Hi guys! I'm sorry for the long-ish wait again. My excuses are the same as last time, but I swear they're real! Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, etc!

Enjoy!

Chapter 15

I cover my mouth with my hands to hide the smile that has already blossomed across my face. I don't know why I'm smiling. After all, my boyfriend just showed me that he can turn into a huge ass wolf. I should be running for the hills. Instead, I'm confused, but mostly just relieved.

Paul's not crazy, and if he wasn't lying about whatever the hell this wolf thing is, maybe he's not lying about it not being his fault that his friends found out about us.

Wolf Paul heads back over to his pile of clothes. He lifts his large paw up towards his face, a failed attempt at telling me to close my eyes I assume.

Smirking, I ask half-jokingly, "Don't you at least owe me this after tonight?"

Rolling his eyes, he redoes his paw covering eye motion.

I take a few steps up the basement stairs before taking a seat and squeezing my eyes half shut. He doesn't tell me to shut them all the way this time – although I guess he probably can't. The transformation from wolf to human is the most surreal, and possibly the most disturbing, thing I've seen in my life.

However, Paul's fully naked body on display afterwards definitely makes up for it. And definitely reminds me that I should be going to the gym more. Or at least the treadmill that's over in the corner of this room, since La Push doesn't really have a gym.

Paul pulls on his boxers and pants, before grabbing his shirt and approaching me cautiously. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this. I wanted to wait for you to hear all the legends and stuff. It's a lot easier to comprehend."

"I, I'm sorry I didn't believe you. You were right: you've never given me a reason not to trust you. I should've believed you."

Smiling coyly, he leans against the basement entrance's door frame and shrugs. "I know it's pretty unbelievable."

"You can say that again," I snort, feeling slightly still in shock. "But I'm sorry I called you a liar."

Paul smirks. "And?" he baits, giving me a knowing look.

"And for calling you crazy." He shoots me another look. "And insane." Another. "And a lunatic." And another. "Okay, okay, and psychotic. I'm sorry, but this is so much to take in!"

He takes a seat on the bottom step. "I know. And there's still so much you don't know. So please ask me whatever you need to so you feel somewhat more comfortable with all this shit."

I nod slowly. My brain is a scrambled mess a questions; it takes me a few seconds to determine which ones I actually need to get clarified before our parents come home. "So… you can turn into a wolf."

He furrows his eyebrows, nodding in confusion.

"But why can you turn into a wolf?"

"Basically, some of us have this gene, and it makes us turn into wolves to protect the tribe."

I can't help but snort. "Protect the tribe? From what? Partying teenagers? Bears?"

Paul's eyes flicker around the room nervously, causing my laughter to cease. "I don't want to scare you."

I roll my eyes. "I think we're past that. Continue."

"We phase to protect the tribe from … vampires."

"Vampires?" I repeat, my voice rising in panic. "You're joking."

"I really wish I was. But you don't have to worry," he assures me, "I would never let one hurt you." He must notice me turning even paler. "Are you okay?"

"Well, I now have to worry about being eaten by a vampire." I look at him in alarm. "That's all I have to worry about right? Like you or whoever else isn't going to eat me if you get hungry, right? Wait, who else can turn into a wolf?"

Paul reaches up and gently strokes my cheek. "No, you silly girl, you don't even have to worry about vampires at all. I would never let them near you. And Sam, Jared, Embry, Jake, Quil, Seth, Brady, Collin, and Leah won't eat you." He shoots me a wink, his signature smirk plastered on his face. "And I, well I won't eat you in that way at least."

Giggling, I shove him gently. "Leah? Is she the only girl who can turn into a wolf?"

Paul scoffs. "My dad and your mom could be back any minute; we don't have time to open that can of worms. But yes."

"So what about Kim and Emily? If they don't, do they know about this?"

He nods, tensing instantly. "They do," he replies slowly.

"Why?" I ask, curiously. "And why do I get to know?"

He runs his hand through his hair, dread and anxiety radiating off of him. "Uh, there's one more thing I have to tell you."

I feel slightly alarmed, before quietly asking, "Is it worse than the wolf or vampire thing?"

He smiles lovingly at me, stroking my cheek. "Not worse. But weirder. Definitely weirder." Taking a deep breath, he begins to tell me about all the special abilities they have. Heightened speed, superior scent, enhanced hearing, telepathy when in wolf form (hence how his friends found out about us), and finally: "We're able to know who our soulmates are as soon as we look them in the eyes." His smile turns nervous as he babbles on about no longer needing gravity and only wanting what's best for your "imprint" as he calls it. "So, Emily knows because she's Sam's imprint, Kim knows because she's Jared's imprint, and you now know because… you're mine."

My lips twitch to fight back a smile, my heart fluttering like a butterfly in my chest. "Are, you um, sure about that?"

He blinks in surprise, looking alarmed. "What?"

"Are you sure I'm your imprint?"

"Believe me, I would know." He laughs hesitantly. "I mean, I understand if it sounds crazy or creepy. If you're totally freaked out, like we can stop this. I-I would understand. But I swear it's not like you have to like me just because –"

"Paul," I interrupt, tortured by the pain in his eyes.

He doesn't stop. "When you hear the legends at the bonfire, I swear it will make more sense. I'm just terrible at explaining –"

"Paul," I exclaim louder this time, hoping he'll stop rambling and look at me. "Stop! All of this is crazy, yes. But I like this part a hell of a lot more than you turning into a wolf." I shoot his a grin to clarify that I'm teasing. "It's just seems odd to me, because the first time we met, I thought you hated me. It definitely didn't feel like you thought I was the thing holding you to the Earth."

"I had just found out my soulmate was my future step-sister. I think it's fair that my reaction wasn't exactly ecstatic." He smirks up at me. "Besides, I know you also had your freak out moments when you realized you were falling for me."

I blush, his comments about enhanced hearing lingering in my head. Oh god. "All those phone calls to Ricki?"

"I heard a few," he admits sheepishly. "But I swear, I tried not to eavesdrop."

"Yeah, I'm sure you did," I retort sarcastically. I can't help but laugh, though. All those times he'd smirk or laugh or snort after Ricki had something funny or embarrassing on the phone; it all makes sense now. "You know," I say thoughtfully, "if Ricki ever hears about this she's never going to stop telling me I told you so."

"Well, I mean, she can't know any of it. But why do you say that?" Paul asks curiously.

"Remember the other weekend when I called you asking if you wanted to see a movie with us?"

"Of course, it was like our first chaperoned date," he jokes.

I roll my eyes. "Ha ha, you're so funny. Anyway, I had it on speaker, because Ricki is nosy." Luckily Paul snorts and doesn't seem to feel like his privacy had been invaded. Although, since his friends can apparently hear most of the thoughts he has about me, I think it's a pretty fair playing ground. "And afterwards, she kept going off about how you and I are absolutely perfect together." I snort. "Even though she barely knew you."

"I guess she has good instincts." Paul shuffles up a few steps so that we're sitting side by side and pecks my cheek. "You know, you're taking this whole imprinting thing much better than Kim and Emily did."

I raise my eyebrows in interest. "Really? How did they take it?"

He laughs. "And you said Ricki was nosy."

I glare at him, before pouting and pleading for him to tell me. He caves and tells me all about the screaming matches that occurred when Sam and Jared both came clean about the wolf thing and imprinting. "Kim even threw a hairdryer at Jared."

"No way!" I gape. "You're joking!"

Chuckling, Paul shakes his head. "The girl was pissed."

"Kim?" I ask dubiously. "She can barely get a sentence out half the time. I cannot even picture that. I just can't even."

Rolling his eyes, Paul replies, "Well, you can badger Jared about it next time you see him if you don't believe me, but I swear it happened." Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he checks the time wearily. "They're going to be home any minute, so there's one more thing."

I groan. "You've got to be kidding me."

Paul pulls me onto his lap, kissing my lips gently. "I shouldn't say one more thing. It's just you can't talk to anyone about this, besides the pack obviously. But especially not my dad."

I nod slowly, smirking at how his group of friends – our group of friends I should say – refer to themselves as a pack. "Nobody would believe me anyway, silly."

"My dad will because he knows."

My jaw drops as I look at Paul in confusion. Resting my head on his shoulder, I ask, "Then why can't he know I know if he already knows?"

"If he finds out I imprinted on you before the wedding, I know he'd call it off. He would be all 'I can't take your soulmate away from you' and blah blah blah. Besides we've already been over how it will be better for them to find out afterwards since divorces are harder than calling off engagements."

I gulp. He's right; we've already discussed how important it is for us to ensure our relationship doesn't interfere with our parents'. "So, we're just gonna stick with the telling them after we graduate thing," I state.

A smile blossoms across Paul's face. "Well, I mean as long as you don't decide to go running for the hills after all I've told you in the past twenty minutes."

"I think you're safe," I tell him earnestly. I'm not sure all of this has really sunk in – any of it really. But out of the very few concerns I've had with Paul, this crazy information seems to almost explain them. Reaching up, I gently pull his face closer to mine and capture his lips in a tender kiss. We kiss for a few moments, and everything just feels so normal, as if the craziness of the last few hours never even happened.

"By the way," he whispers when we finally break apart, "I love you too."

Grinning ecstatically, I reply with an exponentially more passionate kiss. Turning around to straddle his lap, things continue to heat up. I'm about to suggest we go upstairs when suddenly Paul stiffens. Pulling away, he stands up and places me on my feet a few steps below him.

"They just pulled in the driveway. We should definitely not be down here when they come in."

Nodding in agreement, I smooth my hair and straighten out my shirt. I follow him up to the kitchen. He quickly throws a frozen pizza in the oven to make everything appear normal. "So what's the story?" I ask. "About what they saw earlier."

Paul chuckles, taking a seat at the chair adjacent to me. "You mean you don't want to go with 'Peter I still think you should send your son to an asylum'?"

I glare at him.

"Okay, okay. They basically think that you didn't like a wedding gift idea that I suggested, so I said something rude, and we ended up fighting."

"Wait, what did you suggest?"

"I don't know. I didn't specify. Why does it matter?" he asks incredulously, eyeing the door nervously.

"Because we need to get our story straight before they come in!" I exclaim, beginning to panic.

"Babe, calm down." He pauses for a second, before offering, "I suggested we get them a cow."

"Why the hell would we get them a cow!?"

"Exactly!" He grins. "You don't like it. So then, you got angry. I got angry. We fought. Then, we work things out like good step-siblings and decide that we're going to go Port Angeles on Wednesday after school to pick something out. Solid alibi."

I blink in surprise. "That's actually a good plan. And I really do have to get them something…."

He groans dramatically. "See I was actually thinking we could go on a real date and use that as an excuse." He winks playfully at me. "Since I already got them something like a good son."

I smirk at him. "Well, I'm a shitty daughter and haven't, so our first unchaperoned date is going to be partially made up of us finding a wedding gift."

Chuckling, Paul nods. "I suppose I can deal with that."

We hear the front door open and convert into step-sibling mode when we hear Peter call out, "You kids haven't killed each other yet have you?"

Laughing good naturedly, I get up to check on the pizza as Paul gets up to help them with the groceries. It's only been a few minutes and the pizza has barely cooked, but Mom and Peter don't need to know that. "No, don't worry, Peter. Luckily, I've convinced your son that he is crazy for thinking a cow would be a good wedding gift. We're going to find much more suitable gifts some night this week."

They both laugh, and I know we've dodged a major bullet: neither my mom nor Peter are suspicious about my outburst from earlier this evening.

Now just to keep any suspicions at bay for another year and a half….

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think :)