Hey, sorry for the delay guys! School is really taking a toll on my free time. I hope this meets your standards. Enjoy! Please review and tell me what you think.

Chapter Five: A Story

I couldn't get that look of pain painted on Alice's face out of my mind. I didn't know why it hurt me that her eyes dulled at the sight of me flinching away from her. I didn't know why I cared so much, but the urge to hold her became greater. Thankfully, so did the distance between us.

His house was foreign yet predictable. A small wooden place with narrow windows. I pictured a barn as I studied the dull chipped red paint. The air was thick with familiarity and comfort; it was hard to believe I hadn't been here before. But the cold grip of fear and the unknown caught me and I knew I didn't remember this place. Though I should. Jake forced my old and worn truck to go a little bit further, though it's whines and wheezes begged for rest. I listened to the engine graciously become silent and heard the opening of Jake's door. Then the unintentional slam. As he crossed the rounded distance between his seat on the driver's side to my position in the passenger seat, I couldn't keep my eyes off his tattoo. The very tattoo I could've sworn was on one of those boys before branches covered him in less than a second as he ran in correspondence to the security of the covering leaves. Jake opened my door and without saying a word, took me into his arms, pulling me out of my comfort zone.

He set me on my feet on the solid ground. "Do you remember being here?" I caught the tiniest glint of hope in his eyes before he averted his gaze. I shook my head, eyes repeatedly glancing at the mark he shared with perfect strangers. Perfect, naked strangers that held a secret my memory hadn't yet unveiled.

"No…Jake…I saw something." He looked up at me then, dark hope peaked from his irises and I knew I had his full attention.

"What did you see?" His words were forced from him, in an attempted soft tone. There were rough edges that seemed to become more..noticeable. I averted my gaze for a moment until he gently took my chin in his furnace heated hand. "Bella?" His voice was delicate and I blinked.

"Boys…running in the woods…half naked boys. They…they had your tattoo Jake.."

"Are you sure of what you saw?" We both turned towards the intrusion. A man with long black hair, knowing black eyes, and kind, worn features looked about fifty or sixty years old judging from his wrinkles and worry lines; appeared in doorway of Jake's front entrance. I noted his reddish brown skin a tad lighter than Jake's tan and knew the two of them were related. The wheel chair came last. There was a story there, something I should've remembered automatically but didn't-couldn't. Jake's eyes flashed with hardness then dimmed.

"Bella, this is my dad, Billy." Billy. That sparked something. Something about this place and me started the whirl of images again. I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing the pictures back. I didn't want to break down three times in one night.

The expression on Billy's face changed to friendly kindness, taking place of the recognition and knowing he'd once wore five minutes ago. "Pleasure to meet you Bella." My eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

"I..I've met you before.." I managed to stutter, glancing at Jake to see if I was right. The hope flashed again and Billy smiled.

"Well, it's a start." I didn't have a chance to ask what he meant, for Jake was already wrapping an arm around me, leading me from my truck and my safety zone. I could feel Billy's eyes but didn't dare look into them out of fear I'd remember something else. I starred ahead of me and nearly tripped through the door. Jake caught me, muttering something under his breath and strengthened his hold around me. I didn't object. I was beginning to realize, I am a klutz.

His room was messy and untouched. I couldn't help but feel like it was my fault; he had practically lived my room the past couple of days. That thought just stopped me completely. Couple of days. Had it only been two days? He sheepishly picked up the thrown carelessly clothes off the floor, doing what any normal teenager did, throwing them in the closet. I watched him clear the bed soundlessly as I thought about everything that had happened in the small course of two hours. Wow. Everything was happening so fast. When the bed was cleared, he actually made it up. Something in me told me to take a snapshot; this might not happen again. He pulled back the covers and sat against the wall, patting the spot beside him. I slowly eased onto the bed and purged my way into the cage of his arms, catching the small wave of surprise as I bathed myself in his warmth and laid against his chest. I never wanted to move from this spot.

I heard him fight to find his voice, clearing his throat several times.

"I think I owe you a story." I nodded, remembering what he had told me earlier. He took a deep breath; I felt the lump in his throat being gulped down as his chest expanded under me, inhaling then exhaling. I waited patiently for him to gather himself. I was in no hurry to see him in pain. But I couldn't stop the flow of words spilling out of his mouth that next second. "Well, I am part of the Quileutes tribe. There's a specific legend that claims Quileutes are descended from wolves…" My eyes grew big, feeling as if I had been given this exact tale not so long ago. My body turned to stone as I listened and studied each word. "There are stories of the cold ones, as old as the wolf legends and some more…recent. You see, the cold ones are the natural enemies of the wolf-well not the wolf really, but the wolves-" I blinked, taking a moment to register the halt. I looked up at him to see that same expression of pain, eyebrows furrowed in concentration; lips lined in anger.

"Get out of my head.." He spoke through gritted teeth and I was at a lost for words due to the confusion. Who was in his head. His eyes laid on me and I saw the indescribable longing; the heart wrenching cry for understanding; the savage fight for control of his own actions…as if he was a puppet trying to break free from his puppeteer. There was a sense in me that said I was onto something.

"Jake?", I whispered, voice frail and scared. He clenched his teeth and I noticed how his entire body had become still and immobile.

"Bella…" I wanted to cry. Every single cell, every muscle, every part of me, body and soul was aching just by the sight of his face burrowed into my memory to haunt and torture me. "Bella…move.." the words were whispered but I jolted up instantly, nearly falling over my legs as I hastily got out of bed. He was a bit more graceful as he got up and left the room in a blur of color. I sunk to the bed where we once were and held my face in my hands. I let myself cry.

Not just for what just happened…but for rejecting Alice…and not knowing my own father…for the ache in my chest that provided no answers…and doing what I know I did that started this whole thing in the first place.

It was incredibly silent. I listened to the crickets chirp their nightly mate song and flinched when a face flashed in my mind. The most beautiful, gorgeous thing that I had ever laid eyes on...or not laid eyes on. He was simply angelic, though his features were god-like. I gasped when the pain in my chest expanded and my hand flew to clutch it. I took deep, controlled breaths. I didn't know who that face belonged to, or why it caused me such pain. But I didn't want to think about it again.

Ever.

Then came the voices. I slowly rose from my position on the bed and found my legs as they walked from the confinement and safety of Jake's room. A thought crossed my mind just then. I'm always leaving the safety zone.

The voices were angry and tamed at the same time, controlled out of fear they would escalate into something they would regret. As I crept closer, I recognized Jake's and clung to its fury. It was familiar and a reassurance. There were three voices that rang several bells, one of them a warning bell telling me to be cautious. Sam was there. His voice held the same power, authority and control front the last time I had heard him address an issue. And there was an issue. Billy wasn't in the living room when I entered. There was no hint to the squeaks of his wheelchair, nor any sign that he had recently been in here. He had probably left a long time ago to run an errand. A shout mixed with Jake's voice instantly caught my attention and I forced myself to move.

"Way to go dumbass, wolf's out of the bag."

"You just can't follow the rules, can you?"

"She already knew!"

"This isn't your secret to just go around spreading like gossip."

"One girl is hardly gossip."

"Shut up Quil."

I edged through the front door, catching sight of five boys, half naked, barefooted and dressed in matching ripped jeans. All had cropped black hair and dark tans from being outside in the blazing sun. The second I took a step further, all twelve sets of eyes looked straight at me. The intruder. They were all under the cover of night, but it wasn't yet dark enough obscure their distinct features and tell which was which.

"Bella." Jake walked towards me, while one of the boys smirked and another rolled their eyes. They didn't seem very nice. "Bella, remember what you said about seeing boys running through the woods?" Jake stood in front of me, taking both my hands in his comfortingly. He was shirtless too in the same attire, same similarities. I looked into his warm eyes, drawing the strength to nod.

"Jake," Sam warned, eyeing me.

"Just leave her alone. If the leech lover doesn't remember, then let her live in ignorance."

"Ignorance is bliss."

"Will all of you just shut up!?" Jake glared at them, turning his body partially away from me. That's when I saw his tattoo.

That tattoo. I moved away from him, rushing to boys that stared at me like I was crazy. The one closest to me gave me an odd look but didn't move out of the way when I walked into his personal space, searching his body for the same mark that I knew meant something. I ran my finger over his shoulder, tracing the tattoo in my memory.

"Uh..." His expression told me how awkward this was.

"Jake, control your play thing."

"What the is this?" I looked at the one who seemed irritated and repeated the routine for him next. He was more resistant.

"Paul," Sam's voice was like stone; unmovable and ground-breaking, making an impact. He knew what I was doing, studying my expression.

Paul had the same tattoo. So did the other two. I slowly stumbled back from them, breathing not so easily now. "I remember," I whispered, not knowing Jake was with me until I felt his arm around me, giving me the support to stand.

"You remember what?" he asked softly. I looked at the boys again, both confused and somewhat irritated. My mind was in whirls of images and voices narrating them. Voices that weren't mine but theirs, images of seeing them all in both human and wolf forms. Jared...Embry...Quil...Paul...Sam...The wolf pack. Images of humungous wolfs fighting savagely; running with the speed of…Alice's kind…maybe faster.

"You're….you're…" It was too much. There was no mercy and my head began to ache. I clutched my hands to the sides of my head as if I could center the pain, the agony and control it. But it would not be tamed. My eyelids grew heavier and heavier as I felt blackness invade and wash over me. I had zone out, ears flooded with my own silence; legs too weak to hold up the weight of my slim figure; I felt weak. I felt myself slump before I blacked out.

"Bella? Bella!"