Chapter V: Fervor

Fervor definition - great warmth and earnestness of feeling i.e., passion, ardor, enthusiasm, zealous, intense emotion compelling action. Also applies to an emotion that is deeply stirring or ungovernable.

A/N: Paul does "plot" a bit in this chapter, but this is necessary for the growth that comes later on. Really. And no harm comes out of it anyway.

Paul's 4th shift.

It starts with a growing hardness in his lower abdomen. Well, actually further below that.

It was the way she bent over when she took something out of the oven. Her small, pale hands were glued with such a grip on that ceramic dish that held the most heavenly, garlicky scent that Paul wasn't sure if he wanted to eat the homemade pasta or lick the condensation from her hands. Even in just a tee and shorts, there was something about her. She was practically swimming in that long shirt. To be so small, Bella had such strength. That dish was enormous. She's so damn tiny, he thought. My cock would break her in two. Then he grinned evilly. He couldn't help it. Now that would be a feat. Paul knew he was larger than average even before he had begun phasing and now, he knew he could put an elephant to shame. And Bella had obviously liked what she saw when he was naked before he phased into his wolf.

Hell, the lupine side of him enjoyed showing himself off for her.

His wolf had even purred and he wasn't a fuckin' cat. If she could make his wolf do that, what else could she do for him? Let's find out. See if I can make her purr. He could do it. He would do it. He'd bed Bella. He would do what half the damn pack had wished to do for themselves anyway; he was a lot of things. And Paul was a winner. Any of his packmates (except Black) would agree with that fact. Why the hell not?

"Hey, Swan," he called to her in a low, sultry voice.

"Hey, Lahote," she said right back, her head turning toward him as she placed the dish down in the sink.

Paul was instantly behind her. Without further delay, he encircled her lightly by the wrist before she could withdraw fully away from him. For a quick second he thought he might have been too overeager, but she hadn't balked or even looked scared when he grabbed her. His wolf flashed its alert and bright cerulean eyes at her before his hazel browns came back into view. Oh yeah, he thought, the wolf was definitely interested. It smelled a potential, worthy mate to copulate with.

He bit his lower lip and decided what he would say in one second. Subtlety was never in the Paul package. "You really a virgin?" he blurted out.

Bella sputters. "What?" This was not the direction she had thought that this was going to go.

He stares at her, serious and calm like a waiting apex predator. He could smell the growing apprehension in her skin, but the fact that she hadn't bolted from him gave him no reason not to pursue. And pursue, he would.

"You heard me," he repeated candidly. "You a virgin, for real?"

She swallowed. "We've been through this already; I have no reason to lie to you about that. I mean, yeah, I'm on the pill but-but that's just to regulate my...um..yeah," she trailed off, embarrassed about her babbling. Sometimes he made her so damn nervous. Paul didn't really give a shit about how pink her cheeks could get. Well, at least not these particular cheeks.

Paul then maneuvered her so that her back was against the counter and she was fully face to face with him. The gold in his pupils turned vibrant and his nostrils flared as he inhaled her scent again, this time smelling her excitement. Christ, even just talking to him got her excited. Yeah, she may not be lying about her v-card. Who would do that, anyway? "I'm serious. You didn't let the leech tap that? Don't know why you would've wanted to with it anyway, but the fact that you didn't, well, I'm kind of curious."

Bella stood agape at him. "You're curious? You?"

"Doesn't happen very often, but yeah, Swan, color me curious. Fuck gives?" he snapped, his temper getting the better of him for a second. "You trying out to be a nun or something?"

She shakes her head. "No, I want to have sex," she declared unabashed, for a change. "I was ready. I mean, I am ready." She didn't know why she had said that.

Paul didn't react immediately. In fact, he waits a breath and then motions with his other hand for her to continue, keeping physical contact with her body. He needed to establish familiarity to her with his touch if this was going to work, putting his hands somewhere on her body or in her general vicinity. And he had to do it frequently so that he could accomplish this feat. Wasn't every day you got to participate in bedding a former leech-lover. He'd see this through to the end, wherever it led. "So, what was the problem then, girlie?" he asked. "Why wasn't the 'deal sealed'?"

"Edward didn't want to," she said simply.

Now Paul was surprised and he couldn't catch himself in time. Say wha'? What does she mean by It didn't want to? Then Paul fixed his face to a more neutral expression as he kept his eyes on her. She kept in his sight though she had to adjust her neck, tilting it way up to do so. Fuckin' A, he thought. She has a good throat on her. I could use that. Then he mentally shook off the image. For now. "Aight, so fucking bloodsucker ain't want to. Big deal; however, the mini fake alpha wants to. Why didn't you do him instead?" he said contemptuously. He didn't like Jacob, but now he wouldn't fault the little brat for wanting a piece of Swan's ass. He himself was starting to feel a bit weak in the gut around her. Could've been her smell. The way she took care of him. The way she moved and touched his wolf. He was falling and falling fast, but Paul didn't go easily with gravity. No way. Gravity, or whatever this fucking thing was that had him swooning and lurking around this leech bait, would have to put him in a chokehold and drag him down the long road to Hell.

Then again, he mused, I could use a bit of a ride. Been awhile.

"Don't call Jake that," she said, breaking into his thoughts. "It's not nice."

Never said I was nice, either. "I repeat, what was the problem? Why not mini alpha?" He asked, ignoring her annoyance.

She sighed. "I don't love Jake like that."

One of his eyebrows raises. Ah, shit. "Does it gotta be for love?"

Bella shook her head. "No, but it can't be someone I've played in the sandpit with since I was a kid neither."

He regards her thoughtfully. "So, no love necessary, right?" He repeated.

She smiled shyly. "Hopefully he at least likes me."

When those glossy, brown pools refocused on him Paul resisted the urge to blink his own hazels. "Don't need someone to like you to fuck you, but I get it." He took another breath to regain his strength back. "Anyway, that ain't what you need. That fucking vamp wouldn't know what to do even if he was around back when the Kuma Sutra was a new arrival. And Black can't look out for you cause he won't leave you alone long enough for you to make your own choices. Fucker is too whipped to give it to you like you need it. I'm your best option."

Bella was intrigued. "How-how-so?" she faltered, hearing her nerves get caught in her speech.

He shrugged, feeling his own heart beat in his chest. Giving her a practiced, disarming smirk that he often gave to other women, he replied back enticingly, "Best way to get over someone is under someone. Come on, Swan, let me wrinkle your panties a bit. You won't be sorry, trust me. You need someone that'll take care of you during, but trust you to be independent after."

"So, I don't need wolf pack protection around the clock?" she joked. She wasn't getting it.

He shook his head, not in the mood for this kind of game with her. If she was going to be daft, he was going to have to push in a different direction. Paul took a chance and withdrew the hand that had been touching her back. His eyes watched her frame practically levitate toward his own physique and the best part was that she didn't even seem aware that her body was doing it. Gotcha, he thought triumphantly.

"What you need," he voiced so softly that she would have to come closer to him just to hear his words, "is someone to look after you," Paul repeated. "I can do that."

Bella blinked, her hands wrapping around her midsection. "Looking after? You volunteering out of the goodness in your heart?" she asks.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, babe," he replied. "I'm just saying, you need someone who's gonna make sure you get all you want and need the first time so you'll want to do it again cause I guarantee that you're gonna want to do it again," he bragged. "Especially with me. I prep and see you through til the deed is done. Most guys are shit at foreplay; I ain't. I fuckin love it," Paul finished.

Bella still looked perplexed.

He took another deep breath. "I'd take good care of you before and during, but still have the balls to give you your space after. You don't need someone worshipping you from afar while you sleep or want someone spouting happily-ever-afters' at you. It's obvious that Black's love for you ain't returned. Everyone sees that except for him. Face it, Swan: you'll never love Black that way. You just said so yourself," Paul declared, daring her to claim otherwise. When she nodded wordlessly in agreement, he continued on. "Look, you still cry for that parasite, right? Ain't gotta worry about that with me. Cause-" he stopped for a brief second, "Well, you won't cry over me."

"It's not just him I cry for. It's for everything, really," she says, trying to explain.

Paul doesn't understand nor care to. Suddenly gets uneasy and rolls his eyes. "Well, you won't cry over me cause I ain't nothing to cry for."

"How can you say that?"

"Look, I ain't gonna get into it with you over the progress of my life," he says, feeling a little sorry for himself. "I'm stuck here, in Forks, like forever."

"Forks is beautiful," she reasons.

"No, it ain't," he argued right back, although he happened to like Forks. Usually. "Rains too much."

"The pack is here. The Rez. I'm guessing the rest of your fami-"

Paul snorted loudly before she even finished her sentence. "My family, eh? Don't need them. Don't even want them."

Her brown eyes widened.

There's that doe eye look again, like she's caught in headlights, he gruffly thought. Last thing he needed was a sad sap making eyes at him. Even if they were kind of pretty. Damnit, Lahote. Don't go getting thoughts about the pack-whore. "Wolf pack is okay though. It's cool long as Black ain't planning a hostile takeover, but my family, well, the less said the better."

Bella felt her heart go out to him. Maybe he was lonely. Maybe that's why his wolf had been so touchy and sweet. His wolf speaks when the man can't make sense of it all. It's like his baser instincts are screaming out that he needs to be held. To be wanted. She understood. "All families have issues, Paul," she said calmly. "I mean even the Culle-"

"Spare me the family dynamics of the royal Leech-dom. I don't fuckin' care," he spat. "And I'm through talking about it. My family sucks. Plain and simple."

"I just want to know more about you, Paul."

"Well, stop," he replied. "Stop trying to get to know me. Ain't here for that." I'm here for you, he almost spoke out loud. Who knows how she would have taken it if he had said that?

"I know why you're here," she says in exasperation. Paul's chest seizes in momentary panic before Bella adds, "To kill Victoria," she helpfully supplies, completely unaware that she had just provided the perfect excuse for him.

"Exactly," he conceded too eagerly. "Forks is where everything and nothing happens. It's got lots of rain," he repeated. "A supernatural amount, in fact. That's all."

"But it has all this beautiful forestry," she said back. "And you. You're here. Your wolf exists here and that's what makes it supernatural too." Bella stated her last sentence without a hitch and completely without thought. Except for the slight red that tinged her cheeks Paul wouldn't have noticed. He flexes and reflexes his fingers. Now was not the time to get mushy with her. He was trying to accomplish something here.

In response, Paul forces a noncommittal shrug. "If you say so." Time to get back on task. "What I'm saying is I can help you get laid."

Bella felt her body get warm and tense but she couldn't deny that she still ached to share some of his kind of heat. If I could just borrow his heat, his very warmth, I wouldn't be so cold anymore. She looked up and met the golden-coffee heated gaze already on her. Now she tensed for an entirely different reason. He didn't say anything more. He just continued to stare. Several seconds turned into minutes and Bella was sure that if he kept his stare on her much longer, she'd melt.

"Ss-so," she began with a small stutter, fingering a loose strand of her hair nervously, "What stuff do-um-you do?" She finished hesitantly. "I mean you-you-you've done this before and all."

Paul moved his head exactly one millimeter away from hers. His lips made the barest contact against her still slightly open mouth. "Are you really interested or are you just being a tease?" He questioned bluntly.

Bella emphatically shook her head. "No!" She cried. "Not teasing. I really want tt-to know. You called it foreplay, right? I guess that means be-before, um, before everything happens. So, wh-what's that entail?"

"What was that?" he asks, wanting to make sure that number one: he heard her, though he knew he had. And two: so he'd have the perfect repeat clarity to throw back at Jacob Black. "What does what entail?"

She meets his eyes. "Foreplay. What does foreplay entail?" she repeats. It sounded even better to his ears a second time. Especially without all the stuttering.

Now. Paul grins and reaches his hand toward her small body, careful to begin slowly. He wants to teach what she would learn to crave from him. He wants the fire to start slow so that she won't be able to stop it and then when she's ready, he'll be there to put it out.

His smell reaches her first; a pleasant cedar and musky combined scent that emits off his body and infiltrates her nose even as her mind tries to shout "Stop! Stop!" But when their eyes continue to stare into one another's, she's completely lost. She could see the golden speckles in his irises again and Bella felt the fiery points of his fingertips brush lightly across the skin of her hands, arms, and then make its agonizingly slow trek down her lower stomach. The back of his knuckles rubbed her raw, leaving a brushfire between her thighs. Her mouth was dry and he just continued to stare into her eyes as if she were the only being for him in the world.

Paul was doing his best to concentrate on what he had to do to get her into her own bed and with him following behind in tow. His intent was to push her as far as he could and to satisfy his own nagging curiosity about what she was, but now that he's so close to her, on top of spending a couple of shifts with her too, his actions were on autopilot because his mind had officially left his body. His thoughts became consumed of Bella Swan. Now he could see why half the pack was kind of enamored with her; she actually was kinda hot.

When Paul's open palm slide over the span of her alabaster stomach, Bella was ready to agree to whatever he asked. Each second melted into the next as her mind, soul, skin, and bones came unglued under his passionate tutelage of the 'Theory of Foreplay.' At this point, she would not have been surprised if she later learned that Paul Lahote had written a textbook to go along with the course. She was completely under his control. Her mouth hung open, beginning to form into a pout when she heard him chuckle.

"You like my lesson plan yet?" he whispered.

She nodded, not bothering with pretenses. "Yes," she murmured back.

He stopped talking and put his hand under her ass, lifting her up and placing her on the counter. Her shorts were still on, but he was going to change that. He slid his hulking russet body in between her thighs, which offered little resistance, and pressed his face close to the side of her head. "I'm going to touch you, Swan."

"I—I thought," she gulped, "You were alre-already touch-touching me."

"You misunderstand," he began. "I'm going to touch you, Swan, with your shirt off," Paul emphasized. "Take it off for me." He really wanted to tear open the damn shirt and rip it off her using just his teeth, but his wolf and himself figured that might be too much for her mind to handle at the present time. There would be time for that later if he felt like coming back around her after all this. Paul's tongue tip flicked out and gently made contact with her left earlobe. He heard her make an "eep!" and then moan, her heated aroma now clogging his nose. He was going to fuckin lose it if she didn't do what he said. "Now, Swan," he ordered roughly.

Bella grabbed the bottom of her tee and pulled off her shirt. She hadn't been wearing a bra. Her nipples were painfully erect by now and Paul placed his large hands over them, using his pointer and index finger to gently squeeze her areoles. Her brown eyes watched him, wide, alert, and utterly fascinated by every single motion he was making. His lips began to travel down her neck, onto both shoulders, and then down to the middle of her sternum, a single kiss every few seconds and each time they made actual contact with her skin, her clit would throb.

His stomach felt the heat coming from between her legs and inhaled for all his nose was worth. She smelled so damn good now that the vampires' stench was off her. She smelled of strawberries this time. She must've changed her shampoo. It smelled pretty good. And he could smell her cooking. Tiny hints of herbed pasta seemed entangled in her hair and skin. Mmhmhm...The fact that she could cook was a huge bonus; he loved eating. Both. The realization made him hunger for her more. What did she taste like? Would she let him? And once he established what she smelled like, could he get her to smell like him? Fuck, he really wanted her to smell like him.

Focus, Lahote, he chastised himself.

He withdrew his mouth, preening a little that Bella had exhaled a sigh of annoyance but he kept his hands touching her breasts. To keep her attention focused on him, of course. It felt like a million electric current were flowing through him every time he flicked her nipple and he could see that even Bella would wince whenever his hand made a move, but she didn't ask him to stop. It probably hadn't even occurred to her to tell him to stop. He was going to enjoy this.

"Rest of this lesson belongs upstairs," he murmured in her ear. "Leave your shirt down here," he added after. Didn't matter where she left it because she wasn't going to wear it for the rest of tonight. He put his hands around her waist, picked her up, and then plopped her gently back down to the floor. While he was glad that she made no move to grab anything to cover herself with, he also noticed that she hadn't yet moved toward the stairs. Nah, he wouldn't be the only one who wanted to do this. This way when the memory would play for Little Prince Black in the pack mind memories, even Jacob Black would have to see that his innocent Bella could give as good as she got too. "Would you like to lead the way?" he chided. "Take my leash?"

She started a little, as if hearing his voice was suddenly a surprise, but she then got a little pink in her cheeks and grabbed his hand. Where her somewhat meek but surprising assertiveness had stemmed from, Paul didn't much care as he let her lead him up the stairs, stopping her from tripping once, and entered into her bedroom now for the second time. But this time he entered as a man. Bella moved to sit on her bed and he almost vibrated. He hadn't even needed to suggest that that would be where they would sit. She is learning, he thought. Paul didn't wait for an invitation as he put his lips back on her, now starting from the tip of her chin and working his way down. He didn't waste movements with kissing her on the mouth; however, his tongue dragged itself, making little flicked movements across the planes of her lower neck and chest. Again, Bella is shocked by the hotness of his mouth and hands, so much so that now her mind is void of any rational thought other than to let Paul keep his lesson plan going. Bella is almost breathless except for an occasional moan and her body was about ready to explode into an inferno.

Paul's hand deftly slides itself into her shorts the same time his mouth left her skin and the pads of his fingers were wet with heat from one main Bella area in particular. They delicately caressed and skimmed her labia lips, handling them with care as if they were the bruised petals on a rose. Before he took this leap, he needed to make sure she knew something.

"Let's get something straight, leech lover," he whispers seductively in her ear, but his next sentence will be anything but sweet. His words were the only thing besides Bella's panting that could be heard. "Whatever you think this is, it isn't." He knew it was a bonehead thing to say, but he felt compelled to remind her (and himself) just then that this situation wouldn't last. He didn't want shit to get complicated for either of them. She liked vampires, at least enough to want to fuck them and be like them while he liked, well, himself. He wasn't going to be tied to one girl.

Her eyebrows furrowed. The hell? Why does he keep saying that? Bella thinks, looking at him. She's momentarily back in her own body. "Is that, like, your motto?" she asks. She was topless with his hand down her shorts, winded like a bear, and he was telling her what? That she better not get used to having him around?

He shrugs. "I say everything up front. Less messy that way," he tells her. "This is only a job to me. You don't like it, not my problem and we can stop here."

"Really? You'll just stop?" She asked. She definitely didn't want him to do that.

Paul shrugged again. This is why he sometimes got slapped for his frankness. He just didn't care. "Don't want to," he admitted to her and then pressed his mouth into her neck, if for nothing else to remind her that he was still very, very close to her. "Don't think you'll want me to either. But you ain't the only girl I've done this to and you won't be the last," he said boastfully. "So, if you think you ain't up to it, then we'll stop right here. Right now."

She takes his words in. He didn't exactly hurt her feelings since she already kind of knew what he was by now and truthfully, she did appreciate the honesty. It was more refreshing than Edward just deciding what was best for her without her input at all in the matter. But Paul really did need to work on his bedroom talk. Otherwise, she felt like she could handle it. She gives him a sarcastic smile. "You ruin everything by talking, Lahote. You know that, don't you?"

He grins right back at her and rewards her with a light peck on the lips. From just a short and simple kiss, she felt the heat travel from her mouth, down her chest, and into her stomach. His fingers, which had been delicately poised on the outside of her lower lips, suddenly plunged into her depths with a ferocity that she had never felt before. She clutches to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and moans ecstatically through her tight mouth, not so unlike her pussy.

Paul had found himself a new taste to love and that would be the mouth and skin of Bella Swan. That small, chaste tap of their mouths set off a bomb, going off between his ears (and other places). He finds that he very much enjoys the taste of her lips, but makes himself concentrate on the rhythm of her heart; however, his nose kept the scent of her body and his fingers continued feeling the pulsing throb of her wet canal surrounding them. His hand kept up a slow, agonizing pace, pumping methodically in and out of her, touching a very spongy, paper-thin slit deep inside her. Each time he touched it and he heard her sharp intake of air like a broken hiccup, he found himself immersed in the ''ooh's and aahs's" that Bella was offering him. She was a visual masterpiece when she was with him like this. And what the fuck does she ingest that makes her taste so damn good? He had almost opened his own mouth to get more of a taste since the smell was so thick in the air, but he didn't want her thinking that she had him wrapped her finger. Or maybe it was the other way around…?

He kept his one finger inside of her, beginning slowly at first until he could tell from the beats of her heart whether he had a good rhythm or not for the first five minutes and then when he (by way of his nose) could tell she was properly and thoroughly wet enough without seeing it for himself, he inserted a second digit into her close-fitted opening. Bella jerked up in surprise; her body didn't give easily, but Paul was actually patient for once and just moved his mouth to her again, dragging his teeth to the top of her neck, wrapped his arm around her bare waist, and used a come-hither motion with his two thoroughly drenched fingers.

Bella started to pant more heavily into his ear, her pulse drumming fast and hard. Something was happening. Something big. And it felt so fucking good. Without any further instruction or teachings from him, she splayed her legs wider as his finger gyrations went faster.

"That's it, babe," he murmured encouragingly. "Just like that." His palm slams repeatedly into her swollen clit and she is reduced further to panting like an animal giving birth, her legs opening even wider to accommodate his large hand as it moved faster into her. She almost felt like a gymnast performing a front split.

"Oh, God," she whispered. Nope, Oh Paul.

She becomes rubber-like as she cums onto his hand, thighs clenching and locking his arm into place. The scent of it engulfed the entire room. His wolf and the man like this smell too.

Was there anything his damn wolf didn't like about her?

He would not have been surprised if his wolf just laid over and exposed his belly to the girl. "Fuckin' Hell," he cursed softly and then he popped his two Bella-covered fingers into his mouth. Bella's eyes widen in shock and lust but she's too mesmerized by his actions to say anything out loud. Was that normal or is that a wolf thing? Maybe it was Paul thing.

Shit, she smelled and tasted delicious. I could definitely sully that scent up, he thinks arrogantly.

His wolf began willing him to take his prey, but Paul shakes the urge away. He wants Bella to want it. He knows women; if he pushed now, this far too soon, she'd regret it or worse: stop him before he got his. He hated blue-balled-causing-cock-teases.

Once his wolf finally calmed down enough, Paul kissed the side of Bella's head affectionately. She'll be wanting it soon. How could she not? Even now she smells ripe. "Now imagine what it'll be like when I teach you with all your clothes off."

"Will it...will it be like that?" she asked, child-like wonder in her question.

"Better," he promised.

Her eyes widen to saucers before she then looks sheepishly down to his pants, spotting the very big and obvious tent-shape he was sporting. "Do you...do you want...need me to..?" She asked tentatively. She really had no idea what to do but she would definitely try if he would allow her to. Even if she was terrified about that part of sex.

To her surprise, Paul chuckled at her and shook his head. "No," he answered. "Cause what I want from you, you ain't ready for tonight. I'll deal with it later. For now, let's get some sleep," he said placidly. If he took his jeans off or even unbuttoned them, he was going to fuck her. No question about it. But he had meant what he had said: he wasn't going to push her too far, too soon.

Bella looked as though she appreciated his decision, no matter the reasoning behind it, and gave him a small nod. Her first real male assisted orgasm had taken a lot out of her. She turned over, moving as close to the edge of the twin as possible to give him the most space. Are you kidding me? He thought. He wasn't that much of a monster. Pushing her out of her own bed defeated the purpose of him being here with her.

Paul sucked in a breath and grabbed her, covering her small frame with his own massive one. Feels right, he told himself. It just feels…right. His wolf didn't disagree. Bella's heart finally settled down after some minutes and then continued on in a steady rhythm, her breathing eventually matching his own. He tried to maintain his stoic exterior as he held her, but his wolf was ready to purr some more. The fact that Swa-Isabella-hadn't let Black, or really any other pack member into her bedroom to hold her like this spoke volumes about her. Sure, that idiot-leech had been here before him, but the vamp obviously hadn't known what he had or he would not have left it behind. Paul moved his hand to Bella's stomach and sighed contently, her face already turned into the pillow. By his own human nature Paul wasn't much of a cuddler, but his wolf...that's it. He'd blame it on his wolf. Paul pulled Bella's tiny body into him even more.

As they laid on the tiny twin bed, Paul gingerly fingered the slightly abrasive skin on her lower arm; it was a jagged shaped half-moon of a scar. It tingled with a chill under his delicate touch, but he didn't say anything about it. He knew what it was. It was one of the reasons he had previously disliked the leech lov-Isabella. She had allowed one to bite her at one time. Now things weren't that simple anymore. He couldn't just hate her without impunity. He couldn't even think of her with harsh intent now. He didn't know why entirely.

"Paul," she called out to him quietly.

His face buried itself into her neck and shoulder. "What?" His voice had a rough edge to it, enough to vibrate her skin, but he wasn't angry. If anything, he was tired. And a little sexually frustrated.

"I know what you really mean when you say that this isn't what I think it is," she began, "but I just want to say that I think-I mean that I know that I really, really like you." A long heartbeat of a pause was in the room as Bella declared what he had already figured out from a prior shift. He knew that she liked him. More than liked him, in fact. She would've had to. That alone made her crazy and a risk-taker. He and his wolf weren't an easy pair; a couple of wild cards held very loosely with a shaky hand that was Sam's pack and Quileute tradition. But all too soon it would become Jacob Black's pack and Paul was shit with tradition. He couldn't even speak his native language par a few sentences and a shit load of insults.

But he was truthful. And loyal.

Bella had shared a truth with him so the least he could do was bend a rule and give a little loyalty toward her. The entire pack was protecting her, after all. But damn if he didn't want to admit something stupid to her. "You ain't so bad either," he replied back grouchily.

"For a leech lover, right?" She said with a joking lilt of her voice.

"Ain't no leechs here, 'member? Just you, my ego, and me. Ain't that what you said before?"

"And your wolf," she said matter-of-factly. "Don't leave him out."

It was such a simple matter of additional words for her to say out loud, but it made all the difference to them all. She had been listening. She really did want all of him to be included. "Yeah," Paul croaked out, his tongue suddenly thick and heavy in his mouth. "Him too. He likes you." Damnit. He had to go and say something stupid. Shit all.

"Feeling is definitely mutual," she said tiredly, yawned, and then her long, auburn hair went back toward the tiny recess of her pillow. Then he felt her tense. "Paul, one more question."

"Humph," he grunted back into her hair which might have been a mistake on his part; now she smelled like Italian herbs, the forest, and arousal. Damn nose. He knew his fingers still had her scent on them. How wonderful it would be if it wasn't only his fingers with her scen-fuck! "Sleep," he insisted urgently again, more to himself. He didn't want to think. Didn't really didn't want to talk anymore either. Couldn't risk saying anything else to her for the moment. Not until he could calm his racing thoughts.

"Paul," she called out to him again persistently. This time he didn't answer out loud but sighed heavily in response instead. When she heard that, she asked her question. "Have you seen Jake lately?"

Paul swallowed. It wasn't really a surprise that she'd brought up Black. Nothing like hearing about another packmate to screw with his libido. "Yeah, running himself ragged with self-appointed patrols. Sam's been impressed with how much he's been offering to do. Helps him reign us in better, I guess," he spat out resentfully.

"Oh no," she cried. "I hope Jake is all right with all the extra responsibilities."

Figures, he thought. No one cared about him. Not when Jacob Black: model perfect, poster boy for the Rez, was around. He began to feel flushed with a new wave of rage when he felt Bella's light touch on the back of the hand he had been using to hold her close to him in the bed.

"I just wanted to make sure he was still ok. That you're all doing ok," Bella emphasized. "You guys mean so much to me and if I lost you-any of you," she corrected herself, knowing Paul likely wouldn't appreciate her emotions. Bella paused and tried again. "I just meant that I would just...I'm really grateful that you're looking out for me."

He pretended just for a second that she had meant she was grateful to just him, but he knew that wasn't the case. Nevertheless, his anger dissipates as her soft words take hold of him like an embrace. "I'll tell the guys you said that," he said brusquely. No need to really. Pack mind. All of his memories would play back for them the next time he phased, including tonight's adventure. He felt a little guilty about it now, but it hadn't been like he forced her to do it. Any of it. That still wasn't the kind of monster he was.

As if she heard his internal ranting Bella hastily said, "I'm glad you showed me some stuff today. You're a good teacher. Thanks, Paul," she managed to get out before feeling the blush come back into her face.

"Teacher needs rest and so does the pupil," he retorted back. He was feeling dangerously close to having a real conversation with her. Luckily for him, Bella got the hint.

"Right. Sorry, you're right. Need your sleep to catch bad vamps," she teased. "And naughty leech lovers."

He chuckled, feeling the familiar arousal creep back in, but once more he kept it from spiraling out of control.

"Night, Paul." And with that, she was asleep. She was nothing like he had thought she was. She kept surprising him and that made him wonder about her all the more. Paul held her as tight as he dared, his cock firmly pressed and heating the small of her back for most of the night.

He never did take care of his 'issue'. His cock stayed inside his jeans for the entire time they both slept, but it did keep itself seemingly comfortable in her back. It had the feeling of contentment to be close to her without actually being inside of her attached to it and the feeling was so strong that even he had noticed it. Paul wouldn't allow his mind to settle too long on what it could mean, but still it remained that nothing was said or done about it. If the offending appendage had bothered Bella or made her nervous, she hadn't said a word out loud to him about the matter. Paul was resigned to think that Bella was indeed supernaturally special.

Yeah, Bella Swan wasn't so bad. He couldn't say that she was bad at all; quite the contrary. He thought quite possibly that maybe he, the man, liked her too. Just a little.

End A/N: Moving along…