The light from the windows caressed the room in a soft glow as she blinked her eyes open. She stretched, a lazy caramel arm draped over her stomach and pulled her closer. He was fast asleep, black hair hanging in loose tendrils across his beautiful face. She was used to him being up early lately, running Patrols with the back, and then back out again at night. Her mind drifted to last night's sobering conversations of memories that they both had swallowed down.

"I wished that you never went." His confession had shaken her in the dark. She knew exactly what he was referring to, the memory dancing across her closed eyelids. Him pleading into the car as he begged her desperately to stay with him, to choose him. She didn't know until she had been in Edward's arms a week later that it wasn't the coldness that she had craved and everything was colder without her own personal sun.

"Me too, Jake." Her voice betrayed her as it cracked out against the dark shadows of the room. She wondered if they would swallow them both up whole. "It was the hardest thing in my life, walking away from you. I wanted to come back so badly…I could feel you calling to me but I couldn't come. You were everywhere, in my dreams, in the faces that I would see. At some point, I stopped and realized that it was my mind playing tricks on me and not you actually being there."

She felt him still for a moment, his hands combing softly through her wavy locks. He nuzzled into her and unabashedly inhaled, a smile tugging on her lips. Scent was such an intoxicating thing for both of them, and she knew that it was an addiction that both of them wouldn't let go of.

Trudging into the kitchen for a cup of tea, she rubbed her eyes in the drifting morning light. It was still and she scurried through the living room, dipping bare feet onto cold hardwood floors. It had taken her a minute to peel herself from his sleeping arms, and she smiled into the filling teapot at the thought. It seemed as though now that he had her within his grasp, he wasn't letting go anytime soon. Bella didn't complain.

Her hands shook slightly as she lit the gas stove, before pulling down two glasses and the coffee. The smell tingled her nose as she started the coffee pot, the aroma filling the small room quickly. She never had been much of a coffee drinker, and she dunked her tea bag into the empty cup, before pouring water in, watching it swirl as it steeped.

Clutching the glass she walked towards the front door, tipping it open as she sat on the porch, dragging the blanket she kept on the chair around her. It was silent, save for the sound of the birds starting to wake. The trees swayed in the cool breeze and she shivered into her cup of tea. She was always so cold in his absence.

Thoughts tugged at her, dragging her through a riptide of emotions as she wondered what life would have been like if she had never gotten into the car. But, she had always believed that nobody should die because of her, and they had known that was her weakness. Pushing amber locks behind her ear she wrapped the blanket tighter around herself as she debated crawling back into bed with Mr. Jacob Black when she heard his voice, saying her name like a soft caress.

It seeped into her bones, warming her more than the tea did.

"Out here, Jake." She heard the shuffling of heavy feet as he trudged towards the door, peeking a head out the screen door before dipping back inside. He reappeared seconds later with a cup in his hands, joining her quietly on the porch. "Sleep okay?"

"Sure, sure." He mumbled into his cup before playful eyes danced up to meet hers. He sat across from her, seemingly sensing her strange mood as he stared out into the trees. Bella's mind was still caught up in bed, buried deep in the shared moments from the night.

"Where do you think we would have been ….if I stayed?" She was drawing circles on his bicep, her hair splayed out across the bed, his hand lazily draped over her shoulder, his thumb drawing across her cool skin.

"I don't know, Bells. I'd like to think that we would be where we are now…" He paused, turning towards her and even in the dark she could see the light in his eyes. "Just a little less broken."

She hadn't heard him speak, she was wrapped up in her thoughts–until a soft finger under her chin zapped her back to reality. Skin hadn't been something that she used to crave before until she felt the fire coursing underneath every touch. She swallowed and her eyes drifted to his.

"Okay, Bells?" His eyes were caressing hers, searching desperately into hopeless pools of brown. She wondered how this man had hidden his pain so well after baring it so much last night. She was an open book, and he seemed to be able to unravel her by simply running his hand down the spine.

Her hand reached up to his and she laced her fingers through A small smile peeled at the corners of his lips, before setting his coffee down on the table. Hesitantly he pulled away, before slapping a lazy kiss across her hairline.

"I gotta get an update. I'll be right back." She watched him go, seemingly torn on whether or not he should be leaving her, but duties always called and he was Alpha. The Pack was just as important as his Imprint. She watched inquisitively as he shrugged off his pajama bottoms, and her eyebrow raised at his figure standing stark naked just twenty feet in front of her.

Then the man was the Wolf and she watched as he strolled up to the porch, russet fir dancing softly in the wind. She stretched, and padded across the wood towards the beautiful creature before sitting soundly on the steps in front of it, her hand outstretched. It sniffed her, drawing a cold wet nose up her wrist as she cast her eyes down, his forehead pressing against her palm. Her eyes met soft gold and she reached out, stroking the soft of his fur as she pressed her head into his neck.

She wondered just how connected the man and the wolf were, even though she knew that they were one and the same. He smelled of pine, and she reveled in it. A sloppy kiss trailed up her leg, as he licked her. She laughed and pushed his big head away, a low rumbling building in its chest. Man or wolf, she felt safe with both.

Her eyes stared into his and he twitched his nose at her, before burying his snout in her hair. Sniffing headily, it shook out its fur and stepped back, sauntering over to the treeline before exiting as a man. Her eyes met his and she tossed him his pajama bottoms, tugging her bottom lip in between her teeth. Red-hot desire was burning through her and suddenly all that she craved was his touch, and she was burning under his gaze.

He stepped for the treeline and felt the zap of electricity hanging in the air between them. He stared for a moment, trapped under her heated gaze and hooded eyes before he closed the distance between them in four simple strides. She gasped softly as he appeared in front of her, her eyes drifting unabashedly over his body and he felt his skin prickle under her gaze.

A soft sigh escaped those perfect lips as he reached a hand against her cheek, his thumb freeing her lip from her captor. He was lost in memorizing every detail of her face as she stared up at him. Her tongue wet her lips and she glanced at him in anticipation. He could smell her want and his fingers played with stray locks as they danced against her skin.

He could get drunk on her forever if she let him.

The man and the Wolf wanted to bury themselves into her and never leave, basking in her scent and the way her hands felt on his skin.

She was reminding him what it was like to be a man again.

"What do you need, Bells?" His breath purred against her cheek as he rubbed his jaw against it. He heard her inhale his scent and laid a soft trail of kisses against her jaw. She tilted her head to the side, letting his lips gently caress down her throat to her collarbone. His hips lit up like wildfire as she ran her hands up his side until they rested on his forearms.

Turning into him, she nuzzled his cheek with hers and whispered softly. "I just need you, Jake. Always." He felt the soft hum of appreciation in his chest as he nuzzled against her, and they leaned back against the porch, his arm tucked beneath her head as he caught them with his other arm.

Soft lips met him as she crashed into him, hands pulling softly at the hair on the nape of his neck. He captured his kiss with a groan as their tongues explored each other's mouths. His hand slid down from cradling her head and rested on her stomach, soft white skin peeking out from under his T-shirt. His fingers trailed up as he cupped her breast in his palm-they fit perfectly, as though they were made just for him. A moan escaped her lips and he swallowed it up, his mouth covering hers.

He pulled away and turned his attention to the purt rosebud underneath his thumb. Gently, keeping her eye contact he ran his tongue over it in soft languid movements as she arched into him. He smirked and moved his attention to the other as he kneaded and caressed every inch of her skin. Neither one of them seemed to notice that they were on the porch, and neither one of them cared.

All that mattered was the liquid fire running through their veins from one another's touch.

She shimmied out of her underwear from underneath him and he stifled a laugh at her navel. Her hands found his hair, leaving a trail of burning skin in their wake. He paused, pulling back to look at the siren underneath him. Her hair was a mess and she was sprawled out underneath his huge frame. Swollen lips lay against pale skin that was heated pink from her blush. Wanton eyes stared out from under hooded lids.

Even without the Imprint, he had loved her.

He stood, grabbing her hips as he pulled her carefully towards him, as she wrapped her legs around his hips. Leaning over, he laid a wet kiss against her knee and was met with a smile tugging on her lips. "Tell me if you want to stop, Bells." Waiting a moment, he watched her carefully before sinking into bliss. Head tilting back against the wood she arched into him and they lost themselves in bliss.

- - - - - - - –

It was sprinkling now, small wet drops fell against her skin and she shivered beside him. He pulled her closer, pulling stray locks from her face. "Mmm…that was…" She murmured against his chest. He smiled and stood, pulling the blanket over himself, he handed her his pajama bottoms.

"You're a lot colder than I am." He knew that he was steaming in the rain and he raised his eyebrows to silence her protest. Finally, she shrugged them on, tying them tight around her waist, they were still loose.

"Hey, Jake?"

"MMm?"

"Can I ask you something?" He nodded his head and she continued on after a moment. "When you were in Seattle, why were you there?"

"Leeches." Bending over, he scooped her into his arms and sat on the chair, positioning her in his lap. She snuggled against his chest. "Just got quite a bit of disappearance, Charlie wanted me to go and check it out. Said there were a few people from Forks that have gone missing too. We've had a few stragglers pass through the border, but we just ran a parameter check to see if we could tell if anything was off."

Pulling back to look at him, they just stared at each other for a moment before Bella nuzzled into his chest again. "I was worried, you were gone for a while."

"I'll always make it back to you." He murmured into her hair, before patting her hip twice. "Now come on, we gotta make it back to Emily's before they start sniffing around here." His eyes flitted to the porch and he smirked. "They'd definitely get an interesting welcome."

Bella followed his gaze for a moment before gasping and swatting him on the shoulder. He laughed and stood. "It'll be gone from the wood soon…but not…" He watched her cheeks turn crimson.

"JAKE!"