Chapter Three: Attached
Jake was there when I woke up. The comfort and security that brought me was unbelievable. I could feel the ache in my chest with each passing minute but was at a loss on why I was in such pain. Something was pecking at the back of my mind; like I was telling myself what I had forgotten in a different language. But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't translate it.

My arms were clasped tightly on his muscular upper arm; so overwhelming it took both of my hands to hang onto him. And I did, as if being an inch away for a tenth of a second would deprive me of oxygen. My fingers were merged with his flaming flesh like a second layer of skin. I actually thought I was cutting off his circulation when he finally forced his eyelids back and looked down at me.

"Relax Bella, I'm not going anywhere." His voice stung with annoyance; this was the tenth time he's said this in the last 30 minutes. It was becoming a tiring chant.

"I'm sorry. I'm just..." I trailed off, not knowing how to finish that sentence. He looked down at me for a long time, eyes burrowing into mine, searching for something. His irises seemed to flash with anger so quick I questioned myself if I saw it at all. He closed his eyes and took a deep long breath. I watched him silently, waiting for him to exhale.

He finally kissed my hair and gently moved me so he could sit up. My heart started to race, each beat throbbing and my mind raced. He looked back at me and rolled his eyes, smiling slightly.

"I'm just going to talk to Charlie. I'll be right back, I promise." More empty promises I didn't know if I could trust. I forced myself to nod so I wouldn't get on his nerves and watched him leave, feeling my heart squeeze and the pain in my chest thunder threateningly.

It wasn't until I didn't have Jake's abnormal body heat that I realized I was sweating and shivering. My skin struggled to breathe through the thin sheet of sweat freezing over from the morning breeze flowing through the opened window. I had no idea why I let that window stay open. Why the mere thought of closing it, shutting off...something, pained me. That opened window gave a tiny, forgotten piece of me hope. Hope for what?

I heard voices from outside. Hushed, angry voices that had me straining to hear past the deaffening silence and natural noise of our surroundings. I recognized one voice automatically and my heart leaped in the air, breaking through the painful barrier around it. I jumped involuntarily and gasped, pressing a hand against my chest. I didn't know I had moved to just below the window until the voices got loud enough for me to hear with putting my eardrums into overdrive. I caught another voice something told me I should recognize. But I didn't.

"This is a chance to protect yourself." There was a harsh laugh. Jake's laugh. And it both shook me and calmed me at once.

"Protect myself from what? Bella? Bella couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to." He was acting as if the thought of me hurting him was amusing.

"She's friends with the cold ones."

"She doesn't remember them! And with them gone for good-she won't be able to tell them." There was a long pause before Jake's soft, vulnerable voice broke the silence. "Sam. Please." I bit my lip, feeling how exposed and raw he was, and knowing he never let anyone but Sam see him like that. He hated being weak.

The name Sam tugged at my memory. He was intertwined with Jake, something made them different. Something made them frightening yet...not so surprising nor appauling. From one set of monsters to another.

Cold ones. Something about pale faces. I scrapped at my useless brain cells, trying to make the gibberish make sense. But nothing came to me. I had never been so frustrated.

"Wait to see if she can remember anything on her own." Sam's words seemed heavy, thick with authority and power. My fingers gripped the window sill as I lifted myself up, just enough for the tip of my head to thaw in the sunlight. My eyes laid on Sam and I starred at him. Sam was huge; not just big in muscle but tall and dark. His black hair was cropped short like Jake's and he had the same tattoo on his right shoulder, the same hard exterior only the confidence and finalty of a leader glowed from his pressance. It was only the pressure of my fingers, fighting against gravity with the window sill as their leverage that kept me from falling to the floor. I knew that face. I couldn't recall where I had seen Sam before or why I knew he had an unbreakable hold on Jake that he couldn't disobey. And it scared me that I knew what I didn't.

"And if she can't?" Jake was dubious, his tone was an inch from challenging. I saw that his fists were clenched at his sides. He looked up at Sam with both forced respect and a flicker of the anger I saw last night and earlier.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Sam glanced up and looked directly at me. I yelped and absentmindedly released my hold and fell back on my butt. I was shaking slightly, not sure of what was happening. I heard running feet, feet on the stairs, then Jacob's voice.

"Bella!" He picked up my trembling body with one arm and brought me into his blistering chest, wrapping the other arm me. He sighed, shaking his head at me. "Leave you alone for five minutes and you hurt yourself." I wound my arms around him, buring my face into his chest. His arms tightened as he whispered, his voice lit with amusement. "You're such a mess Bella."

"So..that was Sam?" Jake looked down at me, eyes hopeful yet cautious and guarded. We were sitting in the rocking chair that was in the corner of my room, me in his lap with his arms wrapped around me, holding me to him as he rocked gently back and forth. This felt wrong somehow. Like I had done this with someone else and it didn't really feel right with Jake.

"Do you remember him?"

"I...I remember seeing him.." The hope in his eyes dimmed as he comprehended what I was failing to say.

"But you don't know who he is?" I shook my head.

"Who is he?" He took a deep, forced breath as if he was trying to get through to me from the limits set upon him.

"He's-He-" His eyebrows merged in concentration and his muscles tightened. A wave of pain washed over his face then vanished. But the picture was in my mind and killing me.

"Nevermind," I blurted. "I don't want to know."

"Bella-"

"Jake stop. Please." He looked at me for a very long time again, still battling himself on it. He finally nodded and sighed heavily.

"What if...I tell you a story...tonight." I looked at him in confusion. A story? If it was going to get the pained look on his face out of my mind then I would agree to anything.

"A story is better." He smiled; the way his lips curled upward reflected a slight victory. I felt myself being moved but with such subtly that when I looked around, I was sitting on my bed with Jake standing in front of me. He was leaving again.

No. No. No.

"Bella, relax. I'll be back tonight before you go to bed." He leaned forward and kissed my forehead, pulling himself away from my feeble grasp. "Try not to do anything stupid or reckless until I get back."

Reckless. Why did that word make me shiver? My mind was racing.

"Y...You're going with Sam....aren't you?" I was struggling to make my mouth work. He looked at me with sad, restrained eyes. His beautiful brown irises were frustrated to the point of black and no longer made me feel warm and secure.

"I don't have a choice. What Sam says, goes." There was a slight tremor until he had himself under control again. Something about his words, it was as if he was choosing each one carefully to trigger something. My mind was already going a million miles a minute. He squeezed his eyes and bit his lip. When he opened them again he resembled a dangerous wolf and growled furiously. I cringed and he saw me and calmed down, looking sorry. "I'm sorry." I didn't look up from my hands in fear I'd see that tormented expression that killed us both. My heart fell when I heard him jump out of my window, feet landing perfectly on the ground below.

My head shot up. He jumped. From a two story window...

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