A/N: Sober by P!nk
Apologies spelling, grammar and OOCness
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters
"Home sweet home." Eric said with a strained laugh as he stepped aside so Jacob could walk in, his blush went one shade deeper as the Quileute brushed up against him when he slipped inside. But Jacob barely even noticed, despite the fact that he was soaking wet from the pouring rain and completely naked to boot, but then again Jacob didn't really care about much at that point.
Eric quickly closed the door and ducked his head down as he walked around the other teen, flipping on switches as he walked through the house and Jacob followed. The shorter teen paused for a moment beside an arch way leading to one of the rooms that Eric had just switched on, just barely lifting his gaze as he gestured towards it with a slight wave of his hand.
"You can-uhm-sit in the kitchen, my mom's still on her shift so she won't be back till later." Jacob walked over to stand beside the other teen to look in the room letting his eyes sweep over the kitchen, going over everything from the tiny kitchen table with the miss matched chairs to the white four plate stove in the corner of the room without thinking much about the room at all. Eric's house didn't look like much but then again neither did his.
"I'll… go get the medical kit." Eric said as he left the room as quickly as his legs would carry him while Jacob just walked over to the kitchen table and made to sit down on the chair nearest to the window just over the kitchen sink, when it occurred to him that he was still very naked and very wet so he opted to just stand by the window instead, watching as the rain came down heavily outside on the deserted street while thunder roared and lightning flashed brightly across the cloudy sky.
He isn't entirely sure what he's doing here, at Eric's house in the middle of the night. In all honesty this is probably the last place that Jacob thought he'd end up after he phased and tore through the forest. But at the same time he wasn't in any kind of hurry to leave either. Despite the fact that he barely knows Eric, Jacob was somewhat grateful for his company since he really doesn't want to be alone tonight. The fact that he barely knew Eric actually made him feel a bit better about the whole situation.
He's an outsider. He doesn't know about the wolves or the vampires or the stupid fucking love triangle bullshit that Jacob's been dealing with ever since Bella moved into town. Unlike the entire reservation, Eric doesn't know how Jacob's been running after Bella like a love sick puppy, letting her string him along even though deep down he knew that she would never want him.
Eric doesn't know about any of it. So he won't give Jacob that same pitying glance he gets from Billy and Sue every time he walks into the room after going to see Bella or glare and growl at him in annoyance the way most of the pack does whenever he phases and they catch him thinking about her. Eric doesn't know and Jacob really doesn't want to be alone tonight so this basically made the human teen the perfect person to spend the night with in his moment of deep distress. So when Eric found him walking down the vacant road in his birthday suit in the pouring rain and offered him a ride home, Jacob accepted but asked that the teen not take him back to the reservation.
He just wasn't up to seeing anyone in La Push just yet, not after what happened.
As for why Jacob was walking around in the rain naked in the first place, well the answer is quite simple.
He imprinted on Edward Cullen.
How did that happen?
Well, Jacob was at Bella's arguing with Bella because she just wouldn't fucking listen when he tried to tell her that Edward wasn't the right choice for her. Edward showed up and Jacob locked eyes with the telepath for the very first time since that night at the dance before he became a wolf.
He imprinted and freaked out, phased and ran into the woods and Edward followed for some unfathomable reason. He caught up to the shifter, forced him to stop and read his mind, inevitably leading to Edward finding out about the imprint. The vampire was shocked beyond all comprehension just staring at the shifter in complete disbelief before he finally spoke.
"I'm sorry Jacob, but I can't return your feelings. I love Bella and only Bella."
With that the vampire turned back and left.
Feelings.
Jacob didn't know what he was feeling.
He phased back after Edward forced him to stop, having realized that he was not ready to share his mind with the pack when he wasn't even sure what the hell was going on in his own head in the first place. So when Edward left he was just standing there, completely naked and not caring about it either.
He just kept running the vampire's words over and over again in his head. That look of confusion, shock and then complete terror at the wolf's revelation. Confusion, shock and terror. Confusion because he didn't understand, shock when he started to understand and terror when the full implication behind his understanding fully set in.
Jacob had no idea how to feel about that.
He just imprinted.
He should be happy.
But he imprinted on a vampire and not just any vampire, he imprinted on Edward Cullen. The same Cullen that kept messing with Bella's life.
So maybe he should've felt… angry? Sad? Upset?
Yeah upset.
But Jacob didn't know how he felt, if anything he just sort of felt hollow and he wasn't exactly sure why.
Maybe it's because he finally imprinted on someone, but it wasn't on Bella the way he's hoped it would be since he first found out about his shifter heritage. Maybe it's because he imprinted on a vampire, a male vampire that he hated or thought he hated.
Whatever it was left Jacob feeling empty.
At some point after Edward left, Jacob started walking, he isn't sure when or why he started doing that. The vampires words just kept coming back to him over and over again and Jacob kept thinking the scene over in his head over and over again. Eventually it started raining and Jacob found himself walking down the side of the road at ten o'clock at night with absolutely no idea as to how he got there but not really caring much about it either. That's when Eric found him, managed to get him into his shitty little Honda and offered him a ride home. Jacob refused to go home. Somehow through the confusion he managed to remember the fact that he wasn't ready to go home to the rez just yet. He couldn't face his father or Sam or the pack, since he knew they'd find out about what happened eventually and Jacob wouldn't know how to deal with them once they did.
For the moment Jacob wanted to pull himself together and get his brain back in working order. So he convinced Eric to take him somewhere else instead.
That's how they ended up at his house.
"So, I found some extra clothes." Eric suddenly said causing the shifter to look up and find him standing by the kitchen table while the teen did all he could to avoid looking directly at him as he set a first aid kit down on the table held out the bundle on material in his hands. "They used to be my Dad's and he was pretty big, I figured that they should fit."
"Thanks." Jacob said as he took the clothes, taking a moment to hold out the sweat pants and get a look at them before pulling them on and did the same with the t-shirt only to pause when Eric spoke.
"Hang on." The teen said as he reached out to open the first aid kit, "We should probably take care of those wounds first."
"Wounds?" Jacob frowned looking down at himself when he finally noticed the cuts bleeding out over his skin in random places. He must've gotten scratched at some point; in the woods maybe?
It didn't really matter, they'll probably heal themselves in the next hour but he couldn't tell Eric that.
"Uh, sit down." Eric said awkwardly as he pushed the chair nearest to Jacob out a little and Jacob just walked over and sat down while Eric pulled one of the other chairs closer and sat down as well, searching through the first aid kit while Jacob just watched him as he set out the supplies moved a little closer and started cleaning the wounds, starting with the ones on his arms.
"I'm sorry Jacob, but I can't return your feelings. I love Bella and only Bella."
Jacob couldn't stop thinking the leech's words over in his head.
Leech? Vampire…
Edward, it's Edward. Edward Cullen.
Even through all of his confusion, Jacob knew that he wouldn't be able to think of the other man as a leech or a parasite no matter how badly he wanted to.
He couldn't help but think about Edward's words over and over again in his head. Edward said that he was sorry, that much Jacob could believe. He could hear the regret in the vampire's voice as it washed over his ears and filled his mind. He believes that Edward really was sorry. Then Edward said that he couldn't return Jacob's feeling because he loves Bella and only Bella and that's where Jacob's mind keeps getting a little stuck.
Edward said that he couldn't accept his feelings. But Jacob didn't know what he was feeling, he just knows that he imprinted that's all. There's no concrete way of knowing once you've imprinted once you do all you can do is wait for something to change. For the imprintee to suddenly just be different in your eyes, for you to suddenly just see them for the first time, for you to try and deny you felt anything only for the imprint to start raining all of its unholy unforgiving fury on you.
Sam said that when he imprinted on Emily he wasn't really sure what happened. He remembers seeing things in her eyes, tons of things. Memories that hadn't happened yet, fantasies of how he hoped things between them could someday be, but it all happened too quickly for him to really understand at first. That's why it was so easy to ignore at first. Why he could keep on pretending that nothing between him and Emily and Leah had changed. But the longer he stayed around Emily, the sooner he realized that something had changed. Every time she was close he felt more complete than when it was just him and Leah but still he could manage to deny that anything had changed. But then Emily announced that she was going to leave and go back home. She was only in La Push for a short visit after all. The fact that she suddenly felt different around Sam, her cousin's fiancé Sam, only strengthened her resolve and she was determined to leave. Unfortunately Sam's wolf hadn't reacted well to the news which is when the imprint kicked in hard.
He wasn't able to deny it after that.
He told Leah and predictably Leah flipped but he tried to reassure her, just cause he imprinted on Emily didn't mean that he would ever leave Leah for her cousin right? After all, the imprinter could only be what the imprintee wanted them to be, as long as they stayed close to one another the details of their relationship were somewhat irrelevant. Unfortunately Sam hadn't known that Emily had any kind of romantic feelings for him at the time so he was all set to try that whole let's just be friends thing but of course it didn't last.
It took a while for Sam to figure out exactly what it was that he felt. About a whole month just to figure out exactly what it was that happened to him when looked into Emily's eyes for the first time.
"I can't return your feelings", he said.
Exactly how does Edward know what Jacob is feeling when he isn't even sure himself.
For a moment Jacob felt a spark of anger rush right through him at the thought that the lee-vampire… Edward had suddenly taken it upon himself to decide exactly what it is that Jacob was feeling before deciding that whatever that was, he didn't want it.
So what just because he reads minds that suddenly makes him an expert on what people want as well?
But as soon as that spark lit it just as quickly fizzled out, because feeling angry at Edward for any reason just felt… wrong.
"Uhm so," Jacob was pulled from his thoughts when Eric suddenly spoke, with a light blush dusting his cheeks and avoiding all eye contact as he put a Band-Aid on cut on the shifter's upper arm near his elbow before staring on the next one. Somehow he didn't even notice the sting of the gauze as Eric cleaned the wounds. "Do you mind if I ask what you were doing on the highway, in the middle of the rain…" Eric gestured around Jacob as his blush got just a little bit darker before he continued, "I mean you were a little far from the reservation."
Jacob couldn't even find it in himself to feel embarrassed about the state that the other teen had found him in, "I was thinking."
"In the rain?"
"I didn't realize it was raining." Jacob answered evenly and Eric paused to look up at him for a moment before he continued to clean the wound, "Must've been some thought."
Jacob gave a humorless snort, "You have no idea."
"Wanna talk about it?"
The shifter paused to look at the human as he continued to clean the wounds and close them and he realized that he really did want to talk about it, but he wasn't sure how to start. Eric didn't know about the wolves and the vampires and Bella and… Edward and Jacob wanted it to stay that way. He could wait until he got back to the rez and talk about it with Sam, but Jacob wasn't ready to have that talk just yet.
I mean, how do you tell your alpha that you not only imprinted on a male vampire, but that you imprinted on the same male vampire that's brought nothing but trouble and bullshit into your life from day fucking one. Although Jacob could admit that the Cullens were never really a problem, from what he understood from even before he phased the first for the first time even Sam didn't really have any issues with the vampires. They always stuck to the treaty, never started a fight and their coven leader always seemed very eager to help out whenever there was some kind of issue on the reservation, even though the Quileute's always refused any and all help that he tried to offer them.
The trouble didn't start up until Bella moved into town.
That's when the shit really hit the fan, that's when he started hating the Cullens even before he'd even properly met them and that's when trouble started picking up in Forks and La Push. It's at that thought that Jacob wondered if only briefly what things might have been like if Bella hadn't moved into town. If they'd just continued on as they were and Jacob eventually phased and met them for the first time, would he have hated Edward as much as he does-used to hate him?
Eric reached over the table to start on Jacob's other arm and the wolf shifted a bit in his seat so Eric could have better access, for the moment uncaring of the fact that he and Eric weren't really even friends and that they've mostly just run into each other a few times and that's how they knew one another.
"I mean you don't have to tell me if you don't want to-"
"I did something I shouldn't have done." Jacob said interrupting the other teen causing Eric to look up for a brief moment, "What do you mean?"
"I think I want someone I shouldn't."
"Ohkay." Eric said he looked away to busy himself with the cuts again. "Who do you want?"
Jacob gave the shorter teen a look and Eric realized that he wasn't going to answer that question.
"Let me rephrase; why shouldn't you want this person?"
Jacob said nothing for a moment, trying to figure out exactly why he shouldn't like Edward, you know besides the fact that he's a bloodsu-… vampire.
"His family and mine don't get along." Jacob said looking out the window at the pouring rain completely missing how Eric's head snapped up and he stared at the shifter with wide eyes before he stuttered out, "H-His family?!"
Jacob barely even batted an eye, "Besides he's with someone else, he says he loves her."
"I-… wow-uhm," Eric fumbled with his words; the teen took a deep breath to gather his words before swallowing hard as he tried to pick up where he left off on one of the smaller cuts near Jacob's left wrist. "Did you tell him that you like him?"
"No."
"Ohkay-"
"He figured it out, himself."
"Oh."
Jacob's head gave a tilt, "He said he doesn't feel the same way."
"I'm sorry man that-that sucks." Eric said trying to sound supportive even though the shock was still very evident in his voice and he couldn't help but glance up at the taller teen, "Maybe you're better off."
"I don't think so."
"Why not?"
"I'll die without him."
Because that's how imprints are supposed to work, if your imprint rejects or leaves you then you die. Either from months of prolonged separation or immediate rejection depending on how the imprintee decided to reject them, he can't survive without his imprint once he finds it and therefore he will get sick and die at some point, because that's how imprints work.
Eric gave a strained laugh, "That's a little dramatic don't you think? I mean, how long have you even known this guy?"
Jacob shrugged, "A couple of months."
"And how long since you realized that you like him?"
Jacob glanced up at the clock on the kitchen wall before thinking back to the fight he had with Bella a few hours ago when he ran into the leech. He left the rez at four, that should make it more or less-
"Seven hours."
"Very funny." Eric said with a snort only to be answered by nothing but silence and he found Jacob still staring out the window and he almost gaped, "Jesus… you're serious? If it's only been seven hours then how can you even really be sure that you like him?"
Jacob's head tilted a little more, "I just do."
"Well how did you feel about him before?"
"I hated him." Jacob answered without a beat and Eric just stared back at him incredulously, "You hated him. And now what, you just don't?"
Jacob's eyes drifted down to the teen who had turned his gaze away to start fiddling with the supplies all over again before leaning in to start on a scratch on his torso just below his ribs, "Yeah."
"And what does he have now that he didn't have seven hours ago."
"Nothing."
"Nothing?!"
And that's the truth.
The imprint doesn't do anything to create false traits to add to the appeal of the imprint all it does is draw your attention to things you may not have noticed before and enhances them, it draws you towards a person. Makes it seem like their scent is better than you first realized and shows you the things that might make that person seem more attractive in turn doing the same to the other person. The purpose of the imprint, Jacob once heard Old Quil say was to find the person best suited and most compatible to create strong off spring with. So they'd make the person more desirable for the wolf and the wolf more desirable to the person and then makes that desire endure. Of course Sam would later dispute this and swear to the other theory that the Quileute's hypothesized could be a reason for the imprint. He said that imprints are soul connections and that the imprint allowed you to find your soul mate.
After Jacob imprinted on Edward he noticed things he hadn't really noticed before. He noticed how incredibly enticing Edward's voice was where as Jacob found the vampires voices to be one of the most grating sounds on the face of the earth, regardless of whichever bloodsucker he just happened to speak to. He noticed how beautiful Edward's skin was despite the fact that he'd always been disgusted by the unnaturally pale and inhumanly flawless skin since it just made it that much more apparent that the undead beings didn't belong in the land of the living. He realized that Edward's honey gold eyes were gorgeous despite the fact that Jacob had always hated the unnatural color of vampire eyes before. He realized that Edward's scent was a breath taking mix of honey and lavender where it used to smell like Sulfur, bleach and sometimes road kill before.
It was then that Jacob realized that he hadn't really hated any of these things before he became a wolf. On one occasion when he was sick and his father took him to Forks and he met Carlisle Cullen, he never really thought anything bad about the doctor. In fact Jacob thought that he was very handsome, even thought that his voice sounded nice. But that all changed after he became a shifter. After he phased all of that disappeared and it was like a rose colored tint that had always covered his eyes before had suddenly just broken into thousands of tiny little pieces, leaving him with nothing but the cold hard reality of vampire flesh and stench.
So what changed with Edward?
Nothing and yet somehow everything.
It's like somehow his senses just went back to what they were like before he became a wolf or maybe, maybe he was just seeing things the way that Bella saw them. Jacob almost laughed, she'd probably be happy to know that he was finally seeing things her way, although she probably wouldn't feel that way if she found out why he's suddenly had a change of heart.
"Why do you like him?" Eric asked and Jacob shrugged, "I'm not sure."
"You're not making any sense, Jacob." Eric said with a shake of his head, "You know, I thought something was wrong when I found you out on the high way but no… Nearly gave me a friggin' heart attack cause of some guy you don't even really like."
Jacob gave a snort, "I don't get it either."
The next cut that Eric cleaned stung a bit and Jacob hissed quietly, almost seeming to come back to himself. It was just below his collar bone so Eric had to move even closer to the other to get a good look and Jacob could see him a little bit better.
"Next time you decide to lose it over some guy go for a walk with some clothes on, instead of walking around naked like a crazy person."
Jacob gave a snort at that but kept his eyes on the teen as he finished up. Eric's eyes weren't black the way that Jacob thought they were but a very very dark brown, he had the faintest sprinkle of freckles under each eye and surprisingly long black eye lashes. His skin was pale but not inhumanly pale like a vampire's since the shifter could see the faint tint of red in his cheeks under the faintest stubble on his face, maybe from a day old shave. Pretty pink lips, Jacob realized as he continued to stare at the teen and suddenly he found himself comparing Eric to Edward. Edward whose eyes were a brilliant bright gold and had pale skin devoid of any signs of human life, his lips looked different from Eric's and his features weren't as soft as Eric's either but he was still beautiful. Eric was beautiful too, but in a simple human way that Jacob could've easily found himself falling in love with before all of this happened. The shifter couldn't help but wonder how things might have turned out if he'd noticed Eric more. If he's stopped chasing after Bella and turned his attention on someone else; what would have happened? If he'd gone to all the parties that Jessica Stanley had invited him to, spent more time around other teenagers like Eric, normal humans with normal lives that weren't constantly getting him involved in loads of unnecessary bullshit. What if he just hadn't gone to Bella's house that afternoon, if he hadn't seen Edward that day? How simple would things have been for him then?
Granted, with him being a shifter he'd still have to deal with the vampires at some point and maybe he might've still imprinted on Edward anyway. But what if he didn't, what if he'd met someone else instead? Someone that he could've been with, someone that wasn't a vampire or shifter or human singer obsessed with her hunter. What if he met someone who was just normal? Why couldn't he just be with someone normal, someone who could maybe love him back?
Eric had just pulled away to toss the last piece of gauze onto the table when Jacob suddenly moved, gently taking the teen's chin into his hand and keeping him still, causing Eric to just stare back at him in surprise.
"Jacob, what're you-"
"Why didn't I imprint on you?" Jacob asked quietly and Eric stared back at him in confusion as he made to pull free from the taller teen's grasp, "Imprint? What are you talking about?"
The next moment Eric tensed and his eyes went wide when Jacob suddenly leaned in and pressed a soft kiss onto his lips, drawing out a shocked gasp from the teen, before he quickly braced his hands on Jacob's shoulders to push him away.
Jacob wasn't sure why he did it, the episode with Edward earlier in the woods just left him feeling so empty that he just wanted to try and feel something, feel something that would make that awful feeling of hollowness that the telepath left him with just ease up just a bit.
"What're you doing?!" Eric all but shrieked in shock, Jacob couldn't help but snort at the deep flush burning under the teen's skin, the way he lifted his hand up to his lips in shock like he couldn't believe what just happened, the way his eyes went wide, with the pupil disappearing somewhere in those dark dark brown depths and suddenly-
Something inside of him just ripped.
Something inside of his chest tore apart and Jacob let out a scream of pain as he clutched at his chest and fell over right off of his chair hitting the linoleum floors hard.
"Jacob?! Jacob what's wrong?" Jacob could just barely hear the human over the white noise that rang loudly in his ears and barely feel the human's hand on his skin as the pain continued to rip right through his body as something in him ripped itself to shreds.
"ARGH!" Jacob screamed again as he writhed on the floor, curled up tightly in a ball as his body went tense.
"Jacob! Shit, shit shit…"
And that's when he finally felt something snap.
Earlier that day when he imprinted on Edward, he felt the same kind of break inside of him as his soul detached itself from the world and bound itself to Edward, making the vampire the center of his universe. But now those same threads are breaking again, this time breaking away from Edward. Those steel cables snapped and broke and all he could feel was pain, everything ached and burned, Jacob felt like he was being burnt alive.
"Jacob!" Jacob could hear someone calling in the distance, a voice he's heard before and right at that moment his wolf suddenly howled in his chest. A howl of pain and despair, of deep longing. Jacob somehow found the strength to open his eyes where he saw Eric staring at him in panic as he tried to get the other teen's attention.
"Jake! Are you O.K? C'mon man, say something."
And just like that everything went still.
"Jacob?"
Jacob could hear his wolf whine softly inside of him as he just stared back into the human's eyes and everything felt calm. That's when the first cable locked into place with a force so strong that it knocked the air right out of Jacob's lungs and he gasped, releasing his grasp on his chest to turn over onto his side. Then came another and then another. He could feel the binds connecting him and the human, filling him with the desire to stay close to him, protect and love him. Visions went past his eyes in rapid succession none of which Jacob could really see let alone remember clearly he could just see Eric in all of them. His very existence bound to the raven haired teen beside him as the cables continued to attach themselves to him holding the wolf down and keeping him grounded. All except for one.
One thread hadn't broken, it stayed fixed and locked tight onto something else, onto someone else, although Jacob could barely remember who that person was let alone why he should care. All that matters now is Eric.
"Jacob!" the ringing in his ears stopped and the pain in his body eased. Jacob took in deep gasping breaths to get his heart back under control when he felt a hand on his face. The most comforting touch placed on his cheek turning the Quileute's gaze back up to the figure hovering above him in concern. Dark dark brown eyes stared back at him in fear and shock and Jacob wanted nothing more than to comfort him.
"What happened? Why were you screaming?"
For one perfect moment Jacob took the human in and couldn't help but let out a sigh as he reached out to cradle Eric's face in his hand as he spoke.
"God, you're beautiful."
Eric's flush went three shades darker and he just paused as he stared back at the shifter in confusion.
"Jacob, are you feeling O.K?"
The shifter moved to sit up a little more and Eric moved back a bit to give him some more room but Jacob still hadn't removed his hand, now stroking the teen's cheek as he smiled. "Never better."
Eric frowned, "Are you sure cause-"
Eric was cut off when Jacob suddenly kissed him again, this time pulling the human close, right up against his chest to give him a bruising kiss and Eric tensed all over again lifting his arms to push the shifter away when something inside of him just gave in and he kissed the other teen back, despite his confusion it felt too good to pull away but he knew that he had to-
"Wait." Eric gasped once he got a little distance between them Jacob couldn't help but let out a whine of protest but still let the older teen have a little distance for himself as he spoke, "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? Y-You just kissed me. Twice!"
Jacob's face fell, "Didn't you like it?"
Eric somehow managed to flush a little more, "I-no-I don't… what about the other guy?"
"What other guy?"
"The one with the girlfriend. The one who rejected you?" Jacob suddenly felt something dull ache in his chest as the memory of his earlier imprint came back to him, but that feeling was easily smothered and forced away by the new one, "He doesn't matter."
"He doesn't matter?"
"Not anymore."
Eric just stared back at Jacob for a moment before he let out a sigh and tried to pull out of the shifter's grasp, "You're confused."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are and I'm not going to be your rebound till you finally manage to figure out what's going on in your head and what you actually want. I've been down this road with other girls before Jacob I'm not doing that again." Eric said trying to tug out of Jacob's grasp only for the wolf to hold him still, "You're not my rebound."
"Yeah right-"
"I mean it."
"Yeah? What's changed in the past hour to suddenly make you like me that way?" Eric asked in frustration and Jacob could tell that the human was getting upset, old rejections and past relationships were wearing on him Jacob could tell and his sudden interest wasn't helping. Jacob's wolf whined in sorrow wanting to comfort his imprint but not knowing how to do so without aggravating the situation since Jacob insisting on his sudden change of feelings wouldn't help.
But he desperately wanted to tell Eric about his imprint, he wanted to say something to make the teen feel better. But how on earth would he get Eric to believe him?
Jacob let go of Eric and the teen let out a sigh as the younger got up off the floor only to gasp in surprise when Jacob suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him up to his feet as well, dragging him towards the front door.
"Jacob, where are we going?"
It was a bad idea, a horrible idea in fact.
But in his imprint high state of mind Jacob just couldn't think of any other way to convince Eric of his feelings. Despite the fact that Jacob wasn't entirely sure of his feelings either.
After Edward's earlier rejection, Jacob felt himself desperate to make this, whatever this was work. Even if he and Eric just ended up as friends once all was said and done, at least he'd still have his imprint, at least he'd be allowed to stay close. He needed this to work.
That desperation drove Jacob to pull Eric out with him onto the front porch, take off the sweats that the older teen had lent him and walked back out into the rain to stand a few feet away on the lawn in front of the house. It was dark, and raining and much too late for anyone to be out, with none of the lights in the houses on the street on and just the street lights illuminating the stormy night.
Eric flushed when Jacob suddenly pulled his pants down and went back into the rain.
"Oh my God, please don't tell me you're a nudist with some kind of rain fetish."
Jacob laughed, that hollow feeling in his chest seeming to be a distant memory. "No I'm not."
"Then what-"
"I'm going to show you something, but you have to promise not to tell anyone and to let me explain once I'm done."
Eric folded his arms across his chest looking but not really looking at Jacob, "I'm pretty sure I've already seen everything you have to give. Now just get back in here before someone sees some crazy hot naked guy on my front lawn and calls the cops."
Jacob paused, "You think I'm hot?"
Eric flushed, "Jacob-"
"Eric promise."
"Alright fine, I promise, just hurry up." Eric let out an exasperated sigh and Jacob tried to get his imprint addled mind under control and ignore the fact that said imprint thought he was hot, trying to tap into his reserves of anger and frustration. Only for nothing to happen.
"O.K are you done now?" Eric asked as he rubbed his arms for warmth and Jacob decided to focus on a different feeling instead, happiness and joy, the excitement of showing his imprint his wolf form and the phase came almost instantly.
His bones broke apart and came back together again as his body deformed in a split second and large russet wolf was left standing in the pouring rain as lighting flashed and thunder roared just then. The wolf looked up at its imprint beyond excited to see what reaction he'd get.
Eric's reaction took a few seconds to kick in but once it did his eyes went wide and he screamed.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Three weeks.
Edward hasn't seen head or tail of Jacob.
At all.
Not that he's complaining mind you, no, after the imprinting incident three weeks ago Edward was grateful for the lack of contact between himself and the shifter.
He knew a little about imprinting, how it worked and how people tended to change once they had imprinted, so he knew what would be in store for him and Jacob if he let the situation persist so he decided to end it all before things got out of hand since nothing good could ever come of Jacob imprinting on him. Not when Edward loved Bella and not when Jacob was a shifter whereas Edward was a vampire. It didn't even make sense for Jacob to be able to imprint on him in the first place anyway, so it was all for the best right. Besides he heard the stories circulating among the shifter about the imprint between Sam and Emily, how it destroyed his relationship with Leah and caused the girl so much hurt and pain. Of course if you applied that scenario to Edward, Bella and Jacob then Jacob would have been the one getting hurt instead of Bella and Edward really wanted to avoid harming the shifter.
He didn't really hate Jacob, contrary to popular belief, or at least not as much as everyone thought so he didn't want to harm the shifter but he couldn't let Jacob jeopardize his relationship with Bella either. So he immediately put a stop to the problem before it could get any worse.
Of course Edward knows that imprints are meant to be eternal, that they didn't just go away, but Edward hoped that his rejecting the shifter might have at least given Jacob some closure. That he understood that things would not work out and that Jacob would eventually move on.
But he hasn't seen Jacob since that day in the woods and Bella hasn't seen him either, which is where the real concern came in since the girl was worried about her friend and what was going on. Edward didn't tell her what happened, he said that Jacob managed to get back onto the reservation before he could catch up to him and he didn't know what happened, after all it wouldn't do to make her worry over something that he'd already put a stop to. So Bella called Jacob on the phone, the shifter would answer her calls but they were always short and clipped and Jacob always seemed like he was just too busy to talk, which was a stark contrast to how they'd spent all their time together before and how Jacob always had time for her. Bella worried that maybe Jacob was upset with her over what happened even when the shifter insisted that everything was fine. Edward couldn't help but wonder if he was the reason that Jacob wasn't hanging around Bella anymore. Again, Edward wasn't complaining, it's not like he wanted to see the mutt anyway he was just curious as to why he suddenly stopped visiting Bella.
Edward watched from a far as Bella talked to Jessica just a few minutes after the school bell rang, giving a snort as he leaned back against the lockers as he watched Bella try and fail to politely excuse herself from the girl's ramblings, until she eventually made up some excuse about homework and made her way back over to the telepath.
Edward smiled, "Done?"
Bella let out a sigh as she brushed her hair back behind her ear, "Yeah, finally. That took forever." Edward smiled as he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on Bella's forehead, careful to hold his breath before he pulled back and the girl smiled.
"C'mon lets go."
They both turned towards the exit when he suddenly felt Alice move in beside him, Bella jumped in surprise.
"Alice, you scared me." Bella breathed out a sigh and Alice gave her an apologetic smile before she turned to her brother. "Sorry Bella."
"Edward." The psychic said causing Edward to look down at his sister and frown at the anxiety in her eyes, "Maybe you should go out through the back."
The telepath frowned, when Bella spoke, "Why is something wrong?"
"No… it's just. You both disappear once you go out through the front entrance. I can see you both a little after that but…" Alice trailed off but Edward could still hear her thoughts.
'Something's wrong once you do, Bella seems fine but you're upset. You won't feed and you won't leave your room, this goes on for days.'
"Why do we disappear in the first place?" Edward asked and Alice paused, "Can't you smell it?"
Honestly, Edward hadn't been paying too much attention to his surroundings, so he took a deep breath and caught the scent of rain, forest and earth a scent he hasn't caught since three weeks ago the last time he saw Jacob. He saw Alice's nose wrinkle in distaste and realized that her perception of the smell was much different.
"A shifter?" Edward said quietly but Bella still heard him and the girl started to frown. "Shifter… Jake!" the girl gasped as she broke away from the two and hurried towards the exit. Alice tried to stop her but didn't want to draw too much attention to them while Edward just froze for a moment at the knowledge that Jacob was outside the school right at that moment, before forcing himself to just turn around and catch up to Bella. They reached the doors at the same time and Bella stepped out into the parking lot.
As Alice said Jacob was out in the parking lot leaning against his bike as he fiddled with his phone while glancing up at the school every few seconds.
Edward noticed that Jacob looked… nice, not overly so but in a way that showed that he actually put in some effort. The Quileute wore a white t-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans with a black jacket set on the seat of the bike, obviously fiddled with his hair and Edward could smell the aftershave coming off of the shifter's skin.
He looked good.
"Jake!" Bella called as she ran up to the shifter and Jacob looked up with a smile, standing up straight to accept the hug that the girl offered him but not holding on and lingering he way that he used to a few weeks ago.
Jacob was different.
Edward couldn't help but wonder if this change in the shifter was the imprints doing and he immediately began to worry as to why Jacob suddenly decided to show up at school of all places. The telepath moved closer and tried to get a read on Jacob's thoughts but they were guarded and Edward couldn't get much other than the fact that Jacob thought it was nice to see Bella again.
"Hey Bells, long time no see." Jacob said as he pulled back and Bella frowned, "Yeah and whose fault was that?"
"We've talked on the phone."
"Yeah but you always seem so distracted and we haven't hung out in such a long time." Bella sighed, "I wanted to talk about what happened, the last time with-"
"It's fine, don't worry about it." Jacob said easily when his eyes darted up towards the telepath and an indefinable look came onto his face, "You don't need to apologize."
"Really?"
"Yeah really," Jacob said looking the telepath right in the eye when he spoke, despite the fact that he was talking to Bella, "You made your choice and I've made peace with it. I've moved on."
Edward felt something in his chest tug at that while Bella gave a strained smile as she looked up at Jacob, "You have?"
"Yeah," Jacob said as he returned his gaze to the girl, "I imprinted."
Edward froze.
"T-That's great, Jake. I'm so happy for you." Bella said moving in for one more hug. "Wait is that why you're here, is it someone from Forks? Who is she?" the girl was tense, both Jacob and Edward could tell that she was worried that Jacob may have possibly imprinted on her.
Jacob gave a snort as he let her go, "Don't worry, it's not you."
"I wasn't-…" The girl started to flush, "It just would have complicated things if it were. So you didn't come here to see me?"
"No," Jacob said looking Edward dead in the eye all over again and a feeling of dread washed over him until the shifter finished, "I didn't come here to see either of you."
And suddenly Edward was confused, but Bella apparently felt the same way as the girl just frowned, "Then who-"
"Jake? What are you doing here?" a voice suddenly called prompting all three to turn and find Eric Yorkie heading towards them. All at once Edwards mind was bombarded with thoughts from Jacob about nothing and no one except for Eric and the telepath's eyes went wide.
A beaming smile broke out over Jacob's face and he ran up to meet the older teen, Bella's eyes went wide and Edward just stared when Jacob wrapped his arms around the shorter teen and gave him a deep kiss.
Eric let out a yelp of surprise before he leaned into it with a moan before he suddenly remembered himself and pulled away when Mike let out a loud wolf whistle near the school's entrance and a few of the other students laughed. Eric pulled away and Jacob seemed to let out a growl of annoyance causing the teen to blush as he slowly eased himself out of Jacob's grasp.
"I'm never going to hear the end of this." The teen sighed, "What are you doing here?"
Jacob shrugged, "There's a bon fire on the rez tonight, some of the council members from the tribe want to meet you so I figured I could come pick you up early and we could spend some time together just the two of us."
"You could've given me a little warning."
"I wanted to surprise you."
Eric sighed, "Fine, it's probably a good thing that I didn't drive to school today, huh?"
"Ready to go?" Jacob asked and Eric nodded as the shifter led him back to the bike where Bella and Edward still stood.
"Uh, Jake?" The girl asked and Jacob felt himself start to flush before Edward spoke, "He's your imprint."
"They know?" Eric blushed and Jacob just met Edward's gaze as he spoke, "The council says that sometimes when some bonds are corrupted by unnatural elements new ones can be formed. Yeah he's my imprint but, Eric makes me happy, that's all that really matters."
'You should be happy too; I won't be in your way anymore'
"Oh, well that's great Jake, I'm happy for both of you." Bella said and Eric gave a slightly embarrassed smile. "Thanks Bella."
"We should go." Jacob said as he tugged at Eric's side and the human rolled his eyes, "You're so impatient."
"You weren't complaining about it on Monday when I-" Eric quickly reached up to cover Jacob's mouth, Bella giggled and Eric just sighed, "Let's go, right now."
The shifter smirked as he handed Eric one of the helmets hanging off of the handlebars and put the jacket around the human's shoulders before pulling his own helmet over his head and they both climbed on before the bike roared to life.
Edward and Bella just stood there as they watched them drive off until Bella let out a sigh, "Wow, who would've thought. But I guess its better this way. At least he can move on right? Edward?"
The telepath didn't answer. His mind was stuck, as he tried to process what just happened. Caught on the words that Jacob gave him before he left.
'You should be happy too; I won't be in your way anymore.'
Simple, to the point and yet somehow…
Edward couldn't understand a thing.
The end
A/N: Yeah
I'm a little sick of imprint fics where Jacob just always ends up with Edward (despite the fact that I'm always writing them *shrinks down in shame*) but this time I decided to do something a little different.
I'm assuming that imprint fics like this have been done before. I haven't really read any Twilight fics lately so if anyone knows any stories where Jacob imprints on Edward but doesn't end up with him then let me know.
Please review