taciturn / paul lahote

"she does"

"Daisy, can you carry the platter of hot dogs outside?" Emily asks, but everyone knows it's more of a command, as she dashes around the kitchen.

The mute nods, picking up the plate that had an ungodly amount of food on it and made her way out the back door. She quietly waddles across the yard and to the large fire pit some of the boys were putting together.

"Food!" Jared yelped happily, gaining Jacob and Embry's attention faster than Daisy excepted.

Daisy quickly shook her head, yanking the platter out of all three of their reaches. Emily would kill her if she let any of the guys snack before the bonfire.

Listening to the boys whine, Daisy sets the plate down on the table Emily made them set up and covers it with a piece of foil to keep it warm.

"You guys excited to hear the legends?" Jared asks, getting over his hunger and sitting down on the closest log to him.

"It's not like we haven't heard them before," Jacob says. "It's just the first time that we hear them and know that they're true."

Daisy bites her lip, picking up the whiteboard that Jacob brought with him. The pack had a tendency to do that - always carry whiteboards with them in case Daisy needed them.

What legends are we hearing tonight? She asks Jared.

"The first spirt warrior, imprinting, and the third wife's sacrifice," Jared said. Daisy couldn't miss his smirk, as well as the other twos, when he said the last legend.

•••

"And so the sons of our tribe again carry the burden and share the sacrifice their fathers endured before them." Billy said, finishing his last legend. It was silent, which was a rarity within the pack.

Daisy couldn't shake the butterflies in her stomach as she sat between her brother and Jacob. She couldn't get the legend of imprinting out of her head.

The connection between the wolf and the girl, the need to be around them, the need to protect were all too familiar to Daisy. And she had an inkling why.

With a deep breath of courage, Daisy lifted her eyes to find Paul - who had sat across the fire from her. When her eyes settled on the wolf in question, she wasn't surprised to see him already staring at her.

The two stared at one another before Paul stood, making his way towards the log that Daisy was seated on.

Daisy sucked in a surprise breath, glancing down at the ground to make sure her whiteboard was where she left it.

"Mind if we switch seats?" Paul asked Issac, a gentle smile on his face as his eyes flicked between the two siblings.

Issac huffed, glancing over his shoulder to look at his sister. "Sure."

Issac stood, making his way over to Paul's old seat next to Sam and Emily. Paul slowly sunk into the now empty space next to his imprint, a large smiling growing on his face.

"Hey," Paul said. He was nervous, there's no doubt about that. It was almost comical to his pack brothers. Seeing Paul who wasn't his usual calm, cool, and collected self was something they'd never dreamed of seeing.

"I'm Paul." The two have them had exchanged greetings before but they never had the chance to officially meet, one on one. Sure, they knew who the other was, felt the immense attraction, and had plenty of staring contests but they never once had a legitimate conversation.

Daisy giggled - a sound completely foreign from the girl. A sound that made a piece of Issac's hard exterior crack.

I'm Daisy. She writes, tilting her board towards Paul. The dim light of the fire seemed to like her, illuminating the board just enough so that Paul was able to read.

"Such a pretty name," Paul said, his eyes finding Daisy's face as soon as possible. "Doesn't do you justice, though."

Daisy's cheeks flushed but she couldn't pull herself out from Paul's gaze. She felt whole again in his presence, and that was something she had longed for.

Those legends are really something else when you hear them for the first time after finding out that they're real. Daisy changed the subject, itching to find out if her suspicions were correct.

"I was convinced that one of the three weren't real when I heard it for the first time," Paul replied. He didn't miss a beat, the silence on Daisy's end not phasing him whatsoever.

This was something she found extremely attractive, too.

Which one? Daisy asked.

"The one of about finding your soulmate - the person who you love until the end of time. The person who you would do anything for." Paul's voice held so much passion and sincerity that Daisy was taken aback.

She had heard many stories from Emily and the boys about how Paul was a womanizer and a player. How he loved to flirt and would never be able to settle down. The man beside her, speaking about the love of his life, was not the man she heard of.

"I didn't think that legend was real until a few weeks ago," he continued. His eyes unable to look anywhere other than his Imprint and her whiteboard.

What changed? Daisy asked, intrigued by his statement.

"I imprinted on someone," his words were proud and confident. "It was as if she was the sun and my entire life revolved around her now. She became the air I breathed and the reason my heart beats. My sole purpose in life, now, is to protect her from anyone or anything - even if it meant dying for her."

Daisy felt like the air had been knocked out of her lungs as she listened to Paul go on and on, detailing what it felt like to imprint on someone.

And the feeling wasn't very shockingly familiar to Daisy.

Does she feel the same way as you? Daisy asked, desperately hoping to find confirmation in her theories.

"I don't know - does she?" And that was the conformation she needed.

She does.

•••

i literally cannot. i want paul and i want him NOW.

-M