Chapter Ten

Moving Forward

Thanks to alpha-ordered bedrest and a supernatural ability to heal, by the following week, Jared was almost back in fighting form. He was up and about, but Sam wanted to give him a few more days to recover before shifting to be sure. Jared didn't mind because he got out of patrols, and Paul didn't mind because it meant that on days he had the night patrol, he got to wake up to Jared lying in bed next to him. Kim hadn't contacted Jared since that day, but Paul had seen her having tea with Emily over at Sam's a few times. He didn't tell Jared, it would only hurt him. Jared was trying to do the respectful thing and give her space, but Paul could tell that it bothered him. Which was why Paul decided he would step up and cheer Jared up the best way he knew how… with sex.

"Paul…" Jared's tone was weary as Paul tied his hands to the headboard. "I'm pretty sure this goes against Sam's 'no straining your arm' rule." He pouted as Paul chuckled and kissed him briefly before sitting back on his legs. There was something beautiful about Jared laid out naked in his bed, hands tied out of reach and cock hard. Paul would have taken a picture if not for the fact that he had broken his phone… again.

"Relax, Jare." Paul cooed as he ran his hand up and down his dick at a slow pace. Jared had confided in Paul a long time ago that he had never gotten a blowjob. And while Paul had certainly never given one, he knew what he liked. "You've liked everything we've done so far. Trust me."

"I do trust you, Paul." Jared's words were spoken so softly, they gave Paul pause.

Leaning forward, Paul caught his lips softly. "I love you, Jared. I know I don't say it a lot because you know how shit my life has been when it comes to love, but you're the exception. You're the one person I've always loved."

Jared smiled lightly, his eyes softening. "Don't go soft on me now, Lahote." He teased before pulling at his bonds to lean forward and kiss Paul again. "I love you too…"

Paul hummed at the taste of him as his lips moved down to Jared's neck. He kissed every inch of skin he could reach, pausing every once in a while to nip or lick. He enjoyed the sounds of Jared's small gasps and increased heartrate, especially when his tongue circled the sensitive flesh of his thigh. If Paul was being honest with himself, he was nervous. Sure, in theory he knew what he liked, but receiving and giving were two very different things. Before he could chicken out, Paul let his tongue circle the swollen head of Jared's cock, earning a hiss from the younger wolf. With strong hands, Paul held Jared's hips down, glancing up at him through long lashes before doing it again.

"Shit!" Jared breathed, attempting to buck upwards, but not getting far. Paul chuckled, eyes glistening as his hot breath only added to Jared's squirming. "Would you stop teasing me dude and just suck my dick already!?"

Paul growled low in his chest. Jared didn't talk dirty, it wasn't his thing. Most of the time, he felt too self-conscious to even attempt it. Paul on the other hand, loved talking in the bedroom. Narrating what was happening and what he wanted to do to his partner's body just accentuated the thrill of it all. Catching Jared's eyes, Paul said nothing as he dipped his head, taking him as far back in his mouth as he could. Suddenly, Paul had a new respect for all the women he had slept with. Sucking on something seemed like a simple enough concept, but on this end, it was a little more… more. As Jared moaned, Paul freed one of his hips to wrap around the base of his cock, growling low at the pleasure of it. They might not be imprints, but their wolves seemed to have formed a kindred bond. Paul's wolf was content enough with Jared's, and it seemed Jared's returned the feeling. If it didn't, he would have never been able to walk away from Kim.

"Shit! Paul!" Jared hissed as he pulled at his ties, unbothered by the loud groan the headboard gave. "Do- do that a-gain. Growl." He nearly begging, his head falling back to the pillow.

Paul complied, half out of want to please the man he loved, and half out of sheer lust that his words invoked. He tried to focus on the task at hand, making sure his teeth were safely tucked away behind his full lips as he hollowed his cheeks. He had never tasted a man before – it had never occurred to him, but it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Salty and something distinctly Jared. Finally releasing Jared's other hip, Paul reached down to free himself from his cut-offs, his hand moving with practiced ease over his own dick. His eyes closed as he focused on the sensations of Jared moving in and out of his mouth and the feel of his own hand. The sounds of Jared's fluttering heart and uneven breathing were probably his favorite sounds in the world. He wished he had them recorded. Hell, he should have recorded this whole thing!

Jared growled under him as a loud snap filled the room. Suddenly, Jared's large hands were in Paul's hair, yanking at the roots with inhuman strength. It should have hurt, but it just pushed Paul faster. As far as he was concerned, Jared was his mate, and right now, he was pleasuring his mate the way only he could. "Paul – I'm gonna…" Paul's hands moved faster as he pushed Jared as far as he could go. He wasn't sure when he had decided that he wouldn't pull back, but the idea of doing so seemed torturous.

With a low, rumbling moan that might have been a growl, Jared's body tensed. It was only a moment later that Paul tasted him on his tongue, queueing his own release. By now, Paul should have learned to put a towel down, but he could care less as Jared's breathing shallowed and his own body started to relax. He growled as Jared yanked him by his sore scalp upward to meet his lips in a searing kiss.

"Are you sure you've never sucked a dick before?" He smiled as Paul rolled to the side, his head cradled against Jared's shoulder.

"I think I would remember that." Paul replied, equally breathless. He shifted, reaching behind him for whatever was stabbing him in the back. Looking at the giant splinter, Paul frowned as his eyes moved upwards. "Dude, you broke my headboard!"

"Hey, it was your idea to tie a werewolf to a flimsy piece of wood. This is on you." Jared laughed, flicking yet another splinter to the floor.

"Whatever man, you're going to make it up to me." He smirked, turning his head so that their noses brushed.

A loud hoot from Paul's backyard caused both men to groan. Jacob had been withdrawn since the Cullen's left and Sam ordered him to stay away from Bella. Sam was worried that Jacob was getting too involved, involved to the point where he would tell her their secret just to keep her around. On Sam's orders, the whole pack was going to go over there and drag him out of his house. The boys moved quickly to clean themselves up, throwing on a pair of cutoffs each before heading outside to meet the rest of the guys.

"Do you guys have to show up to patrol smelling like sex?" Quil wrinkled his nose. "It was bad enough when it was just Paul." He barked out a laugh as he dodged a punch from said wolf.

"Quil's just upset because he can't have sex for another fifteen years – at least." It was Embry's turn to laugh as Quil's smile slid off his face.

"That's not cool, man. You know that's a sore spot for me." He huffed as they pushed into the woods. Jacob didn't live far, and it wasn't like they would get tired. Besides, ever since the phase, they all felt more at home in the woods.

Paul fell back as the others pushed ahead, making bets on how long it's been since Jacob had even showered. Falling into step with Sam, Paul eyed him. "How are things going at home?" Sam didn't like to drag his personal life into the pack, but they all heard it. Emily had been less than thrilled about Paul and Jared. She didn't ban them from the house or anything, but she didn't seem to want to directly acknowledge them either. To make matters worse, she was taking out her frustrations on Sam because she knew he wouldn't fight back. Any time he even thought about it, he would take one look at her scarred face and deflate.

"Em is going to visit her sister for a few weeks. She's leaving Friday." His face gave away no emotion as he looked on ahead.

"How will that work? With the imprint, I mean? You felt pain the last time you were away from each other…" Paul didn't mean to pile on, but it was a question that needed to be asked.

"That was just after I phased. I've been away from her for whole days since, and I've been okay. If it gets to be too much I'll just take a run up to Alaska." Paul could tell there was more that Sam wasn't saying, but he wouldn't push him now. Sam, Jared, and Paul were older than the other guys, and they tended to talk real issues when they weren't around. It wasn't that they didn't trust them to be mature in the situation, it was just that they were already forced to grow up thanks to the shift.

As they cleared the tree line, Jared let out a hoot, followed shortly by Quil and Embry. It was a system they had worked out after Embry almost walked in on Paul and Jared much like Jacob had. It was a warning of sorts – put your pants on, we're coming in.

Instead of Jacob stepping out of the Black house, it was Bella Swan. Beside Paul, Sam tensed. He was strict about Bella, if only because she could feed information back to the Cullen's if they ever decided to come back. Sure, they had a treaty, but it was fragile at best. "What the fuck is she doing here?" Paul mumbled as Bella made a beeline to them.

"What did you do!?" She huffed, pushing at Sam's chest. "He didn't want this!"

"What did we do?" Paul growled. He was shaking as Bella's sharp eyes turned to him. Even Jared's hand on his arm didn't sooth him. "What did he do? What did he tell you?"

"Easy!" Sam tried to intervene, but it was clear that Paul and Bella were both already worked up.

"Nothing! He tells me nothing because he's scared of you!" Bella's words made Paul pause, his anger momentarily forgotten.

He couldn't help it when his lips set in a wide smile, his deep chuckle causing the others to laugh as well. Jacob? Scared of them? Baby alpha was always going on about how he would 'own their asses' one day. In fact, the only time had seen Jacob look remotely scared was that day he walked in on them. He even took his first phase in style, calming down faster than any of the other wolves had. Paul's laughter came to an abrupt halt as Bella's tiny hand collided with his cheek. Although it didn't hurt, and he hardly felt it, Paul turned his fact out of habit. A deep growl built in his chest as he slowly looked back to her.

"Paul!" Sam's tone was warning as Bella began to step backwards, her face no longer contorted in anger, but in fear. "Calm down!"

"Too late now…" Jared's voice sounded nearly excited as Paul's body began to blur. Jared knew that Paul was an angry wolf, but he was also in control once he phased. Paul imagined his excitement had something to do with Bella being taught a lesson for slapping people.

With another, more vocal growl, Paul burst out of his skin, erupting in a mass of silver fur. He lowered his head, his lips pulling back over his sharp teeth as he took a step towards her. He wasn't going to hurt her, but maybe the leech-lover would be afraid enough to stay away when she was told to. With a small scream, Bella turned to run back towards the Black house as Jacob came to see what all the commotion was about.

"Jake! Run!" She called, tripping over her own feet as Jacob launched himself over her, phasing in midair.

"You could have hurt her!" Jacob's voice growled in Paul's mind as he lunged at Paul.

"Don't be such a baby, Black! I wasn't going to hurt her. I was just teaching her a lesson!" Paul let out a yelp as Jacob's teeth dug into his side. "Maybe now she'll listen when you tell her to stay away!"

"That wasn't a lesson that was on you to teach, Paul!" They rolled in a mass of fur and teeth, breaking Billy's boat in two as they tumbled into the forest. "And it wasn't up to me! Sam ordered me to not go to her!"

"Don't take your blue balls out on me baby alpha!" That was all that needed to be said to really set Jacob off. For fifteen minutes, they clawed and bit, knocking several small trees over before Sam finally showed up with two pairs of cut-offs and an annoyed expression.

"That's enough you two." He said in his 'alpha' voice as the two wolves panted.

After a moment longer, Jacob phased back, quickly followed by Paul. "That was a stupid move, Paul." He frowned, slipping on a pair of pants.

Shrugging, Paul took the other. "I might have overreacted." He gave Jacob a crooked grin as the younger wolf rolled his eyes. "We cool, man?"

"Sure sure." Jacob waved him off as they headed back to Sam's. It was a five minute walk, and Sam used four and a half to lecture Jacob about finding loopholes in his orders.

They practically crashed through the door, Paul shoving Jacob with a laugh as he made a beeline for the table. Sitting in one of the open seats, Paul's hand caught Jared's arm, pulling him into his lap. "Save me a muffin, babe?"

"It wasn't easy." Jared smiled before brushing his lips against Paul's.

Looking to Bella, Paul shrugged. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." She watched him with wide eyes, and Paul felt his smile slowly slip. Sometimes it was easy to forget that he and Jared weren't normal. "What?" He barked with a scowl, nearly smirking when her pale face flushed a deep red.

"Sorry." She breathed, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "I just didn't expect you to be… nice."

For a long moment, Paul watched her, his brows furrowed. It was only when Jared lightly pinched his back that he looked to Jacob. "She's alright."

"That's probably the nicest thing Paul has ever said about anyone." Quil laughed, reaching across the table to steal Paul's muffin.

AN: Did someone say half a chapter of sexy? Sorry this chapter took a little longer than usual to come out. Hubby had the day off, so I spent it with him. I'm also sorry for any typos. By the time I was done, I was way too tired to proof read. I'm glad that a lot of people seem to be on board with my portrayal of Emily. I don't have anything against her in the books, but SM did Leah dirty. I'm still not over the fact that she left Leah un-imprinted and infertile. I always hoped that she and Jacob would be like 'fuck imprinting' and fall in love and be happy. I've decided that I have to right SM's wrongs in this fic lol, so be prepared for a little side Sam/Leah plot. I kind of improved what Bella said to the pack, because tbh, I don't remember it all – my bad.

As always, a special thank you to everyone that reviewed! Braddox, TaleAceBella12, Maxsmomma, LuvinTwilight143 - you guys rock!

Braddox – Yeah, like I said above, I hate what SM did to Leah. I like the idea of imprinting as a plot device, because it's fun, but I hate that it's not optional – like a mark or something.

Maxsmomma – Yeah, it was so rough to have Emily be the first person so openly opposed. Not because I love her character, but because I hated writing it lol. I haven't decided how far I'm going to take her hatred, but I feel like she's going to get worse.

LuvinTwilight143 – I have nothing against Emily, she's kind of just there, but I hate her with Sam. He gave up so much and he deserved to be with Leah. They both deserved to be happy together. I don't understand the whole imprint thing since it is supposed to be about passing on the gene. Emily and Leah are cousins, so their genetics would be pretty similar. Not to mention, Emily was from a completely different tribe.