Chapter 14 – Could Never Hate You

Paul sat in the hospital room in the uncomfortable chair staring at Sedona. His onyx eyes were full of worry and all he really wanted was for her to wake up. He didn't care about anything else but her waking up. It had only been three days and so far they had proved to be the longest three days of his entire life. Not even the five years she was gone for college felt as long as those three days. He and the pack had been out every day and night searching for the vampire who'd taken Sedona but they hadn't had much luck yet.

Sam and Paul had been leading the searches. Paul would do the day search and Sam would do the night searched. Paul's eyes looked over at the window in the room. It was pitch black outside and rainy. It seems the God's and Mother Nature knew what was going on. It hadn't stopped raining since the day Sedona was taken and found unconscious. It seemed as if the rain would never stop. Paul had done an immense amount of thinking over the last three days.

Paul was upset and pissed off at the whole situation. His eyes flashed to Sedona's left hand and the sparkling diamond engagement ring. He sighed heavily; he was about to make the worst decision of his entire life and live to regret it. Paul's hand reached out and gently tugged the ring from her left ring finger and put it in his pocket. He stood and leaned over Sedona's bed and brushed his lips against her forehead.

Paul walked out to the waiting room and watched as Emily passed and gave him a hopefully smile; she was on her wait to sit with Sedona. Sam had called a half ass pack meeting in the waiting room at mid-night no one would be there and they would be able to speak freely. Paul walked in and slumped down in one of the chairs next to Jared who gave him a funny look, but Paul just shook his head brushing him off.

Sam cleared his throat as he sat in front of them. "I wanted to get with all of you because I've made a decision. It wasn't an easy one to say the least, but it had to be made. These last few months I've really been fucking up my family, fucking up the pack and worst of all fucking up with Emily; she's been my partner in this whole mess since the beginning and she's been like a mother to most of you as well. As of tonight I'm stepping down as Alpha. Right now my wife and my family come first. I'm not going to stop phasing or patrolling, I just won't be doing it as much." Sam could see the shocked expressions on all their faces, with the exception of Jake for obvious reasons. "I've already discussed everything with Jacob as well. He's ready to take his rightful position as alpha and I think he's going to do a damn fine job. So from now on you take your orders from him."

Sam excused himself from the room and walked down the hall to join his wife and daughter and leave his pack to converse. Emily smiled up at him when he walked into the room. Sam nodded at her. "It's done."

Emily stood and wrapped herself around his body tightly and felt him pull her closer. "Are you okay? I know it wasn't an easy decision babe."

Sam nodded as he leaned down and kissed her softly. "I'll be fine. I'm not gonna lie it twinged a bit, but they will be better with Jake. He's the same age as most of them and they will be stronger. I'll just have to learn how to take orders from him."

"I love you so much Sam. I stand behind your decision and I'll follow you to the ends of the earth. I'm glad to have you back." Emily confided.

Sam's heart swelled. It wasn't something that he hadn't heard from her before, but now that he felt the shift in power go from him to Jacob it was nice to be reassured. "I love you too baby. You'll always be my Emily."

A throat clearing brought the happy couple from their private moment as both sets of eyes wondered over to the door and watched as Paul stood there with his hands in his pockets. "Can I speak with you two?" Paul was almost afraid to ask them.

Sam nodded. "Paul, what's up?"

Paul walked in the room and closed the door. "I came to a decision and I want you two to know and understand why that way when Sedona wakes up she has some kind of support system."

Emily frowned at his sobering words. "Paul what's going on?"

Paul frowned and matched Emily's. "I've decided to call off the engagement with Sedona. I'm going to be moving her things back into your house in a couple of hours once the sun comes up. I'm about to throw myself into endless hours of patrol because I'm haunted with the fact that we haven't caught that vampire yet. Right now it's my number one priority. I realize Sedona should be it, but I can't not help the guys track some blood sucking demon when it wants MY imprint. I won't have the time to keep an eye on her and if she stays with you she won't smell like me. And hopefully the vampire won't come back after her."

Emily could feel the sadness from Paul. It was killing him to stand there and tell them that.

Paul shook his head he could feel tears in the back of his eyes, but knew this was the right thing to do. At least if Sedona was staying with her parents she could heal properly and they would be able to keep an eye on her. "This isn't a permanent situation, I still very much want to marry her, but I have to keep my eye on the threat. It's out there somewhere and whatever it was trying to do to get my attention; it worked. I've never been more awake to the fact that I could've lost Sedona forever three days ago. Dr. Cullen came in earlier and said her brain swelling is going down and he thinks she should be waking up in a couple of days. He said the doctor from the ER is a good doctor, but he doesn't know concussions the way Carlisle does. He doesn't know Sedona like Carlisle either."

Emily walked over to Paul and touched his forearm softly. "When she first got here Dr. Cullen Typed and cross matched her blood with Sammy's and gave her a transfusion with her brother's blood. He's confident she'll make a stable recovery."

Paul looked down at Emily astonished. "He put shape shifter blood in her?"

Emily smiled as she nodded. "You guys might hate him but he knows what he's doing when it comes to healing people."

Paul nodded. "So will you guys support me in this decision? I know it's going to be very painful for Sedona, but right now it's the only choice I can make. Her safety and well being has to come first and I honestly don't know if I can go through something like this again. I love her so much, I just want her to wake up and yell at me."

Emily nodded as well as Sam. "You are going to be the one to break it to her correct?" Sam asked. "Because I've done enough damage with my relationship with my wife and daughter that I don't want to be held responsible for something that wasn't my idea."

Paul nodded gravely. "I have to. I can only hope she'll understand and she'll forgive me when it comes time for me to come back and collect my imprint after I kill the vampire."

Emily smiled sadly at Paul. "I'm sure she'll understand. I know it will be difficult at first, but it is the grown up thing to do Paul. I'm proud of you; I want you to know that whatever decisions you make we'll stand behind them." She pushed up and kissed his cheek softly and watched him leave. The sun was coming up soon and she knew where he was going.

The following night, Paul watched as they left and he walked over and stared at Sedona peacefully sleeping face. He was dreading her waking up; he didn't want to tell her the decision he made. He didn't want to break her heart. This was going to hurt his imprint probably more than any blood sucker would. Paul pulled the chair closer to her bed as he leaned over and brushed his lips across her ear and touched her cheek with his finger tips. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I have to give you sad news when you wake up. Please, PLEASE don't hate me for it. I love you so much Sedona. I want to b e married to you forever. I want to have as many babies with you as possible."

Paul took her small hand in his and kissed her knuckles and palm of her hand repeatedly. "Please don't hate me. Sedona I'm not too proud to beg the love of my life. Please don't hate me baby."

"I…could…never…hate…you Paul…" A soft voice said barely above a whisper.

Paul's eyes snapped up to Sedona and saw her tired muddy blues staring back at him. Paul jumped up and ran over to the door that lead to the hallway and looked towards the nurses' station. "SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! SHE'S AWAKE! GET DR. CULLEN!"