The Banshee -Paul Lahote-

Chapter 22

The tension between everyone was high. Mavis stayed as close to Seth as possible. The two were good friends, and she felt safest next to him. Jacob was in an incredible amount of pain, and Carlisle was working on rebreaking all of his bones. It was painful to listen to. However, the fighting that followed drowned most of it out.

"I said I had it," Leah screamed.

"Clearly, you didn't," Quil muttered under his breath.

Leah heard him, "nobody asked you!"

"Stop," Sam tried to break up the fighting.

"This is all your fault," Paul yelled at her. "Were you listening at the training sessions? You broke two rules! Never go for the obvious kill, and never let them wrap their arms around you!"

Mavis wasn't sure what to do. Seth stepped in front of her, ensuring that she would be protected if a wolf fight broke out. Embry walked over to them, shielding the other side of her. "Give me a break, Paul. We both know I was paying more attention than you."

"Do we," Paul was getting angrier by the second. "You almost got yourself killed, and now Jacob's injured because of you!"

"Paul," Sam warned.

However, he wasn't backing down. "You were only trying to show off to prove yourself to everyone!"

"I'm trying to prove myself," Leah pointed at herself. "We both know I'm better-"

"Stop lying to yourself and everyone else! This is your fault."

"I don't have to prove myself to anyone," Leah glared at him. "You're the one lying to everyone."

"Leah-"

"Don't-"

"At least I'm not a coward-"

"A coward," Leah was angry. "You can't even tell Mavis you imprinted on her!"

The silence that followed was heavy, and everyone glanced in her direction. Mavis felt her body go numb as her name was dragged into the fight. However, it wasn't for a reason she expected. Imprinting was still new to her, but she knew what it meant. There was an unconditional bond between them for the rest of their lives. "Oh, shit," Seth whispered.

"Leah," Sam bellowed.

Paul's entire body was shaking with anger, but to everyone's surprise, he never shifted. Instead, he turned around and marched towards the woods. Mavis watched him silently. Her body was screaming at her to follow.

As she took a step, a hand grabbed her arm. "Don't. It isn't safe." Mavis stared at Jared but brushed off his hand. Against her better judgment, she chased after Paul into the dark.

"Paul," her feet pounded against the dirt. "Paul." He was long gone. Mavis stepped into the woods and listened for any clue as to where he was. The moon illuminated the path, but not much further. Luckily, her ears picked up on the sound of twigs breaking. The blonde girl wandered through the trees and found Paul after a minute of searching. He was pacing back and forth. "Paul-"

He put a hand out, "get back. I'm not in control. I don't want to hurt you." Mavis didn't listen and approached him. "I said-"

"I heard you." For some reason, she wasn't scared of him. If anything, she was worried. "You're not going to hurt me." Paul rolled his eyes. His breathing was ragged and uncontrollable. It appeared it was taking all of his willpower to remain in control. "Sit down. What can I do?"

Paul sat down on the rock, his body hunched over. "Talk. Keep talking."

Mavis remembered from the other day that the sound of her voice helped. She didn't understand then, but now it made sense. "Okay, sure. I'm good at that." There was a pause as she struggled to think of a topic. "When I was six, Emmett would play the same record over and over. I broke it on purpose because I hated the songs, but I told everyone it was an accident." Mavis had no idea what to talk about. "I hate chess, but Esme loves it. We play all the time, but I really hate it. It's so tedious, and she's predictable." Paul's breathing evened out, and he watched her as she rambled. "I also pretend to care about history so Jasper can tell me all his war stories. They're boring after hearing them five hundred times." Mavis stared at him. He was calm now. Before she could stop herself, she spoke. "Why did you lie about imprinting?" Paul stood up, and Mavis copied his actions. Knowing that had imprinted on her weeks ago was hard to process. Did he not want it to be her? Was he disgusted by it? "Did you not want it to be me?"