Chapter 1:

"You seem happy this morning." My mum remarked as I walked into the kitchen. I smiled and jumped up to sit on the counter, making her raise her eyebrows. "And I thought I heard you talking to someone last night, around midnight when you should have been asleep madam."

"I'm happy because I was talking to my best friend last night."

"Best friend? I thought Jacob was your best friend, but you lost contact with him for some reason." She frowned slightly.

"Don't frown, you'll get wrinkles." I commented, making her playfully smack the back of my head. "Yeah, but, something happened a couple days ago." I smiled, twirling my hair as I spaced out a little, remembering the incident that had happened. The night I found out Jacob was a part of the Quileute legend and he was the wolf that visited me, then that I was his imprint.

"And this something is?" She stared at me expectantly.

"About to come through the front door now." I smiled, hearing the front door to our house open. I jumped off the counter and hurried into the hallway, seeing Jacob standing there. He grinned and caught me as I threw myself at him.

"Hey." He chuckled quietly by my ear, kissing my cheek.

"I missed you." I whispered. "And my mum's probably about to walk out here."

"I missed you too, even if I did only see you early this morning." He laughed lightly. "Is she gonna strangle me? I overheard her threats a couple years back when I started visiting you at night."

"She may, but I'll protect you." I smiled up at him as he was nearly a good foot taller than me. He chuckled and I turned around so my back was to him as my mother came out into the hallway. She stopped and stared at the boy behind me as I smiled innocently.

"I am going to strangle you! Do you know what you put my daughter through? Three whole years of depression and crying herself to sleep!" my mum screeched. I reached back and grabbed the sides of his jeans in my fists as I kept my ground in front of him.

"Mum!" I exclaimed. "It's okay, he had good reason to. Plus he was never really that far away."

"Are you kidding me? You're defending him when he's the reason why you had therapy?" I cringed and felt Jacob tense up behind me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know me leaving would have that effect." He said quietly. "But I didn't want to hurt her; I would never do it intentionally."

"Apologising won't bring back the three years of her life that she's lost moping after you." My mum stated firmly.

"Mum, remember how happy I was this morning?" She turned her heated gaze to me and nodded. "That was because of Jacob. I found him the other night and we've been in contact since. He was in my room last night, that's why you heard talking." I said quietly.

"Your room? How did he get there? I lock the front door at night." She frowned.

"I, uh, came through her window." Jake replied.

"But that's twenty foot off the ground." A look passed over her face. "You're eighteen, aren't you?"

"Yes ma'am."

"That means you were fifteen when you left. You shifted didn't you? That's why you left, you didn't have control then." I tilted my head up to see Jacob nod. "I suppose I can't really blame you then, but I really want to."

"I wouldn't hold it against you if you did." He said, gently prying my fingers from his jeans.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave Jacob; I don't want you coming back."

"No!" I exclaimed, latching onto Jacob before he could move. "I'll start it up again." I threatened, looking at my mother. "If you make him leave, I'll be worse than before." My mother's expression turned pained as she glanced at my arms before looking back at my face.

"Please don't sweetheart. I nearly lost you last time." She said quietly. I kept my face firm and she sighed. "Jacob, you can stay, but please, don't hurt her again. I can't bear to see a repeat of what happened." She walked back into the kitchen and I felt Jake shift slightly, making me look up at him.

"What exactly happened when I left?" he asked, looking at me. I bit the inside of my lip and averted my eyes from his.

"Nothing good." I replied. I felt his hand on my face and he turned my head back to face him.

"Tell me." He pleaded. "I don't want any more secrets between us."

I sighed and grabbed his hand, slipping my feet into my shoes by the front door, before taking him outside.

"I don't want to make you feel bad." I said softly as he linked his hand with mine.

"Just say it, it's my fault anyway. I left and didn't think how it would have affected you."

"When you left, I spent six months looking for you. After the sixth month passed, my mum finally had enough and made me stop searching; saying that I was never going to find you and that I should just let it go. My grades started going down and a few people began bullying me as I slipped into depression, the only way I found that dulled the pain was to…cut. On my left arm and thighs." I whispered, blinking back the tears that had formed in my eyes and feeling Jacob's grip tighten on my hand. "My mum knocked on the bathroom door when I was in there and I froze, thinking I was going to get caught in the act; so I panicked and I slipped, making me go too deep in my wrist. She had to take me to the hospital because I wouldn't stop bleeding. Then the doctors obviously knew what I was doing, so they booked me into therapy; I had that for nearly two years. I couldn't get rid of the pain and slipped back into cutting a few times while I was there. I was so desperate sometimes, that I would even do it in the clinic bathrooms."

"How did you stop then?" Jacob asked quietly. I glanced up at him and saw tears had formed in his dark eyes, making me look away from him again.

"My therapist had found a photo of me and you and showed me it during the session. She literally screamed at me saying what the boy in the picture would think if he saw me cutting, would he be disgusted, disappointed, ashamed of being my friend? It seems harsh, but it worked. I couldn't bear to think what your reaction would be if you saw me then, so I forced myself to stop and used a rubber band instead. So if I ever felt the need to do it, I'd just ping the band around my wrist."

Jacob stopped walking and sat down beside a tree, bringing me down with him.

"Can I see?" he asked softly. I chewed on my bottom lip and he tilted my face up to look at him. "Please, let me see."

I sighed and pulled the sleeve of my shirt up to my elbow, exposing the pink horizontal scars that lined halfway up my forearm; the paleness of my skin making them more noticeable. Jacob's large hand reached out and he lightly ran his fingers over the ridges that permanently disfigured the inside of my arm. A few seconds later I found myself being held tightly against his chest as he hugged me.

"Please never do this again." He whispered. "I promise, I'll never leave you again; just don't hurt yourself anymore." His voice sounded pained and I saw more unshed tears in his eyes.

"I stopped five months ago, that was when the doctor dug into my personal life when I was younger and kept bringing you up. You're the reason I stopped, even though I thought I would never see you again, knowing that you were still out there somewhere made me feel ashamed about what I was doing." I found myself crying as I saw the tears spill from Jacob's chocolate eyes and he held me tighter to him as I buried my face in his shoulder. "All I wanted was my best friend back."

"I'm here to stay, I'll be whatever you want me to be." He whispered into my hair as he held me. "Just promise me you'll never hurt yourself again."

"I promise." I murmured, hooking my pinkie finger around his as we sat beneath the old tree we used to climb when we were younger.

So, i got a few requests of making 'Howling in the Moonlight' a longer story; so here's the first chapter :) The updating may be a little slow as i have to write more of the chapters, but i just wanted to get this one out so i can get some feedback on whether to continue this. So, please review and give me your thoughts, it would be much appreciated :) x