CHAPTER 6

Emily and I started cleaning up the dinner mess while Jake and Sam went to the living room to call Alice.

"I'm sorry to bring the evening down like this Emily. I've had a really nice time tonight."

"It's fine Bella. Everything is so hard and uncertain right now, and some things just need to be dealt with whether they are convenient or not." She smiled at me and squeezed my shoulder. "If an agreement can be reached, Sam will figure it out. We all want you to be as safe as possible."

We had finished cleaning up and were sitting at the table, talking quietly, when we heard Sam hang up the phone. My stomach was in knots as we headed into the living room where the guys were to get the verdict.

Emily went to sit on the arm of Sam's chair, and I joined Jake on the couch. Both guys seemed tense, which didn't help my anxiety any. Jake put his arm around me as Sam spoke.

"So, it seems we have come to an arrangement with Alice. She agrees that she may not be able to take down the red-head all by herself, if it ever came to that, and wants to make sure you are protected, Bella."

I smiled and let out a small breath, some of the tension leaving my shoulders. I could tell Jake and Sam were still a little edgy though.

"What does your schedule look like this week Bella?" Sam asked.

"Besides school, I have to work Monday and Wednesday right after school and then again on Saturday morning."

"Okay," Sam continued, "since we haven't been patrolling the area for several days now, Alice is going to give you a ride to and from school and work, at least for tomorrow. You and Jake can work out when you'll come down to La Push, but just let Alice know because that will determine a lot of how this will work. So, once the plans are made, if anything changes you will need to make sure you are communicating with her and Jake, so we all can stay on the same page."

I nodded in understanding, and we came up with a plan for the week. On the days I worked, I would just go home after work and Alice would be at my house for the night. On the days I didn't work, I would go straight from school to Emily's house to spend the afternoon and evening. Basically, if I was home, Alice would be there with me, and if I wasn't home, she would be at her house. And based on where she and I were, would determine what patrol routes the pack would cover. They had even worked out certain times for Alice to go hunting.

When we were done planning, the guys left to go inform the rest of the pack and work out the details with them.

"I feel better," I said as Emily joined me on the couch, "though I still feel kinda guilty for asking them to do this."

"I think it's rather impressive you got them to work together with her. I may not understand your friendship with them, but I don't feel quite the same way about them as the guys do. Just knowing you makes me feel better about them… not that I want to strike up a friendship with them myself or anything." Emily laughed.

"Thanks Emily."

When the guys came back, Emily and I had been sharing stories from when we were growing up and we were laughing hysterically. My stories were mostly of all the trouble I'd get into because of my clumsiness. It was actually quite amazing that we were forming a friendship, since we were both fairly shy and reserved, but being with Emily is what I imagined having a sister would be like. Kind of like being with Alice, only more because Alice sometimes wasn't able to fully comprehend what it was to be human anymore.

The guys stood there watching us laugh for a few minutes and I noticed the expressions on their faces lighten as their moods improved from watching us. Both of them finally broke out in smiles and chuckled lightly, enjoying us having fun together.

"If you haven't already told Jake that one, you should." Emily said, still trying to catch her breath.

My face and belly hurt from smiling and laughing so much. "I don't think so. That one might be just for you… I don't think I have ever told anyone else that story before!"

"Well, now I really want to know," Jake said, as the guys sat down in the armchairs.

"Ummm… nope, sorry, I don't think so," I giggled and shook my head.

The rest of the evening was light-hearted and fun. I was sad when it was time to go, but I had school the next day and wanted to leave some time to spend with Alice before I needed to go to bed.

"I guess I'll see you on Tuesday, Emily," I said as we headed to the door.

"Oh, that reminds me," she said as she grabbed something off the table by the front door and handed it to me. "Here is a key to my house. I teach a late class sometimes, so you may beat me here on those days. I don't always lock the door with the guys coming and going so much, but this way you can always get in if you need to."

My eyebrows went up in surprise as I took the key from her. "Are you sure? I don't mind waiting on the porch for you."

"Nonsense," she said, "this way you can come here whenever you need to, even if it's unexpected and I'm not home. Think of it as your home away from home… us wolf-girls need to stick together." She smiled and gave me a knowing wink. "And here is my phone number. Feel free to call any time for any reason."

"Wow. Thank you so much Emily. I had such a great time tonight. We will need to do this again sometime soon!"

"I would love that," Emily said as she gave me a great big hug.

I went out to the porch where the guys were talking. Jake looked down at me. "You ready to go?"

"Yep," I replied.

We said our goodbyes and waved as Sam and Emily went back into the house.

When we reached the car, instead of opening my door, Jake turned me around to face him. He caressed my face and smiled down at me.

"I loved seeing you laugh like that tonight, Bella. I haven't seen this much light in your eyes since that first night we walked on the beach over a year ago, when I told you all our tribal stories."

"I haven't felt this free in a very long time… maybe never," I admitted. "And when I'm with you, Jake…" I placed my hand on his chest and looked deeply into his eyes. "I feel like I've found my home. I owe it all to you. You are the reason I can laugh and love again. You are the reason I don't hurt anymore. I love you, Jake."

The expression on his face changed as I spoke, and it caused my pulse to quicken.

"Oh Bella," he breathed, his voice husky and full of longing. He bent down to kiss me, pressing my back against the car, his body pressed up against mine. Suddenly he picked me up and set me on the trunk of the car, not breaking the kiss. His hands were on my back and in my hair as he pulled me closer, my knees straddling his hips.

This was so much more intense than anything I had ever experienced before, and the thought that maybe we should stop flitted through my mind, but I was so caught up in the newness of it all, it died before I could fully process it. This is what a real, breath-taking, toe-curling kiss was… and I loved it!

My hands found their way under the edge of Jake's shirt, then slid up his back, delighting in the feel of the strong sinewy muscles under his silky skin. Between the heat coming from Jake and the heat he caused to course through me, my body had become a roaring fire; my head was swimming and drawing breath had become a struggle.

Releasing my lips, Jake immediately trailed kisses along my jaw and down my neck, as I gasped for air. His hot breath caressed my skin and sent shivers through me. He stopped at the hollow of my neck and began kissing and nipping at the sensitive skin there, driving me crazy with pleasure. I was tingling and trembling all over. All coherent thoughts had left my mind, and I heard myself moan his name softly.

Jake growled quietly, his mouth returning suddenly to mine. He grabbed my hips to pull me closer, gently squeezing and sparking more fires in my belly. At the sound of my whimper against his lips, Jake sucked in a breath. He kept our bodies pressed together with a hand on my low back as the other skimmed down my thigh, grasping the crook of my knee and pulling my leg part way up against his side.

I lost all sense of time and space, desperately clinging to Jake as he continued to kiss me passionately, continuing to stoke the fire inside of me into an inferno, our bodies pressed so close. My desire for Jake was inexplicable and I had never experienced anything near this level of intensity. Barely able to breathe, I may have been reaching my limit.

In tune with me as always, Jake slowly eased his grip on my body and our kiss gradually became calmer and softer. His hands moved up to gently caress my face and neck, finally ending the kiss to press his forehead against mine while our breathing recovered. My head was still swimming, and I held on to him for support. He pulled me against his chest then, resting his cheek on top of my head. It was another little while before either of us spoke.

"Oh my gosh, Jake," I said, my breathing still a little ragged, "that was… I can't even think of a word to describe what that was." I still felt light-headed and tingly all over.

"I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry if that was too much Bella. It just felt so good to kiss you and touch you. I have wanted to for so long now, and your scent is positively intoxicating… I definitely let it get a little out of hand and had trouble stopping.

"I don't know if it was too much, but it was definitely more than I've ever experienced before. I'm not sure I really wanted you to stop though."

He pulled back enough to look down at me. "Yes, it was very intense and stopping was the right thing to do, whether we wanted to or not. I think we'll need to be especially careful not to let ourselves get carried away. I don't want to move too fast with you physically and risk messing anything up."

"I know, me neither." Without the threat of my life being in danger like it would have been with Edward, nothing was off-limits for me and Jake, except what we made off-limits. Even though this was only the first day of being an actual couple, there was so much connection between us already because of the friendship we shared, and the strength of our feelings for each other. Things had the potential to move way faster than we wanted if we didn't set some boundaries.

"So, I don't know what your feelings are about this," Jake said, "but I have always felt strongly about waiting for marriage to become intimate with someone. I know being physical too soon can ruin a relationship, and I don't want that to happen with us. I don't want anything to get in the way of what we have, Bella. How do you feel about it? Are you okay with holding off?"

I felt my cheeks heating as I considered the topic. Jake smiled gently at me and rubbed his thumb across my flushed cheek.

"I don't mean to embarrass you, honey. I just think it's important we talk about it before it becomes an issue."

"I know, you're totally right. I've honestly never given it too much thought. I've only had one other serious relationship, with Edward. This never came up, for obvious reasons, so I'll just follow your lead, Jake. If you feel strongly about waiting, then I'm completely fine with that. We can still kiss though… right?"

"Yes," he said with a laugh, "there is no way I can handle not being able to kiss you. I will obviously need to do a better job keeping myself in check, but this is the first time I've ever felt strongly enough about anyone for it to even be an issue. I promise you, Bella, I will always respect you and protect you in all ways, even from myself."

He gave me another soft, chaste kiss and sighed. "I guess I should be getting you home now."

He helped me down off the car and helped me climb inside. Once he was in, I angled myself toward him in my seat and just watched him as he drove, my head relaxed against the headrest. After a little while he felt my gaze and glanced over at me.

"What?" he asked softly.

I smiled. "Did you know you're sort of beautiful?" I was remembering when I said those words to him before, on the way to the hospital after the first day I crashed my motorcycle.

He grinned and reached over to take my hand, lacing our fingers together, remembering too. "A lot has changed since that day, huh?"

"Yes, it has… and I am so thankful those changes brought us to what we have now."

"Me too," Jake said quietly.

After just a few moments of silence, I spoke again. "I have a question for you."

"Okay." He gave me a curious look.

"Would it be possible for me to see you phase? Sometime when you're not running off to protect me? Or is that against the rules?"

"You want to see that? You wouldn't be scared?" He sounded surprised.

"Why would I be scared? It's still you, right? You aren't out of control as a wolf, just sometimes you have trouble keeping yourself from phasing? Am I wrong?"

"No, you're right." He smiled at me. "You really are something else, Bella. Yeah, I could show you that sometime."

"Oh, good!" I was excited to not only see him phase, but to get a better look at the wolf Jacob. It had become such a big part of who he was that I didn't want to miss out on knowing and understanding more about it.

"But you can't see me phase back to human form," he said suddenly, and there was a slight tinge of pink in his cheeks. Was he blushing?

"Why not?"

"Well, we don't magically have clothes on after taking our human form again."

My eyes got big, and I gasped, then laughed. He shot me a look of annoyance at my laughter. I tried to suppress it. "I'm sorry, Jake, I don't mean to laugh, but I never thought about that!" I was not doing a very good job quieting my amusement. "I guess it's a good thing you are all guys then."

He didn't say anything and got a weird look on his face. I was finally able to get my giggles under control.

"Jake, I'm really sorry I laughed. Please don't be upset, the thought just took me by surprise."

"It's not that, Bella," he said, then sighed. "We aren't supposed to say anything yet, but I don't want you to find out later and think I was trying to hide anything from you." He paused and glanced over at me. "It's just, we've had a couple more additions to the pack recently… and one of them is Leah Clearwater. It's totally unheard of for a girl to phase, but so is having a pack of eight! Except for the very first one, all the other packs have only been three at a time, and always males only."

I stared at him wide-eyed again, not sure how to respond to that. Finally, I just said, "Well, that's got to be awkward for all of you. Poor Leah… I'd imagine it's most awkward for her! And now having lost her dad…" I trailed off.

"You have no idea. There is a lot more going on than just having a girl in the pack, but it's much too long of a story for tonight."

"You said a pack of eight… who are the other two?"

"Quil for one."

"Oh no! I'm sorry Jake."

"Don't be! He's thrilled about it. And it's good to finally have him be a part, and to be able to share what has been going on with him. It was harder knowing it was coming, not being able to change it or explain it to him."

"Of course, Quil would be excited," I said rolling my eyes and Jake chuckled. "And who's the last?"

"Seth Clearwater, Leah's little brother."

"Oh wow! He's so young… isn't he like 14?" I was in shock.

"Yes, definitely one of the youngest in our histories to phase."

"I wonder what in the world caused them both to phase," I pondered, not really expecting an answer.

But Jake surprised me when he answered quietly. "Leah was arguing with her parents and phased right in front of them. Harry missed all the signs because he, like the rest of us, thought only male descendants would inherit the gene. That's what caused Harry to have his heart attack. And then Seth phased that same night because of all the turmoil going on around him. So, Sue is dealing with a lot right now."

I just sat there in stunned silence, not knowing what to say.

"The whole situation is pretty messed up," Jake continued. "Leah blames herself for Harry's death, even though there was nothing she did wrong. So, she's not handling anything very well right now. Just make sure you don't say anything to anyone about knowing."

"I won't," I promised, as we pulled up in front of my house. "Are you going to get in trouble for telling me?"

"No, it wasn't an order, but they aren't going to be super excited either. I just didn't want anything to potentially be a problem between us, Bella. You are way too important to me to risk that."

I smiled at him. "I appreciate your thoughtfulness Jake, but I trust you more than that."

He returned my smile, but just as quickly it faded into an almost scowl and his hands started trembling. He looked over his shoulder, out the window, and toward the trees, then turned back to me. "Alice is here."