Rayonnante - Paul Lahote

Chapter 14

The next week was hard to describe. While Lena wasn't actively avoiding Paul, they both could feel the shift that had happened in their relationship. Once again, Paul wasn't able to go to school. Welcoming a new member to the pack was very time consuming and required everybody's full attention. Oftentimes, it took a while for a new wolf to be able to shift back into a human. During this time, there would be anxiety attacks, agressive behaviour and many questions about one's sanity. Jacob wasn't any different from the rest on that front. He kept asking himself if this was him developing schizophrenia, or if he was just having a bad dream that wouldn't end. He'd especially freaked out once they'd started to try to talk to him using the mind link. Sam had tried his best to calm him down and get him to listen to his advice, but Jake had refused to do anything that he asked until Embry came along. Thankfully, although there had been a rift in the two boys' friendship recently, he'd still trusted him enough to listen to what he had to say. Still, it had taken him more than fourteen hours before being able to turn back into a man. But the work was only beginning. They now had to teach him everything they knew about his new lifestyle. How to shift quickly, the many strengths and very few weaknesses of a shifter, how to hide what they were from the rest of the world, how to patrol... And most importantly, how to fight vampires. It's not like there were a lot of bloodsuckers around ready to help them practice. Sure, a lot of it came instinctively. After all, they were built to fight off vampires, it was their entire purpose for existing according to the legends. But there were also a lot of things that had to be taught, like what to watch out for. Sam had also been pushing the pack to be more organized, especially when it came to catching the redhead who kept escaping their grasp. So everyday for the last week, they'd been training. The most difficult part for a new werewolf, though, was learning to control your temper. Jake had experienced what his anger could truly be like the night of his transformation. Unfortunately, it took a while before it got better. The first few days were especially hard. Everything could set you off. Paul remembered that he'd freaked out over Jared breathing too loudly and broken a flower pot in his haste to turn and attack his pack mate. Jacob was the same. He'd completely lost his mind when Embry had taken the last muffin, or when he'd lost one of his shoes. Thankfully, they now had enough experience to keep the new members outside as much as possible as to avoid new furniture being damaged, or Emily would have Sam's head.

Paul had used every ounce of control he had over the first few hours of Jacob's transformation to keep himself from attacking him. While it absolutely did not excuse the way he'd treated his imprint, he understood that the kid was terrified enough by turning into a giant wolf without adding a murderous and revengeful pack mate to the mix. He'd let him get adjusted to his new life a bit, but he hadn't forgotten. And since their thoughts were all connected while in wolf form, Jake had known exactly how Paul was feeling. He'd tried to apologize, but there was no way that Paul would let someone get off scot-free after scaring and emotionally hurting his soulmate. Which is why, two days after Jacob had first shifted, Paul had attacked him violently and almost bit off his front paw. In the end, thanks to their advanced healing, Jake's wrist hadn't stayed broken for more than a few hours. But their relationship had stayed rather tense ever since. Paul didn't think he'd be able to fully get over Jacob's misconduct as long as Lena hadn't. He knew his sweet girl enough to predict that she'd quickly forgive and forget, but still.

Since he had been so busy with Jacob's arrival to the pack, Paul hadn't really had the time to see Lena and it was driving him absolutely crazy. School usually allowed him to spend a few hours in her company each day, but they'd all taken the week off to be more present for their new addition, which meant that he basically had no excuse to see her pretty face. He'd showed up in the parking lot at the end of the day on two occasions, at the very least to tell her hello and see how her day had been. On Wednesday, he'd also quickly brought her muffins that Emily had baked so he'd have a reason to be in her presence for a while. She'd been surprisingly warm, obviously missing him just as much as he missed her. Still, there'd been a distance between them that hadn't been here before. It was like something had been broken and wouldn't be fully repaired until she knew the truth. Which is why Paul had been asking questions to Sam and Jared all week about the way they'd told their imprints and how the girls had reacted. He wanted everything to be perfect so that she'd have no choice but to accept him. Just the thought of her running for the hills and never speaking to him again was painful enough to bring him to his knees. Still, while he waited for the right moment to talk to her about his secret, he was going absolutely crazy not seeing her everyday. He missed her voice, her soft smile, the way she often played with the ends of her hair when she got nervous... Basically, he missed everything about her. It was torture not being able to spend every waking moment in her company. And it wasn't just the imprint bond talking. He genuinely enjoyed spending time with her. She was so smart and understanding, and surprisingly incredibly funny once you got to know her. He always wanted to hear her opinion on everything. To Paul, Lena was simply the most interesting person in the world.