Chapter Eight

Jacob


Paul hadn't realized how much he had missed waking up beside Jared until morning came. The heat was sweltering despite the rain that pelted the window. Paul had gotten rid of his blanket right after the first phase, but with he and Jared in the tiny room, it was like a sauna. "This was a lot cooler before." Jared mumbled into the pillow as Paul buried his nose into the younger wolf's neck. Jared's scent was unlike anything Paul had ever smelled before. It was intoxicating – even to Paul's wolf. "Paul, get off! It's too fucking hot!"

"I remember you saying something like that last night." Paul purred, smirking as Jared groaned. He wasn't sure if it was because of the bad joke or the way Paul pressed his body into him.

"You're a fucking moron." Jared sighed, but when he rolled over to push Paul on his back and straddle his thin waist, he was smiling. "You're lucky I love you despite that." His smile widened as he placed his hands on Paul's chest, grinding their dicks together deliciously.

"Shit, Jare…" Paul moaned as his hands caught Jared's hips, pulling him down harder. "Do that again, baby." His eyes rolled closed as Jared complied. "If you don't stop teasing me, I'm gonna have to claim that ass again and teach you who it belongs t-"

"Holy shit!" The curse jarred the two men in the bed, causing them to bolt apart, a growl on each of their lips. As Paul's wolf settled and the man had chance to gauge the situation, he felt his mouth grow dry. A very wide-eyed, very traumatized Jacob Black stood in the doorway of Paul's bedroom. "I- I should have knocked. S-Sam… Sam wanted to- shit, I didn't know people spoke like that outside of porn – I just… I should have knocked…"

"Breathe, man." Jared frowned as he slowly got out of bed. Luckily, the boys had put on pants before bed, or Jacob would have gotten even more of a show. "It's okay… don't freak out." Jared offered cautiously as he approached Jacob whose eyes were moving quickly between the pair.

"You two were… you were going to –" He stuttered out as Paul's jaw tightened.

"Fuck?" Paul offered, ignoring the glare Jared sent his way before looking back to Jacob. "What? What do you want me to call it? Making love?" The words sounded as foreign as they felt on his lips, and elected a gagging sound at the end.

"Just… sit down, Jake." Jared took a step back, allowing Jacob a wide berth into the room. "We'll explain."

"There's nothing to explain." Paul sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Jared and I are together. We have been for a long time."

Jacob took a tentative step into the room but didn't sit. "So last night, when you said you understood… you were talking about Jared?" Jacob's brows knit together as he looked to Jared. "How is this possible?"

"What, do you want the play by play?" That earned Paul a glare from both boys.

"Obviously I don't mean that, asshole. I can figure that much out on my own. I mean how is it possible that you two are together – when he imprinted on Kim?" It was nice to see that Jacob was slowly coming out of his stupor.

"We were together before that. The imprint… it isn't like Sam and Emily's. We're working on figuring all this out, but right now… you can't tell anyone, Jake." Jared urged. "Sam and the elders know, but Quil and Embry don't. Not to mention the rest of the rez. We don't want Kim finding out before I can talk to her, and the more people that know, the harder it will be. We both know that if Emily found out, she would tell Kim in a heartbeat."

"Kim doesn't know?" Jacob seemed uncomfortable. "I'm shit at keeping secrets, guys! And it's not like I can just not think about this when I phase. Shit, I don't want think about it, but this image is going to be burned into my mind." His face twisted as he gestured between the two. "How have you hidden it this long? I didn't even know you were gay!"

"Sam forbid us from thinking of it while phased. He can do the same thing for you." Jared offered, far more patient than Paul who was now emitting a low, constant growl.

"It's not like I was going around screwing all the men on the reservation." Paul barked out. "Jared is… different. It's not like we're together because he's a guy, we're together because he's Jared." For only a moment, Jared's face softened at Paul's words.

"You guys are asking a lot of me." Jacob groaned. "I don't know how I'm going to keep this to myself."

"How about this. You keep our secret, and I'll make sure you get the chance to go see Bella on her birthday. You were supposed to have patrol that morning, right? Sam's idea? I'll pull a double." Jared offered. Immediately, Paul could see the temptation in his eyes.

"I'll try, okay? I'm not promising anything, but I'll try." He conceded after a long pause. Looking to Jared, Jacob's eyes narrowed. "So… does that mean you're the girl?"

Jared only just managed to drag Jacob out the back door before phasing and tearing into him. Standing on the porch, Paul watched the pair with bored eyes. This was just the tip of the iceberg.

Paul laughed as Embry kicked Jared's ass in another round of HALO. "You think you would just give up, Jare." He barked as he hopped over the couch, sitting on the other side of Embry. "How are you so bad at this? We've been playing for years!"

"Maybe I'm just good!" Embry was caught between laughing and wanting to look offended. Everyone knew that Jared and Quil were the worst at HALO, so they usually divided them amongst the teams.

"I think you did good, Jared." Kim smiled from her perch on the arm of the couch as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "Just because Embry won doesn't mean you're bad. He just played better."

"That's such a fucking chick thing to say." Quil laughed.

Paul's jaw tightened as he watched the way Kim practically draped herself across Jared. He didn't encourage the contact, but he didn't push her away either. Logically, Paul knew he couldn't, but that didn't make watching them any easier.

It was only when Jacob's fearful look moved from Jared to Paul that the eldest wolf turned his gaze away. "Whatever, dude. I'm still not carrying your ass in the next match." He rose a brow as Jacob started coughing, seemingly choking on air.

"Are you alright, Jacob?" Emily asked with a frown as she entered with yet another plate of cookies. That was the third one in an hour. "You didn't eat too quickly, did you?"

"Wrong pipe." Jacob managed to squeeze out between coughs, his eyes turning towards the TV. "Let's just go again."

"No way! You're on my team this time, Paul!" Quil declared, grabbing a cookie from the plate before Emily could even set it down.

"We're not switching up teams now!" Embry frowned. "Paul's on Kim's team. She doesn't know how to play, and we're not going to switch it up now. Paul can't just play for both teams!"

"Alright, I'm done." Jacob nearly shouted as he stood, tossing his controller onto the chair as Sam wrapped an arm around Emily's middle, hiding a smile as he kissed her temple. "I'm going to patrol."

"We have the night off of patrols!" Jared called, not wanting the teams to be uneven, and completely oblivious to the fact that Sam and Paul were hiding their amusement behind warm cookies.

"I don't care!" Jacob called before slamming the door behind him.

"What crawled up his ass?" Embry raised a brow before settling into the couch.

Paul rose his snout to sniff the air. There were foreign leech scents all over the woods, and it had all of the wolves on high alert. Sure, they had spared and trained, but they hadn't actually had to fight one before. There were five of them now, though, so if the two scents were anything to go by, they had the upper hand. Besides, for all they knew, these leeches were friends with Bella Swan and the Cullen's. As Paul thought her name, Jacob whimpered internally. It had been months since Sam found a broken, twitching Bella on the forest floor, and she had been nearly comatose ever since. Apparently, the Cullen's skipped town and left her behind. Sure, Paul didn't understand what she saw in them, but it must have been serious for her to go catatonic.

'And Sam won't even let me see her.' Jacob added to the mix of thoughts in Paul's mind, causing the others to groan.

'You have got to move on, dude.' Quil sighed internally as ran along the lumber mill they often met at. 'You'll imprint one day and forget all about her!'

'You don't know that!' Jacob growled before his mind seemed to hit a wall. He must have been thinking about their situation.

'If this was any other girl, I'd agree with you, Jake. But this chick runs with vampires! Our mortal enemy!' Jared barked out as Paul's wolf rolled his eyes and bumped his shoulder.

'Not anymore. They left her. Now is the only chance I'll have to show her how wrong she was for choosing them. But Sam's stupid alpha order is keeping me away.' Jacob replayed the day of the alpha order in his mind.

'You could always take your position as alpha. Then no one could tell you what to do.' Embry's quiet mind cut through the growls that the first sentence elected.

'Sam might be harsh, but he's doing his best. Besides, baby alpha isn't ready for that responsibility.'

'Fuck you, Paul' Jacob bit out, but silently agreed with the older wolf.

Before anything else could be said, Sam's mind joined the pack, his distinguishable howl cutting through the air. Lifting their muzzles, the pack returned the howl before taking off to where they saw Sam. He had caught a scent near the border, as well as Bella Swan's. They rushed through the familiar forests, their paws sure underneath them. Whether or not they were ready for this, it could be the real deal. Jared and Paul reached Sam first, falling into formation at his flanks before the others showed up and followed suit. As they approached the clearing where the scent was stronger, they slowed. They needed the element of surprise if they were going to pull this off. Jacob bit back a growl as the leech stroked Bella's face.

'He's talking to Bella.' Sam thought as they stopped on the edge of the clearing, sharp eyes watching the interaction. Jacob shifted his weight at the back of the pack, eager to get to Bella. 'Hold!' Sam commanded, his ears twitching at the dreaded leech's words. As the tick raised his hand, Sam let out a low, dangerous growl. 'He's not her friend. Let's go!' His ears flattened against his head as he slowly stepped out of the woods, the pack on his heels. The vampire looked to them, shocked and fearful – it was Paul's favorite look on a leech. 'Wait until he moves away from Bella. We don't want to hurt her…'

"I can't believe it…" The leech breathed as he looked between them. As the last of the pack stepped from the woods, the leech turned to run.

They were on his heels quickly, all but Jacob who lingered by Bella before she turned to run far away from them. Maybe the chick did have some survival instincts. 'Jacob, he's swerving your way!' Jared's voice echoed the warning a moment too late. As the vamp lunged for Jacob, Jared jumped in front of him, whimpering as the leech connected with his left shoulder, sending several sickening snaps down Jared's arm before flinging him into a nearby tree.

"Jared!" Paul's panicked voice echoed in their minds as he turned to run to Jared, Embry and Sam catching the leech before he had a chance to run again.

Jared was human again by the time Paul reached him, crying out as he practically rolled on the ground, cradling his limp arm that was certainly not supposed to bend that way. Paul shifted at his side, catching Jared's squirming form to stop him from hurting himself more. Paul was sure he had never experienced real panic before this moment. This wasn't some bite or broken nose like they got during their sparing matches. Jared's arm looked shattered, and judging from his screams, the bones were beginning to set the wrong way. It wasn't like they could just bring him to the hospital. They would have to try and fix him up on the rez and hope they weren't too late. If they didn't get his bones set correctly soon, it could permanently fuck up his arm. "Paul…" Jared whimpered as Paul held his head to his chest. "It hurts…"

"I know…" Paul's jaw tightened as the sickly-sweet smell of burning leech filled the air. "I know… it'll be okay. We'll get you back to Sam's and call your mom. She'll make it better." He hoped. Paul winced as Jared's screams echoed around them, another snap coming from his arm as it attempted to set itself. "I've got you, Jare. It'll be okay, baby. I promise." He breathed out as tears pricked his eyes. Pushing the hair back from Jared's sweat-soaked forehead, Paul placed a kiss there, keeping his lips against Jared's heated skin. He didn't care that Quil and Embry had stopped to look on, or that Sam was tearing into Jacob for not focusing. All he cared about was that Jared was in pain and that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.


AN: I just wanted to say that I know a lot of the terminology during the sex scenes can be crude, but since the story is essentially told from the pov of two teenaged boys, I try to stay true to that. I know it can be cringy at times, so I apologize lol. I had a lot of fun writing the lighter parts of this chapter, and the next is going to be intense because Kim is finally going to find out (spoiler warning?) lol. We're getting into the actual Twilight plot now, but it's going to be a little different from the way SM wrote it.

I was watching BD for some wolf inspo, and I noticed that when Jacob finds out about Bella being pregnant, he howls so the rest of the pack will meet him at the lumber mill. It cuts to the pack howling back, and I noticed that Paul and Jared's wolves were together on this empty hillside and that made me happy because I officially ship them now lol.

As always, special thanks to those of you that took the time to review! They seriously mean a lot to me! YaleAceBella12 you're my MVP because you've been here since chapter one lol.

Braddox: I'm so glad you're enjoying it. As I mentioned before, I consider myself sexually fluid, but since I'm married to a man, I identify as straight. Growing up, all of my best friends were gay, and it was heartbreaking to watch their own families reject them and treat them like there was something wrong with them. It's easy to forget in modern times how some people still struggle. Although America as a whole has taken a lot of positive steps in accepting homosexuality, the individuals can still be very close-minded. For some young teens, they grow up hating themselves because of these narrow ideals.

Maxsmomma: I love Old Quil in this story. He's the embodiment of 'I'm too old for this shit'.

PSA: I know this is going to seem very after school special, but if you or someone you know is having a hard time coping with their sexuality, reach out and tell someone. We've lost too many young lives to the notion that being gay is something to be ashamed of. If you're a reader of mine and need someone to talk to, my inbox is always open and I do my best to help in any way I can. If you need help right away, reach out to the GLBT National Hotline: 1 888 843 4564.

As cliché as it is, it does get better. Talk to someone. Help someone. You're not alone.