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Chapter 18

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Bella cursed when she heard a soft knock on her door. Whoever knocked had come over way too early. She put the last coat of mascara on her eyelashes before moving around her furniture to open the door. A smile graced her lips when she saw Paul standing with bags of candy and a jug of fruit punch in his hands. A bag slung over his shoulder housed the contents of his costume and when his hands were free, he greeted her with a gentle kiss.

"You're early." She teased.

"I didn't want to be hit on any longer than I had to be." He huffed.

Bella giggled. "The girl in the checkout lane again?"

"Mhm. I even told the guy behind me about my hot girlfriend's party when he commented on my outfit." He huffed. "Still, nothing changed. she tried no less than four times to slip me her number… she even threw it in the bag then pouted when I threw it on the floor."

Bella shook her head. "You're so wrong. But I love you for it." She grinned.

"You're gonna kill me tonight, you know." He mused eying her.

"It's not finished yet." She smirked.

Paul shook his head. "Do you need any other decorations hung?"

"Just the spider webs in the corners." She called back from her bedroom.

"K." He rifled through an open box, pulled the cottony webbing from its package and went to work hanging the webs from the corners of the walls and ceiling.

It took the two less than an hour to finish placing the decorations around the apartment as well as preparing snacks. A knock at the door had Paul answering while Bella pulled the rest of the brownies from the oven. She grinned when she turned to see Kim and Emily standing in the doorway.

"Hey guys. Wow! You two look amazing!" She grinned.

"So, do you Bella! But I'm not dressed yet. The real outfit is part of Jared's punishment- and my fun later." Kim grinned.

"Thanks Bella. You look good too." Emily said with a smile ignoring Kim's innuendo with a shake of her head. "It smells good in here."

"Thanks… Paul helped with a lot of it." Bella shrugged.

Kim raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding me..."

"Nope! Hey Emily… can I help you with your hair?" Bella asked when she saw her friend fussing with it. She'd just finished setting out the last of the snacks while they talked.

Emily bit her lip in thought. "I guess but… my scars-"

"Don't bug anyone who knows you. Don't worry. We'll still love you no matter what." Kim said with a grin.

"Ok… yeah." She finally grinned.

Kim smirked. "Bella, can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure. You know where it is. If you need to finish getting dressed though, you can use my room instead. Gives you more room."

"You're an angel!" She grinned.

"No… I'm a cop tonight." She quipped with a wink.

"Gonna arrest Paul later?" Kim snickered. She raced off down the hall before either Bella or Emily could say a word.

Bella shook her hand and ran a brush through Emily's hair smoothing it out before she started to work. The girls wore smiles on their faces when Kim returned, dressed in her outfit.

"Well damn woman!" Bella whistled. "Has Jared seen it yet?"

"Uh huh. And he knows he has to behave tonight if he wants anything extra." She grinned.

Bella shook her head. "Geez, you two are so bad!"

"Like you didn't dress up for Paul." Kim mused.

Bella smirked but refused to say anything.

"All I wanna know, Emily, is how you got Sam to agree to wear those tights!" Kim giggled.

Emily grinned and watched Sam frown as he talked to his friends. She knew they could hear them from the living room where the wolves sat. "I told him he'd sleep on the couch for a month and use his hand for the next three."

"Don't move! Poor Sam. Well… maybe." Bella huffed tugging on Emily's hair in reprimand.

"Ouch… Ok. Ok. Aren't you finished yet? And it's his own fault! He could have ordered the boys leave you two alone for the rest of the day. Then you wouldn't have been embarrassed." She whined.

"I can't believe you waited this long for payback though… I mean… it's a month of them waiting." Kim snorted.

Emily shrugged. "It keeps them wary. Besides… what better time than Halloween to prank someone?"

Bella finished Emily's hair and stood back to admire her handiwork- a fishtail braid with strands left out to frame her face. She grinned when Kim gushed over how gorgeous it made Emily look. Neither of the girls noticed her scars, and for that, Emily felt even more confident in the gorgeous Maid Marion costume that clung to her curves and fit her like a second skin.

"So, what about you Bella, you gonna finish getting ready now?" Emily asked as Bella blew her own hair out of her face.

Bella grinned. "I'm good to go as soon as I put on my boots."

It would be her first Halloween party in her new apartment and she'd only invited the pack and the imprints- she could handle that couldn't she?

Jared eyed Sam as he shifted uncomfortably in his Robin Hood costume. He looked rather ridiculous in the tights. "Punishment for Bella?"

Sam nodded. "Emily still said I should have done more."

He smiled at his alpha in sympathy. At least Kim had consented to let him dress as Blackhawk- ironically enough- to her Black Widow. He didn't count on her buying a patent leather costume, or buying the red wig to match. He also didn't count of her telling him to keep his large paws to himself all night long.

"Kim said the same thing to me. I should have tried harder to keep the pups out of the house," He huffed and shook his head, "she got me with fiberglass insulation. She put a small wad of it in the dryer with all my jeans… stuff itched like hell. I ended up having to wash them again and take two more showers just to make it stop. And now she's dressed in leather and I'm not allowed to initiate contact at all." Jared griped.

Paul only shook his head and snorted. Of the three, he'd been dressed the most casual. His combat boots shined in the light, his black cargo pants- form fitting but comfortable, his tee shirt stretched over his muscles and the vest he wore- on loan from Bella's dad- rested loose over his chest. He muttered under his breath, even too low for both the wolves next to him to hear.

Sam and Jared both saw just what had Paul so upset. Bella had dressed in a pair of thigh high leather stiletto boots, fishnet stockings, black boy shorts under a black tutu, followed by a black corset and black fingerless gloves on her hands. That was it. Save for the aviators on her head, the silver hoop earrings and the handcuff necklace she wore left nothing to the imagination.

"Damn… she's trying to piss your wolf off, isn't she?" Jared wondered.

Paul shrugged. "I don't think she knows."

"When's the last time you got laid?" Sam mused.

"A week ago? Two? Something like that." He huffed. Paul sighed and moved to answer the door again.

Jared and Sam shook their heads and readied themselves a long night. His friends felt for him; Paul and Bella barely had time to do little more than kiss one another hello or goodbye with as busy as Bella was lately.

Jared's mood changed and he smirked when he saw Brady and Collin walk in through the door. "If it isn't my two favorite pups!" He grinned. He nodded when Seth followed behind them.

Brady glared. "Not funny!"

"Oh no… you're right... it was hilarious!" Jared teased.

Paul shook his head. "Who would have thought a wolf would be afraid of dolls…"

"I'm not afraid of them… they're creepy, that's all. They never blink, they just sit there… watching you. And it was fucked up that she got Seth to do it too! I never even smelled her!" Brady huffed.

"Come on guys! It wasn't that funny." Collin huffed.

Paul smirked. "Who's afraid of the big bad clown?"

Seth sighed. "It was somewhat mean. I'm sorry guys."

"No… that was clever. That's what it was." Sam grinned.

Brady and Collin shrugged their shoulders at Seth. "It's fine. Sam's right... It was kind of clever to use you." Collin said while Brady grumbled.

Bella had put years of friendship to use and talked to Brady's mom and dad about his childhood fears. They'd gone to spend time with family out of town the weekend before Halloween. When they left, Bella handed Seth a duffel bag of porcelain dolls and given him instructions to place them in the most obvious places around the house that he could find. Another bag of thirty dolls was to be placed in every uncovered inch of his room- all while Brady was on patrol.

By the time Brady had come home, he'd been too tired to notice the creepy things. After he'd gotten out of his shower, he'd shivered when he felt eyes watching him. He looked around and shook his head at the dolls. Mothers and their new obsessions. It was only after his light turned on that he saw the rest of the creepy little things. It took him five minutes to get from his house to Collin's house to spend the night.

Collin was another story all together, and the pack still laughed about it. Bella waited and used Seth again while Collin was on patrol. He'd stripped the bed, taken Collin's clothes, sheets, everything masculine out of the room to be replaced with pink lace and fills. Bella had then come in and replaced the bedding with a rather large, rather pink dog bed with silver lettering.

Beside that were two large, pink bowls- one for food, the other for water- and a pink leash and collar. All of them were engraved with his baby sisters nick name for him- Colli.

If that wasn't bad enough, Seth told Bella once that Collin was scared of clowns as a small boy. She'd gone out and gotten ten of the creepiest looking clown dolls she could find and left them lining the back of the dog bed. When Collin returned from patrol, he'd been furious that his things were missing, until he saw the clowns. He'd only just started going back into his room two days prior to the party.

Bella stood next to Paul with a smug smirk on her lips. "So…?"

They refused to make eye contact. Paul would have tried to kill them if they'd challenged her. "Sorry."

"Alright. Come here…." She grinned holding out her arms. "Truce?"

They huffed but hugged her back none the less. She was still a part of the pack, and out of the imprints, she was the one they liked the most. Emily was often times too maternal for them, and Kim acted like the annoying big sister who loved to do nothing more than boss them around every chance she got. It was Bella who could cook, clean, rock the 'girl next door' look as well as hold her own against the pack. They definitely well loved her.

Embry and his imprint, Danielle, were the next to arrive dressed as an Assassin and a huntress. It had just started getting dark when they rang the doorbell. Jacob and his imprint Ashleigh, dressed as pirates, followed in behind them. Paul flipped the porch light on and patted Embry on the back, leaning down to kiss Danielle's cheek- a new custom greeting for each of the imprints from the wolves- followed by a kiss to Ashleigh's cheek.

Once Elizabeth and her girls were settled in, Seth brought his cousins around to greet everyone. Right away, Jake and Embry imprinted. Danielle and Ashleigh Kingsley were welcomed as the two newest imprints and Seth got to play the protective cousin role for all of five minutes. Embry and Jacob were older than his wolf and they got tired of the pup trying to assert dominance quick- even if they respected his willingness to protect family.

After hearing just what happened to Bella, they'd been horrified for the girl. Bella shrugged and said that revenge would be sweet and that Jacob and Embry were exempt because they tried to keep her beloved Beast alive. Wanting to show their own support to the girl, they'd pulled pranks on their wolves as well; they claimed Bella had done a lot for their family by giving their mom a place to stay so she wouldn't have to sleep on a couch bed. Bella tried to tell them they didn't need to, but Danielle told her it would all be in fun.

Embry ended up with a wardrobe change- nothing but skirts and dresses to fill his drawers- for all of an hour until he finally tickled the hiding spot of his clothes out of Danielle. By the time they'd come to Sam's, dinner was nearly over and Seth was ready to kill. Jacob fared no better with Ashleigh though she was subtler in her pranks. She took a page from Paul's books and changed the color of his skin for a day or two.

The girls had definitely earned their place in the pack in Bella's eyes. When the three of them were together now, all of the wolves grew leery. They could be too sneaky when they worked together.

The doorbell rang and Quil walked in looking pale and shaky. The stench of vampire permeated around him causing his pack mates to turn and gather around him.

"What's wrong?"

"Was it just one?"

"Where was it?"

"Where were you?!"

"Did you kill it?"

"Did it get away?"

"Did anyone see you?"

"Are you hurt?"

Bella's eyes widened as question after question was flung towards Quil. "Everyone hush! Let the poor boy breathe!"

Paul pushed Quil towards the couch and shoved a drink into his hands. "Come on, Quil, talk to us."

"I… I… dude I so got you all!" He finally crowed.

Their eyes widened in shock. "Huh?" Brady asked.

Quil rolled his eyes. "I went rolling around near the Cullen's place before I came here. It still stinks to high Heaven. You all should have seen the looks on your faces."

Bella grinned. "Well played."

"Well played indeed." Sam chuckled.

"Fucker." Embry grinned. Jacob smirked and shook his head.

The rest of the night passed smooth with the pack members taking turns to pass out candy when the kids came to the door. In the time between, the pack took turns coming up with different games to be played. Spin the bottle, I never, Truth or Dare, Two Truths and a Lie, and a few others got banned after a full round from each person. The girls found out just how possessive their wolves could be in that short time, and Bella could do nothing more than giggle about it.

They took turns picking out scary movies to watch and laughed when one of the girls jumped or let out a scream. It wasn't too much longer before everyone said goodbye to Bella and headed home. When she'd waved Emily and Sam off, she closed the door and leaned her head back against it with a sigh.

Paul gathered her into his arms and carried her to bed. He stripped her and then stripped his own clothes off his large frame before collapsing them both onto the mattress. He gathered Bella to him and sighed when she settled herself against his side. Now that they were alone, his wolf started to calm down some. It had taken all he could to not put on another display like the one that had started Bella's pranks.

"Paul?"

"Hm?"

Bella smiled. "Thanks for helping me tonight." She said before kissing his chest.

"You're welcome." Paul said before kissing her temple. "Now go to sleep. You need it. I'll wake you up in the morning."

Bella grinned. "Night."

A kiss to the crown of her head was all the response she registered before sleep claimed her.