A/N: This one switches a POV, and hopefully you all will be satisfied with it because you get to read a certain wolf's frustrations. I'll say no more and let you read and find out.

D: Don't own it.

Chapter Twenty-One

Michael Charles Cullen. Rosalie already picked out the boy's name, and I was correct when she was so flamboyant on raising the child. I think she was the only sadistic individual in this entire place that hoped Bella was dead. That the venom hadn't run its course that it denied Bella of the change and let her heart slowly fade. It was evident as she held the child tightly in her grasp, rocking him back and forth like any mother would do, and refusing anyone from nearing them with the exception of Carlisle, Esme and Emmett.

This was the family she wanted, that she longed for. But the idea of Rosalie being a mother, sent shivers down my spine. In my opinion, you need a heart and a soul to care for something or someone that requires it, especially a child, and literally and figuratively she lacked both. Her heart was as cold as her pale skin, her temper to match Paul's, and patience to belittle Leah. So basically she's a triple threat, and I mean threat, not in a good way.

"Carlisle?" I turned my gaze over to Carlisle racing back up the stairs, Rosalie not even acknowledging that the child's parents are in a crisis, or the fact that her brother was screaming for his mate to return to him.

I couldn't find it in myself to return to the horrific scene, so I stayed put, waiting with the rest to see if Bella would survive this, if the change would take place. I could hear feint mumbles, Edward panicking, Carlisle trying his best to calm his son, Esme across from me looking saddened as ever.

Jacob still remained missing at the moment, but I can guess that he's somewhere out there either ventilating or pacing in the forest confused. Even though I've warned him to stand clear, and even though I'm not the alpha, why couldn't he understand that I was doing this for his sake? That everything I asked of him had a good reason. I knew he wouldn't want to be bonded to a vampire for the rest of his life, and I sure as hell, even though him and Seth weren't on speaking terms, that he didn't want his best friend being tied to the hybrid. But I'm beginning to think that he's reluctant in believing everything I said. Shit I was even questionable, but that doesn't mean not take and precautions.

I seriously don't know what I'm going to do.

Seth's POV

My possible imprint was just born a few hours ago, or so I've been told. I find it hard to even believe that I was somehow linked to the child, or if I wanted to be. If I did have a choice, if we all had a choice, I wouldn't want to be with anyone but Jacob. But that's far from reality; I can barely see the possibility of it.

I feel so weak to fall so hard, and I'm beginning to resent myself for falling for him. Before he reunited with Bella, he was a whole different guy. Time spent with him was unlimited and the best days of my life. But leave it up to me to fall for a straight guy. I seem to always be to pessimistic nowadays, waiting for the next blow to crush my emotions. Maybe I'm being a little over dramatic, but every moment he spent with her, meant less time with me.

It's actually a crazy predicament when I think of it. I used to always come up with scenarios where Jake would come knocking on my door and asking me to give him a chance, to be the reason he smiles. Or him climbing through the window like he does for Bella to see me, just to say he wanted to see me again. But… then there are the haunted nightmares of losing my best friend to her, her and her family. Sure, it was possible for me to imprint on the half-vampire child, but Embry told us all to stand clear just in case, even Jake. Which meant to me, that he could forget about me and the child would be his everything.

What do I do now? Jake has given up on me, and I've been trying to forget him. But I don't want to end up finding an imprint or anyone that wasn't him. Was I so obsessed with him that I was too blind to see that there could be someone out there better for me? I don't want there to be anyone else out there, I just want it to be Jacob.

Somehow, my many conversations I seem to have with myself, I've somehow ended up on first beach. I usually come here for peace of mind. Not the best place, but it has a blend of some sort of sanctuary. Mainly the memories of hanging with the guys, kicking around the ball, swimming and Jared, Paul, and Jacob attempting to surf, resulting us to laugh at their stupidity. Though Jared was mastering the talent, Jake and Paul were too big and clumsy to balance on the board.

I remember one memory in particular, one with Jake. We came here on the last day of summer last year, and that's when the bittersweet end of the tight friendship we had changed. He was beginning to build a little muscle each day, something I've come to notice more and more, that was before I knew the legends of becoming a wolf were true. We sat right where I am, talking about what we plan to do when school was over. Our plans were always to move away together, it being a friendship step together, to me it was an entire different situation. But anyways, being a year behind him, he'd be done before me, but he promised to wait for me. He told me that he'd take up mechanics for some people on the rez until I was done, then we'd see what to do from there. It was always the plan.

Then he told me about Bella. How she came back to live with her dad, how their friendship progressed, and how he's helped pick up the broken pieces of the relationship she was in with Edward. That day he admitted that he could see spending the rest of his life with her, and that day I was crushed. Maybe I was just set on a happily ever after that I forgot the whole time he was straight, that he wanted a family, that he could have it with her. So our plan changed after that day, and he was sure that he'd pursue Bella into dating and hopefully soon in the future get married and start a family.

I told him I was happy for him. As much as the words stung to say them, I had to find some way to get over him, and I figured this was the first step. I hugged him, feeling his warmth of what I assumed to be the last time. I didn't want him to see that I was broken, that I was lost for words now, but he sense it. Realizing that a tear slid down my cheek, he wiped it with his thumb and told me that I should go with them. I couldn't, and I wouldn't, I told him that he needed this, and I didn't need to tag along with him for the rest of our lives. That's when he surprised me and gave me false hope that maybe we could be something, he kissed my cheek and hugged me again.

I didn't know whether if I should be ecstatic of the display of emotion, or crushed. I wanted to be jumping for joy from the affection, but I hated that he did it.

I hadn't planned on telling anyone about this, but that was until I met Embry. After losing my dad, Jake seemed so distant, and I needed a shoulder to cry on. Jake hadn't left Bella's side; even if she continued to see Edward, he was sure that Bella still loved him. I hardly seen him, and thanks to Embry, I was able to cry without feeling guilty about it. We were in similar situations, and I will always forever be grateful to Embry for helping me get through my toughest times, but I still missed Jake.

How I hated that I missed him.

"Seth?" So deep in thought, I figured I was hallucinating the voice, but that was until I heard it again, "Seth?"

I turned to see Jake standing not too far behind me, in pain and shedding tears I wasn't so sure of why. He slouched slightly; arms slumped to his sides, face reddish from the tears, and a distraught expression marked upon his face. My heart sank a little to see him in so much pain, curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to know why he looked so lost. So I stood up quickly and wrapped my arms around him as he collapsed to his knees in front of me. His arms gripped tightly around my waist while he sobbed with his faced pressed against my stomach. My shirt was becoming drenched with his tears.

"What's wrong?" I asked hesitantly.

"It hurts way too much…" he cried. "… She's gone and it hurts too much."

Staring down at the lonely wolf, I didn't know how to react to this information. She was gone, and I was the first person he came running too. After avoiding me for the past couple months, he decides that I'm just going to comfort him because I'm supposed to. Should I feel insulted, should I push him away and ignore him? I could try, but that's not me. I don't want to turn my back on him, even if he can do it so easily, I'm too weak to do so. So I held onto him tight.

He let go of my waist and stood up, wiping his tears with the back of his hand, then pulling me in again with his breath ghosting across my neck. I was beginning to feel his pain, his sorrow, and I actually felt bad for him, that was until he kissed me.

How was I supposed to feel? Contempt of finally feeling his warm lips against mine? Joyous because he's holding on me for his dear life? Ecstatic because I've dreamt of this moment for so long? But that wasn't the deal. I opened my eyes to see him with his closed, deepening the kiss as he tried to wedge his tongue in my mouth. It took every ounce of my strength to finally push him away violently.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING JAKE?" I shrieked, wiping my lips and panting to catch my breath.

"What do you mean?" He looked down at me confused, "isn't this what you wanted?"

"Not like this." I began to sob. "Not when you're so fragile that you could regret this the next day, I refuse to be your mistake."

"You're not a mistake." He stepped closer.

"Stop." I demanded holding my hand up in front of me. "I'm trying to be the supportive friend you need, and when you do this, I don't know what to think anymore because I was so sure that you would never look my way."

"I've always felt something for you Seth, it just took me forever to realize it." He argued, trying to step closer again.

"Stop!" I demanded again, "so what you're saying is that you always knew you felt something for me, but you wouldn't tell me?" He nodded. "Did it take Bella dying for you to realize this?" He wouldn't say anything. "For fuck sakes."

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"This Jake." I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration, "no matter how hard I try to be the best I can be, and hopefully the best for you one day, but I can never win. I'll always just be second best to her. You're vulnerability proves that you might not even feel the same way tomorrow. Hell, you could even find someone else and I'll be put in the back once again until the next girl breaks your heart. I'm not strong enough to be the other love interest in your constant triangles."

"It's not like that." He practically pleads.

"Isn't it?" I moved back. "I've watched her change you, you're ten times different then you were a year ago. What she broke, I'll have to fix, and I don't know if I'm strong enough anymore."

"B-but…"

"No buts anymore Jake." I interrupted. "I'm done. If I'm just a drug to numb the pain, then I see no point in it. I'm way better than that, and I'm worth fighting for, and if you can't see that, then it's your loss not mine."

"Seth, I didn't mean…"

"Save it. I know now that it's impossible for us to be together because I can't give you something that any other girl can. I'm a guy, and I'm not your imprint, so why should I stick around for you to dig a bigger grave for me?"

"Please Seth?" He tried moving closer.

"There's only one thing that could change my mind, and even then I'm not sure if that's enough, and I don't see that happening." I bolted off and phased as fast I could to run and get away from him.

But something always stops me, and the howl that called us all was telling me that things are about to get worse.

Embry's POV

'She's alive.' I announced to the pack. 'Well hardly, the venom spread and now she's awake.'

'So what's the deal then?' Sam asked.

'The Volturi already know all about this now.' I explained. 'There planning on visiting the family, which now we stay on high alert on the reservation. That and the disturbing news that Alice gave me.'

'What?' Leah asked as we all came in circle.

'They plan on recruiting those of us with gifts.' I stared at Paul for a moment.

'Why?' Seth asked.

'They can't.' Jared argued.

'They plan to use us weapons, capture us and force us to work for them as guard dogs.' I nudged closer to Paul, finding comfort in him.

'So that puts you and Paul in danger?' Quil asked.

'And Sam and Leah.' Paul added.

'Us?' They asked in unison.

'Carlisle believes Sam to be like an enforcer, he kind of has the power to inflict an order on others and they have to listen, except the alpha. And Leah, she's a healer, her mom said it herself.' I explained.

'The leech doctor said that the reason we weren't able to deny Sam's orders was because of his gift, not because he was the first to phase.' Paul added.

'So we need to make sure that any leeches that come our way, we work together to get rid of them.' Sam ordered. 'No one is to be alone.'

I was surprised to see Sam handle all this so well, but I guess it'll sink in soon enough. He was right though; we had to stick together if we wanted to get through this situation. If it was the whole ordeal, the Volturi trying to recruit us, there was no way I wasn't putting up a fight first, and I'm guessing that everyone would agree.

This was the time I needed to train.

We all needed to.

A/N: Still rooting for Seth and Jacob? I wanted to add a little more angst to this. I wanted Seth to begin to grow a backbone, so hopefully this helps out a little, if so, Jake has a lot of sucking up to do, if he's over Bella yet…

So shout-outs to the ones who reviewed, you know I love all of you. Abysslullaby, Missing Storyteller, alykat14, SoundShield11, hopelessromantic5, Your Angel Matt, TheAceofSpades03, Nesi Cullen, Thornesedge, Philadelphiacheese, GoinnGaGa, and sibaruneko, thank you all for your kind words.

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TurnItUp03