A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Another Chapter! :-) HAPPY READING!
CHAPTER THIRTY - THREE
(BPOV)
I could barely breathe. My vision blurry from tears and my hands shaking with fear.
I couldn't lose him.
No...
Not Jacob.
"Sam-" I cried, hearing the raspy drag of air come from Jacob when he tried to breathe.
"He's suffered an internal injury from the fight. Our ability to heal is fast but some injuries can prove to be fatal for us."
"What can we do!" I pleaded to him. "There has to be something!"
"Sue Clearwater can help him, but we're miles and miles from the Reservation now. He wouldn't make it in time."
Panic begin to consume me when Jacobs blood ran through my fingertips as I continued to cradle his face, the look of true fear in his gaze reminding me of a time when he was younger... long before the wolf gene had ever set in.
"I'm right here, Jacob." I whispered to him, seeing him try to move as he struggled to drag the air in and out of his lungs, the sound of it enough to fill me with even more panic.
I was so focused on him that I failed to take notice of the conversation happening around me.
"We have to try to make it to Sue's." Leah urged, her naked form now next to Sams.
"There's no guarantee he'll even-" Paul countered.
"We have to try-" Sam interjected. "It's the only shot he has."
"Unless-" Leah began to add, her eyes flickering to me now. "Isn't there proof in the legends about the healing power of the imprint?"
"Yes, it's true that if an imprint is near... they have healing abilities within them... just from the bond placed there."
"Tell me what to do." I begged Sam, feeling Jacobs hand slowly take my own.
Sam quieted upon seeing this, his gaze lingering on our hands now.
"We should hurry-" Leah stated, reaching to pull me up from the ground. Jacobs hand tightened around mine in protest and Sam was quick to speak up.
"Wait!" He asserted to Leah, who stopped her advance immediately at his stern word. "Let them be."
"What? Sam!?" Paul hedged in disbelief. "That's-"
"-His best chance at healing enough to make the journey home." Sam finished for him. "Bella is his imprint. Her being here with him will help to heal him faster. If he heals enough we can help him back to the Res! Get him to Sue and she can treat him there."
I laid myself down next to him then, tucking myself as close to him as I could on the forest floor. My movements slow and cautious for fear of hurting him worse if I should move the wrong way.
I could hear his heartbeat as my head came to settle on his firm chest, the sound of it weak to me.
"This is bullshit- We should-" Paul angrily challenged.
"You'll do as your told. We wait. It will help him. You'll see." Sam warned in return.
I counted the beats of his heart, treasuring the sound of each one. My mind filling with all the memories we had shared. All the times his sunny smile had left me warm and believing that this life was worth living. Each one of his hugs somehow knitting the broken pieces of me back together.
My tears spilled as I thought back to each time he had caught my hand in his... holding me together in a way that no one else could.
He understood me.
He kept me grounded when I felt unsteady.
His love made me believe in myself. Like I could do anything.
I listened to every breath. Every beat of his big heart and I waited with baited breath of my own, hoping that the imprints connection would be enough to heal him.
Please be enough... Please be enough.
Sam and the rest of the pack stood watch as they waited, forming a wide circle around us.
The minutes passed and soon turned into hours. The sun beginning to rise now and signaling to us the dawn of a new day. I felt Jacobs body begin to warm next to mine as the sun touched my face.
Would I be enough?
I had never been enough before... for anything. Being weak and human. Impossibly clumsy and fragile and even in the way more often than not, but if I could be enough... I would be willing to do whatever it took to heal him.
"Jacob. " I breathed, knowing that even though his eyes were closed... he could still hear me. "I've never felt complete before you. It's like your warmth brought me back from the darkness that I didn't think I could ever escape from. You've always been there for me... protecting me... fixing me... and I don't know if I'm enough ... to help you. But I'm not leaving you no matter what."
I tucked myself further into him, placing my head just under his chin and feeling his chest rise and fall beneath me.
I was tied to him forever. Imprint or not. Jacob was apart of my soul.
As more time went on, Jacobs heartbeat grew stronger... and faster.
"Sam-" I whispered, seeing him turn to me and kneel down next to Jacob.
"His color is better and his breathing more even." He replied.
"His heartbeat sounds stronger to me."
Sam nodded with a small smile, gesturing to Paul and Leah for their help.
"It's working. We can move him now. He appears stable enough. I think he'll make it to Sue's without any further injury."
Sam offered me his hand and I reluctantly stood up, seeing Seth now crouched down in front of me.
"Climb on." Sam huffed my way. "He'll take you back. We'll be right behind you."
I glanced at Jacobs still form as they lifted him up, seeing the study care they all handled him with. I nervously sucked in a sharp breath and slowly climbed on to Seths back, digging my hands into his fur for balance now.
The journey back felt endless and after enduring three nights in the woods, we were nearly back on familiar territory. Jacob was still unconscious, but his heart was beating on strong and his color remained to be good. Sam was hopeful that Sue could help him and that he would make a full recovery with adequate rest and care from her.
I had opted to walk the last ten miles of our journey and when the houses from the Reservation came into view, I let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Seth was fast to bound up over the stairs into his home and collect Sue. Her eyes were wide and frantic when she saw us coming.
"Oh... God... Jacob." She sighed, ushering Sam, Paul, Leah and Jared in through the front door of her house. "Lay him down in here-"
I stood back, watching her rifle through what appeared to be a medical bag as she frantically searched for supplies.
"Bella are you hurt, Dear?" She soon asked me, her hands busy tending to Jacob.
I shook my head to her in mute response, my eyes trained to her rapid movements.
"Sue knows what she's doing, Bella. He's in good hands now." Sam sighed to me.
"What is all this blood from-" Sue asked, hooking up an IV to Jacob's arm.
"He was injured during the fight. He ran ahead of us. So he got to Bella first and that bitch Tanya. He destroyed her." Paul huffed to her in reply.
"... an internal injury then. Possibly a pulmonary contusion. He's real lucky."
"It was Bella who saved him. The imprint helped heal him enough to make the trip home to get him to you."
Sue diligently tended to Jacob as the day wore on. The other members of the pack had left for patrol duty once they saw that he was in good hands. I had called Charlie and assured him I was safe now. He had been more than relieved to know I was okay and I could tell by his tone that he had been beyond worried for me.
I stayed right by Jacobs side as Sue set up an IV for him, telling me he would need a lot of rest to recover and that he wasn't completely out of the woods yet. She kindly offered me a chair by his bed, where I stayed for hours... until the day gave way to the late hours of the nite. When midnight approached, my own exhaustion was beginning to prove hard for me to ward off, my eyes struggling to remain open any longer.
"Bella, you are more than welcome to sleep in here." Sue sighed, coming in with a blanket for me and checking on Jacob again.
"Thank you." I replied, not taking my eyes from Jacobs face.
"He knows you're here. He can sense it."
"You think?"
"I know." She replied, draping the blanket over me with a sincere smile.
"I wish there was more I could do for him, Sue. He risked everything for me. I wouldn't be here without him. Tonya would have killed me or changed me."
"You risk all for those you love. You're doing more for him than you know, Bella. He needs you and he can feel you here with him."
I nodded, feeling the tears sting my eyes as Jacobs face changed from peaceful to contorted in pain, his body now covered in a sheen of sweat as his back arched and I was almost certain that a scream from him was coming.
I swallowed hard, feeling the lump in my throat as my eyes stung with emotion.
"He's healing... painfully... but he is healing." Sue sighed, placing a caring hand on my shoulder. "I wish I could give him something for his pain but his body temperature burns most anything off. I need to get my hands on some morphine for him somehow. If I could administer it frequently enough for him it would take the edge off his pain. I'll be back shortly with something for him, Bella... try to get some rest, dear."
"Okay. I'll try." I replied, watching her head for the door.
When I heard it latch behind her, my tears fell and I inched myself closer to Jacob, gently touching his cheek with my fingertips and seeing the pain in his face slowly fade from my touch. I kissed his forehead, seeing his face go back to a peaceful expression now.
I wanted to hear his laughter... his husky voice.
I wanted to see his sunny smile.
To feel his arms around me again.
"I'm right here with you, Jacob... and I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here when you wake up. I promise."