Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the "Twilight: Saga" are the property of Stephanie Meyer. The original characters and plot are the property of said author. The portion below in italics, that is also underlined, about imprinting are directly quoted from the book "Eclipse", Chapter 5 "Imprint" & Chapter 7 "Unhappy Ending", written by Stephanie Meyer, and is in no shape, way, or form written by me. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Seven: They Had No Choice

*Bella's POV*

I awoke the next morning in my own bed, having no knowledge of how I had gotten there. I looked over at my alarm clock, 10:30am; I had been out for a while. I was still in the same clothes I was wearing to the bonfire the night before, with the exception of my shoes being off. The last thing I remember was cuddling with Jacob by the fire and feeling like I was going to fall asleep. Obviously, that is what had happened, and I must have been in a really deep sleep to not wake up being taken all the way home from La Push.

I stretched my arms above my head and they finally weren't aching so badly. I stumbled into the bathroom and took a quick shower. I dried my hair and ran a comb through it, brushed my teeth, and then applied some ointment and clean bandages to the scrapes along my stomach. I wrapped myself in a white terry cloth towel and made my way back into my room.

"Oh geeze!" I yelped, and jumped back against my bedroom door, slamming it closed, as I had entered. Jacob was sitting on my bed, and he had scared the living daylights out of me.

"Ha, sorry Bells, didn't mean to scare you." He was laughing lightly, but I knew his apology was sincere.

"It's okay. I just didn't see you there at first. What's going on? I mean, it's not that I'm not happy to see you of course, but what are you doing here?" I asked, as I made my way over to sit next to him on my bed, pulling the towel tighter around me.

"Well, I'm glad that you're happy to see me, because I am very happy to see you." He winked at me and gave me a quick kiss on my cheek as I sat down. "And to answer your question, the reason I am here is because I didn't leave. I slept downstairs on your couch again last night. Seriously uncomfortable, but worth it to get to see you so early in the morning again."

"So, what, are you like, living here now?" I asked jokingly.

"Har, har, har," He mocked laughter towards me sarcastically. "I crashed here after I took you home last night. Seth and Leah took over patrolling from Embry and Jared around the house, but I was still a little too freaked about the leach getting in here yesterday to leave you and Charlie in the house alone. Your dad told me to just sleep here since it was so late anyway, he had followed us back from the bonfire last night. Oh, and he's down at the station at work right now by the way." He smiled mischievously at me, obviously happy that we were alone. "You were seriously dead to the world though last night, Bells. I tried to wake you so you could change into something more comfortable, but you were just passed the eff out."

"What, you couldn't change my clothes for me?" I was trying to sound seductive, but I'm sure it was not coming out like that at all. Jake raised his eyebrows at me, and with a huge grin on his face he pounced on me, pinning me back against my bed, causing the towel to rise up to almost my hips.

"If I would have realized you would've been alright with me removing your clothes, I would have tried a lot harder to wake you up, baby." He was so much better at the seductive tone then I was.

His lips were on mine instantly, and I felt whole again. I brought my hands up to the back of his head, running my fingers in his hair, pulling him even closer to me. My legs opened instinctively and he slid his body in between them, straightening us out on the bed. I tangled both of my legs with his and I could feel his hard arousal against my inner thigh, making me all too aware at that point that I was naked except for the small towel covering me.

Jacob began tracing heated kisses down my neck and across my collar bone, and I completely forgot what I was about to worry about. I leaned my head back, and felt him tugging at the top of the towel to expose my breasts. He took my right breast in his large hand easily. I let out a loud moan when I felt his warm tongue on my already hard nipple. He grazed his teeth over it gently and another moan escaped my lips.

"Ohhh, Jacob!" I practically screamed as I felt his other hand move up my inner thigh, towards the place that was aching for him to touch. When his fingers entered me I felt like I was going to blackout. The ripples of pleasure that were going through my body were indescribable. "Ja…Jake…That…Oh my god, that feels….amazing!" I could barely speak; I was panting and couldn't catch my breath. Jacob brought his lips back time mine, and our tongues were dancing together, his fingers keeping a constant quick in and out rhythm at my center, his thumb rubbing circles on my clit.

I could feel the heat and pressure of an orgasm pooling, and I was moaning and breathing even heavier then before. Jake had his other hand tangled in my hair, pulling on it roughly as he deepened the kiss. "Don't stop! Mmmm! Ohhh, yes! Jacob….YES!!!" The pleasure overcame me then as my muscles tighten around his fingers and I road the wave of the best orgasm I have ever had; better then any I could have given myself.

"I love you Bella….That was just, so beautiful." Jacob whispered to me and kissed my lips once more softly. He rolled over to lie by my side, keeping one arm behind my neck and the other lain across my stomach, and pulled the blanket over the top of us. It took me a few minutes to calm myself back down, to be able to even speak.

"That…" I shook my head, trying to compose myself still. "That was incredible." I craned my neck up to look at him, and kissed him on his jaw line.

"Trust me Bells, it was just as incredible for me to see that, and to know I'm the one that was able to make you that happy." He smiled my favorite smile and pulled me in closer to his side, kissing my forehead. We fell back to sleep in each other's arms, I would not have wanted to be anywhere else in that moment.

About two hours later, we both woke up to the sounds of our stomachs growling, we looked at each other with half opened eyes and giggled. "I think maybe it's time to feed the big bad wolf?" I asked jokingly.

"Would that be you, or me?" Jacob laughed, and pulled me on top of him so that I was laying on his chest. "I like waking up next to you, I could get use to it."

"Hmm, I think I could get use to that too." I said as I nuzzled my head in the crook of his neck.

"You wanna go out and get something to eat?" Jacob asked me as he rolled me over on my back again.

"Sure, we can go to the dinner. Just let me get dressed. I don't think they would appreciate it there if I went in only my towel."

"Mmm, maybe not, but I sure wouldn't mind." He had that mischievous grin plastered on his face again, and began rubbing my outer thigh under the towel, up to my hip.

"Alright, you cut that out Mister. We'll never get out of the house if you start that again." I swatted his hand away playfully.

"Sure, sure. Whateeeeeverrrrr you say Bells." He rolled his eyes jokingly, giving me a quick laugh, and kissed me on the tip of my nose "I'll let you get dressed then. I'll be downstairs when you're ready….but it is really a shame, I am loving the towel look." He winked at me again, blew me an air kiss, and made his way down the stairs.

I got up off the bed quickly and threw on my panties and bra, and a plain pair of blue jeans and a simple black button down. I ran to the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth again, and then I practically floated down the stairs. I was on cloud nine right now. I spent months miserable and alone, and then the past few weeks scared out of my mind over a crazy vampire. I was just so happy to actually be happy right now.

"All set!" I announced in a giddy voice to Jacob. He came over to me and picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder. I giggled all the way to the truck where he let me down gently. "You didn't give me a chance to leave a note for Charlie."

"He's actually working a double, so he told me to tell you he won't be home until really late."

"So, what you're telling me, is that we'll have the whole night to have the house to ourselves?" Now I was the one with the mischievous grin. I was excited at the thought of getting more alone time with Jacob, preferably in my bedroom again.

"Sorry Bells, but no. I mean, I will technically be here but I'll be outside running patrols with Paul. My shift starts at 6pm. But we have at least the next few hours to be together." He looked about as happy as I was about not being able to spend the night together.

"Oh, well, at least we have right now, so let's just enjoy that then." I smiled at him and hopped in the passenger seat of my truck. Jacob got into the drivers side, and we were off to the local dinner in Forks.

We arrived a few minutes later and were seated quickly in a quiet booth in the back corner. Corrina, our server, took our drink orders and was back to take our order.

"Ummm, I'll just have the garden burger and side a salad, thanks." I said.

Jacob ordered next, "I'll take two double cheeseburgers, medium rare, with fries and cole slaw. And, ummm, yeah and a side of onion rings too. Thank you." He handed Corrina back our menus and gave her one of his dazzling smiles. She giggled like a little school girl, and said she would be back out shortly with our orders, quickly making her way back into the kitchen. Jake took my right hand that was laying on the table in his, and looked into my eyes. "You look so happy Bella."

"I am happy Jacob. Very happy. Thanks to you of course." I smiled at him, and then I remembered something I had wanted to talk to him about yesterday at the bonfire, before I got lost in our kiss. "Oh, hey, why didn't you tell me that Seth and Leah joined the pack?"

"Um, honestly I don't know. I guess it just never came up. They both started phasing about two weeks ago. First Seth, and then Leah just a few hours afterward. She was certainly a surprise to say the least."

"Because she's a girl? You guys only thought that the male decedents could be wolves right?"

"Yeah, that's what we thought, obviously we were wrong." He laughed lightly, but I could tell he was holding back something.

"How is she dealing with it? It has to be hard on her stuck with all you crazy boys. I'm sure it's not very pleasant for her to have to hear the inner workings of the male mind." I tried joking, but Jake still seemed tense at the conversation.

"It is really hard on her, but not only because she's the only girl. There is another big reason." Jacob looked down at the table then, playing with the wrapper from the straw between his fingers.

"You can tell me, if you want to talk about it Jake. I won't judge anyone."

"It's just that, well her and Sam use to be together, they were together since she started high school, all the way up until early this past winter, they were totally in love. And now he's with Emily, who is actually," he paused, struggling with what he was going to say next. I patted his hand, trying to reassure him that I was here to listen, not to judge. I was surprised however that they had been together that long. With the way Sam looked at Emily, it seemed as though he had only ever loved her. "Umm, she's…Emily is actually Leah's cousin. Sam left Leah to be with her cousin Emily." He looked away from me again, obviously waiting for a foul reaction from me.

"Alright. So Leah and Emily are cousins. I'm sure that caused quite a rift in the family dynamic then. Is Leah still very upset with Emily?" I asked, trying to sound as calm and understanding as possible, even though what I really wanted to do was ask how Emily and Sam could do something so horrible to Leah, to family, and then just flaunt their relationship in front of her as they did last night. I was actually pretty disgusted to say the least.

"Leah is upset yeah, but there wasn't much any of them could do about it. Emily and Sam didn't choose for it to happen, it just did. Neither one of them would have ever wanted to hurt Leah the way they have." Jacob seemed incredibly uncomfortable talking about this, but I was too curious now not to know about all the details. I widened my eyes and nodded my head slightly to urge him to continue, but he still seemed very hesitant.

"You said that they didn't choose for it to happen? Do you mean Sam and Emily falling in love with one another?" I asked to prod him along.

"Something like that, yeah. I don't think I've ever explained imprinting to you right? Have you ever heard it mentioned around the pack?" Jacob asked me, it looked like fear was written in his eyes. I shook my head no, because I honestly hadn't heard about it.

"Here you guys go." Corrina had brought our lunches over. "Enjoy! Let me know if I can get you anything else."

Once she was out of site, I looked back over to Jake, who already had almost a whole burger finished in less then a minute. He smiled with his mouth closed, filled with food. I figured I would give him a few minutes to scarf down the rest of his lunch before I started asking more questions.

I was a few bites into my lunch, when Jacob leaned back against the booth, patting his stomach, his plates cleared. "That was some good eats."

"Could you possibly taste any of it with how quickly you downed it?" I asked, shaking my head in mock horror.

"I have a hearty appetite. Gotta feed the machine ya know?" Jacob flexed his bicep muscles, and flashed a cocky grin at me.

"Wow….There are no words for how ridiculous you just sounded, and looked. You should be embarrassed for yourself." I laughed, and he joined in with me, knowing I was just kidding around with him. It died down after a minute though, Jacob obviously sensing I wanted him to tell me the rest of the story.

"Alright so where did we leave off?" He looked up, and put one finger to his chin, tapping it lightly to make it seem like he was thinking hard.

"Don't strain yourself there superstar," I joked.

"You are such a comedian today Bells." I winked at him, and he just shook his head smiling at me lightly.

"So imprinting, right? Umm, so it's one of those bizarre things we have to deal with.As werewolves that is. Sam had heard all the stories, the stories we all used to think were legends. He'd heard of imprinting, but he never dreamed…"He trailed off, seeming unsure of how to continue, "Sam did love Leah. But when he saw Emily, that didn't matter anymore. Sometimes . . . we don't exactly know why . . . We find our soul matesthat way, because of imprinting. Jared imprinted on Kim, too. When a wolf finds their imprint, they are bound together, forever. Neither one of them will ever be able to stand to be away from the other for too long a period of time. That's why Sam and Emily had no choice. I mean, she did have a choice, but the pull of the imprint is very strong. They did try to deny it at first, so that Sam could stay with Leah, but it was pointless. The imprinted technically are perfect for each other, as if they are made for one another. There is really no point in trying to deny it. They are meant to be together for their lifetime and beyond, and it's just the way it is, they have to be together."

"I….I'm not sure…I just don't…..Have you…." I was so confused by all of this imprinting stuff and couldn't form a coherent sentence. Did this mean that Jacob had some girl out there in the world that he would imprint on? Would he one day meet her and then the love he felt for me not matter anymore? I wouldn't be able to handle that. I could feel my chest tightening, and I knew a panic attack was near. I felt Jake slide me over in the booth. He was now sitting next to me, rubbing my arm soothingly. "I'm sorry I'm overreacting. It's just I have all these questions now, and I'm worried of what the answers might be." I could feel tears threatening to escape my eyes.

"Let's just get outta here and go somewhere to talk, okay? Just let my go up to the counter to pay, and we'll be outta here in a minute." He kissed me on the top of the head, smoothed out my hair, and then went to go take care of the check. I knew I didn't want to hear the answers. I didn't want Jake to tell me that someday he would leave me too, just like Edward. But I knew I needed to hear them, I needed to know the truth. Maybe I could prepare myself this time. Maybe…

I don't even remember how we had gotten to the park. I had been in such a haze since Jacob told me about imprinting; it was as if my brain was in overdrive and all my other senses were shutting down. We were sitting on a bench that overlooked the waters edge, separated by a short fence, with fishing boats docked in the distance. Jake's arm was around me, and my head was resting on his shoulder.

As I started taking in my surroundings, I could hear children playing behind us in the playground. I noticed a few people jogging by us getting in some exercise, or walking their dogs. The sun was peaking out in between sporadic clouds, it was pretty warm, and there was a slight breeze, but it wasn't cold. It was actually another nice day out, two in a row - that was rare for the area. I laughed lightly at myself, and could feel Jacob look at me to see why I was laughing. It's been sunny since Jacob and I have been together, since he saved me. Not only was he my personal sun, but apparently he helped bring the sun out of hiding too.

"You okay Bells? You ready to talk yet?" Jacob asked me in barely a whisper. I looked up at him and his face was full of concern for me.

"Yeah, sorry I kinda freaked out there. Just…That was a lot to take in at once. It just took my mind some time to process all of it, that's all." I smiled the best I could to reassure him that I was in fact okay, even though I definitely was not.

"Alright. Well, we don't have to talk about it anymore today if you don't want to. I don't want you to get upset again."

"No, no…It's okay, really. I want to know more about it. I'll be alright this time. So explain to me; you said that the pull of the imprint is too strong to deny it right? What does that mean exactly?"

"It's so hard to describe. It's not like love at first sight, really. It's more like . . . gravity moves. When you see her, suddenly it's not the earth holding you here anymore. She does. And nothing matters more than her. And you would do anything for her, be anything for her."Jacob explained, staring into my eyes with such intense love behind them the entire time. I was going to miss him looking at me like that when he imprinted on another girl. I could feel the tears welling in my eyes again.

"And when does it happen exactly for the two people? The imprinting I mean, when does it usually happen, the gravity moving stuff?" I was hoping there would be some kind of age range of something. Then that way at least I would know if I had until he was over eighteen or something like that before I had to start worrying.

"It supposed to happen the first time they see their imprint, after they first phase. Like with Jared, he had known Kim for a while, they had a few classes together in school. But, it wasn't until he first saw her after he phased that the imprint was felt. Sam had never met Emily before, but the very first time was all it took. The wolf just has to have already gone through the transformation first and then see the girl afterward."

"Do you…do you think it'll happen for any of the other guys, or for Leah?" 'Please tell me you don't think it will ever happen for you' I thought to myself.

"More then likely, yeah. I mean legend says that, other then the imprint finding your soul mate, it's also finding you the mate that will help in creating the next line of stronger, better wolves. So it only makes sense that we would all eventually find our imprint, to help strengthen the Pack, and create strong future Packs." Jacob was staring out into the water, not looking at me. This whole thing was obviously not something he was too happy to be talking about.

"So um, do you think that you'll ever imprint in the future Jake?" There I asked it, as quickly as I could, like ripping off a band-aid; it hurt to say it, but I needed to get it out, I needed to know the answer. I could feel Jacob's body go rigid next to mine, and he didn't speak, he was holding in his breath. I brought my hand up to his face to pull him towards me so I could try to decipher what he was thinking. When he finally looked at me, he looked tortured. Like he wanted to say something so badly, but was fighting with himself not to, biting his tongue. "Jacob, what's the matter?" I asked.

"Bells, I just…I want to tell you, but I don't want you to freak out. I don't want to upset you. I tried to tell you yesterday." His voice was laced with fear for how I would react, but react to what exactly? Had he imprinted on some other girl? That wouldn't make sense. He would be here with me now if he had.

"Tell me what Jake? Just tell me now, it's okay." Jacob had tears now in his eyes, his face full of apologizes. I was sure by the look he was giving me I wouldn't be prepared for what he was about to tell me, no matter how badly I wanted to know the truth.

"Bella, I have alre….." He was cut off promptly by the sounds of a wolf howling in the distance. "That's Sam. Something's wrong. We have to go….now!" He grabbed my arm and quickly led me to my truck.

We got to La Push in record time; considering my truck can barely go past fifty mph. Jacob dropped me off with Emily at her house, gave me an all too short kiss on my lips, promised me that he loved me and would be back, and ran into the woods to phase. I went inside to find Emily in the place you can always find her, the kitchen.

"Good Afternoon Bella. Can I fix you something to eat?" she asked in her sweet voice, smiling partially on the good side of her damaged face.

"I'm okay, thank you. Jacob and I just came from lunch." I replied politely and made my way to sit in one of the kitchen chairs. "Do you know what's going on out there?"

"No sweetie, I'm sorry, I don't. Quil and Sam were running patrols by your house. I had a few of the boys here for lunch when we all heard Sam call for them. I know probably as much as you do right now."

Just then, Seth came barreling in the door, a wide grin across his face. Emily and I raced from the kitchen to meet him halfway in the hallway. "They found two more!" He exclaimed. Excitement laced in his words. Emily and I looked at each other, fear in our eyes for our wolves and their brothers; we knew exactly what Seth had meant. There were two more vampires in the area. "I'm here to keep you guys safe." He was frowning now, obviously disappointed that he was going to miss out on what he thought was the 'action'. I was happy at least one of them would be here safe.

"Can you tell us anything else Seth?" I asked, hopeful that he would have some more details.

"Just that Sam picked up the trail of two regular vamps by your house. They weren't… what did you call them Bella? Vegetarians?" I nodded yes to Seth's question. "Yeah, ok, so they weren't Veggie-Vamps like the one that had gotten inside the other day. These were full on human bloodsuckers. So that's why he called the pack together, to follow the trail. That's all I really know because then he sent me here to guard you two. I'm really pissed, I was hoping to get in a good fight" He trailed off for a moment and then looked at both Emily and me. "But, I mean, I am happy that I get to at least hang out with two beautiful women for the afternoon." He winked at us and his huge smile was back. He reminded me so much of Jacob before he had first phased. Seth had a very good heart.

"Well, we are happy to have a big strong boy to take care of us Seth, thank you for being here. Now come, let me make you something to eat." Emily pulled him into the kitchen and I followed. I was so worried for Jacob, I wanted him to come back here right now. I was worried about all of them. There were too many vampires in the area right now. I shuddered as thoughts of the pack being attacked by all of them at once danced through my mind.

I was pulled from my morbid thoughts by the blood curdling sound of what I assumed was an injured wolf howl in the distance. My hands flung up to my mouth to cover it as I felt bile rise into my throat, tears running down my face. Emily and Seth jumped at the sound also, and I could hear a growl resonate from Seth's chest. Someone in the pack was hurt.

"I'm going to go phase and see what happened. Stay in the house – I mean it!!!" Seth yelled to us and then was out the door before either of us could protest him leaving us. The next sound was that of something slamming hard into a tree and it breaking, and then a wolf yelping in pain. Emily and I ran to the back door to see if Seth was alright, only to be greeted in the doorway by a ravenous vampire with blood red eyes staring right back at us.

To be continued…

A/N: Thank you all again for the reviews, and for adding my story to your favorites and/or story alerts. Again you guys are the absolute best!! XoXo - Vanessa