A/N: If you recognize it, it's not mine. Simple as that.
Chapter 13
Perci POV
That night, I was startled awake by the sound of the front door slamming open, and loud cursing. Recognizing the livid tones of Paul, I threw the covers off of me and leaped off the couch to the front door, where I found Paul practically spitting in his anger.
"What happened, did someone get hurt?" I asked, my tone flooded with concern, instantly calming him somewhat as he swept me into his arms, burying his nose in my hair, taking in my scent.
"Victoria was there, she kept bouncing between sides of the treaty line. One of the Cullens got overzealous and nearly crossed the border. Paul stopped him, but the redhead got away as a result. The empath, Jasper had to calm Paul down long enough for him to hear me telling him to leave. I'll have Jacob go up to the school on Monday to issue a reminder to Edward for his coven to stay on their side of the treaty line." Sam explained, making me nod in understanding. Pulling back from Paul slightly, I looked him in the eye, seeing remaining anger.
"Let's go for a swim." I said, pulling him out the door.
"What?" He asked, though gave no resistance.
"You need to calm down. Let's go for a swim, I think it's about time I took you to meet Tyson anyway." I said, pulling him gently into the waves, extending my power to form a bubble of air around him the second we were submerged. I waited a few seconds to let him adjust to the sudden fact that he was breathing underwater before giving him a mischievous smile that would have made the Stoll's nervous.
"Hold on tight." I said, as his only warning before vapor travelling to Atlantis, the beautiful city bustling despite the late hour.
"What was that?" Paul gasped out, not quite noticing where we were now.
"Vapor traveling. I've been practicing while you've been on patrol during the days that I'm at the rez. You'll have to hold on to me for the bubble to remain, but I'd like to show you around Atlantis." I said casually, making his jaw drop as he finally registered the beautiful underwater city that was my father's kingdom.
"Are we really in the lost city of Atlantis?" He asked in an awed tone as he took it in, making me giggle.
"Yes, it's my father's kingdom, so naturally it's kept hidden. I should probably take you to visit my father first though before I take you to meet Tyson. Dad would be pissed if he found out I came for a visit and didn't see him." I said, giving his hand a gentle tug to prompt him into swimming after me. I swam slowly so Paul could take in the sights, but eventually knew that word of mine and Paul's visit would reach the palace before we would judging by the awed whispers of 'The sea princess is here!'. Sure enough, halfway through the square, I noticed people kneeling and drew up short at the sight of the Atlantean royal family, pulling Paul to a stop as well.
"Why'd we stop?" Paul asked, not yet noticing, making me gesture to the family in front of us. Catching sight of them, he quickly knelt, still holding tight to my hand, pulling me down a bit as well.
"Lord Poseidon, Lord Triton." Paul greeted lowly, having been filled in on the proper etiquette on greeting gods. My father and brother nodded, while Amphitrite smiled in amusement at me.
"Now, Perci dear, did you not inform your soulmate about me? I thought we were on better terms now." She said, a teasing smile on her face, making me laugh as I pulled Paul into a standing position.
"Oh, I've told him about you, I just don't think I've described you to him. Allow me to make the proper introductions to make up for it." I said, earning a jokingly haughty nod of approval from my step-mother.
"Paul, you know my dad and brother, but allow me to introduce you to my step-mother, Amphitrite, queen of the seas. Amphitrite, this is my soulmate, the wolf shifter, Paul Lahote." I introduced, making Paul choke at not addressing her as well.
"A pleasure to meet you, Paul. But I assure you now, wolf, if you hurt my step-daughter, the full wrath of the seas will be after you, and no water would be safe for you." Amphitrite said, nonchalantly threatening him, making his eyes widen.
"I would never, Lady Amphitrite. The imprint alone makes it to where I couldn't hurt her without feeling pain myself, but I would never want to even without it." He said sincerely, earning a smile from not just her, but everyone within hearing range.
"Good, now, what brings you to Atlantis at this time of night, Perci?" My dad said, smiling warmly at me, offering a simple nod in greeting to Paul, who was slowly gaining his approval by his efforts to keep beaches around La Push clean, and helping any beached sea creatures he came across.
"Problems on the surface that had Paul pretty pissed off. I thought he needed to cool down, so I brought him down here to meet Tyson. Is there any way I could convince you to let him breathe without holding onto me so that if he wanted to, he could spar with Tyson, or even Triton to get rid of the remaining anger?" I asked, making Triton snort in amusement and mumble something about how Poseidon wouldn't deny his precious baby girl. He received a mild glare from our father, but Poseidon did in fact place a hand on Paul, giving him the ability to breathe underwater for this little excursion.
"Let's take this into the palace, and I'll send for Tyson. He wants to keep the designs of the hunting knives he's making you a secret, so I think he would like to keep you out of the forge, Perci." Dad said, leading the way back to the palace.
Twenty minutes later, I was wondering if this was a good idea or not, since I was now unsure if I could convince Paul to leave. He had passed Tyson's test simply by telling my cyclops half-brother that he loved me and would protect me without even flinching at the single eye. Now the two were in the middle of a spar that I could see Triton itching to join, as Tyson and Paul both had impressive strength.
"Just go." I finally sighed, getting annoyed with the twitches of the merman. He didn't even spare a glance before taking off to join the spar, seamlessly integrating himself into the fight. I rolled my eyes as I heard a pair of amused chuckles behind me.
"Look at it this way, at least Paul has the family approval." Amphitrite said, putting a hand on my shoulder, drawing a snort of amusement from me that earned a light swat on the back of my head for.
"Princesses don't snort, Persephone." She reprimanded, making me whine in protest while my dad, the traitor, just laughed.
"He hasn't gained dad's complete approval yet, so you can't say that." I told her.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that, darling. I actually quite like him, and am in the process of convincing my stubborn brother to grant him the immortality we have to make sure you don't lose him. Fortunately, Aphrodite is firmly on my side of the argument there, and so are a few others. It's looking like he might be granted immortality by your graduation." Dad said, making my jaw drop.
"The council is really willing to do that for me?" I asked, unable to believe it. Over half of the council didn't like me for some reason or another, so the fact that they were willing to make Paul immortal, truly immortal for me was difficult to believe. Dad just nodded with and indulgent chuckle, gently pulling me in for a hug.
"If he accepts it, then I think it will be a graduation gift from most of the council. I believe Hestia will be getting you something though, I could be wrong, but since you're her favorite demigod, she likely will." He said, making me smile. I truly loved aunt Hestia, she was the most important goddess, since she was the embodiment of home and the hearth. Before I could respond, I let loose a jaw-cracking yawn, drawing chuckles from both of them.
"Perhaps we should send word to Mr. Uley that you and Paul will be spending the night down here to get some rest, hm?" Amphitrite suggested, making me nod as exhaustion slammed back to the front of my mind, reminding me that I hadn't had much sleep tonight before the pack came back.
"Triton!" Dad called, making my brother immediately withdraw from the spar and return to his side.
"Yes, father?" He asked, standing at attention, since dad had used his 'ruler of the sea' voice.
"I need you to take a message to the La Push pack that Paul and your sister will be spending the night down here. Perci is exhausted, and I don't want her to try vapor traveling with a passenger when she's this tired. I will escort them to their rooms for the night while you do that." Dad said, making Triton look at me in concern, his face softening when he saw the exhaustion I knew was now evident on my face.
"Of course, father. I shall return shortly." He said, before disappearing as he vapor traveled.
"Come on, sweetheart. I'll return for your wolf, but you're practically asleep on your feet, let's get you to bed." Dad said, though his voice sounded far away to me. I heard him chuckle indulgently before I was picked up, and everything went dark as I finally gave into Hypnos' call.
Paul POV
A small smile graced my face as I ducked another impressive punch from Tyson. The stories about the wolf being what the imprint needed weren't quite correct apparently, since Perci was turning out to be just what I needed as well. This spar was the perfect way to let go of any lingering anger from that Cullen vamp trying to cross the border. The awe of the fact that I was sparring with my imprint's cyclops half-brother in freaking Atlantis was still very much present, but over time I had just come to accept any craziness that came with my precious Perci being a demigod. I knew more about Greek mythology now than I ever had before at least, and the rest of the pack could probably be experts on the subject in a few more months with everything we kept learning.
"Brother Triton said that you turn into a big dog." Tyson said, suddenly in the middle of our spar, surprising me slightly. The innocence of the cyclops that was actually taller than me surprised me at first until Perci had whispered that cyclops' matured slower mentally, so Tyson was roughly a few years old mentally.
"Yeah, I turn into a wolf. I'm not sure if I can do it underwater, but maybe when you come for Perci's graduation, I can show you." I said, surprising myself by how easy it was to talk to him, despite him being a child mentally. Maybe I wouldn't be too horrible with kids like everyone thought after all. We had pretty much stopped sparring by this point, conversation drawing his interest more than sparring, though I didn't mind. I had pretty much blown off all the steam I needed to. Tyson looked pretty excited at the prospect of seeing me turn into a wolf and nodded excitedly.
"I can't wait to see sister's wolf. She'll like her presents too, my brothers are working hard on the other ones." He said, gaining my curiosity.
"I thought the knives you were making her were her graduation gifts." I said, making him shake his head, a surprisingly gentle smile on his face.
"No, daddy is having my brothers make Perci a crown and trident too. He says that a sea princess should have the proper tools." He said, making my eyes widen in surprise. Perci had told me she had considered asking her dad if she could have Tyson make her a trident, but she was afraid she'd get denied, and that it was something only he and Triton could have, being the king and crown prince of the seas.
"Be sure you don't tell my daughter that information, Paul." The strong voice of the sea god said from behind me, startling me. I whirled to face him as quickly as I could, being underwater and quickly shook my head.
"I would never, Lord Poseidon. If it's a graduation gift, I won't spoil the surprise." I informed him, casting my eyes to his sides, searching for my imprint, something he apparently caught.
"Perci is asleep in her room, she's exhausted. I sent Triton to tell your pack leader that the two of you would be spending the night down here since she's too tired to vapor travel the two of you back to La Push. I'll take you to your room for the night." He said, surprising me for a moment before guilt set in. I had woken Perci when we arrived back at Sam's by slamming the door open, and she had immediately brought me here to help me, despite being tired herself.
"Thank you, Lord Poseidon. I should have thought of that myself." I said, murmuring the last part, quietly berating myself for it. I was supposed to take care of my imprint, and here she was, ignoring herself to take care of me.
"It's alright, it even surprised her with how suddenly it hit, and you were engrossed in sparring with my sons, you couldn't have known." He said, leading the way out of the courtyard where Tyson and I had been sparring, and down some halls inside the palace.
"And you can drop the 'Lord' title. You're Perci's soulmate, so I know you will eventually become my son-in-law. Despite the fact that most of the couples Aphrodite has put together have ended in tragedy, I know that won't happen with the two of you. Everyone knows that my daughter hated her immortality getting forced on her, and a few are trying to find ways to make it up to her. You are Aphrodite's apology, so she won't dare do anything to potentially hinder her happiness." He said, shocking me.
"You approve of our relationship then, sir?" I asked, trying to remain respectful since he was not only Perci's dad, but a god, whose domain I was in. He chuckled, looking over his shoulder at me with a knowing smirk.
"Poseidon will do, Paul. Unless you would prefer I call you Mr. Lahote." He said, making me pull a face. Only teachers ever called me by my last name, and I hated it when they used it.
"Paul's fine." I murmured, and I didn't have to see his face to know he was smirking in victory. Perci was a lot like her father from what I had been told, and Perci would definitely be smirking in victory right now.
"Good. As for my approval of your relationship, I was worried at first, I will admit. You may not age as long as you continue to shift, but you are still capable of falling in battle. That's why I talked to my brother -Zeus, in case you wondering-, about giving you immortality, the same that Perci has. It's slow going, but most of the council is starting to take my side on that, though Ares will likely vote against it, simply because Perci is his rival, and Dionysus just doesn't care. With any luck, you'll be granted proper immortality by her graduation, that is, if you accept it. I've told Perci this, but we both know she won't push you to accept it." He said, making my jaw drop. A chance to be with Perci forever without worrying about dying in battle and leaving her alone? I'd be stupid to turn it down.
"I would accept it with no hesitation should it be offered. I'd be thrilled for the chance to be with Perci forever." I told him, as he came to a stop in front of a pair of double doors. He turned and smiled at me in acceptance.
"Good. You have my permission to make my daughter happy then. Triton and Tyson also approve of you, as does Amphitrite. Goodnight, Paul." He said, before leaving. I stared after him, confused by what he meant before shrugging and opening the doors of the room, only to pause at the sight of Perci laying asleep on a king sized bed. That's when Poseidon's words truly registered. I had his blessing to propose.