Thank you all for your pairings and x-over ideas, they've literally had my mind in complete excitement at some of them. Keep them coming if you ever get one. Sorry for the delay, I've been focusing on forum events.
Quick pet peeve: I've been reading a lot of twilight fics and omg, the amount of times people have Paul's surname as Meraz annoys me. How difficult is it to google his character's name, when they can manage to use his actor's name? Eugh!
"Hermione, you're doing it again," Paul sighed, watching his girlfriend and imprint bustle around their shared bedroom in a huff. "This isn't healthy."
"You know what isn't healthy, Paul? Ripping my clothes to shreds every time I turn into a fluffy dog." He rolled his eyes at her snappy tone and was extremely thankful that she didn't see because he was sure that she would've sent a stinging hex in his direction. "It's completely impractical and some of us don't like showing off our assets!"
"I like it when you show off your assets," Paul admitted, his voice taking a husky hue. Hermione shivered and he grinned wolfishly.
"I love it when you show off yours but let us be reasonable, do you really want any of the other wolves to see me in a way that only you should?"
He felt his blood boil. "I can't help my mind wander when I'm in wolf form and thinking of you."
"That's different, though I'll be having a conversation with you about that." Paul gulped at her glare. "They're seeing me from your perspective; with this torn clothes thing that we all have going on, they'll see everything for themselves, with their own eyes!"
Paul sighed at her agitation and moved to intercept her when she reached for another book.
"Stop," he ordered gently, removing the book from her hands and dropping it gently onto the bed. He wove their fingers together before tugging her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her waist. She looked up at him, her fingers grabbing onto the belt loops and her chin resting on his chest. "I agree that something has to be done but there isn't anything we can do."
"But there is!" she exclaimed. "Witches and wizards have the ability to turn into animals, and they're known as an animagus. When an animagus transforms, they can keep their clothes throughout the change. It doesn't matter how long they're transformed for or what clothes they're wearing, they stay on."
Paul nodded his head thoughtfully, listening to her and thinking it through in his own head.
"So there isn't a spell for it?" he checked, and she shook her head, sighing with annoyance.
"No, it comes with the transformation."
"So, make one," he told her. She stared at him with wide eyes, looking completely bewildered that it caused him to chuckle. "Make a spell that will serve the same purpose as this animagus transformation but for us. You're the smartest witch of your generation! I'm sure you can do it."
"I don't think I can," she argued and he stared at her before looking at the large library that they had in their room. He couldn't even enter the wardrobe but if he did, there were books in there, too. He'd checked before that had got blocked off.
"Hermione, I'm not going to argue with you because I'm tired and I just want you to be happy, but you and I both know that you could do it. If you can do it for us, shapeshifters, then you could do it for werewolves too."
Her eyes lit up with the possibility and he knew he'd planted the seed successfully.
"Remus would like that," she murmured. Paul nodded his head, going along with her. When he'd met the older werewolf, they'd discussed how the change was different for the pair of them and Paul knew that Remus hated waking up after the transformation, battered, naked and extremely weak. Just ticking one of those off would be a nice improvement for him.
Paul pecked her on the forehead. "I'm going to sleep," he told her before looking at their bed and grimacing. "I'll be outside, sleeping by a tree if you need me."
"Hey," Kim murmured, looking at Jared with worried eyes. "Are you okay? You've been out here a while."
Jared sighed, opening his arms out for her to walk into and he embraced her tightly. She seemed to know that he needed comfort as she ran her hands through his hair, causing him to relax and melt into her.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Paul's right," he confessed after fighting with himself to remain silent. He looked at Kim, worried he'd see an angry expression on her beautiful face but she'd maintained her concerned and listening one. "Sam and I, we're bastards." Kim opened her mouth to protest but he didn't let her. "He told me to try and persuade Leah to come home. It wasn't an order and I did it, playing with her emotions like it was a video game. Sam has no claim to her, despite what he likes to believe."
"You're doing what you think is right," she murmured quietly but still loud enough for him to hear.
He stood up, shuffling her away from him as he started to pace.
"I'm not," he admitted, barking out a dry laugh. "I don't think this is right. At first, we saw what that thing was doing to Bella and Sam wanted us to kill it and her. That's wrong but I could only see you being hurt by this unknown." He scrubbed his face with his hand, the other burying itself in his hair.
"You have to protect your imprint," she told him. "That's how it works. You told me that."
"If that was how it worked, then why did Paul go and protect this unknown creature that could be dangerous, knowing that Hermione would come and visit her cousin and possibly get killed? Both Sam and I thought that our brother would be leading the army, second to Jacob."
Kim moved closer to her boyfriend, wrapping herself around his back.
"He has to protect his imprint and he knows that protecting Bella and her baby - no matter what it is - is what Hermione would want and therefore, he isn't causing any emotional damage to her himself. He's protecting her, just in a different way to how you are for me."
Jared's hands moved away from his head and gripped hers tightly.
"Sam's gone mental," he added as an afterthought. "He even suggested we attack the other Pack." Kim gasped with horror. "I know," he grimly said, turning in her arms to hold her to him. "But we all spoke up about it and argued him but we're his Pack still and if he decides that it is the right thing to do and orders it, then the only thing we can do is oblige him."
"Or you could join the other Pack," she suggested. Jared stared at her with a baffled gaze and she smiled in amusement. "Join the others, be with Paul and help them. You know that you'd drive yourself insane with the regret if you were forced to hurt Paul and succeeded and had to tell Hermione when she came back. You'd never be able to sleep again."
"And when Sam orders the others to fight? I'd be just as torn up if I had to hurt them when defending myself."
"Defence is different to offense," she sang smartly. He rolled his eyes at her. "But seriously, it is. When defending, all you got to do is shove them off and away. You're not going for the jugular."
He laughed, this one more delightful than the last and pressed a kiss to her lips which she eagerly returned.
"Who knew that my imprint was such a smart cookie?"
"Everyone but you, apparently," she responded dryly. He chuckled again and pressed more kisses to her face.
"How am I going to cope without you?" he asked. "I won't be able to come back until this is all over and even then, if things turn bad, I don't know if I'd ever be welcomed back. I can't risk that. I can't risk you."
"Of course you can," she argued. "If you aren't welcome here after all this, then neither am I. We'll run away with Paul and Hermione, though we'd have to live separate because I don't know if I could handle living with their sex drive."
They both laughed, admitting that the pair were in the bedroom more than the other couples.
"You should talk to Embry and Rachel before you go," Kim had told him later on as they packed him a duffel bag which he was going to attach round his neck when in wolf form. "Quil has been spending a lot of time there and you know they'd prefer it if you said goodbye."
"What about Brady and Collin?"
"You told me that they were patrolling and if they see you in wolf form but not being able to talk to you, then your game will be up straight away. They're also too young to actually feel as close to you as you do the others. Once the Pack is all together, then everything will be back to normal and they'll completely understand."
"God, you know everything, don't you?" She'd merely chuckled at him.
"Hey Jared," Embry called, bringing Jared out of his thoughts. She'd cried as he'd left, and even though they both knew he was doing what was right, it had hurt him not to turn around and comfort her. "I thought Sam told you to spend the night with Kim."
"He did," Jared replied, walking into Jacob's garage to see Embry, Quil and Rachel. "Because he knew I'd not be able to leave her."
Quil and Embry stared at their pack mate with wide eyes. "What are you saying?" Quil asked, licking his lips nervously.
"I'm saying that I've left the Pack." The two other wolves inhaled sharply and Rachel straightened in her seat, looking extremely interested which was a better look than the extremely depressed one she'd been wearing previously.
"What?" Embry croaked. "Why?"
"Because this isn't right," he confessed. "We all know this and we can't sit by and let it happen. I can't sit by and let it happen."
"If you lose, Sam will be so pissed that you won't be welcome back."
"Which is why Kim suggested we run away and join Paul and Hermione and tag along on their adventure."
Embry sat down on the small settee next to Rachel and held her hand between his larger ones.
"Why are you telling us?" he asked.
"Kim suggested I say goodbye." He ran a hand through his hair. "Sam wants us to attack them. It has been on his mind a lot more than normal lately and I'm not okay with that. I don't want to hurt Paul or Jacob or any of the others, not even this little pup that appeared out of nowhere. I want to eat dinner with them and laugh and tease Paul about catching him having sex with Hermione in my car. I want things back to normal and I know we can't do that, not know, and maybe not ever, but this is wrong."
"You don't know that the thing Bella's carrying is safe."
"And we also don't know that it isn't. Let's be reasonable and think about it. They have five wolves and seven vampires that will be there to destroy it if things turn bad. Forget what Sam says about blondie being a problem; we know she's protective of her family and she'll destroy it if it proves a threat, I know it."
"They also have a witch on demand," Rachel piped up. All three wolves looked at her. "They do," she shrugged. "They might not like the idea of calling Hermione in but she could probably stun it, bind it and burn it before you could even phase and run a mile."
Jared smiled wryly, in complete agreement.
"Yeah," he agreed. "That's true." They stood in silence for a moment and he shifted the bag on his shoulder awkwardly. "Well, I'm going to go. I want to get across the border before they notice I'm gone. I know you'll have to tell Sam if he asks but that's okay." He pulled first Quil, and then Embry into a hug. "I'm going to miss you brothers."
He turned to walk out of the garage and was halfway out of the door when Rachel's voice made him pause.
"Embry, go with him!"
So, what did we think?