|2| Broken Beta {Paul Lahote}

XVIII

"Jules, wait up!" Paul called out, as he ran after Julianna whose blood left an rather clear trail, for him to follow his nose with. "Julianna?" He asked, as he didn't hear anything in response.

After checking all over the woods of their territory, and the mountains all around La Push, and as well as the entirety of the reservation all around them, he finally found her on the First Beach.

She was sitting on a big boulder, that had been christened, as the 'Thinking Rock' by everyone on the reservation, and he walks over to her, hands in his pockets. "You okay?" He asked, and he sat next to her, and moved his arm up to rest it around her shoulders.

"Do I look okay, Paul?" She asked quietly and continued watching, as the crashing of the waves continued against the rocks and he looks at her.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Jules?" He asked and she looks at him, shaking her head.

"It was never going to work. Me bringing the Old Pack home, it was never going to work. Leah hates Alex, Carmen resents Sam, Tanner tolerates your dad... the younger ones can stay, but I can't let the older ones stay if the problem, is between families. I'll have to go with them." She said and Paul's eyes flashed at once.

"You are going to have to go where, Julianna? Where are you going?" His tone was sharp at once, and she looks at him in surprise. "I just got you back from Canada, and you are just goin' to go back and leave us again?" He asked and she looks at him, shakin' her head and he sighed.

"You don't get it Paul. I'm the Old Pack's alpha. I can't just leave them on their own, I have to lead them now! In the same way that Sam has led all you around." She said and he looks at her, as his entire body was shuddering, as he pushed back the wolf.

"You're leaving for another pack, that abandoned all of us, as soon, as it had a chance to? You're unbelievable!" He snapped and stood up, fierce anger at the unfairness of the situation was in both of their veins now, as it was now, neither of them could tell, whose was whose anymore.

"I didn't ask for this." Julianna said and her voice was less anger now and it was rather much more pain and she looked back out of the waves.

"I don't care what you asked or didn't ask for Julianna Black. But, all I know, is that you're leaving us,-- no, you are leaving me behind yet again. And, for another blow, it is another pack, that has betrayed us time and time again."

Paul felt the pain coming from Julianna, but he forced it away, as he shakes his head at her. "If we had not imprinted that day, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Maybe, it might have been better if we hadn't."

Julianna let out a strangled sound at those words, as Paul disappeared into the woods, and Julianna, she felt like she couldn't breath.

She was struggling to breathe now, as she choked on her own emotions, and a bunch of emotional scars, that, were a sure permanent thing.

She wrapped her arms around herself, as the waves sprayed up against her rock and she began to sob in earnest, as she lowered her head to rest between her arms.

Only after many hours later, was when the Old Pack found her with even worse news than what she had already been told.

Julianna walked towards her family's house and found that Paul and Rachel were already talking in the house. She bit her lip hard as she saw Jacob and a surprisingly even happy Billy, through the window.

Julianna swallowed back her emotions and she looked at the rest of the Old Pack, shakin' her head slightly at them all. "You guys ready to go?" It was a hoarsely whispered question, as they all nodded.

Julianna dropped onto four paws after tying her vest and sweats onto her legs, as they howled in harmony.

Paul and Jacob came out of the house with Billy following them quickly. The two boys simply looked at the pack, as Julianna looks at Billy and nudged his wheelchair with her nose. He rubbed a hand over her nose before she looks at Jacob and barked sharply, nodding at Billy.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it." Jacob said and he hugged Julianna, who barked in a clearly annoyed way, and he released her.

She ignored Paul completely and Rachel looked up at her in awe, as the red wolf completely dwarfed her, and all of the others. "Julianna?" She asked and Julianna, dipped her head slightly in a little bit of a nod.

She turned around and her pack followed her off into the woods and Paul shakes his head, as he raced off after Julianna quickly, exploding out of his clothes and into his wolf form.

"Hey!"

The pack stopped and Julianna gave them a look, as they all continued on and towards the border.

The two imprints phased back into their human forms so that they could speak properly to one another. "What I said last night on First Beach..." Paul began and Julianna raised a eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, are you actually apologizing for something, Paul Lahote? Where's the video camera?"

"Shut up. I wanted to say that it was all absolutely true." Julianna flinched at his words that cut ever deeper each time, that he speaks to her. "So you don't have to worry about me waiting here for you when you get back here for the second time. Julianna Black, I reject you." He said coldly and Julianna felt cold, truly freezing cold, for the first time in almost two years.

She staggered away from Paul, who said nothing else, as he turns his back to her and walked away.

Julianna felt like she was dying, as she'd manage to make her way to the border, and found that Sam, Quil and Embry were waiting to see them off.

Julianna was not even stable enough to hold her wolf form together, as she was struggling to breathe properly.

"Jules, what happened?" Quil asked and Embry crouched next to her, and he checked her pulse gently.

"Julianna, can you hear me? Can you tell me what happened?" Sam's voice seemed to fade in and out, as he asked it of her.

"Paul. He did it." She whispered and Sam looked at her, his eyes narrowing in understanding.

"Did he reject you?" He asked quietly and she dipped her head very slightly in a shuddering nod, as he sighed. "I'll talk to Billy. But you can't escape from this forever... the pain will always be with you." He said and she nodded.

"I know. But I have to go... there is nothing left for me here. Nothing in this place anymore. I lost Jess, Brad, I lost my parents. Now, I've lost Paul as well." She whispered, and hot tears came down her face and splash down and into the dirt. "If you guys ever need me, I will be here. But for the love of everything good, do not send Paul as a messenger." She said and the boys nodded, as she manages to phase successfully and raced off after her pack, determined to forget about the past.

Dead-set on forgetting the past and the only boy that had ever mattered to her in the first place. Also, the same boy who was the only one to ever have the ability to break her utterly and break her, he did.

Paul Lahote was the only guy who could have broken Julianna Black and in his idiocy in that moment, he had chosen impulsive over logic.

He had chosen a person that he had known for a mere five minutes, over a person who had stood by him through every hell, every fight, and every idiot decision that he had ever made.

Paul Lahote was the only one who could have done it, and he did. Paul was the one who had broken the Beta.