Chapter 8

Bella could not help but stare at Paul. She'd constantly seen him in her mind for the last three months, but what she remembered didn't do justice to the guy standing before her. Even though he looked a bit sick, he'd lost weight and had dark circles under his eyes; he was hands down the most striking man she'd ever seen, and everything in him invited her to touch him, although she was a bit imitated by him. But there was this incomprehensible pull that she could not shake off. As if she needed to touch him.

Jacob had said he would explain why she'd been feeling so off since Spring break. Whatever it was, it wasn't a normal attraction she felt.

Those beautiful dark eyes, mysterious and dangerous eyes that had haunted her for weeks, were now staring at her, making her shiver. She could drown in those eyes. He licked his bottom lip, and she bit hers to stop the sinful noise escaping from her lips, feeling her cheeks flush. What the hell was the matter with her?

But those damn eyes refused to let her go.

Then his expression changed like he'd realized something, and Bella snapped out of her stupor. She remembered that she was staring into the eyes of a man who was going to be the father to the baby of her good friend.

"I think congratulations are in order," she said but was startled by her strange flat voice. Clearing her throat, she continued, "Angela told me you are going to be a father."

Paul's face dropped, an angry glint flashing in his eyes. "When did she tell you that?" he growled, and Bella was taken aback by his hostility. Why was he angry? It doesn't make any sense.

"Sorry," Paul apologized, clearing his throat, "how do you know?"

"Angela texted me yesterday," she told him.

"That damn bitch," Paul hissed, and Bella gasped in shock. Something was seriously wrong with this man.

Jacob moved to pull her with him.

"Come on, Bells," he said, frustration lacing his voice, "we have something we need to talk to you about. And it's not Angela's pregnancy."

"I don't go anywhere with you unless Paul explains himself. How can you say something so terrible about Angela, your girlfriend, about a woman who's your baby's mother."

"It isn't what it seems," Paul said, brushing his finger through his messy ink-black hair. "She is pregnant, but the situation isn't as rosy as Angela obviously has told you it is."

"What do you mean? I don't understand you unless you are as horrible as I've been told," Bella said, looking at Jacob and hoping he could help her understand this absurdity.

"You'll understand soon enough, Bells," Jacob said. "Please, let's take a walk, and we'll tell you."

Bella wasn't sure if she wanted to go, but it was Jacob who had asked her to come, and she wanted to know what he wanted to say. And since it was Paul who she'd been unable to shake out of her mind, she guessed he needed to be there with them too. For what possible reason, she couldn't fathom.

She let Jacob lead her towards the woods. "We're not going far," he said.

They walked for a few minutes, all silent in their own thoughts. Bella was trying to guess what Jacob was about to tell her, but she came out with nothing.

"You need to have an open mind. What we are about to tell you isn't anything you have ever thought about being possible."

"Jacob, you are scaring me."

"I know, but you don't have to be scared, but it will shock you. You trust me, don't you?"

"Yes," she answered without thinking. She trusted Jacob. But she didn't know how she felt about Paul, who kept stealing glances at her, his face flushed with an expression of strange vulnerability that didn't sit in with what Bella knew about him. She really didn't understand the man.

"Okay," Jacob said as they stepped into a small opening by a beautiful stream. Bella could still hear the noises coming from the beach.

"This is a beautiful place. Why you've never taken me here before?" Bella asked Jacob.

"As unbelievable as it sounds, I found it myself only recently," Jacob said. "Now, Bella, do you remember anything about our legends? The ones told by the bonfires? You did go with my dad and me a few times," Jacob asked.

"I think so... some at least. About Taha Aki and Spirit Warriors, wolves, and … cold ones? But I don't remember anything specific. Why?"

"All that is true. Spirit Warriors and cold ones."

"What?!" Bella barked out a laugh. "You are bullshitting me."

"No, we're not. Some of us carry the gene that makes us shapeshifters aka Spirit Warriors. It's why I look like this," Jacob said, waving his huge hands before his muscular frame, "and we exist to hunt down cold ones, also known as vampires, or leeches as we call them."

Bella couldn't believe her ears. She stared at Jacob and then at Paul. This was a joke. She burst out laughing.

"You... you are shapeshifters... like wolves? Oh my god... you're a wolf? ... what a joke," she was howling now. All the stress she'd been feeling last moths had made her a bit looney, but surely these two were pranking her. And she laughed and laughed so much that her sides started to hurt. She wiped tears away from her eyes and cheeks, trying to get her laughing fit under control.

"Whew..." she sighed, inhaling deeply, blowing out some air.

But neither Jacob nor Paul found any of it funny they just kept staring at her.

"Are you... You are serious?!" Bella shrieked.

"Yes," Jacob said.

Paul nodded.

"Show me," she said. She was starting to get annoyed with these two; she didn't enjoy them having fun at her expense.

Jacob and Paul looked at each other, and Jacob nodded. Paul walked further, turned his back on her, and stripped off his t-shirt and shorts.

"Hey..."

But before Bella could finish, Paul the man disappeared and changed into a … what the hell was that? A huge silver wolf?

She screamed, and all went black.

.

.

Bella came around feeling a hot body holding her. Without opening her eyes - frightened about what she might see - she could smell it was Paul who held her.

"Bella, Bella, are you okay?" he whispered.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she gasped. Paul's eyes were full of concern and warmth. The burning intensity she'd seen in them before wasn't there.

"Did I...?" Bella whispered, not sure if this was a dream or not, but she asked anyway. "Did I really see you turn into a humongous wolf?"

Paul nodded.

"Oh," was all she could say.

For a long time, they just stared at each other eyes. Eyes locked in gaze, heart beating fast. His warmth surrounded her, and she realized his skin was hot as Jacob's. Bella fought the urge to pull him down to kiss her. And it looked like he was fighting the same thing. His eyes darted between her eyes and mouth, and his eyes grew darker, flicking little yellow.

Bella gasped.

"It's called imprinting," Jacob's voice said somewhere that sounded like through thick layers of wool.

Paul closed his eyes and sighed, looking frustrated.

"Imprinting?" Bella asked, clearing her throat and turning to look at her friend. "What is imprinting? Like baby geese?"

"No," Jacob said and laughed. Paul helped Bella to stand up. He seemed reluctant to let her go from his arms.

"Hey, where is my hoodie?" Bella asked, looking around. She realized she wasn't wearing it anymore, only her green cotton cami, and she was feeling a bit cold now.

Paul looked sheepishly at her, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I took it off. It smelled wrong," he said.

"What? You took it off because it smelled wrong? Of Tyler? It's his hoodie. Where is it?" She was getting irritated by all that had happened and was starting to lose her shit.

"Listen, Bella," Jacob came to her, handing her the hoodie that had been lying on the ground behind a large rock. Sensing she was on the verge of tears, Jacob cupped his hands on her cheeks, brushing his thumbs over her cheeks. Bella heard Paul growl. What the hell? Bella tried to turn her head to look at him, but Jacob held her face and forced her to look at him.

After he had shot an annoyed look at Paul, he continued, "We'll tell you everything. You just need to calm down, okay?"

They looked at each other, eyes darting from one to another, and Bella nodded. She always trusted Jacob.

"Good. Now listen. As shapeshifters, we usually find our mate when we imprint. It's not like baby geese. It's finding our soulmates. When we look into the eyes of a woman who is meant to be our soulmate, we imprint."

"And Paul imprinted on me?"

"Yes, I did," Paul answered. "At the café. That was the reason I acted like a total idiot. I had to control my wolf and my own confusion," Paul told her.

This wasn't happening. Werewolves and soulmates... insane, and yet, "Is Amanda your imprint?" Bella asked Jacob.

"Yes."

"Is it the reason I've been feeling so strange?"

"Yes. It affects both ways," Jacob said.

Bella sighed in relief, although any of what they were telling her made sense. But then she'd just seen a man turning into a wolf. Feeling light-headed, she turned to look at Paul, staring at her with those intense eyes again.

"But you're with Angela," Bella said. "And she's pregnant with your baby."

Paul grimaced. "Yes, but not by choice. I hate to tell you this, but she tricked me into getting her pregnant. She stopped taking her pill and even pinned the condoms we used."

"What? No!" Bella gasped.

"Yes! And as much as an asshole it makes me sound like I had just broken up with her before she told me."

Would Angela really do something like that? Why? Hadn't seen told her she was happy, and Paul was happy to become a dad. "Why would Angela do something like that? It just doesn't sound like her."

"Are you saying I'm lying?" Paul asked, looking hurt.

"No... I don't know. Maybe you understood something wrong? I mean, it is a shock for sure if you hadn't planned it, but..."

"I did understand every damn thing."

"But she said you were happy," Bella protested.

"She's lying."

Bella didn't want to believe that Angela had lied to her. Nothing she knew about Angela did fit the story Paul told her. But then something in Paul made her believe him. Was it this imprinting thing?

Then something terrible crossed her mind. "You didn't break up with her because of the imprint? Did you?" Bella could not allow it. She would not be a reason Angela would lose her boyfriend.

"No... I mean, the imprint probably made me see clearly that she isn't the right for me..."

"No. No. No. You can't do this to Angela," Bella said, feeling panic rising.

"You don't understand," Paul exclaimed, "I don't even want the imprint."

Bella gasped. For some reason, it hurt to hear him say that, and Paul noticed it and rushed to add, "I don't mean it like that..."

"Yes, you did, and it is the only sensible thing you've said today. You don't want the imprint, and I don't want it."

Now it was Paul's turn to look hurt. Bella sighed. This thing was utter madness.

"Look, Paul. We don't know each other. Surely there is a way to work around this." Turning to Jacob, she continued, "Jake, tell me what we can do to make this thing go away. It can't mean that we are like puppets in this without our own will."

"Bells, we are talking about soul mates and..." her friend tried to reason with her. But it made it sound even more ridiculous.

"We are talking about our choices, mine and Paul's. I don't give a damn if you feel that Amanda is your soul mate and you are happy to be with her... Oh my God. Is Sam also a shapeshifter? Did he dumb Leah because of this shit? Choose her fiancée's cousin instead?" Bella could not believe it.

Bella hadn't known Leah and Sam that well, but she remembered how happy they'd been and so much in love. She'd been a bit envious of them; it was when she was hooked up with reading and getting good grades but secretly dreamed of a dream prince of her own long before she started dating Tyler. God Tyler! Were they expecting her to dump Tyler because of this shit?

"Yes, Sam and Emily are..."

"What the hell, Jacob?! Sam loved Leah, and they were getting married. How could that Emily person do that to her cousin?"

"We cannot choose..."

"And that's where you are wrong. I can, and I will choose. Sorry, Paul. I'm sure you are a great guy, but you are with Angela. You're going to be a dad. I'm with Tyler and don't want to have any part of this. I have my life in Seattle, and I'm not going to change anything."

Bella stomped away from the two men and headed toward the beach.

"Bella..." Jacob said, running after her and stopping her by grabbing her arm.

"No, let me go. I need to go, and don't try to stop me."

"Bella, no one has ever refused the imprint. We don't know what happens to the wolf if the imprint refuses him. It doesn't have to be romantic, you know."

Bella stopped and turned back. She saw Paul turning into a giant wolf. He leaped between the trees, disappearing into the woods. She kept staring at the spot where Paul had vanished. Then she heard a heart-breaking howl that touched deep into her soul.

Paul.

Bella's heart ached, and she felt she couldn't breathe. She moved to leave, but Jacob grabbed her arm again.

"Bells, Bella, please. Listen to me. Would you please talk with me?"

"Jake, this is insane. I can't deal with this right now. I need time to think."

"Listen to me, Bella. Paul is a good guy. I know you think he's an asshole, and hell, so far, you've seen only his bad side. But you must understand how fucked up our life gets after we phase."

All the fight left Bella, and she leaned against Jacob, who wrapped his arms around her. Bella loved how Jacob could always make her feel better only by being there with her. Even now, when everything she had ever known and thought she understood was questioned. Especially now.

Jacob led her to sit by the stream, and they leaned against a big rock. Jacob wrapped his arm around her, and she snuggled into his side.

"When we imprint, everything starts to make sense again."

"But he said he doesn't want it." It had hurt to hear him say that. And it irritated her.

"He's a stubborn ass. He thinks he doesn't want it, and he wants to show his wolf that it's the man who chooses the woman he loves and is with. I don't know why he started dating Anglea, but he carried on only to show that he could."

"Poor Angela. But she told me that she and Paul are happy."

Jacob sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"She wants to believe it or wants you to believe it. I don't know. But I know what imprinting does to us, and it's damn strong. Angela must have seen how Paul has changed after he imprinted on you and ended up doing a desperate thing to keep him."

"What a mess. I never thought Angela could be so selfish. She causes so many problems for Paul, herself, and even the baby. Her parents will be so mad, and I don't want to think about what her father will do to Paul," Bella sighed.

"It's a mess, alright."

"Poor Paul." She was starting to see his point of view, and Angela had used him shamefully. How could she do such a thing?

"I might actually admire Paul for being so driven and principled, but fighting the wolf causes only problems, as we've seen already."

"Fighting the wolf? What does it mean?"

"If the wolf had had his way, Paul had come to you the next day at the latest, taken you to his home, and never let you go."

"Ah."

"But know this: what you do become doesn't have to be romantic. We are whatever the imprint needs us to be, a friend, a protector, or a lover. "

"What does it mean?"

"Just as I said: what you and Paul have can be a relationship of two good friends. And believe me when I say this, you won't get a more loyal friend than him. And that includes me," Jacob chuckled.

"That can't be so. You are the best of the best," Bella said, snuggling deeper into Jacob's chest.

"Yeah, but I can be too soft on you and not always think what is best for you. But Paul would, and that is why he would be an even better friend than I am."

"And a protector?"

"If you need a protector, that is what he would be."

"Why would I need protection? From what?" It sounded so old-fashioned, she giggled.

Jacob shrugged, grinning.

"So, if the relationship doesn't have to be romantic, how could Sam's imprint steal Leah's man? She should have asked him to be her friend instead."

Jacob sighed.

"It's not that simple. You can't want something you don't really want."

"Why not? I think this Emily person must be very selfish for wanting Sam."

"Is she? People can't help how they feel or who they fell in love with. I guess Emily had been in love with Sam her whole life."

Somehow that made it even worse. Leah had been her friend her whole life and all the time had been in love with her friend's man. She wanted to know how Sam could suddenly stop loving Leah, but she didn't have the energy to delve into other people's relationships. She had too much on her own plate. She might not know for sure how deeply in love she was with Tyler, but she knew she didn't want to end what they had together.

"What about what Paul wants? Any of you want?" She asked then. Something like this shouldn't be about the wants of the imprints. Surely it mattered what the wolf wanted.

"We need to be what our imprint wants."

Bella moved so she could see Jacob's face and looked at him, stunned. "That is the most terrible thing I've heard today. How can it be fair that your free will is taken away from you?"

"I don't see it like that, and the rest of the pack don't see it that way. It's a gift from gods, and the animal knows who is meant to be his other half."

"I'm with Paul with this one," she huffed. "And you say he can be a friend or a protector, but all I've heard you talk about imprinting implies a romantic relationship. Are they all romantic in the pack? And who are these other wolves?"

"Yes, they are romantic. But so far, only me, Sam, Jared, and Paul are imprinted. Other wolves are Embry, Quil, Seth, and Leah."

"Seth? Little Seth?"

"Well, you will and he's not so little anymore."

Bella's head was spinning. The world she'd always known ceased to exist today. Melodramatic much. She laughed humorlessly.

"What?" Jacob asked.

She just shook her head.

"Anyway, as I said earlier, we don't know what it will do to a wolf if an imprint refuses him. So, I ask you to think about this very carefully. We can talk with Billy. He's an elder and knows about this shit more than I do."

"Yeah. I guess I can do that."

"Tell me about you and Amanda," Bella asked.

"There's not a lot to tell. I imprinted on her when she visited her relatives in La Push; we've been together since. She moved to La Push after a month and now lives with us."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes. And I know what you think, and I know what Paul thinks, that it's not real. But we live in a world of supernatural, and I don't question us changing into fucking wolves, so I don't question the supernatural bond. I know what I feel and what she feels. That is enough for me."

"But it's not enough for Paul?"

"No."

Bella felt she liked that about Paul. Not wanting to accept the given, free will taken away from him.

They sat in comfortable silence. The stream was crystal clear, and Bella could see little fish swimming upstream. Birds were singing, and it was warm and sunny.

"This really is such a beautiful spot here in the woods. How is it possible you hadn't known before it's here?"

"It's part of the magic of our land. Only the Elders and Spirit Warriors know it's here, but only we, the wolves, can see it and come here. It is here so we can rest in our wolf form so that no one can see us."

"Oh my God. That is so freaking unbelievable." Bella gushed.

"Yeah. Bella..."

Suddenly more than one wolf howled, and the sound was different than the one Paul made earlier.

"Crap," Jacob spat, bolting up from the ground. "I need to take you back to the beach. And you have to promise me you don't leave it until one of us wolves comes to tell you it's safe. Promise me."

"What is it, Jake?" Bella felt fear rushing through her as Jacob lifted her into his arms and started running towards the beach.

"Promise me!" Jacob demanded.

"I Promise. Please tell me, what is it?"

"Leeches."

AN:

So, the story continues. It won't be an easy ride, I tell you. I don't know how this is going to end.

I love hearing from you. Thank you for your comments, favs, and follows.

I need to take a little break from writing. Have busy work weeks ahead, and it really isn't good for my back to sit by the laptop all the time.