The Air Near My Fingers by the White Stripes is the chapter song

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Paul's POV

Each step to an unknown future burned through the mountainous rocks underneath my human feet. We were impossibly high up.

My body complained that Bella was not within my grasp. It pissed me off that it needed someone who clearly didn't want me. A perfect, fucked-up dilemma for an equally wretched excuse of a werewolf. My self-worth was a treasure that had been guarded against time and circumstance, yet one girl was ruining any shred of pride that I had left.

Perhaps the most terrible realization was that very little of me cared if she ever accepted me as a mate. She just had to be near me and safe. The imprint molded me into a creature of servitude and selflessness. So weak and fragile and vulnerable.

I wanted to be mad at her, but my body seemed incapable of it.

Drayer ran lazily next to me in silence. It had been almost a day since we had left Washington. Luckily, human laws did not bound us to human transportation to get from place to place. Apparently evil Grandma had a dime thrown in just about every corner of the States; If we just so happened to be in a taxi passing a stop light too fast and a picture was snapped, we would have company.

Not that I would've minded since it was almost like I was by myself. We had traveled in complete silence ever since we had hightailed it out of La Push.

The obnoxious man who'd held my pack brother underneath his sword seemed to no longer exist. The joking smile was gone, the talkative, carefree dimensionless charisma was a mere figment of my thoughts. The guy was perfectly content to leave me alone with my internal battle against my biological need to love his sister. Fucking freak.

I was the first one to break. "So... what do you do for a living?" The man looked to be about twenty-five to thirty; even supernaturals had jobs, right?

"I am the spymaster for our clan."

A clan? Wasn't that like white person talk for a tribe? Scotland was just about the only specific location I was sure where that word was used. "How large is your clan?"

"Quite a few." Was all Drayer said. His face remained closed off.

Frustration drove away my curiosity. "Can't you or your sister just answer a question already? Your bullshit is already causing a fuck ton of trouble."' For my tribe. For me. I left those words unsaid.

The near stranger was aware of it. Guilt crossed his face momentarily, quickly followed by aggravation. "My sister is blameless in all of this." He said slowly, "She's been nothing but punished for her blood from a young age, and she chose none of it. As for the trouble, I'm trying to make it go away, although it is your responsibility too so it's only right that you help me."

A growl slipped through my human mouth. A deer ran away from the noise. "How?" The word slipped through my teeth.

Drayer slowed down and looked at me in disappointment. "She's your soulmate, right?"

The word seemed so different from how the pack thought of it. Like the bond was a two-way street. "She's supposed to be." Imprints weren't as controlled by the bond as wolves were.

He laughed openly at my response. "She thinks she is doing her best by you."

"How the fuck is running away and leaving me out to dry 'in my best interest'?" The words flowed out of my mouth. Women were so confusing.

"She has already lost a soulmate. She probably thinks you'll die too."

I halted in the field. "She had another soulmate. More than one."

Drayer nodded. "Most fae have a soulmate somewhere out there. His name was Ben and they grew up together. Vamps under Medora's control killed him when they were fourteen." There was a heavy note of grief in his voice.

I felt light-headed. "How can that happen more than once?"

"We don't know. Bella really should not have recovered from it as well as she has. We thought it was because she is a half-breed. But anyway, there you have it." He clearly didn't want to discuss it any longer.

The next six hours were difficult. I knew I had to change back into wolf form to keep up with Drayer at this point, but I didn't want the others in my head. Not right now when nothing no longer made sense. I gave up once I finally fell behind from the guy; this human body was not meant for this.

I shifted and blissful silence met me. We were now about a state away. The pack's mental link did have a distance limit. Cool. A move to Hawaii was in the books for me now.

Our odd journey had now lasted a day, a night, and another half of a day. The afternoon sun seemed unnecessary when all I wanted to do was sleep. Drayer's face impossibly paled a shade lighter from exertion while a sheen of sweat assaulted my nose. So I guess not even the fae are immune to B.O.

He stopped and we rested against a nearby giant pine tree once we were close to a rural town in Wyoming. At the end of the town limits was the Rocky Mountain Range. Drayer told me that Bella had some buddies in Kentucky from another "clan". They would be able to break the imprint, apparently. But Drayer didn't think she would make it that far with evil Grannie on her trail. We would have to speed up our pace somehow.

The spymaster flipped open his phone.

"Hey, Nate." The fucker was making a fucking phone call while Bella still needed saved? Some dude responded in return. "Thought I'd check in before I lost signal. I am with Bell's guy and we are in Wyoming. Bella went rogue and I'm pretty sure Medora's after her for some reason so we are kinda trying to fix that?"

Even the people he called seemed to think that he was nuts. "What?" Unfamiliar voices chorused. Now a female voice could be heard.

A scent hit my nose and I shifted back. "Goddamn it!" Of course, we would have company.

"Oh hey, Evie." He continued on, ignoring me. "So anyway, help out those shapeshifters while we are gone, I might need backup if things go to shit."

"Hey twinkle-fuck, I just smelled some vamps really close, so stop dicking around." I fumed, still buck-ass naked. Did this guy have no sense of urgency?

Drayer laughed and put his phone up. I shifted back so I would be less vulnerable. "Alright wolf, you are going to have to be sneaky. Can you manage it?"

A growl ripped through me. I did not need baby-talked to.

"Keep up if you can." With that, a bullet took off in front of me.

Being quiet and trying to maintain that level of speed took up all my concentration. I was not the slowest one in the pack, but sprinting was definitely not my speciality. We hit the ascent of the Rocky Mountains in under a minute, and we were only out in the open for the briefest stint. Nonetheless, the acrid scent of vamp stayed near.

I could hear crashing behind us. It wouldn't be enough.

Suddenly, I was up in a tree. What? Drayer had picked me up and was now hanging me up by my scruff in a gigantic tree. It took all of my self-control to not move and snap at him. We were absolutely silent. The crashing behind us stopped.

"How the fuck did their scents disappear?" A lilting voice cursed. She was right underneath us, an impossible amount of leaves obscuring us from sight. That dead scent wafted upward.

"They're close, babe. We did not imagine that stench. Although that fae smells good..." The voice was different, yet similar. My spine instinctually stiffened. It couldn't be. But he had called her "babe".

Sobs filled the small hallway. I was balled up in a small corner down it, tucked out of sight from the adults. The tears were not my own. My heart thudded in my ears.

"H-how could you?" Mama cried. She was talking so high and whiny. I knew Dad didn't like it.

Normally he would tell her that and then send her away. But this time was different. Dad was sorry. "Look, babe, you just made me so upset and I was drunk. She didn't mean anything, I swear..."

The sobs intensified.

"Goddamn it, I apologized, didn't I? It's not like you don't whore around!" Dad screamed at the end. He sounded infuriated. A hitting sound echoed down the hallway. I was the one crying then.

He couldn't be the one talking to that vamp under a blue sky. He was in prison until death released him. That was something I needed to be true. Also, I smelled two vamps. My old man was a human.

"Let's get everyone gathered up again." Red hair glinted through the branches that hid us. Victoria. So that's the bitch after Bella.

The sound of a burner phone getting flipped open filled the air. "We lost the trail. Meet us all here."

"I was just about to call actually, Victoria." A female vamp said through the speaker. "I had a vision. They're right above you. Watch your head, the fae is a better fighter. We will be there soon."

The words were spoken at vamp speed and the consequences happened just as fast. Drayer dropped me on those fuckers like a bomb. I didn't make a sound and aimed for the red-haired bitch. Just like always, she knew just how to dodge.

She kicked a nearby tree and sailed above my head. Heading straight towards Drayer. A rumble settled through my chest in irritation. Why wouldn't she just die?

A vamp, one that smelled particularly foul, waited for me at the bottom of the forest floor. His eyes were a brighter crimson than the usual vamp's. His skin held the tone of our people's and he had my profile, something I hadn't observed in over a decade.

John Lahote. As though he had beaten it into me, my heart thudded a familiar drum of panic. He was smirking as he looked me over. The only comfort for me being that at least my wish was granted and he was dead.

Fate is such a bitch.

"Hey son." He grinned at me, and his teeth glinted white with venom. Despite his immortality, he was older now and he was frozen as a pathetic prison bitch with wrinkles to boot.

I circled him, ready to tear and obliterate. Victoria and Drayer fought in the trees. I heard the red-head laugh.

John playfully lunged at me. A boot crushed into my side. He was strong, stronger than any other vamp I had ever fought. My ribs cracked and repaired.

He stepped out of my counter-attack. Maybe prison taught him how to beat more than just women and children. He didn't escape the second time and I had his head in my jaws. Just when I was about to end it, I was thwarted. White hands shot around my jaws and forced them open. John shot out of the way.

"Good job, Jazz!" A girl cheered. I heard Drayer shout in alarm and I was thrown down the mountain side. It hurt.

My eyes, barely able to remain open, saw Drayer fighting a small figure. Black and white, a small pixie-like vamp with an insane way of moving. Like literally insane. She seemed too comfortable fighting Drayer, who was also contending with Victoria too. She seemed to be playing with him, like his moves were never a surprise.

Vamps have gifts. Bella had told me that. The pixie's hand shot into Drayer's rib cage and tore flesh out. What a monster.

Cowboy boots then covered my view. "My wife says I can't hurt ya, that the old fae bitch won't like it." A Southern twang assaulted my ear-drums. I struggled to get up on all fours, but I was too wobbly.

A miracle happened then. A crunching sound occurred, a body fell that belonged to the boots, and a familiar blade protruded from the strange vamp's chest.

I could see a bloody Drayer with a hand extended. He had given up his weapon to protect me. "RUN!" The words tore out of a bleeding mouth. Victoria's leg was horrifically disfigured underneath his hands. She screamed.

All three vamps, including John, surrounded him. They were cautiously restraining him. The wound was horrible.

Strength flowed through me and I fled. I ran and ran until I knew that Bella's brother hadn't done something so stupid in vain.

Because I knew.

Drayer hadn't done that for me; he wanted his little sister safe. I had to save Bella.

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-what did you think of all that?

It's Bella's POV next chapter, hopefully they get together soon!