Paul Lahote x reader x Quil Ateara

126: The Imprint

Paul sat me down somewhere outside the house not far away. We are currently staring at each other, he's sitting in front of me elbows on his knees holding my hands.

"Are you going to speak?" I ask him.

"Y-yeah" He clears his throat. "An imprint is when you look at her face for the first time and you realise that you never want to look away because you are deathly afraid that if you do she might not be there when you look back, you see her, and everything changes, You look into her eyes and wonder just how there are that many colors in this world. All of a sudden it's not gravity holding you the earth, its her, she is your North, your South, your East and West. Nothing else matters, there is nothing you would not do for her no law you wouldn't break, no person you wouldn't kill, no mountain you wouldn't climb, no army you wouldn't fight... You'd be anything for her, a friend, a protector, a lover.. "

"I.. I don't u-understand" I shake my head, stand up and turn away.

"This is something I can't control, it's and involuntary mechanism that I would never want to change" He stands behind me. "Because it lead me to you"

"What are you saying" I whisper.

"That you are mine and I'm yours" He turns me around.

"What about Quil" I look up at him.

"What about him?" His voice turns bitter. "What do you feel for me... here?" He presses my chest... right in the middle where my heart is.

"I feel love" I look away. "passion... desire.. comfort" I look up into his eyes. "But I also feel afraid"

"Afraid why? To hurt his feelings?"

"No" I push him away. "Afraid because you date girls all the time! What makes this any different?!"

"Y/n" he says in a hurt tone. "I only dated those girls to fill the void you created in my heart... you wanted to be with Quil so bad" His head drops. "I couldn't bring myself to tear your world apart, I dated those girls because the one I truly wanted was fighting her feelings towards me so much that it pained me" He pokes his chest. "It pained me physically!"

Those words ached my heart, seeing Paul like this ached my heart.. how could I have been so selfish and blind.

"Why didn't you say anything that night Quil and I fought and broke up?" My eyes filled with tears.

"I was afraid... afraid to give my whole heart to one person.. afraid that if he ever phased, he'd imprint on you too and I'd be in a forever battle to win your heart"

"Oh Paul" I few tears fall and I reach up to hug him. "Take me home?"

"Yeah" He nods and holds my hand as he pulls me away.

"I.. I just need to.."

"Yeah I know" He nods, and looks into my eyes. "I'll wait in the truck okay?"

"Okay" I nod and watch him walk away.

I take a deep breath and curse my life. I am not upset, I feel a relief in my body, mind and soul. I'm just angry it took so long. My feelings towards Paul finally feel right, and my feelings for Quil faded when his normal life ended. The care and love I have for him is different and now I can see that clearly. I walk into the house, everyone looks over at me, probably already aware of what just happened.

"Can we talk" I stand in front of Quil with my hand stretched out.

"Yeah" he nods and reaches.

Sam and Jared walk out the front door probably to keep Paul from loosing his shit while I take Quil through the back door.

"You don't have to say anything.. I understand" He nods.

"I'm sorry things turned out this way and I really do care for you and love you very much"

"I hope you know that you'll.." he steps up and grabs my hand tightly. ".. be my first love, I'd still do anything for you imprint or not"

"Thank you... for everything" I hug him tightly.

❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃

As Paul drives I scoot over closer to him and lean my body on his, I feel his body heat radiating off and I rest my head on his shoulder. He wraps a hand around me and brings me even closer.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting for this" His voice sounded so warm and sweet.

A switch in my head and heart had flipped, everything about Paul seem to draw me in, his face, his voice, the way he looks at me, the way he touches me and protects me.

"How long?" I look up at him.

"Remember that night at that kids house, the party, Jared was flirting with you in the kitchen" He chuckles.

"Yeah" I nod and giggle with him. "When we looked at each other it was weird" I get chills just thinking about it.

"That's the first time we saw each other after I shifted" He smiles. "That's when I imprinted on you"

"Yeah I remember feeling very vulnerable, the whole world shifted beneath me and I felt so..."

"Connected?"

"Yeah" I nod.

"From that day I knew that you were going to be my whole world"

I look away and blush, his words were effecting me, not just my cheeks.. but my whole body and I know he's aware.