[HALT! Who goes thar? It's just me! And an update! *hiding behind pillow* so a lot of you are... uh, probably wondering what I am doing here. Well, I'm updating. Sillyheads. And sucking up with the le-

*coversmouthwithpillow* that's enough from you! Stupid spoiler!me. Anyhoe, this has got a lil tiny squeeze of lemon so don't hate the player; you have been warned!]

How To Live With Werewolves

Rule Number Fourteen;

Wild Animals tend to claim a mate, so expect a bite or two. Just be careful where you bite back.

Last Time;

...So I clawed into his shoulder and held on for dear life as my small frame shook with gut-wrenching cries.

"Are you okay?" he asked with a tenderness I had never heard in Paul's voice before...

~!~

"Jacob," I sighed his name.

"Bella, baby..." he breathed back, shaking with it. I felt whole, in this moment, in his arms, and instinctively I turned my head, pressing my lips to his neck.

"There you are..." he murmured, a finger coming up to trail over my heated cheeks.

I smiled, leaning my face into his palm.

"Here I am."

Although he had come to sleep with me, not like that, not much sleeping was involved on my part.

I watched the steady rise and fall of his chest, allowed my fingers to skim over the heated skin there and when his heart-beat thudded in tempo under my fingertips I fought the urge to move closer, to press or slide my body over his.

His hair, as always, was a mess of a mane, sticking up in tufts and I took in each feature appreciatively. He wasn't sort of beautiful, he was in every sense of the word, heartbreakingly beautiful; from the strong set of his jaw, to his high cheekbones, to the curves and planes of his collarbone and from there...

It was hard to just sit and watch him sleep at first, for fear that some part of me had picked up on Edwards addiction. I didn't understand how he did it, but then the peace and calm of Jacobs breath, the way his eyes flickered under his eyelids as he dreamt, I came to know why he had done it. It was utterly amazing; albeit a little crazy and stalker-ish, yes, but amazing nonetheless.

Under normal conditions, I would have been sweating, his heat this close in such a small space, but the warmth did not consume or burn, it melded into my skin as if I myself were running such a high temperature.

The cold wasn't here anymore, not with Jacob beside me.

My back became sort of stiff from resting against the headrest and my legs tingled with pins and needles, but there was no way I was moving. Jacobs lips twitched and I watched closely, enraptured as he whispered my name.

What kind of dream was he having, I wondered.

I didn't have time to ask, because the pain under my cast began to thrum again and I swallowed a painkiller or two with a sip of water.

Watching him became a little harder, because next thing I knew, I was dreaming.

When I woke up, he was gone. I don't know why I had expected him to be there, but knowing he wasn't still hurt as if he'd packed his bags and ran. But there were plenty of reasons for him to leave—Billy, the pack, not to mention Charlie and his shotgun, and patrols and the new pups and...

I don't know why I stopped panicking, maybe because there was no reason to really panic at all.

I heard Charlie speaking downstairs and rolled over, hissed when my leg gave a small jab of disagreement at it's current angle. The cast was warm, and under it my leg was itching like crazy. Which meant it was healing.

Good.

I hated that the cast had gotten between me and Jacob—Oh. We... Jacob.

The thought of him chanting my name... as if I were a goddess. It made me feel invincible and I grinned as I went through my morning routine. Victoria was dead; a vindictive evil part of me cheered at that, while the other half felt sorrow. Vampires loved differently, and without her mate, all she knew was the game. Too bad she had died from it.

As a reminder, my leg throbbed and I had used cling-wrap and some tape so the water wouldn't get to the cast, sticking it to the side awkwardly.

She'd managed to get another lick in, though.

After I dried off, and put on some clothes that were a little different but not overly so—flare jeans; I had to stretch the material over my cast, ballet-flats and a camisole (which I had found at the bottom of my drawers and was one size too small) and a throw-over plaid button up, I was ready to face my father.

I was, however, not ready to face Rosalie Cullen.

Maybe I'd fallen down the stairs and broken my neck and she was death...

But there she was, sitting politely on my chair in the kitchen, a cup of still hot coffee in front of her, untouched. Charlie was on the other side, face slightly pink and suspicious.

Those golden eyes rose to mine, the shocking blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail and she was adorned with designer brand clothes and six-inch heels. Nothing but the best.

She smiled—and she was gorgeous.

"R-Rosalie," I stuttered in recognition.

"Bella," she stood, came to hug me and I flinched as her cold solid arms wrapped around me in a small but quick gesture of affection.

"What..."

"Your father told me you broke a leg in the forest just the other day. Are you sure you should be up?" she asked, leaning back to meet my eye pointedly.

Which really meant; I heard Victoria broke your leg. Is she dead?

I cleared my throat, silencing the roaring wolf in my head.

Even though part of me screamed she was wrong—just being here, wrong—which could have been the imprint side, I realised I missed her. Well, not her specifically, but her all the same.

"Oh, it was just me being clumsy... but it's okay now,"

And that meant; she got me near the end, but she's dead.

Satisfied, the hunter smiled and nodded.

Then we sat at the table and Charlie made himself scarce, getting ready for work.

It was eight in the morning on a cold Wednesday and I was talking to Rosalie a vampire who, up until Edward had left, considered my life a nuisance, and knew now she cared. She was still cold in more ways then one, but she cared.

When Charlie left, our conversation rose to normal levels and she stopped the unnecessary blinking and shifting of her legs.

Like a china-doll, she was still on the chair and watching me intently as I told her everything; even the imprint. She didn't like the wolves or the fact my lover was Jacob Black, but she now had a sense of respect for them, for their power and care.

Finally...

"Are you all coming back?"

"No," it was cold, blunt and utterly sweet.

"Edwards in Rio. He's been... on speaking terms with some very important people."

Which meant vampires.

We spoke of many things, of where she'd been and what she had been doing and since vampires don't sleep, there were plenty of somethings she had listed down. She and Emmett had gone to Africa, had helped overnight build water systems for a small village with kids who may as well have been walking skeletons. And she'd adopted one of them. His name was Kanji and he was only eight years old, but it turns out that rumours of the red-eyed hunters had spread and when he had met Rosalie's eye, she knew that he had found her to be quite fascinating, mentioning he was much like I had been—he never gave up, would not leave her alone until she told him what she was over dinner one night. He'd been utterly calm with it.

After that, they'd left him for a few weeks, claiming she'd be back for him to do some much needed hunting and to see how the Cullen's had been, but when she returned, he was gone. The villagers had said he'd followed after them and hadn't returned. They'd searched night and day (under cover of hoodies and gloves or something along those lines) and found him.

He'd been attacked by a lion and was losing a lot of blood.

Rosalie had changed him.

All of this time, she spoke of Kanji as if he were her own son, her own flesh and smiled.

Emmett, of course, loved him.

Although a newborn and out of control at times, he never took a human life, adapting well to the blood of lion and gazelle. She said he had a gift, could bend the very ground she walked on, draw water from the stream like a real live Avatar and I laughed.

Then she brought up Edward again.

"He misses you, Bella."

I fought the urge to suddenly get up and leave my own home.

Sensing my distress, she frowned slightly, eyes sad.

"He may not say it, but I know. He doesn't miss your blood," she went on as if speaking about the weather, even when my heart skipped a beat and went shallow for the briefest of moments.

"He misses you. The Volturi are trying to reason that life with them would be simpler, that food presents itself to those who wait and he just... he wants to move on. But he can't seem to."

I changed the subject.

"Who are the Volturi?"

When it was around the three hour mark, she suggested we go for a drive, get something to eat (for me) and we could talk some more near a park or somewhere with fresh air. Being cooped up inside with a cast was no way to live, she mentioned and as I gaped at her ride—a silver saab aero x. I only knew this car because Jacob scoffed that it was just a show car, like a pony, but with so much more guts and less pretty. He claimed his car was going to be a beast.

This car may as well have been, in my own opinion, made of gold. It screamed money and I wondered how she'd gotten it.

"It's Emmett's. He made a pretty good deal with the salesman in Europe."

I had thoughts, images, of Emmett grinning, arms folded and a predatory look on his face. The dealer must have been frightened out of his mind.

So, we drove. And it was like riding on air, the seats comfortable enough to make me wonder if it was a couch at one point and we stopped at a café in Port Angeles.

I ate a bagel with ham and cheese while she watched, fixated.

Then we went to the park and spoke some more, me sipping on coffee as she continued to look in fascination.

"Alice is Alice," she waved me off with a gesture of her hand and I smiled.

"Jasper, on the other-hand, has been... well, different since we left. But with Ace around, he won't mess up. He's still vegan, as far as I know. Esme is working at a kindergarten, teaching little ones ABC's. It's all very..."

"Practical?"

"Boring. But Carlisle is working at the hospital not too far from the kindergarten, so it's alright, I guess..."

I couldn't get the image of Carlisle being red-eyed out of my mind, as it was him being part of something so... egotistical was a reminder that he wasn't like any other human; he was still a vampire.

She stood, wordlessly, and I followed. We walked together in companionable silence.

"I didn't hate you," she says and I'm a little relieved and confused.

"I was jealous."

I manage not to fall over when those musical words reach my ears.

How could she be jealous? Of me?

The pulse and breathing? Jacob thought snidely.

I blink at her stupidly for what seems like forever.

"You're able to have children, Bella..." her voice is no longer confident, and it's flawed as it reaches a breaking point.

"I—No. All vampires can't conceive. Though there has been few cases where a child was made from the other gender," she snorts disdainfully and it sounds pretty "but it's rare for female humans to... accept the sperm into their womb. It's like venom."

Blunt, straight to the point and I briefly feel relieved... Edward hadn't let me go so far.

Reading the look on my face, she has that predatory smile happening.

"But that's changed now we have Kanji. We might even... adopt a few more. Kids who need us."

She nodded and I realised she could make it work. Sure, she didn't have the maternal quality Esme held with her looks, but she had that glint to her eye, the hidden qualities to one in the way she spoke and held her body.

She was perfect.

A few things happen simultaneously. She spots something over my shoulder and then I'm being pulled—pushed—roughly behind her as she snarls at the approaching figure with a vengeance. A resounding growl startles me to look over her shoulder meekly.

I don't recognise him at first—maybe because he's actually wearing clothes; a button up shirt and jacket, a pair of jeans and work boots, a bag of groceries in his arms—and then the name clicks on my tongue.

"Sam."

He's all healed up.

And in port Angeles.

And growling at Rosalie.

Quicker then my mind registers, I'm in the car, buckled in and the door slams. And we're peeling away from the pavement with a flourish.

She's angry.

She drops me off at home and leaves, claiming to stop by when the bad company is gone.

And Jake is there, shaking by my truck.

The sun glares behind him, illuminating his body in a glow that seems almost perfect, but the snarl building in his chest and the anger in his eyes desolates the image.

"Who the hell was that?" he snaps as soon as I stumble/hobble to him—he clutches me to his chest, crushingly tight and the growl is beside my ear.

He winces but doesn't pull away.

"It was just Rose."

This angers him more.

"Cullen?"

I nod and then he's lifted me off my feet, put me over his shoulder and I can feel how much he's trembling, it wracks his whole frame and me with it as I try to sooth him, the edges of my vision blurred by wallpaper and photos and kitchen, then stairs.

"Jake, Jake, Jake," I chant softly but panicky, the imprint sending shock waves straight to my chest and I'm glad Charlie isn't home because—

He's ripping off my shirt.

"Get. It. Off." he snarls into my hair and I hear the sound of denim tearing a moment later, then the yank-yank of my shoes and then—

He's shoved me into the shower.

It's scalding.

"JAKE!" I cry, trying to leap away but he growls, pins me there, ducking under the spray and nearly breaking the tap as he turns on the cold. My cast is wet, I'm burning and he's still growling.

"Won't let him have you," is his response when my hands flutter over his chest, into his hair, over his cheekbones.

The temperature drops enough not to be painful.

And we're both panting heavily.

Another wet warmth touches my shoulder, momentarily stunning me when I take in one of two things; I'm almost naked, my bra and panties still intact and he's licking my neck and collarbone and chest and then turns my palms up, licks them too.

"Jake?"

"I won't let him have you, your mine... mine..." he whispers into the flesh below my ear and I shiver.

Then I understand.

The Cullen's. Sam. Rosalie. Jake... Edward.

"Yours," I agree, the rise and fall of my chest becoming slower and the rate of my heart-beat is still something to worry about but he's... he's...

Jacob stares into my eyes, searching for something I'm not sure is there or not.

But he's with me now. The wolf is gone from his irises and he's breathing and he's licking and it's driving me crazy as he meets my eye, his hot tongue lathing against the pale expanse of my wrist.

"Sorry, sorry...sorry... don't leave me."

I wrap my arms around him and he drops his hands to my soaked pantie'd waist.

"I'm okay, you're okay... I won't leave you, ever. Not ever."

This soothes him to a point where he's all but purring in my arms, chest rumbling against mine.

Warm lips brand their mark into my temple, cheeks and then... then...

He's kissing me, tongue tentative as it slips into my mouth.

Fire.

Life.

Jake.

My leg hurts, I think, and my chest is burning, but I don't think I can pull away without their being consequences and all that matters is he's here, he's still afraid, afraid I'll leave him for Edward, for the Cullen's and it's not my choice anymore, I'm tied to Jacob in ways that I don't believe I ever could possibly have been before.

Before.

Had I wanted to be cold? Had I wanted to watch everyone around me pass?

Had I been so blind, so naïve and foolish?

Jake senses I'm getting distracted, thinking too much again and promptly stops all thought process when his fingers work their way between us wetly, slide over my collarbone and down and his fingers rub over the padding of my bra, heat finding it's way to my breast and bringing my sensitive nipples to full attention and I gasp against his mouth as he chuckles, lips finding purchase on my neck and biting as his fingers push past the material, hot palm against my skin, the pinch and twist right there and...

The front door slams open with a bang and Charlies voice calls up the stairs a moment later.

"Holy crow," I whisper.

[Ra—Just General Rant And Thanks]

OH em EFFING gee.

I've updated. Ack, I feel like the writing has changed (style or whatever) but I woke up this morning with new ideas and just wanted to show you Jakes wild/protective/hot side.

And of course, now the smecksytime shall be prolonged due to horny/wild/protective/hot Jake getting his swag on—and burning Bella.

But nonetheless, I will (spoilers? Really? No. Just gonna say blahblah) blahblah Bella's blah and make sure Jake doesn't blah her in the process. I know it makes no sense but stick with me.

On another note, for you obsessies, I got a fanfiction I recently did a banner for—audreyii-fic's Boyfriends With Girlfriends. It's a genderswap beautiful heart-wrenching one which makes your insides all mushy and I insist you take a look and leave a review, because I did.

I shall update randomly seeing as we've yet to duct-tape our moving boxes and all that.

But leave a review and tell me how I'm doing.

Love, peace, chicken-grease!

Oh! Just a side note thingy, I will be making a banner (wtf is with me and banners) for my fanfic (will probably break something if I get frustrated) and all of your names will be on it! Yaaaaaaaaaaay.

So there's that.

[End General Rant]