Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight Saga or any of the characters in the story.

You guys never cease to amaze me! Thank you for the feedback, it means the absolute world to me! You were so good about the skimpy chapter yesterday, and so here's something with a little more meat! ;) Kinda... I hope you enjoy the chapter, happy reading!

Chapter Eleven

Bella practically threw the kettle off of the stove and onto the pot holder she had placed on her counter top, shucking off her oven mitts in the same movement. She didn't pause for even a moment as she launched herself towards the door. She could feel the heat surging through her body as she whipped the door open hastily, and her eyes finally fell upon Jake's face. Her lungs released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and she felt her muscles uncoil completely.

"You gonna invite me in or do I have to stand out in the rain?" Jake smirked at her and Bella practically jumped into his arms right there.

"Oh, right. Come in," she said to him, totally flustered. His husky chuckle seemed to buzz through her veins as she stepped aside to let him walk in. She looked outside in the rain cautiously and was satisfied that no one had seen him walk in. However she also realized that his motorcycle was not parked out front either. As she closed the door behind her and turned around she saw him standing behind her. The warmth that his gaze filled her with did not prevent her from blushing.

"What?" she asked him with a raised eyebrow. She didn't want to let on how intimidating his stare actually was.

"Nothing, Bella. I was just looking at you," he smiled at her. Once again she found herself helplessly smiling back at him. After a moment she remembered why he was truly here and she walked towards the kitchen.

"Do you want something to eat? I really don't have that much, I need to go shopping soon... But I made tea. I can make something else? Do you want anything to eat? Or something different to drink?" she started to babble nervously walking over to the kitchen counters.

She wasn't expecting the sudden feel of two large hot hands landing on her shoulders. Bella's breathing hitched in her throat as one of his hands moved her hair over to one shoulder and his nose glided from the base of her neck up behind her ear. Her body shuddered as she unconsciously pushed her body closer to his heat. He chuckled again in her ear, his hot breath washing over her skin and sending a spike of heat up her spine.

"I'm fine, Bella. Don't worry about me. I'm just content to be near you again," he whispered sincerely.

"I thought you said you were close by?" she asked slowly, trying to take a deep breath to clear her head. It wasn't successful.

"Oh, I was. But being phased in the forest and listening to your breathing is completely different from being able to feel you and know for sure that you are safe. It's a-"

"Wolf thing?" Bella cut him off and turned around to face him. She could clearly see the relief etched into his face from being with her once again. It was the same relief she felt in knowing that he was actually with her.

"Yeah... So where do you want to do this?" he asked, his mouth twitching into a smile. Bella paused and the image of her bed flashed through her mind. Quickly she clamped down on those thoughts that tried to break her focus, and she pointed a finger to the small doorway that led to her living room.

"In there? If that's okay?" she looked at Jacob to gauge his reaction.

"Sure, sure. You're running the show today, honey," he soothed her and she nodded.

After fixing herself a mug of tea she walked into the living room and sat on her small sofa, pulling the blanket over her legs as she did so. Jacob came and immediately sat next to her. It was like the awkward moment on a first date when the boy could not figure out whether or not he should put his arm around the girl.

Bella giggled and Jake sent her a questioning look.

"It's nothing," she smiled and then picked up her notebook off the coffee table in front of her, casually leaning into Jake's side as she sat back. They fit together seamlessly. Her body formed to his side as his arm wrapped around her torso effortlessly. They just fit.

"Okay, Bells! Fire away!" Jake said with a grin as she sent him a wry look. He shrugged at the use of the new nickname, "It had a nice ring to it," was his joking response and Bella couldn't help the small fit of laughter at his lame attempt at a joke.

"Alright, alright. Quit laughing at me and get on with it, woman!" he poked her side playfully. Bella quickly sobered and steeled her resolve to get through this. She needed these questions answered if she was ever going to fully understand what she was getting herself into.

"I guess, I'll start with the easy ones?" she said, although it came out as a question as she perused the list she'd made last night. As she stared at them, she grew more and more uneasy about asking him some of her questions. What if he thought they were stupid?

"Why are you nervous?" Jake stiffened beside her, sensing that his mate was not completely at ease. Instinctually Bella placed her hand facing upwards on his thigh and he instantly wrapped it up in his large, tan one.

"I'm not," she squeaked out pathetically, keeping her gaze on the page in front of her.

"Don't lie to me, Isabella," Jake's voice rumbled deep in his chest. His tone was serious and there was no room left for joking, but she recognized it as a less intense version of the commanding voice she'd heard in her classroom last week.

"Why do you do that with your voice?" she asked suddenly. It hadn't exactly been an attempt to change the subject, but she wasn't going to deny how well it worked. He looked at her, confused.

"What do you mean, exactly?" he asked.

"Sometimes when you ask... well I guess it comes out sounding like a demand. It vibrates my bones. It feels weird..." she tried her best to explain the odd phenomenon, waiting to be called weird. However enlightenment dawned on his features and he nodded.

"That's the alpha voice. I usually use it on the pack. It's when I give them an order and they are bound to do it. It's an unbreakable word that only the alpha can use. I didn't realize that you could feel it too..." he frowned at the end of his statement.

"Well... I feel it, but I don't think it works on me entirely. You used it, last Tuesday, in the classroom? When you'd told me to tell you why I was hurt. It was the same command, but clearly I didn't follow it because I ran in the opposite direction,"she tried to joke. Jake huffed a laugh from over her shoulder, but said nothing else. Bella took it as an invitation to continue her interrogation.

"Uh... Okay, here's another question, how come all of the boys in the group are so huge? You guys all look like you're on steroids," she wondered.

"It's a pack," he corrected while his hand found purchase on a sliver of skin at the edge of her shirt on her hip bone.

"What?" Bella was slightly dazed at the skin on skin contact from Jake.

"We call ourselves a pack. We're wolves, so it's not a group," he finished and she understood, nodding, "And we're so large because of the transformation... When someone phases for the first time they undergo immense physical pain. It's something like being torn out of your own skin and put inside of a beast that can't be controlled. Our entire bodies change because not only do we become the wolf, but the wolf is reflected while we are human. We can heal incredibly fast, and you might have noticed how our body temperatures are much higher than average.

"Every wolf in the pack runs at a temperature between one hundred and seven to one hundred and nine degrees. Not to mention we're faster and stronger, so our bodies need to compensate. I wouldn't be able to protect my tribe if I was still some skinny preteen. Especially not from a cold one."

"A vampire?" Bella squeaked out, still not fully comprehending the idea of creatures like that existing in the world. Jake's fingers rubbed a slow, soothing rhythm against the skin of her hip and it made her breathing calm.

"Yeah, they're real. They smell disgusting, like something so sickeningly sweet it burns your nose,"

"The dentist multiplied times one hundred," Bella supplied and Jake laughed deeply.

"Exactly... They're pale while and they're skin is freezing. They can't be killed by anything, except maybe a werewolf. And we have to rip them apart and burn the pieces... Otherwise they'll put themselves back together and seek vengeance."

"Wait... Put themselves back together? Okay, no, hold that thought. Do they really drink blood? Do they have fangs and can they walk around during the day?" the questions tumbled out of her mouth. She was sure that he would tell her so many terrifying things that she'd never leave her house without a necklace of garlic and a wooden stake in her purse.

"No, honey. They aren't like the vampires in the horror movies. Although, they do drink blood and they are very dangerous. They look like humans, but they are... Well... They're way more attractive than any regular mortal. And from what I've heard from people they give off a weird vibe... A human can sense that they're in danger without actually knowing what they are... And from what I know they can walk around during the day, but not in direct sunlight. My job isn't exactly to learn about them, it's to learn how to kill them."

"Oh... And you said there was a family in Forks? Will I ever meet them?" Bella asked slowly. The sharp, menacing snarl that came from Jake made Bella jump out of her skin, but also made her push herself closer into his warm skin. On instinct Jake wrapped both of his arms around her and pulled her on top of his lap, crushing her into his chest.

"No. You will never meet them. Not if I have anything to say about it," he growled under his breath. She understood that the idea of her being near his mortal enemy was enough to make him angry and even more fiercely protective.

"Okay... So what about phasing? What triggers it?" she quickly changed the subject to try and soothe the man whose inner beast was clawing at his insides to be free.

Their conversation continued. Jake would explain to the fullest degree everything that Bella asked of him. She learned how the phase is mostly triggered by anger, but that's when it's uncontrolled. After they've been phased for awhile it becomes easier for the man to control when he phases. He went on to explain who was in the pack and where the were on the ranking scale. He explained how it wasn't normal for so many people to be phased, especially a girl like Leah.

"Wait a minute! Leah is a wolf? So she knows about imprinting? How you imprinted on me?" Bella forced him to stop, picking up her head from its intimate spot in the crook of his overheated neck.

"Yeah, the entire pack knows I'm mated to you, well... not entirely, but..." he drifted off but she was focused on the memory of Leah at the cookout.

"She seemed so angry. She made a quip about student-teacher relationships," Bella thought out loud and Jake nodded with a serious expression.

"Yeah, I made sure to speak to her about that... Honestly Bells, she's just bitter about everything... You see, Sam and her were together until he phased... and then imprinted on Emily... who was her cousin," he spoke slowly and Bella gasped at what he'd told her. Poor Leah, no wonder she was such a bitch towards imprinting, it was completely understandable.

"That's so awful..." Bella whispered as she stared down at her hands. She felt bad that she'd thought Leah was such a bitch. Now she understood to at least a partial degree why she'd been like that...

"Eh, it's actually pretty annoying," Jake sighed and Bella glared at him, "What? I have to listen to her constant bitching and moaning all the time in my head while we run patrols! It drives us all crazy!" Jake tried to explain.

"You hear her in your head?" Bella asked curiously.

"Oh yeah. It's called the pack mind. While we're phased as a wolf we can hear each other in our minds, see our memories, see what we're thinking about. There's no room for secrets basically," he said and clarity dawned on her.

"So you have to listen to her bitching all the time, but she probably has to listen to Sam think about Emily all the time! Emily's his imprint, isn't she? So if how you act is any indication of how he acts, then it's no wonder she's so pissed off all the time! I'd be pissed too if I had to listen to my ex-boyfriend think about how wonderful his new wife is, who just happens to be my cousin!" Bella exclaimed angrily. Jake stared at her levelly for a moment and then nodded.

"You're right Bells, it's unfair of me to be so harsh on her... Even though it has been almost a year for her."

Bella nodded with slight triumph and settled back into Jake's arms. He picked up a rhythm of rubbing her back with his hot hands. It kept her calm while she went over her mental list. She realized she only had one question left.

"How are we going to manage this relationship? I can't stay away from you. It hurts me, and it hurts you and I can't do that to us. But I can't be caught with a student, Jake. It would ruin my career completely. No school in the county would hire me... Maybe even in the state..." she breathed sullenly against his neck. It seemed as though they had run into a dead end. They had both accepted the imprint, they were willing to try a relationship, since neither could deny the soul wrenching need to be beside each other, but there seemed to be no way to reach it. It was the unattainable dream.

Jake seemed to sense her distress and pressed his lips into her hairline, gently breathing in her scent while she clung to him and tried to think of a solution. She could feel his pulse against the skin of his neck where her nose was nestled. She could hear the air whooshing into his lungs with every intake. The blood in her veins seemed to hum with the sheer intimacy of how close he was to her right now.

It was made her feel so content that she could almost imagine risking her job for it.

Almost.

"Bells... You won't have any trouble on the reservation. After the younger kids started to phase, Sam spoke to the principal and gave him... Well... an ultimatum would be a kind word for it, I guess," he muttered. Bella stared at him.

"Did he threaten Mr. Molina?" she asked seriously.

"I mean... What does the word threaten actually entail?" Jake asked, trying to lighten the mood. Without thinking, Bella wound her hand back and smacked his opposite shoulder. It took her half a second to realize that her hand probably hurt much more than anything Jake had felt.

"Don't do that again, honey. It's futile, and I was only trying to make you smile," he said to her with a roll of his eyes, but he still focused in on her hand, snuffling it a bit to make sure that there was no real damage done. "To answer your question truthfully, yes, Same threatened him. And while he doesn't know all of the details, if Sam were to come back and tell him to disregard any relationship outside of the school you have with me, then he would. Problem solved!" Jake beamed at her, but Bella was not amused.

"No, the problem is not solved! I'm not going to scare my boss into breaking the law! Jake, that's not fair to him! He could get in real trouble for letting it slide, just like I would if anyone outside of the reservation found out. We need to be careful. We can't let our emotions show through in class, we have to remain professional..." Bella trailed off, her brow puckering as she thought hard over their predicament.

"Okay, we don't have to threaten him... Not even a little?" Jake whispered into her ear, laughter laced around the edges of his request. Bella groaned in frustration as she pulled away from Jake and stood up. She glared at him, her eyes blazing and full of anger. How could he joke about something like this?

"I told you this isn't a joke, Jake! I love my job! It's what I've always wanted to do, and I understand that we have this imprinting, bond thingy, but I can't risk my job like that! It means to much! And if I were to lose it, then I wouldn't be able to come on the rez as much! I would be a shit show! I'd have to move away, and start over somewhere!" she practically yelled at him, ignoring the growl of anger coming from his chest and the dark look that was taking over his face, "I'm not going to threaten anyone, and I'm certainly not going to carry on as though it's fine to have a casual relationship with one of my students!"

She finished her tirade in a huff, her eyes wild and her cheeks flushed. In the blink of an eye Jacob had stood from the couch and began to stalk towards her. Unthinkingly she backed away from him just as quickly, finding herself in the kitchen and finally pressed against the countertop next to the stove. She watched breathlessly as Jacob prowled towards her, his body slinking like a stealthy animal, stalking its prey. The look on his face was dark, but his eyes showed her that there was truly nothing to be afraid of. He would never hurt her.

It wasn't until his body was pressed flushed up against hers, her back pressing into the sharp edge of the counter. She winced slightly, but Jacob picked up on it. Without a word he picked her body up effortlessly and set her down on the counter, maintaining the same intense eye contact. He leaned forward slowly and breathed his hot breath next to her ear.

"Let's get something straight, Isabella. I understand how much your job means to you. I see how your eyes light up every time someone gets a fucking question right when you ask it. I know how much it means to you because I can literally feel your happiness radiating off of you. It makes you even more gorgeous than you already are. But, maybe I'm being a selfish asshole for saying this, I need you for myself. I need to know you're safe, and happy, and that I can take care of you. While you might be able to leave this place, and heal yourself after breaking the bond, I would die," he whispered the heavy words to her, and her gasp of fear made him bring his hands to her jean clad thighs. He rubbed gently, as if to soothe her that he was still with her.

"I would die, Bella. That's the truth. I will not live without you. You are what holds me to the ground. It's not gravity, anymore, it's you. That's what it feels like to us when we imprint. It's as if a thousand steel cables are holding me to you. Everything revolves around you. Everything. And I refuse to stop seeing you, because that will only make you hurt. Please, Bells. We'll figure something out together, but don't send me away. Don't make me leave you."

His pleading was so quiet that Bella could barely hear him. As he brought his face back a few inches away from her ear she saw that his eyes were closed and his entire body was trembling. His hands remained on her thighs, rubbing them rhythmically and unconsciously. She stared at him and felt the familiar heat slide up her spine.

Without realizing it, her head tilted up, closer towards his own face.

"Jake," she whispered, her own lips so close to his. Jake's eyes opened slowly as he inhaled deeply and released it in a shuddering breath. They stared into one another's eyes, and she realized that there was no way she could make him stay away.

"We'll find a way," she sighed again, her breath washing over his face. She saw his nostrils flare slightly as he inhaled again, his eyes now burning into her own. One of his hands slid up her arm and over her shoulder to cup the back of her neck.

He didn't ask for permission aloud, because Bella's eyes had already agreed to his unspoken request. The air around them crackled and pulsed with the intensity of the moment between them. She could almost feel the sparks between their lips, as if there was a live wire in the centimeter of space between them. It was silent as they stood there, so close to one another.

And then, Bella surprised herself by making a small noise in the back of her throat, almost like a whine.

It was instantaneous, and as soon as Jacob heard that noise, his lips were crushed to hers.

;) I hope you liked the chapter! Leave any feedback if you care to, and thank you for reading!