Elizabeth Rain Swan || A Paul Lahote Love Story

Chapter 62

It's been a couple weeks since the twins were born. Jack has been a huge help with the twins, and Leah is a huge help with the kids. It's been great, although I'm not sure if I've slept since before the twins were born.

I looked out the kitchen windows, noticing the black storm clouds. Great. I'm not going to sleep tonight either. Neither of the twins like thunderstorms, and Grayson isn't a big fan of them either. I checked the baby monitor, noticing both kids were still asleep, before going back to making dinner for the pack.

"Hey, babygirl," Paul said. "We're going to run another patrol."

"Get back before the storm hits. The kids won't appreciate you being gone," I said.

"Yeah, I'll leave Jack here," he said.

"Not gonna help," I said. "He's scared of storms too."

"Well, we will be back shortly," Paul said, kissing my cheek before leaving.

As I was working on dinner, I noticed the sky darkening even more. "Jack, go get Sam, please."

"Yeah," he replied, running off to the nursery. He returned as it started to pour.

"Put her in her bassinet in the living and go get Wyatt," I said, listening for Paul to howl and bring the patrol in.

Soon enough, Paul was howling that they were back. He pushed the back door open, but I met him there. They were all soaking wet, and shaking their hair out like dogs.

"Act like humans," I said. "There's towels in the blue tote. Dry off and put them into the green tote."

"Yes ma'am," Paul said, kissing my cheek. I rolled my eyes as I returned to the kitchen to finish dinner.

"Who is all staying?" I asked as Paul walked in, followed by Jason, Brady, and Colin.

"Just us," Jason said.

"Well, Colin lives here," I said.

"Fair enough," Brady said.

Just then, thunder clapped so loud it shook the entire house. Jack jumped, the babies started crying, and Grayson came running into the kitchen for me to hold him.

"Guess we got back just in time," Brady laughed.

I picked Grayson up after prying his toddler arms from around my legs. "What do you say we go check on the other two?" I asked.

"I'm going to protect them," he said, but jumped and hid his face in my neck when the thunder clapped again.

"Let's go," I said, taking him into the living room where the other two were.

About half way through dinner, the power cut out, causing Grayson to start crying. Paul picked him up from his seat and sat him on his lap. The twins were also crying because of the storm, so I quit eating to go pick Wyatt up. Normally, Jack would've insisted on helping with Samantha, but he was mid-panic attack.

"Paul," I yelled, trying to comfort both twins.

"Coming," he yelled back. He walked in, carrying a crying Grayson on his hip.

"Baby," he said, rubbing my back to calm me down.

"Calm the twins down," I said, leaning my head into his shoulder.

"Hey, there, kiddo," he said. He continued to talk to them quietly.

"Did you try singing to them?" Brady asked, walking into the living room.

"What?" Paul asked, turning his head to look at the teenage boy.

"My mom used to sing to me when I was scared like that," Brady said.

"Our mom did too, before Dad left and everything," Colin said. Wyatt had finally calmed down enough I could set him down.

"Go for it Paul," I said, taking Grayson from him. He started to sing "Tomorrow" from Annie. I held Grayson on my left hip while I leaned my head onto Paul's left shoulder. I could have stayed there listening to him sing forever, but soon enough he finished.

"Why did the great Paul Lahote learn a song like that?" Brady asked.

"I had a mom at one point in time too," he said. "Now be nice or you can run extra patrols."

"Paul," I said, touching his arm to calm him down. I know his mother is still a touchy subject. Hell, his whole family is a touchy subject.

"I'm fine, babygirl," he said, kissing my temple. We stood there for a moment before the lights came back on. We all let out a sigh of relief.

"Grayson," I said, taking notice of Jack for the first time. "Go with Daddy."

Paul took him from me and went back to the table to finish eating. I picked Samantha up and walked over to where Jack was curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth.

"Hey, Jack," I said, sitting down beside him.

"Leave me alone," he sobbed.

"No can do," I said. "What's wrong?"

He looked up at me before he spoke. "This," he said, motioning to himself. "This, it's all pathetic. The fact that I'm a wolf, but terrified of thunderstorms is pathetic. The fact that I'm a wolf but I'm still being treated like a kid is pathetic. Everything about me is pathetic."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but you're wrong," I said. "You're 12. When I was 12, I hated the guy that I'm now married too. I was terrified of thunderstorms, but even more scared of spiders. But, that's okay, because at 12, you're still a kid. You're still learning how the world works. You're still learning who you are."

"I'm a wolf," he said. "Plain and simple. What else is there to figure out?"

"Well, there's lots of things. Like, are you a hopeless romantic who will cry while watching rom-coms with his girlfriend?" I asked. "Or, are you the class clown? Maybe you have a love for chemistry, but you won't know until you get to high school."

"Well, at this rate I won't get to high school," he said.

"Education is important. Paul and the elders understand that," I said.

"Thanks, Liz," he said. "I really needed that."

"You're welcome. You know you can talk to me whenever you need to," I said. He nodded before standing up and heading back to the table.