"You fucking asshole!" Paul roared as he tore into Embry's leg. The wolf gave a pained howl.

"PAUL! STOP IT THIS INSTANT!" Sam's alpha command only stopped Paul from tearing into him again. He had a few cuts and bruises already from the initial takedown, but the leg was definitely the worst of it.

Paul continued the verbal assault. "You fucking knew she was mine and you went and slept with her!"

"Dude! Dude, we were drunk, it didn't mean anything!" Embry insisted.

"It better had fucking not," Paul snarled. He was standing over the wolf, and Embry didn't dare move. Alpha order be damned, Paul had broken them before with his anger. Paul knew Sam was getting closer. "It won't happen again, you hear me?"

"It won't," Embry insisted. "I swear, it won't. I have no intention of that." Paul wasn't convinced. But the teen was practically cowering under Paul, giving a whimper if Paul's snarling teeth got too close to his face. "I swear, Paul. It was a mistake, okay?"

"Don't fucking tell me sleeping with her's a mistake, do you hear me?" Paul was practically seeing red. He couldn't even think straight. He just knew he was speaking and he had no control of what was coming out. "She's the best fucking thing in this world and you went and slept with her and you say it's a damn mistake?"

"I don't know what you want me to say!" Embry shot back. "I won't do it again, it shouldn't have happened in the first place. We were drunk, that's all. I swear-"

Paul gave a vicious growl just as Sam knocked into him, sending him into the ground. "You even look at her," Paul said firmly, "I will kill you before Sam can stop me."

"No, you won't," Sam said firmly.

"Look, dude, no one owns Bella," Embry insisted. "She slept with me on her own free will, okay?"

"God damn it, of course no one owns her," Paul returned sharply, as if the idea was insulting. But the images of his father owning his mother… Shit. He didn't mean to sound like that. Not at all. Did she think he was that kind of guy? Possessive and … shit, shit, shit. He had fucked up again. Fucked up for the third time in a single day. "I'm just saying that you should fucking know better," Paul muttered, and his anger left him, seeping into the wet forest ground Sam had him pinned to. He phased, and Sam was quick to phase. Embry, on the other hand, hesitated a minute.

"You okay?" Sam asked him, every bit as concerned as a friend would be after they go on a murderous rampage.

Paul ran a hand through his hair. "No, I don't know. Fuck. I just… she said that Embry slept with her and… I just… I couldn't stop thinking about it, man." It was only then that Embry phased and he was picking wet leaves out of his wound.

"I, uh, was going to tell you but figured you'd react like this. It meant nothing, I swear."

Paul growled, but not with the same fervor as before. "It better not have, shit head. I know where to bury your body if I find out it happens again."

"No thanks," Embry said seriously. "She's all yours. Jesus Christ."

"You okay, Embry?" Sam asked, but his eyes didn't leave Paul, as if waiting for another phase to happen. But Paul just shrugged off his arm, and glanced away from the two, as if embarrassed by his actions.

"Yeah, just gotta wait for this to heal. Nothing big."

"Good, why don't you head on home? I'll have Paul take your shift tonight."

"Yeah, okay… Paul, man, I'm sorry… I just… it didn't mean anything-"

"Embry, I don't think now's a good time to keep taking about it," Sam interrupted. "In the morning."

"Right, yeah… Thanks, Sam."

He disappeared and Paul let out a huff of his breath, and Sam crossed his arms. "What worked?"

"I don't want to have this conversation, Sam."

"You've got a long night shift ahead of you. So, you better start talking."

Paul clenched his jaw, and glanced further into the woods, towards where he was sure the Swan house was. "I don't know… I … My dad used to tell my mom that she had to get permission for shit. You know, like leaving the house, buying herself stuff, or just plain talking to someone. Fuck, she doesn't think… I'm not trying to own her."

"Believe me, that's the last thing Bella thinks," Sam snorted. Paul shot him a glare, causing the alpha to instantly sober. "I just mean that she thinks you hate her, Paul." Shit, right. He still hadn't told her anything about… well, anything. "If she thought you were trying to own her, then you'd have a bigger fish to fry. And you're not, for the record. You could care less if she's with Emily or with some of her friends from high school… that's not your dad."

"Yeah… I guess," Paul muttered. And Sam sighed. "I'll take your shift, Sam… I just … I need to run or I'm going to go crazy. I want to talk to her but I just screw it up. It's like a shit storm comes out of my mouth and… fuck. Sometimes I wish the wolf would just tell her what it wants so I don't have to."

"The whole point is that you need to tell her yourself. Your wolf already has accepted her… you need to, too." Paul hated when Sam went all Yoda on him. It was stupid as fuck. But it made sense. "You've got to develop a bond with her. The imprint only points her out. You can't form a relationship based on it alone. It takes a lot. It took Emily and I nearly two years to flesh out our differences. I mean, I exploded on her after I broke her cousin's heart." Paul grimaced. "She hated me for a long time and I felt like I was dying." Yeah, Paul felt like that too. Every time he look at her and she would give him a wary look, his wolf practically whimpered for him to be a man. "You can do it, Paul. I know you can."

"I'll take your patrol, Sam," Paul repeated. "Just… don't let me turn into him."

"You won't."

It was all the reassurance he needed to feel like he could move again.

Bella spent then next week avoiding Paul as much as possible, helping order the size to her bridesmaid gown that they thankfully had in stock and just needed to go back for for fittings, and getting caught up by meeting the new members of the pack that she hadn't really bonded with her senior year of high school.

Embry distinctly avoided her as well, for some reason she couldn't quite figure out – they had talked just as well the day before. But it was when she noticed a few healing scratches on his arm that she suspected something much more suspicious going on. And she asked him about it.

"Get in a fight, Em?"

Embry practically jumped out of his skin at her voice. "What?"

"Did you get in a fight?"

Embry glanced down to the arm she was staring at, and gulped as he glanced back up at her. "It was nothing. Little tumble with the guys, you know?" She raised an eyebrow in doubt. "Really, Bells, it's cool."

"Uh huh… Who was it?"

"Just Paul, you know, getting rough-"

Bella winced. "You fought with Paul? About what?"

"Everything," Embry insisted. "But we're cool." He cleared his throat. "You know that time… in Florida, it didn't mean anything, right?"

Bella felt like the subject change wasn't entirely a subject change. "Yeah, Em… I know that… You know that, right?"

"Of course I do. Drunk mistake. We're cool-"

"We're cool," she repeated slowly. "Did Paul get in a fight with you because of that? Jesus Christ, now he thinks he owns me and can beat up guys that I slept with? Who does he think he is?"

"No, that's not what it was about. But I was just thinking about it, you know, since you're back," Embry insisted. Bella wasn't entirely convinced. It was too much of a coincidence. Freaking Paul. She'd need to talk to him whenever she next saw him. "Uh… it's not going to happen again… right?"

Bella blinked. "If that was a pick up line, it was shit. No, it's not going to happen again."

He sighed a bit in relief. Well, ouch, there. "Okay, good. That's good." She just hummed as he made some excuse to leave and Bella watched him practically flee with his tail tucked between his legs. Well, then.

She didn't see Paul until about two days after Hayley flew in, at a little get together to celebrate the upcoming wedding. Music was playing, alcohol was being passed around, and a distinct sound of laughing was what greeted Bella.

Almost immediately upon spotting Paul, she grabbed a beer. "I hate when mutts get invited to these things," she muttered as she passed Jake.

"Play nice."

"Only if he does."

Jake snorted though, amused. She was able to dance with her friends, and members of the pack without incident. And the more beer she drank, despite Charlie's disapproving frown, the more she seemed to notice Paul glaring at her. Stephanie was throat deep into Brady, who Bella didn't have the heart to tell her was barely out of high school. And Hayley was sharing a beer with Collin. Geeze, what was going on here?

But her question was answered as she saw the look one of the boys gave the girl. "Imprint," she whispered under her breath. Oh, hell. She glanced to Emily and Sam, trying to get Claire to behave, and rushed over to them before she could second guess what she saw. "Collin and Brady imprinted on my friends?"

The demand was so abrupt that Sam jumped in surprise at it. He glanced towards the young pack members, and gave a small nod. "It happened to Stephanie when you guys first got here, in the diner. And Hayley last night at the bonfire." Fuck. "Which Jake said you were planning on finding them a buddy anyway-"

"But that's not the point," Bella stressed. "Now there's literally no one for me to get friends with benefits from except for Paul. And that's so counterproductive that it's not even worth it." Sam snorted, glancing over to the brooding werewolf they were talking about. "I mean, Sam, come on…. Can't your imprint Gods cut a poor single girl a break?"

Sam smirked. "Just go by Paul. Drink another beer. You'll be fine."

"Please, just go talk to him, I'm sure he's sorry," Emily insisted.

"He called me a whore," Bella said flatly.

Emily winced. "Oh. Well… maybe he didn't mean it?"

Bella really doubted that. But she glanced to Sam for further reassurance and gave a sigh as he nodded. "Fine. But if this ends badly, then I'm blaming you two." She glanced back to Emily. "You're like gossiping hens that like to torment the two of us."

"You'll have to smile on each other's arm at the wedding," Emily reminded her. "Best start now."

Bella winced. "I was trying to ignore the fact that he was in the wedding until that day happened. But you and Angela make that impossible."

"Just go dance with him. Get it over with," Sam sighed. "I take care of enough kids. I can't babysit two more."

Bella shot the alpha a glare but grabbed another beer from the table and marched towards Paul – who glanced away as he realized she was coming towards him. "Look, let me be honest. Sam sent me over here." Paul raised an eyebrow as he sipped from his solo cup, not beer, she could see. Which was odd. Everyone else from the pack was drinking. But it looked like he had soda. "So, I'll play nice if you do. Want to dance?"

Paul practically leapt to his feet. "Sure."

What a dick. She listened as the song change and nearly groaned as she heard it was a rather risqué song. Wonderful. Just what they needed. Though, she supposed she wasn't exactly lying when she told Jake that she called dibs on Paul. She glanced to him, an eyebrow raised and he looked a little too eager than he should have been. He didn't look like he was glaring as hard as he usually did. "So… dance?"

"Whatever, Swan."

She rubbed the side of her beer with her thumb and let out a sigh. "Alright."

She grabbed his hand and tugged him closer and as Bottoms Up began to play, she let out a soft sigh. Just forget what he said and act civil, Bella, she reminded herself. And so they began to dance. It wasn't anything at first, but the more of the beer in her hand she drank, the bolder she became until he just dropped his cup entirely so that he could grab onto her waist.

Paul swallowed tightly as she danced closer to him. She could feel the warmth of him. And now that she could breath normally, and think properly, she could smell him as well. He had a woodsy scent that the others didn't have, with a hint of motor oil. Jake said that they worked at a shop together.

"Uh… not that this isn't nice, but you don't dance like this normally," Paul felt himself mutter. And Bella couldn't help but smirk as she pulled him closer, her arms tangling around his neck.

"I figured I was a whore to you anyway," Bella murmured. Her lips danced just millimeters in front of his own and he held his breath. This couldn't have been fucking real. But it certainly felt real. She was pressed against him in a way he had only dreamed about. And his pants were becoming too tight. "Might as well make it mean something."

"You're asking me to sleep with you?" Paul's words sounded like a virgin teen even to his ears. "Seriously?"

Bella smirked. "You certainly seem to be overlooking the whole leech thing… Downstairs seems to want to, at least. What about upstairs?"

"Fuck…" It was all he could manage to speak.

"Are you… serious?" He didn't want to hope too high. Shit, this was… this was heaven.

She smirked. "No." Pulling away abruptly, Paul felt himself frown at her lack of contact. But she didn't pull away completely. Where her hands had previously been around his neck, they were now in the belt loops of his pants, keeping them pressed together. "I'm not some whore, Paul. Just really good at teasing you." She winked. "Be a doll and tell Sam we're done for the evening. I'm going home to sleep off this beer before I get a hangover."

"Drink some water." The piece of advice was … strange. And the second Paul said them he seemed to regret them. She stared at him a moment and Paul winced. "Or don't. Whatever. I could care less."

"Yeah, and another thing, next time don't beat up someone that I slept with." Paul tensed, as if she had caught him off guard. "If you have a problem with it, tell me, not go after him."

"No problem," Paul said, but it took a considerable amount of effort to make it sound genuine. "Fuck whoever you want. I'm a whore, you're a whore. Let's not beat around the bush and act like it's not a thing." Her otherwise non-forced smile turned hard and she clenched her jaw. "Almost sad I didn't make it onto the notches in your bedpost."

"You're a real asshole," Bella said flatly.

"Already know that, sweetheart." Bella sighed. And she really thought for at least a song they could talk nicely. She gave him too much credit. "See you at fittings three days from now."

"And to think I was going to sleep peacefully until then." Bella's sarcastic words punctuated what she really thought. Shit, fittings with Paul. She stormed away, shooting a glare in the Alpha's direction, and grabbed a water bottle on her way past the drinks table. "I'm going to bed," she said to Charlie. "Should I wait up?"

"No, we'll be home soon, too."

Bella just nodded, heading to Jake and Angela to give them a kiss on the cheek and a warm congrats on the pre-wedding (by nearly three weeks), and the last break they'd probably get until the wedding. The next few weeks were going to be chaos getting everything ready, what with Jake's sisters coming in, and the fact that Bella didn't even know if she would survive another day seeing Paul. She might scream. Or worse, expose the secret when she punched him in the smug, smirking face.

"God, give me strength not to kill him," she muttered under her breath as she began the walk back to the Beach House, not knowing that a wolf protector had slung back in the shadows to make sure she didn't get kidnapped by a stray leech on the walk there.

This story is being worked on all week, so there are many more updates to come! If you want to see any of my writing progress or how I'm coming along, check out my tumblr and twitter. I'll update there regularly.