The Unknown Banshee

Chapter Forty Three

"You're so warm." Serena mumbled as she shivered in his arms, resulting in Paul hugging her closer to him.

"I'll run a bath for you as soon as we get home." He responded back to her.

"Home." She mumbled sleepily however that was interrupted by the voices she started to hear much louder than normal. "Stop." She told him as she winced.

"What?" He questioned her immediately. "What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" He ranted on as soon as he saw her wince from pain, thinking he hurt her as he carried her.

"It's the voices." She whispered to him as he carefully set her down on her feet. Serena brought her hand to cover her ears in attempt to stop hearing them but stopped half way remembering her mother's words.

"Let it go."

Serena took a deep breath in and the voices became clear for her. "We have to go to Bella's." She told Paul immediately but just as those words left her mouth she was picked up again and he began walking again ignoring what she just told him. "Paul. Listen to me. We have to go back." She continued but he continued on and said nothing.

"No." He replied to her sternly.

"What do you mean no?" She questioned back.

"After what just happened. No." He answered more calmly.

It was then that Serena looked at his expression. How his eyes didn't have that normal spark when he talked to her or even looked her way instead they were dull and void of emotion scared of what his true feelings. He could have lost her and he wasn't ready for that to happen no yet, not ever.

"Put me down. Now." She told him sternly and he could tell by her tone of voice there was no room for arguments so he listened to her and set her down once again. He heard her sigh heavily as she looked in the direction of where she needed to go. "You can either come with me or I'll meet you back at the house but I am going, there's no debate in that." Serena told him as she turned to walk away but hearing his voice stopped her and she turned around to face him.

"Why?" He asked her. Serena could hear the strain in his voice, the way it cracked, the way he avoided her eyes. Paul couldn't understand it and he wanted to and Serena could see that he was struggling from stopping her and letting her go. It was like he was having a visible internal debate with his decisions and she could see it. "Why do you care so much?" He continued. "You just got hurt and you want to put yourself in more danger!" He asked louder.

"I know you don't understand it now." She told him as she sighed heavily looking up to the dark midnight sky. "I didn't fully understand it either." She told him truthfully. And that one sentence made him finally look at her.

She was beautiful to him, staring at the night sky in all its glory. She had tears falling from her eyes as she continued to look at the sky. "I haven't accepted what I am." She continued. "Not fully and in order to do that, I have to let go of all the anger I hold inside my heart." She finished as she finally looked back at him. "I'm scared too." She told him as he was quick to embrace her again. It was like she was validating how he was feeling more than how she was feeling. She knew he was scared and she also knew he would never truly tell her that specifically without sounding weak. His embrace was warm yet you could feel the worry he held for her.

"Let's go." She told him as she finally let go of him. He grunted in response as he picked her up again and began to walk in the direction of Bella's house. As they both came up towards the tree line she felt his grip on her tighten. He was apprehensive about walking closer and she could tell it was the wolf inside him not letting him move forward, it was in his very nature.