petrichor [rosalie hale] ✔

l. division and addition

As the tension thickened in the air, Kiara could feel the weight of the unfinished business between herself and Paul. She had spent countless nights replaying their last interaction in her mind, dissecting each word and inflection, trying to make sense of it all. She was convinced that Paul would have killed her in that fight if she hadn't been stronger.

Even now, she could see the conflict raging within him, the war between duty and desire etched upon his face. Almost as if he didn't know whether to speak to her or rip her throat out where she stood.

"Paul," she said, her voice steady but laced with a hidden warning only he could detect. Rachel was tense in between them, her body the only thing that was stopping Paul from launching forward and attacking Kiara on her own front doorstep. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I was on my way to see my imprint," he replied, his tone betraying a mix of anger and intensity. Rachel's eyebrows raised at his wording, but Kiara knew why he was displaying the possessiveness over her sister. It wasn't for Rachel's benefit - it was for Kiara to know that she was the only thing keeping him from going on the offensive. "Then I smelt leeches. Makes sense that it's just you."

Rachel stepped back as she noticed Paul tremble ever so slightly, sensing the intensity of their exchange, leaving Kiara and Paul to face each other alone. The weight of their history hung heavy in the air, every unsaid word echoing between them. Kiara broke the gaze, turning her head to look at her sister with a look in her eyes that only sisters could understand.

"Rach, go inside, it's okay."

"Don't fucking speak to her," Paul snapped, the veins on his neck prominent as he growled at Kiara. Rachel ignored him, going to tell him to calm down before noticing the look her younger sister was giving her and turning on her heel and entering the house instead. "Don't you dare even..."

"She's my SISTER PAUL!" Kiara yelled back, annoyance flickering through her as her tolerance dropped as soon as Rachel was safely inside. "You really think I'd hurt her? All because you tried to kill me, and then kill my imprint too? I'm not like you Paul, I have morals and loyalty and I thought you did too!"

Paul went to take a step towards her but she continued.

"Listen to me, Paul," she said, her voice firm and unwavering. "I am done with this endless cycle of anger and hostility. You literally tried to kill me, yet here I am asking you to just fucking get over it all. For Rachel's sake, if not my own."

Paul's eyes bore into hers, searching for any trace of doubt or weakness. But Kiara held her ground, revealing nothing but determination. The air crackled with tension as they stood face to face, the weight of their broken connection palpable in the space between them.

"What do you expect me to do?" he finally spat out, frustration lacing his words. "You walked away from us—walked away from me... FOR THEM! For those bloodsuckers!"

"And what good would it have done if I stayed?" Kiara snapped, moving from the deck and storming closer to Paul, until they were chest to chest and screaming in each others faces. "Bella would be dead - hell, my own imprint would be dead too!"

Paul's expression twisted into a mix of anger and pain, the intensity of the situation finally hitting him.

"You think THIS is easy for me?" he growled, his hands gripping Kiara's upper arms tightly. "You think I wanted to kill you? To kill my own family? You're the closest thing to a sister that I've ever had Kiara - and you think I just woke up and thought, 'oh hey, you know what would be fun? Killing Kie today!'?"

Kiara's breath caught in her throat, her heart pounding in her chest. So he really had tried to kill her. She'd convinced herself that she had just been imagining that he would have killed her, but here her once best friend was, standing in front of her and admitting that he had planned to kill her that night.