"Bella, you're starting to scare me. Please say something, anything, so that I know that you're okay." Embry explained, approaching Bella.
After Bella had stated that she knew who that silver wolf really was, she remained quiet, coiled her hand away and scrunched her eyebrows together, in a puzzled expression.
"You guys are all werewolves." Bella said, her voice a harsh whisper.
Embry sighed. At least she was talking. "Actually," He began. "we like to refer to ourself as shape-shifters, my little gummy bear."
Bella stared at Embry. "Does it really matter what the hell you call yourselves? You still turn into a huge wolf!"
"True," Embry allowed. "but we are spirit warriors. Wolves are Children of the Moon. Basically we can turn anytime, but the Children of the Moon can only turn when there's a full moon."
Bella looked at him as if he was an idiot. "What?"
"Yeah, it's confusing, I know. We fight to keep the Quileute tribe safe from vampires."
"Vampires?"
"Embry, stop it! You're going to freak her out." Emily scolded him. "Now, go and help your brothers."
Embry stood up and kissed Bella's forehead before running out the back door. Emily came to sit down across from Bella, putting a cup of coffee in front of her.
"Hey, sweetie, are you okay?" Emily asked.
Bella rolled her eyes. "Do I look okay?"
Emily laughed. "When I first found it, it was difficult to take in, too. But I wasn't carrying babies at the time."
Bella thought for a long moment. "How long have you been doing this?" Bella asked.
"Over ten years." Emily replied.
Bella shook her head. "How are you so calm about all of this?"
Emily straightened her posture and smiled. "At first, I was like you. But after a while, I know that they would never hurt a living thing in purpose. They take their responsibilities very seriously."
"What if they get hurt or killed?" Bella inquired, wondering what would happen if Paul ever died.
"They have a healing ability which allows them to heal at an abnormally faster rate than a normal human body can."
Bella relaxed her body into the chair and looked up at the ceiling. She let out a long, exasperated sigh before sitting straight again and keeping eye contact with Emily.
"Do you want some tea to calm your nerves?" Emily asked. Bella nodded in silent response, and Emily retreated to the kitchen. Bella followed her and they kept small talking while Emily prepared the tea.
"When was the first time Paul turned?"
"He was sixteen years old. That's about the time they all phased, but we had some members turn at the age of fourteen."
"How many werewo...wolves are there?" Bella asked, correcting herself.
Emily smirked. "I see Embry had already explained how they hate being called werewolves. There is about seventeen of them, most of which you already met at the cook out the first night you were here."
Bella took a seat at the kitchen table, resting her crossed arms on it. All of this was insane. Bella still couldn't believe it, even after everything she saw tonight. Emily put the tea in front of her, dumping the now-cold cup of tea down the drain. Bella thanked her for the tea and apologized for the coffee.
They both jumped as the door swung open. There stood a boy, about seventeen years of age, eighteen or maybe nineteen. He intruded the kitchen.
"Hey, Emily. Sam and Paul sent me to check on the two of you."
Emily smiled. "We are fine. Bella's trying to understand all of this, but I'm pretty sure she's okay, right Bella?" Both Emily and the stranger looked towards her for an answer.
Bella nodded. "Just peachy."
"So, what's happening tonight?" Emily queried.
"There were six of them tonight. Two of them were newborns. That's what took us so long - we had to finish them off. Right now, they're cleaning up the bloody mess." The young guy stood so vertically straight that he could be a model for the Navy. He definitely wasn't like the other members, he seemed way too calm.
"Is Paul okay?" Bella asked.
"He was knocked down by a tree by he's fine."
Bella tried to ignore the sudden shock of that sentence and carried on, swallowing. "When will they be back?"
"In about an hour or so. I better go help them out."
Emily nodded. "Okay, tell them that everything is fine and to take their time." Emily shouted as he ran out the door, waving back at us.
"Who was that?" Bella asked.
"That's Ben. He's not really a big talker. He's the youngest of the pack."Emily looked at Bella thinking. "He's twenty-one."Bella's jaw dropped. "They don't age while they're phasing." Emily explained. "I mean, have you ever asked yourself why they all looked so young for being in their late twenties?"
Now that Emily actually brought it, Bella did start to realize that they do look so much younger than they actually were. Sam looked a bit older than the rest.
"And Sam?"
"He doesn't phase much anymore. Only when they need him like they did tonight. When they don't phase as often, they age slightly. When the twins are born, I bet Paul will cut back a lot, too. Just like Sam and Jared have."
"Does that mean my babies will turn into wolves, too?"
Emily contemplated how to word it properly, without giving Bella an anxiety attack. "Yes, when they are around the same age as everyone else phased.
Well isn't this just fucking great? One day, my kids are going to turn into big, fucking wolves to kill vampires. Jesus, I just wished there was such thing as an undo button so that I'd never met Paul in the first place! Bella thought.
Right then, the door swung open and Paul and Sam walked into the kitchen. They both looked like they just came home from war, all tired and dirty. Sam walked behind Emily and wrapped her in his arms, planting a kiss on her forehead.
"So, Bella, I guess you know about us, huh?" Sam asked.
"Yeah." Bella replied lazily.
"Come on, Em. Let's go home and let them talk." Sam suggested, leading Emily out the front door. "Remember, Paul, you can always sleep on our couch." Sam teased, Emily whacking his arm.
Bella sat still on the wooden chair. "So..."
Paul stared at Bella. "I know I should have told you a long time ago."
Bella sighed. "You think?"
This wasn't going to be easy. Paul knew that.
"I was afraid that you would think I was crazy and leave me. I couldn't let that happen. If you left with our babies, I know I would never see you again. I would end up going insane."
"All of this is crazy, Paul!
"Bella, this is my life. This is the way it had been for the past ten years. If I could just forget it all and go back to normal, don't you think I would have done that by now?" He asked, in a pleading tone.
Bella pressed her lips together before speaking. "I understand that you didn't have a choice and you weren't given an option. I know that what you do is to keep everybody safe. But I just don't know if I can take part in that. The thing that scares me the most isn't the fact that you're a wolf, but that I just knew. I just knew that it was you and I don't know how and this is just so mental, but I had a feeling that it was you all along. It was like a little voice told me, showed me a picture of who you were and..."
"This is a lot to take in, isn't it?"
Bella nodded.
"Before you make any rash decisions, there's something I need to tell you."
"There's more?" Bella wailed.
Paul half-smiled sympathetically. "There's this thing called imprinting. It's basically when shape-shifters, like myself, find their soul-mates. It's almost like love at first sight, but it's way more than that for us. It's like...the world moves all of a sudden. It's not gravity holding onto the Earth anymore, it's our soul-mate. We will become whatever our imprint needs us to be; a protector, a friend...a lover. That night at the bar, Bella...I imprinted on you."
Bella pushed Paul away.
He has to be fucking kidding me, right? His soul-mate? I know that every girl practically wants this sort of thing to happen, but this isn't what I had in mind...Bella thought.
"Please tell me you're kidding." Bella pleaded.
"No. That's why I never looked for a girlfriend or a wife to have a life with. We might imprint at any time and it just wouldn't be fair to our partner. It's happened before in the pack and it was a big mess for a while."
"That makes sense, I guess." Bella breathed in deeply. "So, what does this mean for me and you?"
"Well, you can decide whether or not you want to be my imprint." He started, slowly. Paul really did not want his imprint to turn him down.
"What would happen if I did?" Bella asked.
"Well, we really don't know, because it's never happened before. So, your guess is better than mine." He said, sort of mad.
"Well, isn't this just fabulous?" She sarcastically yelled.
"Bella, please calm down. You'll stress yourself out."
"Don't tell me to calm down! That's like someone shooting you and then telling you to stop bleeding!" She growled.
"I wouldn't bleed for long. I heal quickly."
Bella shot him a dirt look.
"Sorry." He whispered. "Bella, have you ever felt something towards me, but you couldn't explain why?"
"Yes, like I trusted you the minute I met you. Everytime you're gone, I hurt." Bella admitted.
"That's the bond we share. Look, I'm not asking for you to fall in love with me, but I am asking you to just take it into consideration. Please, for our children?"
Bella stared into his dark eyes, and saw how innocent he is, how genuine he was being.
"Fine," She gave in. "I will, but if I don't like what's going on, I'm leaving."
Paul took her hand in his. "That's all I'm asking."
Bella sighed again, for the millionth time that day. "Well, we better go get some sleep, hey?"
"Yes, it's been a long night."
Paul took her hand and guided her towards the bedroom.
After they got ready for bed, they lay together, side-by-side in bed. Paul fell asleep before his head hit the pillow. However, Bella couldn't sleep at all. Every thought she had kept playing itself over and over like a terrible song that just won't go away. Then, all of a sudden, her stomach growled - she was hungry!
Bella turned to her side. "Paul, are you up?"
Silence.
Bella smacked his arm. "Paul?"
Nothing.
"PAUL!" Bella screamed at the top of her lungs, as if a serial killer was about to murder her.
Instinctively, Paul jumped, wide-eyed so fast that Bella thought that he might hurt himself. He fell back to the floor, dizzy and drowsy with a loud bang. Bella couldn't stop laughing, as he tried to get himself up.
Paul stood up and glared at his imprint. "What the hell, Bella!"
"I'm hungry." Bella said, hiding a smile.
"Seriously? You gave me a heart attack just because you're hungry? I thought you were being killed or something! You fucking scared me!"
"Aw, that's cute. It's your fault for knocking me up." Bella pointed out.
Paul groaned and ran his hands over his face. "What do you want?"
"The cookies with milk."
He sighed, half-smiling at her. "I'll be right back."
After what felt like forever, Paul came back into the bedroom with two glasses of milk and cookies. He climbed back in bed, handing Bella her glass of milk.
"Thanks, Paul." She smiled.
"You're welcome, babe." He kissed her cheek.
"...Paul?"
"Mmm?" He mumbled, biting a cookie.
"Tell me about the night that you imprinted on me?"
Paul grinned. "It was really late once I got to the bar. I had a bad day at work, and I was looking for an easy fuck to help me relieve myself of frustrations. I heard you on the phone talking to someone, which I am now assuming was Angela, about being dumped. It made me think that you were broken-hearted and drunk, making you the perfect target."
"Gee, thanks." Bella grumbled.
"I'm sorry. Anyway, one thing about imprinting is that we really, no matter how hard we try, we cannot lie to you. When you ask us to do things for you, we always come through."
Bella chuckled evilly, half-tempted to make him do a Mr. Burns impression."I have a feeling that I'm really going to enjoy this imprint thing."
Paul rolled his eyes. "Okay, so I saw you walking out of the bar. I was going to walked up to you, and said, 'Leaving so soon, sweetheart?' then you fell flat on your face. So, I picked up and and gazed into your brown eyes, which weren't bloodshot as much as I thought. We booked a hotel room and you told me about yourself then threw yourself onto me."
Bella smirked. "Well, that's a story to tell the kids."
After eating all the cookies, Bella lid down and listened to Paul's heartbeat, and it lulled her to sleep. She couldn't help but think to herself that while her life is going to be insanely crazy, it might also be the best decision she has ever made.
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