Telling the Truth

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

A/N-I would like to thank everyone who kindly reviewed the last chapter, it really means a lot to me that you have enjoyed the story so far. I am still struggling to write Paul very well but your kind feedback has kept me motivated to continue.

Thanks again, Nikki

Part Six

Bella trailed behind Paul as he stalked back toward the cave's entrance. He had released his hold on her as soon as she had blurted out her confession about the Volturi's ultimatum. His whole body was shaking and she knew that he was trying to get himself back under some sort of control. She gave Paul the space he needed and kept her distance. A part of Bella was glad to be finally rid of the burden of carrying her fears alone, but another part regretted that she had confessed everything to Paul. She had already caused him enough grief. Sighing heavily and wiping away some stray tears Bella plodded behind him slowly.

Paul was taking deep breaths as the telltale heat was running up and down his spine. He wanted to phase badly and make a run for the forest so he could feel the wind in his fur and howl his anger up at the sky. However he knew that would achieve nothing. Thoughts of finding and hunting down Edward Cullen and ripping him to pieces whirled through his mind. This was all the bloodsuckers fault. Why could he have not been destroyed in Italy? Bella would have stayed at home and none of this would be threatening her life. Maybe then they could have...Paul pushed that train of thought aside. There was no 'they.'

He sat down and crossed his legs, pushing his back against the cold wall of the cave. The cool feeling of the stone seemed to calm him down and he leaned his head back, closing his eyes. Bella finally reached the entrance and ducked inside. She saw him sitting with his eyes closed and her heart faltered, he had obviously had enough of her.

"I'm sorry for what I said...I'm going to go now. I promise I will leave you alone..." Bella hid her face behind her hair and started to back out of the entrance.

She heard a bitter laugh echoing round the cavern. Paul opened his eyes and glared at her. "Running away again? Do you ever just stay and face your problems Bella? No you just leave and let others deal with the fall out."

Bella ignored him and continued on her way. She only managed to take two steps away from the cave before Paul came up silently behind her and yanked her back inside. "Sit down." He said harshly.

She complied at once and sat the furthest she could away from him, still hiding her face behind her long hair. Silent tears were streaming down her face and she felt on the verge of collapse, weeks of not eating or sleeping properly was taking its toll. Paul sat in silence, battling with himself internally. He was trying to understand why he was so unwilling to let her go. If he had any sense he would pretend he had not heard her confession and just leave her to face her fate. He knew the real reason but he was still stubbornly refusing to admit it out loud to himself. Paul Lahote cared about Bella, since the day he had first saved her from her reckless cliff dive she had been on his mind and working her way into his heart.

Paul's attention was finally drawn back to Bella as he heard her sobbing. Her small frame was trembling with the effort of suppressing her emotions. He gave in and crawled over to her and pulled her into his warm arms. He stroked her hair away from her sweaty face and laid his head on top of hers.

"It's alright...I'm not mad anymore. Just calm down and we can talk about it...if you want to." Paul murmured. He felt Bella nodding against his chest and the feel of her hair tickling his skin sent pleasant sensations rippling through his body.

"There is nothing I can do about it Paul. I know what is just around the corner now." Bella mumbled after a quiet spell.

"No...There is, you always have a choice Bella. Even though I can't believe I am saying this, you need to tell Jacob." Paul replied.

Bella's head shot up in shock at his words. Her eyes were red rimmed from crying, "Why? I don't want Jake involved I..."

"You have to tell him Bella. I would go and tell Sam and the rest of the pack myself but then we would have even more explaining to do. Jake would find out about us spending time together...he is very protective of you. If we are going to keep the pack united so that we can formulate a plan to save you...then it needs to look like you confided in him." Paul said reluctantly.

"I can't do that to him or you..." Bella protested. "I told you there is nothing that can..."

"For once in your life stop being so bloody self sacrificing. It's getting old Bella...just accept help when it's offered to you." Paul had cupped her face in his hands and he glared down into her chocolate brown eyes, he felt like he was drowning in them.

"I'm scared Paul...I still have to go and face Edward, try to keep it together. I'm just so frightened." Bella's eyes filled with more tears and it took all Paul's willpower not to lean down and kiss them all away. He finally wrenched his gaze away from hers.

"I want you to go and see Jake right now Bella...I mean it. You need to tell him. I expect Sam will call a meeting, I will be there and I will..."

"You will what?" Bella asked softly.

Paul shrugged his shoulders. "I'll support you..."

Bella let out a long held breath and nodded her consent. She pulled away from his warm body and tentatively reached up her hand and touched his cheek. "Thank you Paul...By the way how will you be able to keep your thoughts hidden from the rest of the pack about our meetings. I thought that only Sam could keep his thoughts shielded."

Paul laughed bitterly. "I just give them all a load of verbal. They tend to stay out of my head by choice. Apparently I have been told my mind is not a pleasant place to be."

Bella gazed at him sadly. "Well then they don't know the real Paul LaHote do they?" She reached up and kissed him gently on the cheek and then left the cave without looking back.

Paul's hand flew to his cheek and covered the spot she had kissed.

XXXXXX

Paul's words proved prophetic. Within two hours of Bella leaving him to go and see Jacob, he heard the call. A loud howl from Jared was the signal and he hastily left his hideout and phased. The pack mind was chaotic. Jacob's thoughts were being shared through the mind link and Paul zeroed in on Bella's face as Jacob had pictured it when she had told him everything about Edward and the Volturi. Each member of the pack was talking loudly through their thoughts all at once, bewildered and angry at this new turn of events. Paul shut everything out and just focused on getting to Sam's as fast as he could. He needed to be near Bella and make sure that she was coping.

Twenty minutes later the whole pack, including Bella were packed into the small living room of Sam and Emily's two bedroom house. Paul's eyes were riveted on Bella as she sat next to Jacob. He had his arms wrapped tightly round her and kept whispering words of comfort into her ear. Bella would glance up at him and smile wanly, but her gaze would always return to Paul and they exchanged knowing looks. Paul wanted to march over and rip Jake's arms off of Bella so that he could hold her himself and again his tenacious willpower came into play as he pretended not to care.

The meeting was long and a lot of issues were aired. Leah and Sam exchanged harsh words as she battled him constantly over every decision. Paul could clearly see how much that Sam still loved the girl, he saw Sam's imprint Emily shrink into herself, he could tell that she realised too. Everything was mixed up and twisted. Jared was a shadow of his former self; he had recently imprinted on a girl in his calculus class called Kim. Overnight he had turned into the world's biggest ass. Everything revolved around Kim, all his own dreams of the future had been thrown aside. Imprinting messed with their heads and turned them into slaves. Paul was determined that was not going to happen to him.

In the end it was agreed that the pack were going to have to negotiate with the bloodsuckers. The red head was still hanging around, evading capture. No one really knew what she was planning. At the present moment, the pack needed the Cullen's assistance but it was agreed that as soon as Victoria was dealt with the Cullen's would be called to account. Jacob had been very vocal about ripping Edward Cullen's head off and burning his sorry ass. Paul had silently agreed with him, he saw Bella flinch when she heard Jake talk and he longed to go over and hold her. Sam had to issue an Alpha order on Jacob to calm down and the resentment was coming off of him in waves. Bella had eventually talked him down and he had apologised to Sam for his outburst.

God would this meeting ever end? Paul was getting increasingly frustrated. He wanted to get out into the fresh air so he did not have to witness Jacob pawing at Bella every five minutes as he stroked her hair or rubbed her back. He heard Bella protest a few times but Jacob seemed oblivious to her words and carried on with his caresses.

Paul could not take any more, he stood up and insisted that he wanted to leave. The meeting was drawing to a conclusion so Sam waved him away. Paul could see the sheer exhaustion shining from his Alpha's eyes as they kept shooting between Leah and his imprint. Paul actually felt a smidgeon of sympathy for him until his eyes returned to Bella and Jacob and his jealously flared up again. He abruptly turned on his heel and fled the house, glad to escape the cloying atmosphere.

XXXXXX

Paul ran for two solid hours, enjoying the absolute freedom of his strong, agile body as it tore through the forests of La Push and Forks. The wind ruffled his fur and his keen eyesight helped him negotiate every ridge and hollow in the ground as his paws clawed up great clumps of the earth as he sprinted through the trees. He smelled the air and listened carefully as he progressed, always making sure that he could detect no threat in the area. After a while when he felt the first signs of exhaustion hit his body he began to head back to his hideout. For some reason he felt drawn there, half hoping that Bella would be waiting for him when he returned.

She wasn't...

XXXXXX

The smell of strawberries brought Paul back to consciousness. He had drifted off to sleep as he waited. He somehow knew that Bella would find a way to see him, as he opened his dark eyes he saw her sitting beside him a thoughtful look on her face. Sitting up he instinctively reached out for her and she flung herself at him. She ended up clinging to him as she crawled into his lap. Paul wrapped his strong, muscular arms around Bella and breathed in her unique scent. It soothed his frazzled nerves and he rocked her gently as they clung to each other, no words needing to be exchanged.

"I have to go soon..."Bella said eventually.

"Stay here..." Paul whispered, all the barriers he had been putting up between them had long since dropped.

"I can't..." Bella replied brokenly, clinging to him tightly. "Edward has already been calling me constantly. I made the excuse I was helping Jake with his dad so I could come back and see you after the meeting ended. I...really needed you Paul. I am sick of denying how I feel about things. I need you and I think that you feel the same about me..."

Paul did not answer her. Instead he showed her how he felt. Cupping her face gently in his hands, he turned her head so that their lips were millimetres apart and Bella could feel his hot breath teasing her skin. Staring down into her brown eyes Paul hesitated momentarily before he finally gave in and pressed his full lips onto hers...

A/N-Thanks for reading!