Chapter 25: Howl

When I come to, I am laying on a bed that smells like him. Jacob. Grey Hawk and Drinks of Waterfall holding me down as White Fire Sun tends to the deep flesh wound on my back. I must have passed out from the pain. I try to sit up but they hold me down tighter. White Fire Sun mixes a white, topical cream in a bowl before applying it to me. I shriek in pain as it burns throughout the wound.

I see the door to Jacob's warm cabin open and Three Horses steps inside. He is red in the face and his eyes are wild. "Sarauniya," he whispers. It is quiet and cold—I assume that it must be night. "Try not to move. It will tear the wound."

Hot tears roll down my face. "Where is he?" I choke out. "Where is my husband?"

Skin splitting, a beast emerging. Tearing through the crowds with a vengeful fury, jaws closing around Edward's head. I remember the sound it made when his skull popped.

This is when the warrior's face turns pale as he looks towards the door. My skin turns an inhumanly shade of white as I begin to feel rather nauseous. "You should rest more," he tells me.

"No!" I protest. White Fire Sun begins to wrap the bandages around my body. The pain is unbearable, but being away from Jacob is worse. "Let me up, now."

Three Horses fetches my heavy animal fur cloak and drapes it over my shoulders. Wrapping a hand around my waist, he stabilizes me and helps me walk out the door. Instantly, the cold blast of wind hits me and stings my once warm and rosy skin. In the distance, I can hear the howling of a wolf ring in my ears. My heart beats faster as we trudge through the snow. I'm trying to keep up with the pace of Three Horses but I'm in pain. Finally, we near where the warriors are trying to keep a beast at bay. My beast.

When I see him, my heart stops. I gasp and fall back from my place. He thrashes in the ropes he's tied it. The warriors try to calm him and lower him to the ground with said ropes, but it's only making him angrier.

His eyes are yellow, primal. His fangs are sharp and purely white, dripping with blood. He stands taller than any wolf I'd ever seen in my life. His eyes rise to meet mine as he lets out a horrific howl that curdles my blood.

0o0o0o0o

JACOB

She sees me. She's disgusted with me. What I've become. I can't look at her beautiful face. I can't bear to see the disappointment and horror in her eyes. I stop fighting the warriors and settle down in the snow. I can see the beads of sweat forming on Drinks of Waterfall's face as he loosens his hold on the rope.

I'd been fighting long enough. Three Horses whispers something to Bella. She licks her lips and steps forward. "Na soyayya…kuna har yanzu a wurin?" comes her sweet, honey toned voice. "Ina bukatar mu san idan mutum shi ne har yanzu a ciki.." (My love…are you still there? I need to know if the man is still inside.)

I lift my head slightly at the sound of her footsteps drawing closer. I breathe out of my huge, flaring nostrils and watch as my breath curls away in the crisp air like fire smoke. How do I answer her? I cannot speak. I cannot communicate.

She inches her hand closer to my pelt. I'm calm now. I shove my nose into her palm and lean my giant head into her arms. How I'd longed to be touched by her, held by her. I can smell the baby growing in her swelling stomach, I can smell the blood from the fresh wounds on her back.

I growl in remembrance of that wretched paleface scum that cut her. This startles her and she jumps up, trying to scramble away. I whimper and inch closer to her on my paws. Once she realizes that I'm not being aggressive towards her, she throws herself at me and wraps her arms around my thick neck, her tiny fingers grabbing at my pelt.

"Don allah," she whimpers, her bottom lip quivering. "Don allah, ina bukatan miji na baya." My eyes feel watery as I stare out into the distance at the bright moon aglow in the sky and the Vibrant Mountains off in the horizon. (Please. Please, I need my husband back.)

She's weeping now. "Ya mai girma da dukan iko wolf, bã ku canza konkoma karãtunsa fãtun a gare ni?" Somewhere deep in my body I can feel something stirring inside of me. I need to be human again. I need to be there for her. (Oh great and all powerful wolf, will you not change your skins for me?)

The men had been trying for hours to make me come back to my human form without any success. An internal battle was raging inside of me, trying to find the balance between man and beast. It was an ancient Quileute legend—that wolf blood ran in our veins. The last shapeshifter wolf was said to have been born a thousand years ago, before the wolf-gene supposedly died out.

My transformation was a shock to everyone…but I've known something was wrong with me for a while. My anger came on easily, my temperature raged, and I could feel a presence inside of me that was me, but not completely human. It was a story that our fathers had told us as children, but now…it was a reality.

Her voice, her pleas, stir something inside of me. The animal in me wanted to submit to her. I can feel the most excruciating pain in my life come back to haunt me. My bones are breaking, shrinking smaller. My skin is splitting, my fur falling away as human skin takes the place of it. My wolf howl is cut off as my fangs are back to human teeth and human lips form a human scream rather than a howl.

And here I am, standing naked as day before my wife and my warriors. My shoulders heave up and down—that whole process was physically exhausting. "J-Jac—" I don't even give her time to finish.

In one step I am by her side, clutching her frail body to mine, burying my nose into the collar of her neck. And she's hugging me back. "I almost lost you," I sob into her shoulder. The memories of the knife to her neck, and then cutting into her the porcelain skin. The man twisting her arm into a sickening position. The whip coming down onto her skin without mercy.

"And I almost lost you," she sobs right back to me. "I didn't know if you could ever change back." She pulls away to look at me. I'm naked and not having seen my body in weeks makes a faint blush return to her cheeks. How I'd missed that blush of hers. "You are not cold?" she asks.

No. I am not. In fact, I feel comfortable in this weather. I don't say anything about my temperature. "Come with me, kyakkyawa. There is much to explain." (Beauty.)

I ignore the gaping mouths of my men and trudge to my cabin like I wasn't a wolf just a few seconds ago.

0o0o0o0o

BELLA

"Everything I've ever been told, everything I've ever read…it's all been true. It all makes sense now!" He paces the length of the room, naked as the day he was born. He still hasn't bothered to put any clothes on, but it's not like I care. "Before…before you were captured, those random fits of rage were unexplainable and I knew not what was going on with my body. But now…"

"You are a wolf." I finish for him, my voice feathery and breathy. "Just like in the tales your father told. Like the ones I'd read in the library."

"Shapeshifter," he corrects me. "Quileute Shapeshifter. The last one of our kind." My mouth falls open slightly as I smooth my hand over my stomach. He catches the small gesture and his eyes widen. "I…"

"Do you think our baby will be a shapeshifter?" I whisper to him.

He walks closer towards me. "It will be hard to say," he replies. "There's really no telling."

"But now that you know it's in your blood, it…it must be in our baby's." I nod my head at him. "It has to be."

I cradle my arm, which has begun to throb. His heated fingers skirt across my cold skin. "How are you feeling?" he murmurs. "Does it still hurt?"

I shake my head and stare into the fire crackling before the both of us. "Not as bad as before. I think you scared the pain out of me, quite honestly." The corner of his lips pulls up slightly and I lean over and kiss his tattooed bicep.

"How did you even get here? This whole time I'd assumed you were safe in Castle Rock. I even left Black Bear to guard the perimeters so you weren't completely alone. I know of your fondness for him." Jacob says. "And his fondness for you."

At his words, I look away and down at my feet. It brings back the painful memories of my good friend and the horrendous act of betrayal that landed me here. How had I almost forgotten? "Black Bear is dead," I choke out, tears forming at the corners of my eyes.

He gives me a funny look to see if I jest, but the look of pure sadness in my eyes shows him that I do not. He stands from my bedside with fury in his eyes. "How?"

I struggle to say the words. "He was shot. By three arrows."

His face turns bright red. "Who shot him?" He begins to shake again and I start to worry that he might phase in the tent. "What happened back there?"

"Black Bear gave his life to save me," I explain tearfully. "Emilia had betrayed and tricked me. She led me outside with word that you were home and wished to see me. Then she locked the door behind me and pushed me right into their trap."

Jacob's shaking only grew worse. "Whose trap?" he boomed. "My brother's?"

"No," I shook my head. "The men who killed Black Bear wore the blue sigil of the lion. They were from the Iron Kingdom."

"My brother's whore…" he whispers, his eyes darkening considerably. "Gods, he has to be behind this."

"I don't know if he was," I tell Jacob shakily. "All I know is that Emilia has betrayed us both."

He raises his hands and tugs at the roots of his hair, his mind in obvious distress. "I am going to kill her. I am going to torture her for days, and days on end…until she admits to me who was behind this all!"

The force of his voice frightens me. "My love," I whisper. "Everything is alright now. I am here with you, and together we shall—"

He doesn't let me finish. "You could have been killed! And then I would be left alone again!" He begins to curse and pace around the room again. I stare at him in shock, his lean muscles bunching up and then loosening as he tenses and relaxes. The feelings of shock and anger and fright swell up into him until he's fighting to hold back his tears. "I can't lose you."

I rush to him and grab his face in my hands, bringing his face down to mine. "You didn't. You didn't lose me, and you won't lose me." I can't stand when he's upset. It makes me feel upset too.

He finally forces back his tears, gulping down his sadness. The wetness at the corners of his eyes is evidence of how he's feeling. "I'd die," he murmurs. "Death would be a kindness in a world without you."

All I want to do is make him feel better. My hands slither up his arms, over the lithe muscles in his neck and to his face. I tilt his face down towards mine so that he's looking at me. "Kiss me."

He looks deeply into my eyes as if he's searching for something. He slowly lowers his mouth to mine, savoring the taste of my lips upon his. Our lips begin to move together, his tongue slipping into my mouth on timed intervals. It makes my knees weak.

He places his hand on my neck and tips my chin back with his thumb, allowing him access to the sweet spots on my porcelain skin. He kisses them and I moan in pleasure. His fingers run through my hair, entangling themselves in my curls. "How I've missed your touch," I whisper between kisses.

Jacob's breathing becomes heavier and more labored the more we touch and kiss. "Stop this," he says suddenly, pulling away. I'm left in shock, wondering if I'd done something wrong. He turns his head so I can only see the profile of his face. "My mind is not in the right place."

I stand there with sweat clinging to my skin, my chest heaving from not catching enough breath between dizzying kisses. "Come to bed," I beg him.

He goes over to the bed by the wall of the cabin and lays down on it. He obviously wants me too, with the way that his cock stands proudly up against his belly. But he quickly conceals said want with a blanket. "You are hurt, and you are pregnant. And I have been betrayed."

I make my way over to where he lays on his bed and sit down next to his resting form. I slowly shift to lie on my back, trying to find an angle where it won't irritate my wound. We both look up at the top of the cabin. He entwines his fingers in mine and brings my knuckles to his lips. "I promise you that Emilia will feel my wrath. This will not be left unsaid."

I want that woman to burn in the pits of hell for what she's done. She's the reason that Black Bear died, that I was captured and almost killed, and that Jacob phased. "What do we do tomorrow?" I ask him.

He sighs. "We go back to Castle Rock."

I turn my head to look at him, my eyes wide. "But what of your expedition…? You surely mustn't call it off to take me back home."

"I am not calling it off," he tells me. "Three Horses shall take command of my army and lead them into battle. I am taking you home in the early hours of the morning. I will deal with Emilia and I will make sure you are safe. War has no place for a woman…a woman as delicate and precious as you."

The cabin's wooden walls creak as the wind tries to blow it down with all of the force it could muster. I cling to my husband. I'm not ready to let go of him quite yet. That day was very eventful and something we both need is sleep to put our minds at rest.

But tomorrow still lies ahead. Tomorrow we must journey miles back to the safety of Castle Rock, if we aren't attacked on the way there. Each day is a struggle, but we shall take it one step at a time.

I turn my head to look him in the eyes. The corner of his mouth tugs up in the corner. He is so beautiful. I nuzzle my nose against his and press my lips against his. I lay my head on his shoulder and sigh. He covers my body with the blanket and my hand skirts down his waist until it lays on his pelvic bone. "Sleep," he whispers. "I think we both need it after today."

I wordlessly agree, clinging tightly to him as I drift into peaceful blackness.