"Stop looking at him like that, it's making me sick."

"That's a lie—you're a werewolf, you don't get sick."

Embry could only glare at his best friend then. Alex had moved to stare back at him, a shit-eating grin on her face. "You gazing at your boyfriend with heart-eyes would break the immunity I have gained."

Alex rolled her eyes at the boy, while picking up another grape from the tray in front of her. Embry grabbed one not long after. "He's my soulmate, Em. Not just my boyfriend."

An audible groan left Embry's mouth and his head dramatically came to rest on the table they both sat at in their school cafeteria. Alex only giggled in return. Embry had been complaining for the past week about Paul and Alex—any little thing the couple did seemed to anger the boy. Alex knew he was kidding however, and that was why she continued to play up the act of being totally infatuated with Paul Lahote.

It would be a lie for Alex to say she wasn't in all honesty. Ever since the admission of them being imprints and their first kiss, the brunette hadn't felt closer to Paul. In fact it wasn't very often that she left his side—not because she couldn't, but because the brunette didn't want to.

"This is getting out of hand," Embry only smiled at his best friend, done with the act of trying not to enjoy how happy Alex had been lately. She was slowly but surely coming out of her shell, and nothing made Embry happier than seeing her comfortable. Paul wasn't the only reason, but Embry still felt that he had the biggest impact. "I though Jared and Kim were bad, but I was oh so wrong. You're worse."

"Okay, that's a bit far, Em," Alex dramatically clutched at her heart as if his words actually hurt her. "Nobody is worse than Jared and Kim—at least Paul and I don't make out right in front of your face when you're trying to eat. We have morals."

Paul wasn't sitting with the pair at that point in time, but rather speaking to someone on the phone. He had moved over to a quieter spot in the cafeteria, standing against a wall in the corner. Alex couldn't help but glance over at him every so often—which Embry had just called her out on. She had no clue who he was talking to and the boy didn't exactly look happy, his eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth seemed to close in a frown.

Embry watched Alex again and had to fight the roll of his eyes. "Like I told you fifteen times already, I can listen into the conversation if you want. You look awfully concerned."

Alex shook her head at this, moving her eyes away from Paul—albeit reluctantly. "And like I told you fifteen times already, I don't want to spy on my boyfriend. I'm just worried. Please don't listen in."

Embry of course wouldn't have dreamed of going against Alex's words, so he refrained from using his wolf hearing. Although he was curious, since most things that had to do with Paul had to do with him these days.

"Do you miss the others?" Alex wondered out loud. Her thoughts had swung towards Jacob and Quil when she looked at Embry, she had this theory that his eyes had not only become gaunt and tired looking from patrolling every night but also from missing his best friends.

It didn't take long for Embry to figure out who Alex meant. Jacob and Quil had been on his mind already anyway—they often were. Oddly enough, the pair weren't sitting in there usual spot in the cafeteria. Embry couldn't help the guilty pull in his stomach. "Obviously—but I have you, and the pack. Maybe I'll even have Jacob and Quil back if they end up shifting. I'm fine, Lexi."

"Just checking in," Alex explained briefly. She cared a lot about Embry and knew he was hurting more than he let on—but there wasn't much else she could do for the boy.

"And I appreciate it," Embry made sure to reassure the girl and was happy to see her smile at him in return.

"We have a problem—well a few of them apparently."

Alex's stomach sank at Paul's words. The boy had seemingly walked over while she had been talking to Embry—the pair two deep in conversation to even realise his approach. Not only was what he was saying gut-wrenching, but the look on his face showed Alex that this was even more serious than she may have pegged.

"What's wrong?" Embry had the guts to ask first, his jaw now clenched knowing that it was a pack problem.

"Sam will explain everything, we just have to meet him at Emily's." Paul looked between Embry and Alex with his mouth pulled down in a frown. A headache was beginning to form behind his eyes.

Both Alex and Embry nodded before they got up from their lunch table rather quickly. Paul was on his phone—presumably texting Jared with the same information he had given the other two.

Alex hesitantly threaded her fingers through Paul's, giving them a small squeeze. Whether it was to show she was there for him, or because she needed that anchor herself was beyond Alex, but she did it either way. Paul looked down at the smaller brunette, a grateful smile tugging at his lips—although Alex could see the force behind it. He was trying for her.

Alex knew this wasn't good.

---

"The first issue is the red headed vampire. She's been on our land before, but now it's getting serious. She's here more frequently and is killing hikers in the forest. If we don't find her soon then the police won't be able to excuse it—people will jump to other conclusions."

Alex didn't want to bring up the fact that no normal human would jump to the conclusion of vampires and werewolves, so she kept her lips shut. No matter how much she wanted to at least bring down the heat in this room.

Four angry werewolves were now congregated in Sam's living room—with her and Emily being the only two humans. Emily sat clutching Sam's hand as he talked. Jared and Embry both looked anxious on the sofa, Alex could even see Embry's leg begin to move up and down in anticipation.

And she sat flushed against Paul, his arm resting against the back of her side of the sofa. Without acknowledgment, Alex's hand had come to clutch the top of his knee.

This wasn't the first time the pack had seen the red headed vampire, but it was the first time they had noticed how frequently she kept coming back. In fact, a night a few months ago when Alex was having a movie night with Kim, Paul and Jared, the two werewolves had to leave to try and find the woman.

Obviously they didn't have much luck.

"How are we supposed to catch her though?" Jared voiced, having a point that most were thinking. "Chasing her away is the best we can do—I really don't think we can catch her."

"He's right, not with just the four of us," Paul agreed with his pack member. He could acknowledge their strength as a unit, but vampires had some advantages they couldn't ignore. They could climb and swim.

"It's not just the four of us," Sam looked between the rest of them now. He was the only one with this information, not even admitting it to Paul when he was on the phone earlier. "That's the other issue—Jake has just shifted. He's been feeling the symptoms for about a week, Billy called me earlier."

A small silence fell among the group.

"I told you it would be Jake first," Embry was the first to speak, filling the void. His elbow came to dig into Jared's stomach. "You owe me twenty."

Alex could see the dilemma in Embry's face. He was both happy and sad that his old friend would be joining the ranks—it was always like that with the change. Extra members were always helpful and it was clear Embry was happy he could talk to Jake again properly. But then, the shift wasn't exactly a gift in all ways. It sucked in some, and Embry clearly didn't want that for Jake. And then add in Quil, who would now have to be ditched by his other childhood best friend.

"The numbers will help," Sam added on optimistically, except there was no real smile on his face. His tone was also still somber. "But Jacob is complicated. You all know that he's friends with Bella Swan—who used to be close to the Cullen's before they left town. He can't tell her about us, not unless he imprints."

Just like that Alex knew the pack had their work cut out for them. Not only with the red headed vampire causing trouble, which was a huge issue in itself, but also with Jacob and his Bella problem. It was all getting complicated, way too much for anyones liking.

All Alex could do was give Paul a reassuring smile when he looked over to her, and hope for the best.

---

"Just make sure to go straight inside, okay?"

"You think I'm going to go frolicking in the woods when I know there is a vampire on the loose?" Alex joked to Paul, who sat next to her in the drivers seat of his car.

Paul would have laughed at the joke, except everything around him was on edge. Too much was happening and it was happening fast, the last thing he wanted was Alex in danger. That is something he couldn't handle.

The pair were parked outside Alex's house after coming home from their time at Sam's place. Paul was to head over to Jacob Black's house with the rest of the pack. He was just dropping Alex off first.

"Sorry," Alex noticed instantly that her joke hadn't sat well with Paul. She didn't think he had smiled happily since Sam's—or the entire day for that matter. She hated it. "I'll stay inside, I promise. You don't have to worry about me."

"I always worry about you."

"Well, stop!" Alex exclaimed, not that serious in her tone. She meant it in a sense—although she was constantly worrying about whether Paul was safe also. It was their instinct.

Paul let his hand fall to Alex's cheek, thumb brushing against the soft skin of her cheekbone. "I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to you."

"Don't think like that," Alex muttered, her eyes meeting his in a stare that almost blew her away in intensity. There was so much power, so much care in their gaze. She had been thinking the same thing after all—Alex worried for Paul's safety all the time when he was out patrolling, but now a real threat was out there and that scared the living daylights out of her. "I'll be fine. I'm the one that should be worrying about you."

Paul smiled then, for the first time in a while. He hadn't had anyone really ever worry for him, not in the way that he knew Alex was now. Nothing so intense, so uplifting. Paul was the sort of guy that always put himself in danger simply because he didn't have that much to lose. Well, until now. "I'll be okay, I always am."

"I'm counting on it," Alex pressed a light kiss to the palm of Paul's hand. The girl then removed her seatbelt and grabbed her bag that rested on the floor of the car. "Go see Jacob, he needs you. Text me with updates."

Alex leaned over the console of the car to give Paul's cheek a quick kiss before she turned to exit the vehicle.

"Hey," Paul grabbed her shoulder gently, but still with enough force to make Alex stop in her movement. Alex turned back to see Paul with a small smirk on his face, one that she had grown so used to seeing. It made her smile to see it back on him, she liked it much better than the frown he had been wearing all day. "Do I not get a proper one?"

Alex rolled her eyes then, wondering how she ever thought a kiss on the cheek would suffice for her boyfriend. It never had before.

"So demanding," Alex mumbled before her lips attached themselves to Paul's. She could taste the peppermint on his tongue from the gum he was chewing earlier.

It felt all too familiar—this act of kissing someone, more specifically Paul. Alex never thought that sentence would flow through her mind.

Paul's hand on her hip tugged her closer, ignoring all the buttons and items resting in between them. Their lips moved together with ease, tongues moved with intensity and hands moved around one another with passion.

Two polar opposites clashed together to make something of an apocalypse inside one another—feelings and walls crashing to the ground.

"Happy now?" Alex had to forcibly move herself away to speak, and to make sure she made it inside by the time she told her parents she'd be home. Her hand lingered on Paul's shoulder, playing with the soft material of his t-shirt.

"Always am when I'm with you," Paul answered smoothly. His lips moved closer to Alex's temple, where he pressed a brief—yet tender—kiss to. "Be safe. I'll text you soon with how Jake is."

Alex left the vehicle feeling giddy—an emotion she had heard of yet hadn't ever felt before she met Paul. Her heart pumped a little faster and her legs felt slightly jelly like.

She kept her promise to Paul and walked straight into her home, no mucking around. She wanted to keep away from the rogue vampire as much as Paul wanted her too. Alex wasn't quite ready to die yet, not when she felt like she only just started living.

Alex noticed the difference in her home as soon as she walked in the door. There was an extra jacket hanging on the rack, one that made her do a double take as soon as she saw the familiar black fabric.

Her heat pulsated in her chest. It couldn't be, that wouldn't make any sense. One look to her left only confirmed what made the house instantly feel different—way too familiar Nike running shoes had been tossed to the ground messily.

Alex dropped her bag, but didn't even bother removing her shoes or jacket. The brunette quite literally ran down her hallway, following the sounds of voices as they got closer. It lead her into the kitchen.

And there he was, all suspicions confirmed. Jordan Santiago was standing by the counter in front of his parents, who looked utterly transfixed on the boy like usual as they sat at the breakfast bar.

"Surprise!" Jordan let out at the sight of his twin sister. He didn't realise how much he had missed the simple sound of Alex running in their house—even if this wasn't the house he was used to.

Alex didn't let her mind think about why the boy was home early, considering there was a few months until it was Thanksgiving, or why he was. That didn't matter to her.

Alex quickly made her way over to her brother and let her arms wrap around his waist, her fingers clutched his dark hoodie and her face smushed against his chest. The brunette had to will her tears not to fall at the scent that filled her nose—the same cologne that Alex had brought Jordan for his sixteenth birthday earlier that year.

She didn't need to say anything, Alex knew her brother felt it. She was in the arms of her best friend, her twin, her other half. And that felt amazing, it didn't need to be said.

---

🤔👀