Thank you for your patience and your support! This is where the new chapters start. I'm happy to say I have a strong start on the next chapter as well. If you're only now joining us... I'm rewriting/expanding on all the chapters I had after chapter 10. I hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 11: The Tested Trust

We should go on a date, I texted Paul.

I sat curled in my blankets, feeling drained from not being able to see Paul for a while. At least, I guessed that was the reason since that was the only change in me. That had to be the reason, no matter how illogical it was.

It was already Thursday and every day something had stopped us from getting together, whether it was on his end or mine. We talked every night, but it just wasn't the same. I wanted to see him.

Each day was combined with a pounding headache. Sometimes the headaches were so bad that I could barely sit up without feeling like I was going to pass out.

I looked at his text and felt all tingly inside.

Are you free tomorrow?

I smiled and texted him, Yeah, after my shift at my job ends at nine.

I opened the text message that came almost right away. It was like he knew what I was going to say and already had his message ready, just waiting for me to send mine first.

I'll meet you there. Pack some things for the weekend. We can just go to La Push after our date.

I texted him back, I haven't told Charlie yet.

Then go tell him, was Paul's simple reply.

I huffed and tossed my phone away. He made it sound so easy, but then he didn't have the police chief of Forks as his dad. I paused at that thought though because now that I think about it, I've never met Paul's parents. I've been there every weekend and some days in between, but I never saw his parents even once. He doesn't even mention them.

As I walked around the house, looking for my dad, I thought about what Paul's parents could be like. He must have a good reason for never bringing them up in conversation, even though we were already so close. Paul kept them a secret, and that was quite a big secret.

I found my dad and ripped it off like a bandaid. "I'm going on a date with Paul tomorrow and staying over at his house for the weekend."

My dad glanced at me before saying, "You can go on a date with him, but you're not staying over there."

"Yes, I am," I said.

"Bella, it's one thing to let you stay over there as his friend, but it's entirely different to let you stay over at a boyfriend's house," he told me.

I could understand his reasoning, I really could, but I needed to be with Paul soon. I always felt better with Paul around, no matter how irrational that was. Maybe it was just because he made me happy. He could always pull me out of whatever funk I was in.

"You let me stay over at Edward's before, plenty of times in fact," I said, and even as I did I knew it was a low blow.

My dad scowled. "That's how it's going to be, Bella? I am your father and I say you're not staying the night, much less an entire weekend, at Paul Lahote's house."

Just do it.

You need to see Paul.

"I'm eighteen. That doesn't work anymore, Dad."

"As long as you live under this roof, it works," he said, and that was clearly the end of that discussion.

Charlie avoided me for the rest of the day and was gone the next day before I was even awake. I didn't have another chance to confront him and try again. I was still in a horrible mood by the time Paul dropped by after my shift.

He took one look at me and frowned. There was no fooling him, even though I tried to smile and act like I was fine for his sake. Nothing could get passed Paul though, not if it concerned me.

"You're all riled up," he said. He ran his hands down my arms, clasping my hands in his. "Do you want to postpone our date until sometime this weekend?"

"I want to be with you. It doesn't matter where," I said, pushing myself against him. Paul wrapped his arms around me. "I just need you."

Paul led me to my truck and ushered me into the passenger seat. He got into the driver's side. He drove well enough, but I've never seen him drive before. He didn't have a car of his own either.

"Do you even have a license?" I asked, after he drove for a while.

"Nope."

I laughed. "Of course you don't. Why would you, it's not like you're driving my truck or anything," I said.

"Someone's full of sass today," he teased. He grabbed my hand with one of his, driving one-handed, something I didn't even do and I had my license. "No one really cares in La Push. Even then there's no real reason to drive."

"I guess," I muttered.

"Don't worry, I won't crash us," he said, laughing.

When we got to his house, I walked in like I lived there. Paul was right behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me close. He kissed me and didn't waste any time nudging me toward his bedroom.

I laughed and pushed away slightly, "Easy there."

"I haven't seen you in so long," he whined.

We made it into his bedroom and that's when it really hit me that I was going against my dad completely. He forbade me from staying the weekend, yet that's what I was planning to do. My need to see Paul ended up being a lot greater than, well, anything else.

"I'm so dead when I get home," I groaned and collapsed on his bed.

Paul laid next to me and kissed my nose. "You'll be fine. What are you so afraid of?"

"I just don't want him to be mad with me. We're finally developing more of a father-daughter relationship. It was always so hard since we're so alike," I said.

"I guess he's not thinking you two are so alike now," Paul said.

"Not the time, Paul," I said and turned away from him.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. Paul pressed light kisses to my shoulder, moving up my neck. The tension in my body dissipated immediately. All Paul had to do was touch and like magic I felt better right away.

I curled into his side. "Paul, do you always live on your own?"

He glanced down at me. "Is that a problem?"

"No, of course not," I said immediately. I smiled and laid my hand on his. "I was just wondering."

"My parents divorced when I was eight, and I haven't spoken to my mom since I was ten. She stopped bothering to return my calls. I lived with my dad until a year ago. He took off after a fight we had and he hasn't come back since. Maybe he'll come back one day, but I doubt it," Paul told me. He shrugged. "Now you know."

"I don't understand your mom," I said.

Paul rolled his eyes. "Says the girl who keeps getting abandoned herself."

"Although maybe it explains why you jump from one woman to another," I said.

"Whoa, easy there," he said. Paul whacked me lightly on the head. "No need to get all psychological on me. If you start spewing out crap about how I have issues with women, I swear you're in for it."

"Oh, you don't have issues with women, that's the problem," I teased.

Paul kissed me. When he pulled away. "No need to worry about me straying away from you, Bella."

"Either way, I'm glad you told me," I said.

"If nothing else you're good at changing topics," Paul said. He smiled down at me. "Why are you so glad though?"

"I just don't want there to be secrets between us," I said.

Paul pulled me close so my head was against his shoulder. I couldn't see his face and something about the way he said, "Yeah, me neither," made me feel uneasy. It sounded too strained.

"Paul?" I pushed away slightly and looked up at his face. There was worry plain in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I need to tell you something. I care about you too much to lie to you anymore," Paul said.

I pushed away and ran a hand through my hair. "Just tell me you don't have a kid out there somewhere."

"A kid?" Paul rolled his eyes and shoved me back onto the bed. "Of course not. Why would you even think something like that?" I merely arched an eyebrow. "Okay, I see where that concern might come from."

"Paul, I know how you were before," I teased.

"I don't have a kid," he said.

"Okay, good. I think I can handle pretty much anything else. What could be worse than you hiding that you're a teen dad, or even that you got someone pregnant in the first place?" I told him.

Paul laughed nervously. "Yeah, what could be worse than that?"

It wasn't often that I saw Paul nervous. He was always calm and in control of himself. Sometimes he showed anger, especially if Jake says something stupid, but he was never nervous. Seeing him nervous like this made my own nerves intensify.

"I'm just going to do it. No use avoiding it any longer. I've already been waiting too long to be honest with you," Paul told me.

He left me side and retreated to a corner of the room.

"Paul?"

"Just keep an open mind," he said, before stripping.

I shielded my eyes with my hands. "Paul! What the Hell?"

The only thing I was met with was silence. Slowly, I uncovered my eyes, only to see a wolf in the corner of the room where Paul was previously standing.

I jerked back. My back hit the wall and there was suddenly nowhere to go.

Sitting on the floor was a dark silver wolf the size of a horse. When I tried to push myself away further, the wolf whined. He lowered himself to the floor the most he could, probably to not look as big and intimidating, not that it helped, and looked up at me with puppy eyes.

Huge puppy eyes.

"No," I said, shaking my head. I pulled my knees up to my chest, anything to get further from… it. "No, no, no, no. This can't be happening."

I clutched at my head. There had to be some kind of signs of this. There had to be something that I missed, something that could have prepared me for this, something that could have kept me away from this. No matter how many times I turned it over in my head, there was never any sign that Paul was anything but human.

The wolf rose up suddenly, causing me to jerk away. He took a few steps closer and laid his head, just his head, on the bed and stared at me. The wolf didn't move, only staring at me. The only thing I understood was that he didn't want to scare me, even though every other thought was incoherent.

"You're… a wolf. A werewolf."

He whined.

"I'm dating a dog," I groaned.

The wolf edged its head closer to me.

"No, I can't do this," I told him. Then I sighed. "I'm talking to a wolf."

The wolf's body jerked away, stalking to the corner where the pile of clothes was. Then his body changed back into that of Paul's. The first thing I saw was Paul's bare ass.

I would like to say I looked away right away, really I would, but it took me a brief, shocked moment to look away. The wolf was gone and in his place was Paul, who didn't care one bit about nudity. The most he did was put on his boxers and that was more for my sake than his.

"Bella, look at me," he said, as he got on the bed, sitting in front of me. "Look at me, sweetheart. It's okay."

My gaze jerked up. "What about this is okay? At least now I know to get you a chew toy for your birthday."

"That's not funny, Bella," he said.

"You're right, maybe you would prefer a tennis ball to chase around," I shot back.

Paul ran his hand through my hair gently. "You need to calm down. You're going to start hyperventilating if you don't calm down."

My breath was ragged and too fast. I felt like I couldn't breath and that the world was falling in around me. Paul was right though, I needed to calm myself down somehow.

Paul rant his hands up and down my back, on my arms. He grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of it. He never took his hands off of me the entire time he tried to calm me down. He breathed deeply, never breaking eye contact with me as he did so.

"You okay now?" Paul asked, after a while.

"I'm far from okay," I shot back and ripped my hand from his grip. I backed away further. "Of course I would attract another monster."

Paul glared at me. "Take that back."

"It's the truth. If you don't have to apologize for saying the truth, then neither do I," I said, hearing the bitterness in my own voice. "I can't do this again. I can't push past this whole supernatural thing."

Paul's fingers toyed with my hair, letting me keep my hands out of his grip. "You mean like you did for the leech?"

I looked up at that, eyes wide. "What?"

"I know the Cullens are vampires, Bella. They're the reason I phase into a wolf. The others are shapeshifters as well. We're a lot more like you than the Cullens were, yet you accepted them," Paul told me.

"I accepted them and look how that turned out," I spat out. It was either be angry or burst into tears.

"Don't you dare insinuate that I'm anything like him," Paul said, his eyes narrowing.

"I'm not, but the only thing meddling with the supernatural ever does for me is a trip to the hospital and left all alone. Clearly the natural and the supernatural shouldn't mix," I said. I looked down. "I may resent the Cullens, but they taught me that I shouldn't be with anyone supernatural."

Paul edged closer and took hold of my hands again. He squeezed and looked pained as he watched me. "Don't say that, Sweetheart."

"I can't, Paul," I choked out, and that was when the tears blurred my vision as they finally fell.

"You knew about the leech, but you still loved him. What makes this any different? What makes that bloodsucker better than me?" Paul demanded.

I felt so defeated. "I can't go through it again."

"I'm not like him, Bella. I would never hurt you like he did." Paul pulled me into a tight hug, ignoring the way I flinched. He held me against his chest. "Don't let what I am decide your feelings. That leech couldn't love you, but I can and I do."

He refused to let me go for a long time and I had no choice but to just lean my head against his shoulder. Paul needed this, and I needed a break. Arguing with him was only going in circles. Even after everything, he didn't understand how much Edward screwed me up. He didn't see the cracks in the walls I had up around me.

"You can't decide whether you'll accept me based on the leeches," Paul said, finally pulling away enough to look down at my face. He shook his head. "There's this thing us wolves do called imprinting."

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's when we find the one person in the entire world that we need to protect. We can be anything they need us to be, whether it's a protector, a friend… a lover," Paul explained.

"You better not be saying that you're my soul mate," I told him.

He smiled sheepishly. "That's a word for it."

"Soul mates don't exist. I learned that the hard way," I said. I tried to push away, but Paul grabbed and held my hands, in connection holding me right where I was. "Paul, stop it."

"You can't just leave without giving me a chance to explain. I felt horrible lying to you, I needed you to know the truth. What we have so far was all built on trust, I would be throwing all that away if I didn't tell you," Paul said.

"Let me go," I said quietly, barely audible.

Paul hung his head and choked out, "Bella, please."

I felt cornered. Confused. Panicky.

My chest felt constricted and there was this deep, stabbing ache inside of me. I couldn't work out whether it was me or Paul. This imprint bond, or whatever it was had to have some affect. I just didn't know how much control it had.

Pulling my hands free, I moved passed him and off the bed. I grabbed my bag on the way out and didn't look back as he called after me. To his credit, he didn't follow after me. Maybe he knew I couldn't process all this so quickly. I needed time. I needed solitude. I needed to go home.

I felt like I couldn't breathe.

First off, thank you all for being so supportive of me changing the story up a bit. I really appreciate it! :)

As some of you might have noticed, this chapter is pretty much the same as it was before, except for the end. I just felt Bella's acceptance was too quick and rushed... especially considering her issues with the supernatural. Besides, who doesn't love some drama? :P

I'm already at work on the next chapter, so no worries! I'm not going to set huge goals for myself (like a chapter or two a week), especially since I'll be going back to university soon. But I hope to aim for once a month as a minimum and anything else is kinda extra :)

Also, there was a question about that Bella and Sam teaser I posted on one of the chapters a while back. Not to worry, it's still in the works. I just want to get further into this story first :) there are also a few other projects I hope to get underway, but those are secrets for now ;P

Anyway, hope you liked it (even though it's mostly the same) and as always I would love to hear from you guys :)

- maywriter13