Chapter Eighteen: Cliff Diving

A/N: For a bit of context, it's only been like two months in this story.

I didn't know what I expected to happen when Jake had told me I was to come with him. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect anymore at all and I figured I should just stop trying to guess and allow life to progress on it's own. It seemed content to do that anyways, and I was left barely clinging on.

My day to day life changed rapidly, and though I had thought I could take a break from the shenanigans involved with the Cullens, I had only become wrapped up in shenanigans with Jake now. And his friends.

All of whom were werewolves.

Currently I was sitting around a bonfire, beer in my hand, Seth, Embry, Paul, and Jake sat on logs around the fire too. They were all kicking back beers and laughing about this and that. I felt terribly out of place, rolling the bottle between my fingers, allowing the condensation to rub off on my skin.

What was the point of this? What was going to happen? The smell of sizzling meat filled my nose. Jake was cooking something over the fire and it smelled delicious. He was tending to it right now and I decided, with a sigh, to get up and talk to him. Maybe he would offer some clarification to what was going on, as this was his idea.

"Hey, Jake," I put my hand in my pocket, bottle of beer in the other. "Mind telling me what's going on? I kinda have no clue."

"Oh, this?" he said, "this is the ritual to have you join us."

I blinked. "Excuse me?" I had not signed up for a cult. No thank you.

"Yup. In order to protect you from those evil vampire influences, you gotta hang with the bros."

Oh, well that didn't seem so bad. If that's all it took to convince him I wasn't under some vampire influence or whatever.

"Why don't you chat with the boys? They can tell you a bit more about our werewolf myths," he said with a boyish grin.

"Is it really okay for them to be so free about something like that?" I asked, looking over at them warily.

"Yes, you're practically one of us now, so it's fine," he said with a shrug.

Well, if he said so. I walked over to them with an awkward smile. "Hey...cool night huh?"

Damn, was I awkward and so uncool. Why couldn't I do shit right? Even talk to others? Though, to be fair, they were wolves. Why shouldn't be kinda scared of them. Didn't wolves like to eat human flesh? Or was that zombies? At the thought I shuddered. I sure as hell did not need zombies being real and coming to Forks. But knowing my luck...they might not be far behind.

"Finally decided to talk to us, Bella?" Embry asked with a wide teasing grin.

"Yea, I wasn't sure if you'd bite or not," I joked weakly and they all laughed.

"That's the vamps and not us," Paul pointed out. "Our fangs aren't as sharp. And they're reserved only for the vampires."

"Good to know," I hummed, sitting down next to Seth when he patted the bench and made space for me. "So...I kinda was wondering if you could tell me more about yourself? Like about your werewolf traditions and stuff?"

"Not much to really say," Seth said, taking a swig of his beer. "To an outsider there's not much to it. To us, it's a way of life. It's tradition. But more than that. It's in out bones."

"You see, it was a gift passed down to us by our ancestors. It only activates when there are vampires around. Otherwise we're perfectly normal dudes. But when the gift does activate, we end up becoming stronger, and we age less rapidly." Embry added on.

I mulled over his words. They only changed if vampires were around. They thought the Cullens were vampires. But the Cullens were not. So then why...?

"But could you change for other reasons?" I asked, curious.

They all exchanged looks with each other.

"What do you mean?" Embry asked.

"You said you only turn if there are vampires around. But what if there were other supernatural forces? What if there were...oh I don't, gods and goddesses?"

They all looked at me like I was stupid, before bursting out into laughter.

"Bella, those aren't real!" Paul said, slapping his knee out of amusement.

"But it's cute you think that. Just because vampires are real don't mean other mythical things are," Seth added on.

I thinned my lips but decided it was better not to argue this. I was just a mortal, right? What did I know?

"Burgers are ready!" Jake called out, coming over to us with the plate full of juicy burgers. They all looked great but they stunk. Stunk of garlic. I pinched my nose.

"Uh, Jake. Why do they smell like this?" I asked.

"To make sure there's no vampire influence on you. Eat up!" he smiled widely and I did as asked. They did look good and it wasn't like I was going to kiss anyone so my breath didn't have to smell good.

When we finished eating and drinking, I so full I could barely move, we all piled into a van, Jake taking the wheel. "Up next is the last part of our initiation ritual," Jake said.

I thought I was done with this whole process but whatever. I suppose I could do one more thing. What's the worst that could be asked of me?

Ten minutes later as I found myself standing by a cliff, overlooking the waves down below, I realized, this was the worst they could ask of me. I swallowed, the food in my belly threatening to come back up.

What the hell was this? Why was I expected to jump off a cliff?

They all stood behind me, watching me. The cold wind whipped my hair around my face. I shivered both from cold and fear. "Um, you know, I think I shouldn't do this," I turned back and told Jake. My feet nearly slipped on the slippery rocks.

"Why not?" Jake cocked his head to the side. "It's fun!"

It most certainly was not fun for me.

"We've all done it a bunch of times. Nothing to be afraid of," Paul said.

"Yea, but you're werewolves!" I cried out. "I'm human. I don't have big buff muscles to save me from the rough waves!"

Embry rubbed his chin. "You know, she does have a point. Maybe we should have her jump from somewhere else? Like the diving board into a kiddie pool or something?"

Thank goodness someone had a brain cell here.

"Alright, we'll do something else. Though I thought you would have fun doing this Bella," Jake said, sighing out.

"Yea, no thanks," I told him. I made to go take a step to leave, when a strong gust of wind blew at me. I leaned back, giving out a yelp when suddenly I was slipping backwards and off the cliff. Oh for fucks sake! Would my bad luck never end?!

I screamed on my way down. A scream that tore my throat red. As I fell, I saw Jake jump off the cliff, coming down to grab me, arms outstretched. "I got you Bella!" he told me. It was the last thing I heard or saw because I hit the water hard enough to lose all air in my lungs. It was dark and cold and I closed my eyes, flailing my arms and legs but I was sinking, down, down down.

Then strong arms were wrapping around me and I kept my eyes closed as Jake hoisted me out of the water, half dragging me towards the rocks so we could get out. I opened my eyes and coughed, grateful to breathe in air.

I was soaked through the bone, shivering with cold and adrenaline. "Are you okay?" he was in front of me, eyes searching my face. So concerned.

"Yo, Jakey, you got her?" Paul called out from above.

"Yea, she's fine!" He called back, though I was not fine. He knelt in front of me, cradling my chin in his hand. "Let's get you home, Bella. I have some clothes in the car, you can put those on."

I nodded my head in agreement, taking his hand and allowing him to help me up the slope to the van. He dug around in the back, finding a shirt and sweatpants for me. "They'll be big, but..." he didn't finish. I was just grateful for the clothing. His own was wet too but he didn't seem to mind at all despite the cold weather. I clambered into the back, changing into the new clothes. They were comically too large on me and I took a second to gather myself. It had all happened so quickly. I was lucky Jake had saved me, even if it was his fault we were there in the first place.

I heaved out a sigh. Why had my life turned into this? I had met up with Jake in order to avoid trouble and yet I had gotten into trouble anyways. Just for once, I'd like to have a normal day. Was that so much to ask for?

I exited the van and saw the boys had all gathered up, talking among themselves. Seth was noticeably missing. Where had he gone?

"Bella, we're glad to see you alright," Paul said with a charming grin.

"We were worried for a second, but you have our guarantee no more trouble with ail you!" Embry added on, jerking a thumb to his chest.

I wasn't entirely convinced. It was kinda their fault I had been up there and fallen down. Jake picked up on this and flashed me a smile.

"Don't worry, Bella. Now no harm will come to you, even from those vampires, because I will keep you safe. We all will keep you safe. You are part of the pack now," he told me solemnly and I nearly choked.

"Did you just initiate me into a gang Jacob Black?!" I roared out. I knew he had been trying to do something all afternoon but I had thought it was just fun and games.

He laughed.

"This isn't funny!" I told him. I shoved against his muscular chest. It did nothing but unbalance me.

"Bella, relax. We won't make you do anything. You're human anyways so you can't. But just know this, if you are ever in need of protection we are there to protect you," he told me and I relaxed. You know, maybe this wouldn't be too bad. For once, I could actually have someone to rely on who wouldn't try to expect me to solve things for them. Like the Cullens had.

"Thanks," I told him, still not entirely sure where this would all go.

He smiled at me, rubbing my shoulder. "No problem, Bella. What are friends for?"

Suddenly Seth intruded on our moment, rushing over from where it had gone before. "Uh, sorry to interrupt but we have got to go, Jake. We got a situation on our hands."

Instantly the nice Jake from before was gone and his face was one of determination, fierceness. "Who is it?"

"It's...them again," he told Jake evasively.

"It's cool, she's part of the gang now," he told Seth who nodded his head and finally directed his gaze to me. "Welcome Bella. And hurry, Jake. We need your help. You're one of the best." Then he rushed off.

"What is going on?" I asked, worried if my friend would be put into danger.

"It's a rival wolf gang. They're trying to get on our territory. But don't worry, we'll beat them back." He rushed off, his long legs carrying him far.