Running With Wolves

Chapter 2

"Dad says he misses you" Charlie giggled, watching Paul as he cut vegetables. It was the one day per week that they didn't have dinner at Sam and Emily's house. Granted, Monday nights were normally the nights that Charlie spent with her father, and, since she moved back, Bella.

The day Bella arrived in Forks, Charlotte had decided to stay at the Swan residence for a week so she could spend as much time with her sister as possible. She'd moved out the year before, after an argument with her father.

When Bella started hanging out with the Cullens, Charlie knew something was up, not because her sister was hanging out with the Cullens, but because her sister started acting strange. Charlotte didn't even need to live in the Swan house full time to know that her sister was being shady. When she finally got to meet the boy that had taken up most of Bella's free time, she instantly disliked him.

Edward hadn't much liked her either, but he had to suck it up and deal with it. Both Charlie and Charlotte were glad that he was gone, even if they were furious over the state he left Bella in. Charlotte knew that if mister emo sparkles ever showed his face in Forks again, she would tear him to pieces. She didn't care how indestructible he was, she would kill him on the spot for what he put Bella through.

Paul chuckled at the relayed message. Charlie always enjoyed the sound of his laughter. It's easy to make him mad, anger has always been his go-to emotion. But when he laughed, it was always a genuine moment of joy, and she felt it in her soul every time she saw a smile grace her best friend's face. Paul was easy to anger even before he phased, but now he flies off the handle so often that she's surprised no one has phoned the police yet to complain about an angry Paul running around nude and several sightings of a very large very angry wolf prowling around close to the rez.

Growing up, everyone on the rez used to tease her by calling Paul her boyfriend, and all her peers in Forks actually thought they had been. Jared, and now Sam, have continued to use it to tease the pair, Granted, they did live together, and they've always been very close, they've been protective of each other since the first day they met. At this point, someone calling them boyfriend and girlfriend wouldn't get much of a rise out of them, just an eye roll, shoulder shrug, or a headshake. They knew they weren't together like that, and had quit caring about what people thought they were long ago.

Paul had to leave before they finished cooking dinner to go meet up with Sam, deciding to take Charlotte's monster of a truck instead of his own vehicle. He also could've run there, but Paul was too lazy. He was also obsessed with Charlotte's truck, so much so that he drove it almost twice as much as she did. So when she had a moment of panic, an instinctive chill racing down her spine, screaming at her to get the hell over to the Black's house as soon as possible, Charlie knew she'd kill Paul for making her take one of the bikes out without the proper equipment. She didn't feel as though she had time to put on her helmet, though she stopped to put one on anyways, cursing Paul out the whole time for taking her baby instead of running, that lazy ass fucking wolf.

Bella was pissed. Bella was being lied to. Jake was lying to her. Charlotte was lying to her. Billy was lying to her. She's not a child, she knows something is going on. Something was going on and it had to with Jake and Sam's gang and her sister. So she'd gone down to La Push to find someone, anyone, she doesn't care who she found as long as they had answers. She was storming her way out of the Black household when Sam and two very large, yet vaguely familiar guys, along with what looked like a taller and more muscular Embry, had come strutting towards her.

She heard the growl of a motorcycle somewhere in the distance, getting steadily closer, but chose to ignore it in favour of slapping the angry man before her in the face. Before she could freak out or start yelling at them again, the one she'd hit started shaking so violently, she almost worried he would fall over. What she wasn't expecting was for him to turn into a giant silver wolf, nor was she expecting the motorcycle she'd heard earlier to go roaring past her, turning sharply and stopping abruptly in front of the wolf.

The instant the motorcycle rider had cut the engine, the boys all took a large step backwards, even the wolf looked cowed by whoever had just appeared out of practically nowhere. Bella could tell it was a female, someone of a similar size and stature to herself. If Bella didn't know any better, she'd think it was Charlie. The woman ripped her helmet off, back towards Bella as she threw her helmet behind her. The moment the short haired woman began speaking, Bella knew she should've known better to think it wasn't her sister.

"What the fuck is going on here, Sam?" Charlotte shouted at the large male. Sam physically backpedalled, arms coming up in surrender as the small girl stormed forward. "In Paul's defence, Bella slapped him." It came out in a bit of a rush, but as soon as Charlie heard him, she froze. Pivoting on the spot, Charlie turned her livid expression onto her sibling. "You. Did. What." she breathed, almost not daring to speak above a whisper. It was Bella's turn to shrink back from Charlie. "Yeah," she said softly, "I slapped him, but he was being an ass." she defended. Charlie rolled her eyes, all the tension seeping out of her body in an instant. "Of course he was, Bella," she chuckled, "It's Paul, he's always like that."

Bella was flabbergasted. This is Paul? The Paul? The one Charlotte moved in with before Bella's arrival in Forks? At least the fact that Charlotte had never introduced them to one another up until now finally made sense. Charlotte turned back to the silver wolf that was her room mate, walking over and hugging the horse sized beast, speaking softly, soothingly to him, running a hand through his soft fur. Bella was shocked to see her sister looking so at ease with such a strange creature. The other male, the one she hadn't learned the name of had walked up to Bella, watching the interaction between the human and wolf as intently as Bella was.

"They seem odd now, but you get used to it." He said, not taking his eyes off the pair. Bella turned to look at the male beside her, confused as to what his relation was to her sister. "I'm Jared, by the way," he said, offering his hand to her. "Jared Cameron." She put her hand in his. He had a firm handshake. "Oh, you're Jared?" the older male chuckled, finding her reactions to be absolutely priceless. "The two of you make quite a pair," he claimed, still laughing softly to himself. "Little Charlie runs with wolves, her little sister runs with vampires." He elaborated, seeing the confusion colouring her face. No matter how she felt about everything else she'd found out today, Bella decided she liked Jared, he was fun.