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KISS PROTOCOL


Chapter 12: Anything stupid

"The Cullen's decided to stay until we catch the redhead and in case she has any backup."

Bella suppressed a smile. She knew they would do as such. She had told Emily as much as well. They were too caring and too good to step away in the middle of a threat. They knew how disturbed Victoria was, having lost her mate, and her ally, she might have as well went bat shit crazy, trying to get revenge. What was it Laurent had said? 'An eye for an eye." But apparently, and for obvious reasons, Victoria hadn't gotten the memo of her and Edward's definitive breakup. So, it rested on theirs and the wolves' hands to stop her from not only hurting Bella but from hurting any other innocent people.

"You don't seem surprise." He noticed, trying to decide whether it amused him or perturbed him.

"That's because I'm not." She answered smiling brightly.

He chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"Care to share with the rest of us?"

She shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it." She thought for a few seconds, putting her thoughts in order. "I know they want to protect me, and that they still care for me, even if I'm not longer part of their family. Does it make sense? It's like I know they'll do everything to help me, whether I ask or not."

Jacob realized something he was trying to deny. The leeches loved Bella, maybe as much as he loved her. They considered her one of their own, despite her beating heart. They never went out of their way to help any troubled human, but with Bella, it was different story. He had to make peace with the fact that some of them were going to stay in her life one way or another.

He closed the distance and kissed her deeply on the lips. She was simply wonderful.

"Did you find anything, dad?"

Jake had talked to his dad about his fears about not imprinting on Bella or imprinting on someone else. He was scared of breaking Bella's heart, and in the prosses, his own. For him there would be no other woman in the planet that would catch his attention, any other woman that he would love the way he loved Bella. It was simply not possible.

"I'm afraid not." Billy answered. "But I have my own theory."

Jake nodded, urging him on.

"Imprinting is supposed to be a rare happening. But it's spreading in this pack. However, imprinting is a shortcut to finding your soulmate. Yes, it may cause some chaos. But still. Your wolf seems to be content, happy with Bella. You love her, truly and honestly." Jake blushed, not used to talking about these things with anyone other than Bella. "You know that, and I suspect your wolf does too." He became pensive. "What do you feel when you're near her as a wolf?"

Jake thought about it. They hadn't had many opportunities for it. He thought about the time when Bella didn't know he was a wolf yet, and he found her in that clearing with the leech with the funny hair. His wolf was desperate for her to recognize him, to say something, to yell at him. He realized that his wolf had whined for a few seconds, complaining that she didn't see them.

"I see you know what I'm talking about and got your answer." Billy said with an amused smile.

With that, Jake had his answer.

Bella blushed scarlet red when Jake told her about his conversation with his dad. But she had a coy smile, a smile that told Jake she knew something he didn't. "I did recognize you in the clearing that day." She admitted.

"What?!"

"I mean, I didn't know it was you. But when I saw your wolf, and your eyes, and I immediately thought of you, and how glad I was that you weren't there with me to witness whatever was going to happen. I thought the wolves were going to finish me off if Laurent didn't. But you charged against him, and I ran like a bat out of hell." She laughed lowly. "But it was so weird, when I saw your wolf's eyes, it was like I knew subconsciously that it was you. I mean, the information had been in my subconscious since you told me all those months ago in First Beach, so it was like a part of me knew it was you and that I should do something, but for the first time, my instincts finally kicked in as they should, and I ran. The rest is history."

Jake shook his head. It was very interesting what she was saying. They have always been drawn to each other. But everything had its time. Maybe it was good that they got together once there were no secrets between them. No conflicted feelings. Jake had also grown mentally in the past few months. Perhaps, the Jacob from a year ago would not have been a good match to the Bella from a year ago. But now, there was no mistaking that they were on the right time, on the right path.

"Emily's pregnant." Bella blurted out.

It took Jake a minute to compose himself from the abrupt change of topic. Not that the fact that knowing Jake would never imprint on anyone else wasn't a relief and a good topic, but it was a strange subject to talk about, and honestly, she was scared of it. Jake was it for her, but being a wolf tended to mess with things. Like it had happened with Sam and Leah.

"Sam's going to be very happy about the news, I'm sure." Although very surprised. He was barely twenty-one or twenty-two. He had plans of opening a bistro in the reservation, a place where everyone could go to spend a nice afternoon, or a nice morning of working in a friendly environment and free Wi-Fi, as long as they consumed something every now and then. Surely it would be an adjustment for them. But if anyone could manage a bistro, a pack and a newborn baby were those two.

"That's what I told Emily." She said matter-of-factly. "But she's nervous about this business with Victoria." And so was she.

Jake knew her too much. "And you?"

Bella sighed. "I'm afraid you'd get hurt or worse. But I know your strong, and I trust in the fact that you know what you're doing." She caressed his arms up and down, more in a comforting gesture for herself than an affectionate one for him. "You know what you're doing, right?"

Jake kissed her forehead and grabbed her hands. "We all do. The blond leech has been giving us some pointers, and it's been very useful actually." Then he got quiet for a few seconds. "Did he really fight in the civil war?"

Bella snorted. "He did. And Carlisle is several centuries old. I told you, they have a lot of experience. Emmett's the youngest, and he was turn in 1935. You get your own conclusions." Jacob's eyes opened wider. It was weird to think of time like that. It was one thing to think of it in the abstract sense, and another to put it in such a context. Carlisle might have seen so many interesting and terrible things in his several centuries of life. He felt like he wanted to pick his brain, despite the fact that he didn't trust the vampires. He barely trusted Alice.

"So, if you know what you're doing, and if Jasper's pointers are helping, then I don't have to worry about you doing anything stupid…right?" It was a warning made a question.

Jake laughed at her and pecked her on the lips. He wanted to promise not to do anything stupid, but if the stupid thing was what got the leech finally out of their territory, then he couldn't really promise her not to do it. "I promise you I'll be careful." It was not the same thing. But he could promise her that.

Bella noticed, of course. But she couldn't ask anything more of him. "You all need to be careful. It's not just you, Jared, and Sam that have something to get back to, it's all of you." Jake knew she was referring to Paul, but she didn't want to say it out loud as to not betray Paul's privacy.

Jake took Bella's face in between his hands and met her stare. "I promise I'll look after them." Bella nodded. She knew he would.

Jacob had admitted after a month or so in the pack, that he didn't want to be alpha. He also told Sam that he didn't believe in the whole 'birth-right' crap. It was just a coincidence that in the last pack his great grandfather had been Alpha. It felt right that Sam was this pack's Alpha. The spirits had chosen it this way, and it should stay this way. However, he bowed to help him and do anything to take care of their pack. The other wolves vowed the same. They were family, and that made them closer than the last pack had been.

"That's all I ask." She pecked him on the lips and broke the embrace. "I'm hungry. What do you want to eat?"