An (Im)Perfect Imprint (A Paul Lahote Imprint)

Chapter 7

Paul analyzed me carefully, not saying a word. I looked back unwaveringly, not ready to back down. Many moments past, never breaking eye contact, each of us refusing to bow down. Paul finally muttered, "Fine. Go. It's fine, do what you have to do."

I kissed his cheek, lingering there for a moment. He groaned, "I'm going to miss you."

He wrapped his arms around me, dragging me into his embrace. Pecking all over my face with small kisses, he didn't stop until I was giggling out of breath. "Paul," I begged, "stop, stop, oh my god."

He smirked and kissed me full on the mouth, soft lips pressed against my own. I tugged at the bottom of his shirt, pulling it over his head. His lips trailed down my neck, planting small kisses there as my nails dug into the skin at my back. He flipped me onto my back and looked at me intently, a question in eyes. Never breaking eye contact, I reached down and pulled my shirt over my own head. I think that was it for Paul, setting him into a frenzy.

***

I woke up in his arms, touching every inch of him as he snored softly in my ear. Shaking him gently, I watched as he sleepily opened his eyes, a small smile on his face. I whispered, "I have to leave now."

That smile quickly dropped into a scowl and my heart ached for him. "Paul, I need you to tell them why I left. I couldn't agree to something so wrong and there was no way I was letting Jacob fight our pack with only Seth."

Paul nodded curtly and I cupped his cheek. He closed his eyes as I murmured, "I love you."

He exhaled deeply as I dropped my hand from his face and extracted myself from his arms. "Just think this through, Mer."

Aggravated, I replied, "I'm not going to fight innocent people. It's not right, Paul, and you know it. We both have duties we have to fulfill for ourselves and I'm not abandoning mine for you. Just let me go."

He started to shake slightly and I took that as my cue to go. I crossed the room in two steps and slid out of the window as I heard a crash following me, probably Paul throwing something. Running around to the front of the house, I grabbed my clothes out of his car and tied them to my ankle, silently praying no one would see me naked outside of Paul's house. Then I ran back to the back of the house and I phased, surprised by the lack of thoughts in my head.

This would make everything a lot easier. Paws dug into the ground as I ran towards the Cullens' house, hopefully I would catch Jacob before he went inside. A voice popped into my head and I was shocked to see it was Leah.

"Leah," I sent out, "what on earth are you doing?"

"Going after my idiotic little brother," she replied snarling.

"Fair enough."

We lapsed into silence as the sickly sweet smell of vampire entered our nostrils. Trying hard not to gag, we smelled our way to Jacob, who was curled up in wolf form, snoring softly.

Leah chuckled, "Morning there, Jacob."

He hopped up in surprise. Seth whined, "Leah, what are you doing here?"

I looked around for Seth, but in my mind I could feel him running back towards us.

Jacob demanded, "Meredith, Leah, what the hell are you guys doing here?"

Leah replied back, "You thought I could let my little brother go off alone?"

I nodded. "I really don't know what you expected from me, Jake."

Seth whined quietly. Jacob thundered, "I don't want you guys involved in my mess."

I scoffed, "Oh come off it, Jacob."

Leah snickered, "You let Seth in but not us? Get over yourself."

Seth thought about some very disturbing things that he was going to do her i.e. ripping out her hamstring. Jacob exhaled. "Fine. You guys can stay. I don't care. Just I didn't think you would so easily leave Paul, Mer."

I remained silent. Jacob caught on and addressed Seth, "Just go tell the Cullens that Mer and Leah showed up to join."