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Chapter 72

The Rupture


Jake


Dying is peaceful! At least that's what I had always thought. I felt exactly how the pains fought a relentless battle with my body. Well, I no longer felt any pain myself, but the restlessness and exertion that came from it tugged at me. So, Carlisle's miracle drug had worked. Yeah! Should I really be happy now that I went into the hereafter without suffering? Because I had no doubt about it at all. Everything around me was dark and I heard only a subliminal noise. Besides, I had seen my father before it went black. My biological father. Jacob Black. But what he had told me didn't really sound like I was about to die. So, I would have to wait and see if anything else would happen ...

This pain had been so cruel, the blackness enveloping me seemed like a release. Yes, I thought, that's how it would stay. Maybe it was silly to have experienced that moment of my breakdown like that. Exaggerated. Hadn't Leah fared much worse when I attacked her at Carlisle and the others? After all, she had been hit full on the head. Maybe I was a sissy. I don't give a shit! I was obviously back! I didn't know how much time had passed when I thought I could distinguish my limbs from each other again. This feeling could best be compared to sore muscles. Nothing really hurt, but it appeared as if my bones and muscles still had to sort themselves out.

When I opened my eyes with difficulty, I saw two more and less worried faces above me.

"Jake. Thank God!" my mother sighed, visibly upset.

"Well? Slept in?" Leah teased me, almost grinning.

In response, I just stuck my tongue out at her. She still held out her arm to me, with the help of which I sat up.

"Jake, my boy!" I looked into my grandfather's face.

How long has he been here? And Emily was standing right behind him? Oh, yes. We had a visitor from La Push, I remembered. It was clear that Seth had not come alone. In doing so, I remembered ...

"Where is Seth?" I asked.

"Edward took him to Carlisle. He appears to be seriously injured. On the top of his spine would not stop bleeding. He must have been in incredible pain, but he didn't say anything ... Edward hasn't contacted yet," Mom explained to me worriedly.

"Edward took care of both of you until he noticed something was wrong with Seth," Emily added.

I startled, put my hands in front of my face for a moment, and let them continue to drive through my hair.

Ouch! Something cracked in my right shoulder, but it was already over. What had happened to make Seth have to go to Carlisle? How badly was he hurt? How was the fight against him going on after I didn't noticed anything? How long had that been, anyway?

"How long was I unconscious?"

Emily gazed at her watch.

"Almost three hours."

"Three hours that those bloodsuckers had time to torture and kill Seth!" Billy suddenly cursed.

Startled, I raised my head and looked at him in shock.

Where did he get that idea?

"Billy!" objected Emily vehemently. "You don't believe that! You saw how Edward cared for them both, and was afraid for them."

"And what about his threat!" persisted Billy stubbornly.

Uh ...? Threat?

"Edward told Billy that he would throw him out the door if he didn't behave properly toward me," Mom said in response to my quizzical expression.

"And then your mom went after me the same way!" Billy continued cursing, looking at my mom condescendingly.

At this gaze from Billy to my mom - pure contempt - I made a decision. Billy was my grandfather and his opinion weighed heavily in La Push, but he would never change his position.

I stood up from the sofa - still a bit cautiously - and somehow tied the blanket around me. I walked towards Billy.

"And I'm telling you the same thing!" I stated firmly. "If you insult Mom in any way, I'll throw you out, wheelchair and all!" I followed up.

Indeed, Leah stood on the other side of the sofa, but positioned herself just as determinedly.

Emily nodded affirmatively at us in the background.

Billy's face turned chalky white and he looked at us in turn. Shocked, until his expression changed to disproportionately disappointed.

I didn't know how Leah felt about that gaze, but it didn't touch me. Not anymore.

"If your father only knew ..." Billy muttered to himself.

"Are you then so sure that our father would have the same stubborn opinion as you? ... Don't you think he wouldn't care what Edward is if he could see how happy we all are by having him with us? Do you really think that Jacob Black would not be able to reconsider his view and give all these vampires a chance? ..." I tried to explain calmly, but I was loudly interrupted.

"He is your enemy!"

"He's our father!" both Leah and I shouted at him energetically at the same time, which left Billy speechless.

"I'm going to take a shower," I murmured to Mom after a quiet moment.

I had to calm down. The best way to do that without Becky's help was to take a cold shower. Besides, there was still blood on my skin, even if someone had apparently tried to wipe it off.

I hurried and afterwards stood somewhat indecisively in front of my closet.

This constant dressing and undressing because of the transformations was already a bit annoying. I didn't want to keep shredding my clothes, even if Edward's credit card would allow me to clothe myself anew every day. The card alone was already awesome. The super-rich weren't even paying with just plastic anymore. No. The card was made of titanium! And black to boot! But I hadn't used it yet and also wanted to avoid it as much as possible in the future. After all, my demand for an allowance had only been a joke. I saw it as a card for emergencies.


Edward had called while I was in the shower.

Mom was speaking to him when I returned to the room.

Carlisle was apparently sure that everything had gone well. Seth was still unconscious from the anesthesia, he said, and Edward wanted to wait until he woke up in any case, but that might take a while because of the dosage.

I cast a glance at Billy.

I'd love to know what he was thinking right now! As stuck as his opinion was, he probably believed Seth was already dead.

"Let's drive there!" I suggested accordingly.

Everyone looked at me in amazement.

I casually threw myself on the couch as I explained my thoughts.

"Seth doesn't know any of them - except Edward. And that's only in passing, too. Would be nice, however, if he saw more than one familiar face when he woke up. Also, Billy would then see that Seth was actually alive and not tortured to death, which he certainly assumes."

I heard Edward's agreement on the other side of the line. Together with the claim that I should ride in the car and not run over as a wolf.

I shook my head and Mom passed it on like that. Afterwards, she held the phone out to me, confident of victory.

"Dad!" I said immediately, without thinking about it.

Yes, I had already called him that. Once. But that had been something different than now. Last week I had only wanted to tell him that he, who would always be there, was better to me as a stepfather than David, who only came to visit for a few days every three months. Edward was our mother's man and he was good for her. But also us. I liked him quite a bit and agreed with him as a stepfather. It just felt complete with him at our home. He joked around with us, helped us with our homework when we were stuck on our own, also reprimanded us sometimes, took care of us. He just behaved like any other father probably did and Leah and I were very happy with that. Mom, too, of course. But out there in the woods, something had changed in me. He was no longer just my mom's man, with whom I was also satisfied. He protected us. Above all. He was there when I needed him most. Out there, he had become my real father. And Jacob Black had made me realize that.

I smiled.

I knew Leah had already felt that way for a while. Ever since she had spent that one English lesson with Edward before school whereby, she realized she didn't love Ben anymore. When I pronounced that little word, though, my grandpa looked at me like I had just died to him.

I paid no attention to him.

The stubborn buck could think what he wanted.

"Jake! Are you all right? Are you still in pain? What about your shoulder? ..." asked Edward without taking a breath.

Not that he needs air ...

"Sure, everything's like new!" I replied calmly.

"You're still taking it easy though, Jake! No more phasing today!"

"That won't be possible," I grinned, turning to Leah, who I'm sure already knew I wanted to see what I'd missed.

She grinned at me the same way.

I also wanted to show her how I had seen our biological father. Even if it was pure imagination, of which I was unfortunately convinced, I wanted to let her participate in it.

"Jake! No!" he sounded angry now. "You letting Leah show you the rest of it can wait until tomorrow!"

I paused, took the phone off my ear and viewed it for a moment.

Could now Edward also already hear our thoughts over the phone? ... No. He only knew us too well. That would also be even nicer! I thought indignantly.

"I want to show her something too!" I then said seriously.

"Jake ..." he seemed to want to keep grumbling, but I just hung up.

Mom put a hand over her mouth in exaggerated shock and scowled playedly at me.

"He'll be upset with you for that!" she noted.

I nodded, walked towards her and took my mother in my arms.

"I'm fine, mom. Absolutely nothing hurts ... I'm going to run with Leah," so to speak, I asked her for permission to defy Edward's order. However, I wasn't sure I would stick with it even if she insisted I ride in the car too.

She looked at me examiningly and exchanged a gaze with Emily. Then she nodded and I gave her a kiss on the forehead.

Reluctantly, I helped stow Billy and the wheelchair in the Audi - Mom didn't dare handle the BMW. Then they drove off.

By the way, the phone had been ringing almost continuously.

I took out my cell phone and only texted him:

Too late.

The ringing stopped and I grinned.

We went to the garage, undressed, and tied my clothes to my ankle.

I hardly noticed the fire of the transformation. I knew it well and controlling it was child's play by now. But this time it was as if a painful lightning bolt drove through my body for a fraction of a second. I staggered the first few steps and was already considering if I should listen better to Edward. But after a few more seconds everything was back to normal.

'You won't tell him that!' I threatened my sister in my thoughts, and we ran off.


We had time. By car it took almost half an hour to get to Carlisle, but on foot it took us only a few minutes.

Therefore, I decided to run to Becky's. I had asked her not to come here today because we didn't know how it would go with our visit.

Not far from her house at the edge of the forest, I phased back and got dressed again.

As I said, it could be quite annoying.

"Hi, Jake. Becky's upstairs," her mother opened the door for me.

I immediately ran up the stairs. I paused briefly in front of her door.

I heard muffled music behind it.

Quietly, I opened and cautiously peered through the crack.

She jumped - with headphones over her ears - wildly through her room. She seemed to be trying to clean up, but was interrupted when she sang along to a passage with something in her hand as a microphone substitute - right now it was a hairbrush. And her voice was really good. I could have watched her like that forever.

She flinched in fright when she saw me however, but immediately jumped into my arms.

We lay together on her bed - fully dressed! - while I told her an abbreviated version of the day so far.

She questioned how badly a wolf had to be injured and how, if it didn't heal on its own. A question I had already been asking myself all along, because Leah hadn't shown me the replay yet. Fear was clearly audible from Becky's question.

"Don't be afraid for me. Who would really want to hurt me here anyway? Leah must have hit Seth just right to hurt him so badly. Maybe he would have been put back together without Carlisle," I tried to ease her fears, but in truth I really didn't know.

Afterwards we stood with her mother in the kitchen.

Participated in some small talk.

"Can I stay with Jake today?" asked Becky then out of nowhere.

Well. For her mother it was as if out of nowhere. That was the only reason we had gone down so quickly.

I suppressed a smirk as Mrs. Young gasped barely noticeably and nearly dropped a glass. She eyed us - or rather me - for a long moment before finally agreeing.

Becky had also only dared to ask her so directly because her father was away camping with her little brother. Her mother was much more relaxed. One could see that already in the tattoos, of which Becky's father knew nothing.

Quickly Becky packed a backpack and off we went.

Undress again.


Leah had long since arrived at Edward's, as I saw through her thoughts, and Mom and the others were also there.

Apparently Billy and Emily were with Seth whether he was already awake or not.

Edward, Mom, and Leah were in another room with Alice, Emmett, and Rose. They didn't want to overwhelm Seth if he opened his eyes. Leah was lying in the middle as a wolf, while Edward was nervously pacing back and forth.

'You see! Told you he was fine,' Leah thought to Edward, who immediately calmed down a bit.

I mentally rolled my eyes.

'Of course I'm fine! What else? Now don't you start getting like Mom, worrying about every little scratch.'

"That was a little more than a harmless scratch!" said Edward sternly to Leah, no doubt meaning me.

It occurred to me that I still didn't know what I had missed.

So, Leah started showing it to me ...

I swallowed dryly.

It was me! I had hurt Seth. My shoulder also looked pretty nasty. It was really more than just a scratch. So, I didn't have to wonder now why I had staggered after taking the first few strides earlier ...

"WHAT?" cursed Edward so violently that I ducked inside.

'Oops ... But it was only for a short moment', I defended myself mentally. 'After a few strides everything was back to normal and after I picked up Becky there was no difference to otherwise.'

Edward drove his hand nervously through his hair, but finally nodded.

Leah also showed me how Seth had already apologized to her in his thoughts and the actual reason for his intransigence. Edward added what he had heard in Seth's thoughts, while we were verbally beaten up by him.

I stood still in the middle of the forest when I realized that I - together with Leah - was the alpha.

That Seth had dome it only for the fact that Leah - or in the end we both – needed to claim our birthright. He had never wanted to fight against us. We only needed to free our will from his authority. But Leah and I had only recognized in every little movement of the sand-colored wolf our enemy.

I shook my head and kept running when Becky asked me why I had stood still.

Then I showed Leah and Edward what I had experienced earlier.

I saw everything as if in slow motion.


Flashback


Leah jumped at Seth with her mouth wide open, and I dragged him to the ground by the back of his neck with my muzzle. Just as he had held Leah only seconds before. He snapped with his own maul unrestrainedly in all directions. One of its paws broke free and now waved through the air just as uncontrollably. And just at the moment when Leah was close enough, this aimlessly angry paw hit her and pushed its fangs against my shoulder. Cut through the fur, easily penetrated the skin, and bored millimeter by millimeter into my flesh until they met the resistance of my bones. But also, this was no reason for the sharp tusks not to follow their further movement.

I thought I was going to explode from the inside as the bones gave way and shattered under Leah's teeth.

In the affect I had in Seth's neck no longer only his fur between my teeth, but my jaw pressed further together, reached the spine and bit just as brutally as Leah at my shoulder, before I stemmed myself on my hind legs.

I reeled and howled in pain and everything spun before my eyes. The power over my wolf slipped away from me when I also was human again and fell back.

I felt arms that caught me and continued to hold me. And I knew to whom they belonged.

I screamed like a banshee; it was hardly bearable. I fought against the pain that seemed to take my breath away. But then I saw dark smoke in front of my eyes and my screams died away.

"Jake!" it whispered from that smoke, which slowly turned into a face.

The outlines became clearer and I recognized my father. Jacob Black.

"Keep breathing calmly. You mustn't tense up. Everything will be fine, my son ..." he whispered, but I didn't obey.

I was confused and convulsed myself together.

What was I going to say to my father if I ever met him? I had often imagined it, especially in the past three weeks. I had so many questions for him, so many things I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him that Mom was fine.

But he continued to speak.

"Save your strength, Jake. I know all the things you want to say, but I already know everything. I have always been with you and watched over you. I'm sorry you had to grow up without me, but the worst is behind you now. You're not a child anymore, Jake. You are a man and together with your sister you proved today what you have become. True greatness is shown only when one has to fight for something and you were ready to risk your lives to defend your family. Only people who have true courage do that. You are strong and clever. Never let anyone or anything oppress you. I couldn't be prouder of you than I am right now ... I love you, Jake ... But now let yourself go, son ... Don't keep fighting the pain ..."

I felt a gentle hand wipe my hair from my face, rest against my neck, and finally rest on my chest. The face dissolved again into wisps of smoke that swayed through the air. I followed the dark mist with my eyes and when it was no longer visible, I saw Edward looking anxiously down at me.

"Let yourself go, Jake ... Your father will take care of you because he loves you like I do," was the last thing I heard from Jacob Black.

"Dad?" I was still mumbling.

I didn't want him to go away. My father should not leave me alone.

"I'm here, Jake!" spoke Edward ...

No. My father would stay forever. He was there. He held me. Right now, he was holding me in his arms. I was in safety.

I relaxed completely ... and everything went black around me.


Flashback end


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