CHAPTER ELEVEN

(JPOV)

The last few weeks had been a damn whirlwind, and my thoughts were plagued with the memories of it all now while Bella slept peacefully in my arms.

For the longest time, I'd ached for her, longed for her to choose me instead of Cullen, and when she'd told me the real reason why she wouldn't call off that shame of a wedding, I felt something spark on the inside of me that I hadn't in months.

Hope.

Real hope.

She loved me just as damn much as I loved her. I could feel it in every cell of my body. In my bones even.

We were meant to be together.

I'd shown up at that wedding, fully prepared to do whatever was needed to make her see reason. I wasn't giving up. I never would have.

If it meant that Cullen and I came to blows and destroyed that mansion of a house of theirs till the demise of one of us, then so be it. I was ready.

Bella was worth fighting for.

Edward had brainwashed her to the point where she didn't know if she was coming or going half the time. He'd manipulated her into thinking that his family were the only ones able to keep her safe from that Italian mob she'd told me about.

Little did they know the secret I'd been keeping buried for months now. The very one that would have changed everything if I'd let it slip.

The pack knew and Sam had given me advice on how to handle it the best he could, but there wasn't any relief from the heartache that came with knowing she was choosing to end her life with that bloodsucker.

Quil and Embry thought I was absolutely crazy to not tell her about the imprint.

They didn't understand.

I wanted Bella to choose us for herself, not because of some wolfy claim I laid on her. She had to want me in the same way I wanted her, or it would be no different than what Cullen had done by his means of subtle manipulation and that was the last thing I wanted for her.

I wanted to give her the right to choose for herself. Whatever that meant and whatever it looked like. She deserved it. This was her future. Her decision.

I came damn near close to telling her when she came to me the night before her wedding in my garage.

It would have been so easy to let that confession out when I had her body pressed naked to mine, but I held onto it, pleading mentally with whoever was listening above for her to see reason before it was too late.

She was my best friend.

My whole damn world spun around her.

She had to see it for herself and by some miracle, she did.

Charlie's heart attack had been a blessing in a tragic disguise. As terrifying as it was, it had halted that wedding in its tracks, and it had bought me time. Something I was desperate for and something I needed. I still had my suspicions about the cause of it, something I planned on investigating more with the packs help soon. I wanted answers and I knew Bella did, too.

Everything had happened so fast leading up to it.

When Bella sped out of my drive, convinced she had to go through with the wedding, I had never felt that kind of pain. Like claws on flesh, it raked over me, wounding and shredding until there was nothing left. If a heart could visibly bleed through someones chest from hurting so damn much, I knew mine would have been.

Breathing felt like torture for me then.

It was bad enough before to only imagine what being with her would be like, but then to have it my hands, in my arms, to have her skin against mine, only for it all to be savagely ripped away from me, was torture at it's finest.

I knew I would go on loving her, for the rest of my life, even if she chose wrong and left. It would kill me to do so, but I would do it, because imprint or not, she was it for me. There was no one else. There never would be.

My original plan, after spending some time running off my anger and frustration in wolf form, was to never let her say 'I do'. I was determined to stop her from marrying that leech one way or another.

I had to bribe Leah with fifty bucks to agree to go with me and even though she hated the very idea, she obliged with the offer of straight up cash from me. Truth was, I needed more backup there then just Seth. Leah may be a pain at times, and mouthy as they come, but her spit fire could also be useful and I knew if it came right down to it, she would have my back.

I counted on it.

Entering that mansion and seeing Bella there with Charlie, arm in arm and all dressed in white, made my tremors hard to ignore. I wanted to get her away from Cullen as soon as I could. She looked so uncomfortable in that dress, her whole body trembling so much it was plainly visible to me. She already knew this wasn't right. I could see it there in her widened doe eyed stare that met mine.

I could read her like a book.

She was making the biggest mistake of her life and she knew it.

With one long look at her, every memory of our time together came rushing back to me, from mud pies and beach runs, to old trucks, movies, warm sodas and cold pizza and dirt bikes, all of it leading up until I'd laid her beneath me last night.

Brokenness and shattered dreams spilled out between us there in those few seconds before she turned her face away and tightened her arm in Charlie's.

I silently pleaded with her.

Don't do this.

Please... Bella.

Don't end us like this.

Choose me.

Love me.

Stay with me.

Once I took my seat with my father and Sue, along with Seth and Leah, I saw Edwards family members all turn their too still and perfect faces my way, their golden gazes making me want to phase right here on the spot, but I held it together. For Bella, I had to.

Edward watched me sit down, his eyes a bit wild at the sight of me while he tried to reign in his all too perfect human act for the benefit of the others around him. I however, could see right through that shady mask and it made my skin crawl.

I wanted to rip him to shreds and I figured if that was the only thing good that came out of this wedding, then I could have considered it a successful mission and a well spent fifty bucks.

My father was stunned that I even showed and so was Sue.

When the music started, everyone turned to looked toward the mansion, where the wedding party would undoubtedly be entering soon enough. My gaze followed after the goddess blonde and her wrestler mate, noting the worried look they shot to Edward once they made it down the arranged aisle. The pixie headed psychic was next, arm in arm with her wide eyed companion Jasper. He always looked as if he wanted to sink his teeth into the next unsuspecting prey and it gave me the willies half the time.

I finally stood to my feet and waited for her to come into view with Charlie, my mind set and made up to stop her from going through with this in any way I had to, only she never came into view. Instead, her piercing and terrified scream cut through me like glass. I whipped my head around faster than I knew possible and was pushing Leah and Seth out of the way to get to her a mere second later.

She looked so scared when I reached her, seeing Charlie laying there helplessly on the floor, his face void of any color. Sue was fast behind me, and she swiftly took over, moving Bella out of the way in a hurry to tend to him.

In the rush and panic of the moment, I didn't stop long enough to think about where Cullens was. Where any of them were. Carlisle seemed oddly perplexed and out of sorts when he did show as Sue started compressions on Charlie. My main concern was helping them in any way I could to get the chief the aid he needed.

The paramedics arrived promptly and when they took Charlie away in the ambulance, Edward finally showed his stone face. His presence lingering there just behind Bella and offering her an act of comfort while we watched the lights cascade down their long driveway and onto the road.

I looked her way, and she was already looking at me, her tears running down her cheeks on endless supply.

She started to move, her gown now gathered in her left hand so it wouldn't drag on the dirty ground below, and her mouth half open as if she was contemplating running to me and saying something. I took a step forward, my hands flexing at my sides as Cullen swiftly turned her into him and ushered her away back into the house again.

I wanted more than anything to go after her, to take hold of her so she was where she belonged...with me. But I resisted the urge on the count of my father and Sue, both of them looking out after the vanishing ambulance with their own tears now.

I tended to dad, helping Sue get him back home safe before I changed, grabbed a spare pair of sweats, and headed for the hospital.

At that point, I didn't even know if she'd want me there, or what havoc it would cause, but I had to try anyway. I couldn't stand being away from her.

Sam and the pack were already offering her support when I showed later, and for that I was truly grateful to Sam.

She looked like she was barely holding it together by the time I sat next to her in the waiting room.

Taking that dress off her at her request was a feeling of relief I'd never be able to put the right words to.

It was as if she was finally free. That we were free.

I paused my line of reflection upon hearing her stir now next to me, her breathing hitching some with my name coming out in a whisper.

"Jake-..."

I leaned down and placed a kiss to her temple with my whispered reply then.

"I'm here, honey. Go back to sleep."

She barely nodded and turned over, taking my arm with her and wrapping it securely around her middle.

"My Jacob."

I stilled at the sight of the fresh bite mark there on her shoulder, the moonlight touching it in a way that accentuated the redness on her Snow White skin.

I hadn't meant to run like I did, and I only got to the tree line of Sam's back yard before I turned and ran full tilt back here for Bella, but the sight of that mark had sent me reeling.

I tried like hell to remember when it happened, the exact moment when I'd marked her, but I couldn't.

All I knew was that I had to talk to Sam as soon as I could.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this update. Please leave a review with your thoughts on if I should continue the story or keep it short as originally planned?