Reviewed and re-posted at 07/11/2015

Prologue

I sat there, in the darkness, both physically and metaphorically. Psychically I sat almost movingly among the beer cans trying to down out the pain. It didn't work. I was slumped against a wall, ignoring the aching pain in my back as it protested at the position. That pain was meaningless to me know. Alcohol didn't affect me like it once did, so I still felt the unbearable stabbing sensation that struck my heart.

In my mind, I sat in its dark recesses. Pushed back so far that only a string connected me to the physical world. It was a small slither of awareness that was getting smaller and smaller, day by day.

The pain of losing the one you love is unbearable, only those who have suffered the same feeling would understand what my pain was to me. Torture. Torment. Timeless. The pain of having your heart ripped out. The agony of rejection. The sorrow of seeing your reason for living, for fighting, with another man. To know they thought you would never be good enough for them. Now the was real pain.

Why did the fates have to be so cruel? Why did I have a mate that would not love me? Why was I not suppose to have the love that Sam and Emily had?

Was I really that bad of a person that the fates has destined me to be forever miserable? Probably. I know a made a lot of mistakes in the past, but isn't that what they were? 'Past mistakes'. Sure I was... Well, I was an ass, a player... I messed with a girls heart and then, when I got bored I left her out to dry. But did't everyone deserve happiness? I guess not.

Now I spend both my human and wolf days in my own personal hell. There I drown myself in anguish and self pity. And who could blame me? After all I, Paul Lahote, was rejected by my imprint. My soul mate. My other half. Something that has never happen before in the history of their Tribe.

And it hurt. It hurt so much that I could die from the pain for it... and that is what I wanted. To die. To end this miserable thing they called life.

That is... Until I met her.

She became my reason for living. She stubbornly kept me tethered to the Earth. She is my heart. My silver lining. She is my second and my final chance and I am not going to loose her.

My second imprint.

Chapter 1

Bella's POV

On my 18th birthday, after I graduated from school, I had decided that I would go to a College in Washington, Seattle. I had many reasons for this choice, but the main one was my dad. Charlie Swan. I had not seen him in years, not since I was a little girl, and I realise now just how much I regret it now.

You see, my friend Natalie is in the exact same position as me. Her mother and father separated when she was a child. However, Natalie's situation had one big different, her father was now dead. I was there when she was notified and the look of heartbreak and regret was undeniable clear on her face. She had not seen her dad in ten years and now she would only be able to see him once more, a his funeral. The truth is that you never miss someone or something until you find that you are never going to see it again. Natalie now has to live with her regret and I now realise that I could have been in her position. That could have been my father who died without knowing his daughter loved him.

I didn't want that, so while I am studying in Seattle I am going to take every chance I can to see him, even if it is just the two of us watching TV in silence. I would be with him. He was, after all, my father. No matter how much I loved Phil, and how much Renee told me otherwise, he could never fill that gap. You know, that small gap in your heart that longs for your true father to fill. The bit that tells you that he should be the one threatening your boyfriends if they hurt you. Yeah, that's the one.

Renee didn't seem to happy at the idea. I didn't know why she was so against me seeing Charlie, but I was eighteen. She could not tell me what to do, I was an adult, free to make my own decisions in life.

So here I am. On a plane towards Seattle, where my dad would pick me up. I didn't know if I was excited or terrified - maybe it was somewhere in between. My stomach churned uncomfortable, my slightly tanned skin paled and I couldn't stop my knee from bouncing up and down. Every time the fight attendant walked past she would ask if I was okay and I would just smile and say that I was. However, I don't think a was even close to being okay.

As the plane landed, I quickly tried to get out of the stuffy metal container but, of course, everyone else had to same idea. They all stood up, grabbing their carry-on bags and swarmed the door before I had even slung my bag over my shoulder. Suffice to say it took a while to get off.

When I finally got off the plane my eyes searched through the crowds and rain trying to find that barely familiar face I saw in my memories and the odd photographs that Renee had. For a second I felt a spike of fear. Maybe he wasn't hear? What if her forgot? What if he changed his mind and didn't want me to stay anymore?

However my fear were idiotic. In my panic, I searched the crowds again and thankfully saw him standing beside his police cruiser. That was him, I thought as a smile split my face.

"Dad!" I shouted over the chattering and screaming of people who were also rejoicing a their own reunions. Mothers pulled their son's into tight hugs. Girls were wrapped in each others arms squealing, jumping up and down with joy. People looked in my direction, however, I just ignored them.

Then I took off running disastrously toward him. He was older than I remembered, I though as guilt swelling in my chest. His hair was peppered grey with age.

"Bella, good to see you kid," he said, pulling me into an awkward one armed hug.

"I'm not a kid anymore," I snorted in weak protest.

"Bella, you're my daughter. You will be a kid in my eyes until the day I die," he smiled.

I felt my heart jump slightly at the statement, but I forced myself to return his smile warily, before muttering, "Fine. Just don't do that anytime soon."

"What did you say?" Charlie asked as he loaded my things into his car.

"Nothing," I called and hopped into the passenger side seat.

On the rid to Charlie's home, I was determined to make up for lost time. This meant asking a lot of questions. I asked him everything from favorite colour to food to hobbies. But it was obvious that Charlie wasn't much of a conversationalist because it wasn't too long before the questions dried out from lack of informative answers. When I though back to it, I used to be a lot like Charlie. Only answers the bare minimum, however Renee soon got we out of those 'bad habits and manners', as she called it.

It didn't take me long to get settled down into the house, it was just as I remembered it. In fact, I am pretty sure that the only thing that has changed about my old childhood home was my bedroom, which has a new bed, desk and laptop.

It had been a while since I had been in a small town like Forks, so it came as a shock when I was walking to the grocery store, people would walk up to me and say something like " Hi you're Isabella Swan right? The Chief's daughter?" It appears that news travels extremely fast in small towns.

Today was hot and dry, which I heard was a rarity in this place. The sunlight streaked through the sky, making the clouds non-existent. You would not have believe that the day before rain had fell from the sky like bullets, drenching everyone in their path. So, deciding to make the best of the weather whilst we had it, I made my way to the beach on the Reservation. My body practically ached at the though of my laying in the sun , bathing in its heat, and then when I got too hot I would envelope myself in the cool, blue ocean. At least that was the plan.

However, as I drove leisurely to the beach a loud, masculine shout ripped through my peace.

"Paul, get your ass out of that house. NOW! You can't do this anymore, you're driving us all crazy!" Deep down, the voice rang with some hint of familiarity. I knew him. I knew, I knew him. But I couldn't quite remember.

I stopped my car and jumped out, making sure that the vehicle was locked (a habit that Charlie scoffed at but one that I had gained from the city), and followed the shouting.

"Paul, you can't let my bitch of a sister destroy you! What happened to falling in love was for pussies?" The voice continued to shout.

"Don't call her that. Shut up!" Another voice growled and my heart sank in my stomach as the raw pain that was evident in those husky syllables. I felt the sudden need to see both their faces. I wanted to know the familiar stranger and the heartbroken man.

As I got to the house the shooting had most definitely came from, I gasped, finally recognizing the stranger for how he really was. "Jacob. Jacob Black," I called.

The tall muscular man turned in the doorway to fully face me. Jacob had certainly grown. Bella looked at his tanned, toned chest, he certainly had indeed.

"Bella!" He shouted with a huge, childlike smile on his face.