I think I'm lost without you [Paul Lahote]

Paul couldn't breathe. It was her. It had always been her.

One look into Noah's greenish-brown eyes and Paul's whole world shifted. He had always liked Noah, she was sweet to him where most people only assumed the worst, but he couldn't help but think that they were complete opposites. She was warm with a kind heart, and he was cold with an uncontrollable temper. He wasn't ready for an imprint. What was stopping him from having an accident just like Sam?

But at the same time, Paul's heart filled with a warmth he wasn't familiar with. Suddenly, all he wanted to do was be near Noah, to hold her, to speak with her about everything and nothing, to stare into her eyes forever. He felt so incredibly protective that he didn't know what to do with himself. Paul wanted to swoop Noah up and stow her away from the entire world. To hide where it would only be the two of them

Paul didn't know how he was supposed to function for the rest of a school day. His thoughts and emotions were swirling like a hurricane inside his body. School seemed so impossibly mundane now that his entire world has changed.

"Dude what the fuck was that?" Jacob was yelling at him and shoving his chest. Paul barely moved, he just stared after the way that Noah had stormed off. It felt like his throat had sunk into his stomach.

He had spoken to his imprint. Well, more like interrogated her, but Paul couldn't help it. A rage had consumed him after he saw the bruises on Noah's face. His feet had lurched out from under him before a coherent thought even crossed his mind.

He couldn't get her angry look out of his head. He couldn't even remember exactly what he had said but he knew it must have been stupid based on the reaction he got. Clearly Jacob agreed.

"You just had to go and imprint on my cousin, of all people?" Jake was punctuating each word with a shove. Paul just leant back against the lockers and let him. "And then you get all up in her face and start yelling at her? What were you thinking? What the hell is wrong with you, dude?"

Jake had a point. Although it was a little ironic considering he was now in Paul's face yelling at him. Paul hadn't meant to scare Noah or intimidate her, but his instincts were screaming at him to protect her. He could barely even focus on Jake right now with the way his body was still thrumming in preparation to run after Noah.

Behind them, Jared was on the phone with Sam, letting him know that Paul had imprinted. Embry and Quil were whispering quietly to each other. Paul rolled his eyes at this. He understood the concern but he couldn't help the sting of hurt that ran through him at being treated like a ticking time bomb. Paul was the third wolf to shift and therefore third in command but he was still the greatest liability. He knew this and he hated it.

Paul's eyes flicked back to Jake's. "I wasn't thinking, it just happened." He gently removed Jacob's hands from his shoulders. He didn't blame the kid for being protective of his cousin so he said as calmly as possible, "I really didn't mean to scare her. I just saw the bruises and lost it a little bit. I'm gonna apologize the second I see her again."

Jake let out a sigh and rubbed a hand over his face. He knew Paul couldn't control who he imprinted on, none of them could, but he was still conflicted. Embry saw this as his opportunity to step in. He placed himself between the two boys as subtly as possible.

"We should really all head to class, so how about we reconvene during lunch and talk about all of this then?" Embry asked, looking from Paul to Jake. Paul nodded but Jake just turned and started walking towards his first period class. Embry gave Paul a placating smile and jogged after him. Paul was sure Embry would drag Jake to lunch no matter how pissy he still was after a few classes.