Chapter 15

After Riana left, Selene began mulling over everything that happened, truly concerned about her half sister and she didn't know why. Bella had put her through hell, without actually doing it, and yet Selene was worried. It had to be because of Charlie's distress, there was no other explanation. Or was it because Jacob had once again run to Bella's side the first chance he got when he heard she was deathly sick?

Selene honestly didn't know.

Riana's words planted a seed in Selene's head and, no matter how hard she tried, they wouldn't go away. They kept becoming stronger, almost as if trying to warn Selene of the potential heartbreak that was sure to follow. Jacob was in love with Bella and always would be, but then why would he propose marriage to Selene? It didn't make any sense…Selene thought she was officially losing her mind and decided to head to bed, having a feeling she wouldn't see Jacob until that following day.

Just as she'd stepped out of the shower and wrapped her body in a large blue towel, a familiar rapping came from her window, causing Selene's heart to leap in her throat. Securing the towel between her breasts and holding it, Selene slowly walked over to the window, those deep brown eyes staring into hers once again. He was waiting for her to open the window and Selene hesitated, wondering if she should just end this before it even began.

"Open the window, Selene, please."

The pleading in his tone forced Selene to do as he said, knowing it had to be because she was unconditionally in love with him and had been for awhile. "I didn't think I'd see you until tomorrow…" She murmured quietly, watching him launch himself inside gracefully like before, landing right in front of her.

"Why would you think that? I told you I'd be back."

Jacob chuckled, though it immediately died when he saw the look in her eyes…the hesitation and questions. He knew it was because of her friend that Selene was rethinking everything, which made Jacob decide he had to tell her everything tonight. He knew it wasn't going to be easy and was late, but if he didn't tell her soon about the imprinting, he would lose her forever. Jacob wasn't about to let that happen and took her hand; finally noticing she was in just a towel and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Maybe you should get dressed first and then we can talk." He suggested in a huskier voice, which dropped a few octaves, not able to help admiring how enchanting Selene was.

Her beautiful long brown hair, which looked black when wet, clung to her head and shoulders. Her beautiful jade eyes stared into his, seeing the life slowly beginning to enter them again. Little rivulets of water trailed down her neck, arms and legs from her wet hair, her pale skin glistening under the dim lighting of the room. The towel clung to her curvaceous body, tucked securely in between her breasts so it wouldn't fall, though Selene still held it close to her with one hand. It went to just mid-thigh, showing off her gorgeous legs that looked smooth and soft to the touch.

Jacob suddenly just wanted to pull her in his arms and kiss her breathless, his breathing having accelerated the more he admired her.

Selene felt her cheeks burn at the smoldering look Jacob gave her, the roses blooming to full life. She bit her bottom lip and shied away, touching her cheek and turned around to walk toward her dresser, the smell of rain mixed with strawberries lingering in the air. Jacob felt lightheaded and bit back a groan, needing to turn away from her before he did something she'd surely regret later. Selene pulled out a pale blue nightgown that went to her knees, spaghetti strapped and hurried inside the bathroom to change, closing the door behind her.

Chuckling at her shy behavior, Jacob sauntered over, kicking his shoes off to the side and plopped on her bed, folding his arms beneath his head. He wore just a pair of black jean shorts that molded to his strong muscular thighs, his chest bare, his black hair shaggy because he hadn't cut it in a few weeks. He had a grin on his face, knowing when Selene emerged from the bathroom; she wouldn't know what to do with him lying in her bed. Of course, Jacob and Selene had been sleeping together –not sexually- ever since he'd visited her after her attack at Forks High School. Though he'd never been waiting on her and craved to have her in his arms again, her soft skin against his as he warmed her up with his scorching one hundred and eight body temperature.

Selene walked out a few minutes later, having brushed her hair and teeth, stopping at the sight of Jacob in bed. The way he looked at her made Selene's heart ache because she knew he was only using her, wasn't he? She was so confused and let out a shaky sigh, his finger reaching up to beckon her to join him. He was irresistible and Selene found herself padding over, after shutting the bathroom light off, slipping into the bed beside him on her knees. The thin material of her nightgown stretched over her thighs, her hair hanging loosely down her back in wet waves.

Jacob reached up and cupped her cheek with his searing hand, inching her closer to him until their lips were mere inches apart. Selene could feel his hot breath on her mouth and closed her eyes, getting lost in the sensations only he could create. She'd missed him so much in just the short time he'd been gone, five hours to be exact, and Selene suddenly wondered what would happen if she ever lost him. That caused her soft pink tongue to wet her suddenly dry lips, a groan escaping Jacob that he couldn't contain, inching closer until their chests were practically touching. Just before he could kiss her and make her world vanish around her, Riana's voice boomed in Selene's head, forcing her to pull back.

"I can't." She whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, lowering her gaze from his as she tried to learn how to breathe again. "Jake, we can't do this."

Something told him it had to do with Riana's poisonous words and Jacob suddenly wanted to kill her for saying them. "You think I'm using you, don't you." It wasn't a question; he wasn't stupid and could clearly see the doubting pain in her eyes.

Selene opened her mouth to say no, but even she couldn't hide the truth from Jacob this time, simply clearing her throat. "It…makes sense that you would." She finally whispered, not trusting her voice at the moment. "Everyone knows how much you love Bella…"

Jacob sighed heavily and nodded, sitting up a little, staring straight ahead. "You're right, I do love Bella." He couldn't lie to his imprint about anything and could feel the pain radiating from every pore of her body. "I will love her until the day she dies." That would be very shortly because Bella's heart would stop as soon as she spewed out that demon spawn.

Her heart shattered in her chest when Jacob said those words and Selene suddenly didn't want him here, slipping from the bed. Jacob's hand shot out and stopped her, pulling her back down on the bed until he hovered over her. Selene struggled at first, Jacob's hands wrapping around her tiny wrists gently, refusing to hurt her, tears sliding down her cheeks. How could he sit there and blatantly tell her something like that without absolutely any remorse? How could he break her heart like this again?

"Stop fighting me." He murmured in her ear, feeling her struggling that much more, burying his face in her neck. "Selene, you have to listen to me…"

"No! I don't want to hear anything you have to say! Let go of me and get out of my room now!" She cried out, wishing Charlie was home so he could blow Jacob sky high with his shotgun, crying even harder. "How could you..."

"STOP!" Jacob growled, feeling her freeze against him instantly, and sighed heavily as he inhaled her scent. "You didn't let me finish and you have to hear everything before it's too late…"

Now her head spun, wondering what the hell he meant by that, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. "I don't understand…" She whispered heartbrokenly, not believing she'd actually believed Jacob Black could actually love her more than Bella. "You said so yourself you will love Bella until the day she dies. What more do you want from me, Jacob? Do you want my heart? Well take it; take everything I fucking have because you already have that!"

"I love you more." Jacob ignored the pain in his voice when he said that because she was killing him with her tears. He knew this probably wasn't the best way to go about telling her his secret, but didn't know how else to do it. "Selene, I love you more than I ever did Bella and there's a reason for it…"

As fast as he'd broken her heart with his words, Selene could already feel her heart piecing together, wondering how many more times he was going to do this to her. "What do you mean?" She demanded, sniffling, feeling his lips brush her tears away. "You're really confusing me, Jake…"

"I know." He sighed heavily, burying his face in her neck again, her scent overpowering and weakening him as his grip loosened on her wrists. "There's a reason why I've been coming around, why I came to you as soon as Bella left. I have to tell you because you deserve to have a choice. I'm giving you the choice to walk away from me and I won't bother you if you decide to. If you want nothing to do with me, I won't fight you on it, but you deserve a choice in everything."

Now she was even more confused, the tears subsiding because Selene couldn't believe what he was saying. Walk away from him? Why would she ever do something like that? She'd been in love with him for how long or didn't he realize that yet? Selene couldn't walk away from Jacob Black even if a gun was pressed to her temple, even if she had to walk on scolding hot lava rocks with shards of glass, even if an ocean was put between them. That's how much she truly loved him and wished he only felt a sliver of what she did because it killed her to be in love with someone who clearly wasn't in love with her.

"Jake, please stop talking in riddles and just tell me what's going on." Selene couldn't take much more and this time lifted his chin with her hand, loving the strength his entire body held. "Please." Tears glistened in her eyes, pleading him to just come clean about what was going on before she had a nervous breakdown.

Jacob nodded and pulled away until they were both sitting up again, suddenly needing to be on his feet as he paced in front of her. It took him several minutes to mull this over in his brain, wanting to tell her the right way, and remembered Sam's thoughts from when he told Emily. He took Selene's hand and pulled her up to stand in front of him, running his thumbs across her knuckles, feeling as though his heart might explode from how many feelings rushed through him.

"Okay here it goes and I don't blame you if you think I'm absolutely crazy after I'm done explaining things, but like I said before you deserve a choice to walk away. You deserve to be happy and if I don't make you that way, then obviously I'm not doing my damn job." He grunted, clearing his throat awkwardly, though he never released her hands.

"Why are you beating around the bush like this? Jacob, this isn't like you. You're never one to sugarcoat anything, so just stop it and say what's on your mind." Selene ordered, sick and tired of the riddles and games, even though he wasn't doing it on purpose. "Just tell me, I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."

"Do you know what imprinting is?" Jacob suddenly blurted out, immediately regretting that because he knew her answer would be no. "I guess I should explain to you about the tribe's secret before I go into that…"

Selene suddenly had to sit down, rubbing her tired eyes and folded her arms in front of her chest, Jacob kneeling before her. "Just start at the beginning and work your way to what you really want to tell me."

"That's just it; it's everything I want to tell you. What I'm about to say is going to sound so unbelievable you're probably going to want to leap out of the window just to get away from me. It'll explain so much about why I'm constantly…hot…" He couldn't help smirking at that one, watching her cheeks flush again. "There's a reason why my body temperature is insanely high all the time."

She didn't say a word, knowing Jacob was struggling with words and didn't want to scare him out of this.

"Selene, I'm a wolf." He blurted again, cursing mentally when her eyes widened, and stood up to rake a hand through his hair. "Actually it's not really a wolf; the correct term is called a shape shifter. The Quileute have a few lucky members," He paused, the word lucky dripping with venom. "Of the tribe that have a gene that forces their body to change into wolves. We're descendents of wolves and I'm one of them, it was never a myth, it's true. When a bloodsucker moves into town, the fever sets in and we start changing because we are protectors of humans."

"Bloodsucker?" Selene practically croaked out, not believing what Jacob was telling her, feeling as though every part of her body was numb. "I-I don't…What are you talking about?" He was telling her he was a werewolf, Selene didn't know whether to scream or cry.

"Vampires, the cold ones." Jacob gritted his teeth, walking over to stare out the window, already feeling the threat in his blood as his eyes closed briefly. "Bella knows all about them and us because the Cullen's aren't human. They are vampires and Bella wants to be one of them. She's pregnant by the bloodsucker and the demon is killing her slowly. Breaking her bones and bruising her internally. Bella wanted to have a human honeymoon with that bloodsucking leech and now he may have killed her regardless of meaning to or not."

Selene turned white as a sheet when Jacob mentioned vampires, swallowing past the lump that formed in her throat, not sure how to react to all of this. Her half sister, Bella, wanted to be…Selene suddenly felt lightheaded and held her head in her hands, wondering if this was all some kind of messed up dream she was having. Jacob changed into a wolf and Bella wanted to be a vampire, what the hell was going on? She felt Jacob's hands grab her wrists, forcing Selene's head to snap up, his body temperature scorching her pale skin as their eyes locked together.

"I'm not lying to you and I'll prove it if you want. I'll take you into the woods and show you the truth because..." Jacob pressed his forehead to her hand, struggling to find the next set of words he wanted to use. "Selene, I imprinted on you, which is why I'm telling you all of this."

"Imprinted?" Selene whispered out, feeling Jacob physically trembling against her, wishing she could do something to calm him down. "Jacob…"

"Imprinting on someone basically means we find our soul mate. It used to be a legend, a myth in the tribe, but we've come to find out that everything the ancestors set in stone is real. It's like when you see her, everything changes," His eyes suddenly locked with hers, Selene's breath hitching in her throat. "Suddenly it's not gravity holding you to the planet and it's not the world spinning off its axel, it's her. You would do anything, be anything for her, a friend, a brother, a lover, whatever she needs is what you are. It's this indescribable pull that you feel toward her and nothing else matters except her happiness and anything she needs from you."

Selene couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth and all she could do was stare at him like a regular fish out of water. She was trying to process all of this information, deciding if she should believe him or if he actually belonged in a room with four padded walls. Maybe she did because Selene was finding herself believing every word that came out of his mouth, knowing it was absolutely insanity. Hell, he was talking about vampires and people changing into werewolves to protect humankind…about this imprinting that apparently made her his soul mate.

It was this imprinting Jacob was talking about, it had to be.

"That's why you proposed isn't it? Because you imprinted on me." Her voice was low and quiet, tears shimmering in her jade eyes. "Or is it because you actually do love me?"

"Marry me and I will make it my life's mission to prove to you how much you actually mean to me and how much I love you."

All Selene could do was nod, tears pouring down her cheeks as Jacob lifted her from the bed, spinning her around in circles as their lips finally met in a passionate kiss.