing'. She really wants to try to make friends and just be a kid." Emily explained. I honestly had so many questions to ask, but I wanted to respect Raegan's privacy.

Raegan came bouncing out with her familiar cheeky grin, wearing a grey button-up knit sweater, an off-white casual looking dress that reached mid-thigh, and a pair of black stockings underneath, along with a pair of off-white ballet flats. Her hair was down, as usual, and she wore silver heart stud earrings. She looked absolutely beautiful, somehow looking casual in comfortable in something that may look a bit fancy just to go to the zoo. "I'm ready!" she exclaimed. I only half heard her, still looking at her and trying not to drool. "Um…o-okay…car." I managed to stammer out, sounding like a complete fool. She merely grinned at me, a blush rising to her cheeks.

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After a long ride of conversation on what would be at the zoo, me asking if she was reading any new books (which, of course, she was, so another book to add to my long ass list), and us talking about things we liked and didn't like (we had a lot in common, surprisingly), we finally reached Woodland Park Zoo. I had to keep up with her running as she jogged over to the ticket line, looking absolutely amazed at everything around her.

I quickly paid for the tickets, trying to avoid growling at the pimple-faced teenager working the booth as he stared at Raegan with critical eyes since Raegan was practically jumping up and down, tugging on my shirt in excitement. After finally giving the little bastard his money, I let Raegan pull me along, and she grabbed a map of the park. "Well, what do you want to see first?" I asked patiently, as I examined the maps ground plans. "EVERYTHING!" she squealed, and suddenly I felt my hand being tugged again, and we both speed walked over to the penguin exhibit.

"Aren't they just adorable, Paul? Look! That one did a little flip in the water!" Raegan cooed cutely, standing on her tippy toes to see over the railing. I nodded, muffling my laughter in my hand at her response. A trainer came in, and had another penguin do a dance. "OH MY GOD PAUL, LOOK, LOOK PAUL!" she yelled, scaring the crap out of some poor 10 year old kid next to her. I laughed out loud this time, and she continued to admire the flightless birds in their exhibit.

Next, we went to see the lions. I was feeling slightly on edge, lions were deadly animals, and there was only a sheet of glass to separate the tourist from the animal. I held her close to me without her objection, as she gazed on the huge African cats in wonder. "They're pretty, aren't they?" I whispered to her. She merely gulped in reply, as she stepped closer to the glass. "Don't go too close." I said quickly, taking her hand and pulling her to me. "Paul, they're contained. It's okay." She assured. I still didn't like the idea of Raegan getting to close to them. A female lion circled the circumference of the glass, much to the appeal of the crowd that formed, and much to my displeasure. However, she enjoyed it, and for that I was grateful.

We then stopped at several more exhibits, including the elephants (which caused her to, once again, scream at the sight of a cute animal, in this case two baby elephants), the reptile and amphibian area, the birds (ostriches apparently freak her out), the zebras, otters, bears, and foxes. Now, we had finally reached the wolf exhibit. I was very nervous, since I didn't know whether she liked them or not, and that would really clarify how she may react to my secret.

When we arrived there, she pressed her body up against the glass in awe as she saw the gray wolves wrestle each other. "They're so cool. They kind of remind me of people, you know?" she said softly, never taking her eyes off of them as they played. "They go together in packs, like families, or groups of friends. They all look so affectionate to one another, and you can tell they each have a lot of personality. Plus, I hear they are really smart and loyal." She explained. I froze, she spoke really highly of them! Did this mean that she may possibly take my secret better than the other imprints, or was I just making a big deal out of nothing?

We soon left after that, both of us pretty hungry. She thanked me over and over, and even though I practically begged her to stop, she still continued. I pulled into a café-looking place, and after taking our seats, we started talking again. "So, did you have a fun time?" I asked her, even though I knew the answer. Her mouth formed into that beautiful smile of hers, her blue-green eyes squinted and twinkling with more life than I had ever seen in the past month. "YES! It was awesome! I loved it, everything was so interesting and beautiful!" she replied, obviously happy with our trip. I smiled, the sight of seeing Raegan happy immediately made me happy. "Wow, you almost sound like you've never been to a zoo before." I said, regretting it seconds after I said it as I saw her smile falter. "I…I haven't." she said quietly, her face turning red in embarrassment. I was quickly racking my brain for something to make that smile of hers reappear; desperate. "Well, that's nothing to be embarrassed of or anything. I, uh, I've never…I've never gone to the La Push library before you came here." I said honestly. She looked up at me from the curtain of wavy hair that hid her face, and grinned a little. "Really?"

"I swear it. I didn't, um…I didn't know we had one." I admitted sheepishly, feeling my own blush rise to my face. She chuckled. "Well, I'm glad to see my presence has made a positive impact on you, Paulie." She said with mock confidence. I felt my cheeks grow dark and a tingle in my stomach from her calling me 'Paulie', but she luckily didn't notice. "Oh, trust me Raegan, you being here has positively impacted my whole life." I blurted out. She blushed the darkest shade of red I had ever seen, almost purple. "So, Paulie, huh?" I coughed, and she laughed. "You don't like it?" she asked. I grinned. "I love it."

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After having a late lunch/dinner, we headed up to the bonfire, and my nerves were absolutely shot. I was unable to keep my mouth shut the whole ride there, and I could tell Raegan was suspicious, and that made me babble even more. I was raking my hand nervously through my short, inky black hair, trying not to prevent the hysteria I knew I was feeling. "Is…Is everything okay, Paul?" Raegan asked quietly. A wave of emotions passed over me; sadness, anger, and mania just to name a few. "Nope! Everything's good. Why, do you think something's wrong?" I said in a voice way too enthusiastic for my liking. She almost flinched at the sound of my voice, and as bad as I felt, I knew it was either acting like someone on crack, or snap at her. "Y-You seem a little on edge…" she muttered softly, retreating back into the shell I had spent so long on trying to break. I let out a deep breath, and clenched my hands around the wheel. "Raegan, tonight I'm going to tell you my secret." I said calmly. Her eyes widened, and she searched my face for any indications that I was lying. "Paul, I told you, only when you're ready…"

"I am. I'm serious. I feel like I'm…I'm going to explode if I don't tell you."

She gave me a reassuring smile, and laid her hand on my tense arm comfortingly. "Well, I wouldn't want you to explode or anything. Just know that if you change your mind, you can, okay? I want you to be comfortable telling me, I don't want you to regret it. I will support you with whatever it is, understood?" she said seriously. I beamed. "I hope you feel that way when I tell you."

"As best friends, I feel the obligation to tell you that you will always be my Paulie."

And in that moment, I knew I was going to tell her tonight, no matter what.

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Raegan and I sat together on a log around the fire, as we listened to the conversations among the Elders. I couldn't help but feel anxious, and since my actions were very noticeable, Raegan sent my pitying glances, rubbing circles in my back with her hand comfortingly. Embry, Quil, and Jacob snickered under their breath as they saw how flustered I was getting. "Paul, you know what I told you about if you feel you don't want to anymore…"

"I want to. I'm not hiding any more secrets from you."

She smiled sympathetically, and after a half hour of Billy, Sue, and Old Quil talking about the attacks in Seattle, the time came. I was practically vibrating from my shaking, and I could tell Raegan was nervous too, or at least for me. "Raegan, I want to show you something. Follow me." I said softly. She complied, and I reached for her hand (hoping it would comfort me some), and led her into the forest.

I had taken her far away from the beach and the bonfire where we had been only moments before, helping her across fallen trees and step over tree roots. It was dark, but not so dark that you couldn't see anything at all. The moon was bright out, though not full, and cast an enchanting glow on the forest. I finally reached the small clearing I was looking for, where there was a creek and soft, plush grass to lie on. Clearing my throat, I tried to look a little more confident. Taking a hold of both her hands, I sat us both down on a large boulder. "Raegan, you mean the world to me. I have kept some things from you, and since you mean so much to me, you have the right to know. I need you to keep an open mind, and I need you to know that I will understand if you don't accept me." I explained. She now looked at me with a sense of nervousness through her curiosity, and I took a step back. "You know the legends that Billy told at the last bonfire, don't you?" I asked quietly. She nodded her head vigorously, her facial expression still telling me she was confused. "Raegan, the legends…the legends are true. I'm a shape shifter." I said in one long breath. I stared at her, looking for any sign of emotion or feeling, but all I got was a blank stare. "Paul, this is not a joke…"

"I swear over everything I love, I am speaking the truth. I can shape shift into a wolf. We protect La Push from danger."

Raegan continued to look at me with a stone-like gaze, and suddenly, broke out into hysterical laughter. "Wow, Paul, you really had me going for a second! I almost believed you." She said in between giggles. I frowned, and knelt before her, taking her face in my hands gently. "Raegan, I am. I'm not lying." I said as seriously as I could. Her smile vanished in seconds, realizing I wasn't kidding. "W-What? Paul, you're crazy." She said quietly. "I know you know I'm telling the truth. I've never lied to you before. You know that I'm serious about this."

She bit her lip, internally battling with herself. "I can show you." I said softly. She nodded her head, still looking hesitant to believe me. Telling her to close her eyes, I started to strip, and within minutes, felt my body morph into that of a wolf. I let out a whimper, and she opened her eyes. "P-P-Paul?" she said in a voice barely above a whisper. I nodded my head once, and she clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes searching me. "Y-Y-Your eyes. T-They're the s-same." She gasped. I got down on my belly, wanting to show her I would never harm her. "C-Can I touch you?" she asked hopefully. I inched towards her, still on my belly so I wouldn't scare her, and lifted my huge head into her palm. She pet me curiously, I felt the hesitation in her actions, but she didn't stop. "Oh my God, I'm going out of my mind." She blurted. I let out a soft whine, and she laughed emotionlessly. "Well, you are certainly cute, I will give you that."

She continued to pet me, in awe at my huge size. She examined my paws, my tail, and my ears, gasping once in a while. She finally smiled a little bit, and I felt instant relief. "You….You're adorable." She gushed, much to my surprise. She pet behind my ears, and I practically went to heaven at the feeling. Giving me a little kiss on my snout, she ushered me to change back.

I quickly phased and threw on my clothes, and headed over to her; she was still holding her hands over her eyes. I pried them off her beautiful face, absolutely stunned at her overall good response. She looked up at me, and even more to my surprise, she enraptured me in an embrace, which I returned instantaneously. I finally relinquished, and made sure she really was okay with all this, and I was happy to see that she was. "I can't b-believe this." She whispered. I squeezed her little hand in mine, almost as if I was assuring it wasn't a dream. "Well, now you know." I replied. She let out a nervous laugh. "Why are you taking this so well? I really thought you would freak out." I asked. She shrugged her shoulders, and a light blush coated her freckled cheeks. "Paul, since the day I met you, I knew there was something different…special…about you. Even though, you are, um, a wolf, you are still my best friend." She explained.

I was overjoyed. Never in a million years would I have predicted she would respond so well. She really was made for me! My inner wolf was purring in content at her acceptance, and I knew I didn't regret my decision to tell her. I gave her another tight hug, and finally, I had to tell her the hard part. "There's…There's more." I said nervously. She nodded, telling me to persist. Struggling to find the words to say, I was scared. "You know about the Third Wife, right? And how Taha Aki imprinted on her?" I asked. She thought for a moment, and then nodded yes. "Well, imprinting happens with us too. With the pack, which is basically all the guys we hang out with, including Sam. I…I imprinted." I explained. Her face held the same blank stare. "On who?" she asked quietly.

"Raegan, I imprinted on you."

A/N: Dun Dun Dun! How will Raegan take the news of being imprinted on? Review, review, review!