At some point Jacob must have slept because when he woke again, the sun was streaming in between his cheap, polyester curtains and he could tell from how the light was hitting the floor boards that is was at least 2 in the afternoon.

Jacob glanced down at the woman still snuggled into his chest. He ran a hand lightly across her forehead and found it blissfully cool. Bella's eyes blinked open at the movement and he found himself staring into big brown pools of confusion.

"Jacob?" she croaked, before covering her mouth as a coughing fit hit her.

"Hold on, Honey," Jacob told her as he ran to the kitchen for a glass of water. Old Quil and his dad were sitting on the couch and the medicine man raised an eyebrow when he passed, but Jacob ignored him in favor of getting Bella the water as soon as possible.

When he got back to the room, she was sitting up on his bed with the shirt pulled down over her knees, looking exhausted and lost.

"Here," he told her, watching as she tentatively sipped, winced, and then took a bigger drink. He sat beside her on the bed and rubbed his hands down his face, waiting for her to get her bearings before doing anything else.

Finally, Bella spoke. "Jake, I feel really weird."

Before he had a chance to respond her phone began to ring and with a sigh, Bella moved to pull it from her jeans on the floor. When she picked it up, her brow furrowed for a moment and she stared into the middle distance before she shook herself and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Love," came the smooth velvet of the leech's voice across the line. "I was simply calling to check on you and see how your time with Jacob was going, but you didn't answer the first two times. I was so worried. Is everything alright?"

Jacob blinked. He hadn't even heard her phone ring; he had been more tired than he thought. Bella turned away from him, smoothing her hand over her hip before bringing it up to run through her tangled ponytail.

"Sorry, everything's good. We're having a good time."

There was a pause before Edward continued. "Are you sure? You sound a little hoarse."

"Oh, um," she started, looking down and biting her lip. "Jake and I stayed up late watching old movies and I just woke up a little bit ago. I'm still groggy."

"You know it's not good for you to stay up too late, Love, not even for fun," Edward warned. "You need your rest."

Bell's brow furrowed further and she glanced at Jacob for a moment before she answered. "Right. Okay. Well, listen, I was just about to get in the shower so..."

There was another silence before Edward cleared his throat unnecessarily. "Oh. Of course, I'll let you resume your weekend. I will pick you up at the treaty line tomorrow at 4."

"Alright, Edward."

"I love you, Bella."

"I..." Bella paused, moving the phone away from her ear and staring at her feet before she swallowed and brought the phone back to her ear. "I know you do. I'll see you tomorrow."

She clicked the phone off before Cullen could say anything else and stared at her hands, her eyes unfocusing as she fidgeted. Jacob waited for her to say something until finally she glanced up at him, chewing on the corner of her mouth.

"I think I really will go take a shower," she said quietly, moving towards her bag and pulling out a pair of undergarments that Jacob studiously did not allow himself to ogle and a pair of shorts. "I feel gross."

He watched her pull a tank top from her bag and hold it for a moment before she slowly put it back. A blush stole across her cheeks and she glanced at him nervously out of the corner of her eye before she moved to his dresser and quickly stole one of his few remaining t-shirts. Jacob grinned but she refused to look at him as she quietly let herself out of the room and plodded towards the bathroom across the hallway.

Jacob waited until the water turned on before he grabbed a clean pair of cut offs and jogged out to the living room. The two Quileute elders still waited for him and he held up a hand, moving towards the front door.

"Give me a second and we'll talk," he told them, running down to his garage where he had a camp shower installed. Jacob quickly rinsed off the sweat and other things he really did not want to consider from last night before pulling on his clean cut offs and jogging back inside. Bells was still in the shower and he moved quickly into his room, stripping off the sheets and bundling them up. He didn't want anything that might have the remnants of anything related to venom anywhere near her as long as he could fucking manage it.

With that in mind, he tossed the bucket from his open window along with the sheets and her dirty clothes to be dealt with later and moved back into the living room. Jacob propped himself up on the wall, listening to the sounds of the shower running as Old Quil and his father stared at him.

Old Quil huffed. "Well, boy? Did it work?"

Jacob sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm not sure yet," he answered honestly. "She definitely seems different and she acted confused when the leech called her, but we'll have to wait and see how she feels when she gets out of the shower."

Billy nodded before he turned to Old Quil. "I think we should give the two of them some space. The wolf needs some time with his mate, to make sure she is well and to figure out the effects of the venom purge."

Old Quil frowned, but seemed to consider the wisdom of Billy's words before he reluctantly nodded. "Fine, we'll go to Sam's. Bring the girl when you are ready to explain to us the effects of our rescue effort."

Jacob murmured something like assent, but inside, he wasn't sure he'd be bringing Bella anywhere. There was still the possibility that she would despise him once she knew what he did to her, no matter his intentions. He didn't know what he'd do if she still wanted to become a vampire without the sway in her system. If this didn't work, he was out of options.

Billy smiled wryly, noting his discomfort. "It'll be fine, son. She is your choice, and the wolf's choice. She will forgive you and, if we're right, thank you for what you did."

Jacob did not respond to that one way or another as his father and Old Quil saw themselves out, leaving him to settle down on the couch and wait for the water to turn off. A few minutes later it did and after a few more moments of rustling clothes and the occasional bumping sound, his Bells appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, toweling off her wet hair.

She smiled at him shyly and he couldn't help the large grin that split his face in response. Bella moved to sit beside him on the couch, setting the towel on the coffee table as she crossed her legs underneath her and ran her fingers through her wet hair.

"Were your dad and Old Quil sick, too?" She asked with a small grin. "That tea did not feel very lucky to me."

"No," Jacob answered quietly, feeling his smile fall as he rubbed his hand roughly down his face again. "They wouldn't be, though. That tea was made special for you."

Bella's face scrunched up in confusion as she bit her lip. "I thought Old Quil said it was, um, for luck and prosperity."

"Yeah," he confirmed with a small nod. "He lied."

Jacob turned on the couch, catching her small hands as she fiddled with the hem of her pilfered t-shirt between his own large ones. "Bells, I'm gonna tell you everything, but you have to promise to listen to every single thing I have to say before you storm out or yell."

With her tentative nod, Jacob began.

He told her about how that kiss felt to him, how she looked when she left him after the battle, and how the pain of watching her walk away was so much worse than his battle wounds. He told her about the list and the sway and the journals. He talked about the alpha's mate, how she was his, and how he'd never imprint. He explained the plan and his lie, the tea and the way it purged all the venom and sway effects from her system and the reasons why even if she hated him, he wasn't sorry at all.

"If you never want to see me or talk to me again," Jacob finished, ignoring the fierce growling and snarling of his wolf, "I'll deal with it. I just need to know if you're choosing death, that you're doing it all on your own and not because of some leech, narcotic thing. I still can't accept it, I can't, but at least then I'll know."

Bella had sat quietly through his whole explanation, eyes widening and mouth gaping at times, but she had honored her promise not to leave and not to say anything until he was done. Now she looked away from him, her face awestruck and almost incredulous as she blinked rapidly.

Jacob released her hands and sat back, waiting as five minutes passed in silence before he just couldn't stand it anymore.

"Bells, please?" he begged. "Just, say something? Yell or scream or cry, but please tell me what's going on in that head of yours."

Bella took a deep breath, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, before she licked her lips. "I'm wondering- I'm wondering if I ever actually loved him."

Jacob's heart skipped a beat and he swallowed heavily, while his wolf howled out his joy. The man was more cautious though, staring at the beautiful girl beside him as he tried to force his mouth to work.

"What do ya mean, Bella?"

She bit her lip and sighed. "When I first met Edward, he acted horribly, remember? I mean, now I know it's because I'm his singer and everything, but at the time, I just thought he was rude. Beautiful, but rude."

Bella fidgeted in her seat, eyebrows furrowing as she continued. "Then he kept telling me that we shouldn't be friends and I can remember not really understanding why I wanted to be? I mean, he wasn't nice to me. He was hot and cold and it gave me whiplash. But I kept feeling drawn to him, like I needed to know him even if I didn't want to."

"Now," she said tucking her hair behind her ears, " I feel... nothing. Like, I REMEMBER how much I love him. I remember how much I need him. But it's not... it's not actually there. It's like a movie I watched. I don't feel it anymore."

"And how do you feel about becoming one of them?"

Her face paled dramatically. "Nauseous."

Jacob closed his eyes, trying and failing to stop the swell of emotion from breaking over him as she spoke. God, she had been in the clutches of the leech's sway for so fucking long. Even if she was mad at him, he would never regret giving her the tea. She deserved to be free to make her own choices and he needed her alive. Still, he needed to know. She'd said she loved him before.

"Do you remember how you feel about me?" he asked hoarsely.

Bella smiled shyly, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "Oh yes, I know exactly how I feel about you, Jacob Black," she teased him. "Annoyed, but grateful that you force fed me that herb blend. I- For the first time in so long, I don't feel like I'm being torn in half sitting next to you. I don't feel pulled towards you and away from you at the same time. You would think that learning that I had been under some sort of vampiric drugged effect for so long would make me upset, like, it should be traumatic, right? And maybe that'll come. Probably. I think I might be a little bit in shock. But right now, I just feel so relieved. Like I can breathe again. I've been under water for over a year. I feel... free."

"Do you still love me?" Jacob blurted out, unable to contain himself as his wolf railed at his insides. "Do you want me? I can wait; I'm not asking because we have to do anything right now or I expect you to be with me right away. But you said you loved me, just loved him more, and now we know you don't love him at all. So, maybe, with time-"

Bella's index finger pressed against his lips as she turned to him and he fought back the groan that erupted in his throat at the contact.

"I did this, didn't I?" she said quietly as she slid closer to him. "I made you so unsure, so afraid I wouldn't want you. I hurt you without ever meaning to."

He shook his head (it wasn't her fault and she had to know that) but before he could tell her so, her finger moved and her lips pressed ever so slightly against his in a tentative, barely-there kiss.

This time there was no stopping the groan that forced its way from his body but he kissed her back just as softly, keeping an iron hold on the wolf as he clawed for control, the urge to dominate and claim a constant thrumming under the sweet ecstasy of his mate's lips.

She pulled away quickly, causing Jacob to whimper so softly that he thanked god human ears could not hear it, then she smiled at him.

"It doesn't hurt," Bella said with wonder.

"What?" he asked, slowly trying to make his brain come back online after feeling her lips on his.

"The other times, when we kissed, I felt like my chest was splitting in two," she explained with awe in her voice. "It hurt so bad and I thought it was because I felt like I was betraying Edward, even if I wanted to kiss you. Now though, with the sway gone, it doesn't hurt."

"It hurt you to kiss me?" Jacob grit out, at once angry and sad at the revelation.

"Yes," she confirmed with a small nod. Then she smiled at him and climbed into his lap, straddling his waist as she brought her lips back towards his. "But not anymore."

This time, Bella's lips were much less tenative as they explored his. White hot pleasure shot up his spine as he let her play with him, sucking his bottom lip into her mouth and nibbling along it before hesitantly darting her tongue out to taste. It was intoxicating, the way his little mate was shy and curious, slowly driving him mad with her innocent touches and gentle pressure.

When he could take it no longer, he wrenched his mouth from hers, panting into the soft exposed skin of her shoulder where the stolen shirt had slid off, exposing the skin.

"Bella," he gasped. "Bells, Honey- We have to stop."

She stiffened in his arms and attempted to slide off him, no doubt remembering the leech's many rejections.

"No!" He almost shouted, tightening his arms so she couldn't run away. "No, it's not like that. It's the wolf, Bells. He wants his mate, we've been waiting for so long to have you here and willing and-"

Jacob cut off with a heavy swallow as Bella's hands began to tenatively run through his hair.

"I don't know if I can hold him back if we keep going, and I don't think you're ready to be claimed. I don't have the self-control right now. Actually, I don't even know if you want to be together. You didn't actually say."

Bella lifted his head from her shoulder, studying his face carefully as she bit her lip. It was more alluring than she could possibly understand.

"I'd, um, I'd like to be together now," she told him shyly, averting her eyes to the floor as her face flushed. "But- maybe you're right. About, you know, not being ready for... that. And..."

She trailed off as she studiously avoided his eye. "I need to talk to Edward."

Jacob stiffened, his wolf rattling the cage at the thought of her going anywhere near the blood sucker who they now knew could drug her into compliance.

"Bells," he started carefully. "If you go to see him, whether he means to or not, he could-"

"No!" she interrupted, shaking her head vehemently. "No, I don't mean, like, being in the same room as him. I mean that I need to, you know-" she trailed off, her voice going weak until she finished in a whisper, "-break up with him."

Relief crashed through him as he nodded enthusiastically. "Right. Good idea, Honey. I LOVE the idea of you not being in the same room with him. Let's call him."

Her eyes widened comically and she cleared her throat. "Now?" she squeaked out, hands dropping to once again toy with the hem of his shirt that she had stolen.

"No time like the present," he told her with a grin.

Bella breathed out, chewing her lip fervently as she slowly nodded. "Okay. OKAY. I can do that. Of course I can do that."

Jacob took her cheeks between his palms and brought her scared eyes up to meet his. "You CAN do it, Bella. I know you can."

She closed her eyes and relaxed into his hold before slowly blinking her eyes open. He saw acceptance in those deep brown depths. "Okay."

She stood and moved back towards the bedroom, leaving Jacob in the living room where he stayed to give her the option of the illusion of privacy. She didn't take it, however, and he was mildly surprised when she came back, cell phone in hand, and settled sideways on his lap.

With shaking fingers, Bella hit the number two speed dial and brought the phone up to her ear.

Edward answered on the second ring.

"Hello?"

Bella inhaled sharply and glanced at Jacob before studying her lap again. "Hi, Edward," she answered softly.

"Love? Is everything alright?" The Leech asked. Even he could admit, Edward sounded genuinely concerned. "I wasn't expecting to hear back from you before tomorrow. Would you like to come home early?"

"No Edward, I-" Bella cut herself off, cleared her throat, and then started again. "We need to talk."

There was a pause before he spoke again. "Of course. I'll come get you right now and then we can speak about anything you wish."

"No, we have to do it over the phone," she told him quietly.

"Love, I- why?"

"I can't be in the same place as you anymore. I can't be in the same room, I-" Bella cut herself off with a small sob, the reality of her situation seeming to finally hit her as Jacob felt her body begin to shake. He tightened his arms around her. "Edward, do you know what the 'sway' is?"

Silence reigned once more before the leech exhaled a deep unnecessary breath. "I believe that is what the shape shifters call our natural ability to attract our prey."

"Have you ever... used it on me?"

"What?!" Edward's voice rang out, aghast. "No, of course not! I have never purposefully dazzled you or drawn you into me. You- you aren't prey, Bella. I- Why are you asking me this?"

Bella's cries were quiet but her voice was watery all the same as she answered. "I had this tea, Edward. It clears the effects of the sway from your body. It- The more you have in you the sicker you get and it made me SO SICK."

She gasped, moving to wrap her arms around her middle in that same unconscious gesture that both he and the wolf despised but this time, Jacob's arms were already there. She blinked around her tears before settling her head on his shoulder, taking deep, shuddering breaths.

"I don't- I don't understand," Edward murmured into the phone. "I have never, WOULD never, try to influence you like that. I love you, Bella. You're my mate, my forever. We- Just, you need to come home and I'm sure that we can talk to Carlisle and sort this out. I am so incredibly sorry for any ill effects you have suffered, but with the wedding and your change upcoming, any negative impact should quickly become irrelevant."

Bella shook her head and swallowed heavily. "You, um, you don't understand. You aren't HEARING me. I had SO MUCH in me. I feel like the entire time we were together, I was underwater. Everything is foggy. I can't- it's like a drug, you are like a drug to me. I can't be anywhere near you without it pulling me under."

Edward took a shaky breath as Jacob brought his hand up to run through Bella's hair. "Love, I'm not sure what to do here. If we can't be together until the change, then maybe we should..."

His voice trailed off and Jacob swore he could almost hear it, the moment realization began to take hold and the cold, ugly truth of the matter crashed through the leech's consciousness. If he allowed himself a moment to let the hate and anger fall away, Jacob was fairly sure that Edward wasn't aware of the effect he had been having on the girl currently trembling in his lap. It wasn't his problem and the blood sucker's pain wasn't his concern, but having known the agony of believing that he himself was losing her, he almost, ALMOST felt sorry for Cullen. He'd probably feel worse for the leech if the guy hadn't been willing, even hesitantly, to literally kill her to keep her.

"Bella. I love you," Edward said softly. "Do you love me?"

"No," she whispered on a sob, burrowing into Jacob's chest.

There was silence on the other end of the line again, only Bella's soft, hitching breaths disturbing the quiet.

"I see," he finally said, his velvet voice suddenly flat and emotionless. "That changes things."

"I can't-" Edward began, his voice cracking in his grief despite his flat affect. "I can't apologize enough for any pain or upset I have caused you. I suppose I understand why you won't see me in person."

A bitter laugh sounded from across the phone. "For a long time, all I wanted was for you to understand the danger I was to you, to fear me enough to demand that I set you free. It seems that I finally have my wish."

Bella said nothing while tears continued to slip down her cheeks.

"I hope you will know that, despite whatever else this may be, I truly love you," Cullen continued softly. "I did not- I underestimated the effect of my allure. I believed our relationship was genuine and while I am unquestionably flawed and monstrous, I am not that sort of monster. It was never my intention to force you to- to love me."

"I believe you," she breathed into the phone. "But that doesn't really change what you did to me, does it?"

There was a pause, before Edward continued. "No. It does not. L- Bella, is Jacob with you?"

"Yes," She answered quietly.

"May I speak with him?"

Bella glanced up at him and Jacob held out his hand for the phone. She hesitated before she handed it to him and buried her head in his neck, crying softly.

"Cullen," Jacob said blankly, fighting the raging of his wolf inside him.

"Black," Edward replied evenly, all traces of affection gone from his voice, leaving only hollowness. "Would you permit me to ask you a few questions?"

Jacob inhaled slowly, allowing the scent of his mate to soothe him enough to finish this conversation. "I don't think so, leech. I get that you thought this was something different than it was, and I want to be a big enough man to be sorry for your pain. But I can't. What you did to her- Fuck, you raped her mind! Everyone warned you, vampires and humans aren't supposed to mix, but you just took her anyway."

"I didn't kno-"

"No," Jacob interrupted, growling softly as his grip tightened on Bella. "You didn't know what you would do to her, and that's just as bad! You risked it, risked HER, when you just didn't know what effect you'd have. She- If I hadn't helped her, if I hadn't seen it, she would have DIED because of you!"

"Jacob, I need to know what you did to her," Edward growled into the phone. "How can I trust that what you gave her only cleared out vampiric effects? How can I possibly know that the Bella I just talked to, that she is the real Bella?"

"You Mother Fucker," Jacob breathed into the phone, stunned that the leech could honestly think that he would EVER give her anything that would put her under his control or subjugate her will. "Think about this, you bastard; since you came back, in the moments that Bella supposedly loved you the most, adored you the most, did she EVER not love me too?"

"No," Edward snarled.

"That's because you can't kill real love, you can't steal it, and you can't make it disappear," Jacob rumbled. "If her love for you was real, I couldn't take it away."

"Jacob-"

"No, you're done talking, blood sucker!" Jacob roared, his whole body convulsing as the only thing keeping him in his skin was Bella in his lap. "The treaty is void. You didn't bite a human but you injured one at best, destroyed one at worst, and that violates the spirit of the whole damn thing even if it follows the letter. I'm taking Bella to Sam's and if you and your coven aren't gone by the time I finish telling them exactly how you are guilty, we'll rip you apart."

"You aren't the alpha, Jacob Black," Edward stated coldly.

"Not yet," Jacob agreed, a growl rumbling through him as he fought not to crush the phone between his fingers. "But I am a predator, we all are, and if you think for a second that Sam and the rest of them aren't going to be slathering to rip into you when they hear exactly what you did, all that poking around in our heads hasn't taught you shit."

With that warning, Jacob allowed his fist to close around the flimsy plastic.