Emily and I arrived at the bonfire in her backyard less than fifteen minutes later. I felt the pull of my imprint, the electricity of the spirits drawing me to Jacob, but I pushed it aside. Just being this close to him helped clear my head, like clouds parting on a rainy day, but it drove me insane at the same time. I got out of the car as Emily and I made our way out back. She made her way over to Sam, greeting him with a kiss as I made my way over to Leah, willing myself not to launch my body at Jacob who was leaning against a nearby tree, a leather jacket over his broad shoulders, a tight v-neck under it and a huge tear in the knee of his old blue jeans. "Hey," Leah greeted me warmly, shoving Seth onto the ground roughly so she could scooch over, making room for me. I snorted a laugh, settling myself next to her as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "How you been? I overheard Sam thinking about some drama coming your way. Drove Jacob crazy."
"I've been okay. I got through a couple seasons of Orange is the New Black," I grinned at her. She only shook her head at me.
"What's up, cracker jack?" I heard Paul shout. Before I could react his burly arm curled around my neck and pulled me into a headlock, his free hand coming to mess up my hair as I struggled against his grip.
"You're such an asshole!" I shouted at him as he rubbed his knuckles in my hair. As a last resort I jerked my elbow back, making satisfying contact with his groin. He let go of me with a pain yelp, glaring when I turned around to take in the sight of him bent at the waist, cradling his junk through his cargo shorts with both hands. Leah let out a laugh, holding her hand up for a high five which only made Paul's eyes narrow more. I grinned at him.
"Hey, you bring any cupcakes?" He asked hopefully.
"Nope. This was a last minute thing," I told him as he straightened up, frowning slightly. I shrugged in response. "Sorry."
"Think you can make me a batch? I mean, you did just break my dick. I probably won't be able to have kids now." he pointed out as I rolled my eyes.
"If you didn't fuck with my hair I wouldn't have done anything."
"Yeah, but still."
I sighed heavily, "Alright, I've had a lot of time on my hands recently. I'm sure I can make you a batch," I jerked away when Paul came to give me a hug, "Stay away from my hair. A thank you is enough."
"Awh, but I want to show you how thankful I am."
"I'll put exlax in them," I warned with an accusative point of my index finger. He took a step backwards, his hands up in surrender, "That's what I thought. Anyways, can you go get me a plate of food?" I smiled sweetly at him.
"I'll go get you one," I heard from diagonally from Leah and I. I turned my head to find Jacob pushing himself off of the tree and going to head towards the house.
"No, it's okay. I'm sure Paul is fine with it."
"Actually-" Paul started, but trailed off after I shot him a glare.
"Thank you anyways, Jacob," I said to him, watching him narrow his eyes at Paul, Leah and I before going and settling against his tree again, his hands starting to quiver. I swallowed a lump in my throat as Paul patted my shoulder gently and headed off into the house where Emily had the food set up. Leah placed a hand on my knee and gave me a comforting squeeze.
"I know Emily is all for you forgiving Jake, but from what I hear he's not been the best imprint in the world. Lying about the King Vampire bullshit and Nessie, denying the imprint and everything, it's fucked. Emily and I haven't been on the best terms lately and I'm definitely not her biggest fan, but she just wants you and Jake to stop hurting, you know? It's up to you, what you want to do, but if I was you I'd make him work for it," she whispered to me softly. I hoped Jacob didn't pick up on this over the chatter. "He's been especially shitty to you, and while I'm not sure if I'd call the imprint 'being stuck with him', I get how you feel. For Jake and all of us, it's normal, it's something that we've grown up with. Little girls dream about meeting their imprint, they fantasize about it. We have complete trust in our spirits and our Elders to guide us in the right direction in life. They know better than we do what's best for us. But you come from a completely different background. Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, you guys didn't have stuff like that, right?" I shook my head.
"We never talked about any of that in church," I said, thinking back to all the days Mom stuck Bella and I in dresses and walked us into the Catholic church. She pretended to ignore the stares of our fellow churchgoers as they judged us and the lack of a father with us. As I grew up I noticed more the whispers of the old ladies in the pews behind us. They used words like 'bastard', 'harlot', and other words that I didn't get at the time. They hated that Mom was divorced and hated even more that mom had Bella out of wedlock.
"I know you try to keep an open mind about it, but maybe not phrase it like that again, hm? The Spirits have a lot of practice in it, they've done good at is this far."
"How can you be okay with it after...you know, what they did to you?"
"My parents were imprints, did you know that?" I shrugged.
"I figured they were."
"Yeah. That's what keeps me going. Remembering how hopelessly in love they were with one another. It gives me hope. I know my imprint is out there. I just had to find him, I guess."
"How weird is it that our parents are like, together?" I asked her suddenly as she winced.
"Ugh, I came into the house today as caught them sucking faces in the kitchen. Honestly, they just got back for a three week fishing trip, you think they'd want to get away from each other for a couple of days and just be by themselves," I laughed at her.
"Your Mom has been coming over every night to make sure that we have food to eat," Leah smiles at me. "She makes really good food."
Paul came back after that, setting the plate on my lap and sitting down on the ground sideways, leaning against my legs. "So what's going on with these stone things you guys have found?" I asked, poking at a hot dog Paul put on my plate. I picked it up and handed it to him.
"You don't want it?"
"She's doesn't like hot dogs," Jacob said from over by his tree. Paul ignored him, staring at me as if I'd just beaten his cat with a 2x4.
"You don't like hot dogs?"
"Absolutely not."
"Why?"
"Do you even know what they're made of?"
"Ionno. Meat. Pork or something."
"Try horse and chicken scraps," I sniffed.
"Yum," Paul grinned, shoving half of the hot dog in his mouth. I wrinkled my nose up at him, flicking his head. "As far as the whole stone thing goes, we're not sure."
"We've picked up on a scent but it just leads us in circles. We're not even sure what it is. Everything is just kind of, I don't know, frozen in place."
"What, like Medusa?" I felt everyone's eyes on me at this point.
"Who?" Sam asked, untangling himself from Emily's arms and walking over to us, standing a yard away.
"Uh, Medusa, you know, snake hair and all?" They just stared blankly at me. "Oh, okay, uh, she's a uh, a Gorgon. She's got like, snake hair and one look at her can turn someone to stone. You have to like, cut off her head or something to kill her and then everyone will return to normal."
"What is it?"
"It's uh, Greek mythology. It's the only logical explanation I have. I guess is werewolves and vampires are a thing, maybe Gorgons are, too?" Sam nodded to me.
"I'm going to give Carlisle a call. Have him look into it. Maybe he can get in contact with one of his friends about it," he said, pulling his phone out of his cargo pants. "In the meantime, someone take Anja and the other imprints home, I want constant watch on the woods, see if you can separate some scents. I want this thing dead." I frowned slightly at the mention of going home, complying when Paul pulled me to my feet.
"I'll take you home," he told me. "Just let me ditch my clothing behind a bush and then you can come out."
"I'll take her, Paul." I turned to find Jacob standing behind me, his shoulders squared. "I brought the Rabbit with."
"It's alright-" I tried to tell him, but Jacob only shook his head.
"I've got her, Jake," Paul insisted, by Jacob's arm shot out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me back roughly. "Jacob. Stop. You're scaring her."
"She's my imprint," Jacob snarled at him, his hand shaking around my wrist. "I'll decide what's good for her and I've decided that it's good for her to come home in the Rabbit. With me."
"I'm not a possession, thank you. And I have a mind of my own. I'm perfectly capable of thinking for myself, thank you," I grumbled, pulling my arm towards my body. It didn't go far, thanks to Jacob.
"Paul," Sam roared. Paul winced instantly. His alpha voice. "Anja is Jacob's imprint. Not yours. I want you on patrol around first beach. Now." Paul just stared at him in response. "I said now, Paul. Go."
Paul sent me an apologetic look before he scurried off into the woods. The sound of ripping followed after that and I could hear his paws rustling the leaves as he went. I frowned slightly, glancing down at my feet, suddenly feeling like a prisoner. "Let's go," Jacob said, softly this time, not with the same tone he'd used with Paul. He moved his hand down to clasp my hand but I pulled away from him, shoving my hands in my pocket instead and following him to the car. He opened the door for me and let me get in, waiting for me to get situated before shutting it gently behind me and getting into the driver's seat.
I slumped against the door, a dull ache in my chest as Jacob started up the car and headed back towards town. Back to my house. I reminded myself throughout the awkward silence that I was almost home. Once I was there I had to see very little of Jacob, and that was what kept me going. "I'm sorry, you know," Jacob said from next to me. "For...for everything. Leah kind of gave me a bit of insight to what is going on with you and stuff, how I've been to you and I, uh...I haven't been the best imprint. And for what it's worth, you're right. We are stuck together, but I wouldn't really say it like that. I think there's better ways to put it," Jacob said softly. I turned my head, staring at him as he glanced from the road to my face. "Anja, please say something," he pleaded.
"Say what, Jacob? Say that everything is going to be fine? That everything is going to be sunshine and butterflies and rainbows? Everything sets you off, Jacob. I can't do anything without you jumping on me and yelling at me and getting angry. You keep things from me, important things, that usually involve my family." I turned to stare at the window again, ripping my hand away from him when I felt his fingers curl around mine. He let out a sigh as we pulled up to my house. I took off my seat belt and pushed the door open, only to have Jacob reach over and pull it shut again.
"Anja, please. You've been driving me insane the past few days. I can't do anything without you and it's driving me up the fucking wall. I miss you so much it's not even funny and it's only been a few days, I don't want to think about what will happen after a few more." I pulled my knees to my chest, staring down at my hands over my knees. "Please say something, Anja," I bit my lip in response, "Please, baby."
"I'll open up the window. Take your fucking car home and then you can come up. You sleep on top of the covers. When you leave for your patrol you don't come back until a normal hour. At that point, when you do come back, you and I will sit next to each other on the sofa and watch television. That's all you get."
"That's all I ask, Anja. I'm going to make it up to you, I promise."
"We'll see," I pushed the door open and got out of the car, slamming the door shut behind me and walking quickly into the house, no longer feeling safe outside.
So, I got a couple reviews and messages from you guys telling me that I shouldn't let Jacob get off so easily.
It was at this point I got rid of an entire chapter so I could implement that.
I don't know how long I can be mad at my favorite dog, but I'll do my best.
Thanks for all the love and support! x