It shouldn't have hurt, but it did. It shouldn't have sent a sharp tug straight to his heartstrings when she let him touch her, hold her, kiss her, but… It did. It pulled and it twisted and it froze the blood that was running through his veins. She was letting Embry Call into her heart, and it all but broke his barely beating one. Mostly because she had every right to move on, and he had no right to keep her from doing so, but even with this in mind, Jacob Black couldn't help but continue to seethe, because despite what everyone else may think Leah Clearwater was his and only his. It had been well over 5 months since Renesmee and him began their relationship. Once Renesmee came of age, it came as no surprise to hear that she wanted Jacob to be completely and unconditionally hers, and whatever the imprint wants, the imprint gets. 5 months ago, he had fallen in love with Renesmee Cullen and out of love with Leah Clearwater.

But that wasn't true, though. That would never be true, because no matter how hard the imprint bond tried to pull, his love for Leah would never truly disappear. He tried to tell her, he truly did. He pleaded for her to understand. He held her hands desperately in his own and told her that he would always love her, that he never wanted to hurt her. Neither of them however could look past the cruel truth: that no matter how insistent Jacob was of his unwavering love for her… It just wasn't enough. It would never be enough, because in the end…. He would still leave her behind, her heart smashed and splintered by another man that thought he would have the strength to fight it.

Jacob would never forget the look in Leah's eyes when he came to her that night. To this day, he still woke up with her name on his lips, his heart wrenching painfully at the memory of how broken he had left her.

Now though, it seems that her heart is in the hands of someone else. It was still bruised and battered, but it was no longer alone. And there he was, watching with dark eyes and slumped shoulders as Leah pressed her forehead against Embry's chest, her shoulders shaking as he held her close, murmuring words of comfort and solidarity, and all Jacob could think about was how that should have been him. He had promised her so much, promised to take care of her heart, to be there when she was down, to hold her when she felt like falling apart, and to fight for her when she needed him to.

All of those promises, broken.

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

Jacob felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand as he felt the person approach him.

"What are you doing here, Sam?" Jacob glowered as Sam stood beside him, eyes trained on the couple a good distance away from them. Sam knew that Leah and Embry wouldn't be able to see them from where they were standing, and it gave him a slight comfort because he knew his presence would only upset Leah further. He swallowed thickly as Leah slowly wrapped her arms around Embry's waist, her form gradually slumping against his in a sign of defeat.

Sam disregarded Jacob's question as he continued to watch his former pack-mates, his lips set in a thin line. To this day, his feelings for Leah have remained the same. Sam Uley knew that Leah Clearwater had been it for him. No one would ever be able to hold a candle against his Lee-lee, and even after the whole spirit shit-fest that took his Lee-lee away from him, he knew that although forced to love another, his heart would forever remember that it had given itself wholly to the woman that he had chosen to fall in love with.

"The thing about imprinting... Is that it completes you. It shows you unimaginable happiness and contentment; it takes away whatever problems you feel you might have when you're around that person. Imprinting gives you your soulmate… Everything's perfect." He scoffs out the last part because they both knew that it was far from the truth.

"But… But it doesn't make you forget."

Sam feels his throat tighten as memories of his life with Leah flood him all over again. He clenches his jaw as he feels Jacob tense, knowing that the memories were assaulting him as well. It was as if a dam was blocking everything out, but every so often it would just break and unleash all the memories upon him like unforgiving daggers to his heart.

Jacob took in a deep breath as memory after memory hit him like a dead weight. He turned away as Embry lifted Leah's chin before capturing her lips with his. He heard Sam growl and now realized the frustration of his fellow Alpha. Before his fall out with Leah, it had always been something that would set Jacob off. Whenever Sam would get even the tiniest bit possessive over Leah, Jacob would instantly get defensive, doing whatever it was he could to show Sam that Leah was no longer his, but Jacob's. Now, however, it seems that neither of them had the right.

"I didn't want to hurt her." Jacob ground out. Sam snarled and turned to him, eyes black with rage, not because of Jacob, but because of the life he now led. A life without Leah.

"You think I did?" Sam felt his heart hammer against his chest as he tried to focus on calming himself down. He took several deep breaths before feeling the familiar wrench of pain inside of him. "I loved her. With all my heart, I loved her. I was going to marry her." He said quietly as he thought back to happier times, when she was his Lee-lee and he was her one and only.

"But in the end, we don't have a choice. We both hurt her. We both have to live knowing that we hurt the one person that could love us because she damn well wanted to." Sam said, his voice pained. Jacob hissed as Sam continued, his lips stretching against his teeth in a sneer.

"Stop talking about us as if we're the same, Sam, because I'm not like you."

Sam scoffed before raising a brow and turning his attention back to Leah then turning back to Jacob after a moment's silence.

"You're exactly like me, Black."

Jacob froze as Sam held his gaze, the words ringing in his ears mercilessly. Sam watched as Jacob paled, the realization striking the both of them. They had both become the men they swore they would never be. Sam, with his father, and Jacob with… With him.

Jacob felt the wash of stone-cold realization flood him. He felt his breathing grow ragged as he trembled with emotion. His fists began to shake as he drew blood from his palms, his nails breaking skin as he attempted to gain control. Sam watched as the turmoil rolled off of Jacob in waves. He remembered when he had realized how much of a monster he had become. The only thing keeping him from tearing himself apart was Emily, and that was because he knew that if something bad were to happen to him, it would affect Emily negatively. His own self-preservation was dependent on his imprint. He was no longer living life for him, but for someone else.

"You don't know, Jacob… You know how Leah sees it, but you don't know how hard it had been for me…" He was quiet for a while before he tilted his head back to look at the thick canopy of trees above them. "When she fell in love with you, it was like someone had reached into my chest and tried to pull my heart out of it." Sam looked away, his eyes now on the forest floor. "It's selfish of me, but seeing her happy with you… It ripped that last piece of my Lee-lee away from me…" Sam said softly. Sam was quiet for a while before chuckling and shaking his head, causing Jacob to look up in question. Sam raised his eyes and his gaze softened as he found Leah, and a small sad smile crept up his lips as Leah pulled away from Embry's kiss and smiled.

"But seeing that… Seeing her smile again… It made it a bit more bearable."

"She'll forget about us, Jacob, and sometimes, I'm torn between being relieved or angry." Sam confessed as he watched Leah and Embry leave the clearing they were in, only to disappear into the woods together. Jacob let out a pained gasp as Sam turned away, closing his eyes as the hurt settled like barbed wires around his heart. "But whether we like it or not, she'll forgive us and slowly forget about us. It will hurt less for her to be around us, and she'll find someone whom she'll fall in love with all over again. She'll love him with her whole heart and hopefully he'll love her the way she deserves." Sam felt his throat tighten at the end because he would give anything to be that man, that man that would hold to all of his promises.

Jacob clenched his teeth as he took in several shaky breaths.

"Does it get any easier?"

Sam felt a bittersweet smile settle upon his face.

"It does." He said as he thought back to the last time Leah had visited his home. Their relationship was still very much strained, but Leah had conceded with a sort of friendship that Sam was grateful for because it meant being able to see her without the usual hostility between them. He would be able to make her smile, even if it wasn't like the way he used to.

"Like I said, Leah loves you, and when Leah loves someone, that love doesn't go away. It just morphs into a different kind of love." Sam swallowed thickly as Leah explained to him that she still loved him, but as a pack brother and as the husband of her cousin.

He didn't want to admit it, but it killed him a little bit.

Jacob was silent for a while and the two Alphas stood together in a cold understanding.

"But at the same time… You have to watch the woman you love go on with her life and fall in love with someone that isn't you. And you have to remind yourself that maybe it's for the best that these things happened, because in the end, you never truly deserved her if you gave her up so easily." Sam finished. Jacob swallowed the lump in his throat as he nodded stiffly.

"I want to fight for her, Sam." Jacob said softly. Their eyes met, Jacob's determined, almost defiant as Sam stood in a stony silence. He held his gaze for a moment longer before grasping Jacob's shoulder and nodding his head.

"Then fight for her, Black." Sam gripped Jacob's shoulder a bit harder before releasing him and turning around. "Fight for her… And win." He said finally before walking away.

Jacob watched Sam's retreating figure with a renewed sense of purpose.

He had promised Leah so much, and he was determined to keep them now, starting with his most important one.

"You're going to hurt me… Just like Sam did, you're going to be just like him." Leah sneered as Jacob tried to keep her close to him. Leah pushed and shoved, but Jacob was determined, pulling her close and whispering sweet nothings in her hair. He felt her resistance grow weak before she slumped against him in defeat, her tears soaking his shirt as he tangled his fingers into her hair, his lips pressing against her heated skin before whispering in her ear.

"I promise you, Leah Clearwater, I am nothing like Sam Uley."

AN: Wow, how long has it been? A hell of a long time, that's how long. And I come back with a Twilight fanfic, too! My first ever Twilight fanfic and I come out with this little piece of work. It's 1:00 in the morning and I typed down 4 pages of pure SamxLeahxJacob angst for ya'll, and on my phone no less.

Forgive me if there are any errors and the like. It's late and my thumbs hurt from the typing. This idea has been floating in my head for a long time and I finally found the time to put it down into writing. Hopefully you all enjoyed it! I have several more one-shot ideas that I'll type down sooner or later, so yep, let's look forward to that, yeah?

Hope you're all having a wonderful day!

If you want to reach me or ahem RP, my writing blog is felicxtywrites . tumblr . com

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