"Then, while I was transcribing, I came to the part where the doctor mentioned the woman was in damn near perfect health, but he still wanted her to come in for checkups every two weeks!" Slamming the oven door, Leah marched back into the living room where Sam lay sprawled across the couch, halfheartedly listening to the news and his wife at the same time.
Luckily, Sam knew he could always rewatch the news later that night. "Lee-Lee, I'm sure the doctor is just doing his job. Didn't you say earlier she was an elderly patient? Maybe he just thinks that at her age, something could go wrong suddenly."
"Well, of course things go wrong suddenly. Hell, for all anyone knows I could drop dead tomorrow," Leah huffed, recoiling slightly when Sam gave a distressed whine at that particular thought. "I just meant it as an example. Don't worry, Sammy, I plan to make sure I'm around long enough to give you grey hair."
She would, most definitely, of that Sam was certain. He didn't mind in the slightest. His mate was just blowing off steam. She liked her job as a transcriptionist, but some doctors seemed to piss her off more than others. Sam figured it was either because they had poor handwriting or poor linguistic skills.
With his long limbs, Sam had no problem reaching over to the chair Leah had sat on, grabbing her foot for some affection massage time. Her laughter thirty seconds into the process confirmed that Leah wasn't really upset and Sam settled back into his cushion, once again trying to hear news tidbits.
It was his overactive sense that picked up the first signs of distress. Nose wrinkling in disgust, Sam knew whatever Leah had tried to cook was at least ten minutes past well done and probably two minutes away from being burnt to shit. He should probably just be grateful they were even eating, considering it was past eight p.m..
"What the fuck is that?" Leah screeched, jumping up out of the arm chair she had been reclining in. Sam was about to inform her it was their dinner's death when he realized she wasn't commenting about the smell, but instead about the dangerous animalistic growls increasing in volume.
Sam beat her to the door, throwing it open wide and was outside before his imprint had even left their living room. "Stay inside until I come back," he ordered gruffly, already in the process of shedding his clothing. The sounds and still human Quil told Sam that this was a pack dispute and not a vampire one, although both could be deadly to the casual bystander.
"Paul! Back down," Sam ordered, his command undeniable. Most of the time.
"Sam, he's fucking lost it," Quil yelled angrily, trembling from the urge to shift. He knew if he did, Paul would see the faces of the two troublemakers from earlier. The boys were already scared shitless from the chase Quil had given and he damn well knew Paul wouldn't care for any explanation they may or may not have to offer in regards to his imprint and whatever happened to her.
Sam spared a glance away from Paul to stare at Quil, waiting for a better explanation than that. If his Alpha had any hope of controlling Paul, his ass would need to get fuzz covered. Sam was as smart as Paul had figured and he did phase, absorbing the images and memories from Paul with an unneeded and painful force.
Something had really snapped in the angry wolf, Sam thought, wondering why Paul had resorted to wanting names and not just tracking the scent that would have been left by both Quil and the boys.
Because I wasn't fucking thinking like that, Paul answered, switching his thoughts to those of his girl's arm and ankle, the unfortunate scene of Paul's lapse in temper when he threw the table and scaring the girl even more making Sam growl sickeningly.
Don't you fucking dare. I didn't fucking hurt her.
Paul, you don't even know what happened. Why didn't you start with asking Claudia?
You honestly think Seth's girl hurt mine? Are you fucking nuts?
Are you? Those aren't handprint bruises. They look more like impact ones.
Exactly. Urchin didn't fucking throw herself into multiple objects. Some soon to be dead dick had to have done it and since no one else was there, we know who did.
Why did she go outside to begin with?
Fuck you, Sam. You bitched me out in accusations that I was keeping her a damn prisoner. I changed the fucking locks and asked her to stay inside for safety but as you pointed out before, I can't keep her chained in the house.
Would you pull your head out of your ass and listen to me for one minute. What could've happened to make her want to leave the safety and comfort of the house?
What the hell does that matter?
It fucking matters because if she left quickly or because something scared her, her injuries could be self-inflicted.
Sam's suggestion cut off Paul mid-growl, his shock apparent enough when the wolf's mouth grew slack and his tongue rolled out limply. However, his mind was never one to slow or be short on verbally graphic exclamations.
What. The. Fuck. Did you just forget that it's already been determined she didn't fucking hurt herself? Paul asked his inept leader slowly.
Quil slowly inched away from the two wolves, hoping to make a quiet and unnoticed retreat. He didn't have to be in wolf form to know what the conversation was about. If Paul had inflicted any imprint damage, Sam would've seen it and the black wolf would've been on Paul's back already, literally.
None of the wolves were by any means small or lacking in strength, but aside from Sam, only Paul and Jacob carried the extra weight and bulk of enforcers. If shit hit the fan, it would be one of those three to catch it and mete out justice. Quil's presence was not currently needed at all.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the scowl of Leah glaring from the front window. She had probably figured out by now that this definitely wasn't monster related. Quil could almost count down the seconds before she'd storm out and demand Sam to fill her in. With a small smile and quick wave, he finished his slow retreat, stepping behind much needed foliage to disappear from sight completely.
Paul's head whiplashed in the direction of the only moving leaves. He damn well fucking knew Quil had just pussy footed away. But Paul didn't need bitch boy's memories any longer. He'd go back home and pick up the trail himself like Sam had suggested—
NO! Sam's growl was both aloud and mental. Resume form, go home and wait until we arrive. I will speak to Seth and Claudia and then come to your house with Jacob. We will figure this out rationally and not harshly. Understood?
Exasperation and incredulity were thick and bitter. You think I had something to do with this? That's why you want to bring Jacob in on it. Paul spat, his bile of disgust too large and tart to keep within. Fuck you, Sam. I might be a lot of things, but I have never raised a hand to a woman and I sure as fucking hell wouldn't start with one as small and innocent as my imprint.
Sam watched as the wolf Paul walked away proudly. He didn't know if he fully believed Paul held no part of inflicting the wounds he had been mentally fed. He wanted to believe his counterpart was innocent; that Paul had reason to be concerned of some evil, other force. The problem was coincidences were rarer than non-blood drinking vampires whenever Paul Lahote was involved.
Back inside Sam spent some minutes pacing restlessly, although he suspected the cremation of dinner added to his discomfort. He had been able to text Jake and as an afterthought told the man to meet him at the Clearwater's in five instead of at Paul's later on.
Unfortunately he couldn't text Seth and Claudia to hear their side of today's events. Typed answers would tell Sam nothing about how an imprint could have been hurt. Calling would be quicker than driving over there to talk face to face. However, that would have guaranteed that Leah heard everything and he was hoping to keep her out of this until he was clearer on what had actually happened to Arial.
"You want to go to my parent's house while I stay here?" Leah asked doubtfully when Sam told her after making his decision.
Sam checked his pockets one more time before walking to the front door, hoping to make a painless getaway. "C'mon, Leah, don't be like that. You know this is pack business and the longer I have to stay here to argue with you, the longer it'll take to figure out what happened at Paul's."
Her hand flashed out quickly to shut the door he had just opened. "You still haven't told me what's this about!"
"It's pack business. It's not something that needs to be discussed right now until I know more about the situation." Smile. Look at ease. Pretend it's no big deal.
"A situation that involves who? My parents, my brother or Claudia?"
"Uh, you know, it's pack, so Seth, obviously."
'And Claudia?" Leah asked, her eyes practically information raping Sam's.
"Maybe."
"Then this includes imprints, too. Tell me now before I have to call Claudia and ask her to leave me on speaker phone stealth."
The look of passiveness Sam had been shooting for fell flat. "Why can't you just wait until I know?"
"Because it's a waste of time. Besides this obviously involves my family and I'll know sooner or later; why not make it sooner?"
"No," Sam stated firmly, if not a bit desperately when Leah began to button up her coat in preparation of going.
"Don't 'no' me, Samuel. It's my parents. I can visit them now if I want to and you can't tell me no!"
"Wait!" Desperation overfilled Sam's craw. "You can't go because afterwards me and Jake have to go to Paul's."
Leah's eyes lit up in a bad way and Sam knew everything he had just said in the past three minutes had been wrong.
"You big ogres are not going to gang up on her alone again," she commanded, using Sam's stationary body as a handhold while she tugged on a shoe.
"Claudia? She'll be fine," Sam promised, offering his other hand unthinkingly when Leah switched to pull on the other shoe.
Leah stamped her foot to make sure her heel was secure before glaring upwards again. "Don't be ridiculous, Samuel. Claudia isn't afraid of your dumb asses; Arial is!"
"When did we ever gang up on Arial?"
"When Paul first brought her home you would've if I hadn't stepped in. And now, like then, it looks like I'm going to have to do that shit again. She's hurt and probably fucking terrified of that Neanderthal claiming to be her imprint. She has no idea about you guys and you're going to literally scare her to death when more than one of you approaches."
"Leah, you can't go running to defend her every time something happens." Did his voice really sound that weak? Shit, Sam was going to have to work on that. "Besides, we don't know exactly what went on. Paul's house might not be safe."
"Sam, what do you do in your spare time?" Leah asked, her voice mockingly sweet. Sam knew he was about to be handed his ass. Again. "Did you or did you not tell me after your first vampire kill that it was silly of me to worry about you guys getting hurt?"
"Leah, that's different. We aren't dealing with a vampire here. We're dealing with an unknown."
"An unknown human!" she hollered before dropping her head to rub at her temples in impatience, muttering, "So help me…" Looking back up, her voice turned seriously mean. "If you're actually going to tell me three fucking werewolves can't keep me safe from some lousy unknown human, we are moving away from here to live the rest of our days on some tropical island full of people where even with a sunscreen of SPF 3 million a vamp would sparkle like the Hope diamond."
Dumbfounded, Sam could only stare in defeat. Leave it to his imprint to remember one lousy, insignificant vampire fact and then use it as a threat tool. One way or another, though, Leah would know what was going on, probably before Sam even did! The fact that women could share details faster than a pack of mentally molded werewolves was uncanny.
"Well?" Leah asked, tapping her foot impatiently and nodding to the outside. "Are we going or not?"
"Yes, Dear," Sam whispered, holding open the door to allow his imprint to walk out first.
"So, how did it go?" Seth asked, bouncing up and down on his bed while Claudia sat hunched over some textbooks at his desk. "Did you guys do anything special? Was she scared? What did you think of Arial? Do you think you'd like for the four of us to hang out sometime? Maybe soon?"
"No way," Claudia unthinkingly muttered aloud, scratching out what she had just written.
"Oh. So it didn't go well?" Seth's voice lost its perkiness.
"Not at all," Claudia said before realizing how her wolf was taking the news. She looked up and dropped her pencil quickly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."
Seth smiled again, fully genuine. "Really? So it did go good?"
Unable to watch Seth's disappointment while she explained things, Claudia looked back down at her notebook. She had just finished telling him the part where Arial had been reading a magazine with some strange guy at the library when Sue interrupted them, knocking on Seth's door jamb.
"Claudia dear, Sam is here to see you. He's waiting outside for you."
"Sam's here for Claudia? Do you mean me, Mom?" Seth asked in confusion.
"No, honey. He said Claudia only. Leah is with him, though, so I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."
Seth started to relax back down on his bed, sure it must be something girl related. If it was any other imprint visiting he'd probably go down as well to socialize. It being his sister, however, the two usually bickered like good natured siblings and poor Sam would become slightly insane at the harmless banter. It was easier and more considerate if Seth just waited upstairs until they left.
Out of nowhere, another voice boomed across the house. "Jake's here," Harry Clearwater yelled absentmindedly up the staircase when he passed by the front window and spotted the arriving vehicle.
"For Claudia?" Seth guessed, standing up, suddenly very nervous as to why two other wolves were at his house, asking to see his imprint and not him. He looked at his girl who also looked worried and held out his hand for comfort. "Let's go see what this is about."
Claudia's nervousness told Seth that she had no idea why two wolves wanted to speak to her, although it was possible Jake was here for him. He gently squeezed his girl's sweaty palm and helped her put on a jacket before the two of them stepped out into the frigid air.
"What's up, Sam?" Seth asked, nodding towards Jake who was standing farther away and not really part of the social circle. That alarmed Seth as much as the fact that Leah was positioned behind Sam and not next to him as a social visit would entail.
"I need to speak to Claudia about what happened today," Sam said, his voice level.
Seth squeezed Claudia's hand again to silence her when she started to talk, scoping Jacob's position as well. He was here as an enforcer. "Did something happen that I need to be aware of? Claudia hasn't mentioned any problems."
"Paul showed up on our doorstep a little while ago, demanding to know how his imprint came to be injured," Sam said, glossing over some of the details.
Both Jacob and Seth watched as Seth's defensive posture turned into one of concern. He swung around to face Claudia, pulling in her for a tight hug. "Oh, my god! What happened? Are you okay? Were you hurt? Why didn't you say something? Are you okay?"
"I don't…I don't know what Sam is talking about," Claudia said. God she felt uneasy. Every person there could smell it.
"Did anyone attack you or threaten you and Arial?"
"No!" Claudia insisted, the truth behind the statement real. No one had hurt them.
"What about the guy you mentioned?" Seth asked her before turning to Sam in full cooperation. "Claudia said Arial was sitting with some strange guy at the library. Could that have been the person who hurt Arial?" Turning back to his imprint, Seth hugged her more tightly. "Why didn't you say something? Has this person bothered you before today? Do I need to go to class with you and have a talk with someone?"
That thought was appealing to Claudia. If people like that loser, John, saw that she was more than happy with her wolf, and that he in no way compared to Seth, maybe the idiot would shut up. Despite living in the twenty first century, her Native American heritage denoted her as a "lesser race" to a large majority of people. She was good enough for the Johns of the world to want to fuck her, but nothing more.
Claudia spent the next ten minutes telling Seth and Sam how her day had gone. No, things had not gone as smoothly as she would have liked with Arial. The library incident was probably nothing. She hadn't heard Arial complain and the girl hadn't looked like she wanted to get away or anything, and maybe they had been coincidentally sharing the same table and magazine. She had tried to communicate with the silent girl, Claudia told the men, but Arial had behaved aloof and uninterested.
"And then, after lunch, I dropped her off at Paul's house," she finished, Seth's arm securely flung over her shoulder. "Arial never acted like she had been hurt or anything." Not that Claudia had hung around to find out.
"What about lunch itself?" Sam asked, still uncertain as to what could have happened. "Paul said Arial acted like she hadn't eaten."
The three wolves tensed slightly when Claudia did, this particular question evoking a sharper response than others had.
"I didn't want to mention it," she mumbled, her cheeks beginning to redden. "Arial didn't like any of the choices I listed and when I asked her if she wanted to eat elsewhere, she signaled no to that, too. I asked if she minded if I ate there and she shook her head no. Even after, I asked her again if I could take her somewhere or help her make something and she said no."
Claudia's emotional state was so far off of the grid that neither Sam nor Jake could tell what the reason might be. It would be logical to assume that Arial not eating could be misconstrued by Paul and nobody would want to have to deal with his over emotional ass. It was a logical choice on Claudia's part not to tell Paul his imprint refused food; all three wolves silently agreed on that.
"You did nothing wrong," Seth assured his girl, glaring at Sam and Jake to hurry up and leave them alone. Obviously this had been a trying experience and Seth was beginning to feel guilty for having pushed Claudia into something she wasn't prepared for.
"Did you buy her a drink?" Leah asked out of the blue, her question catching everyone off guard.
"Whaa—what?" Claudia stuttered.
"A drink. You said you stopped to eat and that Arial didn't want anything to eat. But did you offer her a beverage?"
The question appeared to confuse Claudia and her brows puckered into uncertainty before she answered. "Yeah, Arial wanted a milkshake." She nodded more firmly to emphasize her answer. "I asked if she wanted one after she said no to water and tea."
"Okay," Leah said, shrugging her shoulders casually. The others stared at her doubtfully, not one of them believing that was it, but when Leah refused to comment further, no one pushed.
"Uhh, right," Sam agreed, thrown off track by his imprint's odd inquiry. "And nothing else?" he asked Claudia.
"Not that I can think of," she admitted quickly.
Jake cleared his throat before adding in. "And you didn't see anyone around Paul's house when you dropped off Arial, or on your way back to Seth's?"
"No, not that I recall," Claudia admitted, appearing to concentrate hard on the events from earlier. "She got out of the car, went inside and then I left. I didn't see anyone else around, but I wasn't really looking for anyone either."
"And no one expects you to have thought anything otherwise," Seth consoled his imprint by rubbing the arm opposite the side he was standing on.
She responded in kind by leaning heavily against Seth, suddenly exhausted. "Sam, if I can think of anything else, I'll call you or have Seth call you. Right now I'd like to go back inside, if it's okay? It's getting kind of cold out here."
Nobody had a chance to say another word, Seth pushing Claudia back towards the front door. With a quick kiss, he told her he'd be inside shortly, waiting until the door had closed behind her before turning on the trio still stationed outside of his house.
"So what are we looking at here?" he asked, entirely serious. "You want me to run patrols tonight as well? I will, no problem. Damn, do you think this mystery person could be after Claudia, too? Is it just one person or more? Seems strange that they'd only target a person who hasn't been here on the Rez very long. Why Claudia, though? You know me, Sam; I don't have any problems with anyone and I can't see Claudia having any issues. If anything like that had happened, I'd have heard about it by now, right? Or you. The council would've informed you or Jake. Or Billy. Nothing gets by him, he knows all the Rez gossip!"
Everyone took a collective breath when Seth paused. The kid could talk nonstop.
Sam jumped in before Seth could recover. "I appreciate your concern, Seth, but right now I'm not sure what we're looking at. Let me and Jake talk to Paul and scout around his house first before anything rash is decided." He began nudging Leah back towards their car, feeling as though this had been a waste of everyone's time.
"Wait!" Seth called out, approaching Leah from opposite the side Sam was on. "Why did you ask Claudia about a drink? That was weird. What do you know?"
Damn, Sam had been hoping Seth would have forgotten about that. He, too, wanted to question his mate about what she suspected. The girl was sharp, but she knew something Sam didn't; he'd bet a week's worth of no sex as punishment that she did.
"It was just a question," Leah answered, wearing her most innocent face.
Sam didn't buy it. Jake looked like he wasn't willing to challenge her for a different answer. Seth, unfortunately, trusted his sister to tell the truth always. He smiled in thanks at her simple words and turned to leave, leaving the other two men staring in disbelief at his retreating figure.
"That was either the most cold hearted thing you've ever done, Leah, lying to your brother," Jake said as he walked over to his own vehicle, "or we should consider yanking Seth's rights as a wolf. He fell for that quicker than it takes Jennifer Lawrence to trip."
"Funny that Jake mentions performance awards," Sam said to his wife, glaring as she closed her door. "We need to discuss yours." The driver side door slammed shut, the two occupants bickering the entire drive to Lahote's. Jake, behind them, wondered whose Alpha authority would be exerted this round: Sam's or Leah's.
Bella was in a bad place. Unlike her normal bad places where she could shut off the outside world, this one she could see and feel everything around her. No one was touching her, nor had she been struck by the Paul man, but she hurt everywhere, her body shaking in an unknown way.
He had left her here on the couch, wrapped up and waiting. She knew what was to come, had been waiting for it all along. It had never occurred to Bella that when her time to pay did arrive, he would expect it because she had angered him.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. Most men were angry it seemed, but he, the Paul man, had started to seem different to Bella. He liked to hug her, especially if he had yelled at her and he was always saying sorry to her in between those bad words. Why had he said bad words this time…?
She had done something to anger him. Why couldn't she remember? Oh, this was really bad. She needed to remember quickly what it had been, not only to make sure she didn't do it again, whatever the it was, but so she could also show him she was sorry. There had been a question and she had shaken her head yes? No? There had been several questions, but Bella couldn't remember if they had all angered the Paul man or just one in particular.
While she knew she didn't feel normal and that the shaking was weird, Bella didn't recall that she had spoken or that she was presently breathing too rapidly to absorb much needed oxygen. Her vision could've been blurred because of the funny shaking; tears were as unrecognizable as the breathing.
Time made none of her symptoms increase, decrease or go away. She sat close to the spot she had been placed in, but had to keep pulling herself back since her body seemed to slide forward and off the cushions. That, too, however, faded away and like everything else, Bella didn't know she had hysterically vibrated herself to the floor.
Bella's ears, numb to her own wheezing, distinctly heard the opening click of the front door. The Paul man wasn't trying to be quiet at all and the door knob slamming into the wall was loud enough to cause a hiccup in her adrenaline induced reaction.
The hiccup was the only reprieve to be had. The Paul man was upon her in seconds; faster than, if possible. He dropped to the floor beside Bella, untangling the blanket wrapped around her. Bella thought that was probably a bad idea, considering her limbs were still moving funny. The look of unadulterated rage wiped Bella's mind free and clear.
"Fuck!" He cursed, grabbing Bella's arms. She expected him to shake her, but maybe that was the one thing she was already taking care of? She waited for the fondling to begin and wasn't prepared when he lifted her up gently to place her in his lap.
Had he left to bring people, other men, here? She couldn't see much from her position and the shaking…oh no. She had tears in her eyes already. Oh geez, he was really going to inflict the pain if she was already crying. The monsters had made that an early lesson and until just now, she thought it would never happen again.
Bella was fairly sure she deserved whatever punishment the Paul man felt was needed. However, something sour twisted in her stomach at the thought of him wanting other people to hurt her, or worse, for him to want to watch the damage take place.
The Paul man didn't really talk, he just held her closely against him. He did say a lot of bad words, mumbled and softly, though, not loud or at her directly. He kept rubbing her arms, also softly, and during the first ten minutes of passes Bella tensed, waiting for the blows to begin.
Her mind never stopped telling her it would happen. Her body and heart, though, were either too tired or thought differently, both slowing down until Bella felt like she had just run across No-Go Pass, a section of the Underground more treacherous and dangerous than most. Her eyes wouldn't close, but Bella felt like she was asleep all the same. Until suddenly, two other people were in front of her and the Paul man tensed, his angry words coming back in full force.
Bella had nothing else to fight with. Thinking she was prepared for what was going to happen and actually seeing the people who were there to hurt her were not the same thing. Her mind and body both shut down, causing her to pass out while being held.
"You stupid fucking dick!" Paul spat out, his anger levels having no problem whatsofuckingever staying online in full power. "Maybe you should just kill me now cuz you damn near just killed my urchin and if she goes, the rest of you sorry motherfuckers are gone as well."
"Your own stress levels will not help your imprint's, Paul," Sam said carefully, eyeing the figure of an enraged wolf clutching his distraught mate. The fear, aggression and rage levels were high, making it impossible to detect where one started and the other began.
"Tell me why I'm stressed! Tell me why I'm clutching a girl, my mate, who is scared beyond fucking belief, to the point that you could choke on the shit and still not even grasp the full amount."
Jacob, silent until now, stepped forward, ignoring the underlying threat noises the wolf within Paul emitted. "Your anger is all wrong. You have every right to be angry, but expressing it in front of Arial only adds to the fear and distrust."
"Blow it out your ass, Baby Alpha. If you weren't here right now, doing absolutely nothing to help, Urchin would still be conscious. Her ass didn't pass out until you two fuckheads marched in here like you had plans."
"Control yourself," Sam snapped, stepping up to take Arial away from Paul. "Her unconsciousness may be a blessing for the moment. We cannot ask her any questions nor read her body language when doing so, but if she is this distressed we wouldn't be able to get a true reading anyways. Hand her here and go outside with Jacob."
"Wrong fucking command," Paul snapped back, lithely jumping to his feet. He'd take out both him and Urchin first before he'd hand her over to the asshole in front of him, Alpha or not. His wolf was not as agreeable to the plan, both chancing another look at her distraught figure.
By now, Paul knew damn well not to even fucking consider leaving his girl alone when she was like this. He also knew damn well he'd stand there forever rather than allow Black to play nursemaid.
"Tell your own bitch to get in here and she can attend to Urchin while we go outside," Paul dictated, throwing up his chin in defiance.
At Sam's narrowed gaze, Paul just snorted. "Whatever. I know she tagged along with you. I can scent her from a mile away and you know it."
With a decisive look to Jake, Sam spun around and went outside to get Leah. He didn't return with her, knowing that as soon as Paul placed Arial wherever, he and Jake would find him.
For the first fucking time Paul could remember, Leah kept her trap shut when she entered his house and followed him into the hallway leading to the bedrooms. His indecisiveness was only a flicker. With a small, unneeded weight adjustment, he walked into his room, and not Urchin's, to place her on the bed.
Back outside, both Jacob and Sam were about as useful as a braille encrusted lawn dart and Paul felt no remorse in sharing his opinion.
"Stop wagging your dicks and go drag those two teenage fuckwits from their houses," Paul suggested, leaning against a tree. Oddly enough, his imprint's scent was all over the place and Paul knew damn well they hadn't been out here to have tea or some shit.
Sam sighed heavily as he kneeled at the base of a tree, examining the ground. "I have spoken to Quil as well. Those two young men are not the ones at fault. He trailed after them for quite awhile before they reached your property and then afterwards once he realized Arial was nearby."
"Yeah, and if it were anyone else, I might accept that explanation," Paul agreed sarcastically. "Except we're talking about the wolf who still thinks the Earth itself speeds up and slows down to account for Daylight Savings Time."
"And if Arial's problem dealt with time travel, I might agree," Sam snapped back. "However, since you seem to think it concerns two people in our community, and since I know who they are and what they are capable of, I'll have to insist that Quil is right this time."
Paul pushed away from the tree, his stance rigid. "I don't give a fuck. I want answers, but more importantly I want someone to answer for the marks on my urchin's body. And before you spit the same shit back in my face, I don't care if she did do it to herself! She sure as shit didn't do it without an audience and those are the fuckers I want!"
"Then make her talk."
Jacob's head whipped around to stare at Sam in surprise. "Holy shit, she can talk! Really?"
"No!"
"Yes," Sam answered quietly over Paul's negative hostility. "At least she did earlier when Paul asked her a question. He had to be somewhat forceful, but she did answer him. She told him she had somehow fallen."
"Fuck you, Uley!" Paul snapped before turning to face Jacob. "And before you can add any stupidity, fuck you, too, Black. She was scared and crying and in fucking pain, and when I yelled, she mumbled a sound that could have been mistaken for a word."
Sam stood up, Jacob doing so as well as the two gave Lahote near identical looks, although Jake's held more surprise than Sam's.
"You thought she had spoken earlier when we were phased."
"I was mind fucked at the time," Paul said, his anger still obvious. "If she did speak, then she'll do it again when she wants to." His eyes narrowed into slits and Paul stepped directly into Sam, one deep exhalation away from touching. "Let me make this real fucking clear. Under no order, no circumstance, or any act of nature will I force Urchin to try and speak. If she did do it, it's her goddamn call and I'll flay the fucker alive who thinks about going behind my back. We clear?"
Unintimidated, Sam stepped into Paul as well, his nerves just as strung out. "You seem to forget that this is not a democracy. My word is ultimate law and if I say so, that is how it will go. Regardless."
"Sam, you can't blame—"
Sam raised his hand in Jacob's direction, still holding eye contact with Paul. "I am tired of telling you to back off, lay off and fuck off, Lahote," he said, his voice calm, level and malicious. "Once you realize we are all on the same side, then you can ask for help. Until then, stay here and think about it." Turning on his heel, Sam indicated that Jacob should follow as well, walking back inside to retrieve Leah and go home.
"It should go without saying," Sam said as an afterthought once Leah was inside their car, "but the only trails you are authorized to track are those made by the cold ones."
Paul watched them all leave, his body already thinking about how to comfort his urchin more while his mind seethed around Sam's parting words. That fucker would drop a load of kibble shaped shits if Paul decided to just up and move him and Urchin away from the Rover rejects.
Quietly this time, he reentered the house, beelining straight for his room and an unconscious Urchin. It wasn't the best of ideas. He was pissed off to hell and back for Uley's bullshit words and commands. Who the fuck did he think he was, giving Paul an order not to seek justice for his mate? It went against every moral grain Paul had. And he should know; he didn't have many morals so when there was one the fucker shone brightly like a beacon.
Then to make the shitty night utterly spectacularly shitty, Jacob had been drug into this shit storm as well. No way would that douche wad keep his jaws closed about the smallest, iffiest, tiniest fucking possibility that Urchin had spoken. His sorry ass hadn't even fucking been there to hear the sounds and he hadn't seen the goddamn memories either! But because the almighty Alpha Sam had spoken, that shit would be taken to the bank like a gold bar.
Paul couldn't decide if he was more angry or more pissed off. One being a focused ass kicking and the other being a broad, generalized, everyone in his path needed to be kicked to death. In a weird fucking way it kinda felt like he was sad when he looked at his poor girl passed out, lying in their bed, but he knew damn well that wasn't possible. Paul Lahote didn't get sad. Obviously everyone just needed a solid ass kicking.
His inner wolf was strangely silent for now, not that Paul needed its hairy ass temper to handle as well. The whine that escaped his lips was all human. He needed to strip his clothes and jump into bed next to Urchin. It was a good goddamn reasonable solution to make something good come from this night. Instead, Paul walked back out into the living room, pulling out the local area phonebook and making notes.
Sam might think he knew most of the people and their ability to either cause or not cause mischief, but Paul had lived here just as long and knew just as much. Shortly after midnight, he had a list of some fifteen or so houses he would be visiting in the next couple of days, just to sniff things out, as it were.
Paul didn't even try to hide the gloating and smirking as he finally crawled into bed with Urchin. Sam's decree had said jack shit about Paul driving around for neighborly visits and who could blame their friendly local werewolf for busting some balls if incidentally one of the neighbors smelled like a recent trail in his own backyard?
This one would be in the bag. Literally, if Paul had anything to say about it.
