His Country Girl

Chapter 8

"You guys hungry?" A beautiful woman asked the boys when they walked in. They each grabbed a muffin off of a tray in front of her, making her giggle. "Like I have to ask." She turned to face the door. On the right side of her face were three jagged scars. My eyes veered away from her face to look at her home. "Who's this?" Both boys sat down.

"Bella Swan and Daisy Beauregard. Who else?" Jared said with a mouthful of the sweet treat. The woman looked at us and raised her eyebrows.

"It's Daisy-May." I muttered.

"So, you're the vampire girl." She said, looking at Bella. She turned to me. "And you're the girl who slapped Sam." I looked down at the ground, one word in her previous sentence flying over my head completely.

"You must be Emily." I folded my hands behind my back.

"The wolf girl." Bella nodded her head.

"Guess so. Well, I'm engaged to one." She said, picking up and placing the tray of muffins on the table, Jared immediately reached for a second one. The woman grabbed his wrist. "Save some for your brothers. And ladies first. Muffin?" She looked at the two of us.

"Sure." Bella nodded.

"Yes, please." The two of us stepped into the dining room and grabbed a muffin. "Thank you."

"Leave it to Jake to find a way around Sam's gag order." Emily said as she turned back around to place something on the counter.

"He didn't say anything to me." Bella said instantly.

"Or me. I didn't know anything until Bella slapped Paul." I looked up at Bella as Emily giggled.

"That would set him off, wouldn't it?" She muttered.

"That's a wolf thing. Alpha's orders get obeyed whether we want 'em to or not." Embry said, taking a bite of his muffin. "And check it out. We can read each other's thoughts."

"Will you shut up? Dammit! This chick runs with vampires and poor Daisy is probably really confused." Jared glared at Embry.

"Say what now?" I looked at Bella.

"I can't really run with vampires." The brunette said. "Because they are fast."

"Well, we're faster. Freaked out yet?" Jared teased.

"Jakes right." Came Sam's voice outta nowhere. "You're good with weird." I raised my hand as Sam went and kissed Emily, then peppered her face with kisses.

"I'm not." I said, my voice shaking. "What about vampires?"

"That's-" He was cut off by the sound of laughter coming from outside. I turned and watched as Paul and Jake walked up the porch steps, the latter coming inside and sitting beside Embry. He turned and looked at Bella.

"Sorry." He apologized, though it sounded fake. He saw me standing next to her. His face went from sarcastic and playful to stern and slightly upset. "I'd like to have a very serious conversation, outside." He stood up again and grabbed a muffin, gesturing for me to follow him outside. He pushed past Jacob, leaving me alone in a house full of wolves.

"I'd follow him if I were you," Sam said from his place standing next to his fiancé. "He's pretty upset. With himself and you. You scared him earlier." I tilted my head and walked out of the house. He was standing over by the edge of the forest, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, his muffin already gone. Taking a deep breath, I made my way over to him.

"You wanted to speak with me?" I said, stopping a couple of feet away from him. He nodded.

"Yeah. I do." He pushed off of the tree and grabbed my shoulders, squeezing them gently. He ran his hands down my arms and grabbed my hands. The stern look on his face didn't go away though.

"Paul?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"Do you have any idea how stupid you have to be to jump in front of an angry wolf?" He looked at me. A frown was present on his lips and his eyebrows furrowed. "Do you know how dangerous that is?"

"I do know how dangerous it was but I didn't get hurt. And thankfully, neither did Bella." I tried to pull my hands away but he gripped them tighter. Not enough to hurt me, but enough to where I couldn't pull away. "She's the idiot that slapped you."

"Yeah, but had you timed it wrong, had I swung at her, I could have hurt you... or worse." He looked at the ground and shook his head. "I would have never forgiven myself if I had hurt you, Daisy." He sighed. "I know that Jacob already warned you about me. Hothead, anger issues." He scoffed. "La Pushes resident player." I snorted.

"Yeah, I'll believe that part when I see it." I took one of my hands away and lifted his hand, making him look at me. "And I don't care if you're a hothead, or if you have anger issues, Paul. I know how to put someone in their place if they're getting outta line. And I'll do it to you without hesitation. Do you not remember that I slapped Sam across the face?" This caused the boy to laugh.

"Oh trust me, I remember." He shifted on his feet. "Still, you have to be careful around me. Did you see Emily?" I nodded. "Sam got angry and he lost it for a split second. Emily was standing too close when he phased and he ended up scratching her." I turned and looked at the door. "I could do that to you. You saw how angry I got. And all she did was slap me." I turned back to him. "I'm serious, Daisy. Until I learn to keep my anger in check, you have to be careful around me. Ok?" I nodded.

"Ok, Paul. I'll be more careful." I ruffled his hair. "And I'm sorry for scarin' you." He pulled me toward him, hugging me to his chest. He took a deep breath, probably smelling my lavender shampoo.

"It's ok now. Just don't-" Paul cut himself off, sniffing my hair. "What the..." He pulled away from me and looked at me strangely.

"What?" I asked. He said nothing to me, instead whistling while looking at the house. I turned and watched as the other three wolves poked their heads out of the door. Paul waved them over.

"Daisy, this may seem a little weird, but I need you to hold still, alright?" The boy looked at me seriously. "I just need to know I'm not going crazy, and if I'm not crazy, then we have a huge problem." Jared, Embry, and Sam stood around me and I subconsciously stepped closer to Paul. "No, hey. Stay right there. They aren't gonna hurt you. We just need to... check something." He looked up at the guys. "Take a whiff." I looked up at him in confusion. What? I looked down at my flats. Do I stink?

"What the hell?"

"But she's human!"

"There is no way she's one of them!"

"Daisy, I need a very honest answer," Sam said sternly. I turned to him and nodded. "Why do you smell like a leech?" I tilted my head.

"A leech?" I asked. Is that code for something?

"A vampire." I turned ad looked at Paul. The boy had a glare on his face. "Why do you smell like a vampire?" He repeated Sam's question. I froze.

"I think a better question is who does she live with?" Embry spoke up.

"I live with my grandmother. Rosemary Whitlock." They looked at me, fear in their eyes. "Is she..."

"Yes. We don't know for how long, but she is a vampire."

"Yeah, there is no way in hell I'm letting you stay there. We're gonna go get you some clothes and you're either staying here or I can hide you in my room." Paul said, pulling me to his chest.

"But her eyes are gold. Not red." I whispered. "Bella's warning makes so much sense now."

"Woah, what did she say to you?" Paul turned me around, making me look at him

"All she said was that I wasn't allowed to know what my grandma was keeping from me but that she wasn't gonna hurt me and that she was keeping it from me for my safety." I shook my head. "My nana's a vampire? I've been living with a vampire for 7 and 1/2 months!?"