A/N: Bella's thought process is not always coherent. If it sounds redundant, it probably is. Kudos to my beta, ShadowPast620 and wolfy hugs&kisses to my reviewers.
Several times throughout the night, Bella would sit straight up, wide awake and breathing heavily in fear. She was alone and on the couch, but the area around her felt warm, like the Paul man had been there. He wasn't, though.
By the third awakening, Bella pushed aside the fuzzy blanket to get up. Her hands froze when it became apparent that this wasn't the blanket from her bed, but the one she had left outside in the backpack. If he had found the bag, that meant he had found the food, too. Her gulp of apprehension was almost audible in the dark living room.
She warred with her desire to get up and find something to eat, the idea of having lost a future meal making her stomach grumble in protest. She could go without eating for days, a lifestyle born from years of making do when need be. What she couldn't understand was the occasional desperation she felt when a food source was lost or taken from her. Her tummy would cramp and tighten, more so than on the days when she was still searching for something to eat. There was something inherently devastating about losing a meal just within her grasp and nothing Bella thought or did could tame the cramping.
Trying to ignore the other obvious problem, her misplaced but found blanket, Bella got off the couch to head to the kitchen. She couldn't remember when she had eaten last, although she must have had something. Her stomach felt hollow, but it wasn't tugging at her in pain. Maybe she could snag a piece of bread?
If she could find it.
The kitchen was just as dark as the rest of the house and Bella bumped into a few corners and cabinets until she was certain she was in the right room. Trailing her fingers along the countertops, she paused at the side of the fridge. Was this where the bread would be?
It seemed like a logical choice since she knew he kept most of the food here except the cans and boxed stuff. Bella jumped in surprise when the door seal gave a funny huff, cold air escaping outward and the kitchen lighting up from the open door. Looking back towards the doorway, she wanted to make sure the light wasn't attracting the attention of the Paul man.
When he didn't appear, Bella went back to looking in the fridge. There wasn't any bread; there was hardly anything in there. Her tummy didn't seem to care that the pickings were slim and in desperation she grabbed a slice of cheese, her hands shaking as the plastic wrapping sounded loud to her ears when she unwrapped the yellowish orange square.
Bella had no idea that the Paul man was watching her, silently and out of view from her. When she shut the fridge and the light dissipated, she hungrily chewed and swallowed the food. She could have used some more pieces to ease her aching tummy, but was worried that she would be caught or that the food would be missed if too many pieces vanished.
Satisfied that she would be okay until tomorrow, Bella padded back to the living room frowning at the couch. The Paul man had gone to so much trouble to get her a bed and yet she was more comfortable on the couch? She felt like she was being rude somehow, choosing to sleep on the couch rather than the bed.
The minutes clicked by slowly as Bella debated crawling back onto the couch. Never once did she notice the lingering shadow of the man desperate for her to pick a place to sleep. He had no idea of her internal debate, but refused to move for fear of scaring her. The only sign of relief came from two different forms for two different reasons. Bella finally chose the couch to resume sleeping; stretching lengthwise into the back cushions for comfort. She breathed deeply into the land of slumber, unaware that the Paul man's scent lulled her body into comfort.
Paul waited anxiously for his mate to sleep, trembling with unease at being unable to comfort her normally. When her breathing indicated she was truly unaware of his presence, he crept back to the edge of the couch, easing in alongside his mate and placing a protective arm over her waist.
For reasons Paul refused to elaborate on, he was sickened. His urchin had never slept well and often awoke, but he had never seen her pillage for food. He knew damn well he had made dinner for them and the wolf within howled mournfully that its mate had not eaten her full share. His last coherent thoughts were of how to make sure she ate enough, and if not, wasn't scared to eat whatever she wanted, later.
*&%$
Bella woke up once again on the couch, ignorant of last night's fridge trip. She didn't mind waking up here since it was further away from windows than the bed the Paul man had gotten her and with its plushy back, she could almost pretend it was similar to a cubby hole…except more comfortable. A sound of irritation caused her head to jerk towards the kitchen suddenly.
"Yeah, well, his fucking ass shouldn't have gotten that close to her. I swear to fuck, if you don't put his sorry ass on a leash when it comes to Urchin then I will. Preferably wrapped tightly around his neck and hanging from a tree!" The Paul man's voice grew in anger.
Cringing, Bella wondered if he was talking to the bear's owner. Nothing bad had happened, but the Paul man obviously didn't like animals if he wanted to hurt it.
"Apologize, my ass! If he wants a fucking apology, his sorry ass can trot on over here and deliver one to Urchin for scaring her….No! She didn't say she was scared, but what the fuck do you think she felt? Giddiness?"
Scrunching her face, Bella tried to follow the conversation. Did the Paul man think her bear friend could tell her it was sorry for appearing in his yard? That made no sense whatsoever. Obviously she was only hearing parts of the conversation and lacked the knowledge of exactly what he was talking about.
"And what the fuck are you going to do about it, Uley? Command my ass to say I'm fucking sorry? I'm not, you know…..HA! Even your girl thinks he should've stayed away…"
Uley? Bella thought she had heard that word before, but maybe not. Sitting up fully, she tried to lean towards the area the Paul man appeared to be in, hoping to hear more of what he was saying. Unfortunately his voice dropped and she could no longer figure out what the conversation was about. She did hear when he finally let out another stream of bad words before a snap could be heard; probably his phone closing.
When Bella realized the Paul man wasn't making any noise to tell her what was going on, she decided to see for herself. He had been scary last night and she needed to make sure her presence was still welcome. Pulling the blanket away from her, she froze.
This was the blanket she had left outside, in the backpack hidden in a bush and yet, it was now back inside. Her fear sky-rocketed to the point that she almost didn't want to leave the safety of the couch. Would he yell at her? Call her a thief like she rightly deserved? The sharp tingling sound of metal snapping coming from the kitchen startled her. She felt bad for stealing and maybe if he was angry enough, she could give him a parting gift of thanks by speaking.
She folded her blanket and left it perched on the couch before cautiously ambling to the kitchen. She would let him hit her if need be, but she still wasn't looking forward to it. Maybe all of those times the demons had called her stupid were correct. Why else would someone of her size and stature accept a punishment she had spent most of her life trying to avoid?
Peering around the corner, Bella watched as the Paul man stood leaning over the sink. His shoulders looked slumped and tired as if he hadn't slept very well. She hadn't either, not really. During the night she had awoken several times from dreams of being transported back to the cold and unforgiving Underground. Mentally shrugging, she assumed it had something to do with her anxiety over the blanket and nothing else.
When the Paul man moved away from the sink, she froze, wondering if she should have made a noise to let him know she was there.
"Good morning, Urchin," he mumbled, giving her a quick glance before opening the fridge to stare inside. "There aren't any more eggs. We'll definitely have to go shopping today, but for now we can just eat some cereal, okay?"
Bella continued to watch silently as he slammed the milk on the counter and then opened a cabinet to remove a box of food.
"Cereal is a pretty shitty breakfast, I know, but it's better than nothi…What the fuck is this shit and how the hell did I miss it when I unpacked the bags?" The Paul man said, abruptly changing subjects and causing Bella to flinch away.
"He must have had Nadine with him, cause I know sure as shit that Jake wouldn't choose this gruel." Holding the box up for her inspection, the Paul man waited for her to make some type of indication as he shook a bright yellow colored box. "It's Cheerios; the shitty kind minus any flavoring like honey nut or apple cinnamon," he continued to complain.
Still not knowing why this might be important, Bella could only give him a wide eyed look which must have been a good thing because his face softened as he dropped the box on the counter.
"It's okay, Urchin. We can put extra sugar on this crap and when we go shopping later on, we'll buy something chocolate and unhealthy. Maybe even something with chocolate and marshmallows, for good measure."
The idea of food shopping seemed to make the Paul man happy and for once, Bella thought she could understand. It must be a very joyful experience to know that you could walk into a store and buy whatever pleased you because you had money to pay for it and no one would yell, or throw things at you, or threaten to call the police if you didn't leave immediately. The more she fantasized, the happier Bella got, too. The clothes shopping thing hadn't gone as planned, but this time the Paul man had already said they'd be walking together at all times so she could help him pick stuff out.
Bella didn't plan to make more than a couple of choices and probably not even real choices when it came to buying food. She would watch the Paul man and see what he liked or didn't like. If something really stuck out for her, she could always use the hover hand thing, watching his face closely for signs of approval or displeasure.
Mostly, though, Bella was just excited at the idea of being in a store filled with nothing but food. The Paul man might even let her push the cart a few times so she could pretend to be a normal person who had the means and ability to shop whenever they liked.
She tried to smile to brightly when Paul poured the cereal into two bowls and then sprinkled sugar on it. She did wilt slightly once the milk was poured. If luck continued to remain on her side, he wouldn't notice when she ate her cereal quickly by hand to avoid most of the milk and snag some of pieces to store away for later safe keeping.
He didn't need to say anything else when heading for the dining room, Bella trailing after him to sit in the same seat she had been. Her luck got even better once he placed both bowls down and then returned to the kitchen to make coffee. The minute she heard the water running, Bella scooped up a handful of her cereal that was floating on top and barely soggy. She also made a daring move to do the same to the his; taking the drier pieces to stash away and replacing the one missing from his bowl with soggy finger-full's from her own.
When the Paul man came back into the room, Bella hastened to pick up her spoon and try to use it to eat what was left of her cereal and avoid the milk.
"Urchin…did you really eat all of that?" he asked, setting a mug down next to her and then sitting in his own chair.
Guiltily she looked up, wondering if her attempt at being stealthy was about to backfire again. Trying to look at him directly while also eyeing his own bowl, Bella was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to tell it had been replaced.
"Do you want more?" he asked, picking up his own spoon to eat a few bites and then frowning. "That's fucking nasty," he complained after swallowing the first bite.
Bella's eyes dropped back to her own bowl, waiting for him to call her out on the exchange, her hand already inching towards the sweater pocket that held a good handful of Cheerios.
"Never mind, Urchin. We'll just eat lunch earlier than normal to make up for this crap. I wouldn't force this shit on a starving person if they paid me," Paul remarked casually, missing her flinch as he continued to grimace with every bite he ate.
It took a few minutes of silence before he cleared his throat. "Shit. That came out wrong, Urchin. I'm really sorry if my comment hurt your feelings, okay?"
Bella gave him a small smile as an unnecessary acceptance. He hadn't hurt her feelings at all. She knew if a person was starving they probably didn't have any money. The Paul man may not like the taste of the cereal, but they weren't bad…if she could avoid the milk.
Slurping her coffee, Bella wondered if he expected her to eat everything in the bowl considering the size. These weren't like the soup kitchen Styrofoam dishes: normal sized, only half filled and even then she was never able to scrape it clean on the few lucky occasions she had managed to arrive at meal times. What she wasn't wondering about was the Paul man's own feelings of guilt and his voice caused her to halt.
"So as long as I'm apologizing…about last night…" Trailing off, he waited until Bella looked up from her mug.
Last night had been weird, but he had nothing to apologize for. She had gone outside without permission and he had learned about it. The fault obviously lay with her. However, the Paul man felt differently.
"Look, Urchin, I'm not good with this shit, but I felt like a fucking skid stain for yelling at you like that. I was angry and…" Dropping his voice, the Paul man was whispering. "I wasn't thinking rationally and I really fucking hope you'll forgive me?"
Immediately, Bella began to shake her head, not understanding why he was saying sorry and worried this was the beginning to a goodbye. She had once again failed to let him know she was okay with what had been happening; that it was really her fault and he didn't need to feel bad about her mistakes.
"Urchin…I just…fuck!" Paul stood up suddenly to reposition himself in front of her, on his knees and clasping her hands. "I'm so fucking sorry if I scared you, or hurt your feelings, or made you feel bad. I know I can be an asshole, but I swear, I'd never fucking hurt you. Never!"
He wasn't crying, but Bella was. She didn't know why he felt so emotional about her feelings, his own raw and exposed for her to see, and that saddened her. She, Bella, was a simple riff-raff waif, an urchin from the Underground and did not deserve to have things explained. She wanted to stay and make him happy for being so nice, regardless if it meant she had to leave sooner or later.
With no words she could speak or write, Bella pulled one of her hands away gently and ran it across the bridge of his nose, letting her fingers rest on his lips.
"Please, Urchin, I…" the Paul man tried to explain, but Bella knew it wasn't necessary. She pressed her fingers against his lips to prevent him from speaking. She was okay with the way he needed to act, the yelling, screaming and scariness, too.
Bella had never willingly kissed another person even though she had been kissed and mauled multiple times and yet, something about the warm flesh of his lips pressed against her fingers allowed for the movement to lean forward, drop her fingers and press her own lips against his.
Paul's mind stalled, sputtered and then gave out when his Urchin pressed her fingers against his lips. Her hands weren't soft, calloused and peeling from the abuse of living on the streets, yet nothing could have compared to the emotional intent behind the action. His faulty imprint was trying to share herself and both Paul and the wolf greedily drank at the offering.
As the neurons began to sluggishly reengage, he thought it was a goodbye. This was it, his girl had finally had enough and despite his apology, she wanted to leave. Paul didn't want to be some caveman dick that had to keep his woman locked up for her own good. He also sure as hell didn't want her to flounce away over a fucked up incident that was more than likely to happen again but didn't mean he was angry at her!
Eyes wide open, Paul could see every feature of the woman he was destined to be with, inching towards him slowly, but fast enough to scatter his thoughts again. She was going to scream; she was going to spit; she was going to bite him; she was going to try and motherfucking head-butt him and even with the knowledge he deserved all of that and then some, her lips pressed against his.
Paul had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do! This wasn't erotic or kinky. She wasn't kissing him in a lustful fervor, or in the hopes of getting off. Her pale, chapped lips pressed tightly against his fuller ones as a way to honestly communicate her acceptance of Paul, the man.
The wolf was there, under the skin and it vibrated in gleeful excitement. Impatient to consummate the bond, it, too, knew this was a positive step in the right direction. Remaining hidden inside of Paul until further steps could be made didn't bother it one fucking bit and Paul finally relaxed.
Accepting the soft pressure, he returned the gesture, dropping her other hand to wrap his arms around her and pull forward. It was kind of awkward, her back partially hunched over to reach his mouth and kneeling form, however, short of a leech magically appearing in the same room, Paul was not about to bitch.
Being gentle as he moved his lips over hers was a move he had experienced many times with other chicks and Paul damn well knew what the hell he was doing and how to make it count. Somewhere in the back of his mind, there was a shitty voice telling him he needed to remember to…
Urchin's lips parted slightly and any mental pondering shit disappeared as Paul gave all of his control over to his hands that reached for her head and his lips and tongue which plunged into her mouth. If werewolf hunting speed was fast paced, it couldn't even begin to hold a candle against werewolf arousal speed.
Positioned this close, literally inside part of his girl, Paul was finally in fucking Heaven! She was calm, collected, had instigated the move and seemed to be not only fully cognizant, but eager to participate considering she had opened her mouth.
He tried not to reel back in panic when the taste of her fear vibrated slightly against his own plundering lips. It wasn't overwhelming or heavy, only a slight acidic tang that began to mar her presence, but it was enough to break through his own euphoria of happiness and end the kissing.
Pulling away, he hovered mere centimeters away from her face, cataloguing the look to memory. Her features were mostly blank with a hint of embarrassment and Paul mentally sighed in relief that he hadn't completely fucked this up. He also wasn't cocky enough to ignore the fact that he would fuck up, but this was at least a goddamn start in the right fucking direction for once.
"Urchin, I really hope that was your acceptance of my apology and if it was, I'd be happy to say sorry like that for a few more hours," Paul said, hoping she'd give a physical sign of being able to handle this, whatever it was, changing between them.
In a way, he supposed, she had, as he watched her sit back, not cowering or fidgeting…much. She was looking at the ground, barely breathing and Paul struggled to make sense of what else he should say. He wanted to tell her this shit was normal; kissing him for whatever reason she wished and if he had been a pansy douche like that, he probably would've have. Instead, he took one last stare at her, stood up and offered his hand again.
"Come on, Urchin. We should get ready to go food shopping." His girl still refused to look up, but at least she didn't pull away when he ushered her to her room to change.
In her room, alone, Bella tried to understand what had taken place between her and the Paul man. After days of being careful and trying to protect herself, she had followed some weird feeling in her chest that told her to comfort him and he had responded.
She couldn't deny that the kissing had been pleasant even though she felt awkward for starting it. The Paul man wasn't like any of the other people she had come in contact with: men who started their actions violently and usually left in the same fashion as she lay somewhere trying not to cry out loud.
Bella tried to squish the feelings of hopefulness welling up in her chest. The Paul man was just that, a man, and sooner or later he would show his true colors and hurt her in an unforgivable way. Again, Bella knew she didn't want to be hurt, but she had nothing to offer for this man's niceness. Nothing, except the allowance for him to do as he pleased.
Bella knew her life was on a short time frame. Street rats rarely lived very long, the demons had told her that many times. And while she didn't want to die in pain and agony, the small amounts of happiness and relief the Paul man offered outweighed the amounts of despair and torture he was sure to eventually inflict.
Slowly and robotically, she changed her clothes, choosing one of the nice outfits he had purchased for her without payment. Detaching from her thoughts and feelings, Bella retreated back to simple survival mode where it was non-confusing and quiet. The place where life happened and Bella could observe as a bystander and not a participant.
Grocery shopping to Paul was like any other mundane chore on the planet. You grabbed a cart, trudged up and down numerous cramped aisles and put shit in it, nothing special. Having his urchin go with him didn't change that aspect one fucking bit. It was, however, way fucking different than he expected.
He grabbed a metal cart –predictably the loudest, squeakiest shitter that needed oil—and started in the produce section for reasons his mind balked at. This crap was basically useless to his metabolism and aside from the occasional added flavor certain things gave, like onions or peppers, he tried to avoid the section.
His urchin was trailing behind him like a snail, a nervous about-to-freak-the-fuck-out-at-any-second snail.
"I don't usually eat any of this crap, but feel free to get whatever you want, okay, Urchin?" he told her, not wanting to rush this shit, but he sure as hell didn't want to spend half an hour debating over the pros and cons of cabbage versus lettuce.
Apparently she held similar beliefs because Urchin didn't reach for any goddamn thing, constantly looking at him and then back to their surroundings as if she had never done this shit before.
"Look," Paul explained, stopping the cart to turn around and face his girl after five minutes of walking and the cart still being empty. "I'm gonna grab some fruit and if you don't want it, just shake your head."
His urchin neither shook nor nodded her head at his words, the situation quickly became a fucked up game as Paul decided to deliberately add some of everything he came across: bananas, oranges, tangerines, apples, pears, berries…he stopped from throwing in a pack of both blueberries and raspberries. Those fuckers were a bit expensive and if she really wanted them, he'd get it, but only if he knew for a fact she would eat them.
"Do you have a preference, Urchin?" he asked holding both containers in front of her. She stared at the plastic crates and then flung her eyes up to look at him before dropping to look at the fruit again. "I don't care either way and if you want both, we can get them, but you haven't said no yet and I find it hard to believe that everything is your favorite."
It was the slowest fucking motion he had ever watched, her hand lifting centimeters at a time and creeping forward still wavering between the two. Finally she briefly touched the blueberries, yanked her hand away and then looked up to see what he thought. Paul just smiled.
"The blueberries are the ones you want?" he asked for clarification. A quick nod and he dropped them into the cart. "What about the other shit in there? If you want it, it's yours, but I'm gonna be pissed if that shit spoils cause you don't eat it."
The scene repeated itself: His girl moving slow as fuck to briefly tap against the apples he had thrown in. "You don't want apples?" He questioned, an odd expression flashing quickly across both of their faces as he removed the bag. "That's fine. What about the oranges and tangerines, or the pears?"
Paul was again surprised when she seemed to want to keep the citrus, but indicated for the Bartlett pears to go and then three steps away hovered near the Anjou pears. He had no idea how she would know the difference in taste between the two and shrugged it off as unimportant weirdness.
His girl didn't seem to be much of a decision maker and Paul finally found it was easier to just shop as he normally did and wait for her to either point to something different or shake her head altogether. Neither happened unless Paul goaded the issue.
Urchin turned a little peaked when he grabbed for the raw hamburger, steaks and chicken, eliciting another round of 'Do you like this/want this' and her just obsessively agreeing to everything without really looking at what he was talking about.
The entire fifteen minutes of choosing meat left Paul irritated and grumpy. Obviously she didn't like it, but refused to say so. He knew she wasn't a vegetarian, having happily consumed meatballs, sausage, meats on the pizza and ham sandwiches over the last few days. What the hell was going on?
He was beyond distracted in the cereal aisle and made his choices based on what looked the unhealthiest. Urchin didn't even twitch.
The junk food aisle once again surprised the shit out of Paul. Not only did his girl seem to hover in front of every damn brand of cookie, he would've sworn her eyes glowed in excitement when it came to the containers of individual servings.
After nearly two hours, Paul was ready to drop to his knees and pray in thankfulness this expedition was finally fucking over as they made their way to the checkout lane. That feeling was quickly cut short.
"Hey, Paul," a voice called out, causing his girl to quickly turn around to face the speaker, but also to position herself behind him. The wolf within both grinned in triumph over its mate trusting him to protect her and snarled in anger that someone was causing her to freak.
"Jack," Paul acknowledged the greeter, dropping his right arm from the cart to wrap around his girl behind him. She may not have relaxed when his fingers brushed against her spine, but the wolf was at least tempered. Slightly.
"Haven't seen you in awhile. How's it going?" the stranger greeted Paul, hyperaware of the female he was trying to hide.
"Good. Been busy," Paul answered in short, clipped words, hoping to hell the guy would suddenly vanish. He wasn't claustrophobic, but damned if the walls didn't feel like they were closing in on him!
"Yeah…I can see that," Jack trailed off, observing the girl practically glued to the area's Play Boy. "Amber was over at our usual hang out a couple of weeks ago. Man, if I were you, I'd stay clear of her. She seems to think you used her."
"Probably," Paul agreed without a care in the world. "She knew what it was about before we hooked up and when the fun was over, she thought we'd move on to a different stage."
"Uh huh," Jack agreed still eyeing Paul's urchin. The chick wasn't Paul's usual type, this one being all innocent and clingy and Jack figured he had moved on to a new type of play thing. She was attractive enough for Paul's tastes, but something felt off. "You gonna introduce me?"
What the fuck was Paul supposed to say? Jack didn't know about the tribe's secret and he sure as hell wouldn't understand the concept even if he were to explain imprinting. Paul wasn't ashamed of his girl and he sure as hell had no intentions of keeping her hidden from the world, but he did have a fucked up reputation and most would just assume she was his new sex candy.
"She's my roommate," Paul blurted out in desperation. It was kind of true, although outside of the pack, no one would believe that Urchin was only a roommate.
Jack hooted in amusement. "You're renting out part of your pad? That sounds crazy as shit and not at all like you, Lahote."
"She's a family friend," Paul explained, mixing half truths and lies. His pack was kind of like family and Urchin would definitely be a friend to them, Leah already thought of the girl as a sister. "She needed a change of scenery and I offered to let her stay with me," forever, but Jack didn't need to know that shit.
"Well since she's living here, can I at least know her name?" Jack asked before trying to lean around Paul and sticking out his hand. "Hi. Name's Jack and you are?"
Paul could feel the terror of his imprint blasting against his backside and had to swallow several times before he flipped the fuck out and began screaming at the douche for scaring her shitless. "She goes by Arial, but right now we need to go back home. She has a sore throat and talking makes it worse." God, the lies were getting shittier by the second. "I'm sure I'll see you around," Paul hastened to end the conversation.
Had Paul been able to read Jack's thoughts, he probably would've lost the fight of his wolf's anger. Jack had an incorrect, but plausible idea as to why Arial had a sore throat.
"Yeah, okay, Lahote. Go take care of your roommate. I'll make sure to tell Amber the next time I run into her that she has been duly and notably replaced." With a final sleazy wink, Jack sauntered off, mentally chuckling over the luckiness Lahote seemed to achieve all the damn time when it came to females.
Paul waited until they were back in the jeep before trying to talk to his girl. "Shit, Urchin, I'm fucking sorry about that asswipe. I went to school with him and sometimes we'd see each other at a nearby bar I used to visit. Amber, though, is not an issue. I dumped her ass weeks ago and have no interest in her whatsoever."
Still hunched in on herself with her head bowed, Paul struggled to think of what he could say to make this shit right. Obviously she was pissed about the idea of him being with another chick and that he could understand. The fact that she had been frightened at Jack's approach and not his conversation regarding someone she had never met, completely slipped by his notice.
"Let's just get the fuck out of here, okay?" Paul more explained than asked as he started his jeep. With one final glance at his huddling girl, he took off for home. Aside from the kiss, this was turning into shit-filled day.
Except for the kiss.
She had initiated that shit on her own and Paul figured since it hadn't been out of fear, and she had already shown a willingness for sex in general, his relationship wasn't quite as damaged as he had first suspected.
Paul Lahote was no fucking Romeo, but that kiss had been poetry all on its own!
After putting all their crap away and Paul taking extra time to make sure Urchin helped, so she would know where to find everything, he tried to convince his girl to share something about herself. It wasn't like he could ask thought provoking questions –not like he really knew what fucking good it would do if she had readily available answers anyways—but he was kind of tired of not doing anything fun.
He did feel like a retard asking his girl if she had any hobbies she enjoyed, although what was he supposed to do? After sitting at the table for twenty minutes, drumming his fingers and muttering undecipherable phrases, inspiration struck. However, his girl also chose at that moment to yawn widely, her eyes drooping sleepily.
Any ideas he had were immediately put on the back burner and Paul decided to encourage his girl back to her room, knowing she'd probably curl up in bed to nap. Trying to sound sincere as fuck, Paul faked his own yawn, choosing at the last minute to raise a fist and cover his mouth.
"I don't know about you, Urchin, but I could go for a nap. Do you mind if I saw some zee's for a bit?" Paul asked, trying to hunch his frame and look sleepy, too.
Bleary eyed, she raised her head to shake a 'no'. Prodding was unnecessary when she stumbled up and out of her chair to walk to her room. Paul had to grip his chair to keep from following. He wasn't tired enough to need a nap, but the idea of a midday cud...comfort session, made his wolf yelp in glee.
His urchin fell asleep quickly, both comforting and worrying Paul as he listened to the tell tale signs of her breathing indicating she was no longer awake. Last night she had spent more time in a zoned state of mind rather than awake or asleep, and that bothered him more than he liked. He felt like shit for scaring her, shittier still for the reason that had caused him to react. If it weren't for the light of day, he would have happily crawled into her room to be close to his mate.
Instead, Paul forced himself to resituate himself in the living room, slightly dozing, but mostly contemplating ways to make his girl open up and trust him completely.
The bang of the front door opening caused Paul to drop his feet from the coffee table, a look of disgust on his face when Collin, Denise and Leah barged into the place like they fucking owned it.
"Collin you have about ten damn seconds to find a safe spot for the imprints before I tear you a new one," he spat out lowly, sitting on the edge of the couch and ready to launch.
"Where's your girl?" Leah barked out in a no nonsense fashion, waving off Collin as he moved to stand protectively in front of them. As an imprint, Leah didn't really hold control over any of the wolves, but as the Alpha's imprint, she was able to somewhat manipulate the younger ones in her favor.
"She's taking a nap," Paul said, glaring at Leah. "For how long will depend on your ability to keep your loud ass mouth shut when you prance back to never-never-wherever-the-fuck-you-came-from land."
"I told you we should've called," Denise whispered to Leah. She wasn't exactly scared, not with her man nearby, but Paul looked more pissed off than he usually did.
"Yes, you should've," Paul agreed before turning to give the other wolf a sinister look. "Collin? Remove imprints? Prepare for ass kicking? Remember?"
"Shove off, Paul," Leah spat out in a quieter voice than she had been using. "You don't own Arial. We've come to visit."
"I'm so sorry," Paul mocked in false sweetness. "Visiting hours for the imaginary mermaid do not exist."
"And she wouldn't be imaginary if you'd let us visit. Look!" A plastic binder hit the coffee table in front of Paul, Leah grinning triumphantly.
"If Nadine found a mermaid to take fake pictures of, I'm not buying it," Paul replied, pushing the binder away.
"Those aren't fish pictures, you dick," Leah huffed out in exasperation. "They're names."
"What the fuck did you do? Print out missing persons reports?" Paul asked, wondering if his Alpha's mate had finally flipped her lid. The untouched folder in front of him had at least a hundred pages to it.
"Oh, for the love of…" bending over Leah grabbed the untouched binder to open. "These are possible names of your imprint. At least, ones she could have and first names only."
"That's a lot of fucking names," Paul remarked hollowly. "Did you print out a book of every goddamn name in the world?"
Leah gave Denise a knowing smirk before turning back to scowl and address Paul. "Sort of. Denise was at Emily's house last night when I stopped by and they were looking up baby names and it had a search engine to narrow down names by nationality."
"And what?" Paul asked, unimpressed by the effort of the imprints. "Did the Magic 8-ball suddenly reveal what nationality Urchin is? I gotta say, I'm pretty fucking sure she's American."
"No, we based our search on physical traits. I mean, clearly Arial isn't Latino or of Native American descent."
"But she is American, the melting pot of everything. This is stupid." Reclining back into the couch, Paul continued to glare at Collin for allowing this interruption of his already fucked up day.
"No, it isn't and it's all we have." Picking up the binder, Leah began to flip through the pages again, skimming the hundreds of names that could really be Arial's. Good god, the poor girl owned nothing. The very least they could do was give her back her real name. Paul, the ass, apparently missed the significance of such a gift!
"Leah, by your rationale that would mean my name would be Angry Bear or some shit and yours would be Bottomless Trench of Nagging since we are Native American. In case you've fucking forgot, though, our names are regular, run of the mill, Christianized ones."
"Help us narrow it down then," she barked back, tired of Paul's stupidity.
"HOW?" He yelled, lurching forward once again to stare at Leah.
"Sit her down and read one name starting with every letter. You're a wolf, use your senses. Even if the name isn't the right one, her hearing the letter her real name begins with should alter her emotionally somehow."
"Yes, they would, Paul agreed sarcastically. "Just like when I call you a tramp do-gooder, your heart beat picks up in anger. This is pointless."
"It's only pointless because you won't even try. Why are you such an ass? I swear to god, it's like you don't even care! 'Urchin' seems to fit your fucked up ideas of what a relationship should be like. If you'd just take a few damn minutes-"
Paul stopped listening to Leah's lunatic ramblings when he heard his girl start to move about in the other room. Damn it! She had only been sleeping for less than an hour and these bozos were pissing all over Urchin's sleep parade. If he moved quickly enough, he might be able to distract Urchin either into falling back asleep or until the rest of the pack Muppets left unnoticed.
Collin, who had been trying to comfort Denise, stopped whispering as he, too, picked up on the sound of the urchin waking. His priority shifted back into protection as he caught Paul's tensing form. That wolf was close to exploding and too close to innocent imprints to do it safely.
When the audible sound of feet touching the floor reached the wolves, Paul snapped at Leah. "Now you've done it, Nancy Drew, she's awake. Are you happy?"
"Deliriously so," Leah gloated, standing up to walk quickly towards Arial's bedroom and leaving Collin to deal with the irritated moron whining about his urchin being woken up.
"Go with her," Collin urged Denise as he watched Paul's wolf ripple beneath his skin. His girl didn't need a second reminder. Without a backward glance at Lahote, she took off after Leah. Assuming Paul's imprint was like him, Denise would be okay having Leah on her side.
"What the fuck has gotten into you, Littlesea?" Paul spat, standing up to approach the other man. "You come barging in here with two imprints trailing after you like a safety net and think I'm just gonna let it slide?"
"Ease back, Paul," Collin instructed, trying to sound more intimidating than his backwards moving feet made him out to be. "We had no idea your girl would be napping and when Leah said she was heading over to your place, I figured you'd appreciate the company as well."
"Do I look like I'm in need of your company? Or anyone else's? I'm trying to get to know my girl, here, and having the pack over to sing Elmo's ABC's to guess at her name isn't fucking helping!"
"Agreed," Collin placated, trying to keep Paul from taking a swing at him. "But we're all excited to meet her and welcome her to the pack. Leah talks nonstop about Arial-" at Paul's deepening scowl, Collin decided he probably shouldn't assume it was okay to call her that. "Well, umm, Leah talks about your girl all the time and it's really exciting. Don't get mad because we all want to see you happy."
If Collin thought he made any headway towards finding Paul Lahote's heart, he was greatly mistaken. It wasn't his boyish smile that caused Lahote to veer away suddenly and head to the bedroom, it was the panicky rasping Arial was making.
In the less than three seconds it took for both wolves to enter the room, a million thoughts flashed through Collin's mind: Was the girl okay? Could he possibly save both Denise and Leah before Paul's temper went furry? Sam was probably going to kill both him and Paul once this was over, assuming anyone was left alive to talk.
He tried to shield the girls once he passed through the door, taking stock of the 'threat' currently huddled over the small female on the bed, talking in a soothing voice Collin would've have sworn he had never heard come from Lahote's mouth before!
"Urchin? Come on, you're okay. It was just a dream," Paul tried to explain to his terrified imprint. Goddamn, but he was fucking angry at the dimwits hovering around the room and their misguided attempts to help her causing the exact opposite.
He didn't know precisely what had occurred. Back in the living room, he had heard Leah greet Urchin and ask her something about playing a game at which point Urchin's heart rate had taken off. Paul knew he was a short fused bitch, but he also knew neither of the other two imprints had touched his girl.
He kept Urchin pressed against his chest, trying to nuzzle against her and keep her shielded from the others. It was her that pulled away first, blinking up at him in total confusion.
"You okay?" Paul asked, moving away to sit next to her as Urchin looked around his frame. She froze at the sight of Collin, time ticking by noticeably before she registered the two girls behind him.
Leah took a step towards 'Arial', but Denise took one closer to Collin. She had never seen a person look so mentally broken and she was confused; the wolf-imprint bond they all thought they knew, rocked off kilter by this huddled mass on the bed.
"Sorry about that, Arial," Leah said once she was close enough to touch Bella's shoulder. "We didn't mean to scare you. Are you okay?"
Four sets of eyes bored into Bella and for reasons she couldn't understand. When Leah had walked in and spoke, she had heard the monster's voice asking about playing a game. Looking at the walls behind the faces currently staring at her, Bella knew she wasn't in the Underground. This room was bright with daylight; not damp and mildewed where the screaming could bounce back at you.
Bella didn't know Collin and Denise, therefore she wasn't as concerned about them as she was Leah, the lady who had shown her kindness. She wanted to stand up and hug the Leah lady, but the words from earlier still echoed in her mind and she couldn't do it.
Leah really wanted to spend some time with Arial to help her tell them her real name. It wasn't an absolute necessity that they do it right then and there and after several more tension filled minutes of no one moving or speaking, she made the next move.
"Again, Arial, I'm sorry we startled you so much," Leah explained before pointing out the other couple. "That's Collin and Denise. All of us are friends and hang out a lot and I thought you might like to meet some more people." Pausing, Leah wondered what else she could say to make the awkwardness go away.
Apparently, Paul had decided it was enough. "Alright, you guys figured out how to get in here, I'm sure you'll have no trouble leaving." Pointing to the door, he didn't have to wait long as Collin ushered Denise out and Leah trailed behind them, looking anything but happy.
He could give two shits about Leah's happiness; that was all Sam's problem. The sound of the front door closely was all the incentive Paul needed to turn his full attention back to his urchin. Thank fuck she seemed calmer now.
"That was weird, huh, Urchin?" Paul joked when his girl turned to stare at him impassively. "Don't worry. I'll have a talk with the rest of my friends and make sure they don't come over like that again without calling first."
He didn't want to give his girl a chance to rethink the events of the day and in one move, both were standing, Paul gently pulling his confused urchin behind him as he walked back out past the living room and to the hall closet.
"It's not the best of weather," he explained, flinging open the closet and reaching in to grab her shoes, "but there aren't many good weather days here to begin with. I've found you outside a few times and figure by now you're cabin-fucking-fevered-crazy. We're gonna go for a walk."
Neither expecting nor receiving a fight, Paul kneeled down to put her shoes on, tugging at the laces to make sure they were secure but not death tight. With her coat on the tip of his finger, he walked back to where his own boots lay and passed the coat to its owner while he laced his own shoes.
Once they were in the backyard, Urchin's demeanor relaxed when the couple headed away from the area she had previously visited. Paul knew she'd be a wreck if he took her to the spot his girl had claimed as her own, outside solitude. He also knew that side of the house held thicker plant life and would make strolling difficult.
"Do you like it out here, Urchin?" Paul asked, trying to contain his inner giddiness from holding her hand. The bitch of a wolf he had within wasn't helping matters either, constantly replaying the kiss and projecting ludicrous thoughts that he could lift her hand, kiss the palm and work his way back to her lips.
The fucking pansy!
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Urchin nod once, just barely and then glanced up at him as if it was the wrong answer. Still smiling with the idea of getting to kiss her again, Paul nodded also.
"Yeah, I like it out here, too. I'm sorry I didn't think of it sooner or I would've suggested this from the beginning," he commented, leaning over to grab Urchin's waist when she stumbled on an exposed root.
Dropping both hands from her waist once the danger passed, he went back to holding her hand. They walked for nearly a mile, the distance meaning nothing to Paul and the fact that it might be tiring his urchin only a minor bother. If need be, he'd just carry her back home. However, with the distance the silence also grew around them and became uncomfortable to Paul, Leah's shitty proposal still pinging around in his head. When the trees thinned considerably and mossy ground turned to grass, Paul stopped, halting Urchin as well.
"Let's sit here for a minute so we can talk, okay?" he...well he sort of fucking asked but by dropping to the ground and crossing his legs, he really wasn't asking. Plucking at a few blades of grass, Paul waited until his girl settled down beside him, not looking at him but taking in their surroundings.
Eventually she relaxed enough to slouch, her hands methodically brushing against the ground as if petting it.
"Do you know your real name, Urchin?" The Paul man asked Bella, causing her to freeze. She hadn't understood his sudden desire to go for a walk, but had allowed herself to hope that he was being nice. His unexpected question raised her worry.
"Hey," he cooed softly, using his hand to grab her lowered chin and raise it. "It's just a question. I won't be mad if you don't know."
Bella really doubted that. True, he probably didn't care what her real name was, just that she told him. Her mouth became dry and she wondered what her chances were of escaping. Probably nt very good considering there were few hiding places nearby.
"If I guess it, will you tell me?" He asked, his thumb rubbing softly against her jaw. Previous experiences flooded her mind and Bella prayed that he wouldn't drop his hand to her throat.
"You'll always be my urchin. I just want you to have a real name. I know we kinda talked about it earlier, but it's important," the Paul man pleaded, his thumb still stroking her skin enticingly.
Staring into his eyes, Bella felt hypnotized as he carrassed her, never faltering or increasing pressure as he continued to talk to her. "I know you don't like to talk and that's not necessary, okay? We may not even reach the point of me guessing your name but I'd at least like to know the first initial. Will you let me try to guess?" he asked.
Hesitation, fear, worry and concern all seemed to disappear when Bella looked at into his eyes. It wasn't exactly trust that had Bella agreeing, but some inner instinct telling her that he wanted to know for personal satisfaction and not as a means to hurt her.
"They say that most names begin with either the letter 'M'," he whispered, pausing before speaking again, "or 'J'".
Still studying his features, Bella didn't move, almost unaware of the words he was speaking, but cognizant that those letters weren't connected to her.
"Neither of those, huh?" The Paul man questioned, leaning closer to her face. "Do you know the alphabet, Urchin?"
Yes, Bella knew the alphabet, however, she felt lost in the weird feelings her body was projecting. Despite the confusion, she nodded, the Paul man smiling as he continued to speak.
"I'm going to say letters and when you hear the one that your name starts with, just nod, okay?" The Paul man spoke softly, his hand reaching for her cheek.
The request seemed silly, Bella's head already agreeing to whatever he was saying, as the Paul man started to say letters in slow and enticingly. She tried to answer him truthfully, this man who had been around her for longer than a day and had yet to touch her; the first man who had bothered to look at her like an equal and not as an expendable toy to be used and thrown aside.
She willed her mind and body to comply, instructing her head to answer the Paul man truthfully when he said the initial that her name began with and when he did, when that simple 'bhh' sound left his lips, she froze.
Her body tensed, her head refused to nod and had she been able to remember, Bella would've agreed that her heartbeat skipped a few beats, the initiation of her name falling from the Paul man's lips sounding loving and not hateful or the promise of the pain to come.
The Paul man apparently didn't need for her to agree, his stroking thumb on her cheek freezing as well while he stared directly into her eyes.
"B? Your name starts with the letter B?" he asked after a minute, his thumb resuming its motion.
Bella wanted to nod. She wanted the Paul man's approval for giving in to the simple request he had made. Instead, her instincts overrode her desire and she remained still and silent, hoping he wouldn't be mad or disappointed in her lack of response.
Her eyes closed on their own, her body slumping in defeat as she read the realization in the Paul man's face. He now knew part of her name, the concept that there will still a million possibilities to be had escaping Bella's thoughts.
"Urchin?" The Paul man asked her, his breath dangerously close to her face. "I don't want you to be upset by this. I would never do anything to hurt you, okay?"
Bella didn't think she could look at him now. He was happy and wasn't mad at her, but she had failed. The monsters had told her never to give up her name and while she hadn't. she had managed to give this man a way to figure it out. The demons would find her and know within minutes that she had broken her promise and then the pain would start all over again. They would hurt this nice man, kill him and then she would be hurt as well. Stripped, tortured, humiliated, used and starved.
Before full panic could set in, she felt the touch. The soft yielding and demanding pressure of lips against hers. This time, though, they weren't cruel. Like before, the kiss was hesitant and shy. Bella's mind tried to tell her it was like before and that he was just using her, but her heart said differently.
In a move neither Paul nor Bella could have predicted, her arms wrapped around his neck to enjoy the happiness. Hesitant, unsure and completely pure, Bella and Paul began to form a bond that would unite them fully.