Hi,

And I'm back! Man life has been interesting lately but is getting back to normal so I am getting back to the story. Thank you everyone for being so patient even though this has taken an age.

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter go to Astilbe, Mandy May, Holy Cross Baby, Wolf Born Woman, Paul's Chooka, sindhura, vriend, teamjacob0729, The all mighty and powerfulM, Melodia and April-Showers82. Thank you guys for the time you've taken to write me a note and express your opinions, thoughts and questions. Thank you for the encouragement. I appreciate your thoughts and comments very much so when you're done reading please do type a quick note and hit the review button, getting them in my inbox makes my day and keeps the muse happy and well fed.

This story is Beta'd by SeptemberSkies. As always, I want to thank her profusely because without her influence this piece would be rougher than rough and there is a good chance it would also be a lot more confusing. Thank you for your time, effort and words of encouragement!

Lastly, the same disclaimer from the introduction still applies.

Happy reading (and hopefully reviewing)

Chapter 10

(JPOV)

A serious discussion, what the hell did that mean?

Shit!

When a girl looked at you as seriously as Bella was looking at me and declared it open season for serious discussions it usually meant that you were not going to like what you were going to hear. This was blowing up around my ears again and I had to do something to try and head her off, to change her mind before she had a chance to outright reject the idea of even knowing me.

"Bella, I never meant to hurt you or make you feel obligated or unsure of yourself or your future." I said honestly figuring that I would try for an apology before she said whatever it was that she needed to get off her chest. "Look, what you have to understand is that I do get how you're feeling. Three months ago I got really sick, thought I had the worst case of flu known to man, five days later I had gone from five eleven and a hundred and sixty-five pounds to six five and two hundred and forty. I sprouted a tail and fur and had a destiny I didn't ask for shoved down my throat. I've had to chase down and help destroy vampires and I'm sure I'll have to again. I've seen my sister and some of the Pack find some weird sort of 'happily ever after' in the middle of all of this because of imprinting and yet I watched it destroy relationships between Sam, Emily, Leah and their families. I never wanted to drag anyone else into this but just like everyone else and everything else I didn't have a choice. All I can do Bella, is say I'm sorry and work as hard as I can to make the best out of it all."

Once I started trying to explain myself it was as if I couldn't stop. I didn't even try to disguise the anger or bitterness I felt when I thought of the way that my life had changed and the things that had been taken from me and the rest of the Pack. For months I had felt like I was fate's bitch in a boxing ring and the walking disaster that was my whole imprinting situation was like the knockout punch. Bella didn't take her eyes off me while I spoke, just folded her hands on top of her drawn up knee and listened. By the time I finished her eyes held a world of compassion I didn't feel I deserved but her brow was furrowed and her lower lip was inserted between her teeth again. She was thinking and she was thinking hard.

"What did you want? Before you became a wolf and imprinted on me and got stuck with a fate you didn't get to choose?" She asked after a moment's consideration. Inwardly I groaned, I never took a damned second to think how my words sounded when I spoke and from her tone I had just told her that I didn't want her as my imprint. In my bid for complete honesty I may have fucked the whole conversation up and she was still staring at me with those big brown eyes expecting more. At least I couldn't think of a way to make it worse.

"It's been a long time since I thought about it." I sighed. "I was doing well in school so I figured I'd manage to get my hands on a scholarship or two, maybe go to UDub and study mechanical engineering but really I think I'd have liked to open my own auto-body shop somewhere around here, own my own place, work for myself."

"You always wanted to come back here?" She seemed interested.

"Yeah, I guess, it was kinda expected of me. Go to school, go to college if I could get the scholarships, get a job that would keep me close to the reservation, find a nice girl, the council would have preferred a Quileute but they aren't as crazy about that as they used to be, and carry on the Black family name. My family carried the Alpha bloodline; we've been the chiefs of our tribe for generations. When my father passes or gives up the title it becomes mine, I just figured I'd be around for that, even before the whole wolf thing." I explained with shrug.

"Did you ever meet one, before I mean?" She looked away from me, back at the fire as she asked her question.

"One of what?" I asked.

"A nice Quileute girl." Her words were barely a breath. I frowned.

"Not really. I've dated a couple of girls, been interested in a few more and had a frightening amount notice me since I started wolfing out, but I was never really all that interested in anything serious, haven't even dated anyone in the last six months. I already had a plan for my life, it was half tied to the res before I was even born, could never imagine the kinda girl I was interested in being willing to live in La Push for the rest of her life." I wanted her to look at me again, I wanted to be able to do something or say something that would wipe the look of melancholy off her face and knew that I was failing and would continue to fail if she wanted to keep the conversation on the track that it was heading down.

"What kind of girl is that exactly?" She looked down. I almost choked, there was no right answer to that question, it was the kind of question any guy dreaded hearing from his girl no matter what the discussion. Fuck, I was in trouble!

"The pretty and intelligent kind? Can't say I gave it tons of thought." I offered cautiously. What the hell was I supposed to say to her?

"And now, now that everything has changed, what do you want?" She was trying to be brave again and look at me; I could see it in the way that her eyes kept trying to look in my direction. She finally gave up and rested her chin on top of her folded hands and looked at my shoulder rather than my face. It was a start but I couldn't help but wonder where the sudden lack of confidence had come from.

"I try not to want; I try to go with the flow. Less chance of turning angry, bitter and resentful that way." I shook my head.

"You mean like Leah?" Bella tilted her head to the other side, her eyes travelling to my chin and across to my other shoulder.

"I guess. Leah lost a lot to the wolf, her fiancé, her father and her freedom. She hasn't been able to let go and she hasn't been able to forgive." I nodded. To be fair to Leah I didn't know how I would have coped if I had been in her shoes. Everything had happened so quickly, each singularly soul destroying moment so close to the last that it seemed to have made the part of her that wasn't a stone cold bitch take cover behind the part that was and as time had passed it had been easier for her to stay cold and bitter. In her harshness, she protected herself and in more than one way it worked. I understood the appeal.

"Her and Zach have more in common then you realize. Sometimes I think he has more invested in the past than he does the future." Bella shook her head.

"Carly?" I asked warily.

"She died nearly two years ago. She was everything to him. She was three years older, not that you would have known it when they were together, he was always so much more sensible." She got the kind of smile on her face that people often did when they were reliving a happy memory, but the expression faded fast. "It's not my story to tell really and the part that is, isn't something that any of us that were there like to talk about. She died in supernatural circumstances and I don't know if he'll ever really get over it, or ever really forgive me completely for not stopping her." She was looking into the flames for a couple of minutes as she seemed to fight with her own memories, genuine grief written on her face.

I didn't know what to say. I wanted to know more, to ask what had happened that she could have stopped, why she didn't stop it and why Zach blamed her for it, but she had closed the door on that topic, at least for now. We sat in silence for a short while until the very edge of the horizon started to brighten with a pre-dawn glow that seemed to promise a nice enough day for the season. I looked over at her, absorbing the moment and committing it to memory aware that in just a moment I would have to leave her and get back to the patrol, I had been absent for too long as it stood.

"My father called your father last night." Bella spoke suddenly, breaking the silence. Her voice was different; she was giving me information not holding a conversation. "My family isn't happy, the general consensus among my siblings is that we all need to disappear and we all need to do so quickly." My blood ran cold and I was sure my heart had stopped beating. "My parents agreed to inform your father and the council that unless we, as a family, are given full disclosure pertaining to the subject and nature of imprinting that we will leave and if we do leave, we will not come back." There was a little tremor in her voice and while I was almost sure my heart would never beat again, hers was galloping ahead at an impossible rate.

"Bella," my mouth was suddenly so dry it was hard to say her name. I was dumbfounded, even if I knew what to say I wasn't sure I would have been able to use my voice to say it. Everything had gone horribly wrong and I had no idea how I was going to fix the mess or even if it was possible to fix it.

"I need you to tell me the truth." The statement was softer than the last one. "Would it be better for you and Leah if Zach and I left?" The question was quiet and it seemed to be what I needed for my body to unfreeze. I was on my feet and pacing the short length of the paved area, a hand raked through my hair as panic sharpened my senses. Suddenly there was too much sound from the rustling of small creatures in the woods around us, her heart beating frantically to the sound of my feet on the stone. I could smell vampire and pine but even the acidity of the smoke was eclipsed by the scent of strawberries and vanilla spice that seemed to cling to Bella. With one look I had etched every one of her features into my memory and knew that I didn't know how to imagine a life, difficult or simple, without her in it.

Shit, mother-fuck, god damn it! Why was this happening?

It had all backfired, every look, every touch, every word that I had said had landed me in a position where my own imprint was asking me if I thought I would be better off without her. I should never have agreed to hide the truth of the imprint. I should never have stayed away from her or made her feel that it wasn't me that wanted her sitting near me or walking next to me or joining me at social events within or without the Pack or any time of the god damned day for that matter. I didn't care what my father or the council thought, I was beyond caring what Sam would think of my actions, I was even beyond caring that Bella's family were vampires.

I was Jacob Black, son of Billy Black and grandson of the last Alpha Ephraim Black. I was future Chief of the Quileute Nation and the rightful Alpha of the Quileute Wolf Pack and it was time that I started putting leadership into action instead of sitting at the sidelines waiting for my turn. I was done fucking up or letting other people lead me to fucking up.

"Bella." I stopped pacing as I said her name and crouched in front of her so that we were eye to eye and she couldn't mishear me or mistake my intention or sincerity. "If you want to stay, if you want to get to know me even a fraction of the way I want to get to know you, I will tell your family anything they want to know about the subject of imprinting. This isn't the council's decision to make, you're my imprint not theirs." She didn't say anything, her eyes were big and had that frighteningly glossy sheen to them that girls eyes got right before they were about to cry. I reached out and covered her hand that was gripping the edge of the bench with mine. "Do you want to stay?"

"I-" She stopped and took a deep breath without ever looking away from me. "Yes." The word was a whisper but her answer was definitive.

"Okay." I nodded and brought my hand up to cup her cheek. I breathed out slowly trying to relax the tension thrumming through my muscles as I swept my thumb over her cheekbone.

"What do we do now?" She asked. I tried to stop myself from smiling suddenly like the idiot I was, I liked the fact she was thinking of the two of us as a 'we' and it helped to cement the feeling that I was doing the right thing in my chest. Her fingers brushed my forearm as she relaxed into my touch.

"Now, I have to get back to the patrol. I have a Pack meeting in my house in a couple of hours after which I'll speak to my dad and tell him what I've decided. When that's all sorted I'll come back and speak with Doctor Cullen." I replied. "You need to relax a little."

"Okay." She nodded.

"I'll see you in a few hours." I leaned forward and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead before forcing myself to stand and remove my hand from her skin. She watched me carefully as I tugged off the borrowed t-shirt and passed it to her before I rolled my shoulders, part of me feeling grateful to have the slightly too small item off my body while another part felt satisfied with the way she was looking at my body like it pleased her.

"See you soon." Bella gripped the fabric into a wad between her hands, uncertainty clear on her face again now that I was moving away from her.

"I promise." I said clearly before dragging my eyes off her and heading back to the woods at a steady jog.

A little over two hours later, I was home, showered and changed with a pounding headache as I tried to contend with all but three members of the Pack pushing, shoving and being loud in my living room. I didn't blame my father for leaving for Sue's house for a council meeting the minute they had begun to arrive and now I was impatient for Seth and Leah to show up so I could get this over with and they could all leave again so I could deal with my sister. Rachel hadn't left with my father, instead she was leaning against the entrance to the living room, her arms folded across her chest giving me a look that I knew from my childhood meant that she wanted a piece of me when the Pack was gone and before the council came back to our house to discuss the Cullen situation.

Just when I thought I was going to knock the Twin's heads together and strangle Quil, Seth and Leah arrived. Leah glared at the rest of us as she stopped as close to the door as she could without being too close to Rachel, the two had been close friends once and were still friends on a level, but Leah wasn't ever comfortable with her the same way after Paul had imprinted on her. It didn't help either that Leah was still pissed at me for telling Bella a little of her past and prying into Zach's personal life not to mention she felt I should be marching over to Emily's house and taking the Alpha title from Sam and then having this meeting. She didn't like the fact that assuming my rightful role was my last resort, not my first. Seth plonked himself down on the floor next to Colin and jabbed his friend in the ribs, Colin rolled his eyes as if to convey what a drag the last few minutes had been.

"Let me be very clear right now." I snapped, drawing the Pack's attention away from the newcomers and back to me where I stood leaning against the television stand. "I will not be challenging Sam for Alpha over the events at the bonfire last night; therefore nothing has changed within the hierarchy of the Pack. If there's any more goading, testing or attacking of other Pack members I'll take care of the perpetrator myself, and it won't just be extra patrol shifts you'll be running either."

I shifted my gaze to Tristan and Nathan who momentarily squirmed before I looked at the rest. Quil, Colin, Seth and Brady seemed unbothered but they were the more laid back and submissive than the rest and Jared, Embry and Paul looked deadly serious while Leah just glared at the ground in front of her feet. The Pack was all aware of the fact that Sam had always been volatile by nature but no one would have expected him to act so negatively toward an imprint especially when we had all tasted his remorse over the accident with Emily. The pecking order was fragile and shifting and everyone could feel it.

"And the imprints?" Jared cast a look over his shoulder at Leah before focusing on me again.

"Everyone's imprints are their own business, the situation with Bella and Zack is a complicated one that I will be continuing to deal with once we're done here and Sam and I will be discussing at length tomorrow. As it stands, Bella and Zach are imprints and they are to be protected and treated with the same respect and care that you would your own or any other imprint." I supplied before quickly changing the subject. "Patrols stand pretty much as normal, however, Paul will run for Quil this afternoon and Leah with run for Paul tonight, I'll take Sam's shift tonight and the twins will be running for Sam and Brady on Sunday. Brady, I want you running when Jared runs this weekend, Jared take him through the National Park routes. No one is to go near Emily's house, if you need anything find me, I'll either be with the council or at the Cullen place. Tomorrow afternoon while I'm with Sam, find Jared unless it's extremely important." There were a few moments of silence.

"Everybody good?" Paul asked. No one said anything. "Then get the fuck outta here." He was brash and crude but there was no bite to his words. It was as good a dismissal as any so I just nodded, I was done with them anyway.

"Leah, I'll be leaving in an hour." I said to her as Rachel stopped her in the door way. She nodded to me and then to Rachel a moment later after my sister had said a few quiet words in her ear. Leah looked back over her shoulder at me, her expression thoughtful before she exited the room after her brother. I really didn't want to be in her head tonight.

"Well, I guess I'll let your dad and the council know we're done here." Paul stood and planted a quick kiss to my sister's temple. I nodded, clearly now was the time for Rachel and I to have a chat of our own and if Paul was clearing out to let us talk I was pretty sure that I would much rather be taking another punch from Sam

~BMR~

(BPOV)

"What are you watching?" I looked over at Emmett as I walked into the living room only to find the rest of the family making ready to leave. Dad was folding up his newspaper, Mom was picking up what I had come to think of as the property binder and Alice was pulling Jasper lightly from the room, the look on her face making me blush. Alice had never been good at hiding her amorous intent.

"Night of the Living Dead." Rose squeezed Emmett's shoulder as she walked out of the room, an exasperated expression on her face.

"Ya'll are just complaining cause you don't understand the charm of a good horror flick." Emmett was laughing as Zach walked into the room, a bowl of cereal in one hand and a page out of Esme's binder in the other.

"That's because you and Bella have a strange taste in entertainment." He handed me the paper and I glanced down at it. It was the details of a nicely appointed three bedroom town house in Madison Park, Seattle. "The realtor contacted Carlisle; the keys to the house will be ready to be picked up on Saturday morning. Esme suggest that we go up Friday night if you still want to come up with me for the weekend." He was purposely not looking at the television as the movies started and I knew that he would be out of the room as soon as we had had the discussion he wanted. Horror was not Zach's genre of choice.

"Of course I want to help you get settled in. Have you decided if you want to take spare furniture from here? If not I'll see if I can borrow the BMW so I don't have to worry about parking for the truck." I handed him back the prospectus. Alice and Jasper had bought the Seattle house about twenty years earlier as a place to go to get away from the rest of the family from time to time, but I was pretty sure it hadn't been used in the last decade.

"I'll talk to Carlisle and Esme about it Monday while you're at school." He shook his head.

"You guys gonna watch, or are you guys gonna just chatter away like a couple of old women?" Emmett snapped at us from the couch.

"You're still being pissy about this morning; you might want to try a different tact before you guys end up in another argument." Zach snapped at him before looking at me. "I've got a few things to do; you should probably try and make peace with your brother."

Zach didn't understand us at all. Emmett and I had yelled at each other, said what we needed to say and then let it go. I had walked away understanding that Emmett was just being his usual over protective self, he took my safety seriously and felt that I should be doing the same instead of flirting (his word not mine) with a wolf-pup and Emmett understood that I was going to make my own damned decisions where Jacob was concerned as long as the Quileute's were willing to be honest with my family in matters that concerned me.

"We still fighting?" My brother eyed me with a frown.

"Not last time I checked." I flopped down on the couch next to Emmett, half laying across the arm rest and using his leg as a foot rest as the opening scenes of his favorite zombie movie come to life in black and white on the screen. I had bought him both the original 1968 version and the 1990s remake for Christmas one year and we had never even bothered watching the remake. Despite the bad zombie make up and typically sixties acting, the original Romero direction was far superior to anything the franchise had come up with since.

I yawned, pulling one of the overstuffed couch cushions under my head and let my mind wander for a minute. Problem was that when my mind started to wander, it inevitably led me around in circles that all led to Jacob. It had only been a couple of hours since he had left to take care of the responsibilities he had but I already found myself missing him. He still had to meet with the Pack and the tribal council and I wasn't foolish enough to think that they couldn't stop him or change his resolve. All it would take was a simple refusal on their part and I didn't know where Dad would move us to this time.

I understood that things were complicated, that it wasn't just about two people trying to get to know each other. I had my family to think about and Jacob had so much more, he had to worry about his family, his Pack and his people. We were two very different people who had grown up very differently and I had no way of knowing how that would affect our potential relationship. God, why did I feel so lost?

"That was one hell of a sigh." Emmett's comment jerked me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I yawned and stretched.

"Your mind is off somewhere else." He said as the doorbell rang.

"Just thinking." I shrugged.

"Bella, your mutt's here." Rosalie said from the hallway and I sat up quickly enough to leave me with a slight head rush as she opened then closed the front door. Emmett's hand on my leg stopped me jumping off the couch as Rose led Jacob into the room. "They're watching stupid horror movies again, I'll get Carlisle."

I don't know why exactly I was shocked that Jacob was stood in my living room looking calm and relaxed dressed in dark jeans and a black t-shirt. I must have stared slack jawed for too long as my eyes swept over the lines and forms of muscle still visible under the fabric because the smile he had greeted me with quickly turned into a frown. His own eyes did a head to toe inventory that was much more practically minded and made me feel like he was looking for damage, his eyes lingering on Emmett's hand a moment longer than anywhere else.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I," I tugged my leg out of my brother's grasp and put both feet on the ground. "I guess I wasn't sure if the council really would allow you to come back here." He looked at Emmett again for a moment before giving me a tender look.

"I'd promised you I'd come." He said in a way that made it sound like it was just that simple.

"And the council?" I blushed feeling like I had been lightly rebuked for not trusting in his word in the first place.

"They have agreed with me that you and Zach should be treated the way that we would any other imprint, regardless of the unusual situation. Usually after one of the Pack imprints and tells her what's happened a member of the council goes and explains the situation to the imprint's family. I'm here to explain." Jacob said.

"They sent you because of my family." I tried to keep my tone neutral, but it still felt like an insult.

"The Alpha has a place on the council and it's usually him that goes to speak with the families. I might not be Alpha yet but with Sam leaving me in charge for the time being his duties fall on me and I did promise you I would come back and talk to Dr. Cullen." Jacob said seriously.

"Hello Mr. Black." My father offered Jacob a smile in greeting as he walked into the room with an arm around my mother's waist.

"Dr. Cullen, Mrs. Cullen." Jacob nodded to my parent somewhat formally. "I have come on behalf of my Pack and the Quileute Nation to discuss your ultimatum and the state of the Treaty."

"It sounds like we have a lot to discuss. How about we head to my office." Carlisle nodded and gave Esme a look that I couldn't quite decipher. The Jacob that was looking at my father appeared different than I had become used to seeing him, he looked the way that he had when he had shielded me from Sam or ordered his Pack to their jobs. He was hard lines and control, without any indication that he had any of the tenderness and thoughtfulness to him that he had always managed to show me, he was here as a representative of his people and his Pack and there was a pride that came with it.

"Let us know if you need anything." Esme took a step away from my father as I got to my feet. "Let the boy talk with your father." She said as I went to move in the direction that Carlisle and Jacob were headed in.

"Dad?" I didn't move but I looked between him and Jacob. Carlisle offered me a reassuring smile as he moved his head in such a way that I knew I was being told to stay put.

"It's alright." Jacob reached out; touching the back of my hand with his long fingers in what I was sure was meant to be a reassuring gesture. "I'll find you when we're done." And then they were gone and I was left to watch as Ben and Barbra did their best to turn the farm house they found into a refuge from the flesh eating zombies.

"Was that Jacob?" Zack walked quickly into the living room and looked around. I nodded. "Where are they?"

"Carlisle's study." Emmett told him, a trace of the grumpiness from earlier back in his voice. Zach turned and left, a moment later the office door opened and closed and I was left to sigh in frustration when it became clear that Zach hadn't been asked to leave the way that I had been told to stay put.

"Don't look so frustrated." Emmett rolled his eyes.

"Then don't look so damned pleased with yourself." I glared back and we fell into silence again each of us doing our best to convince the other that we were focusing on the television.

"Do you remember much about the first time you met Rose?" I asked a few minutes later.

"I was in a lot of pain, I was sure I was going to die. My whole memory of that moment is very hazy and very human, more like a dream really. I was only conscious for a moment when she brought me to Carlisle but I was sure she was an angel and my escort to the next life and I knew wherever she took me I'd go willingly." His voice got soft with a tenderness I recognized as the tone he usually took when he was talking about Rosalie and I couldn't help but smile.

I wanted that same sort of love. Was imprinting the answer to that desire? How far did the seemingly blind devotion that Jacob had shown me go and would that ultimately be satisfactory for both of us? So many questions that I didn't have answers to, and I was desperate for answers. Were those answers worth the price if it caused discord within my family? I was only seventeen; I couldn't start making whole life decisions. Could I?

"If you'd had a choice back then, humanity or her, would you have chosen differently?" The question was simple and one I had never thought of before and I suddenly wondered why I had never thought to ask. I knew that what Rose prized the most in the world was humanity and the life that it allowed and considered Emmett fate's way of trying to make up for what had been taken from her.

"Being a vampire isn't a curse for me like it is for Rose. She's apologized a thousand times for taking my choice away but she's never been able to understand that for me, it was a small price to pay in the end for eternity with her." Emmett was relaxing as he spoke. "Why?"

"Because as scared as I am of this whole imprinting thing, I think it's the same sort of deal. Sort of like love at first sight. You weren't much older than me when you turned and you said you would have followed Rose anywhere, how do you know that imprinting isn't the same thing?"

"What exactly are you saying?" Emmett turned so he was looking straight at me. At least we weren't fighting this time and he was actually listening to me.

"I wouldn't say that I'm in love exactly but there's a physicality to the imprint. I feel more myself when he's around than when he's not." I shrugged finally. "Kinda feels like I'm going crazy Em."

"You're not crazy." He growled. "I don't like the situation they've put you in and I don't trust them."

"Yeah, it's not the best situation to be in but it is my situation and I choose to deal with it instead of run away from it. Trust takes time to build right and you can't do that if you're constantly running away." I chewed on my lower lip.

"Maybe." He conceded.

"I'm sorry we fought this morning. I'm sorry I accused you of keeping me prisoner, it wasn't fair, I just can't stand the idea of living with the 'what ifs'." I scooted closer to him and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Is that why you went to him this morning?"

"I went because he needed me to." I shook my head and frowned. This is where the imprint got weird even for me let alone trying to explain the sudden feelings and emotions out loud to someone else. "He seems to know how I'm feeling, especially if I'm afraid but it's not a one sided thing, I can feel his emotions too, at least the strong ones. I knew he was there last night even before Rose described him to me and I knew that he needed to see me for himself because he knew I'd been dreaming and I had been afraid."

"It wasn't just him that needed to see you, was it?"

"No. I needed to see him too." I was honest.

He didn't say anything more after that and I didn't push for more conversation after he turned back to the television but he grabbed a cushion and handed it to me as I rested against his side. Trying to walk the minefield that had become my life was frustrating and there was so much that I was trying to puzzle out in my own head that it felt good to have a safe place to think for a moment.

I wondered what weird and crazy things imprinting would bring to the table. The way the headaches had ebbed and flowed throughout the week, the way I had known when he was close like there was a beacon meant to tell me where he was planted in the middle of his chest calling to me were as thrilling as they were frightening. Jacob seemed to pick up on the nuances of emotion in me where I only seemed to feel the heights of rage, or hurt or happiness in him and I couldn't help but wonder why that was.

If I concentrated hard enough it felt like I could reach inwardly to see the thread that was the imprint. I tucked a piece of hair that had fallen loose of my ponytail behind one ear. My imagination had conjured a solid string that was no thicker than a strand of dental floss, fragile and so easily broken. If it would be so easy to break it then why did it feel so strong and all consuming?

Jacob had let me know that this imprint was mine to accept or refuse and that the weight of that particular decision rested solitarily and heavily on my shoulders alone. He couldn't help me and make the decision because to him it was already made, written in fate. I thought that sort of connection would have been stronger, more like a thick steel cable rather than thin thread. It wouldn't take much to destroy the fragile connection, a word, a figurative snap of my fingers.

Alarm shot through my body that had the distinct signature that I had come to recognize as Jacob's emotions. I went ridged, Emmett's eyes snapped down to my face as the blood drained from it, his lips becoming thin lines of concern. It wasn't so much an actual word, more the impression of it, the feelings behind the word 'no', that reverberated between my ears but I knew that it wasn't my own thought process that had conjured the painful impression. I was suddenly pressing my palms to the side of my head, I didn't want to have those reverberations in my head and then they were gone leaving me trembling in the wake of the sudden feeling of silence and aloneness.

"What did I do?" I breathed suddenly feeling sick to my stomach. I tried to scramble to my feet and promptly caught my feet off each other.

"Jesus, Bella! Slow down." Emmett hissed practically in my ear as he wrapped a solid arm around my middle halting my pitch forward, the force of our combined movement causing the air to whoosh from my lungs.

The office door opened and slammed against the wall as Emmett set me on my feet, his hand lingering on my side as I pulled in short quick breaths trying to replace the oxygen that had been forced from my lungs and calm the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. There was a tight painful throb in my chest and I gasped, pressing my palm to my sternum as my eyes snapped up to meet eyes the color of onyx set into an anxious face.

"What happened?" Jacob froze in the doorway like we were separated by a pane of glass. We were being watched carefully, concern clear on Emmett and my father's faces while Zach looked more puzzled.

"I was just thinking." I gasped as another painful throb seemed to press against my ribcage like something inside me wanted to burst out of my chest in his direction. "Jake, I don't know what happened." I moved toward him. The minute I was within reach, he gathered me to his chest, moving both of us swiftly to the middle of the hallway in clear line of sight of the door. One long arm was pressing me firmly to him; while the other arm was around my shoulders, his hand cradling the back of my skull as his shoulders circled protectively around me and his head lowered so it was next to mine. I clung to him for a moment, trembling despite the fact that his unnatural warmth was seeping into my muscles promoting safety and relaxation. My hands gripped his t-shirt, his heart pounded furiously beneath my ear in perfect time with my own.

"You've shut me out completely." Jacob breathed.

"I don't know how." I trembled again and he clutched me a little tighter.

"What the fuck is happening now?" Zach snapped.

"I'd tell you if I knew!" Jacob exclaimed in a heavy breath, his grip on me still strong.

"If everyone would just calm down, I may have an explanation for what is going on." The tone of my father's voice made a shiver run down my spine.