AN: Sorry for the break in posting. I had a work emergency which consumed far too much of my life. It's over now.
Sunday MorningI woke up the next morning and she was in exactly the same spot. She was asleep. I lay still, waiting for her to wake up, stroking her hair.
I closed my eyes and thought about the day ahead of us. We'd have breakfast, I'd patrol, we'd hang out a little before lunch then go see Sam after lunch, then maybe go to the beach this afternoon.
Patrol!
She'd be stuck here alone for two hours while I'm on patrol! Why didn't I think of that?
She started stirring and looked up at me. She kissed my chest. "That was the best night of sleep I've had in a long time, maybe ever."
I grinned at her. "I love having you in my bed. I love you."
"I love you, too." She sighed contentedly. "So what's the plan today?"
"We'll start with breakfast. I do have to patrol from 8:00 to 10:00 and I forgot about that until this morning, but you can read and snoop through my stuff and watch TV. Is that ok?"
"What's patrol?" She asked, stretching a little on my chest.
"It's my wolf job, where I run around the rez and Forks trying to sniff out vampires."
"So the whole wolf thing is about vampires?"
"Yes."
"Have there been any vampires?" She asked, a little fear in her eyes.
"Not since the Cullens left, but we're on the lookout for Laurent and Victoria."
"Do you think they'd come back?"
"I don't know," I said. "But we'll protect you if they do."
"I trust you."
"What do you want for breakfast?"
"What's your specialty?"
I looked at the clock. We had almost two hours before I had to patrol. "I can make you just about anything. Pleasing you is my specialty."
"Mmmm. How about muffins?"
"Yes! Let's go see what flavors we have ingredients for."
We made pumpkin streusel and lemon poppy seed. I made Isabella sit and watch. There just wasn't enough work to do for both of us. For some reason this put her in a frisky mood. We were making out on the couch while the muffins were in the oven when she asked me, "Do you want to do oral sex to me?"
Fucking adorable.
"Yes!"
I laid her down and pulled off her shorts. She was magnificent, perfect, everything just how I liked it. I kissed her mouth, then dragged my nose down her torso, treasuring her scent along the way. When I got to her core, I bent her legs up and bent my head down.
I licked around her clit, gently stroking it. She was moaning softly. She tasted so fucking good. When she started twitching I put my tongue in her and started eating her out. My nose was rubbing her clit on the outside and my tongue was stroking her on the inside. Her moans were making me a little wild.
I could feel her start to climax when the oven timer dinged. I held her in place and kept up my pace until I was sure she was finished.
I wiped my face with my hand and kissed her softly. "Thank you," I said.
She looked a little confused. "What for?"
"For letting me do that."
"But I'm the one who was, um, pleasured."
"We both were."
I walked with my obvious boner into the kitchen and pulled out the muffins. They were done. I washed my face and hands then I transferred the muffins to the cooling rack. Then I sat on one of the kitchen chairs.
Isabella was standing in the corner of the kitchen. She had put her shorts back on. She went and wet her hands at the sink, then came and straddled my lap.
She pulled my shorts down just enough to pull out my erection, maintaining eye contact as she went. She pressed it against her groin and stroked it with her wet hands.
I could feel her wet folds on my cock through the leg holes of her shorts. She was rocking against me. For a virgin, she really knew her way around a dick. Then I remembered those books she read. I smiled and kissed her, moving her body as she rubbed against me. I came into her hands.
When we sat down for breakfast, she ate one of each muffin flavor but couldn't decide which was her favorite.
"I like the pumpkin best," I said. "It's just got more going on."
"The lemon is flawless though, moist and flavorful but not too sweet like a cake. They're both really good."
"I'm glad you like them. Better than any muffins Edward ever made you, huh?" I asked teasingly.
She laughed really hard. "Imagine him even trying to crack an egg. He'd smash it and there would be shells everywhere. He'd measure precisely but the folding and the whipping. The texture would be…"
"It would be amateur hour."
"Exactly! I don't even know what I was thinking. I'm glad it's over and we can laugh about it."
"Hey, maybe you could talk to one of the Quileute elders about vampire thrall," I suggested. "A lot of that 'I don't even know what I was thinking' could be related to vampire thrall."
"Yeah, maybe not today, but definitely sometime," she said. I was worried she was dismissing the idea.
"So I have to patrol in fifteen minutes. Do you want me to see if Kim can come over or are you cool hanging out here for two hours?"
"I just want to hang out here."
"Ok, first, I want you to stay in the house. I have a stalker," I said in a warning tone. "It's that Anna girl that Kim was talking about. I don't want you to have to deal with that. Second, don't open the door for anyone other than Sam, Jared or Kim. Third, let me show you where all the fun stuff is."
I brought her to my dad's room which was primarily the library for the house. Then I showed her my closet which had all sorts of stuff from my life if she wanted to snoop. I showed her the movies and records and CDs. I told her that she could cook and eat anything she wanted as long as she didn't burn the house down. She just about shooed me out the door.
All through patrol my mind was racing with thoughts of her. I was enjoying every second with her and not just the sex stuff. She was like my best friend. She was my sexy best friend and I was in love with her.
Then I was filled with dread about the conversation we had to have. I trusted my pack and their mates but I was so scared. I wasn't sure that she loved me enough to make it through to the other side. It would kill me to lose her now.
After my time was up, I ran to the door and knocked. I heard her footsteps approaching. She looked through the peephole and squealed excitedly, opening the door.
I lifted her in my arms and kissed her forehead. "I told you to only let in Sam or Kim or Jared. Now you've got a big bad wolf to deal with."
"Can I see the wolf now?" She asked excitedly. "I've been dying to."
I gulped and sat on the couch. "I think we should wait until after the meeting. If you meet the wolf now but decide not to stay with me, I don't know how we'll get over it."
"Decide not to stay with you? You mean break up?"
I nodded.
"I'm not going to do that."
I looked into her eyes as she sat on my lap. "You can't know that."
"Has anyone else had their mate leave and never come back?"
"Not exactly."
"Can you tell me more?" she asked.
"Sam was dating Harry Clearwater's daughter when he met his mate."
"Leah?"
"Yeah," I said cautiously. "So he dumped Leah to pursue Emily but Emily and Leah were close friends. It was a mess. It's still a mess. But Sam and Emily are happy together now."
"So it changed how Sam felt about Leah?"
"Yeah, and it changed how I felt about other girls too."
"How so?" she asked.
"Girls I used to be interested in look skanky now, sloppy, not pretty. It's not just that I'm not attracted to them. They repel me."
"All women?"
"No…" I said, trying to think of how to explain it. "Just women who are trying to get with me. Women who are just living their lives or whatever are just like normal women."
"How can you tell when women are trying to get with you?"
I laughed. "Isabella, you're a beautiful girl. How can you tell when guys are trying to get with you?"
She smiled. "Yeah, ok, but you're saying all this like it's a bad thing. Isn't it kind of the dream for you to only be attracted to me?"
"I don't know, is it?"
"I'm not sure but I don't think it's a bad thing."
"Ok. So what did you do while I was gone?" I asked. I had been dying to know.
"I made a lasagna. It's in the oven. I showered. And I played the other side of the Nina Simone record. I perused the shelves in your dad's room, then looked through your baby album."
"Really?"
"Yeah, that baby album was kind of wild," she said, narrowing her eyes in thought. "Some pages were filled with rambling stories but a lot were left blank."
"Right. When I was little, both my parents had a drug problem, so that's why it was filled in erratically. My dad moved home, here, when my mom disappeared. Billy helped him get cleaned up and helped him find work. Almost everything from my childhood before I moved here is going to be a little off."
She was looking into my face sadly, then she hugged me real tight. She whispered, "I love you."
I hugged her back. "I love you too, Isabella."
"Is the wolf mate thing like soulmates?"
"Yeah, it's exactly that."
"I thought so.," she said, nodding to herself.
"Why's that?"
"Just, there's so much that connects us. The more I get to know you, the truer that is."
"Like the baby book?" I asked. "Or do your parents have a history of drug problems too?"
"The baby book! So you have one weird baby book. My mom has four baby books each with one or two pages filled in. She loves to tell the story about how she couldn't find the baby book so she bought another. It isn't as funny as she thinks it is. She wasn't on drugs, but she probably should have been medicated."
"ADD?"
"I think so, but she was the wrong generation to be diagnosed as a kid and now she's lived with it so long, she doesn't see a problem."
"Damn." I rested my head on hers for a moment. "I'm so glad I found you."
"Me too."
And just like that, I felt completely secure with her. "Do you want to see the wolf now?"
"Really?" Her body became suddenly jumpy with excitement.
"Yeah, do you want to?"
"Yes!"
"Ok, you stay on the couch. I'm going to strip and phase right here." I pointed to an open area of the floor. "When I nod as a wolf, you can come over if you want. It's very dangerous to be too close during the actual change. Emily has the scars to prove it. But the wolf itself is safe, ok?"
She nodded, then watched as I took off my shorts and bent forward into a wolf. I nodded and she ran to me. She put her head on my forehead, then rubbed her cheek all over my head: cheek on cheek, cheek on whiskers, cheek rubbing my ears. She was masterful.
"Can you sit?"
I sat.
She grinned so big and said, "Good boy," like she was talking to a dog.
I did my best to roll my eyes.
She stood behind me, feet on either side of my tail, and leaned forward until she was almost laying on my back. She sighed into my fur and wrapped her arms around me as far as they would go. It felt so good!
"Lie down, please," she requested.
Little by little, I moved my forepaws forward until I was lying down flat. Her body went with mine. Then she scooted up my body until she was sitting in the middle of my back. She leaned forward again and put her head on top of my head. Both hands went to my ears and she was scratching. She was the best! I loved how comfortable she felt, never afraid, heartbeat steady the whole time.
My head was on my paws, her head on mine. I could lay like this forever. She was so relaxed too. Of course we were interrupted by a timer from the kitchen.
She got up to check on it. I phased, pulled on my shorts and followed her.
"Smells good in here," I said.
She jumped like she didn't expect me to follow her. "I like to rotate it halfway through."
I leaned against the counter by the empty sink, enjoying the view of her bent over my oven. She shut the oven and reset the timer.
"Did you do the dishes?" I asked as she started toward me.
"I did. I didn't use a lot of pans."
"You did the muffin dishes, too. I'm sorry. I should have done that before I left."
"Don't apologize for that. We're a team." She reached up and caressed my face. "You were working. I was working too."
"Mmmm, ok." I leaned down and kissed her, enjoying her. Then I asked, "what are we going to make with the mac and cheese tonight? For a vegetable for your dad?"
"I have a craving for carrots."
"Ok, the whole plate will be orange though. How about sugar snap peas, too?"
"Yes!" She agreed readily.
"What vegetables does your dad like?"
"He likes broccoli with cheese sauce and corn."
"Corn is a grain," I pointed out.
"That's what I always say! He likes tomato sauce and whatever veggies I put in it."
"And what veggies did you put into the lasagna?"
She listed them on her fingers. "Garlic, onion, mushroom, green pepper, stewed tomatoes. Oh, I saved the compost. I didn't know if you had one but I thought you might since you asked if we had one."
"I do!"
"Where is it?" she asked.
"I'll show you where it goes."
She reached behind me and grabbed a bowl with onion peeling and pepper seeds. I turned around and opened the window behind the sink. The contents of the bowl were dumped unceremoniously. Then I closed the window.
She was looking at me like I was a crazy person. "Is there really a compost pile there? Right outside the window?"
"Hop up on the counter and see."
She carefully climbed onto the counter and looked out the window. Then she opened the window and stuck her head out. "That's kind of smart."
"It was my dad's idea to put the compost barrel under the window by the sink."
"Does it ever stink?" she asked, hopping off the counter.
"Only if it's neglected. It's been a long time since I've smelled it and I have a good nose."
She slipped her hand into mine. "You're so cool!"
"My compost makes me cool?" That didn't make a lick of sense.
"Yeah. I guess it's a lot of things, but the compost pushes you over the edge into the 'so cool' category."
"Nice! I have to take a shower now but I'll be really quick."
"I like how you smell now." She was leaning her head on my pec.
"Thanks and I'm glad but the guys won't like it too much." I grabbed some pants and took my shower. She was reading a book of short stories on the couch when I got out. I sat right next to her and pulled her onto my lap.
She placed a bookmark and put the book down. "Hi," she said sweetly.
"Hi," I said just before my mouth crashed onto hers. My hand went to her face, holding her close to me. She put her hand on my neck, like she had the same idea. Our lips were hungry for each other. We were hungry for each other.
Then the timer went off.
I sighed then let go of her so she could get up. In the kitchen, I watched her put the lasagna on top of the stove. I got out plates and forks. "What do you want to drink?" I asked
"What do you have for juice?"
"I have an open orange juice and," I poked around the fridge, "unopened apple and cranberry."
"Can we open the cranberry?"
"Mhmm." I poured two glasses of cranberry juice.
She cut the lasagna and plated a chunk for both of us. "It's still really hot."
"We'll wait for it to cool." I lifted her onto the counter and resumed kissing her, this time with one hand not wandering from her boob.
"When is your dad coming home next?" She asked, interrupting us.
"November. Why?"
"Will I get to meet him?"
"Yeah! He's gonna love you," I said.
"I hope so. Will I get to meet your aunt too?"
"You can meet her anytime. She lives down the street."
"Do you see her a lot?" she asked.
"Yeah, she's outside a lot when I walk to school. I see her a couple times a week."
"Does she know about me?"
"I haven't told her," I said, "but gossip spreads fast on the rez so probably."
"Why haven't you told her?"
"I usually just say good morning to her. I don't stop and chat often."
"I'd think you'd want to tell her about your soulmate coming into your life." Her eyes were twinkling. She was teasing me.
"I don't want to disappoint her, in case you don't stick around."
"I'm going to stick around, Paul."
I sighed. "At this point, I feel like that's true. I trust you, Isabella."
"I think the lasagna is probably cooled enough."
We sat to eat and the lasagna was fucking amazing. I was cutting my third piece when Isabella asked, "What do you think might surprise me from the meeting this afternoon?"
I could feel some heat rise to my face. "The day we met, when Edward left, how well did you sleep?"
"I couldn't sleep a wink that night. I actually fell asleep at work the next day because I was so tired. I never do that. Never."
"Hmmm. When did you wake up yesterday?"
"It was just after 5:00. Why?"
I was nodding. "With the soulmate thing, our sleep is linked to each other. I had to get up at 5:00 am yesterday to patrol. I had to get it done before I went fishing with Charlie."
"So I can only sleep when you sleep?"
"No, I'm not explaining it right. When I learned how the sleep thing worked, I started, umm, this part makes me nervous…"
"Spit it out," she said impatiently.
I spoke quickly, saying, "I started sleeping in the woods behind your house because it's based on proximity. If we're too far apart, neither of us can sleep. I didn't want you to suffer because of that."
She was looking at me but saying nothing.
I continued, "I didn't sleep the night after I met you either because I was here." I gestured to my house. "But I fell asleep in the woods near your work after I came in last Saturday. That's why you were able to fall asleep at work, because I was nearby."
"You've been sleeping in the woods? Behind my house? In a tent?"
"In wolf form. It's kind of nice actually, under the stars."
"What about the rain?" she asked.
"There was one night where the rain was heavy enough that I slept on the porch but rain doesn't bother the wolf much."
"And you did all this because you wanted me to be able to sleep?"
"That's how I justified it," I explained. "I can't sleep if I'm not near you. It works both ways. I also just like being near you more than I like being away from you. I wanted to put the granola bar on your seat each night. And I would walk the perimeter of the house to make sure you were ok."
"How could you tell if I was ok?"
"With my wolf hearing, I could hear your heartbeat, the book pages turning… stuff like that." I glanced into her eyes, thinking of the sound of her masturbating.
"Stuff like that? Like me touching myself?"
"When I saw you from the tree, that was a surprise. I didn't know you were doing that. I really did just want to know what book you were reading. But, uh, it didn't go that way. There was one other time that I could hear you touching yourself. You were, um, vigorous." I looked her in the eye and tried to hide my smile. I stuffed the last bite of the lasagna in my mouth just so I wouldn't look like a creep.
"Only one time? I've been masturbating every night since… well, I think since I met you."
"Oh yeah, and what were you thinking about?"
She smiled and looked down. "I was thinking about you ripping my clothes off and fucking me senseless."
Fuck! That was so hot!
After a moment, I managed to say, "That can be arranged…"
"After the meeting with Sam, I know."
I was hard as a rock now, though. I chugged the last of my cranberry juice. "So you're not weirded out that I slept in the woods behind your house?"
"It's the most romantic story I've ever heard."
"That's hard to believe."
"Believe it," she said, straddling my lap. She started kissing my neck. It was so hot. "Do we have time to dry hump?" I carried her to my bed so fast.
~O~
"Do you think you'll want to go to the beach after?" I asked.
"Is it supposed to be warm?"
"Not really, but we could walk on the rocks."
"That sounds really nice," she said contentedly.
"Awesome. Black shirt or white?"
"Can you show me both?" I liked how she watched me change. After I pulled the white shirt down my stomach, she answered, "White. You look amazing in white."
"I'll keep that in mind. I still need to wash the dress shirt from Friday."
"Oh I did that," she said. "You had enough for a small white load."
"No shit. Now that's the most romantic story I've ever heard."
She laughed. "You're making fun of me."
"I'm not. I was wearing that shirt the first time I dry humped you and you want it to be available so I can wear it again? So fucking romantic."
"Ok." She got up off the bed.
I grabbed one of my old hoodies from a drawer and handed it to her. "For the beach later."
Her face lit up. "Thank you! You don't wear hoodies, do you?"
"None of these fit me anymore and I haven't been cold enough to need a new one so help yourself."
She rubbed the hoodie on my chest under my shirt, then in both of my armpits. Then she breathed in the scent. "Mmmm. Smells like my man." I chuckled. She was adorable! She put it on over her shirt even though it wasn't that cold.
"We should head to Sam's."
"Yeah, how far away is he?" she asked.
"Less than a minute by wolf, four minutes by car."
"And we're going by car?"
"That's the plan," I said. "We'd be late if we walked. Are you open to traveling by wolf sometimes?"
"Of course!"
I opened the front door for her and locked it behind myself. We got into the car and were off.
"You're still nervous?" she asked. It was obvious that I was. I couldn't stop fidgeting in my seat.
"It's called imprinting," I blurted out. "That's what everyone will call it, our bond. When I saw you, I imprinted on you, recognizing you as my soulmate like a baby bird recognizes their mother. The girls are referred to as imprints. You'll hear that word a bunch."
"Ok."
We sat in silence the rest of the way there. Before we got out of the car, I said, "Emily has scars on her face. It was an accident from when Sam was a new wolf, when he didn't have control but they're both sensitive about it, so don't stare." She nodded, then opened her door.
Kim and Jared were already there, waiting in the living room. Kim was on Jared's lap in an armchair. I sat down on another arm chair and pulled Isabella onto my lap, holding her close to me. I sniffed her hair to calm my nerves. It smelled like my shampoo, not her usual strawberries.
Sam and Emily sat on the couch, Sam's arm around her. Isabella didn't even seem to notice Emily's scars. They had become almost invisible to me, so I was glad Isabella already seemed comfortable here.
"Paul, what have you told Bella about imprinting so far?" Sam asked.
"Not enough, I'm sure. I told her that she's my soulmate. I told her about sleeping in the woods. I told her how I feel about other girls. I don't know. What else have I told you?" I asked, looking at Isabella.
Isabella answered, "Paul told me about the fear that my feelings aren't real and that I would be afraid that his feelings aren't real."
"That's something we've all struggled with," Sam said.
"And he told me a little bit about your story, Sam and Emily. Not about Jared and Kim's."
"You already know a ton about us, though," Kim said, smiling at Isabella.
"Can you tell her everything as though she knows nothing?" I asked. "I know I haven't told her enough and even the parts I have told her, I feel like I'm missing a lot."
Sam began explaining the gift of the imprint. "It is a gift of wisdom and a gift of nudging. You have the wisdom to know who your soulmate is, a very rare gift. Along with it is the desire to be near your soulmate and forsake others. When you are near your soulmate, your souls start to bond. There is attraction, friendship, chemistry, and love. That is not the imprint. That is just the natural behavior of your souls when they are together."
I asked, "How do we get past the sleeping in the woods thing? I think Jared said that got better when we fucked but doesn't that carry other repercussions?"
"That's a two part-question, Paul." Sam said. "First there is no getting rid of the sleep thing unless she rejects the imprint."
"I'm not doing that," Isabella whispered to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
Sam smiled at her. "You two might want to think about moving in together or moving closer to each other unless you're ok with sleeping as a wolf for the foreseeable future."
"I'll sleep in the woods," I said.
"You don't want us to live together?" My girl asked me sweetly.
That took me by surprise. I didn't expect her to be ready for that level of commitment that fast. My wolf and I agreed that we wanted her to move in immediately, but I wasn't sure it made sense. "I'd love for you to live with me. But there's your dad and school and everything."
"I think we could figure something out," she said, "especially with wolf travel."
"We'll talk about it. I don't want this to be a burden on you."
"You don't want it to be a burden on me?" She sounded more than a little mad. "You're sleeping in the woods in the rain and you don't want me to be inconvenienced?"
I kissed her forehead. "We'll figure it out. I'd love to have you in my bed every night if you're willing. We'll just have to work out the logistics, ok?"
"How about this," she proposed, "I tell Charlie I'm moving in with you and you wolf run me into Forks each morning for school, then pick me up each afternoon. Then I don't have to drive an hour every day in that old truck and you can sleep in your own bed."
"Do you think Charlie will go for that?" I asked.
"I think I'm eighteen."
I sighed, already nervous about Charlie's reaction. "Ok, we should still cook for him sometimes."
"I agree. We'll talk to him about it tonight."
"How will we explain the wolf runs?" I looked at Sam.
"Ask Billy for permission to tell him," Sam said.
"Ok, what's the other part of that question, Sam?" I asked.
"Oh, the sex part. Until you two have sex, she has the option to break the imprint. Once you have sex, you're locked in, mates for life, unbreakable. It will calm the anxiety that the wolf has about the unclaimed mate because you will belong to each other forever."
Isabella was looking at me and nodding slightly. She was willing to let me claim her!
"What else do we need to know? What does she need to know?" I looked at everyone in the room, waiting for more. "Emily?"
"Bella," Emily said sweetly, "you're welcome here anytime to chat or cook or just hang out. Kim comes over too so maybe the three of us could plan some get-togethers."
"Not what I was asking for," I said a little testily. Sam glared at me. "Jared, you haven't said anything. Can you add any information for Isabella about the imprint?"
"I think you guys should go and experience it yourself."
"Isabella, are you ready to go? Do you have any questions?"
She nodded and stood up. "I don't have any questions. It was so nice to meet you Emily. I'll definitely take you up on the offer to hang out. It was nice seeing the rest of you again."
"Do you want to go to the beach, home, or to Billy Black's?" I asked when we got into the car.
"Home."
I growled involuntarily. "Sure thing."
I couldn't say another word the whole way home. At the pit of my stomach, I felt sure that the meeting hadn't prepared her enough but if she was willing to be claimed, my wolf was not going to let me wait any longer.