Chapter 11 - Black Sheep
I'm a bad woman to keep
Make me mad, I'm not here to please
Paint me in a corner but my color comes back
Once you go black, you never go back
"Black Sheep" by Gin Wigmore
"Everything okay?" Emily asked as she closed the door behind me. "Did something happen?"
I stalked past her and flopped down on the couch. "Brady is a dick."
"Sam told me what happened," she said quietly, sitting down next to me.
"Why did you get together with Sam?" I asked, turning to face her. "He was your cousin's boyfriend. You let the imprint force him into your life."
"It wasn't that simple," she replied, looking at her hands. "I didn't live in La Push, I came to visit Leah one weekend and she introduced me to Sam. I remember him staring at me and acting weird but Leah said it was because he was working two jobs. At the time she told me he worked days at the garage and nights he was security at a hospital in Forks. Of course, that wasn't true, he spent his nights patrolling but she couldn't tell me that.
"I found myself attracted to him. I thought about him quite a bit. One night I even had a dream about him. We were just sitting at the beach, watching the waves and talking. I thought that maybe it was just a crush. So I came to visit another weekend. I'd convinced myself that I just needed to see him and Leah together and I could get over my little crush. Well, the weekend I came to visit was a spur of the moment decision and Leah had to work most of the weekend. One morning I went to the beach, very early. Sam was there, just strolling along. He sat down with me and we talked, it was almost exactly like my dream. I went back to school and tried to pretend it didn't happen. He came to visit me and told me he couldn't stop thinking about me either. I sent him home and told him to forget about me. I couldn't hurt Leah like that. For a while we were friends and only friends.
"Leah invited me to a bonfire to celebrate her graduation from high school. Sam came over to say hello and we ended up deep in conversation. At the time it didn't seem like we had talked that long. It wasn't until Leah came over to interrupt. She was angry at me for hogging her boyfriend. Then she gave Sam an earful for ignoring her. Sam was still a new wolf at the time and he got angry with her and broke up with her. I tried to comfort her but she was stubborn and pushed me away. It wasn't long after that Sam started inviting me out with him on dates. I refused so many times before I finally gave in.
"You may think the imprint takes the choice away from you but it isn't like that. When Sam imprinted on me, what I needed was a friend and that's what he was. He was there when I needed to talk. I decided to give him a chance at a relationship and we genuinely fell in love. We have our arguments like any other couple."
"Don't you ever feel forced together?" I finally asked.
"No. We chose our relationship." She stared at me like she was trying to read my mind. "Why are you so afraid of the imprint?"
"I'm not, I just don't like being told who I'm going to end up with. I want my choice."
"You don't have to date Paul if you don't really want to."
"I don't," I said. "He's too moody." That damn necklace flashed in my mind.
Emily stood up. "You're welcome to hang out here if you want. I just need to go start lunch for Sam and put shorts out for the guys."
"Put shorts out?" I asked, my eyebrows raising.
"Yeah. They all end up here at some point or another. So they keep pairs of shorts here for when they phase. So they're not all walking around naked." She winked.
"Right." My mind started turning. "You need some help?"
"Sure, come on." She led me to the laundry room to the pile of jean shorts then instructed me where to place them in the woods.
Paul POV
I'd been in a daze all day long. Seeing Ryvre telling Brady off was one of the best things I've ever witnessed. She was equal parts scary and sexy, not that I would ever tell her that. It amazed me that she wasn't afraid of us at all. Even people who didn't know our true nature were intimidated by us. Ryvre just marched right up to Brady and let him have it. Brady was pretty embarrassed afterward. He even texted Leah to apologize.
After school I went to patrol with Seth. He thinks about Hannah a lot but he's not as bad as Jared or Sam so I can deal with him. Jake and Embry took over for us after a few hours. We were in the woods behind Sam's house and could already smell the dinner Emily had prepared.
I shifted back into human form and snatched my shorts off the ground, slipping them on without much thought. As soon as I exited the woods, Seth's eyes widened and he burst into laughter. It was only then I realized my shorts weren't fitting right. My hands flew to my backside. Someone had cut them into Daisy Duke's.
"I would cover the front if I were you," Sam said seriously from the back porch.
"Little Paul is trying to make an appearance," Seth said, still laughing.
Emily opened the back door. "Oh, my!" She covered her mouth to hide her smile.
"Did you do this?" I demanded, folding my hands in the front.
"No," she shook her head.
"Then who did?" I paused. There was a slight trace of a certain scent around me. After a minute I recognized it. "Ryvre."
Emily ducked back inside without another word. Sam tossed me another pair of shorts. "Get changed and come inside."
I hurried back into the woods and slipped off my sabotaged shorts. It was only then I noticed a piece of paper sticking out of the pocket. I realized that I was seeing Ryvre's handwriting for the first time. 'Payback is a bitch', she had written. A little smiley face was drawn in the corner. This means war.
