Tides Changing

Chapter 6

Lily walked out of the office with a bounce in her step, happy that for the first time in months something went the way she wanted. She jumped in her truck and drove to the station to talk to her dad. Walking past the desk sergeant, she knocked on the chief's door.

"Come in."

Lily poked her head around the side of the door, "Hi, Daddy."

Charlie looked up and smiled at his daughter. "Well, how'd it go?"

She smiled and sat down in front of his desk. "I have enough credits and Principal Green said he can have the test ready for me to take a couple days before winter break. I should know before school ends for the year."

"So you'll be a graduate before Christmas?"

"Yeah. Are you still okay with this?" Lily needed to be in LaPush more often for her safety and school was the one place the pack couldn't protect her. "You know it means I won't participate in graduation or go to prom, right?"

"I know, Lils. As long as it makes you happy. Besides, you went to prom last year and you're just as clumsy on the dance floor as I am," he chuckled.

Lily laughed, "Probably more." Standing up, she looked down at her father. "I appreciate this, Dad. I'm gonna head down to LaPush and tell Paul. I'll see you at Billy's later, right?"

"Yeah, now get out of here."

She left the station and pointed her truck toward LaPush, heading for Sam and Emily's. She knew she had a wolf on her tail and felt well protected. Twenty minutes later, she pulled up in front of Sam's and watched as Paul ran out of the house.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have school?" He helped her out of the truck.

"Hello to you too." She grinned at her boyfriend.

Paul smirked, "Sorry, baby." He pressed his lips to hers and then led her into the house.

"To answer your question, I'm done with school."

"What do you mean, sis?" Sam asked.

Lily smiled, "I mean I spoke with the principal today and I have enough credits to take my exit exams now. I have two weeks to study, I'll take the tests and I'll be a graduate by Christmas."

"That's great, Lils," Sam started. "But why?"

Lily sat down at the table and smiled as Emily handed her a glass of tea. "I need to be on the res as much as possible. Laurent whispered to me that she was coming and you're still picking up a scent around my house. If I'm right, it would be better if I were here and my scent intermixed with yours."

"Okay, but what about graduation and prom? Lily, you don't want to miss those."

She looked at Paul with a soft smile, "I don't care about prom. Edward forced me to go last year and I hated every minute of it. As far as graduation, Charlie knows and is fine with my decision. He and I have talked about it a lot this last week."

"Why didn't you say anything to us?" Emily wondered, looking at Paul.

"I wanted to wait until I knew it was possible." Lily traced the wood grain on the table while she gathered her thoughts. "Look," she started as she looked up. "I'm scared. When I met up with James thinking he had my mom, I was running on pure adrenaline, all I could think about was saving her. That was also when I thought Edward was my soulmate and I wanted to be like him.

"Now, it's different. I don't want to be a vampire and I have something, someone, else to live for." She looked at Paul. "I know you guys can protect me, but I need to be on the res." She didn't even realize she was crying until Paul reached out and ran his thumbs under her eyes, collecting her tears.

"Sweetheart, we will protect you," he promised. "There's gonna be more of us soon."

"What?"

Sam spoke from where he had been sitting silently listening to Lilly's confession. "Jacob is close to phasing and I don't think Quil will be far behind him."

"Charlie and I are having dinner at the Black's tonight. Should we go?"

Embry chuckled, "Yes. Once Jake finds out about you and Lahote, he's sure to phase."

"Embry!" Emily looked at him in shock. "That's putting Lily in danger."

"He's right, Emily." Sam grinned. "Lily, just make sure if you tell him about Paul you guys are outside. We'll be there keeping an eye out."

"Okay. Um...there's something else." Lily replied biting her lip, "Billy was planning to tell Dad the truth tonight."

"WHAT!?" All three of them shouted.

Any response she would have said was stopped thanks to Jared's howl.

"Stay here!" Was shouted over shoulders as the three of them ran out to phase and see what was wrong.

I'm on her trail! -J

Stay on her, bro. - P

We're coming. - E

Embry, loop around and meet up with Jared. Paul, with me. Let's see if we can't box her in and kill this bitch! -S

Embry caught up to Jared and the pair of them herded her toward Sam and Paul. With a growl, Paul leaped at her, managing to get a piece of her clothing while Sam got some of her hair. She still managed to evade them and ran toward the cliff, jumping into the water and disappearing.

Dammit! -P

We'll get her, Paul. -J

The three of them ran back to Sam's while Jared carried on his patrol. They phased as they broke the trees and saw the girls had left them some shorts on the porch. They pulled them on and went inside. Sam went directly over to Emily, pulling her in his arms and kissing from her scars to her lips. Paul grabbed Lily and placed his forehead to hers, breathing in her scent before he pressed his lips to hers.

"You didn't get her, did you?"

Paul shook his head, "No. We'll get her, baby. I promise."

Lily nodded, "I need to get to Billy's. I'll see what I can do about getting Jake outside."

"Be careful, please." Paul traced her cheek with his fingers. "If anything happened to you..."

She touched her fingers to his lips, "I'll be fine." With one last kiss, she walked out the door to join her dad for dinner.