Chapter Two

Apparently staying outside during questionable weather wasn't conducive to maintaining one's health.

The morning following the Cullen's departure Bella found herself as sick as a dog. Her nose was clogged, her head spun, her throat was on fire, and she was almost certain that if she attempted to rotate her head around on her shoulders like the girl from The Exorcism that she would be successful. Of course that didn't mean that she was tempted to try it. Even opening her eyes was like inviting an excavation crew into the privacy of her own mind and they were not afraid to use jackhammers.

Colds aren't supposed to come on this quickly. She groused to herself, the only solace coming from the silence of her mind…provided she made no movements and kept her eyes firmly shut. What happened to getting the sniffles and maybe a bit of a cough first? No, I feel like I just drove head-first into crapville and this cold is the mayor.

Bella lay prone on the sofa, two comforters and a heated blanket strewn over her. Charlie had come towards her early that morning to see why she hadn't been up and about like she normally was. Bella guessed that he expected her natural tendencies to be an early riser wouldn't have changed too much after Edward left, which she might have been inclined to agree with him under any other circumstances. As it was, he'd found her curled up in a fetal position on the sofa, trying to leach whatever warmth she could from the single comforter. Upon feeling her forehead he'd discovered the fever…also hinted at by the paleness to her skin.

Why is it that when you get a fever you freeze your butt off? She wondered silently to herself. You'd think that you'd be all but ready to dive into the Arctic waters naked.

Instead she was bundled up in her warmest flannel pajamas and buried under covers.

Charlie had brought another comforter for her along with the electric blanket. Bella smiled softly, marveling at the advancements of human technology. She guessed that she was getting enough heat now to roast a turkey all from one blanket. It was heaven!

He hadn't left for work yet, which worried her sickness-addled mind. Charlie Swan was the Chief of Police and the man rarely took a holiday. She only hoped that it wasn't her that was forcing him to either be late for work or worse yet, miss it entirely. Bella knew that she was not even close to peak physical health right now, but she could at least manage to wobble to the bathroom or the kitchen when she was absolutely required to. Well, she could do it if she used the wall for support and kept her eyes glued shut.

She was drawn from her thoughts to Charlie's voice echoing in the kitchen. Despite the throb it caused in her head Bella tuned into what was left of the conversation.

"Nah, Billy. I can't just leave her here. It's my fault. I should have noticed that she had slept in those wet clothes and with how long she was out in the rain last night…" Charlie paused significantly in conversation and Bella had to wonder if he was listening to Billy or if he was remembering her coming in that night. She didn't want to see what his face would betray if she happened to catch him recalling last night's events. It would be either murderous or pity-filled and she wanted to see neither.

"Ah, Billy I don't know if I should do that. I am her father after all…No! I'm not implying that Jake would do anything stupid, but boys will be boys. I don't think she'd even be comfortable with him watching over her like that…Ah, give me a minute Billy. I'll ask." Bella heard the receiver click down on the countertop in the kitchen before watching her father walk out towards her. He seemed surprised that he was actually awake.

"How are you feeling, Bells?" Charlie asked sympathetically, his right hand coming to settle down over her blazing forehead.

"Like Hell warmed over." She croaked, her eyes opened as only slits to prevent any more light from shining into her eyes. Charlie had shut the blinds and drawn the curtains, but even with the overcast skies of Forks and that she was still wincing from the brightness of the room.

"I'm sorry, kiddo." He tucked the blankets more tightly around her, seeming to do it out of habit than anything. "Look, Billy is on the phone. He says Jake offered to come over and help you out today since I can't get off work. Jack is out of town visiting his sister and Don is out sick, so I have to go in. You can probably take care of yourself, but I really don't want you to…"

Bella cut him off there, her head pounding mercilessly with every syllable that slipped from her father's mouth. She set her hand, which was still under the blankets, onto the one that he had set beside her hip when he leaned down to speak to her.

"It's okay, Dad. If it would make you feel better, Jake can babysit me." She gave him a smile that could have passed as a wince. "Besides, I'm sure he has a girlfriend by now. He is twenty after all."

"Sure, Bells." Charlie chuckled softly, most likely taking joy in the fact that she wasn't so sick that she couldn't try to be funny.

As Charlie went back into the kitchen to tell Billy the news, Bella settled further into the sofa and thought about her friend. Jake was older than her by nearly two years now. He'd been a little immature when she'd gone to First Beach so long ago, but for the most part he had been well rounded. Attractive, too. While he had still been growing into his manhood body, his face had shown signs of the pure, exotic, sinfully delicious Native American blood that coursed in his veins. It seemed that most of Jake's friends within the tribe that were male, or at least the ones he'd pointed out to her at the beach, had that same wild beauty. It was no surprise that he'd been taller than her, most everyone that was male was, but he looked like he was still growing. He had admitted himself that he was going through another growth spurt.

She could still remember back to when they were kids. She'd tagged along with him when he'd gone off to adventure with Quil and Embry. They had all had fun most of the time, unless the boys were playing 'catch the squealer'. Bella had taken off running full-speed whenever that particular game was in play. If she was caught, and she usually was, they'd tickle her until she was on the verge of passing out and they'd have to carry her back to the house. She was the youngest of any of them, but that never seemed to matter to them. They'd include he just as easily as any of the other boys in the tribe would include them.

When she'd been forced to leave Forks with Renee it had been hard. She'd managed to call the Black household to say goodbye to Jacob, who'd taken it nearly as hard as she had, but had hidden it better. At first they wrote to each other every few months, all of them had, but as time wore on and their lives went different ways they'd stopped talking.

In coming back to Forks it seemed like the only real change that went on in between them was aging. After First Beach she and Jake had spoken frequently. Sure, she didn't visit La Push very much at all after that, but they'd kept each other informed on the goings-on in their daily lives.

Jake, not surprisingly to her, worked and partially owned the mechanic's station just inside La Push. The man that owned the store, an old-timer, had hired the youth right out of high school and Jacob had proven to be quite the talented mechanic. According to Jacob just two months ago he'd been gifted half the shop along with an apprenticeship from the older man in exchange for the promise that when the shop was fully passed onto him that he would not run it into the ground. Bella smiled softly when she remembered that phone call and how excited Jacob had been.

Jake had told her, too, that he and Embry and Quil had been spending more and more time with Sam and his gang. Sam's gang was doing a lot of good for the tribe if what Jacob said was true. There was four in the group totaled, the leader being Sam, followed by Paul, Jared, and Seth. Seth was the youngest in the group, but still eighteen. They disappeared a lot, but when they were in the peoples' eyes they were always doing something to benefit the tribe or someone within it. Already they had helped to rebuild one of the family's houses due to a fireplace fire burning it down.

The last time she had spoken to Jake had been a week ago on her birthday. He'd joked that she was finally a woman, but stuck in a child's too small body. Had he been right in front of her she would have smacked him upside the head, which was why he'd laughed heartily on his end of the line when she'd grumbled.

In all honesty she missed her friend and wanted to see him…she just didn't want to look and feel like she did now.

"Bella?" Her father's voice snapped her attention completely back to him. Her brows furrowed when she saw him standing right in front of her. Had she been so out of it that she hadn't heard him come up to her? "Are you sure that you'll be all right with Jake here?"

"Uh, yeah." She rasped, trying not to move her body too much under her blankets. "It's fine. I miss him anyway."

"Billy says he'll be here in about half an hour. I have to go now, but if you need me to stay then I'll just…"

"Go, Dad." Bella rolled her eyes behind her eyelids at her father. "I'll be okay for thirty minutes. Just turn the TV on low, please?"

"Sure thing, Bells." She heard her father walk over to the TV, counted five clicks on the side of the television to show that the volume had gone down to the easy listening station, and then his returning footsteps. Almost immediately she felt the remote behind settled beside her. "Keep this close. You may want to watch something else or just turn it off. Call me if you need me, Bella."

"No prob." Bella hummed, already slipping off into blissful sleep with the silence that was overtaking the house. She felt Charlie kiss her overly warm forehead, listened to him leave the house, start his cruiser, and reverse out of the driveway.

Allowing herself to slip off the edge of oblivion slowly, Bella listened to the few sounds that made it past her ear drums. There was the soft flute music playing on the television, the swaying of the trees just outside, the occasional creek of the floors as the house continued to settle in its old age. Once or twice she could have sworn she heard a long-distance howl, but brushed it off as nothing more than fevered delusions.

Bella finally succumbed to sleep when the flute and an accompanying piano reached a crescendo, a faint smile on her lips despite the sickness rolling through her.

XxXxX

Jacob Black rolled his Harley Sprint the rest of the way up the Swan driveway, his eyes raking over the home before him.

The Swan home was small, maybe not as small as the one he currently shared with his father, but still small. Two bedrooms was all that Charlie and Bella really needed, but whenever he thought of the new family he'd obtained he couldn't help but think that anything less than five bedrooms was tiny.

Scenting the air he had to fight down the urge to snarl. The too sickly sweet smell permeated the air like cheap perfume in a department store. He knew that they were gone, the bloodsuckers were finally gone, but they had migrated around this house. Actually, Jake knew for a fact that one leech in particular practically lived here when Charlie was not aware of it. The others had patrolled enough around the Swan household, which was technically in their jurisdiction since the home resided just outside of Forks' boundaries, to know that one leech was very fond of Bella.

Jake had to grit his teeth at that.

Little Bella Swan…he could still remember her from their childhood. Bella had been a good kid and still was. She had been smart, funny, and cute. He and the other had had not problems letting her tag along to explore with them or just mess around. She'd even helped them prank Old Man Henson by flipping over all of his outdoor furniture. She had consoled him on the anniversary of his mother's death, let him weep in her arms. She'd helped him with taking care of Billy at times. She'd been nearly two years younger than him and a girl and yet she'd been his best friend.

When her mother had taken her away Jake had been devastated. It wasn't until she was gone that he had realized how much he had leaned on her, how much light shown off of her. He'd had a major pity-party that first day she was gone. In fact, they all had. Quil and Embry had been equally attached to her. When she had left they'd all wallowed in their own misery for a time. It had been a hopeful thing that she'd continued to write to them those first few years, no matter how few and far between the letters and the calls were.

He grinned widely when he thought of those letters, each and every one of them tucked away in an emptied shoebox on the top shelf of his closet. She'd sent letters to Quil and Embry, too, he'd found out later. It all came out the day they saw her again at First Beach with her friends from school. After Bella had left they'd all devolved into good-natured ribbing and laughter, remembering back to their childhoods and after Bella had left. For some reason Jake suspected that like him his friends had kept their letters from Bella as well…he wasn't sure why that thought didn't exactly upset him.

Bella had changed quite a lot over the years. They could all see that clearly. She'd grown up both physically and emotionally. She was still a shrimp in size, probably average for another woman at five and a half feet, and had the same color eyes and hair, but she'd definitely grown up. Her hair was longer. It just skimmed over a well rounded posterior, an object of Jacob's undying affection. He had never really been a breast man. It had been difficult to keep his eyes from training onto her sweetly swaying ass that first day. She was still slender, delicately small and fragile, but her figure did not scream anorexic. She was all woman in her curves and proportions. Her face was more exotic, longer and leaner, her eyes inordinately large yet completely at home with her bone structure. Her skin was pale, not so much looking like snow as light cream.

He was not new to women. He'd had girlfriends in middle school and high school. He'd had sexual conquests aplenty, maybe not as many as Paul, but still enough to know his business. He knew what attraction was. He knew what it was like to like a woman's body, but Bella was something different. Almost the instant he'd laid eyes on her he had been embarrassingly erect. His member had been saluting her eagerly, almost like a puppy looking to please. The longer he spoke with her, the longer he heard her soft, sweet voice, the worse his condition became. By the time Bella left he'd been on the verge of completely ruining his reputation by coming in his jeans like an untrained child. He would have never lived it down.

It had been a very near thing.

As it had turned out their friendship had not soured at all over the years. They'd been able to pick up right where they'd left off. They spoke often. He found himself panting after her like an over-eager dog just to hear her voice, to hear her laugh or know he'd made her smile. He'd changed over the years, too, but it seemed that Bella only brought out the best in him.

Setting the bike up against the side of the house Jake made his way for the front door, his mind still elsewhere in time.

He'd changed, in more ways than one, as well. He'd become like the others. Even before that night he'd been slipping into his allotted slot in life. Since he was sixteen he'd been growing up rapidly, shot up over most of the other kids with the exception of Quil and Embry who'd kept up with him. He'd become harder, stronger, even colder emotionally. He was the legendary 'rock' that everyone spoke of. He didn't get riled up. He didn't get broken down. He just settled and stayed calm. Even Sam, who was known for his cool head and iron fist, was second to Jacob in power and authority.

Guess that's why the second I phased I got bumped to Alpha. He thought with an inward bark of laughter.

Jacob would never blame Bella for his first phase, it was now welcoming to him, but in a way it was she that had brought on the change. The Cullens, the filthy bloodsuckers, had released the gene in him the second they returned to Forks. It had built inside of him, strengthened him and readied him for the battle it knew was to come, but it had taken something to snap him. He needed that one tiny spark to complete unleash the inferno that had raged inside of him.

When Billy had told him that Bella had gotten hurt on her birthday at the Cullens house he had burst.

The pain had been excruciating the first time. He had felt his bones breaking and reshaping themselves. His skin had been on fire. His insides had felt like acid had been introduced into his bloodstream. When he'd opened his eyes he had no longer been human Jacob. He would never again be the human Jacob. Forever more the wolf would live within him no matter if he walked on two feet in man's skin or ran through the woods on all fours, the wind whispering through his russet colored fur.

Sam had been there. They all had been. He'd been the last to phase. His control had been something of envy and some consternation within the pack. He'd listened patiently as Sam had enlightened him on his new directive in life, all the while running in his wolf form, trying to adapt to the change that he knew instinctively he could never alter. He didn't really want to. The man inside of him was overshadowed by the wolf even in his human form. His wolf, his instincts, made the human in him see that to take away this part of himself would be a kind of suicide. It would be killing a part of himself, a part so vital to his very existence that it was almost frightening.

The wolf was mainly instinct. He hunted. He stalked. He ran. He slept. He fed. The human in him added color and detail, added substance, but the wolf is what made every action real. He felt more acutely now than he ever had before. His emotions were tempered by the wolf. When he was angry he was furious. When he was sad he was overtaken with sorrow. When he was happy he was well beyond the point of simple contentment. What was more was that the wolf was a personification of his very base desires.

Like the others, each and every one of them, he was a dominant male. Jacob may lead their pack, he may be the Prime Alpha, but they were all alpha males. Their wolves were too similar not to be. Despite their personality differences accompanying their varying appearances, they all wanted control. They needed it. Dominance and submission came naturally to the wolf and none of them were overly submissive. The wolf always knew what it wanted…and may the Gods help anyone that stood in the way of what it wanted.

Until he had phased Sam had been serving as the pseudo Alpha to the pack. Sue to birthright it was Jacob's rightful place, but he'd had to fight for it. He had had to prove that he deserved to be Prime Alpha. He'd only had to fight Sam, but since Sam was the first to phase he'd had to fight each and every one of the others to prove his strength. When Jacob had come out of the fight victorious, the others had taken up a submissive posture similar to Sam's, baring their vulnerable throats to him, and signaling that they accepted him as their Alpha.

Just as phasing and running like the wolf he was came so naturally to him, so too did being the Prime. He did not abuse his power, but he made sure that his pack mates knew his standing within the pack, knew who their Alpha was. He made sure they all ran patrol, did their part within the tribe, and served well as men for the rest of the tribe to follow by. Beyond that they were welcome to their own lives.

Still, they'd all found themselves congregating together. Once a pack, always a pack. They were rarely apart from each other. They ran together inside and outside of patrols. It had been at his father's suggestion that they renovate the old cabin just at the edge of the Sea Cliffs that Jacob realized how large his family had grown. Thanks to phasing he now had six brothers…six equally large, wolfish brothers.

The old cabin was actually more like a rather large lodge first constructed years ago by one of the earlier Quileute generations. It was positioned just on the edge of the Sea Cliffs overlooking the sea. The cabin was massive in scale, holding eight bedrooms, though smallish in area, five full baths, a grand kitchen, a sunken living room, and a family room. The place averaged at about seven thousand square feet. They'd all been there in their childhoods. It had been renovated several times over the years, the plumbing and electric kept up to date, but it had been at least ten years since anyone had actually attempted to re-renovate the place. With how their schedules ran and how close they had all become Jake was already setting up plans with the others to get the place up to code so that it could be their pack home. By his estimations they could have the cabin renovated within a month or so.

Stepping up to the door Jacob inhaled once more, his nose burning from the scent of leeches. His tolerance would be tested this day, of that he had no doubt. He thanked his ancestors for his inherent control, otherwise he had little doubt that he'd shift before the hour was out with the desire to hunt and kill something…preferably a vampire.

"Jacob." The voice drew his attention momentarily away from the door and he turned. At the edge of the property nearest the tree line stood Sam. He was clothed in only cut-off shorts, about the only thing any of them could stand without sweating like a suckling pig over a roasting fire. Sam, he knew, stood taller than the others at an inch below seven feet. Jacob was the tallest at exactly seven feet. Their sheer height and muscle mass was needed in order to compensate for the largeness of their wolfen forms.

"What is it, Sam?" He asked almost irritably. He hadn't seen Bella since he'd phased and he'd been deeply upset to discover that she'd gotten ill after the leeches had left. When Charlie had called Billy he'd been present to overhear the conversation, enhanced shape-shifter hearing came in handy, he'd instantly offered to watch after her while Charlie went to work. He wanted to see his friend again, to make sure that she was truly alive after having associated herself with bloodsuckers for so long with his own eyes.

"Are you certain that this is wise?" Sam asked, stepping lightly on the line that was Jacob's…the line between Alpha and the rest of his pack. "You are still new to phasing. While I do not berate your self control, do you really wish to risk the chance of their scent triggering your wolf?"

"I would not risk Bella." With effort Jake was able to keep himself from snarling. As it was, his eyes half-shifted with his wolf. In an instant Sam tipped his head to the side, showing his submission.

"Forgive me, Alpha. I only wished to ensure that everyone was protected."

"Then patrol the house if you must, but do not question my choices again." With that Jacob dismissed his Beta. The other man…wolf…turned back to the forest and disappeared into it as silently as he had appeared.

Sighing, Jacob opened the door to the Swan home…and froze.

He ceased to do anything, see anything, or hear anything beyond inhaling a completely new and pure scent. He could perceive nothing else of his surroundings or of himself. All there was in that moment was that scent.

His muscles tightened as if in preparation of a hunt, his senses heightening to lethal proportions, his primal instincts coming to a head from where he had stored them neatly just beneath his 'human' demeanor. Several feelings warred for his immediate attention; possessiveness, need, elation, protectiveness, and lust so profound that he was nearly brought to his knees on the spot.

Jake closed his eyes briefly and allowed himself to take in that scent fully. It was spicy and sweet, deliciously warm, laced with a sense of coming home. The familiar scent pattern of cinnamon and oranges mixed with something else clean and pure like the sun itself. It was a scent entirely new to him, yet one that he knew would forever be imprinted upon his very soul. An erection that he knew would never truly go away sprung to life within the confines of his jeans. The urge to shift and give in to the urge to hunt down and guard the source of that scent was nearly overwhelming.

He knew the bearer of that scent. The wolf, the beast, knew that scent. There wasn't a shred of doubt within his mind.

It was his mate.

The wolf within him, the one that was never too far from the surface, surged into attention. He was not surprised by the feral, claiming growl that erupted from his throat as he continued to take in the glorious scent of his mate. He struggled to keep any part of his body from shifting over, understanding even in his lust-filled haze that it would be a foolhardy endeavor due to the fact that he could do nothing about his mate in wolf form besides track her and protect her. It was a near thing since every molecule of his very being demanded he shift over to collect his mate and guard her life…and the one he knew he instinctively had handed over to her the moment he had inhaled her scent.

He was already moving forward, though he couldn't remember even having stepped through the doorway. The door shut nearly silently behind him as he let the scent lure him in and closer to his mate. The only thing he knew for certain was that he had to get to her. Now.

As soon as he hit the living room he stopped as if hitting a brick wall. Her scent, his mate's scent, permeated the room like a thick fog, and within its center shown her beautiful face. A low purr burst forth through his chest as he set his eyes down onto the sofa and the form of his sleeping mate.

Bella.

In his memories of her she had been gorgeous, sexy, drool worthy. What he felt now…it didn't even compare to his earlier thoughts. She was beyond stunning. She was perfection personified. She was a goddess brought down to Earth. He might have winced at his pansy-ass thoughts, called himself whipped and in need of a serious ball-busting for sounding so flowery even internally, but he could not bring himself to think anything else as he looked her over lustfully. For one long, dreadful moment his world spun out of control. He lost sight of everything but her until finally everything returned, only this time nothing seemed the same. Very suddenly everything made sense because everything that was and ever would be to him was her.

Mine!

He stalked forward slowly, silently, until he was towering over where she lay sleeping. He drew in a breath once more, this time discerning the sickness in it. His wolf whimpered at the harshness it brought to her wonderfully addictive scent. The human part of him was saddened for her, his eyes softening completely as he contemplated everything he was physically and metaphysically able to do for his little mate.

He crouched down low so that his head was beside hers. He could hear the harshness in her breathing. The heat coming off of her was still colder than his own, but closer to it than he was comfortable with. Her skin was paler than he remembered, surely a bad sign. Her lips were chapped and her body was covered with at least two blankets, one of them being electric. Lifting up one corner of the bedding bundled around her he saw pale blue pajamas that covered her arms and legs, wool socks undoubtedly on her tiny feet.

"Jake?" A soft, croaking voice called from just beside his head. His attention jerked that way instantly. He would never again be able to ignore his siren's call…he wouldn't want to.

"Yes. It's me, Bella." He returned in a whisper, scenting her inner pain by the slight variations in her scent. He might have been surprised at that, but with everything that had been happening lately he found it difficult to discredit anything. His pack was the first for over a hundred years and Billy only knew so much through the legends and what was passed down through the generations.

Jacob looked into his little mate's eyes and let himself drown in them for this one moment in time, knowing that every time he looked into her eyes that he would be a slave to them. Her eyes were the palest shade of brown, flecked with gold and green. They showed her every thought, every feeling as if she was wearing them on her sleeve. They made his cock ache even further.

"You cut your hair." She frowned, is hand rising out from under her cocoon to skim her nails through his hair. At shock went through him at the light touch. Without even thinking on it he lifted his hand to her own. The smoothness of her skin met his and he sighed.

"Do you like it?" He asked, knowing that he could do little to change it if she didn't like it, but wanting to please her regardless.

"Yeah. It's still nice." She smiled at him then. His member pushed even further into his jeans at the beauty of it and he was forced to shift his weight or else risk the fly snapping open. She chuckled huskily, her voice obviously hurting her. "You here to babysit me?"

"Always." He promised, settling her hand back under the covers when he felt a shiver snake its way through her frame. He frowned, not liking her sickness, how weak she was and the pain that spiked through her scent.

He stole the remote from her then and turned the television to the Hallmark Movie channel. Bella's eyes drooped considerably until she was barely even looking at him anymore. Shaking his head he marched into the kitchen and filled a glass of water up for her. It was obvious that her throat was inflamed and he was going to see to her care. It was obvious that she was unable to do it and as her mate it was his duty, his pleasure, to take care of her.

Tromping back into the room he found her slipping back off into sleep.

"No, no, Bella." He informed her, setting the glass down on the side table before reaching under her with two hands. Bella moaned then, but he ignored it.

"I want to sleep, Jacob." She groused as he slid himself onto the cushion that her head had been lying on only moments before. He tugged and pulled at her until she was propped up slightly against his side, his free hand having wrapped the blankets so firmly around her that she might have resembled a grub worm.

"Not until after you drink something, little one." The endearment fell from his lips easily. He smiled a little before reaching out for the glass of water.

"I'm not thirsty." She argued, trying to move herself back into a horizontal position. He was having none of that. His left arm banded just below her bust to keep her pinned upright as he set the rim of the glass to her lips. She closed them stubbornly.

"I don't care. You may not want to, but you need to. Your throat is raw and this will help sooth it so you can breathe better." With a little more pushing Bella obviously realized that she wasn't going to win against him, especially in her condition, and allowed him to tip the water into her mouth. "Good girl." He purred, a shit-eating grin on his lips.

"Don't patronize me." She coughed when he pulled the now half-full glass away.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Liar."

Jake chuckled softly before settling Bella back down onto the sofa fully, her head pillowed on one of his thighs. He set one hand down onto her stomach over the covers and began to rub it in a slow, circular pattern.

"Go to sleep, Bella. I'll be here whenever you need me." He assured her with his deep baritone, his eyes drinking in her quickly exhausting form. Bella hummed into his thigh before turning her head to tuck her face into his side.

"Missed you, Jake."

"And I missed you my little mate." He purred, the sound sending small vibrations through his chest. He watched the smile widen on her lips only moments before her breathing evened out and her heartbeat began a slow, rhythmic pattern that signaled her drop-off into dreamland.

Jacob looked down silently onto his little mate, his mind free to think without hindrance for the time being since she was asleep and would have no need for him outside of keeping an eye on her.

This little development was not something he had expected. He would not change it, he would not give up his little Bella under any circumstances, but he had not come to the Swan household expecting to find his mate. His father had said that wolves finding their mates were rare. His ancestor Taha-Aki had imprinted along with the rest of his pack, but according to legend the most recent generations that had been made to shift out of necessity had not found their mates. Imprinting…mating…was not something that every wolf got to experience. All of the tribe were told the legends and upon shifting they were given more details into their ancestry, but even the tribe's elders were essentially useless now.

When Sam had phased all the elders had been able to tell him was that the legends were true, that he would continue shifting until his dying days, and that more of the tribe would phase in before everything was said and done. Sam had had to figure everything else out through the wolf. It hadn't been easy for Sam and it hadn't been easy for any of them after him.

There were some things with being a wolf that was easiest to learn. Like most everything with the wolf, stuff happened naturally. Running was beyond calming. It was like an aphrodisiac for them. Hunting and stalking also came easy to the wolf. Already Jacob had fallen prey to the need to hunt and kill more than just the vampires that triggered the wolf in his blood. While he would never harm a human he had certainly felled a couple deer on the reservation. In wolf form he'd been large enough to eat one deer entirely on his own. The other he had brought back home to skin, clean, and cook. There was still plenty of venison in the freezer and the fridge.

Other things, though, grew to be tiresome or just plain horrible. As a pack they shared a collective mind. That made keeping secrets from the others practically impossible. They also had higher metabolisms to compensate for their wolves. They were always hungry. The only time that Jake could claim to being full for most of the day was when he had eaten that deer in wolf form. It would have been a gruesome sight for a human, but as a wolf he salivated over the hunt and kill game. For the others the submission was an issue. They were forced to obey their Alpha's order no matter if they wanted to or not. The last major problem was that in triggering their anger, the wolf was brought to the surface. If any of them became too riled up the wolf would come out fully and they would have no control over their shift. Keeping calm was harder for some of the pack than it was for him, but everyone still fell prey to their more base needs to let the wolf out no matter how in control they were.

Jacob ran his fingers through Bella's long, chestnut tresses. The silky feel of them sent his cock raging again. He wanted to see her hair fanned out around her as he made love to her. He wanted to feel it spilling through his fingers as he gripped it in his hand and pounded into her from behind like a real wolf. He even wanted to see it spilling over her shoulders and breasts as he helped her to ride him to completion.

A low growl infused itself into the purr he'd been keeping up for his little mate. He had to resist the urge to shift to relieve the discomfort in his jeans. He didn't want to wake her up. He'd suffer in relative silence if it meant that she would be at peace.

He had so smirk inwardly when he thought of imprinting. In all honestly 'imprinting' was the fancy, polite term that the non-shifters of the tribe gave to a wolf that had found his life-mate. His mate would be his entire world. There was no denying that. Everything came second to her and her needs. The wolf would demand submission from her, especially in the bedroom, but he would see to it that she wanted for nothing. She would be a spoiled little princess if he had his way…and he would. She wouldn't need to lift a single finger if she didn't want to.

Jake had to grin when he thought on something that neither Bella nor her father would know. Even a lot of the other tribe members were unaware of it. The truth was that Taha Aki, while being a great chieftain and Alpha, was not the first shifter of their tribe. The wolves in their blood descended all the way back to when man had first began to tell their stories on the walls of their homes. Wolves lived long, long lives without their mates if they were not felled in battle. Fortunes were acquired over that time and passed onto the descendants when the wolf no longer wished to prowl the earth.

Jacob and the others were rich men. They were very rich men. He was not certain where all the money had come from or how it had been obtained exactly, but there were accounts set up all over the country and some off-continent places for each of them. With how many shifters hadn't found their mates and lived fruitful lives, many of them away from the tribe, the estimated value of their pack as a whole was near half a billion. A fair portion of that money was in real-estate, investments, and various acquired 'knickknacks' scattered throughout the world in museums or banks. The accounts were updated each time a new pack emerged and their names were added to the ledgers of who could and could not access the money. Only the current pack could take out any amount of the money saved away for them.

He had no doubts that it would be nearly impossible to piddle away all that money in any one of their lifetimes unless they were to donate it all to charities. While they used a lot of the money that they had withdrawn which they had attained through their shifts for the benefit of the tribe they were not going to give away everything their ancestors had saved up for them. When something needed to be rebuilt or constructed for the tribe they used the money from their accounts, but they did not buy frivolously.

I'm thinking that I might have to rethink using that money. Jake thought devilishly, his eyes continually running over his new mate's form. She deserved whatever he could give her in every capacity. She would never want for anything. He would make sure of it.

But, first thing was first.

He had to get her better. His mate was ill and he did not like it. He did not like the scent of sickness clouding her deliciously cloying scent. He did not like her looking more fragile than she did naturally. She was hurting and weak and he did not want her suffering.

When Charlie returned he would see if he could take her back to the reservation to take care of her. He wanted her near him and with the Chief being gone to work most of the time Bella would be alone with no one to look after her. He'd make Charlie see that the best place for Bella would be in his home where she could get the best care he could provide.

If Charlie didn't agree…

Well, he'd figure out how he was going to work around that if it came down to that. The wolf wanted its mate near him at all times and the man was not about to give up the chance to be with his beautiful little one just because the Chief of Police was a stubborn mule.

She'd be coming back to La Push with him no matter what.

Jake just hoped that he wasn't going to have to fight Charlie to get what he wanted.