A/N: This chapter is very dialogue oriented. Don't worry if it's confusing, it's supposed to be. The boys have alot to work out and they just met! Not to worry, there is more action in the chapters to come.
Chapter 2: Clearing the Air
"So why here?" Jacob asked as they walked toward the Rabbit.
"Seventh Years Honors Program." Harry said, "It was either here or Romania and my passport expired eight years ago."
Jacob looked at Harry sideways. "That was suitably vague; you and my dad will have a blast talking around a subject. How about you tell me why you really chose us."
"Everything I said is true, but if you must know, I'm spending my last year of school staying with the Quileute's as part of my Mastery requirements; studying characteristics and emergence of natural werewolves in relation to environment and other magical species, and politics between part-human races."
Jacob stopped walking while he tried to figure out exactly what Harry said. Harry walked on until he realized Jacob was no longer beside him. Turning around, he saw Jacob standing in the middle of the parking lot with his trunk on one shoulder, wearing an expression that reminded him of a confused puppy.
"Was it something I said?" Harry snickered.
Jacob startled back to reality when he heard Harry laughing. He glared at Harry and quickly began walking again.
"I'm so pleased that you're amused," Jacob began dryly, "but what is so funny and what the fuck did you just say?"
Harry stopped laughing and leaned against the Rabbit while Jacob puttered around loading Harry's trunk. Jacob's jeans had tightened the minute Harry stated laughing. He'd never heard such an enticing and arousing sound. Even Bella's laughter, which still sounded like bells to Jacob, could not compare to how the green-eyed oddity made him feel. It was a strange mix of heated arousal, overpowering lust and burning hostility directed toward this Outsider who thought he had a right to question and expose Jacob's way of life and the secrets of his people. He had to get himself under control. He had to spend two hours with Harry in the close confines of the Rabbit and he didn't want Harry to see how affected he was. There would be time for that later. Maybe.
Thinking of Edward in a leopard-print bikini wilted him enough to be able to slam the trunk of the car and get in. Jacob sighed as he watched Harry twist and move when he loaded his shoulder bag and settled into the passenger's seat. It was going to be a long two hours and an even longer year. It wasn't until Jacob pulled onto the 101 freeway that Harry spoke again.
"To answer your questions, I was laughing because you looked exactly like my dad, Remus, when his husband, Sirius, says something either really confusing or epically stupid."
"I know the type." Jacob said, chuckling, "and my second question?"
"It's actually a three-fold project I'm working on. Not only am I studying population trends between werewolves, vampires and magic users, I am also studying the causes of natural lycanthropy and the Vampire/Werewolf conflict.
"I have to contact a Carlisle Cullen soon and ask if I can speak to him about the conflict and how he and his family deal with being 'vegetarian' so to speak. I'll probably be doing a lot of traveling between La Push, Forks and the Cullen Homestead. As a side project I've been asked to document the legends and traditions of the Quileute tribe for a Muggle professor friend of mine. She wants to teach a course on tribes of the Pacific Northwest next year. Of course I'll keep all the information about our world out of the final report to her."
"Do you always talk like that Harry? Like you're some hotshot know-it-all?" Jacob asked.
"I am some hotshot know-it-all as a matter of fact or I wouldn't have been offered a position in this program." Harry shot back, mildly offended, "However, I do tend to make the mistake of thinking everyone else is as interested in my projects as I am, so I'll try and tone it down, just for you."
Jacob ignored the blatant sarcasm and moved on to a more pressing question.
"How'd you manage to get Council approval for this anyway?"
"To be honest, I have no idea. The Quileute Council never gives approval. I was actually packing for Romania when the letter came." Harry paused, "You aren't exactly thrilled to have me here, are you Jacob?"
"What gives you that idea?"
"Oh, I don't know, the hostility and anger radiating off you? The way you stare at me as if you can stop my heart with a look? The snide attitude? Lots of things really."
The hostility and anger were right on when it came to Jacob's mindset at the moment; he really did not want Harry or anyone coming to poke around in his life, his traditions. But the look Harry had wrong.
When Jacob looked at Harry, he wanted nothing more than to strip him down and claim Harry as his. It wasn't just anger that Harry saw in Jacob's eyes, it was lust, longing and something not even Jacob could identify at that time. The pull he felt when he first saw Harry was getting stronger, but he had to be sure about what it was before he acted on it. Harry was an Outsider, he didn't understand about Imprinting or the drive an Imprinted werewolf has to claim what is his, in any way he can without harming the one he'd Imprinted on. And Harry was only going to be in La Push for a year. Jacob was not going to set himself up to get his heart torn out if he could help it.
"You're right." Jacob said, "I don't want you here, or at least I didn't. I though the Council had lost its collective mind when they told me you were coming. Our secrets have remained secret for hundreds of years, and now they want to expose us all to people like you, who don't care, won't understand and would probably kill us all because they fear us? What's the point in that? Leave us alone and let us keep our secrets. It isn't broke, don't fix it. Simple as that."
Harry bristled when Jacob said 'people like you'. Did he not have any idea who and what Harry was? It was their own parents who got Harry stuck in this pit somewhere in the boonies of Washington State. His father who gave Harry the best chance to get the elusive Council to approve his visit and his own circumstances that made him the perfect person for Muggle and Magical study of the Quileute's. Jacob was about to piss him off in the worst way possible, unless he found a way to defuse the situation.
"I'm not exactly thrilled to be here either you know. I wanted to study Dragons in Romania, but, like you, I do know a fair bit about keeping secret things secret. So since I'm stuck here for the near future, how about an exchange: a secret for a secret. That way I'm as exposed as you are. If I publish something I shouldn't have, you get to publish my secrets."
"Why would you do that? What's in it for you?"
"In a word: reciprocity. Your secrets for mine. If we're going to work together, I'd like us to at least be comfortable with each other."
Jacob hesitated before answering. Comfortable he could live with; more than comfortable would be preferable. Unfortunately for Jacob, he had no idea where Harry's preferences lay, or if he would be interested in Jacob if he did swing that way. The way things were going so far, Jacob figured the answer would be a resounding and emphatic NO.
Silence descended in the car as Jacob thought about Harry's proposal. It would give him an opportunity to get to know the strange man who had caught his attention without too much awkwardness. He was also a bit unsure of some of the words Harry used and how much he actually knew about werewolves, but he figured he would find out eventually. Maybe his dad or the Council knew what Harry was talking about.
Harry, on the other hand, was staring out the window, watching the trees fly by. He wondered what had possessed him to offer that particular bargain. He didn't really have any major secrets, so he though. He'd lived a fairly normal life, at least according to wizarding standards. It was true that he was attracted to the dark giant that sat beside him, but he'd be so busy with all the work he had to do that he wouldn't have tie to pursue anything romantic, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to anyway. Why would he want to get involved with someone who was so openly against him, yet at the same time, Harry had never been drawn to another person like he was drawn to Jacob. Replaying the conversation with Jacob in his head, a thought struck him.
"Wait," Harry said, breaking the silence, "you said you didn't want me here. Does that mean you've changed your mind?"
"Yeah, I think so." Jacob replied.
"Why? What changed?" Harry asked.
Jacob stalled. He wasn't about to tell Harry about Imprinting or the theory that Jacob had about Imprinting on him.
"I don't know. When I figure it out, I'll let you know." Jacob said at last.
Harry could tell that Jacob was hiding something, but he wasn't going to push the issue. He simply nodded, said good and let silence descend again.
Casting around for a subject of conversation, Jacob asked the first question that popped into his head.
"So what do you think you know about werewolves anyway?"
"Remus is a werewolf, so I'd have to say I know quite a lot about werewolf behavior and pack mentality."
"Then why are you here if you've got a readymade guinea pig at home?"
"Remy's not a natural werewolf. He was bitten when he was a child. I'm studying natural werewolves. Ones that appear in direct relation to the Vampire population of a given area. So he's not really as helpful as he could be, but I do have samples of his blood and saliva to compare to the natural werewolves. Maybe there's a difference."
"And how do you plan on studying these so called 'natural werewolves'; assuming you can find any in the first place?"
"Just how stupid do you think I am?" Harry snapped, "I am perfectly aware that your tribe is made up of natural werewolves. I also know what while not every member of your tribe is a werewolf, you certainly are. As to how I'll study you, I'm going to be asking for blood and saliva samples in addition to observing your behavior among the non-werewolf part of your tribe and among your pack. I'm hoping to get an interview with your Alpha to see if natural and bitten werewolves Alpha's respond the same way to stimuli."
"What makes you think anyone will give up their blood to you?" asked Jacob, now extremely wary about just how much this Outsider knew.
"I'm going to appeal to their good sides. If I can figure out how natural lycanthropy works, I could find a way to mutate or combat the contracted lycanthropy virus, be able to give my father control of his wolf and let him live a normal life. If that doesn't work, the Council will force volunteers. I really want to avoid that though."
"And what do the Cullen's have to do with this? You're studying werewolves, not vampires."
"It has been shown that natural werewolf populations emerge when the vampire population increases past a certain threshold in a given area. Popular theory is that this was due to the vampire's nature and that the werewolves were needed to keep them under control, but with the Cullen's animal diet, that theory is no longer valid. So I want to know why werewolf and vampire populations still react to one another. I also want to know if traditional hostility between vampires and werewolves is still valid of if it's just being fought because it's traditional."
"And if it was? You going to try and fix it?"
"Um, no. I'd make my report, draw my conclusions and let some government stooge deal with it. I'm a student. Interspecies Negotiation isn't my job." Harry paused for a moment. "Tell me something Jacob, if you had the chance to cure someone you loved of something that's been making his life hell and finish your education in the process, wouldn't you jump at the chance? Even if it wasn't your first choice?"
Jacob pondered the question thinking of his father. What wouldn't he do to let his father walk again? "I supposed I would. Why?" Jacob answered.
"I just wanted you to understand that's what I'm trying to do. I don't want to be here anymore than you want me here, but by being here, I have the chance to help my father and hundreds of other werewolves who never had a choice and are slaves to the moon. Please, try and work with me here. Help me get the samples I need, answer the questions I have, let me talk to the Alpha and the Cullen's and chances are I'll be out of your hair a lot earlier than you expect."
Jacob looked at Harry out of the corner of his eye. Harry was much different than he first thought. He still thought Harry was a hotshot jackass, but under different circumstances that would have been attractive. They might even have been friends if Harry was just another kid who had moved to Forks. Then there was the lingering attraction and pull Jacob felt toward Harry. If he had Imprinted on Harry, it would pose more problems than it would solve.
How was he supposed to lead his pack if he couldn't even provide an heir? How was he supposed to keep their respect if they found out he was a flaming fairy? The jokes would never end and they would look elsewhere for the leadership they wanted. Well it wasn't going to happen.
Harry was only going to be here for a year. He could live through it and keep his preferences under wraps as long as he needed to. But the green-eyed man next to him drew his gaze and made his cock harden with just a glance. The way Harry's voice flowed over him and the way his laughter bounced around in his head drove Jacob up the wall. Once, Jacob thought, just once and Harry would be out of his system and he could go back to barely tolerating the man until he left.
"I'll help you." Jacob said, "I'll get you the volunteers you need and I highly doubt the Alpha will be a problem. I'll even take you out to the Cullen's place. As long as you keep your word, I'll keep mine. We might even end up friends."
"I'd like that. It would be much easier to be friends with you than to have to fight you all the way." Harry laughed.
