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Hey guys, here's another chapter in Sam's POV. He's got lots of thinking to do. Thanks again for the reviews, they make me excited to continue the story. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 11 Moving Forward

Sam POV

I woke up to the sound of the front door slamming shut. I groaned, angry about being woken up once again. One problem with having super hearing was that sometimes you heard too much. And the guys were always coming in to the house at all hours, waking my ass up. I rolled over, ready to climb out of bed when I touch a warm soft body.

I will admit that my first thought was that Emily had returned, but I quickly squashed that thought. My bed smelled like strawberries and sex... Bella. I turned and looked at her. She was beautiful, curled up in a small ball while she slept, her mahoganny hair fanned around her head. And there on her neck was a dark purple bite mark. My mark.

Seeing the mark on her skin sent my wolf in to overdrive. He loved seeing it there. He was pleased that she was now his, an official part of the pack. I on the other hand was freaking the fuck out.

I had never marked any one before. In fact none of the guys had marked any one yet. I had considered marking Emily, after all she was my imprint and I had thought we would be together forever, but now I am eternally grateful that I didn't. The other guys said they were waiting to be engaged, or for the wolf to simply take over.

That's what had happenned to me last night. One minute I'm kissing and touching her, and next thing I know he's in control. I still felt everything, but I didn't get to make any of the decisions or anything.

Anyways, back to the mark. On the one hand I am happy that my wolf marked her. I know that she was worried about not being a part of the pack, and now she always will be. Bella will always be under my protection. By marking her my wolf is permanently bound to care for her and put her needs above my own. I am actually quite pleased with this idea. Bella is one of the sweetest, kindest girls I've ever met and I will enjoy helping to take care of her, even from a friends capacity.

But I also have several concerns. Number one being how she will react when she finds out. I have a feeling, my telling her won't go well. She is working on becoming an independent girl, and this makes her forever bound to me. If we are too far apart or separated for too long the bond will cause us both pain. What if she wants to leave Forks someday? What happens when she finds another man and he doesn't want me helping out?

A sudden thought suddenly trumps all of this. I marked Bella while we were having unprotected sex. Oh my God! What if she ends up pregnant? I raked my mind for memories of Jake and Bella being intimate( ewww, not to be disgusting) but to find out what kind of protection they used. And I sighed with relief when I saw her taking birth control. Of course he always used a condom in addition to the pill, but still, we should be fine.

Knocking on the door shook me from my thoughts.

Seth. I had told him to come and get me in the morning when his shift was over. I had promised to further train Collin and Brady this morning and wanted to be sure I was awake. I glanced again at Bella, who was only now beginning to wake up.

I have never seen Bella as embarrassed as she was that morning. She was blushing so hard it looked like she had a horrible sunburn. I sent Seth away as quickly as possible, thanking God I had locked the door. Meanwhile she looked like she wanted the bed to swallow her whole.

I completely understood that she was freaking out. To be honest I was also. I knew that Emily and I were over. She left me broken. I hadn't heard from her in months. But there was still a part of my heart that belonged solely to her. Before last night there was a large part of me that prayed she would return. Now I just felt conflicted.

If Emily came back I would have to tell her that while she was gone I slept with one of our friends. She would probably never forgive me for that, or if she did, she would hate Bella for it. But Bella now wore my mark. My wolf would always be concerned over her well being. Any time Bella needed me I would have to help her, even more so than my own imprint. I briefly wondered if I could mark more than one woman, but shook it off. No need to worry about that right now.

I tried to explain to Bella that this wasn't a bad thing. We had sex. Best sex I'd ever had, though I wasn't about to tell her that. We didn't cheat on anyone. We made ourselves feel good, when so much of our lives had been filled with pain lately. I for one hoped that we could do this again soon. But by the look on her face I wasn't sure she was feeling the same way. So for now I would let her think. I would be patient.

"I gotta go. You can stay and shower if you want." I offered her regretfully. I hated having to leave her like this again, but the last thing we needed was more of the boys coming running in to the house and figuring out what we had done.

So I yanked myself from the bed and rushed out the door before I changed my mind and decided to run back to bed. I rushed through my yard and in to the woods before yanking my shorts off and securing them to my ankle. Finally deep enough in to the woods I phased. My mind was immediately assaulted with Seth, Brady, and Collin's minds.

So, who was she? Seth immediately demanded.

I tightened the wall on my mind, determined not to let them see anything. The pack's well being depended on me keeping my private life just that. Private. None of your damn business.

Why are you so fucking grumpy? Brady asked, still holding Collin down from where they were wrestling.

Yeah, I thought that you finally getting laid again would make you happy. Collin added.

I growled aloud. Leave my sex life out of your discussions.

So you did have sex? Seth asked gleefully as the other boys howled excitedly.

I rolled my eyes, which by the way looks very strange for a wolf to do. Seth, your shift is over. Go do something else. Brady, Collin, go run the perimieter and then meet me in the practice field.

I spent the next hour working with the boys on their tracking and defensive manuevers. When I was satisfied that they had at the very least learned something new I left them to finish their shift on their own. I admit leaving two fourteen year old wolves alone on patrol made me a little nervous, but despite their lack of maturity they performed their job well. I didn't particulary want to go home to an empty house and the smell of Bella in my sheets, so I headed towards the beach.

I was sitting on the cliffs, watching a few people surfing in the waves below when I suddenly felt the strangest squeezing sensation in my chest. It took me a moment to realize that it was the mark. I stood up and felt the squeeze in my chest begin to pull me towards second beach.

I followed the pull until I found Bella's scent. Her scent seemed to calm the squeezing in my chest, so I followed her scent in to a small crevice in the cliffs. Sitting there in a small, private space was Bella. She had her legs pulled up to her chest and was looking out at the churning grey water. She was obviously cold, her little body shivering. And she was crying.

I realized that the mark had pulled me here because she was upset. I had no idea it could do that, but it did seem to make sense. If I knew she was upset I was able to comfort her. And my wolf did not like that she was crying. Like before, he demanded that I comfort her.

I approached her slowly, making sure she could hear me walking so I wouldn't startle her. I slowly sat down behind her and then pulled her cold body in to my lap, immediately inhaling her comforting scent. My wolf was not terribly pleased to note that she smell a bit like Jake, both his scent and his tears. And I knew that this must be the reason she was so upset. She had finally told him it was truly over.

After last night, nothing could ever be the same for either of us. There was no going back. Now we just had to figure out how to move forward.