21. Electric Blue

Leah bit her lip nervously as she waited at the door. She had climbed out of her bedroom window and walked to Jacob's house on autopilot. It hadn't felt right laying there alone. She tossed and turned uncomfortably before jumping up and making her way towards the one thing in life she was certain of.

The one thing that made sense.

Even though it was her coming to him, she still felt surprised when the entrance swung open and he appeared. He was so unfathomably handsome, his frame backlit by lambent firelight. She couldn't quite believe that they were together. Not when his eyes sparkled as they met hers, not when he stood aside so that she could enter the small cottage, not even when he wrapped his arms around her and enveloped her in a hug that was equal parts tight and tender.

"You're here," he breathed incredulously.

"I probably should have called," she said, suddenly shy. "It's late and I didn't want to wake Billy." To be honest she hadn't considered Jacob's father at all, but it was as good excuse as any, particularly if the Chief was listening to them speak right now.

"He's out," Jacob replied slowly. "He took Charlie over to Old Quil's. They're trying to get him blotto so that he'll spend the battle on the rez sleeping it off."

"Oh...right," Leah mumbled. Jacob was giving her that look - the one that told her that she was the most important thing to him in the universe - and it was overwhelming her, weakening her knees and making her heart beat out of her chest.

"Is everything okay?" Jacob asked, ghosting his hand along her cheek before tucking a stray wisp of hair behind her ear.

"Yes," Leah whispered. It was better than okay. It was love. She loved Jacob and he loved her right back. "I just came to tell you..." she began, her words trailing off as her mouth became thick with nerves. Jacob brought his fingers to her chest, tracing along her collarbone to the edge of her shoulder, "To tell you..." she repeated. Why was this so hard? She knew what she wanted to say, but she couldn't make the words come out right... or at all.

"To tell you..." she reiterated, blushing as she fumbled again.

Jacob touched her lips, pinching them with his forefinger and thumb, his gaze infinite in its devotion. "It's alright Lee. I... I know." Leah let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding and marvelled at Jacob's compassion. He was so candid with his own affections, but he didn't judge her incoherence.

He never judged her at all.

The fact that he didn't push - that he gave without ever expecting anything in return - was a testament to who he was and it made her love him even more.

She gave up on words and threw her arms around his neck, standing up on tiptoes so she could press her lips against his and kiss him.

Leah poured all the love she harboured in her heart into that kiss, a promise drawn from the very depths of her soul and spilled into him. His hands were on her hips, pulling her flush against him, and she pushed more, trying to be closer still.

There was no such thing as too much of Jacob Black.

She savoured his taste, running her tongue over his lips before licking her own and enjoying the small tremor that rippled through him in response. She raised her eyes to his, onyx orbs that glittered with a thousand thoughts. She could feel them all: the adoration, the confusion, the lust, the certainty.

"It didn't feel right saying goodbye before," she said, giving him the only explanation her mouth seemed willing to offer.

His gaze pierced hers, the air between them crackling with energy. "No it didn't," he agreed. He trailed one hand from her hip to her back, guiding it up along the indentation of her spine. She shivered as he reached the base of her neck. "But this," he whispered softly, "This feels right."

He lifted his hand higher, combing it through her hair and holding her head to bring their faces closer together. Leah forgot to breathe as Jacob's kiss consumed her. Never in her life had she felt so simultaneously safe and reckless. The teenage girl inside her craved sweetness, the volatile wolf demanded untamed fervour.

And Jacob Black could give her both.

She yielded to his enthusiasm as his lips and tongue pushed against her with renewed force. His movements were so distracting she forgot she had arms. It was only the slow movement of his remaining hand on her hip, drifting along the fabric of her yellow sundress towards her ribcage, that reminded her.

She wanted to touch every part of him so badly.

She let her fingers slide down to his shoulders across his muscled biceps, squeezing lightly. She gasped. He was huge. Her hands didn't even reach half-way around them.

"Are you okay?" Jacob asked, jerking back so he could peer at her.

Leah blushed. "Yeah... it's just... shit Jacob, you make the Rock look like a weakling."

He laughed. A throaty chuckle as he gazed at her fondly, a comfortable silence resting between them.

"A penny for your thoughts," she said, borrowing his phrase, pressing her palms against the singlet that stretched impossibly against his torso.

He stalled, casting her a cheeky grin. "I'm taking a mental picture of the most beautiful woman I've ever met."

His words threw her mind back to a hidden lagoon in the Koolau Mountains. They had taken mental pictures then too.

"That's when I first knew," she confessed. "I wanted to kiss you."

He brought his lips to her throat. "So why didn't you?" he teased, blazing a line of fire along her pulse. Somehow, that slightest of touches released a wave of goosebumps that danced across her body, reverberating all the way down to her toes.

She knew he was joking but for some reason she wanted to answer him truthfully. "I... I was scared."

He pulled back again, cupping her face in his hands. "Are you still scared?"

Her hands found their way under his shirt, caressing his warm flesh and she paused to consider his question.

"Terrified," she admitted into his chest, "But only of losing you."

Before she knew what was happening, he had lifted her up so that they were face to face.

"Never gonna happen," he answered roughly, pulling her so tightly to him it knocked the wind out of her. Her legs dangled off the floor before she reflexively wrapped them around him. "I'm never going to let you go." He spun them sideways and her back was against the wall. Jacob seemed to be holding her entire weight on his hips and Leah moaned at the sensation caused by having him pressed against her.

He smirked at her knowingly, pulling one of the spaghetti straps of her dress off her shoulder. He looked closely at the bow that joined the tie together and tugged on it, repeating the motion on the other side.

"I like this yellow dress better than the other one."

Leah snorted. "I should hope so. I picked this one and you said I looked like big bird in that one."

"I never realised how hot big bird was."

He kissed along the neckline, yanking at the fabric until it pooled at her waist, exposing her bra. It was one of the only nice ones she had left after various phasing catastrophes. The look Jacob was giving her told her it was a very good idea to wear it tonight.

"You are so fucking sexy," he breathed, shamelessly ogling her chest.

Leah tugged at the hem of his wife-beater. He raised his arms so that she could pull it off and his pelvis pushed against her to keep her secured against the wall.

Crap that felt good.

Now Leah was the one staring. She had seen Jacob's chest so many times, but this was different. She was letting herself look. Really look. She touched the sculpted planes of his upper body, watching as his abs tensed in response.

Why hadn't she done this earlier?

She snaked her hands around his back and pulled him towards her so that their skin was touching and they both groaned, a jolt of electricity sparking on impact.

Jacob's hands were everywhere: one sneaking up her thigh and under her dress; another inching slowly down from her collar-bone until he skirted across her bra, palming her breast.

"Jake," she sighed.

"Mmm... you okay, Lee?"

God yes.

She held her breath as the hand under her dress wound upwards, rubbing her hip bone under her panties.

Hands. She kept forgetting she had hands. Two could play at this game.

She traced along his chest, following the line of hair that trailed downwards from his belly button. She wanted to pop the button of his shorts but they were flush against one another so she circled around to his backside. Her eyes widened in realisation.

"You're not wearing any underwear!" she exclaimed.

Jacob snorted. "I never do Lee." His lips curled at the edges. "But you're wearing two kinds of it so between us it all evens out."

Both of his hands were under her thighs now and her dress was hitched up so high that he could see everything.

"You match," he grinned, eyeing the white lace appreciatively, before crashing his lips back to hers.

We match, she thought. Her bronze skin just a shade paler than his; her temperature just a little bit cooler. The searing heat between them was making her dizzy.

"It's a million degrees in here, Jake," she mumbled in between kisses, wriggling against him. The raging fireplace was romantic, but was pushing their already burning bodies to fever pitch. It was only the fact that she couldn't bear the idea of prising herself away from him that had kept her in that ridiculous swelter of Jacob's lounge.

Jacob stilled, moving backwards so that Leah had space to bring her legs to the ground. Her dress fluttered down to the floor and she stood, feeling oddly exposed in her underpants. She wasn't sure why she felt nervy – Jacob had seen everything before, the whole pack had.

And Jacob's expression told her he very much liked what he saw.

"Come with me," he said, holding out his hand.

It was more than a request but something short of an order, a voice that compelled her to follow him because he was Jacob.

Alpha.

Lover.

Mate.

He led her to his bedroom, the messy area dwarfed by the large bed. A thrill of excitement ran through her, settling in a twitch between her thighs.

Jacob inhaled sharply, his gaze darting between her face and lower body lasciviously. Leah watched his pupils dilate, eyes flickering between ebony and gold.

His wolf was close. Very close. For a moment Leah wondered if he might phase right in front of her. She reached her hand to his cheek.

"Stay with me," she whispered.

Jacob blinked at her uncertainly as she pulled him back. His lips quirked at the edges.

"Always," he replied, before swooping towards her and toppling them both onto the covers.

Sandwiched between the mattress and Jacob's impossibly large form, Leah groaned as he nipped under her earlobe and began working his mouth down her body, pausing to tweak her nipple through the lace of her bra when he reached her breasts.

Leah gasped and the ache between her legs increased as Jacob laved along her stomach until his face was level with her underwear. He exhaled heavily and the hot air tickled and taunted Leah, her back arching in response.

"Jake," she panted. She needed something - something to ease the throbbing.

"I'm right here, Lee," he assured her, cupping her crotch in one hand while the other reached behind her to the hook of her bra.

Leah's wolf was supremely satisfied with the fact that Jacob's fingers fumbled. She knew that Jake was possessive, but she hadn't realised how much it was true of her as well. She wanted to be the only person he ever did this with.

Winking at him, she effortlessly released the clasp herself and Jacob wasted no time discarding the lingerie and pressing his chest flush against hers. Skin to skin. Nothing between them.

"Your bra is clearly some sort of trick weapon," he whispered into her ear. "I'll need to practice effective removal some other time."

Leak snickered. "Sure, sure, Jake." She rubbed her hands along his back. "It was designed specifically to punish you."

"But I've been good," he whined mischievously, skirting his hand underneath her panties.

He kissed the valley between her breasts and breathed in deeply and she clutched his inky locks, holding him close to her. He was so, so good.

He raised his eyes to hers. "It was always meant to be you," he said earnestly.

Leah was simultaneously touched and ashamed. Jacob was letting her be his first everything and she didn't have that to give him in return. On some level she'd always hoped that she would only ever be with one person, and that that one person would only ever have been with her. She felt like she'd taken something away from Jacob, something precious – not that the limited experience she'd had with Sam was anything to write home about. She bit her lower lip.

"Hey," Jacob breathed, reading her distress. He pulled his body alongside hers so that they were staring right at each other, side by side on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her. "This is a first for both of us," he soothed.

Leah sighed. "Not quite both of us."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Have you been with anyone since you phased?"

Leah felt confused. Ranging round the rez with a bunch of shirtless beefcakes hadn't exactly made her approachable to single men. "Of course not," she replied "but-"

"Then that means this body, this you, is completely mine." He ghosted his hand along the curve of her hip. "And I plan on making sure it always fucking stays that way."

Jacob's hand swirled lazily along her belly, "You told me to find a way to get past my jealousy, but then I realised that none of us is the same person after we become wolves. Nothing that happened before matters Leah. Nothing."

Just like that, Jacob Black released Leah Clearwater from the fear and regret she had harboured in her heart. With speech alone he made her new again. He made her his.

Emboldened by his words, she rubbed her nose against his and pulled his hand back to where it had been, dipping it under the elastic of her underwear.

"Mine," he hissed as his fingers stroked along the wet folds.

"Yours," Leah agreed, her hips bucking in shock as he pushed a finger inside of her.

His eyes darkened as he moved around, exploring the heated flesh. Leah moaned at the sensation and Jacob added another finger before pulling both out and placing them in his mouth.

"You taste amazing, Lee."

"Uuuhhh, Jake," Leah was fast losing the ability to speak as he pushed his fingers back inside of her. She reached her hand down into his shorts, popping the button and grabbing at him. He was big and hard and she wanted to see. She raised her knees, moving her feet down to slide his pants off, grunting at the deeper access it gave his fingers.

She paused, raking her gaze along every inch of him (there were a lot of inches). There was absolutely no way that was going to fit... anywhere.

She ran a finger over the single bead of moisture at the tip of him and raised it to her lips. Jacob swore under his breath. She reached for him again and he grabbed both her wrists, pinning them above her head.

"Stop that Leah or the party will be over before it's even started," he chided.

Before she could protest that she wanted to touch him just as much as he wanted to touch her, he released her, using his hands to tear off her underwear and winch her legs open. He brought his face to where Leah yearned the most, licking slowly along the damp folds of skin. Leah instinctively grabbed the covers, squeezing them in her fists and Jacob pushed his tongue inside of her.

He teased her. Skirting that fine line between agony and ecstasy, he sucked and nipped, pushing his fingers back in again. She could hear herself chanting his name although it sounded far away. A swell began to rise in her, every movement of Jacob's lifting her higher and higher. She bucked her hips, tilting as he caressed deeper and deeper. She was very, very close to something, but she didn't know what - a coil wound so tight through her body, she could feel the inevitability of the unravelling. Then Jacob flicked a thumb across that spot at the base of her pelvis and Leah came undone, crying out as her head lolled back and she was blinded and boneless.

Minutes passed.

Jacob's head rested against her stomach as Leah panted. Slowly, slowly the world came back into focus around her and she raked her hands back and forth against his locks.

"Come here," she demanded, reaching out her arms.

Jacob crawled up the bed until their heads were both resting on the same pillow. When he leaned in to kiss her she could taste herself and she made a face.

"Don't even," Jacob scolded. "Everything about that was perfect."

"Yeah, you're a real stud muffin," Leah quipped, "but if the situation was reversed I don't think you'd be in a hurry to kiss my lips."

"Try me," Jacob teased, his eyes darting down his body. Leah followed his gaze and gulped. Really, what did he expect her to do with that?

"I'm kidding," he laughed, kissing her forehead gently and reaching underneath him to fold back the bed sheets.

"No!" Leah said, unwilling to take his lead and move towards sleep. "I... I want to try."

She pressed him on his back, ignoring his protests and slid back down the bed until her mouth was against the muscles on his stomach. Little by little, she licked her way down, past his pelvis and along his shaft.

You can do this, she told herself. She didn't know why she was so nervous. Even with what Jacob said, it wasn't like she didn't know what she was doing in this department – but everything really did feel new again. Steeling her resolve, she opened her mouth and took in as much of him as she could.

Jacob swore under his breath and she felt the muscles in his thighs tense. It was hard to maintain her apprehension when she could see how much pleasure she was giving him. Leah threw caution to the wind and licked him again, moving her hands to stroke the bits of him that she couldn't take anywhere else.

That taste. She loved his scent so much and she'd found its epicentre: a musky sandalwood smell and odour that was all man and so Jacob.

She sucked harder and Jacob groaned in response. The sound was an unbelievable turn-on and the aching between her legs returned. His hands were in her hair, pushing them closer and Leah gagged a little.

"Sorry Lee," he moaned.

She tried again, finding ways to take him further and deeper, fondling the base of him and using her spare hand to reach up and caress the side of his torso.

"Lee, you need to stop," Jacob's breath was becoming unsteady.

Leah ignored him, increasing the pace of her strokes and sucking harder.

"Leah," he warned. She took things up a notch, secretly enjoying her power over him.

Just as she realised she had control, he snatched it from her, pulling her upwards and pressing her back into the covers as he raised himself above her.

"Plenty of time for that later, Lee," he said firmly. "Right now I have to be inside of you."

Leah wondered if he knew what that voice did to her. It screamed "Alpha" and power. She wanted him more than she had ever wanted anything in her life.

"Say yes," he said, not really asking her a question. His eyes flickered and she was again reminded his wolf was ever-present. She wondered if hers was the same.

"Yes, Jake," Leah responded. "Please."

He hesitated. "Do we need something?" He looked down at himself and Leah snorted. There was no way any kind of prophylactic was made in size 'Jacob'.

"We can't get sick and this body has never even had a period, Jake."

"Good," he replied, his eyes flickering again. He held himself above her on his hands, waiting until the small tremors that rippled in his arms subsided. Just like before, he mastered himself, finding a way to still be the man for this most human of experiences.

"Ready?" he asked.

She nodded. He touched her cheek and brought his lips to hers.

"I love you," he said.

Then he was inside of her.

He moved slowly, so gently and with such care it almost caused Leah's heart to stutter.

I love you too, she whispered in her mind. So much it frightens me.

Leah's insides burned in exquisite agony. Jacob pulled in and out, each time moving a little further. When he finally pushed all the way in they both groaned. Leah had never felt so full. She wrapped her legs around his hips, drawing him even deeper.

Jacob swore again. "Ohmigod, Leah," he murmured, pausing.

"Don't stop," she begged, reaching her hands to his face and bringing him in for another kiss.

"I can't stop," he assured her. "This is forever," he added, answering an entirely different and unspoken plea.

He moved in long, languid strokes, eyes fixed on hers. Her muscles clenched and he increased his pace, supporting himself on one hand while the other roamed all over her body.

He was so, so beautiful, his full lips open as he panted her name. A faint sheen of sweat glistened on his brow, as he moved with amplified vigour.

For just a moment Leah understood why someone might want to live forever.

It came upon her slowly; that feeling that she was going to explode. She almost tried to hold it back, not wanting the rapture to end.

"Don't you dare," Jacob growled. He was moving much faster now and his pelvis jarred against hers with every push.

"Jake," she cried as her body spasmed.

He grunted and then she could fell him hitting his own release, pulsing inside of her to greet the aftershocks that still rippled through her body.

He collapsed on top of her, crushing her. She didn't care. Never in her life had she felt so close to another human being. Never in her life had anything felt this perfect.

She was euphoric but she felt like she might cry – a small tear slipping out of the corner of her eye and landing on Jacob's cheek.

"Leah baby, are you okay. Did I hurt you?" Jacob was suddenly alert, taking an inventory of her features. He moved backwards and Leah felt the loss instantly.

"Don't," she pleaded.

"Don't what?" He was panicking now.

"Don't stop touching me," she said, ducking her head in embarrassment.

He eased back into the bed, pulling her to him. He seemed to realise that her reaction was a good thing.

"It'll make going to the bathroom a bit awkward, but anything you want, baby," he answered.

She swatted his shoulder, enjoying the way his chest rumbled against her cheek as they laughed.

Time stood still.

She listened to night sounds, an owl hooting in the background, the crackle of the dying fire in the next room and the steady whooshing sound as Jacob breathed in an out.

"Jake?"

"Mmm?"

"You're still up, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Tell me a secret, Jake." Leah was wide awake.

Jacob coaxed her body higher up the bed so he could kiss her forehead. "I don't have secrets from you, Leah. You've been in my head."

"Bullshit, Jake. Tell me something I don't know. There's gotta be heaps of stuff."

Jacob chewed thoughtfully on his bottom lip. Leah propped her head up on her elbow so she could get a good look at him. She could see the spark in his eye as an idea came to him and she waved her hand in encouragement.

"In Hawaii-," Jacob began, choking back a snigger, "- in Hawaii, remember that woman that I pointed out on the street? The one you said was some sort of prostitute mobster?"

Leah frowned. She'd unwittingly invented a fake story about Solomon's Aunt. It had been mortifying.

"It wasn't Sol's aunt, Leah. It was just some random lady." Jacob guffawed before devolving into hysterical laughter.

Leah's mouth fell open in surprise. She'd felt really bad when Jacob had told her she'd fingered a family member as some sort of depraved criminal.

"No fair, Jake," she grabbed a pillow and began hitting him with it. It wasn't troubling Jake in the slightest, although she had put so much force into the motion that the cushion split and stuffing tumbled out.

"That's my girl, always up for a bit of slap and tickle." He pinned her down, attacking her belly with feather-light touches that caused her to giggle. Before she knew what was happening he was kissing her, really kissing her, tasting her tongue and bringing one hand down to her breast. She felt him harden against her thigh, her own desire pooling between her legs.

Her need for him was incessant. The more she had, the more she wanted and the invisible string between them seemed to grow ever tighter, charged with a wild current that sparked as they sized each other up.

He grabbed at her with a speed that would have given a human whiplash, flipping her onto her stomach as he moved to the back of her, raising her behind to meet his hips as her face remained against the pillow.

"My wolf wants this," he whispered. Without looking, Leah knew that his eyes were flickering between amber and ebony. "What does your wolf want Leah?" he asked as he sheathed himself in her with a single forceful thrust.

"Uuugh...this," Leah responded. There was something about the way they were positioned that called to the creature that shared her body.

Jacob began to move, fast and purposeful; deep strokes in and out of her. The angle was different to anything she had ever experienced and Leah wondered if she was going to spit in two.

The thought was fleeting; she decided she didn't care. Every time Jacob shifted his hips, she could feel his strength. He was the biggest. The best. The leader of the pack. It felt right to let him take her this way. It felt right to submit.

It felt unbelievably good.

Leah inclined her head, sneaking a peek at Jacob over her shoulder. She gasped at the sight of the luminous gold orbs that were fixed on her back. They locked on to hers and Leah couldn't turn away, not even when a firm hand pressed down on her spine so she couldn't wriggle out of position.

He took her to the edge, grabbing her hips with bruising force as he rutted into her, a syncopated rhythm punctuating each thrust.

He took her to the edge, hitting so far inside her he was everywhere, her stomach muscles clenching in response.

He took her to the edge, pulling one hand around to her front and rubbing right where she needed him most, but never once letting up the untamed blissful pace of his lunges.

He took her to the edge, time after glorious time, leaning forward and baring his canines as he bit down at the base of her neck, irrevocably marking her as his.

He took her to the edge. He took her to the edge. He took her to the edge.

Then they both sailed right past it.

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A/N: I was so tempted not to write this chapter (something called "Fade to Black" would have fit perfectly with my chapter themes), but I felt like the characters were ready for this, needed it even. I have always liked to write stories (I've never finished a novel – although I have half a dozen partially completed ones floating around my house). In one of my stories I tried writing a scene like this and the guy I was dating at the time read it and laughed so hard I thought his eyeballs were going to explode. Granted, he was kind of an a**hole, but needless to say that story got shelved and I never finished it. Second-time lucky?