Sorry to leave so long between updates but am starting my way back to normality. If anyone is still with me let me know what you think and thanks for sticking with this. Tink. xx

Gazing in awe at the squirming pink bundle I held in my arms, I felt a warm glow begin in the pit of my stomach and unfurl towards my heart. A huge pair of dark eyes regarded me with solemnity, holding all the secrets if the world and I felt oddly shaken inside. I smiled as she shifted, her tiny hand flailing and brushing against her cheek.

Fascinated I watched the way her mouth opened and she turned towards her hand, sucking earnestly. Everything about her enchanted me, from the delicate shell tipped nails to the shock of dark curls on her head. It was amazing to think that I had once been this small, this defenseless. Well maybe not as defenseless but still as small, though probably for not as long. The human and not so human body astounded me with what it was capable of.

"I wonder how long it will take her to figure out she's doing that for nothing," Jake rumbled in my ear as he settled onto the sofa beside me.

Glancing up at him I smiled, knowing he would see the tell tale mist of emotion in my eyes. He dropped a kiss on the top of my head and I smiled wider as I heard him inhale deeply, sniffing me. Now I knew what I was looking for, it amazed me that I had never before noticed his animalistic, possessive behavior around me. It said a lot about Jacob's feelings for me that he tried to curb his more feral…instincts.

I was instantly aware of the heat of his big body next to mine, his thigh pressed close to mine, his arm wrapped loosely around my shoulders. My own nostrils flared as I breathed deeply, inhaling his uniquely woodsy scent that was all male and all Jacob. Perhaps my own instincts were not as human as I would have myself believe, the vampire, though only a small part of me was never far from the surface.

I laughed, "She's so tiny, so fragile, I'm scared I'll break her."

"Babies are stronger than they look."

"God I hope so, it's the first time I've ever had to be aware of my own strength. I guess this is how my mom felt as a newborn…did Emily and Sam say how long they would be?"

"We've been here most of the morning so they should be back any minute… though I'm kinda surprised that Seth hasn't shown up yet, he usually has a hard time staying away from her…the imprint" he told me with a knowing look, his hand beginning to rub lazy circles against my skin.

"Do you want children Jacob?" My sudden question surprised even me.

"I want what you want," he replied and pressed a kiss atop my head.

Children.

I wasn't even sure I could have children. I hadn't given much though to it before but there was something so fulfilling about holding this little girl close to me, feeling her soft weight and inhaling her baby sweet scent. She just felt so right in my arms.

"I want you…the rest is just a bonus," I confided shyly and ducked my head.

"You got me babe," his voice was gruff with emotion, my eyes prickled in response.

"Have you spoken to Lee this morning?"

He shook his head "Not since last night,"

"Jacob, you shouldn't fight with her, we need everyone on the same side, especially now."

He huffed out a breath beside me, his chest expanding slowly and drawing my gaze. A tingle began inside me. One I now recognized and enjoyed. But I fought it down. It wasn't like I was exactly deprived in that area but every little thing he did seemed to set me off. All it took was a heated look, a single touch and I felt like I was going to melt into a puddle of goo.

I only hoped my desperation wasn't as tangible to him. From the corner of my eye I watched his nostrils flare slightly and I flushed, I knew he would be able to smell my need. Though I loved Jake in all his wolfy glory, his enhanced senses sometimes embarrassed me. The air around us became charged and my next words died on my tongue as I looked up into his eyes.

My head lifted automatically even as his lowered towards mine. Inside my heart sped up and my breath caught at his nearness, feeling the soft heated huff of his breath against my readily parted lips. He was so close I could almost taste him and just as I was about to, there was a startled wail from the bundle in my arms.

I let out a laugh as Jake pulled away from me, a frown crossing his face.

"Maybe kids can wait a few decades," he conceded with a wry look at the little girl I held.

I giggled, shifting the baby in my arms.

"You better not be corrupting her in there," a familiar voice called from the porch seconds before Sam appeared.

Jake held his hands up in defense "She's safe…for now," he finished on a whisper.

I flushed with pleasure and jiggled the baby a little quicker as her wails increased in volume and strength.

"You're a natural Ness, even Seth would have a hard time keeping her quiet for as long as you did," Emily grinned, taking the now squawking bundle from me.

Immediately my arms felt the loss. Jacob, sensing my mood, was at my side in an instant, his arms loose around my shoulder. He guided me from the room and onto the porch, his body was unusually tense next to me and he was quiet for a long minute.

"You okay?" he asked tentatively and I knew right then and there he was going.

"Yeah…you're going to patrol now aren't you?"

He nodded but was silent.

"We didn't really come here to watch the baby did we? We came here so Sam could watch me."

"Nessie…You know I can't leave you alone and I wont leave you with Leah, not again, not after last time…this seemed like the best option…please don't be difficult about this," his tone told me he was gearing up for a fight.

I touched a hand to his chest, loving his heat "It's okay Jacob…I understand, really I do, just promise me you'll come home safe…I haven't forgotten the state you got into last time,"

I didn't even like to think about it, I would drive myself mad. Seeing him broken, bloody and bruised gave me an insight into how Jacob must have felt when he saw the Volturi torturing me. It was an insight I could have done without.

"You worry too much Nessie… now kiss me, the quicker I go the quicker I can get back to you,"

I lifted my face for his kiss, smiling against his mouth, feeling our combined heart beats speed up. The affect he had on me never ceased to amaze me. His tongue dueled with mine, the hot taste of him invading my senses. He growled against me, his hands sliding down to cup my backside and lifted me against the hard length of him. Unable to stop myself I whimpered and pressed against him, feeling my wetness spreading slowly outward. I needed him, needed this so badly that I shook. I scraped my teeth over his tongue, loving the vibration of his low grunt against my lips and the buck of his hips on mine. For long seconds we kissed, breathing each other as air but then his caresses slowed and his mouth withdrew little by little, leaving me with small biting kisses which burned my soul. My lips lingered against his, unwilling and unable to let him go just yet.

Since the change in our relationship, every little movement, word or sound meant something new and exciting to us. This was the first time he had left me since acknowledging me as his imprint and somehow it seemed harder than before.

With a final gentle benediction of his lips against mine he stepped away from me with a reluctant expression. Instantly there was a faint pulling sensation in my tummy and the muscles in my legs shifted minutely as though preparing to follow him. Bracing myself against the need to pursue him, I watched him move, full of masculine grace and poise. My eyes misted. This man was mine; forever and I thanked whichever god was listening for giving him to me. If things went the way they were supposed to, never again need I be without him, he was mine forever and a day.

Seeing Nessie hold the baby unsettled something inside me, though I told her I wanted what she did, the idea of her round with my child was something that appealed to me on a very base level. Knowing that me and me alone could give Nessie that gift, the gift of another life, made me want to howl at the moon. It was the animal in me I supposed, the instinct to mate was never far from the surface but it had increased a hundred fold now Nessie and I were together.

I'd felt the heat shimmer between us in and knew she felt it too. The way she had loved me last night had literally rocked my world, the feeling was indescribable, to know that she wanted me in the same way I wanted her. After so long without release, her touches inflamed and me her nearness made me my gut clench and all the blood pool hotly inside me.

Leaving her was hard even now I felt the pull of the imprint, tugging at me, demanding I turn around and claim her, bury myself deep inside her and give us what we both wanted and need. Not knowing if I was coming back was harder. My lips had clung to hers and I had to force myself to go, to know she would be safe with Sam and Emily. They would never let anything happen to her.

By the time I had cleared the tree line, I had shifted and my nose was low to the floor. Immediately the scent of the rogue assaulted me but this time it was stronger and there was something familiar about it. Something I recognized but was unable to ignore called to me and I took off at a run, hearing the faint echoes of Quil and Embry behind me.

Last time I had tangled with it, I'd come home weaker but it wasn't going to be that way this time. Picking up my strides, I honed in on the scent, the miles slipping quickly away. I was doing this for Nessie, to keep her safe, to protect us all even though I knew I was probably walking into a trap. It was better to know what evil faced us than to be ignorant of an enemy.

Somewhere before the Canadian border, I realized the voices of my pack were silent and instinctively recognized the danger for what it was. There ahead of me stood the rogue wolf, it's teeth bared in a snarl. It was huge, larger than any of us and seemed to have increased in size since our last encounter. Its fur was a deep rich color much like my own, it's eyes trained on me. The weight of its stare tried to drag me down, the command in its growl trying to force my will. So this was to be it, a fight to dominate or die.

Nessie's face flashed before my eyes and I realized I was being faced with an impossible choice. Give myself over to him, or die trying. Either way I would lose.

Inside I heard her soft voice as she asked me to come back to her, reminding me of my promise as her imprint to protect but I was doing this for her, for all of us. If I didn't at least try, then there was no hope for any of us, it would be over before it had even begun.

My claws dug into the ground and my hunches lifted subtly as I bared my teeth in a growl, daring it to attack. Sensing my slightest movement, it rushed at me and I was knocked side ways, my teeth snapping at it trying to find purchase in all the fur. Pain shot through me, but I bit and clawed, trying to pull away, trying to get it on it's back. We tussled, growling and snarling, uprooting trees and sending rocks flying but neither would back down. All I heard was her, calling for me.

But gradually I became aware of another voice whispering inside my head, a familiar voice, one I had thought never to hear again.

"Give in to me Jacob…let go…I am the rightful alpha of your pack… Hear me and know who I am...I am Ephraim Black."

Impossible, my grandfather had died years ago. But still, here in the recess of my mind he whispered to me the legends of our tribe.

"I have been sent to save you, save our tribe from the evil undead which threatens it…you Jacob must relinquish all ties to those cold ones…it is the only way for our tribe to survive"

Nessie, Nessie, Nessie, Nessie, Nessie, Nessie.

The voice was achingly familiar and I felt the weight of his alpha commands pressing down on me. This had to be a trick, some trap; my grandfather had died long ago.

Nessie, Nessie, Nessie, Nessie. I chanted the words like a mantra in my head, anything to protect me from his will. My hold was slipping, his body and mind was overpowering my own and I renewed my chant, desperate now.

But still his voice came,

"Remember who you are and what we stand for…you are a Black, it is your duty to destroy the cold ones."

Nessie…Nessie… Nessie…

His words resonated around my skull, louder and louder, until his voice was all I heard. My body grew weaker still, my limbs unable to continue the fight, the acrid scent of my own blood filling the air.

Nessie… Nessie…

"Jacob, I am your alpha hear my voice and now the truth…you must join me, stay with me… in days to come when you are strong enough, we shall return together and destroy the Cold ones together…you alone have the power to save us all".

Time and time again, his words pressed into me, a weight around my neck, inside me.

Ness- what was I thinking about?

My mind grew hazy like my vision and I wanted to argue, he wasn't speaking the truth, the cold ones were no threat, were they?

"Son, you are our only hope…listen to my voice, hear my command, acknowledge me as your Alpha and be our savior, the fate of the Quileute nation rests with you."

I felt the weight of his alpha's chain around me, linking us together and heard the truth of his words. Ephraim Black was right; I and I alone could save us. He was the true Alpha of the tribe; I had been merely a steward of the role, a caretaker. I had no choice but to submit to him, it was my heritage my past, my present and my future. My tribe needed me know and I could not recall why I had wanted to fight against his will.

The cold ones had to die before they destroyed us all. It was all so clear to me now. The cold ones must die and I was one to deliver that message to the rest of our pack. In the distance I could hear the approaching footfalls of Quil and Embry, their voices curiously silent in my mind. I gave in knowing they too must face the truth. I rolled to the ground, baring my stomach, showing Ephraim my trust. He stood above me, howled and I knew what I had to do.