The wolf spat the leech's head from its mouth and shook itself. A slight vibrating tremble ran down the wolf's back, and it shuddered before the skin slivered in on itself, leaving the heaving form of a man. Jacob's breath clouded around his face but he barely felt the cold. He knelt and meticulously dismembered the now-headless body. He wondered briefly about who the bloodsucker had been before its heart stopped cold. It was female; dark brown hair, pale skin, petite frame.
Bells.
He flinched away from the vacant face. It wasn't Bella, but it was hard not to see her everywhere. He blinked hard, firmly pushing the enticing memories into the back of his mind. She was still alive. But maybe tonight would be her last. She'd been so adamant about become one of them, of trading her humanity for monstrous immortality.
Not tonight. Please, honey, just wait.
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to hold the wave of panic back. He hadn't begged anyone for anything since he was nine years old when his mother died. But his mother's spirit guardian hadn't listened to his pleas, and he'd learned the hard way that begging makes you too damn vulnerable. But he'd done it again. For her. His Bells.
"I'm begging you, honey. Please," he'd held her tight before she shoved him away. There was still fight in her, like a spark dwindling in the drizzle of a steady rain. If only he could fan it into a flame, maybe she would— "Please, Bells, don't let them do this to you."
"What do want from me, Jake?" Her expression had cut like a knife. She was so scared he could smell it pouring off of her, and yet she fought him like an animal fights for its life.
"I want you to live," he said, hating the pleading edge in his voice. "I want you to choose me and fucking live."
"Goodbye, Jacob."
Her words were like a cold poison creeping through his body. Her choice suffocated him. He couldn't say anything, couldn't breathe, couldn't move. This was her choice, and he hated it. But that's the thing about choices; you can't make them for other people, and it's stupid to try.
Jacob shook off his memories and scanned the ravine, his eyes picking out an outcropping that would protect a fire from the wind. The sun was breaking through the trees by the time he'd managed to coax enough of a spark from two dry sticks, to burn the monster's remains to ashes. His heart sped up as the first warm rays melted over his skin. Please. Stay human for one more day. I need another day. Please. Just one more day. Sometimes he thought he was asking her. Other times he thought he was begging the spirits or even the filthy bloodsuckers. In the end it didn't matter. He would never stop begging for her life and—
Jake.
A broken breath tore out of him. "Bells."
He sat and rested his head in hands, until his heart stopped racing. 269 days.