"I hurt myself today...

To see if I still feel..."

-Trent Reznor

Chapter 2

Bella stared at Quil's back until he disappeared into the forest. She pressed her hand against the bite on her neck, gasping at the tender, healing scar.

Mate... oh, god... what did he do?

Gut twisting cries ripped through her. She should not have come here alone. Edward was right... Edward. Her blood ran cold. What would he do? Carlisle said they were leaving Port Angeles soon. Their house burned down, and they didn't want to trigger any more children to phase.

She lost Jacob. Edward had been distant from the moment he learned of her best friend's death. Now, Quil bound himself to her.

What little she had in her stomach rose to her mouth, she didn't fight it and wretched the contents on the dry, aged grass. Sweat trickled down her forehead, her heart felt like it was being hacked out of her chest. Everything that's happened hit her with a brutal force. She tried to be strong, to hold it in - the burning emotions - but it was not possible anymore. She understood, after the Newborn battle, that she was a poison to those around her. A slow, rotting toxin - decaying the loved ones in her life from the inside out.

She turned and ran as fast as she could. Tripping along the way, her face and arms steadily scratched by the low tree branches. Escape. She needed to get away.

The further into the forest she ran, the worse her chest ached until she collapsed from the pain. Her vision blurred, her lungs gripped in a fiery anxiety. In that moment, she wanted to die. No eternal life. No second chance. Nothing. She wanted the darkness to swallow her into the dirt.

Drops of rain splashed on her cheek. She didn't move. Time lost all meaning. Eventually, a shadow surrounded her, she closed her eyes and whispered, "Leave. I'm not worth saving."

A rough voice responded as she was lifted in warm arms, "I may hate what you caused, but I won't let you die."

...

Jared sat next to the cot in his living room. The girl sleeping in it looked sickly, she was smaller than he remembered, and she mumbled a lot while dreaming.

Her racing pulse almost drowned out every other sound in the vicinity. He repositioned the blanket and stretched out on the chair.

She smelled like Quil. It wasn't a passing scent either, like a hug or an accidental touch. Her blood smelled of him. The ambrosial floral aroma dulled almost entirely as Quil's overtook her own.

Why did she carry his scent? What the hell was she doing out in the fucking woods anyway?

Her loud, tormented filled groan snapped him out of his musings. Jared had no idea what to do. He called the only person he could think of.

'Yeah.'

"Hey. You at home?"

'No. I'm at the Black's. His daughters are flying in tomorrow to take care of him. What's up?'

"I need you to come over."

'Why?'

"It's urgent. Get here as soon as you can."

'What the fuck is going on?'

"Damn it Paul, just get your ass over here. Don't tell anyone where you're going, and avoid Sam at all costs. Run human if you have to."

As the silence extended on the phone line, his nerves cranked up at the notion that Paul would not cave so easily.

'Alright. Let me get things settled here. Chief Swan is coming to spend time with Billy. I'll be there soon.'

He breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay."

Jared hung up and walked back to stand vigil over the girl.

...

Paul made it to Jared's house in record time for his human form. He barreled through the door, startling Jared, and was instantly assaulted with Quil's musky odor.

He relaxed his stance once he saw Jared was not in danger, then took a moment to look at his best friend. He'd seen ticks with more life in them... then Paul noticed something small, gasping on the cot.

His eyes widened. "Did you cheat on Kim?!"

In one swift movement, Jared flew off the chair and pinned him to the wall with his forearm against his throat. He spit the words out through clenched teeth, "Don't fucking go there. You know it's impossible to cheat on a fucking imprint."

Paul pushed him back and rubbed his neck. "Yeah, yeah. So what the fuck is that? Better yet, who is that?"

Jared rubbed his eyes and huffed in exhaustion. "It's Bella."

"Bella? As in Bella Swan, the soul sucking bitch?"

He nodded.

Paul still smelled Quil; in fact, it was more potent than the Swan girl's and she was lying not three feet away from him.

"Did Quil bring her here?"

Jared shook his head, "No. I found her near the boundary line."

Paul did not know what to make of it. They couldn't turn their back on a human in need of help from the corpses; and it had been obvious to them, long before today, that Bella was in need of saving. She was a sore spot for the pack. The one human they failed to protect. The one human who brought the wrath of the undead upon the area surrounding the res.

"Let her sleep whatever is wrong with her off. I'll talk to Sam in case the parasite's coven starts calling."

Jared agreed. There was no disputing the fact that she was staying. He hoped, once she awakened, he could speak to her and understand why she wandered around the forest like a crazed person.

Paul left shortly after they discussed who else should know. It was decided only Sam, for now.

He sat near the girl, once again. She shivered and gasped in her sleep, sweat pooled on her forehead. He took the damp cloth on the side table, and dabbed it along her face. She moved, jerking the cover off her; Jared's gaze zeroed in on a healed scar near her neck... teeth marks... a mark!

He stumbled back, tripped over his own feet, and landed on his back. He flipped, crawled away from the goddamn marked girl, and out the door. The cool air did nothing to ease his panic, inhaling was becoming a problem.

Why?

Why did an imprinted goddamn wolf mark Bella?!

…...

Lyric from song: Hurt (by, Nine Inch Nails)