Chapter One

Sunday

The feeling of her arms around my middle was ridiculously distracting. Why didn't I bring The Rabbit? I could feel her entire body against my back, her tiny frame pressed up against mine in ways that were nothing short of erotic. The way she was straddling the bike (and me) was making me want to pull over right now and ravish her on the side of the road.

Her inner thighs brushed against the outside of mine and her breasts were squashed against my back. Bella's face was pressed up against my shirt and I could feel her hot breath through the thin material. Concentrate, I told myself. Bella made it so much harder as her tiny hands moved up and down my stomach, clutching and grabbing. I definitely should have brought The Rabbit.

I tried to distract myself with anything I could think of. The rain had held off so far today (she moved and her boobs dragged across my back) maybe I would clean out the garage when I had a chance (her hands tightened again, finger tips tracing little patterns on my stomach) it really needed it. I hadn't properly cleaned it (Her thighs squeezed mine) since eighth grade (I swear she groaned then, I swear it) and Billy has been nagging me to do it forever.

Ok this isn't working, I thought to myself as I narrowly missed a blue pick up truck. The truck honked at me as I sped off down a side street. I was still traveling at full speed, trying to make it to the treaty line before the reeking blood suckers showed up. I was almost there. I checked my side view mirrors and thanked the high heavens that no shiny silver Volvo had shown up in them. I pushed the speed up to eighty and flew across the treaty line three minutes later. Only then did I slow down.

I was almost home and I had an agenda today and no amount of Bella was going to make me stray off that agenda; even though the agenda was about Bella. Still, I had to concentrate because this was so much more important than me loving Bella. I pulled up in my driveway and cut the engine. I felt Bella shuffle off the bike behind me and my back felt cold without her there. It was the first time I had ever felt cold since becoming a werewolf.

Put your game face on Jake, I chided myself. I kicked the bike into neutral and jumped off. I didn't look back as I pushed it into my garage. I could hear Bella's foot falls behind me. I propped the bike against the side of the garage, just inside the door and fiddled with the throttle. I just needed a few more seconds to myself. I needed to set up some rules; no touching, stay at least three feet away and for the love of god keep your feelings out of this. Because when ever I brought up how I felt it just spiraled into an argument and this was way too important.

"Jake is everything ok?" she asked as I turned to face her. She was sitting on the hood of my car, her skinny fingers resting on her jean clad knees. Her hair was a mess from the bike ride but I don't think she knew that. Her cheeks flushed under my gaze and she swallowed. I watched the motion of that in her jaw, her neck. I had to save her.

"Depends I guess," I said with a shrug. I wanted to step toward her but I knew if I did I would touch her and all my resolve would be gone. Plus I'd be breaking one of my game rules. I leant backwards against my bike instead. The motor was still warm. Bella waited.

"I need a bit more information than that," Bella said, exasperated and threw up her hands. Crunch time.

The pack had agreed that if the Cullen's bit Bella then the treaty would be broken and we would have no choice but to attack them. Because Bella would be one of them by then that meant attacking her too. The thought of Bella becoming a vampire was painful enough without having to consider that I would have to participate in the extermination of the Cullen's and by extension, the extermination of her. Because Sam had made it clear that if we were going to attack them, then we needed every single wolf to help. And even if she was a bloodsucker, the thought of that just about tore my heart out of my chest. I decided wasn't going to sugar coat this. I had tried that before and gotten nowhere. Keep your cool, I told myself.

"Are you still planning to change?" I blurted out. Bella's eyes dropped from mine instantly and she slid off the hood of the car. She wrapped her arms around her waist and turned her body away from me. I hadn't seen her do that since he broke her. I fought the urge to growl at her. I loved this girl so much but sometimes I just wanted to shake her. Shake some sense into her. Why was she making this so god damn hard?

"That's none of you business Jacob," she said sharply but some of the effect was lost due to the fact that she still wouldn't look at me.

"Like hell it isn't," I bit out and strode toward her. She winced as my voice rose. I grabbed her hand ignoring the voice in my head that was telling me that I had just broken two of my own mental rules. Her hand was so cold in mine but not as cold as she was intending it to be in the very near future. How could she not see how fucked up this was? I pulled her closer to me but she resisted.

"Let go of me," Bella's voice was so small. I let go of her hand and she instantly moved to the other side of the garage. I tried not to show how much that hurt me. But at least I had my three feet again even if I hadn't been the one to put the space between us.

"Bella you can't do this. Don't you realize what this means? If you go ahead with this, you'll break the treaty. We will have no choice but to retaliate." Bella opened her mouth to reply but I didn't let her.

"And what about Charlie? Or Renee? Are you just going to leave them? They are going to loose a daughter just because you love him,"I spat the last word. She dropped her head and I saw a little sparkling drop fall from her face and land on her shoe. I didn't let that deter me. She had to see what she was about to do. She had to understand.

"And what about everything you might want to do Bella?" I asked her "Or anything you might become? This is permanent. There is no turning back. You will have to give up everything that makes you, you. Is he really worth that?"

"But I love him Jake and he loves me," she said as if that solved everything. I shook my head at her in disbelief.

"How can you love him? He controls everything you do! Hell, he makes that psychic leech kidnap you whenever he leaves. That's not love Bella, its obsession! He acts like he owns you" my voice was way too loud just now but I didn't care. I had to make her see.

"Stop it Jake!" Bella's voice was shrill in anger. She was looking up at me now and tears streamed down her face. She always cried when she was mad. Soon she would never cry if I didn't stop this madness. She crossed the room now and she thrust her finger into my chest, stabbing me.

"You don't understand Edward or me! He would do anything for me. He doesn't want me to change; I want to change for him. He is everything to me and he's worth losing things for." Bella's voice was growing louder and louder.

"You're happy to give up your parents for him? That's fucked up Bella." Bella flinched. Good, she needed to wake up to the reality of the situation.

"I never said I was happy about it! I said he was worth it," her voice wasn't as loud now.

"What about me? Is it worth giving up me for him?" I ground out. Way to go Jake, my mind scolded me, seriously what's the point of even having rules if you're not going to follow them? I ignored that voice. Bella shook her head but I wasn't sure if that was in answer to my question or if she was just trying to tune me out.

"You wouldn't have to give up anything for me Bella" I said, still ignoring the voice in my head that was screaming at me to stop "I can give you more than him and you know it."

"I need him to breathe Jake, you can't give me that."

"Bella he's bad for you! You can't see what you become when you're around him. You're almost less that human. I would rather you were dead than become one of those blood sucking parasites."

Bella's mouth dropped open and I instantly regretted what I had said. She yanked her shoulders back straightening her spine and glared at me. She stormed out of the garage. Shit.

"Bella come back. I'm sorry I didn't mean that."

"Leave me alone."

I reached out and grabbed her shoulder but she yanked away from me. I let go so I wouldn't accidentally dislocate it. She stomped away from me, up the driveway. It had decided to rain today after all and she stormed through puddles, soaking her sneakers.

"Bella wait! Please I'm sorry I didn't mean it." We were both in the rain now. She spun on her heel to face me. I stopped short with her just out of reach. I saw her shiver but I doubted it was from cold. I had never seen Bella so mad before and she was glorious. Her wet hair was stuck to her neck and dripping down her shirt. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes sparked.

"No you never get it! I love him Jacob, not you. I don't want you that way! Why can you leave it alone? Why can't you just accept my decision?"

"Because I know you love me too. And the thought of him sucking the life out of you, turning you into something so wrong, kills me!" I was desperate now. I reached out to her but she backed away from me again.

"I don't love you. I'll never love you," she said so quietly I wasn't sure I was meant to hear it. I let my arms drop to my sides. Bella fished a small silver phone out of her pocket. Even in the rain I could smell the scent of leech on it. I was struck dumb. I watched in silence as she called her dad, asking him to pick her up. I wanted to offer to take her home myself but I couldn't get the words out of my mouth. I watched the phone disappear back into her pocket.

"You don't mean that," I finally choked out. I knew she loved me. Bella turned her face upwards and I watched the rain drops trail down her face. I only knew she was still crying because I could smell the salt. She didn't look mad anymore. She looked at me in pity. It was the last thing I wanted.

"I'm so sorry Jacob," she said in a voice so soft and sad. She turned and walked away from me and I let her. I had never felt like more of a failure.

"So how long are you going to be emo for?"

"Shut up Leah."

"No seriously, do we have to put you on suicide watch or something? Cos there is no way I'm babysitting your depressed ass."

"I said, shut up! God you're so annoying," I growled at her as I pushed my way through dense trees. She kept up right behind me. I hated the pack mind so much sometimes and when I just wanted two seconds to myself she has to follow me? We had just finished patrol and were heading back. I had opted for two legs because I was sick of everyone telling me to give up on Bella. Leah had phased back because Sam was running the second patrol. I didn't blame her for that. If anyone could understand what she was going through it was me. But did she have to walk with me?

"Seriously can't you just phase and run back on all fours. I want to be alone."

"But you'd miss me," Leah teased. I sped up but she kept up easily. Stupid werewolf abilities.

"Yeah like a hole in the head" I muttered, jumping from one log to another. Leah had only been a wolf for about a month but it had definitely been a long month. If anyone was emo it was her. Her mind was so difficult to be around and it tended to pull everyone else into an angry, depressive state. I was already angry and depressed ninety-nine percent of the time so it really didn't help me at all.

I remember when Leah was nice, back when I was about thirteen. She used to come over a lot because the twins were still home then. She would always smile at me and ask me how I was. She even used to sneak me some of Rachael's special ice cream that she would never share with me. Seth remembered more of it. He thought of how Leah used to be before the entire werewolf and Sam-Emily thing went down the most. Everyone knew how much he missed his sister and we all knew how much that hurt Leah as well.

"I don't get it though Jacob, what's so good about her?" Leah asked. I could see her out of the corner of my eye. Leah was stunning and she knew it. Long, lean, graceful and a mouth from hell. It didn't stop half the guys in La Push lusting after her even though she was a major bitch. I ignored her question, praying she'd just drop it. She didn't.

"I mean she's just some angsty, leech-loving pale face," Leah continued, seemingly unaware of how close I was to loosing it with her "Have you seen the way other girls look at you? You could have any of them and I bet none of them would hurt you as much as she does. Or are you a secret masochist?"

Ok take a deep breath and count to ten. One, two, three…

"I've met her she's not that special," Four, five and six…

"And you know she's never going to leave the blood sucker for you," I only made it to eight.

"Leah just drop it ok? It's got nothing to do with you" I snapped at her. I could feel my hands shaking.

"It has everything to do with me! We already have to partake in the newborn battle for her skinny ass. And because you're so in love with her we are probably going to have to take out the Cullen's at some point and then someone will probably get hurt.," Leah fumed. By someone I knew she meant Seth.

"I'm working on that" I replied crisply. Leah reached out and grabbed my arm. Her hand was like iron around my bicep. I turned and looked down at her. Her eyes were narrowed and she spat her words at me.

"By trying to persuade her not to change? Jesus Christ, wake up Jacob. She's going to change into one of them. Deal with it"

That was the last straw. Phasing back would be better than this. I turned away from her, yanking my arm out of her grasp with a violent amount of force. I felt my shoulder connect with something hard followed by a crack and a muffled yelp.

"Ah, you bastard!" Leach cried, at least that's what I think came out of her mouth. It was all garbled. I glanced over my shoulder and swore. She was on her back holding her chin and her lip was bleeding. I hadn't even heard her fall. I knelt down next to her. I looked down at my shoulder and saw a small healing gash. I must have got her teeth.

"I'm sorry! I really didn't mean it. Shit, I didn't even know I had done that," I apologized. Leah glared at me. Sam was going to skin me alive when he saw this. Leah's jaw was dislocated.

"Shove your apology where the sun-"

"Shut up, you're going to make it worse" I snapped. Surprisingly Leah stopped talking but if looks could kill I would definitely be dead right now. I reached out to touch her face but she pulled away from me.

"I'm going to have to push this back into place or its going to heal wrong" I explained. Leah let loose a groan that sound suspiciously like 'fuck you' before letting me gently touch her jaw. I knelt over her body, one knee on each side of her waist. Leah's hand came up and gripped my right arm. I saw a glimmer of fear in her eyes but I didn't bruise her ego by mentioning it. I gripped her jaw softly with my right hand, my left holding onto the back of her head to steady her. Sadly this was not the first time I had had to do this. Quil was ridiculously clumsy for a werewolf.

"Ok on the count of three" I said. Leah nodded as much as my hands would allow.

"One, two, three!" I pushed hard and there was a loud crunching noise. Leah's eyes widened and her hand on my arm squeezed so tightly it just about stopped blood flow, but she didn't make a sound. I felt the bones slide back into place and let go of her jaw but I kept my other hand in her hair while she took a few moments to recover.

"I'm so sorry Leah. I really didn't-"

"Its ok," Leah panted, stretching her jaw. Her hand let go of my arm and I took that as a cue to move away from her. She rubbed at her jaw and I waited. She seemed ok. She spat out the blood that had collected in her mouth onto the muddy floor.

"So do I get to break one of your bones as pay back?" Leah grumbled, wiping her chin. I chucked at her.

"Yeah get in line" I said. She looked at me quizzically and I sighed.

"Sam will kill him when he finds out about this," I explained, tapping my temple. Leah snorted.

"Sam can go fuck himself," she exclaimed, climbing to her feet. She started to walk back in the direction of La Push. I fell in step with her.

"I'll be sure to tell him so." I replied and she laughed dryly. We walked in silence and I kept shooting glances at her. I knew she would be fine but I was feeling like an ass. I had never dislocated anyone's jaw before, let alone a girls. Yep Sam was definitely going to kill me. Or at least assign me to double patrols until the end of all time.

"So are you still going to pine away for Bella?" Leah asked quietly after about five minutes of silent walking. I groaned.

"I dunno. Are you still going to pine away for Sam?"

"I do not pine for Sam!" Leah snapped.

"Well then I don't pine for Bella"

"You know what, I don't care anymore." Leah pushed back a tree branch with much more force than necessary. It snapped in her hand and she threw it into the forest behind her.

"Good."

"But I will say one more thing," Leah said, bending at the waist to pick up a small rock. She tossed it from hand to hand like it was a base ball.

"Dear Lord do you have to?" I moaned. Leah looked at me like I was mentally challenged.

"What?"

"I'm trying to help you and you are being an ass"

"Just cos your not getting any doesn't mean you have to insult mine" I retorted, ducking as she threw her rock in my direction.

"Yeah cos you're really rolling in it," se said with a snort. That shut me up. She stopped walking and crossed her arms. I stopped too but I couldn't quite meet her gaze.

"Really though Jake you can do better than her. I'm just saying you have options, you don't have to settle for someone who is as crazy as Bella Swan" she said softly.

"Are you offering to be one of the options?" I asked with a cheeky grin.

"God you're such a pig"

"And you're a bitch." We glared at each other for a moment before Leah started laughing at me. I gave up. I didn't understand women, werewolf or not.

The kiss was brutal. Ok I enjoyed it I won't lie, but under the physical side of it, she was tearing my soul apart. Her arms stayed at her sides, fists clenched. Her lips were frozen under mine. I felt a surge of anger at her and as much as I loved her, in that moment, I hated her too. I grabbed at her body, bringing her arms around my neck only letting go when I was certain she wouldn't move them. But she was still passive against me. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She loved me, why could she never show it? Why was that always a little bit too much?

I felt a small growl grow in my chest. Even now, when it's so obvious to everyone that she loves me, she won't respond? I wrapped my arms around her delicate waist and pulled away from her lips. I thrust her hips into mine forcefully. One hand moved to her lower back, keeping her against my body. I kissed her temple gently. The frigid wind blasted around us and Bella shivered.

"You can do better than this Bella," I whispered in her ear whilst drawing in the scent of her hair "You're over thinking it"

I nibbled on her ear lightly, tracing the curve with my tongue. The wolf in me growled in satisfaction when I felt the shiver travel down her back. I grinned against her ear and did it again.

"That's right" I murmured gently, tracing her spine with my hand and letting it rest behind her neck "Just let yourself feel it Bella"

I wrapped my fingers around her hair at the base of her skull gently and looked down at her from my outrageous height. I waited for a second for that look that she always got just when she was about to reject me. Line blurring, she called it. How could she not see that the lines were always blurred when it came to us? They were supposed to be blurred.

The little crease appeared between her eyebrows, the one that always showed up when she over thought things. I unwound my hand from her long hair and traced her jaw line with my finger tips. Her lips parted and I heard the little gasp she made at my gentle touch. Her eyes burned into mine. Suddenly the hands round my neck were no longer passive. They crept up my skull and fisted into my hair. It felt like heaven.

"Kiss me Jacob," Bella said again, only this time it wasn't out of fear. It was love. She pulled my head down to hers and our lips crashed together and for a moment my world stopped. Everything around me was Bella, Bella, Bella. Her lips, so soft and warm, moved against mine in ways that made a fire grow in my belly. She opened her mouth, letting me in and she tasted so fucking sweet. Like strawberries and cream. I felt like I was drowning in her and I had no desire to come up for air.

I growled against her lips and wrapped a strong arm around her hips, lifting her off the ground, and pulling her flush against my body. There were no words to describe the way her hands clutched at my shoulders or the way she moaned against my mouth. It was heaven and nothing less. Her knees straddled my hips and squeezed gently. Oh God if she did that again I was going to come undone.

I kissed her with a new found passion and I poured every ounce of my heart into that kiss and I knew she felt it. Because every ounce of her heart was in it too. It had finally happened. She knew. She loved me.

"Be careful!" Sam yelled at Embry who was moving too fast or something. I didn't know and frankly I didn't care. All I cared about was the fire that was burning all the way down the right side of my body. I was officially in hell. How was it that an hour ago I felt untouchable but now I could barely breathe? And not in a good way.

I could feel my bones grinding together. My wolf genes were trying to heal me but they were healing my bones all wrong. White hot pain coursed through my body and I was sure that if there were some Guinness World Record people around I would have had a record for the most consecutive cursing. I should contact them later.

"Goddammit!" I groaned as we finally made it out of the trees. My left side dropped suddenly. Someone had tripped. I thought the fire was bad before? Well it was nothing compared to it now as my battered right side slammed against the shoulder blades of my brothers. Distantly I heard a familiar voice. My head spun and my vision was tunneling but I was sure I had heard my dad.

I knew I was screaming and cursing but I didn't care. Where was that leech? Dr Fang was supposed to be here with pain killers by now. I raised my eyes skyward and the light from the weak sun almost blinded me. I felt my head roll back and could see my house in the distance. I was upside down to me but I could see someone near the front door. I had heard my dad. He was on the porch but he was a blur. I only knew it was him because his wheel chair glinted silver in the sunlight.

"Dad," I moaned, even though he was too far away to hear me. I knew it made me sound like a pussy but I didn't care. I just wanted my bed and copious amount of morphine. And Bella. God I hoped she was ok. I hoped the Italian leeches wouldn't kill her while I was stuck here unable to protect her.

"We are almost there Jake," Jared promised "Just hold on a little longer"

I remember when I was little all I had wanted to be was a firefighter. I thought that would be a pretty cool job with the big fire truck and the siren. Instead I got to be a werewolf that fights against new born vampire armies and gets one whole side of my body destroyed. My guidance counselor would be pissed.

"I could of taken the leech I swear. You didn't have to cut in Jake. I had it" Leah's voice sounded far off but I could hear the panic in it. Sam told her to shut up. Suddenly a face loomed above me. Charlie.

"What the hell happened?" he asked, moving out of my line of sight as I was carried past him. My right side was jarred again and I heard something deep inside my right shoulder snap. It was a sickening sound but I don't think anyone else heard it but me, because the sounds coming out of my mouth deafened that tiny noise. I swear I heard my voice echoing back at me off the distant cliffs. Some how I overheard Paul telling Charlie I had wrecked my bike.

"Hey Charlie," I moaned as my eyes closed against my will. I felt darkness grab at me and I had never been more grateful "Bet your pissed Bella loves me today instead of Cullen"

Bella sat on my bed and gently touched my forehead. Her hand was wonderfully cool. I sighed and closed my eyes. She was going to break me. It was ridiculous that this tiny, frail girl had so much power over me. Her scent filled my small room and I was defenseless against her. Life's a bitch sometimes.

I felt her hand leave my face. Her heart was hammering and so was mine. I wish she would just say it already instead of drawing this out. She would never leave the blood sucker. Her fingers brushed my injured shoulder so lightly I was half sure I had imagined it. The room was spinning from all the extra morphine the leech had given me.

"Jake look at me," Bella whispered "Please? I need to see you"

I took a deep breath and steeled myself. This was it. I knew how it would go. 'Jake I love you but I love him more. I need him and you will never be good enough for me. Even though he's a filthy leech who is going to suck the life out of me and make me give up everything to be with him. And though I wouldn't have to change at all to be with you Jake, and you are exactly right for me in every way, I still love him more than you'.

Ok maybe it wouldn't be like that but along those lines for sure. I became aware that my lungs were burning. I let loose my breath and opened my eyes. I was not in any way prepared for what I saw. She was smiling at me. What, was she enjoying this? Enjoying ripping out my heart? Anger surged through my veins and if I hadn't been all bandaged up I would have pushed away from her. She must have seen the change in mood because her smile fell away.

"Just do it already" I ground out through clenched teeth. I just wanted her gone now. I needed time alone, away from her and her intoxicating scent. God I just wanted to bury my face in her hair, even now. Her hand came back to my face. I flinched when it touched me but she held it there. I watched as her pink tongue darted out and wet her lips. Torture. This is torture.

"Jacob I'm in love with you," Bella whispered. Her chocolate eyes held mine with ease. Her fingers traced down my jaw. Yes, I knew she loved me. I had always known that, but it was never enough. Was anything enough when it came to Bella? I looked away from her until she became a blur in my peripheral vision and waited for the 'but'. Because there was a but coming. There always was a but with Bella.

"Jake I love you" she said again and looked at me expectantly. Her fingers trailed down my neck and rested on my shoulder again and I sighed. I was going to have to participate in my downfall. I whipped my head back around a glared at her.

"I've always known that Bella," I spat, my voice laced with venom. I couldn't understand why she was dragging this out. Couldn't she just spit it out, break my heart, and then leave me alone to lick my wounds. No pun indented.

"No Jake you don't understand," she said slowly like she was explaining something ridiculously simple "I'm in love with you. I choose you. I want you!"

I looked at her warily. I did not just hear that. She picked me? What about Cullen and being changed. No, this as definitely the morphine talking. I was hallucinating. A full blown Bella hallucination. A pervey part of my brain wondered what I could get away here with Imaginary Bella. She looked real though and I was sure I could feel her hand still on my shoulder. No, real Bella would never do this. There was no way this was real. I was definitely hallucinating. But what if I wasn't? Maybe I should make sure; you know just to be safe. Worse comes to worse I could let pervey Jacob take over for awhile. This was a win-win situation.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked carefully. Bella looked at me incredulously. And then she giggled. She actually giggled. I frowned at her, my anger rising yet again. Imaginary Bella was being a bitch.

"You're laughing at me?" I practically roared. I expected that to silence her but it didn't. In fact she giggled harder. I heard someone stand in the living room but Sam's deep voice told them to sit down.

"Oh Jacob your hopeless," Bella gasped out "You are forever telling me that you love me and that I loved you back and when I finally tell you that I'm choosing you, you don't believe me?"

She said it again. She had chosen me. Morphine and hallucinations were momentarily forgotten. I tried to sit up in bed but Bella kept her hand on my shoulder. I let her push me down but I reached out with my left hand and cupped her face. I had to touch her to know this was real. Her skin was like silk beneath my palm. I felt heat and watched as her cheeks turned rosy. They would always stay rosy now, right? If she chose me that meant she wouldn't become one of those lifeless corpses. Right?

Where did this leave the blood suckers then? Just this morning Bella was telling me that she loved Edward. They were engaged for Christ's sake! Were they going to leave Forks or would Edward stick around and try to win Bella back? Did Edward even know about this yet?

"What about Cullen?" I asked and Bella's smile fell off her face again. She looked down and pulled her hand away from my arm. She started picking at my blanket with her nail. I desperately wanted her to look at me, to see what was going on behind those eyes but I waited patiently.

"Ed-Edward said he would respect my decision," she stuttered. She glanced back up at me with big round eyes "I don't know if they plan to leave though". So no immediate Cullen evacuation would be taking place. That was ok I could deal with them later.

"Why though?" I asked. Bella looked at me funny so I clarified.

"Why choose me now?"

"I think I chose you long ago but I didn't want to face it right away you know?" Bella said. I frowned and thought for a moment.

"No I don't know" I said, shaking my head Bella laughed softly at me.

"Maybe it's a girl thing," she offered with a shrug.

"No I think it's a Bella thing." Bella smiled at me then and I felt my heart swell.

"Maybe. I think I knew all along that you were right for me but when you kissed me…I don't know it just fell into place. It felt right and I didn't want to give that up. The thought of giving it up hurt me. It hurt me more than when Edward left and so I just knew you were the one for me"

I nodded and grabbed at her tiny left hand. Her ring finger was bare. I smiled at her and she grinned back. I pulled gently on her arm and she got the hint. She lent over me, careful not to touch any injuries, and pressed her lips to mine. I felt no pain at all anymore. Her lips were better than morphine any day. I ran my fingers up her arm and groaned as she deepened the kiss. She jumped back instantly.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed "Where does it hurt? Should I get them to bring more pain killers?"

Now it was my turn to laugh at her.

"It doesn't hurt, you just feel so good," I said teasingly. Bella scowled at me and pulled back further. I reached out and grabbed her hand again, tracing small circles on her palm. Her hand was so tiny it almost disappeared in mine. I looked down at our joined hands.

"Is this real?" I whispered still staring at our hands. I had to make sure, just one more time.

"Very real," Bella assured me. She was smiling and her hair tumbled down her back and she was mine. She was beautiful and human and mine. The wolf in me growled in contentment.

I won Bella's heart on a Sunday.