A/N -I had wanted to get this out a few days ago, but we had a nasty bout of the stomach flu run through the house. But I did manage to work on it within that time, but not as much as I had hoped. Despite that, I hope you're happy with this chapter. Keep in mind, that I had been living off of a few hours of sleep while writing portions of this.

Thank you soooooo much for all those reviews! I think that was a record for me. :) I'm going to be trying to reply to as many as possible - so include any questions you may have along the way...although I'm not going to be giving too much away. I appreciate all the comments, follows and favourites that have been added. I'm glad to hear that the character of Jo is being well received by you guys. She has quite the history as we will be discovering very soon...her family as well. There have been secrets kept within La Push and some are about to be exposed. :)

Please Review!


"Damn it, Embry," Jared whispered, although he didn't move his eyes from Jacob standing in the rain. "What did you do?"

The four men watched Jacob; his nostrils flaring and entire body shaking as though he would phase right then and there. They knew Jake enough to know that even after he first phased, he had better control over his temper than most of them. To see him visibly pissed off for no serious reason surprised all of them.

In Jacob's mind, this was serious. He knew that Embry had spent the day with Jo and furthermore, he could smell her on him the moment he had walked past him towards Sam. Jacob was simply acting on pure instincts. Sam watched the younger man, anticipating the moment where he'd have to step in; in his human form or otherwise.

Embry was getting angry as well. He knew exactly what Jared was implying and he was offended by the connotation, yet he was no where near as agitated as Jacob currently was.

"Nothing!" Embry replied to him, flatly and obviously defensive. "I just held her hands because she was cold and the truck was taking too long to warm up. I'd never think of crossing any lines with Jacob's imprint."

"She is not my imprint!" Jacob argued, visibly straining to even say the words that sounded so vile to his inner wolf. He felt his chest clench involuntarily as he spoke. The others could see the pain sweep across Jacob's features before he wrapped his arms around himself and suddenly knelt down in the mud from the intense wave of agony that he could feel from the inside out.

"Jake, this is getting serious," Sam said firmly, taking a careful step forward towards Jacob. "You need..."

"Sam?" A familiar voice caught his attention at the door to the house and he quickly looked back.

Emily stood with a portable phone to her ear, her eyes on Jacob as she watched the man in obvious pain as he shook in uncontrollable anger.

"Emily! Get back inside!" Sam called out, fearing for the safety of his own imprint.

But Emily didn't move from the doorway. Sam could see the urgency on her face. Knowing that Jacob was close to phasing and the danger she could be in by simply being present, Jared stepped closer to Emily.

"Sue's on the phone," she said, looking anxiously from Sam to Jacob. "It's about Jo."

Jacob's eyes lifted slightly up from the ground as he heard Emily speak.

"She's suddenly complaining of severe stomach pain. Sue's wondering if it's something her and Embry ate this afternoon. Sue's concerned because Jo does have some food allergies."

Sam sighed, turning back to Jacob. He was grimacing in pain as he knelt in the mud.

"You can tell Sue that it's Jacob's decision that's doing it," he said aloud to Emily.

"Jeezus, Jake!" Embry exclaimed, angrily before he jumped off the step and into the rain. He made his way towards Jacob, stopping only when Sam held out his hand, preventing him from coming any closer to the hostile shape shifter. "You're hurting her by rejecting the imprinting! You're making her physically sick! Jo doesn't deserve this!"

"Why the hell do you care? She's not your imprint!" Jacob roared at him, pushing himself up to stand despite the pain in his chest, and prepared to fight his friend as he was certainly angry enough to.

"She may not be my imprint, but she is still my friend!" Embry yelled at him. "It's more than what you are to her right now! You're hurting her!"

"At least someone around here is acting like an imprint should," Paul mumbled to Jared beside him on the porch.

The comment didn't go unheard by the others, yet while they ignored it, Jacob didn't.

Paul had been one of the more vocal pack members when it came to Jake's decision to fight the imprint. He had resented the decision, having known how much peace and joy he had once he had found Rachel, despite Jacob's initial objections to him imprinting on his sister.

Jacob's glare turned towards Paul, and he growled menacingly before turning back to Embry. He was on the verge of phasing and everyone knew it. Jared remained by the door of the house, to ensure Emily's safety as Paul walked out into the rain and stood alongside Sam and Embry, giving his support.

"Jacob!" Sam said, forcefully as Paul stood beside him. "You need to calm down."

Jacob ignored Sam and continued growling at Embry. He knew deep down that Embry was right and he was simply being a friend to her, but Jacob was too focused on the fact that Embry had held her hands when he had yet to even speak to her.

'She is my imprint, not his,' he mind thought loudly. He was almost certain that he had yelled it.

But as soon as that thought crossed his mind, he fought it back.

Jacob took numerous deep breaths and put his head in his hands as he continue to tremble, attempting to put a reign on his unjustified anger and rationalize between his head and his heart. Sam moved closer to him. It had been nearly 2 years since he had seen Jacob have so much difficulty in controlling his temper. Sam was certain that it was a direct symptom of Jacob's refusal to accept the imprint. He knew that imprinting was a powerful thing but he never realized how powerful it really could be until then.

"Jacob!" Sam repeated. "I'm not going to ask you again. Calm. Down!"

"I can't," Jacob stated through clenched teeth as he kept his head between his hands.

"You have to. It was your decision to fight the imprint and it's because of that decision that you're feeling like this," Sam told him sternly.

"Embry..." Jacob snarled at the name as he spoke it, yet Sam interrupted before he could speak out the thought.

"Embry has nothing to do with this. He was behaving like any of us would; protecting an imprint of the pack - your imprint."

When Jacob didn't rebuke Sam for speaking of Jo as his imprint, he continued. "I know that you believe that you're fine without her - that you don't need her, but at this moment, I don't think you realize how wrong you are. I could hear that desperation in your voice when you were asking where she was when you initially came into the house. I had never seen you so concerned for someone before."

Sam thought of Jacob's behaviour when Paul had attempted to attack Bella that one day almost 2 years ago. That event was nothing compared to this. He had been defensive against Paul, but never angry to the point where he should desire to hurt one of his brothers.

"I saw it on your face. You were visibly terrified," Sam told him, as he saw Jacob's shaking had begun to subside. "I know what you were feeling. Knowing where she was and that she was safe was your number one priority. Nothing else mattered except for her."

"I felt so out of control," Jacob admitted, softly. "Lost."

Hearing Jacob speak in a tone that they were more accustomed to, allowed Sam to relax a bit more. He let out a breath that he seemed to be holding. He glanced over at Paul nodding at him, before turning back to Jacob.

"It's the imprint. You need to accept it, Jake."

Jacob looked up at Sam, his face relieved of the anger and fear that had once nearly consumed him. In that moment, Sam saw Jacob's resolve fall. He appeared exhausted; worn. Sam had seen how challenging the imprint had changed him and not for the good. It seemed that it even caused unease within the pack; something Sam never anticipated.

"I'm not really sure what to do now," Jacob told him, causing Sam to take a step towards him. He smiled.

"The hard part is over," Sam assured him. "Giving into the imprint will be like breathing."

When Jacob shook his head, Sam once again grew concerned until he heard Jacob's words.

"I never wanted my genes to be the thing that was directing my future. I wanted to do it myself."

Sam nodded, understanding where he was coming from. The entire thought of imprinting was still relatively new to all of them. Sam knew how confused Jacob had been at first especially when he knew that Sam had left Leah for Emily. Hell, he was surprised and didn't know what was going on. It was involuntary and it chose people whom they never dreamed it would happen to. But now, Sam couldn't imagine how his life would be without Emily. Knowing what Leah had gone through following Sam's imprinting on Emily, it was understandable as to why Jacob wouldn't want some force to choose his mate.

"The way I see it, you were led back to La Push specifically to meet Jo," Sam told him. "That's pretty powerful if you think about it. That's more than just your genes telling you that she is the one."

Jacob sighed as a hint of a smile appeared on his face. "It's strange to even say it, but even as I...denied it, I couldn't stop thinking about her." Jacob paused before he spoke again, the words falling out of his mouth in so much adoration. "About Jo."

Sam's smile grew as he heard the admission coming from Jake.

"Jake, I'm glad to hear you're not a total jerk," Paul quipped, coming up to Jake and slapping him on the back causing him to finally smile, his entire face happy.

As though he came out of thin air, Jared wrapped his arm around Embry's neck.

"If we only knew that all we had to do is make you insanely jealous, we would have simply told you that Embry and Jo went out for a candlelight dinner for two afterwards," Jared said, with a cheeky smile.

Embry's eyes widened as he looked to Jake and shook his head, imploring to him that this was a lie. Jacob knew Jared tone well enough to know that he was simply teasing.

"Jared, shut up!" Paul exclaimed, grabbing him from around Embry's neck. "He's finally come to his senses. If you make him phase, I'll join him and be sure to take a bite out of your leg."

"Guys, I'm fine now," Jacob assured him, although he enjoyed watching Paul and Jared's rough-housing, even in the pouring rain.

The two continued for a few more seconds before laughing at each other and punching each other in the sides. Jacob watched for a moment before turning to Embry. He took a step towards his best friend and extended his hand towards him.

Jacob was about to apologize for his behaviour but instead, Embry grabbed his hand and spoke first.

"We're good," Embry assured him, squeezing his hand.

Jacob smiled and nodded, agreeing.

"We're good."

With that, Embry sighed in relief.

"Now that you're finally embracing this imprinting thing and you're not going to rip my head off, you may want to hear about what Jo told me," Embry said, smiling as though he held a world-class secret. "It's amazing!"

Rather than move into the house, the pack remained standing on the driveway in the rain as Embry quickly told them of the conversation he had with Jo while they were fishing. The cold and rain never bothered them and they were eager to hear what Embry had to say. He explained everything from the reason that Jo's father had told her as to why he had left La Push to Jo's dream that she had prior to coming to the reservation. They all listened eagerly and then glanced at each other in shock as Embry spoke. Everyone seemed to look at Jacob, curiously to know what he was thinking.

"So, she was essentially told to come to La Push at the exact same time as I was," Jacob said, obviously surprised and in shock. "How is that even possible?"

"That's what you got out of that?" Jared asked, excitedly. "What about the part of the dream which told her that she'd find her destiny?! You should know who that is referring to, I hope!"

Paul clapped Jacob on the shoulder, smiling. "If you need anymore proof that she is your imprint, there it is."

"What about her father?" Embry asked, causing the others to look at him. "According to what Jo said, if her Dad was in line to take over the eldership position within the tribe when old Grandpa Peter Clearwater passed away, then her Dad must have known about the legends. He was telling Jo stories about monsters living here and was serious about wanting her to never step foot in La Push. Yet here she is, only because she had a dream of her father telling her that it was safe here."

"It's obvious that her old man didn't want her to ever come here. So, maybe it was the legends that scared him away," Jared commented.

Yet Paul shook his head.

"We've all heard the legends about the cold ones and our ancestors descending from wolves," Paul argued. "That's nothing new. The stories alone wouldn't have been enough to scare me away from La Push. Up until I realized it was all true, they were simply stories."

"Something must have scared him enough to make him leave," Sam stated, thinking. "We'll have to mention this to the elders. Perhaps since Old Quil was around at the time and acquainted with Peter Clearwater, he may know more about what happened to his son, Michael. We'll also have to tell them about the dream that Jo had, especially considering it may have led her to La Push in order to meet Jacob."

"Wait Sam," Embry stated. "Jo has no idea that I'm telling you guys this."

Almost instantly, Jacob felt the concern considering it applied to his imprint.

"She seems to be a private person," Embry continued. "If she found out that I told you guys and that the elders also knew, she'd be embarrassed, not to mention she'd be pissed at me."

"It stays within the pack," Jacob suddenly declared.

"Hold on, Jake," Sam said, putting a reassuring hand on Jacob's shoulder. "The elders should hear about this."

"We never told them about Quil imprinting on Claire," Jared argued. "That was so out there that we couldn't let them know. We knew they'd freak out."

"This is different," Sam stated. "This is still technically uncharted territory considering the circumstances that brought Jacob and Jo here. But it involves two adults. If it was so important for Jacob to return now and Jo to be here because of a dream, then this is something that the elders should know about."

Sam turned to Jacob, noting that he hadn't said much while they other pack members were speaking. For something that involved him, he was unusually silent.

"Jake? Is this all right with you?"

For once in his life, he felt like this was not just a decision that he was making on his own. He was also making it on Jo's behalf.

Jacob sighed before he nodded.

"You are right," he finally answered, turning to Sam. "This is something we haven't dealt with before. I am curious to know what the elders have to say. Ensure that the other pack members keep it to themselves and that it doesn't get back to Jo that we are all aware of what she told Embry. The last thing I'd want is her to leave, especially if it's important that she remains here to be safe."

"I agree," Sam stated, with a nod.

"There's also the issue of you having to tell her about all of this," Jared said, gesturing to the others as a pack whole. They knew he meant more than just the pack. Jared implied everything from the imprinting to the truth behind the legends.

"Let the guy have a chance to talk to the woman first!" Paul exclaimed with a smile. "Can I recommend something before you see her, Jake?"

Jacob smiled at Paul, anticipating what the man would tell him, considering his cheeky smile he had on his face.

"What?"

"This castaway look you have going on, I doubt it's going to work on Jo," he said, framing Jacob between his fingers. "My nose suggests that you take a shower and get a haircut."

"We'll get you cleaned up," Jared said, wrapping his arm around Jacob's neck. "Don't you worry!"

"Jake," Sam said, gaining his attention once again. "If you're going to be sticking around from now on, I'm going to be putting you back onto the patrol rotation."

Jacob nodded and agreed. He had anticipated it.

He just didn't expect it to be right away.

Jacob took it in stride considering he had been away from the pack for so long and they had taken over his rotation between them all. The only problem was that he would have to wait longer to see Jo. Yet, being that his patrol was through the night, he wouldn't have been able to see her anyways. Also, the pack didn't seem to mind hearing Jacob's nearly constant inner conversations while he was patrolling. In any other situation, they would've been annoyed, but to finally have 'their' Jacob back and not thinking about Bella for once was refreshing. They also had agreed in keeping Jo's dream a secret. They were all astonished as one by one, they heard the story through Embry's mind.

As Jacob ran the eastern perimeter, he stopped as the breeze carried a familiar scent.

Vampire.

He was close to the Cullen's property so it was only natural that he'd detect their scent in that area. After a few seconds, he continued to run.

Jacob was still shocked to hear that Sam had allowed the Cullen's to live following them breaking the treaty by changing Bella. It was all due to the rather strong suggestion from the elders as they considered how it would affect Charlie Swan, who at the time was not only a good friend of his father's but also becoming quite close with Sue Clearwater. There was nothing they could do but allow it.

As he made an abrupt turn, he quickly decided to make a short jaunt near the Clearwater's house. Jacob could hear Jared's thoughts as he hid within the shadows of the forest across the dirt street from the house. The house was dark, yet he was certain that he saw movement inside. Then again, it could have been the curtains moving over the vents below them.

'She's not awake right now,' Jared thoughts came to Jacob. Although he was no where near him, he could hear him clearly. 'You can't see her right now anyways. Why are you even there?'

'I just need to know that she's all right.'

'Don't make the night visits a habit,' Jared teased. 'You don't want your behaviour mimicking a certain vampire. That would be just creepy and I'd refuse to do patrols with you.'

Jacob didn't even respond to Jared. Instead he flashed him an image of him growling at him. It was enough to show the guy that he had gone a bit too far when he began to compare him to Edward Cullen. He would never be like him. Edward Cullen desired to kill Bella when he first met her. He later left her thinking that she would be safer without him. To be with him, she thought she'd have to change and he allowed it.

He would never do any of that to Jo. He'd never harm her, leave her and she'd never have to change. She'd forever have warmth. He'd be whatever it was she needed him to be. It was freeing for Jacob to be able to think in that clarity.

As he stood there in the shadows, his keen eyes watching the house, Jacob wondered what he'd say to her. He thought he saw something move across the window just as he heard a subtle sound of leaves crunching beneath paws, he didn't need to turn around to recognize the scent as Jared.

'Hi and sorry for being a jackass, is probably a good place to start,' Jared suddenly chimed in.

Jacob looked over his shoulder and growled low in his throat.

'Come on,' Jared thought, ignoring the growl and pacing impatiently. 'We have one more perimeter run to do and then we can get some sleep.'

After one quick glance back at the Clearwater house, Jacob turned and walked towards Jared before the pair sprinted off into the darkness.

Inside the Clearwater home, a pair of brown eyes looked through the curtained window once again. Jo had woken up and had gotten a glass of water. Her stomach pains had disappeared and she was feeling much better than she had earlier that night. As she looked across the road, the glowing eyes she had seen had now disappeared. But Jo would never forget them. They were similar to which she had seen just before she had ran her car off the road. Her mind reminded her of the stories her father used to tell; monsters living within the shadows of La Push. But it seemed silly to her. It could've easily been a wild animal; a moose, cariboo. After all, they were in a mountainous region. Curious though, Jo felt the need to see what it was; almost drawn to it.

With a deep sigh, she went towards the front door.

'What the hell am I doing? It could be a bear for all I know!'

Yet she wasn't afraid. Her hand was on the door knob and she opened it, before stepping onto the porch. She listened, hearing only the sound of crickets chirping, the wind blowing through the trees and the occasional owl hoot. Her eyes fell on the space across the street where the moonlight had hit the pair of eyes, illuminating them in the darkness. Nothing was there.

'Damn it Jo,' she thought, turning to go back inside. 'You're hallucinating now. That food poisoning is getting to you.'

With that, she turned and headed back into the house.