Thank you to all who read my first fic, and a big thank you to all the wonderful reviews! They all made me extremely happy :D As I was writing the first part of "Wolves for life" I didn´t really have a plan to continue it, but I wanted to - though, I still have no idea where to go with this fic, I guess we will see where it goes. Hope you will like the next part! Disclaimer: I don´t own the characters or Twilight!
Paul POV
I thought maybe we would fall asleep outside the cave - my arms around her, holding her to me, and her head on my chest.
We didn't end up sleeping that way. After stargazing for a moment, Isabella shifted and went into the cave to lay down, with her body around the pups. There was still space for me to lay down behind her so that is what I did. Her body protectively surrounded the three small wolves while mine surrounded hers. She gave me a good night lick to the side of my head before I felt her drift off.
I haven't slept often as a wolf. It isn't that different from sleeping in human form - only our scenes are a bit better in our wolf form, so because of that, it took me a minute to shut the sounds of the forest night out.
Now, I'm awake with whatever rooster that made the morning call down in Texas - but my imprint is still sleeping soundly. It might be because she looked so peaceful or I might have been stuck in thoughts about how lucky I am to have found her- for whatever reason, it took me a few minutes to notice the pups gone.
I puffed the side of her head and whined while rising up. She noticed right away what had me waking her up, but I didn't expect the reaction I got - she made a yipping sound. A laugh?
I must have looked as much as a living question mark as I could, because she did that laughing sound again and gave me a lick.
She buffed my side when she passed and I followed more confused than ever. Why isn't she panicking?! The pups are missing!
Outside we were greeted by the morning sun trying to press its light in between the trees. Isabella took a moment to let the rays dance over her white fur before she looked back at me and then laid down. She put one of her front paws over her eyes and her tail started to move back and forth in a slow even motion. Right, left, right, left, right... What in the living hell is she doing?!
"She's counting." Sam´s voice ring over the link and me being too focused on my imprint, which I might have thought has lost her mind overnight - jumped in surprise. "Good morning sunshine." The fucker laughs.
I huff.
"What do you mean by counting?" I ask, not going to even try asking him not to show that to the others - we live for making fun of each other, even our alpha plays along.
"She's covered her eyes and her tail is doing the counting. It's hide and seek time." He laughs again.
"Oh," is my brilliant response.
Sam is still laughing and I can feel him on his way to us.
"Why didn't you come back last night?" I ask, maybe with a little anticipation in my voice.
"It was late and I rather not sleep as a wolf at the same time you do," he says with a shiver clearly running throughout his body. "Last time your dreams became my nightmares." He huffs and it's my turn to laugh. "And I thought you might have wanted some time alone with your imprint."
My laughing stops, I could practically hear a smirk in his voice.
"I ...em... we didn't... how did u...do anything...know" I didn't know what to say so everything just came out in a mess.
"Had a feeling. We will talk later." He says and the hardness in his voice isn't lost on me.
I won't say that I gulped... okay...I did, I'm sure anyone in my situation would have done the same.
Sam shuts his connection off and I go back to watching my mate apparently play with her pups.
Her tail stilled, her paw left her eyes and she rose from the ground. Her blue crystal eyes looked back at me and I could only see happiness in them. I wonder if mine glows like hers with the same emotion.
She yipps and walks around looking - to me it doesn't seem like she's using her ears or her nose. In my half panic earlier, I didn't even use any other senses than my eyes- now though, I can hear and smell the three little heart attack givers.
With her front paw, she moves the branches of bushes away and she even stuck her head down in holes - that I just noticed were all over the area in front of the cave. She must have dug them for the pups, and something tells me that it wasn´t only for playing.
A happy bark from one of the pups has this weird feeling bubbling up in me - I'm happy, but that sound just made me feel something I can't describe. It's like... belonging.
The black pup with the white eyepatch is happily jumping around her wagging his tail like an overjoyed golden retriever. His happy sound makes that feeling bubbling like a bubble bath inside me again - even stronger.
He helps her look for his brothers and soon all three of them are running around her like toddlers on a sugar rush.
"They are technically toddlers," Sam says and he slowly walks out from the trees to my side.
Somehow he seems bigger than last night and I can't stop the growl from leaving me. I'm too surprised by that to even laugh at his reaction. He jumped.
"Sorry," I mumble in my head after a moment.
Our little conversation, or whatever you would call it, was interrupted by the three tail-wagging pups. They jump around us and I look to Isabella, and she shifts back without a care in the damn world! I really need to talk to her. I know Sam is her brother, but that doesn't matter, no one should see her naked- but me.
"If I had my wish not even you," Sam grumbles.
I ignore him and wait for her to say something, but the pups had gone back to her again and for a moment her attention is on them. She nuzzles them one by one before turning to us.
"They are hungry so I'm going to hunt. It can take some time to find a sick or injured animal for them," she says and tries to lift the pups from her lap but when she sets one down the next jumps up. "Can you watch them while I hunt?" She asks us both and we nod.
At that, she rises and backs away from the pups.
"You three stay here. Paul and Sam will play with you," she tells them and I don't know how they understand her, but all three sat down and stayed sitting until she shifted and were out of our sight range.
Then the three perfectly behaved pups, when mama is here, turn into three troublemakers from hell!
The black one runs between Sam's legs and disappears into the forest, one of the grey ones - I don't know if he's the one named Ash or not, runs back to the cave. And number three started to jump and try to get his jaws around my tail.
"So how is it being a parent to three wolves?" Sam laughs as he goes after the black one.
"I'm not their parent!" I yell loudly, but it felt weird saying that. What's with me?
Shaking my large head, trying to focus on not losing my imprints babies - because that's what they are to her. Her babies. And what would happen to me if I lost them? That's a road I'm not going to walk!
I can still hear one wolf pup in the cave so one is safe. Sam has the black one insight and is trying to puff him carefully back here and my tail is playing fish with number three.
The things I do for her and it hasn't even been 24 hours since I meet her. Huffing out as close to a sigh I can get in this form, I lower my tail and let him bite down. Slowly I lift it back up with number three hanging all happy from it - his own tail almost wagging off his body.
"I thought animals had it easier with kids," Sam says and comes back out from the trees with Eyepatch in his mouth.
Again, I growl without thought.
"You better be careful!" Follows my growl in our link.
"I am." He growls back."In a way these three are my nephews, I wouldn't hurt them," Sam continues, he didn't even seem surprised anymore by my reaction, but I am. Why am I feeling so strange? Why have I growled twice at my alpha?
"You might not see it but because your imprint sees them as hers, you on some level have already claimed them as yours too. I would claim any child Emily would have had before I was in the picture as my own," Sam answers and puts Eyepatch down at the mouth of the cave and gives him a careful push to go inside.
I'm still standing a bit away with number three still really happy about "catching" his "prey".
"At least any kid I have won't be biting my tail," Sam mumbles and lies down beside the opening.
I sigh again and walk my confused ass over to the cave. I should have been prepared but I wasn't. When I laid down beside Sam and little grey had his feet on the cave ground - he didn't let go. No! He started growling as much as he could and his two brothers came running to help him.
"Your tail is getting a makeover," my alpha kindly points out and then laughs - he even makes the yipping sound Isabella did.
"Wait until it's your turn!"
"They won't go for my tail." He somehow grins.
"And why is that?!" I growl but it's soft so as not to scare the pups, that are right now killing my tail - is it some kind of hairy snake to them or something?
"They feel I'm an alpha," he says.
I huff, of course, they do!
"Lucky you heal fast if they are able to do any damage," he says after he took a look at my tail and the pups still using it like it's the best toy in the world.
"Would Isabella kill me if I suggest we get them some dog toys?" I ask.
"You could try to ask, but I think she wants them to be as wild as they possibly can and not be in any way treated like dogs," he answers.
"Why?"
"Do you really think she's raising them to have them with her all their life? I'm sure she loves them but one day she needs to let them go- they are wild and they should get to stay wild to make their own pack or packs." His words get through to me but I'm not so sure the pups will ever leave her. "Maybe both of you will have to make sure they leave," he answers my stray thought.
I'm not even going to go down that road now, it will be months before these three can make it on their own.
We lie there in silence, not even an hour after we laid down did the pups tire of my tail and went to wrestle each other in front of us. At least they aren't running off again.
"Why hasn't anyone else shifted in?"
"Embry, Quil, Jacob, and Seth have school. The twins, as you know, won't shift because I ordered them not to. Jared is going with Kim on a shopping trip, so I'm sure he is sleeping in before that. Leah refuses to shift after what happen with Jacob." I can hear the humor in his voice.
"Will she ever shift again?" She hadn't shifted since before the mating season, and after what we saw in Jake's mind when he shifted - it's quite clear why she won't.
"It has been calm for some time now in our area and Leah talked to me about going to college."
"If anyone should get to do that it should be her," I say. It hasn't been easy for Leah being the only female in our pack, maybe it would be now with Isabella though.
"I have given her my permission to go if the council agrees."
"Shouldn't it be only your choice, you know because she's part of your pack?"
"It's a risk letting her or any of us leave. Someone can notice her warmer skin or Leah can lose her temper and shift - she isn't as angry anymore but her temper is in line with yours." He gives me a glance before looking back at the pups. "If she is out there she might also be out in a world with vampires even closer to her."
"And still you are okay with letting her go?" I rise while I finish my sentence - Mr. Eyepacht is too rough on Tail-killer. I break them up with my nose and in doing so I lowered my head so Tail-killer could go for my ear.
"Welcome to life with toddlers." Sam laughs while I give him a glare with my new earring just wagging away.
"I'm never going to live this down when the others find out...am I?" I almost whine, my brain flashing all the fun the pack would have at my expense - all the fun I would have had at any of their expense if the roles were reversed.
"Let them have some fun. You have given them quite some rough times before."
I huff and carefully try to shake my new jewelry off - but Tail-killer has turned into Ear-biter. Gives biting your ear off another meaning.
Some sun rays move over my eyes and when I look towards the trees, that are trying to hide the yellow circle - I notice it's quite high in the sky.
"She's been gone for a while now," I say worried.
"She said it could take some time." He calmly replies, but I can both hear and feel some concern in his mind. "In any case, she can handle herself," he tries to convince both of us not to worry. But she's my imprint!
He growls.
"And she's my sister!"
Before we get into anything the pups whine, even the one on my ear is whining. I lower my head back down and he lets go and all three comes and buff and stroke against my face. Carefully I lay down so they have easier access to stroke against me.
"I think that means "please calm down" in wolf." Sam smartly remarks.
I sigh for the millionth time today. Still, it hasn't been 24 hours yet and my life has done a 180, or maybe even a double 180 inside out and upside down - because I am not even sure how my life was before. Was I even living really?
"No," Sam says and I lock eyes with him. "You weren't living, you were waiting for her. That's how it felt for me too, for Jared as well."
That sounds about right, even if it sounds kinda mushy to even think that.
"What's mushy?" A new voice invades our somewhat peacefulness.
"Shouldn't you be in school, Embry?" Sams voice rumble with disapproval.
"We got off after one lesson, it's unusually sunny and non of the teachers thought we should be locked up in school all day." He replies and we can feel the other three shift in.
Fuck!
"What's with you, Paul? Haven't you missed us?" Quil yaps. "Wow is that real wolf pups?!"
Now I got all of their attention. I can practically feel their eyes looking through mine.
"Yes," I shortly answer and softly growl when both of the grey ones attack my ears, but they didn't let go of me.
"Why do u have real wolf pups?" Jake asks and all four of them are moving towards us- something I don't like.
"If the four of you come crashing in here I'm not going to be accountable for my actions."
They actually freeze in both thoughts and movements. Never before has my threats given this reaction. Huh?
I shake my head slowly and growl, somehow this time, they let go and I rise up. All three of the pups follow me over to the cave and only a small push to one of them, makes them all walk inside.
"You can come now, but slowly, and I would lie down when mama wolf comes back," Sam says while all I can do is have a warning growl going in my throat.
"Can someone explain please?" Embry asks and I know Sam hasn't had the time to tell him about Isabella.
"Who's Isabella?" Jake asks and some of my memories flash before us. "Wow, she's beautiful!"
Oh, he shouldn't have said that!
"MINE!" I growl loudly through the link and a powerful growl leaves my throat.
"Isabella is Paul's imprint and mine and Embry's half-sister," Sam explains shortly while I'm lost in possessive land.
"Oh." Comes three voices.
"We have a sister?!" Embry shouts so loud that we all cringe. "Sorry! When did you find this out?" He sounded hurt.
"Last night, Embry. I would have told you after school." Sam sighs.
The four of them don't say anything after that, they slowly make their way over to us. I'm still worried about Isabella not being back yet and even more worried about how she will take four more giant wolves crashing into her territory.
"It will be okay." Sam calms me somewhat down, but I can feel him being a bit unsure too.
Not long after his last sentence echoed away through the link, did the four musketeers arrive. How is it that even they looked bigger and more threatening than the last time I saw them?
"Calm down Paul!" Sams alpha voice rings strongly in my ears and my growling stops. "They won't hurt the pups or your imprint."
One last strangled growl and a shake of my head, clear me enough to realize that what he says is true. They would never hurt me like that- we are brothers. Imprinting really can fuck with one's head.
"You have something to lose that worth more than your own life," Sam says and after he rose to his paw he gave me an affectionate bump to the side.
"So will you explain? The pictures we got through the link didn't come with information." Jacob asks and gives me a careful glance.
"Paul found her and the pups last night. It turns out she is mine and Embry´s sister, she ran away from Joshua after she shifted. She has been living in the woods around here since." He gets that out of the way before he continues with what happened last night."As you might have seen we had a meeting with the Cullens about their hunting. They killed the mother of the pups and Isabella found them and is raising them. She wanted to make sure they don´t kill more females that might have offsprings."
"After we got back from that meeting, she and I imprinted on each other." I shortly end the story that wasn't that long- it hasn't been that long either.
"So where is she?" Quil asks and looks around.
"Hunting for the pups." Is my short reply while my eyes move to the spot where she disappeared, some hours ago.
"If you want to go look we can stay or go with you." Embry's voice stops my thoughts from going down a road with no return. "I want to meet my sister." He adds and smiles.
If any of us shouldn't smile while in wolf form, it's him, the ugly mutt just looks like a wrinkly dog.
"Fuck you, Paul! You aren't so pretty either!" Embry barks and goes to follow the way Isabella took. "You coming?"
I nod.
"At least one of you needs to stay with them," I say glancing at Sam who nods his head.
"We won't leave them alone." He assures me.
With that, Embry and I take off.
Hope this second chapter is as good as the first one. Until next time. Please read and leave a review :D