Until Death- Paul Lahote

5

I arrive at school and park my car in the middle of the parking lot. I was wearing some low-rise jeans, making my underwear slightly visible with a white tank top. I sling my backpack over my shoulder before I walk inside the school. I hadn't talked to my friends in a week again since Sam had increased my shift times, causing me to miss a lot of school too.
"Aria!" I hear Quil shout and turn my head to see all of them standing to my left next to Olivia's car again.
I roll my eyes. To say I was pissed was an understatement. Sam and I had come across a trail of a leech this weekend on our territory. We had chased it up to the Canadian border before Sam blew it off. I still remember the blood-sucker's eyes as he smirked at me before pushing past me and slamming me into a nearby tree before running away.
"What happened?" Jacob asks me and I take a deep breath, trying not to get angry again but fail miserably as I clench my teeth together and my jaw tightens.
"Nothing" I say quietly before muttering some sort of excuse and walking past them, trying not to meet Paul's eyes.

Just before I'm able to reach the door, I hear another familiar voice.
I groan quietly and shut my eyes tightly before keeping on walking but he grabs my hand and turns me around.
"Can we talk?" James asks me and I chuckle.
"What's there to talk about?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest, trying to hide my hands that were balled into tight fists.
"I was at your house yesterday but you weren't there" he says and I scoff.
"You really don't get it right. I don't want to be with you and I never will again" I say before trying to walk away again but he grabs my wrist again, this time tighter than before.
"But I want to talk to you" he says angrily while I just glare at him.

Our eyes break off of eachother when Jared walks over and pushes James back, causing him to stumble back and fall to the floor. Quickly, my anger fades as I look at Jared's angry face. Sam had warned me that he could be the one to shift the next but I wasn't aware of how soon this could happen.
"Keep your hands off of her" Jared says through gritted teeth.
James chuckles. "So now you're done with Lahote and now you want Jared?"
"What are you implying?" Jared asks but I pull him away by his hand, leaving my ex-boyfriend on the floor behind us.

"Are you fucking crazy?" I ask him as we stand by the others again. He looks at me dumbfounded and annoyed.
"Oh, wow, I just wanted to help you. Are we not qualified enough for that? Do you need us to call Sam for you?" Jared asks angrily, taking a step towards me as I do the same.
"You don't know what you're talking about" I say angrily, starting to breath heavier before Paul puts a hand onto my shoulder and the tingling sensation fills my body again. Immediately I relax.
I want to look at him but get interrupted by my phone ringing.

Jared scoffs as he sees who's calling me. "Of course" he mumbles and I roll my eyes before accepting the call.
"We have to leave now. The leech's back" I hear him say and my face washes blank.
"Near?" I ask, not wanting to look at my confused friends.
"Yes. I'll be there in two" he says before hanging up. I shut my eyes again tightly, taking a deep breath and taking in my surroundings. I already hear Sam's truck pulling up into the driveway. We lock eyes as he drives into the parking lot.

"I have to go" I breathe out but Embry grabs my hand.
"What's wrong?" Embry asks me but I only have eyes for Paul's tensed body. How angry he's staring at Embry's hand, causing me to pull mine away. I look over at Paul and give him a worried look.
"I can't tell you but-"
Jared scoffs again. "Yeah, sure. But you can't. We got it" he says with an ugly smirk on his face. I take a step closer but get torn out of my trance when Sam honks.
I look over to see him giving me a look before I let out a defeated breath and walk towards his car. I don't turn around nor do I give them an explanation as though why I'm running off towards Sam's car.

"Do you think her and Sam are a thing?" I hear Quil ask as I open the car door.
"But what about Paul?" Olivia asks.
"What about me?" he asks confused.
"Well, considering the way she reacted when you talked to that other girl a week back and how she acts around you I'd say she has a thing for you" Kim says.
"Yeah but always running off to Sam at weird times isn't normal, you know?" Quil says annoyeldy.
"Especially since he has a girlfriend" Jared states, his voice a bit calmer now.

"You know it's better that way?" Sam asks as I get inside and I exhale loudly.
"I know" I say sadly, not looking at them as we drive out of the driveway again.

...

I shout at Sam as he walks after me through the forest.
"Aria, that's your life now" he says a bit annoyedly since we've been having this conversation for the past ten minutes now since I've walked away from dinner at Emily's.
"Yeah but I don't want it. You don't even let me near Paul anymore. You know how much this hurts me?" I ask him, shouting loudly calming a bit though as I spot the red hut infront of me through the trees.
"Yes but you're not in control. You could hurt him!" Sam shouts and grabs my hand in the middle of our garden. I hear a few voices before the backdoor opens and my brother and his friends walk out onto the front porch.
I look at Sam, fuming with anger. How could he ever think I would hurt Paul? I would never do this. I would rather die than see Paul hurt because of me.
I try to refrain my shaking body and clench my fists. It didn't help the anger that we had lost the leech again and that he had broken my colarbone, leaving it blue and bruised.
"Aria, you know it's possible" he says, stepping a bit closer but I refuse to open my eyes, shutting them even tighter now.
"Shut up" I mumble.
"Aria..." he says in a soft tone and puts a hand onto my upper arm.
"Shut up!" I shout loudly, looking at his frightened face as his eyes look back and forth between the people on our back poarch and us. I push him to the ground with good force before walking towards the house.

"What happened?" my brother breathes out with wide eyes as he catches my body frame. My shirt was a bit torn on one side and a few scratches on my body.
"Leave me alone" I manage to choke out before walking past all of them and inside. My dad looks at me with sad eyes.
"You okay?" he asks and I take a deep breath.
"Yes" I say before he shoots me a nod and I walk past him.
"You won't even ask her what happened?" Jacob asks annoyedly, causing me to turn around. All their eyes bore into mine and I quickly look to the ground.
"She's okay. That's all what matters" my dad says and shoots me a sad smile. I had told him how much I dispised this life.
"But dad, she's miserable" Jake chokes out and I shut my eyes.
Someone puts a hand onto my back and I wince in pain, causing all of them to look at me again. I look over to Paul who looks at me sadly, making me feel an aching pain in my chest. Immediatley my wall falters under his touch, showing my vunerable side I've been trying to hide so desperately. A tear slips my eyes as I wipe it away quickly.
"Aria, go to your room" my dad says with warning eyes and I nod. Without any word I leave them behind and walk towards my room.

"If you do that now you'll loose us completely, Aria" Jacob says, making me turn my head one last time with a sad smile on my face.
"It's better that way anyway" I say before opening the door, getting inside and closing it behind me again.

The truth was, it was better for them. On the other side it was killing me. Being apart from all the people I so desperately loved was something new to me. I always had Jacob or Kim and Olivia to talk about something and now I had no one. Sure, I had Sam and maybe Emily but I sure as hell don't trust them. Well, I sort of do but definitely not the way I'm supposed to. After all, we're building a pack here.

I sure as hell don't want the guys to join but they probably will. The way Jared was acting out was clearly pointing to him shifting soon.

Especially when my dad tells me that he got suspended from school for the next week because he beat someone up. So, I wasn't very surprised when Sam called me to come over to Jared's.

It was almost physically painful to see him go through all that. I was glad when he finally shifted and let go off the pain and anger lingering inside of him. I watch him with a sad smile as his wolf and Sam interact. Jared's wolf is a lot smaller than Sam which surprises me a bit. After all, mine was even a bit taller than Sam's but I just assumed that it's normal.

Guess it's not. Maybe I should start thinking about the Alpha position.