*A/N: Aah, Long weekends are great. :-) Happy belated 4th of July!

I wrote the chapter this way for a specific reason, leaving some details of imprinting out. The pack in my story doesn't know as much about imprinting as they did in SM's story. So a lot of the stuff is a 'best guess' scenario and I go deeper into detail in later chapters.

Yes, Jacob did imprint on Bella, but that doesn't mean I'm going to make it easy for these two to be together. My feeling is that imprinting is a lot like nature & puberty; it hits you whether you are ready for it or not.

Thanks to all my reviewers, commentators, and questions. They made me so happy. Please continue.

Chapter Summary: Jacob has just stumbled onto an unforeseen situation within his new-found family, but still doesn't understand the significance beyond meaning that he has a life long bond with a very good friend. Jacob and Bella truly have no idea of the risks involved, the feelings that may occur, or the hurt that infatuation has them bounded to. Jacob almost loses focus on the more important things and Bella remains fastened to Edward's memory, hoping one day he may return, however unlikely that may be. One brief moment fast-tracks these two friends forward, leaving immaturity & their pasts behind them.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Eclipse is still my favorite book, and TL & Jacob are my favorite natural whores. TY Nirvana.

Chapter VII Title: 'In Bloom,' by Nirvana

(JPOV)

Focus, Jake. Focus, I pleaded with myself. My haunches were shaking, my breaths were stuck right between gasps of air and small choking fits, and my heart…my heart was soaring. Everything felt good. Everything seemed whole. I started to pant from excitement when Embry's voice pricked into my mind like a rose's thorn.

Calm down, Embry begged. You have to stay calm. Just stay calm—

You idiot! He's already in wolf form! Paul bellowed. We calm down so that we DON'T phase!

Embry looked hurt. You're the idiot, Paul—

Everyone shut up! Sam's voice cut through everyone's thoughts. The leech is close. Jacob, I will explain later. Right now you need to pay attention.

Explain? Explain what? My paws were still moving in a gentle rhythm, but my thoughts were jumbled all together. My chest ached and my eyes burned, but I felt liberated. I saw Bella. I looked into her eyes and saw that she was okay. She hadn't been broken all over again like with Cullen. At least not completely.

Yeah, I guess you didn't mean as much to her as the bloodsucker, Paul thought cruelly.

I ignored Paul as best I could, but my thoughts began to haunt me with what I had just done to Bella in the field. What did I do? I yelled at her. I roared at her like an animal! I cried out, but it came out like a loud moan. I felt my pack getting aggravated because of my lack of focus on the important task at hand. I knew there was a vampire lurking somewhere; I could smell him, but I had to let it out. As free as my body was feeling, I now suffered from my emotions being caged. Bella hates me. She wasn't broken over me, but I know she hates me.

You did what you had to do to get her to move. Sam's voice was urgent, She wouldn't have ran otherwise. It was for her own good.

Don't baby him, Paul groaned. The "vampire girl" would have deserved to get bit. That's what she gets for messing with them. Too bad our "resident snitch" had to give away our position first.

I seethed in my anger. Paul was going to make me attack him. Screw the leech. That parasite was going to hurt her!

The vampire was on our land, Paul, Embry's voice called from somewhere behind us, but it just sounded like a kid wanting to play with the big boys. He had been chasing her since the cliff, so we would have had to attack him anyway. I don't think he's a Cullen though.

It doesn't matter! I barked. I don't care what anyone says—he was going in for the kill! I wasn't going to wait for him to bite her!

Paul grinned, if you could call it that. It was more like I could hear the beaming in his voice. How is that our problem, really? If she loves them so much, she should have gone with them. Did you see how she looked when the bloodsuckers first left her? What a mess! And you daydreaming about the life that you two had before you became a wolf isn't doing anyone of us any favors. Paul continued to sneer. That girl will run you to the end of your rope, after she's finished collaring you.

(APOV) Author's point of view

Jacob turned to snap at Paul when Paul's silver mane suddenly got caught—between two pale hands. Paul grunted loudly and the sweet sickly smell overpowered Jacob's relief at seeing Bella again and was replaced with an urgency to protect and defend. The vampire's snarls egged Jacob on to confrontation. The leech wouldn't let go of Paul, but he couldn't crush him either. The vampire would need all of his strength in case Jacob decided to jump on him for the attack.

The pack circled the immediate surrounding area, but the vampire knew they would. He had been counting on it. He only needed to take out one or two of the wolves at the most. The others would be so broken up that they wouldn't have the fight left to chase him down.

Jacob jumped suddenly and caught the vampire's rock hard shoulder inbetween his teeth. Skin tore, sounding like sheet metal and nails. Jacob felt his stomach lurch at the horrible taste, but his saliva made him look more vicious. It made him look rabid.

"Leech!" He barked.

Two monsters. Two supernatural beings were battling on the field. The vampire continued to circle, using Paul as a shield; Jacob lunged this way and that way to try and get the vampire to drop his pack mate first, before he attacked again. Jacob wouldn't hurt Paul, but Paul wasn't putting up a fight trying to get loose. Paul seemed to have gone limp. He was useless.

Jacob taunted Paul, All that trash talk and you can't even defend yourself from this bloodsucker?

Paul yipped as the vampire's grip tightened around his body and Jacob used that opportunity to leap once more; at the same time, Sam's black coat hit the vampire's leg. Sam caught the leg's hard flesh and ripped it from its owner, while Jacob turned his muzzle, sinking his teeth into half of the creature's face. Jacob's hind legs hit the grassy earth as he landed, but he kept his hold on the vampire, twisting around to rip off the head while he kept his front paws on the intruding parasite's back for leverage.

Embry and Jared joined in to tear off another two limbs from the vampire's torso. Sam went to check on Paul, who was sitting off to the side, seething in rage at his inability to defend himself. Paul loathed being a liability to the pack more than anything else.

(JPOV)

I did my best not to breathe more than I had to. If I took a chance at breathing, I would have to swallow eventually, and I couldn't risk it. The leech's flesh had tasted worse than anything else I ever had before. His hard crystallized skin rubbed on my tongue, agitating my gums and the roof of my mouth. It felt like pieces of glass stuck in between my teeth, forcing me to spit, chew, and gag at least a dozen times more before I trusted the taste of it not to follow down my throat. The stench was almost as bad as the taste; the sick, but horrid smell of cleaning solution, bleachy, bled in the air, making my eyes water.

My mouth yawned, but I wasn't tired. The attack was too quick, I muttered to myself. It had been almost too easy.

Not for Paul, Embry joked.

Paul flew toward Embry in a rage. Without thinking, I slammed my russet-colored body into Paul's and he bounced off me, hitting a nearby tree. The shaking tree had a large impression, as if a small crane had hit it in an attempt to knock it down with one sloppy blow. Paul always did do everything half-assed.

Get out of my way! A roar escaped Paul's mouth and I grinned a little. I had only been phasing for about a week or so, but I was already way ahead of Paul. I was almost his size even. My coat shined in the few patches of sunlight that reached the forest floor and Paul's silver fur looked mangy, dirty, and unkempt.

I can get you groomed at the pet store, you know. Playing with leeches does nothing for your coat. It doesn't have that polish—

I said get out of my way, Black! Paul repeated.

I just saved your life, I threw in his face. If you hadn't been teasing me about Bella—

Just because you imprinted on the leech-lover doesn't mean that everyone in this pack gets to be her new pet! You still shouldn't have made our presence known until after we were all sure that he was going in for the kill! I'm not risking my life to protect your imprint!

I roared, I said that he was going to hurt her! And she's my WHAT?

Sit down! Both of you! Our Alpha's voice loudly commanded.

The earth even felt different between my toes. The air sent goose bumps through my fur. What the hell is an imprint? I asked.

Fate choosing who you love for a price, is what it is. Imprinting is some bullshit that gives a dame the power to decide whether you get to bone her or be her "big brother" for the rest of your life. In dog years, of course, Paul added bitterly. He laid with his back on the floor, stomach and throat exposed for Sam.

I actually had better control and I couldn't be that submissive so easily. I just tilted my ears back and sat on my hindquarters. Paul was always trying to prove that he was the better "pup."

Sam wasn't impressed by the display anyway. Paul, knock it off, Sam continued. Jacob, an imprint is like finding a reason to exist for another person almost. Sometimes it means love and other times it doesn't. All it really means is that you were destined to be entwined with this person, in their life. No more and no less.

That sound like love at first sight bullshit, Jared coughed.

My pulse raced. I tried to get up, but Sam had yet to lift the injunction. My hind legs would not cooperate and stayed folded under me though my upper body bounced in anticipation. I had to see Bella. I had to tell her. So Bella's my true love? I knew it! I knew—

No, Jacob. That's not what it means. You can only tell or give her what she needs at the time. Sam hung his head down. You'll have to wait.

My ears slumped even lower. Wait for what?

She'll have to decide for herself what she wants from you, at all times. And that's really all you can do. Sam held his stare. It's not an excuse to get laid.

I know that! I yapped and then I lowered my voice. So she decides what we will become together? What if she wants to leave me? I had to understand. I just had to understand.

Then she'll leave you.

But you can't survive without your imprint! Isn't that what the legends say? Isn't that the point of finding your soul mate?

Sam scoffed; it was unlike him. That's a myth. You won't die, but it may feel like it. Your humanity is lost without your imprint. Still, an imprint has to always be given the choice or she's not really an imprint. She becomes a conquest. Sam added softly, You can't be equal with your conquest.

She's never been a conquest for me. I won't give up. How will I know what to give her even if she doesn't know? I asked.

You don't. But if it's really your fate to be together—

Paul's voice cut in. His heart is in the hands of a selfish, parasite-loving, hormonal girl? That's just perfect.

I hushed Paul with an angry growl.

Don't talk about her like that! I grumbled.

Just because you have a new haircut and some new muscles, you think you're so god damn irresistible? Paul snickered. Face it, that vamp still has you beat.

My mouth twitched as I briefly thought of separating Paul's bottom jaw from his mouth, but Sam intervened before my thoughts could get worse.

They were destined to be together in some way, but not necessarily romantic. That's all. There's nothing more to say about it. You'll just have to wait it out. Your heart may have heaved and time may have stopped when you saw her, but you're still only her friend now. You protected her by getting her to run home and you have to protect her now, from this new threat. Or are you forgetting just how you found out about your bond to her? Sam questioned. Burn the remains of the leech, he ordered Jared and Embry.

Sam silently lifted the injunction and I got to my feet. He was right. This was not the time to figure out if Bella and I were going to be romantically involved one day.

But I had to keep hoping. I was feeling something and this would explain everything. Why I was never able to stop thinking about her. Why I always felt the need to be around her. Why I seemed to be the only one that could have made her happy. I was her soul mate. I knew I was. And I would tell her tonight.

An imprint doesn't work that way. You can't demand what you want and expect to be given it.

But she can demand what she wants from me! I whined.

It's different. You can't lie to your imprint, but you have to do your best to protect her at all times. You can't go against fate or time and tell her something she is not ready to hear or something she doesn't really want to hear. You'll have no choice but to oblige her. It'll be what she wants and not what you want, Sam reasoned.

I still think it's a way for a chick to break his heart, Jared piped in. I don't believe it. Fate can't tell me who to love, who can be my friend, and all that shit. It's garbage.

Aww, Jakey's in love. Now life makes sense again, Paul finally rolled over to stand on his four feet. I wanted to knock him back down.

Careful, I warned. Another leech could be walking by.

Enough! I hear noises. It's coming from the Atearas'. Sam heightened his ears and Jared used his sight to catch commotion on the reservation, a few miles down the hill. It's Quil. He might phase soon. I can hear his voice getting louder with his grandfather. A few hours at the most.

Embry ran to Sam's side. We need to go to him now then.

No. Sam turned to face us. We still have land to protect. The Cullens are no longer here and—Jacob!

I growled at the mention of the Cullens' name.

That's enough. Jacob and Jared, you two run patrol over our lands. Paul, you patrol the mountains. I'll cover the rest. Embry, you watch for Quil. If anything happens, we'll decide who to send back to help, Sam ordered.

I shook my head. I need to see Bella. I need to see if she's all right.

After patrol.

NOW! I insisted.

After. Sam was calm. She's fine. You can see her after patrol. Give a few hours and then leave at ten if you so desire.

Paul was enraged. Why does he get—

She's his imprint. He needs to see her.

But even the leeches left her—

Sam turned to Paul and bared his teeth. We felt Paul's anger slip and change to concern for his placement in the pack. Even Jared whined and nudged Paul by his backside to shut him up and keep him moving.

Sam then looked at me. Do I need to make it an order for you too? After you finish patrolling, you may go.

My eyes widened as a reflex, but I had no intention of arguing. My limits had been tested enough.

*A/N: I'm leaving for Cancun, Mexico with some friends next week for vacation, but I will try to post two more chapters before I leave. I will definitely get one more chapter in. If I can't get any more than one chapter in, I'll double the chapters when I get back.

You'll have me till then. In the mean time, please continue to Read, Review, Recommend.