Disclaimer: Same as always… I do not own the characters.

A/N: Please, please, please review and let me know what you think of my story. I've been having a hard time writing it lately since I have been sick, but please review this and let me know that you still like it.

Chapter 9

(JPOV)

"What is she thinking? She knows what they are and yet she stays! What could possibly being going on with her head that she stay's there with all of them?" I was beyond mad. I didn't understand why she was acting the way she was. I know that they helped her with her parents funeral, but dad and I would have too if we had the chance.

"Jacob, sweetie, there isn't anything that we can do right now. And you know this," Ashni said timidly, "we can't do anything since they have not broken the treaty. She is not harmed in any way."

"Not yet, but it could happen at any minute. You know that!"

"I know that, love. But the fact remains that we cannot do anything. You have told her all that she needs to know to make an educated decision. And she has decided to stay with the Cullen's, and as much as you don't like it, you have to let it go."

"Ashni, you haven't known her for as long as I've known her. She is a magnet for danger."

"You are right. She has a werewolf for a friend, maybe even a best friend and a vampire for a boyfriend. If that doesn't spell danger, I don't know what does," she said with a light laugh, probably trying to lighten the mood for me. What would I do without her?

"You are right, love. I know you are. You always are." I leaned over to her and gave her a kiss lightly.

She leaned over and whispered, "I love you Jacob Black. I always will. You are the best thing to happen to me."

"I know, Ashni. I feel the same way. But you know that," I said nuzzling her neck. We got up and started walking back to the house slowly, hand in hand.

When she said those things to me, my heart melted and I knew that life had a meaning. I never thought that my life would be like this. Never before meeting Ashni did I believe in fairy tale type endings to life, but she's shown me that good things can happen and with her with me, they are happening to me. I felt as though I could run into the woods with her forever and never have to worry about anything. She was my world and nothing else mattered at all.

We were sitting in the woods just outside of my house. Just far enough away from the rest of the world so that it felt like it was just the two of us. We were alone, just us, and that is the way we liked it, just us in the world together.

Ashni and I met on the beach here in La Push. It was 2 years ago now and we knew instantly that we were going to be together forever. We were with our parents, well I was with dad and she was with her parents. I've seen her before but never really paid any attention to her or anyone for that matter. I was always on my own or in my own world, whatever you wanted to call it. Then when I looked over to Ashni and her family, my heart filled and my soul warmed instantly and she was all I could see. She said that it was the same for her.

Since that weekend, we spent most of the week and weekends together. Our parents also got to know each other very well. They know don't have to ask where their child is; they know that we are with each other and that we are completely safe. But now that may all change. What was Bella thinking? She was putting all of this in jeopardy. How could she be so careless? So thoughtless? Didn't she see that she was making so much of everything a mess?

"Jacob, please stop worrying about it, at least for now. Let's try and forget about what's going on over there okay?" Ashni said.

"Alright. I will do my best."

"Alright, how about we go grab a quick bite to eat, then watch a movie together. How does that sound?"

"Eating sounds good to me," I laughed. Good thing I had a big appetite; another wolf thing.

"Great. Let's get to it then." We went to the house and Ashni took over in the kitchen. Thank god she was a good cook, she was fantastic in the kitchen. I sat at the kitchen table and watched her do her thing. She was looking in the refrigerator, grabbing things out of there, going to the cupboard and pulling more out of there, and then turning on the stove to work her magic. I saw that she was making some steak and potatoes, with a salad on the side. I could hardly wait to eat it!

When she was done she got out a platter sized plate and heaped on the food for me. She then got herself a smaller plate and put on her own portion. We sat together and ate our food, which was fantastic. She was an excellent chef. "Ashni, honey, this is fantastic! You are so good at this."

"Thank you Jacob, I am only thinking of you when I am cooking so it must show, huh?" She smiled shyly. She was so cute when she was being shy. One of the reasons I fell in love with her too.

"Well continue to think of me forever when you cook and I will be one happy man!" I leaned over to kiss her. She kissed me back with an equal amount of passion.

When we finished our meal, we went to the living room to pick out our movie. We were going to watch Top Gun, it was one of my favorites, and for some reason Ashni liked to watch it too. We got halfway into it when the phone rang. "I'll get it," I said.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, Jake, it's Bella."

"Yes? What do you want?" I was irritated. I shouldn't be, but I am.

"Well, I wanted to apologize for what I said before. I know that you were just looking out for me," she said, "but I really am okay here. They aren't going to hurt me at all."

"Bella, I don't know what to tell you. I am trying to keep you safe and do right by my tribe and yet you are determined to put yourself at risk with them. I don't know what you want from me. Can you tell me that? What do you want from me?"

"I just want you as my friend, Jacob. Isn't that possible?" She sounded as though she was pleading with me.

"You know how hard that is going to be, do you? You have, I am sure, read up on the differences between us and how we are each others enemies."

"I have, but I am neutral. I don't care what you are or aren't. You are Jake to me and they are the Cullen's to me."

"See? That is something I don't get. I do not understand how you can be like that."

"Be like what exactly, Jake?"

"You know…" I started.

"I like you Jake and I always have. You know that. And I have been a friend with Alice for a long time too and now that my parents are gone, Carlisle and Esme have stepped up and taken care of everything for me. I can't even begin to thank them for that."

I couldn't say anything about that. She did have a point; they did help her out with everything. I just wish that I could have helped her too. I guess I just miss having her as my friend, I miss that we aren't the way we used to be… I just missed Bella.

"Bella, it's okay," I said with a reluctant sigh, "I know that they have helped you with a lot and I am very happy that you have someone to lean on when you need it. Just don't forget that we are here for you as well. Billy and I will do what we can to help you when we can. Just try and understand that the "Cold Ones" and us don't get along at all, so that will be difficult for all of us."

"I understand," Bella said, "And Jake? Thanks for understanding. You really are one of the best friends that I have. Give my best to Billy and Ashni, okay?"

"Sure, sure. Bye Bella." We hung up at the same time. I sighed and went back to the movie where Ashni was pretending to be engrossed in Top Gun, even though I know that she was dying to know what was happening. She would never intentionally listen in on a phone call or any conversation for that matter.

She looked up at me when I came in. "Everything okay, Jacob?"

"Yes. Um, Bella just called to say that she was sorry that she was short with me earlier."

"See? Everything is going to be fine. I told you that it would be. So you want to keep going with the movie?"

"Sure," I said, but I was distracted already. I sat down with her and we finished watching the movie in silence. Once it was over I walked Ashni home. We kissed each other goodnight then I left her. I walked slowly home and let me mind wander.

Could this really be okay? Could my Bella and the Cullen's Bella co-exist? Silly that I thought that there were two separate people. It was just Bella. Did I really want to wreak what little peace she had found since she lost her parents? Did I want to destroy that for her? I know I didn't want to do any of that, but it was so hard to think that she was still there, with them. I could trust that she will be safe there right? It just didn't feel right to let that happen. It went against everything that I was put here for.

I decided after a little thinking that I was going to see what was going to happen to Bella on her own and not get too close to her. Just let her make her own mistakes. She can make them unless they were going to put her in danger. That was something that I just couldn't allow, no matter what. So there, I made up my mind. I was going to be a silent observer. That was a hard choice for me to make, but I had to make it.

When I got home I had a message to call Sam Uley. What that was about I had no clue. He was a little older than me and we never really talked to each other so I had no idea why I had to call him. I went to my room with the phone and called him.

"Hello?" a male voice answered.

"Uh, yeah. Is Sam there at all? This is Jacob Black. He asked that I call."

"Yeah, hold on a minute. Sam! Phone for you." I heard a rustling as the phone was passed. After a minute, Sam came to the line.

"Hi, Jacob. Thanks for calling me back. I was wondering if we could talk for a little bit. In person would be better for me."

"Sure, Sam. When?" What could he possibly need to see me about?

"Would now work for you?"

"I guess. I just got home. Would you want to come over here? I gotta make supper for dad."

"Okay, I'll be over in a few minutes." And then he hung up. Very strange. Going from not talking to the guy to him coming over.

True to his word, just as I was starting dinner for dad, the doorbell rang. "Come in!" I yelled. Sam came walking in and came right to the kitchen after saying a short hello to my dad.

"Hey Jacob."

"Sam," I said. "What's going on?"

"Well, I don't know how to say what I need to say."

"I guess just spit it out. I figured that's the best way to do it," I said with a smile.

"Okay. Well… I changed. And I talked to the elders and they said that you would be a good person to talk to since you would understand my problem."

Ah, now I get it. "Oh. Sure, I understand what you're getting at. Strange the first time, isn't it?"

"Yeah! You can sure say that again. So what do we do now? I mean, is there something that we are supposed to do?" He had no idea what was going on and it was nice that he felt okay coming to me about it. It made me feel good in fact.

"Well, I have been doing some patrolling around La Push, but now that you are here, maybe you could help me out with that. What do you think?" Man, this is weird. I was asking him to do something that I wasn't even too sure about.

"That sounds pretty cool. I can do that. How do you do it? In what form?" He looked scared to even ask that question. He was always so sure of himself, seeing him like this made me feel for the guy.

"Wolf form is the best. You can "feel" so much more that way. You can sense any changes that you wouldn't be able to in human form. It's actually pretty easy. I can show you the ropes tonight if you'd like."

"Sure, I'd like that. Is it just you and me?"

"Yup. I thought it was only going to be me. Thanks for changing. Now I won't be the only one," I said with a laugh.

He seemed happy that he could help. It was going to a lot easier keeping an eye on things now with the extra help. Maybe he could help keep an eye on Bella for me too. We could work in shifts, that would be even better, more coverage.

That night Sam and I met outside my house and I showed him the boundary for La Push. He knew about the pact, as did everyone else in the tribe, so that helped. I also told him that I have been watching out for everyone in Forks too. So many people to watch and I was only one lone wolf until now. He was impressed since he never knew that anything like this had been going on.

We could talk now that we were in wolf form just by using our thoughts, something I never knew could happen. But we knew everything about each other. It seemed like nothing was secret now. I guess I needed to control my thoughts from now on. But I had to share what I knew with him.

Nothing has had to be done with us changing but when the Cullen's returned to the area a few years back I changed. And I think the reason that you changed was because of the possible threat on a human life. Bella Swan. She lost her parents and is now living with the Cullen's, I explained.

Yes, I heard about that. How is she doing? He asked.

She is good, so she said. For now, though, I am just keeping a close eye on her. No human has been that close to a Cold One ever so I have no idea how this is going to work out for her.

I see. So are we going to patrol where they are too? He asked me.

No. We do not go on their territory. They have their home there and we will not go there, as they will not come on our land.

He understood everything so fast and was eager to learn more and make sure that everything went well. For the first few nights, we patrolled like this. I, explaining everything I could to him, answering his questions and he learning on the move and tasting his first kill. On the move we ate mainly small woodland animals.

Now we just had to make sure that we kept up our vigil and make sure that all of La Push and Forks stayed safe. And make sure that Bella, most of all, stayed safe. She was the one that was the most at risk than anyone else on earth.

Bella, make sure you keep yourself safe. Keep your eyes open, I know that mine will be.