A/N: Happy New Year everyone! :D I hope everyone had a great start of 2015 so far! To start off the new year, here's a new chapter of Full Moon! Can you believe that we're on chapter 36 already? When I started this story, I never expected it to take off like it did. I truly appreciate all the reads, follows, and favorites that have helped this story move forward and grow, and I especially appreciate all the wonderful reviews this story has received over the past few years! I hope you all enjoy chapter 36, and feel free to leave a review! I love hearing what others think about the story and where they think it will go.

As a heads up, this chapter is a continuation of the previous chapter and is in Jacob's point of view, and then next chapter we're going to see Hayley's opinion about all of the events since the accident, so be prepared! See you guys next time, and finally, ENJOY!

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."

~ Aristotle Onassis

Jacob P.O.V.

As I carried Hale back to the house, thoughts about what I would tell the rest of the pack, especially Sam, plagued my mind. How the hell was I supposed to explain to Sam that I let his little sister break her arm because of my driving? He didn't like Hale going on the motorcycle to begin with; now, he'd be adamant that she never went on it again.

She stirred slightly in my arms, and I shot my eyes down towards her. Her eyebrows were scrunched together, and she looked in pain. I was the cause of that pain. What kind of werewolf was I that I couldn't even protect my imprint from my own actions?

I walked up the stairs of Sam's house. I could hear all of the pack in the house, fooling around and trying to eat all of Em's food. They'd all kill me once they saw her. They were all very protective of her, especially Sam and Embry. Why Embry was so protective of her, I had no idea. It would make sense if he did turn out to be her brother, but even he didn't know who his father was and his mother wouldn't tell him, so that reason why was out of the question.

"Jake! Is Hale with you? We haven't been able to find-" Embry stopped short as he saw the unconscious girl in my arms. "What the fuck happened?!" he yelled.

I stared at him. He swore. Embry rarely swore. I was in so much shit.

Sam barged out the door and attempted to grab Hayley from my arms. Instinctively, I growled at him and pulled her away. I could take care of her.

No you couldn't. You're the reason she's in this spot to begin with.

I looked down at her. She was here because of me. Because of everything. Because I imprinted on her. Because I couldn't catch the vampire that was trying to hurt her. Because I once loved Bella. Because I was driving too fast. Because I couldn't catch her before she started falling. I wasn't good enough for her. I would never be good enough for her. She didn't deserve any of the shit I was giving her.

I passed her off to Sam. She was better off with him, even though it almost killed me to admit it.

"What the hell happened, Jacob?" he growled as he took her. He walked back inside and gently placed her on the couch. Emily flocked over at once to check her over. She walked into the bathroom to get a wet washcloth and brought it back over to place it on Hale's forehead.

"Well?"

I looked back at Sam. He was fuming. Shakes rolled down his body as he tried to control himself. Fuck.

"We were driving and something came out in front of us. I couldn't reach her in time to completely break her fall."

"What the hell do you mean 'something came out in front of you?' You're a werewolf, Jacob! You have heightened senses! You should have seen that coming from miles away!"

"I couldn't! I didn't smell anything. I didn't see anything. I didn't even hear anything!"

"Were you too distracted? By Hale?" Jared asked. I looked over at him, confusion clearly written on my face since he continued. "Sometimes we get too distracted by our imprints to notice certain things around us."

"I don't know. I guess I did," I admitted. I remembered thinking only about Hale before the crash, but I didn't think that it would distract me enough to miss whatever flew out in front of us.

"Get out of here, Jake."

"I'm not leaving her, Sam." I wasn't getting close enough to hurt her again, but I sure as hell wasn't leaving her. Not now, not ever.

"Jacob," Sam started to growl, but Emily came over and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Let him stay, Sam. What if that was me?"

Slowly, Sam's shaking started to settle down and he looked over at Emily. He took a few deep breathes before looking back at me and nodding his head towards Hale. I walked past him and sat down next to her. Looking back, I saw Sam holding Emily tightly around her waist and placing kisses up and down her three scars. He gently held the back of her head and rested his chin on the top of her head. Emily rested her head in the crook of his neck and ran one of her hands up and down his back.

I turned my gaze back towards Hale and held her hand. Her eyebrows furrowed once again and she groaned. She started to blink rapidly and suddenly woke up.

"Huh?" she mumbled, taking her hand out of my hold and using it to bring herself to a sitting position. "What happened?"

"Your idiot of a boyfriend decided to take you out on a disastrous motorcycle ride," Embry growled from the doorway to the kitchen.

I growled back at him before turning my attention back to Hale. Her face was filled with panic as she looked at her arm, and her breathing quickened.

"What doctor did I go to to get this? Did they find out that I'm a mermaid?" she rasped out, her eyes darting around to look at all of us as she waited for an answer.

"No, I took you to Dr. Cullen," I said, hoping to ease some of the panic she had. What I didn't expect was that she started to panic even more.

"WHAT?" she screeched. "Why would you do that? Does he know? Did he find out? Was everyone-"

"Hale, calm down! Everything's fine. He did find out, but none of the others did, and he said he wouldn't tell anyone. It turns out he knew mermaids existed, but he just didn't know that you were one."

"And what about Edward? He's going to read Dr. Cullen's mind at some point and he could very well figure it out through that!"

Crap. I didn't think about that. I racked my brain for something that would ease her fear.

"He's been keeping the secret of mermaids for centuries. I'm sure that he can keep your specific secret from Edward, too."

"I hope so."

I leaned back, contemplating about what I was going to ask her next.

She looked at me through narrowed eyes. "What else happened?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You obviously have something on your mind. What is it?"

"It's just something we found when the leech put the cast on your arm." I paused, taking in her slightly nervous demeanor. "What happened to your arm, Hale? Why was it burned?"

"What do you mean it was burned?" Sam demanded from the other side of the room.

She looked down and fiddled with her shirt. "You guys really don't want to know about that."

"Are you kidding? Of course we want to know," Sam replied back.

She bit her lip before continuing. "A girl that we knew in Australia turned into a mermaid when I was there. We tried to talk to her about everything but she got so pissed at us that she started to fight us. She was able to channel her powers a lot quicker than we expected, so she was able to heat the water around my arm during our fight, and it burned me."

I started to shake when she started her story, but it progressively became worse and worse as she continued. Who the hell did this girl think she was that she could just go around hurting people. Especially a freaking imprint. My imprint. Hale never did anything to this girl. How could she? She was one of the nicest people I had ever met. She didn't have a mean bone in her body, despite all of the shit that was thrown her way. That girl was done if I ever saw her.

"Jacob, calm down," Sam ordered.

I tried as hard as I could, but I couldn't, even with Sam's demand being an order. How could I when I just found out my imprint was purposely hurt by someone? I ran out the back door and phased on the spot, my paws soon flying across the ground as I sprinted into the woods. I needed to let off steam before I returned back. Otherwise, I knew I wouldn't be able to control my temper around anyone.

I never realized how badly someone hurting Hale would affect me. The elders had always said that our number one priority would be to protect our imprint if we were lucky enough to have one, and I knew they were our main concern, but I didn't realize how much rage I would feel when our imprints were seriously threatened and that threat was physically enacted upon. What bothered me most though was that I wasn't there to protect her.

Could things have gone differently if I was there? Could I have prevented it? If she wasn't burned, would the fall off the motorcycle have made her unresponsive like it did?

I shook my head, trying to get those thoughts out of my head.

You okay, Jake? Quil asked.

I had completely forgotten that other people were on patrol. Since Quil didn't have an imprint yet, he was usually scheduled during the times that the others could spend with their own imprints, which usually meant he took most of the weekend patrols and some of the afternoon patrols during the week.

I'm fine. I just need to blow off some steam.

I could feel his doubt, but he didn't press it. Let me know if you need anything, Jake. I'm here if you want to talk.

I grunted back in thanks, and continued running through the forest. The continuous pounding sound that reverberated through the forest as I ran lulled me into a daze, and I found myself almost near the Canadian border before I realized how far I went. Running always helped with my anger, and as I laid down on the ground, I found myself almost calm. I knew I would never be fully calm with Hale still burned and the redheaded leech still out there, but it was closer to being calm than I had been for the past few days.

30 minutes later found me finally calm enough to go back to Sam's house with the knowledge that I wouldn't lose my temper again. Or at least I hoped.

I took me a little less than an hour to get back, and when I saw Sam's house come into view, I quickly phased back and reached for my clothes on my ankle. When I felt nothing, I looked down at my foot and found that I hadn't secured my clothes to my ankle. Looking back up and scanning the backyard, I saw my shreds of clothes scattered across the grass. Crap.

Knowing that Sam wouldn't be too pleased if any of the girls there saw me naked, I phased back into my wolf form and started whining and yelping to get one of the guys' attention. Five minutes later, Paul came jogging out the back door.

"Don't have any clothes, huh? What will you give me if I bring you clothes?" Paul said with a smug smirk on his face. I growled at him in response.

"Fine. I'll get you some. You owe me though."

As annoying as Paul was, he had his moments. This was definitely one of them, and I was extremely grateful.

A few minutes later Paul came running out and threw some pants my way before heading back into the house. Phasing back into my human form, I grabbed the pants and pulled them on. Looking down, I scowled. They were Sam's old pants from before he phased, and they were so short that they were essentially short shorts on me. This was definitely not one of Paul's moments.

Mumbling obscenities on the way, I trudged back towards the house. As soon as I stepped through the threshold, I called out for Sam.

"Sam, can I borrow some pants?"

"Didn't Paul get you some?"

"He got a pair of your old ones, the stupid ass."

Paul laughed obnoxiously as I walked up the stairs into Sam's room and found some pants that were actually big enough to fit me. After changing, I threw the old pants in the hamper and walked out of the room. I peeked into Hale's room as I walked past with the hope to talk to her, but no one was there.

"Where did Hale go?" I asked as I walked back into the kitchen.

"She went out with Embry to get something," Emily replied back. She stood by the counter and was mixing batter in a bowl as Paul and Sam sat at the table. Her apron, as well as her face and hair, was splattered with white flour, and brownie mix was scattered across the counter.

"What happened here?" I asked, curious about the mess. Emily was one of the cleanest cooks I had the pleasure of meeting.

She glanced with a sigh in my direction. "Paul was apparently 'so hungry he'd eat in the leeches' house' and became impatient at the lack of food so he decided to help."

"And he made a mess out of everything," I finished for her with a chuckle.

I sat down at the table, and when I looked closer at Paul, I could see little flecks of white powder in his hair. I grinned and shook my head slightly as I grabbed one of the muffins that were already on the table.

We sat like that for the next couple of hours. Emily placed the brownies she had been baking in front of us and they were gone within seconds, mostly courtesy of Paul. I saved one for Hale, hoping that one of her favorite desserts would make her more open to talking to me. I knew it was a long shot, but it didn't hurt to try. As time dragged on, we found ourselves talking about trivial things such as how the shop was going and what stupid thing Quil did today to more serious matters such as the impending war. We still didn't know when it would be, and that unnerved us. We were purely relying on the psychic leech's ability to see when it would occur, but that didn't tell us how much notice we were going to get or even relatively how far into the future it would occur. For all we knew, the red-headed leech could make a split-second decision to start the war and we would be caught by surprise.

When that conversation died down, we were at a loss for words. Instead, we just sat in comfortable silence at the table.

It was when I was about to leave when I heard a car drive up to the house. When it parked, Hale and Embry came out of the car and walked into the house. Hale gave a nod to me with a slight smile on her flushed face before turning to Embry.

"You alright?" she asked, her hand resting gently on Embry's forearm.

He looked down at her with the ghost of a smile on his face and admiration in his eyes. The wolf inside of me growled.

"I'm great. Thanks, Hale. Thanks so much."

Her smile grew before she hugged Embry tightly. She whispered something into his ear that I couldn't understand, and soon after, she let go and headed upstairs.

"I'm going to head home," Embry said, looking at Sam. "I don't have patrol until later tonight, unless anything has changed?"

Sam kissed Emily one more time before looking up. "No, you're good. I'll see you later tonight, Embry."

Embry nodded once before jogging out the door and climbing into his car. He started the car and raced towards the main road. After I couldn't hear his car anymore, I stood up and stared up the stairs. I was about to take the first step up the flight of stairs to Hale's room before finally deciding to go out the back door and head towards Embry's place.

This was one wolf that wanted to know what the hell just happened.