Chapter 8- Melee? Mine!
Disclaimer: As awesome as it would be, I don't own any of these characters. They all come from the brilliant mind of Stephanie Meyer.
Summary: What happens when a wolf sees a certain girl in one's mind? Is it an imprint, or not? Will Jealously rear it's ugly head and blur the lines of friendship. Or will Understanding reign? ...And will Bella find her heart with a wolf that she never saw coming, or hush the call of Want, Love, and Trust? Rated M for violence, swearing, and future lemons.
Major thanks to taoist elf, Preetoaka Raven Potter Weasley and LilNewbornVamp for the never-ending support and reviews. It means more than I can say, and I love you all! Also to thanks to Iamtwilightobsessed, trockodile, and Dizzy4u for the continuingly awesome reviews. And to everyone else who reviewed. Your feedback means so much!
Jared POV:
I don't know how much time flies by- Minutes? Hours? That's at least what it feels like, but in a matter of seconds, Jacob lunges for me; pouncing and shoving me to the floor. I hear a loud thunk and immediately I notice Bella- My Bella, scampering backwards after hitting her head on the floor, as Sam yanks Jacob of me. My wolf springs into protective overdrive and now it's my turn to lunge for my packmate. Forearm against throat, his back to the wall, my anger boils over as I bare my canines.
"If you ever push her like that again, with so much as a fucking fingertip, I'll fucking end you!"
Jacob pushes me back. Damn him for being a fellow wolf. Stupid lupine strength!
Sam's bass bellows over the scene. "Outside.Now."
I'm pulled from my Brother before our alpha tugs him out of the back door. He nods his entreaty to me. "Jared."
"Be right there." I strangle out the words as I hoist my mate off of the floor and into my arms. Nuzzling her neck, I breathe in her scent. All ginger and jasmine. Bella…Mine! How dare he fucking touch her!
"Bella…" I manage to strangle out, trembling with rage, worry, and protective fury.
She holds me closer than I'd ever think possible, laying soft kisses along my pulse. "Shh..Shh..I'm okay. But I…I'm scared for you. Please don't go out there," she sobs into my neck, "I don't want you and Jake to fight. What if you get hurt?"
"I know…But I..I have to. Alpha's orders. "I pause for a moment, just breathing her in. "I'll be back."
Digging her fingernails into my biceps, as if she's clinging on for dear life, she pulls her face back a bit to look at me. A whimper passes her lips. "Nooo…"
"I'm sorry..So sorry. But I have to." In the background, I can hear Jacob's rampant flailing against a pine, Sam struggling to hold him back on his own.
"Jared! Get out here. You'll…You'll be back with Bella in a minute." The next voice I hear is the last one that the wolf wants to hear right now, and I growl instinctively.
"Please don't go." And I'm torn. Torn between my mate's plea, and my alpha's command.
"Cameron, out here now!"
Fucking alpha. Shit! "I'm so, so sorry…I don't want to go out there. But, I'll be back. Bella, I promise." It takes every ounce of strength in me, but I rip myself away from her, after leaving a short, but possessive kiss on her lips. She stumbles, trying to follow me out of the back door.
"No!" I turn harshly at her, and she winces. "Sweetie, please." Bella stops in her tracks, but looks like she's on the precipice of indecision. "I need you to stay inside. You could…You could get hu- hurt. Please stay inside." I know that my eyes must be conveying all of the pain and longing within my being, because she bites that beautiful lip of hers before slowly bobbing her head in agreement. I whip myself around and charge outside. The closer towards the tree line that I get, the more intense the ache within my chest becomes. My heart pound against my chest and ribs in warning. When I'm within five feet of my pack brother, he instantly ups the ante on his struggle against Sam's grip.
"You fucker! How could you take her away from me!"
"Take her away from you? I saw in your mind Jacob..And I'm so, so sorry..But she's not yours."
"Asshole! Who do you think she belongs to then, huh? I brought her back to herself after he left. Not you!"
I'm trying so hard to push my wolf back down, but it's almost to no avail. I can feel it there, dancing right below the surface of my russet skin. "She will never be yours, Jake. Bella's my imprint.Mine!" My lips peel back in a vicious snarl, as he finally pushes out of Sam's grasp and lunges for me once again.
"You fucker!" He punches my face, sending me to the ground for a moment. My ears register Bella's heavy, uneven breathing coming from inside, fogging up the window. Please, please stay inside. "You didn't! How could you?" Sam's trying to wrench him away from me again, but it doesn't work. Jacob's ferocity- his ire is too much. I manage to shove him off of me, landing a punch myself.
"Shit Jake! I didn't imprint on her on purpose. But she. Is. Mine." He throws me to the ground once more, landing punch after punch to my face. If it weren't for the wolf swimming within me, he'd have broken my nose by now, I'm sure. Haziness takes over as I strain against the blackout. Within moments, Bella's between my contender and myself. She crouches over me protectively.
"Jake! Stop! Don't you fucking hurt him!" As twisted as it is at a moment such as this, I laugh a little internally. Bella's cursing. Her soothing touch- a hand on my shoulder is all that I need before the darkness takes over. My mate. MINE!
The next thing that comes into my line of vision is the sun- No. The moonlight. Streaming through the blinds. Shit, what the fuck happened! Oh, god. Bella! I thrash about in sheets, sitting up far too abruptly and hitting my head on the wall behind Bella's headboard. Oh, fucking shit! What if something happened to her? I feel tears well up in my eyes. Suddenly, little warm arms encircle me. Oh, amour…
"I'm okay, Jared. Shh.." She soothes.
I hoist her onto my lap, so that she straddles me. Pulling her to my chest and holding her more tightly than I probably should. "I'm sorry. So, so sorry…"
"Jared…" I gently urge her face back from my shoulder, ravaging her mouth. Both of us panting as I pull away, I try to gather my thoughts, but it only turns into frantic rambling.
"What happened? Did Jacob hurt you? The fucker! I'll kill him if h-" She places a finger upon my lips.
"No, Jacob didn't hurt me. I'm sorry, I know that I should've stayed inside, but it hurt too much."
"That's the imprint. I didn't want to leave you in here, Bella. Please believe me."
"I know, I know..It's okay." She looks up at me. "After you blacked out, I went off on Jacob. I- I" she sobs, "I didn't want to do that to him. To hurt him…But he- he was hurting you, Jared. And he wouldn't stop. I'm not his property." Rubbing calming circles on her back, I implore her to continue. "I told him that I'm not his. That I never was. That he needed to leave. He looked so hurt and lost, and..I didn't even recognize him for a moment. He was so angry. But he didn't hurt me. I told him that I'd see him later, but that I'm your imprint and that he needed to leave. Paul came and got him to cooperate. That's when Sam brought you up here."
"Bella, he'll come around. He just needs time."
"I- I know..And I know that it sounds terrible of me, but right now..I don't care about Jacob. I'm worried about you."
"I'm okay, I promise. I'm fit as fiddle!" She lets out a breathy chuckle.
A few minutes pass, us just content to hold each other. But I know that I need to breach this topic again before it flees from my mind again.
"You know, " I rub her back again, and rock her slightly in my arms, "I meant what I said before."
"What do you mean?"
"Fuckward." She huffs. "I'm sorry, but that's what he is. You made your own decisions, but he wouldn't let you play them out. Always interfering, always controlling. He wouldn't even kiss you without you practically having to beg him. And if you fought him even the tiniest bit about it, he jumped the gun and did that shitty dazzling thing of his. That's not right. He messed up."
"What? Now..I know that he was wrong. But he didn't control me. He didn't!" She's not getting overtly angry, but her protesting the hurt that the fucker put her through and jumping out of my lap isn't doing my wolf- or the man, any favors right now.
I push up off of the bed. "Sweetie, he did. He fucked with you. Yes, you did decide things for yourself, but he never let you go through with them. Why can't you see that?"
"I do see that he was wrong. But what he did was for the bett-" She cuts herself off, choking on her own words. Damnit, Bella! You know.
Smacking my hand againt the wall by my face, and bracing myself on my forearm, I plead with her to see it, "Yes, Bella. Yes. He did try to control you. How can you honestly think that what he did to you was better? Do you think that you're not worthy of love? Well, fuck me, you are! You're strong, smart, loving, caring, beautiful. You are strong and he tried to force you to be weak." I grind out through my teeth.
"Who says that I'm strong?" Fuck me! "Damnit! Shit! You are! You need to see that…"
I storm out of her room, although it pains me more than words can say to do so. I yell up to her. "When you realize that- I'll be on the couch!"
I don't know how I managed it through my overwrought state, but sleep eventually finds me. Sometime in the night, I'm not sure when, I feel a small body snuggle up to my side. Instinctively, I pull her closer. Gazing down at her, I can tell that she's been crying. Her eyes, red and splotchy, but still beautiful. Her face slightly puffy, and when she speaks, it exits her mouth in a rasp.
"Oh, petit amour, please don't cry.." I brush a strand of stray hair out of her face.
"Look…Jared. I'm sorry. It's just hard for me to not get defensive about him. I know- I know that you're…Right. But it just still hurts sometimes, ya know? When you say those things it makes me feel…realize that I let him do that to me. But it hurts because I feel like then, with him, that it was false love, all a fake. Being lied to, well, it sucks, and I guess that I don't want to admit to myself that it might not have been love with..With Ed- Edward."
I growl at his name, but smile at her warmly. "Sweetie, I know..It's just, I want you to see. You need to see it. You're so much stronger than you give yourself credit for."
She kisses me softly. It's plainly evident that she's tired from thought beyond belief, but she whispers a hoarse "Thank you." Soon her breathing becomes slow and steady, and I know that she's found Sleeper Town.
I think aloud to my invisible Brother. "Jake, please don't make it harder on her than it has to be. You fuck with her, your ass is grass. Got it? "
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Chapter 8 Playlist:
1. "Cool The Engines" -Boston
2. "I Ruin Dreams Not Nightmares" -Breathe Carolina
3. "Riot Radio" -The Dead 60s
4. "Out Of Time" -A Day To Remember
5. "Juturna" -Circa Survive
6. "Lazarus" -Circa Survive
7. "Lover" -Devendra Banhart
8. "Last Rose Of Summer/Walking In The Air" -Chloe Agnew
9. "Nothing Else Matters" -Metallica
10. "Contender" -The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
11. "Aetheral" -Augury
12. "O'er Hell And Hide" -Baroness
13. "Plastic Stars" -Freezepop
14. "Same Old Thing" -The Black Keys
15. "On The Radio" -Regina Spektor