[Jess Arc]
"The Vampire and the Wolf"
Chapter 10
Jacob and I had a plan. We discussed it for hours, hammering out details and playing out different scenarios of what could happen. Yet here I was, still in La Push after arriving three days ago. I couldn't bring myself to go through with it.
I drew my head under the comforter of Jacob's bed when a knocking sound came from the bedroom door. "Jessica," Jacob called out in an exasperated tone. "You can do this. You have to try. Please try. For me. For them."
The mattress squeaked when Jacob sat on the bed beside me. "We, the pack, support you. Even the Council does. You know this. Why are you so afraid?"
My fear didn't stem from the Volturi at this point. Instead it grew from a deeper place in my soul. If I reconnected with my family, how much more would it hurt that they were leaving me some day while I had an eternity to live out? Wasn't it better for them to mourn me and me to mourn what I had? I would only inflict more damage on myself in the long run with the more time I had spent with them. I knew I was being selfish, but I needed that selfishness for my own self-preservation.
"Jacob, I can't endure the pain of knowing my time with them is finite. That's the problem!" I flung the covers off my upper body and sat up. My eyes resisted from trailing down Jacob's shirtless, tan torso. He was only wearing jean shorts, and I felt ashamed with how much desire I had come to feel towards him the last few days after officially breaking things off with Edward. Jacob would just be another thing to cause me pain knowing our time was finite as well. He wouldn't age as long as he shifted, but he wouldn't want that forever. Eventually he would settle down for a family and maybe even imprint. I was being delusional even wanting something more than friendship between us.
Jacob's dark eyes were downcast, seemingly focused on my left hand as his own hand inched over to it on the bed. I withdrew my hand from his reach before contact could be made. "Really?" Jacob scoffed in disapproval, but I knew he was masking the hurt from my rejection.
"I need to go." Jacob's hand retracted to his left thigh before he balled it into a fist.
"What? Where?"
"I need a clean break. Find my own way. I have to figure out how to do this life on my own. I-"
"I! I! I! Geez, it's always about you, isn't it?" Jacob's lips shifted into a deep frown while crossing his arms around his bare chest. I parted my lips to defend my reasoning, but Jacob cut me off. "What about me? This isn't just about you. You know how I feel, Jessica."
My head jerked back in shock. "No, I don't! You just said you wish you could have corrected the past with me!"
"Read between the lines!" Jacob growled. Then his irritated expression switched to a smug grin in a split second. What the hell?!
"Or be forthright with your words! Ugh!" I leapt up from the bed. I needed distance from Jacob because the heat between us was on the precipice of being some passionate blowout which I did NOT need. "I don't want to form attachments that will be ripped away from me in the end because I am cursed with immortality. I- what are you doing?" Jacob had risen up from the bed halfway through my passionate speech and was closing the distance between us.
"We will figure it out," Jacob whispered before extending his right hand to cup my cheek. I wanted to pull away but when my eyes locked on his own, I was hooked in to stay put. "You know why?"
I shook my head and licked my lips in anticipation of perhaps what was coming next. "Because," Jacob leaned down and kissed my forehead, "I love you. I, Jacob Black, shapeshifting wolf, alpha of my pack, fell in love with a fricken vampire. Against nature for my kind. That type of love is worth the fight. We will make this work, if you want to be with me. Do you love me? What do you want?"
A kiss I had expected. Long overdue, in fact. But that? I hadn't seen that coming. Jacob had looked for me when I was missing and never gave up. I possibly could have never been forced to remember the truth without his help. He was patient with me as I was a different version of myself and a vampire when he found me after three years had passed by. His natural enemy. He loathed vampires. But me? He made an exception for me. And once again we became best friends. Along the way, I couldn't admit to myself I was falling for someone I could be all of myself with for the first time as a vampire. But would it be enough? I knew I had been selfish in wanting to just set off on my own. It would be easier for me. But what if I chose the more difficult path and accepted I would lose all the humans I loved one day, but still be with them and love them? I would be putting their needs, wants, and happiness before my own. What if even after they died, I could live with knowing I made them happy in their time on earth and could treasure that forever? Would that be doable? Putting them first?
Jacob was waiting for my answer with his arms wrapped around me in a tight embrace.
I knew what the only answer could be.
"I love you, Jacob Black. I have no heart, but I believe I have a soul and it loves you with everything it has." I craned my head up and choked back a sob when I saw the tears trailing down Jacob's beautiful face. I pulled his head down to my own and our lips brushed in the longest waited first kiss that took years and two friendships to build up to. Jacob was my best friend and now my lover. I would hold onto him as long as time and fate granted me that. Imprint be damned. IF he does, I will let him go. But for now, I choose to love him with everything I have.
Time flew by too fast when Jacob broke our kiss and the sunniest of grins adorned his face. A face I loved so much. "You know when I was younger my mother told me that life is a book, and you are the author of your own story. You are my favorite chapter in my book, and I want it to never end. I love you."
I wiped away my own tears with the back of my hand. "You think I look okay as a red head, right?" Jacob laughed while my fingers fiddled with the red hair spilling over my shoulders and I knew he didn't really care about what color my hair was. "Alright, let's go put our plan into action. I am ready to reunite with my mom, dad and Daniel. With you by my side, I can do anything."
…
And the vampire and the wolf proved that love transcends the body which is really only a shell for the soul…
The End
AN: This was bittersweet to end and maybe why I put off writing it for so long. I wrote this like 10 different ways. Decided the shorter and more Jess/Jacob focused ending was the most appropriate. If you were hoping for her family to come into play, I am saving that for the new Edward Arc ending. Thanks for reading this AU - Lalaland972
LalaLand972's response to reviews:
DxGRAYxMan: Yay! Glad you are! Its in the works but has a lot of rewrites to go through before it is publishable T_T
MiharuTousaka: Last extra dose of Jacob is here T_T I hope you enjoyed it though!