Author's Note: *walks in and carefully leaves the new chapter* *runs away before someone sees me*
Disclaimer: I'm not the owner of shit here. Unfortunately.
For the following week, Paul kept his distance. He had, after all, given Jacob the go-ahead with Bella and the boy needed time and space to work his charm. After being inside the boy's head as much as he had, Paul could attest to just how much time and space the poor pup needed to make his damn move.
Instead, he kept himself occupied with work and patrols. Watching Bella overnight every day wasn't something Paul felt inclined to compromise on, however. The job of keeping her safe was his, and he trusted no one else to do it in his place. Besides, it was an opportunity for him to settle the bond a little. It worked, kind of.
Having Bella in La Push every day after school and staying near her house in the evenings was enough contact that Paul hadn't gone crazy yet. Was it enough to satisfy and calm the insistent pull around his middle? Fuck, no. But he would settle for what he could get.
The closer he got to her, the worst it would be. Paul had seen the others, he knew how the story would go. The more he saw her, the more he would need it. The closer they got, the harder it would be for them to go apart. No, it was better that Bella spent her time with Jacob, who had no weird, magical bond to her and could, instead, decide when and how to be with her.
Despite his careful planning, however, his plans were completely crushed on a Friday evening. Paul had gone to see Emily under the pretense of getting food. Both of them knew that Anna always made sure Paul and Jared had more than enough food available for them in the house but pretended to be unaware of it in order to keep the appearances.
Paul didn't do friendships, after all. At least not acknowledged friendships, and Emily was kind enough to play into his constructed life.
She was making some sort of cake on the counter of the kitchen as they spoke, back turned to him as Paul munched on a cookie at the table. Seeing as Emily's life mission seemed to be getting Paul to speak about his damn feelings, she had yet to stop nagging him.
"You cannot keep running forever, Paul," she insisted, in that fucking soft voice of hers.
"Watch me." Was Paul's clever answer.
Emily knew where to hit, though.
"She's hurting too, you know," she pointed out, flashing him a warning look over her shoulder. "Even if she doesn't know how or why she'll feel connected to you and the distance will hurt."
The cookie in his hand fell to the table, crumbled into dust. Paul's fist curled up tight, the veins in his arms popping out.
"Shut up," he ordered, trying to calm himself down. Bella was alright; she was fine. She wasn't feeling any pain from the bond whatsoever.
What about the nightmares? a dark voice whispered in his ears, installing the doubt firmly into his mind. It was bullshit, Bella had problems sleeping since before they met — it was the bloodsucker's fault, not his. That she seemed more nervous each passing day instead of calmer had nothing to do with him. No way.
"I won't," Emily carried on, despite his warnings. "Jared is great with you, but he won't call you out in this. He's too much of a boy to do it."
"She's fine," Paul denied. "She's just damn fine. Fuck, Emily, don't do this to me. You have no idea... It's been two weeks, there's no way she's feeling something."
Emily didn't allow his semi-meltdown to disturb her. She poured her batter into the mold, before hitting it against the counter lightly and placing it in the oven. When she finished the whole process, she turned to face him. She didn't look surprised by the mess at her table.
Her face, unlike the rest of the female population, was bright and clear. And so, her reproaching stare was unmissable. He knew how much the Pack meant for Emily, and he also knew how much she considered herself to be responsible for the boys' health and happiness — which meant she wasn't about the let go of that bone.
"Honey, you may be the wolf here, but I'm an Imprint, so I think my word is worth more than yours in this case," she said. "Bella is feeling something. I'm not guessing; I'm stating it. Keeping your distance will only hurt her more."
Emily began to walk in his direction with a look that Paul was way too familiar with, so he dragged his chair back in order to allow her to slide in between his legs to lean against the table and stand in front of him.
"You're pushing her away without even giving her the chance to prove herself to you," she added. The way she was currently looking at him was the reason Paul often avoided Emily. She saw too damn much. "Don't you think that, as your soulmate, she deserves better?"
Fuck Emily. Fuck her words. Fuck her convictions. Paul didn't have to believe her.
But he did. He did.
And because fate liked to mess with him, that was the moment Paul heard the noise. The sound Paul had quickly become familiar with — Bella's monster of a truck.
He looked suspiciously at Emily. That looked too much like an ambush to be a coincidence — she had always been a meddler.
"What's Bella doing here?" he demanded, watching her reactions closely.
She had the gall to smile.
"I may have mentioned to Jake that the poor girl might be tired of spending her time holed up in his garage."
"Why are you messing with my bond?" Paul asked, getting up from his seat. "I imprinted; it's supposed to be my choice."
"Wrong," Emily corrected. "It's her choice. And seeing as you thought it would be a great idea to tell Jacob to pursue her, I don't think you should be handling this on your own. Clearly, you are too bullheaded to make the right decisions."
Paul felt an answer at the tip of his tongue, burning the inside of his mouth with its poison, but the unbearable noise of his mate's truck indicated Bella's arrival — and with her, Jacob. Of course. Instead of his cutting words, Paul directed his best glare at Emily, trying to convey how much he wanted to curse her existence at the moment.
"Jake, I think we should knock." Bella's smooth voice cut through the silence.
Paul ignored the rush of adrenaline that ran through his body at her words.
"Relax, Bells," Jacob dismissed, opening Emily's door and bursting inside the house.
Paul ignored how much he hated the stupid nickname he had for his mate.
"Come on in, we were just having a little chat," Emily said, smiling at them. "Please, have a sit. I just put a cake in the oven."
"Humm," Jacob moaned at the thought of food, pulling out a chair. "We can definitely wait for cake."
Bella remained standing, however, positioning her body behind Jacob's. She looked uncomfortable as hell, constantly shifting her eyes around the room — almost as if she wanted to stare at something but knew it would be unpolite.
"So, Bella, how has it been?" Emily greeted, probably thinking she was doing Paul a favor by having her talk. What she didn't know was that Paul was trying his damn best to not get any more involved with Bella Swan than he had to. "I know La Push can be a bit monotonous sometimes."
"It's okay," she said. "I actually like it in here. I usually bring my homework or some book to read, so it's not really boring. Sometimes I'll walk to the beach."
What?
"I thought you were staying with her," Paul demanded, glaring at his packmate. If he had been leaving Bella alone, Paul would fucking murder him.
"I am," he tried to defend himself, raising his hands in surrender. "But I'm tired, alright? With patrols, school, and helping my father out it's been tough. So, yeah, I kinda fell asleep once or twice."
Seeing Bella's guilted look it had probably been way more than once or twice. How dare him? Paul stayed with Bella every night — and when he wasn't working he would sometimes watch her while she was at school as well. How dare little Jacob put his mate's life in danger just because he was tired?
Tha tremors began to run across his body, which made Emily jump away from him in surprise. Of course, she wouldn't want an out-of-control wolf so close to her, and Paul felt immediately bad for having scared her in her own house, which, in turn, only served to further his anger. Shit, he needed to leave. Bella shouldn't have to see him like that.
Suddenly a voice called his attention.
"Paul?"
It was his mate. Bella was trying to get his attention. Paul turned sharply to look at her, automatically running his eyes up and down her body to check for possible wounds.
"Mate, calm down," Jacob's annoying voice sounded next, as the fucker stood up to shield his mate with his body.
"Stop that," she complained, stepping out of his shadow and stepping closer to Paul's shaking form.
"Paul, perhaps you should step outside for a second," Emily tried to reason, looking a little ashamed at her previous reaction.
"I'm fine," he gritted, still trying to get a grip on his emotions. He wanted to — needed to — punch Jacob right in the face. Maybe knock some teeth out.
"I'm safe, Jacob didn't leave me alone and I've been inside the reservation all the time," Bella assured, coming even closer with each word. "I'm okay."
It was likely the bond that made her react that way, but she seemed to know exactly why he was so mad and how to calm him down because her soft-spoken words and the proximity were working. Slowly, Paul felt himself starting to gain some control back, only shaking ever so slightly. Jacob, however, needed to learn how to behave real quick.
"Bells, give him space," he fucking ordered, launching himself towards Bella and putting his big sweaty palms on her shoulder, pushing her away.
Paul's answering growl was unlike any he had ever released before — threating and possessive at the same time. The pup was about to lose that hand in five seconds if he didn't let go of his mate.
"Hey, hey," Emily interfered. "None of that in my kitchen. Cool down, both of you. Jacob, release Bella, that's ridiculous. Paul won't hurt her, you know that."
The pup didn't seem to accept that and still held his mate tight. Thankfully, before Paul had to act, his mate shrugged Jacob's hand off her shoulder and moved to glare at him.
"That was completely unnecessary, Jake. Of course he wouldn't hurt me."
The tremors ended, just like that. The words were the truth, he would never hurt her — could never hurt her even if he wanted to. Seeing her defending him in front of them was more gratifying than Paul could ever begin to explain — something about having his mate trusting him with her safety, even if she didn't really know him.
"Fuck off, Jacob," he finally said. "I wasn't about to lose it; quit acting like I'm out of control."
"Could've fooled me," Jacob dared, but refused to meet his eyes and instead sat back down once more. Paul would have to talk to him when they were alone.
"So..." Once again Emily made an effort to break the awkwardness hanging in the air, now heavier than before. "Bella, Jake told me you like motorcycles. That's cool. Have you guys been riding?"
"Jake was teaching me," she said. There was a pause, as she seemed to consider her next words before she added: " But with school and the patrols... he's just so tired."
Paul felt his fists closing.
"I told you it's fine," Jacob grumbled.
"Jake, you passed out on the couch yesterday. I'm clumsy enough for the two of us — you need to be awake. It's okay, we'll have time when..." she allowed the sentence to die in her lips, but they all knew what she meant. When the redheaded died. If Paul had his way, that would be soon.
Emily stepped on his foot. Hard. Obviously, she had yet to learn when to stay out of other people's relationships, because the glare she sent his way told him exactly what she wanted him to do in that situation. It wasn't like he hadn't thought about it — he had — but even though he loved his bike, Paul had decided to avoid Bella. That was the plan. Offering to teach her would force them to be together for longer than what he felt comfortable with.
At the same time, however, he could fell her scent surrounding the room. The strong beat of her heart, echoing across the kitchen. The pull was stronger than ever, tugging him towards her relentless. At that moment, Paul wanted to give in, to surrender himself to the strong feeling inside him demanding that he grow some balls and stop running away from the woman who was meant to be his fucking soulmate.
She threw a glance his way. That's all it took. One goddamn glance and Paul was doomed.
"I could teach you how to ride," he said, trying not to imagine how many wounds she could suffer if she ever had a motorcycle accident. For some reason he rather not investigate further, Paul felt the need to add: "Much better than Jake."
"Don't you have patrol too, though?" Bella asked, clearly trying to mask her excitement at the prospect of riding again.
How could Paul explain that hanging with her was his patrol? Knowing that the redheaded leech was after his mate made Paul force Sam's hand at the distribution of the shifts. He would not be separated from her more than necessary — not until she was safe.
"The real answer," she carried on before he could try to come up with an alternative version of the truth.
At his puzzled face, Bela explained: "I've seen that face enough times to know what it means. You want to keep things from me to protect me — well, I don't need coddling. Give me the truth."
Fuck, a direct order from Bella felt almost like a whip to the back.
"You're the main target here. It's likely that if anything were to happen, it would be around you. Spending time with you would be my patrol, so to speak."
"Oh," she gasped, perhaps surprised that he actually gave her a straight answer. "It sucks to be stuck with me, you don't have to entertain me as well. Jacob can teach me some other time, it's fine."
"Don't be so dramatic," he dismissed. "If I didn't want to teach you, I wouldn't have offered. You wanna, or not?"
She did. The smell of excitement clung to her like a strong perfume, and her heart began to pump a little harder as she processed what Paul had just said. The question was: would she consciously choose to spend more time alone with him?
"Yeah," she agreed, knocking all of his doubts. "I wanna."
"Good."
Emily smiled. Jacob frowned. Bella pushed back a chair to sit by his side.
What had he done?
