BPOV
"Shit!" Jake whispered. He pointed to the window while he faked a sleepy sounding voice. "One second Chief." He fake yawned.
I shook my head while opening the window up. I whispered, hopeful. "Sam, please tell me you can hear me. I need you at your guest room window." A second later Sam appeared around the corner of the house. "Help me get out." He lifted me out of the window and set me on my feet, giving me a weird look and about to speak but not before I noticed Billy staring at me.
I walked to Billy, unsure where it came from and said, "You say one word to my dad, and I will never cook for you again. He'd never let me see Jake and you know how hard that will be because of the imprint bond."
"Well, alright. My lips are sealed." Billy said, a lot easier than I was expecting. I knew he loved my cooking but had no idea if that would work or if it was because of being Jake's imprint. It was a huge risk because I would be in a lot more trouble if my dad knew I pretty much threatened Billy.
"Bella, what's going on?" Sam asked, coming up behind me.
"My dad just knocked on the locked door to your guest room where me and Jake were making out. Would just rather avoid that whole situation all together."
JPOV
Once Bella was safely on the other side of the window, I unlocked then opened the door, rubbing at my face like I was tired.
"Hey Charlie. What's up?"
"Have you seen Bella, is she…" He looked around the room suspiciously. "What are you doing in here?"
"Napping. I patrolled all night, just figured there was enough eyes on Bella that I could take a quick break. She's gotta be around here somewhere."
Charlie seemed to believe me. I left the room and walked outside to help him locate his daughter. It wasn't difficult. She and Sam were standing talking to me dad.
"Hey!" I yawned, this time it was real. Bella laughed at me and it was adorable.
"Hey, sleepy. Feeling better?"
"Much." I said, and meant it. I yawned again, that fake yawn must have triggered something, then gave Bella a quick kiss on the cheek. I could see Jessica watching us from a distance, but she didn't come over to talk. I bet she was embarrassed. I was proven right when our dads went to the other side of the yard for food.
Jessica walked up to us. Embarrassment clear as day on her face. "I am so so so sorry. I was talking to Embry then your dad pulled up and I needed to go change out of those revealing clothes, fast. And everything happened and my brain went blank and I totally forgot to tell you that your dad was here. I feel horrible."
"It's ok Jess." Bella said.
"Ya know," I started, unsure if it was the right thing to do. "Speaking of Embry, meet up with us after cake, we want to tell you something not many people know about our tribe, if you feel you can keep a secret."
"Oh I can totally keep a secret. Definitely." She said, enthusiastically.
"Good. Let's go serve this cake up."
Paul seemed like a child on Christmas morning when Bella brought the top of the cake back for him. She explained the different flavors and as expected, he wanted a little of each one. Lemon cake, vanilla cake, chocolate cake, and almond, of course having checked that no one was allergic first, then a huge conversation about if us wolves lost our allergies when we phased for the first time but none of us had any so we had no clue.
Bella separated the cakes onto 4 baking sheets and cut each one into perfect slices. Everyone served themselves after that, and there was still plenty leftover after us wolves got to it. After Jared had some cake, he went to let Leah off, everyone's schedule was messed up because of the party but it was great that everyone got a chance to be here.
I walked over to the girls who were all together chatting about who knows what and wrapped my arms around Bella.
"The guys here are so hot." Jessica said, glancing at me. I can't believe she saw me naked. "I could probably have my pick at any one of them. They all seemed interested."
I could see Bella shake her head at her friends ridiculous ego.
"Well, not Paul. I don't think you're his type." Angela said with a smile on her face. Hmmm, what was that all about?
"He seemed interested enough when I came out of the cake." Jessica spat back, seemingly offended that Angela suggested she wasn't someone's type.
"Well, we're completely different, and he asked me out."
"What?" Me and Bella both asked at the same time.
"Paul asked you out?" I didn't mean to sound so shocked but, I was shocked. Paul wasn't the dating kind of guy. He liked quick hook ups and no strings.
"Yeah, we're going to the movies and dinner tomorrow. Should I not? Is he… is this a bad idea?"
"No!" Bella jumped in. "Paul is great. You're going to have a good time. We're just surprised."
"Good surprised." I added. I glanced around and noticed Paul glaring at me. I excused myself and met him beside the garage.
"You don't date, you say it all the time, every girl I see you with, you remind them 5 times that you don't date, then once more as you send them on their way so what gives? Did you imprint on her?" I asked, feeling worried for Angela.
"No, I just… I thought maybe if I change the way I go about things, I could find my imprint and have what everyone else around here has." Paul rubbed his face, clearly frustrated. "I mean even Embry has an imprint now. I bet Quil will be next and where does that leave me? How out of place am I going to feel when everyone is coupled up and I'm just… me."
"Shit, Paul. What do I even say to that? Glad you're changing your ways and all but if your attempt is to hopefully find your imprint. Why drag Angela into it? She was just dumped, and you want to break her heart all over again while she's on the rebound? What are you even thinking? You break her heart and Bella will never forgive you."
"I know. Fuck, I know." Paul slid down against the side of the garage until he was sitting on the ground. I sat down with him, resting my arms on my knees. "It's more than that though. I… I like her. She's kind of amazing, which I mean so is Bella so I can see why they're really good friends. I'm not HOPING to break her heart. I want repair it."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"Who the fuck are you?" I spat out, shaking my head. Paul laughed and punched my shoulder.
"I dunno man. I think Bella being around like… changes people. She's so pure, you know? Something about her just makes you want to be a better you."
"I guess that's true. She's made a lot of our lives a lot better." I glanced around at the people that had come into my life and thought about the things Bella did for them. She unintentionally brought Embry his imprint, became my imprint, saved Harry's life and brought Sam and Leah back together after thwarting Emily's evil attempt at being Sam's fake imprint. I'm sure there was more but that was all I could think about.
Sam and Leah were dancing to some song on the radio, Jessica went back to talk with Embry, Seth was talking to Kim who was ruffling his hair like a kid brother, Quil was dancing with Lauren who seemed completely uninterested and Bella and Angela were still talking while eating some cake. I tried to focus on their conversation but there was just too much noise. I hope she didn't convince Angela to cancel her plans with Paul. I think this will be good for him.
Eventually the night wound down. Lauren and Angela both left and Jessica found me and Bella near the garage, sitting on some folding chairs.
"Jessica, want to hear a story? But remember, everything I tell you is a secret and when I say secret, I mean to the death."
Embry walked over and leaned against the garage opening, Bella was sitting with her arms crossed to keep herself warm. I lit the fire pit that we'd set up in the rocky driveway between the chairs, hoping it would help for now. Jessica looked terrified at my words and all of our very serious expressions.
"Do you swear to not tell a soul?" I asked. Of course I wanted to kind of freak her out but I also just really needed her to know how much she really could not tell anyone.
"I…" Jessica looked over to Bella, who nodded in encouragement. "I agree." She sat down in one of the empty seats.
"So you'll get the big talk at our next bonfire but in short… Many, many generations ago our tribe was attacked, and our people learned to separate their spirit from their body. They called themselves spirit warriors."
Bella had a look of amazement on her face. This was the first time I'd talked about the stories since finding out the truth. Jessica just looked bored and confused how any of this is a secret.
"Of these spirit warriors was our chief, Taha Aki, who was betrayed by another member of the tribe. When Taha Aki went to the spirit world, this traitor's spirit took over his body and his tribe, pretending to be Taha Aki. Taha Aki sought the help of a wolf and the wolf allowed him to share it's body. Eventually Taha Aki's spirit was too much for the wolf's body. It shifted into a man, though it did not look like Taha Aki's body, the tribe could see it looked just like his spirit, the one they saw when they walked beside him on the spirit world. The traitor was killed and entering the spirit world was banned, for everyone's safety. But through Taha Aki, the wolf lived on, his children, grandchildren etcetera. Eventually, another evil found it's way to our lands, a cold, dead creature that fed off the blood of humans. Vampires."
Jessica nearly spit her drink out, and I didn't blame her. I used to laugh at some of the stories when the old men would tell them.
"Yea, vampires. The men of the tribe shifted into giant wolves who could communicate with each other telepathically and protected the tribe. Their teeth were able to rip the vampires diamond hard bodies apart, then the bodies were burned to prevent them from piecing themselves back together. My great grandfather, the last real chief of our tribe, was also the last generation of wolves. Until us."
"Ok, you guys are hilarious. 'Let's play a prank on Jessica, it will be so funny.' Can I go home now? Story time over?" Jessica looked at Bella whose eyebrows were scrunched together then back to me. Well, the girl needed proof.
I slipped the shirt over my head and tossed it onto a nearby chair, then my shorts joined it.
"Well, hello!" Jessica said to me with a very flirtatious wink.
"MY boyfriend. Remember?" Bella reminded her possessively. I had to laugh a little. I reached for the hem of my pants and she shot me a glare. "I will buy you a new pair, just… keep them on."
"She already saw the goods, why ruin good clothes?"
"Wait, what?" Embry growled at me.
"She walked in on me and Bella earlier."
"Jake!" Bella hid her face in her hands. Embarrassed that everyone just heard that.
"Sorry. Just…" I dropped my pants and boxers and heard a gasp from Jessica, and noticed Kim was turned around, facing Jared. "It's just a body! Why all the drama?"
"A damn fine body, Jacob." Jessica said, and Embry growled again. "And what is up with this guy? Is he ok?" she asked, gesturing toward Embry.
"Just remember, Jessica, you promised not to tell." I phased into my wolf form, far enough back that everyone was away from me and she had to watch through the embers of the fire.
"Oh my… God. I… I… This isn't real. This can't be real. I need to… I should go. I have to go."
"Jess, wait. There's more." Bella said, holding her friends arm.
"How could there possibly be more than this, this is… this is insane Bella!"
I phased back and got dressed. As I approached Jessica, she leaned away from me. "There's no reason to fear us. We protect people, we don't hurt them."
"You… all of you? The whole tribe?"
"No, it's just the men here today, and Leah who is off patrolling our lands in case there is a vampire." I replied, trying to keep things simple for her.
"So vampires, they're real? Oh my God, the hikers?"
"Yes, vampires killed the hikers, not bears." I could see she was starting to calm, knowing we were the good guys.
"Jess, there's also good vampires." Bella said, glancing over at me. "The last chief that Jake mentioned, he made a treaty with them. They didn't hurt people so as long as they don't come onto tribal lands, the wolves won't go after them." Bella said it kinder than I would have, but she wants to stay friends with the bloodsuckers, so I guess she wants Jess to like them too. "The Cullen's. They're the ones the treaty was made with. They're the good vampires."
"GOOD vampires? The Cullen's? How can something that drinks blood be good?" Wow. SHE gets it, why can't Bella? "How can they even drink blood without… oh my God, do they just not kill people, do they like have people offering their blood. Did you offer your blood to them?" I had to hold back a laugh. Bella may have been friends with them, hell even going as far as to date one but she'd never be stupid and let them drink from her. She'd never even talk to them if she knew they drank human blood. She was smarter than that.
"No! Jeez, no. They drink animal blood." Bella
"Oh. Well that kind of makes sense that they'd be deemed… good. Poor Bambi." That time I laughed. I mean it isn't like the girl was a vegetarian or anything.
"Well listen, there IS more, but we can talk about this tomorrow or something if you're a little overwhelmed." Bella made a good point. Learning about the supernatural is one thing. Learning you are spiritually tied to a boy you barely know, whole other ball field.
"Yeah I think that might be a good idea. How about I just go home and absorb and I can come back maybe like next weekend? I think that might be long enough to fully, uh, process everything and we can talk more then. I mean… my classmates are vampires… yeah. I'm going home."
Jessica got in her car and drove away.
"Sorry, Em. I tried to get her to come back sooner. Will you be okay with her being gone a whole week, I know Jake goes crazy after a few days."
"Day." I corrected. "It only takes one. Hell it only takes a moment." I could see that she felt bad about being gone all week when I said that. It wasn't my intention, but she should know the truth.
"No." Embry replied to her question, and took off into the woods. I knew exactly what he was doing, too. He was following her car to make sure she got home safely.
Everyone went their separate ways. I walked with Bella back to my house in silence. Just listening to the distant waves and the sound of her breathing. When we got back, Charlie was passed out on the couch and dad was asleep in bed. I smiled at Bella then opened the twins bedroom window a crack, locked their door and closed it then pulled Bella into my room, locking the door behind me.
"Jake, my dad could wake up at any moment."
"Are you saying no?"
"No, I'm saying, guns still kill you, remember?"
I smiled at her then held my index finger to my lips with a wink. "Shhh."
