Hello! Just wanted to let you know that I do plan on continuing with these short stories. I have the continuation of one in the making.

This one came to my mind while I was watching the fourth season of Buffy :)

Hope you enjoy this!

Pack Souls

Little wolf. EPOV.

I followed you around in the shadows. I was trying to take care of you in some way. I had told you I would leave you alone. I told you it would be as if I never existed. And to some point, it is. You don't see me. You can't. I don't get out of the shadows. I see you hurting, calling my name in your sleep every night for a few months. Then, one day, you stopped. You slept better than you had in months. I wonder how that happened.

I have my answer when I see you smiling at him. You laugh, joke, hug him, and I hurt all over.

I see you graduate from high school. I send you a congratulatory thought. You made it out of the jungle of messy idiots. You keep in touch with Angela. I'm glad for the two of you because she has a gentle soul. She is like you.

I see you when she gives you the news that she and Ben are moving in together. You are genuinely happy for them.

I see you when you do a double date. I hurt again when you smile like you've never smiled before. Not even during our best moments. Not even when we were the happiest.

You go home with him, and I don't follow you. Not because I know you are safe with him, and you are, much to my utter dismay. I leave you alone because I don't want to know what you do with him.

The following days are confusing for me. You walk like you are on a cloud; you spent some days at home, some days at his.

You look very happy. I'm both disappointed and happy for you. I wanted to give you happiness, but I let you down. I led you to this.

Before long, I see how you hug Angela crying your heart out. You look heartbroken, but I hear you recount your fight. And I breathe, disappointed again. It was just a fight. You'll get over it, and you'll get back together because Angela says you two are stronger than a stupid fight.

I don't know about him, but you are the strongest and bravest person I've ever met.

Things get even more confusing when I see a wolf sleeping under your window. He whimpers in his sleep as if he's having nightmares. I'm about to dispatch him when I see you leaning out the window. Your eyes grow wide as you see the wolf there. I almost step out of the shadows to tell you to stay inside. Don't do anything stupid. Don't go out to see what's wrong with the wild creature.

But you're not afraid. You throw down a blanket and climb down the window. Your blanket lands on the sleeping figure of the wolf, who jumps quickly at the weight of the object. It stands tall, tail between its legs. Head down. I don't know much about wolves, but I've been hunting animals for as long as I've been a vampire. I know a submissive gesture when I see it. That wolf, that wild creature, is submitting to you.

You stand there for a few seconds, observing it, and analyzing the situation. It's getting on my nerves, but you don't seem to be in danger.

After a minute, you launched yourself at the wolf, hugging it and crying your heart out. Before my eyes, I see the wolf turn into a human, butt naked, and wrap you in a tight embrace, which makes you almost disappear in his arms.

He apologizes profusely for whatever he did. You're still crying, clinging to him, but I see you nod, and I see him relax. He whispers his love to you, and I know you won't say it back because you once said you'd always love me.

But I'm terribly mistaken because you look up from where you were hiding, and you whisper the words back, staring him straight in the eye. He kisses you, and you don't seem to mind that he's naked. Or that it's the middle of winter, and there's snow on the floor.

I realize then that you've moved on. You have forgotten about me. Like I asked you to, but I'd never thought you'd do.

A few nights later, I'm watching you pack your room, which I don't completely understand because college is not far away, and I was under the impression that you wanted to save money.

I hear Emmett come behind me.

"Leave her alone, Edward."

I don't answer.

"You made your choice. You chose to leave her and never to come back. She's in a serious relationship now. I heard they got engaged. She's moving in with him. It's time you leave this forsaken town and leave her alone."

I still don't answer him. I know his right. It pains me to hear you love someone else enough to get engaged. But he's right. I have to leave you alone.

…

…

…

I left you alone that night. But I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. So, I go back. I see you with a little boy of about three years old. He looks like you and like him. You have him in your arms, and you're both talking. Well, he's babbling, and you're just smiling at him and following with affirmations that only get him more excited.

I stay in the trees too long, apparently, because soon your boy starts fussing and saying something hurts, something smells bad. My cover is blown by a three-year-old. Only your toddler would discover a vampire hiding in the trees.

I come out just to put you out of your suspicions. I don't have any intentions. I'm just acting on the moment. No plan.

You seem scared. You put him on the car seat, give him your phone and tell him to speak to daddy. When you turn around, I see your bump, it's barely there, but I know it immediately. You're pregnant again.

You don't waste time and ask me directly why I am here. I tell you, to check up on you.

"You're seven years late." Your voice is cold. You've never spoken to me like that, but then again, I broke your heart.

"Bella, please." I say, although I don't know what I'm asking of you. It's clear I'm not forgiven. I wouldn't have forgiven me either. I don't know what I'm doing here, but something about you always drew me in.

You smell differently now, and I don't know if it's because you carry the scent of the baby you put in the car, or because you're pregnant, or simply because you're married to a wolf right now. But you no longer smell like my Bella, like the girl I fell in love with. You also look different. Not only because you're pregnant and therefore have different curves. You look different. Older, yes, but different. And I can't name it. But it radiates from you.

You hand my ass to me verbally. And like the idiot I am, I tell you, like always, what's going on through my mind. "I never stopped loving you." I don't know why I said that. You don't care anymore. I know that. The ring on your finger (pristine and shining) tells me so (and so does the boy in the back still babbling on the phone, and the heartbeat coming from your belly)

I stay there, looking at you, trying to decipher what's different in you. When you tell me to leave, you're happy; you've moved on. And I frown when you tell me to leave if I value my life (I do, of course). I turned around and hear your sigh of relief. Why are you relieved? I would never hurt you.

The power emanating from the three guys walking this way is unmistakable. I immediately spot the Alpha and the guy you're married to.

I turn to you, and you're no longer in front of me. I only notice now that you were always between me and the baby in the backseat. You're a mama bear or a mama wolf, should I say, and that's what's different. Still, it's still a trait you haven't lost. You are putting yourself in danger to protect those you love.

For some reason, I try to fight, and I try to be brave, even though I am outnumbered and could be dispatched without them breaking in a sweat. I say I'll leave when you tell me so. I don't know why I say this, especially because you've already made yourself clear now.

You repeat that you're not interested in whatever I have to say. You're leaning tiredly against your husband's side. Your boy has calmed and fallen asleep, clearly not bothered anymore by my smell now that he has his pack here.

I only want to talk to you, to tell you why I left. I don't have any expectations, not really. I bypass two of the wolves and grab your arm. Your husband hands me my ass to me, physically this time. He rips the arm I used to grab yours, handing it to me. He snarls and tells me to go. I'm not welcome in Forks, ever. I'm exiled for the rest of eternity.

I shake my head, and I leave, this time forever. It was a mistake coming here. It was a mistake letting your son discover me.

I'm still near enough to hear your husband ask you if you're alright. He laughs and says I got my ass handed to me for trying to mess with his family.

I know now that you were never mine. I was in your life only temporarily. I was not the supernatural creature destined to stay with you.