AN: In this story Bella and Jacob are both 18 and seniors in high school because I do not feel comfortable writing a romance with that big of an age difference between characters of that age. Let me know if you want this to be mostly fluff or to follow the original storyline of the book. I'm open to either. Also is anyone open to a Jacob/OC imprinting story as well?
Bella woke from her nightmare with her skin covered in a cold sheen of sweat. It had felt particularly real tonight in ways that it hadn't in quite a while. She pushed the covers off of herself and headed into the bathroom. She turned the water onto the coldest setting and splashed it over her face. She was going to see Jacob today. She looked up into the mirror at her dark circles and sad eyes and reminded herself that he didn't get to do this to her. No-one got to do this to her ever again. She was going to fight it this time. He had another thing coming if he thought he was just going to walk away from her the same way he had.
She turned and walked out of the bathroom, catching her toe on the door frame and stumbling but catching herself on her way down the same way she did almost twice a day. She checked her phone on her night stand and realized that despite it being only six in the morning on a Saturday, there was no chance of her falling asleep again, at least not with so many things weighing so heavily on her mind. Instead she headed down the stairs, walking past Charlies open door on the way down. He'd been leaving it open so he could hear her screams in the middle of the night for the past few months but he also left it open so that she would know when he left for work. She peaked her head around the corner and was not surprised to find that he was gone, He had probably left to get an early jump on the day.
She headed down the stairs, skipping over the two creaky steps and made her way into the kitchen where she threw together a plate of French toast and then proceeded to spent the next thirty minutes listening to the rain pound on the roof of the house and pick at her food. She quickly realized she didn't have much of an apatite.
Jake obviously didn't have mono. And if he did, that didn't give him the right to just up and cut her out of his life the way he did. She wasn't going to catch it through the freaking phone lines or anything ridiculous like that. She stood up and dropped her plate in the sink and decided to give him one more call before she set herself on the warpath. Well as much of a warpath as Bella Swan knew how to go on that was. IE: Going to his house and asking him what his problem was and why he started acting like a jerk the day after promising her that he would never leave her or let her down the way that he had.
She dialed the number and the phone rang and rang and rang and then went to voicemail. Billy's voice spoke to her on their answering machine's prerecorded message just like it had a dozen times before. This time, she didn't even bother to leave a message.
You've reached residence of Billy and Jacob Black. We're unable to take you're call right now, please leave you're name and phone number after the beep and one of us'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you.
Bella killed four hours working on an English essay about some book that she had already read over a year ago before she put everything away and got in the shower. She let the water flow over her as she allowed her mind to wonder, to Jake. He'd acted so weird the last day she'd seen him before he had disappeared. He'd been so warm. His skin had radiated heat like a space heater cranked up to max and his temper was off the charts in a way that she had never seen him before. He'd snapped at Mike. Bad. That wasn't like him. Not at all. He was usually such a sweet guy. She rinsed the conditioner out of her hair and turned off the shower, stepping out onto the blue towel she had laid on the floor to absorb the water, she grabbed a towel off the vanity and wrapped it around herself. She stood in front of the mirror and flipped on the blow dryer.
Maybe Jake was sick.
He wasn't acting himself and she couldn't imagine him ever willingly leaving her out of his life. Whatever it was, she was going to find out because she couldn't lose the only thing left that made her happy. She wasn't going to let him walk away.
She knew it was stupid but she could feel something pulling her to him. Pulling her to La push and she wasn't going to ignore it.
An hour later she was running through the rain to get to her truck and though she had before looked decent she now looked like a drowned rat as she closed the door behind her and slammed the keys into the ignition. Even the stupid truck reminded her of Jake. The motorcycles in the bed and the way he was always keeping it running for her. She backed out of the driveway and started down the road. She was making good time to La Push. She never really had to worry about speeding though she also couldn't go over 60 miles an hour in the truck so having a cop for a dad didn't matter much there.
Eventually, she pulled into the Blacks driveway. Sure enough Jacob was out and walking around and not in bed sick with mono and oh my was he not sickly at all. He looked like he had spent decades in the gym and grown a foot taller. He'd also cut off his hair and gotten a tattoo. He was't wearing a shirt even though it was pouring down rain and he was walking away determinedly with his back to her. She knew that he could hear her truck, how could he not?
She jumped out of the cab and ran after him, stumbling over a rock and catching herself on the hood. She slammed the door of the truck behind her. "Jacob!" She yelled, He froze for a second but then continued walking. "Jake!" She yelled again, "Jake I need to talk to you!" The feeling that she had felt before, of being drawn to him was stronger now. Like she wanted to be near him. She had aways wanted to be around him but this was different though. She wanted to be around him in a different way now. She didn't know why or how but she did and he wasn't cooperating.
He stopped moving, "Bella, you need to leave." He said, still with his back turned to her. She wondered if he felt this need to be near her too.
He did but he always had so his didn't notice a difference. Jacob wanted her to leave but not for the reasons that she thought he did. He only wanted to keep her safe. He wanted her to be safe at home away from him and this mess that he was permanently a part of now. He didn't want her anywhere near it and that meant that she couldn't be anywhere near him. But the way she said his name, the way she begged him to talk to her, and finally when she said quietly, all the fight gone out of her, "Jake, please turn around." He just couldn't take it anymore.
He vowed to himself that he would come up with some really good excuse to keep her away without breaking her heart and then he would get her to leave. He said in Quileute "Can you go inside. I'll get rid of her and be there in a minute" to Sam, Paul, Jared, and Embry waiting at his house. Sam nodded and responded with "Good luck, remember the treaty." And they all headed inside.
"Want to take a walk?" Jake said as he turned around, staring at the ground, he walked a few feet staring at the mud as his bare feet sunk into it. He'd grown accustomed to the feeling. "I'm feeling like taking a walk."
"I want answers Jake." Bella said, grabbing his arm and freezing when she felt how hot it was. Such a contrast to his cold stony skin. She spun him to face her and he let her because he let Bella do most of the things that she wanted to do. Still, he kept his eyes on the ground. "Jake look at me." She paused and then an agonized, "Please."
Finally he looked up and met her eyed and god damnit, everything just snapped into place around her. She became the center of his universe. His everything. The only thing that mattered to him. Who cared about anything else? Why should he? He had Bella? He reached out a shaking hand a placed it on her cheek. "I'm so sorry." He said. He didn't know what he was apologizing for. Well he did, for hurting her, but also a little bit for imprinting on her, he never wanted this life for her.
Bella was confused. Once second Jake was refusing to meet her eyes and all she could think about was this connection that she felt pulling her towards him and then he was looking into her eyes that that connection was a thousand times stronger. They were bound together. They were one. She was lost. She'd looked into his eyes a thousand times and nothing like this had ever happened before. Why now. Did it have something to do with mono? Thats when it clicked for her.
He was a werewolf. Sams gang. If the Cullen's were the cold one's and that part of the legends were true, then clearly the rest of them were true too. Thats why Jake and the rest of Sams gang were all buff out of no where and running around half naked and that had to have something to do with why she was randomly in love with Jake.
Jake said quietly, "Bella, I need you to please wait right here." His voice was horse.
Bella nodded slowly. She wasn't scared of him. Jake would never hurt her. So she stood in the pouring rain as Jake took off up the driveway.
Jake ran into the house, slammed the door open and then just stood in the middle of the living room staring at the pack. "She's still here," Paul said, "I can smell her."
Jake nodded.
Sam crinkled his eyebrows, "Whats wrong."
Jake looked over his shoulder, just now realizing that it was still raining and his imprint was standing outside cold and wet and she was probably going to get sick or slip and fall and break her head open. "Something happened that you aren't going to like."
"What?"Embry asked, "Out with it man," He said.
Jake walked over to the window and looked out to see that Bella had gotten into her truck. Luckily the keys were not in the ignition so she wasn't planning on leaving yet. "I imprinted."
No one said a word for a solid two minutes. Then finally Sam said, "Thats great brother, welcome to the club."
"On the leach lover!" Paul yelled "You imprinted on the leach lover!"
Jake growled and made to swing and him but Sam jumped between the two of them, "Paul! Imprints are off limits, you know that."
Paul set his lips. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Jesus Christ. Touchy much."
"Yes where imprints are concerned we are." Sam said. "And Jacob do you want to explain everything to her now or do you want to wait?"
He did a quick run through in his head and decided that if he sent her away again she might never forgive him. "Now."
"Then damn it man, go get her out of the rain before she leaves."
Jacob blinked a couple times then turned and left the house. He froze when he saw Bella. She really was amazing. Breathtaking. How could he ever have left her for so long. How could he have left her standing in the rain?
He jogged to the truck and pulled the door open. She startled and he smiled at her. "Hey," He said, "Want to come inside?"
She nodded slowly after a second and he made to help her down from the truck. After a second she let him, though she looked puzzled. He dropped her hand and walked behind her as they headed into the house. She turned too look over her shoulder at him twice along the way. Whether it was to make sure he was still there or questioning his strange behavior he didn't know.
Jacob closed the front door behind them and she was now locked inside a house with six large men who were most likely werewolves and that didn't bode well for her. She knew they wouldn't hurt her, Jake wouldn't let them but it didn't ease her nerves. "You're shaking Bells," Jake said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms for a moment before walking around her and grabbing a blanket off the back of the couch and throwing it over her shoulders. She swore she was cold, not scared.
"Bella, there are a few things that we would like to explain to you, if you would have a seat." Sam said. She nodded slowly and walked further into the room. Embry stood up and moved off the couch and to the chair in the corner of the room so that Jake could sit by her which was… nice.
Just as Sam opened his mouth to speak again the front door opened and Billy wheeled his way in. "Sorry I'm late boys, I got held up over at… Bella," He stopped short And looked from Jake to Bella to Sam. He seemed to read their faces. Then Sam said something to him in Quileute and he sighed, "Oh my," He said. "Are we doing this now?"
Sam nodded. Jake nodded.
Bella just stared at all of them, then she said, "Are the legends Jake told me last year true?"
"You told her the legends?" Sam demanded.
Jake sighed, "I thought they were just old campfire stories, how was I supposed to know that I was going to grow fur and paws?"
"Oh my god." Bella said, "You're actually werewolves."
Jake nodded, "Don't freak out, please."
"My ex-boyfriend and his family are vampires, I think I can handle this news. Its just a lot to find out." She briefly noted that this was the first time that she had spoken of Edward since he left.
Jake looked pained then turned his face away from her. "Yeah, I know. Anyway there are more legends than that but Sam and my dad are better at telling those than I am."
Billy cleared his throat and began, "Wolves have a way of finding their soulmates. Its called imprinting."
"Imprinting?" She asked, now actually confused.
Jake leaned back against the couch so that he could watch his imprint and the cute confused look on her face. He wished she would stop interrupting so they could explain everything and he could either give her new clothes to wear or take her home to change. He hated watching her shiver. His hand twitched toward her but he stopped it and placed them behind his head to keep himself from touching her.
Sam took over, "When you look into her eyes for the first time after you phase, its like everything falls into place. Its not gravity holding you to the earth anymore, its her. She's the only thing that matters. You would do anything, be anything for her. To protect her. To make her happy. To make her feel cared for. Whatever she needs, thats what you are."
Bella looked at Sam with her mouth hanging open. "Why are you telling me all of this?"
"You figured out that we're werewolves but you can't but two and two together?" Paul asked her.
Sam gave him a warning look.
"Bella…" Jake said, leaning forward in his seat and finally allowing himself to touch her, he placed a hand on her arm over the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders and turned her to face him. "I imprinted on you."
"You imprinted on me?" She asked. "Like wolf soulmate, imprinted on me?"
Jake nodded.
Bella took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second, "Okay then I guess that explains a few things." She said and laughed a little awkwardly. She shifted in her wet clothes, still shivering and Jake fought the urge to wrap his arms around her.
"Do you have any questions Bella?" Billy asked.
She nodded, "Yeah, how many of you have imprinted?"
"Just me and Jared." Sam said. "My imprints name is Emily," He said. He had the same dazed happy looking his face that he always had when he talked about her.
Jared spoke for the first time since they'd entered the room, "Mine's name is Kim. She's pretty awesome."
Quill spoke up From the corner, "Emily is like our Pack mom. She cooks for us and makes us cookies after patrols all the time. Patches us up too. Her and Kim are getting pretty good at it."
Bella looked down at her feet dejectedly, already feeling like a bad imprint, she couldn't patch anyone up after a fight. She fainted at the smell of blood.
She stood up from her seat and dropped the blanket on the couch. "It's been a lot, I think I'm going to go home for now."
Jake looked up at her, totally crushed. "Let me take you," He said, "The storms getting worse." It was a bad excuse and they both knew it, but she could see how badly he wanted to be with her and she had to admit that she didn't really want to leave him either.
"How will you get back?" She asked.
He smiled at her, that Jacob smile that always made rays of sunshine break through whatever was going on inside her brain. "I'll run."