Chapter 28

One minute was all it took for Paul to lose it. The second that foul stench seeped into his brain a red haze took over and he couldn't control a single thing the wolf did. All he could remember was that he had to keep his imprint safe, that nothing or no one was going to stand in his way from keeping her safe. It was a blink really before he took in his surroundings. Jake's voice was bouncing around in his brain making his body do insane things, things he couldn't control, things he didn't even want to fight to control but at the same time, the haze was still there; the wolf still urging him to rip and tear.

Rip and tear what? Paul couldn't understand what in the hell was his wolf ripping and tearing. Had he made Angela's car wreck? Was the wolf ripping her out of the car? Just what in the fuck was going on?

Paul felt his hands at the side of his head squeezing, Jake was still yelling his name, Jared was behind him his arms around his chest and Seth, was still a wolf, standing in front of him facing a way snarling at who knows what.

"What the fuck" Paul screamed making his head pound even more, growing enraged as Jake's voice kept slamming into him.

"What the fuck, Jake shut up," Paul screamed again, the pressure on his head intensifying, the band of Jared's arms around his chest crushing him.

"Breath damn it and I'll stop, just fucking breathe."

"I'm breathing you shit; quit fucking yelling in my ear."

"You're not, you're shaking you're still trying to, fuck Paul you completely lost it back there, I've never-"

Jared gave him another little squeeze as Seth backed up, his back paw coming in contact with Paul's bare feet. "Sam is on his way, he's bringing Billy."

"Why the fuck is Billy coming, where the fuck is Angela is she alright?"

Paul kept moving his head back and forth squinting to regain focus, but he couldn't see anything he could make out shapes, but he couldn't actually see.

"Open your eyes breathe."

"Jake if you tell me to breathe one more fucking time I'm going to beat your ass."

The form; Jake, was squatting beside him moved back and Jared's arms tightened again.

"Close your eyes for me man," Jared said loosening his grip.

Paul closed his eyes, "just hold that for a second dude, take a breath, don't fucking snarl at me just do it. Hold it; there ya go, let it out."

Paul did everything Jared said, but he still couldn't see shit. "What the fuck is going on?"

"You fucking obliterated her dude, just took right the fuck off and it's a fucking massacre out here."

Paul's body went taught, just as he was about to fight Jared felt his lips at his ear, "I've never seen a vamp bleed, dude she must have just fed."

Paul's body went completely still, gritting his teeth he let the wolf take over, he was still going crazy but everything snapped and Paul could smell it. The stench of vampire, the sweet coppery smell of blood, puke and even piss. Then he could feel it, all over his body something sticky and cold as ice covered his skin like a blanket.

"What did- what the fuck happened?"

"We don't really know man, one minute you were going to run in front of Angela's car and stop her and the next you were hauling ass toward the bitch. We couldn't see shit from you and when we found you, shit Paul this looks like a damn horror movie. You killed Victoria and two maybe three more we can't, dude we can't tell."

Paul opened his mouth but before he could speak he heard Sam in the distance, picked up Billy's smell too.

~U~

"Are you serious? What are we supposed to do for three or four hours?"

"I'm sorry ma'am there are plenty of restaurants within the airport, just be thankful you weren't sitting on the runway when the delay came through."

Angela watched as the woman stomped back to her seat, grabbed her purse with one hand and her young sons arm with the other and jerked him toward the Central Terminal.

Grabbing her own carry on Angela left the gate, wondering if her parents would turn back around and get her.

~U~

Paul stood just outside of the blood ring, as Jared was now calling it and watched as the other wolves gathered bits and pieces of what was left of Victoria and the other vamps she was traveling with.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything," Billy asked quietly as he sat to Paul's left.

Looking down Paul locked eyes with him, shrugged his shoulders, "I can't remember anything."

"How do you feel now?"

Billy had asked him that question every five minutes or so for the last hour.

"Can see better now, don't feel like a damn ice cube since I got all the shit washed off of me."

Billy nodded his head then looked out at the mess, "I'm glad it's over, I'm sorry that whatever it was happened to you, that the wolf was able to do this kind of thing without you even realizing it, but I'm glad it's over."

Paul nodded and walked away.

~U~

They had to wait until sun began to set to burn everything and even then they kept a close eye, separated the ring into separate spots with packed mud and dirt so the fire wouldn't get too high. Vampire burned hot and fast. As Jake bent to light the third section Paul couldn't stand it anymore. Couldn't sit and look at the mess he'd made without even realizing it, couldn't stand the fact that he'd missed being close to Angela when she left. Just as he was about to disappear into the woods the cell phone Emily had given Sam rang. He could hear the desperation in Emily's voice when she asked if everything was alright, he could hear Kim and Leah in the background wanting to know the same thing. They wanted to know if their men were ok and his, shit his didn't even know anything about what went down. What he'd done to keep everyone safe, she didn't know just how fucked up his wolf was. Maybe that was for the best though.

Emily saying Angela's name caused Paul to still, before he ran at Sam and jerked the phone from his hand, "Em, what's wrong? Is she ok, did she make it there alright?"

"She got to the airport ok Paul but, her flight has been delayed, something with the plane and a bad storm near Chicago. She just called wanting to know if I could get a hold of her parents to see if they could turn around. I can't get a hold of them and neither can-"

Paul dropped the phone and took off running, this time he welcomed the wolf, wanted the speed that it was able to give. He let the voices of his packmates slide off his back and ran.

~U~

Angela had been sitting at Dish D'Lish near the baggage claim for the last two hours. The hard plastic chair was doing nothing for her back but after she'd pretty much walked the whole airport she decided she'd wait out the rest of her delay eating a sandwich and reading on her phone. She'd finally gotten a hold of her parents but they were more than halfway home so she told them not to worry about turning around. Just as she was about to doze off a warm hand settled on her shoulder and her eyes went wide.

~U~

Holy shit this imprint bond was kick ass. Paul had barely got through the door when he caught Angela's scent. From there he followed and it took his straight to her, people were staring at him, but he didn't give a shit. She was sitting at a tiny white table half of her food gone looking like she was about to pass out. He couldn't hold out much longer the lady sitting at the restaurant across the aisle was eyeballing him enough that he worried she might call airport security on his ass.

"I need you to come with me."

Angela stood from the chair her mouth hanging ajar, her eyes wide as saucers. "Pretty sure that chick over there thinks I'm going to bomb the place."

Angela snapped back and took him in, if possible her eyes got even bigger. "Paul what happened to- why are you wearing a Hawaiian print shirt?"

"Tell you about it later, I need you alone."

Thankfully not far away in between the men's and women's restroom there was a single stall family restroom. Without hesitation Paul jerked Angela inside slamming the door and then the lock.

Dropping her arm Paul crowded her against the wall his body flattening against hers. "I want inside you, right now."

Angela reached between them without a word and reached for his shorts, but he jerked back, "Can't let you touch me Angel, I'm so fucking dirty."

"I don't care," Angela whispered as she pushed up on her toes and kissed him.

Paul was inside her before he knew it, hating that he was fucking her in the bathroom but at the same time needing to. Needing to know that she was ok, needing to know that HE was ok. His body slammed into hers repeatedly as he held her face in his hands, locking eyes with her he got lost in the feel of their bodies together. The feeling of disgust washing away with every push and pull. When he was close everything snapped again like it had before but this time it was rage taking over it was something else. He heard I love you echo through the bathroom again and again as her body squeezed him, taking them both at the same time. As he was coming down pumping his hips slower and slower each time he realized that Angela had gone still, silent tears running down her cheeks just a fraction of a second before he realized that he was the one saying, I love you. Repeating it still over and over as his hips moved lazily against her, as his hands held her head their eyes still locked.

Paul stopped suddenly resting his forehead against hers, "fuck I didn't mean-"

Angela sucked in a deep breath before pushing at his chest.

"I do. You know that. I love you so fucking much Angel."

Paul had no idea what the fuck he was doing, couldn't believe that the words were pouring out of him, at the same time, fuck if he really cared. He could have lost her, that bitch could have taken her away from him forever.

"Look at me," Paul grit out when Angela squeezed her eyes shut.

"You believe me, this isn't just some shit brought on by us, by this." Paul finished with a roll of his hips. "I just- we're in a bathroom Angel, not good enough."

Angela bit her lip nodded.

"No, look at me, tell me, talk to me."

Angela's eyes slowly peeled open, "I believe you Paul. I love you."

Kissing her hard Paul pulled back and smiled, "Love you too."

He felt good saying it proud of himself actually, but at the same time he knew. Knew what he was going to say to her between now and when she left was going to be nothing but lies and he fucking hated it.

~U~

Just as he had suspected the second they untangled themselves Angela asked him how he found out about her being at the airport, how he found her and what was up with his clothes. He of course came up with shit stupid answers that he somehow convinced her were the truth and hated every second of it. The only plus was that it put her at ease and she stayed relaxed until they called for her flight.

~U~

Paul was bored to death, annoyed and heading toward the edge of full blown rage. It had been a week since Angela left, her absence wasn't the only reason why he was feeling the way he was. Since the second he stepped back onto La Push soil everyone had been treating him with kid gloves including Jared and he fucking hated it. If he walked into Emily's house one more time with every eye on him he was surely going to lose his shit. Taking the steps two at a time Paul jerked the screen door open and grit his teeth when all eyes swung his way, just as he was opening his mouth to give them all hell Emily bounced in front of him and shoved a rather large box in his face. The scent of the box smacked him in the face and his dick instantly went hard. Shooting a wink at Bella who gasped at the sight Paul pulled the box from Emily's hand then made his way right back out the door.

~U~

He couldn't fucking get home fast enough, but he very well couldn't phase and take the risk of messing up whatever was in the box with his teeth. Paul pondered for a minute about where he was going to open the box; he'd been in her room twice since she left. Not such a good idea he knew but damn if he could help it, their scent still soaked the place. Running into the backyard Paul sent up a thank you when he realized that his dad wasn't home. The door was locked the second he got in the house and he was on his way back to his bedroom. Sadly in here their scent was slowly fading but the box, man he could smell her all over the box.

~U~

U got me a phone?

Angela smiled when the message popped up on her screen- Don't be mad, it's prepaid.

?

The phone was $20 the minutes were cheap too

Can't figure out how to set it up to call

I'll call Emily; see if she will do it for you. I love you

Where are my pictures?

LOL

?

Paul LOL means laugh out loud. I haven't been here that long, I'll get them to you soon 3

~U~

"She got you a phone instead of sending dirty pictures and you don't understand the lingo."

Paul snarled while punching Jared in the arm "who the fuck says lingo?"

Rolling his eyes Jared grabbed the phone from Paul's hand then scrolled through the conversation, "the arrow and the three is a heart."

Taking the phone back Paul turned the phone sideways then squinted, "this is stupid; I need Emily to get this thing set up."

~U~

Angela's phone rang as soon as she stepped into her dorm room, "you got it fixed!"

"Emily set it up this morning, and I still haven't gotten my pictures Angel."

Throwing her bag on the bed Angela flopped down in her computer chair, "actually you should be getting them tomorrow. I sent them and my class schedule out the day after you got the phone."

When Paul's groan rolled through the phone Angela shivered, "I miss you."

"Miss you to Angela, you doing ok?"

Paul listened for the next hour as Angela talked about her classes, the school and her roommate who seemed to be a bit on the wild side. He smiled a lot, a hell of a lot more than he ever did as her voice washed over him. She seemed happy, at the same time he could hear the sadness in her voice and damn if that didn't make him feel good too, the sick bastard that he was.

~U~

His skin was crawling, he could feel the sheets soaking underneath him but the dream, the dream had him and wasn't about to let him go.

The red haze those ear piercing screams of both his packmates and that evil bitch. He could feel the blood as it weighed down his fur, could feel the freezing liquid running out of his mouth. His wolf was out for blood, and even though it was all over the place it wanted more. Paul heard a sound to his left and jumped the wide blue eyes of a boy Seth's age stared back at him, his wolf stopped and then the boy smiled. His wolf jumped claws out, a snarl ringing through the air.

Paul snapped up in bed his heart racing his skin, ice cold but slick with sweat. What in the fuck. Searching around the bed his hand gripped the phone and snapped it open, two fifteen in the morning, no way in hell he was going to call Angela. Damn if he didn't want to though, his finger hovered over the call key but he just couldn't make himself do it.

Swinging his legs over the bed Paul buried his head in his hands and bit out a curse. His room fucking stunk, not one hint of his imprints scent remained. Rage washed over him and he jumped up jerking the sheets off the bed, just as he was about to lay into the wall his door slammed against the wall with a bang.

"What's going on in here son?"

Paul halted his hands going into fists at his sides, his chest heaving.

"She leave you?"

"Fuck no," Paul grit out as he took a step toward his dad.

His dad's eyes narrowed and he took a step toward Paul, "you wanna?"

Paul barked out a laugh, if his dad only fucking knew. "She didn't leave me, but shit this is a hell of a lot harder than what I thought it was going to be."

His dad took another step forward and clapped his hand down on Paul's shoulder, "they sure know how to fuck us in the head don't they."

Paul locked eyes with his dad and nodded.

~U~

The shrill ring of the cell phone jerked Paul awake; flipping the phone open before the damn thing could ring again Paul smiled when she breathed out his name.

"You ok?

"It's too early, I'm sorry I'll call you back in the morning."

Paul shot up in bed flipped the phone around and smiled, it was only three forty five. Not long after the "talk" with his dad Paul face planted back into the bed, "S'ok I was actually going to call you about an hour and a half ago but thought better of it."

Angela sniffled across the line making the hair on his arms stand on end.

"I miss you so much."

"Angel, I miss you too. Please don't cry I can't fucking stand it."

Angela chuckled and sniffled again, he could hear her over the line trying to pull herself together, "tell me something."

"Did you get the pictures?"

Paul groaned as he pulled himself up against the wall, "not yet Angel and its driving me insane."

"They aren't anything really special; you've seen it all before, just pictures of La Push and other things."

"Anything you give me is going to be special. I can't wait to get those damn pictures." Paul squeezed his fist around the phone thinking about the smell of the last box, damn it smelled so good.

"Will you call me as soon as you get the pictures, just to let me know that you got them?"

"You know I will Angel."

"Paul I don't-" A yawn skittered across the line and Paul smiled. "I don't want to, but I have to go I have an eight o'clock class."

"Ok Angel," Paul paused his lip twitching; "I love you."

He could hear the intake of her breath as the words registered, "I love you too."

~U~

Paul sat in the too small plastic chair nervous energy about to eat him up. All of the elders sat in front of him their eyes wide, mouths agape.

"It's fucked up, but I need to know that I didn't, that the kid wasn't really-"

"Paul you told us he had fangs, he wasn't human; she must have just turned him, all that blood, she must have just done it."

Paul couldn't help but wonder if they were trying to convince him or themselves, but either way it didn't really sit well. "What if I was just-?"

"Paul," Billy cut off, "don't even think it, he wasn't human, your wolf wouldn't let you do something like that."

Paul snorted but stood, "ok."

As the elders slowly filed out of the hall Billy stopped Paul with a hand to his forearm, "take me to the house would you?"

~U~

Paul could smell her before the truck even stopped.

"Mind wheeling an old guy in, my arms are feeling a bit stiff these days."

Paul cocked an eyebrow at Billy but helped him out of the truck and into his chair, "sure old man."

~U~

Bella looked white as a sheet with Paul sitting in the chair across from her, he knew it was because the look he was giving her but he couldn't help it. He needed answers and she was with holding them.

"Is that everything that you know Bella?" Billy's soothing voice seemed to calm her somewhat but not enough.

"I can't remember everything and honestly they didn't share much with me, I wish I could, I just can't."

"What about when they turn Bella?" Paul watched her jerk as he grit out the words.

Locking eyes with him Bella moved forward on the couch, her fingers white as they clutched her knees, "the only thing I know about their eyes is what he told me. If they have just fed or are newly born their eyes are red. Gold if he fed from animals and black when they were thirsty. I swear to you that is all I know about them being newborn. He didn't like to even talk about it with me because of the possibly of me dying during the transformation. I don't-" Bella swallowed thickly "after Arizona I don't think I could have made it, he knew I couldn't that's why he left."

Billy shot Paul a look, "You and I both know-"

"We don't know ANYTHING Billy, nothing about those leeches, she doesn't know shit." Chest heaving Paul shook his head and walked out the door.

~U~

As Paul stormed out of the woods toward his house her scent nearly bowled him over. He was at the mailbox ripping the door off the hinges, before he even realized what he was doing the package was at his nose and he was pulling her scent in. Like a druggie finally taking a hit his body broke out in goosebumps and a sense of euphoria washed over him, damn his imprint smelled good.

As Paul tore through the house he was thankful that once again his dad wasn't there. Without a thought Paul changed in his room slamming the door so hard the windows rattled. He couldn't wait to see this part of her, couldn't wait to see what she saw every time she looked through the viewfinder.

~U~

"Hello?" Paul could hear the playfulness in her voice when she answered.

"How could you do that to me Angel, when you're so far away?"

Her laugh sent every nerve on edge, "so you like my pictures?"

"Fuck yeah I do."

"You're not going to show them-"

"Angel you're mine, no one else is going to even dare look at these pictures."

"What did you, what did you think of the others," she asked nervously.

That's where Paul tripped up; he'd separated the pictures into two piles. Pictures of that night and pictures of La Push. One picture in particular stole his breathe froze his blood and then just as quickly warmed it, she'd taken a picture of his wolf, got a damn good one too given how she was on the beach and he was standing on the cliffs edge.

"They are amazing, Angel."

~U~

"Holy fucking shit dude."

"I know."

"These pictures of La Push are freaking awesome, makes the place look a little better than what it really is."

"Yeah she's fucking awesome at what she does."

"She got you too man, like zoomed in all up on you and shit, you've been caught."

"I know," Paul grumbled.

"You know what this means don't you."

"Don't start with this shit Jared."

"Listen all I'm saying is-"

"I know what you're about to say I don't want to hear it. She's fucking happy there, I'm not going to take my ass all the way to Chicago and tell her that I'm an overgrown dog."

"You need to just man up and do it man, you've already sealed the bond."

Paul snarled at Jared and fisted the picture of his wolf as carefully as he could, "you know she'll freak the fuck out, not only because of the crazy shit that is my life but I've been lying to her, I took her fucking choice away because I couldn't keep my dick in my pants for three more days. Fuck me."

"She did dude, and she liked it."

Paul shot Jared a look and punched him in the shoulder, "you're fucked up."