Brave This Storm

“Oh my God,” Mariana gasped. Gasped loudly.

Paul snapped his head towards his house, hearing the intake of breath. His eyes went wide when he saw Mariana, and right then he knew she had seen everything.

“Mariana,” Paul whispered.

Mariana’s world went black before she could reply.

*

“Mariana? Can you hear me? Please wake up, baby!”

Mariana’s body froze at the sound of Paul’s voice, before snapping her eyes open. She was lying on the sofa in Paul’s living room with Paul knelt down beside her, worry etched all over his face.

And then she remembered what had happened.

“O-Oh my God. Oh my God, what the fuck is going on, Paul?!” Mariana shrieked.

“Pl-Please calm down, Ana,” Paul whimpered.

He had never known what he reaction to his secret would be, but it certainly wasn’t this.

“W-What are you, Paul? What are you? Why didn’t you tell me before?” Mariana choked.

“Because I didn’t know how you would react. I was scared you would hate me. The last thing I would ever want is for you to be afraid of me,” Paul said sadly.

“How am I supposed to act?! You…fuck, I can’t even get my mind around it,” Mariana groaned.

“Please, just hear me out. Let me explain,” Paul begged, taking her hands in his.

Mariana wrenched her hands out of his grasp, making pain flash across Paul’s face.

“I don’t know i-if I can listen to you, Paul. You were a fucking wolf!” Mariana whimpered.

“I’m still me, I’m still the same guy you’ve been dating all this time,” Paul insisted.

Mariana inhaled sharply as tears pricked at his eyes. She was pretty sure the last time Paul cried was when he was a kid, so for him to be nearly crying now? Because of her? He seemed so sincere. And surely if he was going to hurt her, he would’ve done so already?

“O-Okay. I’ll hear you out,” Mariana mumbled.

Paul let out a breath of relief that he didn’t know he’d been holding and got off his knees to sit on his sofa, wincing a little as Mariana curled up even more away from him.

Over the next hour, Paul told Mariana every single aspect of the tribe legends. She remembered some of them from the New Years Eve bonfire, but hearing them from Paul’s mouth now she knew they were true gave them a whole new meaning. Especially when he explained about imprinting – that shocked her a lot. When Paul could think of no more to say, he stopped, waiting patiently. All Mariana could do was sit there and stare at him, eyes wide and lips pressed together. So Paul sighed.

“Ana, I…”

Paul trailed off, running his hand through his hair as he sighed again. He knew he couldn’t, wouldn’t, force her into anything, and if that included staying with him when she was afraid of him, then he knew what he had to do.

“I understand if you want to break up with me,” Paul finally said.

Mariana swallowed heavily at his words, smiling weakly. He truly cared about her, didn’t he?

“I don’t want to break up with you, Paul,” Mariana said softly.

“But…” Paul prompted.

“I need some time to process all of this. I care about you, I really do…but this is a lot for me to handle in one sitting. I hope you’re not mad,” Mariana said.

Paul immediately shook his head, a burst of hope spreading through his body. She didn’t want to break up with him – that was a good sign, right?

“Of course I’m not mad. Just…just know that you can ask me anything you want, okay? Anything that’ll help you understand my secret,” Paul said hopefully.

Mariana looked deeply into the eyes of her boyfriend and nodded, smiling so slightly that she might not have been smiling at all.

“I’ll find you when I’m ready,”

Paul could barely hide the agony and sadness that coursed through his veins as she stood up, not knowing if he could cope without her wanting to be by his side. Mariana hated how sad he looked, knowing it was because of her, and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. Then she left.