I own nothing apart from Lorelai and the plot

Chapter Nine

Lorelai P.O.V

I felt someone shaking me gently and I began to stir, not wanting to wake up and face reality. I had had the weirdest dream, well that's what I was calling it; Paul had told me he was a werewolf and then he turned into a werewolf. Eventually I opened my eyes, looking up at Paul's worried eyes.

"Why am I at your place?" I muttered sleepily, not willing to admit that everything hadn't been a dream still.

Paul gently brushed back the annoying strands of hair that kept flicking into my eyes, "You fainted."

I looked up at him, understanding now why his eyes were sad, "I don't care."I murmured to him, taking his hand in mine and sitting up.

"What?"

I smiled, finally accepting what had happened and surprised myself with not being bothered by it all, "I don't care that you turn into a giant wolf." I said simply, confused as to why he had jerked away from me.

"You don't know what you're saying." Paul said quietly.

"I know very well what I'm saying." I said calmly, "You're a werewolf and I don't care."

Paul looked at me heatedly, "You should care; you should be running as far away from me as you can."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm not going anywhere. I don't care! How many times do you want me to say it? I don't care."

He stared at me for a moment, finally listening to the meaning of my words, the sincerity behind them. He stepped closer, hesitantly reaching out to grasp my hand, "Are you sure?" He asked his voice vulnerable.

I tugged him closer, wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing myself into his warm, firm body, "I don't care. It's just another part of you." I murmured.

He sighed and I could feel his body sink with relief. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer to him if that were possible, "There's more." He said at last, the words vibrating through his chest, "You might want to wait before..."

"Paul," I interrupted, "You've already told me you're a werewolf; what could be more confusing or strange than that?" I asked him.

He sighed, "There's a thing called imprinting that happens to us. Basically it's when we see our 'mate' or soul mate. We do everything possible to make them happy and they become our world. They're everything to us; making them happy is our only concern."

I froze; he was right. This was worse than him being some type of mystical being. I swallowed and asked after a moment, my throat feeling dry, and "Have you imprinted?"

He nodded but before I could question him he said quickly, "I imprinted on you." I gaped at him, startled and relieved at the same time, "That day when I first saw you I imprinted."

I sighed with relief, "I need ice cream." I muttered.

Paul grinned at me, "There's some in the freezer."

"Are there really vampires?" I asked as he went into the kitchen.

Werewolves were one thing but I had trouble imagining that vampires were real. I mean, surely someone would notice if people suddenly start dying from extreme loss of blood. I haven't heard of anyone going missing and turning up dead lately. It's just not possible.

Paul chuckled, "Yes they're real but you can stop trying to picture the typical Dracula 'I come to suck your blood' vampire."

"What do you mean?" I asked sceptically.

"They look like normal humans; the majority of vampires travel alone or in a small group but never for long unless they have a mate. They can go out during the day so long as they don't go in sunlight; they sparkle." He told me, handing me a generous bowl of ice cream, sitting down next to me on his bed.

I raised an eyebrow, "They sparkle? Paul, give me some credit."

"I'm being serious. In Forks, near where La Push, we have a treaty with a coven of vampires there. Forks is perfect for them because it's always cloudy and on the rare day that there's sun they say they're going hiking or something."

"If you're mortal enemies with them then why do you have a treaty?" I asked.

Paul chuckled, "They don't feed of humans. They're 'vegetarians'." He said, using quote marks with his fingers.

"Then how do they survive?"

"They drink the blood of animals." Paul said with a casual shrug.

That is gross. Though I suppose it was a step up from eating humans.

We sat in silence; I was too absorbed in my ice cream to think of anything else that was happening; ice cream has all priority, no matter what. We had just finished when Lee came barging in, looking as though he had just spent hours trying and failing to rip out his hair. He froze when he saw us finishing our ice cream and looked at us incredulously, raising his hands to tug at his hair.

"You're eating fricking ice cream?" He shouted, looking slightly crazed.

I looked to Paul worriedly, "Dude, what..." Paul began but Lee cut him off.

"Here I was, pacing outside for over two hours thinking that you two were having this huge fight because you never fight but all you're doing is eating ice cream!" He shouted, pacing n front of us like an angry parent. He stopped and then pouted, "You didn't even get me some."

"Dude, I've just been telling her about the whole 'I'm a werewolf' thing and she fainted. She deserved the ice cream more than you." Paul said.

Lee gaped at him for a moment and then grinned, "So you finally grew some balls and told her, eh?"

Paul blushed and it was my turn to gape at them, "You know?"

Lee smirked at me smugly, "Of course I know; I know everything. That and I rock."

I turned to Paul incredulously, "How did he manage to keep it to himself?"

"He didn't." Paul said, glaring at Lee, "After I told him he accidentally blurted it out to some random. That's basically how I got the nick name."

"So what exactly have you told her?" Lee inquired, dropping down onto a seat.

"About the legends, imprinting and that I'm a werewolf." Paul responded, taking the dishes over to the sink.

I looked between the two; was there more to the story. I noticed Paul giving Lee a worried look and I wondered what else he had to tell me. "Just spit it out, Paul." I said at last, sick of the glances that were shared between the two.

He sighed, "Technically I ran away from home."

"You ran away from home?" I said, looking at him doubtfully.

"I'd never thought that I would be able to go to uni." Paul began, "I'd already asked Sam whether I would be able to go to university and he'd told me no."

"So?" I asked, not seeing the big deal.

"Sam's the alpha of the pack; if he uses the alpha command then we have to do as he said. I was just lucky that he never used that to forbid me from going to uni. So when I found out that I had gotten a scholarship my parents organised a way for me to get out without them knowing. I didn't phase so they couldn't hear my thoughts."

"Read your thoughts?"

"It's a werewolf thing." He shrugged, "Anyway when I got here I went to...er...anger management." He admitted reluctantly, "Ever since I became a werewolf I've been angry. Well I used to be angry." He said with a shrug. "I can control it now. I only phase every now and then to keep from aging."

"Keep from aging?" I repeated faintly.

He looked at me sheepishly, "Did I leave that detail out?" I gave him a weak nod, "Well, er, phasing keeps us from aging. When we stop phasing, and I mean completely stop, we begin to age again."

"So when will you begin to age again?" I questioned.

"When your about twenty five." He told me reassuringly, "We wait for our imprints so we can age with them."

I sank down with relief, smiling up at him and yawning. I ignored the two while they talked, lying back on Paul's bed and curling up. The day had left me exhausted, my exam and then the news about Paul had left me emotionally and mentally drained. I was dating a werewolf; I was the soul mate of a werewolf. It wasn't something that a girl expected to hear, wasn't something anyone expected to hear about.

But I loved him; and that's all that matters to me.

A/N thanks for all the reviews; keep them coming! Read and review and tell me what you think of the chapter.