Paul had just knocked on the teenager's car, with his signature intimidating scowl. The rest of the pack, except for Colin, and Seth on patrol, had gone to Sam and Emily's for lunch. The teenager looked too young to drive a car. She looked fourteen, maybe fifteen, especially up close. She had a duffel bag lying in her backseat along with fast food wrappers.
A runaway, by the looks of it. Paul had been ready to heckle her, tell her off, and tell her to get off his land, but she looked so young, innocent and lost. She didn't look like she could cause much trouble.
But Paul still had to see what this runaway was doing in the rez. And his intimidating scowl usually got the right information out of people. When he had knocked, her soulful look down at her phone, turned to piqued curiosity and then she smelled of confidence. That was rare.
Most of the time, when Paul glared at someone, they immediately closed off and he could smell their fear and sweat. But this young girl was dripping with confidence after she saw him glare down at her through her car window.
He had expected her to just roll down her windows, but instead, she opened her door. Paul quickly paced back so she had room to get out. Paul's scowl turned into a confused glare as the girl stood out of her car and then plastered a confident smile onto her face.
"What are you doing knocking on my car?" Nicky asked the man who seeped of law enforcement as she puckered her lips and gave her best innocent look.
His buzzcut hair, the way he had approached her vehicle, and probably knowing she wasn't from here were all bad signs, but she had to keep up the confident, bullshit pretence. Nicky didn't want to act guilty, get in trouble and then throw off her entire plan to find her dad. She had to act like she knew what she was doing. She was just sitting in her car, doing nothing wrong. She'd play that.
Paul had decided to start with the truth, no heckling, no bullshit. He didn't need to yell at her to get off the land. He could just speak with her. She was young. He kept his stoic glare plastered onto his face though, no need to turn soft.
"I was wondering what a young kid like you was doing in LaPush?" Paul asked the young girl.
"I'm just sitting here watching the waves and I just went for a swim." Nicky responded with confidence.
Paul knew the girl was hiding something. He started to smell her fear as the two spoke. She was definitely leaving something out. Young girls rarely showed up to LaPush with their bags packed, like they were ready to move in.
"Look kid, you've got a duffel bag in your backseat, and old fast food wrappers. You kind of look like you just ran away from home. I'm just wondering what you're doing in LaPush with your bags packed." He said more sternly, trying to get this girl who was evading all of his usual tactics to open up and spill the truth.
Nicky hadn't realized the man would be that observant. Her eyes fell to the ground. Her whole plan was to act like she belonged but she clearly didn't It must have been obvious. She wanted to cry because now she'd have to tell the whole truth of why she was here to an absolute stranger who she was trying really hard not to be intimidated by. But she was starting to get intimidated by his apparent role as guard dog or something of LaPush. Nicky took in a staggering breath.
"I came here to find my dad." Nicky let out, as she conceded to letting this big man bully the truth from her.
"My mom is Joan Harper." She stuttered.
"We don't live here though. But my dad was apparently some guy named Terry Lahote." Nicky said as she brought her eyes up to meet the intimidating man's face.
Paul watched the girl finally concede to telling him the truth, like all tourists did. She had avoided her eyes and looked scared shitless. Then when she had spoken her last sentence, mentioning his own dad was apparently hers. That, that was the man she was looking for, he felt his face almost shift to several different expressions. But it stayed stoic. Barely.
Paul had never been one to get shocked easily. He pretty much lived one day at a time and rolled with the punches life gave. But Paul was aghast to the revelation that this young runaway might be his sister.
He had experience in being an older brother to some wolves. He was a big brother of sorts to his pack. But years ago, when the newbies to the pack had needed help adjusting. As the pack grew, his role developed from a big brother who bullies the others into a role that trains the others to fight leeches. He was their best fighter. He had experience in that.
He'd never been a brother in a paternal, big brother way, he'd always been kind of an outsider. Now, being one of the last remaining un-imprinted wolves, he was most definitely an outsider. He'd start fights, tell vulgar jokes and get in trouble from his Alpha more times than he could count. But the pack relied on him when leeches showed up. He was the best fighter.
He'd never taken Jacob's or Jared's advice to behave himself or act like more of a role model. Truth be told, most of the pack was afraid of him. When he'd act out of place, Jacob and Jared couldn't just beat him into submission. The whole pack would have to be there to beat him down, or hold him down because he was the strongest and fought back.
He was third in command because he was the best offence in the pack. But now, for the first time ever, he desperately needed his pack's advice.
Paul looked into the young girl's eyes. She looked humiliated for giving up the truth so easily. The circles under her eyes suggested she'd barely slept and the lack of food in her car suggested she probably hadn't eaten in a while.
She was objectively pretty. She had ivory skin, with freckles littering her face. She had a small button nose, full lips and ears covered in piercings. She stood at about five foot seven. The only similarities Paul could find between himself and the young girl were her dark brown eyes and her jet-black hair.
Paul wasn't ready, or able to provide anything for this girl. She came to find her dad, he was dead. If she knew who her older brother was, she wouldn't want him. He was an angry fighting maniac, who womanized and drank too much. And he was a shifter. A wolf.
He'd have to send her back to wherever she came from.
"Look kid, I knew you're dad. He's been dead for a couple of years now. I'm sorry." Paul spoke slowly and through gritted teeth, hoping the girl wouldn't start crying or something.
And she did. Tears slowly started dripping from her eyes as she stood there. She just stood there. She didn't say anything. Paul just had to stand in front of a crying girl, who was most likely his sister. Fuck.
Paul had never dealt with anything like this before. He didn't know what to do.
"Do you uh–" Paul stuttered for the first time ever as he spoke.
"-Have anywhere to go?" He asked her.
And just as he said his next words, the girl started to cry even harder, hitching her breath every time she breathed, as she let out more tears. That was obviously the wrong thing to say. Paul scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to do.
Paul's face was no longer stoic, it was sympathetic, concerned and utterly confused.
Nicky was rolling through so many emotions and so much grief. She was grieving the loss of her father, grieving her plan to meet him, grieving her plan to live with him and grieving her mother. Because realistically, she never had a mom, and now she didn't have a dad either. She was grieving the loss of both of her parents.
The man had said her dad was dead and then asked if she had anywhere to go. Anywhere to go? Anywhere to go!? She had nowhere to go. And then she'd just started bawling in front of him like a little kid. Slowly, her tears started to dry up.
"I don't have anywhere to go." Nicky sniffed.
"I was planning on moving in with my dad. My mom is– isn't in the picture anymore. So I packed up all of my stuff to come and find him. I don't know what to do." She whispered, looking at her feet as she talked, embarrassed by her outburst.
Paul thought he'd had it rough. He lost both of his parents at fifteen, from a bag of laced drugs they'd taken together. Then he turned into a wolf. But at least he'd had his pack. This girl looked like she had no one. Paul caught no trace of lies in her voice.
The girl looked ragged, tired, hungry and she was soaking wet, shivering and crying. She at least needed a place to stay for the night. He might not be able to be a big brother, but he could sympathize and at least let her stay at his place for the night, and give her some damn food. The girl looked fourteen for fucks sake.
"What's your name, kid?" Paul sympathetically asked the young girl.
"I'm Nicky. What's your name?" She sniffed.
"Hi, Nicky. I'm Paul. And I didn't just know your dad. He was my dad before he passed. I'm Paul Lahote." He said with a grimace, as he fidgeted his fingers.
Nicky did a double-take. She looked back up at him in disbelief. What were the odds that she had an older brother and that he just so happened to walk up to her car today? This was so weird. She shook her head, trying to register his words.
Nicky had an older brother. His name was Paul Lahote.
"How old are you?" He asked her, shaking her out of her thoughts.
"I'm sixteen. You?" She asked back.
"I'm twenty-four. You really have no place to go?" He questioned one last time before he offered a room at his house.
Paul really didn't want to take this kid back to his house but it was looking more and more like he had no other choice. If Emily and Sam weren't expecting another baby soon he'd try to drop her off at theirs or something.
But she wasn't a stray cat he could just pawn off. This was his little sister who had come all this way, looking for a father to take her in. She had no one else. He sighed.
"My house used to be my mom and dad's before they passed. So it's your dad's old place. I have a roommate, but it's a three-bedroom. You could stay at my place for now, until we figure out what happens next." Paul sighed in defeat.
Nicky felt hope for the first time in years. It was a rare feeling for her. This man before her, was her brother and he was letting her stay at his place for now. Anything was better than going back to live with her mom who forgot about her and only acknowledged her when she needed drug money. She was ecstatic. She had hope.
"Thank you! Thank you!" Nicky screeched as she jumped into Paul's chest and wrapped her arms around his torso.
Paul was surprised. The little girl's face had gone from heartbroken to full of hope in the span of time it took him to admit they were related. Then she jumped towards him and wrapped her little arms around him as she thanked him.
Paul felt uncomfortable. But he also slightly felt hope that he'd be less angry and depressed for the first time in forever.
"Come on. Let's go kid. I walked to the beach, but if I hop in your car with you, I can direct you to my place." Paul said.
"Okay!" Nicky screeched as she ran into her driver's seat smiling.