"Help!"
"Shhhh," the voice hissed in my ear. I struggled uselessly against the arms, but it was no use. "Annie, it's me."
I literally sagged in relief, glad that he had his arms around me to keep my upright.
"I thought there was a rule against scaring me?" I said breathlessly.
"I'm going to have to make a rule against screaming my name like that," he said in response. "Scared the shit out of me."
"Well at least we're even," I said, still breathing hard.
"What did you think I was?" he laughed.
"I didn't know; I thought I was going to die," I said. "And you are in so much trouble for all of that."
"Well, at least I know that you've learned to always call for me when you need help," he said with a shrug.
"I've always called for you when I needed help," I said with a shrug. "Remember when I was little and I fell out of the pine tree and almost broke my arm?" He smiled. "You were the first person that I screamed for, remember? And my dad yelled at me for not calling him because he was taller."
"Well if we're going by who's taller, I'll win every time," he said, falling into step beside me. The campsite was well chosen, sheltered by a sheer wall of rock and the forest. Bella was sitting with her leech in the tent, their murmuring low but still audible.
"Did you have fun with Paul?"
"No; he was a jackass." Jake growled. "I'm just kidding," I lied. "He was just fine."
"He didn't do anything wrong?" I shook my head.
"He behaved just fine?" I nodded. He had behaved about as well as one could expect Paul to behave. There was no separate tent, which pissed me off. Normally, I was a great sharer. But not with Bella. No, I had tried to share things with her and all it had done was bite me in the ass.
"I'm sorry that you have to sleep with her, but their tent was stabler." I nodded in understanding, still a little pissed.
I leaned over and pressed my lips to his, kissing him slowly. I had been trying for the last few days to pretend like I was fine, but the nightmares had gotten worse. I could sleep through them now, which was good. I knew that they weren't real. But every time I closed my eyes I saw Jake's dead eyes instead of the warmth that I knew. So I was scared. I was afraid that he was going to leave me here and I was going to lose him. And this was my last chance to say anything to him. I was finding it much easier to do something that to talk to him. The saying actions speak louder than words had a meaning now. He was kissing me back fervently, every ounce of love in his six and a half foot body pouring into my mouth. But me; I was saying goodbye to him. So that if something went wrong tomorrow, I could at least live with this memory.
The thought of losing him tore a hole in the middle of my heart. I grabbed at his shirt, surprised that he was actually wearing one, and pulled him close to my chest. I wouldn't lose him. He couldn't leave me. It wasn't going to happen. Slowly, he disengaged from my lips, his hands squeezing at my hips.
"I'll see you after the fight," I whispered.
He chuckled. "Do you really think that I'm leaving you here by yourself?" he said.
"I thought -"
"That I would really leave you here with your sister and her leech alone?" He laughed again.
"So you and I are going to sleep in a tent with my sister?" I must have sounded pissed because he sighed and turned towards the forest. "Where are you going?"
"To phase. You don't want to sleep with her, you'll sleep with me," he said.
"In wolf form?"
"The tent that I have is big," he said, pointing over to a tent that I hadn't seen. "It's not rooted as solid as the one that the Cullens have, but if I'm in it then I can keep you warm and anchor it down." I smiled, happy that I was getting my way. He pressed his lips to my forehead. "I have to leave in the morning. Seth's going to take over for me here and Collin and Brady are going to watch everyone back home."
"When did they phase?" I asked, not remembering hearing about the freshmen.
"Yesterday, late at night. Sam didn't want to risk it so he assigned them imprint duty. Now go get in the tent before you get sick. I'll be in there in a little."
The tent was large, although wolf-Jake couldn't stand up to his full height. While I cracked open my newest western romance, wishing that this was what my life was like, Jake dozed with his head on his paws.
He was an awesome, beautiful thing to behold. His canines were at least the size of my thumb and probably about as thick around. He was snoring, his snout coming up and falling again and again as he dreamed. After a while, the wind began to howl against the tent flaps and I curled myself into my sleeping bag, the flannel warm and inviting. I rolled everything so that I was running parallel to Jake, my little head a few feet from his. He chirped a bark in his sleep, wrapping his large frame around my body to shield me. In all honesty, I was surprised that he hadn't caged me underneath him where he could be certain that nothing could get me.
There was a howl in the distance that woke both of us up. At least, I think it woke Jake up. From the look of him, he had already been awake.
"Then why don't you go fetch a space heater," a polite voice called rudely. Jake phased, his body wrapping around me, his thick arm pulling me against his chest.
"You're naked," I reminded him. He grunted, his cheek resting against my hair. "What's Edward upset about?"
"Bella's freezing," he breathed back.
"Jake," I said quietly.
"Don't you even think about it," he warned.
"But she's cold, Jake. We can't just let her freeze."
"I can clearly remember a time when she left you freezing after pulling you off the edge of a cliff," he growled.
"You're an ancient Spirit Warrior whose job is to protect humans. Regardless of her... supernatural preference, my sister is still a human, Jake. And I can't let her die, no matter how much of a bitch she's been. My dad will be devastated if he loses her." Jake growled a sigh.
"Fine, but you're coming too," he said, rising to pull on a pair of shorts.
"I don't want to," I said simply.
"So you're just going to make me go, but you don't have to?"
"I make the rules," I said with a smile.
"I don't want to," he growled. "Please come with me. You know how she's going to be if I go in there all by myself Annie. Don't put me through that," he begged.
"Is the big bad wolf afraid?"
"Of losing his temper," he corrected. "Come on."
He pulled me into his arms, burying me against his chest, still warped in the sleeping bag. He carried me swiftly across the snow covered terrain and into the other tent.
"You called for a heater and here I am." He laid me down next to my chattering sister. I scooted away from her.
"I don't like this," Edward protested.
"Neither do I," he said, "but here I am." Jake sank to the ground beside me, pushing me almost out of my sleeping bag so that he was lying between me and Bella. Which was probably for the best. I was starting to get a violent streak where my sister was concerned. And it was something that I didn't feel bad about, which was unfortunate. All of my training was centered around controlling your temper. When you lose your temper, you lose your focus. You never go into a match angry unless you're wanting to lose. Those were the things that Frank had drilled into my head since I started at the gym.
Bella was turned towards Jake, her hands folded up against his skin. He hissed as she pressed herself closer towards him, although I didn't know it was from the close proximity or the drastic change in temperature. I was hoping for the former. Jake was turned towards me, his arm acting as a pillow underneath my head. His other arm was curled around my waist, anchoring me to his chest tightly. He growled under his breath with every snore, his arms shaking even in his sleep. It must be sharing the tent with Edward.
"It is," the leech in question said. "The smell keeps getting to him. He probably would've phased if it wasn't for you." I wrapped my fingers around Jake's wishing that we were back in our own room. "I guess it's just yet another thing I have to thank you for," he said.
"You guess?"
"You're sister doesn't hate you as much as you think," he said.
I looked him in his caramel colored eyes, thinking about how fake and unnatural they looked.
"She doesn't like me because of you. That's her genius reason for despising me. I try to do everything I can for her, but I'm not nice enough to you. That's why she hates me."
"Bella is a girl on many faucets, Ryanne. Like a diamond, the light reflects in different ways, each little refraction distinct in its own way and making up the rainbows. That's what she is. What she will always be," he said, looking longingly at her.
"No; she's those fake diamonds that the con artists sell to make people think that they're getting the real thing. She's not the diamond that you think she is. She's the rainbow, the refraction that is nothing more than a trick of the eye. It is seen differently from every angle, but at the end of the day, it is nothing more than beauty that changes each time you look at it."
Jake snarled and grumbled in his sleep, tightening his arm. "He's not thinking about her, you know. Only you."
I smiled and turned my face to kiss Jake's arm. "I know," I whispered.