Undisclosed Desires

It had been three days since I’d seen Paul.

Oh, what a glorious three days it was.

I spent the majority of my time with Jacob, Renesmee, Bella and Seth. We’d been swimming in the river behind the Cullen house, since the weather had actually been nice and -gasp!- sunny!

I loved swimming with Bella; her skin would shimmer so beautifully and send rainbows everywhere. Renesmee was delighted too, and she loved having Jacob throw her into the water. Seth and I had our annual game of dunking that we played almost non stop. Needless to say, he won most of the time.

Okay, okay. All the time.

It was Wednesday; the rain had returned with a fiery vengance. The house was lonely with everyone gone: Carlisle was at work. Rose, Emmett, Jasper and Alice had gone on a hunting trip. Bella had taken Renesmee, Edward and Jacob up to Seattle for the day with Charlie.

Jared, Quil, Embry,Paul, Leah and Sam had been busy patrolling borders. But, as Seth had informed me the other day, Jared and Quil were keeping a close eye onPaul to make sure he left me the hell alone.

I had awoken to a silent house, something I wasn't accustomed to. But I didn't mind too much; I trudged lazily down the stairs, rubbing my eyes. I shuffled to the kitchen, my stomach growling.

Mmmm... Waffles.... I thought to myself, yanking open the freezer.

I stood, dumbfounded, staring at the icy abyss.

Wha...? No waffles??? How can someone not have waffles???

Angirly, I shut the freezer and spun around. I was going to kill the Cullens when they came home.

My eyes landed on the cast-iron waffle maker. I grinned.

I rushed to the walk-in pantry, and gathered all ingredients I would need for waffles. It took me less than ten minutes to whip up a batch of strawberry-chocolate chip-blueberry waffles, with just a hint of cinammon.

I eagerly poured some of the mix in the waffle maker, and shut it, wishing it would cook immediately, if not sooner.

As the timer counted down, I paced around the kitchen. The rain drummed heavily on the roof; I stared out the glass walls and watched the insanse downpour. I hoped Bella, Nessie, Jake, Charlie, and Eddiepoo were okay.

As the timer went off, I let out a squeal of excitement and rushed over to the grill. In my haste, I grabbed the wrong part of the handle.

"AUHHHGGHHH!!!!!" I shrieked, yanking my hand off the searing hot metal. I drew in a sharp breath, staring incredulously at my burned fingers. Then, the real pain kicked in. I cried out and shoved my hand under the faucet, wincing as the water hit my now singed hand.

As I let my hand cool down enough to where I could move it away from the water, I saw movement outside the windows.

A wolf, soaked from the rain, was walking slowly up to the window.

It was a darker color than Seth, and a little bit bigger than him as well.

It looked like Jared.

Werewolf or not, he shouldn't be out in the rain if he can help it. I thought, nursing my hand as I pulled my delicious waffle out of the grill and headed towards the door. I nibbled my waffle as I opened up the door.

Jared was walking slow, I realized, because he was limping. My stomach sank like lead; had something happened on patrol?? Immediately, two images popped up in my head: one of Seth, and one of Paul. Were they okay??

I dropped my waffle on the ground and rushed outside, ignoring the fact that my shirt was white and I would be soaked in a few minutes. Jared wouldn't oogle at me.

Jared was standing on the other side of the river. I was just on the other side, about five feet from him.

Jared's eyes met mine.

His eyes were a dark crimson color.

Jared's were a light green.

My heart stopped as I recognized the face of the wolf.

The same wolf that had attacked me in my backyard.

I turned around and full-out sprinted for the back door. I just managed to hear the huge thud of paws over the pounding rain.

The ground was slick and muddy, and my bare feet lost their grip and I tumbled down. I sank into the mud as I scrambled to get to my feet. I heard a fierce snarl, and braced myself for the worst.

I heard a violent collision less than a foot away from me, and then violent growls and barks. I squirmed onto my back to see what was going on.

A long, lean sandy-brown wolf was wrestling as hard as he could against the intruder wolf, who was nearly twice as big. But Seth was holding his own, and he was actually injuring the other wolf. As Seth lunged again, I heard more running footsteps, and a moment later, several over-sized wolves bound past me. Jared and Sam were rushing the other wolf, trying to help Seth.

Embry and Quil came up on either side of me, and they helped me stand as my feet slipped around in the mud. They escorted me back to the backdoor, and I stood on the porch, shivering, soaked, and muddy. I watched, arms wrapped around myself (not only to keep warm, but to cover myself up), as Seth, Sam and Jared drove the other wolf away. They disappeared into the forest.

Embry and Quil stood on either side of me, watching for any other signs of danger. But of course, they didn't notice the main danger coming up onto the porch next to me.

"I can bring you a towel if you want."

I jumped from shock, and spun to see Paul smirking at me. I glared at him as I regained my composure.

"I'm fine, thanks." I muttered, turning to walk into the house.

I stopped, staring down at my muddy clothes. I couldn't get the house all dirty. I sighed exasperatedly, and, without another pause, I turned my back on the house.

I yanked my dirty tank top off first, throwing it onto the ground. I wriggled out of my soaked, disgusting pants and kicked them over to my shirt. I walked over to the uncovered part of the porch, and let the rain wash off the mud still clinging to me. When I was as clean as I could get, I marched past Paul, who was openly staring at my half-naked self, and into the house.

I had only taken two steps when my foot landed on the slick marble tile. Since I was still wet, my legs slid out from under me, and I toppled onto the ground.

“Ughh..” I groaned, pushing myself up with my elbows.

In an instant, both Paul and Seth were kneeling in front of me.

When had Seth phased?

Oh well. Whatever.

“Alex, are you-“

“Are you okay, Alex?” Paul rushed, cutting off Seth mid-sentence.

“I’m fine, thanks Seth,” I said pointedly, turning from Paul.

At the same time, Seth and Paul held out their hands, offering me help up.

I hesitated.

Did I take Paul’s hand, and start down the road to forgiving him?

Did I take Seth’s hand, and completely tear myself away from Paul, showing him I was moving on?

Or did I take both their hands, and show I could be a mature, respectable teenager?

My hand slid into Seth’s as he pulled me to my feet.