Brave This Storm

“Ana, can I talk to you?” Amelia asked softly.

Mariana nodded, pressing a kiss to her sleeping son’s head before leaving the room, closing the door nearly all the way. She followed her Grandma down to the living room, where there were two cups of coffee waiting. Clearly Amelia had been planning this talk.

“Alright, what do you want to talk about?” Mariana asked.

“Why haven’t you spent any time with Paul over the last few days? You haven’t even talked with him on the phone,” Amelia said bluntly.

Mariana sighed. She didn’t know if Amelia had heard people talking about the relationship around the Reservation, but she knew there was no point in lying to her Grandma. Well, to an extent.

“Paul told me his biggest secret, and I’m taking time and space to try to accept it,”

“What secret?”

“It’s not mine to tell,” Mariana mumbled.

Mariana was confused when her Grandma smiled widely, not understanding why she was so happy.

“So Paul finally told you the secret of the wolf pack,” Amelia mused.

Mariana’s jaw dropped. What the hell?!

“H-How do you know?” Mariana squeaked.

“Ana, I am on the tribe council, how could I not know? These boys are our protectors!” Amelia chuckled.

“B-But you knew about him? The whole time I didn’t know?”

“Yes, I did. And I wanted to tell you, I really did, but it isn’t my secret to tell. That is the job of the imprint,”

“Mm, he told me about imprinting,”

“What’s wrong?” Amelia asked.

“I guess I’m just disheartened by the fact that Paul wouldn’t have come near me if it wasn’t for this imprinting. I’m nothing like the girls he’s gone for in the past,” Mariana shrugged, a sad smile on her lips.

“Now you listen here, Ana. It doesn’t matter what might’ve happened if Paul didn’t imprint – the fact is that he did. You are his imprint and he will love you for the rest of his existence like no man will ever be able to. You will want for nothing. You will be treated like a princess for the whole of your life. What is wrong with that?”

Mariana blushed slightly but shook her head. Her Grandma had a point but there were still a few things she wasn’t sure about.

“What about Donovan? He’s had Juan and all the guys from Big El’s shop in his life as dominant males, but he never called Juan ‘dad’. I don’t know if he ever wanted to, or if he just couldn’t. What if Donny changes his mind and wants Paul as a father figure, but Paul doesn’t want that? I can’t handle my son being let down like that,” Mariana said.

“Mariana Ramirez, you know as well as I do that Paul adores your son. He would go to the moon and back to make sure that child is happy, and not just because of you. He’d be a perfect father figure now he’s got you, and you know it,” Amelia mused.

Mariana rolled over her Grandma’s words in her head, not able to find any other problems. And if there were no problems, then she’d made up her mind…and she had to go and find Paul.

“I’m going to find Paul. Call me if Donovan wakes up, okay?”

“Will do. And try Sam and Emily’s house – the whole pack go there most nights,” Amelia suggested.

Mariana nodded and grabbed her phone before leaving the house. The walk didn’t take long, but it allowed her to settle her mind even further, until she knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted Paul. When she got to the house, Mariana knocked on the door and waited patiently. The door opened, revealing Emily. Emily grinned and opened her mouth wide to say something loudly, but Mariana pressed her finger to her lips, begging Emily to be quiet.

“If Paul’s inside, can you get him to come out? I want to talk to him,” Mariana said softly.

Emily’s grin faded to a small smile, but she nodded and re-entered the house. Seconds later Emily reappeared.

“What’s going on Em? I know everyone’s been trying to cheer me up over the past few days, but really I’m fine, I swe…”

Paul stopped speaking when he saw Mariana standing on the porch, anxiety taking over her expression. Emily smiled at the younger woman before walking back into the house, leaving them alone.

“Mariana, I’m so sor…”

“Please, let me speak first,” Mariana interrupted, holding her hand up.

Paul bit his bottom lip but nodded. He took her hand and led her over to the bench on the porch, sitting the two of them down.

“Go ahead,” Paul prompted.

Mariana smiled her thanks. “I’ve been talking to my Grandma…”

“Shit,” Paul groaned, tilting his head back.

Mariana giggled, rolling her eyes.

“She was actually very helpful. I’ve been thinking over the past couple of days about how your secret would impact mine and Donovan’s lives, and if my son would be in any danger. Donovan’s well-being is the most important thing in the world to me, you know this. Anyway, My Grandma confronted me this morning about why I haven’t seen you recently and I said you’d told me a big secret, and after a few probing questions she told me she knew about the tribe’s secret. So I talked everything out with her. My curiosity, my fears…everything. And I’ve made up my mind,”

“And…?” Paul asked hopefully.

“I still want to be with you, Paul. If you wanted to hurt me or my son, you would’ve done so already. You’re still the man I fell for, even if I know your darker side now,” Mariana announced.

Mariana giggled at the triumphant whoot that erupted from Paul’s mouth, blushing at his intense grin.

“I don’t consider it a darker side, Ana. Sure, it means I’m tied to this Reservation for life, but we protect the people here from every other monster that could harm them. We’re the good guys,” Paul explained.

“There are other monsters?” Mariana frowned.

“Let’s not get into that right now,” Paul said hesitantly.

Mariana frowned a little more before she relaxed. She trusted Paul’s judgement. If he wanted to wait to tell her, she was okay with that. Paul pressed a slow kiss to her lips, making her melt into his arms and kiss back. Paul moaned happily when he realised she wasn’t going to break away and slid him arms fully around her, pulling her close to his body. She returned the favour by sliding her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss even further by massaging their tongues together. This was perfect. This was everything she wanted and…

“ALRIGHT!”

Mariana broke the embrace, startled by the loud voice, only to giggle when she saw Jacob standing there with a grin on his face. She laughed even harder when the rest of the pack came out onto the porch, all of them grinning too.

“I’m going to kill you, Black,” Paul growled, unwinding his arms from Mariana as she unwound her arms from him.

“Paul,” Mariana warned.

Paul rolled his eyes but smiled, pecking another kiss to her lips. The rest of the pack slowly drifted inside the house again, leaving Mariana and Paul alone once more.

“Sorry about them,” Paul apologised.

“Hey, don’t apologise. Your friends are what make you you. And I like them, so I don’t care,”

“Uh, you’re too good to them. But I guess we should go inside too, huh?” Paul chuckled.

“Mm, probably. We can continue this later,” Mariana winked.

A chorus of whistles and hoots came from inside the house, and Mariana laughed when she realised the pack had been listening the whole time.

“Immature!” Paul yelled.

He smiled down at her, pressing one final kiss to her lips before standing up, taking her hand as she stood up too, the two of them entering the house. Mariana knew that all this new information would still take a while to settle in, but with Paul by her side she knew she’d be fine. Better than fine, actually. She’d be amazing.