The sun had quickly begun to set and the band kept playing into the night. The sound of the waves rushing onto the beach echoed behind them as Bella and Jacob sat beside each other on the blanket in the sand. When a cool breeze off the water blew up towards them on the beach, Bella ran her hands over her bare arms, wishing she had thought to bring a sweater along.

Jacob, not feeling any cold noticed and moved closer to her. Without a word, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. A knowing smile pulled at Bella's lips.

"Thanks," she told him, glancing at his khaki's and short sleeved polo shirt. "How are you so warm in just shorts and a shirt? It's gotten cooler since the sun went down."

He shrugged, a bright smile on his face. "It's just my hot Quileute blood."

Bella snorted, moving in closer to Jacob and sighed contently when she felt the heat radiating off of Jacob. "I wish I had some of that hot Quileute blood right about now."

"That's why you've got me, Bella. I'll always be there to warm you up whenever you're cold."

"Hopefully more than when I'm just cold," she tested, somewhat timidly.

"I'll always be here for you," Jacob told her, his dark eyes promising her more than just that. "You can trust me."

Suddenly, an older couple, a dozen feet or so ahead of them suddenly stood up and began dancing to the slow music the band was playing. While Bella watched the couple dance, Jacob hummed the song before he began softly whispering the lyrics. While Bella recognized the song, she didn't know the words.

She leaned her head against Jacob's shoulder as he continued to softly sing the lyrics, the scent of him flooding her head that she had to close her eyes in an attempt to clear her mind. The heat pouring off of him was intoxicating. Bella could feel her heart pounding against her chest as she fought against the desire to simply reach out and touch him. Her fingers trembled before she clenched her fist, reminding herself she wanted to take things slow.

When the song ended and the few spectators clapped at the end of the song, she reluctantly pulled herself away from Jacob and stood up.

"Bells? You okay?"

He could hear her heart racing, and see her fidget as she refused to look at him. All Jacob could think was that he did something wrong. Maybe he was moving too quickly for her, but he couldn't understand what he had done.

"I just need..." she paused, trying to articulate through the foray of confounding emotions and actions her head was demanding of her. She couldn't sit still, let alone make sense of things. Bella needed to clear her head.

"Can we go for a walk?"

"Sure," Jacob said, his curious eyes watching her as she quickly grabbed his cell phone off the blanket and shoved it into her purse with her own, before picking up the blanket the moment he had stood up. She silently shoved the blanket into Jacob's arms before picking up her purse and shoes and proceeded to walk away from him down the beach towards the fishing pier.

If Jacob hadn't known better, he would've thought she was ticked off at him for something. He was confused, not so much by her actions but also by her silence. What was wrong?

"Bella, you need to talk to me," he called out, as he followed behind as she walked through the sand, the waves crashing beside them. "What's going on?"

The moment they were below the first pillar that held up the fishing pier above them, she dropped her shoes and purse at her feet and turned to him.

She was about to speak but the moment her eyes met his, she quickly turned back away and took a deep breath, running her hands through her hair, groaning in frustration.

"You're scaring me," Jacob said, dropping the blanket next to her purse and shoes. He slowly approached her, his hands out in front of him. "What's wrong?"

When she turned, her eyes stared at his feet, not daring to make eye contact again.

"I wanted to take things slow between you and me," she breathed.

Jacob nodded. "We can. We are. At least I thought we were. Bella, if I did anything..."

"—you didn't do anything wrong," Bella quickly interrupted, not wanting him to even entertain the idea that this was his fault. This was all her; her and her damn hormones that for some reason, she simply couldn't control. Bella felt as though she was crawling out of her skin. With every offshore breeze that blew towards them, she was met with that scent that she had been surrounded by for hours today - Jacob. It surrounded her. It demanded her to get closer to him. Sure, she liked Jacob and was quickly falling in love with him again, but it didn't make sense to be so enraptured by someone that she had to physically restrain herself. Frankly, the strong sensations within her frightened her.

When Bella's eyes quickly shifted to Jacob's before she pinched them shut, she swore under her breath and turned away from him again. "Damn it, Jake! I can't even look at you."

Jacob chuckled uneasily as he stepped towards her. "Ouch. I can't be that bad looking. You did tell me once that you thought I was beautiful."

While memories of repairing those motorcycles years ago with Jacob replayed in her mind, Bella shook her head, her eyes still firmly pinched shut. "You don't understand."

"Then help me understand," Jacob implored, his voice serious. "What's going on?"

Bella took a shuddering breath and looked up at Jacob, her fists still clenched firmly at her side.

"It's you," she concluded, desperation marking her face. "I don't know why, but everything about you; the heat, your scent that is uniquely you, the way you look at me, everything about you...I..." Bella paused and shook her head, a visible tremor as she fought the internal sensations through her body. "It's been getting worse throughout the day and right now, with you standing there, looking at me like that, I just...I feel like I'm crawling out of my skin being around you that I have to do something or I'll explode." She let out an incredulous laugh. "I know I'm not making any sense and you probably think I'm nuts."

Jacob stared at her as she spoke. The connection, Jacob mentally thought. After 2 years, she was finally feeling the effects of it, much like he did but while for him it was a gradual thing, it appeared that it was hitting Bella at full swing.

Jacob shook his head. "No, I don't think you're nuts. Bells, I'm here. What do you need?"

Bella opened and closed her mouth a few times before she ran her hands through her hair. Her eyes darted between the sand beneath them and then back to Jacob before she stepped up in front of him. Her barefeet slipped in the wet sand under her feet and he quickly grabbed ahold of her hips, holding her steady.

When she finally spoke, her voice was so soft, Jacob wasn't even certain he heard her correctly. They were words he had desperately wished for since she had returned and yet dreaded at the same time as he knew that she could leave him again.

"Can I kiss you?"

Instead of answering, Jacob reached forward with one hand and gently ran his hand across her cheek, feeling an electric pulse dance across his skin with the touch.

Bella didn't need anything else. She reached up, her trembling hands trailing up Jacob's chest over his polo shirt before coming up behind his neck. In a seeming act of desperation, she quickly brought her mouth to his. Jacob gasped, as though she stole his breath away.

Bella seemed to notice the same strange sensation race through her and opened her eyes, locking them onto Jacob's before he kissed her once again. The feeling of her lips on his, and then the sounds she made as he plunged his tongue into her mouth caused a low rumbling sound in the back of his throat. He couldn't help it. Jacob's inner wolf was as excited about the turn of events as he was.

The world seemed to spin, as Bella suddenly felt dizzy. She felt the sensation of falling as the scent of Jacob swallowed her and goosebumps covered her skin.

Jacob nuzzled down her neck with his nose, inhaling deeply and planting kisses as he went until he landed at the scar on her collarbone that he had left almost two years prior. Pushing her shirt collar aside, he kissed the scar. Bella gasped, her hands raking down his chest to pull his shirt up.

Adeep rolling of thunder seemed to pour from Jacob's throat as his head was suddenly swimming with the scent coming from Bella.

"Jake," she moaned, when the sound of giggling caught both their ears.

Both freezing in place, they panted and their hearts continued to race, as they watched a pair of teens run past the tall pillars of the pier, passing by where Jacob and Bella stood in the shadows.

Letting out an unsteady breath, Bella took a careful step back and picked up her purse out of the sand, before running a hand through her hair.

Did the temperature suddenly rise? Strangely, the sensations she felt in her body before had lessened to a manageable state.

"It's getting late. We should probably start heading home," she said softly, her voice trembling as she saw Jacob's hungry eyes as they seemed to watch her as the prey that she was to him.

"Wait," Jacob mumbled, stepping forward and taking her hand, pulling her towards him before kissing her once again. Bella didn't even register that she was nodding to his words. Bella's purse fell to her feet as her hands found their way back to Jacob's chest. She continued to work at his shirt, pulling it up to allow her fingers to find bare skin. The moment she touched the sensitive skin along Jacob's waistband, Jacob could feel the heat within him intensify as though he were about to suddenly shift. It was the strangest sensation. He could feel his eyes shift and suddenly he was hearing the pack, seeing through their eyes even as he stood on two feet.

He pulled away from Bella and turned, pinching his eyes shut as his thoughts meshed with those of the pack, their thoughts and visions flooding through him in a loud upheaval.

'What's going on? What's happening to me?'

'What the hell? Jake, is that you?' Jared's voice echoed in his head.

'Is that Jacob?' Sam exclaimed.

A sense of confusion and panic momentarily spread through the pack, elicited by Jacob.

'What the hell is going on? How am I hearing this?'

The image of a vampire running over their land filled his mind before Sam's voice spoke loudly to him.

'Jake, you need to come home.'

'We've been trying to call your cell. Why didn't you answer?!' Paul shouted.

More confusion swam through the pack connection.

'I haven't shifted. Why am I hearing this?' Jacob added to the melee of voices all concerned and confused as they raced through the woods after the vampire that had crossed into La Push.

'What? Where are you?' Sam demanded.

Memories of kissing Bella under the Port Angeles pier flooded into the pack mind.

'You aren't shifted? You can hear us? How is this possible?' The chorus of voices shouted over each other.

It was Sam's voice that suddenly gave him clarity through the mangling of thoughts.

'Jacob, come home. A bloodsucker has been scented and spotted on our land. Circling us...everyone is safe. Daniel. Billy. Charlie. It might be heading your way. Come home.'

Jacob suddenly opened his eyes, gasping in relief when he realized that the thoughts and visions were gone. Bella stood in front of him, her hands on the side of his face, concern etched clearly in her eyes.

"Jacob? What's going on? Are you okay?"

Jacob nodded and forced a smile, though he panted. "Yeah, I...I don't know what happened. But we should probably get home. It's getting late."

"Yeah, you're probably right," she stated picking up her purse once again from the sand as Jacob shook out the blanket that he picked up from the ground and passed her her shoes.

Walking through Port Angeles back to the car, Jacob's senses were on high alert. His eyes turned to look into every dark corner and his nose became very attentive. Bella had passed him his cell phone that she had put into her purse for safe keeping and his heart pounded with each text message, desperately begging him to answer and come home. He could sense the urgency that his pack mates felt as they couldn't get ahold of him.

Even as they drove, he kept the windows partially open to allow fresh air to blow into the vehicle to alert him the moment a vampire was in the area. As they left the city limits of Port Angeles, the sudden sickly sweet scent of vampires flooded the highway.

While Bella seemed oblivious to the anxiety coursing through him, she did notice the tension in Jacob's body. His hands seemed to clench the steering wheel tightly.

"Jake, are you all right? Are you upset?"

He glanced over at her as he drove and smiled. "I'm fine. We're fine. Don't worry, Bella."

To reassure her that everything with the two of them was all right he reached across to her and placed his hand over hers and squeezed it.

"I had a great time with you today," he said, glancing once again at her.

That seemed to make her feel better.

"Me too," she said with a smile. "I'd been wa...JAKE!"

The words exploded from her mouth as she saw the pale figure suddenly appear in front of the car as they drove. Jacob instantly slammed on the brakes, his right arm flying out to hold Bella firmly in her seat in fear that the vintage seat belt mechanism and airbags wouldn't be enough to protect her.

Except, they never hit anything.

When the car came to a stop, the pale figure stood a good thirty feet in front of the car, its body illuminated by the car's headlights. While she panted, Bella's eyes instantly recognized who it was - Edward Cullen.