THIS CHAPTER IS RATED PG-13. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
( As much as it pained me to write this chapter, as I'm an avid EdwardxBella fan, it was necessary. However, this is for all you silly JacobxBella fans. I hope you enjoy, because it tore my heart out to write it. xD )
Jacob's POV
I fought with myself during the entire run to Seattle. What if I didn't find what I came for? Bella's scent was lost after her supposed 'death'; it would never be so long, however, that I would forget it. But her vampire aroma would be different.
Still – I needed this. To move on, let go; for years I had hoped to imprint, thinking it would save me from a life of longing, but never did I see anyone the way I saw Bella.
One day it would happen; I would imprint. I had to.
Once I reached the outskirts of Seattle, I was careful to keep myself hidden by as many trees as possible. The forest started to scatter, and then the highway crept in. I could no longer run freely. Finding the nearest gas station (which took me an hour to get to on foot), I asked around for a ride into the city.
A woman in her late thirties was kind enough to take me in her truck, although I had a feeling there were ulterior motives behind her slightly wrinkled, appraising eyes.
All through the car ride she prompted me with questions about age, family, destination, hometown; I dodged some and gave her empty answers for others. Yet, her flirtatious smile told me she was satisfied. Perhaps the questions she was asking had nothing to do with my answers.
I was on edge for the last ten minutes of the trip. So close.
She dropped me off in front of a large mall, begging for a phone number before driving off. I told her that phones were ancient; she sadly hung her head and agreed. Landlines had been completely removed from the market twenty years ago, and cell phones were now considered old technology.
Times change.
The woman drove off, checking furtive glances at me through her rearview mirror, but I gave her no reason to turn around. Sometimes I wondered why Bella wasn't drawn in the same way other females were.
A young girl in Oregon once told me that I had animalistic beauty. That, in some raw passionate way, she wanted to rip my clothes off. This said right in front of her fiancée.
Why couldn't Bella feel that way?
I dismissed the thought, for I had given up thinking about Bella in… that way a long time ago.
There were a few street vendors loitering in front of the mall, one man in particular shouting about what sounded like 'serial killings'. In his hand was a copy of the Seattle Times, and on the cover, in large block letters, it read, 'LOCAL TOWN OF FORKS, WASHINGTON PLAGUED BY MYSTERIOUS DEATHS'.
I growled. Something wasn't right.
THREE HOURS LATER
In most places the forest was my friend, but I found anger amongst the dirt paths as I raced towards Forks. It took almost two and a half hours to get out of the city (an hour of which was spent calming myself down).
Although there was no rational to my thinking, I felt an immediate pull to Forks, to save Bella. Not that she was in imminent danger; the idea of it drew me in.
That I could rescue her. I could be her knight in shining fur.
As much as it inconvenienced me, I took the path that avoided La Push and the reservation, because I knew that one of them would sense me, were they still werewolves. Obscurity would be my new best friend in this town of Forks, Washington.
When I ran, little around me registered, but I could still feel small flecks of rain pelting my skin as I sprinted down a dirt path. Suddenly I could see Bella's face, scoffing at the droplets on her hands and running to the nearest shelter. It compelled me to swerve right, aiming for the entrance to a forest path.
Just like Bella, I would take shelter somewhere until the rain passed. In memoriam.
I tore through the underbrush, leaping from path to path, in loyal search of a clearing. The dirt pounded against my bruised feet (they would heal soon), and my heart echoed beneath my sternum, begging me to cry out like the wolf I was.
I couldn't help it; tilting my head back as I ran, I howled. Pain, suffering, loss; its sorrowfully tenor filled the atmosphere around me and I kept going until I had no breath left.
And then there it was, my beacon of refuge; a little clearing that started where the path separated from the north. The trees circled it protectively, curving in at the entrance. That would keep the rain out entirely. Only in one spot could I see the rain seep through, in the center of the clearing, like a hole in the universe.
Slowly, I made my way toward the entrance, but stopped at the sound of leaves rustling. I saw a tall silhouette in the distance, moving against one of the trees on the other side of the clearing. The silhouette shrank, and I blinked to make sure my eyes hadn't fooled me, but the silhouette stayed small.
The rain clouded my vision.
I contemplated changing then, or running away to avoid conflict altogether, but as the silhouette turned around all thought froze.
Standing in the center of the clearing, with the only rain that leaked through pelting her soft skin, was Bella Swan.
My Bella.
Without regard to time or space, I raced towards her, gathering her small body in my arms. She reciprocated the gesture with ardently, wrapping her sinuous arms around me so tightly that I never wanted her to let go.
I couldn't remember what year it was, or what day, or even where we were. My mind was back forty years ago, when I was sixteen and she was eighteen, and together we experienced the world.
Her frame fit perfectly into my arms. I wanted to cry from joy.
But then I remembered. We were not young anymore, realistically speaking, and she was not human. I pulled away, and her face fell.
She looked crestfallen. I kept my anger at bay.
"Bella," my voice was even, "what are you doing here?"
Her eyes scanned my face, and she reached up a hand to brush the water from my cheeks. I then noticed that we were both standing in the rain, and scooped her up to carry her out of it. She wriggled for a moment in my arms, but I whispered, "Shhh, you hate the rain, remember?"
Bella seemed confused by this, but then she nodded, giving me a warm smile. "Jake…" she uttered in the most alluring voice I'd heard, "Jake… I've missed you… I came back for you… but they said you left." She frowned, and my world crumbled.
The control she had over me was sickening. One sad look and I wanted to ravage the earth in fury.
"No, shhh Bella. I'm here now." I cooed. The whole thing felt unreal, and our word exchange was too much like a lovestruck couple reuniting, that I should have put her down. I should have questioned her, because the answer she gave was evasive and I knew it.
I still didn't care. Bella slinked her arms around my neck, holding on for support, and I smiled down at her. Having her in my arms was such a heavenly experience that I almost stumbled while carrying her over to a dry place to sit. She giggled.
Oh god, I missed her laugh. Her face. The curve of her lips…
No. No. I could not let my impurities govern me. It would be insanity to ruin her return so quickly with one stupid decision.
"Jake," she started as I slowly set her down on an arid patch of grass, "It was horrible. They… they changed me against my will. Edward, he promised me eternity but I didn't understand. Oh Jake, it hurt so much," I saw tears well up in her eyes, and my stomach churned.
Tearing my gaze away from her, I looked to the skies and growled with such animalistic rage that I probably frightened her.
When I finally calmed, she moved her body towards me, nuzzling head in the crook of my neck and taking my hands into hers.
"Bella, why didn't you tell me? Or Sam. We could have helped you. I would have done anything—,"
She scoffed. "Helped me how, Jake? By driving a stake through my heart?" Bella paused thoughtfully, and then finished with a derisive laugh. "I am what I am, Jake. It wasn't my decision but reality is such. Can you accept that?" Her chin tilted up to catch my eyes with her searching stare.
She wanted security in me, and I longed to give it to her.
I already made myself an outcast from La Push, and I didn't have ties to anyone else; the only thing that told me to loathe the vampire was legends. Ancient and dying stories that are told to incite fear. I could put them aside.
I could love Bella regardless of what she was.
So long as she did not stay a vampire.
"Yes," I whispered into her hair, as I leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I can accept you any way you are, Bella."
Her forehead was chilling against my lips, as I expected a vampire to be. My mouth probably burned her skin; it was odd to think of fire and ice joined in lovelust.
Love.
Joined in love.
I loved Bella, even if she was a bloodsucking leech. There had to be a way to change that.
"Jacob…" her voice sounded pleading, as she slid a hand up my shirt and traced the shadow of my collarbone. I felt a flare in my chest, and recognized it all too well.
As embarrassing as it was, I'd had dreams like this before. But this was real. My pulse tripled within seconds. "Bells… honey…" My voice was huskier than usual.
Nothing was in my control anymore. I was a teenage boy with raging hormones.
My lips found hers at the same time her body found the hem of my t-shirt. She pulled it off with such force that I stopped to smirk. Did she want this as much as me?
I raised her small body on top of mine, letting my back fall on the hard earth. Her legs slid around my waist, tightening against my body. There were fireworks exploding in my head. I heard her whisper my name fervently as my own hands found the hem of her shirt, yanking it off. I wanted this now.
We kissed like it would be the last time, crushing our bodies against each other in a wild, desperate need to fill the thirst for each other. Her hands cupped my chin as her hair cascaded around my face. I wanted to tear off all her clothes.
I had to have everything.
My hands explored the cold skin of her back, but I was more concerned with unhooking her bra than I was with the frozen feel of her body. However, being an inexperienced werewolf-boy, I fumbled with the strap over and over again until Bella intervened. She stopped the kissing long enough to laugh in a low, seductive timbre, and just as she reached behind her to take off the bra I heard twigs snapping.
I pulled Bella's body into a protective hold, but she didn't want to stop. She kissed me in a way that was impossible to deny, and my muscles slackened, letting her run her hands along my chest.
I heard more twigs snapping, and then a gasp, and racing footsteps away from the clearing.
Jasper's POV
Carlisle made arrangements for us to leave for Forks immediately; Emmett and Rosalie were on vacation in Spain, and they planned to meet us there within two days. Alice assured us that our house was still there, untouched, and so we left London with hope and anticipation mixed with martinis.
Edward drank himself dead on the plane. I remember two years before we met Bella he vowed to give up alcohol for eternity, and he'd stuck true to such a promise. When he flagged down a stewardess and demanded an Apple Martini, Carlisle did little to stop him.
He did, however, purse his lips and glance at Edward warily.
I watched as my brother crumbled before me, on a nine and a half hour flight to Seattle. The alcohol made him delirious, and although he stayed silent, I knew he was having dreams of Bella. Believing that Bella was asleep next to him, her head resting peacefully on his shoulder.
It was torture to watch the Greek God fall.
Alice distracted me with idle chatter about the weather (which was really about the killings in Forks, but we used code words to keep the humans out of it). Carlisle and Esme seemed engaged in a heated argument in the row across us, but Alice told me to pay no attention.
There was something both Alice and Carlisle knew that made them more confident in this endeavor. Curiosity got the best of me, but Alice shushed my concerns. She said that I'd find out soon.
I fell asleep some time after, and surprisingly Edward was the one to wake me up. He scoffed, muttering something about the plane landing five hours ago and the stewardesses making plans to mop up my body if I didn't move my arse; I ignored him. I could hear Alice's voice silence Edward, and then she shook my shoulders.
"Alright, I'm up."
"Come on, Jas, we've got a lot of ground to cover before it gets dark."
We got off the plane, free from having to pick up any bags, and took a bus to Forks. It would have been ideal to run, since the weather conditions were shaping up for a typical Forks thunderstorm, but Carlisle insisted we go by human transportation.
He said something about it being important to blend in. I'd forgotten how perceptive some humans can be. Bella, for instance. Well – was, in her case.
The bus broke down half way there, and in response to Esme's catty glares, Carlisle compromised and allowed Alice and I to run there, while he, Esme and Edward waited for the bus. I had a feeling he wanted to keep Edward by his side and away from Forks for as long as possible.
Alice, however, insisted that she stay with Edward. I had no problem going first, so I waved goodbye and told the bus driver I'd be pursuing the rest of my journey by foot. He looked at me incredulously, and I just laughed.
Silly humans.
Once the bus was hidden by a thicket of threes (I'd spotted the nearest forest and scrambled my way through it), I took off in a heated run. The adrenaline that pulsed through my veins was so powerful I thought they would burst open through the skin. Running in the rain was a delicacy.
After fifteen minutes or so, I began to recognize the trees, and slowed down. I was in the outskirts of Forks; Edward had brought me near here once, to go hunting. To some clearing.
I was determined to find it.
My run graduated to a slow walk, as I weaved between trees and scanned for clearings. I was briefly reminded of running through this forest with Alice, and smiled.
As luck would have it, I smiled upon a clearing. Up ahead some twenty feet was the entrance to a circle of trees. I sprinted towards it, so lost in my triumph that I neglected to notice two bodies moving deftly on the ground.
At the edge of the entrance I spotted them, and suddenly recoiled. Crouched behind a bush, I peered over with curious intent.
And what I saw stopped my breath. I recognized Jacob Black with half a second's glance, but the female, whose body was pressed on top of him, with no shirt on, was a face I thought I'd never see again.
Bella Swan.
I turned around, running back the way I came.
( So, aside from the fact that this chapter was insanely long, it's also a cliffhanger! And, a special birthday shout out goes to Fae08. Happy birthday! I think this is the last chapter for tonight, but I'll get a few chapters in tomorrow. Enjoy! And pleeeeeeeeeeeeease review! Especially on this chapter. I'm so excited to see what you all think. xD
p.s. – Do not be fooled by this chapter. Edward pwns Jake in my mind. Especially when it comes to pairings with Bella. But plot points are plot points. And, if you are a Jake fan, be happy! There's some serious PG-13 action here. xD )