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Chapter 47

New Problems?

Jake

I wasn't really awake when I heard the voices of Mom and Edward. It was as if a weight had been lifted from my belly and subsequently let me fly while listening to the whispering voices of a distant dream ...

"... Order from Sam. But I found out for myself because Jacob had told me the legends long before he was a wolf himself. The same legends by which I knew what you are. He didn't believe in those stories himself that time, and then - after Sam's orders - pushed me to remember those stories," my mom explained calmly as I flew through the air.

I was getting cold.

"He could have just disobeyed the order, " I heard Edward say fairly close to me.

"It's not that simple with wolves. Sam was the alpha. No one CAN defy his orders. Not even Jacob, although it would actually have been his job to lead the pack."

"Why did he leave it to this Sam guy?"

"Sam was not only the first wolf of the pack, but also the oldest of them. He has been waiting for Jacob to join the pack to pass on that responsibility to him. But Jacob didn't feel ready for that. Besides, as the Alpha wolf, he would have had to leave me alone as Victoria kept showing up again and again. He didn't want to do that."

"Do you ever wish your ignorance back?" I thought I heard Edward, smirking.

"It would have saved me a lot of sleepless nights, but how long would that last?" mom seemed to sigh.

"With your curiosity? Not very long!"

I sank into an endless confusing dream about wolves. My own and foreign memories mixed with reality and with the usual nonsense of a dream.

Dream

I fought in Sam's pack. At my father's side.

However, I had no idea against whom.

In the end, the white wolf with brown eyes stood in front of me, talking or rather thinking something that I could not really understand, and blood dripped from a large wound on her head, over the fur, and colored it red.

Anxiously, I approached Leah, who slumped further and further and finally lay motionless on the ground.

My dad was standing behind her. Twice. As a human and as a wolf - and looked at me bitterly disappointed. He seemed to condemn me with his gaze.

Just before I reached Leah, however, something distracted me. Someone called out to me.

I followed the voice in the belief that help was waiting for me there ...

Dream end

"Jake ... Wake up!" I then heard Edward say softly and was instantly awake.

Damn. The night was over. But fortunately, with it also this dream.

"Thank you," I laid on my side and took the cup from him.

"For the wake-up or for the coffee?"

"Both!"

"Are you all right, Jake? You called for your father tonight," Edward then asked.

He sounded honestly concerned.

"Just a confusing dream," I waved it off. It really hadn't been anything more. Had Leah also dreamed something like that? Because apparently, I had not imagined these voices last evening. How else could I have gotten into my bed?

Edward however said that she had dreamed of Ben at some point.

Was that better or worse now? The day would be hard for her. The first time in months that she wasn't together with Ben. And she also still had to sit right in front of him in geography. I wouldn't want to change places with her.

Leah didn't feel like running today any more than I did. So, I remained sitting on my bed with the coffee and thought a little about yesterday.

I had flipped out. And had been so stupid about it. Ever since I had seen the two of them making out on Saturday morning, I had known that Edward and Mom would be together. Seeing the two of them like that didn't bother me either. Also yesterday at noon, when I thought I knew that the two of them were in bed together, I had wondered more than it really bothered me. Sex was part of it and my mom had a right to it. On the other hand, I just couldn't reconcile my mom and sex. With whomever. Just the thought that I was only in the world because Mom had had sex, I already found nasty. Mom was happy, that was simply undeniable and I was really happy that she was finally no longer alone.

But yesterday I had become aware of something that until then I had repressed, or simply ignored, or forgotten. In the midst of this vampire family, this realization had struck like lightning in my head and had kindled the fire in me. When Alice asked this quite harmless question, which I had almost answered myself, Edward's confession was again before my eyes.

'I will not go on living without Bella!' he had said in the bathroom on Wednesday. Mom was naturally pale, so it wasn't hard for me to imagine her becoming an equally cold and basically already dead bloodsucker. I had seen her sitting in front of me with lifeless eyes. With blood-red eyes like those in Seth's memories. A ruthless and bloodthirsty monster like the army that had killed Leah Clearwater, Quil Ateara, Jared Cameron, Embry Call and my father. I saw her destroy people as a newborn. Leah, Becky, and me. Because we were humans who had blood to quench her thirst. The fact that we were her children would not make her flinch. And Edward would make such a scourge of blood out of my mother so that he could live on forever with Mom. Our opinion on this - I suspected - was dismissed as completely beside the point and irrelevant.

I had wanted to destroy him, as I had sworn to myself exactly one week before! I had not wanted to hear what Leah said to me all. I also knowingly ignored Edward. Only when I saw Mom's living brown eyes condemning me - her son - did I realize what I had done up until that second. That I had not only attacked Edward, but also Leah. I thought he was going to kill me out of contempt after I saw how he was worried about Leah and Mom was unconscious too. Instead, he had only talked to me. Forgiving and understanding. I realized that he himself was afraid that my mother would ask him to change her. As she had done in the past. He explained to me his thoughts about it.

After he had slept with Samantha, he had actually thought about a relationship with her. Only theoretically, though. How easy it would be, plain and simple, if he had fallen in love with a vampiress and not a fragile human. But his heart belonged to Mom, something that would never change, and he would keep her heart alive - as long as he could.

In the end, he took away my reservations. If she became a vampire, like those in his family, I would continue to love her. She would never be a soulless monster to me! Meanwhile, I didn't care that he was a vampire, of all things. My punishment was just, even if it tormented me.

No matter what I thought, what my opinion was, I had to first ... not act like that, second ... never go against Leah, and third ... not kill my mom's boyfriend just like that.

But there was something that surprised me about yesterday's fight between Leah and myself.

She had made her opinion clear to me, but why hadn't she ordered me to leave Edward alone? She was the alpha. I would talk to her about it later.

Then when we arrived at the parking lot with Edward, I was a bit taken aback.

His siblings were already there and greeted us as warmly as if we were family. When Becky arrived shortly after, she was already running to meet me, and I her. She knew what kind of punishment I had been given, but I would take advantage of every second I could have with Becky.

And then Mike came.

I hadn't noticed him and found myself on the ground after a blow from nowhere.

Shit! What was the point of knowing a mind-reading vampire if one wasn't warned about this? Had Edward not seen this coming?

"Yes, I did, but you didn't hear me!" he helped me up from the ground

I smiled weakly.

Agreed, I hadn't noticed very much just now.

Brandon and Emmett were already standing with us.

"Tell me, what kind of moron are you to stab someone in the back without warning?" Emmett asked with gleeful sarcasm.

"That's just the way he is. He always picks the ones who don't have a chance now," Brandon explained to him quite casually.

"What do you want from me?" I then asked him.

I was pissed. He was wasting my precious time with Becky.

However, the principal came and Mike moved away then.

I looked at Edward, who seemed to be concentrating.

Apparently, he was still eavesdropping to see if Mike was planning any more attacks.

Only before second period, when I took Becky to music class, did he say anything about it.

But it was something different than I expected.

"Michael will probably not cause you any more major problems. The fact that your circle of friends has expanded because of us deters him from further attacks. He didn't take his friends warning from Friday seriously, but he is currently rethinking their statements and is willing to believe them now ... But you have a whole other problem. Brandon suspects something is wrong with you. Mike hit pretty good earlier and Brandon noticed how quickly you healed," he whispered warningly.

I had no idea what I could do about Bran in the long run. We were hurt all the time. He had been my best buddy since Elementary School. If there was anyone who knew everything about me besides Leah, then it was him. What I had not been up to with him! We had sneaked into the horror movies at the cinema, secretly hidden in the girls' locker room, taken a joyride in his father's car - without a driver's license, of course - his brother had taken us to a party where we had gotten wasted, the motorcycle ... Shit! Don't tell Mom about that! I then remembered who was probably really listening to me right now.

But he just shook his head with an indulgent smile before going into the classroom.

I was lucky. Hopefully, he also kept to it.

I took a deep breath and went into my classroom. My seat was diagonally in front of Bran. I swallowed.

Come on already, Jake. Nothing happened. Just relax. Act like your normal self.

"Have you already seen Ben today?" I then remembered. Leah actually had geography with him now, but I hadn't seen him yet. I was curious how he would behave towards Leah and me and especially whether he had kept his mouth shut.

Bran said no, but Lisa had probably seen him. She came only after the bell had already rung.

Hopefully, Leah weathered the hour.

"What's actually going on with Ben and Leah? She didn't say a word just now," Lisa then asked.

"Guess what. They're not together anymore."

"Don't say that. We didn't notice that at all," Bran whispered derisively.

"How was she doing yesterday then?" asked Lisa then sympathetically.

"Bad. What else," was all I said.

"And you?" asked Bran with a smug grin on his face.

I just looked at him with a raised eyebrow equally grinning and he knew what I was trying to say.

"Well, congratulations!" he whispered.

The rest of the class passed as usual. I didn't have the impression that Bran had noticed anything strange and soon forgot Edward's warning.

Leah appeared very composed during the next class. Ben had apparently ignored her completely. Even avoided looking at her.

Well, that was better than anything else he could have thought of.

Then I sat next to him in history itself.

He also ignored me and I just listened to the teacher telling something about Lincoln's 'Proclamation of the Emancipation of Slaves'.

On what day I had probably overheard that the Southern States had seceded from the United States. Well ... yes. A little bit of history I also knew that way, and I just felt totally grown up. At least until Becky smiled at me. That was it with history for today then again. Ben would probably no longer keep me up to date with the content of the lessons. So that meant then - more learning yet.

Later we got something to eat and went outside with the tray.

As long as I was only going to see Becky at school, we weren't going to be distracted by any high school dramas that were being discussed at our now rather crowded table.

We fed each other, kissed again and again. I played with her hair, she with mine. We could have sat like that forever.

And then Mike came. Again. But this time I noticed him in time.

I stood up as I stopped his fist with my palm, clasped his hand and twisted his arm behind his back.

I was careful not to break his arm, but that was all.

I was simply tired of it.

"Come too close to us again and you'll end up like your errand boys!" I threatened him with deadly seriousness and pushed him a few feet away from me.

"Someday I'll catch you alone. All on your own!" he warned back.

"You don't really want that!"

I imagined it.

With him alone. Without my power to control. I would have fun, but he wouldn't.

He disappeared and I sat back down with Becky.

"When will that stop?" she asked, annoyed, not expecting an answer.

I also asked myself that.

How long would it take? When would he give up? Maybe he really needed a real beating from me to realize that it was futile.

The rest of the school day was rather boring.

Leah was neither better nor worse. I talked with Edward in class, but there was nothing really worth mentioning. Even practice was boring today. Only strategy meetings in the adjoining room, so I couldn't even watch Becky.

Bran was very patient as he waited at his car to give me and Leah a ride. My goodbyes to Becky were very drawn out.

I didn't even want to think about the fact that I wouldn't see her again until tomorrow morning.

Almost fifteen hours!

But I promised to come over this evening as a wolf, if Leah would not betray me.

Bran saw us off at home and said he would come by later.

When we arrived in the kitchen, Mom was sitting on the countertop smooching Edward who was standing in front of her.

If you're doing well for once!

Leah and I both didn't want to see that today, so we adjourned to our rooms until dinner.

I also had to do homework at some point. So why not do it now?

The food tasted surprisingly good, for being cooked by a vampire.

'Under Mom's supervision, though, anyone can cook!' I thought, when I saw Edward's very pleased grin.

Then, when Alice and Jasper came to visit, Leah and I adjourned outside.

I had to let off some steam, so I turned on the headlight in front of the garage and drove the car down the driveway a bit. It was only ten meters or so, but I thought I could feel every single little horse under the hood of the BMW. Rosalie had picked up the Audi yet yesterday.

Basketball wasn't necessarily Leah's sport, but she was a more than worthy opponent.

Bran took her place when he came then and Leah went inside.

He also lacked training today. He had stress with Jenny.

We really worked up a sweat, fought for every point and gave each other nothing. But then we tripped over each other while fighting for the ball and I fell awkwardly on the hard tar. The back of my hand slid across the ground and scraped away my skin. Trying not to step on me Bran lost his balance and fell with his shoulder right on top of my hand.

A deafening crack could hardly be ignored. The brief pain of my bones breaking made me involuntarily cry out.

I cursed vociferously and slowly got up.

"Jake, are you okay? Let me see it!" Bran challenged me, but I just continued to hold my hand cursing.

He was not allowed to see how it looked now, because it would be like new again in a moment. I already knew the burning feeling of it healing, from my trips with Leah and from Mike's punches, and it had already set in. We were constantly scraping some fur off somewhere or getting cuts, especially under our paws, while running as wolves. My screaming should have the bloodsuckers in there hardly overheard, and Edward would surely want to know what my hand looked like to tell Mom how bad it was. Hiding from Brandon's eyes, I took a quick gaze at the back of the hand.

Ouch! That looked nasty.

"I just need some ice!" I downplayed the injury and - inwardly continuing to curse in pain - slowly walked towards the front door.

Bran followed, of course.

"Don't talk nonsense. I heard how it broke," he however insisted.

That's what I was afraid of. That was so loud, even the neighbors might have heard it.

Mom immediately stood up, grabbed an ice pack from the freezer, and impatiently went upstairs with me to the bathroom, where Edward was already waiting for me.

Leah teased Bran that this was typical for us and thus kept Bran from following.

The ice pack was probably just for Bran's eyes, as was the bandage Mom took from our medicine cabinet.

Edward carefully examined my hand. With his cold fingers, it actually did real good.

"How bad is it?" asked Mom restlessly.

Exaggerated, as befitting a mother.

"It's nothing," I immediately said.

"Two of the metacarpals are broken," Edward stated in contrast. "I'll have to set them so they'll set properly," he continued to murmur, and my alarmed eyes promptly lifted to his.

The last doctor who had said that to me gave me an anesthetic injection shortly afterwards so that the pain was - and I quote - 'bearable'! But somehow, I had the uneasy feeling that we would leave out the injection today.

Edward nodded cautiously.

Shit! ... Was that a fucking grin on his face? ... It got wider. So right to hit in. 'Just wait until I ...'

"Ahh ...!" I cried out and sank onto the edge of the bathtub, which I was now clinging to.

And Mom clung anxiously to Edward, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

The healing burning in my hand became stronger, hot, uncomfortable, and finally as if I were holding my hand in red-hot coals. I doubled over and clenched my other fist tightly together to somehow endure the pain.

Edward now as before kept his fingers right on the bones so that nothing shifted during the rapid knitting.

I was not sure whether that was true or he just wanted to annoy me. Shit, that hurt! But at least he wasn't grinning anymore.

"It's amazing how fast you heal," he wondered quietly after what felt like hours, but had apparently only been seven minutes.

The burning subsided and I watched my hand as the scraped skin regenerated and the wound closed. The fire was gone.

I moved my fingers, flexed my hand, but it now felt like nothing had happened.

Except that it was dirty from the road dirt and blood. Mom still looked worried now as before.

Well, that was her job as a mother, in a way.

"Wash up first before I put a bandage on you for Brandon," Edward instructed me.

Mom went back into the bedroom and slumped into the armchair with relief, as if she had endured the pain.

"She's your mother. She suffers with you, no matter how ridiculous you think that is," he admonished me.

I didn't think it was ridiculous, just kind of silly how she worried unnecessarily sometimes.

"From the way you were yelling, I'm lucky Carlisle put me to sleep yesterday," Leah remarked as she came up to us and took my hand to look at it.

Leah had definitely been more seriously injured yesterday - there was absolutely no question about that - and with that remark I felt a dull thud inside me. My sense of guilt. Ouch!

I finally turned around to the sink and washed my hands while Edward explained that he didn't have time to get an anesthetic shot from home. By the time he would have been back here with it, it would have already set back together. But crooked and lopsided, which is why he would have had to break my bones yet again.

I gulped at the thought, which seemed to amuse him. He smiled teasingly. The bandage was quickly applied and we went downstairs again.

Edward and Mom stayed upstairs.

Bran hadn't seen him yet, and he wanted to wait until I got him out of sight and into my room or back outside.

I had just come through the door into the living room when a ball threatened to fly into my face, which I only stopped at the last moment with both hands.

Shit! I couldn't have caught a ball with that injury.

Immediately I let go of the ball, it fell to the ground and I acted as if it had been an involuntary reaction that my hand did not like at all.

But apparently my acting talent was too bad. I must have inherited it from Mom.

Brandon was sitting on the arm of the armchair, piercing me with his gaze. A cold calculating smile on his lips.

"Well, start talking," he prompted me.

Thank you for reading!