Chapter 10

"Bella, I love you," he whispered, and a single tear streaked down his face uninvited as he continued to thrust against her.

"Jake, I…You know I love you, but I don't know if I'm ready to say it the same way you say it," she admitted, though it hardly seemed the time to say so. She was panting in anticipation as her arousal built up towards a release. Jacob had found just the right rhythm.

"You are," he reassured her.

"But how can you know?" she breathed.

"Because I just imprinted on you," he said, staring directly into her brown eyes. And with that, he came.

His body shuddered, his weight almost too much to bear as he held himself above her. Still, he didn't dare break eye contact.

Bella was on the brink of joining him, but his words brought a conflict between her body and her brain. Her body wanted more, but it was like her brain threw up a big, red stop sign to let something more important cross.

"You….. How?" Bella looked incredulous. She knew that according to the legends, a wolf imprinted the moment he saw his soul mate for the first time after he phased. Jacob had seen Bella on so many occasions, and it hadn't happened. Why now?

Jacob found her hands and took hold of them both as he maneuvered himself onto his side. They were both lying on the bed looking at each other.

"Bella, I've had a sort of theory for a while now, but I didn't think you were ready for it."

"Go ahead, I'm listening," she whispered. "I need to know."

"Well, all we really know comes from what has happened in the past. The legends say an imprint occurs the first time a wolf lays eyes on his soul mate after the transformation. That seems to be true, at least, that's the way it has always happened. But what if there has just never been a situation like ours before? You never hear about a wolf imprinting on a married woman, right? Imagine how much chaos it would cause if the imprintee were already taken. Claire is obviously happily single, and Kim had never even had a boyfriend before Jared found her."

"But what about Sam and Emily?" Bella interrupted.

"It makes my theory seem a little bit more complicated, but it's not the same. Are you following me, Bells? Sam and Leah were happy together, but plenty of couples are happy before they discover that they aren't right for each other. Think if you had been dating Mike before Edward. You and Mike would have been happy, but as soon as you met Edward, none of that would have mattered anymore, right?" he asked.

Bella couldn't see where he was going with this, but she nodded in agreement, for once completely unshaken by the reference to her ex.

"The pattern is this," he explained. "Every imprintee in known history has been single, ready for the imprint. But what if it doesn't always work that way? It's like the opposite of Sam and Leah. Instead of the wolf being in the wrong relationship, what if the imprintee is in the wrong relationship?" he questioned.

"The wolf gene can make us see what we never saw before, opening our eyes to see 'the one,' so to speak. But my genes can't affect what YOU see."

It was starting to come together for Bella, but she couldn't quite see the bottom line. "What are you saying, Jake?"

"I'm saying that normally, the imprint is so powerful that it, I dunno Bells, it sort of nudges the imprintee in the right direction too, even before it happens. Like how Emily always secretly had a crush on Sam, and Kim had notebooks full of Jared's name before he ever phased. It's like nature taking its course, preparing us for what's next. But the Cullen's, they're unnatural, an abomination of nature. Nature couldn't run its course with Edward blocking the way."

It made sense in a twisted sort of way. "So you're saying that the only reason you didn't imprint on me sooner was because I wasn't ready?"

Jacob nodded. "Take a moment to think, Bells. What do you feel?" Who do you love? He asked without words.

Bella thought for a moment. She thought of Edward, but the pain she expected didn't come. She felt a vague nostalgia, but there was no more longing; the wound that had formed was healed, and the hole had been filled with Jacob. She felt…more than whole. It was as though Edward had carved a hole in her chest, and Jacob had filled that hole as well as another hole she didn't even know she had. It was hard to explain, but she knew for sure that Jacob was telling her the truth. He had finally imprinted on her, and she was finally ready.

"I feel love, Jake. I love you," she sounded surprised. "I love you," she said with more confidence.

"I love you too, Bella."

"How do you feel, Jacob? What changed?" She was very curious how the whole thing worked.

"It's weird, because in some ways I feel exactly the same. You were already my whole world, Bella. Or maybe a better analogy would be my sun; I already revolved around you. It sounds corny, but the legends describe it as a shift in your center of focus, like all of a sudden gravity isn't what's holding you to the earth anymore, it's her. It's you. But it feels bigger than that; it's more than earth, it's like I'm earth and you're the sun keeping me in orbit." It all sounded so cheesy like he was trying to be Shakespeare, but there was no other way to describe it.

She thought of the irony in the fact that she had always thought of him as her personal sun. Maybe it was more than a coincidence. Maybe nature WAS trying to work on her this whole time, but like Jake said, Edward was in the way, like an Eclipse blocking her from seeing the truth.

He continued, "But now, everything feels right. Perfect. All of that frustration and longing is gone. It's this overwhelming sense of everything finally being right with the world. I can't imagine ever being happier than this moment."

"This whole time, this whole time you've been saying we belong together, you meant it. I mean, you meant it more than when the average guy says it. You meant it literally. You always knew," she said with a sudden realization.

"I always suspected. I hoped," he admitted.

She thought about all of the pained expressions she had seen on his face over the past few months. It was all because of her. She had definitely noticed a change in Jacob after his transformation. He was darker, less naïve. He felt more pain. With a stab of guilt, she realized why.

"Oh god, Jacob. All of those times you looked so tortured, all of that was because deep down you knew. The full force of the imprint was inside you, dying to get out and complete the process. You've been in agony," she felt horrible.

"I have, Bella, but it doesn't matter now. God, it's never felt so good to be right," he smirked.

"Well, I'm glad to see your cocky charm is intact," she teased.

"Speaking of cocky…Um, Bells, how do you feel about me losing the shorts?" he asked hesitantly.

"Jacob Black! Just what kind of woman do you think I am?" she feigned a mask of shock.

"Relax, Bella. I wasn't talking about, you know, though now that you mention it…" he let the sentence trail off with a grin. "I meant that these shorts are kind of, ah, wet."

"Oh." She had forgotten. Now that she thought about it, she was a little sticky in places too, courtesy of Jacob. "Right, yeah. Well, if you'll stay covered, I'm okay with it."

"Besides, since we're soul mates and all, I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to see all of Jacob Black in his glory," she said, half joking, half hoping.

"Mmm, you called me your soul mate and referenced seeing me naked in the same sentence; I think I'll die happy now."

"Me too."