Chapter 1: Jacob
Bella hadn't called since before we chased that leech away from her in the clearing. In some ways it was easier. My resolve to keep away from her bled out just a little bit every time I was forced to ignore her call.
But lying to her would be even worse.
It's better this way, I tried to convince myself as I ran through the forest. If anyone deserves a life free from the supernatural, it's her. I can give her that.
'Jeez, Jake, are you sure you didn't imprint on her?' Jared's grumbling thoughts finally got my attention. I growled. It wasn't his fault of course. I was still getting used to the constant, if unintentional, invasion of privacy and the embarrassment that came with it.
But Jared had just as much access to Sam's mind as he did mine. Despite thinking of Bella every minute of every day, it wasn't the same. As much as I had begged for it to happen, I hadn't imprinted on Bella Swan. And the pack's rules were absolute. Only imprintees could know about us for their own protection. And that meant that, however much I needed her to know, I couldn't tell her. So I did the only thing I could do and continued to ignore her calls.
'Hey, at least Billy is in the loop.' thought Jared wryly. I winced. It was true, there were definitely some perks to having an Elder for a father. Jared wasn't so lucky. The Council had vouched for him and got his parents off his back a bit, but no amount of 'volunteer work' could explain eleven pairs of shredded pants.
Still, being the son of an Elder meant that normal died the night I turned into a giant wolf in the middle of the kitchen and all of Dad's weird watchful glances over the previous months suddenly made way too much sense. There was no more school and no more family dinners to keep up appearances. And no more Bella.
'Oh give it a rest,' grumbled Paul. 'No one wants to listen to you brooding over the leech-lover.'
'That wasn't nice Paul,' Both Embry and Jared chorused. 'Our turn for patrol though, Jake. You should take a break.' That was Embry's kind way of saying that he was also tired of my moaning. Always the peacemaker of the bunch - there was a reason he was often paired with Paul.
Without a word I phased back next to the hollow tree where I hid my clothes. Many of the pack chose to wear their clothes tied to a leg, but I liked to leave them behind if I could. Carrying the clothes with me made running - the only decent part of this whole wolf business - more awkward and not nearly as fun.
I yawned. My patrol had lasted until the early hours of the morning and I was beat. Ever since we caught up to the dark-haired leech in the meadow and caught the scent of a second, Sam had been running us double-time.
I frowned as I swung myself into my bedroom window. According to the legends, leeches were supposed to come, feed, and leave again quickly - the Cullens being the exceptions. To have vampires sticking around for weeks like these ones had was a little weird. Sam was right to be on edge.
But now that the black-haired one was dead and the second one hadn't given us a fresh trail since the day before last, Jared figured that meant they had finally taken a hint moved on.
If only my life worked out that easily.
I could hear voices coming from the living room - Dad and Sam were muttering quietly. Sam often stopped by to talk to him about Tribe business and usually they tried to rope me in. I put extra effort into moving around my room quietly. Today, I just wanted them to leave me alone so I could sleep.
Unfortunately, my nearly-silent pass around my round ended when I knocked my alarm clock off the bedside table. Ever since my insane growth spurt in the last month, I still haven't quite figured out what to do with the extra length on my limbs.
'I must be a bad influence on you,' Bella would have laughed. Instead, all I heard was Dad's voice calling from the living room.
"Hey Jake, that you? Come on in here for a minute. I have something to talk to you about."
My refusal caught in my throat as I registered my father's uncharacteristically anxious voice. Sam stood up and nodded as I entered.
"I'll round up the guys. We'll all be in the usual spot when you're done." I felt a chill slide down my spine. Sam wouldn't recall a patrol for no reason. Whatever had my dad on edge was big.
"Dad, what's going on?" I whispered. He grimaced and passed me a sheet of notebook paper covered with an untidy scrawl. My thrill at seeing Bella's writing was quickly doused when I begun reading.
Dear Billy,
By now, Charlie will have probably told you that I decided to leave for a bit. I can't tell him what's actually going on, but you deserve more details.
There's a vampire after me. I don't want to tell you how I know this because I don't want to put anyone else in danger, but it's exactly as serious a situation as it sounds.
I'm leaving now so after today, I'm hoping you guys won't be in danger anymore, but still be careful. I'm pretty sure they'll follow me away from here though.
Look Billy, you and I both know I'm probably not making it out of this alive. I have almost no shot of outrunning a vampire by myself. It's better this way though. I'll lead her out, then Charlie and Jake will be safe. It probably would have been better if I'd just left without a word, but I couldn't do that to Charlie. He wouldn't rest until he spent the rest of his life trying to find me.
I'm sorry for leaving you this mess. As of when I left, I know you and Charlie weren't speaking because of Jake, but he's going to need his best friend now. I know we haven't always seen eye to eye on some things but if you've ever cared about me and Charlie, please help him let me go. He's going to need someone to remind him how to live again, like Jake did for me.
Thanks, Bella
P.S. - I'm going to call every three days. It will always be from a different phone in case Charlie gets any bright ideas about trying to track me down, but as long as I'm alive you'll hear from me. And once I stop calling, you'll know it's over and you can help Charlie find peace.
I couldn't breathe. It was worse than the time Paul accidentally knocked me off a little cliff. The room shimmered dangerously around me and I instinctively took a calming breath. When I looked up, Dad was looking at me with something like pity. I stood up to leave and he shook his head.
"I"m sorry Jake, there's more." I raised my eyebrow at him and he held out a folded piece of paper with my name on the front.
Jake.
It was like I was standing at the edges of the room. I watched myself take the piece of paper and unfold it. The words swam in my vision, but I forced myself to focus my eyes just long enough to read them.
Dear Jake,
I am so so sorry about all of this. I wish I could tell you what was going on but I can't. All I can say is that this is really for the better. I know you've been the one ignoring me and I wish I knew what was going on, but that's over now. You'll never see me again. I love you and I wish you all the best life has to offer.
Be safe, Bella
With a rush I was shoved back into my body and suddenly I was outside and running. The pack's voices filled my head but I pushed them out. I had to get to her house. I had to find a trail. She couldn't be gone.
'Jake! Stop running and meet us in the clearing. We need to talk about this.' Sam's voice broke through the frenzy and despite my every instinct telling me to keep going, I felt my steps slow. Damn Alpha command. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't ignore it.
My brothers were waiting for me in the clearing where I brought Bella to ride our motorbikes. Back when we were just a human boy and girl looking for a good time. It felt like a lifetime ago. The rest of the pack were all standing around in their human forms.
"It will be better if we're not phased," Sam said softly. We often did this when there was a sensitive topic to discuss. It usually helped, not being able to hear everyone's inner monologue. Today I doubted it would make much difference, but I phased back anyway.
"Does everyone already know what was in the letter?" I demanded.
"Just Billy's. We didn't look at the one she left for you." Sam's voice was calm but there was an edge in his eyes.
"Then you already know I have to go after her."
"Of course, as soon as the leech-lover's in trouble you'll just ditch your brothers to go after her." Paul snapped. My quiet snarl was almost drowned out by Sam's reply.
"You know that's not practical Jacob."
"Then what would you have me do?" I asked, panic bleeding into my voice as I finally put my horror in words. "Bella's alone, being chased by a vampire. She knows what she's up against and she's smart, but it's not enough. You can't just ask me to leave her to deal with this herself."
"If only she'd asked for help," Jared groaned. "We could have protected her here."
"Why would she have?" I snapped. "Even if she did know she had help here, which thanks to Sam she didn't, this is Bella we're talking about. She's so self-sacrificing that she wouldn't have wanted to put us in danger anyway." Paul snorted.
"So she's stupid too. That tracks."
"Shut up, Paul!" Barked Sam. "If you can't keep your opinions to yourself I'll have you running laps around the reservation."
"I just don't know what we're doing here." Paul said. "She made her choice and left. It sucks, but we have our own borders to protect."
"Look Jake," Sam said, catching the horror on my face. "We need you here, but I get that you can't do nothing. Maybe next time she calls Billy, you can convince her to come back so we can help her."
"But-"
"Jake, you WON'T go looking for her," Sam rumbled. I felt my knees buckle a bit under the weight of the Alpha command and I ducked my head. Sam nodded and looked away from me.
"When is she supposed to call?" Embry asked.
"The letter was written two days ago so probably tomorrow. Jake, you can stay close to the house so you don't miss it.
"And what do we do if she doesn't call?" Embry asked. No one wanted to answer.
