Hi everyone! Thank you all so much for your reviews and adds! I'm sorry I didn't respond to everyone, but I had a busy weekend and then I've just been lazy the last few days. However, despite my laziness, I was able to finish this chapter! I hope you all like it. Please let me know what you think and thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Twilight.
Chapter Fourteen
"This isn't exactly easy for me to tell you, Camilla," he said softly and Camilla squeezed his hands in encouragement, hoping to provide a bit of comfort for him. Though she couldn't see his expression all that clearly, she could see him well enough that she could tell that he looked like he was going to be sick because he was so nervous. "What did you think of our legends?" Camilla frowned slightly at the question, finding it odd that he asked that after putting her on edge for whatever news he was about to deliver.
"Why are you asking?" she asked with her frown still in place.
"I'm curious," he said quietly and she sighed quietly.
"Well," she said slowly, "I thought they were fascinating." He let out a slow breath and nodded his head before he gathered his courage.
"What would you say if I told you that they weren't just legends? What would you say if I told you that they were true?" he asked and he saw her blink at him before she laughed lightly and shook her head.
"I would say that you were crazy," she said good naturedly. He could tell by the expression on her face that she thought he was kidding, and he sighed as his hold on her hands a little tighter.
"Camilla," he said softly, "I'm serious." At his words, Camilla stopped chuckling and the smile slipped from her face as she looked up at him.
"What?" she asked, her voice tight as she pulled her hands from his and took half a step back from him. Paul felt a part inside of him break as she pulled away from him; however, he remained intact since she hadn't run away . . . yet anyway.
"The legends are real," he said before he brought his right hand to his chest. "I'm a shape-shifter, a wolf warrior of the tribe." She was cursing the darkness because she couldn't see his face very well, but what she could see of his face, the expression there looked deadly serious. Camilla felt a little part of her heart break as she shook her head. Paul wasn't the perfect man like she had thought. He was insane, and only now showing her his true colors.
"You're insane," she said quietly, voicing her thoughts as she took another step back from him and Paul's heart constricted a little more as he lowered his hand from his chest and winced. She turned to leave, to get her daughter, and go; but Paul quickly and gently grabbed her left arm as she turned away.
"I'm not, Camilla," he said.
"Paul, you think you can turn into a wolf. You need help," she said and Paul was internally panicking. She really thought he was insane, and in all honesty he couldn't blame her. However, that didn't mean he wasn't going to just let her walk away and have nothing to do with him ever again.
"I can show you," he said suddenly and he saw her eyebrows rise in surprise. "I can show you, but all I ask is that you don't run away from me." Camilla, at a loss for words, but found her voice as she nodded.
"All right," she said lowly. "If you can really turn into a wolf, show me."
"Okay," he said softly before he took several steps backwards, settling about thirty feet from where Camilla stood in place, her eyes glued to him. He pulled off his tank top and tossed it onto the pebble sand to his right before he started to step out of his shoes and his hands moved to the button of his jeans.
"What are you doing?" Camilla asked quickly and Paul looked up from his hands and at Camilla. Her eyes were wide and her heart was pounding hard in her chest, harder than he had ever heard it before and he couldn't help but smile slightly as he noticed her flushed cheeks.
"If I phase with my clothes on, they'll rip to shreds and I won't have anything to wear," he said evenly.
"Oh," she said slowly. He could tell by her tone that she still didn't believe him, and he took another deep breath before he lowered his jeans. He heard her barely audible sharp intake of breath thanks to his hearing, and he smiled softly once again even though he knew that she probably couldn't see him very clearly, but she knew that he had gone commando like he usually did. He tossed his jeans with his tank top and did the same with his shoes before he stood to his full height and faced her.
"Don't be afraid, Camilla, when I phase," he said. "I may be wolf, but I'm still me. My mind doesn't change and I won't hurt you. Okay?" he asked.
"Okay," she said softly. She was actually preparing to bolt back to the bonfire, get her daughter, and get the hell out of there; and as Paul closed his eyes she was ready to do just that but what happened next froze her in place. In the moonlight she literally saw her boyfriend explode into a giant ball of fur and when it was all over, standing where Paul had been standing not a second earlier was a seriously large dark colored wolf. "Oh my God," she said, the words rushing out a in a breathless whisper as she looked at the horse sized wolf with wide eyes.
Paul looked at Camilla, unmoving, as she looked back at him. He listened to her heart race quickly in her chest and her labored breathing as she stared at him. Aside from her quiet whisper, Camilla hadn't said anything else or moved an inch from where she stood and Paul didn't know if he should feel relieved or fearful at that fact. Camilla couldn't believe what she had just witnessed and thanks to the shock her knees shook and gave out underneath her, sending her crashing to the ground in a small heap and landing hard on her backside. Paul whined as he took a step closer to her and when she didn't move from where she sat on the pebble sand staring at him. He took another step and then another, slowly closing the distance between them until he was standing just in front of her and leaned his head down so it was level with her face.
A voice in the back of her head was screaming at her to run. It was telling her that Paul, and likely the rest of the guys, were freaks and that she needed to get Avery away from all of them to protect her. However, she found that she truly had no will to move from where she sat as she stared into the endlessly dark eyes of the wolf standing in front of her. She saw Paul staring back at her and not some blood thirsty animal that was ready to rip her throat out. It really was him and he wasn't crazy after all.
"It really is you," she said quietly as she looked into his eyes, finally finding her voice after several quiet beats of staring. Paul nodded his large head and Camilla let out a scoffed laugh before she raised her shaking right hand. Paul met her hand halfway and pressed his fur covered cheek against her palm and closed his eyes.
Camilla smiled at the odd familiarity at the whole situation since Paul tended to close his eyes whenever she touched his face. He opened his eyes and looked at Camilla as her still trembling hand remained buried in his fur. Despite the fact that she was completely freaked out and seriously contemplating her own sanity, a part of her already accepted what Paul was able to do. However, it was going to take her a while to completely come to terms with everything.
"Can you turn back?" she asked as she lowered hand and he nodded before he took a few steps back from her. He phased back and Camilla was quick to her feet. Her legs still shook as she looked up at Paul who now stood only a few feet from her. "How is that even possible?" she asked.
"We really only have the legends to go by," he said, his eyes locked on her disbelieving face, "and it's genetic, running in only a few bloodlines in the tribe."
"Is it just . . . do only guys change?" she asked.
"Leah's the first and only known female to ever change, and we think the gene activated in her because she's got a lot of anger issues; and anger is the trigger to the first time someone shifts," Paul said and Camilla nodded slowly.
"So, my boyfriend and the majority of my friends can change into seriously large wolves at will," she said before she brought her hands to her face and rubbed her tired eyes. "I don't know what to make of all of this," she said as she lowered her hands from her face. Paul took a few tentative steps towards her, closing the small distance between them, before he put his hands on her upper arms. He was thankful she didn't pull away from him, and simply turned her eyes up to his.
"There's more, Camilla," he whispered and her eyes widened.
"More?" she asked heavily and he nodded his head.
"There's a lot more, but there's really only one thing I want to tell you about tonight. We call it imprinting," he said and she frowned slightly.
"Imprinting?" she asked and he nodded once more, his thumbs making small circles on her arms as he gently held on to her.
"It's when we find our soul mate," he said and Camilla blinked in response. "When our eyes meet hers, she is what holds us to the Earth from that moment on. We become whatever she needs or whatever she wants us to be whether it is a brother, a friend and confidant, or her lover. We will move mountains for her and protect her with our life if needed. In the legends, Third Wife was Taha Aki's imprint; Emily is Sam's; Kim is Jared's; and Claire is Quil's," he finished quietly.
"Wait, Quil imprinted on a six year old little girl?" she asked sharply with her eyes wide.
"It's not like you're thinking, Camilla," he said. "Quil has no romantic feelings towards her whatsoever. He only feels the need to protect her, to keep her safe, and you've seen how he is with her. He's like her big brother, and that's the way he loves her for now. When she's old enough, it'll be Claire's choice whether or not to expand on their relationship."
"Won't Quil be old enough to be her father at that point?" she asked, a small frown marring her lips once more.
"Technically, yeah, but," he said with a quiet scoffed laugh, "another thing that comes along with the whole wolf thing is delayed aging." She raised an eyebrow and Paul smiled. "So long as we continue to phase, we won't age from what we look like right now. However, when we stop phasing to live a 'normal' life with our imprint, we'll age normally alongside her."
"Wow," Camilla said softly. They were quiet for a few beats before Paul heard her now calm heart start to race again as she looked up at him, the moonlight shining in her light eyes. "Paul, have you . . .," she trailed off and he nodded, knowing the question before she could even finish asking it. Camilla had already assumed she knew the answer to that question, but she wanted to ask it anyway. For some strange reason, she wanted to hear him say it.
"Yes," he said quietly before he brought his hands to cup her face, "on you, Camilla, that afternoon in Sue's kitchen." It was only then, as he watched her slowly smile up at him, that he let his body relax. "You're smiling," he said as he ran his thumbs along her cheeks and Camilla laughed quietly as she shook her head before his hands left her face to rest on her shoulders.
"Oh, trust me, I'm freaking out on the inside," she said and his body tensed once more. "However, I know that I can trust you, Paul, and I know I can trust the others. If any of you were going to hurt Avery or me, you would have already done so by now."
"No one will ever hurt you, Camilla; at least not physically or intentionally," Paul said and Camilla smiled up at him.
"I know," she said gently before she closed the small distance between them and hugged him tight. As she embraced him, she remembered that Paul was naked and Camilla quickly pulled back from him. In the darkness, Paul could see her red face as she tucked her hair behind her ears. "Maybe you should get dressed and we can go back to the others."
"What? Don't like what you see?" he asked teasingly and she laughed as she gently pushed at his chest.
"Go get dressed," she said through her quiet laugh. He grinned and winked at her even though he was pretty sure she didn't see it. As Paul walked back to his clothes it was then that he remembered there was one more thing that he needed to tell her when it came to imprinting, and he wasn't so sure she would take that news as well as she had everything else.
Seth, like everyone else that was still sitting around the fire, was on edge. Avery was asleep in his lap, nestled into his chest and suckling her right hand as she slept. Seth was worried that Camilla was going to come screaming up the beach and rip Avery from his arms before she took off for Forks, and demanded that they all stay away from her and Avery. Seth wasn't sure how he would handle that; hell, he wasn't sure how Paul would handle that and so he was on pins and needles as he waited for Camilla and Paul to come back.
"There they are," Jared said when he caught sight of Camilla and Paul heading up the sand. Judging by the stiff way Camilla was walking and the fact that there was at least four or five steps between her and Paul, he didn't have the best feeling. "I don't think it went well," he said as he looked briefly at Kim, who bit her lower lip as she looked at him, before he turned his eyes to Seth who looked at him with wide eyes.
"Seth Clearwater," Camilla's firm voice echoed into the quiet air and all eyes moved to the pair that finally came into the light of the still burning fire. Seth swallowed hard when he saw Camilla's flushed face and Paul trailing behind. She did not look the least bit happy and the fact that her fists were clenched at her sides was not a good sign for the young man.
"Camilla," he said softly as he stood, still holding Avery in his arms, "I know what you're probably thinking, and I promise it's nothing like that. It's-"
"Stop," Camilla said, interrupting whatever he had been about to say, and Seth clamped his mouth shut.
Everyone was watching, practically holding their breath as their attention was completely focused on Camilla and Seth. Because of that, all of them failed to see the small smile tugging on the corners of Paul's lips as he stood off to the side with his arms crossed over his chests as he too watched the scene unfold.
"All of this is has me feeling a little overwhelmed," she said as she looked up at Seth, "and as freaked out as I am about everything, I get it. I understand it's something you can't help." At her pause Seth dared to smile, but Camilla wasn't finished. "However, that doesn't mean I'm okay with it." Seth's smile vanished before he sighed quietly and glanced at Avery before he looked back at Camilla.
"Camilla, really, I don't see her like Paul sees you or anything like that at all," Seth said as he shook his head. "I just want to protect her and take care of her. You can ask the guys. They know because they can see it all in my head."
"Wait, what?" she asked, her eyes going wide. "What do you mean they can see it in your head?" Jared rolled his eyes and looked at Paul.
"Didn't you tell her everything?" he asked, drawing the small groups eyes to him before everyone looked at Paul, who uncrossed his arms as he shrugged.
"I just told her the important stuff," Paul said and Camilla ran her hand through her hair before Seth put her out of her misery.
"We communicate telepathically with each other when we're in our wolf forms," Seth said, "but we can also see and hear each other's thoughts without trying."
"Seriously?" Camilla asked and Seth nodded.
"We're all working on blocking each other sometimes though because it can get a little awkward sometimes," Seth said, his cheeks tinting pink as he looked down at Camilla and Camilla quickly realized why. He, and the others, must know of Paul and Camilla's first date thank to that little ability of theirs and Camilla was sure her face was as red as a tomato. Her eyes widened once more before she turned around to look at Paul.
"Work harder at that, okay," she ordered more than asked and all the guys laughed while Paul grinned as he once again crossed his arms over his chest before he nodded his head. She sighed quietly and turned her eyes back to Seth, her flushed face going serious as her green eyes met Seth's brown in the firelight. "She's not even eight months old yet, and you're eighteen. I . . . I'm so not okay with this," Camilla said as she shook her head.
"When it first happened, I wasn't either," Seth admitted, "but Camilla you really have nothing to worry about, I swear." Camilla and Seth just stared at each other for several quiet beats as everyone watched, their laughter from just a minute ago was gone as they waited for what she was about to say. Sighing softly, Camilla walked closer to Seth and gently touched sleeping Avery's left arm before she looked up at Seth.
"All right," she said quietly and Seth's eyebrows rose.
"Really?" he asked and she nodded as she took hold of Avery's left hand.
"Yeah, but know that I'm going to be watching you," she said and Seth smiled fully. His smile was so blinding and pure that Camilla regretted the anger that had filled her when Paul told her about Seth imprinting on Avery.
"That's fine," he said. "I wouldn't expect anything less." She smiled then and let go of Avery's hand before she took a step back from him.
"So," Jared said, bring the attention of everyone to him, "are we all good?" he asked, earning a chuckle from Camilla as she nodded.
"Yeah, we're good," she said before she let out a quiet shriek as Paul lifted her up from the ground his arms going around her waist before he literally threw her up in the air, spinning her around, and catching her with ease.
Everyone was laughing as Camilla landed in Paul's arms, her own arms going around his neck. Paul was smiling at her in a way she had never seen before as he held her, her feet dangling from the ground, and her heart swelled as she moved her right hand from her left forearm and pressed her palm against his face. He closed his eyes and sighed, just like he had done as she petted him when he was in his wolf form. Everyone was chatting and Seth was sitting back down with Avery still in his arms; so, Camilla figured they had about as much privacy as they were going to get with a bunch of shape shifters around who all had super hearing. Paul opened his eyes and Camilla pressed her forehead against his.
"I love you," she whispered and he turned his head, catching her lips with his. He kissed her for the first time since he told her everything and he was beyond thrilled at the fact that she was still his; and he had no plans of ever letting her go.