All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer

CHAPTER TEN

Bella POV

Rachel looked up at the sound of Paul's name, seeming confused at the sudden seriousness that filled the room. Jared, who had just entered the room to greet his imprint, made his excuses and walked back out into the living room with Kim as Paul walked in, glancing around at us all.

"Should we go too?" I asked Jake quietly, unsure how this thing usually worked.

"No, Paul wants us to stay. In case Rach flips out." He explained, and the look on his face told me that he fully expected Rachel to take the news badly.

I looked away from Jake and back to Paul, who was still standing awkwardly in the doorway with a nervous expression. He was staring at Rachel in a scared way, but then surprised me by turning to face me.

"Hey Bella." He said in a dejected kind of voice, not quite meeting my eye. I heard a low growling sound that seemed to come from Jake's chest, but I couldn't understand why he would be growling at Paul for speaking to me.

"Hi Paul." I responded with a small smile, trying to give him courage for what he was about to do. He certainly didn't look confident.

After a painfully long silence, Jake spoke up. "Remember what I said Paul, the quicker the better."

Paul seemed to understand whatever this meant, as he nodded slowly and took a deep breath, stepping towards Rachel. The apprehension was still clear upon his face, but he spoke confidently.

"Rachel, do you remember the stories your dad and Old Quil used to tell us at the bonfires?"

Rachel looked completely dumbfounded by the change in conversation. "The tribal legends?" she asked slowly, clearly unaware of where this was going.

"Yeah. Do you remember any details of the legends?"

She seemed to rack her brains for a minute before she responded. "We used to play a game, what did we call it Jake? You were a wolf and you had to catch me and Becca because we were the cold ones. It was like some sort of horror story my dad made up to scare the kids wasn't it?"

"It pretty much is a horror story, yeah." Jake responded as he glanced at me, clearly thinking about my close encounter with the vampires.

"But your dad didn't make it up." Paul told her, willing her with his eyes to understand what he was trying to say.

"So… one of the other elders made it up?" she asked, looking puzzled.

"No, nobody made it up Rachel. The legends are true." Paul said, looking relieved to finally get it off his chest.

Silence fell upon the room for a very long time, as we all exchanged glances and waited for Rachel to respond. Finally she looked up, but she spoke to Jake, not Paul.

"You expect me to believe that vampires and werewolves are real?" she asked, her tone incredulous. "I've been away at college all this time Jake, not Clown School. I'm not an idiot."

"We know you're not an idiot!" Paul told her, pulling out a chair to sit across the table from her. "But it's true Rachel, all of us are werewolves."

She glanced around the room quickly, before settling her gaze on me.

"Not me." I told her quickly. "Just the boys."

"You know what you said to me at the funeral, about my growth spurt being a Quileute thing?" Jake paused long enough for Rachel to nod, before continuing. "Well you were right, it is a Quileute thing. The gene has been passed down for generations, and we were the ones lucky enough to inherit it." I was sure everyone could hear the sarcasm in his voice; it was no secret that the boys wouldn't have chosen this life for themselves.

"So you're trying to tell me that you turn into wolves?" Rachel clarified, and the boys all nodded. "What, like on a full moon or something?"

"No, pretty much when we want or need to." Paul responded, still peering at her nervously and waiting for her reaction once the information had sunk in. She still looked disbelieving, so Jake spoke up again.

"Do you want me to show you?"

She glanced at him like he was crazy, but then surprised everyone by smiling. "Sure baby brother, you go ahead and show me how you turn into a wolf."

"OK, come outside with me because there's not enough room in here." He said, quickly turning and heading for the back door, still holding my hand. Rachel got up from her seat and followed, as did Paul, Sam and Emily.

Once we were outside, Jake let go of my hand and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, before taking off his shorts and handing them to me.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rachel shouted, quickly averting her eyes from her now naked brother.

"Don't want to shred another pair of shorts." He replied with a shrug. "Dad won't buy me any more so Emily has to sew them back together."

He took a few steps away from us and I heard Rachel mutter something that sounded like 'they're all crazy.'

"You need to look now Rach or you'll miss it." Jake told her, and she finally turned her gaze back to him, just in time to see his body disappear, only to be replaced by a large russet coloured wolf. Rachel's mouth opened in a gasp, but Jacob didn't seem to think she would be scared of him as he began to move towards us. He stopped right in front of me, leaning forward and licking my cheek with his huge tongue.

"Ewww, Jake!" I laughed, wiping my face with my sleeve while he sat down, smiling.

"That's my brother?" Rachel asked me as he nuzzled his heavy head into the crook of my neck.

"Oh yeah, that's Jake." I laughed, stroking the soft fur on his face while I watched Rachel's reaction. She continued to stare at him for a little while longer before she spoke again.

"OK, I've seen enough."

Immediately Jake got back on all fours, giving me one last lick before taking a few steps away from us and phasing back into his human form. I quickly handed him his shorts to save Rachel's embarrassment, and waited for someone to speak. After a few awkward moments, Paul finally broke the silence.

"So… what now?" he asked, glancing awkwardly at Rachel and then at me.

"You tell her the rest." Jake shrugged, placing his arm around my shoulders and leading me back towards the house.

"Where are you going?" Paul asked, sounding desperate.

"Inside. This is best coming from you Paul, without us lot around."

"But…" Paul stammered, looking lost as he looked uncomfortably between us and his imprint.

"Good luck man!" Jake laughed as we walked back through the door and into Emily's house. Just before the door closed I heard Rachel shout, "What the hell is going on now?" but then there was only silence.

"What's happening?" I asked Jake as we stood in the kitchen. I couldn't hear a thing, but I knew he would be able to hear every word.

"He's just told her she's his imprint." He told me, staring towards the door.

"How's she taking it?" I asked, feeling out of the loop as the boys all listened in on the conversation that my ears were not capable of hearing.

"She doesn't know what an imprint is. He's trying to explain to her."

We all waited in silence for a while, as I decided it would be easier to just let Jake listen so that he could tell me when he heard anything important. Suddenly the silence was shattered as the back door flew open, and Rachel stormed angrily into the house. She didn't stop to even acknowledge us, but stomped straight through the house and back out through the front door. A very dejected looking Paul followed her into the house, pausing to look at Jake.

"Should I go after her?" he asked, and Jake quickly shook his head.

"Nah, she can be pretty violent when she's pissed. Just let her cool off for a day or two, she'll come round."

"Come on Paul take a seat, you can have the first plate of muffins." Emily said pleasantly in an attempt to lighten Paul's mood. Like any of the boys Paul couldn't turn down an offer of food, so he slumped sullenly into the nearest chair and ate in silence while the rest of us tried to make conversation. The subject of mine and Jake's relationship had been forgotten, so I was thankfully spared the awkward questions. I could tell that Jake had told the boys about us though, as I received knowing looks from Quil and Embry every now and again.

As Jake and I walked back to his house a few hours later, I asked him the question that had been playing on my mind all day.

"Do you think Rachel will come round, Jake? I mean, from what she said to me and Emily earlier I don't think she wanted to stay here for long."

"I know, she told me she wanted to spend some time in Hawaii then find a job in Seattle. But I don't think she has a choice any more Bells, the imprint bond is too strong to deny."

I wanted to ask more questions, but decided they could wait. The silence didn't last for long though, as Jacob came to a stop suddenly and turned to face me.

"Can I do something?" he asked, but before I could respond his lips were on mine, kissing me passionately. After a few moments we both broke away panting, with matching grins on our faces. "I've wanted to do that all day." He told me, cupping my face with his huge hands and gazing into my eyes.

"I've wanted you to do that all day." I admitted, still grinning from ear to ear. "I like this; being like this with you. It feels so… natural."

"I know, honey. I've wanted this to happen for so long and now that it has… it's better than I could ever have imagined."

"I love you, Jake."

"I love you too, Bells. Always."