The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter XXIV: Jacob's Point of View

Where's the fire? Sam asked.

I can't find Ryanne, I said, leaping over some fallen tree.

I thought you said she was staying on the Rez.

I thought she was; I asked her to stay. It's not like her to just ignore me and go.

As I said the words, my fear just increased. She said that she understood how dangerous it was out there. What was she doing driving to Fork by herself? She would be covered in Bella's scent or at the very least, mine. That parasite might mistake her for one of us or-

Calm down, Jacob. She's fine. Hundreds of people walk around Fork without us, Sam said, but I could feel his worry.

I smelled her house, but the scent that lingered there was old; at least a day. Where the hell was she? I had checked the beach, Emily and Sam's, her place-

Your house? Dude, it's dinner time; she's probably trying to feed your dad, Sam said with a laugh. God you are beyond anything I ever was. Must be the alpha gene.

I growled at him and darted through the forest, amazed that I could avoid trees at the speed I was going. Once my house was in sight, I phased and pulled on my shorts, barely managing to get them up before I bolted in the door. Praise God, there she was, wearing shorts and a thin tank top, her hair pulled back by one of my bandanas. I pulled her straight to my chest, my wolf purring.

I sniffed her as quietly as I could, checking for any sign of leech. All I could smell was her, my Annie. I was still shaking, my fear not yet driven away. I should've known better than to assume she would leave the Rez. She had promised she would stay.

"What's wrong?" she whispered into my chest.

It amazed me that she could be so calm. I came home, heart going a mile a minute, blood surging, and grabbed her, but she didn't ever say anything about my insanity. She just asked me what was wrong and calmed me down.

"That leech was so close to La Push and I couldn't find you," I growled into her hair. Goosebumps; good, she should be afraid. "I went to the beach and the Sam's, but you weren't there. Bella said she thought you'd gone home, but you weren't there, either."

"I'm sorry that I scared you," she whispered. Naturally she would apologize because I had overreacted. What else could I expect?

"I didn't mean to. I just wanted to get dinner ready for when you came home." A guy could get used to that, to coming home to a beauty with dark hair and blue eyes cooking dinner for him and his father. I hugged her tighter. This was all I ever wanted from her, ever. I wanted her to stay here in my arms.

"Why don't you go take a shower; you smell like wet dog," she joked. I'm sure I did; I had been running through the rain like a chicken with its head cut off.

"I'll have dinner ready when you get out." I pressed my lips to her cheek, a little closer to her lips than normal, but not enough to give anything away. She just wanted to be friends.

As I showered, there was a teenage boy side of my brain that wanted her there with me. I knew that I shouldn't be thinking about her like that, but it was so hard not to. She was so beautiful, so kind, so warm. I remembered what she had said about Bella, how her sister was everything she wasn't. I wondered if she saw all that she was. She was brave, fiercely so, and courageous. I knew when she was afraid and I knew that almost every time she faced it head on.

I practically howled when I smelled her in my room. Just knowing that she'd been in there, even if she was just cleaning, made me hum with pleasure. How could it be that she didn't love me?