A/N: I know that there's going to be some of you that detest stories about Paul and Bella being together, but this one had been tearing up my mind since I read my first Paul and Bella story. I'm okay with it if you're not interested, but I hope that I can get at least one of you to read their journey. Yes, all the Cullens are in this story and plenty of supernatural action.

Let me know if you want more. I will only be posting once a week for now. It's a very busy season for my job and they're working us to the bone.

No copyright infringement is intended. All recognizable characters are the property of Stephenie Meyer. I own the plot and all mistakes. I'm sure there's a few.

I really hope you like it.

ENJOY!

12/17/23

Rear-view Town

Chapter One

When Nina Lahote decided to take her baby son and leave the only life she knew, honestly, she didn't know what was going to happen. All she knew was that she needed to get away from her current situation and run as fast and far as she possibly could.

Thankfully, she had help. It came from someone that she didn't ever expect it from. They had approached her the day before she decided to leave. She was told that they understood her turmoil, and offered her a way out. They didn't force her to make her decision; a decision she made out of pure heartbreak. Her heart had been shattered into a million pieces right before her eyes and there wasn't anything she could do about it.

It was all ancient history within her heritage. She had thought they were meant to be scary stories and legends that were told at the tribe meetings. She had heard them hundreds of times as she grew up.

Nina tried to raise her son the best she could. He was an average student in school all the way up to his high school years until he chose the wrong group of friends to spend his time with. It broke Nina's heart every time Paul slammed his bedroom door in her face, and he never listened to a word she said. He already felt like his entire life was a lie, and when Paul turned 16, Nina felt as if her past was starting to catch up to her. She thought that when she found the small town of Chaumont, she hoped it would be her savior, and it had been.

She had found a perfect little cottage for her and her son. She paid the owners the asking price in cash with no questions asked. As soon as she found a job that was essential, she felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She was able to breathe without looking around every corner. She was lucky Paul was still young enough, at the time, and very unaware of how his life had truly begun.

When Nina got the devastating news that she had terminal brain cancer, she knew that she needed to tell Paul the true story about his life and where he could find any and all answers he needed. She warred with herself constantly. He continued to act out, but Paul really wasn't sure what was wrong with him. He was afraid to admit that something was eating him alive. At 16, he had picked up his first beer, and began to dabble in smoking marijuana with his friends. He had even gotten himself a girlfriend. He was attracted to her; even loved her to an extent. Sarah was beautiful in her own way. Paul knew she was completely head over heels for him, and he took advantage of that. She hated when she was away from him because it made her heart ache, but most of all, she knew Paul didn't feel the same way.

Sadly, she was desperate to keep him, and losing her virginity to him had to be the only real way to keep his attention. Unbeknownst to her, he was still a virgin himself.

Paul and his friends would always hang out under the Broken Bow bridge. They had hauled a couple of old couches down for places to sit around a fire pit they had built. It was nice and cozy especially during the winter months. No one bothered them; it was their sanctuary.

The night Sarah decided to give herself to Paul, she had to make sure the other boys weren't around. She had begged Paul to sneak out and meet her under the bridge. Paul couldn't say he was surprised. He wanted to fuck the girl, but he wasn't so sure she should be the one he lost his virginity to. His mother had always said you should love the person before you make the decision to share yourself with them. He'd been really horny lately. Mostly from dreams he had been having of a beautiful brunette girl who seemed so far away, and too far out of his league. He wasn't even sure she was a real person, but she was always in his dreams every night.

When Paul met Sarah that night under the bridge, she was the one who had moved things along as they kissed and groped each other. Paul didn't hesitate to push himself inside of her. Her cry of pain drifted into his ears as he imagined a different girl underneath him. He knew that was wrong, and would never share that information with anyone. He wasn't sure where his relationship with Sarah was going, but he honestly wasn't ready to break her heart after sharing himself with her. He knew she was a virgin, but she'll never know that she was his first, as well.

From that night on, Paul felt like a man; a true man who didn't need to answer to anyone. Not even his own mother. He and his friends would always cause a ruckus at the local diner, leaving bigger messes than were necessary. They didn't care because they were making their own rules. His friends were a little more unruly than him because there was some things Paul refused to do. He drew the line at defacing anyone's property let alone public property. It was tacky in his mind. Leaving a big mess on the table at the diner was something that could be easily cleaned up. He had a conscience and a heart when he needed one.

The first time Paul was picked up by the police, Nina was beside herself and wondered where she was going wrong. Paul had been arrested for shoplifting beer, of all things. He always had money in his pocket, and never knew where it came from. He never questioned it. He always took and never appreciated the stuff his mother did for him. Luckily, he was put on probation with one hundred hours of community service. That was all with no thanks to his mother.

Paul remembered his mother telling him on their ride home from the courthouse. "Paul, you can't be doing stuff like this. It's going to ruin your life."

"What makes you think that my life isn't already ruined?" Paul had replied bitterly.

Nina had wished her son would talk to her. She had noticed his temper becoming harsher than normal. She prayed to whatever Gods were listening that his hostility wasn't from something she feared the most. She had noticed his temperature was hotter with each touch of his hand. She just wished it were the flu that he was battling, but her worst fears had smacked her square in the face a month after his arrest.

Paul had been feeling angrier and angrier after his trouble with the police. His sex with Sarah was rougher than she could handle. Her cries of pain only made him drive into her harder. When she finally told him that he was hurting her, and that she felt like her vagina was being ripped open, Paul's heart honestly sank to the pits of his stomach. He didn't want her to feel that way. He wanted her to feel as good as he was feeling.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "I don't mean to hurt you." And he truly didn't. He may have gained an uncaring heart for many things, but Sarah's pain wasn't one of them. He may not love her like she deserves, but hurting her physically, was the last thing he ever wanted to do.

Sarah hugged Paul. "I love you, Paul. I really do. I don't know what happened to you. It's like you grew over night."

Paul and Sarah's friends had noticed how much he had bulked up, and his height made him tower over them. They were too afraid to ask him what was going on, but wondered if he was taking steroids, and worked out a lot when he wasn't with them. Unfortunately, Paul hadn't noticed, but his mother had.

That night, after Sarah pulled away from their hug, she looked at him strangely. "And you're burning up; you're running a fever."

Paul shrugged his shoulders. "I feel fine." He knew it was a lie because he felt like he was boiling from the inside out.

Once Paul sincerely apologized to Sarah, he promised to be more gentle from then on. After she had kissed him goodnight, she left to go home. Sarah, none the wiser, didn't know that would be her last encounter as Paul Lahote's girlfriend.

When Paul knew Sarah had made it up the embankment safely, he took a seat back onto the couch. He had sat there a good 30 minutes before he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. His entire body had tensed with the sickly sweet smell that invaded his nostrils. Someone or something was watching him.

In Paul's mind, he wasn't sure what had happened to him. One minute everything was quiet until a stranger approached him. He felt threatened from the unwelcomed presence. His heart began to race when a voice, he didn't know, came from behind him. "I'm surprised to see your kind this far east."

Paul had jumped from the couch when the man crept closer. The sickly sweet smell had become stronger the closer the stranger got. Then that's when Paul realized that this stranger wasn't what he appeared to be. "What are you?"

As the stranger, slowly, circled Paul, he was beginning to feel even more threatened. He wasn't sure what this person wanted, or how he needed to react. "What am I, you ask?"

Paul's breaths were beginning to speed up and his heart was pounding in his ears. "I don't have any money," Paul said as pulses of energy began to roll down his arms. He felt waves of adrenaline ripple through his entire body.

"Have you no clue as to what I am?" The stranger asked. "I am your mortal enemy," he said with a slight tilt to his head.

Paul's eyes widened in wonder, having no idea what the man was talking about. Then it all happened so fast. One moment the stranger stepped forward causing Paul to step back. The next moment, as if in slow motion, the stranger sneered at Paul. As his mouth opened, two long, pointy fangs descended from under the mans lip.

Paul began to tremble, his body becoming ridged with fear, but something from deep within him was clawing at him to get out. It had became unbearable in a matter of seconds. So much so that when the stranger crouched down to launch himself at Paul, a threatening snarl pushed from behind the pointy fangs causing Paul to explode. He was no longer standing on two feet. Four paws were in place as he pounced to defend himself.

It all happened so quickly that Paul sincerely didn't know what had happened. One second he was human, then the next, he was a huge animal. His first thought was to protect himself as he went for the throat of the vampire. He didn't know of any other way to kill it. It was his first instinct, and it worked.

He found himself standing over a pile of gooey, stringy, sinewy, globs of blood, and a head in his mouth. The small fire attracted him, so he chose to drop the head into the flames, the head immediately turning into ash. There wasn't much else he could do in his wolf form, so he decided to make the short trek home. He had nowhere else to go, and hoped his mom had some answers for him.

Nina had waited up for her son. It was nearing 3 a.m before she heard a strange scratching sound coming from her back door. She was scared to check to see what it was until the scratching became louder. She had to investigate; she couldn't avoid the noise any longer.

With a broom held above her head, she pulled the blinds back, and what she saw made her drop to her knees. She couldn't help the agonizing sobs that escaped her throat. Her worst nightmare was on the other side of her backdoor.

She wasn't sure what she needed to do, and she knew she had to let him in, so still on her knees, she slowly opened the door to a huge silvery-gray wolf the size of a grizzly bear. He was laying with his head on his front paws and whined when they locked eyes. Without hesitating, Nina reached her hand out for him to accept her invite inside their home. The wolf was her son, after all.

When the wolf realized it was okay to enter, he crawled towards the woman on his belly until they were face to face. That's when Nina wrapped her arms around his huge neck and cried. She never wanted this for her son. She thought she moved far enough away to keep his phasing from ever happening.

As the night progressed, Nina found herself and the huge gray wolf in their living room. She had sat on the floor with her back against the couch with the wolf laying next to her and his head on her lap. He was fast asleep as she eased her fingers through his fur. It was so soft under her touch, but all she could do was cry. This was the reason her son had been so angry in the past days. There was nothing she could do except tell him the truth.

Nina had fallen asleep as she admired how smooth and soft Paul's hair was. She was sure he would phase back to his human form as soon as he fell asleep, so all she had to do was wait.

Paul's eyes shot open, and jumped up from where he lay, in the fetal position, next to his mother. His reaction scared her awake and all she did was look at her son who was now in his human form and nude. Her first reaction was to grab the blanket from the couch and hand it to him. "What happened to me, mom?" Paul was shaking as he wrapped the blanket around himself. "What's wrong with me?"

Nina knew exactly what was wrong with him, but she had no idea where to begin with telling him. She hoped she would never have to explain any of it. Paul was completely in the dark about everything, and found out about his heritage the most horrible way imaginable for someone who knew nothing about where he came from.

Paul continued to look at his mother, but all she was doing was sitting there with her hands over her face sobbing. "Mom, what the hell is going on?"

The living room was so quiet. No TV, tick of a clock or the sound of a dripping faucet echoing from the kitchen. Nothing but the silent sobs coming from Nina.

Paul wasn't sure what to do, so he moved to sit next to his mother and draped his arm over her shoulders. "Mom, I think I killed someone."

That was a gut punch to Nina. "NO!" She cried. "NO!"

"Mom, I don't know what happened. Someone..." Paul wasn't really sure how to explain. "Something snuck up on me last night. He looked like a man, but he had fangs like a vampire."

Nina couldn't believe what she was hearing as she finally looked up at her son. "A vampire? Are you sure? Did he come after you?"

Paul looked at his mother as if he wasn't hearing her correctly. "Yes, he came after me and he was definitely a vampire. I think that's why I exploded into a wolf. A freakin wolf, mom."

Nina kept shaking her head, still not believing that her past had unfortunately found her.

Unfortunately, she had only explained the basics to Paul. She was afraid her son would hate her if she told him the complete story. He was her entire life and she just wanted to go back to the way things were before she opened the back door to her furry, enlarged son. She had kept so many secrets from him for so long that she wasn't sure she could tell him the most important stuff. Paul had been upset with her when she explained his wolf heritage. In all the years they lived in Chaumont, Nina never once worried about vampires, and she dreaded that there would be more especially if the one Paul killed was with a group of others.

Time started to get away from them after that night. Paul ended his relationship with Sarah because he was simply afraid of hurting her. The few friends he did have, would come to his house to hang out for a while after Paul decided to stay close to home. He knew he couldn't tell them, and bit his tongue every second they were visiting.

Sarah tried to stay away from him. She loved him so much that it nearly crippled her, emotionally, every day that she saw him at school. All she wanted to do was run and throw her arms around him. She also noticed that he kept to himself more than usual, and when the third month of their separation rolled around and she still hadn't started her period, there was no way she could keep that from him.

Paul was so upset. He wanted to be a dad someday, but he was only 17, and six months away from turning 18. He wasn't sure how he could tell his mom. They were both going through so much that he was sure she'd have a heart attack. He had nearly shut himself off from everyone. His heart was breaking from the news his mother shared with him only a week before Sarah dropped her news on him. His mother was dying, and there wasn't anything that could be done. She was terminal.

The tumor Nina had was inoperable. She had her good days, and bad. Luckily, the doctors had an experimental medication that would hopefully shrink the tumor. It would take a couple of months to know if it was working, but Paul couldn't help the hope that built up inside of him. Dealing with Sarah's pissed off parents was the farthest thing from his mind. He only wished that his mom was strong enough to be around when her first grandchild was born.

Paul catered to his mother and helped Sarah with anything she needed. He had started to feel like he was on the edge more than normal, so when he took a walk one night down by the bridge, he was able to phase under the cover of darkness and run until he felt his frustrations begin to calm. He had so much anger built up inside that every flash of hurt that flipped through his mind, he howled to the stars and the moon. To him, he was screaming to the trees and the nothingness that he was running towards. It was a reprieve from being stretched thin every day. He had too much on his shoulders at one time.

Running each night became a regular thing for him, and Nina encouraged it. She knew her son was fighting battles that she couldn't control.

For two months, there wasn't a change with Nina's tumor and Sarah began to show. The other kids at school knew who her baby's father was. Luckily, Sarah had a support system. As much as her parents were against her pregnancy, they were supporting her as much as they could. Nina had even given Paul some money to give to Sarah to help with maternity clothes, and any baby supplies that she needed.

Paul couldn't help it when he felt like he wasn't catching a break from anything. Everything was starting to crumble around him. At six and a half months pregnant, Sarah had only felt minimal movement from the baby in a couple of days. She hadn't had her exam that month, nor her upcoming ultrasound. They were so excited to find out the gender of the baby.

When she hadn't felt the baby move in over 24 hours, her mom took her to the emergency room. As soon as Paul got the call from Sarah, he and his mother left for the hospital immediately. The news wasn't good; the baby had died, and Sarah would have to endure the birth of their stillborn baby.

Paul couldn't leave Sarah, that much was true, but he had no choice but to leave for a few hours. He needed to run and howl at anything that got in his way. He wished there was a vampire nearby that he could kill.

Nina stayed at the hospital, claiming that Paul had to run home to get her medications. She couldn't drive, and she knew the real reason Paul needed to go. If he didn't then there would have been so much destruction, and they couldn't afford for Paul's secret to be known.

Sarah couldn't stop crying, but who could blame her. Her life had been pulled out from underneath her. She had made so many plans, and even started thinking of names for their baby. The gut wrenching thought of the empty crib inside her bedroom tore her even more to pieces.

When Paul made it back to the hospital, Sarah had been given IV's with medication to start the birthing process. He made sure to stay by her side at all costs. He laid next to her on the bed and just held her as long as he could. "I'm sorry."

"We're never going to see him grow up," Sarah said as she sobbed into Paul's chest. "I don't know what I did wrong."

"It wasn't anything you did," Paul said as he laid his hand on her stomach. "He just wasn't ready for us to be his parents. He wants to wait until he knows either of us are ready."

"I was ready; I want to be his mom now." Paul didn't know what else to say. He was hurting too, and he'll heal in his own way and his own time, but at that moment, he needed to stay strong for her.

Sarah went through 12 hours of labor before she was able to deliver their stillborn son. He was the smallest baby they had ever seen. He fit perfectly in the palm of Paul's hand. Their son was cleaned up and swaddled for them to hold and spend a few hours with him. They had asked for a few pictures to be taken.

Sarah's parents and Nina had a few moments to hold and say goodbye to their first grandchild. As soon as the autopsy was done, he would be cremated. Paul and Sarah wanted keepsake charms made with his ashes.

Paul found himself wishing he could just leave. His son had died and his mother had taken a turn for the worse just two months after losing his son. He had missed so much school that he decided not to go back.

Nina didn't want to die in the hospital. She wanted to be in her own bed. A nurse would come by the house for a few hours every day to help bathe her, change out her pain meds in the pump she was hooked up to, and make sure she was settled before leaving, again. She was deteriorating rapidly every day.

One week shy of Paul's 18th birthday, Nina passed away. Everything was already set up for her celebration of life. Nina was being cremated just like her grandson, only Paul didn't know what to do with her ashes. He had so much to take care of, and no idea where to start. He had so many offers from his neighbors to help him, but Paul knew he had to do everything on his own. Since his birthday was so close, and hadn't been in trouble for quite a while, the sheriff made a decision not to call child protective services. Paul had proved he could be an adult and take care of himself.

As soon as night fell at the end of his mother's memorial service, Paul took off. All he wanted to do was run until he couldn't run anymore.

For a week straight, he stayed in his wolf form. He felt so free and away from having to go through his mother's belongings. Surprisingly, he never felt the need to go through her things before when he was younger. He didn't have a choice now, and he dreaded it. He had lost two of the most important people in his life within weeks of each other, and he was beginning to feel as if there wasn't anything else for him to live for.

After Paul's week long walk about through the Canadian forestry, he made his way home. Once he entered his house, the first thing he did was shower. He could literally smell himself. He smelled like he had been rolling around in a cow pasture full of cow pies.

He wasn't sure if there was anything edible left in the house, but he looked anyway. Thankfully, he found two cans of Chef Boyardee that he heated up. He hadn't had a hot meal in over two weeks, and at that very moment, he could care less if it were homemade or not.

He had gotten home in the very early hours of the morning. The neighborhood was completely quiet as he jumped the fence into his backyard. He missed being home, but nothing was the same with his mother gone.

After inhaling his food and relaxing for an hour or so, he figured it was time to venture into his mother's room. It felt so out of character for him; he was invading his mother's space, and she wasn't there to yell at him for it.

The whole house had been decorated with pictures of Paul and his mom over the years, but the one's in her room were her most cherished; mostly of Paul when he was a baby.

He couldn't help staring at the one of his mother and him on the day he was born. He had looked at it so many times that the image was etched inside his mind, but at that very moment something caught him off guard and he reached for the picture and held it close to his face. He could see that the picture had been cut down or folded from its normal size as if someone was being cut out. He could also see a small sliver of someone's hand.

Paul took the picture and sat down on his mother's bed. He looked even closer at it. It was obvious to him that the hand he could see was that of a man. He could also see part of a tattoo inked along the man's thumb. It looked like the leg of an animal.

It bugged Paul that he couldn't think of anyone that he knew that had a tattoo like that, and he never had a reason to question his mom until the night he first phased. He was okay with her explanation that she gave him at the time, but now he started questioning everything all over again.

When he pulled the picture from the frame he found the other half tucked in behind it. Paul couldn't believe what he was seeing. The man in the photo made him feel like he was looking into a mirror.

So many scenario's were running through his head. Could that man be an uncle or even a cousin? He knew it couldn't be his father because he had died before Paul was even born.

Paul flipped the picture over and even more confusion flooded him. Malia, Billy, and Baby Paul was written on the back with Paul's birthday.

But the woman in the picture was definitely his mom, and her name is Nina. He wondered what the hell was going on, and began to wonder if his whole life had been a lie. He wondered if anything his mom told him the night he phased for the first time was at all the truth. He believed his wolf heritage, and that his natural enemy was a vampire. Nina had explained to him that his wolf gene was triggered when that vampire tried to kill him. Paul believed all that, but now, he also felt as if there was more to his changing.

Once he studied the picture more, he was positive that his mother knew more than she claimed. Nina had lied to her son about his whole life, and he wasn't exactly sure how to deal with his mother's deception.

Paul knew there had to be more in her room, and the first place he looked was under her bed. There were four long storage containers, about six inches deep, full of wrapping paper and bows. The next was full of thick winter sweaters, but that didn't deter him from dumping everything out on her bed.

All of her dresser drawers were emptied only to move on to her night stand. He wasn't even sure that digging through everything was even worth it, but nonetheless, he wasn't stopping. He knew there had to be answers somewhere.

Her closet was like a homing beacon to him, so that was his next destination. Nina hadn't been a materialistic person, and thankfully she had everything organized. It was easy for Paul to rummage through her stuff.

He started pulling out all her clothes. He planned to donate all of them anyway, and her shoes, as well. He didn't need any of it and hoped someone else was better off with them.

He dumped tub after tub and nothing incriminating fell out. He felt like he was at a dead end until he pulled her shoe rack away from the wall.

There was a board about 3 foot high and 3 foot wide that was being held up by a shoe rack. As soon as he pulled it away, he saw that it was big enough to hold a huge military duffle bag, a fire safe box, and another metal container the size of a shoe box.

Paul could feel his heart pounding in his ears. His hands shook as he pulled the three objects from their hideout. He wasn't sure which one to open first, but decided to go with the easiest; the duffle bag.

The air around him began to buzz. He was afraid to find something that would completely discredit his mother, but he didn't have a choice but to look inside the bag.

He sat on the floor and pulled the large green bag towards him. It was heavier than he expected; it was definitely more than 60 pounds. Paul's strength had increased since he began phasing, so who knew how much that bag truly weighed.

It taunted him with a truth he should've known a long time ago. So when he pinched the zipper and began to slowly pull the guide over the teeth, he couldn't believe what he was seeing as the bag fell open. There was more money in that bag than he had seen in his entire life. There were stacks upon stacks of hundred dollar bills. Paul knew each stack was probably 10 thousand dollars, and there were various stacks of five dollar bills, ten dollar bills, and so on.

Then he wondered where the hell his mom had gotten all that money. He could tell she'd been adding to the stash over the years. There were small bundles, wrapped in rubber bands, that were stuffed in between the other stacks. "Holy fucking hell," Paul thought out loud. "I sure as fuck hope she didn't rob a bank."

Paul couldn't imagine his mother doing a bank heist or even being involved in one. She had always been so laid back without a worry in sight. He had never really seen her angry. She had been more hurt than anything when it came to his actions around her.

Time stopped for a good five minutes so he could collect himself. Then he realized there was more. The two metal boxes were bound to have more answers than the money.

The first box he grabbed was the size of a shoe box without a lock. It was full of pictures of people he didn't know. The only people he could name were his mother and the man named Billy from the first picture he looked at when he began to go through her stuff. They looked happy in every picture. Especially the ones that showed his mother's pregnant belly. Paul wondered if any of the people were his family that his mom never told him about.

The other metal box was a fire safe and needed a key to enter. He wasn't sure where the key could be, so he tried every key on his mother's key ring. None fit, so he began to wonder where he would hide a key that wouldn't be found in an obvious place, and as he thought, it was then that he realized that he thought much like his mother did as he flipped over the drawer to the night stand. The key was taped underneath in the corner.

Paul was on a mission and he was determined to keep going as he took a few deep breaths before pushing the key into the hole and turning it. Then a few more before he lifted the lid. There was a stack of papers clipped together, two passports, and among the clipped papers were birth certificates for the state of Washington.

Paul William Black

Malia Antonina Lahote

Paul was confused even more when he came across two more birth certificates.

Paul Andrew Lahote

Nina Anne Lahote

This was the proof that Paul wished he didn't find. It was all the proof that showed that his entire life had been a lie, but why? Why had his mother done all of this? Why did she have so much money stashed, and not in a bank? He had two birth certificate's, and started to wonder which one was his real one, but the longer he looked at them, he knew his answer. He was really Paul William Black because Paul Andrew Lahote was currently sitting on the floor of his mother's closet looking at paper's that seemed so unreal.

There were a few more documents that he had no clue what they were. He just sat stunned at what was staring back at him until he saw an envelope at the bottom of the box that had his name on it. He was quick to open it and found a letter.

My Dearest Paul,

I wanted to make sure I got this all written down while I was still coherent enough to explain. I wanted to tell you the whole truth, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm sorry it had to be done this way. I'm sorry for all of it.

From what I recently learned, your father is still alive. His name if William Black and lives in LaPush, Washington. I don't know much more than that. Sell everything here in New York and go find him.

I never wanted that life for you. I loved your father more than anything, but before you turned a year old something happened. I found out that one day you may turn into a wolf, and your father imprinted on his soulmate; my sister. It's too hard for me to explain because I lost your father to his true love. It's something that happens with your heritage. It may happen to you one day. I couldn't stay and watch the love of my life live his with someone else. I wanted you away from all of it and chose to leave. I wanted to take you far enough away that you wouldn't have to learn about any of it. All it took was one Vampire to venture into our area to change it all. I'm so, so sorry.

All the money is yours. There's just over seven million dollars. It was gifted to me from some friends that helped me leave LaPush.

There's so much for me to tell you, but I don't have enough time. Mallory, our next door neighbor, will help with the sell of the house. If there's anything that you want to get rid of, please do; it's all yours.

I love you. Please never forget that. I just wanted to protect you, but now I need you to go find the life you were meant to have. I hope that you find your imprint. I've been told that it's something you'll definitely know is happening. I wish the best life for you, and tell your father that I've always loved him, and I'm sorry.

Always in my heart. I love you.

Your mom,

Malia

Paul felt tears flow over his cheeks. He felt like his life was crashing down around him. His mother was really and truly gone, and there was only one thing he needed to do. He needed to find his way home to LaPush, Washington.

It took Paul just a little over a week to make plans to head cross country. Like his mom had said in her letter, their neighbor would take care of the sell of the house. Paul made sure to leave his number as soon as he purchased a phone. He had his mother's car tuned up, and new tires put on before filling the tank full of fuel. Then he was ready to go.

As Paul began his journey, he watched as the small welcome sign to Chaumont, New York, Population 585, faded in his rear-view mirror. He wouldn't miss the small town as he headed south to the interstate. He was leaving the state of New York, and good riddance.

Thank you.

RTB