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Chapter Text

“Whatever you say dad.”

It was meant to be an insult. It was meant to annoy and frustrate the vampire, he could tell.

The problem is that the supposed insult kind of had the opposite effect.

They were at Bella’s. Edward was complaining about Jacob, or rather bitching about Jacob as the shifter would put it. He complained about Jacob’s presence around Bella, insisted that it wasn’t safe for her to go to the bon fire with just Jacob. Bella insisted that she was fine because of course she did.

Edward pulled Jacob aside, just after Bella disappeared into the house to grab a jacket. He told the shifter to keep Bella safe, told him that he’d make the shifter pay if a single hair was touched on Bella’s head. To which Jacob answered.

“Sure.” The shifter said as he turned towards the vampire, batted his eyes in this weirdly adorable childlike way with the slightest pout on his lips, “Whatever you say dad.”

Edward didn’t-

It was weird, alright and of course Edward knew that it was meant to be mocking, the only emotion that phrase was meant to invoke in him was irritation. It’s just… the word made him feel-

It was just weird.

“Well, good.” The vampire said clearing his throat as he took a step back since Jacob just suddenly seemed like he was too close. The werewolf frowned at him but the moment broke when Bella came running out the house.

Bella left with Jacob, Edward watched them and then he went hunting since he suddenly just felt hungry and frustrated in the oddest way. He just…

His brain wouldn’t stop replaying that sentence in his head, over and over again.

“Whatever you say dad.”

Dad was just… it’s so close to-

No! no he can’t think about it.

Edward went deep into the forest, as far away from the reservation as humanly possible hoping to find a mountain lion that he could take his… weird frustrations out on. And it worked, for the most part.

Until he saw Jacob again the very next day which is when he realised that it really didn’t work.

“Whatever you say dad.”

It’s the first thing he thought of when he saw Jacob at Bella’s again the next day. They were out on the porch, laughing and joking as they talked about the bon fire. For the first time since they met Edward realised that Jacob looked good.

Of course he’s never considered the shifter to be ugly or anything like that but, that day he almost felt like he was seeing Jacob for the very first time. Jacob was bright and so warm, bronze skin glowed in the sun and his eyes almost seemed to go on forever. He just suddenly looked so different from Bella that it caught him off guard and he had to take a moment to pause before he continued up the path leading to the house.

Jacob noticed him long before that of course, the shifter just chose to ignore him.

Bella greeted him with a smile and a kiss, Jacob just rolled his eyes making vomit noises in his head before he got up to excuse himself. He got up and walked right into the forest, not wanting to phase right there in front of the house since Charlie was home. Edward followed him, he told Bella that he needed to speak with the shifter about something. Bella’s lips twisted into a frown, she made him promise that he wouldn’t start a fight and Edward promised to try.

He caught up to the shifter just as he was pulling his shorts off. Jacob paused when he noticed the vampire and folded his arms across his chest, leaving the shorts to hang loosely around his hips since he’d left the button undone. Edward had to fight against the urge to stare at the sculpted abs and v that dipped down under his pants.

“What the hell do you want? If you haven’t noticed Bella’s fine.” Jacob asked and Edward had to think quickly to collect his thoughts.

“I’m aware thank you.” Edward bit back, more than just relieved at the familiar anger and hostility he was used to around the shifter. Somehow a more civil Jacob would’ve-

It just wouldn’t have helped his situation that’s all.

“Carlisle wants to have a meeting with the pack. To discuss Victoria.”

Jacob just frowned at him, “What, he can’t call Sam himself?”

“He’s been trying but hasn’t been able to get through to him.”

Jacob suddenly let out a sigh and shut his eyes for a moment, “Sam’s phone got wrecked when he phased last week so he got a new one. Whatever fine, I’ll tell Sam. Exactly when do you wanna meet?”

“Tomorrow nine o’clock at the border.”

Jacob rolled his eyes, ‘Great, like I don’t have better things to do than stomach the smell of undead tomorrow night’

Edward glared, “If you have better things to do mutt you don’t have to show.”

“What and miss out on time with my favourite bloodsuckers? Wouldn’t dream of it.” Jacob snarked back and Edward resisted the urge to hiss in annoyance.

“Just make sure you tell Sam.” Edward said as he made to turn away.

Jacob gave a huff as he reached down to take off his cut offs, “Whatever dad.”

There it was again.

Not that Edward would ever allow himself to be affected by such an idiotic insult but… It’s annoying alright, so he wanted Jacob to stop.

Edward froze and his head snapped back to tell the shifter to stop calling him that only to freeze all over again when he realised that Jacob had pulled his shorts off and was tying them onto his left leg to phase. Edward froze because he suddenly found himself with a spectacular view of Jacob completely naked and  bent over and he-

His brain malfunctioned a little and he lost his train of thought for like, a second. But that’s just cause he was caught off guard since the shifter apparently has no shame or sense of decency whatsoever. Not that he has much to be ashamed of- but that’s neither here nor there. He quickly regained his composure just as Jacob finished only for the wolf to pause and look back at him, blinking in surprise like he was genuinely shocked to see the vampire still standing there.

“What the – are you seriously just standing there watching me get undressed you creep?”

If Edward could blush his face would’ve been a bright scarlet, thankfully he couldn’t so he was able to give the shifter a glare.

“Don’t flatter yourself mutt. Just-“

“Just what?”

Edward let out a heavy sigh as he shut his eyes and turned around to walk away, “Never mind, it’s pointless.”

“Whatever.”

And then the next moment Jacob had phased, the shifters mind was already on food and homework and his dad and everything but talking to Sam so Edward spoke again.

“Don’t forget to talk to-“

‘Yeah yeah, talk to Sam. Whatever you say dad’

And there it is again.

“Would you stop that?!”

Jacob paused from where he’d been about to leap off into the forest and the large russet wolf turned back to look at him.

‘Stop what?’

“Calling me dad. I’m not your father, and I appreciate the implication of the word even less.”

‘Never said that you were you freak, the hell is wrong with you? The only implication that I had in mind is that you’re old’

“I know that-“

‘Then why-‘

“Nothing just… stop saying it.”

Edward didn’t even wait for the shifter to reply as he turned back and immediately headed to Bella’s. He spent the rest of the night with her in her room, talking to her and holding her gently against his chest, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Jacob. And Jacob half naked and Jacob completely naked.

And Jacob using that stupid word.

The next day he picked up Bella, went to school, dropped Bella off at home after school and then went home to get some time to himself before going to the meeting with the wolves later that night. Not that there was any reason for him to be concerned about the meeting with the wolves. Carlisle just had some security concerns regarding Victoria’s possible return to Forks, nothing too concerning. It’s just that Carlisle asked Edward to be there to communicate for them since the shifters rarely ever felt comfortable enough to appear in their human forms whenever they met with the Cullens.

The problem is that knew that Jacob would be there and he still felt odd about what happened between them the day before.

Turns out he was right to be worried.

See the meeting itself went smoothly enough with minimal hostility. They were just discussing patrol schedules to watch out for Victoria. Carlisle suggested that the vampires work with the wolves. Sam was more than just a little reluctant but he eventually agreed. It made sense and they were attempting to work together in preparation for the redhead’s attack anyway. All in all, the meeting  went relatively well. The problem is what happened after the meeting.

Jacob’s thoughts had been oddly closed off that night, that wouldn’t have been so bad if the wolf didn’t keep staring at Edward the entire time. Just before the meeting ended Sam decided that Jacob would go on the first joint watch with Edward, since he’s just had more time around the vampire because of Bella and all.

Surprisingly enough, Jacob didn’t growl and complain the way he usually would have. Jacob didn’t really say anything and that’s probably what disturbed Edward the most.

The pack left at the same time that Edward’s family did. They decided to just start with patrol and get it over with, or at least Edward did. Jacob didn’t say anything, just nodded his head and followed after the vampire as they made their way through the woods.

Jacob didn’t say anything, it was disturbing. Especially since the distraction that Jacob’s random thoughts usually brought was usually enough to distract him. But with Jacob being so quiet Edward was left to his own thoughts and unfortunately his thoughts were focused on Jacob and that thing he kept saying.

‘Noticing anything odd dad’

“What?” Edward almost tripped over a fallen branch but managed to catch himself before he could go crashing to the ground. The telepath paused staring at the wolf with a frown, but Jacob didn’t seem to notice just kept moving forward. Easily bouncing off of the log that Edward tripped over.

‘I asked you if you noticed anything odd yet’

Jacob asked calmly and Edward cleared his throat, “No.”

‘O.K’

The telepath followed walking behind the wolf.

‘So exactly when did Shorty say that Victoria would be showing up in Forks’

“It could be a few weeks, it could be months. Alice can’t see around any of you so it’s difficult for her to tell.”

‘O.K so why can’t she see us again?’

Edward shrugged as he kept walking, “Carlisle thinks that it could be a defence mechanism you all seem to have. Apparently nature thought it to be an unfair advantage for vampires to be able to predict a shape shifters actions before they’d even done them.”

‘Huh’ Jacob said as he leaped up onto a boulder and stayed there for a moment, ‘So, she can’t see us right now?’

“Probably not.”

The wolf let out a snort, ‘So basically I could kill you right now and none of them would have a clue?’

Edward looked up at the shifter and glared, “I’d love to see you try mutt.”

‘Geeze you’re so uptight, it was just a question. Calm down dad.’

What the-

“What did you just say?”

The wolf went to lie down on its paws as it stared at the vampire almost seeming to grin.

‘About what?’

“You know what, mutt.”

‘No, I really don’t. Maybe you should explain it to me’

Edward glared, “You think you’re cute don’t you, mutt?”

‘Nah, but I bet you do’

“Excuse me?”

‘You know, I didn’t think it was anything at first. I figured it was just you being a weirdo for the sake of being a weirdo. But then I realised that-well I mean you’re still a weirdo- but I figured out why you were being weirder than normal.’

“Yeah and why’s that?” Edward asked folding his arms across his chest.

‘Oh I think you know the answer to that,’ the wolf seemed to sit up a bit more as it locked its gaze on the vampire, ‘Daddy’

He didn’t mean to, but his whole body tensed up at the word and of course the shapeshifter immediately noticed.

‘Holy shit no way’

Edward blinked, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

‘Really?’ and then the wolf leaped down from the boulder forcing the vampire to step back when he landed right in front of him and started to phase. Especially since the werewolf didn’t even bother putting on his cut off’s as he approached the telepath.

“You don’t know what I’m talking about?”

It’s the smirk on his face that really got Edward’s attention, somehow he just knew that it wouldn’t mean anything good. The telepath didn’t answer as he kept stepping back.

“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about, Daddy.”

Edward’s eyes went wide and he couldn’t help but drop his arms. Jacob gave a bark of laughter, “Oh my God, you really are a freak. Does Bella know?”

“I-“

“Of course she doesn’t. I doubt she’d be so eager to let you turn her if she knew you were a perve with a thing for her male best friend.” Jacob’s smirk grew even as Edward regained some composure and glared, “Does anyone in your family know?”

“There’s nothing for them to know.”

“Oh so you wanna play that game? O.K.”

And then suddenly Jacob was in his personal space all over again. Somewhere during that conversation, he managed to lose track of his surroundings and he ended up backing himself up into a tree.

“What’re you-“

Honestly he isn’t usually this inarticulate but Jacob was making it hard to focus. The shifter moved in closer less than an inch away, he could feel the heat radiate off of the teens form, Jacob was looking up at the vampire through his lashes skin glowing oddly in the pale moonlight.

“You know it wasn’t that hard to figure out, it actually kinda hit me after the first time I called you dad and you got all weird. But I really didn’t think that you’d be the type to have that kind of a kink so I just ignored it.” Jacob’s hands went up on  either side of Edward’s shoulders and the vampire froze. He isn’t usually this passive but the heat off of the shapeshifter’s skin was making it hard for Edward to control himself. He really didn’t trust his body to move the way he wanted it to, not that his brain was in any better shape since he still couldn’t get it in appropriate working order.

“Then I said it again and you totally freaked out, but I wasn’t sure till just now. I guess it kind of makes sense, with you being ancient and all,” The smirk on Jacob’s lips grew, “Mr Perfect Gentleman Parasite has a Daddy kink. Fucking hilarious.”

“I don’t-“

“I wonder what the other leeches would say if they knew the truth. Holy shit Sam and the others are going to love this.”

Edward’s eyes went wide, “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh yeah? And who’s going to stop me?” Jacob asked with a tilt of his head, “What, are you going to stop me Daddy?”

Edward tensed again, at that point it was some kind of weird reflex.

Jacob almost grinned, he was having way too much fun. Usually when he and the leech argued the vampire would usually be able to one up him by either throwing the fact that Bella chose him instead of Jacob in his face or making him feel like some stupid little kid who was in over his head. This is the first time he’s had a button he could push as much as he wanted and Edward couldn’t do a thing about it.

I mean it was a little weird, Jacob couldn’t pretend like he wasn’t completely weirded out by the fact that Edward fucking Cullen had a kink that was focused on him, because he was a little weirded out. But somehow, being able to use the weirdness to torment and humiliate the vampire outweighed the strangeness in the situation of said weirdness.

Jacob was going to milk the weirdness for everything it was worth.

“What’re you, going to do tie me down so I can’t get away?” Jacob leaned in closer to whisper into the vampire’s ear, ignoring the scent of sickly-sweet bleach along with the oddly alluring scent of honey and lavender he could smell underneath, with his hands still braced on Edward’s shoulders, “Punish me for being a bad bad boy? Hold me down till I beg for forgiveness?” He expected the vampire to shove him away and start freaking out again, when he didn’t Jacob figured that he really must’ve gotten the telepath bad and he almost smirked in victory, “You know what I think you’re going to do, Daddy?”

The shifter pulled back, resisting the urge to howl in laughter at how absolutely still the leech was. Instead he whispered up against the vampire’s lips.

“Nothing.” With that Jacob pushed himself away, shoving Edward a little harder against the tree as he turned around and gave a scoff. “So do us both a favour and back off. Freak.”

Jacob made to phase. They covered the area of patrol they were supposed to anyway so the shifter figured he could go home. You know what they say about quitting while you’re still ahead.

Jacob was already making plans to go to the res, tell Sam they were done so the next pair could patrol and he could go home to get some sleep. He phased and took off, heading straight home.

Edward stood there, watching as the shifter disappeared in the dark shadows of the forest, hands clenched tightly.

So that’s the game he wants to play? Two can play that game.

Chapter Text

The next time they met it was at Bella’s.

From the very second that Edward arrived, Jacob knew something was wrong. Something about the vampire was different from how it was before. He’d gone to go hang out with Bella. Billy was watching the game with Charlie, everything was fine. And then Edward arrived and things became less fine. Bella went up to Edward, gave him a hug and a kiss while Jacob glared from his seat at the kitchen table.

Jacob didn’t realise that something about Edward was wrong however until the vampire actually crossed the room and sat down in the seat next to his. After what happened the last time Jacob thought that the vampire would’ve been avoiding him like the plague. After what happened the last time, he thought the vampire might be embarrassed enough to change his name and move to a new country. At the very least, he thought Edward would do everything he could to avoid being near the shifter for a while. But right then Edward didn’t even seem to notice that he was there. Did he seriously think that just because Jacob hasn’t said anything about the telepath’s dirty little secret, that he could just pretend like nothing happened?

‘Seriously?’ Jacob arched a brow at the vampire Edward didn’t even glance at him.

OK.

Bella was at the sink, washing the dishes, talking about Jessica and how she was planning to have a party for graduation. Jacob didn’t really like any of Bella’s friends so that much was easy enough to ignore.

He can think of something so much more fun to do.

‘So you’re just going to ignore me?’ No response, Jacob leaned forward to brace his elbow on the table and let his head rest on the palm of his hand to look at the vampire. ‘You don’t like me anymore, Daddy?’

The vampire twitched. A smirk tugged at the corner of the shifter’s lips.

‘No? Are you sure? Not even a little?’ Jacob then reached over with his other hand under the table and slipped his hand onto the vampire’s leg.

A bold move, but Jacob was feeling bold and knew that the vampire wouldn’t do anything with Bella right there.

Edward jumped slightly at the touch, Jacob stifled a snort, ‘I think you still want me.’ His hand moved further up Edward’s thigh, ‘You could show me how bad you want me’

When the vampire remained frozen Jacob moved in a little closer, ‘Then again, you probably wouldn’t even know where to start.’

Edward glanced over towards him for a brief moment, Jacob could see his jaw clench and almost laughed out loud when Bella turned back towards them and the shifter quickly pulled his hand away.

Edward was practically glaring at the shifter and Jacob looked way too amused for his own good.

“Is something wrong?”

Edward didn’t answer, he just kept glaring at the wolf. Jacob scoffed.

Always quit while you’re ahead.

“Nope.” Jacob said as he got up from his chair, “I was just thinking that maybe I should go.”

“You’re leaving.”

Jacob shrugged, “I’ve got patrol tonight, I figure I might as well get back to the res. Sue said she’ll come pick up Billy later.”

Bella’s lips pursed together in a tight line, “If you’re sure.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” He walked around the table to give the girl a hug, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“O.K.”

With that the shifter let go and turned to leave through the kitchen door. Edward still hadn’t said so much as a word to him. Jacob couldn’t help but tease.

‘Bye Daddy’

He could practically feel the glare on his back intensify but he didn’t look back as the door swung shut behind him.

He doesn’t have patrol tonight, but again, its better to quit while you’re ahead. Jacob figured he could get back and hang out with Embry and Quil or maybe just catch up on some TV. The shifter stopped once he was far enough into the woods that he wouldn’t be seen and took off his cut offs, tying them to his leg. He’s in a good mood. Maybe he could catch up on homework or finally get around to-

Jacob gasped when the wind was knocked out of him and suddenly gravity crashed down on him hard. he wasn’t hurt, just surprised. Which is why he was able to recover relatively quickly.

“What the fuck?!”

Edward was on top of him straddling his hips and pinning his wrists down to the ground. The vampire was glaring hard, his eyes the darkest that Jacob has ever seen them, the shifter struggled.

“What do you think you’re-“

“You just don’t know how to behave, do you mutt?” Edward growled with his teeth bared, “You don’t know how to stay in your place.”

Jacob’s eyes narrowed down at the vampire, “Oh what, are you going to put me in my place leech? Like you put me in my place last time.” The shifter scoffed, “I’d love to see you try.”

“Fine.”

“What?”

The shifter gasped when the vampire suddenly moved. Jacob was flipped over onto his stomach, he had to put his hands out to stop himself from face planting into the leaves and dirt. Edward had one hand braced on the small of Jacob’s back with the shifter laid out over his lap.

“What-“

SMACK!

The werewolf yelped as stinging pain bloomed across his skin on his left ass cheek and he looked back over his shoulder to the vampire with wide shocked eyes.

“Did you just-“

SMACK! SMACK!

Two more hard smacks against his ass, ice cold meeting with burning heat in the most shocking way.

“OW! Ow, what the hell! What’d you think you’re doing leech?!”

SMACK!

“Uh uh uh, that’s not what you call me, pup or should I call you princess?”

“What are you talking about you fucking par-“

SMACK!

“OW!” Jacob’s hands clenched in the dirt, only to gasp again when a hand suddenly curled in his hair to pull his head back, leaving him to bend back in an awkward angle he lifted a hand to free his head when-

“You call me Daddy, remember?” the vampire growled against Jacob’s ear, his voice dark and threatening.

Jaco’s eyes went wide when it all suddenly clicked.

“You can’t be-“

SMACK!

Another hit, this time Jacob hissed as his eyes shut tight.

Oh shit, he’s serious.

“Try again.”

His head was still pulled back, Edward’s cold breaths hitting his flushed skin, the roots of his hair were starting to sting ever so slightly and-

SMACK!

“What do you call me?” Edward said his voice almost deadly quiet as he let his hand sooth over the shifter’s reddening skin, like ice soothed over a stinging bruise and he gave Jacob’s head one sharp tug. “Don’t make me repeat myself again.”

It hurt, but it didn’t hurt. Jacob didn’t feel like he was in any real danger, it didn’t feel like the vampire would actually be able to do any real harm to him and he wouldn’t be able to actually hurt Jacob by… spanking him.

SMACK!

Another hit, a little harder than before and Jacob’s eyes shot open at the pain with a gasp.

“Jacob.” Edward warned with a sharp whisper against the shifter’s ear. And Jacob felt an involuntary shiver rake its way down his spine, the hand he still had on the ground clenched in the dirt, shortened nails almost biting into his skin.

SMACK!

“Da-“ Jacob cut himself off, snapping his jaw shut and he felt his flush go one shade darker when he realised exactly what it was that he’d almost said. Especially since he could feel the way his cock was starting to harden and he prayed to every deity in existence that the vampire somehow wouldn’t be able to tell.

The shifter’s eyes shot open again when he felt the vampire’s tongue against his neck, licking what Jacob now realises was sweat dripping down the side of his face and onto his neck all the way back up to his ear before the cold one spoke.

“What was that?”

SMACK!

Jacob hissed.

“You were about to say something weren’t you Jacob? So say it.”

SMACK!

“Say it.” Edward hissed again. Jacob tried to ignore the sensations running all over his body as he forced his mouth open to speak.

“Make me, leech.” He growled back through clenched teeth.

It was eerily silent for five whole seconds and Jacob silently wondered what was going through Edward’s head, only for him to gasp again as he was flipped over all over again and his back hit the dirt.

Jacob let out a grunt of confusion, the vampire suddenly moved right over him and Jacob was thrown into another bout of shock when he looked down at his hands and realised that they’d been tied together with the tie that he usually uses to tie his cut offs to his leg before he phases.

“What the-“

For what had to be the tenth time that day, Jacob was cut off as ice-cold met burning heat. The shifter let out a sharp cry as Edward’s mouth engulfed his cock, seeming to forgo any and all pretences, the vampire stroked the base of Jacob’s length and sucked on the head, swirling his tongue around the tip before taking Jacob in deeper.

Jacob’s body twisted in the leaves and earth beneath him, almost seeming to try and crawl away as pleasure thrummed through him and he clawed at the dirt with his bound hands. Edward used his free hand to keep a tight grip on the shifters hip to stop him from going anywhere.

“Ah… fuck!” Jacob cursed, he chanced a glance down towards the vampire and almost immediately regretted it as he saw that those normally bright gold eyes had darkened. Pitch black orbs of darkness watched him squirm and shiver even as Edward bobbed his head up and down over his length, before suddenly pulling off completely to lick down the end of the shaft all the way down to his balls to suck on them as well.

Jacob looked away. He had to look away.

The shifter had flushed all the way down to his shoulders and up to his hair in a combination of shock, lust and embarrassment. He didn’t know which emotion was the strongest and so it was this combination of very confusing emotions that had him quickly looking away and shutting his eyes tight because-

“Shit… wha-what the fuck…” Jacob’s words trailed off into a moan as Edward took him into his mouth again and for a brief moment, he allowed himself to sink into those pleasured feelings. He thrust his hips up to follow the vampires mouth every time it pulled off, sucking hard before going deeper. Heat was coiling at the bottom of the shifter’s stomach, pleasure pulling in tight begging for release and Jacob knew that he was close when…

Edward suddenly stopped.

“What-“

He opened his eyes and Edward’s face was right in front of his own, those dark dark eyes drilling right into his own and the shifter’s breath hitched as he went completely still. He could still feel Edward’s hand on his cock, not moving, staying absolutely still. The vampire then took hold of the bonds around Jacob’s wrists and put his hands up above his head.

“What do you call me?” the vampire said in a voice that Jacob had never heard him use before. It was barely above a whisper and yet somehow entirely too loud to his ears, another shiver dragged its way through the shifter and before he could even dissect the thought he obeyed the command.

“Daddy. I call you Daddy-“

Jacob groaned as Edward’s hand moved to begin stroking, but the sound was muffled by the vampire’s mouth covering is own in a bruising kiss. Jacob’s back arched up off the ground, his arms still pinned down above his head and he noted with another moan that he could taste himself of Edward’s tongue.

Edward suddenly broke the kiss and started biting along the shifter’s neck right on his pulse, just barely managing to avoid breaking skin as he kept stroking the shifter while Jacob kept moaning that word over and over again.

“Daddy… fuck, yes. Daddy please.”

The next moment Jacob came with a sharp cry, spilling all over the vampire’s hand with every last pump until he fell back flat on the ground and went still, breathing hard as he tried to catch his breath. Edward bites became kisses, peppered all along the shifter’s chest and neck as Jacob rode out his high. He wiped his hand off on his ground.

“Shh.” Edward cooed as he pressed a kiss against Jacob’s temple before pulling the shifter into his arms. At that point, Jacob felt very relaxed, almost boneless and a little high. He didn’t do much as Edward untied his hands and then kissed his wrists where the tie seemed to have dug in a little and caused bruises.

“Pup, are you alright?”

Jacob just hummed, soaking in the vampire’s cold skin. Edward chuckled, his nose running up the side of the shifter’s neck with a deep breath, his hands stroking all along Jacob’s sides.

“You know, I knew this is what it took to get you quiet. I probably would’ve done it a long time ago.”

Jacob frowned, about to retort. Something along the lines of, “If I knew you’d do this then maybe I would’ve let you”

Unfortunately that’s also around the time that Jacob seemed to snap out of whatever spell he was in. the shifter’s eyes went wide.

‘…oh shit’

Edward frowned, “Jacob?”

‘Oh shit! Shitshitshitshitshitshit! What’d I do-‘

The shifter pulled out of his grasp and Edward’s eyes widened.

“Jacob wait-“

Before Edward could finish, the shifter had phased and immediately took off, heading straight for the reservation. Not looking back once.

Chapter Text

It was late.

Jacob didn’t have any patrol. Quil and Embry were too busy to hang out and he miraculously managed to finish his homework in about an hour. His dad was still at Charlie’s and there wasn’t anything interesting on TV.

Jacob had stayed in his room for hours, just staring at the ceiling pretending like what happened that afternoon totally didn’t happen. Doing everything in his power to try and forget the thing that totally didn’t happen that afternoon.

He failed miserably.

After hours of staring at the ceiling Jacob got up and walked over to the full-length mirror on his closet door. Biting his lip for a brief moment the shifter made sure that his curtains were securely shut before making his way over to the mirror. He reached for the button on his shorts, pulled down the zipper-

And then stopped.

“This is so stupid.” Jacob said as he raked a hand through his hair, “What the hell is wrong with me?”

He looked back at the mirror, kept his eyes on his reflection for a few moments more before he finally took in a deep breath and dragged his shorts down. He turned to the side just enough to get a look at his backside and-

Nothing.

Of course there’s nothing there, why would there be anything there?

He’s a shape shifter, they heal fast. The hickeys that Edward left on him that afternoon faded away hours ago. Why would the bruises on his ass somehow still be there?

Jacob flushed at the thought.

It felt… weird.

Jacob felt odd about the fact that there weren’t any marks. That afternoon after he got back home, he immediately got into the shower to scrub away any and every trace of his encounter with the vampire that day and then headed into his room. He’d left his closet open and so when he walked into his room, he was immediately greeted by his own reflection.

There were hickeys all over his neck and chest, thin rope marks around his wrists and then there were the bruises on his ass.

It was weird, but Jacob had just stared at his own reflection from a moment. Not realising that he’d stepped closer to the reflective glass, not even realising that he was about to touch himself until he felt the slight sting from his sore flesh.

It was weird.

So weird that Jacob immediately put some clothes on and got started on his homework as a way to distract himself.

The homework is done and now… the marks are gone.

Almost like nothing really did happen.

But of course, they’re gone. He’s happy that they’re gone. The marks still being there would’ve just made everything so much more complicated than it needed to be. He’s glad they’re gone.

Jacob kept repeating that thought over and over again even as he touched his skin, even as a frown pulled at his lips and an odd empty feeling grew in his chest.

Without thinking about it, Jacob pinched himself hard. Maybe just to see what it would look like. The skin seemed to bruise for a brief second, blood rushing to the tender spot turning it slightly red before it just as quickly faded back to normal. He did this a few times over his ass and on his hip over and over again but it just… It wasn’t enough. So he hit himself, he felt the very brief sting of pain but it wasn’t like it was before, his skin didn’t even really seem to bruise.

Jacob let out a huff of frustration, his eyes darted around his room when they fell on a leather belt that was hanging out from the bottom of the closet and he reached for it when-

He stopped.

What are you doing?

A voice suddenly asked in his head and Jacob pulled his hand away like he’d been burned. He gave himself one more glance in the mirror and quickly pulled his shorts back on.

Sleep. He needs sleep.

Sleep will make everything better. Sleep will help him forget and he’ll feel better in the morning. So that’s just what he did.

Jacob headed for the bathroom to quickly brush his teeth and then got into bed. Everything will be better in the morning. A good night sleep and he’ll forget.

He shut his eyes, took in a few deep steady breaths.

Forget. All he needs to do is forget.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bella was sleeping.

Edward watched the human girl on the bed beside him for a moment. Watched her breathe deep and easy in the deep embrace of sleep all while ignoring the pang of guilt that hit him with every breath she took.

God, what’s gotten into him?

Edward let out a sigh as he sat up on the bed, careful not to wake Bella as he reached for his phone to check the time.

It’s almost midnight. It’s been exactly seven hours since he saw Jacob in the woods. Seven hours since he… well-

Edward dragged a hand through his hair and over his face.

What the hell is wrong with him?

What he did with Jacob… what he did to Jacob was wrong. That wasn’t what he’d planned on doing. He’d only meant to scare the shifter, get under his skin a little and force some obedience out of him. Part of it was out of revenge because of what happened the last time, but most of it had to do with keeping the wolf in line. He wanted to make sure that Jacob didn’t tell anyone about his… secret. Needed to make sure that Jacob wouldn’t even think of it.

The spanking bit, that had been intentional, though if Edward was being honest, he didn’t think he’d even manage to get the shifter over his knee let alone manage to actually spank him. Somewhere in his head he expected Jacob to fight back more, to attack the vampire, maybe even phase before he could get too close.

But he did get Jacob over his knee, he got Jacob vulnerable and exposed and after that first hit-

Something in Edward just slipped loose for a brief second and he forgot himself. Then there was another hit and then another and  another. He could hear the blood rushing through the shifter’s veins, feel his body heat increase, Jacob’s thoughts were a confused mess of jumbled shock and then he smelled it. He could smell the desire almost pour out of Jacob’s skin. He saw the wolf’s jaw tighten, saw his hands clench in the dirt and then the fucking shifter said it.

“Make me, Leech.”

You’d think that after that things blurred and Edward reacted with blind rage but he didn’t. Instead, the moment the words left Jacob’s lips everything shifted into sharp focus and Edward felt some lost forgotten instinct take hold of him and before he knew it; Jacob was begging. Moaning in ecstasy as that heady scent of lust spiked, the most overwhelming feeling of completion fell over him. Jacob’s thoughts were focused on nothing and no one other than Edward and then, after he went over the edge there was nothing at all. It was quiet and calm and for once Edward could almost feel himself becoming lost in that silence.

He looked at Jacob, the shifter was still trying to catch his breath, eyes blown wide and skin flushed. He did the first thing that came to mind and pulled Jacob in close, took the ties off his wrists and just held him. It was the strangest moment as the shifter seemed to just let him do it. He didn’t flinch away, didn’t curse, didn’t throw a fit, he just stayed there only moving when Edward urged him to and for a moment Edward felt peace.

But that peace didn’t last very long as Jacob seemed to come back to himself and immediately ran. Edward had watched him go; not sure what else he could do considering the circumstances so he did nothing.

It was a whole hour before he felt ready to go back. He needed time to pull himself together  and once he felt like he was good enough to at least face a human he went back to Bella’s.

The human girl was confused since Edward hadn’t really explained why he suddenly needed to run after Jacob. She worried that they got into another fight. Edward reassured her the way he always did. He told her that he just needed to talk to Jacob about something concerning Victoria and that they didn’t fight, it just took longer than he’d expected. Then he pulled her in close and pressed a kiss against her temple. Trying hard not to think about exactly where his mouth had been an hour ago. He tried not to think about how careful he had to be when he held her.

Now it’s almost midnight. Edward can’t stop thinking about Jacob.

He looked down at his hands, a frown pulling at his lips before deciding to go hunt.

If he hunts then maybe… maybe it’ll get better and then maybe he can think of a way to handle the situation the next time he meets the shifter.

Only God knows what Jacob must be thinking right now. Disgust is the first thought that came to Edward’s mind, the shifter must think that he’s every bit the monster he was raised to believe vampires to be. How could Edward be so stupid? How could he lose control like that?

Hunt.

He needs to go hunt.

If he hunts then he’ll be able to think clearer and maybe… maybe he’ll figure out how to deal with Jacob and… apologise. Maybe Jacob will forgive him, maybe he’ll agree to keep what happened between them a secret.

Edward almost gave a snort.

Like there’s any chance in hell of that ever happening.

But hunting is a good idea. If nothing else, it’ll give him a distraction.

He cast one more look at Bella’s sleeping form and quietly left the room.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He’s an idiot.

Jacob was so fucking stupid! How did he manage to forget?! How could he have forgotten about patrol? The same patrol he was supposed to go on the very next night. The patrol where he was paired up with Edward on?

Fuck fuck fuck fucking fuck!

He’s such an idiot.

He tried to get out of it, tried to tell Sam that he couldn’t go. But since he couldn’t give Sam a reason as for why he couldn’t go on patrol with Edward; the alpha just ended up giving him a very tired look and saying-

“This thing with Bella needs to end Jacob. Just get this done and stop running after that girl.”

Bella.

Of course he thinks this whole thing is about her and really, what else would it be about?

He’s so screwed.

Jacob was already at the border. Sitting on a fallen log as he waited for his patrol partner to show up. They were supposed to wait for Emmett and Embry to return first, give a report on anything suspicious or out of the ordinary and then they’d take over. Embry would head back to Sam to report and confirm that Edward and Jacob had taken their place. He was hoping that Edward wouldn’t show. Internally Jacob was hoping desperately that he wouldn’t have to say another fucking word to the leech until next year at the very least. But even he knew that was unlikely.

It was just then that he heard rustling from the trees on the Cullen’s side of the treaty and he looked up. He could smell Edward’s scent, that same scent of too sweet bleach but somehow it almost… it almost smelled different.

Jacob quickly shook that thought from his mind as he straightened up. Chin up, shoulders back, back straight. He’ll be damned if the parasite finds out that he actually managed to shake him up a bit.

This is fine. It’ll be fine.

So some weirdness went down between him and Edward before, so what? It was nothing more than a fluke, there’s no need to think or worry about it. Nothing between him and the vampire has changed. Edward is still a parasite freak and Jacob doesn’t give a shit.

It was a few more moments before Edward appeared in the shadows of the trees. The moon was out, almost making the vampire seem like this haunting, ethereal creature slowly creeping from the shadows, those bright gold eyes flashing briefly. Jacob swallowed hard.

‘It means nothing’

“Took you long enough.” He said and Edward stopped once he was out of the shadows and standing a few yards away from Jacob himself. The vampire arched a brow at him.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting Jacob.”

Jacob shook his head and looked away, “Whatever.”

Where the hell is Embry?

“Jacob.” Edward said and the shifter resisted the urge to jump at the vampire speaking so suddenly. He was hoping for silence during this whole thing. “About what happened last time, at Bella’s-“

“Nothing, happened last time.” Jacob snapped and Edward seemed to pause.

“You don’t want to talk about it-“

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

Edward paused again before letting out a scoff. Jacob just kept staring at the trees on the other side at the treaty and Edward spoke again, “Fine but, I wanted to apologize, for the thing that didn’t happen… If I hurt you-“

It was Jacob’s turn to scoff, “Like you could put a scratch on me leech.”

“What?”

Jacob looked up at the vampire and this time, he rolled his eyes. “You heard what I fucking said, you para-“

Jacob gasped when Edward was suddenly in front of him, instinctively before he could even try to stop himself, he squirmed back against the log. Edward’s eyes were locked right onto his own, those bright honey gold eyes slowly turning darker just as a low growl left the vampire’s lips.

“Don’t call me that.”

A slither of coherence returned to the shifter and he glared back hard even as his hands clenched against the rough bark of the tree beneath him.

“I’ll call you whatever I want, bloodsucker.” He willed himself to stand up straight, they were almost chest to chest, “Now get out of my face before I make you.”

Edward didn’t move, he didn’t even seem to be breathing as his eyes slowly went completely dark. Pupils dilating to the point where honey gold was swallowed up entirely by pitch black, a look he’d only seen on a vampire after feeding or during a chase mid hunt. That look of pure hunger and desire, the all-consuming glare of a predator. The same look he saw on Edward last time.

Then Edward’s lips pulled into a smirk and Jacob froze.

Shit.

The next moment he was grabbed and the air around them moved so quickly Jacob wasn’t sure which way was up or down. He gasped when his back hit the side of a tree arms forced up above his head.

“Edwar-“

“You, make me? I think you’ve forgotten who you’re talking to pup.” Came the harsh whisper right up against his ear and that’s when Jacob realised that Edward was right up against him. He could almost feel the cold radiate from the vampires ice cold skin and cursed his own body since he could almost feel his own temperature rise in response as his heart thumped hard and fast in his chest. He took a deep breath but even that didn’t seem to help. Edward smelled different that close, gone was that sickening scent of bleach replaced only with-

Jacob’s thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when Edward’s eyes locked onto his own all over again. Those dark eyes holding him captive just before an ice-cold hand slowly slipped right down the centre of his chest, a shiver suddenly went right through him at the touch and he couldn’t help but jump in response.

“Edw-“

“Who am I Jacob?”

“I-“ Jacob gasped again and his body twisted as that same hand slipped in down under his shorts coming just above his-

Edward’s hand tightened around his wrists keeping him securely against the tree while his other hand slipped down just a bit further; getting close but not quite touching their treasure. The telepath came closer, their lips just barely brushing and Jacob felt like his heart was about to leap right out of his chest as the vampire whispered.

“What do you call me?”

“… Da-“

And just then a loud bark echoed around them, breaking the tension like shattering glass.

Edward immediately pulled away. Jacob was still staring wide eyed as the tried to catch his breath when two figures came running into the clearing.

Emmett and Embry.

The two seemed to be racing as the spotted wolf came skidding into the clearing and Emmett almost tumbled in after him. The wolf then yelped and barked as he jumped around him and the vampire let out a heavy sigh.

“Just so you know, I let you win mutt.”

Embry’s tail was wagging as he trotted away from the vampire only to pause when he saw Edward and Jacob. The telepath’s eyes were dark, the darkest that Embry had ever seen them and Jacob seemed shaken. Without even fully thinking about it the shifter phased back.

“Jacob? You O.K?”

Jacob blinked and quickly dragged a hand through his hair before he spoke.

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure, because-“

“Emmett.” Edward suddenly said, Emmett looked away from the shifters and over to his brother.

“Yeah?”

“Can you two take over the rest of patrol? Jacob and I need to talk.”

Emmett frowned, “Seriously?” He looked over to Embry before giving a shrug as a smirk tugged at his lips. He’d completely forgotten his state of undress, Embry flushed and quickly moved to pull on his cut offs, “I mean, I’m game but I’m not sure if-“

“Embry. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Well, no not-not really.” He looked away from Emmett, “Its Friday so, I have the time.” Embry looked over to Jacob and frowned, “But-“

“Jacob.” Edward said sharply, his tone so oddly low that both Emmett and Embry frowned at him. Jacob’s head had snapped up at attention and the telepath had him locked in his gaze all over again. “We need to talk.”

“I-“

“Now.”

He didn’t scream, he didn’t shout. His tone was somehow even lower and yet somehow something in Jacob tugged hard and locked in tight.

He started walking.

“Jake-“

“I’ll square it with you later, Embry. O.K?”

“I… O.K, just call me later.”

“Sure.”

He said as he looked away from his pack brother and forward to the vampire walking ahead of him.

Chapter Text

Somehow, he felt like his head was filled with noise. At the same time, it was too quiet as they made the walk through the forest, Jacob’s heart thumping in his ears the whole time. It felt like forever and somehow not long at all before they reached what looked like a little cottage right there in the middle of the forest.

Edward reached over to a rock in the middle of the flower bed just beneath one of the windows and turned it over to reveal a little silver key. He put the rock back in its place and then unlocked the door. Flipping on the lights as he stepped inside. Jacob stayed right where he was.

The vampire looked back at him, he stepped back and held the door open. Jacob still couldn’t move.

“Jacob, come inside.”

“I-“

“Now.”

Jacob wanted to protest. He wanted to tell the vampire to go to hell. But the vampire was still looking at him. Gold eyes locked firmly on his own.

Jacob stepped forward and over the threshold.

Edward shut the door behind him.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

Four.

Jacob swallowed hard when Edward moved around him, careful not to make any kind of contact with the shifter as he walked down the hall and turned into a room near the end.

Jacob followed.

It was a lot quieter in the little cabin. The sounds of the forest more muted and the sounds of his own feet padding down the carpet along the short hallway more pronounced. He didn’t look up at his surroundings. Didn’t feel the need to. He just focused on his breathing and trying to figure out exactly what the fuck he’s doing until he finally stopped in the doorway of the room that Edward had turned into.

A bedroom.

One breath.

Two breaths-

“Jacob.” Edward said and Jacob swallowed yet again.

“What?”

Edward didn’t answer. Instead he reached out a hand towards the shifter.

Jacob didn’t move.

“Edward-“

“That’s not what you call me.” The words were spoken so quietly Jacob almost strained to hear them. The vampire still had his hand held out towards the shifter.

“I-“

“You can take my hand, or I’ll come and get you.”

It came out like a threat. A shiver roughly dragged its way down Jacob’s spine.

One brea-

“No.”

Something flashed in the telepath’s eyes and before Jacob could even blink, he moved grabbing hold of the shifter. Gravity shifted and Jacob didn’t even know what had happened until his back hit the bed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

There was this look in Jacob’s eyes.

Edward couldn’t place it.

Those deep brown eyes had gone wide, his body was tense, lips closed shut. Edward watched as his Addams apple bobbed when he swallowed hard and yet…

It’s been a while since he’s hunted a human, decades really. But Edward remembered what it was like quite vividly. How it felt to just switch off and let his instincts take hold. Back then he thought it was O.K. The people he was hunting were criminals; rapists, murderers and heinous thieves so it was O.K. In his mind, it was O.K to kill those people, to kill those bad people. Hurt them just like they’d hurt other people. It felt like justice in a way, these terrible awful monsters that did nothing but hurt others. It’s O.K to hurt them, to make sure that they could never hurt anyone else ever again.

But quickly enough, Edward learned the truth. That you can’t compare one human life to another, regardless of the circumstances. These terrible creatures, these monsters; they were unfortunately people too regardless of what they did and who they hurt. Murder is murder, it doesn’t matter how you try and dress it up.

Eventually the act of taking human lives began to eat away at him, the guilt began to devour him from the inside out. Even moreso when he realised that his act of supposed heroism wasn’t actually changing anything. People were still hurt and killed despite his efforts to supposedly get rid of these awful monsters. Eventually it dawned on him that he was hurting and killing as well, so exactly what is it that made him better than those so-called monsters?

It took some time, took some much needed assistance from Carlisle and once he was ready to let her in, Esme as well. He weened himself off of human blood and made sure to never allow himself to slip again. The guilt still weighed on him heavily though. He remembers the faces of all the people he killed, he remembers every single hunt. It was made even worse since he knew the reason he remembered those kills so vividly was only partially due to guilt, the rest was because of desire.
It felt good.

It felt good hurting those people, making them hurt and hearing their screams. The power, the control. Somehow the bloodlust was only part of the reason why he’d enjoyed it so much.

It made him feel disgusting. It made him feel like a true monster.

He spent decades trying to change, to make up for the sins he committed and atone for all that he’d done wrong, for the things he felt when he was committing those sins. Eventually, Edward was able to manage his guilt relatively well.

And then came Bella.

Bella with her sweet intoxicating scent and silent mind. Bella who was so sweet and so innocent and so human. Bella who could never possibly truly understand the draw of a human to a vampire and why she seemed to desire Edward so badly. In his head he managed to rationalise it.

Bella was atonement.

Bella was his opportunity to make up for all the wrongs that he committed. Sweet beautiful, innocent, human Bella. He’d protect her, he’d keep her safe, she would be his mate and she’d never ever have to see the monster that he’d managed to lock away in the deepest darkest corner of his being. He’d keep the monster away for her. He’d make sure that he controlled himself for her. But now…

Now there’s Jacob.

After what happened between them last time…

He went to the border that night to apologise. They were going to be on patrol together anyway, Edward decided that that was as good a time as any to make amends.

He slipped up last time. What had originally just been a plan to make sure the shifter kept his mouth shut turned into something much worse. Edward screwed up. He let the monster escape that carefully constructed prison that he’s had it trapped in for years and ever since that afternoon in the woods he’s been able to think of very little other than Jacob. Jacob under his hand, crying out after every strike, who’s hands clenched in the dirt as a flush burned all the way up to his hair and the tips of his ears while the scent of lust practically radiated off of him.

When Edward got home that night he’d realised with horror that Jacob’s scent still clung to his clothes. This he realised after pressing the material of his shirt right up against his face and inhaling it like it was his very last breath. Edward quickly took his clothes off and got into the shower to scrub off as much of Jacob’s scent as he could. And then, he went hunting just one more time just to make sure.
But that didn’t stop his mind from filling itself with thoughts of Jacob all day long, even as Bella sat leaning against his side while they sat together at school that day. When he got home, he instinctively went to the laundry hamper only to feel the oddest rush of anger and frustration rush right through him when he realised it was empty. Esme did the laundry, because of course she did, why wouldn’t she?
Edward went hunting one more time and finally, finally, he felt better. He felt O.K. Finally Edward was able to really think through what happened. Realise his mistake and resolve to apologise to Jacob so they could put what happened behind them.

Emmett had already left for his shift with one of the shifters hours before. When Edward got to the border, he was honestly surprised to find Jacob there waiting. He’d half expected the shifter not to show. He would’ve been well within his rights not to, but he did. He showed up and-

God.

He looked beautiful.

It was the strangest thought. To lay eyes on Jacob and for the first thought that filled his mind to be that the shifter looked beautiful. But that russet skin stretched over sculpted muscles almost seemed to glow in the moonlight and those brown eyes somehow seemed so endless. He wasn’t wearing a shirt as usual, but for the first time Edward felt like he actually noticed and for a moment he could understand why Bella would sometimes blush when they went out to meet the shifter and Jacob appeared in just his cutoffs. Edward remembered what it was like to hold down that heated skin as Jacob cried out against the forest floor.

At that moment, distantly and in the deepest recesses of his mind he could hear the monster growl.

Mine.

That’s when he took a deep breath. He needed to focus. He needed to apologise. He owed Jacob that much right?

So… he tried.

It didn’t surprise him when Jacob tried to deny and pretend like what happened between the two of them didn’t happen. Honestly, Edward expected that much. But somehow, what he hadn’t expected was for Jacob to call him a leech.

That…

Edward doesn’t know what happened. What was he expecting? It’s not like Jacob’s never called him a leech before. It’s not like the shifter has never insulted him before. Jacob has thrown many hurtful and surprisingly inventive insults and curse words at him many many times. About every time that they’ve spoken since he and Bella got together.

But somehow right then, something in Edward cracked. That barrier that he’d managed to build up to keep the monster at bay broke and the monster slipped through. That image filled his mind, of Jacob on the forest floor, crying out and begging for him and Edward realised that he wanted… needed to make Jacob submit to him again, remind him of his place – he needed to take Jacob back to that place where they’d been and just like before Edward’s mind shifted into sharp focus and all he could see was Jacob.

It didn’t even bother him when Emmett and Embry arrived and interrupted them. All he could think about was getting Jacob alone and to himself, no one else needed to see Jacob that way – no one else had the right to even try. Distantly somewhere in whatever part of his mind that was still functioning properly, he thought that Jacob would refuse. That he’d use the interruption of Emmett and Embry as an excuse to get away from Edward but then Jacob moved and followed and then they arrived at the cottage in the middle of the woods and now the shifter is under him.

Tense, wide eyed and utterly silent.

Edward remembered those hunts, that feeling of control, it had been addictive before but somehow this felt different. Jacob felt different.

He had one hand wrapped around Jacob’s wrists above his head, the other slipped down from the shifter’s arms, over that burning hot skin. Down from his neck where he felt the wolf’s pulse jump and over his chest where he could feel his heart beating so fast underneath those walls of muscle on his chest.

“Jacob.”

Jacob was breathing hard, Edward’s hand went to rest on his waist. Just above the waist band of his shorts as he leaned in to take in the shifter’s scent along his neck. Lust, the shifter was radiating that scent of lust again even as his eyes seemed to fill with fear.

“You keep forgetting your place Jacob.”

He didn’t even know what he was saying. He didn’t even fully understand it. For the moment all he could think about was the shifter beneath him and how it felt to have Jacob beneath him seemingly tense and afraid and yet somehow with that scent of desire just pouring out of him.

Fear. He’s used to fear. The stench of it still clear in his memories from the last time he’d hunted. But this is different.

“Ed-“

Edward moved over to lock his eyes with the deep brown eyes of the shifter, a growl just barely escaping his lips and he heard Jacob’s breath hitch.

“That’s not what you call me.”

“I-“

“What do you call me Jacob?”

“I-“

Jacob’s eyes seemed to dilate just like before. Those brown depts disappearing into pitch black and just then the sliver of a memory seemed to flit through his mind. Jacob over Edward’s knee, his hands clenching in the dirt just as a slap echoed loudly around them and then.

“Leech.” Jacob hissed and Edward tensed.

It was the strangest feeling. Almost identical to how it was the last time.

Everything shifted into sharp focus to the point where Edward felt like the only thing he could even hear was the sound of Jacob’s heartbeat, his breaths, the sound of his blood surging through his veins.

Jacob didn’t seem like he was trying to fight the vampire, wasn’t trying to get away, wasn’t terrified or trying to escape. The scent of lust radiated from his skin as the sound of that slap echoing in the forest just kept coming back over and over again in the shifters mind. Edward realised that Jacob wanted it and that… that was a whole new feeling.

Mine.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Before he could blink Jacob had been flipped over and his wrists tied just like last time only unlike last time, Jacob’s shorts were still on.

The shifter gasped only to freeze when he realised that he’d been flipped over onto his stomach and Edward had straddled his hips. An ice-cold hand wrapped around the back of his neck to keep him still.

“That’s not what you call me.”

His voice was low. Jacob swallowed hard but he didn’t say a word, his bound hands clenched on the cream sheets that covered the bed and he could hear his heart thumping in his ears. Edward slowly moved off of him, but kept his hand locked around the back of the wolf’s neck like a vice keeping him from going anywhere.

Jacob tensed when he felt his cut offs being pulled off, dragged down around his hips.

“Edwar-“

The shorts were quickly wrenched down the rest of the way down to his feet and suddenly there was another ice-cold hand resting on his left ass cheek. Jacob’s mouth snapped shut, he felt his flush burning right up to his hair and down to his shoulders but he didn’t move. Didn’t even try to squirm as that ice-cold skin seemed to caress him.

“That’s not what you call me.”

And then-

SMACK!

Ice cold met burning heat. Jacob gasped his hands clenching tightly in the bedspread.

“What do you call me Jacob?”

SMACK!

Jacob’s eyes shut, a shuddering breath left his throat at the pain that bloomed underneath his skin.

SMACK!

Last time he’d been so shocked. He didn’t even fully understand what Edward was doing or what it was that he was feeling. He hadn’t even really understood how or why he manged to cum from the vampire’s actions. But now he feels it.

SMACK!

It was pain, a cold yet burning sensation that sent shockwaves through his core.

SMACK!

Pain, it ached and burned and that bruised skin felt so hypersensitive. By the time that Edward’s mouth wrapped around his cock he was practically done for. But somehow it felt so good that when he got home and saw the bruises he couldn’t help but want to feel it, all of it, again.

SMACK!

And again.

SMACK!

And again.

“Jacob.” Edward hissed, his voice impossibly low and yet absolutely commanding, possessive, all consuming.

SMACK!

A chocked cry escaped Jacob’s throat and he buried his face in the bed, letting the hand on his neck keep him right where he was as he lifted his hips off the bed. At some point he’d gotten hard and the feeling of those soft sheets on the bed somehow managed to allow just enough friction for him to be able to cum without much more assistance. But he didn’t want to. Not yet. He wanted – needed it to last longer. Just a little bit longer-

Suddenly the hand on his neck went into his hair to clutch tightly and pull his head back, causing the shifter’s back to arch and he had to brace his elbows on the bed as he gasped in surprise and pain. The other hand stayed still on his ass, ice cold almost soothing on his bruised sensitive skin.

The words that left his mouth were almost instinctive.

“Please.”

Complete silence for three agonizing seconds.

“What do you call me Jacob?”

One breath.

“Daddy.”

SMACK!

Jacob cried out, the hand in his hair tightened and he could feel Edward move in behind him.

“Again.”

“Da-Daddy.” He whispered-

SMACK!

Jacob’s hands were clenching hard enough to tear right through the sheets on the bed. The hand on his head released his hair and Jacob was able to let his head hang forward as that hand slipped down to his side to join the other on his hip.

He could feel Edward behind him, feel those hands on his hypersensitive skin, he tensed when he felt his ass cheeks being spread apart as Edward let out a breathy whisper.

“One more time princess.”

“Daddy.”

Jacob’s eyes shot open and he let out a sharp gasp when he felt what could only be a tongue lick right down the middle over his hole. His face when right back into the bedspread, bound hands had fully ripped through the sheets when he felt Edward’s tongue enter him, licking all around his insides while his hands held on firmly onto the shifter’s ass.

The feeling was startling, confusing. Jacob pushed his face further into the bed, barely able to breathe as his heart raced in his chest. Edward somehow managed to move in closer to get his tongue in as deep as possible. Jacob could feel the vampire’s sharp teeth scraping against his skin, feel wetness start dripping down his thighs, what he first thought was saliva but quickly realised had to be venom. Somehow the thought drew a moan from him. Soon the need to breathe was inescapable and he had to turn his head to take a breath. Jacob gasped, only for it to turn into a moan as his body seemed to move back against the vampire. His hole clenched almost like it was trying to drag the vampire’s tongue in deeper as pleasured tremors crawled up and down his spine in the most torturous way.

“Daddy.” He moaned as he wilfully pressed back against Edwards face. The most absurd thought suddenly filling his mind, the thought of pushing Edward back so he could rock back and forth on that cold tongue so he could ride the vampire’s face harder and faster and longer – for as long as possible. He wanted to cum just like that. And Jacob wanted it, he wanted it so badly, “Daddy please.”

A low growl seemed to vibrate right through him and Jacob moaned deeply only to whine when the tongue left him. But that was short lived when he suddenly felt a finger slide right into him. A sharp intake of breath. Jacob went still. The finger went in and out once and twice before another entered as well stretching him a bit and causing the shifter to hiss briefly at the stinging feeling.

“C’mon princess.” Edward whispered as he started pressing kisses up Jacob’s spine, “Don’t stop now.” He stopped at Jacob’s neck licking a trail all the way up to the shifter’s ear, “Keep moving.”

“I-“

The vampire’s other hand was suddenly up around his neck, pulling the shifter up against the vampire’s chest clenching ever so slightly around his throat. Jacob’s pulse jumped. He swallowed hard. He could feel Edward’s hardened length against the back of his thigh. Jacob bit his lip hard.

“Do as you’re told.” Edward hissed against his ear, cold breaths causing a shiver to run down his spine even through all the other sensations and Jacob obeyed without even thinking about it. Not that he was really thinking about much at that point. He moved back against the fingers inside him, hissing quietly as they continued to stretch him out while his bound hands stayed clenched on the bed. Edward was biting on the skin along his neck, not hard enough to break skin but hard enough to sting, the fingers in Jacob’s ass turning this way and that until-

“Da-Daddy?!” He gasped in confusion as something inside of him was touched, something that sent a sudden burst of warm static right through him and had precome leaking from his cock.

Edward seemed to pause before he touched that spot again and again and where Jacob was just moving back against the vampire’s fingers before he was now almost riding them, chasing that feeling of warm pleasure that burst through him and made him feel hot and weak and – God, he’s so close.

“Jacob.” Edward growled right up against his ear and Jacob could feel the vampire start to move against him. Grinding his hardened clothed cock against his thigh. Jacob moaned deeper, angling his hips so he was rubbing right up against the vampire’s length and Edward seemed to let out a shuddering breath. “What do you call me?”

“Daddy.” Jacob whined trying to get those fingers in deeper and simultaneously rubbing up against the vampire. How much easier it would be if he just had Edward’s cock inside of him instead. It would be just as cold but thicker, longer, pulsing right inside of him the way he could feel it pulsing against his leg right now-

“Daddy please.”

“Who do you belong to Pup?”

“You only you, Daddy.”

Suddenly Edward pulled his fingers from Jacob’s hole and shoved him back down onto the bed and-
SMACK!

It was harder than all the others. The shockwave of pain had Jacob suddenly coming with a sharp cry. He came right over the sheets, a wave of pleasure washed over him as he gasped into the bed, breathing hard to try and catch his breath. He barely felt it when he was lifted and moved. Barely felt it when Edward turned his head and pressed a kiss against his lips and he dropped into a silent warm haze.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He took the ties off Jacob's wrists.

In very much the same way as last time Edward pulled the shifter into his arms. He ignored his own arousal for the moment, it was surprisingly easy.

Silence. Jacob's mind was quiet just as it was before and Edward allowed himself to sink into that quiet, even as he kissed the bruises on Jacob's wrists before pressing kisses on his neck. He was careful.

No sudden movements, no stupid comments - nothing that might make Jacob run like last time. More than anything, Edward hadn't liked how suddenly the shifter left him last time, so this time he would make sure that it was different.

"Jacob. Breathe." He whispered softly against the other's ear

Jacob was still giving panting breaths, as Edward made sure that the shifter was settled with his back against the cold one's chest, said cold one started breathing. In and out deep and slow, it seemed that Jacob's breathing slowed in response, the slow rise and fall of the shifter's chest matching his own and he couldn't help but smile as he pressed another kiss against the side of his head.

"Relax. I've got you, it's alright." he said, letting his hand comb through Jacob's damp raven locks and the shifter seemed to let out one last final sigh. He was slowly coming back to himself.

"I-"

"Shh." Edward whispered again, "You don't have to do anything right now. Rest, we'll get up when you're ready."

It was silent for another moment, with Jacob's breathing still matching his own until the shifter finally seemed to fall asleep. Edward tried to think of what to do. There are a lot of things that he should do, but he didn't want to think of any of those things right at that moment. He just wanted to focus on Jacob, at least for now. He wanted to focus on this odd space that they somehow managed to accidentally create. This quiet calm, warm place that had Edward wanting to stay exactly where he was, listening to the shifters deep steady breaths and listening to the thump of his heartbeat. This place where both he and Jacob could be without wanting to fight or kill each other, this place where Jacob could be completely vulnerable and warm in Edward's arms and Edward could keep him there for as long as he wanted because Jacob was letting him.

He can deal with everything else later.

It would be an hour later when Jacob would wake. He frowned at his surroundings in initial confusion until he remembered where he was and the shifter's eyes went wide.

"What-"

"Jacob, calm down."

The wolf had shot up to sit up straight and scramble away from the cold one in the bed but Edward's arms locked around him like a vice before he could.

"What the hell do you think you're-"

"Jacob." He said sharply and the shifter tensed, "Calm down. We need to talk."

"About what?" Jacob asked quietly, swallowing hard as his heart raced in his chest.

"What happened tonight and before-" Jacob jerked to try and pull from the vampire's grip but Edward held on, "You can do this willingly, obediently-"

"Fuck you-"

"Or I'll tie you down again and make you." The threat in his tone was clear, Jacob tensed but didn’t move as Edward continued, "You were good today Jacob, very good." He removed one arm so he could brush a hand through the shifters hair as he whispered softly, affectionately. The shifter's eyes fluttered shut for a brief moment. "I just need you to stay good for a little longer. We'll talk and then I'll take you home."

"I-"

"Pup." Edward's tone dropped, the hand in Jacob's hair abruptly stopped, he could feel a shiver run through the shifter at the name and he couldn't help but smile. "We'll talk." and then he pressed a kiss against Jacob's throat, "And then you'll go. I promise. But you need to promise to stay good."

"I-" Jacob let out a shuddering breath, "O.K." he said softly and Edward's smile grew.

"You promise?"

"Yeah... I-I promise."

"O.K." Another kiss, "I'm going to let go and then you'll take a shower so you can get cleaned up. I'm sure you don't want anyone to smell me on you like this and then, you'll meet me in the kitchen so we can talk." Jacob said nothing and Edward's head gave a tilt, "Unless... I can help you in the shower if you like."

Edward could feel, smell and see the flush that rushed to Jacob's face even as the shifter glared.

"I'm fine."

Edward gave a snort, "Alright. I'll let you get finished and Jacob..." He waited until the shifter looked back at him, head tilting at an awkward angle so he could see the vampire behind him. Edward's eyes narrowed into a glare, darkening all over again as his tone dropped back to that commanding spine-tingling sound. "Don't run."

Edward finally let go. Jacob didn't move. The vampire got up from the bed and then paused to press a kiss on Jacob's temple as he did.

"Go get cleaned up, pup. I'll be in the kitchen."

A shuddering sigh left the shifter's throat and his flush got darker, Edward was filled with the sudden urge to grin and decided that he'd need to leave the room if they were going to be able to get anything done.

Jacob was occupied for about twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes that Edward decided to try and keep himself similarly occupied. There wasn't much in the cottage to keep him distracted. This cottage was Carlisle and Esme's private getaway so of course there wasn't any food or anything like that in there. Edward made mental a note to get a few things as he milled around the small house in case he and Jacob ended up here again. Not that he's really planning on bringing Jacob here again to-

Honestly? What does he want from Jacob?

Edward has no idea.

That's when the telepath paused and thought about exactly what just happened.

In the absence of Jacob's warmth and scent and mind he suddenly remembered just how messed up this situation was.

He just cheated on Bella again.

With Jacob, again.

He practically forced himself on Jacob again-

Oh dear God-

Edward almost found himself going into a complete panic when Jacob walked into the room and just like that his thoughts stilled all over again.

Mine.

Jacob was clean and flushed and somehow the scent of pine that now clung to the shifter had Edward resisting against the urge to pull him close and bury his nose in those wet locks. The shifter seemed to blink and pause himself, that's when Edward realised that he was probably staring at the teen like an absolute idiot.

But he couldn't force himself to look away.

Jacob did.

The shifter cleared his throat.

"I'm leaving."

Jacob turned, Edward spoke before he could stop himself.

"Jacob wait." Jacob stopped, Edward took a breath. "We agreed that we would talk first, remember?"
The werewolf didn't move, Edward cleared his throat as he reached for one of the chairs at the kitchen table, "Sit down... please."

It felt like forever before Jacob moved a muscle. The shifter seemed tense as he just stood in the doorway with his back turned to the vampire before he took a deep breath of his own and turned back.

'Just get it over with'

"I'm not going to tell Bella, if that's what this is about." Jacob said evenly and Edward nodded.

"Thank you, but that's not the only thing we need to discuss." He gestured to the seat on the opposite side of the table. "Please take a seat."

Jacob hesitated again before he walked over and pulled the chair out to sit down with his arms folded over his chest. Edward took in another deep breath. Relieved and annoyed that the shifter's scent was so much clearer now. He'd been practically smothered in Edward's scent a few minutes ago. Now the scent is gone.

That's what had Edward feeling annoyed.

But he ignored the feeling as he sat down as well.

"What's this about?"

"That's somewhat obvious don't you think?" Edward said with a wry smile, Jacob looked away towards the nearest window above the kitchen sink. Edward resisted the urge to sigh, "About what just happened-"

"Nothing happened."

"Jacob, we can't just pretend like none of this happened. I-" Edward cut himself off. What was he trying to say? What did he want to say? What did he want?

He remembered what it was like, when he was holding Jacob before the shifter fully came back to himself. How determined he'd been to just stay in that space for as long as possible. How relieved he felt when even after Jacob came back to himself, he agreed to stay and talk, albeit a bit reluctantly. But he stayed and now they're sitting at a table together.

What did he want?

He wanted to be back in that space again. He wanted to have that feeling again. But he couldn't, he shouldn't.

They're situation is complicated enough without all of... this.

What if someone were to find out about this? What if his family found out or Jacob's? What if Bella found out? A wave of guilt washed over the telepath at the thought of Bella. He was supposed to go and see her after his patrol with Jacob and now

No, it wasn't worth the risk.

"I... I apologise, that this happened again." Finally Jacob looked up at him. Edward pushed on, "It shouldn't have happened once let alone a second time I just-... I'm sorry Jacob. I promise, I'll never let this happen again. I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me."

'He's apologising?'

Jacob seemed surprised... confused. His lips pulled into a frown, eyebrows furrowing for a moment and then he looked away again. His eyes fixed on something just behind Edward’s head.

"Are you done?"

Edward blinked, "... Yes but, Jacob-"

Edward didn't know what he wanted to say, but he didn't get a chance either way. The shifter had already gotten up from his seat and made a beeline for the front door. Edward waited until he heard it shut with a slam. Edward raked a hand through his hair only to then realise that he still had Jacob's scent on him. He hadn't noticed with the shifter right there but... he should get cleaned up. And then get a fresh change of clothes once he got home.

Yes, that's what he should do.

Even as those thoughts went through his mind Edward couldn't help but bring the edge of his shirt up to his nose to take in a deep breath and shut his eyes only to stop and let out a sigh of frustration.

Shower, new clothes and hopefully, he'll be able to put this whole thing behind him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What?"

"I just, I don't know what to do Edward."

It was almost morning. Emmett had just come back, Alice had gone off for her patrol. He'd just gotten out of the shower and changed his clothes when Emmett came into his room and asked if he wanted to go hunting. The request while somewhat out of nowhere wasn't all that odd. Plus with everything that was happening... feeding sounded like a great idea.

Until Emmett suddenly stopped and revealed his real reason for the sudden hunting trip.

Edward was shocked as he stared back at his brother, who dragged a hand through his hair as he sat on the fallen log before him.

"Emmett... you haven't-"

"No. No, no I haven't but-" Emmett sighed, "But I want to. And that's crazy right? That I even want to... but I do."

Edward was still shocked, "Why?"

"He's... I dunno, fun and sweet and a little shy but I like it and-" Emmett let out another sigh, "Every time I have to go out to patrol I feel... excited and happy and when I have to go home I just, I don't want to and I know it's not because I don't want to be home, it's because I know he won't be there."

"What about Rosalie?"

"That's the problem, Edward." Emmett said clearly as he finally lifted his gaze to look at the telepath, "I don't know how I feel about Rose. My own mate. How fucked up is that? It's not even like I'm just attracted to him, I've been attracted to other people before, vampires and humans but I've never wanted to actually do anything about it, but I do... Edward, I want him."

Edward was shocked.

He took in a very deep albeit unnecessary breath.

"Are you sure it's not just... They're shifters so it shouldn't be a problem but, maybe you just-"

"Want his blood?" Emmett asked as he looked up at the telepath before dragging a hand over his head. "That's what I thought at first. He's warm but like really warm and his heartbeat is so fast, sometimes when we're together I catch myself just listening to it. But I don't feel that way around the others, it's just Embry."

"Emmett, you can't-"

"I know, I know it’s stupid and reckless and fucking awful but I-... I just-"

"No, you just nothing." Edward said clearly, "You have a mate Emmett."

"I know that."

"You have a mate and he's a shifter. Could you imagine what would happen if-" Edward cut himself off with a heavy sigh before he finished, "You just... you need to stay away from him, that's all. We've never really been around the shifters before and now you're around one almost every other day. It's just an infatuation. Just get some distance and this-whatever this is-hopefully it'll fade away."

"We have patrols together remember?" Emmett deadpanned letting out a sigh of his own only to suddenly pause, "Hey, how about I switch with you."

Edward paused as well, "What?"

"I'll patrol with Jacob and you'll go with Embry."

Mine!

"No."

"Why not?"

"Be-because..." Emmett's face seemed to twist in confusion and Edward had to think quickly, "Because Jacob hates vampires remember? The only reason he even agreed to go on patrols with me is because he's been around me before. He'd never agree to going with some random bloodsucker that he doesn't know."

Emmett frowned, "Going with me can't be much worse than going with you. I thought he hated you because of the stuff with Bella."

Edward swallowed, "He did. He does. It's just... when he's on patrol with me he knows I'm not anywhere near her so he-look it just wouldn't work if you went with him. How about switching with Jasper?"

"He's paired with Seth," Emmett shook his head, "Jazz said he likes being around Seth. He said it's nice absorbing so much warmth from someone for once. He's been so calm lately cause of it, Alice said so herself a few days ago. I couldn't do that to him."

"What about Alice?"

"Alice has that girl wolf... Leah, from what Embry told me about her, I'm not sure I'd be able to handle being around her too long."

Edward resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "What about Rosalie?"

"Rose," Emmett blinked, "I don't... I don't know how I feel about her being around Embry. Plus she'll want to know why I want to switch in the first place. You know if I ask Carlisle he'll want to know why too."

Edward's mind was whirling, searching for the best possible solution but coming up with nothing.

"Well, then, you'll just have to stick it out until Victoria's attack. And honestly Emmett, it can't be that hard keeping it in your pants. He's a shifter for goodness sakes-"

"It's not just about sex." Emmett said defensively, "I like Embry."

"Well, you can like him without touching him." Edward said with finality while Emmett just huffed, "Besides, you haven't even paused to think about what Embry would think about this. If he'd want you the way you want him."

Emmett paused, "You're right."

"Yes, I am-"

"Maybe I should ask him."

"What-no! Emmett why-"

"Maybe if he rejects me - if I know for sure that he doesn't like me then I'll snap out of it, you know-"

"No, you-" Edward cut himself off with yet another heavy sigh, "Just keep your hands off of the werewolf, alright? Really Emmett, he's a shifter. We're enemies. I can't even begin to understand why-"

"Just because you have issues with Jacob doesn't mean that's how it works for everyone else too Edward." Emmett said with a roll of his eyes, "You hating a shifter doesn't mean that I can't like Embry."

Edward almost sputtered, "That's... It doesn't matter. You have a mate. Focus on Rosalie.” And then he let out a very deep breath, the oddest most uncomfortable feeling stirring in his chest. “She’s everything you’ve ever wanted. Everything you need. Don’t screw that up because of some momentary infatuation with a shifter of all things.”

Emmett let out a deep breath and dragged a hand through his hair, “You’re right. You’re right – fuck! I’m being so stupid.” One more deep breath in and out, “I should just focus on Rose.”

“Yes, focus on her and everything will be fine.” Edward said as he turned to start making his way deeper into the forest, to the last place he remembers seeing those deer tracks before Emmett decided to try and throw everything upside down. “We should finish feeding and get back.”

“You’re going to go see Bella?”

Edward tensed, “What?”

“Bella.” Emmett said as he got up from his seat on the fallen log, “I was surprised when I actually found you in your room earlier. You’re usually with her till the morning, aren’t you?”

“I…” Edward cleared his throat and looked away, “I just needed a minute to myself. I’ll go see her after I hunt.”

“Hey, what did you need to talk to Jacob about anyway?”

“Jacob?”

Emmett started to frown, “Yeah, Jacob. Remember, you asked Embry and me to take over so you could talk. What was that about?”

“Nothing, it was just something Bella asked me to tell him.”

“You couldn’t just tell him on patrol.”

“No, and I don’t see why you care seeing as how it gave you the opportunity to drool over your little pet.”

That was uncalled for, he sounded incredibly defensive. Fortunately, Emmett didn’t notice. If vampires could blush, his brother’s face would be burning red.

“Shut up. Jesus, you’re always so pissy after dealing with him.” Emmett huffed as he started stomping down the path. “Let’s just finish hunting.”

As Emmett walked away, Edward took a moment to take in a deep breath to pull himself together, hands clenching tightly before he let it back out and followed behind the other.

Chapter Text

Sometimes he forgets that he’s still in high school.

He forgets about the little mundane human things that he had to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately, lately he’s been forgetting about some of the bigger stuff as well.

Chief among them-

“Edward.”

The telepath blinked and looked down at the girl beside him as they sat in the cafeteria. Brown eyes filled with concern as she stared up at the vampire, her own food tray going completely ignored.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, no nothing’s wrong. Why?” Edward asked and she shrugged.

“Well,” She gave him a wry smile, “You just seem distracted. And you haven’t been around to see me much lately.”

“It’s nothing, just… patrols with the wolves have been keeping me occupied. It’s kept all of us occupied, really.”

“Oh, how’s that been going by the way? You got paired with Jake, right? I haven’t heard from him in a while either.”

Edward blinked and spoke quickly, “It’s been fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes really.”

“It’s just.” Bella sighed, “I know you two don’t get along, none of you get along. I just wanted to make sure that everything was O.K.” the human girl nodded to the other two occupants at the table. Jasper was oddly occupied on his phone and Alice seemed entirely too annoyed as she kept tapping her finger on the side of the soda can she had on her tray, glaring at the nearest wall. Since Emmett and Rosalie graduated the year before, Jasper, Alice and Edward were now the only Cullen kids left to graduate from Forks high. Soon enough, they’ll all be done with high school… this time around at least and then there’ll be the wedding and-

Right the wedding.

Edward looked down at Bella.

“Everything’s fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes, we’ve actually been getting along with the wolves quite well. There haven’t been any problems yet.”

Bella let out a soft sigh and a smile, “That’s good. I didn’t want there to be any trouble just because of me.”

“There won’t be.” He said leaning in to press a kiss on her temple. The human girl blushed the way she always did and Edward made sure to hold his breath like he always did at the spike of her scent when the blood rushed to her cheeks. Then he smiled back at her. “You really shouldn’t worry so much and you shouldn’t neglect your health either.” He said pulling the tray in front of her a little closer. “You need to make sure you eat.”

Bella looked down at her tray with a slight frown, “Oh, I’m not hungry.”

“Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean you should skip any meals either.” He persisted and Bella let out another sigh.

“Alright.” And then she started eating. The telepath felt his lips pull into a frown.

Why?

He wasn’t sure why.

Really his behaviour all day has been off, but that was mostly because he couldn’t stop thinking about… well, he couldn’t stop thinking about Jacob.

After he finished hunting with Emmett and took yet another shower, he headed over to see Bella. He arrived early though the human girl had already gotten up and was getting ready for school by the time he arrived. He waited f,or her to get finished before going back out the window and then knocking at the front door since Charlie was home and drinking his morning coffee at the kitchen table at that point.

They got to school, went through their morning classes.

English, History, Maths and Biology.

All classes that he shared with Bella. Usually during his classes, Edward was a model student even if his attention was tuned onto Bella more often than not. But that day, he couldn’t even focus on her.

It’s just.

Jacob left.

When Edward apologised and promised to never let what happened between them happen again the shifter had seemed surprised at first, a little confused and then… he just got up and left.

It bothered him. Edward didn’t know why it bothered him it just did. Jacob seemed off, although considering what they’d just done that much was understandable.

God.

He slipped… Again.

Practically forced himself on Jacob… Again.

And Jacob-

Jacob.

Edward tried not to let himself think about the shifter too long but it was hard.

Jacob was warm and resistant-

Yes, it seemed that both times Jacob had tried to resist him at first. He resisted until he finally just gave in and then he was so warm and plaint and needy. The scent of lust and desire was pouring off of him and as Edward held him down he was startled by the sudden realisation that Jacob wanted it-

But…

No, no he couldn’t have. Right?

What happened between them only happened because Edward tied him down and forced him, Jacob only went along with it because… because-

Shape shifters are strong, even in their human forms. If he really wanted to get out of the ties around his wrists, he could’ve done so without too much trouble. He could’ve phased and ripped off one of the vampire’s limbs had he really wanted to. But he didn’t. That would mean that he didn’t want to, right? But-

No no no. That can’t be right. It can’t be right because Jacob isn’t like that.

Jacob is strong and stubborn and resistant and Edward had heard from both Bella and members of the pack about how Jacob was meant to be the true alpha of La Push.

But… he refused the position, didn’t he? Isn’t that what Bella said?

They thought that the shifter gene might skip Jacob like it did his father. That’s why Sam became the pack’s alpha. But then Jacob phased and he refused the position. Apparently, he was perfectly fine with Sam leading the pack, he didn’t want to be alpha.

Edward never thought to question why. Jacob was young, inexperienced. Maybe he just didn’t think that he was ready and that’s a perfectly reasonable explanation, isn’t it? But it still nagged at him, the idea that Jacob rejected the position as alpha. How he seemed perfectly fine submitting to Sam even though he was the rightful alpha by birth.

Jacob submitted…

…

To Sam.

That thought had Edward feeling strangely irritated.

But it’s fine. Why wouldn’t Jacob submit to Sam. He was the pack alpha, that’s how that worked right? A pack needs to have an alpha, so why shouldn’t it be Sam? And there’s absolutely no reason why Edward of all people should have any thoughts or feelings on the matter one way or the other. It’s fine. Jacob is part of the pack and Sam is his alpha and that’s perfectly fine. Even though Jacob is the true alpha and so he shouldn’t have to submit to Sam, but it’s fine. If Jacob wants to submit to his pack leader even though he doesn’t actually have to, then it’s fine. It has nothing to do with Edward. And he doesn’t really care either. Jacob can do whatever he wants with whoever he wants and it’s perfectly fine-

“Edward.”

He suddenly heard Jasper say and Edward looked up to find the telepath frowning at him.

“What?”

Jasper’s eyes flickered over to Bella for a brief moment. The girl was quietly eating her food. Completely oblivious to Edward’s inner musings or the fact that he was gripping the edge of the table so hard that there was now a very distinct looking handprint bent into the steel panel.

Jasper then frowned at the very distinct looking handprint and Edward quickly let go. He moved as discreetly as he could to smooth it back out again but was only partially successful.

‘Are you alright?’

Edward cleared his throat and nodded. Jasper’s frown grew a bit more.

‘You’ve been odd all day. You seem frustrated by something. Is everything alright with Bella?’

The telepath shook his head and tried for a smile. Jasper was still frowning.

‘Does this have anything to do with Jacob?’

Edward tensed, he whispered quietly so Bella wouldn’t hear. “What?”

‘I caught his scent coming from your room this morning. It seemed a bit strong, did you get into some sort of fight?’

Edward took in a deep breath in and out, that filled his senses with Bella’s scent and somehow that left him feeling even more agitated than before.

“No.”

‘I thought things were going alright between the two of you.’ Jasper seemed to pause, ‘You know, Seth says he’s really nice, once you get to know him. They’re all really close you know. With them being part of the pack and Sam being their alpha’

“I know.”

‘Yeah,’ Jasper started to smile a little, ‘Specially since Jacob shifted, he says their bond feels more complete than it did before’

Edward felt his jaw clench, “I’m sure.”

‘Although things were a little tense with Sam at first, after Jacob submitted to him everything got settled’

“Uhuh.”

‘Seth says Sam’s a good alpha too. That he’s good to Jacob despite everything. He says Jacob’s happy to have him as his alpha and submitting to him wasn’t all that hard.’

“That’s good to know, Jasper.”

‘Seth’s a good kid, I want things to go well for him ya know.’ Jasper’s smile grew a bit more, ‘He really cares about Jacob, sees him like a big brother. Maybe you could try and make a bit more of an effort with Jacob. I know the situation’s tough, with Bella an’ all but, I don’t think he’s all that bad. I mean, the shifters seem like they have a lot of pride but if Jacob was willing to submit to Sam then-‘

Mine!

“Oh for the love of-“ Edward slammed his hand down on the table, leaving an impressive dent on the previously – partially – repaired table as the glared at the empath, “The stupid mutt submitted to his stupid alpha! I get it! I don’t need the constant reminders Jasper.”

Jasper just stared back at Edward in shock. Edward paused when he realised that he wasn’t the only one.

“Edward? What’s wrong?” Bella asked, clearly looking alarmed as she stared at the impression on the steel table. Alice had finally moved her gaze away from the wall to frown at him and Jasper had started sending out calming waves to try and fix… whatever that was.

Around them, kids were staring. The cafeteria was silent. Jasper cleared his throat and the calming waves grew stronger, soon enough the students had looked away and were all engaged in their own conversations with easy smiles. Bella sighed as she leaned into Edward a bit more.

Alice and Jasper were still staring.

“Are you O.K, Edward?” Bella asked and Edward took in a deep breath, allowing himself to calm before he leaned in to press a kiss at the top of her head.

“Everything’s fine, don’t worry about it. Just finish your food.”

Bella let out a sigh as she started eating again.

Jasper was back to frowning.

‘Edward-‘

“Everything’s fine.” He said quickly, “I just don’t want to talk about my patrols. That’s all.”

Alice looked over to Jasper and the empath shook his head.

‘Alright, then I won’t ask.’

“Thank you.”

‘What was that all about?’ Alice asked and Edward just shook his head. He reached over to wrap his arm around Bella, the human girl immediately seemed to melt into his grasp. Her tiny frame somehow… smaller than he remembered. Not as warm either.

“Nothing.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sometimes he forgets that he’s still in school.

When Jacob got home, after what happened with Edward, he showered again.

Just because he could. It was early, his father wouldn't be up for at least another hour still and he would be getting up for school in a few hours. Jacob was grateful that he didn't have to talk to anyone just yet. Not when he still felt so...

Jacob didn't know what was wrong with him.

So he took another shower and tried to get some sleep.

He made sure he didn’t look in the reflection of the mirror when he was in the bathroom. He did unfortunately catch his reflection when he was getting dressed in his room unfortunately – he really needs to remember to shut his stupid closet door – and, yes. He did in fact stare at the bruises on his backside. The sight of the dark patches made Jacob feel something. Something… warm and almost content. Jacob tried to just pull himself together and headed to bed and surprisingly enough…

Jacob hasn’t slept that well in a while, so much so that his dad ended up being the one to wake him up in the morning so he wouldn’t be late for school. After what happened, he didn’t think he’d get even a second of sleep. But he practically passed out the moment his head hit the pillow and woke up feeling insanely relaxed. That much was something that he didn’t feel ready to examine too closely, so he just got up and got ready, scarfed down breakfast and was walking to school with Quil not too long after.

Jacob felt…

Good. He felt alright. He didn’t even think much about the situation with Edward or what happened with Edward much that day, not until Embry brought it up unfortunately.

“What?”

“Edward.” Embry asked as they sat underneath a tree near the soccer field. Quil was out on the field playing with Seth and a few other kids from their grade. Jared disappeared, probably making out with Kim in some dark corner somewhere. Jacob hadn’t felt like playing. He grabbed a few sandwiches from the cafeteria with Embry and they settled under a tree to eat and complain about the upcoming science test when Embry asked-

“What did he want to talk about last night?”

Jacob paused and swallowed hard against the bread, ham, pickles and tomato that now seemed painfully dry even with the inhuman amounts of mayo.

“Not much.”

“Not much?”

“Just some stuff with Bella.” Jacob said vaguely as he took another bite of his sandwich and Embry shrugged.

“It’s just… you both seemed kinda tense and you didn’t call me after. I thought maybe something was wrong.”

“Nah, it’s… it’s nothing. Just stuff with Bella.”

“O.K.”

“Yeah, anyway. What’s up with you and the musclehead.” Jacob said, quickly trying to change the subject as smoothly as he could and Embry blinked.

“Emmett? Nothing much.”

“Yeah, the leech hasn’t tried to suck you dry yet, has he?”

Embry rolled his eyes, “Just cause you have issues with Edward, doesn’t mean it’s like that for everyone else.”

Jacob scoffed, “Yeah, sure.”

“I’m serious. Seth gets along great with Jasper.”

“Seth gets along with everyone.”

“And even Quil said that Rosalie isn’t too bad.”

“Rosalie?” Jacob started incredulously as he grabbed his can of soda, “When did the Stone Harpy turn into Rosalie?”

Embry scoffed, “Apparently while you and Edward were trying to kill each other.”

It was Jacob’s turn to roll his eyes, “I haven’t been fighting with him.”

“Then what have you been doing?”

Jacob tensed. He couldn’t answer. Embry didn’t look like he was expecting him to as he shook his head, “According to Quil, the Stone Harpy likes to ask him about Claire.”

“And he tells her about Claire?”

“He said she could smell Claire on him when they went to patrol, she asked if he had a little sister or something and… you know Quil, when he gets talking about Claire he doesn’t know how to stop.”

Jacob scoffed, “True. I guess I just figured that he wouldn’t be so eager to talk about his imprint with a leech.”

“The Cullens aren’t like other leeches.”

Jacob frowned at him, “Yeah, how are they different, exactly?”

“Well, I mean. They don’t feed on the humans around here.”

“Yet.” Jacob started and Embry frowned at him.

“You know if you and Edward actually tried to get along, you’d probably like each other.”

“Sure.” Jacob said as he lifted his soda to his lips and Embry huffed.

“This whole thing between you two is stupid, you know. If it wasn’t for Bella, seriously, I’d think it was all sexual tension or something.”

Jacob choked.

“What- argh-argh-“

“You’re always fighting and complaining about him and Emmett says Edward’s always complaining about you too. It’s like you’re obsessed with each other.” Embry let out a bark of laughter as he lay back against the tree. “The other day Leah said you two should just fuck already and put everyone out of their misery.”

Jacob felt himself instantly flush and he froze for a moment as the night before with Edward suddenly came back to him in startling clarity. That moment when Edward was behind him, hand knuckles deep-

“Shut up.” Jacob hissed, ignoring the heat in his cheeks as he glared at his friend. He shifted a bit in his spot on the ground, ignoring the very distinct itch that suddenly bloomed under his skin. Instead he put down his soda and reached for his last sandwich. “The stupid leech can kiss my ass.”

He didn’t think about the words before he said them. Once they had though, he cringed hard and the blush on his face turned demonic.

Embry just laughed again, “Hey, I bet if you ask him real nice; he’d be willing to do that for you.”

The very next second, Embry was covered in bread, ham, tomato and mayo while Jacob stomped away with the darkest blush Embry had ever seen.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When they got back from school, they headed back to the house. Edward took Bella home, promising to see her a bit later on. He had some things that he needed to take care of but he’d come back to see her as soon as he was done.

Or at least, that’s what he told her.

The whole day Edward felt…

He didn’t really know how he felt.

He spent the whole day at school with Bella. Which he normally loved, but that day Edward couldn’t help but feel-

Bella was sweet and thoughtful and wonderfully human and Edward has always loved that about her. He still loved that about her. It’s just that he noticed some things. Unimportant incredibly trivial things all things considered but… he still noticed them.

Bella was sweet and thoughtful and wonderfully human and… submissive.

It seemed like such a strange thing to notice. It felt so odd when he noticed how she just did whatever he told her to do. It was a strange moment when he realised that she never really questioned him; did what he asked with little to no resistance. But she did. She was submissive. Which shouldn’t be that much of a big deal, most humans are that way. It’s what made vampires such effective predators after all. The humans were drawn to them, compelled into bending to their will and it’s not like Edward had never noticed the kind of effect that he had on Bella before.

He had.

He always has.

But somehow, it just seemed different-

But no, Bella wasn’t always like that.

Bella could be quite stubborn about something when she really wanted to be. For example, the girl didn’t seem to have much problem with insisting on spending time with Jacob even when Edward made it clear that he didn’t want her to. And when Edward tried to leave, tried to end things between them, she was adamant about staying by his side as well. Edward had always felt a bit irritated with her when she did those things but-

Somehow it didn’t feel the same.

He caught himself just watching her during the day. He’d ask her to do something and she’d put up some token resistance before acquiescing to his request. He didn’t have to push all that hard, he didn’t have to push at all really. For some reason, her behaviour nagged at him in a way that it never has before. For reasons that he just couldn’t even begin to explain, it had him thinking about Jacob.

Because Jacob resisted him, didn’t he? He resisted and insulted him and just behaved like the most insufferable brat that Edward just-

Edward decided that he needed to try and get some time to himself, just for a bit.

When he got home, he found Emmett on the couch playing a game with Rosalie on one of their consoles. Edward couldn’t help but smile at the familiarity of the sight, only to frown when he caught the thought-

‘I wonder if Embry’s home yet’

Edward stepped into the room and cleared his throat. Emmett blinked and whatever he was doing on the controller seemed to fail as Rosalie suddenly beamed and slugged him hard.

“I win again, monkey man.”

Emmett smiled, “You’re lucky I love you, angel.”

He leaned in to kiss her, but something about it seemed awkward, he hesitated for a split second and pulled away much faster than he usually did. Rosalie didn’t seem to notice as she looked up at Edward and blinked herself.

‘School’s out?’

“Get some practice, maybe next time I’ll let you win.” The blonde said pressing a kiss on her husband’s cheek before she got up from the couch and walked over to grab her phone, flopping down on the armchair in the corner of the room.

Emmett scoffed only to swallow hard when he noticed Edward glaring at him.

‘I can feel you judging me. I get it, O.K. So stay out of my head.’ He huffed as he restarted his attention to the game and Edward shook his head as he sat down on the vacant couch. Jasper sat down at the other end of the couch with a book in hand. He could hear Alice in the kitchen with Esme. Carlisle wasn’t home yet.

He could just go upstairs, listen to some music or take a page out of Jasper’s book and read a book. Maybe go downstairs and play his piano for a bit. Anything to distract him from everything else… namely a certain mutt who just won’t leave his mind for some stupid reason-

“Jasper.” Alice had suddenly appeared in the room, right at the empath’s side, “You have Seth’s number, right?”

The blonde looked up, “Yeah.”

“Can you ask him for Leah’s number? We have patrol today after Carlisle and Sam and I need to ask her something.”

“Sure.” Jasper said as he set his book aside and shifted on the couch to slip his phone from his pocket. Edward resisted the sudden inexplicable urge to gape.

“You have his number? Why do you have his number?”

Jasper paused, “For patrols.”

“Patrols-“

“What, are you saying you don’t have Black’s number yet?” Rosalie suddenly asked though she didn’t lift her gaze from her phone.

“Well… no-”

“Why not?”

“Do you have…” Edward surprised himself when he realised that he had no idea who Rosalie had been paired up with, “That other wolf’s number?”

“You mean Quil?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Rosalie paused, “Patrols.”

Just then he heard her phone vibrate and a flash of an image entered her mind. The picture of a young girl in a yellow sun dress, dark brown hair fell around her shoulders, she was missing a tooth even as she gave a bright smile.

Rosalie smiled and started tapping out a message even as she spoke, “Seriously, your thing with Black is getting out of control. How do you even know when to meet up if you can’t call or text him?”

Edward almost hesitated, “We both show up when we’re supposed to.”

“Every time?” Emmett asked and the telepath let out a sigh of frustration.

“Yes, every time.”

“Damn.” Rosalie scoffed, “You already have him house trained and everything.”

Edward blinked, “What-“

“Tell me Edward, does the puppy roll over and beg too?”

That hit a nerve.

“Shut up.” He hissed, Alice rolled her eyes just as a text came into Jasper’s phone and he held it up to his wife.

“Just because you have issues with Jacob, Edward, doesn’t mean that’s how it works for the rest of us as well.”

“Exactly!” Emmett hollered and the telepath looked back to glare at him. Emmett pretended not to notice.

“They’re shifters.”

“For the time being we share a common goal.” Jasper said simply just as Alice gave him his phone back, “A little civility isn’t going to hurt anyone.”

Edward let out a sigh of frustration. Rosalie rolled her eyes.

“Look Edward, it’s great and all that the mutt is dutifully following the orders of his master-“

Edward’s eyes went impossibly wide, “I-“

“But Quil has to take care of stuff with his imprint sometimes, so sometimes he runs late. I have his number and he has mine so he can tell me when he does.”

Edward looked over to Jasper and the empath shrugged, “Seth gets distracted, sometimes I have to remind him.”

He lifted his gaze to Alice who had her eyes glued to her phone as she left the room, “I have something I need to ask her.”

“Emmett just likes talking to Embry.” Rosalie said dismissively and Edward wanted to growl in frustration.

“I’m sure he does.”

He could practically hear Emmett swallow nervously.

“The point is, it’s weirder that you don’t have Jacob’s number.” The blonde said with finality as she lifted her legs onto the armrest to get more comfortable, “We’re only doing all this because of you, we’re only doing this because of Bella. Don’t try to make your problems with the mutt ours.”

“Don’t call him that.” Jasper said with a frown as he picked up his book and Rosalie rolled her eyes again.

“Well then, what else should I call him? Pup? Pooch? Fido-“

“Very funny Rosalie.”

“Hey, remember in London, that old hag that lived next door, what did she call her bulldog again.” Rosalie looked up in thought when Emmett called out-

“Princess!”

“Holy shit! Right, I bet Jacob would love that one. That’s what we should call him from now on. Princess.”

Jasper flinched hard and his hands tore right through the hardcover of his book when Edward suddenly got up from the couch and left.

“I’m going to my room.”

He growled, the empath swallowed hard, frowning as he watched him go.

First the cafeteria now this.

He’s never felt such strong spikes of anger from Edward before.

Chapter Text

Technically this doesn’t count as breaking the treaty because technically, there isn’t really a treaty right now.

In preparation for Victoria’s attack and in order to make the joint patrols easier; the treaty was adjusted so that the Cullens could in fact go on Quileute land. But only in cases of emergencies. This was done so that if Victoria or any of her newborns went onto the reservation, members of the Olympic coven could go on the rez in order to pursue them.

So in times of emergency they could in fact break the treaty.

Rosalie had to suppress the urge to smile as she looked around the side of a tree and watched the children that played not too far from the forests edge, in the playground outside of the pre-school.

She’s not breaking the treaty.

She and Quil have patrol first today and Quil is running late.

The night before he texted her to tell her that he’d be picking up Claire from school since Nicole was working, but he didn’t say anything about being late for patrols. Rosalie waited a whole ten minutes before she even considered the idea of going onto the reservation to see what was taking him so long.

Quil said he’d be going to pick up Claire so she headed for the pre-school. She could pick up Quil’s scent coming from somewhere inside the building, so obviously he was still in there. She should have left but then she saw the kids playing outside waiting for their parents to pick them up and she just couldn’t walk away.

She’s always wanted a family.

She’s always wanted a child of her own.

Ever since she laid eyes on Vera’s child it’s all she’s ever wanted but then…

But then Royce happened and Carlisle tried to save her and now-

She’s grateful to Carlisle for saving her. She understood why he did what he did. But on some days she wishes that he’d just let her die, because now the one thing she’s always wanted was permanently out of her reach.

She asked Carlisle once, if it would be possible for her to have a child but the doctor explained that it wasn’t possible. Apparently Rosalie wasn’t the only vampire to want to have a child. Many before her tried and they all failed. Some were driven to such desperate lengths to make their dream come true that they resorted to creating immortal children. An act so heinous that even Rosalie can understand why the Volturi has forbidden their creation.

But the want for a child never left her and when she ended up paired with Quil for patrols, well…

The first time they met, she could smell the scent of a child on him. A little girl. She asked where it came from not really expecting a response form the shifter considering all the animosity that existed between their kind. And at first Quil didn’t seem like he wanted to answer her, but she persisted and eventually Quil cracked.

The scent belonged to a little girl named Claire. Quil’s imprint.

Rosalie had been confused at that one. She’d heard about the whole imprint situation with Leah and Sam and didn’t really understand how a shifter could imprint on a child or why the shifter gene would even deem it necessary to.

Quil just smiled at her when she brought it up.

“An imprint is… I am whatever she needs me to be. The council says that an imprint is a soul connection, so like a soulmates type of deal. People like to get that whole soulmates thing wrong though.” He gave a wry smile, “They think that if you have a soulmate that it’s automatically romantic or something.”

“Isn’t it?”

“No of course not. A soulmate is someone you can connect with, someone to love. Someone that gets you in a way that other people don’t. It’s not necessarily romantic and there’s no reason why it needs to be. As long as you care about each other and get each other, then that’s enough.” The shifter laughed, “My mom used to say my aunt was her soulmate. They’re thick as thieves and love each other to death, but that doesn’t mean they want or need anything romantic from each other.”

Rosalie looked away just as Quil continued, “An imprint is something to anchor the wolf to reality. To give you a more specific purpose. Help you stay sane, you know. Being a shifter is… it isn’t always easy and sometimes you need something to keep you grounded, something more human than you are. Some in the council think that’s why Sam didn’t imprint on Leah. Even though he loved her, she was going to be a shapeshifter too and maybe Sam’s wolf could sense that. That’s why it chose Emily instead… the problem only came in cause Emily was actually attracted to Sam, you know romantically, and on some level he was attracted to her too so when the imprint took hold.”

“He fell in love with her.”

“Something like that. Sam still loves Leah, even if she doesn’t see it but with the way things are… The imprint works different for everyone.” Quil sighed before a smile pulled at his lips, “Claire is awesome. I’m happy I imprinted on her. Things haven’t exactly been easy for her and Nicole. She needs a big brother, I’m happy to be that for her.”

After that somehow talking to Quil became as easy as breathing. Somehow she found herself actually looking forward to spending time around a shapeshifter and well…

Quil was always talking about Claire. Rosalie got curious. Quil sent her pictures sometimes and Rosalie would swear that her heart just swelled with so much warmth that she almost felt human again.

And so that day, Quil was running late. He said he was going to pick up Claire and technically Rosalie wouldn’t be breaking the treaty if she just went to check up on him, right?

Two boys came running past her just then, screeching with laughter as they seemed to play what looked like tag. Playfully shoving and pushing at each other before taking off again.

Rosalie laughed as she leaned against the side of the tree when-

“Rosalie?!” She looked up and resisted the urge to tense when she saw Quil standing a few feet away, his eyebrows pulled together and his lips down in a confused frown before those same hazel eyes suddenly went wide. “I thought I smelled-… what are you doing here?!”

She quickly stood up straight and clear her throat, “You’re late, I just came to check up on you.”

“You came to… are you insane?!” He said stalking towards her hiding spot in the trees. He may have looked quite menacing if not for the way the curls on his head had been messed up by the wind and the fact that he was still in his uniform, that is of course ignoring the bright pink Barbie backpack over his left shoulder.

The blonde started to smile, “Cute backpack, just got out of school huh?”

He let out a huff of frustration, “Yeah, funny. When Sam catches you on the rez you should tell him that one, I bet he’ll think it’s hilarious.”

“Maybe I will.”

And then he sighed, “I told you I was going to be late. What are you actually doing here Rosalie?”

“Just what I said.” She reached up to pull a leaf from the shifter’s hair that he picked up from somewhere, “I came to check up on you.”

He frowned at the leaf and gave her a very tired look, “Well I’m fine, so you can go back to the border and I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Quil!” A voice suddenly cried out and they both looked back to see a five-year-old running up to them with a bunch of papers in her hands. Brown hair tied up in twin tails at the sides of her head and he brightest smile on her face as her blue dress swished around her legs.

Rosalie couldn’t help but smile.

“Claire.”

“I’m ready to go. I asked Mrs Taylor about my pictures and she said-“ The girl stopped when she saw the figure standing in the trees just in front of Quil. Rosalie tensed and couldn’t help but swallow hard as those big brown eyes widened and stared at her, “She-she said I could bring them back tomorrow.”

Quil looked at the girl and then the vampire he quickly crouched down to take the papers from the girl’s hand and rolled them up to put in the backpack over his shoulder, “That’s fine, you can work on them when you get to Sue’s O.K?”

“Quil, who’s that?”

She was still staring at Rosalie and the wolf took in a deep breath, “It’s just a friend, don’t worry about it.”

Claire quickly looked away and leaned over towards the shifter’s ear, “She’s really pretty.”

Rosalie couldn’t help but smile.

“Claire-“

“She looks like Elina, from Fairytopia.”

Quil huffed out a laugh before he looked at the girl, “We need to get you some glasses.”

Rosalie gave the wolf a withering glare before she took a step closer and crouched down beside them. Quil tensed up for a brief moment but Rosalie ignored him as she just smiled at the girl.

“Hi, I’m Rosalie.”

The girl bit her lip before she spoke, “Hello.”

“What’s your name?”

She looked over to Quil who sighed but still nodded, “Claire.”

“That’s a very pretty name. It’s nice to meet you Claire.” Rosalie held out her hand towards the girl, completely forgetting just how bright it was outside. Her skin immediately caught in a bright glimmer and Quil froze the same way that Rosalie did before she quickly pulled her hand back. If Claire’s eyes were wide before, they all but bulged out of her head that time.

“Claire-“

“You sparkle like Elina too!” The girl whispered excitedly and Rosalie was so surprised she couldn’t help but laugh. Quil took in a deep breath.

“Alright, it’s time to take you home. Rosalie needs to go too.” He said giving the vampire a pointed look, “Right Rosalie?”

“But can…” Claire looked up at the shifter as he stood, “Can Rosalie come too? Aunt Sue always gives me cookies after school. Can’t she-”

“No, Claire, she can’t.”

“But-“

“I can’t stay for cookies but if you promise not to tell anyone I’ll walk with you part of the way. I’m not really supposed to be here.”

“Why not?”

“I-“ The vampire glanced up at the wolf, “Quil and I are working on a secret project, I just came to check up on him so we can get it done. But if you keep this a secret, I can walk with you guys a little.” Rosalie said smiling at the girl and Quil gave her a glare that she still ignored, “You can tell me about the pictures you drew.”

“O.K!” Claire beamed before looking up at the shifter, “Please Quil!”

Quil looked at the girl and found himself trapped in her gaze when Rosalie suddenly reached out her hand towards the girl.

“That look means yes.”

Claire giggled but still looked at Quil first who let out yet another sigh, “Fine, but we’ll take a shortcut through the forest.”

The girl took Rosalie’s hand, not even flinching at the cold she felt on the vampire’s hand. Quil quickly reached out to take Claire’s other hand but the girl didn’t seem to mind much as she started babbling.

“You’re Quil’s friend?”

“Yes.” Rosalie said looking right at the shifter as she said it, “He’s… really really nice.”

Quil frowned at her but said nothing as they started making their way through the brush.

“Yeah, you’re really really pretty though. Quil’s other friends aren’t pretty. I put sparkles on uncle Sam and Jared when they came to my birthday, it didn’t help at all.” The girl said with a sigh and a dissappointed shake of her head.

Rosalie laughed out loud, her blond hair falling back over her shoulder, the beams of light that scattered through the forest lighting up her skin in bursts of flashes and her gold eyes almost beaming as her grip tightened just a bit around Claire’s. Quil almost paused for a second, for a second he almost lost his train of thought.

“She’s really pretty huh?” Claire whispered and Quil nodded.

“Yeah, she is.”

Rosalie blinked and stopped laughing at the look she saw on the Quileute’s face. She cleared her throat and looked back at Claire.

“So what about those pictures, what did you draw at school today?”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

His name is Ethan and he’s been chasing after Jacob ever since the shifter’s first phase. Ever since Jacob suddenly showed up at school taller and filled out and with an almost animalistic type of energy around him.

Ethan was popular, good looking. Funny, or at least that’s what the girls in school liked to say. Jacob didn’t really get his jokes or those stupid pranks he liked to play on some of the students and staff at school. Then again, he usually didn’t pay too much attention to the blue-eyed teen.

Typically Jacob ignored him, regardless of how strong or persistent his come ons were. He just had too much to deal with than some guy who barely even knew he existed before his shifter heritage suddenly kicked in. He had to deal with the pack and Sam and Bella and his Dad and his shifter duties and school as well. Jacob didn’t have the time to date anymore let alone deal with that Ethan guy and his almost offensively sexual pick-up lines.

But that day, Jacob’s head was in a weird space. That day his mind kept wandering to Edward and so Jacob decided-

“Sure.”

The shorter teen blinked at him, “Wait, seriously?”

Jacob frowned at him, tugging at the black backpack over his left shoulder as they stood in the middle of the hallway beside his locker, “Yeah.”

“It’s just,” Ethan’s lips twisted a little in confusion, “Usually you turn me down so-“

“Did you want me to turn you down?”

“No! No no, that’s not what I meant-“

“So what’s the problem here exactly?”

“Nothing. Nothing, I uhm,” He cleared his throat, dragging a hand through his brown locks and then smiled up at the shifter, “How about six o’clock at the rez square? We can get something to eat and hang out?”

He doesn’t have to go on patrol till ten.

“Sure.” Jacob shrugged and Ethan gave him a bright smile.

“Great, I’ll see you then Jacob.” He said, already walking away backwards in the off chance that Jacob suddenly changes his mind, almost walking into another student in his haste. He let out awkward laugh and waved before he turned around and quickly made his way down the hall.

Jacob rolled his eyes as he turned to his locker to open it.

“That was weird.” He looked up and found Embry frowning at him as he leaned against his own locker beside Jacob.

“What’s weird?”

“You agreeing to go out with Ethan. I thought you weren’t into him.”

Jacob paused, “He keeps asking me out, I figured I could just give it a shot.”

“Okay…” Embry shifted against his locker, “You realise that you have patrol with Edward tonight, right? You’re right after me and Emmett again.”

Jacob’s jaw clenched, “I’ll be there.”

It was quiet for a moment as Jacob kept looking for his math book when-

“Or you know, Emmett and I could take over for you again.”

Jacob stopped to look back at Embry who was very clearly looking at his best friend without actually looking at him.

“What?”

“I just… well, since you’re going to be busy and all, I thought maybe I could ask Emmett and we’ll take over your shift with Edward. And you don’t have to worry about Sam finding out, cause he won’t.”

Jacob frowned at him, “Why would you even want to?”

“No reason, I’m just saying you know.” He shifted against his locker again, “In case you’re still busy or whatever.”

“I…” Jacob stopped and briefly paused before he took a deep breath, “I… yeah. Yes, that’s actually a really great idea.”

“Really?” Embry smiled before he quickly reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, “I’ll ask Emmett right now.”

Jacob blinked, “How… wait, you have his number? Why do you have his number?”

Embry paused, “For patrols and stuff. Don’t you have Edward’s number?”

“No.”

“Well, Quil has Rosalie’s number and Seth’s always texting Jasper. Sam has the doc’s number too.” Embry had brought his gaze down to his phone as he typed away before he looked up at his friend, “It’s actually really weird that you don’t have Edward’s number, especially with Bella and everything.”

“I…” Jacob didn’t have a response to that, just gaped like a fish out of water before a text suddenly came into Embry’s phone.

“Emmett’s asking for your number so he can give it to Edward.”

“What? Why?”

Embry typed in another text, they waited a few moments as Jacob finally found his math book and stuffed it into his bag. Embry blinked, “Apparently he told Edward about us taking over your shift and now Edward wants to talk to you.”

Jacob almost froze before he swallowed hard, “Tell him no.”

“Okay…”

Another moment and then a loud buzz, “Emmett says please.”

“Why?”

Another buzz and Embry scoffed, “Because Edward’s suddenly pissed and threatening to take his phone.”

“I don’t care.”

Another buzz just as Jacob shut his locker, Embry let out a sigh. “Can I just give him your number? It’s stupid that he doesn’t have it anyway.”

“I said no.”

And then Embry’s phone started ringing. Jacob turned to frown at his friend while Embry frowned as well before he answered it.

“Emmett…” And then he blinked, “Oh, hi Edward… I’m sorry but I can’t just give you Jake’s number if he doesn’t want me to.” Embry then looked up at his friend, “Yeah, he’s right next to me.” Jacob’s eyes went wide, “O.K.”

Embry held his phone out to Jacob and the shifter just glared at it. “No.”

“Jacob just talk to him.”

“No.”

“Jacob.”

“No.”

“Do it or we won’t do your shift for you.” Embry said sternly and Jacob let out a sigh of frustration before he snatched the device out of his friend’s hand and held it up to his ear.

“What?”

“You can’t come to patrol, because you’re going on a date?”

Jacob rolled his eyes to the high heavens as he glared at his friend, “You told him I have a date? Why would you do that?!”

“Emmett wanted to know, I didn’t think it’d be a big deal.”

“Jacob!”

Jacob let out a low growl before he put the phone back up against his ear again, “Whatever I’m doing tonight has nothing to do with you.”

“It has everything to do with me. Are you even thinking about Bella? We’re doing these patrols because we’re trying to keep her safe-“

“Yeah, and I’m sure she’ll be perfectly fine cause you’ll be hovering around her like you usually are, right?” Jacob said glaring at the nearest row of lockers.

A sigh of frustration, “The whole point to all of this is to find Victoria in case she tries to get to Bella. To stop her from even reaching her.”

“Embry said he and Emmett have it covered, so I don’t see what the problem is.”

“The problem is that you’re blowing me off to go on some date with… with-“

“His name is Ethan.” Jacob said smugly and the vampire hissed.

He could hear another voice shout, “Hey don’t forget that that’s my phone!”

“You’re trying my patience Jacob.” His voice was strained with tension, the vampire was very clearly pissed and Jacob couldn’t help but shift a little against the lockers as he swallowed hard.

“Yeah so what? I’m allowed to have a life outside of you and Bella, Cullen.” And then he took a deep breath, “You should be happy, you get to spend a whole night stalking Bella the way you usually do. I get to spend the night away from you. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

“Jacob, I swear if you don’t show tonight-“

“Bite me, leech.” Jacob growled before he hung up the phone and tossed it back to Embry who stood there watching him with wide eyes.

“Uh, Jake-“ He was cut off when his phone started ringing again. Jacob glared at the thing.

“Don’t answer that.”

“But Jake-“

“If the stupid parasite thinks he can run my life the way he runs Bella’s he’s wrong.” Jacob huffed as he locked his locker and started walking, “C’mon, I have homework to get done before tonight.”

Embry’s lips pursed as his phone kept ringing. He sent it to voicemail and then fired off a quick text to Emmett before turning it off as he followed behind Jacob.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The internet is a fascinatingly terrifying place.

Edward didn’t really go online much. Other than the odd address search or email he barely used his phone’s internet capabilities. Carlisle was always talking about how much there was to find and learn on there. Emmett and Rosalie were always on their phones whenever they weren’t preoccupied with each other, pouting for hours since they could never really keep any social media accounts of their own since they couldn’t risk leaving any sort of trail that may lead humans into discovering their vampiric nature. Alice loved to look up the latest fashion trends, while also pouting about the fact that she couldn’t keep any social media accounts of her own.

Jasper, very much like Edward, preferred to read books though he’d look up news sites for the latest on current affairs. Esme only went online to look for new recipes to try.

Edward didn’t really go online much, he never really saw the need for it. Yes, sometimes he’d have to do a bit of research for some school project or other but other than that he didn’t spend much time on the internet.

However, that afternoon, after he got back from school. After spending yet another day with Bella feeling distracted and just oddly annoyed, he decided to go online and look up a few things. A few things that might help him understand the strange predicament that he’s suddenly found himself in.

Deciding to just get it over with and not beat about the bush, the first thing he typed into the search engine was Daddy-kink.

Edward severely regretted that decision.

The first few results were definitions and such on what Daddy-kink was and what it entailed. The rest were… well-

Edward severely regretted his decision, particularly after seeing the images that came up in connection with the search.

It took him on a horrifying journey. Like Alice and her journey to Wonderland, the telepath found himself tumbling down into a rabbit hole from which he seemingly had no escape. Hundreds of sites with pictures and some with videos all of which seemingly related to the subject of BDSM.

Bondage, Dominance, Sadism and Masochism.

Edward was transfixed as he scrolled through his phone and stared at the glowing screen.

He had absolutely no idea that this sort of thing was… well that it was acceptable or even really… a thing.

Though in his defence his last sexual encounter – not counting his encounters with Jacob of course – happened in the early nineteen hundreds and things were quite different then. Back then, homosexuality was quite the taboo subject and as far as Edward knew, as far as sexual taboos went, that was as bad as it got. But clearly times have changed.

His last sexual encounter as a human had been an awkward fumbling affair. Her name was Hanna and she was sweet and kind and his mother seemed to like her quite a bit and had mentioned on a few occasions what a lovely fit she would make as Edward’s wife. Edward liked her quite a bit as well. He never told his mother of course, about the incident in the shed behind her house where she’d fumbled awkwardly with his trousers as they kissed while their mothers had tea in the house.

His last encounter as a vampire was less fumbling, less awkward and more intense than what he shared with Hanna. At that point he cared very little for societal taboos as he thought his mere existence to be a sin in of itself. One night he found himself in the company of a vampire, a nomad who seemed to be passing through and caught Edward feeding on a murderer that he’d been hunting and caught leaving a bar at nearly two am in the morning.

Maybe it was the high he had from his latest feed, maybe it was the supposed immorality of it all. After all, at the time, Edward had gotten into the habit of letting the monster loose, of allowing it to roam freely and kill what he thought at the time to be appropriate prey. But then came that nomad, Edward doesn’t even remember his name… to be honest, Edward hasn’t even thought of that particular encounter in years. Just one more memory to be shoved away and discredited as yet another moment of depravity that seemed to taint his very soul. Another sin that he needed to atone for. He hasn’t thought of it in years, never allowed himself to.

But as he scrolled through his phone, seemingly horrified by all that he was seeing he suddenly remembered a flash. He remembers curling his fingers into dark hair and gripping tight enough to absolutely harm a human to pull the man’s head back. He remembers thrusting relentlessly into the figure beneath him as they clawed and scratched at the concrete pavement behind the bar. He can’t remember what he said, but he does remember that feeling of power and control. How it felt to revel in the other’s ultimate submission and Edward suddenly realised how shockingly similar it was to when he had Jacob beneath him and tied up and seemingly begging for more.

And Edward felt-

“Hey, bro!”

Edward almost dropped his phone just as Emmett appeared in his door, his own phone in hand just as the larger vampire leaned in through the doorway.

“Emmett?!” Edward gasped as he quickly sat up on his spot on the bed and instinctively shoved his phone underneath the pillows behind him, “How many times do I have to tell you to knock before you come in here?!”

Emmett paused, “Jesus... Sorry Edward, I didn’t realise it was a bad time.”

Edward sighed, “What do you want Emmett?”

“I just thought I should check with you. You’re cool with me and Embry taking over your patrol with Jacob tonight, right?”

Edward’s eyes narrowed down at his brother, “Why?... Emmett, please tell me you’re not just trying to find and excuse to-“

“No.” Emmett said defensively as he folded his arms over his chest, “Embry texted me, he said Jacob has plans for tonight and he wanted to know if I was cool with covering for you guys so you wouldn’t have to patrol.”

“He has plans? What plans?”

Emmett shrugged, “He’s got a date.”

Edward resisted the urge to gape, “He has a date? A date with who?”

“I don’t know.”

Edward growled as he snatched his phone out from under his pillows, he quickly closed his browser and opened up the dialler. “What’s Jacob’s number?”

“I dunno.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I’m not partnered up with him for patrols.” Emmett said clearly, “You see, this is exactly what we were talking about yesterday. If you had Jacob’s number, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Edward was silently praying for patience, “Then ask Embry for his number.”

Emmett let out a sigh of frustration as he typed a message and waited, his phone buzzed with a response before he typed again. And then another buzz.

“Jacob says no.”

“He says no to what?”

“To Embry giving me his number to give to you. He says Jake said no.”

Edward’s prayers were going unanswered.

He got up from the bed and walked over to the other.

“Give me that.”

Emmett blinked, “What… no way.”

“Emmett.”

“I’m not giving you my-“

“Either you give me your phone or I tell Rosalie about your little pet.”

Emmett swallowed hard, “You wouldn’t.” the telepath glared at him and Emmett glared right back.

‘Seriously, you asshole?! I didn’t tell you that so you could use it to blackmail me!’

“Just wait.” Emmett said as he sent off another text before it buzzed again and then he let out another sigh and then he sent another text, “Seriously Edward, I don’t think-“

Before he could finish his sentence, Edward had snatched Emmett’s phone from his hands and found Embry’s number.

“Edward what the fuck?!”

Edward ignored him as he put the phone up to his ear and it rang twice before.

“Emmett?”

“It’s Edward, Embry.”

“Oh, hi Edward.”

“I need Jacob’s number.”

“I’m sorry but I can’t just give you Jake’s number if he doesn’t want me to.”

Edward hissed, “Is he there?”

“Yeah, he’s right next to me.”

“Give him the phone, right now.”

“O.K.”

He could hear the other shifter practically growl out, “No.”

“Jacob just talk to him.”

“No.”

“Jacob.”

“No.”

“Do it or we won’t do your shift for you.” Embry said sternly.

Jacob let out a sigh of frustration and then, “What?”

Edward could almost feel the anger thrumming through his veins, “You can’t come to patrol, because you’re going on a date?”

Jacob had clearly taken the phone from his ear as he hissed, “You told him I have a date? Why would you do that?!”

“Emmett wanted to know, I didn’t think it’d be a big deal.”

“Jacob!” Edward snapped and Jacob let out a low growl.

“Whatever I’m doing tonight has nothing to do with you.”

“It has everything to do with me. Are you even thinking about Bella? We’re doing these patrols because we’re trying to keep her safe-“

“Yeah, and I’m sure she’ll be perfectly fine cause you’ll be hovering around her like you usually are, right?”

Edward took in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh of frustration, “The whole point to all of this is to find Victoria in case she tries to get to Bella. To stop her from even reaching her.”

“Embry said he and Emmett have it covered, so I don’t see what the problem is.”

This defiant little-

“The problem is that you’re blowing me off to go on some date with… with-“

“His name is Ethan.” Jacob said smugly and the vampire’s hand clenched, he could almost feel the plastic of Emmett’s phone start to crack.

Emmett’s eyes went wide, “Hey don’t forget that that’s my phone!”

Edward ignored him, “You’re trying my patience Jacob.”

“Yeah so what? I’m allowed to have a life outside of you and Bella, Cullen.” And then he took a deep breath, “You should be happy, you get to spend a whole night stalking Bella the way you usually do. I get to spend the night away from you. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

“Jacob, I swear if you don’t show tonight-“

“Bite me, leech.” Jacob growled before he hung up the phone. Edward immediately called back, but the phone just rang and rang. The surge of rage that went through the telepath right at that moment had him turning to throw Emmett’s phone against the wall and smash it. Luckily Emmett seemed to be prepared and quickly caught the device before anymore damage could be done. He turned to glare at the telepath just as a text came through.

“Seriously Edward what the hell is wrong with-“

Edward’s record player suddenly hit the wall in a crash instead and Emmett just stared at his clearly pissed off brother in shock just as Jasper suddenly appeared in the door.

“Edward, what on earth-“

“Okay, you know what.” Emmett started as he started to back out of the room while Jasper stared between the two in confusion, “Clearly you and Jacob need some space, so Embry and I will do your shift. You go hunt or see Bella or whatever it is that you need to do.”

Edward, who was breathing hard in some vain attempt at calming himself suddenly paused to look at his brothers. One who was staring in shock, the other in confusion.

“Emmett-“

“Seriously, we’ve got it covered… you calm down.” The larger vampire said as he left the room while Jasper continued to frown.

“Edward-“

“I’m fine Jasper.”

“Are you sure because-“

“I said I’m fine.” He took in a deep breath, “I just… need to go hunt, but I’m fine.”

“Fine Edward.” Jasper said as he shook his head, “But if you need to talk about it we’re here.”

“I… thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They went to this little diner at the rez square, got something to eat. Ethan prattled on about school and his friends and sports – right, he’s on the soccer team isn’t he – and just a whole lot of other stuff that Jacob was barely paying attention to. He hummed, nodded his head, answered a question whenever he got one but for the most part he was pretty distracted.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Edward. Despite his best efforts, his whole day was spent with the telepath taking up space in his head and it was driving him crazy.

He’s not even sure why he’s thinking about Edward. He already resolved to forgetting about that weird thing that happened between them once… that thing that happened twice, because the vampire apologised and said that it was never going to happen again and Jacob was more than O.K with that because he had no intention of ever letting it happen again.

But he still couldn’t stop thinking about Edward.

For the most part, he managed to chalk it up to sexual frustration. Again, Jacob hasn’t been on a date in ages, let alone gotten any action from anyone since the mess with the vampires and the pack and Bella started up. Before that, Jacob wasn’t exactly a Casanova or anything like that but he dated. Kissed a few cute girls and got the odd handjob or blowjob here or there, it never really went anywhere beyond that and so maybe that’s what it was.

He hasn’t gotten any action in ages and Edward was suddenly… doing things that Jacob had never really experienced himself before. Jacob has never had anyone tie him up before. He’s never had anyone pull his head back by his hair the way that Edward did. He’s gotten exactly one blow job from a guy that he used to mess around with about a year before and that didn’t feel anything like what Edward had done and then of course he’s never had fingers… up there before.

But somehow, the biggest thing, the thing Jacob just couldn’t get over was the spanking.

That’s never happened before either.

Billy didn’t do corporal punishment, neither did his mom. When Jacob misbehaved as a child he’d lose toy privileges; he wouldn’t be allowed to watch tv or go out with his friends. He got time outs, he got grounded he was never spanked. Maybe Billy and Sarah should’ve looked into that. Maybe then Jacob wouldn’t have had such a strong reaction to Edward spanking him. Maybe that’s all it really was, it was weird and shocking and confusing and so Jacob couldn’t stop thinking about it.

So why did Jacob agree to go out with Ethan?

Because clearly he really needs to get some action and once he has it, everything will be fine. He won’t feel weird about Edward, he won’t even be thinking about Edward anymore and everything will be totally fine.

So Jacob laughed at Ethan’s terrible jokes and answered his questions and went along with it when the other teen suggested that they take a walk around after they left the diner.

They ended up on the beach, right near the edge where the forest meets the sandy shore. It was pretty late by then, Ethan had yet to really try anything yet and Jacob realised with frustration that the little perve was trying to be a gentleman for once for some stupid reason, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. He pushed the human up against the nearest tree and sealed their lips in a bruising kiss. His hands already under the brunette’s shirt, trying to feel his way around his weird custom belt and the loops on his pants.

Ethan kissed him back, burying his hands in Jacob’s hair and trying to go infuriatingly slow. He tried to encourage a little bit more enthusiasm out of the human, brought Ethan’s hands down to his ass and started sucking bruises onto his neck to try and get a little bit more reciprocation but other than some weak grabbing and pulling it wasn’t really-

Jacob pulled back with a barely stifled growl of frustration, “Are you not into this?”

Ethan blinked, his skin flushed and eyes already hazy as he tried to stay upright against the tree, “No, I-I am, I really really want you Jacob.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I just, don’t want to rush you and-“

“It’s cool, seriously, you’re not rushing me.” Jacob took in a deep breath and let it back out, “Look, if you want to stop-“

“No, I don’t want to stop.”

“Have you never done this before?”

Ethan gave him a very dull look, “I think we both know the answer to that question.”

“Then what-“

“Jacob I’ve been asking you out for months and every time you turn me down. I just wasn’t expecting you to be so eager on the first date alright.”

“O.K,” One more deep breath, “But you want me right?”

“Yeah.”

Jacob leaned in again to press a short kiss on the human’s lips, “Then show me how much you want me. You don’t have to hold back.” And then he let his hands go back down to the human’s pants and finally, finally managed to unzip them as he leaned up to whisper against his ear, “I’ll let you fuck my throat if you want. But only if you make me.”

He’d been thinking about that one a lot, after feeling Edward’s length practically throbbing against the back of his thigh he thought about having the vampire’s cock inside of him in a number of different ways. The most interesting one however was the idea of him down on his knees, right in front of the vampire while Edward pulled on his hair and made the shifter take him over and over again.

Obviously, that’s not going to happen with Edward. Because obviously that whole thing before was a mistake that would never happen again. But just because he had no intention of doing that with Edward, doesn’t mean he can’t do it with someone else.

Hence, Ethan.

Now, the correct response – or rather the response that the shifter was hoping for from the human – would be to grab a hold of Jacob and push him down to his knees pull out his clearly already hardened length and-

Ethan gave a nervous chuckle, “What… seriously?”

Jacob pulled back and stared back at the human with hopeless disbelief. Said human scrambled with his words.

“No I just mean-“

Jacob was less than a split second from screaming out in frustration when-

“Jacob!”

Jacob froze.

He turned back slowly to look into the forest, right there where the still shadows of the trees in the moonlight suddenly seemed to be moving and a figure appeared among them. Ethan was already scrambling to fix his clothes, Jacob just continued to stare in shock as a tall pale bronze haired teen came stomping out of the forest.

“No way.”

The vampire’s eyes were narrowed into a glare, lips twisted into a sneer. Jacob swallowed hard.

“What’re-“

“We’re leaving.”

Edward stopped right in front of the shifter, Ethan had pushed off of the tree and managed to fix his clothes by the time the vampire reached them.

“Uh, Jacob, do you know this guy?”

Jacob glanced back at the human and took in a deep breath before he glared at the vampire.

“Go away, I’m busy.”

“We are leaving.” The vampire said clearly and Jacob stood his ground.

“No you are leaving, so leave.”

Jacob was about to turn around when the telepath suddenly had a hand around his upper arm holding on tight with his fingers clenching in warning as he looked right into the shifter’s eyes. Those honey gold orbs darkening with every second that passed.

“We can do this elsewhere or we can talk right here, in front of your friend.”

Jacob tensed.

‘You wouldn’t’

Something flashed behind the vampire’s eyes as he took one more step closer and spoke with his voice barely above a whisper.

“What do you call me Jacob?”

The shifter froze and swallowed hard before he spoke.

“I need to go.”

“What, seriously?!” Ethan asked incredulously and Jacob let out a sigh as he looked back at the human.

“We’ll talk on Monday.”

“Monday?”

Before Ethan could say anything else the vampire turned and started pulling Jacob along behind him, back into the forest.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Embry was smart and sweet and so cute that Emmett was having serious difficulty not leaning in and kissing the shifter stupid.

The first time they went on patrol together, Emmett hadn’t planned on saying much to the shifter. Not that he would have been able to. From the moment that they met, Embry was in his wolf form and other than the odd bark or growl he hadn’t really said much to the vampire. Emmett figured that it would probably stay that way, for a while at least.

But then they ran into a group of kids who were camping out in the middle of the woods, they seemed to be wandering around looking for firewood when they came Emmett and Embry’s way.

For Emmett, jumping up into one of the trees to avoid being seen was simple enough, it was a little bit more difficult for Embry. He quickly bounced out of the way and behind a large log but the teens heard the noise and instead of going in the opposite direction like any sane human being would, they decided to go looking for the noise instead.

Embry shifted back to his human form to make himself smaller and Emmett realised that he wouldn’t have time to leap away if the humans walked around that log without being seen. And sure, some kids talking about how they saw a wolf the size of a horse in the woods – or a completely naked dude – probably wouldn’t gain too much attention, they couldn’t risk drawing any attention to the woods. Not when Victoria was still somewhere lurking around.

So Emmett did the only thing he could think of at the time. He quickly jumped down and used his vampire speed to grab the shifter and move as far away from the approaching teens as possible.

Once they were far enough Emmett finally turned his attention to the shifter in his grasp and paused.

In the moment he hadn’t really noticed it, but now that there were no other distractions; he could feel it.

The heat.

Burning, almost searing right into his skin. Warmer than any sort of heat he thought he’d be able to feel since he was turned into a vampire.

The feeling was startling, it slowed his response so much that the shifter ended up looking up at him awkwardly, as the vampire kept him pulled up against his broad chest. He didn’t really smell all that bad up close either. Standing that close, the shifter almost smelled human. Embry flushed, brown eyes going wide and Emmett could feel the wolf’s heartbeat quicken right up against him when-

“Uh thanks… I think you can let go of me now.”

Emmett blinked and honestly, if he was still human, he’d probably be blushing about as much as the shifter was right at that moment. But Emmett was never one to allow any kind of embarrassment get him down, so he teased-

“What’s the rush?” He asked with a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and Embry flushed even more before he pulled from the vampire’s grasp and Emmett just let him.

“Very funny.” Embry said dragging a hand through his hair, “We should get going.”

He turned around but before he could phase-

“Seriously though, what’s the rush?” he gave a smile, “You know, there’s plenty of time before the next two go up.”

“And?”

“And, I mean, I’m pretty sure I’ve never talked to any of you before. Why not start right now?”

Embry frowned at him, “Why would you want to?”

“Why not? We’re supposed to be getting along right? Teamwork or whatever. That would be way easier if you just stayed human for a little while cause you see, unfortunately, I don’t speak mutt.” The shifter glared, but it wasn’t half as threatening as he clearly thought it would be, if anything it was kind of cute. Emmett’s lips pulled into a dimpled smile and he held his hands up in surrender, “I’m sorry, I meant wolf.”

The shifter hesitated as he briefly bit his lip, “I dunno…”

“C’mon, it’ll be fun or at least, less boring than it is now.”

And then Embry sighed folding his arms over his chest, “What do you even want to talk about?”

“Your name’s Embry, right?” The shifter nodded and Emmett’s smile grew, “I’m Emmett.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“We can talk about whatever.” Emmett’s head gave a tilt as his eyes wandered over the shifter and he smirked, “Maybe you can tell me about how comfortable it is walking around completely naked.”

Embry blinked and then flushed anew as he quickly reached down to untie the shorts from around his ankle. He glared up at the vampire, “Hardy har.”

“I mean, I’m not complaining or anything, the view isn’t bad from over here.”

He could almost hear the blood rushing to the shifter’s face and he looked up at Emmett to glare, “Stop it.”

“Ask me real nice and I’ll think about it.”

The wolf huffed as he quickly pulled his pants up, “Aren’t you married? You have a mate right?”

“Yeah.”

“So what, she’s cool with you going around flirting with a mutt?”

“We’re flirting, huh?” The shifter went bright red. Emmett stepped closer, “Are you going to tell on me?”

Embry just stood still as the vampire came closer, “What if I did?”

Emmett shrugged, “Well, she’d probably kill both of us so I wouldn’t recommend it.”

Embry scoffed, “Figures.”

“So don’t tell on me.”

“And then what?”

“And then, you can be my mistress.” To his surprise the shifter just laughed.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I could be your sugar daddy.”

Embry laughed again before he turned around and started walking, “You couldn’t afford me.”

“Really?” Emmett grinned as he followed, “I beg to differ.”

“What, you’ve got a retirement fund you plan on cashing in?”

“Seventy years is enough time to save up a lot you know.”

“Seventy?” Embry stopped, “How old are you?”

“About ninety.”

“Ninety?!”

“Give or take a few years.” Emmett’s grin grew at the look on the shifter’s face and he stepped forward, “I look pretty good for someone my age huh?”

Embry let out a deep breath and rolled his eyes, “Yeah, your ego’s pretty big for someone your age too.”

“Well, you know what they say about age and wisdom and whatever.” Emmett said throwing his arm around the shifter’s shoulders to drag him into his side. Embry tensed tremendously only to suddenly pause as he stared at the vampire.

“What?”

“Nothing, you’re just really cold.”

He started to pull away, “Sorry-“

“No, it’s O.K I, it doesn’t feel bad or anything.” Embry blushed, “It feels… a little different.”

Emmett paused, fully taking in the shifter’s heat against his skin. “You feel good. You’re hot.”

Embry blinked up at him, “What?”

“I mean you feel hot.” Thank God he can’t blush, “Cause of your temperature.”

“Right.”

The vampire couldn’t help but tease again, “What, did you think I meant that you look hot?”

“No-“

“Cause you are pretty cute.”

He could feel the shifter’s temperature rise even as he was shoved away, “Knock it off.”

“Oh come on, I thought we were going to do that whole sugar daddy thing.”

“Shut up.”

That’s how it started and then, just kept going.

Emmett enjoyed being around Embry, he had fun around the shifter and it was just so refreshing being around someone with a heartbeat that he didn’t feel the distinct urge to drain dry. They’d meet up with Embry in his wolf form, go through their patrol route and Emmett would always insist that the shifter phase back so they could talk a little afterwards. It was all so much fun and Embry was so sweet that Emmett honestly couldn’t resist the urge to flirt and tease the shifter every now and then.

It seemed harmless at first. Emmett would poke and prod a little at the wolf and the wolf always rejected him. Blushing right up to his hair just about every time sure, but Embry always seemed very aware of the fact that Emmett had a mate and was therefore technically married so he rarely ever played along.

It was so harmless, it seemed O.K. But then he realised that he wasn’t as thrilled to go back home to his mate as he should have been. He realised that he was starting to get distracted around Rosalie, that he wasn’t paying as much attention to her as he was before, that he kind of just wasn’t, that interested.

He still loves Rosalie, he cares for her of course he does. But when he’s around Embry things feel so different that he just-

Honestly, he doesn’t know what’s wrong with him but he knows himself well enough to know when he likes someone. When he really really wants them and Emmett knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wanted Embry.

But… Edward was right.

He has a mate. He has Rosalie so he needs to get over whatever crush he’s managed to develop for the shifter and just move on.

It would be way easier to get over his crush if he wasn’t always spending time around him though.

They were walking near the border on the Cullen’s side of the treaty line. Usually this would be the time of night when Edward and Jacob would come up to relieve them or Alice and Leah or Jasper and Seth.

But Jacob had a date and Edward was having some kind of malfunction, so Emmett and Embry had taken over for them.

Embry stopped, he sat down on a fallen log just in front of a row of trees at the edge of the clearing. A soft smile on his face as he spoke, his head tilted back so he could look up at the vampire standing in front of him with the moonlight reflecting off his tan skin in just the weirdest way and – shit.

He’s got it bad, doesn’t he?

“So you all grew up together?”

“Yeah basically. Quil’s always been kind of a goofball and Seth’s always been a squirt. Paul is well-“

“He has anger issues.” Emmett asked and Embry shook his head.

“He wasn’t always like that you know, before he phased Paul was actually really fun, laid back. And Leah, God, she was the most sarcastic asshole but she was still nice and kind and so caring… the shift.” Embry looked away, “It changes you sometimes, twists you into something a little different. You know before all this, Jake was happy you know. Things were a little rough with his dad and his sisters but he was always smiling. But then came the shift and just everything with Sam and-“

“Bella?”

“Yeah Bella.” Embry sighed, “Look Bella’s nice and all but things were a lot simpler before she came to town.”

Emmett sighed himself as he sat down on the log as well, “You can say that again.”

The shifter looked over to him in question and Emmett shrugged, “You guys aren’t the only ones who are a little annoyed with the whole Bella and Edward thing.”

“Why are you putting up with it?”

“We’re a family. Edward was miserable before, after he met her things were a little shaky in the beginning but he swears she makes him happy. He says he loves her so, we just try to help him out as much as we can.” Emmett explained before he looked at the shifter, “Why are you guys putting up with it?”

Embry’s face twisted a little, “Bella’s always hanging around vampires. She’s human and she lives in Forks so, technically we have to look out for her. Jake loves her, or at least, he says he does. He’s our pack brother, we’re trying to look out for him too. Plus, Jake’s technically our true alpha so-“

“Right, I think I heard Jasper mention that.” Emmett frowned, “Why did he turn it down? If he was meant to be alpha.”

Embry shook his head again, “Jake didn’t want to be alpha, he never wanted any of this. So when he phased and Sam was leading the pack he didn’t see a reason why that needed to change.”

“Oh, O.K.”

“Jacob was really different before he phased. He was bright and sweet. He still is, I mean, we hang out and I know he’s still the person he was before. He’s still my best friend but things are harder now. He might not be alpha but he still has a lot of pressure on him.” Embry braced his arms against the stump, “He had to change too. It sucks but, everyone got a little different after the shift.”

“I get it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty much the same for vampires. No ones’ ever really the same after being turned. Everything just becomes different.”

“Hmm.”

Emmett watched him for a moment before a small smile pulled at his lips, “What about you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, what changed for you after you phased?”

“Everything.”

“Everything?”

Embry blinked before he took in a deep breath and let it back out, “I guess I could tell you, everyone else knows at this point anyway.”

“Knows what?”

“My mother and father aren’t from the Quileute tribe. They’re both Makai. She separated from my dad and moved to La Push after she got pregnant with me.”

“Okay?” Emmett didn’t get it, Embry looked away towards the wall of trees on the other side of the border across the clearing.

“Only those from the Quileute tribe carry the shifter gene, it’s impossible for someone from another tribe to have it.”

“Okay, what does that-“ Emmett’s eyes went wide when it hit him, “Oh… dude.”

Embry gave a humourless scoff, “Yeah. The council thinks that my biological father is either Sam’s dad or Jacob’s dad. Everyone’s hoping that its Sam’s dad since, he has a reputation on the rez but there’s a good chance that it might be Billy. No one really wants to ask though cause if it’s not Joshua Uley but Billy then… well, yeah.”

“Shit… that’s rough.”

“You know what’s the worst part though? The worst part is that the moment I phased everyone knew, everyone except for my mom and she still doesn’t know.”

“Why not?”

“She’s not Quileute. The council said she doesn’t need to know and I’m not allowed to tell her.”

“She doesn’t know about the shifter thing?”

“No.”

“Embry-“

“It’s O.K. My Mom’s fine and people talk sure but, it’s not too bad.”

Emmett moved closer to the shifter, “But you’re not O.K though, are you?”

Embry blinked at the vampire and forced a scoff, “I’m fine. I mean, it gets a little awkward when my Dad comes to see me, since he doesn’t know either but I’m O.K. We all have things we had to deal with because of the shift. Paul lost his freedom, Leah and Sam fell apart, Jake had to change and I… have this. It is what it is.”

Emmett went quiet, trying to process everything that he just heard. An odd feeling of guilt washing over him. Technically they are the reason the wolves started phasing. Carlisle explained that the shifter gene kicked in in response to the sudden presence of vampires in the area. So if they didn’t move to Forks, there’s a chance no one in the pack would have changed. Damn, no wonder some of the shifters hate them so much.

“What about you? Why did you become a vampire?” Embry suddenly asked and Emmett let out a startled laugh.

“I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. I got attacked by a bear in the woods, I was dying when Rosalie found me. She took me to Carlisle and asked him to turn me. That’s basically it.”

Embry frowned, “So if you did have a choice-“

“No, no. I’m grateful that Rose saved me. I wasn’t ready to die yet but I had to say goodbye to my family and that… wasn’t great.” Emmett swallowed hard, “I think it’s one of the reasons Rose and I get along so well. We’ve both always wanted a family. You know that whole, married with kids thing. Rosalie really wanted a baby, I wish I could’ve given her that because honestly, I really wanted it too. But it’s not possible for either of us now. There’s a lot that we both miss about being human, things we just can’t have now and that sucks but, it’s not terrible… It is what it is.”

Embry bit his lip for a moment before he moved a little closer to the vampire, with his hands on the log at his sides, their hands were just barely touching. Emmett could feel the heat radiate right off of the shifter’s form.

“The married with kids thing is overrated anyway.” Embry said.

“You don’t want kids?”

“It’s not really possible for me either, if you get what I mean.” The wolf’s cheeks had caught in a blush and the implication hit the vampire beside him almost instantly.

“Oh… right.” And Emmett moved closer, now their hands are definitely touching, “You have options though, for when you’re ready. Adoption, surrogacy, that kind of thing… I can’t even eat a fucking cheeseburger without getting sick.”

A startled laugh left Embry’s throat, “A cheeseburger? Seriously? That’s the one thing you want right now?”

“Hey, you get to go home and eat after this. I have to go hunt.” Emmett groaned, “Dude, you have no idea how much I miss food, I miss it so much. It’s worse cause Esme’s always cooking the best shit but I can’t eat any of it!”

“Poor baby.” Embry teased as he reached up to ruffle the vampire’s hair, “I promise I’ll think of you the next time I go to Wendy’s.”

“That’s really thoughtful, thanks Embry. I hope you choke on it, by the way.” He said nudging the wolf’s side only to pause when he really noticed just how close they were. Embry was laughing, big and bright and… beautiful. The heat coming off of the shifter for a moment almost feeling like his own. Before Emmett could stop himself, before he could even think about it, he leaned in and kissed the wolf.

It lasted all of two seconds. A quick peck on the lips really. But Embry tensed tremendously and Emmett could almost feel the shock just pulsate right off of the shifter’s form.

Shit.

He pulled back, swallowed hard. Embry was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Emmett, what-“

“I like you.” He blurted out and Embry’s eyes looked like they were trying to bulge out of their sockets.

“I like you Embry, but I mean… I really like you. Obviously, enough to try and kiss you.” He joked while the shifter just stared at him in shock. He swallowed again. “I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have- I should go.”

This is the type of shit that happens when he doesn’t listen to Edward!

He got up to leave when his arm was quickly grabbed.

“Wait!”

“What-“

Emmett was cut off when Embry reached up to pull the vampire down by his shirt and kissed him. It also lasted about two seconds. A quick but somehow much more nervous press of skin before he pulled back, blushing right up to his hair and the tips of his ears before he swallowed hard and-

“I like you too, a lot.”

“Oh.”

“Uh… yeah.”

“But, I mean, really?”

Embry frowned, “What do you mean really?”

“Nothing, I don’t mean anything.”

“Then what-“

Screw Edward.

Emmett wrapped his arms around the shifter and pulled him in close to kiss him again. Embry squeaked in surprise before he lifted his arms to wrap around the vampire’s neck to pull himself even closer as the vampire’s ice-cold lips moved against his own and he opened up almost instinctively to deepen the kiss. Emmett moaned at the feeling of that burning heat almost melting right into him only for it all to come to a halt when he heard the sounds of someone heading their way in the distance. He quickly broke the kiss. Embry blinked back at him with hazy eyes. Emmett suppressed a groan.

“What-“

“Someone’s coming.” Embry’s eyes went wide as he quickly pulled from the vampire’s grasp and said vampire was fighting off the urge to pout when the shifter’s heat left him.

They both looked up towards the other side of the border. Embry’s eyes narrowed down when he saw two figures headed towards them only to the blink in surprise.

“Jake?”

Emmett frowned. Jacob and Edward were headed towards them with the shifter struggling and growling in the telepath’s grasp while Edward just dragged him forward.

“What the hell is wrong with you?! I can’t believe you just did that!”

“What the hell is wrong with me? What’s wrong with you?!” They broke through the wall of trees into the clearing which is when Jacob managed to pull his arm free of the vampire’s grasp to glare at the other, “What the hell were you doing with that guy?!”

“I was on a date.”

“A date?!”

“Yes, a date. Why the fuck were you on the rez, anyway?! You broke the treaty you psycho!”

Before Edward could answer, Emmett interrupted them walking closer along with Embry.

“Edward, what’s going on?”

The telepath glanced at him before looking back at Jacob, “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Jacob and I have patrol now, you two can go.”

Embry blinked, “What? What do you mean… Jake, what happened to Ethan?”

“Ethan?” Jacob started as he looked at his friend, “You wanna know what happened with Ethan? This fucking parasite-“

“Don’t call me that.” Edward growled out, low and threatening only for Jacob to growl right back.

“Or what? What are you going to do about it Leech?”

Edwards eyes darkened in a deadly glare. Emmett tensed.

“Uh… Edward, maybe-“

“I said leave Emmett.” The telepath said without moving his gaze away from Jacob who just glared back.

“I,” Embry started, “I don’t think you two should be alone, maybe just-“

“Embry, go home.”

Embry frowned when Jacob spoke.

“But Jake-“

“Its fine. Go check in with Sam and go home.” Jacob said still not moving his gaze away from Edward. Emmett and Embry shared a look. The vampire opened his mouth to speak.

“Ed-“

“Leave.”

“Dude-“

“Embry!” Jacob suddenly snapped, his voice coming out with this odd sharpness almost like a bark. Embry suddenly grabbed a hold of Emmett’s arm and started pulling him back.

“What-“ When he looked down at the shifter, his eyes looked odd, almost glassy. “Embry what’s wrong?”

“We should go.” He said as he stepped back, his eyes seemed to clear and he shook his head before giving the vampire a strained smile. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I’ll call you later… it’s still O.K if I call you, right?”

Emmett couldn’t help but smile, “Yeah.”

“I’ll call you later.” Embry said, his hand giving a slight squeeze on the vampire’s arm before he let go and headed towards the reservation’s side of the treaty. “Goodnight, Emmett.”

“Goodnight.” He said with a smile only to stop when he looked back at Edward and Jacob who had yet to take their eyes off of each other. The vampire shook his head and turned around. “I’ll see you later Edward.”

The telepath didn’t respond.

‘Edward, I get that you guys have some stuff to work out but please don’t do anything stupid’

All he got to that was a brief twitch. Emmett sighed again before he used his vampire speed to head up to the mountains. He really does need to feed before he goes home. Hopefully, Edward and Jacob will be O.K.

Chapter Text

Emmett shut the door behind him. Rose is out with Alice. Carlisle is on patrol with Sam. Jasper is in the den reading while listening to music until his shift starts. Edward came in earlier after his shift with Jacob, looking strange and moody before he quickly locked himself into his room for an hour before leaving again. Emmett figures that he's either hunting or with Bella. And Esme is doing chores around the house, but she's in the garden so she wouldn't hear too much from the outside anyway.

"Hey."

A voice said from the other side of the line and Emmett's lips pulled into a wide grin.

"Hey, uhmm..." He swallowed hard, "I thought you'd-" Why is this so hard?! "Last night-"

"Sorry, I..." Embry let out a nervous laugh, "It was late and you said you were going to go hunting right?"

"Yeah, right."

"Plus, I wasn't sure if-" he went quiet. Emmett frowned as he walked further into the room, "Last night, I shouldn't have done that and I-"

"I miss you." Emmett blurted out and there was another pause on the other side of the phone.

"What?"

"I said I miss you." Emmett let out a nervous laugh of his own, dragging a hand through his hair, "I know I saw you last night but... that's basically a whole day for a vampire."

"Emmett, I can't do this with you."

"Do what?"

"You know what."

"Why not?"

"You know why."

"Because I'm a vampire?"

Embry's voice dropped to a whisper, "Because you're married."

Emmett sighed. He sat down on the bed, having enough presence of mind not to just drop down and break it but still-

"Yeah."

Embry seemed to swallow hard, "Yeah, so I don't think-"

"I want to see you."

"What?"

"You don't have school today, right?"

"No but," He sighed again, "I'll see you for patrol tomorrow."

"I want to see you right now."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Seriously?"

"I miss you."

"Emmett-"

"Just for a couple of minutes, at the border. Carlisle and Sam are supposed to be on their shift so it won't be like we'll really be alone or anything. O.K? We can talk and sort this out."

It was quiet again before the shifter let out a sigh, "O.K fine." Emmett couldn't stop the grin that spread right across his face, "But we're just talking."

"Yes. we'll just talk."

"O.K... I'll see you in a bit."

"Great."

Embry hung up and Emmett almost threw his phone at the wall in his haste to toss it aside and rush out of the house. He almost ran right into Esme.

"Emmett?! What are you-"

"I'll be back later!" He called out as he ran around the older woman and went right out the door. Esme just sighed with a shake of her head as she hauled the basket of vegetables in her arms into the kitchen. It’s probably fine. Emmett rarely gets himself into trouble these days and she’s got some cooking to do anyway.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rosalie was shopping with Alice.

They usually went out together about once a week, they both had a love for clothes. Though sometimes, they’d be so occupied with their respective mates that they’d almost forget about the rest of the world sometimes. The weekly shopping trips were a good way to touch base and just hang out like sisters were supposed to. Esme would tag along with them sometimes. A bit of a girl’s day out, if you will. But Esme was occupied with something that day so it was just Alice and Rosalie. When Bella started seeing Edward, Alice had been hopeful that she’d be able to join them on their little trips. Rosalie made it clear that she had no intention of playing along with Bella for any reason whatsoever.

But today, Esme is busy and Bella is… somewhere. Rosalie didn’t care enough to ask where she was. Edward came in that morning, saying nothing to no one as he immediately just locked himself in his room, vaguely smelling of Jacob so Rosalie just figured that he must be in some kind of mood since his patrol with the shifter ended.

She left Emmet at home, staring holes into his phone. Carlisle was supposedly on patrol with Sam and Jasper was home as well. His shift with Seth would be up after Carlisle got back.

And that is why, Rosalie was in a changing room of a boutique in uptown Port Angeles. Frowning at her own reflection as she turned this way and that.

Forest green really isn’t her colour. She’s entirely too pale to pull it off. The blonde tugged at the slit of the long dress which came up just at her thigh, tried to smooth out the satin material against her curves. The fit looks good, the neckline was doing wonders for her chest its just the colour that looked… off.

Her frown deepened.

Maybe it’s the lighting?

With a slight sigh Rosalie turned and left the cubicle to step out into the general waiting area outside of the changing room, where Alice sat waiting on the cream chez lounge just before the mirrors and platform just in front of it.

“The colour looks strange right?” Rosalie asked as she stepped up onto the platform and took in her image in the mirror, “I thought it was the lighting in the changing room, but it still doesn’t look right.” She turned a bit to the side, shook her head and fluffed up her hair, “I’m too pale… what do you think?”

Alice hummed, “Hmmm.”

“Well I can’t really do anything about how pale I am, can I?” Rosalie huffed.

No she can’t. She and Emmett tried when they were going through their brief phase in the nineties and tried spray on tan; which is when Rosalie realised that orange is an absolutely terrible colour on her.

“Is this even really forest green, though? It feels more like a dark moss.”

“Hmm.”

“Maybe I can ask if they have it in a different green. What do you think?”

“Hmm.”

Rosalie frowned. This time because she could totally tell that her sister was absolutely not paying attention to a single word she was saying. Strange since you usually didn’t have to do much to get Alice interested when clothing was involved.

She turned to face the pixie like vampire on the chez lounge and huffed when she found her texting away and looking at nothing other than her phone.

“Alice.”

“Hmm.”

“Don’t hmm me, I know you’re not paying attention.” Rosalie huffed as she picked up a hanger that she’d dropped on the floor earlier and threw it at Alice. The vampire jumped before looking up at the blonde with a glare.

“Rosalie! What-“

“You’re not paying attention.” Rosalie huffed as she looked back at the mirror, “I thought you told Jasper you were going out.”

“I… I’m not talking to Jasper.”

“Then who are you texting?”

Rosalie fluffed up her hair before combing down the sides with her fingers. It might be time to dye her hair, that would definitely make this colour work. Black maybe or just a very dark brown. The blonde’s head gave a tilt, only to pause since Alice didn’t respond. She looked back.

“Well?”

Alice’s lips pursed for a brief moment before she sighed, “It’s nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“I just…” Alice sighed, “I keep texting Leah but she refuses to message me back.”

“So? You have patrol later, right? If you have something to tell her then just wait till then.”

Alice shook her head, “That’s not the point Rosalie.”

“Then what is the point?”

“She’s just so… difficult.” Alice hissed as she tossed her phone onto the couch, “You know these patrols make me nervous and I just… I feel better about it if I can talk to her and I know where she is.”

Rosalie paused looking at the raven-haired vampire in the reflection of the mirror.

They talked about it a while ago, after the patrols started.

Alice can’t see around the wolves, its one of the reasons why it’s been so difficult preparing for Victoria’s attack. Since the shifters were helping out, Alice’s visions have gotten incredibly blurred. She couldn’t really see anything and this left her feeling beyond anxious. They need the pack’s help, there’s no way they’ll be able to deal with the her newborns without the wolves. Things were made much worse since Victoria seemed to have figured out Alice’s gift of sight and had someone else making decisions for her.

They need the wolves to beat Victoria, but the wolves also made using Alice’s sight especially difficult. It was hard for Alice, she’s been relying on her gift for most of her life. She used it to find Jasper… to find the Olympic coven. Her sight led her to believe that Bella would be the one to marry Edward and finally make him happy and now…

She can’t use it.

Yes, Alice was very anxious indeed. Which is why she encouraged Jasper to befriend Seth, not that the empath needed much persuasion with the shifter being so insatiably warm and open. But the added communication made Alice feel better. If she can’t see the shifters then they needed to have as much cooperation with them as possible. For the most part, most of the members of the family have been able to communicate fairly well with the wolves. Most except for Edward and Jacob, of course.

But now, it seems that Leah’s decided to be just as difficult.

“Seth talks to Jasper, maybe you could ask him to-“

Alice shook her head, “No, she’s his sister, I don’t want to complicate things between them and Jasper’s getting along really well with Seth. I don’t want to involve them more than necessary.” Alice sighed again, “I don’t need us to be friends I just…. I just need her to talk to me!”

“You don’t talk on patrols?”

Alice rolled her eyes, “She stays in her wolf form and refuses to change back.” The raven looked up at the ceiling before looking back at the blonde, “Maybe you could get Quil to talk to her for me?”

Rosalie turned to face her, “Quil and Leah aren’t friends, Alice.”

“They’re in the same pack.”

“Yeah but that doesn’t mean they get along.” Rosalie said giving the pixie a dull look before, “Especially after the thing that happened with Sam, I don’t think Quil would want to push Leah’s buttons.”

“Thing with Sam? What thing with Sam?”

“You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“I thought Jasper would know by now and he would’ve-“ Rosalie sighed, “Never mind-“

Alice frowned as she got up from her seat to join the blonde on the platform, “No, tell me. What happened with Sam?”

Rosalie’s lips pursed. Quil told her what about what happened with Leah and Sam only because she asked about his imprint on Claire and Rosalie felt oddly… wrong talking about it with Alice.

“Rose?”

The blonde let out a sigh, “You didn’t hear it from me.”

“But-“

“I’m serious Alice, if anyone asks, you tell them you got it from Edward or… whoever.”

The pixie rolled her eyes, “Fine.”

The blonde paused for another second, “O.K, so you know about imprinting?”

Alice shook her head, “Only what Carlisle’s told us so far.”

“It’s basically like mating for wolves, only their bonds aren’t necessarily romantic just very strong. Strong to the point where they get sick if they’re separated from their imprints for too long.”

“So?”

“Sam and Leah, used to be engaged. They were going to get married, but then Sam imprinted on Leah’s cousin Emily and so he left Leah.” Rosalie explained quickly and Alice’s eyes went wide, “Things have been tense in the pack since that happened, since… you know, they all have to share thoughts and Sam is married to Emily now.”

“Oh my god.” Alice gasped softly and Rosalie shrugged.

“Leah phased for the first time just before her father passed on, apparently no one on the reservation knew that women were capable of becoming shapeshifters and that may be part of the reason her father died.”

“How did he die?”

“… Heart attack.”

“So…” Alice shut her eyes, “Leah was engaged to Sam, but then Sam mated Emily her cousin, Leah became a shifter and then her father died.”

“Yes.”

“Wh-“ Alice opened her eyes and gaped before shutting her mouth again, “Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?!”

“Alice-“

“I’m with her on patrols, I should’ve been told.”

“By who? And why?” Rosalie asked, “We’re really only doing these patrols because of Bella and Victoria wanting to kill Bella. Leah’s business isn’t really any of your business, Alice.”

“But… how do you know about it?”

Rosalie almost stuttered, “Because I was asking Quil about his imprint. I told you Quil has an imprint and I kept asking about it so he told me.” Then she took a deep breath, “The point is it isn’t really any of your business. It isn’t anyone’s business. I thought maybe Seth told Jasper and he told you, but if he didn’t then clearly you weren’t supposed to know.”

Alice looked away, “No wonder she’s so.” The pixie like vampire cut herself off and took a deep breath. Rosalie just looked back at the mirror.

“I’m not asking Quil to talk to Leah for you. He said Leah freaks out anytime anyone even mentions the imprint thing. You wanna talk to the she-wolf, you need to figure it out yourself.”

Alice’s lips pursed, eyes narrowing into a glare before shaking her head, “Fine, I’ll figure it out myself.” And then she looked up at the mirror where they stood while Rosalie kept playing with her hair, moving it this way and that to see if he style would somehow look better with the dress. Alice frowned.

“This is an awful colour on you.”

“I know.” Rosalie started to pout and the pixie shook her head.

“Why did you even pick this?”

“My favourite colour’s pink.” The girl said just as she hopped off of the rock in the middle of the path and Rosalie smiled as large brown eyes beamed up at her, “What’s yours?”

“Mine’s also pink.” The blonde said and Claire grinned.

“Quil’s favourite colour is green. Like the trees in the forest, right Quil?”

The shifter holding her other hand scoffed, dark brown curls moving slightly in the breeze. “That’s right, princess.”

Rosalie shrugged, “I wanted to try it to see how it looks, but maybe forest green just doesn’t work for me.”

“This isn’t forest green. Its deep moss.”

Rosalie blinked, “I knew it!”

“Take that off, I think I saw a forest green dress on the rack that’ll look much better. I’ll go get it.” Alice said as she stepped down from the platform, frowning at her phone before she disappeared into the store.

“Find me a green shirt too.” Rosalie called after her, fluffing up her hair as she took one more look in the mirror before she turned around to go take it off.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The energy that came from the boy was as calm as always. That warm haze of content falling around him like mist just like always as well. Sometimes there would be hints of curiosity or confusion or just joy drifting through that mist. And it is because of all of this that Jasper couldn't help but give the shifter a smile.

"Got any plans for today?"

Seth looked over to him, the large sandy brown wolf shaking its head, before he let out a bark and his head tilted. They've spent enough time around each other that he knew what the wolf meant.

The empath couldn't help but think about that. Think about how much things have changed since he left Maria. Since he was turned into a vampire. Since the day he was born. There's a lot that Jasper regrets, a lot of things in his life that he wishes he never ever did. Some of it was Maria's sire influence over him, keeping him anchored to her and encouraging him to keep doing what she asked. Some of it was outside of his control, things he simply couldn't help being a vampire and needing blood to survive. Others...

Jasper watched the boy beside him, his head still tilted in question. Seth is bright and optimistic and just insatiably friendly. It hasn't been very long and Jasper already knows that he adores him. The vampire couldn't help but wonder what his family would think of this boy and he had to fight off the urge to cringe.

He still remembers the person he used to be before the Vegetarian lifestyle, before the Alice, before Maria.

When Jasper was human, there was a lot outside of his control as well but there was enough in his control for him to feel guilty. For him to feel... off around Seth sometimes.

Things were so different back then, different from what they are right now and yet; he thinks he felt guilty even back then.

He joined the military early. By the time the Civil War started he was already a corporal and once the battles in the South actually started he'd been promoted to the position of a major and then quickly general. Ma and Pa were thrilled, Jasper was happy too. He worked hard, did everything he was supposed to do and then some, why wouldn't he be happy? That's a question that kept coming up more times than he was comfortable and by the time Maria found and turned him-

It would be a lie to say that he hated her, that he wasn't grateful on some level for what she did. For the fact that she plucked him out from his chaotic normality to dump him into a completely different world of chaos.

When he woke up after three days and fully understood his new situation. What hit him first, before the hunger or the need for blood or even the whirlwind of emotions radiating from every single figure around him; was relief. He was relieved. His heart had stopped beating and his skin was ice cold, but for the first time in years he felt like he could breathe.

That's why being with Maria had been so easy at first. It was a new start, a new life a new - everything.

There was a lot he did in the war, things he didn't want to think about and didn't have to think about once he became a vampire. Things that became irrelevant because technically he isn't alive anymore. Jasper Whitlock is dead, he's a ghost. The general in the Confederate army who made his family proud and seemed oh so concerned with the rights of the South was gone. K.I.A with his body lost and never to be found again. This Jasper, this new creature that walked the earth could be whatever he wanted and he didn't need to explain himself to anyone.

Maria didn't care about his past, only about whether or not he could do the job that she wanted him to do. It didn't matter to his sire, the person that birthed this new being that he's become, and so it didn't matter to him. He had a new life.

He'd been relieved. Unfortunately, he could only live in denial for so long.

Killing people wasn't the hard part. Not really, he's been doing it for years even if it's a little different now. Even if after his turning, it became a little more personal. In the military you learn to separate yourself from it, you learn to disassociate. Focus on the greater goal rather than the actions needed to reach it. He'd been doing it for years. The issue came in because of his gift. The swirl of misery, pain and despair that he would suffer under every time he fed. The anger, frustration, fear, loss and regret he absorbed from Maria's newborns when he was training them to fight for her.

The way that Carlisle explained it; is that gifts are abilities that vampires had before they were turned, abilities they had when they were still human. Alice had always been clairvoyant, that's why she was found and then turned into a vampire. And Edward had always been good at reading people, being able to guess what they were thinking easily enough. These are gifts that they had as humans, now only heightened by the venom coursing through their veins.

The same was true for Jasper.

He's always been a bit sensitive to those around himself. A little softer than his cousin's and uncles and other family members. The reason Jasper even joined the army was so he could prove to his family that he was tough enough, that he wasn't soft the way his uncles said. He wanted to make the look that came in his father's eyes when he looked at his son finally go away. Jasper joined the army and things were good.

But he was still able to tell when someone near him was in distress. Tell if they were angry or sad or just barely managing to stay sane as they lay in the barracks in the middle of the night. Jasper was good at talking to people, getting them calm and relaxed. Good at helping to absorb just enough turmoil so that those who fought with him - and later below him - could do what they needed to do. The same way that he learned to do what he needed to do.

What he did back then wasn't all that different from what he did for Maria. The problem came in with the fact that he now felt the emotions of those around him, felt them as if they were his own. Anger, frustration and regret thrumming in his veins and almost driving him mad. He told his sire of his struggles and Maria had only one solution.

"Go feed."

She would say.

That was her solution to most things. Blood, it was the best way to clench a vampire's thirst and help them forget about their troubles, at least for a while. And it would help, Jasper would feel some semblance of control return to him.

Eventually he learned to lock out people's emotions. He'd still feel them, but he was no longer absorbing the turbulent highs and lows of the vampire's around him and making them his own. The issue that remained came when he was feeding. After all, his prey were people too and he could feel all of their pained and anguished feelings whenever he hunted them down and sank his teeth into their skin.

It was unbearable. Eventually he just couldn't stand it anymore. So after escaping Maria, he tried to limit his feeding. Tried to make sure he didn't feed on more than two humans a month. He fed just enough to keep the hunger pangs under control. Just enough so he wouldn't have to be too worried about running into a stray human when he was hiding out in some forest, or wandering around vacant streets in the middle of the night.

And then he met Alice. And suddenly he had a little more hope. Suddenly he was reshaping himself yet again. The new Jasper Whitlock slowly disappeared into something else.

He started feeding on animals and created a new bond with Alice. A bright new being who caused another rebirth of sorts. He quickly fell in love with her. Alice was optimistic, brave and... focused. Her gift of sight made things clear for her, gave her a steady source of information... direction. So long as she stayed focused on her future then she knew what to do. Alice always knew what to do.

For Jasper, this almost infallible sense of direction, was refreshing. Even under Maria, though he followed her orders to the letter, he never really felt like he knew what he was doing; why he was doing it. He did it purely because his sire was asking for it. But Alice wasn't just aiming towards an ideal goal, she knew exactly what to do because she knew what would happen. What was supposed to happen.

It was... comforting.

Alice knew what was supposed to happen, where they were supposed to go. How they would spend the rest of their lives.

She told him that eventually he would gain control over his thirst. Eventually, he'd be able to feed on animals, he wouldn't hunt humans... he would gain more control over his gift. And somehow knowing that things were definitely going to get better - the guarantee that he wouldn't have to fear his gift - made everything so much easier. It made it easier for him to feed on animals. It made it easier to forgive himself when he slipped and attacked a human. It made it easier for Jasper to keep going.

Because eventually he knew that things would be better.

Later they met the Cullens and he had a new name. He alternated between Jasper Hale and Jasper Cullen. But those he cared for, usually only called him Jasper. He felt as though Jasper Whitlock was officially gone and then-

They moved to Forks and met the wolves and suddenly certain things became less certain. In part because of the fact that Alice couldn't see the shifters.

At the time, they hadn't known about this supposed defence mechanism the wolves had. All they knew is that when Alice tried to see the wolves, the first time they were supposed to meet, she simply couldn't see them.

Alice said she needed more time, Jasper was confused but didn't think too much of it.

Carlisle, Edward, Emmett and Jasper went out to meet with the wolves. The encounter was barely civil.

The wolves hadn't even phased back then. The only one in the pack who was present was Sam Uley, along with Billy Black and Harry Clearwater. They were all tense. Though he was tempted to, Jasper resisted the urge to try and influence the Quileute’s in any way. Carlisle didn't want to give them any indication of manipulation on the vampires’ part.

The meeting was short. With Billy asking them why they returned and how long they planned on staying. Jasper noticed Edward flinch a few times, clearly uncomfortable with whatever it is that the natives were thinking. Emmett just seemed generally agitated and Carlisle was as cordial and calm as ever.

They were reminded of the terms of the treaty, reminded to abide by them. Carlisle already explained it all before they moved to Forks but after seeing the natives... Jasper wasn't really sure why Carlisle and Edward were so concerned. From what he could tell, the Quileute’s seemed absolutely human, nothing intimidating about them. From a strategic standpoint, they didn't seem like much of a threat. Even if they somehow broke one of the terms of the treaty, what could the natives really do about it?

But Edward's jaw was clenched tight as he stared at Sam. Sam glared right back. There was a... scent in the air. Something musty and wet, something close to wet fur but with a bite to it that had Jasper's nose wrinkling in distaste.

Shape shifters, who could take the form of wolves. That's what Edward and Carlisle described. Jasper couldn't see it, but he was... insatiably curious. Alice didn't seem to feel the same way.

For some reason she still couldn't see the wolves, even to see how the meeting was going, all she got were shaky voices and visions of fog. For the first time since she was turned there was uncertainty. Instantly, Alice had developed a very distinct dislike for the shifters and she hadn't even met them yet. This was a version of his mate that he hadn't seen before. While he understood the reason for her behaviour, he wasn't sure what he thought of it.

But his mate's issues with the shifters is something that was easily forgotten, in the aftermath of Edward's encounter with the human singer Bella Swan. The ever-present issue of wolves from La Push was set aside to deal with Edward's issues. His very real issues with the human singer whose scent was so sweet, Jasper had difficulty being around her and this caused... issues between him and Alice.

While he had faith in Alice, in the fact that one day he would be able to live on without the thirst for human blood ruling over him, there were still some lingering doubt. There was always fear of slipping and taking a life and with the treaty acting as a new restriction, things were worse. If he slipped and attacked a human, they would be forced to leave Forks and whatever peace they managed to create there would shatter. And now there's Bella and Bella seemed to be testing all of their boundaries, but Jasper's especially since he was still getting used to the vegetarian lifestyle. In the beginning, Jasper hadn't liked her at all.

Alice seemed to disagree.

Despite the very obvious danger that Bella presented, Alice insisted that Bella needed to be around their family. That Bella was destined to be Edward's mate, even though initially all Edward seemed to feel for the girl was blood lust and annoyance at not being able to read her mind. Alice said that Bella was Edward's destiny, she said she saw it in her visions and...

Jasper believed her. Alice hasn't given him a reason to doubt her judgement before, so he just... went with it. He kept his distance from the girl whenever necessary, but that ended up meaning nothing when he attacked the girl on her birthday.

For the first time in years, Jasper felt defeated. Nothing that Carlisle, Esme or even Alice said made him feel better about it. He slipped and attempted to harm a human, it was bad enough that Edward felt the need to end his relationship with Bella over the incident, but if the Quileute’s ended up finding out about it... Jasper didn't even want to think about what would happen then.

By then Sam Uley had finally phased for the first time. By then, three other wolves had phased as well. The hypothetical threat that he couldn't even really imagine at the time had suddenly become very very real, when Sam called a meeting with the Cullens over Bella and Edward's relationship with her.

Four wolves, each one almost the size of a horse. Fierce flashing eyes, gleaming K9's and growling that almost felt like each one was rumbling right through his core. But more than anything, what caught Jasper's attention was the swirl of emotions he caught from the shifters. There was fear, apprehension, confusion. Slivers of excitement, which was odd and absolutely caught him off guard. Brief almost whispers of sadness and most prevalent of all was the blanket of anger which made all those other emotions almost indiscernible at first. Constant waves of rage crashing over him. Jasper had the worst time trying to avoid absorbing any of the anger that seemed to simply wash over all of them.

And then there was the smell, barely there the first time they met and now just offensively overwhelming. Wet fur, with some sort of sharpness meant to repel rather than attract. It was very very sharp, razor sharp. A very obvious defence mechanism. Jasper couldn't help but compare it to a rattlesnake. He could almost hear that loud rattling shake in his ears, a powerful predator warning you of the danger you would face if you attempt to mess with. Loud and startling and... desperate. And somehow... strangely, Jasper didn't feel intimidated.

The wolves are a formidable threat and Jasper would be foolish to not acknowledge it, but he wasn't afraid. Then again, with all of the anger swirling around them, Jasper wasn't too sure what he was feeling.

That being said, the wolves are a threat… and there was Bella, testing his restraint by simply being and Jasper wanted to hate her the same way that Rosalie seemed to. It took some time for him to pull himself back, to remind himself that she was only human and his struggle with bloodlust wasn't exclusively her fault. Then he became guilty, once it all fully settled in that Edward felt the need to leave Bella and the family had to leave Forks because he attacked her.

It was a rough period and it took a long time to forgive himself for what happened and accept that Edward had forgiven him for what happened as well. It took a while to allow Alice's words sink in.

"Things will get better." She said in a way that was meant to be reassuring but somehow seemed so careless to Jasper, when he felt so helpless. When those tendrils of fear that he tried so hard to ignore began to reach out and curl themselves around his heart.

She knows, of course he knows, she knows that things will eventually get better so those words should have given him comfort.

But they didn't.

And since then, things between him and Alice have been a bit strange.

After they left Forks and Edward went off on his own, Alice had a vision of Bella jumping off a cliff and dying.

Jasper was shocked, confused.

"You said she's going to be Edward's mate."

He asked that evening when they were alone, Alice was pacing around the room, running the vision over and over again in her head. He could feel the confusion and frustration.

"I don't know... I don't understand what's going on."

For the first time Alice didn't know. Ten minutes later Alice was packing her bags headed back to Forks to check, to make sure that her vision was accurate, leaving Jasper behind.

It was the first time that he's been without her for longer than a few hours since they met and that absence was something odd. The sudden startling lack of her left him feeling... nothing in particular. Nothing.

Jasper went hunting with Rosalie and Emmett. The anger and annoyance from Rosalie over the whole situation left him feeling irritated and uncomfortable, Emmett did his best to manage his mate's temperament. He went back to the townhouse early, found Esme and Carlisle in the den together and headed up to the bedroom to get some time to himself. He noted the warm content coming from his coven leader and mate. An almost tangible comfort and ease, something he wasn't really sure he felt around Alice. She made him feel comfortable, assured… but content?

As his mate he thought he'd never find himself able to be away from her for extended periods of time. But she's gone and... he's fine. Though she wasn't gone forever, she just went back to Forks to confirm Bella's death and so maybe that’s what it was. He trusts Alice resolutely, trust that she would never leave him indefinitely.

And then then Rosalie called Edward to tell him that Bella was dead, the situation escalated with the Volturi being involved. Edward returned and was back together with Bella.

It was a time that practically surged with turbulent emotions. All these things came to a head and led to them being forced to work with the shape shifters. Victoria wanted revenge for her mate's death and planned on going after Bella. This they learned through Alice's visions.

The situation in Volterra and Jacob Black's proximity to Bella allowed Alice to discover that her clouded visions of the wolves spread out to those around the wolves as well. It was a defence mechanism, so vampires would not be able to predict their movements.

Bella jumped off of a cliff and Alice saw her future go blank because Jacob Black saved her.

Problem solved, she simply couldn't see Bella because of Jacob's presence around her. The revelation gave her a huge sense of relief and Jasper was grateful as well. Suddenly everything made sense again and all was right with the world.

If only for a moment.

They still had to prepare for the Newborn attack and for that they would need the wolves.

And now, he's on patrol with Seth.

Seth who is bright and optimistic and warm.

All of the pairings were strategic, Jasper took command of training their sort of army with the pack alpha Sam giving his two cents as well.

For the patrols they agreed with one wolf for one vampire. With the only exception being Esme, who Jasper agreed would need more assistance since she wasn't used to fighting, let alone fighting fledgling vampires. She was paired with the two larger more experienced wolves Jared and Paul. Rosalie was set with Quil at the suggestion from Sam; they both had speed but Quil was stronger and seemed less... hostile than some of the others. Rosalie could be a lot, she needed to be set with someone who wouldn't react to every little taunt or provocation that the blonde would offer.

Emmett was set with Embry, for the purposes of balance similar to his mate's pairing. Emmett was strong, Embry was fast. Carlisle went with Sam, purely because Jasper didn't want to risk the wolf allowing his alpha tendencies overrule their mission. Carlisle is a diplomat, he'd be able to deal with Sam better.

Alice went with Leah. The wolf seemed odd, flighty and aggressive; thankfully very very quiet - at least around the vampires. Despite Alice's usually chatty nature, the psychic was not fond of the wolves, minimal communication was something that they both seemed to require. Also, according to Sam, Leah is the fastest wolf in the pack. Alice is also quite fast, they'd be able to keep up with one another.

As for Edward and Jacob, it was simply necessary. Edward and Jacob needed to work together if they were going to achieve their shared goal; protecting Bella. Jasper figured that the patrols could be a test of sorts. See how they work together and separate them if it becomes clear that their cooperation would be a liability rather than an asset.

As for Seth, it seemed to make the most sense. Seth was a new shifter, he'd never fought a vampire alone before, let alone a fledgling newborn filled with aggression and bloodlust. Jasper has been dealing with newborns since he was first turned.  Handled many newborns under Maria's charge. He would be the one to instruct the wolves on how to fight the vampires, he had the most experience. Sam begrudgingly agreed that Jasper being paired with Seth would be the best option.

His intention was to give the wolf a little more instruction along the way. Help him improve enough to be able to handle the inevitable fight with Victoria.

Alice was... somewhat supportive in his efforts. Working with the wolves made Alice uncomfortable since she couldn't see them. Her gift was useless around them, the psychic was incredibly frustrated. The only thing that gave her hope was the fact that she could see the vision of Victoria and was able to see the wolves helping them. It’s a theory that she hasn’t shared with anyone else in the family yet.

Theoretically, she thought, as long as they spend time around the shifters her visions could become clearer. This is the main reason why she agreed to being paired up with one of the wolves.

More exposure, more time around them, hopefully that defence mechanism would soften and she would no longer have those blocks preventing her from using her gift around them. That, however, doesn't mean she likes any of the wolves. The situation with Jacob Black seemed to aggravate Alice's distaste for them. The wolf seemed to be interfering with Bella and complicating things between her and Edward. Since that moment when Jacob saved her.

Bella disappeared and Alice couldn't see her. She disappeared so completely, Alice believed she was dead.

There is a possible reason for why she disappeared so completely that Alice was able to believe she was dead. The possibility of Bella's future being bound to a wolf, completely hiding the human girl from Alice's sight. After that realisation, the psychic saw Jacob as more of a threat than even Edward did.

But they need the wolves to fight Victoria, so Alice is willing to play nice for now.

With his mate somewhat settled, he was able to focus on the wolves and Victoria and the incoming fight and... terribly, much to his own shame, Jasper was enjoying himself.

There was a limit to how much Maria allowed him to do. His responsibilities began and ended with dealing with the newborns. Jasper's job was fledgling wrangling, you could say. But now, he's been given the reigns to take the lead and he was enjoying it. When he was a general, even then, he was only given a certain amount of power, over those that fought under his command and nothing more than that. It felt different having the Cullens and the Wolves defer to him. Sam, despite his obvious dislike, did listen. He was willing to cooperate, within certain parameters of course.

It felt good being trusted, or at least, as much as the wolves were capable of trusting him. It felt good having his vampirism set aside for the moment and just working together towards a common goal and Seth was only making that situation worse.

Seth was so completely trusting that it put him a little off balance. There were none of those tell-tale edges of suspicion that he sometimes glimpsed in the shifters eyes. Seth trusted him completely, followed his lead and accepted his instructions.

Seth had questions sometimes, asked why something was done in a certain way. Jasper would explain. The wolf seemed eager to learn, always insatiably curious and best of all, he didn't seem to care about the fact that Jasper was a vampire.

Here is this new being; bright and welcoming. Not so human that Jasper feared harming him but still human enough that it gave him the barest feeling of normality. Warm skin with a beating heart that he didn't feel the insistent desire to drain dry. It was refreshing. It was fun.

Seth made it easy to be around him and just forget sometimes.

Forget General Jasper Whitlock, Jasper the fledgling wrangler, Jasper the murderer and sometimes even Jasper Hale.

But on those days when he did remember Jasper Whitlock, looking into Seth’s eyes made him internally cringe. It caused a wave of guilt and regret to wash over him, leaving him a little cold. He’d remember his superiors in the Confederate army, Ma and Pa and uncle Lester and Jasper would remember the thirst. He remembered how those memories used to creep up on him when he was with Maria as well, and he remembered how it felt to just drown all those thoughts in as much blood as he could manage. But then-

“Jasper?”

The empath blinked when he suddenly found large brown eyes staring into his own, the shifter standing in his human form, his blue shorts pulled on loosely as he stood less than a foot away. Heat radiating off of the wolf’s form even as a frown pulled at his lips, choppy raven hair over his forehead brushing against his eyelashes. Jasper could feel the confusion and concern.

God, he spaced out and must’ve been staring at the wolf like an idiot for ages.

“Is something wrong?” Seth asked and Jasper just knew that if he was still human, he would’ve been beet red right at that moment.

“I… I’m fine. Sorry ‘bout that.”

Seth’s lips pursed, “You’re sure?”

“Yeah.”

“O.K.” Seth nodded and pulled back, “I don’t have any other plans for today. I need to check in with Sam and my Mom after this but, I’m free after.”

Jasper smiled, “Good, I was thinking we could run a few drills later. Work on your reaction time a little.”

The shifter smiled, the confusion and concern long gone, now replaced with the warmth of anticipation. There wasn’t a hint of distrust or fear or disgust, none of the things he knew he probably deserved from the wolf.

“Yeah, sure.”

For the moment, he decided that Jasper Whitlock could be forgotten. He decided that it would be O.K if he lets himself have this, for however long it last.

“We’ll meet up after you check in. Just text me when you’re ready.”

Seth beamed, “Great.”

Jasper couldn’t help but chuckle as he reached out to ruffle Seth’s hair and a light blush flooded the shifter’s cheeks.

“I’ll be waiting.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What the fuck is this?"

Paul and Jared were completely still, staring at the vampire before them in confusion.

"I thought you might be hungry, having patrols around dinner time can't be easy."

The vampire smiled at them, the wolves just continued to stare at her in silence.

"What?"

Jared and Paul were set on what they called, "the easy shift"

Esme Cullen is the supposed matriarch of the coven. Most of the shifters assumed that she wouldn't be involved in the actual patrolling for Victoria in preparation for the attack. Of course, they're aware of the fact that she's a vampire, it’s not like they've suddenly forgotten that fact. It's just that she didn't seem quite as intimidating as the others and at the very least, didn't seem to have that visceral anger that Barbie seemed to have. Or... used to have before patrols started.

They had the easy shift, because although Sam knows that Esme Cullen is a vampire, he did in fact have some doubts when it came to her abilities. Jasper, their current vampire trainer, seemed to agree to some degree.

So Jared and Paul went with her on patrols, to do most of the heavy lifting in case they actually ran into Victoria or one of her newborns. She was with them every other patrol, in the evening. They rarely spoke. She'd greet them both with an entirely too cheery hello asking how they were. Jared and Paul usually showed up in their wolf forms so, other than a grunt or an irritated growl on Paul's part, nothing much was said.

They rarely spoke and now, the vampire brought them dinner.

Esme set the woven basket on the fallen tree just beside them and the wolves continued to stare.

"She can't be serious."

Paul growled even as he stared at her in confusion, Jared sniffed the air as he moved closer to the basket.

"Jesus, it smells good."

Esme’s smile grew when she noticed the wolf come closer, pulling back the dishtowel folded over it.

"It’s chicken pot pie, a few salads, cheese potatoes and cherry pie for dessert."

"Really?"

But before Jared could get too close Paul snapped at his ear, causing the other wolf to flinch back before growling.

"What the hell?!"

"What are you doing?! Are you crazy? We can't eat that!"

"No, you can't eat it. I'm fucking starved."

"You can't take food from a vampire!"

Jared let out a huff, "Oh what, you think she poisoned the food or something? If they wanted to kill us, they'd set up an ambush and blame it on the leech that's trying to kill Bella."

"Is something wrong?"

They both looked up at the woman and saw her smile looking much more strained, her joined hands fidgeting awkwardly in front of her. "You don't have to eat it if you don't want to." She let out a nervous laugh, "Cooking is a hobby for me but, I can't really feed anyone around the house and I thought you might like to have it. It would be a waste otherwise."

Paul growled low, Esme stepped back and Jared huffed again, "Just look at her, what's she gonna do?" and then he turned around and walked to the nearest bushes. Paul barked at him in frustration.

"Seriously you idiot?! She's a vampire!"

Jared reappeared moments later in his cut-offs, ignoring the other wolf as he came closer and Esme's smile returned when he looked into the basket.

"Potpie, huh?"

"Yes!" Esme said as she reached in and started unpacking everything, "It's my first time making it so, you'll tell me if something isn't quite right. I can't taste it myself, I don't mind any suggestions."

"This smells really really good-"

Paul let out another sharp bark, making the vampire jump while Jared just rolled his eyes when he picked up one of the containers.

"Shut up, you're hungry too." He then gestured to the container in the vampire's hand, "Can I...?"

"Of course." She smiled, giving Paul a wary glance before she handed the shifter a plastic plate and took out a serving spoon to start dishing out for him, "I pulled it from the oven a while ago so it shouldn't be too hot."

Paul couldn't believe his fucking eyes.

Stupid Jared, the absolute food whore.

"Oh my God." Jared mumbled out as he chewed his first mouth full, "This is so good."

Esme beamed, "I'm glad you like it."

Paul shook his head as the vampire kept digging through the basket while Jared kept stuffing his face.

"Now, the potatoes," Esme started, "I had no idea what to do with them. I managed to grow so many and I thought why not? I made potato salad and then found a recipe on loaded cheese baked potatoes but I feel like I might have over cooked them, I'm not sure." She opened the container and took out a spoon, Jared held out his plate and she put the potato filled with cheese and bacon and herbs onto his plate.

"Thamks. ‘S really good." He said with a mouth full of food as he kept eating and Esme smiled.

“I’m glad you like it.” Then she looked over to Paul, “Paul, right? Are you sure you-“

Paul snarled and Esme’s mouth snapped shut, Jared rolled his eyes again.

“Paul likes being dramatic.” The wolf said after swallowing, giving the other wolf a pointed stare, just as he lifted another forkful of food to his mouth. Esme finally tore her eyes away.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect you to actually eat it… considering our history and the circumstances.”

“I’m hungry.” Jared said simply and Esme seemed to try and hold back a laugh, Paul shook his head and huffed before he lay down. If he leaves Jared here with a leech, Sam would be pissed, even if its this leech. It didn’t help that he really was fucking starved, but there’s no way he’s taking food from a parasite.

He lay down on his paws, keeping his eyes on them and resisting the urge to grumble in annoyance. It would just be a waste of energy.

“Well, I’m happy to help.” The vampire said, Jared nodded as he just kept eating and Esme’s head gave a tilt. “I can do this more often if you like.”

Jared paused with a mouth full of potato, “I mean… I don’t know-“

“It wouldn’t be any trouble.” Esme said as she grabbed a napkin and handed it to him, before reaching into the basket again to take out a flask of what smelled like-

Coffee? Interesting choice, they are supposed to be staying up late and – fuck. Paul would kill for a cup of coffee and the food does smell unfairly good. He could almost feel his stomach do that thing, not quite growling but at that place; it did that weird slight fluttering thing where he could tell it wanted to growl.

He watched the brew being poured out into a steel cup just as Esme handed it to Jared. That time Paul did grumble. Esme glanced at him, but quickly looked away.

“Thanks.” Jared said as he took the cup and Esme nodded.

“You’re welcome. I have lots of time during the day, like I said before; cooking is a hobby for me. It’ll be nice to cook without being worried about the waste. Plus, I think it might be a good opportunity to get to know you all bit better.” Esme started as she started setting a few of the containers back into the basket, “You could tell me your favourite foods. I could make enough for all the other wolves as well, maybe we could make a day of it.”

Paul scoffed and Jared glanced at his pack brother before giving Esme a slight smile, “Yeah, I’m not sure if the others would be up for this. I mean, Quil, Embry and Seth sure but, like, Sam? I dunno and there’s no way Jake would be cool with it. The only reason he’s even putting up with any of this is because of Bella.”

“I wouldn’t either, asshole. And you know Sam’s gonna flip his shit when he finds out about you having a picnic with a parasite.” Paul barked and Jared just glowered at him, almost like he could understand the wolf as he shoved another forkful of chicken into his mouth. Maybe he didn’t understand exactly, but he could make a guess.

“Well, that’s why I think it would be a lovely idea. With Bella and Jacob being so close and… the situation with Edward. I thought it could help lesson some of the tension a bit.” Esme tried. Jared shook his head. The vampire moved a bit closer, “I don’t think out family has made a very good impression on him, I’d like to find some way to change that.”

Jared noticed her move closer, so did Paul as he lifted his head to watch the vampire. Jared chewed slowly and swallowed.

“Why?”

“Why not?” She asked with a smile, “Edward may not be my biological son, but I like to think of myself as his maternal figure. I like looking out for all my children and making sure I can help them in any way I can and… I think Edward and Jacob may have more in common than either of them really think. It might help ease the situation with Bella, if nothing else.”

“I guess…” Jared sighed as he took a sip of coffee, “Look, no offense or anything, but; you’re vampires. I don’t think there’s a chance of things getting better with Jake. He doesn’t like any of you and I’m pretty sure he hates Edward because of the stuff with Bella.”

“I’d still like to try. Maybe you could tell me a bit about Jacob, nothing too personal of course. Just normal things, like his favourite food for example.” As she said this, she took out yet another container and opened it up and – that is definitely the cherry pie. Paul’s stomach growled, loudly. He saw those golden eyes flicker towards him for a second, as Jared shovelled the rest of the food into his mouth and hurried to set his plate down. “Or other things. His favourite books, television shows, maybe what he was like when he was younger, romantic preferences-“

“What?” Jared paused from chewing as he caught that last one and Paul’s ears stood to attention. Esme laughed as she waved them off.

“Basically just; what he’s like.”

“How would that help?”

“I think it would help me understand him a bit better. I want to do my best to help Edward and knowing more about Jacob, could help me… help him.”

“I…” Jared seemed to hesitate.

“You’d better fucking not.” Paul growled.

Jared looked over to his pack brother only for a big piece of warm cherry pie to be held up in front of his face. He stared at the dessert while Esme smiled.

“I have homemade ice-cream, too.”

Jared took the plate, “I mean, I don’t know if anything I know could help. Quil and Embry know him better.”

“Whatever you could tell me will be perfect.” A scoop of vanilla ice-cream was plopped on top of the crumbling crust and ruby red filling. Jared bit his lip. “Maybe Jacob told you how his patrols with Edward have been going? Edward never speaks of it but, I thought maybe Jacob’s told his pack bothers.” Another scoop of ice-cream.

“Not really.” Jared frowned at her, “You’ve never asked about Jacob before, why try and help them get along now?”

“Well,” Yet another scoop of ice-cream landed on his plate and he paused before he started eating, shutting his eyes for a moment with a satisfied hum. The vampire grinned. “Better late than never, as Carlisle likes to say.”

Chapter Text

Charlie left for his shift about an hour ago. They finished dinner, she washed the dishes and now she's on the couch. Staring at the glowing screen in the dark room. It’s some kind of soap opera. Briefly Bella realised that she's seen her Mom watching it a few times when she was still living in Phoenix. It actually... wasn't that bad.  She was just barely paying attention to it. Words filtered in and reached her brain every couple of seconds, there was some kind of paternity issue between an heiress and her secret lover’s niece’s nephew or something like that. A woman with golden blonde hair sighed dramatically as she fell back on an oak chez lounge in the middle of a sitting room, lamenting on the many tragedies of her life. Her husband sat fretting over her desperately pleading for her to tell him what was wrong but despite her many complaints, she refused to explain.

It sounds bad, but it really isn’t that bad.

But Bella's thoughts weren’t really on the overtly dramatic drama on the tv.

Her attention was on her phone, or rather on the lack of activity on her phone.

Edward had promised to come and see her earlier, before his patrol shift with Jacob but he didn't show. She texted him multiple times but got no response. She might’ve been a bit more worried if she didn’t already know that he was supposed to be on patrol with Jacob. Considering their history, she wouldn’t be surprised if Edward decided that it would be best to avoid taking her calls while Jacob was around. If only to avoid instigating another fight. Besides, if something was actually wrong, then surely Alice or Carlisle would have contacted her, right?

Right.

But it’s still odd, that Edward didn’t even respond to one of her texts. It’s odd that he didn’t come see her before his patrol. Edward has been… odd.

Edward has been distracted lately. Though Bella couldn’t figure out why. Normally she didn’t have to do much to get the vampire’s attention. Edward was always there, always focused on her. It was strange for him to suddenly seem so distant. Even when he was right there next to her.

Then again, he has been busy, hasn’t he? The threat of  Victoria and her newborns had them all distracted. Bella knows that the Cullens have been working with the wolves to prepare for the redhead’s attack. They’ve been doing shared patrols, with each vampire teaming up with a shifter. Bella can only imagine how that’s been going though. She’s aware of how tense things were between the vampires and the wolves, even before Victoria became a threat. It would only be natural for tensions to rise now that they’ve all been forced to spend time around one another.

Even more so since she hasn’t heard from Jacob in a while either. He also seemed completely occupied with something. Yet again, Bella assumed that the wolf was occupied with the Newborn army threat. But it was still strange that he hasn’t even called her. The last time she saw Jacob was that afternoon when Jacob brought his father to hang out with Charlie. Jacob left just after Edward arrived. Edward followed behind the wolf to talk to him about something concerning the patrols and when he came back; Edward seemed off. He insisted that everything was fine, that nothing was wrong but Bella could tell that something was off.

She only hoped that Jacob hadn’t started something with Edward again, that they weren’t fighting again but she couldn’t be sure. Edward was always keeping secrets from her and it was always in the name of protecting her. On some days she could understand his reasoning, on others it was frustrating. But she tried not to let it get to her. Edward just cared so much, he wanted to keep her safe. And Bella didn’t want to risk doing anything that might have the vampire leaving her the way he did all those months ago.

She called Jacob the next day, but he didn’t answer his phone and when she texted him he replied that he was busy and couldn’t come over. She saw Edward at school and that was… different. Odd.

Edward was so distracted, but for the life of her Bella couldn’t imagine what he was distracted by.

That night, after Charlie left for the station, she called Alice, just to make sure things were going fine and there wasn’t some kind of emergency that she didn’t know about. Alice said that Edward probably just decided to go hunting before his patrol with Jacob. Apparently when the psychic tried to use her powers to see where Edward was, she got nothing but shadowy darkness, letting her know that he probably was with one of the wolves.

So he’s with Jacob.

Bella couldn’t help but a wry scoff at the thought. At this point, Jacob seems to be spending more time with her boyfriend than she was. If it wasn’t for the tension between the wolves and the vampires, if it weren’t for the fact that Jacob was male, she might’ve entertained the idea of Edward cheating on her. But that would never happen.

With a sigh, Bella decided to grab her phone to text one of her friends. One of her human friends. The vampires were all busy with the wolves, not that Bella knew the shapeshifters well enough that she could just call one of them up to talk. Other than Jacob, of course. It’s been a while since she’s hung out with Jessica and on some part of her did have her feeling a little guilty about ignoring the girl. But in her head it made sense. She loves Edward, she plans on spending the rest of her life with Edward. To do that, she’ll have to become a vampire eventually and when that happens, she’ll have to cut off all her human ties anyway.

Maintaining those connections didn’t really make sense.

But right now, she’s home alone. Her dad is at work and the vampires are busy with the wolves. Edward probably won’t be around to see her until his patrol with Jacob ends. She doesn’t have much to do.

It took about ten minutes Bella going through the contacts in her phone for her to go from slightly bored to slightly despondent. Everyone was busy. No one could come over. Jessica was busy, so were Eric, Angela and apparently even Mike didn’t have time for her that night. Of course, they all have lives of their own. And, yes, she hasn’t been paying any of them too much attention as of late. It would be silly to expect them to be able to drop whatever they were doing to entertain her. It’s just that… when she first arrived in Forks it never felt like she would ever have a shortage of people to hang out with. Clearly that new girl energy has worn off.

Alice already told her that she had something to do concerning the wolves. She’s pretty sure that Rosalie still hates her and it would be too weird to just show up at the Cullen house knowing that Edward wasn’t there. Besides, she’s supposed to be staying safe. She isn’t supposed to go anywhere without the wolves or vampires knowing about it. Apparently, a couple of the wolves come by her house every night just to make sure Victoria isn’t lurking around, though she’s only ever caught glimpses of the shapeshifters every now and then.

She’s got nowhere to go.

With no one else to talk to Bella decided to call her mother.

“Hello.”

“Hi, honey. It’s good to hear from you. How’s Forks?”

“Its… good.” Bella said as she sank into the couch a little. Things in Forks aren’t good exactly but its not like she can tell her Mom about the Victoria situation, now can she? “How are things with you?”

“Good. I’m good, Steve I are on the couch watching Crimson Ties.”

“Yeah? That’s what I’m watching too.”

“Really?” Renee scoffed, “I thought you hated that show. You never watched it with me.”

“I was, bored.”

“Bored, huh? Edward didn’t come over?”

“No, he’s busy. Family stuff.”

“Oh, well what about your friends?”

“They’re all busy too.”

“Hmm. Your father is probably working right now too, isn’t he?”

Bella rolled her eyes, “Mom-”

“No, no. I wasn’t complaining, honey. I was just hoping that you’d be having more fun out there. Especially with everything that’s been happening in Forks. Landing in the hospital, that trip you took without telling your father-”

She quickly cut the older woman off, “I’m fine. Just bored, like I said.”

Renee hummed, “You know, Bella, if you ever want to down to Phoenix for a couple of days for a visit it wouldn’t be any trouble. It would be great to see you.”

“I don’t think so. I’m fine in Forks, Mom. I’m happy.”

“Well, just keep it in mind in case you want to get away for a little while.”

Bella sighed, “O.K, I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Good… well, if Edward’s busy then why aren’t you hanging out with Billy’s boy, Jacob?”

“Jacob’s busy too.”

“With what?”

“It’s just… stuff on the reservation, that’s all.”

“I thought you said you made plenty of friends in Forks.”

“I did.”

“But they’re all busy. At the exact same time?” Renee went quiet for a moment, “Bella, are you sure everything is O.K?”

“I-“ Bella didn’t know how to respond to that, but decided that a little bit of honesty couldn’t be too bad, “I mean, I haven’t really been spending too much time with Jessica and Angela lately, I guess.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve been busy.”

“With Edward?” Renee’s tone had Bella bristling internally since she knows exactly how it sounds and doesn’t need her mother pointing it out. But of course, Renee’s going to do it anyway.

“Mom-“

“Sweety, I just hope that you aren’t putting your whole life on hold just for this one boy. You’re young, you should be out exploring your options. I don’t want to start a fight.” Renee sighed, “I know you have strong feelings for Edward and I’m sure he cares about you too but you should have things to do and other people to spend your time with besides him. I mean, Bella you’re home alone watching my silly soap operas; while Edward does what exactly?”

Bella’s lips pursed, “It’s complicated.”

“I don’t think its as complicated as you think. But no, I don’t want to fight, just, its O.K to spend time with your friends. If Edward cares about you as much as you think, he shouldn’t have a problem with that.” Bella could hear the smile in her mother’s voice as she continued, “Honey, its Friday night and you’re on the phone with your mom watching Crimson Ties. I’m not up on the latest trends, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t a great sign.”

Bella couldn’t help but snipe back, “It’s your favourite show.”

“Apparently yours too. Just think about it, Bella, and think about coming for a visit too.”

Bella huffed, staring at the glowing screen of the TV before looking around herself. Knowing her mother was right but not wanting to admit it because it really was complicated. It wasn’t just the Victoria situation. It was the Volturi and the shapeshifters and just vampirism in general. Bella didn’t see it as her not having a life outside of Edward, more that it was just her trying to manage the whole situation. It’s the fact that once she’s turned, she won’t be able to engage with her human life in anyway whatsoever. She won’t be able to see Jessica, Angela, Eric or Mike or anyone else from school. She won’t be able to see her dad, and interacting with anyone from the reservation is bound to cause tension. Things with her and Jacob are definitely never going to be the same. Its about the fact that once she turns so she can be with Edward-

Her life will revolve around him. But not in a bad way, not in a way that’s unhealthy because she loves Edward and Edward loves her. It’s not bad, just necessary.

Her lips pursed, she could feel them threatening to pull down into a frown but stomped out the urge.

“Bella?”

She blinked out of her thoughts, “I – I’ll think about it. But I promise I’m fine. I know things with Edward might seem a little chaotic but he’s great, he’s… perfect.”

“No one is perfect, Bella.” Renee said softly, carefully and Bella felt herself bristle again.

“I just meant, that everything is fine. So don’t worry.”

“As long as you’re sure.” Renee sighed again, “Do you have any plans with Edward tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Bella said with a small smile, “He’ll probably call first but, I’m going over to hang out with Edward and his sister Alice tomorrow too.”

“Have fun.”

“I will.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anger and frustration and… whatever.

If Jacob was in his right mind, he might have questioned exactly what he was feeling and why right at that moment a bit more closely. But he wasn’t in his right mind. He argued with Edward. What about?

Well, they started arguing about Ethan.

“Who was that?!”

“A friend from school!”

“A friend-“

“It isn’t even any of your fucking business who he is! You had no right-“

“You cancelled on me because of some friend from school!”

“So what?!”

And then they started arguing about the patrols.

“It isn’t rocket science, Cullen! I don’t want to be around you and you don’t want to be around me-“

“This isn’t about you and me, it’s about Bella!”

“Then why aren’t you with her right now?!”

And then… honestly Jacob can’t remember what they argued about after that.

The pack?

No.

Edward’s family?

No.

…

They argued about the cabin, or rather they argued about what happened the other day in the cabin.

“Why are you even bringing this up?! You’re the one that said we should forget it happened!”

“I-“

“You what? What Cullen?!” Jacob almost screamed as he stepped right into the vampire’s personal space, “What? You have Bella remember? Why do you even fucking care about what I do with anyone else? What? Are you just starved for attention, Leech?”

Edward’s eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare, “I told you not to call me that.”

The shifter let out a scoff, by then he was so far gone in his anger and frustration that he didn’t even pause to think about what he was saying. He’s just been so-

What gives the vampire the right to interfere in anything that Jacob does? Where does he get the fucking nerve?! He’s the one that said they should forget about it. Not tell Bella and act like nothing happened. Well fine then. Fucking fine, Jacob didn’t tell anyone anything. He was trying to move on and forget what happened but of course, this parasite can’t even let him have one thing.

Well, fine then. Fucking fine.

“Oh right, I’m supposed to call you ‘Daddy’, right?” Jacob hissed, coming closer so there was just a few inches between them. “I call you Daddy and then what? Huh? What happens then? Fucking nothing, right? So why do you give a shit what I call you, bloodsucker?”

“Jacob.” Edward said his voice low with the sharp edge of a warning but the shifter just kept pushing, “Don’t.”

“Or what? What’re you gonna do, Daddy? Are you going to punish me?”

Those are the exact same words he used when all of this started, Jacob could remember that much. Last time he said them, Edward did nothing but this time Jacob didn’t want him to just do nothing.

He reached up to wrap his arms around Edward’s neck and he felt the vampire tense completely. The ice cold from the telepath’s body seeping into his own skin and Jacob felt a shiver run down his spine as he lowered his voice and leaned up to speak against the vampire’s lips.

“C’mon Daddy, you don’t want to punish me? You don’t want to put me in my place?” Edward swallowed hard, eyes locked on the shifter that held him but he didn’t move a muscle. Standing as still as a marble pillar and Jacob wanted to scream in frustration. “If you won’t, then I’ll find someone who will.”

With that he let go and stepped back.

“Jacob.”

It was another warning but the shifter simply turned around to leave, some part of him was dissappointed, almost painfully so. But the rest just wanted to get away. Far away from this stupid confusing leech as possible-

The shifter gasped when he was suddenly grabbed and yanked back, he had less than a second to react before Edward suddenly locked their lips in a kiss, hands cupping the shifter’s face to keep him still. Like a switch went off Jacob kissed him back, opening his mouth to let the vampire’s tongue inside and he moaned at the cold appendage that entered him. Wrapping his arms around Edward to pull the telepath as close as possible, gripping those bronze locks tightly only to stop when Edward suddenly broke the kiss.

“I don’t like sharing, Jacob.” He growled right up against the shifter’s ear and the tone caused Jacob to freeze for just a moment. “I don’t want anyone else putting their hands on you.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” The vampire started, his hand going around to the back of the shifter’s throat and tightening just enough to grab his attention but not fully restrict breathing. The wolf's breath hitched.

“You are mine. No one should be able to see you like that except for me.”

Jacob swallowed hard and the words tumbled from his lips before he could even consider them.

“Am I? If I’m yours then show me who I belong to.” The wolf breathed, keeping absolutely still, “Show me, Daddy.”

There was a moment, where he thought the vampire wouldn't actually do it. He thought that Edward might suddenly 'come back to his senses' and end it all right then.

'Think about Bella' some faint voice whispered in the back of his head, trying to remind him to feel guilty because of what he was doing. Trying to remind him that all of this was wrong and what the actual fuck is he even trying to do with the telepath right now?! What would Sam think, what about his father or the pack?

But Jacob didn't want to think about Bella, or Sam or his father or the pack right at that moment. Jacob didn't want to think about anything. He wanted that feeling from before, the warm, blissful, empty nothingness that came after an orgasm rocked through his core and he was cradled in that ice-cold embrace for what felt like hours. Jacob wanted it badly, but there was still some part of his brain that told him that Edward wouldn't do it. Because, surely, he would think of his family and what they would think if they ever found out about it.

Surely, Edward's first thought would be Bella. The so-called love of his life. At that thought, Jacob almost pulled away himself since he loved Bella. At one point he thought he was in love with her. But he didn’t want to pull away. He wanted that feeling, right then he wanted to be able to have what he ‘wanted’.

Suddenly Edward grabbed and pushed him down on his knees, grasping a handful of his hair to pull the shifter’s head back. Jacob snapped out of his daze at the pain that bloomed along his scalp when Edward spoke-

"When we're together, you only think about me... I heard what you were thinking, when you were with 'Ethan'." The vampire’s hand tightened in his hair at the last word and Jacob bit back a yelp, only to pause when Edward used his free hand to undo his belt buckle and pull down the zipper on his jeans.

“You want to choke on a cock that badly?” Jacob’s eyes widened in surprise when Edward pulled his length out and held it in front of the shifter’s face, “There you go.”

He swallowed hard, his heart stuttering when he noticed that the vampire was already hard. The long thick cock leaking precum and for a brief moment Jacob wondered just how long the vampire has been in this state. Since the kiss? Since Emmett and Embry left or... since he caught Jacob with Ethan earlier.

He let out a short yelp when the vampire gave his head a sharp tug. Looking up he found Edward’s eyes already darkened, with lust or rage, he wasn’t too sure at that moment. But at the same time he didn’t really care either. He reached out to brace his hands on the vampire’s thighs only to stop when Edward gave another tug.

“Hands behind your back.”

Jacob complied, “Yes, Daddy.” He breathed before opening his mouth and leaning in to take a brief lick of the cum leaking from the tip. He heard the vampire take in a sharp breath but didn’t look up as he continued, licking Edward’s member from tip to base before sucking the head into his mouth and swirling his tongue around.

Memories of other people doing this for him came to him, the one time he did it for someone else. Advice he’d gotten on how to do it ages ago. But it tasted different this time. Bitter, salty, slightly sweet? But… vampires have venom, right? Is what he’s doing right now even safe? Wouldn’t it be hilariously awful if he died like this?

Here lies Jacob Ephraim Black.

Cause of death?

Vampire cum.

He might have laughed if the morbid thought didn’t oddly turn him on and he moaned as he took the vampire in deeper. Not the death part obviously, more the implication of it. It was an interesting balancing act. Licking and sucking while remembering to breathe through his nose to try and avoid provoking his gag reflex. Interestingly enough, Embry’s the one that told him how to do it right. Not that Jacob had asked, but Embry’s into guys and somehow the topic just sort of tumbled down that direction because of Quil’s teasing and Paul’s dramatic guffaws and cringing.

He took Edward in deeper and deeper, pulling back each time, going slow, careful of his teeth in the process. Although, is it even necessary with a vampire? They’re indestructible right? Shouldn’t that mean that they’re indestructible all over?

Another shiver raked its way down his spine. He scooted closer on his knees, the vampire’s cock was cold and heavy on his tongue and Jacob let his mind go blank, thinking of absolutely nothing else. The shifter’s own length now fully hard in his jeans and almost throbbing. Jacob nearly chocked when the tip hit the back of his throat so he paused to take in a deep breath through his nose, only for the hand in his hair to tug sharply again.

“Did I tell you to stop?” Edward growled through clenched teeth and Jacob finally opened his eyes to see just how much the vampire had tensed up, trying to hold back? Control himself?

But he didn’t need to hold back, Jacob didn’t want him to. He whimpered around the member in his mouth and moved forward to take him in deeper, his gag reflex kicked in again and Jacob felt tears begin to collect in his eyes in frustration. He was so wound up he couldn’t relax, not even enough to relax his throat since he just wanted-

He didn’t even know what he wanted.

If Edward would just.

‘Just fuck my throat already’

Edward took in a sharp shuddering breath and Jacob remembered that the vampire could read his thoughts as he pulled off of his cock and took him in again sucking and licking the whole way. He tried to imagine it, Edward putting both of his hands in Jacob’s hair and just forcing his cock down the shifter’s throat, thrusting himself into the wolf’s mouth while he trembled and moaned. The last time when he hooked up with the vampire, Edward hadn’t… finished. It caused something close to humiliation when he realised that the vampire has seen him come apart at least twice and yet said vampire had been able to maintain his control both times.

Jacob remembers feeling the vampire’s hardened length against him both times. Knew that Edward wanted him and wanted to revel in that fact. He could almost see it, he just needed-

‘Please Daddy, fuck me’ He groaned around the vampire’s cock, finally opening his eyes to look up at the vampire to see his honey gold eyes completely darkened with lust, ‘Please-‘

Edward cut him off yet again as he pulled the shifter’s head back, forcing him to release the member in his mouth.

“Daddy-“ Jacob gasped with a cough only to yelp again when Edward suddenly dragged him up to his feet. The shifter reached up to the telepath's shoulders to steady himself, still trying to catch his breath.

"What-"

The vampire yanked him forward to whisper against his ear,

"You need to be punished first."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Once he got the shifter into the cabin, Edward got rid of the clothes. The tight shirt that stretched over the shifter’s chiselled arms and shoulders, the jeans that hugged his muscular thighs and round ass. It’s impossible for Jacob not to know exactly what he looked like. He went out there with this… Ethan for a very obvious reason and so, Edward decided that the shifter needed to be taught a lesson.

Edward couldn’t stand the idea of Jacob doing anything like that with anyone else. So hearing the shifter’s thoughts, watching as he kissed and ground up against he human on the edge of the forest left him feeling enraged. The mere thought was maddening, clearly Jacob was trying to drive him insane and it worked. He needed to make sure that the wolf would never try anything like that ever again.

Jacob’s clothing was off, his arms were bound using his belt. They’re back in that isolated cottage in the middle of the woods. When Edward had the shifter on his knees in the forest, Jacob seemed more than eager to please and if Edward is being honest, he’d be more than happy to let Jacob continued with what he’d been doing earlier.

The shifter’s heated mouth wrapped around his cock is still clear in his mind, a picture that in of itself had him ready to cum down Jacob’s throat right there and then. His face was flushed, tear filled eyes darkened with lust. But then the shifter’s thoughts came through, a single-minded desire as he moved up Edward’s cock before coming back down, licking at the thick cold length before taking him in again.

‘Just fuck my throat already’

That was bad enough, but then-

‘Please Daddy, fuck me’

Would Jacob have said those words out loud if his mouth wasn’t otherwise occupied? Edward figured that he could find out later. But with the shifter begging so sweetly he decided to give in.

“You need to be punished first.”

Once they got back to the cabin and Jacob's clothes were off, he pushed the shifter back against the bed and kissed him.

Seeing Jacob with Ethan made something dark and twisted curl inside Edward's chest and pull tight and briefly... Edward wondered exactly how far the shifter would've gone if he hadn't interrupted them.

Would he have gotten down on his knees for Ethan the same way he did for Edward? Begged to have his mouth filled. The vampire felt a growl bubble up in his chest at he thought.

He got Jacob on the bed, hands tied and above his head, on his hands and knees with his head down. The shifter was breathing hard already as Edward let his hand slip down up from his back side to the back of the shifter’s neck. He tried to read the wolf’s thoughts, but didn’t get much else except for the burning desire for more. And so Edward decided to give Jacob what he wanted.

One. Two.

One.

One came easily enough. Jacob was pent up and tense, their confrontation in the woods had him frustrated and desperate. Edward decided that he wanted to hear and see just how desperate the shifter was for him, but first; punishment. Because of course, punishment. Edward dragged Jacob over so the wolf was over his lap, in very much the same way that he was the first time they interacted to intimately earning yet another gasp from the wolf before he simply went completely still, head down on his bound arms. Though Edward could see the flush already spreading up to his ear and down to his shoulders. Edward didn’t waste any time as his hand connected with the shifter’s backside one, two, three times. Jacob yelped at the first one, but groaned softly at the other two. Edward decided that that wouldn’t do at all so he had the shifter count with every blow.

“Five, six-“ Jacob’s voice seemed to crack a little after every hit, he shifted uncomfortably and Edward knew it was due to the wolf’s erection laying heavy and practically throbbing against the vampire’s leg. “Eight, nine, Ten-” A subtle grind against his leg and Edward realised with a scoff that this wasn’t really much of a punishment, was it?

With the hand that he still had in Jacob’s hair, he turned the shifter’s head so it was no longer buried in the bedsheets. Jacob’s face was flushed, his lip bitten red from some attempt at keeping himself quiet.

“Daddy.” He gasped and Edward felt a shiver rake its way down his spine.

“Do you want to cum, princess?”

“Yes.” Jacob breathed, Edward’s head gave a tilt.

“Go on then.”

“What?”

The telepath leaned over to lick the shell of Jacob’s ear, nipping at it softly before he whispered, “If you want to cum so badly, then do it.”

Jacob stared at him in shock and confusion for a moment before he started to bring his bound arms down lower only for the vampire to stop him short.

“No hands.”

“I… I don’t-”

“Jacob.” Edward said sharply, staring right into the shifter’s eyes, “Do you want to be good for me?”

“Y-Yes, Daddy.”

Using his vampire speed, Edward reached over to grab hold of the belt holding Jacob’s wrists together to pull him up, dragging the shifter over so he was straddling Edward’s leg. Jacob instinctively reached out to brace his hands on the headboard that the vampire was sitting up against so he wouldn’t go crashing against him.

“Wha-“

Edward’s hands were on his hips to seemingly steady him, he leaned in to start kissing and biting bruises into the shifter’s skin along his neck. Jacob let out a low moan.

“Jacob.” Edward whispered against his skin, “Cum for me, baby.”

With his hands still braced on the headboard and his eyes shut Jacob started to grind into the vampire’s leg. The material of his designer jeans being just rough enough that the shifter started leaking heavily  as he moved faster. Groaning and gasping as his skin flushed warmer, sweat gleaming down the curves and edges of his muscles in their exertion. Edward pulled back to just watch him. Watched as Jacob chased whatever pleasure he could generate for himself, desperately riding the vampire’s leg in search of relief.

“Daddy,” Jacob whimpered, “Daddy, please.”

“Not until you cum for me.” Edward replied coolly though he felt anything but.

He almost broke when Jacob leaned in and kissed him, attempting to make just a little bit more contact to help him finally find his release. Edward could feel the shifter’s want pour into him, pure desire just as intoxicating as the warmth that he constantly felt emanating from the shifter and he had to fight to stay coherent.

He managed, quickly breaking the kiss and before Jacob could say a word put two fingers in the shifter’s mouth. Jacob gave a startled grunt but only paused for a second as he resumed his previous movements, the lust driving him to hump onto Edward’s leg while he sucked on the vampire’s fingers.

“Good boy.” Edward couldn’t help but praise, whispering hoarsely. “I can tell you’re close, just a little more.”

Seconds later Jacob came with a chocked moan around the vampire’s fingers, his body stuttering to a stop as ribbons of white, spurted from his length and he finally collapsed into Edward’s arms.

Edward watched the wolf tumble into his orgasm haze, kept an arm wrapped around his shoulders before lifting the other to card through the shifter’s hair.

“Good boy.” The telepath whispered as he pressed a kiss against Jacob’s temple while the shifter took in gasping breaths, trembles danced along his spine.

Two.

The second took a little more effort, mostly because Edward hardly let the shifter rest before he put the younger man on his knees and spread his cheeks apart. Licking along the shifter’s hole earning a startled gasp.

Fingers joined the tongue and soon enough Edward was working Jacob open as torturously slow as possible. Jacob’s hands clenched tightly in the sheets and his breathing became laboured.

“Daddy…” Jacob’s voice cracked as he moved back against the fingers embedded in inside of him, hips moving back to against the digits to as Edward seemed to be able to reach further and deeper each time. He already felt sensitive and a little… raw after his first orgasm. Tired strings of pleasure from before making him feel hypersensitive already, discomfort and pain tinging his desire. This confusing mix of sensations causing tears to well in his eyes, Jacob could only remind himself to breathe. Edward pulled back to move up, pressing kisses along the shifter’s back while his fingers continued to stretch and thrust into Jacob’s entrance. Seeing the tears in the wolf’s eyes Edward felt something clench in his chest, coming alight and burning with warm affection. He couldn’t help but pause to just stare at him. This perfect being that he’s somehow never really seen before.

He’s always known that Jacob was attractive, of course Jacob was attractive. But seeing the shapeshifter like this made Edward feel something he didn’t think he’d ever be capable of feeling. As he turned Jacob’s to kiss away the tears, Edward suddenly struck by the complete absence of fear. He wasn’t scared of hurting Jacob. He wasn’t worried about accidentally biting too hard or ruining the younger man in some way. He wasn’t terrified of doing something that might leave the shifter scared of him.

All he could think about was that moment. Where they were right that very second. In the cottage, on this bed, Jacob’s heated body against his own and the absolute sense of peace he felt despite the undeniable desire he could feel thrumming in his veins.

He wanted Jacob, but that want didn’t frighten him or fill him with anxiety or fear or near crippling shame and regret. The beast was there, the terrible monster that he’d tried so desperately in the past to keep chained and locked away, was out in the open. For once it didn’t feel like some alien thing he needed to get rid of. Forbidden desires to be purged and never ever invoked again. Edward felt, like himself completely unburdened by himself.

Edward wanted and for once he’d allow himself to have.

“It’s O.K princess, you’re doing so good.” He pressed another kiss on a mark he’d made on the shifter’s neck earlier, before another and then another, “I just need you to cum for me again. One more time, Jacob.”

“Daddy…”

“Show me you’re sorry. Show me that you’re only mine.” He practically growled against the shifter’s ear, reaching around to grasp hold of Jacob’s length to start stroking, making more marks along the wolf’s tanned skin. Earning a sharp gasp before the shifter groaned deeply.

“Daddy, Daddy please-“ Jacob cut himself off with a sharp cry as he came for the second time. Edward kept stroking him through his orgasm but stopped when the shifter went limp in his arms, taking in panting breaths to attempt to steady his breathing.

Like before his mind was blank and Edward felt a warm smile spread over his lips as he leaned in and kissed the shifter. Jacob tiredly kissed him back, bound hands coming up to gently stroke the vampire’s cheek as hazy brown eyes stared back into his own and the telepath felt like his still heart was about to burst. He knew right then and there that he wouldn’t be able to simply walk away from the shifter this time. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away from Jacob, not that he’d been doing too well to begin with. But now Edward knows for certain that it would be impossible, not because he couldn’t but simply because he didn’t want to stop. He couldn’t possibly let the shifter go.

And Edward saw no reason why he had to.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He kept his arm curled around Jacob’s shoulders, soaking in the heat that was coming from the shifter. He waited until Jacob was fully down and… back. The wolf seemed to tense up in his grasp but didn’t pull out of it. Edward wanted to sigh, instead-

“Are you alright?”

The wolf didn’t respond and Edward’s head tilted to look down at him.

“Jacob.”

“… I’m fine.” He said evenly, he still didn’t move.

Edward finally let himself sigh, “Jacob, what just happened… what happened before-“

“I should go-“

“No. Stay.” Edward’s grasp tightened on the shifter to keep him from moving, “What happened… It felt good. I’m glad it happened.”

Jacob let out a shuddering breath, but didn’t speak as Edward continued.

“I want it to happen again and I think… you do as well.” The vampire took in a deep breath and let it back out, pulling Jacob in closer against his chest, “I don’t want to lose-“

“What about Bella?” Jacob suddenly interrupted and Edward paused.

“Do you want this, Jacob?”

Jacob shook his head, “Edward-“

The vampire suddenly had them moved around. Edward had him on his back and Jacob was trapped between the telepath’s arms staring up at the other.

“Jacob.”

The shifter shut his eyes and was silent for a moment before he finally admitted, “Yes.”

Edward had to suppress a smile as he leaned down to press a kiss on the wolf’s forehead, “Then we don’t have to stop.”

“What about Bella?” Jacob asked again. Edward shook his head.

“I don’t know, I know it wouldn’t be fair to lie to her, she should know the truth.“ Edward’s hand went up to cup the side of Jacob’s cheek, letting his thumb brush against the shifter’s bottom lip. Jacob finally opened his eyes.

“I don’t want to hurt her.”

“I know.”

“If she finds out about this…” Jacob paused and then, “She can’t know.”

“Jacob-“

“I don’t want anyone knowing about this.”

Edward frowned at him, “So you want to stop?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know.”

Edward’s lips pursed tightly for a moment, staring into the wolf’s eyes before he spoke, “Do you want me to decide?”

Jacob blinked, “What?”

The vampire’s hand left his cheek, “I can’t lie to her indefinitely. We can’t keep lying to her.”

“But-“

“After we take care of the situation with Victoria. Once that’s done, I’m ending things with Bella.” Jacob opened his mouth to speak but Edward interrupted him, “I can’t keep going with her when I-“ The telepath cut himself off and then let out a deep breath, before locking eyes with the shifter. “After Victoria is dealt with, I’m ending things with Bella. No one needs to know about it just yet, if you’re not ready for that then no one needs to know." The telepath then leaned in to press a kiss on Jacob’s temple, “I don’t know what this is, I just know that I want it and I want it with you."

"And you're willing to give Bella up for it?" Jacob asked and Edward was surprised when the answer came to him almost instinctively.

"Yes." Jacob frowned so Edward kissed him again. "When I'm here with you like this, everything feels right." the telepath then looked away almost speaking to himself, even as he let his fingers drift down over Jacob's chest, tracing the marks he left on the shifter's body. Jacob sighed at the touch as Edward continued, "It never feels right with Bella. I'm constantly terrified of hurting her. I'm always focused on making sure that I stay in control of myself. But I don't have to do that with you and you'll never have to worry about that with me either."

The shifter frowned in confusion, "What're you-"

"It’s hard isn't it? Living up to your father's expectations, the pack's expectations?" Jacob swallowed hard and started to squirm a little, "I know about the alpha heritage, that you were supposed to be the alpha of La Push and not Sam."

"You don't know anything." Jacob growled and Edward took in a shallow breath.

"You feel better when someone else is in control, don’t you? When someone else is taking care of you. You've been taking care of your father and friends for years and it feels good when someone else takes care of some responsibilities for you." When Jacob tried to move Edward kept a hold of him, "I was reading up on... things. Other people who do what we've been doing and I learned that... Its O.K to want someone else to take care of you sometimes. Make decisions so you won't have to-"

"I don't want someone who'll live in my head and think for me." He said, pointedly glaring at the telepath and Edward paused.

"I didn't mean it like that. I only meant that, if you need relief from whatever you're feeling." His hand slid up to the shifter's neck and stayed there, "I'm more than willing to help you with that. Because this... having someone who'll let me take care of them, feels good for me too. It feels good not being forced to... restrain myself."

Jacob swallowed, his Adams apple pushing against the cold hand wrapped around it. "And what would that make us? Kinky fuck-buddies?"

Edward let out a startled laugh, "Something like that? I just-" He took in a deep breath and let it out, "I need to end things with Bella because it wouldn't be fair to her to keep doing this. I've cheated on her, twice already. Today would be the third time and I know I'll keep doing it because I-I want this with every fibre of my being. I want you... Its not fair to Bella to keep pretending. Jacob just think about it. If you really want nothing to do with me then, I'll leave you alone. But if you do, I'll do everything in my power to take care of you the way that you want and need."

Jacob looked away, his jaw clenched even as he spoke, "You could just do this with her-"

"No." The vampire answered quickly, "I couldn't with Bella and… I'm not sure if she'd understand it either."

The mere thought of it made him feel uncomfortable. It made him realise that he's never fully considered the idea of being with Bella in a sexual way. When he thought of being intimate with her, his thoughts always centred around being safe. Making sure he didn't hurt the girl or thinking of ways to make sure he wouldn't lose control. But with Jacob-

"Why me?"

Edward scoffed before he leaned in and kissed the shifter again, urging his mouth open to join their lips in a soft sensual kiss before he stopped and spoke against Jacob's lips.

Jacob is strong and bright and warm and every time that Edward touches him, he feels more alive than he has in over ninety years. The knowledge that Jacob wanted him just as badly only made it so much better. With Jacob, he wasn't constantly worried about hurting the other. With Jacob, he could simply feel.

"You're always so perfect for me, princess. How could I ever want anyone else?"

Jacob glowered at the vampire even as his cheeks flushed with heat, "Don't call me that."

"Would you prefer puppy, then?" A smirk pulled at the telepath's lips when the blush in Jacob's cheeks stayed right where it was, he let his other hand come down to cup the side of Jacob's face and let his thumb brush over his bruised lip, "Do you want to keep going, Pup? Do you want to be mine, Jacob?"

Jacob shut his eyes and went quiet for five agonizing seconds before he let out a breath as he spoke, "Yes."

Edward smiled, "Yes, what?"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Good."  Edward was smiling as he started peppering kisses along the shifter’s neck and shoulders, moving down his chest only to stop when Jacob spoke.

“What’re you getting out of this?”

“I already told you.”

“No, I mean.” Jacob’s lips pursed and Edward looked up to frown at the wolf. Said wolf’s eyes flickered down between them and the telepath laughed again when he remembered the not so tiny issue pressing against the confines of his stained jeans.

“I suppose, I sort of promised to let you take care of that for me. It’s gotten late.” Edward said moving in closer so their bodies were pressed against one another and Jacob visibly shivered, he kissed the shifter one more time as he whispered. “I want to be able to take my time with you. I think we should save that for next time.”

“Next time?” Jacob asked and Edward nodded.

“But first,” And then the telepath's head gave a tilt, "Can I get your number now?"

Jacob laughed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jacob got home not too long after.

The wolf paused just outside of his house, staring at the kitchen door for what felt like forever before he finally opened it and stepped inside. Its early, his father was still asleep. Billy knew not to wait up for Jacob and knew that the alarm would be raised if anything went wrong, of if there was some sort of problem on the rez.

Jacob made his way up the stairs and up to his room. Feeling his muscles flex and ache pleasantly as he made the trip until he finally got inside and shut the door behind him. The shifter let out a deep breath as he leaned back against the door.

He thought he'd feel different by now.

He thought the that once the high wore off, he'd feel the same way he felt before. Angry and annoyed at himself and Edward over what happened, guilty and a little ashamed. But none of those feelings were there.

The thought came to go take a shower and get cleaned up. Just to make sure he didn't still have Edward's scent on him. It wouldn't be safe to walk around smelling of vampire but-

Jacob bit his lip as he walked over to his closet to open the door and look into the mirror. One more pause and he took his clothes off. First his shirt, then his pants and underwear. He's still kind of amazed that Edward didn't just rip off the clothes with how fast he moved to take them off.

The wolf let out a scoff at the thought. But all those were distant things as he took in his image in the mirror. Even in the pale light of the moon, he could see the bruises already healing but still there. Dark splotches over his ass, hand marks on his hips, the hickeys sucked all over his neck and chest.

Jacob's lips pulled into a smile as he let his hands move over the marks, something warm and content filling his chest at the sight of Edward's marks adorning his body.

It was so weird. But he kept staring, kept touching in fascination at every sting and ache only to start to frown when he saw the bruises slowly start to disappear and he knew it would only be a matter of time until the others did as well.

He didn't want to watch that happen.

Jacob turned back towards his bed, deciding that he can take a shower once the sun is up. The only person in the house with him is his dad and he wouldn't be able to smell Edward on him. It should be fine.

He slipped on a pair of pyjama bottoms and got into bed, his body going lax and almost melting into his old single bed as he let the vampire's scent lull him to sleep.

In the morning, after taking a shower, he headed downstairs for breakfast. The smell of eggs and toast making his stomach growl and calling him down the creaking steps like a siren's song.

Billy was by the stove when he walked in.

"Morning, I didn't hear you come in last night."

"I only got back a few hours ago, so..."

"Huh," Billy started as he moved over to the table and shovelled the eggs out onto a plate just as Jacob sat down, "Patrols?"

"Yeah."

Jacob was already reaching for the coffee only to pause when his phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to look while his father finished setting up breakfast. He totally forgot to check it when he got back.

There weren't too many messages on there. But the one he saw first made him sigh in frustration for a whole list of reasons.

"Something wrong?" Billy asked and Jacob shook his head.

"Nothing, just school stuff."

"Alright." The older man said as he settled by the table and started fixing his plate.

Ethan: Hey, is everything O.K?

He completely forgot about what happened with Ethan the night before. How does he deal with this? Jacob decided to type out a quick reply.

Jacob: Yeah, everything's fine

He was surprised when he immediately  got a response back.

Ethan: Morning! I'm glad you're O.K

Ethan: Who was that guy last night?

Jacob: Nothing important, just family stuff I had to sort out

Jacob: Sorry for bailing on you

Ethan: That's O.K. Maybe we can do a rain check?

Ethan: We can go for a movie in Seattle next weekend

Jacob's lips pursed for a brief moment.

Jacob: Maybe

Jacob: See you on Monday

Ethan: See you Monday

Followed by a smiley face and a heart emoji. Jacob just closed the chat, deciding to deal with that some other time.

Next was...

Embry: Dude, what happened last night?

Jacob took in a silent breath

Jacob: Nothing

He reached out to grab the butter and put it on his toast and actually managed to get it done before he got a response.

Embry: It didn't look like nothing. Are you O.K? Things between you and Edward looked really tense

Jacob paused.

Jacob: Nothing happened

Jacob: We just argued for a while, that's it

Embry: Did you at least remember to check in with Sam after?

Embry: I had to tell him you took over after I got back

Jacob hissed.

That explains the texts from-

Sam: Where are you? Its past your check in

Sam: Leah says you weren't at the border when she got there

Sam: Jacob, what the hell?!

Shit.

Jacob: Morning, sorry I didn't check in

Jacob cringed as he braced for impact

Sam: Where the hell were you?

Jacob: Nowhere, after I finished patrol I came home and crashed

Sam: You were supposed to report back first

Jacob: I know. I'm sorry

Jacob: It won't happen again

Sam: Fine

Sam: Anything happen last night?

Jacob: No

Sam: No sign of that vampire?

Jacob: No

Sam: Good

Sam: I know it’s a pain in the ass working with the leeches, but make sure you report back when you're done with patrols

Jacob: I get it. I promise it won't happen again

Sam: I'll see you later

Jacob: Sure

Jacob took in a deep breath and let it out before taking a bite of toast.

Last text came from-

Jacob couldn't stop his smile.

Edward: Morning pup, did you get a good night's sleep?

Jacob: Very funny

Edward: I just wanted to make sure you're alright

Jacob: I'm fine

Edward: Are we still O.K?

Jacob paused for a moment.

Jacob: Yeah, we're O.K

Edward: I want to see you

Edward: Can you get out today?

Jacob: When?

Edward: Whenever you're ready

Jacob shifted a bit in his seat.

Jacob: Around Eleven? I need to be at a meeting with Sam later and I don't know what'll happen after so I can't really do anything other than just talk

Edward: That's fine

Edward: I just want to see you, Pup

Jacob: At the border?

Edward: At the border

"Good news?"

Jacob's head snapped up when he suddenly heard his father speak, wearing a soft smile as he sipped on his coffee.

"What?"

"I haven't seen you smile like that in a while."

Jacob felt himself flush, "It's nothing, it’s just..." he didn't know what to say, "It’s nothing."

Billy let out a chuckle, "Any plans for today? I wanted to go over to Charlie's later and I thought you might want to see Bella."

The shifter paused. A sudden unpleasant churn rising to his chest that he quickly stomped out.

He can’t see her. Not today.

"I have something to do around eleven, plus Sam called a meeting for later so I don't think I can."

Billy nodded, "I just thought that you might want to see her. I know with the patrols and... everything with the leeches-"

"I'm fine, Dad." Jacob said cutting his father off. Hearing the man call the Cullens leeches suddenly made him feel off. "I don't have time for Bella today anyway."

Billy sighed, "I know things have been rough with her, Jacob. But-"

"Seriously, Dad, its fine." Jacob said shortly, letting out a sigh when he realised how he sounded. He took in a deep breath. "I'll go see Bella when I have the chance. I'm just busy today."

"Alright." Billy said reaching out to pick up his coffee, "Any idea when you'll be back home?"

"As long as Sam doesn't keep me too long, I should be back by five."

"Good."

Jacob's phone buzzed again, he picked up the device and couldn't stop himself from smiling all over again.

Edward: I can't wait to see you

"Am I ever going to meet whoever it is that's making you smile like that?"

Jacob's head snapped up and he felt his face flush, as he fired off a quick text. "It's nothing. Just... a friend."

"Sure, tell your friend you'll call them later. We're having breakfast and I can hear your stomach growling right now."

Jacob scoffed, "Yeah, yeah." He fired off a quick text before setting down his phone. Its nine thirty.

Just an hour and a half left.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jacob: Stop distracting me. I'll see you later

Edward could feel the smile spreading across his lips as he read the text before he quickly tossed the device aside and got up to take a shower, get changed and get ready. He spent the last few hours with Jacob's scent clinging to his skin and it was the hardest thing forcing himself to get up and get rid of it. But he couldn't stay that way.

At this point he's managed to stay locked in his room so, he just smells vaguely of the wolf, but if anyone in his family gets close enough  they'll be able to smell the sex on his skin. They'll know what happened, or at the very least get an idea and he promised Jacob that they wouldn't have to tell anyone.

At least not yet.

Edward was still smiling as he stepped into the bathroom, taking his clothes off to drop into the laundry basket before stepping into the shower to get cleaned up. The thought came to him that he should probably get around to cleaning up the cottage as well. Carlisle and Esme haven't used the cottage in some time, but it would only be a matter of time until they decided they wanted some time alone and headed out there.

He really needs to get around to cleaning it.

It was right in the middle of these thoughts that he shut off the water and opened up the glass door to step out, only to jump and suppress a yelp of surprise when he found Esme standing in the doorway to his bedroom. Instinctively he reached for a towel to cover himself up.

"Esme?! What on earth are you doing?"

The older woman smiled, "You've hardly been home the last few days. There's something I wanted to discuss with you and I thought I should do it now while I still have the chance."

"Discuss something? Discuss what?"

Her lips pursed for a brief moment as she stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her, Edward watched her with a frown.

"I think I should at least get dressed first before-"

"It'll be better if we do this in here." She said, going around to sit on the laundry basket. But not before giving the wicker container a brief look as she did. She crossed one ankle over the other and looked up at Edward lowering her voice to a whisper that he only heard because of his advanced hearing, "Carlisle is at the hospital, but the girls are still here. They’re only going out in a few minutes, Emmett is in the den and Jasper is still downstairs. I think it might be best if you turned the water back on."

Edward frowned, "Why?"

"I thought you might like some privacy while we discuss this."

"Discuss what? Esme, what are you talking about?"

The vampire took in a deep breath, her nose wrinkling for a brief moment but she didn't look away from Edward for even a second with a disturbingly knowing smile on her lips. Edward reached into her thoughts but he couldn't really get anything other than the sound of a song that Esme liked to hum whenever she was doing chores in the house

"Edward, you're aware, that I like to do whatever I can to keep myself occupied during the day. While you all go to school and Carlisle goes to work, I do whatever I can to stay busy so I don't go absolutely mad in this big house all alone."

"Yes, I know."

"I clean, I cook, even if I end up making food that no one will eat. I do the laundry, everyone's laundry including yours."

"What does that have to do with any of this?"

Esme let out a soft sigh as she stood up, "Well, these last few days. I've continued to do your laundry. I'm sure you've noticed, the freshly cleaned and ironed clothes in your closet." She opened the basket and lifted out the shirt that Edward had just dropped in there before he stepped into the shower. Her nose wrinkled as she sniffed it, "Just like I noticed, the very distinct scent on your clothes before I washed them. There are scents of the forest, a little bit of Bella, that cologne Alice got for you... and shapeshifter."

It took an embarrassing amount of time for Edward's brain to catch up and for him to realise what the female vampire was getting at. What she was trying to say, when he did... well-

If he was human his blood would have run cold. Before rushing right up to his face to flush red. Edward's eyes went wide and he almost stumbled back, he managed to grasp hold of the shower door to stop himself.

"I - Esme, I-"

"The very very strong scent of a shapeshifter. The smell of a very specific shapeshifter..." She took another sniff, "Mingled in with the scent of sex."

Edward swallowed hard as he watched her drop the shirt back in the basket and shut the lid before sitting on it again.

"Don't worry. I'll get around to washing those later. Right now, I think it might be safer to turn on the water and we can discuss this properly."

That smile was right back on her face. Edward stared at the woman in horror, hands gripping the towel on his waist tightly.

"Edward, the water."

Shit.

Taking in one more deep breath, he reached back to open the faucet to turn on the water full blast, the drops hitting his back and already soaking his towel while Esme continued to smile.