Note to all my readers: I can't apologize enough for how long this chapter has taken me. Between school, as well as some personal chaos that occurred in my life, UHS slipped onto the back burner. Hopefully, there are still some readers here who want to see what happens next on this epic journey for Evie and Paul. For those of you that have read and continue to read and for those that have left their support via reviews – from the bottom of my heart, thank you. On with Chapter 8!

Chapter 8

EVIE

It had been hours since Jacob's friend had torn out of the house like a bat out of hell and there'd still been no sign of him. Now, the sun was dipping low in the sky and as darkness slipped over us, I couldn't help but worry for him. It seemed that I wasn't the only one who was worried for him; ever since the guy had left, Jacob had been pacing the floor.

"Maybe you should go look for him, Jake. It's been a long time," said Bella, who'd taken to cooking in the kitchen. It was a quirk of hers that had started when she was younger; anytime Bella was nervous, she'd take to cooking. At the moment, she had enough food surrounding her to feed an entire army battalion, and she showed absolutely no signs of slowing down.

"And leave you here, unattended? Right, because today wasn't enough of a sign that leaving you unattended was a bad idea," he replied, his words showing just how much his mood had declined since his friend has torn out of the house. Suddenly, I couldn't help but wish that it was Jake that had gone running out of the house, or that Embry had been there to diffuse the situation. Speaking of which, I hadn't seen Embry since he'd pulled Jacob away, and upon that realization, my worry and irritation grew tenfold.

"I'll thank you to watch your tone with my cousin; it's not her fault that your friend left and put you in a pissy-ass mood," I said, trying to remain calm yet firm. From his position on the loveseat, Jacob shot me a withering look.

"You're right," he said. "If anything, you're the last person he saw before he bolted." I let out an aggravated sigh.

"And just what are you trying to say? Like I told you and Bella, I just turned around and he went running. But that's beside the point; you can be as frustrated as you like, but if you speak like that to my cousin again, you're going to regret being born, you hear me?" When he rolled his eyes mockingly, I gave him my most lethal glare. "I mean it, Jacob. I don't give two shits that you're as big as a house – you mess with my family and I promise you, I'll have you wishing that you'd never been thought of."

"Evie," said Bella warningly from the kitchen.

"No, Bells – she's right," interrupted Jake, pausing to take a breath and look at me. "I shouldn't be taking out my frustration on you. I'm sorry." At his apology, I gave Jacob a small nod, silently thanking him for his apology to her.

Just as Bella was about to reply, Jacob's door opened and Embry trudged in with three other ragged looking men behind him – the last one being the friend of Jacob's that had bolted upon seeing me. "Sorry that it took so long, Jake," Embry said. "We, uh…we got caught up with something."

"Everything okay?" asked Bella. I, meanwhile, was trying my best to avoid looking at the bolter, all while not trying to show how terrified I was. These men, huge boulders that they were, could probably break me in two without even trying and Bella would be powerless to stop it. I took a deep breath to steady myself and remembered my mother's words, trying to convince myself that so long as I had information that they wanted, they wouldn't do anything to me. No matter how hard I tried, though, the result was the same. I was on edge, and everyone around me knew it.

"Everything's fine, Bella. The boys were just catching me up," said a deep, husky voice, which I matched with a large man who seemed to be taller and just a tad more well-built than the rest of them. His large brown eyes flickered over to me for a second before they bore back into Bella. "Everything okay with you? Heard that you almost took a dive today." Bella bristled but she kept her composure, putting a fake smile onto her face and nodding.

"Yeah…almost," she said. "But…lucky for me, Evie got there just in time." This caused the guy's eyes to flicker back to and rest on me, guarded and cool. "Evie, this is Sam Uley…Jacob's friend and…boss, if you will. Sam, this is Evie Hazel, my cousin." With a great deal of reluctance – or so it seemed – Sam extended his hand to me.

"Pleased to meet you," he said, gruffly. I half-heartedly gave his hand a shake and muttered, "Same," before releasing his hand and glancing around the room. Everyone was completely silent and the boys were watching the exchange between us intently, the doubt clear as day on their faces.

Jacob wasted no time. "Now that we're all together, it's time you started spilling," he said to me harshly. "What the fuck was that shit that you pulled?"

"JACOB!" Bella had gone from her usual paper-white pallor to a bright red flush of anger. At the same time, a low growl ripped through the air and it took every fiber of self control that I had to not poof myself out of there out of fear.

"No, Bella," I said, putting up my hand up to stop her protests. It was almost comical how wide her eyes – and those of the boys in the room – became. Mine, on the other hand, narrowed as I met each one of their gazes. As I did so, my mother's words echoed in my mind - Bella and her friends have secrets of their own. And if they expect you to give up yours, you'd better make sure they give up theirs. Once again, I made my eyes meet Jacob's. "He's absolutely right." Jacob's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but I plowed on. "But I'm not the only one that has to start spilling. If you want me to tell you my secrets, then you – all of you – need to tell me yours." I gave Bella a piercing glare to emphasize my point.

Bella, Jacob, Embry and another boy whose name I hadn't learned yet let out outcries of protest, appalled that I had the audacity to say such a thing, but curiously enough, the bolter and Sam stayed stone silent, one looking at me with an expression of awe and admiration, the other looking at me through distrusting eyes, debating whether or not he should trust me. Finally, after a moment of more protests, Sam broke through the silence.

"Enough!" he rumbled. All at once, all the noise in the room died down, as though he had pressed the 'mute' button on an invisible remote. "How do I know I can trust you?" I surveyed him quietly for a moment, debating my answer.

"You don't, Sam," I said. "Frankly, if you didn't, I wouldn't blame you. But…I know that the only reason why I'm here is because Bella needed me. So, I'm asking you to bear that in mind and take a chance on trusting me."

From behind me, I heard a scoff (that I guessed belonged to Jacob) but it died away as soon as Sam looked past me in the direction it had come from. For a long moment, all was quiet, thick with tension that was as thick as the humidity on an afternoon in August in Orlando. Finally, he nodded his assent. "Alright, it's a deal," he said. "Now tell me…how did you appear like that?"

PAUL

Well, fuck me.

It didn't take a genius to realize that we were all thinking something along those lines as Evie finished her story. Her words hung in the air, thick and suffocating, their full meaning crashing into all of us like a speeding freight train.

Finally, Bella spoke and broke the silence. "So…wait a minute, you mean to tell me that you just…touched something and saw me doing that?" The girl – Evie – nodded silently. "And…you said my name and…got to where I was?" Bella continued in an incredulous tone.

Evie let out an impatient sigh. "Well that's what it looks like," she said. Jacob let out a growl, Evie's tone clearly not going over well with him, and before I could help it, an even lower growl ripped out of my throat. With a slight jump of surprise, Evie whirled around to face me from her place on the couch and I tried to keep my face completely blank (it was a losing battle). Just as quickly, she whipped back around and glared at Jacob, daring him to keep going.

Damn. My girl has balls.

Sam cleared his throat, effectively ending the stalemate between the two. "So…you never knew you had these…abilities before today?"

Evie shook her head. "According to my mother, they were lying dormant and she was waiting until they came in…if they came in…to tell me. Which reminds me, Bella…Charlie can't know about this."

Bella nodded and for a moment, Evie looked shocked, almost as if she'd expected the leech lover to put up a fight. Everything went silent again; my brothers and I locked eyes, each silently trying to figure out which bomb to drop first. Several minutes of tense silence later, Evie let out an irritated sigh.

"I held up my end of the bargain," she said to Sam. "Now somebody – preferably you," she said, turning to Bella. "Needs to tell me what the hell was going on today at that beach."

Bella shifted uncomfortably. "I already told you why I did what I did…" she said. Evie's eyes narrowed and she huffed. "Really?" She huffed and looked down at her knees, shaking her head. After several tense minutes, she glanced up and glared at Bella. "Bella, after everything that has gone down today, now is not the time to BS me. Now, who the fuck was that and why did she want you dead?"

The tension that was already in the room grew as Bella's silence continued. Jacob approached her and put a comforting arm around her. She gave him a warm smile and got closer to him, before taking a deep breath.

"Ev…Edward was a vampire."

EVIE

She did not say that.

She did not say he was a vampire.

"Did you just say he was a vampire?" I asked, just to make sure I wasn't going nuts. When she nodded, I was so stunned that I did the only thing I could do: I facepalmed.

"So let me get this right…" I began, once I'd lifted my head out of my hands. "You mean to tell me that you were about to do something completely and totally reckless, something utterly…" I paused, noticing that Jacob was giving me a "Say one more thing and I'll kill you"look. "Well, point is, you were going to do that for a vampire? Bells, doing something like that for someone who's alive is ridiculous enough, but for Christ's sake, a vampire? Fuckin' A!"

At that moment, all I wanted to do was go over to where Bella was sitting and wring her neck, and although it probably wouldn't have been the most productive of solutions, I have to admit that I was wondering how long I could strangle her for before Jacob killed me. I took a long, deep breath to dispel my murderous thoughts. "Wait a minute. That still doesn't explain why the redhead is after you."

Bella's eyes got glassy. "Ed…Edward killed her mate to save me…in Phoenix."

I sucked in a breath. When I'd heard of Bella's accident in Phoenix, I'd thought it sounded a bit fishy; Bella was a klutz, but really? That much damage was a stretch, even for her. "But you're not with him now. That chapter's over and done…why not just go after him?" As the words died away on my lips, Bella flinched and I knew then that whatever happiness I thought she'd achieved was pure bullshit; she still loved that asshole, even though she could die because of his recklessness.

"An eye for an eye," she murmured. When I scrunched my eyebrows, she continued. "She thinks that if she kills me, he'll suffer the same way she did when he killed James." Bella shuddered, and for a moment, she looked completely forlorn. In that moment, I vowed that I was going to hurt Edward – I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I knew that after everything he'd put her through, he wasn't going to walk away unscathed.

"He will suffer," I growled. "But not because of your death." I stood and walked over to her, wrapping my arms around her.

"She's right," Jacob murmured from beside her. "Not if we have anything to do with it."

My eyes flew over to him and narrowed. I was still madder than hell at him. "What do you have to do with it?" I snapped.

Jacob growled at me again, something that was obviously very common with this bunch and I almost killed him.

"Both of you, knock it the fuck off," snapped Bella. "Evie, I know that Jacob has been a bit difficult but given everything that's been happening today, not to mention the shit he deals with on a daily basis, he's a bit on edge." Jacob shot me a smug look and Bella rounded on him. "And you! Evie just discovered her powers, saw a vampire face off with a bunch of wolves and saved me from jumping off a cliff, so excuse her if she's a bit on edge herself. You're both on the same side; you both mean the world to me. So either kiss and make up or suck it up and agree to silently hate each other, but either way, the bickering stops now. Got it?"

Jacob and I glared at each other, locked in a stalemate for what seemed like an eternity. "Fine," he ground out, extending a hand to me.

"Ditto," I murmured, grasping his hand. All at once, the feeling that I was growing to despise shot through me and much like had happened with Bella, images began playing through my head.

Jacob and Bella were arguing as Bella made her way out of a house. He held fast to her arm as she walked away, only to let her go a moment later. Bella got into a car and sped away and Jacob began to shake. As he did so, fur shot out of him and in an instant, there was no Jacob…just a dark, angry looking wolf.

I released Jacob's hand and my eyes widened as I stared at him. His eyes bore into me, displaying his confusion at my reaction. From behind me, I heard a growl and that was all it took; my body started to shake and my heart went into overdrive.

"It was you," I whispered, my previous conclusions on the beach, confirmed. Jacob's eyes widened, realizing what exactly I was talking about.

"How did you - ?" he asked in disbelief.

"Wait, you know?" said Bella.

"I…" I paused to look at each one of the men that were behind me, whose eyes were as wide as Jacob's. "I saw," I murmured. At those words, my heart raced again right before my legs gave out and everything went black.

PAUL

As Evie sped toward the floor, I shoved Sam and Embry out of the way, managing to grab her just before she hit the floor. "What the hell did you do?" I hissed at Jacob as I held her in my arms, before mentally slapping myself. Chill the hell out! I snapped at myself.

Just as Jake was about to say something, the leech lover jumped to his defense. "He didn't do anything – he just shook her hand!" Another growl that I couldn't control bubbled in my throat.

"Paul, calm down," rumbled Sam, the Alpha timbre in his voice. "You wouldn't want to hurt her." My inner wolf chafed against Sam's order, but as I glanced at Evie, I realized that I really didn't want to hurt her. If anything, I wanted her to wake up so I could make sure Jake hadn't hurt her. I gave him a nod before focusing my attention on Jake and the leech lover. "Where should I put her?"

Bella shot off the couch and pulled Jake up with her, before straightening out the quilt that had been beneath them. "Right here. Jake, do you have any smelling salts?" she asked. Jake shook his head, and just as I was about to get up and go find some, Sam stopped me.

"Jared, can you go with Bella to Emily's? I'm pretty sure she has some in the medicine cabinet." For a moment, Bella looked hesitant, but when Jared extended a hand to her, she stood and went with him.

As soon as they were gone, I scooted the loveseat a bit closer to the sofa and sat down, keeping a watchful eye on Evie.

"What is with you?" growled Jake. I broke my gaze on Evie and stared at Jacob, trying to keep myself as calm as possible.

"He's just being protective," said Sam. "Be careful, Paul. Don't make me order you away from her."

"Don't even think about it," I hissed back, and for a second, I wanted to shoot myself (not that it would do much harm). On the one hand, being ordered away from her would be a welcome relief for me; I did not do imprinting. It wasn't my thing. Being away from her might help remind me of that. On the other, I knew that hope was futile – I'd seen Sam when he was away from Emily for too long. It would hurt too much.

Apparently, my response finished the puzzle for Jake. "You didn't!" he said accusingly.

Instead of answering, I re-focused my attention on Evie and on the door that Jared and Bella had walked out of. Where the hell are they? I thought.

"I can't believe it!" Jake continued, exasperation in his voice.

"Well…at least it wasn't one of your sisters," said Embry, apparently trying to lighten the mood. Both Jake and I shot him an angry glare, though I really couldn't place just why Jake was so angry.

"What, did you want to imprint on her?" I said. "So you'd have some sick, permanent connection to your leech lover?"

"What the – of course not!" he snapped, starting to pace along the floor. "It's just…damn…And yes, thank God it wasn't one of my sisters," he said with a shudder.

"Relax, Black. Your sisters aren't my type."

"Not your type? Please, has boobs, has your attention," scoffed Embry, and Sam – super serious, no-nonsense Sam – chuckled.

"Well, that certainly not the case anymore," he said. I gave them an angry hmmph and turned back to Evie, who still showed no signs of waking up. "Where are they?"

"Relax, man," Jake said. "They'll be back here soon."

The next seven minutes passed slower than molasses coming out of a jar. Just when I was about to tear out of there and run to the drug store, Jared and Bella re-entered the house. I was just about to tear them a new one but Bella shoved past me and knelt beside Evie, holding the salts under her nose.

"Sorry that took so long," Jared said, more to me than anyone else. "Emily asked why we needed them and then had to find them." I simply nodded.

"Come on, Ev," murmured Bella and slowly, Evie came to.

"What…what happened?" she said softly. "Oh, fuck…did I pass out?" Bella nodded and helped Evie sit up. "Damn it."

"Hey," said Bella. "It's okay…happens to the best of us."

Evie scoffed. "Right," she said sarcastically. "Because everybody deals with this kinda stuff and passes out."

"I'm surprised you didn't do it sooner," I murmured. Apparently, I hadn't murmured softly enough because Evie's and Bella's eyes flickered over to me, the latter's narrowed in annoyance. "I mean…it's a lot to take in. Others have passed out long before you did," I added gently.

"Don't mind him, he's just – " started Bella.

"It's okay," Evie said. Her eyes met mine again and she blushed slightly. "I know…I know you didn't mean anything by it."

Bella looked at her cousin in amazement before shaking her head. "Do you remember what you saw before you…?"

"Hit the deck?" Evie finished, nodding.

"Well, you didn't." When Evie's eyes narrowed in confusion, Bella elaborated. "Paul caught you."

Evie nodded, her eyes flickering nervously from Bella's face to my face to Jared's. Sensing her discomfort, my brother gave her a winning smile and extended his hand to her. "Hi. I'm Jared Spencer," he said. She glanced at his hand timidly before placing her hand in his. "And this," he said, pointing over to me. "Is Paul Rose."

Evie quickly retracted her hand from Jared's and her eyes locked on me again. For a moment, it seemed like she didn't want to say anything, but seconds later, a "Hi," slipped from her lips, so soft that it was hard for even me to hear. "Hey," I said softly. To my dismay, I held out a hand before I could stop myself and even more annoying was that my heart did several backflips and a somersault when, after looking at it with uncertainty, Evie placed her small hand in mine. "You better now?" I said, trying (without success) to make my voice more gruff. Instead of answering, she nodded slowly, a crimson tint flooding her cheeks. Cute.

"Sorry about that," she murmured.

"Like Paul said," Bella broke in, effectively killing the moment. "I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. Anyway, what happened? What did you see?"

Evie shook her head and her face turned to a mask of stone, breaking away from me and focusing on Jacob, who was standing as far from her as possible. "Him," she murmured. "You…you confirmed my suspicions." Jacob's eyebrows narrowed in confusion and she sighed. "You're the wolf… well, one of the wolves that saved us from that bitch.

"You suspected?" interrupted Sam.

Evie snorted. "This one," she said, jerking her head in Bella's direction. "Almost said his name out there on the beach. Then, when he showed up and was properly introduced, it started to fit. The vision that I had…just confirmed it."

"What did you see?" asked Sam.

Evie shook her head and scrunched her face in concentration. "Jacob and Bella were arguing…Apparently, you won, because you got in a car and left," she said to Bella. "And you got angry. You shook and then…" she said to Jake. "But how?"

"Our people descend from wolves. Some of us…are the protectors of our tribe."

"Protectors?"

"Against leeches. Like the bitch on the beach," I ground out. Suddenly, the importance of that afternoon's events went up ten-fold. I found my imprint because of the leech-lover. My imprint could've died because of the leech-lover. Damn it, she's just a GIRL. A leech-lover's cousin. JUST A GIRL!

Evie nodded. "Makes sense," she said after a moment. She glanced at Jacob and surprisingly, smiled at him. "I suppose I owe you a 'thank you.' And an apology; sorry I passed out."

"No worries," he said, smiling slightly at her too. "Sorry I went ape on you."

She snorted. "Who knew? An ape and wolf hybrid. What's next, unicorns?" she murmured, giving Jake a wink, and effectively breaking the seriousness that surrounded us. "Who else was there?"

Embry gave her a small wave and she nodded before looking around. "And me," I said.

Evie turned a little bit so that she could face me better. "Thank you," she murmured. "To all of you…for everything."

"It's what we do," murmured Sam.

Evie nodded slightly and Bella stood up. "I think we should get you home, Ev. Today's been…"

"Batshit crazy?" Evie finished.

Bella nodded. "Exactly. Guys," she said, glancing at each of us. "Thank you. We both appreciate it."

I took another look at Evie as she stood and nodded at us and I couldn't help but lose myself in her eyes. But apparently I got lost for too long because Bella coughed and Evie's eyes broke away from mine.

"I'll go with you two," Jake said. Bella turned to look at Jake appreciatively, but I wanted to growl. I barely succeeded in holding it back and glared at him. His eyes met mine and he gave me a warning glance.

Just as they were about to head out, Jake's house phone rang. "One second," he murmured, going for the phone. Bella nodded at his retreating form.

Thank Go…Oh, shut the fuck up I chided myself.

Jake came back into the room several minutes later, completely somber.

"Harry didn't make it."

All at once, it was as if all the oxygen had been sucked from the room. All of us, except for Evie, had been touched by Harry's presence and losing him cut deeply. Bella slumped slightly against Evie and the latter placed an arm around her.

"We should head over to the hospital immediately," said Sam, breaking the silence that had settled around us. "Jake, when you get done dropping off Evie and Bella – "

"No, no…we'll go to the hospital," said Bella. "I need to be with Charlie."

"Wait, wait…Charlie doesn't even know that I'm here…besides, it'd be inappropriate for me to be there; I don't even know the family. Why doesn't Jake just drop me off and y'all can then head to the hospital?"

My heart gave an unexpected, unwanted lurch. Apparently, Jacob knew what I was thinking.

"With that leech around, you might be safer at the hospital," he said. "Since you'll be in a crowd…"

Evie shook her head. "Right now, you have friends you need to comfort; if there's trouble, I can get myself to safety. It's not like she can track me…I don't think." She paused for a moment, before narrowing her eyes. "Fuckin' A!"

"What's wrong?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Shaking her head again, Evie huffed. "If I'd just thought to do that in the first place…Well, what will be will be." She placed her hands on Bella's shoulders. "You go with Jake; I'll be fine."

Bella shifted uneasily. "I don't know, Ev…"

I locked eyes with Sam while the cousins debated. There was no way she could be unprotected; then again, nobody could force her to go – she could poof right out and go back to wherever she lived. As much as I hated myself for it, I didn't want that to happen – but I certainly didn't want her in danger. Sam gave me a small nod.

"Jake," interrupted Sam. "You ride with Bella down to the hospital; Paul can give Evie a ride back to Charlie's and stay with her until Bella and Charlie get home." As he said this, Jared and Embry waved goodbye to Evie and I and walked out the door.

"Bye guys," Evie said quickly, giving them a small smile before re-focusing on the conversation at hand.

Jake nodded, but Evie looked unsure. Fortunately, Bella spoke up before Evie had a chance to. "Are you sure, Sam?" Maybe it wasn't so fortunate.

Before my Alpha could speak, Jake answered. "Don't worry, Bella. Paul's third in command for a reason. Evie will be completely safe."

"What do you think, Evie?" asked Bella, glancing at her cousin.

"I think either way, I'm getting babysat," Evie grumbled. "But that does seem easiest. While you guys are out, I'll try and make something for dinner, okay?" She glanced over at Sam. "It was good to meet you, Sam," she said.

"Likewise," he said. "I'll be seeing you soon." He made his way out the door, leaving Bella, Jake, Evie and I.

"Bye, Jake," Evie said. "Don't let this one out of your sight, okay?" She winked at the last part and gave him a small smile, which he returned. I had to look at the floor, because as much as I hated to admit it, there was a huge part of me that was jealous. Why should you care? JUST. A. GIRL!

"And you," she said to Bella. "Be careful, and give a huge hug to Uncle Charlie for me and give him and the family my condolences, okay?"

Bella nodded and hugged Evie. "We'll be home as soon as we can." She and Jake went to walk out the door when Bella stopped and glanced over her shoulder. "Paul?"

I met her gaze with a bored one of my own. "Do you know how to get to my place?" she asked me.

I almost snorted at the question. Jake had thought about the drives down to her place so many times that I knew the route..."Like the back of my hand," I said. At her confused look, I tapped my temple and she seemed to get the message. She took another step before stopping and facing me fully, her eyebrows narrowed.

"And Paul? Anything happens to her and I'll kill you."

AN: Wow...once again guys, I'd like to apologize for the ridiculous amount of time this took to post. I hope, however, that you do enjoy the update. I promise that the next update will be posted within the next ten to fourteen days (2 weeks). If I can get through finals and finish everything that I have to finish and therefore have enough time to write up Chapter 9, there's a possibility that the update will happen sooner. Please, please, please read and review this chapter. Questions, comments, concerns, constructive criticism - I welcome and want it all!