I am lucky enough to have this chap beta'd by the super-amazing Leelator! I can't thank her enough for her amazing ideas and insight, as well as her thorough knowledge of dialogue vs action tags! Thank you Lee!

Chapter 16 – You Give me Fever

BPOV

Four days. It was four days since the dance, and four days since I saw or heard from Jacob. Embry called the night of the dance and told me that Jacob was delirious with fever, but otherwise all right.

When I asked Billy to see if there was anything I could do, he was adamant that I stay far away to prevent me from catching whatever it was that Jake had. In all likelihood I was exposed already. I was positive that Jacob needed me—Billy couldn't make soup at all! When I voiced my complaint to Charlie, he told me that Emily was making sure Jacob was well fed. Sam had suffered a similar fever a few months ago.

I was morose and robotic at school; my concern for Jake had me thoroughly distracted. Mr. Berty called on me in English, and I didn't even hear the question. I had no idea what we were discussing. Fortunately, Edward whispered the answer to me, which I quietly repeated, and Mr. Berty continued his lesson. I gathered my things automatically as the bell rang.

"Bella, are you okay?" I felt Edward's cool hand lift my chin up so I would be forced to look him in the eye.

"Yeah, thanks for the answer, Edward. I'm just a little distracted. Jacob is pretty sick, and I haven't heard from him in awhile." We walked together to our next class.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked. I laughed humourlessly.

"Not unless you have some magic cure-all that will give me immunity to disease." Edward's head jerked and a look I couldn't identify passed over his face. He caught me staring and quickly rearranged his features.

"Nope, no magic cure alls here." He chuckled. "I can, however, offer you a study partner for our upcoming test in Espanol." Edward's grasp of the language was enviable. I never made Spanish words sound—well—Spanish. Also, I had forgotten all about our quiz.

"When is that? Tomorrow? Blargh." I sighed.

"Blargh?" Edward asked. His eyebrow was raised in confusion.

"You know, blargh. That noise your mouth makes when you don't like something and it stays open a little too long?" I showed him in slow motion, deliberately left my tongue out and to the side and crossed my eyes to emphasize my point. I uncrossed my eyes to find Edward staring at me.

"Honestly, Bella, I must say that in my whole life, I have never met anyone quite like you." He leaned towards me and, as I inhaled, I felt slightly dizzy.

"Er ... " what was I saying? I took another breath to compose myself, and shook my head. "Maybe you should get out more, go see the world. You really haven't lived very long." Edward paused a beat, looked at me incredulously, and then broke out laughing. Loudly. He laughed harder than I had ever seen him. "Um, okay," I mumbled, interrupting his laugh fest. He ignored my comment.

"So revision session after school?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's probably for the best." I needed all the help I could get. "Will Alice want to come as well?"

"Um, no," he stammered. "She, uh, studied this weekend. It'll just be you and me." He shyly looked at me through his eyelashes.

Uh-oh. I recognized that look. Eric Yorkie was constantly gazing at me. Although I had zero experience with boys in Arizona, I began to quickly understand what certain stares meant in Forks, even if I didn't acknowledge them.

"Okay, so two friends cramming after school. Sounds like a plan to me." I discreetly glanced up from my book to make sure he understood me. Nothing about his features changed, so I wasn't hopeful he got my hint.

The day dragged on.

After last bell, Edward appeared at my locker, seemingly from thin air. I jumped when he cleared his throat.

"Hey, I gave Alice my keys so she can get home. Can I ride with you to your place?" He leaned against the locker next to mine, looking like a model in a Teen Vogue ad. Jessica Stanley walked by and gave me a questioning look, before she signalled for me to call her later. Only Jessica could turn a study session into some kind of gossipy intrigue.

"Yeah, that's cool, as long as you don't make fun of the old girl." I hefted my bag over my shoulder and turned towards the parking lot. I saw the taillights of Edward's Volvo leave the parking lot, just as we reached my truck. After I climbed in, I reached across to open the passenger door. "Remember to be nice because she's old enough to be your car's grandma."

I backed out and headed for the highway while Edward grimaced and sat unbelievable still. It didn't even look like he was breathing. He cracked the window on his side and seemed to relax a little.

"Oh, she's not that bad. You're a little snobby about cars, aren't you?" I harrumphed and focused my eyes back on the road.

"I'm not a snob. I was just thinking that Rosalie would probably like to get her hands on this thing." He gave me his crooked half smile and winked.

"Sure, sure." I laughed, but stopped abruptly. The simple line I picked up from Jacob brought the ache of missing him back to the forefront of my mind. I hoped he was okay. Edward seemed to sense where my thoughts were, and was characteristically quiet for the duration of the ride. He appeared to grow agitated as we approached the driveway, but I stopped paying attention to him the second I saw Jacob standing in front of my house with Embry and Sam.

I don't even remember parking the truck or opening my door. I just flew towards Jake, and jumped into his waiting arms.

Peppering his face with kisses, I noted he still felt quite warm.

Suddenly Jake stiffened, and his eyes narrowed when he glanced at my truck. Edward closed the passenger door, and was carrying both of our schoolbags. A confident smile spread over his face as he approached the house.

"Hello, Jacob. Nice to see you again." He nodded at us, and I was abruptly Jacob was holding me up while my legs were wrapped around his waist. I tried to get down, but Jake held onto me even tighter.

"What's he doing here?" Jake growled.

JPOV

"I'm fine!"

"Jake, please just lis—" I glared at Embry and cut him off.

"No, you listen, Embry. I'm going to see her today. I've been going crazy with worry about her, and need to see her."

"But, Sam thinks—" He tried to continue.

"I don't give a flying fuck what Sam thinks may or may not happen. You can't keep me from her." I could feel the wolf clawing at me, trying to escape; it wanted to attack Embry and force him to quit arguing, but I wouldn't let it go. I needed to stay in control to prove my point.

We both turned as we heard Sam's footsteps along the path to my garage.

"Are you really so willing to jeopardize her safety?" he asked quietly. I looked up and saw the pain in his eyes. I hated seeing Sam when he was like that. It was so easy to look past the pain and see the shame and self-loathing he had for harming Emily.

"I could never hurt her." I whispered. "Please," I begged, sinking to my knees. "I need to see her."

"Will you let us go with you?" Embry turned to help me off the ground.

I nodded emphatically, willing to concede almost anything at that point if it meant I could see Bella.

She would be getting out of school soon. If we left now, we'd arrive just before she got home. We loaded into Sam's truck, and he drove the familiar path to her house. After a few minutes of sitting the porch, I heard the loud rumbling of what could only be Bella's truck.

I stood as she pulled into the driveway and had eyes only for her. She leapt from the truck and came crashing towards me, kissing me all over. The moment she touched me, I felt calmer than I had in the past four days.

I sensed Sam and Embry tense behind me, but ignored them as I basked in Bella's presence. When she and I were like this, I knew I could never hurt her. I inhaled deeply, wanting to savour her scent, but something was wrong. She smelled sickly sweet. Finally I allowed my senses to expand past my Bella bubble and saw what made Sam and Embry anxious.

That fucking leech was grinning cockily at us as he strolled from the truck to the porch carrying Bella's bag. My Bella's bag. And my Bella reeked like him.

"Hello, Jacob. Nice to see you again." He nodded and added too quietly for Bella to hear, "I've been looking after Bella while you've been ... away." I felt Bella struggle in my arms, but I just held onto her tighter. If our brief reunion showed me anything, it was that her touch soothed the beast within me. I would undoubtedly phase as the bloodsucker taunted me if I let her down. For the safety of my people, I had to keep his disgusting secret. But I was pissed.

"What's he doing here?" I growled at Bella. I meant to scare the vamp, but Bella thought I was snarling at her.

"Excuse me?" She rounded on me and beat me with her tiny fists, demanding I release her. Bella didn't get mad often, but when she did, it was enough to frighten the Chief. And he owned lots of guns.

"I'm worried sick over you for four days, and the first thing you say to me is that?" Her voice was going higher with each word, and her face was a violent plum colour. "Jacob Black you were brought up better than that. Billy would never tolerate that kind of rude behaviour." She lectured me waving her hands wildly in all directions.

"In this case he might." I heard Embry whisper to Sam. It sounded like he was laughing. The stupid leech even had a smirk on his face.

"Edward is here to help me study for my Spanish test tomorrow, since I was so worried about you all weekend I forgot about it." She poked me in the chest with every word she spat out at me. "Now, please apologize to my friend for your rude behaviour." She stood with her arms crossed over her chest looking at me expectantly.

"Sorry," I started and then whispered "leech," at non-human levels. He looked amused despite my derogatory remark towards him.

Bella fished her key out of her pocket and passed it to Edward.

"I'm so sorry for all of this. The kitchen is on the left when you walk in the house. Do you mind setting up while I finish here?" she asked him gently. He looked scandalized in front of her and agreed to take their things inside. When she turned her back to look at me, his face went from sombre to cocky again. Bastard.

"Guess she's mine for the rest of the night, pup," he stated before turning to the house. Bella, of course, heard nothing. Meanwhile, he walked into her house like he owned it and made a big production of setting up their books in the kitchen.

I looked to Sam for any indication that I could either tell Bella or phase and rip the bloodsucker to shreds. Sam merely gazed back at me as if to say, "Hey, you wanted to do this." I would be having words later with both Sam and my father. I'm sure the treaty never meant to include my girlfriend.

"Jacob." Bella's voice brought me out of my planned conversations. "I'm glad you seem to be feeling much better, but I think it's best if you go home now. You should call me later tonight when you've cooled off." When I've cooled off? I've never had my ass handed to me so badly by either of my parents, and I was the one that needed to cool off? Sam and Embry were barely containing their laughter.

I reached to pull her into a hug, and she allowed it.

"So sorry Bells," I breathed into her ear. I felt her relax into my embrace as I leaned down to kiss her forehead, but had to hold my breath as she still reeked like vamp. Our eyes locked, and I knew I was already forgiven. Bella's temper was like a violent tornado. It could come on in an instant, it was terrifying, but once it waned, you were safe for the time being.

"I know you didn't mean it, Jake. It was so out of character for you." Her tiny hand reached up to caress my cheek, and she ran her fingers through my now shortened hair. I saw the look of surprise as she really looked at me for the first time since my transformation. I leaned down and closed my eyes and she ran her hands all over my face, turning my head carefully to examine my new haircut.

"Your hair," was all she whispered. She sounded hurt? Disappointed? Girl emotions were hard.

"The fever," I managed to blurt out. She looked at me, confusion all over her face. "I'm told it got in the way during my fever, so Emily cut it off." I was a terrible liar at the best of times and found it nearly impossible to lie to Bella. How was I going to pull off being a wolf around her?

"The fever." She nodded. "You're still warm. You should be in bed Jacob." She looked back at the house and sighed, rubbing her face anxiously. "I'm sorry about before, Jake. I was just so worried. Ask Charlie, I've been running a little tense all weekend." She laughed humourlessly.

"No, baby, you were right. I was rude, and shouldn't have taken it out on you. Please forgive me, Bells?" I gave her my best puppy dog eyes, which I thought would be much more authentic since I was part wolf.

She pulled me in for a deep kiss.

"Already forgiven." She smiled sweetly at me and then looked back to the house again. "I guess I should go study. Edward is waiting. I'll call later tonight, okay? But get some rest until then." She looked over my shoulder to Sam and Embry. "I'm holding you two responsible to make sure Jake gets into bed. Is that clear?" She pointed directly at them, and they suddenly stopped snickering, stood up straighter, and nodded in agreement with Bella.

She reluctantly turned and headed to the house. She hesitated at the front door before going inside to the arrogant bloodsucker waiting for her.

Sam motioned for us climb into his truck, but I was shocked that he was so ready to leave Bella at the mercy of the leech in her kitchen. There was no way was I deserting her.

He whispered, "We have to at least look like we left, or Bella will get suspicious." Oh. That made sense. "Jake, we'll drop you off around the corner, and then you can double back through the tree line. Embry and I will drive to the next street over, park the truck, and meet you at the north end of her yard." Sam really was a good Alpha. I was way too freaked out by my girlfriend being alone with a vamp to come up with a plausible plan so we could watch her and still keep the secret.

We piled back into Sam's truck and headed down the street. Embry was trying his best not to laugh at my expense. Sam had calmed considerably and was deep in thought while driving.

"Jake, I'm going to call Paul and Jared to phase while we watch the house. I think we should talk about what just happened." He briefly slowed so I could jump out of the truck and run into the tree line. A few moments later, I felt the shimmer as they joined me.

"Talk about what happened? What's to talk about?" I asked as I settled myself with a good view of Bella's house.

"Other than you getting 'pwned'?" Embry howled. He finally let it all out after unsuccessfully trying to rein it in.

"Ass."

"Heard you got yours handed to you, rookie," Paul's nauseating voice taunted. I felt the familiar shimmer as Jared phased in as well.

"Paul," Sam warned. "I didn't tell you to tease Jacob. I told you because this is worth discussing." Sam and Embry joined me in Bella's yard and replayed the scene for everyone to see. From their perspective, it did look really bad. Here I was getting a verbal beat down by a girl that literally was half my size.

"Man, I hope Kim never gets that pissed at me." Jared's ears flattened against his head.

"So what did you all notice?" Sam asked.

"Bella is scary," Jared whispered.

I growled in response. No dissing my woman. Jared sank his head in apology.

"What about Jake's reaction?" Sam pressed.

What about my reaction? I didn't react. No wolfing out here.

"Exactly, Jake! You didn't imprint. I know you locked eyes with her, but nothing happened." Sam seemed to think that was important, but I didn't. It didn't matter that some weird mystical crap didn't happen; I already loved Bella.

"But what is even stranger was that you were able to hold it together during all that. Your woman arrives with a vampire in tow, the leech starts taunting you, and nothing! You didn't show any signs of shaking or phasing. Then Bella starts ripping you a new one, and again, nothing! I doubt any of us would be able to tolerate being yelled at in that way without literally raising our hackles." Sam was speaking so quickly it would have been difficult to catch if it wasn't telepathic. "Jake, remember when you first phased and I told you that our experiences were all different than yours?"

I nodded, recalling it made me feel like even more of a freak.

"You're not a freak," he argued. "Our tempers are wafer thin. Just about everything sets off a young werewolf. It takes years for us to master the rage the wolf brings." I sighed, knowing he was right. I felt it in all of them from time to time—even in Embry, who was the most levelheaded person I knew.

"But viewing tonight through your eyes, compared to how I witnessed it, was unbelievable. Not once did I feel your temper flare while being yelled at. Not once did I feel your rage get out of control, even with her so close to you." Sam winced at the last few words, and we all bore witness to Sam's greatest shame.

He awkwardly cleared his throat. "There is something about her that grounds you, something that makes you a more mature wolf—an Alpha wolf. But she's seemingly not your imprint ... it's so bizarre."

I really didn't have a response, so I just stood there as Sam prattled on about "legends" and "pack lore." At some point he wanted to consult my dad and the Council, but I wasn't super thrilled at the idea of telling them I went from wanting to bone Bella at a dance her handing me my ass. It was all too embarrassing to discuss with my father, let alone Harry Clearwater and Old Quil. When did my life get so complicated? Oh right, when I found out a vampire wanted my girlfriend for his own evil pleasure. Gross.

We ended the impromptu pack meeting with a decision that Sam and I would look into old records kept by the Council. As Alpha, Sam had access to these materials to "gain the wisdom of the elders", so it was my best shot without coming clean to the Council.

I had to hand it to Bella. She had five grown werewolves terrified of her, and she seemed to be holding her own against the vamp in her house. On more than one occasion, I overheard him trying to change the subject to something revolving around him and his crypt or undead family, and she kept right on conjugating verbs in Spanish. After a particularly long, boring, and one sided discussion about how much he liked some band, she told him that she thought she had studying under control, and he should call his sister to come get him. No less than ten minutes later, a silver Volvo pulled into her driveway, and she ushered him outside and sent him on his way.

The feelings of possessiveness I had towards her got stronger and weaker at the same time. On one hand, I felt a lot more secure that my girl was still my girl. She totally dismissed the vamp without any help from the pack or me. I couldn't have been prouder of her. On the other hand I wanted everyone to know that she was my girl, and my girl alone. The thought of busting into her kitchen, wrapping my naked body around hers, and kissing her until she couldn't think of anything but me was becoming a really good idea in my head.

I felt Sam's hand on my shoulder, and realized I had been letting out a low rumble since Bella kicked the leech to the curb.

"C'mon buddy. Let's get you home and in bed. Bella's orders." What? Was he serious?

"Ha ha, Sam. Real cute." We walked towards the parked truck, satisfied Bella was safe for the night.

"I'm serious, Jacob. Bella entrusted Embry and me to make sure you go to bed, so that's what we're going to do." He looked gravely at me, though he must have been joking. Maybe he was doing some pack initiation thing. Sam drove right up to my house, hopped out and opened the front door, and looked at my expectantly. I cautiously followed him, only to find Embry right on my heels. Good grief, were they going to tuck me in?

"Sure, sure, guys. We'll just forget all about reading those scrolls, and I'll hop into bed at 5:47 p.m. like a good boy." I rolled my eyes for effect, but they both stood there with their arms crossed over their chest.

"I'll be back with some history for us to go through. In the meantime, bed." Sam literally shoved me onto the mattress, just as Billy wheeled by my room. He gave me an inquisitive look with his eyebrow, then shrugged and rolled into the living room.

True to his word, Sam returned less than an hour later with bags full of old parchments. Do you know what wasn't fun? Examining piles of old pieces of paper trying to find really specific information, with Sam piled into my tiny bedroom. What did people do before Google? Although to be fair, I'm not sure Google could come up with a search result for "Beta who is genetically Alpha phases due to desire to mate with a white girl, who doesn't seem to be Beta's imprint." I was so desperate I tried it. I got one hundred and sixty six results, none of which were helpful.

Finally, Bella called to check that I was in bed and was being cared for. Billy heated up some of Emily's soup and brought it to Sam and me, so she seemed happy enough. Satisfied his sick joke was over, Sam finally left, promising to bring more historic artefacts the next day. I didn't keep her too long so she could study for her test. I know she stopped to make Charlie dinner, and I didn't want to take up more of her time. After all, it was my fault she didn't study over the weekend. But just because she couldn't see me, didn't mean I couldn't see her.

Satisfied that Sam was home, I phased and ran through the woods to Bella's house. At first, I was so intent on seeing her that I didn't notice the scent of vampire still lingered around the property. The closer I got to her window, the more pungent it became. I was directly under the tree outside her room when I sensed the smell wasn't from earlier in the day, but was fresh—very fresh. I looked up to see Bella's "study friend" perched on a branch looking into her room.

"It's not what you think, pup." I heard whispered above me.