Chapter 14

Bella:

Sam carried me back into the bedroom and sat me down on the bed. The way he moved it seemed like I weighed absolutely nothing to him. I reasoned that he must work out a lot and that would explain his physique too. He gave me a quick kiss on the lips and then pulled back asking if I was tired.

"Definitely, but I'm even more hungry." I told him.

"Why don't you take a nap and I'll go get something to eat and bring it back?" He asked. I just nodded as my eyelids were already beginning to droop and the comfort of the bed called out to me like a siren. Sam let out a chuckle at my expense and covered me up with the comforter before making his way out of the home to get some food.

As soon as I had officially dozed off I was thrust into another of my dreams. This one was truly a nightmare. The Coldness that had been surrounding or chasing me in every dream was literally inside of me in this one. I could feel it pushing and pulling beneath my skin, I wanted to vomit even in my subconscious mind. My stomach roiled and I felt like something was moving inside of me in a way that it was pushing all my guts around. I lifted my shift and sure enough I could see where some sort of creature or something was living within me, protruding my skin outward. I screamed, feeling hot white panic burning down the back of my neck as I frantically felt the wiggling protrusions, they were ice cold and I let out another panicked scream.

"Bella? Bella!" I awoke to the sound of Sam's concerned voice. He was shaking me away gently and when I opened my eyes that wildly darted around until they landed on his face and his expressive brown eyes. Between those eyes and his steady hands on my bare arms, his presence began to calm me down rather quickly.

When he leaned back to give me some space I sat up and my hands flew to my stomach to make sure I did not have any chilling creatures moving inside there. I let out a deep sigh when I found nothing but my normal, relatively flat stomach.

"Bad dream?" Sam asked me, frowning. I nodded but he didn't seem to accept that as a full answer. "You were screaming pretty loudly, I heard you from… outside. Something must have really had you scared."

"Yeah. It was a really bad dream." I replied. I didn't know what else I could tell him. I'd been having these dreams for awhile now, consistently, and in the one before this one Sam had been a giant wolf, and then I had this one where there were living entities in me. I couldn't really tell Sam about this, he would think me nuts.

Sam gave me one more look up and down and he must have decided I was fine because he got up and walked out of the room. I heard some clinking and clanking so I yanked my oversized hoodie over my head and left the bedroom and my nightmares behind.

When I stepped into the kitchen, Sam was setting out some plates and there was take out food set on the table. Sam let me know that he had gotten a little bit of everything since he didn't know what I liked and to drink he just got me an extra large water because I needed to stay hydrated. That made me laugh, but he wasn't wrong, my throat was beginning to feel like a desert.

We sat eating quietly for a moment as I decided to take the moment to look at all the details of the home that I'd been too preoccupied to notice before. I was lost in thought about how much care had been put into this home and how perfect it was for me to live here when I noticed that Sam had been watching me intently.

"What?" I asked him. It wasn't an unsettling stare or anything, but it seemed like he wanted to say something so I was just trying to give him the opportunity.

"You really do like this little cabin don't you?" He said as half a statement and half a question.

"Yeah whoever built this, or updated it really took a lot of care into the details and the energy of the whole place. It's honestly really weird to say, but I just feel like I belong here for some reason." I told him. My straightforwardness made me blush and he laughed at me.

"You are quite the enigma Bella. You can have fuck hot sex with strangers like this, but still get flustered and blush when just admitting how you feel about something?" He stated, still laughing.

"Um..well only you." I said as I blushed even darker, beginning to resemble a tomato. Sam stopped laughing and something in his eyes changed. They were darker, seemed almost a little possessive, I even thought I saw a little bit of a honey gold color appear in a ring inside the brown, it was hard to explain but it didn't make me uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and took a sip of water, and when he looked at me again his eyes were back to normal.

"Actually, that's a bit comforting. I'm not much of a one night stand guy myself if I am being honest." This made me insanely happy and I didn't know why. Sam was admittedly a stranger to me, as we've both pointed out, and I had no claim to him, but I was a little happy knowing that what we had shared was a bit out of the norm for him. I knew I had to tell him the truth.

"Sam… this is a little bit embarrassing to admit but, I meant that I've only ever… you know with you…" I got out, feeling my blush spread all the way down to my toes. His eyes went back to the same dark, possessive, and I swear again I saw a gold ring in his eyes and he cleared his voice.

"Wow. That is nothing to be embarrassed about Bella, I'm just surprised is all." I was glad that he offered a bit of reassurance but I didn't really know what he meant. Maybe I was just that good at hiding it, I was trying to hide it after all. "Not like that! I just mean that you are an incredibly beautiful woman and you were so confident that first night, and earlier today too." He told me, making me blush again.

"See! That right there, is adorable!" He laughed again at my apparent redness and the awkward mood slipped away and some sort of friendly atmosphere bulldozed its way in. I had never felt so comfortable around someone I did not know well before. We finished our food, chatting lightly about our lives and how I was still looking for a job and I was glad that I found this place. He told me about a construction project his business was currently working on. We were just trying to get to know each other a little bit better.

"So Bella, want to play favorites?" He asked me, then I could see his own blush light up beneath his dark complexion. I was jealous, if I wasn't looking for it I may not have even noticed that he was blushing. "I'm a grown man, I think I was fourteen the last time I played favorites but I just want to get to know you better." He said and I giggled a little bit, feeling the exact same way.

"What is your favorite food?" I asked him instead of bothering to answer his statement. He smiled and told me that his favorite food is a juicy burger, and I told him that mine was any kind of pasta that I could put pesto on. Then I had to explain to him what pesto was, I guess he doesn't cook a whole lot.

"Do you like to read?" I asked him and he so graciously pointed out that question is not a favorites question. That said, he did answer letting me know that, when he has time, which isn't often he does like to read. "What is your favorite book then?" I asked the follow up, well within the rule of favorites.

"Hm. That's tough. I would read pretty much anything available if I am being honest. What about you?" I smiled at him, thinking about how similar we are in terms of books. I just love to read and absorb as much new information as possible whether it is in the form of fiction or otherwise. I told him as much and we continued with our game.

After a few questions had gone by and the various answers sparked several conversations I felt like I knew Sam a little better and it was no wonder we had connected so well to begin with. We had a lot in common, and aside from that I genuinely enjoyed just being around him. I felt full and warm in a way that I couldn't quite explain.

"Well what about your favorite movie?" He eventually asked me. This was really a loaded question to me, as simple, and human a question as it was. This is because I am all about the classics and have always been into fairly girly movies, not necessarily romcoms or anything like that but drama for sure. That said, my favorite movie is completely out of line with the rest of the movies I like to watch.

"I really like classics, but The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is my all-time favorite movie. It's full of surprises and fun and honestly really motivating to do something exciting with my life." He probably hadn't bargained for everything I'd admitted, but he responded with a smile anyways.

"Guess what?" He said and for a second I thought he was about to tell me that was his favorite movie too. He didn't though, instead he got up and grabbed a plastic bag from the bedroom. He pulled out a few movies and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was on top. "I stopped to get some movies earlier when I went for food and I've never seen it, thought it might be interesting."

I couldn't help but get excited and jumped out of my seat. We sat on the couch and put the DVD in, thankfully there was a player already hooked up to the living room television. Sam casually put his arm around me and we watched the movie together.

As much as I loved the movie, I was exhausted from our time together and from my slew of nightmares that prevented regular sleep for me. The warmth that radiated from Sam's body next to mine kept me cozy and lulled me to sleep.

I don't know how much time had passed, all I knew was that I had fallen asleep at some point during the movie. The TV screen was off and Sam was no longer beside me on the couch. Some sort of noise had stirred me awake, I wasn't sure what it was though, so I took a moment to look out of the window and what I saw took my breath away.

Sam was standing there, naked as the day he was born right outside the house! We were nestled in the woods, a bit away from any other homes, so he must not be worried about getting spotted. That still doesn't answer why he was completely naked outside in the middle of the night. That was the first time my attention was off of Sam's body since I had looked out the window, so it was only then that I realized it was dark outside.

I turned on my phone and the light illuminated around me and showed that it was just a little after ten. I'd been sleeping for a long time. I shut the phone off and looked back out the window, trying to see if there were any clues to why Sam was acting so strangely. When I looked out however, he was nowhere to be seen. Why would he go naked into the woods I thought.

I waited, staring out of the window for what felt like forever. Suddenly a giant black wolf emerged from the woods and it felt like my heart stopped for a moment. I could feel my eyes go wide with shock, but I recognized this wolf. This was the wolf from my dreams I'd been having, and just as it was in my subconscious, my conscious self was unafraid of this creature as well.

A part of me wanted to go outside, I felt drawn to him. The other part of me, and the part that won out in the end, wanted to observe what he would do. I watched him as he sniffed around the house. The creature sat down for a moment and just looked around, not doing much of anything. He abruptly stood and began to shake, the air around him seemed strange, almost like it was shimmering and before my eyes the wolf became a man and the man stood, and the man was Sam.

I gasped and Sam whipped his head in my direction, and even though it seemed impossible through the darkness his earthy brown eyes met mine. He grabbed his clothes in a rush and was heading towards the door. My head was spinning, running a mile a minute and I couldn't make sense of anything. Sam had been a wolf in my dream and he was a wolf just now. I was dreaming. That's the only explanation. I pinched my arm and willed myself to wake up.

I had half-convinced myself that I really was sleeping, and dreaming. The sound of the door opening and Sam barrelling in to explain himself left no doubt that I was awake, it was just too vivid and too real to be a dream.

"Uh Bella, I can explain this. Shit. I thought you were asleep. Oh fuck. I can explain." He rambled, seemingly desperate for me to understand. I didn't understand, not even close, but I wasn't going to judge him for it either, in fact I am not that surprised that werewolves exist if vampires do. I was more surprised than anything to find out that Sam himself was a werewolf, that I knew a werewolf, that I had slept with a werewolf. Of course, it does make sense that it was me, I always seemed to attract the strange in this world.

"Bella… um.. Yeah. So I am a wolf. It's a Quileute legend that ended up being true. Shit. There is so much that I can't really tell you about, hell you should have never seen that. I should have been more careful." Sam was still going on frantically. His voice was in the background as my mind continued to spin.

Were there other werewolves out there? Did I know them? Were they good guys or bad guys? Do good guys and bad guys even exist? I felt a shiver sprint down my spine as I thought that there most certainly are bad guys, thinking of James, Laurent, and Victoria. I closed my eyes, feeling a bit panicky as I thought about the three nomad vampires of my past. I tried to shake that thought, and I did, only to be sent spiralling down a different thought path.

My dreams had come true. Maybe not all of them, not yet at least, but Sam was a wolf. What did that mean for the rest of my dreams? I had been taken into the forest during one of them and then in another the Cold being was completely inside of me. Dream Sam had been terrified in my dreams. I couldn't let whatever monster this coldness was supposed to represent get to Sam or any other wolf that might exist.

"I have to go." I muttered, interrupting Sam's worried voice as he was still trying to find the right words to explain this to me. Jacob had told me a long time ago about the legends, so at least I had a little bit of inside knowledge that Sam didn't know I had. I stood and scurried towards the door trying to make it out of the small home. Sam grabbed me by both arms before I could get to the door.

"I understand… but Bella, please don't be afraid of me, and whatever you do, please don't tell anyone what you saw." His eyes were dark and pleading.

"I'm not afraid of you." I told him, hoping that he could hear the sincerity in my voice. I also was trying to be as honest as possible, it was true that I wasn't afraid of him, but I was definitely afraid of something. I didn't even know what it was yet. "And I swear I won't tell anyone." I added and then Sam let go of my arms and I was out of the door and turning the key in the car before I knew it.

My mind had run as quickly as the car had driven on my way back to the motel. I heated up the shower once I was back, and quickly stripped my clothing, and looked into the full length mirror. My body was littered with even more marks from Sam than were there earlier today. I could feel myself getting turned on by the sight of the marks again, but I stamped that feeling down and got in the steaming water.

I stared down at the floor as I allowed the water to soothe me. I was still lost in thought, but my head was a little more clear. I needed to figure out what the Coldness in my dreams was meant to be. Vampires were the obvious suspect here, but that didn't seem quite right. It didn't seem wrong either. Whatever it was, I would have to stay away from Sam until I had fully dealt with this.

I climbed out of the shower and since Rose and Emmett were still gone on their little getaway, I just curled up in my blankets naked. I flipped through the channels on the TV, not particularly paying attention to any of the shows, and tried to quiet my brain enough to fall asleep.

Author's note:

Sorry it has been a bit longer than usual since I updated, I just moved and am trying to get settled, thankfully it wasn't a far move, I still have the same job and what not so I should be able to get settled soon and return to regular programming.

I love how these characters just do things the way that they want to do them rather than how I had planned for things to happen, but I'm going to keep trusting them as it seems to be working out pretty well so far :)