CHAPTER TEN

(BPOV)

In the stillness of the midnight hour, wrapped securely in Jacobs arms, my body felt heavy as I let his warmth concoon me until my eyes closed.

I had no idea how much time had passed when Jacob gently shook me enough to wake me up, his tone still husky and heavy with sleep.

"Bells, we gotta get back before Charlie sends out a search party for us."

"How long have we been asleep?" I asked, sitting up with stretch as the sheet slipped down around my waist and fell slowly to the floor.

Jacob opened his mouth to respond, but no sound left him, as his dark gaze narrowed further.

I paused briefly at the look of true horror now lingering on his handsome face.

"What-... Why are you staring at me like that? Is my bed head that bad?" I half laughed, lifting my arm and wincing at the sting I felt in my shoulder from the movement. "Ouch...-"

Jacob got to his feet and mechanically slipped on his jeans, his eyes still glued to my shoulder now with the same horrified expression.

I lifted my opposite hand to the point of the pain, feeling the rough surface of a wound I wasn't aware of before.

I went to the bathroom and turned on the light to see the reflection of my left shoulder. It was covered in dried blood with a perfect bite mark just inches above where my hair fell.

"Bells...-" He began, his haunted tone making me look back at him while he delicately reached out and grazed his fingertips over the healing mark.

"What happened- we-..."

"I don't even remember-"

"Did you-"

"I...-"

He got a wet washcloth then and carefully cleaned it, his tender touch nothing but full of care while he studied my shoulder, his words shaky with his confession.

"I marked you, honey."

I tried to grasp the words as he spoke them. Tried to understand the meaning behind them but my brain failed to keep up.

I felt dizzy and tried to collect myself some, but my head continued to whirl as I stared at my reflection and swayed some on my feet.

I pulled forward the memories of how mind blowing our passion had been just hours ago, but nowhere in the memory did I recall the pain, not until Jake leaned in closer to me and carefully kissed my shoulder.

His eyes were full of a hurt and worry that made me reach for him, as the memory came back.

Immense pleasure mixed with sharp pain...

He. Marked. Me.

Claimed me.

I was his.

He was mine.

I stood there staring in the mirror for what felt like minutes but was only truly fleeting seconds of time.

Jacob didn't move there behind me, his dark gaze still focused on the healing mark. He let the washcloth fall to the edge of the sink, his expression further falling and plagued with remorse.

"I hurt you...-"

His words pulled me out of my thoughts and back to the present with him as he slowly backed away from me, like he was afraid being with me was somehow unsafe for me now.

"No- Jake- stop."

He shook his head, his eyes wide and his shoulders shaking some and his breathing sharp and labored.

He was barely hanging on, the wolf trying to claw his way out of him inch by inch. Tremors took violent hold of him, and he threw open the door, his face turning back to me once more before he darted out of the cabin and disappeared into the night.

I followed him to the door, my human eyes unable to keep up with his run. I heard the ripping and tearing of his clothes, the sound mixing in witt he small crashing of the waves as he bolted into the nearest tree cover.

I stood there, listening to the howl that left him in the far off distance and wishing I was as fast as he was so I could catch him. I wrapped the sheet tightly around me and sunk down there in the open door way, leaning my head against the frame and letting my eyes drift close again. I was so tired from always being unable to rest peacefully with the Cullens. My eyes showed it in the dark circles prominently under them and my thin frame had only gotten thinner in the weeks leading up to the wedding. I was in a constant state of unrest with them all this time and it seemed it had finally caught up with me.

The sound of the waves was enough to lull me back to sleep while I waited there for him to come back.

The rational part of me knew I should have been more upset or bothered by the sight of the fresh bite mark on my shoulder, but another part of me, liked the claim it held to it.

An irrational sense of safety and belonging that felt so right, made it hard for me to be anything but in awe of it now.

Since his first initial phase, Jacob had always feared he would lose control with me close by and that I would get caught in the crossfires, much in the same way Emily did, but I never shared that fear. Not even when Edward told me I should.

I knew my Jacob.

He would never hurt me intentionally, and this new mark was no exception.

I wanted to learn more about what it meant. I had a million questions to ask him.

Did it strengthen the imprint? Make us closer than we already were? I didn't even know if that was possible, but I still wanted to ask.

More than that, more than anything else, I wanted to cradle his face in my hands and assure him I was okay. He hadn't hurt me and that I knew he would never hurt me.

When I couldn't resist sleeps pull any longer, I drifted off with the sound of the beach waves and dreamed of the arms I longed to hold me, until I felt them physically wrapped under me sometime later.

"I'm sorry-... I'm so sorry."

His husky voice was close to my ear and I didn't want to open my eyes, resting in his warm embrace was too peaceful to leave.

"I love you, Jake." I sighed into the groove of his neck.

"Love you more." He earnestly replied.

"Can we stay here till the morning. I'm so tired. I don't want to leave yet."

His answer didn't come in words, but in his movements as he laid me down in the bed and and placed himself behind me, his arms drawing me back against his firm chest with a kiss to my shoulder before I fell asleep once more.

A/N: Short update. More to come soon. Please review.