AN: Don't worry too much about what happens in this chapter. It's all for a reason, I promise! Trust in me ^-^
The sun had finally decided to grace Forks with its presence. Though partially hidden by the thick gloomy clouds, it peeked through and shone warmly in the morning sky. Kiera sat on the porch with her head tilted back, throat exposed and swan-like as she greedily soaked in the sun. Mariah Carey played on the old dusty radio Kiera had pulled out from the hall closet, lamenting about how foolish she'd been to let her lover go.
Kiera rolled her eyes and switched channels, the janky dial threatening to fall apart under her touch. She could admit the human was a powerhouse of a singer, but love songs had always left a sour taste in her mouth ever since Seb. Kiera checked her phone and wondered where Bella was.
They'd decided Bella was going to drive her to school now that she's getting sicker. It'd been hard to admit she'd needed the help, but Kiera's pride could shove it. Bella was adamant about driving her, and rather than waste energy fighting her on it, Kiera simply gave in and agreed. She snuggled deeper into the jacket she wore, once again breathing in that comforting mix of cedar and blackberries, marveling at how quickly she'd gotten used to the smell.
She'd have to thank whatever Cullen lent her this jacket. Surely it'd make it easier to be around the coven and their cloying scents after having pretty much huffing such an intoxicating scent. Unlike the rest of the Cullens, this scent wasn't overwhelmingly sweet. It didn't leave her feeling like she'd gotten a mouthful of perfume, at least.
A cramp in her lower abdomen crackled through her, and Kiera grit her teeth. When she'd woken up this morning to relieve herself, she'd been dismayed at the sight of her arch-nemesis- her period. She'd hoped it would have already died off by now, but the damned thing came back like a stray fed one too many times. Another cramp sent her phone groaning in protest in her grasp.
Kiera gaped, the small device dented with perfect fingerprints. Ramona was going to kill her for that. Her cousin made sure Kiera knew that her phone was in mint condition, and that everything else Ramona owned was handled with extreme caution and care. It was something Ramona was proud about and had tried to instill in Kiera.
Kiera kind of wished she'd listened more.
Bella's old behemoth of a truck came chugging along into her driveway, the new tires crunching the gravel beneath it. Kiera raised an eyebrow at the sight of them and Bella rolled her eyes.
"Rosalie insisted. She hates my car. The tires were the last straw for her and she refused to let me go home yesterday until I let her put them on." Bella said.
"That's progress, isn't it?" Kiera grunted as she got up, hand resting on her lower stomach.
"Cramps?" Bella asked with sympathy. "Not really. She didn't care less until I said I was going to start picking you up from now on."
"Maybe she doesn't want you to embarrass yourself further." Kiera teased, easing into the car. "And yeah. Ramona thinks it's the last one at least. It's just going to be a monster to deal with."
"Do I need to warn the Cullens?" Bella's brows knitted and she bit her lip.
"Why would you?" Kiera hesitated to ask but she forced the words out anyway. "It's just a period."
Back in her time, periods weren't spoken of. They were taboo, considered nasty unless talking about it with someone as relaxed as Ramona. Even her mother had been scornful about the 'blessing' that came once a month. And despite Kiera wishing she was as modern as Bella, her cheeks threatened to flush with embarrassment.
"It's just, Jasper seemed so...intense when you met him." Bella said.
"I thought you said you believed in him." Kiera frowned. "Why the change of heart?"
"I do believe in him!" Bella rushed in. "I also have seen how fast they move. With the way you are now, I don't like the chances if it came down to a fight."
"I could always fry him if he gets too close." Kiera said with a forced shrug. "Anyways, how did math homework go last night?"
Bella simply groans before starting her rant. Kiera could agree, while the math wasn't overly complicated, it was a time suck that she didn't enjoy. Kiera was simply lucky Ramona had taught her everything she knew; or she would have sat up all night with those math problems, pencil in hand, and half of her hair in the other. It didn't help that their teacher had a meek and mild voice, his whispering words so hard for the rest of the room to hear.
If Kiera were anyone else, her ire at his mousey nature would have left her steamrolling him into just giving out the answers. But it was important to practice her patience. As the volatile anger that grew as she died brewed in her veins, Kiera was struck with random cravings for carnage. Her class time was now spent daydreaming about various ways she could take a person apart and get away with it. A shudder ran down her spine, and Kiera swallowed the saliva that gathered in her mouth.
Bella glanced at Kiera out of the corner of her eye. A frown worked its way onto her face, knowing her friend was locked in a mental conversation against herself. She took the image of her friend in, grateful for the backroads she preferred to take. Kiera's brown eyes were dull and bloodshot, and a permanent scowl seemed to have settled on her chapped lips. Dark crescent moons rested beneath her tired eyes, and her normally lush hair had been pulled into a sloppy bun.
She was still wearing Jasper's jacket, and Bella could bet she'd been sleeping in it. It threatened to swallow Kiera whole, her thin frame swamped in the thick fabric. Bella wasn't privy to whatever was going on there, Edward's insistence to keep the information within the coven becoming a constant battle between them. It didn't help that every time Bella had thought she'd finally worn him down, his phone would ring and Alice would be there to tell him to shut it.
Bella could only guess why they'd let Kiera take his jacket. Maybe it was helping with her scent, or maybe Jasper's southern gentleman ways had taken over that night. She could at least be thankful for the minimal comfort it was bringing Kiera.
"You look like shit." Bella whispered, pulling into her usual parking space.
"Thanks, Bells." Kiera said sarcastically, running a hand over her exhausted face.
"Would you rather I lie to you?" Bella asked, leaning back against her seat. "You were looking better for a few days, what happened?"
"It ebbs and flows," Kiera shrugged. "It'll become my new normal and everything will settle down. The adjustment period is the worst part."
"Worse than dying?" Bella bit her lip, incredulous.
It surprised her to see Kiera laugh. "Dying is the easy part, I'm afraid. Diwata deteriorate, get used to it, deteriorate some more, then we go to sleep and wake up immortal. I'm just about over the first hurdle. "
"And I thought to become a vampire was brutal." Bella shook her hair, her chocolate locks swaying.
The girls grabbed their things and climbed out of the truck, slowly making their way to their class. Kiera didn't particularly want to do math this early in the morning and by Bella's face, she didn't either. They sombered as they got closer to the door, both of them dreading the next two hours.
"Still no Edward, huh?" Kiera asked quietly, taking her seat next to Bella.
Bella only shook her head. "They won't be taking any classes this time around. I doubt most of the town knows they are back. Besides Carlisle and Esme, the story is they are still at their universities."
"I still find it insane that they keep going to school over and over." Kiera winced at the mere idea of it all.
"When you have eternity, you find yourself pressed to find things to fill the time." Bella shrugged, pulling out her thick book of headaches.
"Did they want their jacket back by the way?" Kiera carefully arranged her pencils, only looking at Bella when each one was perfectly in place.
"You can keep it." Bella said, turning silent as their professor walked into the room.
Kiera shrugged. She needed it more than they did, she guessed. Plus, they could always buy a new one.
Lauren was waiting for them in their usual spot on the quad, checking her watch with a pinched expression. Her schedule was packed back to back, but she'd made sure to try her best to line up their lunchtimes. Getting ready for law school was taking up all of Lauren's time, but if anyone could do it, it was her. The second Kiera stepped into the room, Lauren's head whipped up and her nose wrinkled as if she smelt something foul.
"What are you wearing?" She asked with disdain.
"Clothes, Lauren." Kiera answered dryly, rolling her bloodshot eyes. "When did you cut your hair?"
Lauren's normally long flaxen hair was cropped short in a bob, the front of her bangs stained a bubblegum pink. Lauren didn't need any encouragement to talk about herself, launching into the riveting tale of her and Jessica's adventure to the local salon. It made it easy for Kiera to check out and wonder when her next nap would be. Her lunch was a sad pile of wilting leaves, courtesy of the cafeteria. It only made her long for Esme's cooking.
"I miss Esme's food already." Kiera grumbled. Bella huffed a laugh, covering it with a cough when Lauren stopped her story to send them both a nasty glare.
It was only the arrival of Angela and Jessica that saved them from Lauren's ire at being interrupted. Everything was fine, Kiera even felt happy, until Mike showed up. He was sweating and paler than normal, his eyes rimmed red and shot. Kiera eyed him warily before turning back to the girls, shrugging when Angela raised a brow at Mike's appearance.
He seemed drained, every step taken more of dragging of feet. Kiera decided whatever was up with him; he could keep it to himself. She had enough on her plate already and she definitely didn't need any more problems. Mike sat off the side of the group, his usual chattiness replaced with sullen glances and a bad attitude. Everybody seemed stiffer with him around, his erratic behavior growing on Kiera's nerves.
But Kiera kept her mouth shut. If she opened it, would rows of teeth appear, potentially scaring off their human friends in such a public area? Kiera couldn't chance that. Lauren already took forever to warm up to, and even longer for her to warm up to Kiera. Erasing all that hard work in one fell swoop was not what Kiera planned to do with her day.
It was easy to ignore Mike when Bella started talking low to Kiera about her weird dreams. Dreams about wolves, about her Cullens, about things to come that always come true.
"Maybe you're psychic." Jessica joked.
Neither had realized that she'd been listening in, and they sent each other an alarmed glance. Just how much had Jessica heard? Did they really mess up that badly? Kiera could feel her stomach start to roll. Any color in Bella's face leached the more Jessica stayed silent.
Jessica finally broke. 'What? It's not that weird to dream about vampires, trust me, I've had weirder dreams. Like when Willy Wonka came to turn my family into candy canes and then he got really big and chomped down on them, and all I could do was listen to them scream, and-"
"Oh my God, not that dream again." Lauren commented with a groan. "I hate that fucking dream."
"You hate that dream? Try having to dream it whenever exam week comes up." Jessica shuddered.
Kiera relaxed, leaning into Bella's shoulder with her own. She could feel her friend loosen her own coiled muscles, the tension bleeding from Bella's stiff shoulders. That'd been too close. Kiera knows better, knows not to talk about this kind of stuff so specifically in public. But around Bella, Kiera forgets the rest of the world wasn't 'in the know' as Bella would say.
Bella must have felt the same because she still was looking quite pale. Kiera could pat Bella's cheek, put on a show for their human friends and pretend that it was all just a dream. But she couldn't help thinking about Lauren's words. Though Bella was clearly not psychic in the way Alice was, her dreams did have a strange habit of coming true.
Was it just her human brain processing what she couldn't normally see?
Or was it something more?
A week later and Kiera finds herself driving down to the reservation. She couldn't sleep, couldn't think of anything but the blistering heat of the wolve's skin. She craved it, desperation to feel warm again propelling her through the streets despite her and Ramona's agreement. Bella could drive her around any other time, but right now, she needed to see the wolves.
It was a need that overrode any rational thought. She can't stop shivering in the coach of her car, even as the heat-blasted on high through her car vents. Kiera couldn't process her wind chafed hands, couldn't feel anything but the chattering of her teeth and her constant shaking. A glance in the rearview mirror revealed her lips were tinted blue, and Kiera bit back a frustrated cry.
How envious she felt of the wolves and their warmth. It wasn't very fair, not in her eyes. They got to turn into giant animals and run through the forest all day, and they belonged to a big family that could never let them down. Emily's face flashed through her mind, and she immediately regretted her thoughts. Any sense of envy slithered down the drain, leaving behind a foul taste in her mouth. Emily was proof that the wolves weren't as lucky as it seemed.
Whatever had happened to Emily, however, it had happened, there was no doubt in her mind it was caused by another wolf. How could Emily stand to look any of them in the eyes, after that? How could she stand to still love Sam?
Kiera shuddered. She couldn't fathom staying around someone who'd hurt her so badly. But Emily's eyes, so dark and so full of love for Sam, for her pack- it was clear she stayed willingly. Is that what love did for you? Warp things so much that you end up a frog in a slowly boiling pot of water? Kiera didn't want to sound so bitter, to seem so jaded. She swallowed down the foulness in hopes to make room for tastier thoughts.
Before Kiera knew it she was parked in front of Sam and Emily's quaint home. Wildflowers circled the home and creeping vines trailed up the sides of the house. Just to the left was a home garden, surprisingly Kiera with its abundance. With the sun setting and casting the last of its light gently across the fairy tale-esque home, Kiera could almost imagine living there. The screen door swung open, and a few of the wolves came tumbling out, surrounding the car with jostles and snorting laughs.
"Missed us that badly huh?" Embry smiled, his eyes turning to crescents from cheeks that still haven't shed their baby fat. He looked so young, so boyish, Kiera could see him as someone's younger brother.
The boy who spoke next was the smallest of them all, still scrawny and voice lost to the throes of puberty. It cracked as he spoke, his puppy brown eyes going wide with excitement. Kiera doesn't remember his name, or if she'd met him before, but he looked terribly small amongst his brothers.
Jared was the last one there. Jared stood next to Seth, towering over the boy, eyes glued to his phone like he was waiting for the most important call of his life. The second he got it, he bounded out into the woods, no doubt for some privacy. Kiera quirked a brow, wondering if he was doing alright.
"His girlfriend called." Embry said with a sigh. "If Kim calls, Jared goes running."
"Are you here for Emily's cooking too?" Seth asked eagerly. "She's a great cook, I don't blame you!"
"Seth, Embry, quit annoying our guest before she even gets out of the car." Emily scolded, stepping down lightly from her porch steps. Her beautifully tragic face warmed at the sight of Kiera, and she waved at her with the affection of a mother.
"Kiera! Come on in, I'm glad to see you!" Emily said.
Kiera was shaking as she got out of her car, smiling as Seth crowded close to catch her if she fell. She felt embarrassment creep up the back of her neck. How incredibly rude of her to just invite herself over, and on a pack night too. She voiced her apology to Emily, who simply shook her head.
"Sam spoke the truth, your kind are always welcome here. Any protectors of the earth will always have a place at our table. Besides, you're a friend of Jacob. That makes you a friend of the pack too." Emily wrapped an arm around Kiera, squeezing her shoulder.
"The more the merrier." Seth chirped, almost tumbling over his feet as he and Embry rushed into the house.
The table was set for what looked like an army. Emily and Sam's grocery bills must be ridiculous with all the food they have to buy. Noticing Kiera's wide eyes, Emily smiles and nods to a thick binder, bits and pieces of brightly colored advertisements sticking out randomly.
"Coupons. The entire reservation usually pitches in, but the pack just keeps getting bigger. You really have no idea how much food these guys eat. They could eat a carton of eggs for breakfast each and still be hungry."
"Phasing is an energy zapper," Embry said, mouth full of food. "I doubt even the Cullens with their nice cars could keep us this well-fed. Emily and Sam spend every Sunday morning cutting and arranging coupons."
Kiera just nodded, not wanting to voice her disagreement on Embry's statement. The Cullens could for sure keep the pack fed. In fact, they could probably keep ten packs fed. Her mind conjured up the image of Cullen's full fridge, something they definitely didn't need and cringed.
"Between medical bills and our school expenses, it can get pretty tight around here," Emily admitted. "But nothing we can't handle, right boys?"
"Right!" They said in tandem. Being around the pack was like being in a room full of twins, sometimes they said things at the same time. It was both funny and really, really creepy.
But so is a cute girl having a mouth full of needles.
Dinner was a feast of all kinds of meats. Chicken, beef, and even some fish Kiera didn't doubt was caught earlier today were laid out. The amount of colorful vegetables could make up most of the rainbow, from leafy greens to deep rust and purples. Fresh from the garden and straight to the table, the heavenly aroma of quality vegetables made Kiera's mouth water . With a wolf as her fiance and a garden of perfection, Emily was living her best Disney princess life.
"Save some for your siblings, boys." Emily warned, spooning a mound of mashed potatoes onto Kiera's plate.
Kiera eyed them as they shoveled food into their mouths. They eat like most young boys, big forkfuls of food that they can barely chew. It was oddly adorable, especially the way Seth's eyes would light up with every bite he took. The rest of the pack must be running late since Emily hadn't bothered waiting to dig into her own meal. Kiera could weep with how full she felt by the end of it, never one to turn away free food even as Emily repeatedly kept filling up her plate.
Just being near the young wolves had Kiera feeling warmer. They were their own space heaters, filling up the area with a generous warmth that coaxed the cold right out of her. Like a cat in a patch of sun, Kiera stretched lazily from the sensation. She couldn't help the yawn that escaped her, easing into her seat with a bonelessness she hasn't felt since she was engaged.
On the screen was some trashy reality show Kiera couldn't conjure up the name of. Normally, Kiera couldn't stand these kinds of shows. But some of the things said and done in this program were the most insane, funny things Kiera's seen on tv. Fighting for the affections of a man wearing a giant ugly clock around his neck was probably at the top of the list, if Kiera were honest. Like the total time suck it was, Kiera found her eyes glued to the screen, only the upper half portion of her face left to peek out from the numerous blankets Emily had supplied her with.
The sound of thudding footsteps and loud laughing voices sounded an entire world away, the television set having Kiera's total attention. She barely registers Paul's rough timbre drifting from the kitchen, slowly getting closer, surely coming to see what the girls were laughing about. Kiera turned to look at him, smiling as he carried two plates, both stacked as high as possible with food.
"Flavor of Love? Really?" He teased. Kiera looked back to the screen and shrugged, scooching over to make room for the burly man.
"What, you missed me that much you just had to come and see me, didn't you?" Paul smirked, taking a seat next to her, being careful not to drop his plates of food. "Don't blame you. I'm pretty great."
Kiera could feel his heat before he fully settled into the couch, shivering and biting back a groan of appreciation. It felt like stumbling into a sun soaked room, a feeling that eased into your bones and curled your toes. Kiera said nothing, content to soak in his warmth and steal glances at him out of the corner of her eyes.
His beauty was different from Jaspers, or even Edwards, Kiera thought absently. The Cullens walked with a languid grace that was all predator, their lion gold eyes always watching and seeing through you. The vampires were all a dream, too beautiful to be real. Paul felt solid. Real.
Human, in a way Kiera wasn't. Kiera could see Bella's draw to the pack, they were a sense of normalcy amongst the chaotic supernatural world.
Even if they did turn into giant wolves.
The credits were rolling and Paul was coming back into the living room with his fourth plate of food when Kiera made the absolute worst decision of her life. She'd gotten up from the couch to relieve herself, standing tall and reaching for the ceiling in a well-deserved stretch when she finally turned to Paul to acknowledge his presence. Kiera had been too preoccupied the last time she was here to look any of the wolves in the eyes, wholly unaware of the bullshit curse they had going for them.
Locking eyes with Paul was like taking a sucker-punch to the gut and then being plunged into the deepest, darkest part of the ocean. Dark lashes framed even darker eyes, which were wide and in shock. Paul was an island and Kiera was lost at sea, forced to break the surface and head to the only land that was him for miles. She felt like she was scrambling onto shore only for a giant bear trap to sink its metal teeth around her middle and grip her onto the land.
Paul's plates fell to the ground. The rushing of her blood was all that she could hear. When did it become so silent? Was it always this silent? Where did everyone go, why would they leave her alone on this island? Breathing became hard and Kiera took a step back, wanting to be anywhere but here.
Paul sees it and starts to shake, a sad twist to his handsome face that Kiera feels like she has to make go away. With the force of a magnet, Kiera and Paul step towards each other in time to a beat only they seem to be able to hear. Kiera wonders if the drumming she hears is her heart. She decides she doesn't want the answer.
"What the hell?" Kiera whispers, voice trembling.
"Let me explain." Paul says through gritted teeth.
"Start talking, now ."
He's taller than Embry and Seth but not as tall as Jacob, Kiera decides. Though not the biggest of the wolf pack, Paul was stupidly shredded and also very, very aware of it. His mouth quirks as he notices her noticing him, and the silence around them wouldn't feel so suffocating if he actually shared what the hell was going on .
"Sooo...what have you heard of imprinting?" Paul starts, scratching the back of his neck. His thick raven hair is pulled into a man bun that shouldn't be attractive, but is. She notices his ear is pierced, the silver stud dimly shining in under the orange porch light.
The two had been shooed out of the living room by Emily, who had the face of someone witnessing the birth of Jesus Christ himself. Tears of wonder had prickled at her eyes, and Kiera had to force her jello legs to take step after step into the kitchen and out to the front to avoid screaming at her.
"Absolutely nothing. Do I even want to know? I don't think I want to know. How about we ignore this?" Kiera asked, tugging sharply at the end of her braid.
The split second of pain wasn't enough to erase the moment, nor enough to distract Paul from continuing on. He only scowls and grabs her hand, forcing it into a fist at her side.
"Stop that." He said. "Imprinting is when a wolf finds their perfect match. It's like a soulmate, I guess you could say."
"Is there any way to take it back?" Kiera blurts, unashamed. She's a coyote locked in a trap, ready to chew her own leg off if it means getting out of this mess.
Paul sighs, the sound of it rough around the edges. Kiera's vision blurs as tears begin to spill down her cheek, and his hands are suddenly cradling her face and they are eye to eye. It was too intimate, too familiar for Kiera. She evaded his grasp and shook her head.
"Don't do that." She said.
"Hey, hey, shh, it's alright Needles. This doesn't have to be anything, okay? It can be whatever we want it to be." Paul assures firmly, not once wavering. "All it means is we are bound. Think of it as a built-in best friend."
"So I don't have to marry you?" Kiera sniffles, lip wobbling. She's a child all over again, small and scared and wondering where the fuck her mother is.
Paul's bark of a laugh startles Kiera from her tears, and she can feel it in her bones that everything is going to be alright.
"Fuck no! We don't have to do anything like that. This can be platonic. Imprinting is whatever is needed. Need a protector? You've got one. A friend? You've got that too. A totally hot make out buddy who will hold your hand in the dark? Well, if you insist." Paul's cheeky grin was a balm to the stress Kiera was feeling, smoothing chaos swarming like an angry hornets nest in her chest.
"You know I'm going to be immortal, right?" Kiera croaked.
Paul was silent for a few moments. "Well," He said. "Then you'll have me for a very, very long time. As long as I keep shifting, I won't age. I won't ever get sick. For as long as you need me, I'll be around."
"Whoever said I need you?" Kiera demands, wiping at the stubborn tear that slipped out. "This isn't what I asked for, this isn't what I wanted at all."
"I didn't ask for this either." Paul said bluntly. "I wanted to keep some control of my life. Do you think I asked to be a shapeshifter? To imprint on a random immortal girl who is literally crying about being tied to me for life? Nah. I didn't ask for any of this shit."
"Hey-" Kiera tried to step in, frowning.
"But," He continued over her. "You get tired of being mad. You get tired of being tired. Sam's life is proof of that. You think any of us want this weird 'gift'? Sam sure didn't want it, but he got it. And look at them now, happier than shit."
"That's why they love each other? Because some bond is forcing them to?" Kiera spat. "You do realize how messed up that sounds, don't you?"
"Imprinting isn't always like that. It just means you are bound together. That that person will always take the top spot in your heart. But some things are just meant to be, and they were just meant to fall in love, regardless of what they thought they wanted. The bond knows, Kiera. It's not gonna jerk us around."
"It already has. " Kiera sighed. "I can feel your presence already. It's like it's always been there."
"I can feel you too." Paul admits, rubbing at his forehead. "It's warm. It's nice."
He was right. It was warm, and it was nice. But it was also terrifying. Kiera didn't want romance, she didn't want to kiss Paul or hold his hand. Would she grow to love him, like Sam did Emily? Was she doomed to this, to be a wolf girl like Emily?
"Diwata already have something like this." Kiera bites her lip, jolting when she tastes copper.
"Careful there, Needles." Paul mutters, raising a hand as if to help. Kiera's gives him a swift look and his hand lowers, not without a roll of the eyes from him.
"It's like you are calling me the supernatural equivalent to brace-face." Kiera uses the back of her hand to rub away the blood, tongue flickering out to catch a small twinge of the metallic liquid.
"Or metal mouth." Paul nods, smirking. "What did you mean Diwata have something like this?"
"Diwata also have soulmates, just not like this. When a Diwata meets them, it's a comfort. It's like coming home." Kiera drew her knees up to her chest, hugging her legs close. "But Diwata can still fall for someone that isn't their soulmate. My cousin once married a human that wasn't her soulmate, because she loved him too much to be without him."
"How do you know if you've met your soulmate?" Paul asked.
"It doesn't happen right away. It's a love that will come in time, but you are comfortable with that person. They are a safe haven for you. But unlike your imprinting, it is always romantic. When you meet them, no other person will ever compare." Kiera sighed.
"Sounds just as intense as imprinting." Paul muttered.
"How are you so calm about this?" Kiera looked at him under her heavy lashes. She was raw, exposed, like she'd been cut in half and open for him to peer into. What was he seeing when he looked at her? The edges Seb left behind that were freely bleeding all over the place, all the time? Or just her sickly expression?
Paul only shrugged. "I think you need me to be calm. I'll probably have my own freak out about it later."
"I'm not ready for a romantic relationship." Kiera whispered. Seb's smiling face taunted her even now, his hyena laughter echoing in her ears. Kiera didn't think she'd ever be ready for another romantic relationship.
She wondered if he'd cut that out of her, too.
"I don't think I'm even cut out for that kind of thing." Paul said, stretching out his long legs, his gaze on his hands. "I'm still working out the whole shapeshifter deal. I never thought this would happen- it's supposed to be rare. Of course it happened to the one with anger issues."
"You don't seem like an angry guy." Kiera's brown eyes narrowed, assessing his words.
"Wait till you get to know me." Paul smirked, a bitter tinge to his words.
Jacob's reaction to Paul imprinting was decidedly terrifying. Unable to hold his shape together, he'd bursted into a giant wolf, his rusty brown fur standing on end. He'd only just arrived a few minutes ago, and taking one look at Paul's face, he seemed to have guessed what had taken place. Leah, who had been his patrol partner, stood off scowling to the side as if she were equally as angry. The commotion had brought out the rest of the pack, with Sam at the helm, stalking towards Jacob with a thunderous look on his face.
"Jacob, control yourself!" Sam ordered.
The mammoth that was Jacob only shook his heavy head, a low growl vibrating in his chest. Paul was standing in front of Kiera, his own snarl working it's way out his mouth.
"What's your damage, Black?" Paul snapped. "She's not you're precious Bella, why are you so fucking pissy over this?"
"He's jealous." Leah ground out, speaking like it pained her. "He'd been hoping he would imprint on Bella. Out of everyone, it had to be you."
"Leah, don't start please." Sam's voice was a touch gentler with Leah than it had been with Jacob, but the tone of authority was still there.
"I'm just saying what the rest of us are thinking! Out of everyone, how come it was Paul?" Her voice cracked angrily. "You and Jared, now Paul? I thought you said this was rare, Sam!"
"It is rare Leah!" Sam looked desperately at her.
Leah only cried out in anger before jumping away, a gray wolf taking her place mid air. Even angry, Leah was in a league of her own in terms of beauty. Shifting from human to wolf with an ease Kiera couldn't help but admire, she watched the heart broken wolf speed off, the leaves shaking in her wake.
With both now gone, their grief was left hanging in the air behind them. If the earth could open up and swallow Kiera whole, that'd be great. A glance at the window revealed a quickly drawn curtain, Emily's regretful face vanishing from sight. Sam could only stare after his two packmates, his mouth agape. He muttered to himself angrily and bolted after them.
It was clear Jacob and Leah were hurting. Jacob in his love for Bella, a love that would never be returned being shoved in his face by someone he clearly had issues with. And Leah...Kiera shifted uneasily, remembering the rage in Leah's eyes when they first met. Whatever Leah was going through, it'd left her torn and furious. It was a feeling Kiera could understand all too well.
But the night had already been full of revelations, and Kiera shook off the idea of chasing after them with the hope to talk it out. Kiera didn't want to involve herself in any more misery tonight.
"So…" Kiera drawled. "I'm going to go home now."
"Good idea." Paul scowled, still gazing after his pack. "Wait, let me give you my number."
"Uh, my phone is kind of broken right now." Kiera kicked a pebble, pursing her lips in embarrassment. "I kind of crushed it earlier."
"Hmm. Then give me your house phone number." Paul said without missing a beat. Kiera eyed him, seeing his serious expression. With a sigh, she rattled off her home phone number, watching him slowly put it into his phone.
As Kiera drove away, she chanced taking a glance into her rearview mirror. Pauls' figure grew smaller and smaller, but Kiera knew he was watching her drive away, his hands in his she was sure she was out of hearing range, she relaxed, face flushing.
"What the hell just happened?"
