Hello my faithful readers! I apologize for the late update, but school started and I was trying to get my bearings. Still am, but I wanted to write this for you. Gwen and Jacob are going to be going on a rollercoaster of emotion in the coming chapters, so I hope this one doesn't seem too sappy or OOC.

By the way, has anyone seen the new Underworld movie? I did, and all I can say about it was: BADASS. I'm sorry but the Cullen's and the pack wouldn't stand a chance if Selene wanted them dead.

Also, there's an important authors note at the end of the chapter, so I would appreciate it if you guys would read it and then give me your input. Thanks guys!

Disclaimer: Twilight does not belong to me. I don't even want it, really.

"You may only be someone in the world, but to someone else, you may be the world"-unknown

"I've lived a long time. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that fate doesn't decide everything. People can choose."-Hancock

After Jacob had taken off I had pulled my shirt back on and trudged back into the house and into his room. I found a pair of clean sweat pants and left them on the small dry patch on his back porch. Then I made myself a strong cup of tea (which Billy only kept there for me. He and Jacob only ever drank coffee.) and sat on the couch, staring into space.

I felt…strangely blank. I didn't feel mad or upset or even better, knowing that I had shared my story with Jacob. I didn't feel exactly empty, but I didn't feel anything else either. Maybe calmness was what I was feeling. I just sat there in the quiet, sipping my tea and listening to the rain as I waited for Jacob to come back.

He must have been upset, the way he exploded like that. It had happed so quickly, his skin bursting with reddish colored fur in a hazy blur. If I had blinked I would have defiantly missed it. Replaying the image over and over in my head made my heart pound. I decided I didn't like seeing him change. The sound and sight of him bursting out of his skin like that was just…too much. Him turning into a wolf I could handle, seeing it was completely different. I guess it was like the vampires; I could handle knowing they existed; I just didn't want to see them.

It was two hours before Jacob came back. I was lying face up on the couch, dozing when I heard the back screen door swing open and shut. I saw him a second later as he peered over the couch arm to look at my face.

His hair was sopping wet, little beads of rain running down his chest. His face was smooth, but I saw the way his lips were slightly twisted in a grimace, pulled down at the corners. His eyes were torched. I reached up and touched his cheek with just the tips of my fingers, looking up at him upside down.

"Are you alright?" I asked quietly.

He took my hand and pressed in against his cheek, leaning his face against it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Yeah. I'm sorry I was gone so long. The guys had to run me down."

"Run you down?"

He nodded. "When we get angry like that we can't control when we phase. If I stayed with you I was afraid I would hurt you. I'm better at controlling it these days but," Here he shook his head, his grimace becoming more pronounced. "The guys heard what happened in my head and they had to run with me for a while."

I frowned, puzzled. "They heard what happened…in your head?"

He opened his eyes and looked down at me. Without releasing my hand he walked around so he was facing me right side up. He kneeled down so we were face to face and leaned one of his arms next to mine.

"It's a wolf thing. We can…uh…sort of hear each other's thoughts." He said, looking slightly uncomfortable. "But only in wolf form. It can get kind of embarrassing, especially if you have something you don't want everyone to know about."

I felt my eyes widen. "So they all know?"

"Only Seth, Leah, Sam and Jared." When I just stared at him he seemed to realize something was wrong. His face turned apologetic. "I'm sorry, Gwen. I couldn't help it. I'm so sorry."

I turned away with a sigh. I didn't know why I didn't want anyone to know. I guess it was because so many people back home had thought I was just a poor girl suffering the effects of seeing her friends murdered in front of her. They pitied me, thought I had gone crazy or that I was lying. When I was question by the police, they didn't believe me. Part of it was because they couldn't find any clues to the murders, any leads. But it made sense to me. Of course vampires wouldn't leave any physical evidence of their existence behind. Nothing but the bodies; which actually, I had found out later, still had quite a bit of blood left in them. And me, a girl who would be dubbed weird or insane for claiming she saw them.

I shook my head. "I guess it doesn't matter. They would have probably found out sooner or later." At least I knew the pack would believe me.

I felt Jacob rub my hand soothingly. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It's not your fault." I said, looking back at him.

He had both his elbows perched on the front of the couch, sort of hunched over me, kneeling.

"Is that it?" I asked. "Is that everything about being a wolf?"

His eyes darted away from me, looking suddenly nervous and unsure. "No. There is something else. Something important."

"What is it?" I asked, steeling my nerves for whatever he was about to dish out.

He took a deep breath with his eyes closed, then turned to look at me. He seemed serious, but still slightly unsure. "Have you ever heard of imprinting?"

I frowned. "You mean like what ducks do? Like when they come out of the egg and think the first one they see is their mother?"

Jacob's lips twisted up into an amused smile. "Sort of. But it's way different than what ducks do."

"So what is it?" I asked.

He licked his lips and his eyes darted away from me again. I felt my heart pick up speed at his nervousness. It was affecting me now too. "What is it Jacob? Just tell me really fast, like pulling off a band-aid." I said, dying to know what he was so jittery about, but unsure of it myself.

His mouth twisted up again. "This isn't something I can just blurt out. It's really important and will affect both of our lives."

"Okay, now I'm scared." I said, sitting up so now I was almost level with him. "What is it?"

"We imprint…to find our mates." He looked down at the couch cushions, looking ashamed. "When we see her it looks like she's glowing, like the sun isn't where the light and warmth comes from. It comes from her." He explained quietly.

"Everything we thought was important, our families, our jobs, even our pack, take a back seat once we find our imprint. Once we imprint the only thing that matters in the whole world is her. It's like all those strings connecting us to other people get cut off and one iron thread connects us to her. We become whatever she wants us to be; a friend, a lover, a brother, anything. From the moment we see her, she becomes the only thing we live for. Or would die for. From that moment on, she's our whole world."

I stared down at the top of his head, feeling stunned. "So it's like…love at first sight?" I asked hesitantly. It sounded too intense to just describe that as love.

Jacob shook his head, still not looking at me. "Sort of, but not really. It is love, but it depends on the imprint. For Sam, Jared and Paul it was love. For Quil it was love, but the brotherly type. It was the same for me. It was love but I knew that's not what she needed or wanted. She needed a friend she could talk too and who would always be there, and that's what I was. But it doesn't mean I didn't want to be with her the way Sam or Jared or Paul are with their imprints. I was being what she wanted."

I felt like my heart was stopping, but I could clearly feel it beating in my chest. The images of Sam and Emily and Jared and Kim briefly flashed through my head. Sam and Emily were so intense with the way they looked at each other I often had to look away. Jared and Kim were the same way, but more discreet about it. I didn't know much about Paul's girlfriend, Jacob's sister, or Quil's, but I would bet money it was the same with them.

And Jacob. Jacob had just said he had imprinted. He had said it happened when they find their mates. Their mates. Jacob had a mate?

"S-so," I stuttered, feeling a horrible pain in my chest, like someone had just punched me there. Hard. I also felt that familiar spark of anger, but the other pain sort of numbed it. "You have a mate?"

Jacob looked up at me in alarm as the last word left my lips as a high pitched shriek. I glared down at him angrily, feeling my throat constrict as I struggled to hold back tears.

"You have a mate and you didn't tell me?" I exclaimed. "How the hell could you do that? What, you think leading me on like this was some sort of game? You sick bastard, how could you do that!"

If I had been thinking coherently I would have wondered why I was acting the way I was. Jacob and I were clearly never a couple. He never made any moves on me. But he held my hand or hugged me when I was upset, and he worried over me like no one I had ever met. He was always there when I needed him.

Somehow, someway, at some point, I had begun to really love Jacob. And not in just a friendly way. It was an intense feeling in my chest that I had never felt before, and now that I knew he had some else, I hated it.

I sat there on the couch, glaring down at him in hot anger and pain, with tears pouring down my face like a little girl who didn't get what she wanted. But at the moment I could have cared less. Not only was I upset and angry, but I felt betrayed. I had never consciously given my heart to Jacob, yet somehow, he had it.

Jacob himself sat on his knees in front of me, his eyes wide and shocked, mouth slightly open. But then his whole demeanor changed. His mouth closed and his eyes became soft, gazing at me in love and sadness. It made me angrier.

Before I could jump up and run out of the house, Jacob's hot hands where cradling my face, wiping away my tears with his thumbs. I opened my mouth to tell him not to touch me, but then his lips were on mine and I couldn't.

All coherent thought flew out the window. It was like that flame of anger in my chest had been drowned in luke warm water, because that was the feeling that was spreading there now. A luke warm, drowning feeling spread through my veins and arteries, comforting and soothing and…happy. It felt like every nerve ending I had was humming in happiness.

I sat, frozen and stunned as Jacob placed hot and tender kisses on my mouth. They were soft and innocent, much like the one I had given him at the airport. I wanted so badly to respond to them, to kiss him like he was kissing me, but I couldn't. He had a mate.

Finally, after what seemed like a few minutes, he pulled away so he could look into my eyes. His eyes hadn't changed from that loving, sad look. "It's you Gwen. I imprinted on you." He said gently.

I stared at him, feeling my mouth open slightly. I drew in deep breaths, filling my lungs as I realized I hadn't been breathing while Jacob kissed me. Me? I was Jacob's mate?

An intense feeling of embarrassment washed over me as the happiness in my limbs faded away. I sniffled, looking down at the couch cushions under me. I couldn't look Jacob in the eyes. Unfortunately he was still cupping my face, and he shifted slightly so I had no choice but to look at him.

"Gwen?"

I don't know what kind of reaction he wanted from me, and it took me a minute to find my voice. All sorts of things started swirling around my head all at once. I didn't know what to ask first.

"What does that mean? Did you choose me? What's…I mean…" I spoke in a sort of broken snifflie voice that I hated. But I couldn't help it. Jacob was right; this really did affect our lives. I could feel it, and it was terrifying. If was funny how I was reacting like this, now that he told me I was the one. A minute ago I had been angry and hurt that I wasn't. Now I was just scared. I felt like such a hypocrite.

Jacob released me and slowly sat back on his hunches, watched me sadly. "It happened the first time I saw you; at the bonfire. As soon as I looked into your eyes it was like everything shifted and the only thing I could see was you." He said intensely, quietly.

"So it's…involuntary? You can't control it?" I asked, looking down at my lap and feeling ashamed of how I was acting.

"No." Jacob answered gravely.

That pain in my chest was back full force. He couldn't control it. Did that mean he didn't really choose me? Did he not want me? I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. Jacob seemed to sense something was wrong, because he leaned toward me again, placing one hand over both of mine.

"But Gwen, that doesn't mean anything." He said quickly. It almost sounded like he was pleading. "Even without the imprint, I would have still wanted you. You're…amazing. You're everything I want. You do reckless things that make me feel like I'm having a heart attack every once in a while, but you understand me in a way Bella never could. You're fiery and brave and you make me laugh. You like to hang out with the guys and have fun. You're never selfish. You're smarter than me and you always listen to what I have to say. Billy and the guys and their imprints all love you. I love you Gwen. Even without the imprint, please please believe that." He pleaded, squeezing my hand firmly.

I wanted to deny everything he had just said. I wanted to yell at him and call him a liar and say that it was just the imprint talking that made him feel that way and that I didn't want him if he really didn't want me. But another part of me, that stupid, foolish, spit of a romantic teenage girl in me wanted to believe him. She and that other part, the logical part, where doing epic battle in my head. And the teenage girl was winning. I could see her now, beating logic back with a baseball bat and a catcher's mask on.

"But it's like…" I paused, gathering my scattered thoughts. "Do we even have a choice? Was there any choice to beginning with?"

I felt Jacob freeze next to me, his hand still on both of mine.

"I…I've thought about that a lot. About a year ago I was wondering the exact same thing. But if there's one thing I've learned from everything that went down with Bella, and even with the others and their imprints, it's that humans have a choice. You're human, Gwen. If you don't"- here he took in a strangled breath-"want me… then I'm not going to force you to be with me."

I had a choice. It still didn't make up for the fact that Jacob didn't seem to, but I tried to focus on what he just said about wanting me even without the imprint.

There were a lot of things I still wanted to do. I wanted to eventually go to college, travel to Greece and France and Italy and stuff myself with all sorts of different foods. I wanted to maybe write a book someday, and had flirted briefly with the idea of going sky diving. Could I do all those things, knowing Jacob was here in La Push, pinning after me as I lived my life?

But what if he didn't have too? I wanted to be with him, I was sure of it now. He wasn't physically tied down to La Push. He could come with me and we could do all those things together. He would like stuffing his face in Italy. I didn't know how he felt about college or sky diving (actually I suspected I already knew how he would feel about me doing that), but we would cross that road when we got to it.

"I do want to be with you Jacob." I said, still staring down at me hands. "But there's so much I still want to do in my life. I never really thought about kids and a family and…being a werewolves mate."

Jacob was silent, unmoving. I could feel how tense he was; almost feel his emotions in the air, without looking at him at all. When I finally did look up at him, the look on his face was horrible.

He looked like any moment he might fall over and just curl into a ball and die. His face was crumpled in a look of such despair and pain I felt my heart clench and my eyes moisten. Did the imprint affect me too? If it did I was feeling it full force.

I don't think I really thought about anything in that moment. All I knew was that my arms wrapped around his neck and suddenly I was kissing him. That look didn't belong on his face and I knew somehow, it needed to go away.

Jacob's arms wrapped around me, one hand tangling in my hair and holding me to him. His mouth was soft and warm against mine, and as corny and cliché as it sounded, it was intense and passionate and wonderful. I had never kissed anyone the way I was kissing Jacob. Not that I had kissed a lot of boys, but this was more intense than any other kiss I had had.

Finally we separated and just stared at each other. "I want you Jacob. I really do. And one day when I get ready to do everything I want to do, will you come with me?"

He blinked at me, seeming surprised. "I would go anywhere with you Gwen. You know that."

I couldn't help the grin that threatened to pull at the corners of my mouth. "Would you come to France with me? Or Spain? Or Italy?"

He looked at me in surprise. "If that's where you want to go. Italy's the home of pizza and pasta, so I think I would like it there." He smiled goofily.

I pulled away from him slightly, his hands still gripping my sides and my arms resting on his shoulders. I laughed, feeling suddenly giddy. A few months ago I would have been disgusted with myself at the way I was acting, but like I said before, I didn't care.

"So," Jacob said slowly, "You're okay with this? You understand what this really means, right?"

"I think so." I said. "It means we are expected to be together. Like, be mates. Together." I said, blinking as it seemed to sink in now that I was thinking straighter.

It seemed like saying it out loud was making it more real. Jacob and I were expected to be together. To get married and have little baby werewolves. Thinking about it was…terrifying. Almost more terrifying than vampires, because this wasn't some scary monster in front of me, this was my life being laid out for me. But Jacob had said I had a choice. I didn't have to be with him if I didn't want to be. If I choose not to be, would I feel guilty about it? How would Jacob feel? He didn't have a choice, no matter how much he claimed otherwise. That was going to eat away at me, I just knew it.

But I did want to be with him. Right now, at this moment, I wanted him more than anything else I had ever wanted. Was that okay? Was it selfish of me to disregard his wants because of me? He claimed he wanted to be with me, imprint be damned, but did he really? How could I believe him?

Jacob watched me patiently, but I could see in his eyes how much he wanted me to say something.

I trusted Jacob; there was no doubt about that. Could I trust that he really wanted me? He wanted me now, with the imprint but…is that all that mattered? It didn't seem right.

"It's…" I hesitated, "Hard to think about. I've got all these doubts in my head, and it's just…" I trailed off, unsure of what I was saying.

Jacob squeezed my sides. "I know it's hard to understand. But I know I would have felt the same way I do now, even if we didn't have the imprint. I'm sure of it."

"Even though you still loved Bella?" I asked, feeling my heart squeeze at her name.

"Yeah. I went to see her a few days after I imprinted on you. And when I saw her, it was like my head was finally clear. I still care about her, about as much as I can care about a leech, but it feels like I care about her the right way now. Like a friend." He explained.

I shook my head. It was still going to take more convincing to make the doubts about him imprinting on me go away. I loved and trusted Jacob, but he was biased. It would have to take a lot more than just his words to convince me.

"I'm not going to say that I don't want to be with you, because I do. It's just that how can I know its true? I don't want you to want me because some mystic power says you have to. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it." I said, rubbing my forehead.

Jacob shook his head. "No, I get it." Then he smiled. "I guess I'll just have to convince you."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "How? You're biased. Anything that comes out of your mouth won't convince me."

He grimaced. "Ouch. That hurt."

"Sorry. But I'm not going to lie to you. Honesty is best in any relationship." I smiled slightly.

"Yeah, I guess it is." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Man, this isn't how I was expecting it to turn out. You really keep me on my toes, you know that?"

"Is that a good or bad thing?"

"I'm not really sure. Both?"

I sighed, feeling exhausted. Today had just been one emotional up and down after another. I flopped onto the couch on my side, Jacob's eyes on me. "Can I lay down with you?"

"If you want. It's your couch." I said, closing my eyes.

I felt him crawl over me, scooping me up slightly as he did so I was wrapped in his arms. I leaned my forehead against his chest, sighing. I felt him nuzzle his nose into my hair, his fingers tracing my still injured arm.

We laid there together for about an hour before the phone rang. I was dozing, trying to get to sleep so I could just forget all my doubts, but was instantly snapped back to reality. Jacob swore softly and carefully unwound his arms from around me so I felt the coldness engulf me. I curled up into a ball to conserve heat as he picked up the phone, my back to him.

"Hello?" He growled. I bit back a smile. Apparently he was as comfortable as I had been. "Oh. Hey Sam."

I could hear Sam's deep voice through the phone, but couldn't make out individual words. I heard Jacob suck in a breath, which made me turn around to look at him. His eyes were narrowed. "What?"

Sam's voice filtered through the phone again, and whatever he had been saying caused Jacob to start shivering slightly. "Alright, fine. I'll be there soon."

He hung up and turned to me, his mouth set in a thin line. I sat up, fully alert. "What? What did Sam say?" I asked.

"Nessie had an encounter with another bloodsucker. One we or the Cullen's don't know."

I felt my chest constrict. "What?"

"It was a couple of hours ago, and the Cullen's have been looking around Forks for it, but haven't found anything. We're going to go have a talk with them." He said, his eyes narrowing into space.

I took a deep breath, steadying my nerves. "You said that vampires can't come into La Push." I stated.

"Only because we protect it. The Cullen's can't come in because of the treaty, but other vamps don't have that kind of restraint." He explained.

"You realize you're really scaring me here." I said, feeling my heart pound.

He came over to me, placing his hands on my arms so I was held in place. "I'm sorry. But I want you to know how it works. But you don't have to worry. No vamp has ever got into La Push and they won't start now." He said with determimation.

A sharp howl suddenly erupted across from the house, making me jump. Jacob's thumbs rubbed up and down on my arms. "It's just Brady and Collin. We're leaving them behind while we go meet the Cullen's. Don't worry; I'll be back in a few minutes."

He pressed a kiss to my lips and then jogged out the front door, his eyes glancing at the lock as he closed it behind him.

As soon as he was gone I got up and double checked that everything was locked. Then I went into Jacob's room and curled up in his closet, burying my head in my hands. What was going on around here?

There it is. Chapter thirteen. I hope it wasn't too sappy for you guys, because I feel like it was Mary-Sue and OOC. But you guys be the judge. It also seems like Gwen is going to have a lot of doubts with her new relationship with Jacob. We'll see how that goes.

As for my important note: I was thinking about my next story. I was thinking a two-shot for all you JacobxGwen fans. It would take place a few years after this one, and would be about Gwen getting pregnant. Which means I was thinking about doing a…um…lemon. I don't plan on writing one in this story, so maybe…However it would depend on how you all feel about it. I personally have nothing against lemons (except the really dirty ones. I mean really, there are young kids on this site!) but I've never written one. I don't have much experience in that area, so I want you guys to tell me how you feel about it. I would like to do something with Gwen getting prego, but lemons…I don't know. I'm not really sure. So I need you to tell me.

And as for my kitty, she's still hanging on, but doing pretty badly. I have a feeling we're going to have no choice but to put her down. It's going to be hard, especially now that school has started again, so updates might be slow. But I want to thank everyone who sends me PM's telling me how much you love this story, as well as those who favorite and alert. Thanks to you all!

In the next chapter it's finally Halloween, and we all know what kind of real monsters are lurking in the dark…

Reviews please!