𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠¹| 𝙏𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 ✓

II.VIII

Bella barged into Lucine's room the next morning, begging her to come and confront Sam with her. She denied her offer but, yet again, Bella wouldn't take no for an answer so eventually, she accepted and got changed.

Bella hurriedly parked the truck and ran towards Sam. Lucine ran after her hoping that she could calm her down. "Bella, this isn't a good idea." She said once they reached them. Bella started pushing Sam, and Lucine sent him an apologetic look. "What did you do? What did you do to him?" Lucine tried to pull her away but she just brushed her off. "He didn't want this." She continued.

"What did we do?" Paul said, already angry as he looked at Bella. "What did he tell you?" Sam pulled him back before he did anything rash. "Nothing," She said. "Bella, let's just go home," Lucine said quietly, looking at Sam. "No, not until they tell me what they did to him."

Bella looks at them as she answers Paul's question. "He tells me nothing because he's scared of you." They start laughing and Lucine knew what was coming. As soon as she threw that punch Lucine started pulling Bella back.

"Girls, get back," Sam instructed. "Bella, run!" Lucine said desperately but she was stuck in place, moving backward too slowly for her liking. Paul couldn't calm down, no matter how much Sam tried and transformed in front of them. Lucine was scared and kept trying to pull Bella back but she wouldn't budge.

Lucine screamed Bella's name, finally snapping her out of her trance as they started running away from the big wolf. Jacob ran out of the house, turning into a big wolf as they ran into the woods fighting. "Guess, the wolves out of the bag." Embry joked as he ran towards them to help them up.

***

They parked outside Emily's house, Bella asking if they should go check on Jacob.

"He'll be fine," Lucine said with a smile as she got out of the truck and went with Embry. He pulled her into a hug as they laughed. "I've missed you," he said. They hadn't seen each other since he shifted. "Me too." She said back before they all made their way into the house.

Emily showed up with a plate of muffins, Embry and Jarred digging in immediately as she swatted their hands away. "Save some for your brothers and ladies first. Muffins?" She asked the sisters. Lucine smiled as she shook her head still trying to process seeing Paul like that. He was always so nice and sweet to her, seeing him so mad was almost new to her.

"Alpha's orders get obeyed whether we want 'em to or not," Embry said as he passed a piece of his muffin knowing that she needed some substance. She thanked him and ate it as she sighed. "oh, and check it out, we can hear each other's thoughts." Embry said in a cocky tone. Lucine laughed as she elbowed him in the side a bit making him laugh.

"Would you shut up! These are trade secrets. This chick runs with vampires." Jarred said making Bella chuckle. "You can't really run with vampires." Lucine chuckles along with Emily at the boys' faces. "Cause they're fast." She finishes. Jerred scoffed, "Yeah, well we're faster." Gosh, they were so cocky but Lucine loved them regardless.

Sam, Paul, and Jacob walked in soon after. Jacob looked at Lucine for a second as the event from last night ran through both their head. She looked away as if nothing happened. Paul took a seat next to Lucine as he apologized to Bella. He wrapped an arm around Lucine's waist and laid his head on her shoulder.

Jacob signaled for Bella to follow him so they could talk. She walked out with him leaving Lucine with a bunch of wolves.

Paul and Lucine still hadn't looked at each other, he didn't even realize she was there when Bella was arguing with him. "Why haven't you been by to see us?" He questioned as he looked up, she turned to look at him as she was about to speak when her breath got caught in her throat. He felt it too. His eyes glazed over and they felt a pull in their hearts. "You have got to be kidding me," Embry says in shock as they all look at them. Lucine blinked as she looks down being extremely aware of his arm still around her waist and his eyes still on her.

There was no way this was true. Her feelings and thoughts felt conflicted.

Suddenly, she felt guilty about kissing Jacob last night, about thinking of her in such a way, telling herself that she would take that night to her grave. Sam walked over and patted Paul on the back, snapping him out of his trance and making him smile. "I told you it'd all work out." Paul chuckled as he pulled Lucine closer to him. It felt right yet so wrong at the same time.

They hadn't seen each other in almost a year and the minute they see each other again, they find out they are 'meant to be'. She hugs him back, equally as affectionate. They'd always been close but to be his imprint? She wasn't expecting that. She wasn't expecting anything at all.

"Jacobs not gonna like this," Embry says under his breath, forgetting that almost everyone in that room has insanely good hearing. Paul looked toward him. "Why should Jacob care?" He was mad. Embry looked at Lucine for help as she mentally cursed Embry for bringing that up. "It's nothing, Paul." She said to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, feeling him physically relax under her touch.

Gosh, this is gonna take a lot of getting used to. She thought to herself as Paul looked at her in an endearing way.

She's not going to lie to herself, she always thought Paul was attractive and she'd be lying to herself if she didn't say that she had a tiny crush on him before everything with Jacob happened but she also always thought he was out of her league so she never attempted anything. It made her happy though that if she was going to be with anyone, it would be him.

She thought about her again as soon as she was coming to terms with everything. She decided to hide all those conflicting feelings and go along with what destiny wanted.

"You know," Sam started as he stood next to Emily. "Paul has had a crush on you for the longest time. When he turned and found out about imprints, he hoped that you'd be his. Especially after he turned eighteen." She laughed as she hugged Paul. "Oh really?" She said in a joking tone making Paul look away embarrassed. "Yeah, why do you think he was never angry at you? The guy was head over heels." Sam kept going before Paul gave him a look that told him to shut up.

They all laughed and told embarrassing stories about Paul from the past few summers making Lucine realize just how dense and unaware she is of other people's feelings towards her. She drifted off in thought during it, thinking of how Jacob would react once he found out. They had said they loved each other the night before and even though they said their goodbyes to those feelings, she knew Jacob would still be a bit hurt by the news. She sighed and let it go, focusing on Paul and how he looked at her like she was the only girl in the world.