Hidden behind the Lies, Chapter 2

"When you lose a best friend, it's worse than breaking up with a boyfriend. Because you lose more than a heart, you lose a little bit of yourself..." - Unknown

Two weeks. Two miserable weeks Leah Clearwater has endured while waiting for the response of her best friend. Why couldn't he just make contact with her, at least to let her know he was safe. She had tried everything to make contact with him, she had called around to her house only to be met with his mother who was sick with worry. Paul may have run off plenty of times before, but not for too long. Paul's mother had almost rang the cops to report Paul as missing, but Old Quill had convinced her otherwise.

Now here she was, sitting in the middle of her bed staring down at her cell phone, contemplating whether to ring him once again. Hoping her would answer her this time. As she was about to press the call button next to Pauls name, she heard her brother yell.

"Lee. Paul's here!"

Quickly jumping off her bed, she ran down the stairs into Pauls arms. He held her close as she wrapped her arms around her neck. She pulled him in close before pulling back once again and pushing him back angrily, "No texts, no calls! Really Paul!"

"Lee-Lah, I'm sorry," he looked at the ground, guilt written all over his face, "I-I didn't know how…" he trailed off as he lifted his head up and nothing! The one thing he wanted to happen right now, didn't! A sigh escaped past his lips knowing now he wasn't able to tell her the truth. Noticing the tears that were about to form in his best friends face. He reached out to her and pulled her into him, "I'm so sorry Leah,"

Leah buried her face into Paul's chest as she wrapped her arms around his waist, "I didn't know what to think, Paul. I-I thought you had gotten sick of me, just as Sam had…"

"I could never get sick of you, Lee. Ever." Paul looked back at her and rested his forehead against hers, "You're my best friend. You mean the world to me."

Leah closed her eyes, the tears threatening to fall from her face once again, "Don't do that to me again, Lahote!" she breathed out, "I couldn't handle loosing you too. Not after Sam!"

Paul slightly winced at the mention of Sam's name. He caught the familiar scent of Sam and inwardly sighed. He pulled back from Leah and cupped her face in his hands. As he was about to speak up he heard a whistle and his head shot to look behind him.

"We have to go, Paul!" Sam shouted, motioning for Paul to follow himself and Jared. Paul noted that he is going to mentally cuss Sam out once he followed him. He knew what Leah's reaction would be and he waited to be yelled out. He wanted to be yelled at. He now had to follow Sam Uley, the asshole that broke his best friend's heart, even if now he did now the reason behind it all.

Leah's found her eyes looking over Paul's shoulder. She froze as she saw the familiar face behind him, calling out to him. There was a million questions running through her head. She had to fight the tears back as she turned her attention back to her best friend. "How could you?"

"Leah-"

"No! How could you?" her voice got louder and the tears started streaming down her face, "How could you hang out with him! After all he done to me. How could you? You're supposed to hate him"

As Paul went to speak he heard his name being called again from Sam. Anger started pulsating through his body as he turned back to the man he despised. "Give me a fucking minute, Uley!"

"Get out!" Leah's body trembled as she forced herself to look into Paul's eyes, tears streaming out of her own, "I don't want anything to do with you. What? You think you could just disappear for a couple weeks and apologise. That I can forgive, I was so worried about you! I tried to call you every day, I rang your mother every day hoping you had showed up home. I could never forgive you for betraying me. I could never forgive you for hanging out with Sam Uley!"

Paul felt the tears start to come to his eyes, he never cried. Ever! But the thought of possibly losing his best friend over all this bullshit worried him. She meant everything to him, she truly did. She meant more to him than she would ever know. He had to tell her, he wanted to tell her. He stepped forward only to have Leah step back from him. He saw it all in her eyes, the hurt, and the betrayal.

"Lee, I can explain," he spoke quietly, "I-I…"

"I'm waiting," she crossed her arms after furiously wiping at the tears that wouldn't stop.

Paul tried, he tried his hardest to bring the words to his mouth. He wanted to tell her so bad, but he couldn't. He physically couldn't tell her. The words were in his brain, but he was unable to speak them to her. The command he had been given was weighing him down. He felt his heart break for his best friend as she stepped back from him. "Lee…"

Without another word Leah turned gripped edge of the door before slamming it in his face. He heard her let out a sob and he fell to his knees. Knowing this may be the last time he got to talk to Leah, his best friend broke him. He let out a growl as he quickly got up and charged towards his Alpha Sam Uley!

"Fuck you, Sam!" Paul yelled, he balled his hands into a fist and he began trembling, "You couldn't just give me time could you! What? Are you still bitter that she won't talk to you because you broke her heart?!"

"Enough!" Sam said, "We have a duty to the tribe and Leah will just cloud your thoughts. You need to forget about her!"

"Oh yes! Because you do a great job of that, done you Uley! You think about her all the fucking time, the whole two weeks I was in your head all you thought about was Leah-"

"I don't want her to get hurt again," Sam interrupted, "You'll just hurt her"

"No! Because I am not some low life scum like you," Paul sneered, he felt the comforting had of his other best friend Jared, "I would never hurt her the way you did!"

He was pissed off. He had missed Leah the whole time he was gone. Sam and Jared couldn't get him to phase back. It wasn't until Jared had voiced the concern that Leah had while Paul was missing. At the thought of his best friend, Paul found it in himself to calm down enough to phase back into human. Much to the dismay of Sam.

Sam, although he would never admit it to anyone was jealous of the relationship that Paul and Leah had. It was his fault of course, why they had become so close. He still couldn't forgive himself for ever hurting his Lee-Lee, so he would be damned if he would let Paul Lahote be the one to completely break him. Little did he know… it was, once again, his fault why Leah Clearwater was once again feeling pain. He had ordered Paul not to tell Leah what had happened in the two weeks he was gone. No one outside of the council and pack were to know about wolves and vampires. He had then followed Paul when he went to see Leah, ordering Jared to come with him as he knew Paul would not be happy with his presence and would need someone who Paul trusted to keep him calm. When he saw Leah talking to Paul, Crying for him and hugging him... like she used to hug him, he felt the jealousy brewing within him, before he knew it he was calling out to Paul. He looked away from Leah so he wouldn't see the look of hurt in her eyes when she had spotted him.

"I cannot wait until the day Jacob Black phases," Paul sneered, getting up in Sam's face. Although Sam was his Alpha, Paul was not afraid of him, "I cannot wait for the day he takes that Alpha position from you!" With that, Paul turned on his heels ignoring the calling of Jared.

As much as Sam wanted to Alpha command Paul to come back to him and apologise, he didn't. He just stared in the direction of the Clearwater house and he caught a glimpse of Leah, her eyes focused on Paul as he disappeared from sight. He let out a sigh. He had managed to convince himself that following Paul and yelling out his name so his presence was known to both Leah and Paul would save Leah from heartbreak later on. He was still adamant on her never finding out about this life, if it meant it would keep her safe.

Leah slowly made her way up to her room after watching Paul through the window of her house. Her heart shattered into a million pieces when she hear Sam's voice calling out to Paul. Out of all the people in the world she never thought it would be Paul Lahote to run and become friends with Sam. He promised her he would never hurt her! He promised that he would always be there for her and would stop at nothing to make sure she was happy again. She was, she was so happy with Paul by her side, she felt as though she could face the world again, but now... he had betrayed her in a way she didn't think was forgivable. He was her best friend, Leah had told herself once Sam had hurt her that she would never get close to anyone like that again, but it was different with Paul. He didn't push her to tell him what she was feeling, he waited for her, and he was patient with her as she would constantly go through every emotion you could think of. He was there for her, he became her best friend and she truly believed that Paul Lahote would be the last person on earth to ever hurt her. He put her back together when Sam had broken her heart. But now, Leah didn't know if she could be put back together, not after this.

She found oversized hoodie that Paul had left at her house one afternoon before he disappeared, she quickly put it on and let the tears fall, she tried to muffle her cries with her hand as she heard the front door open, but no such luck. Once again, she was broken and she didn't know if she would be able to come back from this. She moved towards her bed and slowly got under the covers, bringing the comforter to her chin as she turned on her side. Another sob left her lips as she her eyes caught the photo that was currently on her nightstand. It was of her and Paul. It was taken the day Leah began to trust him. The day she first decided she would be alright to leave the house even though she knew she would get looks of pity from everyone. Another sob echoed throughout the room and she buried her face into her pillow, she hadn't even realised that her door had opened until she felt the bed sink beside her.

"Baby Girl," her dad spoke, slowly putting his hand on her shoulder to turn her around to face him. It pained him to see his daughter like this, he wanted nothing more than to tell her the truth about everything. He had contemplated telling her everything when Sam Uley had phased and when she suffered her first heartbreak, but he couldn't bring himself to allow his little girl to know about the world that could potentially put her in any danger. He had dreams for his daughter, to leave the reservation and get an amazing job. He knew that if he told her about the world he was so desperately trying to hide from her, she would never be able to leave and fulfil her dreams. So for now, as much as it pained him to do so, he would keep this secret. He loved his daughter too much to tell her the truth.

"Daddy," Leah cried. She wrapped her arms around her father as he pulled her up to hug her, trying his best to comfort his baby girl.

"Shh. It will all be okay, my girl…" he whispered. He turned his head when he heard footsteps enter the room and his eyes laid on his wife. She had tears in her eyes, she always hated seeing her daughter like this. She thought that Leah would finally be able to be happy again… If it wasn't for Paul coming to see them after he had left Sam and letting them know what had happened, their daughter would be crying alone.

Sue made her way to the other side of her daughter and wrapped her arms around bother her and her husband. She shed tears for her daughter's loss, she had been through so much over the last year and her heart broke for her daughter.

"H-He promised me he would never hurt me…" Leah said between sobs, "W-Why?"

Sue gave her husband a look and he simply shook his head. He didn't want her stuck to this world, he didn't want her to be put in any danger if she found out the truth. He couldn't… but then again, he wasn't sure he could handle seeing his little girl in so much pain.

"Whose ass do I have to kick?"

All three turned towards the doorway to see an angered Seth, his fists were balled up and his eyes were focused on his crying sister who was in between his mother and father as they tried their best to comfort her.

"Well?" Seth sneered, he moved closer to his sister and looked into her eyes, "Say the word, Lee. Tell me who it was that done this to you,"

Leah simply shook her head and reached for her little brother who had always been so protective of her. He wrapped her up in a hug and held her tight. He would do anything for her, he hated seeing her in pain, more than anyone else. She was his hero, his older sister and he would go the ends of the earth to make sure his sister would never hurt again.

Paul slowly crept to the bottom of the Clearwater house in his wolf form, directly under Leah's window. He had heard her cried and then heard the comforting words of her family as they tried to make things better for her.

"H-He promised me he would never hurt me," he heard Leah sob to her parents, "W-why?"

Paul, once again, felt his heart break and he felt the tears building up in his eyes. He let out a low whimper and buried his head under his paws, he wanted to forget, he wanted to forget the pain he had put Leah through, he wanted to bury his face in the ground and forget. But he couldn't, he could never forget the pain that he had caused Leah Clearwater.

When he had gone to the Clearwater residence earlier that day, he was hoping the he would be able to look into her eyes and feel the pull that Sam had to Emily. As much as he didn't agree with Imprinting as he believed everyone should be able to find their own Love without the Gods interfering, he was hoping that he would have imprinted on his best friend, that way he would be able to tell her the truth, that way he could still have his best friend by his side during this life changing experience. But most of all, if he had imprinted on Leah Clearwater, he knew that she would never be hurt by any man she has ever cared about again.

Once he had left Sam, he tried to find Harry and Sue Clearwater. He didn't want Leah to be along tonight, not while she was in the house crying. He wanted to be the one to comfort her, just like he had been with the whole Sam and Emily situation. He wanted nothing more than to wrap Leah in his arms, comfort her and apologise to her. He had managed to find them just as they were about to enter Billy Blacks house. Once he had phased he ran up to the couple and hung his head as tears formed in his eyes.

"Son, what's wrong?" Harry asked as he stepped towards Paul and reached out to place a hand on his shoulder. It was then Harry had felt the temperature and instantly knew why he had not seen Paul around at his house in the last few weeks.

"I-I'm so sorry…" Paul struggled to keep himself together, "I-I never wanted to…" he couldn't bring himself to say it. He couldn't bring himself to say that he was the reason why Leah was in so much pain at this current moment… instead, he looked Harry in the eyes and then Sue, "Leah needs you…" was all he said before he bounded off back into the forest.

"Whose ass do I have to kick?" he heard Seth seethe.

Mine Paul thought. He slowly got onto all fours and made his way back into the forest I promise Seth. Once you phase, I will let you kick my ass for being the one to hurt your sister.

Paul began to run as he reached the border of the forest, once he got far enough away he let out a heart wrenching howl.

Sam had hurt Leah Clearwater. But Paul, Paul had broken her.

Okay. So it took me so long to write this chapter. Every time I would start writing, I would always delete what I had on the page as I thought it was not good enough. I am still trying to get back into the swing of things.

Please let me know what you think and thank you to everyone that reviewed chapter 1. I really do appreciate it. Also to those who have favourite and followed the story, thank you.