Here is my disclaimer that I always forget about: Meyer's characters are not mine. I give up on asking you guys to review. I'm just gonna post chapters whenever I feel like a chapter is good enough~
Btw if you guys DO happen to review, it would be nice if you could tell me what you think will happen in the story as each chapter is posted. I want to know how obvious I'm being. I try hard not to be cuz when I'm reading a book and I can tell you what's going to happen for the rest of a story I stop reading it. I don't like everything to be predictable.
Comments:
ThisIsHope- Oh gosh, thanks for telling me that. It would have drove me crazy too if I knew that. It's driving me crazy now so I fixed his name and you won't hear Roaner again! Thank you for the review! :)
Paul's POV
Sometimes it's really annoying to have an alpha. No scratch that, it's always annoying to have an alpha.
For some reason Sam has been bitching at me more than usual. I mean, he already bitched at me a lot; but now it's practically non-stop.
"If you would stop fighting me on everything we wouldn't be having this problem," Sam voices in exasperation, running a hand tiredly down his face. He acts like he's the voice of reason, but he's more biased than any of us. Fucking imprints. Fucking Sam.
"If you stopped trying to micromanage my life, maybe I wouldn't be such an ass," I shoot back. Everyone else just let things go and accepts this wolf stuff with open arms. I don't get how they can. Oh, wait.
They view it as an honor. I view it as a burden.
I'm being run to the floor and none of them give a shit. Sam's excuse for not patrolling is Emily. The same goes with Jared and Quil with their respective imprints. Hell, even Jacob has an excuse: Bella Swan. Embry is too happy-go-lucky to bitch about it like I am, but I can tell he's just as tired as me. You know it's bad when the kid is happy to go to school. The only time I get a break is when I work my job, and I only got a job so I could do something besides pack business. I asked Mrs. Hokwat for my job back, and she was more than happy to oblige me.
"Paul! I get it! You're tired, we're all tired. But we have to do this. The only thing protecting our people is us."
"No, you don't get it," I growl out. "You don't get it at all. All of you get to throw fucking daisies in the air and make pink fucking cupcakes with your imprints while me and Embry are always out patrolling. We never get a break. Look at Embry!" I shout, pointing over to him. Embry jumps awake from where he's resting once I call out his name. He rubs an eye tiredly while wiping at a thin line of drool stuck to his face.
"What?" His question is barely understandable under the layers of sleep, but this only further proves my point. Sam takes a deep, calming breath in before opening his eyes to stare straight into mine.
"This job is not easy," he starts off, but I interrupt him.
"This isn't a fucking job. We're doing this for free." My snide comment finally makes him loses his temper, the veins in his neck becoming more prominent as his face reddens.
"I'm tired of your complaining Paul! Do you think I didn't hear you the first fifty times! What am I supposed to do? We're all being run thin here. I know it's especially hard on you because most of the pack are in high school and you always have to cover those shifts. I get it, but we have no choice." I go to argue but Sam reads it on my face and stops me in my tracks. "Paul, you are not to bring this up again." The alpha laden command vibrates into my bones freezing me in my tracks. It takes me a moment to be able to move again, and when I do I take a deep breath in, infuriated. The familiar burning of anger races across my skin in a feverish haze and Sam tells my pack brothers to get me outside before I go wolf. When I glance down my hands are vibrating so fast I can barely see them. Someone grabs me by the scruff of my neck and drags me outside and I almost tear the door off the hinges in the process.
"Paul man, you've gotta learn to get control of your anger." I turn and see Embry nervously standing by the side watching me with Jacob on my left. I look straight ahead, the red haze beginning to cover my peripherals already. But as suddenly as the rage comes it leaves, disappearing like a puff of air emptying from my lungs.
It's her.
The girl that shimmers. I haven't seen her in a while, and part of this argument actually started because of her. Sam told me I should leave her alone, but I didn't want to. It's my life and I should be able to have something. Sam doesn't seem to agree.
"-did you just do?" I hear Embry ask incredulous. I blink once, then twice, before bringing my gaze to him.
"What?" Even to my ears I sound like an slack-jawed idiot. My speech is slow and awkward.
"How did you do that? You've never been able to do that before? Hell, none of us have been able to calm down like that after being so far gone."
"I-I don't know." I bring my gaze back to her, ignoring my brothers and walking into the woods.
"Hey, where are you going?"
Wordlessly, I point towards her. Her eyes haven't left me either, watching with interest as I get closer to her.
"The woods?" Jacob asks confused. I don't bother to answer, stumbling through the forest to get to her. I stop directly in front of her. She stares forward into my chest, unblinking and unwilling to look up. I can hear Jacob and Embry stop a bit behind me remaining quiet.
She swallows deeply before whispering in a soft voice, "I never got your name."
"Paul." After clearing my voice, I ask her the same.
"My name is Lizzy. Elizabeth really, but everyone called me Lizzy." My nose twitches at her use of past-tense, before deciding it must have been a mistake.
"Lizzy," I murmur, trying it out.
"Um, Paul. Are you okay?" Embry sounds a bit hysterical, and not of the laughing variety.
I frown, turning towards him in confusion. "Yeah?" I take a few steps back, before gesturing with a hand to Lizzy. Lizzy shakes her head viciously in a wordless no. I send her an odd glance before continuing. "This is Lizzy."
I'm met with two blank faces.
"Are you feeling okay?" Embry asks me, and by the look on his face I know he's not screwing with me.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"
"Because you're pointing towards air and calling it Lizzy," is Jacob's almost sarcastic answer. Now I'm the one sending crazy looks to them.
"What are you talking about? She's right here?" I go to touch her, but she backs up before I can. I give her a perplexing look, and she refuses to meet my gaze.
"Paul, there's nothing there." Embry says it softly, as if speaking to a frightened animal. I back up confused, glancing back and forth from them to Lizzy.
"Paul, I have something I need to tell you." Lizzy's voice is so soft that without my shifter hearing I wouldn't have heard it at all. She takes a deep breath before uttering one of the most bewildering and confusing things I've ever heard in my life. "Paul, they can't see me."
You've got to be fucking joking.
"Wait, what the hell are you talking about? If this is a joke it's not funny." I rush a hand through my hair in frustration before giving lethal glares to Jacob and Embry because they must have set this up just for kicks. There's no other possible answer. They're pretty good actors, better than I thought they would be. Embry is paler than I've ever seen him, and Jacob's expressions keeps switching from incredulous to worry and back again almost faster than I can follow.
"Paul, come here," Lizzy pleads in that soft tone that makes me feel like she'd never lie to me. But I'm too distracted by the looks on Jacob's and Embry's face to even listen to her. She takes a step towards me, her foot not making a sound in the crunchy Fall foliage. Why can't I hear her? I should be able to hear something, I think becoming a bit hysterical. "Hold out your hand," she demands, using the same tone from earlier. I hesitantly to do it, unsure exactly what she is up to. She brings her hand towards me, that slightly shimmery quality to her distracting me enough to temporarily forget Jacob and Embry. Her hand hovers above mine a moment, spasming almost as if trying to stop the slow, gradual movement towards my palm. Finally, as if gaining her courage, her hand slides towards mine with purpose, her chin tilting up stubbornly. When her hand touches mine, a light shiver runs through my hand, traveling its way up my arm and across my body. It's as if every single hair on my body stands on end. As suddenly as the feeling comes, it goes. I blink stupidly when I see her hand sitting beneath mine.
Her hand touched me, I know it did. I felt it, even if it was a bit odd. That's never happened to me when someone has touched me. I swear I saw it go through my hand, but that must of been my mind playing tricks on me.
"Do it again," I demand.
She does it, and this time I watch for any sort of trick. But the same thing happens again. Her hand passes though mine with little to no resistance and a slight shiver courses though my skin, although this one not as bad as the previous one.
"That doesn't make sense." It's all I can get out once I can form words. But another part of my brain debates that with me.
It doesn't make sense to be able to shift into a wolf, but I can. One should not be able to double their size, and change the shape of their bones. Perhaps she is just another creature that is just as illogical as me. I bring my eyes to hers, hopeful that she can logically explain the illogical away. She gives a sort of grimace, and goes to speak but the words get stuck in her throat and only a syllable that could mean anything comes out.
"Paul," she murmurs, almost as if she is loath say anything. "I'm dead."
I feel my entire body go lax, my face loosening into a blank stare.
What? Is that figuratively or literally? Dead? But she's right here. She's moving and breathing and… I study her, truly listening to her.
It's quiet. She's quiet.
I can't hear her heart, or even her breath. Her chest rises at odd moments, almost as if moving because of a force of habit. The wind is blowing, but she stays unmoved with her dress sitting still on her slender frame. And her body glitters, which in itself should have alerted me to something more. She is not a vampire. She can't be. Her eyes aren't red, they're green. Her skin is tan too, appearing healthy and alive despite her previous claim.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, and she truly looks like she is.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" I grip the familiar feeling of anger, because this feeling I have right now is so foreign that I'm over my head. "Why the hell are you even talking to me?"
She flinches as if I physically strike her, and she stares resolutely at the mulch covered ground. "Because I need your help," she admits with some reluctance. Embry interrupts before I can answer.
"Um, Paul. Let's go inside." His voice is on the verge of hysteria, breathy and the pitch uncontrolled. I grumble to myself, pacing back and forth.
Well I did say I wanted my life to get more interesting. Be careful what you wish for.