Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight

Chapter 9

Seth

I roused from a deep slumber, opening my eyes groggily to see the sun shining brightly through the branches of the towering red wood trees. Then I remembered where I was and with whom...I immediately shot up from my perch on the ground, frantically about to phase and search for her.

I let out a huge sigh of relief.

She was still here.

I did a double take, taking in the sight before me.

She stood in a patch of sunlight that shone uninterrupted from the shade of any tree. Her small heart shaped face was tilted up to the rays of the sun, her shocking red eyes closed as a light wind ruffled the tips of her flowing pale hair. She'd never bothered to put her cloak back on, and the bright sunlight revealed every curve of her slender silhouette outlined in her tight, dark clothes.

Dang...

In her unnatural stillness amid the natural greenery, she was the exact replica of a mannequin. An exquisite pixie supermodel mannequin. I grinned foolishly.

What really captivated me however was how her face sparkled with radiant diamond like reflections as the sun hit her fully.

I knew she was aware of my perusal but she didn't acknowledge me at all. She actually seemed to bask in the sunlight and I guessed in Volterra, she had been denied this simple pleasure.

I could stare all day...

I pried my gaze away however as I contemplated whether to keep running with her or accept the Cullens' proposal. Running away wasn't going to solve the issues I faced...

Cautiously rising to stand, I wondered how to approach her. If it hadn't been for my wolf dna, no doubt I'd still be recovering from her slug. I didn't want a repeat of last night, well not the hitting part anyway. Or the choking.

Imprints are never supposed to hit each other.

But this definitely wasn't an average situation. All I knew was that I needed to be close to her, and I'd give my all to make her feel even just a fraction of the wondrous connection that we shared. I knew it affected her in some way and regardless of how challenging, I would get her to acknowledge our connection. Then we'd work things out from there. Nothing would deter my optimism.

I will make this right.

Then something suddenly occurred to me, something which should have been made apparent to me from the time I woke up.

I'd fallen asleep exhausted in my human form. And she hadn't made a run for it.

Which she readily could have.

Whatever she'd come to Forks for had to be really urgent for her to not take that opportunity to escape. This agitated me a lot. I inherently knew that she had come here for some sinister purpose which she refused to reveal to me. So I had to try and figure out what it was, without anyone getting hurt. Or without her trying to distract me again. No not trying, she'd hands down triumphed in distracting me. It had taken every ounce of my rigid self control to stop what she had been about to do. I didn't think I'd have the strength to stop her again...

That she'd wanted to seduce me had me still suspended in a state of gratified awe.

I had to keep reminding myself that she was not just a vampire and my natural enemy, but that she belonged to a powerful coven who could easily obliterate the entire Quileute line. Also that she'd lived for decades, to put it mildly whereas I'd barely lived one human lifetime.

I didn't know her at all...and because of this imprinting phenomenon I now wanted to know everything about her. A momentary flash of remorse hit me as I thought in any other circumstances, I would have tried my utmost to kill her...and I didn't kid myself. I knew she would kill me if she didn't have some use for me. These circumstances were mind boggling.

I couldn't continue like this.

So I approached her now, walking slowly to gauge her mood.

She kept her eyes closed as she spoke, her lips barely moving at all.

"What do you want, mutt?"

I felt my lips tugging into a grin. Well mutt was an improvement from mongrel, wasn't it?

"Please don't feel free to call me Seth."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, mutt."

"I've been thinking maybe we should head back."

Her eyes shot open yet she still held her form in that abnormal stillness.

"Yes. I want to go back to the reservation with you."

"Why?" I bluntly asked though I wasn't really expecting anything from her.

"Because you have...aroused my curiosity."

My brows shot up at her seeming honesty. She glanced at me, snapping, "For want of a better term! Not really aroused you know, I meant..."

I chuckled at her rising annoyance but stopped short when she glared harshly at me. "I know what you meant..." I said casually hoping to put her at ease. If she didn't have that pale skin of a vampire, I swore she would have blushed. Way to go, Seth, I actually made her, a vampire, flustered. She continued to glare at me while I just stood there grinning foolishly. I unnecessarily cleared my throat, dragging my eyes away from her face. If she looked so beautiful angry, how would she look like when she was...happy?

"What are you curious about?" I asked, wondering what it would take to make her smile at me.

"This imprinting impossibility for one...and why you are immune to me."

"I'm not immune to you." Couldn't she feel my reaction to her anytime she held me close to her?

"My power." She enunciated slowly, turning her pale face away from my gaze slightly. Her light blonde hair partially covered the side of her face so that I could no longer see her expression. I clenched my hands at my sides battling with myself not to reach over and gently push those long strands aside.

"Oh...that."

"Yes that!"

Through the veil of her hair, I noticed her cupid bow lips pressing into a grim line. Her clear, bell like voice grew agitated. "Besides...Bella Cullen," She spat the name. You are the only other being I've met who can resist my power."

Of course, she'd be mystified as to why her power couldn't affect me. All I could think was that our imprint connection was so strong that she could no longer hurt me. Just as I would never hurt her. But somehow I didn't think she would want to hear my theory. The words still tumbled out of my mouth anyway.

"But I did feel what you can do. At first. I think it has something to do with my imprinting on you, when I recognized you as my imprint, I just didn't feel anything anymore."

She whipped around to face me, her red eyes glowing fiercely. My tendency to say whatever was on my mind certainly wasn't helping me right now.

"I'm not your anything mutt, let's get that through your thick head." She hissed.

"The way you acted last night tells me otherwise." Damn my running mouth! I instantly regretted my thoughtless quip as she frowned, the delicate arch of her brows creasing her high, smooth forehead.

Fuck, I'd never even knew how much I, a seemingly macho shape shifter could blush since I'd...met her. The familiar heat crowded my face again as I recalled the manner in which she had drank from me only a few hours before.

After I had gently told her I would be here for her in whatever manner she needed me to be, she'd wasted no time in swivelling around to take a hold of me. She'd pushed me to the forest floor then straddled me as her mouth found the fount in my neck.

The more she'd sucked, the more intense the pleasure had gotten until even my unusually strong body had begun to weaken. She'd pulled what she needed so rigorously.

If my strength hadn't started to wane, I might've flipped her over and ground myself against her, maybe even more than that if she'd allowed me...

"Since when does my almost choking you to death constitutes as acting like your...anything?" I blinked when she asked abruptly.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about." I replied softly. Her vivid red eyes flicked over me quickly. Her thorough assessment lingered on my neck before her gaze met mine again. Was she thinking about the taste of my blood? Of the way how she held me close to her while she fed from me? What she didn't know was how good it made me feel. How good it was to feel her against me, to inhale her peaches and cloves scent in such proximity...and to touch her as much as I wanted. That was the best part. While she fed from me, she didn't seem to mind my touching her at all. Not that I'd...touched her inappropriately in her distraction. I just trailed my fingers through the silky fine texture of her hair. Something she'd most definitely not allow me to do outside of her feeding...session. However tempting it was to let my hands drift to other areas of her perfectly formed body, I'd never do that. Unless she wanted me to.

Yeah, maybe in another century or two.

"Blame my...thirst on a momentary lapse of my mind." She snapped peevishly, almost childishly.

"I wasn't talking about your thirst either." I couldn't help smiling when she bit her lip and narrowed her eyes at me.

I grinned, deciding I wouldn't make her any more uncomfortable by reminding her of how she'd almost..stripped for me."Besides, vampires don't get 'momentary lapses'."

Her small hands fisted at her side and she shrieked in a nearly ear splitting octave."Neither do we feed from wolves, nor get unconscious or have their powers mysteriously go away when they need it the most!"

I raised both hands, seeking to placate her. "Calm down, alright. I'm sorry."

She turned her face away from me and I felt even worse. It was so good to look into her eyes. Something just clicked into place when we stared at each other, though she always seemed to evade direct eye contact. And I loudly wondered if she felt anything, too.

"Don't you feel it?"

She still refused to look at me as I continued to speak softly, soothingly. "Don't you feel that connection between us when you look at me?"

"When will we be returning?"

I sighed in disappointment at her immediate avoidance of answering me. Then I took a deep breath, mentally fortifying myself for another outburst at what I had to tell her next.

"We'll have to stay with the Cullens for a while."

I closed my eyes briefly waiting to hear the shrill, high shriek of her outrage.

And waited...

Her eyes were glued to the forest floor as if it held some great fascination to her. When she finally spoke, the silky soft ring of her ethereal voice made me start as if she had responded in a shriek. The muted, quivering sound of her voice was the last thing I had been expecting. From just the few days we'd spent together, she hadn't struck me as the type to get easily scared.

"I'm staying at the reservation with you."

"You can't...they don't trust you." And sadly neither did I. Yet I was hopelessly determined to believe that one day I could. "The Cullens won't hurt you, and I'd be there with you. If you really meant what you said before, about trying a new lifestyle, there's the safest place for you, the..uh..Volturi won't think to look for you there."

Jane remained completely silent for the longest while. I shifted and swallowed deeply a few times, anxious for her to just say something. After what seemed like hours, she raised her head and looked at me.

" Seth...I..I can't. I can't go there, not when they all hate me so much. I'll be in constant terror that they'll try to terminate me..."

I hated to see the deep fear shining from her vivid ruby eyes. I had to touch her, somehow relay to her that it'd all be ok. I gently placed my hands on the tops of her arms, slowly so she could indicate if she didn't want me to touch her. To my relief she allowed me to and I drew closer to her. Tenderly I said, "I know they won't hurt you, Jane. Contrary to what you might think of them, they're good people, they'll give you a chance."

She shook her pale blond head frantically, grasping my arms then and whispering so softly that without my unique hearing I wouldn't have heard what she said.

"Seth, I cant, I can't stay there, please let's go to the reservation. You don't have to let me out of your sight at all. But not there, not with them..."

This was getting more and more impossible. I so wanted to please her, give her what she wanted and keep my peers safe at the same time. No matter how much I wanted to appease her though, my allegiance to the packs remained steadfast. When I'd last communicated with Jacob, he and the Cullens had been about to pounce and I'd barely managed to hold them off from descending on Jane.

I hadn't been too happy that Jake and the Cullens had decided they would continue to follow us from a distance where their presence would remain undetectable to Jane but where I could readily confer with Jake if I had to. My sudden gratefulness for their decision was more evidence that this was beyond me. I'd swallow my pride and accept their assistance though than risk her escaping me. That I couldn't even think about.

I quickly told her, praying she wouldn't try to run. "Hold on, ok."

I stepped back as far as I needed to then slipping off my shorts hastily, I phased. The urgency of this situation left no room for modesty.

Jake responded quickly to me, he must've been in his wolf form the whole time looking out for my call.

Seth.

Even from a distance, the tenseness in his wolf voice rang through.

She won't go with the Cullens willingly.

What she wants is not important right now Seth. We need to contain her before she runs back to the Volturi and starts a whole new war. I'm surprised she hasn't already. With Bella and Edward guarding her, we can have this situation under control, at least for now. You can still stay with her. But we need to act now!

Maybe she could stay with me at the reservation...

Seth!

And Bella and Edward can guard her there, I hastily continued.

She may be your imprint but this isn't solely your decision here. All our families' safety and lives are at risk. We need to get to her now.

She's got no fighting skills, Jake. Once Bella can shield others from her, Edward and maybe even Emmett as well can guard her, she won't do any harm, I intoned desperately

If she won't come willingly then we force her, Jake voiced ominously in response.

I can't...

You don't have to. But we can.

Jane was watching me intently and I gave my full attention to her, on the look out for any sign that she was about to bolt.

I didn't bother to phase back to my human form just yet 'cause I had a distinct feeling that this was going to get ugly.