Jacob

"I-I...I don't have anything to tell you", I whispered, wondering how I was going to live when it happened. Maybe I'd be fine? But maybe I'd always go round feeling like part of my soul was cold and lifeless somewhere out there. Who could tell.

Maybe coming back here had been a mistake. Maybe I should have stayed away. I'd run off to escape this wedding after all, and yet as soon as it actually happened I came trotting straight back wagging my tail like some loyal dog from an old folktale.

I remember a folktale once about a dog who's master left him to guard a baby. Whilst the man was gone wolves came into the house and tried to attack the baby. The dog fought off the wolves and drove them away, killing one, but in the process he got blood on his muzzle and there was also blood on the baby, from where one of the wolves had got a bite in. When the master came back he saw this and thought the dog had attacked the baby, so he took it out back and shot it. Then he found the body of the wolf, and saw it's wounds and realised how the blood had really got on the dog's muzzle and then he was sorry.

But too little too late, you know.

Figures I'd remember that story now.

"Oh please", Bella muttered. "Spit it out." I wished she didn't know me so well. I wished she didn't seem so perfect for me half the time, the half when she wasn't talking about him.

"It's true. It's not...it's-it's a question." I just didn't know how to say it. I was so afraid that if I upset her she'd get up and walk away and I'd never see her again. At least not alive. I couldn't bear that. "It's something I want you to tell me."

"Ask me." Her brown eyes blinked up at me like she was the helpless love interest I'd just recued in some stupid superhero story and for a moment I wished she was because then she wouldn't be marrying that monster.

"I shouldn't."

"It's not tonight, Jacob."

The relief I felt was irrational. Tonight, tomorrow, next week...what did it matter? It was all the same really.

"When?" I asked, wondering if I really wanted to know. Knowing or not knowing...which was worse? If I knew when it was I'd be morbidly counting down till the hour, not able to think of anything else. But at least I'd know when it was over. If I didn't know then I'd always be wondering if it was happening now...

"I don't know for sure. A week or two, maybe."

"What's the holdup?"

"I just didn't want to spend my honeymoon writhing in pain."

Honeymoon. God, I wished she didn't have to be so disgustingly traditional about it. Somehow, it seemed to make the whole thing sound worse. She was eighteen, for God's sake. I didn't care if she was in love or whatever. This whole middle aged wedding charade was ridiculous.

"You'd rather spend it how?" I asked. "Playing checkers?"

"Very funny."

"Kidding, Bells. But honestly, I don't see the point. You can't have a real honeymoon with your vampire, so why go through the motions? Call a spade a spade. This isn't the first time you've put it off. That's a good thing though. Don't be ashamed of it."

I wasn't sure why this made her so angry. Maybe it was the implication that some part of her didn't really want to be a vampire. But she yanked her hands away from mine and hissed

"I'm not putting anything off. And yes I can have a real honeymoon! I can do anything I want! Butt out!"

My mind stopped. That was literally what happened. Every sense, every thought, every feeling left my brain. All I had was one question.

What did she mean by a real honeymoon? Did she mean the same thing as I had? Because surely she couldn't...

"What?" I gasped. "What did you say?" Because I wanted her to tell me I was wrong more than I could recall ever wanting anything.

"About what...? Jake, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean? Have a real honeymoon? While you're still human? That's a sick joke, Bella!"

"I said butt out Jake." She looked furious. "This is so not your business. I shouldn't have...we shouldn't even be talking..."

I seized hold of her, shouting something, though I didn't know what it was. I didn't even know what I was doing. That-that sickening leech was telling me to let go of Bella and all I could think was what he was planning on doing with her and in my mind was rage, rage, rage. And then somehow Bella was away from me and now it was my shoulders somebody had hold of - Seth, I dimly registered - and I knew I was about to morph so I tried to push him away but he wouldn't let go and the world was spinning, spinning, spinning, with me riding on the heat of my own anger and the worst thing was that it felt good being this angry, like it wasn't even about Bella anymore, but of course it was, he was going to kill her, he was going to kill her, HE WAS GOING TO KILL HER and this whole wedding was just a sick sick farce because for some reason the stupid traditionalist murderer needed to be married to her before he could do anything and it was just SICK SICK SICK...

"I'll kill you", I roared at Edward, my rage pounding satisfyingly in my ears.

"Jake, no!" Seth was wailing but I forgot about him. I pushed all thoughts from my head except me and the leach. Sam was in front of me in wolf form but I didn't care...and then...

"Marie", Edward said, pulling someone from behind a tree. Someone whose eyes widened in horror at the fact he'd known she was there. Someone who flinched at the touch of his cold skin. Someone who looked at Sam like she wanted to run and like she'd never seen a werewolf before.

And I'd never seen her before, but she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever laid eyes on. Her rich brown eyes, full of kindness and intelligence and right now fear, seemed to pull me forwards and even though on some level I was aware I wasn't moving, in my mind I was bounding to her side, first as a wolf, then as a human. I saw her wrapped in my arms and I saw her sitting on the beach telling me jokes. I saw both of us running through the trees with the wind in our hair and I saw her looking up at me with love in her eyes and me looking down with exactly the same expression. Suddenly, this girl was the most important thing in the world. Suddenly, everything else was dull and lifeless and she was the only thing that really mattered. And if she wasn't here...then I didn't want to be either. I loved her.

I'd imprinted.

And then things got complicated.