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A Little Thing Known as Imprinting

Jacob / Bella

Rating M

TheMightyRen

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All publicly recognisable characters belong to their respective owners and no copyright infringement is intended.

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Summary

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It's been 15 years since Bella Swan got married and never heard from again. Jacob's now Chief and Alpha but the only wolf not to have imprinted. What does it take to bring Bella home?

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Authors Note

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If you've read this story before you will know that our poor Jake is in a dark place, depressed, he's going through the motions. Basically he has been waiting for his imprint but also not knowing what happened to Bella was the worst thing for Jacob.

He was there as her 'best man' at her wedding. He got his dance and was pushed back by Seth and Sam into the tree's after Bella discussed the details of her honeymoon. Just like in the books, when Jacob leaves that wedding so do we, the rest of Breaking Dawn we don't know about, it never happened. The only thing we do know is two weeks or so after the wedding the Cullens leave; no word, no explanation they just disappear. Jake doesn't even know if he killed her, he has always assumed that Bella has been turned or dies with the hasty departure of the Cullen's from Forks. He stays close to Charlie, watches over him and keeps a keen ear for any contact but never hears a single thing.

As time goes on imprinting seems to be something normal for the wolves, all of the original pack imprint, with the exception of him and recently the pack has starting to expand again, even though no threat has been in the area.

Expect Jake to experience anger, relief and confusion when he finally does imprint and what he thought he'd always find relief in only causes more turmoil.

When I started writing this I had a loose idea but was writing chapter to chapter, then when I began actually plotting this out I wanted it all to be Jacob's point of view only, which adds to the suspense, I wasn't going to narrate at all and leave you all to deal with things the way he was.

I quickly realised that with this story, the way it was coming from me, the answers to the questions I had only made everything much more complex. I've tried to plot this story, usually I write everything down I want to cover and then separate it into the chapters I'm going to cover it in and I keep writing until everything I need to has been put in that chapter, some chapters are long, some not, it just depends how well I manage to put everything in.

I've realised that it's not Jacob's story of how he found and dealt with his imprint, which is what I originally wanted it to be but its Bella's story of how she got home and what she experienced to get there.

There are a lot of cliff hangers, this is just how the story is so if you don't like suspense or a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat this probably won't be something you will enjoy. There are so many, many what I call plot drops in this story, things that once you have read the entire thing will think: Ohh, I can see where that came from now.

I ask you to hold back your gut reaction to defend Jacob from Bella and remember Jacob's not the only one that suffered, he might have mourned her and experienced a great deal of pain but that doesn't mean she didn't. I'm sure once you start to find out things you'll warm to her.

She has come back incredibly different. An enigma to even Jake; changed in ways he never thought he'd see. It's not a simple Jake and Bella imprint after she comes back changed but still human.

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A Little Thing Known as Imprinting

Chapter One – Reminiscing on First Beach

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Fifteen years and every fucking year I find myself doing the same damned thing.

Not sleeping, patrolling, drinking warm soda, walking on the beach, sitting on driftwood, patrolling, warm soda, going home, throwing tools around the garage, not sleeping, not eating. Basically throwing one hell of a pity party; today is the one of several days throughout the year where no one dared approach me.

Was I really that unapproachable? Did I really scare the living shit out of my closest friends, pack mates and family members? Thinking about it... Yes, I did. On these days I couldn't find it in me to care at all and in all honesty I cared Jack-shit about anything anymore.

Some people go on vacation, others read; some people go to the gym. Even if I had wanted to I couldn't do any of those things. I was bound here, not just by my bloodline but by memories, my thoughts, hopes and dreams. I couldn't move on no matter how hard I tried. Every day it hurt, bad, some of those days were worse because they signified so much more. Like today, her Birthday.

Was there actually a reason for the 'Mighty Alpha' to be patrolling in the torrential rain? Simply put, no. There hadn't been a trail since the day they had left, with no word, no contact, no explanation. I sighed.

Why? How could it still hurt? Why was this year worse? Was this year worse? These were some of the thoughts floating round in my mind. It was worse this year though, two reasons. Firstly, for no reason at all kids had started phasing again. What was worse was I had no way to offer them release, there was no fun of the chase like we had all those years ago. We all thought that at least when they had lived close there was something small to keep us on our toes, there was more purpose. These kids had never even smelled a leech first hand, let alone seen one or fought one. Secondly... Fuck No! I don't want to consider thinking about it, any of it and at the same time... It was the only thing I could think of.

Almighty Fucking Alpha. Whatever. I may be the almighty alpha but I was also the only wolf without a mate. Imprinting, rare? No freaking way was it rare.

Did I want a 'mate'?

Yes.

No.

No, forget that. What I wanted was a wife, a lover and confidante... A best friend, I wanted someone to look after and be looked after by.

Had I tried? No, not really, but I wanted it none-the-less. For ten years I had been encouraged, hounded, paraded for and paraded to by every Native American woman in existence, of that I was sure. That was without counting all the women that threw themselves at me whenever they met me, elbow deep in car oil, cleaning out a septic tank, I could be doing anything and they didn't care. Literally I could be doing anything, anywhere and it didn't matter. I could get a response from every woman I came into contact with, at times I had thought about abusing that but I honestly wasn't that interested.

I'm not being egotistical about it, it's the truth, I thought that it must have been something to do with the wolf, my Alpha blood running through my veins or something; it must omit a pheromone of some sort. Obviously being six foot seven and two hundred and eighty five pounds of rippling muscle had something to do with it but who I was just seemed to help seal the deal, even on a subconscious level women flocked to me, whether it was just because I wasn't imprinted I couldn't be sure anymore. Did anyone's plans to snare me actually work?

Never.

Why? I just couldn't. I always thought of her, my sister as she once said she was. There was no way I looked at her like a sister. You don't share almost kisses and kisses, and touches and just freaking MOMENTS like we did with your sister. Or at least I didn't, I had two sisters so I decided I would know, the second reason, the one that just made everything so much harder was God-forsaken imprinting.

Yes I could mark as many women as I wanted to and being the man I was I would be more than happy to be at there for them for the rest of our existence. It would be nothing unusual for that to happen to the pack but to the outside world, it was a different story all together and I didn't want that. I personally didn't believe in it. Through history it had been normal for the Chief of a tribe to have like five wives or something, it wasn't for me, I only wanted one, I only needed one.

I sure as hell knew the problems that could come from marking a woman before you found your imprint, just so you could get your rocks off. Paul was a perfect example but once he'd done it and they found out about it they all wanted to have a go.

Did I mention I hate it? The whole idea of it, there was no solid foundation for the basic notion of it. It could be anyone, happen at any time, it didn't even mean that they were nice, it was just another choice made for you.

Paul, my now brother in law, due to imprinting. Great isn't it? Paul, the arrogant, rude, panty-chasing, hot-headed ass can't keep his hands off my sister and she's the same with him. She had softened him, a miniscule amount after they imprinted and I couldn't fault the way he was with her, asides from the other women, thankfully none came after he had found her but like they needed to.

It was bad enough that the imprint tied her to him, to La Push, but it tied her to all the other women as well. Around a normal, throw in the gutter woman Paul could keep his cool so long as he could get some but Rachel was always as hot-headed as he was and it still worries me that she could get hurt, accidents happened.

The fact Paul had marked around twenty other women before they imprinted just made things even more strained between them, especially when one of them needed him. It was easy to see Rachel was his and he was hers there was unnecessary tension at times. I didn't want that if I found my imprint.

Paul and Rachel had the whole house and family thing going on, with the cute dog, a good car and jobs but he still was bound to the others. One of them could turn up in the middle of the night and say jump, he would look to Rachel and she would ask 'How high?', it's easy enough for the outside world to say 'Rachel should do this' or 'Rachel should tell him that,' but they were all bound together. If one needed something the others could feel it, only Rachel knew the truth, the other women had no idea and Paul, he certainly felt it. Now it wasn't very Paul like to be thinking and doing for others, he had a tough shell to break especially when it came to women, most of it came from the insecurities placed in him by his own mother but once he had Rachel and realised what he had done... It had taken them both a long time to come to terms with it, even if she didn't blame him for having relationships before her. Now he had chosen them, he was stuck with them. Thankfully most of them lived away from the reservation and several of them didn't know where to find him or what his name was even, he could still find them if he ever needed to.

After seeing this all play out there was no way I was going to go down that road when I knew, I just knew there had to be a woman out there for me, waiting to be discovered. Thank heavens going wolf had stopped me aging because I was certain I was going to end up like that damned leech. A century old virgin. Great, just what I wanted, something in common with that parasite... Maybe fate was having fun with me. Maybe I was the anomaly. Maybe it was because I was Alpha and I was supposed to have lots of mates and more kids. For years we had all thought it was Leah who had been the anomaly but she was happy, ecstatic, and imprinted. She was a mother, a wife, she had a career and she certainly was not a wolf anymore.

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I didn't know how long I'd been sitting on the beach this time but there was now a hole near my right side where I'd been aimlessly throwing stones out into the sea. It must have been a while.

FUCK-MY-LIFE.

I might as well tell you that I was really beginning to feel I was missing out on something. This year seemed so much worse for me, I'd dealt with so much and was getting close to giving up waiting and finding someone, anyone I could settle down with, if I marked someone... They would want to stay with me.

This dude over here. Yea me; the Alpha, Chief to the tribe was not getting any, I was thirty two years old and I just couldn't think about being with anyone, never had... Since her and was really beginning to give up the hope of ever doing so, she wasn't coming back, she wasn't even alive, she wasn't ever interested in me like that.

I was the only one over sixteen years of age to not have imprinted. It was simple, you phase, you control it and then you fall freakishly in love with someone you've never looked twice at before and go on your merry way, usually within the next six months. Surely fate had to be fucking with me.

If my bloodline was so strong why didn't it happen right away? I had even become Alpha with the hopes it would force it along. I must have spent years thinking about it. I thought of it at least two or three times a day once we all realized how normal it was for it to happen, because everything us wolves do is normal.

Damn everyone and everything!

Years ago I'd seen the havoc imprinting had on lives, for all the joy it could bring I still hated it for that. No matter how happy I saw the members of my pack, my family, now in the smallest, darkest, deepest cavern of my heart I secretly, silently wished it had, still might happen for me but ultimately I resented it.

I remember talking to dad about it.

"You'll find her son. She'll come to you."

I simply told him there was no one for me now. The girl I loved, the woman I always would love, the one who held my heart was gone, lost to me forever and she wasn't ever coming back. He just told me to move on then. Like it was that easy...

No matter which way I sliced it imprinting hadn't worked for me, fate, it had fucked up. The God's had shot themselves in the foot because if imprinting didn't exist I wouldn't be alone, she would have been here, alive, with me.

Over the years I'd learnt not to think about what I would be doing now, what we would be doing now, I simply focused on one day to the next.

Sitting on this awful beach, in the rain again, I couldn't help but remember the conversation we'd had sitting here no more than fifty meters from this spot. I had begged, on my knees; telling her it didn't matter, it never would, that she was the only one for me. Ever.

I could see she didn't believe it. Damn me if I'd known about marking then, I would have told her, maybe she would have took the chance then.

"My feelings aside Jake. If I was her and found you should be mine, knowing you were or had been with someone else… ever, you'll find her soon." She didn't say that she didn't love me, not that she loved him more, it wasn't because she'd have to stay here. It was the girl that didn't exist. I remembered her eyes that afternoon, I saw how she had considered it, considered us and then I saw the hurt, she couldn't take the chance of becoming second to someone else. I'd have never let that happen. She had always been my everything, she always would be.

The first few years the guys thought I was pitiful, they didn't even try to hide their thoughts from me, they believed things would pick up, that I was stupid for not taking anyone until I found my imprint but after she had spoken to me I couldn't, because she was right, if this girl existed I just wanted her. Though, now, I knew if she was out there, if she existed I would have found her by now or she would have found me.

The day that was her would-be twenty first Birthday was also the day the packs had become one, the day Sam stepped back to the shadows was the first time they tried. At a club. The perfect place to find the woman you should be with, or so they thought. Damn me if they knew me at all they'd have trolled round classic car shows instead. Yea they really didn't think about that one. All of them but Quil encouraged it, fucking traitor.

Why? Because he believed that my 'soul mate' was someone's daughter, granddaughter, someone that hadn't been born yet! That I would find my Claire, even joked that it was their daughter.

Pffftt!

Ass hole!

Fuck this, I'm piss wet through. Nothing ever fucking changed.

Getting up I walked a little.

She isn't here on this beach, with me celebrating her birthday, she was probably fucking that leech, on an expensive, useless bed, in a huge fucking mansion somewhere where the sun she loved so much, the heat she'd longed for when she first came here was nowhere in sight.

Picking up a large green stone I launched it into the sea.

She loved this fucking place.

She loved me.

I loved her.

Without all this fucked up mythological BULLSHIT she WOULD be here with me. We would probably have kids, a house, anything she fucking wanted. I'd have given her everything.

FUCK-MY-LIFE!

I collapsed back onto the sand, arms out stretched to the side, rain pounding on my bare chest, hair sticking to my shoulders and face. I didn't give a shit.

She's not fucking coming back.

She's DEAD.

She's one of them!

Stretching my arms out in frustration I groaned.

If only I could move on!

That hurt, I closed my eyes, thankful for my years of self-control. I didn't want to move on, this way I still held the smallest part of her that I could. Feeling the tremors through my body my wolf tried to push toward my surface, begging to break free. I wouldn't let him, not now; I was so done with this.

How long I lay I had no idea, just breathing, eventually I noticed the rain had stopped. It was still overcast–Good. The sun shouldn't shine on days like today.

Pulling myself together I tried to rid myself of the fog in my head as I heard a howl.

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