Defined - Jacob Black {2}

Chapter 16: Turmoil

Third Person POV

How could something so wrong, so vile, so inhuman, feel so right? Aria was conflicted, her distress evident as she peeled herself off of the ground by the riverbank, not even daring to take a glance at the beast she had killed hours before.

Physically, she felt stronger than ever, she felt like she had the literal strength to move mountains, but mentally, that was a whole other story. Her internal torment intensified when she got back to the cottage, and slipped in through the window, catching her reflection in the long mirror.

Aria didn't recognise herself. Her reflection mortified her. Her clothes were half hanging off of her body, a bruise was forming on her shoulder where the lion's teeth had tried to puncture the skin there, and her torso was covered in dried blood. She could discard the clothes, and she could clean herself, but her only option was to try and cover the bruising with make-up and pray that Jake wouldn't take notice.

She wept as she cleaned herself, her tears mixing in with the water that rained down on her. Her eyes remained trained on the plughole as she watched the blood and dirt wash away. Ari realised coming to terms with her new self was going to take time, but the guilt she felt for killing that magnificent animal was weighing down on her.

There was an advantage to finally giving into her temptation, the burning thirst she had felt over the last two days had completely evaporated. There was no sign of it returning, she felt quenched, now only hunger for regular food remained.

When she was sure she had scrubbed the dirt and blood from her body she changed into some comfortable clothes and snuck past Jake and blurred to the closest public trash can on site and threw the bloodied clothes away. When she returned to the cottage, she took a seat on the lounge chair that overlooked the valley below. The sun was beginning to rise over the hills on the other side of the valley, the warm, orange light was spilling over the mountain side and submerging the earth in golden light.

She knew she had to act as normal as possible around Jacob, she had no desire to drink blood again and prayed that it was only a onetime disaster and that the craving wouldn't return again. Ari just had to let last nights events slip out of her mind and to never think of them again.

Back inside the cottage, Jacob began to stir, he rolled onto his side and stretched his arm out to bring his wife's body into his side. He craved her touch, to feel her soft skin and smell her glorious sweet scent. Instead, he found her side of the bed cold and bolted upright, immediately taken out of his dream-like state. "Aria?" He called out as his eyes did a quick scan of the room.

"Out here." She called back meekly, her voice muffled as she leant her chin against her knee caps, her legs bent up as she hugged them to her chest. She took a deep reassuring breath. Be normal... Be normal...

Jacob flicked the sheets off of himself and climbed out of the bed. He stretched his arms out above his head, the muscles in his back flexing. As he slipped on some boxers he tried to find her figure through the windows. The sun was shining in and prohibiting his vision. "What are you doing out there?" He asked as he walked towards the door.

"Just watching the sun. I didn't want to wake you." She explained as he watched her from the open doorway. She smelt of rose body wash and shampoo and Jake couldn't understand why she was dressed and showered already when it was just barely morning. Clad in cotton shorts and one of his hoodies she turned her head to look up at him, her skin glowing under the golden light of the sun, her blue and gold eyes sparkling at the light rebounded off of them. Her dark, damp hair fell in ringlets around her face. She took Jake's breath away, he thought she looked like a goddess.

"I wouldn't have minded, baby. I would've loved to have watched the sunrise with you. It's our last morning here after all." He shrugged, watching her curiously. She hadn't been entirely herself over the last day or so, she seemed a little jumpy and nervous, always on edge. He didn't let her know but it did hurt him that she had shut him down the last two nights, claiming to be too tired to have sex. Had he done something wrong? Had he upset her in some way? Usually if something like that had happened, she would tell him.