Chapter Ten:

The morning was cold. My breath came out as a fine mist that froze and floated away. I watched it soar, and then dwindle into the fog.

Jacob's breathing was slow, and his fur rose with each lung full.

I snuggled deeper into the fur, trying to retain the warmth radiating off him. His soft paw found its way to my neck, and I burrowed into his chest.

He was exhausted. His whole body was worn out from running and carrying me across three state lines. He had stayed shifted, and even went off to hunt in wolf form.

A low grumble sounded in his belly. I peeked up and looked at his big brown eyes reluctantly opening. After a moment of taking in his surroundings, he looked down at me.

With a vibration, and a moment of brief distance, he shifted back into human form, and crushed me into him.

We needed to talk.

His long arms held me to him and one muscular hand held my face in place.

"Hey sugar." He whispered into my ear.

I rubbed my lips against his throat. It was a wolf thing, a submission thing.

He growled approvingly and tilted my face back into his hand. His soft lips found mine, and the heat was searing despite the frost on the ground.

When we parted, he was panting gently.

"Good morning." We both whispered at the same time and smiled.

"How are you?" He gestured with his chin to my flimsy raincoat.

I shrugged. "I'm good, as long as my space heater stays around."

He groaned and hid his face in my hair.

I laughed and rubbed his shoulders. I knew about him and Mom back in the day. And I'll admit it, its weird. I mean, he kissed her! But that was so long ago, and nowhere near today. He was still mortified though, and I loved any chance I had to rub it in his face.

Mom.

I shook away the thought, and dead on refused the following one about Dad.

I felt his breath tickle the strands on the back of my neck and I shivered. Thinking I was cold, he wrapped his legs around mine.

My toes curled in my socks and I gently traced patterns on his back.

"So, how close are we?" I murmured, trying to stay light.

"About two days away." He replied into my hair.

I kissed the top of his head. "I'll run this time."

Before, with leaving Dad, I had been so inconsolable that I could barely even make my fingers grasp Jacob's fur. But after tonight, I was all cried out. Now I was simply trying to forget.

He bit my earlobe a little harder than necessary. "No."

I sighed and let him have his way, but made plans in the back of my head to argue it tonight.

A small silence passed, and we both knew the discussion we were avoiding.

Alice stood on her tiptoes trying to see over the trees. The branch underneath her little stilettos gave out a squeak of protest and she simply hopped to the next one up.

"Do you see anything?" Edward asked.

He was waiting below, and was watching her mind.

Alice closed her eyes, and felt around the forest with her ears, listening for a wolfs paw.

Jacob:

I took a deep breath and held her scent in my lungs. She was here, after so long, I could feel her. Touch her. The need that had been scraping and tearing up my insides roared to full life now that I could see her. It was not all lust, all though that was certainly there, no, it was more emotional. The wolf inside of me demanded I mark her as my own with my scent. Gently, I licked her collarbone, and tasted her flesh.

As I did so, I began to feel her thinking. The gears in her head whirring loudly, waiting for me to say something.

There was so much to talk about, so much to ask.

"So…" She whispered impatient, and curled her hands in my hair.

"So." I replied, still gently nipping her shoulder.

She paused for a moment. "Jacob, we need to talk."

I knew what she wanted to say.

The bond was breaking. The bond between me and the pack. As we got farther away, the more it dissolved. But it wasn't going quietly.

Yesterday, I collapsed twice in painful spasms. My mind had felt like exploding, and a part of me was getting weaker and weaker by the minute.

The thing a lot of people don't realize is that the farther away you get from a pack, the more "lone" you become, the more you lose control. The more you, well, the wolf takes over.

I felt her hands massage the back of my neck and nearly purred. She was mine. I would fight for her, and everything else would be okay.

She kissed my neck, and let me in, waiting for me to do the same.

God I loved this girl. She had the power to rip someone up from the inside out. Take all their sanity from them or anything else she desired in a heartbeat. But she never did. She always was kind, and gentle. And never, ever forceful.

I saw her worry, her pain that I was in pain. The love.

I raised my head, and held her face. And blocked her out.

Sherina watched her father work. He was leaned over a large fire and was reading intently from a book, casting shadows of words onto his dark cheeks.

She crossed her arms. This really wasn't fair. Dad had promised her a man. A man who would love her more uncontrollably than anyother.

They were to be wed, he had said. But where was her fiancé? Gone. Disappeared with that, that monster.

She would have him back, she would not stand for such stupidity. She would get Jacob, one way or another.

I was shocked. Blocking me out? What kind of answer was that? I had let him in. I had opened myself up to him and made myself vulnerable.

Feeling rejected, I moved my face away from his hands and sat up. He followed me, and tried to rub my arms, but I shrugged him off.

"Sugar."

I didn't want to hear it.

I stood up, and brushed the leaves off of my jeans. "We'd better get started."

After a moment, he rose and took my arm. This time when I tried to move, he just held me like an iron grip. Sure, I could get out of it no problem, but not without shattering his bones.

"Hold on. I'm sorry. Just, give me some time okay?"

I didn't understand. "I understand." I muttered and looked at his hand, waiting for him to realease me.

With his free hand, he raked his hand back into his hair.

"Please don't do this." He groaned.

I knew I was being silly, but I didn't care. I shut down, and looked at him with impassive eyes.

He cursed and pulled me into a hug.

"You know why I love you?" he asked. When I didn't answer he just reached down to my chin. "Because you so easily could have barged right through that block. Because nothing except your morals were stopping you." He leaned into me. "I'm sorry. My head is so confusing right now." He pressed his forehead on mine.

I relaxed a little. "We used to be confused together."

He nodded. "I just, I just don't want you to get hurt. The pack, they…"he trailed off.

"They what?" I asked.

"They are making things…difficult."

I felt his energy searching for mine. It was my turn to block him.

He pulled back, confused.

I shrugged. I just didn't want to open myself up anymore.

He tried again, and after checking to see if he was still hiding his mind from me, and when he was, blocked him.

He growled.

"Sucks huh?"

His eyes were glittering.

For a split second, he opened up and let me feel.

The pain was extraordinary. My mind felt as if it was being ripped in two and the intense need for my family rang in my head.

When he quickly closed again, I gasped and looked at him.

Was this what he had been going through?

"Oh Jacob." I whispered, and crushed him too me. When he hesitantly looked for me again, I let him in whole heartedly.

"I will." He murmured, answering my subconscious demand.

So this is kind of a in between chapter, getting you ready. Review and let me know what you think Sherina has planned and if Jacob's mind will let him leave the pack and be with Ness. Also I am starting a beauty and the beast story called "The Heat of Love", check it out! Love ya!