Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight Saga, only my original characters (Astoria, Ezra, Asher, Gideon, Tobias, Dr. Reed, and Evan). Enjoy!
Chapter Nine
After making sure that Astoria and her friend were to be taken care of by the right people, Paul and Jared immediately left them to report to Sam about what had happened that night. Paul's patience was already running thin when it comes to the Cullens and tonight's incident was the cherry on top, he was determined to make the leeches pay for almost putting his imprint in danger.
"So the redhead crossed the border and Emmett tried to follow her?" Sam asked them.
"Yeah, but Paul quickly stopped him from crossing the treaty line," Jared replied.
"We could've caught the redhead if that fucking meathead didn't try to cross the border," Paul fumed, punching the nearest tree. "Astoria wouldn't have gotten into a minor accident."
Sam gave Jared a questioning look. "A deer got scared off when the redhead was inside the forest, causing it to run towards the main road," the younger boy tried to explain clearly.
"Are they alright?" followed Sam.
"Astoria and her friend seemed to be freaked out by the time we got to the scene of the accident but thankfully, there weren't any bleeding or anything major," Jared answered while Paul was standing quietly beside him, still fuming.
Sam quickly took notice of how Paul was acting, he turned to Jared with a look that told him to calm the other boy down. "Jared, take Paul home before he does something stupid because of his temper," he ordered. "I'll send Embry and Quil to watch over him later."
Jared nodded after hearing his alpha's orders. "Come on, man," he muttered, taking Paul by the arm.
Days after the whole incident happened, Astoria had to take a few days off from school to rest. She was finally feeling a lot better compared to the previous days after the minor accident, some of the bruises on her arms were slowly disappearing. Evan had already gone back to Seattle after staying at the hospital for a day, their families were thankful that the two only escaped with nothing but bruises.
She stood at the beach just outside of their home, letting the wave crash into her feet.
"You'll catch a cold if you stay out here longer," someone suddenly spoke, breaking the girl out of her reverie.
A smile immediately appeared on her lips upon seeing who it was. "Hey, fancy seeing you again around here," she chuckled.
"Oh you know, just going for my nightly jog," Paul replied, walking towards her. "You good?"
Astoria nodded, knowing what he was asking about. "I'm good, some of the bruises are gone," she reassured, showing her arms.
Paul felt relieved after knowing that she was feeling a lot better. "Where is that weird friend of yours?" he asked, craning his head as if looking for Evan.
"Evan? Oh, he's back in Seattle already. I'll tell him that you asked for him," she grinned cheekily, nudging him in the arm but paused after seeing the sudden change of expression on his face. "Paul? Are you okay?"
He stood quietly beside her for what seemed like a couple of minutes, trying to formulate in his head how to tell Astoria the truth about his whole being. Paul heaved out a sigh before returning his gaze to the girl beside him, "I'm going to tell you something, and I would understand if you freak out or decide to be scared of me for the rest of your life."
Her brows furrowed. "What is it? You're kind of making me worry," she told him.
"You've probably always wondered why I skip school or why I'm rarely awake whenever I decide to show up. Well, the reason behind that is because of a tribe secret," he trailed off, looking into her eyes intently.
Astoria narrowed her eyes at him, waiting for a broad explanation of what he was talking about, "Okay? Now I'm genuinely confused."
"I'm a shapeshifter," he revealed.
She blinked at him, "You're a what now?"
"A shapeshifter who takes on a form of a werewolf," he told her.
"Are you sure this isn't some practical joke that you're trying to pull on me, Lahote?" she asked him.
Paul felt a pang on his chest after hearing the tone of her voice. "Just stand at the terrace and I'll show you," he ordered.
The girl quietly obeyed him, ascending the stairs and stood at the terrace of their home then Astoria signaled for him to do whatever he had to do.
He immediately phased into his wolf form when she was safely standing away from him, howling unintentionally after. Paul then returned his gaze at Astoria who was wide-eyed and speechless, causing him to run away from her, leaving the girl even more confused than she already was.
Shocked, worried, and confused were the right words to describe how she was feeling nowadays following Paul's revelation to her about him being a shapeshifter.
"Are you okay?" Daphne asked Astoria, waving her hand at the girl's face.
Astoria had been quiet the whole day, trying to process what had transpired a couple of days ago. To her, shapeshifters like Paul only existed in the bedtime stories that her grandfather used to tell her and her brothers when they were children, but in the end, everything in those stories turned out to be true.
"I'm okay, just tired from all the schoolwork that I had to catch up to," Astoria replied, closing her locker. "I'm going off first, I have to help Tobias with his English project," she lied, bidding her friend goodbye then left.
Astoria had spent the last school hour looking for any familiar faces that might tell her where Paul was — who she felt like he was avoiding her — but much to her disappointment, none of the people she was looking for were at school that day.
That night, she sat alone at the steps of their back terrace, looking up at the stars. Astoria was recalling what happened the other night, thinking about how she could've reacted better when Paul revealed what he was.
Her alone time was interrupted when she felt someone sit beside her, making the girl turn her head, only to see her younger brother, Tobias.
"I thought you were playing PlayStation with the twins?" she asked, punching the younger boy on the shoulder playfully.
"You were acting weird the whole day," Tobias pointed out.
Astoria couldn't help but smile at the way Tobias was worrying about her, he was slowly showing his caring side again. She ruffled the younger boy's hair, "I'm just tired from all the schoolwork that I had to catch up with."
The two sat in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes before Astoria spoke first, "Remember the bedtime stories about the supernatural beings that gramps used to tell us?"
Tobias nodded. "The ones with vampires and shapeshifters who look like giant wolves?" he asked back.
"Yeah, those."
"What about them?"
"Have you ever wondered, what if they turned out to be true and are not just stories?" Astoria wondered.
He hummed, thinking deeply, "You know, I always had a hunch that some of the stories gramps used to tell us were real."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I mean, where else would gramps know about those if the stories weren't partly true?" Tobias stated.
After an hour of trading old stories, Tobias excused himself and retreated inside the house, leaving his sister still sitting alone on the stairs.
Sam couldn't take any more of Paul's moping, he was already starting to get annoyed. It was unusual for him to see the younger boy act like somebody had stolen something important from him. He had a strong feeling that the cause of Paul's current mood was the result of an unsuccessful attempt of revealing his shapeshifter nature to his imprint.
"You should go see her," Sam ordered, looking at Paul with an intense gaze in his eyes.
"What for? Astoria already made it clear that she's scared of me after seeing the look on her face when I phased," Paul grumbled dejectedly.
Jared threw a leftover muffin towards him, "You're just assuming things, dumbass," He groused, "Stop acting like a puppy who's just been kicked and just do what Sam tells you to do."
"I will fucking murder you if you don't shut the hell up," Paul growled, throwing a deadly glare at Jared who only ignored him. But deep down, he knew that his brothers were right.
"You can't blame the poor girl for being scared, it was hard to believe at first even for me. She probably needed time to think and process what you told her," Emily reassured him. "Don't worry so much, I know that she's a good one,"
"Ask her to come to the bonfire," Embry quipped.
"Oh yeah, that's in a few days, right?" Quil asked, munching on a freshly baked muffin.
Sam gave him a curt nod, signaling him to leave.
Paul found himself standing in front of her that night, the girl looked up from where she sat when she felt another person's presence.
Astoria's face immediately lit up upon seeing him, "Hey there," she muttered gently. "Look, about last ti—," she was cut off when Paul suddenly spoke.
"I know I shouldn't have run away so suddenly, it's just..." he sighed, finding the right words to say. "When I saw the look on your face, I thought I already fucked everything up," Paul admitted.
"If you're worried about me being scared shitless, I was, a little bit but I was more shocked and confused," Astoria reassured, chuckling softly. "Plus, it turns out, the bedtime stories that my grandfather used to tell us were true."
"There's a lot more that I didn't get the chance to tell you, if you're up for it you should come to the bonfire with me this coming weekend," he blurted out.
Astoria couldn't help but giggle at the way he was acting, she was very much used to his proud attitude and this awkward Paul was a new thing for her. "If this is your way of asking me to come with you, then count me in," she winked at him
[A/N: Hey everyone, I just want to apologize for the late update. Kinda got sick last week then had an allergy attack after. Anyway, I hope you're all doing alright and staying safe! xo]