Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

As always, this chapter wouldn't be what it is without The Real Teacher's hard work. Thank you so much!

~ Chapter thirteen ~

"I saw Jacob." Her voice was so low and weak that for a moment he thought he'd misunderstood.

But then his eyes met hers.

"You're sure?" he gasped. It couldn't be. Jacob was dead. Lost in the same way he would have been if not for the amazing angel of a woman sitting next to him.

"I know him, Edward." She swallowed the tears that had started to form in the corners of her eyes, the pressure of her hand on his increasing as she drew strength from his touch, just as Edward had intended. "We grew up together, played together, laughed and cried together. I know who it was I saw. It was him."

"So where is he now?" Edward tried to lift his body so he could see the rest of the cabin. Surely if Jacob had somehow miraculously survived in the woods all those months he would be there to join them? "And why didn't he come back?"

Bella sighed, the corners of her mouth twitching but Edward couldn't see if the motion spoke of grief or anger. Or both. "It's complicated…." she sighed, before launching into the most surreal story Edward had ever heard.

As he listened, his worn out mind had a hard time trying to wrap its powers of credulity around the tale she told him, though soon enough his surprise and confusion turned into rage as he thought about how he'd been lied to…all those years. How he'd risked his neck and future happiness just because the town elders were too scared to reveal the truth.

"So you're saying that all these years….they lied to us?" He rubbed his temples, ignoring the angry remonstrations of his body as he focused on relieving the pounding in his head.

"They had their reasons," Bella softly spoke, "however misguided they might have been."

"Don't try to justify their actions," he spat, the pounding in his head getting so severe that he had to close his eyes.

"I shouldn't have told you," Bella sighed, shaking her head in disapproval of her own candidness. "Dammit! I shouldn't have…."

"I asked for it," Edward groaned, his body deflating in submission to the pain. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Through a haze he felt her soft hands push him back onto the bed and cover him up as best as she could. "Stay with me," he whispered. "I hate it when you're out of reach."

"I will," her voice sounded soothing, sunnier than her mind must have been, as her hands brushed his hair out of his face.

The love in both her words and her actions made him feel better than any medicine ever could have when she spoke again. "I will not leave you again."

"Good." He could feel the tension leave his body as he gave himself over to sweet sleep.

The cabin was black when he woke up, Bella's form outlined faintly against the red glow of the shouldering remains of the fire she'd made earlier that day, when the door could safely be opened to get rid of the smoke.

"You're still awake." Her body jolted with surprise as he spoke, her gasp barely audible over the sounds of the wolves.

They were particularly vocal that night, or maybe it was just his imagination. The thought of who they had been and what they had turned into made him shudder.

"I couldn't sleep," Bella whispered. He could see her head turning towards the wall, towards the sounds. "Not with them out there."

"Come here." He patted the space next to him. He needed her close. Not just because he wanted to comfort her, but also because he needed to be sure that she was alright.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she carefully placed herself next to him, making sure not to put pressure on his weakened frame while still having her whole body touching his. "Is there anything you need? Anything I could get you? Water…."

"I'm fine," he chuckled, correcting himself before she could let her disapproving snort be followed by a sharp string of words. "Not to say that I'm healthy in any way, but I am not in need of any refreshments at the moment. Having you near me is enough."

And truly it was. The feeling of her body against his miraculously made the pain fade and the tension, that always resided in his body whenever she was more than an arms width away, dissipate like snow before the sun.

As they lay there, in strained silence, listening to the sound of the wolves he felt her body tense up with every sound they made. Her face looked like she was miles away, reliving some horrific experience from the past.

He could only hazard a guess to what it was that inspired such fear in his beloved.

She had been out there, with those beasts, knowing what they were and what they would do if they got their hands on her.

Even the very thought of it, though he would be forever grateful and in awe of her, made him sick. She was the most precious thing alive in his world and to think that she could have died out there…that those mutts could have sunk their teeth in the soft flesh that was his and only his to touch….He couldn't bear it.

"There is something I didn't tell you yet." Her voice shocked him back to the present and he could almost feel her distress, even before he turned his face towards her and caught the anxiety shimmering in the faintly illuminated deep chocolate eyes. "I don't want there to be any secrets between us but…."

"Tell me," he urged, her words making him strangely anxious. "Don't worry….I am well enough to cope with whatever you have to say."

A loud snarl nearly made her gasp, her body cowering into his embrace as she shifted a little closer to him. "Jacob," she breathed. "When I saw him….he…recognized me."

"What?" His gasp was drowned out by a chorus of answering howls, as if the wolves were listening in on their conversation. "How do you…..Are you sure?"

"Yes, she whispered, hiding her face in the crook of his neck, the soothing scent of love and man she breathed in calming her enough to continue.

"But I thought you said they lost their humanity when they turned into whatever the hell they are?" Even in spite of his promise, Edward couldn't prevent the throbbing in his temples to start back up as a barrage of questions left unanswered welled up in his mind.

"I know. That's what my father told me. Evidently he was mistaken." Bella sighed, her heart hammering in her throat as she relived the memory of what happened that night.

"They cornered me….all six of them, but one of them stepped forward…he was so close," she shuddered and leaned into his touch as Edward cautiously wrapped his arm around her, "I could smell his breath and his foul intent before I looked up and…those eyes."

Tears forced her to stop and as she cried Edward wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her close, ignoring the pain and possible damage his actions caused in his desperate attempt to soothe his beloved.

And it worked.

Bella felt safe, being in his arms, his love making her feel stronger and after a while she recovered enough to continue. "I thought he was going to kill me," she continued. "I had a gun….but in the commotion and panic I dropped it before I could even fire a single shot…..and I knew I was going to die."

The tears were streaming freely down her face as Bella continued in a shaky voice. "From what my father told me I knew better than to expect him to take pity on me…..but that didn't stop me from pleading for my life with him….and it worked."

She let out a deep sigh, resting her head against his shoulder. "I could see a change in his after a few moments. He looked…different, more like the old Jake I used to know. The other wolves must have felt it too because they started to advance and then…it all went from bad to worse."

"What happened?" Edward asked. He wished Bella hadn't been put through this, didn't have to see whatever it had been that she saw and didn't have to know what she knew now. Hell, he wished he didn't know that those same wolves he had cursed to hell and damnation were the boys he had grown up with!

Tears were running freely down Bella's face now, her body trembling worse than his as she got closer to the climax of her story, her mind transported back to those horrible moments which she had thought to be her last.

~x ~

As the wolves answered her screams with a chorus of deafening howls, Bella tried to press her body even further into the tree, hoping it's soft bark would somehow swallow her whole and take her away from what was playing out to be her worst nightmare.

It didn't.

In fact, the wolf that had sprang forward from the circle the wolf pack had drawn around her only crept closer, as if it were enjoying her misery.

"Jake?" Bella whispered in an unsteady voice.

The wolf's eyes tightened as it glared at her, the creature now so close that she could see her own fear-stricken face reflected in its beady eyes.

"It's me….Bella," she tried again. "You remember me, right?"

She felt ridiculous, talking to a beast that was so clearly fixing to attack her, but there was something in those eyes that gave her a tiny shimmer of hope. Something told her that – in spite of her father's words – her old friend may yet be alive somewhere inside his new furry skin.

"Please…." She pleaded, as the creature inched even closer, its foul breath permeating the air as it continues to silently regard its shaking victim.

The wolves behind it were getting impatient, Bella could deduct as much from their dissatisfied growls and the way they kept scathing their paws across the forest floor as if to urge Jacob to make haste and just kill her.

"You wouldn't want to hurt me, Jake…" Bella pleaded, the tiny shimmer of hope kindling into an adult spark as she took in the behavior of the wolves. "Think about Charlie…."

At the mention of her father's name the wolf took a small step backwards, its head turning as if it were thinking about something.

"And what about me," Bella boldly continued. "You were in love with me once…we were going to get married…you would want me happy….right?"

As the creature let out a bloodcurdling snarl, Bella realized that a reference to her happiness might not have been such a smart move. Did he know about Edward? Bella thought not. How could he have?

Only if…

"No!" she gasped as Jake crouched on his hind legs, his figure poised to strike. "Remember Jake. Remember what you told me when you went into the woods…you wanted me to be happy…you never wanted me to pine away…"

In an act that might have been construed both as genius and utterly stupid she reached out her hand, her fingers shaking as they hovered in the air before making contact with the soft fur. "You wanted me to live…"

Jake's soft whine bespoke of the internal struggle that was taking place between the creature's nature and the human trapped inside.

The rest of the pack must have grown annoyed at him now, for as Bella looked up from the dark eyes of her once closest friend, they had started to close in on both of them, their teeth glistening in the moonlight.

Jake must have sensed them too, for he took a few steps backwards, making Bella's hand slid away from its fur and the tension coming back into its posture.

When he looked at her, Bella knew her fate had been decided for her.

In an effort to show more bravery then she was felling, Bella raised her body up from the tree trunk, determined to stand proud in the face of her enemy, just as her father had always taught her to do. Looking at them was another thing entirely though.

Bella swallowed hard, tears gliding over her cheeks as she bade her farewell to Jake and to the world before closing her eyes and waiting for the inevitable end.

Edward, I love you. Please forgive me for not being strong enough…..

The rest of the sentence was cut off when all hell broke through around her, the violent snapping of teeth and muffled growls and snarls letting her know that the battle had begun...without her.

She opened her eyes to see an indeterminable tangle of half a dozen wolves caught up in a deadly strife, teeth glistening and paws clawing at the air as five of them rounded on one.

Jacob.

~x ~

"They fought and….it was so horrible….but I had to get away. Jacob was giving me the chance to escape and so….I ran….and now I'll never really know what happened to him, if he's still alive or if he died…because of me."

"It might be for the best," Edward sighed, letting her cry it all out as he comforted her as best as he could, "knowing Jacob he wouldn't consider what he's doing right now as living."

She sighed. "I know." She suddenly looked so frail, so breakable.

"Sleep, my love," Edward whispered, scooting over on the bed to make room for her. "You took care of me when I needed it, and now it is time for me to return the favor."

"But you…." She wiped away her tears, wanting to appear stronger than she really was, but Edward saw right through her.

"I think I'm perfectly capable of keeping myself alive for a few hours," he chuckled, summoning every bit of strength he didn't have to lean down and kiss her before settling back next to her, his arms wrapped protectively around her.

She was out like a light before more than a couple of minutes had passed, but for Edward sleep didn't come so swiftly. As he lay there, listening to the sounds of the forest, he knew they had to get back to civilization soon.

They both needed it.

Bella was slowly going crazy around here. She might have done her best to hide it from him, but Edward knew what happened was weighing her down and would continue to do so until she crumbled. He wasn't going to stand by and let that happen.

The problem was…he was still very weak. The fever might have come down, but he could still feel the effects of the blood poisoning raging through his body. He needed medicine and not the one that could be doctored up by Bella or himself in the dilapidated shed that had been their home for the last couple of days. If he wanted to stand a chance he had to get to the clinic. To Carlisle.

They had to get out of there.

The only problem was that Edward wasn't sure if his tormented body could survive the journey.

Loved it? Hated it? Please let me know.