I apologize for the short chapter! Thanks to everyone's reviews, you've all been so sweet :)

More confusion.

I threw together some leftovers and heated it up in the microwave before Jake returned from the bathroom, fully clothed. I turned to find him leaning against the kitchen doorway, arms crossed, a broad smile spread over his features. His eyes lit up when they met mine.

That insistent tug in my heart was becoming rather pushy. I felt myself drawn into him, as if a magnetic force hovering just beneath my skin dictated my movements.

"What?" I mumbled as I spun to grab him a glass of water.

Jacob moved towards me so quietly that I felt his heat before I saw him appear by my side. He slipped his hands up my waist and splayed his fingers over my ribcage.

"Nothing," he murmured. He leaned in to kiss me under my ear and I shivered. "Thanks for the food Bells. It looks amazing."

I held back a smile as Jake slipped away. He plunked down in a chair and began to shovel down pot roast, mashed potatoes (accidentally picking up the wilted spinach salad) like it was his first meal in three days. It was as if nothing had changed between us—I missed moments like this so much. Simply sharing a meal, or watching him gorge on whatever was presented to him, brought me more satisfaction and comfort than I 'd felt in years.

I slid into the seat next to him and leaned my elbows on the table, marveling at how he'd already polished off half of his plate. Jacob reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze before attacking the rest of the roast.

I watched him from beneath my lashes, suddenly wondering where our imprint story was and why it never came to us. Was it really my fault? Could it be true that Jake felt the pairing but my inexplicable mental block stopped him from completing the imprint? If that's what it was—but what if he didn't feel that? What if Jake just loved me and I loved him, and he never found his soul mate—would that be enough?

There was a lump in my throat when I thought of all the things we hadn't discussed yet. It was difficult for Jake to share the tumultuous events of our years apart, but I had absolutely no idea how we were going to tackle our years together. That called for an entirely new level of tact and understanding.

"You know you could eat too instead of stare at me."

I blinked and cleared my throat to give myself time to think of a comeback. "I'm not the one on an eight-meals a day program, thank you."

"You should be—Rach says she has six meals a day and it keeps her regular."

"Ew Jacob. I do not want to hear about your sister's bowel movements."

Jacob shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, neither did I, but that's what happens when she decides to move back home to live with two guys and one bathroom."

My laughter came out as a snort. I had so many questions about the latest imprint couple, but there were much more important issues to be caught up to date on. I was nervous to pick up the conversation. I'm sure that food was in the forefront of his needs, but it sounded as if avoiding the subject was a very close second.

"Sooo…Jake," I began, leaning forward again with my hands on the table. His eyes slowly rolled to me as he scooped up the last of the mashed potatoes.

"…Yes?"

"What's your beef with Merrit?"

His face fell into the hard mask again and I rushed to get my next questions out. My voice sounded like a chipmunk.

"Was it really because you just hate Sam's pack and you won't get along or is it because you were jealous that we were dancing?"

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, setting down his fork. Jake let out a garbled stream of harsh words.

"Excuse me?" I craned my head towards him.

"I said both." He shot me a look of annoyance and I arched my brow at him, feeling defensive. Was I not allowed to ask him about his odd behavior?

"Merritt and I…" he paused and made a sour face. "Merritt has a sense of false entitlement that I don't appreciate. You know he's Quil's cousin, right? So that means he's an Ateara. His great grandfather was the chief of the Quileute and his grandfather on his mother's side is the chief of the Makah—so he's twice royal you could say. If we were to judge worth on bloodlines alone he'd probably assume both packs….but we don't, and he will not. He's just a huge pain in my ass, is what he is."

"Well if he isn't going to take over and if he's otherwise ordinary, then why's he such a pain?" I ventured.

"Just because I said he won't doesn't mean he hasn't tried. On a number of occasions he's made efforts to recruit Seth, Quil, Embry, Colin, Brady…even me. He's…he's different. For some reason, it doesn't matter what pack he belongs to—he can communicate with everyone. Aside from Sam and I, he's the only other one able to jump connections. If you think about it, he could be a peacemaker of sorts, since as a chief you're both warrior and ambassador…but he generally uses it to cause trouble."

Jacob's bleak expression disturbed me. Merritt seemed relatively nice—granted, I hadn't met any of the other new members yet, but he was certainly much more charming than Paul and Quil on a good day.

"So what's he done?"

"It's difficult—I don't know if I can explain it, really." He let out a frustrated hiss of air. I made sure that he was under control—Merritt had almost set him off the night of the wedding. I was probably already pushing my luck with so much talk about the pack.

"It's…it's like this: the way that I'm destined to be a leader, Merritt's destined to be some sort of gatherer—he bonds people. And I can't tell if he's the world's best salesman or if he does something with that weird ability to communicate across boundaries. Whatever it is, it's fuc—it's annoying. I have to reign in Quil every time they hang out—which is pretty often now that they go to the community college together. I don't know how he does it, he just does. There's nothing about it in the legends, no one seems to understand what his purpose is—but when he's in your head it's almost impossible to ignore his logic."

I frowned. This didn't make sense—there was a wolf in the pack whose sole responsibility was to bring others together--?

Suddenly Jake gave an angry snarl and pounded the table with his fists. I jumped as the sound ripped up his throat. Something nicked my cheek and I flinched away from the blow.

"Oh no, oh shit—I'm so sorry Bells," he said, visibly shaking with the effort of containing himself.

Jake had broken the table. I was out of my chair now and staring at the damage, assessing the way the panels of dark cherry now rose up like jagged teeth. His fork and plate were still intact although it had skipped across the wood to the other end upon impact. The glass was knocked over, water pouring onto the floor. I quickly got up to grab the towel Jake had used earlier and wiped up the mess, relying on movement to distract me from the mild disaster.

Jake silently put the dishes in the sink, his face grim.

"I'm so sorry Bella—Goddammit. I promise I'll make Charlie a new one." He groaned tiredly and rubbed his face. "God, everything is just so completely fucked."

I knelt down and picked up splinters from the floor. "Don't worry about the table, Jake," I told him, a little rattled by his display. And though it probably wasn't smart to continue, I voiced the next thought in my head without hesitating.

"Why would Merritt try to get more of you guys?" I asked in a soft voice, hoping it would calm him down if I spoke quietly. "Doesn't Sam have enough wolves? I saw sixteen of you there at the wedding—unless Sue has a few ogres for relatives."

Jacob scoffed and pulled the trash can over to me so that I could throw the pieces away. "Leah, for one, is an ogre. I heard about how she treated you at first," his lips twisted bitterly. "I'm sorry."

I straightened and dusted off my hands as if ridding myself of her memory. "You don't have to apologize."

Jake's shoulders fell. "No, I really think that I do."

I fixed him with a patronizing look. "Well Leah already beat you to it, so don't worry."

He threw me sheepish half smile and gave a shrug. "Yeah—heard about that, too."

I blushed when I recalled my conversation with Leah in her bathroom, and the reason I shut myself in there in the first place. An uncomfortable silence settled between Jake and I until he shifted and crossed his arms over his chest. The spell was lifted.

"Anyway, you're right, there are sixteen of us total. After I split away from Sam officially and some of the guys came with me, the phasing just started one after another. La Push was suddenly overrun with guys breaking out in the fever, disappearing for weeks, and then reemerging looking like this—" he gestured to himself with a shake of his head. "It was absolute madness. And with Sam gone with Emily, it was just me trying to help them through it. Leah did her best too, but in the span of six weeks we saw four changes. Eventually some went to Sam and some came to our side—when we both had eight to a pack, the phasing stopped—it's been like this for about two years now."

"All the changes were Quileute—no Makah beside Merritt, and that was only by blood and proximity. At one point I had about ten in my pack—and then when Merritt joined, he convinced them that I was unstable…" his lip curled up. "That they should join Sam instead."

I shook my head in horror. Incredible. There was no reason for them to be changing anymore—the Cullens were gone; the Cold Ones weren't the threat to La Push anymore. So why were there so many of them? I bit my lip when a terrible thought occurred to me.

"Jake—do you think that people kept phasing because…because you were building up your defenses against each other?"

He nodded grimly. "That's what it seems. But it makes no sense—there's no point to be like this anymore!" I watched his muscles coil and release, a caged wolf angry at the steel bars enclosing him.

"We're just making life hard on everyone. There are too many of us—can you imagine the chaos? Every member ready to fly off the handle at the slightest argument—the constant thought-sharing, keeping secrets from our families, the fear that someone will find out, the fear of hurting someone accidentally—"

The fear of imprinting, I supplied silently, watching Jake pace angrily.

"It's horrible. I'm barely managing to keep my life—my human life—together by a thread with the drama and violence around me."

Then Jake stopped abruptly and put both hands on his head. He leaned back against the nearest wall and closed his eyes as if he could shut out the world. My heart went out to him. He was barely twenty three and he was responsible for the most powerful and volatile secret of his tribe. No wonder these men were built so huge; no wonder Leah made herself ten times harder than anyone else; no wonder Jake tried to keep me away from pack issues altogether when it first started. It was a mess. It was unnatural to begin with, a desperate measure taken against a long-time but lethal enemy. But now that the threat was gone and the wolves remained, it was just excessive violence ready to explode.

I went over to him and did the only thing that I could. I wrapped my arms around his barrel chest and laid my cheek to his heart. Jacob's warm arms came down to pull me against him as he buried his nose into my hair.

"Bella, I just want it all to go away," he whispered hoarsely into my hair. "I don't want it—any of it."

"I know Jake, I'm so sorry," I soothed him helplessly.

He pressed his lips against my temple, my cheek, and then he found my mouth. I breathed in his warmth hungrily, softening to his touch. The kiss began gentle and tender, more about comfort than desire. But as his hands traveled the length of my body and I leaned into the defined planes of his front, my lips moved with greater urgency. Jake breathed a trembling sigh, releasing some of his pent up anxiety and giving in to the mounting lust rising between us.

Jake suddenly broke the kiss and gently pushed me a fraction of an inch away. I was about to roll my eyes at him, thinking it was his stupid determination to be sensible about our relationship that killed the moment, until I heard keys in the doorway. I froze.

I was seventeen years old again, panicked and afraid of having my dad walk in on me and a boyfriend during an intimate moment.

No, I corrected myself. I'm twenty-four now, it was just a kiss, and Jake, sadly, was just a friend for now. I loved him and he loved me, but we were "being responsible."

Charlie stepped into the kitchen. "Hey Bells, you still home? I saw—" and then he paused when he found us standing two feet apart, me red-faced and nervous, Jake with a friendly smile and his hands shoved in his pockets.

Charlie looked from me, to Jake, and then down to the broken dining table. His eyebrows snapped together.

"What the hell happened to my table?" he demanded sharply.

So, now more weirdness going on in La Push and sorry if you don't agree with the concept of Merritt's oddball abilities. I feel like it isn't that much of a stretch right? Enh, whatever it's my la-la-land version of SM's lovable characters :P