Blood Moon

by Aurora2Sunset

Summary:

Imprinting was supposed to be a wonderful thing. Everyone was excited when one day Jacob came home smelling like he'd freshly imprinted. This was supposed to be the final big step for him, that he'd finally found his soulmate, for all intents and purposes.

But that all changed when they found out who exactly Jacob had imprinted on.

-
A reimagining of Twilight except I change a lot in order to make things make a little more sense

Chapter 1

Notes:

Twlight fanfic in the year of our lord 2025?? I know, crazy. But I got into Twilight kind of late and have multiple critiques on the series itself along with an itching for a new long fic so this one will get kinda crazy *cracks knuckles*

Beginning notes will usually have any useful changes/information about this new world I'm crafting so lets start with that
- This is an alternate universe so we ain't in Stephanie Meyer's Forks anymore
- The Quileute wolves do not have a mind link like in canon, for plot sake
- All of the characters are aged about six years, Jacob is twenty two at the beginning of this fic
- Bella has not come to Forks yet
- Imprinting, phasing, and werewolf puberty all work differently but will be explained within the fic itself

Anything else will be discussed in the fic itself!

Imprinting isn’t exactly like love at first sight, but it’s like that for a lot of us.

The smell of blood wafted through the air, a fresh wound just opened, a shiver down his spine. Jacob lifted his nose to take a deep breath, letting the smell fill his nose and curl around his brain. It wasn’t unusual for him to smell predators feasting, but there was something else in there. He was walking along the edge of the reservation by himself today, and the stream carried along a scent that he didn’t recognize along with the blood. That enough was dangerous. Unfamiliar smells usually meant there was someone there that wasn’t supposed to be, and as a Quileute warrior he was meant to protect their land from anyone seeking to harm their territory or their people.

But there was a different kind of bite to this scent, one that Jacob recognized only from descriptions. One that his leader told to him in great detail with the purpose of warning others in his tribe. The scent of one that Jacob was told to kill on sight.

The cold ones. Vampire.

There wasn’t a choice, he transformed immediately, bones cracking, auburn fur replacing copper skin, running towards where he smelled the tresspasser. He would chase them away, make them fear him, never to return. He would be the strong and powerful warrior that protected his tribe against their greatest threat. 

Jacob didn’t bother giving a warning howl. He didn’t need the rest of the pack to take care of this. He would show them that he wasn’t weak, that he was capable.

It’s like everything slides into place, like they’re the last piece of your unfinished puzzle.

The scent grew stronger as Jacob continued down the path where the largest willow tree near the reservation was, the filthy bloodsucker likely trying to use it to hide himself. Not this time!

Jacob burst through the green leaves and landed right in front of the perpetrator, watching as he stumbled back, mouth and chin covered in blood, some of it dripping down to the front of his shirt. The vampire stumbled and fell onto his ass, dropping whatever it was that he was holding and backing up until his back was against the tree.

The growl died in Jacob’s throat before it even had time to bubble up as he saw the vampire’s face.

And suddenly it’s not gravity holding you to the earth anymore, it’s them.

Jacob stopped, like all of the air had been ripped from him, frozen in time. He stared at the vampire who stared right back with wide black eyes, huffing in short little breaths. Jacob couldn’t even do anything. But it wasn’t out of fear.

Suddenly it felt like his brain had melted, leaking out of his ears. He squeezed his eyes shut and when he opened them again he was no longer a wolf, black hair cascading down his shoulders, staring at the man in front of him.

It was so strange, the world didn’t seem like it was the same anymore. Like he’d only been seeing in black and white and all of a sudden colors flooded his vision. His heart pumped loudly in his ears, roaring louder than the sound of the water in the stream.

“W-Wait…” the vampire put a hand out and Jacob twitched, finally taking in the whole scene for the first time.

A dead rabbit was in the vampire’s lap, neck open and dripping red blood all over itself. It was a slight little thing, its bones pressed against its skin and its fur thin and gritty.

“I-I was just trying to get food. I’m so hungry a-and this was all that I could find right now. It jumped over the stream before I could catch it I promise I’ll leave-”

“Are you a Cullen?” Jacob asked, getting down on all fours in preparation to change again if needed, but this guy could hardly be a threat to him like this. He was literally shaking from hunger.

The man nodded, swallowing.

“Yes, Edward… I’m Edward Cullen…” he explained. “I would never break the treaty unless I was desperate, I promise.”

Jacob crept closer to him. He smelled so different than he expected. Granted he’s never actually met another vampire but he figured he would hate the way that they smelled. Sam always described their scent like rotting flesh in a shallow grave but it wasn’t anything like that.

He sort of smelled like flowers. Lilacs and honey. 

Edward hunched in on himself as Jacob got closer to him, seeming confused.

“Are you gonna hurt me?” he asked.

Was he going to hurt him? He could, Edward was vulnerable right now. And he had broken the treaty by coming here. Sam had told him to show no mercy to any vampire that crossed their borders.

But Jacob was raised by his father to be compassionate, kind. To help those who were sick, to shelter those who are homeless, and to feed those who were hungry.

Jacob sat back on his haunches, resting his arms on his knees.

“No.” he stated simply.

A twig snapped and Jacob perked his head up, peaking through the greenery to see a flash of brown and white.

An animal. A deer. Probably a significantly more hearty meal than the pathetic rabbit at Edward’s feet.

“Wait here,” he instructed. “Don’t you dare move.”

He rushed out of the green, the second the leaves parted he was in wolf form again.

Not even a minute later and he was dumping a half-dead buck at Edward’s feet, changing back to a human with a shake of his head.

Edward stared wide-eyed at the deer, then looked up at Jacob, who just crossed his arms.

“Hunters and logging have been taking away a lot of animals in areas away from the reservation, I get it.” Jacob turned away. “You guys can’t hunt on our lands, but we can. Just leave the fur and bones, you can have the blood.”

Despite the fact that he was all but foaming at the mouth for it, licking his lips and swallowing hard, Edward narrowed his eyes at him, almost like he was searching Jacob’s face for anything that might give him away. Jacob furrowed his brows, tilting his head.

“You don’t want it?”

“What’s the catch?” Edward asked him.

Jacob scoffed. Of course a vampire wouldn’t understand the concept of a gift. But even so, Edward’s eyes stared at the deer, mouth still dripping with blood and now added drool.

“Just fucking eat it. There’s no catch other than you getting off our lands.” Jacob explained. “You come here starving. I provide food. In return you leave.”

Edward still looked wary, but he approached the deer, cradling its head in his arms before biting into the meat of its neck with a flash of fangs. The animal spasmed underneath him until eventually going limp. The more that was sucked out of it the more hollow it became.

The vampire pulled back after he’d had his fill with a groan, wiping his mouth on his sleeve but only succeeding in smudging the blood.

“You’re a mess.” Jacob stated.

“M’sorry.” Edward replied, wiping more fervently at his mouth but barely doing anything to it.

Jacob just scoffed, then unzipped his jacket before taking off the black shirt underneath, not missing the way that Edward’s head snapped up only to have the garment thrown on his head.

“Clean up,” he told him.

“But-”

“It’s fine.” Jacob said, shrugging his jacket back on and zipping it up so his bare skin. “But quickly.”

Edward didn’t protest much more and wiped up as much of the blood that he could while Jacob just stared at him, trying to gauge some kind of profile on this guy.

He was pale as hell, almost translucent, with black eyes lined with dark lashes and thick brows. His jaw was sharp and his lips were puffy from feeding. He was wearing a button up and slacks, two of the buttons on his shirt undone and showing collarbone where a stray drop of blood had dripped down to trail over the bone.

“You should go.” Jacob told him once he was mostly clean. “The rest of the pack might smell you and start heading this way.”

Edward stared down at the bloodied shirt in his hands, hesitating for just a moment.

“What are you doing? Get out of here!” Jacob told him, shooing him away.

Edward stood up then, shorter than Jacob by a few inches, twisting the black fabric in his hands.

“Thank you.” he said right before he dashed off across the stream, faster than the blink of an eye.

What a weirdo.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

When Jacob came back home he dropped off the buck’s fur and bones to his mom, giving some excuse about how he had found the corpse already ravaged by other predators and was able to salvage a bit of it, then made sure to shower and change immediately. He probably smelled like vampire and he didn’t need the pack questioning him before he’d have to awkwardly explain that he let one of the Cullen’s eat past their borders.

Not that he actually intended on telling them. God, Sam would tear him limb from limb if he knew.

The Quileutes made a deal with the head of the Cullens many years ago, a treaty. His family would stay off the reservation and would leave the people of Forks alone. They wouldn’t kill or turn anyone into one of them. In return the Quileutes let them live here. So long as no one from either side came in contact, they would never have any issues.

So Jacob was really trying not to let this one encounter mess all of that up. If he fucked up this hundred year old treaty with one stupid mistake he would never live it down.

Although if anyone was going to fuck that up it would be him. He wasn’t the youngest in the pack anymore but he still was treated like a pup. Even though he’d gone through werewolf puberty without much of a hitch, he often let his emotions override his decisions and got far too many stern talking-to’s from Sam because of it. No matter how good his intentions were, he always managed to mess up.

Eventually he had to go back to Sam’s and give a report and try not to let his voice crack when he lied. He slipped inside to see half of the pack curled up on the couch with Formula 1 on the TV. Sam was in the kitchen and Leah was sitting on the kitchen island, digging into the last bit of a pint of ice cream.

“I’m back.” Jacob announced, pulling down his hood and walking in.

Leah looked up immediately, quirking a brow up. “You’re late.” she remarked. 

“Slipped and fell in some mud on the way here. Had to shower. Unless you wanted me coming in here covered in dirt.” Jacob hopped up on the counter next to her.

“Could you guys get your asses off the island? We put food on there, you know.” Sam remarked without any bite to it.

“Eat my ass, Sam. Literally.” Leah replied.

Sam snorted before moving closer to them. Then he paused and started sniffing the air.

“Something wrong?” Jacob asked.

“It’s you, idiot.” Leah replied. “I smell it too. You reek.”

Shit. Should he have washed his phasing clothes as well? He thought he got all of the smell out. Jacob panicked for a second before he suddenly saw Sam light up.

“Jacob, you imprinted, didn’t you?” Sam grabbed his shoulders.

…what?

“Wait, huh?” Quil sat up from the couch. “Jake did what now?”

“Can’t you smell it? Can’t you feel it?!” Sam asked. “It’s subtle, but it’s there. You’ve met your person, haven’t you?”

Jacob felt the gears turning in his head before suddenly a feeling of dread washed over him and his eyes widened.

“Is… that what that feeling was?”

“You didn’t recognize that you were imprinting when it happened?” Collin also poked his head up, the rest of the pack now more concerned with this new development than the F1 on the TV.

“I don’t… I don’t know. I noticed that something was different but it…” Lie, lie, Jacob had to lie. Because if this was true and he had just imprinted, and the only new person he’d come into contact with was Edward…

“Who’s the lucky lady?” Embry asked with a wolfish grin.

Lady? “She… I only saw her for a moment. I think she may have been hiking nearby or something? I-I only caught a glimpse of her.” Jacob responded, hopping off the table.

“Well shit, now you have an excuse to go into town and find her!” Sam clapped him on the back, hard. “Introduce her to us as soon as you find her, okay?”

That… was going to be a problem.

Imprinting was a very special thing for Quileute wolves. It was reason for celebration. Sam had imprinted on his own wife and got unreasonably excited any time that anyone else imprinted, although it was rare. Jacob having imprinted only a year into his transformation was nearly impossible.

And yet it had happened all the same.

Jacob was so, unbelievably fucked. 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Jacob didn’t think he would see the Cullen boy ever again. A part of him hoped that he wouldn’t.

But a bigger part of him longed for the other man. Maybe it was because he had supposedly ‘imprinted’ onto him. Jacob liked to think that he was just fascinated by him. He started asking more about the vampire stories, curious about the specifics, usually met with the answer that he needed to stay away from them at all cost because they were dangerous.

But Jacob hadn’t felt any danger when he met Edward.

A week passed and Jacob couldn’t get him out of his head. He had wormed his way in like… well… a worm. Wow, Jacob, such Shakesphere.

Seriously though, it was getting kind of annoying how often he would be laying in bed and replaying every scene from their first meeting behind his eyelids. It repeated in his head on loop, every time a new detail was brought to Jacob’s attention.

A drop of blood dripping off of his chin.

Black eyes flitting around all of the features of Jacob’s face.

His shirt, unbuttoned partially.

Lips tinged red from drinking blood, parted so nicely.

Jacob pounded his head against the trunk of a tree.

He was patrolling by himself today, by the stream on the border again. So far it had been infuriatingly quiet, which meant that Jacob was all alone with his thoughts. 

“Get a fucking GRIP!” he told himself out loud, with no one but the forest as his witness.

He needed to get himself under control. He needed to figure out what his next steps were, where to go from here. Imprinting meant that Jacob was irreversibly tied to this person, but he might not ever see him again-

“Hello.”

“JESUS CHRIST-!”

Jacob jumped at the new voice and pinned himself against the tree as he locked eyes with-

“Edward?” Jacob squinted, mind racking on how he got so close without him smelling.

“I came up a little fast on you, sorry.” Edward chuckled, making blood roar in Jacob’s ears.

“What are you doing here?” Jacob asked, brows furrowed.

However he couldn’t ignore his inner wolf absolutely wagging it’s tail at seeing his imprint partner again. It had been far too long since he’d smelled that scent in the wind.

Edward held up a black piece of clothing and Jacob squinted at it.

“Is that my shirt?” he asked, stepping closer to the stream that separated them.

“Yeah. Sorry it took so long. I washed it for you but had trouble getting the blood out.” Edward tossed it over and Jacob nearly dropped it. He stared at it in disbelief, mouth agape. He wasn’t expecting to have this returned to him. He already had a ton of random t-shirts so it’s not like this meant anything to him before.

However, it had a different weight in his hands now. Jacob couldn’t describe it but he wanted to bring it back home and nuzzle with it until all the scent went away.

“You didn’t need to bring this back to me.” Jacob replied, stuffing it into his coat. “I wouldn’t have given it to you if I intended on you bringing it back to me.”

Edward just hummed, tilting his head a little and staring at Jacob.

That was when Jacob noticed his eyes. What the hell… they weren’t black anymore. The deep onyx that Jacob remembered had been replaced by a bright golden color.

“You should probably head back now. I don’t want the others to-” Jacob started to shoo him off despite the pit in his gut forming as the words left his mouth.

“Can I ask you something?” Edward interrupted him.

“What?” Jacob asked, which Edward took as invitation to ask his question.

“Why did you help me?”

That stumped Jacob and he blinked hard. What was his game here? Did he just come back for closure? Why was he asking something like that?

Again, Edward answered the question in his head.

“I want to know why you didn’t kill me despite the fact that I broke the treaty. Any other werewolf would have ripped my head off the second they saw me. But you didn’t.” he stared at him from across the stream. “Why?”

Jacob honestly didn’t know how exactly to respond to that. A million thoughts crossed his mind, one of them being the fact that he’d imprinted on Edward and now thought of him as someone important to him but he shook that thought out as soon as it had come.

“I dunno.” He replied, squatting down. “‘S not like you were here to hurt us, you were just hungry.”

“I could hurt you. If I wanted to.” Edward told him.

Jacob snorted. “You wouldn’t. Cause I’m the only wolf that’s gonna be nice to you.” he smirked.

Edward grimaced, furrowing his brows.

“Besides.” Jacob stood up and stretched his arms over his head. “I’m not some jackass that thinks every single person of one race is exactly the same. I was willing to take a chance on you, I guess.”

“Vampires aren’t like that. We’re inherently violent predators.” Edward argued with him.

“Yeah, well, wolves are too.” Jacob started walking down the side of the stream, not missing how Edward followed him, sticking to the shadow of the trees on the other side. It wasn’t even particularly sunny out with the overcast, were those legends about vampires burning in the sunlight true?

“But I’m not all that violent either, apparently.” Jacob finished his thought before stopping.

Edward stopped too, searching his face for something. Jacob didn’t give him anything. Then Edward let out a soft chuckle again.

“I see. Well that’s certainly not what I was expecting.” 

“What were you expecting?”

“I honestly don’t know.” Edward replied. “Maybe that you wanted something out of me, for me to be indebted to you. But not only are you simply kind, but genuine as well.”

“How can you tell something like that?” Jacob asked.

Edward’s gaze hardened a bit. Jacob didn’t realize that it seemed to hit some kind of nerve with him.

“If I tell you, do you promise not to freak out?” Edward said.

“Uh.” Jacob tilted his head. “Depends on what it is?”

“I’m serious.” Edward told him. 

“Okay, sure, I promise not to freak out.” Jacob crossed his arms.

Edward took a deep breath, steadying himself.

“I can… read minds.”

Jacob froze in place, his brain rebooting as he processed this information.

“...what.”

Edward looked away for a second, almost annoyed at the reaction, or he seemed to be, Jacob wasn’t great at reading people.

But hey! He wasn’t freaking out he was just in shock!

“When I’m near someone I can catch a glimpse into their headspace. Sometimes it’s pictures and sometimes it’s words, most of the time it’s vague concepts and muddiness. Those are projected into my head to get an idea of what the other person is thinking about.” Edward explained further. “Like I could sense your surprise when I snuck up on you earlier, and your confusion when I asked why you helped me.”

“Wait, pause, have you been doing that the entire time?” Jacob asked, suddenly worried that Edward may have seen something he wasn’t supposed to.

“Relax, I’m not searching your brain for your dirty secrets.” Edward turned to him again.

“Still, bleh, I don’t like that. Stop doing it.” Jacob shook himself off like a dog who just got out of the water.

“I don’t have any control over it. Your thoughts are awfully loud anyways.” Edward remarked.

“Shouldn’t you be going by now?” Jacob started walking again and Edward, again, started to follow after him from across the stream.

“Can I ask you something else?”

Jacob sighed and Edward pretended that he couldn’t hear the annoyance in his tone or his head.

“What happens to your clothes when you… transform?” Edward asked. 

Which is not what Jacob had expected him to say at all.

“Do they just go into some weird magic dimension? You had them on when you transformed into a wolf and they were still there when you turned back into a human.” Edward kept going, probably reading more of the confusion in Jacob’s head.

“Huh? Oh, these clothes are the only reason I can phase at all.” Jacob gestured down to his garments. “Wolf fur was used for these, see how it’s the same color as my fur when I do phase?”

Then he lifted up the hood over his head and the corner of Edward’s mouth quirked up when he saw the ears on the top of the hood.

“Cute.”

“Not cute.” Jacob barked, although there was heat rising up the back of his neck.

“So it’s like a selkie situation then?” Edward ignored Jacob’s refute.

“Sort of. Except this fur was a gift. It’s kind of hard to explain.” Jacob replied.

“I’d love to hear about it.” Edward told him. “I’m deathly curious about everything about you. I’ve never spoken to a werewolf on friendly terms before. I have many questions.”

Jacob really shouldn’t be doing this, fraternizing with a vampire. He shouldn’t be telling them all of their secrets, what if he used them against him?

However, this was the one that Jacob had imprinted on, and that had to mean something. Jacob’s heart was already fluttering at just being in proximity with Edward, and how he longed to bring him over the border, he knew he couldn’t.

“Fine, but only if I get to ask questions about you too.” Jacob told him.

Edward’s mouth twitched again, amused by this concept.

“As you wish.”

Notes:

Sorry this isn't my best writing but I'm having fun with it so yknow

I hope everything makes sense and if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments! I have some big awesome plans for this fic that I'm excited about :)

Chapter 2

Notes:

Important Info:
- Vampires work about the same in this universe as they did in SM's, with one change and that is their teeth, to be discussed
- Werewolves can communicate with each other in wolf form but it sounds like dog sounds to everyone but the pack members, pack members who are not phased at the moment can understand them as well

Jacob learned a lot about vampires. Probably way more than he ever could have known about them if he kept asking Sam and the elders about them.

He learned that Edward’s eyes were golden because he and the rest of his family ate only animals, and then they grew darker when they were hungry, turning black when they were at their most starving and desperate. Drinking human blood would make their eyes red, and it also would make them stronger and their supernatural abilities more powerful. And yet still they refused to.

He also learned that no, Edward would not burn in the sunlight, but he refused to tell Jacob what would happen if he was exposed to sunlight. He also refuted the garlic claim, but also claimed to have never eaten it.

“I don’t know how you go through life without eating garlic.” Jacob had remarked at some point. They had been doing this for three days now. Jacob patrolling the stream and Edward meeting him there to talk.

Edward shrugged. “After I turned there was no need for human food anymore. I haven’t had it in so long, and I haven’t craved it in forever.”

“Ugh, speaking of craving, I could seriously go for garlic bread and pasta right about now.” Jacob felt his mouth salivate at the thought of warm food.

“I know. I can hear you thinking about eating your dad’s cooking when you get back home.” Edward chuckled.

“Or Sam’s. Fuck, I’m starving. I didn’t eat breakfast because I woke up late.” he admitted.

Edward let out a little scoff and Jacob raised an eyebrow.

“That’s funny?”

“I’m just thinking about how when I get hungry I turn blood thirsty, meanwhile you just have a stomach ache when you don’t eat on time.” Edward replied.

“Okay, well, I also get pretty fuckin’ hangry according to Leah.” Jacob rolled his eyes.

“It’s not the same.” Edward reminded him, pausing before quickly jumping across a sunny patch in order to keep under the shade. It was a lot nicer out today than normal, summer finally properly setting in, even in their rainy little area of Washington.

Jacob rolled his eyes, lifting up his foot and reaching behind him to take his shoe off, then repeating with the other one. “Whatever, Bat boy.”

“Bat boy?” Edward asked, watching Jacob’s motions as he then moved to roll up his pants.

“Can you do that? Turn into a bat?” Jacob asked.

“No, I cannot turn into a bat.” Edward scoffed, mumbling something under his breath about Vlad the Impaler and harmful stereotypes.

“Okay well, I can turn into a wolf, so it’s not that far out there.” Jacob started wading through the stream, sighing at the cool relief the water brought.

“Feeling a tad warm?” Edward asked, even though he knew the answer already, fucking mindreader.

“Yeah, werewolves run pretty hot. In the summer I feel like I’ve got a fever whenever I'm in the sun. Wolf fur is so damn hot…” he complained.

“That’s so fascinating.” Edward commented. “For us it’s the opposite. I’ve been told that I’m ice cold to the touch.”

If that was true then his hands on his skin would probably feel like sweet relief to Jacob right now.

Edward’s eyebrow twitched and Jacob realized that his thoughts had overstepped so he tried to change the subject quickly.

“So then what’s it like to-”

Jacob stepped forward and his bare foot slipped on a rock and he felt himself going down.

“Ah shit-!” he yelped as he started to fall over, only out of the corner of his eye did he see Edward suddenly rush forward.

Jacob didn’t end up falling on his ass, instead his arms were grabbed and he was held above the water with his legs straightened out under him.

“Are you okay?” Edward asked.

Jacob stared wide-eyed at the vampire, but not only because he was holding him up, being quite literally on the line between their territories, but now he was finally brought into the sunlight.

And he was sparkling.

Edward must have heard that thought because he flinched, quickly pulling Jacob up and attempting to pull away but Jacob just grabbed him harder.

“Wait, no, I don’t think it’s bad.” he assured him.

“I don’t need your pointless reassurance, I know it’s… odd.” Edward told him.

“A little but…” Jacob stared at him more, watching as the light bounced off of pale skin like diamonds. “Thank you.” was what he decided on.

Edward started to pull him up, stepping back but apparently also stepping on the same rock and his foot slipped out under him.

Both of them crashed down that time. But Jacob could barely feel the pain because he immediately started laughing. Both of them were soaked in cold water, Edward’s hair falling into his eyes before he pushed it out of the way. His shirt was sticking to his skin, the wetness making his skin show through it. He looked ridiculous sitting there, like a wet cat almost. Jacob wasn’t doing much better, his clothes felt heavy on him. He immediately whipped his head around to shake the water out of his hair.

“Hey!” Edward raised his hands to block his face from the spray. “What the hell, dude?”

Jacob just laughed harder as Edward basically pouted at him. He can’t believe that he ever thought that this guy was dangerous.

“I am dangerous.” Edward replied to his thoughts. “I could kill you.”

Jacob splashed more water at him and Edward flinched. Jacob snorted.

“Yeah right.”

He managed to stand up then, shucking off his coat and tying it around his waist, then reaching for his hair and wringing it out like a normal person. His hair was down to his ribs and if he could help it he was never going to cut it again. Emily, Sam’s imprint partner and wife, told him it wouldn’t be wrong to at least trim it and fix up the split ends. And yet he still refused.

Edward stared up at him, maybe going through his head or just looking at him. Jacob finally turned his gaze back to him, smiling softly.

“Come on, let’s get you out of the water.” he reaching out to Edward, who stared at his hand for a moment before grabbing it.

Jacob hadn’t noticed before, but what Edward said was true. His skin was ice cold, no blood running through him to keep him warm.

And yet his touch burned through Jacob’s arm.

He helped him up and Edward stumbled a bit and Jacob put his hands on his arms to steady him.

“We really need to get out of this stream.” he chuckled. “We both keep slipping.”

“Yeah.” Edward agreed, although neither of them made any move to get out. They locked eyes with each other, and Jacob swore that Edward’s eyes were the same color as liquid gold.

“Jacob-” Edward started but suddenly his brows furrowed and he looked into the woods on the reservation side.

“What is it?” Jacob turned his head around to see the split second that another wolf jumped out of the trees, snarling and barking.

Jacob’s eyes widened as he made eye contact with the wolf, too big to be a regular one, and the wolf paused, mouth still open.

“Leah…” Jacob gasped out.

Then he turned to Edward. “Run. Go home. Now.” he ordered.

Edward disappeared as quickly as he’d arrived and Jacob jumped out of the stream and phased into a wolf, but Leah wasn’t even waiting around from him, already dashing back into the green.

“NO NO LEAH GET BACK HERE!” Jacob howled.

“NUH-UH, I’M TELLING SAM YOU LET A FUCKING VAMPIRE ON THE REZ!”

“He wasn’t even on the rez- WOULD YOU STOP RUNNING AND TALK TO ME LIKE A NORMAL PERSON?!”

Leah would in fact not stop running. What was worse was that she was faster than Jacob as well, and she was able to make it to Sam’s lot before Jacob did.

Unluckily for her, Jacob was filled with adrenaline and pounced on her basically the second that she stopped.

They started fighting which immediately had everyone getting out of the house to watch. Jacob tried not to bite her, he really did, but she was awfully squirrely and used this dirty tactic where she would phase into human form to slip out of his grip. Jacob was able to phase just as quickly though and would yank her back in only for her to change again. They were kicking up dirt from how much they were rolling around on the ground, and Jacob swore he heard the others taking bets over who was going to win.

“Jacob! Leah!” Sam came marching out of the house, draped in black fur and looking pissed as hell. “Knock it off!”

Leah phased into a human and whipped her head towards Sam.

“Jacob let a-!”

Jacob covered her mouth with his hand and basically grabbed her in a headlock. 

“Lies! Lies and slander! Sam, don’t believe anything that she’s saying!”

He knew that he sounded ridiculous and guilty as all hell. But he was freaking out. Not even necessarily because he would get in trouble for his action, but because he was terrified of what they would do to Edward if they figured out he’d been on the rez.

Jacob shouldn’t have cared about what happened to a vampire, especially one that broke the rules, but something in his gut was more worried about Edward than he was worried about himself.

Leah bit his hand and Jacob swore, ripping it away from her mouth. She didn’t waste a second shouting, “Jacob let a vampire on the reservation!”

Immediately the rest of the pack shut up and Sam’s eyes went wide. Jacob jumped on Leah again, both of them phasing as they continued fighting. Sam let out a sigh and looked over at Collin, who somehow immediately knew what to do, and in a heartbeat phased and grabbed Jacob by the scruff and pulled him off of Leah. Jacob tried to phase back to a human but his hood was still caught in Collin's mouth.

“Let me go!” he shouted, kicking his legs while his pleas were denied.

“Jacob, be quiet. Leah, what the hell is going on?”

Leah was also back in human form, a little bruised but otherwise fine. She stood up and dusted herself off before speaking.

“By one of our borders, the stream. Jacob was with one of the Cullens I think.”

“You think?”

“He sparkled in the light and smelled like a shallow grave, but his eyes weren’t red, so I’m pretty damn sure it was one of those ‘vegetarian’ ones.” she elaborated. “Jacob wasn’t even phased into a wolf, he was holding onto him, practically had his neck bared.”

“Shut up!” Jacob swiped at her. “You don’t know anything!”

“Why are you defending him?” Leah shot back at him. “He’s a fucking leech, part of the species that killed dozens of our tribe all those years ago!”

“Edward’s not like that!” Jacob replied. “He’s had many chances to hurt me and he hasn’t!”

That was the wrong thing to say because Sam slowly looked over to him and Jacob swore he heard at least two other members of the pack drop their jaws in disbelief.

“Many chances?” Sam repeated. “Jacob, how long has he been coming to the reservation?”

His tone was icy calm, and Jacob would have probably shit himself if Sam wasn’t his friend.

“H-He hasn’t.” Jacob tried to backpedal. “He’s always stayed across the stream, he hasn’t crossed the border I swear-”

“And how long has this been going on?” Sam approached him, folding his arms in front of him.

Jacob clamped his mouth shut, staring at the hard glare being leveled at him.

“Do… do you remember the day that I came home and you said that I reeked of imprint?” he said in a quiet voice.

Sam’s eyebrows shot up and Leah gasped, Quil let out a nervous laugh and everyone else was so quiet they must have stopped breathing. Collin's jaw dropped and Jacob fell on his ass, only for Sam to scoop him up by the collar. 

“You imprinted on a vampire?!” he barked at him. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“I don’t know! I didn’t know that’s what had happened until I came home!” Jacob shouted back. “I don’t control that shit!”

He was shoved back onto the ground and Sam walked away, running his fingers through his hair as Jacob scrambled to stand up. After more than a few deep breaths Sam finally gave his verdict.

“We have to break the imprint.”

Jacob froze. His heart stopped, his brain slowly catching up to what Sam was saying, then all of a sudden there was a pounding in his ears, in his throat.

“You can’t!” he shouted.

“We have to.” Sam turned around. “This is dangerous, you know that. We cannot allow you to remain imprinted to our enemy.”

“Edward’s not our enemy! You made a treaty with the Cullens, right?! Then you know they aren’t as bad as the others!” Jacob tried to run towards Sam by was grabbed by a now human Collin.

“Our relationship with the Cullens is rocky at best. We only agreed to let them live here because they promised they wouldn’t cause any issues. This is an issue.” Sam told him.

“No no no NO! You can’t do this!” Jacob felt tears well up in his eyes, feeling more panic start rising than was reasonable, being told that he had to be separated from his imprint partner possibly forever.

“What’s going on?” Jacob heard a familiar voice and spun around, seeing his dad and Emily coming out onto the lawn. Billy looked at him, concerned. “Jacob, what’s happening?”

“Dad!” Jacob tried wiggling out of Collin's grasp to no avail. “Dad, they're trying to break my imprint!”

Billy looked up at Sam, still confused. Sam sighed.

“Jacob imprinted on one of the Cullens. We need to go over there and tell them the situation.”

“NO!” Jacob screamed.

Billy’s eyes widened and he nodded. “Alright.”

“DAD!” Jacob cried.

Sam turned back to Leah and the other members of the pack. “We’re heading off the reservation. You all keep watch on Jacob. Take shifts if you need to.”

“Yessir!” was the command received back.

“And Jacob.” Sam looked back at him, eyebrows furrowed together. “Don’t even think about fighting us on this. You aren’t even thinking about how this affects the pack, how this affects our community, our people.”

Jacob just shook his head as he started to be dragged off, bloody murder in his eyes.

“What happened to being so happy for me that I imprinted, huh? I thought you said that imprinting was supposed to be the greatest moment of my life! And now you want to take it away from me!”

Sam didn’t even give that a response, just moving to the car.

“Honey, are you sure about this?” Emily asked.

“I’m sure.” Sam kissed her scarred cheek. “I’m only thinking about what’s best for us here. Jacob will soon learn that himself.”

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Jacob was thrown and locked into his room, pounding at the door and screaming until his voice was hoarse. It didn’t matter because what the leader says goes. Jacob had no choice.

He felt like the walls were closing in on him, like he was a dog stuck in a too-small crate. And on a plane. Because it was just that stressful.

But he was also incredibly confused because why the hell was he feeling this way over someone he barely knew? He’s known Sam for years and yet he was willing to throw hands with him over some guy that he gave food once? What the hell?!

He blamed it on the imprint for these feelings. Blamed his own stupid biology and heritage for making him so attached to someone that he knew could wipe out their whole tribe. Jacob kept going back and forth between agreeing with Sam and whining over the fact that they might try and kill Edward.

Jacob didn’t know what he would do if that happened.

Killing one of the Cullens without a good reason was also against the treaty. In any case it seemed like things were never going to be the same again.

Eventually he just leaned against the door with his head between his legs. He definitely wasn’t going to be able to convince the rest of the pack to let him out. Even if he broke down the door (his dad would kill him) he was absolutely going to get mauled and dragged back in by them all. He was alone in this.

Yet there was an itch beneath his skin, something that was telling him that he needed to see Edward, to hold him in his arms again. He was ready to scratch off his own skin from how much it hurt. It was never this bad before, what was going on?

Suddenly a noise knocked him out of his thoughts. A sharp tap on his window, like a small bird had flown into it. He looked up at the glass, eyes blurry from crying but no tears having left his eyes. 

It happened again, except this time he saw it. A small rock had been thrown up and hit his window, not hard enough to break, but hard enough to get his attention.

Jacob ran to the window and looked down, eyes widening when he saw Emily waving at him, smiling. He opened it and poked his head out.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Helping you break out.” she said, tapping her foot on the ladder that she had put underneath Jacob’s window.

Jacob’s eyes bugged out of his head, pointing to himself.

“You’re… helping me?” he asked.

“Yes, now get down from there before the others realize!” Emily prompted him.

And like, Jacob wasn’t going to ignore a direct order from his leader’s wife, regardless of how confused he was. So he hopped out of his window and climbed down to meet her. She smiled at him when he came down, readjusting his collar and his hoodie for him and brushing his hair back.

“I know Sam is scared of what might happen to our community if we let a vampire in, but I also know how powerful the imprint can be.” she put her hands on Jacob’s shoulders. “And out of all of us in the pack, I know you have the biggest heart of us all. You wouldn’t imprint on someone that would hurt us.”

Jacob bowed his head. “I’m sorry to cause all of you trouble, I wouldn’t ever betray the pack for anyone, imprint or not.”

“I know you wouldn’t, and I have faith in you and in your vampire.” Emily smiled at him. “I’ll keep the pack busy, they’re currently all drooling over some of Sam’s leftovers that I put in the oven, so that should buy you some time.”

“Thank you so much, Em.” Jacob said, starting to run off into the woods. “I owe you one.”

“You owe me much more than that.” she laughed, waving him off as Jacob phased into a wolf to head into the woods.

He needed to get to his imprint, to Edward, before it was too late.

Notes:

Sam is pack dad, Emily is pack mom, everyone else is their kids running around on too much caffeine

Chapter 3

Notes:

There's not really anything new/different in this chapter that isn't explained in the fic itself so go forth

Jasper was the first one to sense that something was off with Edward when he came home.

And of course, he sent Alice up to his room to investigate.

“You’re normally not back this early.” Alice remarked, leaning against his doorframe as Edward sat down in front of the piano. “Did something happen?”

Edward looked over with her, squinting and reading her mind quickly. She knew that something happened, something with Jacob, but her future vision didn’t supply exactly what.

“You already know the answer to that.” he mumbled, pressing down on the keys.

“Humor me.” she teased.

“No.” Edward replied. “It’s none of your business.”

“Ed, c’mon.”

“Don’t call me that.” Edward mumbled, focusing on the music and trying to gather his thoughts.

He’d been going to see Jacob to ask about the Quileute wolves for some time now. In return he would tell Jacob about vampires. Sometimes they would get off topic. But every day Edward would go home with his head hurting from how much new information he now had.

He thought he would have been killed the day that he followed a rabbit onto the reservation. He wasn’t thinking properly until a wolf had literally got up in his face, snapping and snarling at him like a territorial predator. Edward thought he was going to die.

But then the wolf was gone, replaced by an incredibly handsome young man whose eyes seemed to shine when he looked at Edward, his thoughts a swirl of emotions that Edward had barely had time to process at the time.

At the forefront of his mind though, was a swell of emotion that Edward usually associated with those in love.

Jacob who brought him a deer to eat, Jacob who gave him his shirt when his mouth was a mess, Jacob who let him live and didn’t expect anything back from Edward for saving his life. He had no ulterior motives for helping him, Edward knew that for sure because he'd read Jacob's mind.

Edward couldn’t understand it.

None of Jacob’s thoughts pointed to him being a selfish person like Edward assumed that all people are. He was very genuine, and spoke his mind most of the time, so really all Edward was getting out of looking into his head were abstract emotions.

Confusion, when Edward told him something that went against common knowledge of vampires.

Annoyance, when Jacob told him about something stupid one of the other members of the pack or his sisters did.

Cheerfulness, when he got to talk about his heritage or something that he was passionate about.

And fondness, whenever he looked at Edward. They’ve known each other for two fucking weeks and yet Jacob’s head was full of this funny feeling that made Edward nervous, especially since none of his thoughts were even particularly romantic in nature. It wasn’t like when he walked around on campus and heard girls and guys fawning over him in their heads. It was just… pure affection and adoration towards him without any of superficial nonsense. It should have scared Edward off but he just wanted to get closer to it. It got stronger when he touched Jacob for the first time, felt his warm skin under his hands and saw the sparkles in his dark eyes when he took in Edward’s form in the sun.

Fuck, what was happening to him? He shouldn’t get this attached to a wolf, he shouldn’t! Especially after what happened today. If he got Jacob in trouble because of his carelessness then he’d never forgive himself.

Alice sat next to him on the bench and watched his fingers mindlessly go over some of the keys, not really playing anything just trying to find a harmony.

“Are you worried about him?” she asked.

Edward sighed, closing his eyes. Alice was the only other member of their family that knew about his new… friendship with Jacob. Only because she had the ability to catch glimpses of the future and he literally couldn’t hide it from her.

“I am.” he replied, opening his eyes again. “I shouldn’t have kept going back over there, I don’t know why I did it.”

Alice made a face, shrugging. “I think you know why you did.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

However both of them suddenly turned their heads at the sound of an unfamiliar car pulling into the driveway. Their house was in the middle of the woods far enough away from Forks so that people wouldn’t stumble on them accidentally, so then who was pulling in now.

Jasper knocked on the door and Alice got up to go over to him.

“What’s going on?” Edward asked.

“We don’t know either.” Jasper said. “Carlisle is headed to the porch to greet whoever it is. We’re going to eavesdrop.”

“I’m coming with.”

Alice furrowed her brows as Edward got up to join them.

“I know who it is.” she said softly.

Once they got downstairs all three of them hid behind the corner peaking out to see Carlisle and Esme out front, seeing someone approaching them, one man in a wheelchair and the other wearing furs.

“Jesus, what is that god-awful wet dog smell.” Alice plugged her nose.

Edward had to agree. He recoiled a bit as the smell hit his nose. Was that what werewolves typically smelled like? Jacob didn’t smell like that, not by a long shot. Jacob always smelled like the woods after it rained, not like this. 

But yet, the patterns on the furred man were similar to the patterns on Jacob’s clothes, and so Edward knew that these had to be Quileute Wolf Warriors as well.

“Hello, gentlemen.” Carlisle grinned and greeted them. “It’s unusual to see you around these parts, did something happen?”

“Something did happen, Dr Cullen.” the man in the wheelchair spoke while the other one simply crossed his arms and glared. “Unfortunately one of your children has gotten themselves involved with one of the members of the pack. We’ve come here to talk about next steps.”

Carlisle knit his eyebrows together. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. None of us here have betrayed the treaty and gone beyond the boundaries.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” the one in the furs, Edward searched his mind for his name, Sam, spoke up. “One of your abominations has been in contact with one of our members for past two weeks now.”

“Sam.” the one in the wheelchair, Billy, Jacob's dad, put a hand on his arm. 

Sam huffed but quieted down. Billy spoke up again.

“One of our wolves have imprinted on of your own, Edward I believe it was.”

Jasper and Alice both turned to look at Edward, who blinked hard.

“Edward, what’s this about?” Jasper asked.

“What’s imprinting?” Alice asked.

“I don’t know.” Edward told them, being genuine. He tried searching their thoughts for something, anything that would give away what it was. But all he was finding was that it was important and dangerous, and they fully intended to break the connection before anything could happen.

“I see. Well then, that must be very serious if you had to come out here to meet me in person.” Carlisle nodded.

“What can we do?” Esme asked.

“Well, if I had my way we would kill the one that was imprinted on. It would be the easiest way to cut their ties.” Sam snarled.

Edward tensed up and Jasper looked at him, sensing his distress. Werewolves were the only thing on earth that could kill vampires, apart from other vampires. That threat held weight, despite the fact that it would break the treaty if they did so unprovoked.

“Not an option.” Carlisle said firmly.

“Thought so.” Sam mumbled.

“We need you to keep Edward away from the border, away from Jacob.” Billy cut in.

Jacob.

Edward immediately leaned in closer. This was about Jacob, Jacob who imprinted on him… what the hell even was that?! He needed answers, and he was about to go out there and demand answers but Alice grabbed his arm.

“Don’t.” she whispered.

“They can’t just forbid me to see him.” Edward told her. “No mutt is going to tell me what I can or can’t do.”

“So then go.” she told him. “Go find him, ask him all of the questions, and read his mind if he won’t tell you.”

“Did you see something?” Edward asked.

Alice nodded, tilting her head behind her. “Go out the back. Run as fast as you can and find him. Trust me.”

“I do.” Edward nodded, and without another thought sped out of the house.

“I’m still confused as to what’s going on.” Jasper said.

“I’ll tell you later.” Alice waved him off.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“FUCK!”

Jacob paused right in front of the willow tree where him and Edward had first met, kicking the dirt in frustration. He couldn’t get around the pack to track Sam and his dad and now that he was here he couldn’t smell Edward to follow him back to wherever he had come from.

So basically, he was doomed.

“Fuck fuck FUCK!” he gritted his teeth and tried his best not to rip his hair out. “GODDAMNIT!”

They were going to kill him, they were going to kill Edward, and in turn they were going to kill Jacob. He could feel his heart squeezing at just the thought. His friend, his imprint partner, they were going to kill him because Jacob’s inner wolf was too stupid to imprint on a regular person. This was all his fault! Everything was always his fucking fault!

When they were on a hunt and Jacob tripped and alerted the moose that nearly charged them. Jacob's fault.

When he was play-fighting with Paul and they accidentally rolled through the fire and now he has burns on his back. Jacob's fault.

When he nearly ripped apart his own wolf’s fur trying to sew it without any practice, his mom had to come and help him so that he wouldn’t end up with a patchy coat and she cut her fingers. Jacob's fault.

And now this. He had fucked up so badly, and his heart was torn between his imprint partner and his pack. He didn’t know what the right choice was here. He couldn’t bear the thought of being away from Edward, of not being there when he needed him the most, but if Sam was right and he was truly dangerous… Jacob would never forgive himself if he was the one who brought on the end of the Quileutes forever.

He crashed through the willow’s leaves, engulfing him completely in a curtain of green and sat down against the tree, trying to breathe, trying to figure out his next steps.

Jacob took a deep breath and paused, holding it as he picked up a new scent.

Lilacs… honey… Edward.

He had his scent!

Jacob stood up and burst out of the leaves, phasing and rushing across the stream, following his nose. It kept getting stronger, like Edward was coming to him too. Jacob didn’t know this part of the woods, he had no idea where he was going, but that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was getting to Edward.

Then he all but crashed into him. The smell was at its strongest and Jacob phased back as soon as he realized that Edward was right in front of him, grabbing him and pulling him into a tight hug that almost knocked both of them over.

“You’re alive!” he gasped as Edward held onto him. “I thought I’d never see you again!”

He didn’t want to let Edward go, he wanted to keep him in his arms forever and keep him safe, away from anyone who would try and hurt him.

“Jacob.” Edward yanked Jacob’s head back, holding his face in his hands. His hands were so cold, Jacob wanted to warm them up. “What is imprinting?”

Jacob stared at Edward for a minute before he frowned. Edward furrowed his brows.

“No, no don’t pout at me.”

“I’m not pouting.” Jacob retorted.

“You are. Look-” Edward sighed. “Some guys came by our house, a guy named Sam and who I think was your dad if I read his mind correctly.”

Jacob’s eyes looked alarmed instantly. “They did? Did they try to hurt you? Are you okay?”

“Jacob, I’m fine. What I’m more concerned about is what they said to my… father, for all intents and purposes. They said that you had imprinted on me.”

Jacob swore and bowed his head, taking a deep breath.

“Did you do something to me?” Edward asked.

“No! I didn’t do anything I swear I just…” Jacob started panicking, not even sure where to start. “It’s a… wolf thing.”

Edward deadpanned at him and Jacob groaned. Edward stepped back from him and Jacob probably started pouting again, but he’d calmed down enough knowing that Edward was alive and mostly well to start talking.

“Imprinting is in our nature, it’s against our control who we do it to. It’s like… gravity. Like soulmates.” he started explaining.

“Soulmates? Is this a romantic thing?” Edward crossed his arms.

“Not always.” Jacob assured him, ignoring the heat settling in his cheeks. “It’s um… more like fate. Our imprints are catalysts, those who will kick start our journey and make it so we can pass our final hurdle into becoming wolf warriors. Our instincts can find the ones who will be the most important to us during that time and latch onto them.”

Edward tilted his head, probably looking into Jacob’s mind to see if he was being truthful or not. When he determined that he was Edward uncrossed his arms.

“So then, what? Why do they want to break it so bad?” Edward asked then.

“Because they think that imprinting on a vampire, imprinting on you, is dangerous and will only lead to all of us being wiped out.” Jacob told him. “They didn’t believe me when I said that you weren’t going to hurt any of us.”

“They have every right to think that.” Edward told him. “Vampires only bring death and misfortune, we’re monsters.”

“Don’t say that!” Jacob grabbed him by the arms. “You are good! I know you are!”

“You don’t know that!” Edward replied.

“I do!” Jacob shouted. “I wouldn’t have imprinted on you if you were ever going to hurt me or anyone I care about! I would have killed you that time we first met if I thought that you posed any kind of threat to me!”

Jacob’s breathing got heavy and Edward’s breathing stopped entirely. Those red-tinged lips closed and his face softened.

“Fine.” he agreed. “But what do we do now?”

Jacob really hadn’t thought that far, and Edward immediately recognized that and frowned.

“Jacob.” he spoke sternly. “What are our next steps here?”

What were they supposed to do now? Jacob couldn’t go back to the pack right now, especially not with Edward. And if they went back to Edward’s house Jacob might still be in hot water because if Sam had talked to Edward’s dad then it might not be safe for him either. That left them with not a lot of options. Except maybe…

Jacob looked at Edward with a new determination in his eyes.

“We need to get out of here.”

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The plan was simple, Jacob went back to his house, avoiding the pack and grabbing the truck that he’d been fixing up for the last couple of months, then he would meet Edward at the entrance to La Push. Both of them would grab extra clothes and Jacob basically raided the pantry for food that he needed but Edward didn’t. Luckily the pack was all at Sam’s house, presumably because they thought that he was still locked in there.

The idea was that they would disappear and Jacob would basically wait until Sam was willing to talk to them in a civilized way. Or come crying to him saying how he was wrong and that he promises never to doubt Jacob again.

“I doubt that will happen.” Edward told him, sitting in the passenger’s seat of the truck.

“Quit reading my mind.” Jacob replied.

“I’m trying to figure out what your plan is.” Edward said, crossing his legs. “Because so far it seems like you’re just winging it.”

“I’m going off of my instincts.” Jacob deadpanned.

Edward did not find this funny and he rolled his eyes.

“Where are we even going?”

Jacob paused for a moment, long enough to where Edward clearly got upset with him. “Are you serious?”

“Shush! I have a plan, okay?!”

“And I would love to not have to read your mind to figure out what it is because it’s pretty empty up there.” Edward argued.

“Would you stop that!” Jacob groaned, grabbing the wheel. He didn’t even know why Edward agreed to this, with everything that had happened, he should have told Jacob no to this ridiculous idea. And yet he didn’t. He went along with it. “Why did you even come with me if you’re just going to fight with me the whole time.”

“Because this imprinting thing must be a pretty big deal if your pack leader and your dad had to come over to my house and tell Carlisle to keep me away from you.” Edward told him. “They said that the only way they knew how to break the imprint was to kill me, Jacob.”

Jacob took a sharp inhale and clutched the wheel tighter, the beginning of a growl low in his throat.

“I’m not going to lie down and take it, so I went to you, the only sensible wolf it seems, to try and figure out what the hell is going on.”

“Sam is sensible, he’s just… he’s only thinking about the pack and the community right now. He can’t see things from my point of view because of his emotions.” Jacob said, realizing how hypocritical that sounded. He was basically doing the exact same thing. “But in any case I don’t want them to hurt you and I don’t want them to break the imprint either.”

Edward didn’t say anything for a minute, letting Jacob breathe and try to drive. It was dark out by now, the sun having just set, the moon in a waxing crescent. They were alone on the road driving in a beat-up car that wouldn’t be able to take them out of Washington without breaking down. Where would they even go? What would Sam do when he found out that Jacob was gone? What would his dad do? Probably the most sensible thing and call the cops to report a missing person and…

Cops. That’s it!

“What are the police going to do?” Edward asked.

“Not the police, just one officer.” Jacob grinned. “And probably the only human in Forks that I’m willing to accept help from right now.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“The father of my best friend. His name is Charlie Swan."

Notes:

Charlie is just the best character in the whole of Twilight and deserves SO much better than how everyone in that universe treated him

Chapter 4

Notes:

not the power going out while i've been working on this yikes

dude the wind storms have been fuckin crazyyyy in my area like it's not even funny

Jacob knocked on the door and stepped back, holding his breath and hoping that Charlie would answer.

“What are you going to say to him?” Edward asked.

“Dunno, I’ll figure something out.” Jacob whispered.

“He’s a cop, won’t he just take you back to your dad?”

“Maybe, but hopefully not.”

“Jacob-” Edward started but the door opened to reveal exactly the man that Jacob was looking for, Charlie Swan.

Charlie was Jacob’s dad’s best friend and also the father of Bella Swan, a childhood friend of Jacob’s that lived with her mom down in Arizona. Charlie had always told Jacob that if he needed anything that he would be able to help him, although Jacob hadn’t spoken to him for a while.

“Jake? What the hell are you doing here so late?” Charlie asked, then looked over at Edward. “Who’s this?”

Shit, now was the time to say something, anything! Come on, Jake, come up with something!

“Mr Swan, I’m really sorry to come here at this time but… me and my dad got into a fight and I really didn’t know where else to go.” he bowed his head. “This is Edward Cullen. He’s my… boyfriend.”

Charlie’s eyes opened a fraction and Jacob could feel Edward stiffen behind him. Jacob held his breath again and prayed that Charlie wasn’t going to slam the door in his face when he said that but he was just given an, “Oh, Carlisle’s kid.” Charlie nodded. “Nice to meet you, son.”

Edward nodded back, staying quiet.

Charlie stepped back to make room in the doorway. “Why don’t you boys come inside and you can tell me about what happened.”

“Thank you, Mr Swan.” Jacob grabbed Edward’s hand to lead him inside, squeezing it while trying to fill his head with apologies and instructions to just go along with it for now. Luckily Edward didn’t seem to question it and squeezed Jacob’s hand right back.

They were sat down on the couch with Charlie sitting on the armchair next to them, hunched over with his elbows on his knees.

“Alright, I won't dance around the issue. What happened?” he asked.

Jacob looked over at Edward, who looked at him. Jacob took a deep breath and got prepared to lie the most he had in his entire life, and that includes when he hide the fact that he had first imprinted on Edward.

“I introduced Edward to my dad and he got… really upset at me.” Jacob said, cringing internally at throwing his loving father under the bus like this. “I-I thought that it would be okay but he was just so mad that I brought home a boy and he told me to get out of his house. He said some other hurtful things that I don't bother to repeat, but the gist of it was that he wasn't happy with who I had chosen.”

Charlie knit his brows together, mouth pressing into a line. “What about you, boy?” he turned to Edward.

“I… I didn’t think my dad would let Jacob stay over either.” Edward replied. “I don’t know what you know about our family, but Mr Black and my dad have a complicated history. He wouldn’t exactly be fond of letting his son stay over, much less of our, um, relationship.”

Charlie then suddenly stood up, shaking his head. “Well that’s just not right.” he said. “I never thought that Billy would be so close-minded.”

Jacob felt a wave of guilt lying like this. He didn’t actually think his dad would be opposed to him dating a man, just opposed to him imprinting on a vampire.

“I think he was just mad in the moment?” Jacob stood up as well, trying to reason. He didn't want to break up his dad's and Charlie's friendship over this.

“No, Jake, this isn’t right.” Charlie told him. “You can stay here as long as you need, alright? I’ll talk to Billy in the morning-”

“No!” Jacob stopped him. “No I… I’ll talk to him, okay?”

Charlie crossed his arms. “Jacob, are you sure?”

“I’m sure. I’ll call him tomorrow and try to see if he’ll listen to me. I promise.” he said. “You don’t need to do anything other than provide a place for us to stay for a while.”

“Of course, Jake, anything.” Charlie clapped him on the shoulder with a smile. “‘Sides, house has been too quiet ever since Bells left. Would be nice to have some liveliness around for a bit.”

Jacob gave him a soft smile. “Thank you.” he said. “I promise we won’t be a bother at all, I can even help with chores if you need.”

“Well I mean, if you’re offering.” Charlie joked. “Did you boys eat dinner yet?”

Jacob then realized that he hadn’t actually had anything since breakfast and his stomach grumbled accordingly. 

Edward let out a little snort and Charlie chuckled. “I guess that answers that.” he said, winking. “I’ll order pizza.”

The rest of the night wasn’t as awkward as Jacob was thinking that it would be. Charlie was very kind and didn’t pry too much into their relationship, although he did give Jacob some advice about what to say to his dad, and then general dating advice the more beers he got into them.

“Don’t rush into anything too fast, I know how young love can be, but you should at least know each other for a couple years before gettin’ married.” he rambled.

“Sure, Mr Swan.” Jacob laughed, not missing how Edward moved over his piece of pizza to Jacob’s plate when Charlie wasn’t looking.

“And just fuckin’ communicate with each other if you have problems like Jesus Christ…” Charlie started mumbling.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Mr Swan.” Jacob leaned back and almost on instinct wrapped his arm around Edward’s shoulders. Edward was frigid as usual but he was also a little tense at the contact, almost as if he was not fully expecting it even though he could read minds.

“I wasn’t the best with that in my relationship and I regret it every day.” Charlie took another swig of his beer and kept mumbling incomprehensibly.

Edward furrowed his brows and tilted his head, Jacob guessed that Edward was probably reading his mind and discovering Charlie’s story. How him and his ex wife, Renee, had gotten married and had their daughter, but she was much more of a free spirit and Charlie was more grounded. Renee ended up with full custody with their daughter only visiting during the summer. Except for the past six years.

“Meh, I won’t bore you boys with my life story. I should be heading to bed.” Charlie groaned as he got up. “I’m not givin’ you a bedtime but just lettin’ you know that you can sleep in Bells’ room.”

“Are you sure?” Jacob also stood up.

“Yeah, the couch isn’t a pullout and at least Bells’ room has a real bed.” Charlie chuckled. “Although I do request that you keep some kind of decency for your friend if you’re not gonna make your boyfriend sleep on the floor.”

Jacob felt his ears turn red and he let out an awkward laugh. “Jesus, Mr Swan. I’m not an animal.”

Well…

Edward stood up last and spoke up. “I think I’m ready for bed too.” he said.

After a quick clean up Jacob ended up being the one to lead Edward upstairs to the room they would be staying in. It was mostly empty, but you could tell it used to be a teen girl’s room. The walls were painted a pale pink, some slightly darker spots where posters must have covered them. There was an inactive lava lamp on the desk and some washed-out stickers covering it. Edward sat down on the bed while Jacob turned the lamp on.

“I’ll take the bed, I mean you don’t sleep so there’s no reason for-”

“What are we?” Edward suddenly asked.

“Huh?” Jacob replied, pausing in the middle of unzipping his coat.

“You called me your boyfriend.” Edward said.

“Oh, um.” Jacob rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, that was just so I didn’t have to explain the whole wolf and vampire thing to Charlie. My dad would definitely kill me if I told him our biggest secret.”

Edward frowned, almost like he didn’t believe him.

“You said that imprinting is romantic.”

“I said that it’s like soulmates.” Jacob took his jacket off and hung it on the doorknob. “But it’s romantic sometimes. Sam imprint on Emily was.”

“How do you know if it’s romantic or not?”

Jacob sighed, running his fingers through his hair before walking over and also sitting on the bed.

“It’s actually up to you whether you want it to be romantic or not.” Jacob explained. “From what Sam told me, imprinting connects the wolf to the person, and then the one who’s been imprinted upon decides their relationship. This can be rivals, friends, siblings…”

“Or lovers.” Edward finished his sentence.

Jacob swallowed hard and looked at his own lap. “Yeah.”

Edward raked his eyes over Jacob’s form, going down then back up again to his face.

“And what do you want?” he asked, tilting his head.

Jacob looked back at him, biting the inside of his cheek.

Honestly, Jacob felt like he was in imprint purgatory because Edward hadn’t defined their relationship outright yet. He felt weirdly stagnant, mostly between friends and lovers. He felt protective over the vampire, and he wanted to be close to him at all times, but it didn’t feel like a crush. Then again Jacob hasn’t had a crush in years, maybe he’d forgotten what it felt like? He could have sworn there was supposed to be butterflies in the stomach though.

“I don’t know, it’s up to you.” Jacob told him genuinely, because he didn’t know what else to say.

Although his thoughts seemed to show his true feelings, could describe it better than his words ever could, because Edward reached up to tilt Jacob’s chin towards him ever-so gently, cocking his head just a little.

“I can’t always read minds in structured sentences.” Edward said. “Usually people think in abstract. The mind shows their true nature. The emotions that imprinting bring forward manifest in a way that reminds me of those in love.”

He leaned in close and Jacob held his breath, eyes blowing wide.

“I don’t know if it’s your instincts affecting me, or if this would have been the outcome anyways, but my feelings seem to mirror yours.” Edward kept talking, although Jacob was hardly listening because Edward supposedly had no blood running through him and yet his lips were pink and they were so close to him and shit their noses were bumping together and Jacob’s eyes fluttered shut because surely Edward was going to kiss him now-

The contact pulled away and Jacob waited a few heartbeats before furrowing his brows, eyes still closed.

“But who could ever love a monster like me.” Edward’s voice came out quiet and almost breaking.

FUCKING HELL.

“Edward.” Jacob opened his eyes, absolutely fed up with the self-deprecating talk. “I am as much of a monster as you, I have never cared what you are, only who you are. And if you don’t kiss me right now then-”

He didn’t even get the chance to finish because cold lips were suddenly pressed against his own. Jacob gasped, not expecting the softness that greeted him. A new rush of emotions greeted him, butterflies roaring in his stomach and a desperate need to touch, kiss, love came over him like a tsunami. The butterflies had arrived. He reached up to cup Edward’s jaw and move his head in a direction which would make their lips slide together better. For that he was rewarded with a soft sound escaping the vampire’s throat.

God, this felt right. Like this was always meant to be. Quickly enough Edward’s lips warmed to match Jacob’s and it felt even better. Jacob’s head was spinning, but he’d never felt more grounded in something before.

He changed the angle, fuck that felt even better. He dropped his hands to wrap around the curve of Edward’s waist and squeezed. Edward gasped into his mouth and dug his fingers into dark hair. In response Jacob swiped his tongue along Edward’s bottom lip.

They were making out, making out on Jacob’s friend’s bed and Jacob felt like he was soaring. He’d never made out with anyone before but nothing else would ever come close, he was certain.

He felt so lightheaded that he felt himself tipping backwards, and Edward was going right along with him, lips moving against him in a hypnotizing rhythm. Finally it was too much and Jacob fell back, hitting his head against the pillows and pulling Edward’s body on top of his. They parted on impact and even that was a second too long. Jacob wrapped his arms around Edward tighter, pulling him against him so that he could share his body heat with him. His imprint partner was cold, way too cold, Jacob needed to heat him up, needed him as close as possible to warm him and make him feel good and-

Jacob gasped and parted, titling his head back and taking a few deep breaths. There was a soft kiss to his chin, trying to bait him back into another kiss but Jacob squeezed his eyes shut.

“As much as I would love to keep going I promised Charlie that I would be decent while in Bella’s bed, and I don’t think I would ever be able to look her in the eyes again if we kept kissing here.” he explained, cheeks ruddy.

Edward stared at him, read his mind for double meanings, then blew his eyes wide and lifted himself up on his hands and knees to get away from the um... problem area.

“I’m sorry.” he apologized.

“It’s fine. Jacob said, hands still on the vampire’s waist. “I’ve just… never kissed someone like that before.”

Edward looked at him, lip caught between his teeth and Jacob could see the little indents of the canines that were his fangs, longer and sharper than the rest of his teeth, but only just barely enough as to not cause any questions. Jacob’s teeth had gotten sharper when he first transformed as well, top and bottom canines short but more pointed.

“If you keep looking at my mouth then I’m not going to be able to resist kissing you again.” Edward told him, adjusting so that he laid next to Jacob instead of on top of him.

“You have got to get better self control.” Jacob chuckled. “And I thought you didn’t need to sleep?”

“I don’t.” Edward admitted. “I just… can I lay next to you?”

Jacob gave him a half smile and stretched his arm out. Edward understood immediately and moved over so that he could press himself against Jacob’s side and the werewolf could wrap his arm around him, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

“You’re really hot.” Edward mumbled.

“Thanks, I know.” Jacob replied with a smirk.

“Not what I meant.” Edward rolled his eyes.

“I know.” Jacob told him.

“Like, seriously, you feel feverish, are you sure this is normal?”

“It’s fine, I run at 108 degrees on a typical day. Meanwhile you feel like you’ve been sitting in an ice bath for the better part of a century.” Jacob joked. “Embrace my warmth.”

"108 degrees? Fahrenheit?"

"No, Celsius." Jacob replied deadpanned.

"104 degrees is when you start getting brain damage. Maybe that's why you imprinted on a vampire instead of a regular person."

"Oh my god, don't even start that shit with me after you gave me a boner."

Jacob couldn’t tell if Edward liked his jokes or thought they were stupid but he did put his head on Jacob’s chest and closed his eyes, ear right above his heart. Jacob gently rubbed his shoulder, reveling in the quiet for a moment before he spoke again.

“Are we together for real now?” he asked.

Edward snorted. “Back when I was alive we wouldn’t even be in the same bed together until marriage.”

“Okay, well, gay marriage wasn’t legal back then.” Jacob reminded him. 

Edward hummed, then simply replied with. “Yes, we’re together.”

And just like that, Jacob had confirmation of what Edward wanted from him, and something inside of him changed. He wasn’t stuck in imprint purgatory anymore, and his heart swelled with a new emotion, and he couldn’t resist holding onto Edward tighter.

A lover.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Watching Jacob sleep was so… interesting.

It was morning now, the sun peaking through the curtains just enough to make a golden stripe across Jacob’s face, the rest of the room darkened. The werewolf was asleep in the same position he was last night, arm still around Edward, head tilted to the side, eyes closed and full lips slightly parted. He wasn’t dreaming about anything right now, although he was earlier. He probably wouldn’t remember what it was about when he woke up, but Edward had watched with fascination as his eyes had moved rapidly behind his eyelids before settling, then kicking up again as he went through the cycle of REM. He was snoring quietly, not obnoxiously, more like a low rumble in the back of his throat. All of the muscles of his face were relaxed, making him look younger and softer.

Edward hadn’t needed to sleep ever since he was turned into a vampire. Sometimes he missed it, the quiet lull that would refresh his body and mind, wrapping himself in warm blankets and letting his brain shut off and finally being able to lose himself in the quiet and dark of the night.

There was nothing that could replicate that, and Edward mourned it.

So he watched Jacob sleep instead, curled up against him, listening to his heart beat softly and his lungs expand and contract. It was peaceful in a way that Edward hadn’t felt in a long time.

Charlie woke up. Edward could hear his morning thoughts as he got out of bed and started to get ready for work. Edward tried to tune them out, focusing more on his lover next to him.

Lover… god, Edward never thought in a million years he would get to have something as precious as that. No matter how many times Carlisle offered to find him someone, no matter how many people that he met, it never felt right. Always like there was some imbalance, that his species made him inherently more powerful. To fall for a human meant to spend every day in agony longing for their blood to stain his teeth but refusing to out of love. A predator cannot fall in love with prey, a lion cannot fall for a lamb.

But a wolf is not a lamb.

The door opened softly and Edward sat up, gentle enough not to wake Jacob, although he was pretty knocked out.

“Oh, sorry.” Charlie whispered. “I wanted to see if you boys were awake, I’m headed off to work so you have to house to yourselves.”

“Okay, thank you.” Edward whispered back.

“Just don’t burn it down or throw any raging parties.”

“We won’t.” Edward promised. “Thank you, officer.”

Jacob stirred and Edward looked down at him, but he didn’t wake up.

“God, I’m so sorry that both of you have to deal with this. There’s just no good reason not to love your kids unconditionally. Shouldn’t fuckin’ matter if you gay or straight or not.” Charlie mumbled, also looking at Jacob.

Edward looked back at Charlie, seeing a tiredness behind his eyes that no amount of sleep was ever going to heal. Edward could practically smell the regret and longing on him.

“You’re a good dad.” Edward said, surprising Charlie.

“Oh… um… thank you.” Charlie gave him a half smile, then cleared his throat. “I should probably head out, you can head back to sleep.”

Edward laid back down when Charlie closed the door, letting out a soft sigh.

It wasn’t much longer that Jacob finally rolled over, scrunching his face up and blinking his eyes open.

“Good morning.” Edward mumbled.

“God, what time is it?” Jacob asked, voice rough from sleep.

“Charlie already left for work. He said not to burn the house down.” Edward told him.

“Mm. No promises.” Jacob pulled Edward against him to kiss him on the cheek.

“I already told Charlie we wouldn’t.” Edward scrunched his nose. This easy affection that Jacob was giving to him was foreign to Edward. He hadn’t been held like this in a long time, and never really kissed anyone before either.

Jacob ignored him in favor of wrapping both arms around him and continuing to kiss his face, no dissimilar to how a dog would lick at its owner to show affection. Clearly he had no trouble adjusting to their new relationship at all. He was practically wagging his tail on the inside.

However Jacob had only just moved his kiss attack to Edward’s lips when he heard a vibrating noise from the door. Jacob groaned and rolled over to stand up, going to get his phone from his jacket. Edward sat up on the bed and checked his own, frowning at the multiple missed calls from his family members and several texts from each of them.

“Shit, it’s my dad.” Jacob said. “He called me, like, twenty times last night.”

“Did Sam try and contact you?” Edward asked.

“No, but Emily texted me. And so did Quil, although he’s mostly cursing me out.” Jacob frowned.

“What do you want to do?” Edward asked.

Jacob turned off his phone and Edward read the decisiveness in his head before the werewolf even approached him again, falling onto the bed with his head in Edward’s lap.

“Right now I want to go back to sleep.” he told him.

“We have to figure out what we’re going to do about all of this.” Edward reminded him.

“Yeah, but… later.” Jacob smirked.

Later… Edward gently laced his fingers through night-black hair, scraping his nails gently against Jacob’s scalp and taking note of how the werewolf leaned into the touch.

Later works.

Notes:

I know I'm moving really fast just please bear with me!

This isn't my usual quality of work so I'm resigning to just writing this for fun instead of being too worried about how well it's written, although I think I ate with the wolf and the lion line.