Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight Saga, only my original characters (Astoria, Ezra, Asher, Gideon, Tobias, Dr. Reed, and Evan). Enjoy!

Chapter Eight

Ignoring Sam's warning, Paul immediately strangled Jared as soon as they phased, he wanted to wipe the irritating look on his friend's face.

I didn't know you had a cheesy and romantic side in you, Jared teased him while Sam was trying his best to break the two apart.

Paul growled at Jared, Shut the fuck up Jared, or I won't hesitate to strangle you again.

You two! That's enough! Sam warned.

The three boys parted ways when they got to Emily's place. Paul was hesitant to go home that night but he knew that he had to. As soon as he got home, he saw his father asleep on the couch seemingly tired, and looked like he just got home after a double shift from work. He could only sigh as he started to clean up the clutter around the house then placed a blanket over his sleeping father.

He went up to his room and plopped down on the bed; Paul stared up at the ceiling as he thought about the things he would be telling Astoria once he gets the chance to be with her alone. He could only hope that she would easily accept everything but knowing outsiders like her, things could go both ways.

After what seemed to be a long drive to Seattle, Astoria and Evan finally arrived at his grandparents' home where the party was being held. The two were immediately cornered by Levi, Evan's younger brother, telling them that their grandmother was looking for them.

"Oh man, just as I was already looking forward to eating," she groaned, following her friend and the younger boy to the patio where the old woman sat along with a few other guests.

An old Japanese woman, named Sachiko, who looked like she was in her 70s greeted them with a warm smile. "I was beginning to think you two decided to ditch the party and went on a date instead," she joked.

"You'll probably hire a search party for us if we did that," Evan laughed, placing an arm around his grandmother's shoulders.

"He's got a point, *baa-chan," Levi commented.

Their grandmother shot a playful glare towards the brothers which made Astoria chuckle. "It's great to see you again, baa-chan," she greeted, holding the old woman's hand then kissing her on the cheek.

"I'm so happy that you're here, darling, but it would make me even happier if you and Evan finally tell me when you two are getting together," Sachiko stated.

Evan groaned, "Baa-chan, you know that dating her would feel like dating your sister."

"Evan, dear?"

"Yes, baa-chan?"

"Do you want me to waste one of the *yunomi cups on you again?" the old woman dared her eldest grandson who gulped and straightened up.

"No, ma'am," Evan answered, grinning sheepishly at his grandmother.

Their banter went on throughout the birthday party. While as much as she loved spending time with her childhood friend's grandmother, Astoria was beginning to regret coming to the party because the old woman would not leave her alone without asking if there was no chance of her and Evan ending up together — to which annoyed her to the slightest.

"Are you sure? My sweet Evan is such a catch, you're definitely missing out," Sachiko commented, motioning towards Evan who was busy munching on some of the leftover cake.

Astoria laughed upon seeing what her friend was doing, "No thank you, I'm sure someone else will find your grandson's weirdness a catch."

"I heard that!" Evan called out, still eating chewing on a mouthful of cake.

She stuck her tongue out at Evan then excused herself away from Sachiko and went to her friend's side. "Are you done pigging out? I want to go home already," Astoria whispered.

"Let me guess, baa-chan won't leave you alone until you finally caved in on marrying me?" Evan jested, earning a smack at the back of his head from the girl. "Ow! That hurts!"

"I bet you that she's going to show me her list of possible names for our future kids if we don't leave soon," she predicted with a challenging tone.

Evan knew what she said was true, his grandmother had already shown him the list the moment he got home from La Push after visiting Astoria a week ago.

"Chill, pumpkin, let me just finish this and we'll escape in a few," he told her, eating another bite from his cake. "You'll get to see your dearest Paul again soon," He added before Astoria smacked the back of his head again.

—

Hours passed by, Paul finally felt energized after getting enough rest for his patrol that night. He stopped near the living room where he found his dad still passed out on the couch then left the house quietly.

Sam had ordered the pack to be more cautious and vigilant while on patrol as Victoria — the redheaded bloodsucker — was still out there and bidding her time to attack.

I heard the Cullens are waiting somewhere on the other side for the redhead, Jared told him via wolf link as they ran together.

If they dared to cross the treaty line, I wouldn't hesitate to rip their fucking heads off, Paul fumed, stopping near the river where the treaty line was while Jared went around to check the surroundings again.

He paced back and forth near the river, listening to the sound of the water rushing through while waiting for any possible danger that may happen. And just as he was about to look for Jared, one of the Cullens — Emmett— suddenly appeared out of nowhere, trying to cross the river as he attempts to run after Victoria who was swift enough to cross the treaty line undetected.

Paul growled at Emmett, daring the vampire to cross over so he could rip his head off, but Dr. Cullen quickly defused the commotion to avoid causing any more tension between their kinds.

After the Cullens left, Paul immediately howled for Jared to back him up in looking for the vampire who might still be around their part of the land.

No signs of the redhead? he asked.

Looks like she got away pretty fast, Jared replied dejectedly.

Just then, a sound of a loud crash was heard towards the main road; the two wolves quickly ran to where the crash came from and saw that a car had collided with one of the smaller trees. His heart instantly dropped upon seeing the familiar figure standing outside the car as if frantically calling someone on her phone.

Isn't that— Jared began but wasn't able to continue what he was about to say when Paul quickly ran past him after phasing back to his human form to confirm his worst fear.

"Astoria!" he called out, the girl quickly whipped her head around and a look of relief was shown on her face. Paul quickly had his hands on her arms gently, "Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Astoria was quiet for a moment before hugging him tightly then cried on his shoulder. Paul froze when he felt her arms around him and getting caught in the moment then gently rubbed her back to calm her down.

"It's okay, you're safe now," he whispered, reassuring his imprint that she would be alright now.

After her sobs had died down, she wiped away the tears from her eyes as she pulled away from him. "Sorry, I was just so scared. A deer just came out running out from nowhere then Evan tried to avoid it," she sniffed. "The car just spun around for a bit then crashed into, thankfully, one of the smaller trees."

Evan hopped off the car, still freaked out because of what just happened. "I thought we were done for," he muttered, leaning his back against the car.

Paul had taken a mental note of telling Sam what happened tonight. He had a strong feeling that maybe it was part of that Victoria's doing when the leech had crossed the treaty line while running away from the Cullens. He promised himself that he going to make the redhead pay for putting his imprint and her friend in danger.

[A/N: Baa-chan - informal for grandmother in Japanese & Yunomi - Japanese tea cup]