Chapter Four

Jared

Pain shot through my body; every single bone was breaking, and my body felt like it was on fire. The worse pain that I had ever felt ripped through my body causing me to come out of the darkness. I kept my eyes clenched shut, too afraid to see what was going on around me. As the pain lessened, I could feel myself lying on the ground, panting.

"Jared, open your eyes," I heard. Of course I'm a stubborn ass, so I shook my head, causing whoever it was talking to me, to bark out a laugh, wait, bark? What the hell!

"Stop being a fucking pansy ass, and open your damn eyes." I felt my anger flare at being called a pansy. I opened my eyes and couldn't believe it.

"What the fuck! I'm gray, I have paws. WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? I have a tail? Fuck, okay, I need to lay off the drinking." During my little rant, I heard someone laughing.

"Jared, calm down." I looked at Sam, but all I saw was a huge black dog. "Werewolf, not dog. Damn, don't degrade me like that." He chuckled.

"How are you in my head? What the fuck is going on!"

"Jared, you remember the legends?" I nodded; I always thought they were a load of bullshit. "No not bullshit, because lookie here, you're a wolf! The legends are true. I'm in your head because this is how we communicate."

"Fine, grand, dandy, what the fuck ever. How do I become human again?"

"Think happy thoughts of being human." Easier said than done, but I managed. I thought of a time before all this bullshit started. When I still had my best friend and our group was all happy. I felt the fire going through my body and my bones breaking again, making me howl out in pain. When I opened my eyes again, I was human. I felt something hit me and looked to see that I had caught a pair of cut off shorts. I looked up and saw a naked Sam pulling on shorts, causing me to look down to see myself naked as well. I quickly put on the shorts; I'm sure blushing while doing so.

"The more you phase, the less it hurts." I looked up to see Sam walking towards the house. I started walking towards the house, with probably the biggest headache I had ever had.

"Now what?" I asked once we got sat down on the tan leather couch.

"Well, since now you know the legends are true, there's some other stuff that goes along with it."

"Are there other wolf – people – whatever the fuck we are?"

"Not yet, but there will be." I looked at him confused. "Jared, the wolf gene has been passed down through generations. The gene was triggered from a coven of vampires that live in Forks. With them around, the gene has awoken. It's just a matter of time before the others join. But until then, you cannot tell anyone of this, or hang out with them."

"What the fuck do you mean not hang out with them? They're my friends!" I yelled, starting to slightly shake.

"Calm the fuck down." His tone was different, not my best friend's. This was a command, and I felt my body give in and stop shaking. I looked at Sam, once again confused. "I'm the Alpha of our pack. I can order you to do things, but please, don't make me. Now, since you're a young werewolf, your temper is shorter. You can't phase in front of people, which means you cannot hang out with our friends. It sucks, but it has to be done. Look Jared, I know this isn't going to be easy, I mean, look at me. I had to stop talking to my friends, and break-up with my girlfriend of how many years?"

"Why did you break-up with her?" I asked, curiously.

"One, I couldn't risk being around her and accidently phasing, and ending up hurting her. Secondly, Harry threatened to neuter me." I was confused, but couldn't help but laugh.

"Why would be neuter you?" I finally got out once I was able to talk again. The look of seriousness and sadness on Sam's face caused me to sober up.

"There's a thing called imprinting. It's when you meet your soul mate. Once you look into her eyes, nothing else matters, except her. You become whatever she wants, whether it's a best friend, brotherly figure, or a lover. You do anything to make her happy, and protect her. She'll be the only thing holding you to this world." When he finished, his voice and posture held nothing but sadness. I knew then.

"You didn't imprint on Leah." It wasn't a question.

"No. Harry told me that if I didn't imprint on her, then I needed to let her go. If I didn't, when I did imprint and we were still together, I would just hurt her more. I wouldn't be able to stay with her, because the imprint would be to strong. I guess it causes you physical pain being away from your imprint."

"That sucks. I'm sorry." I mumbled.

"Nothing we can do about it. According to fate, this is how it was suppose to be. Moving on, we also have to patrol the area for new vampires. Due to the treaty, we cannot touch the Cullen's. We protect our people."

We spent the rest of the day talking about the tribe. How since he was the first to phase he was alpha which really meant that he was chief of the tribe. But once Jacob Black phased, he was the rightful chief, if he wished to step up. I was second in command, once again that would change if Jake stepped up. I also found out that we ran a high temperature, so I'd be running around in shorts, a lot.

Once we were done talking about that, we just hung out just like we used to. I was happy to have my best friend back but knew tomorrow wasn't going to be easy. I knew our friends would think something was up; it was just a matter of what they thought.

When I got home, I went straight for my room. It was going to be hard to ignore my little brother. Walking by the mirror in my room, I stopped. I turned my body towards it and smirked. There was one good thing about phasing; I looked damn good. My body had filled out, making me look to be in my mid-twenties. I had hard abs and muscle everywhere else. I didn't have a bad lookin' body before the change, but it was nothing compared to how I was now.

The next two week drug by. I wasn't allowed at school until I could control my temper better. And since I had to avoid all my friends, my temper wasn't looking at the 'better' side. Sam was with me almost all the time, and when we weren't patrolling, we were at his house. The elders had worked their magic, and Sam was able to graduate early, me, not so much. Since I was just a junior, I didn't have the required credits, which meant, I would still have to go to school.

School, I wasn't looking forward to going back. Rumors had been going around that Sam and I were in a gang, or something equally as bad. I couldn't help but laugh. These dumb asses thought we were in a gang, and we were protecting them.

When I couldn't miss school anymore, I went back. I went to my classes, ignored the whispers about me. Well except for the ones from the girls, those just boosted my ego a little bit. I tried to ignore the glares from my friends and brother. I acted like none of it bothered me, but on the inside, it was almost killing me. I grabbed a tray and went through the lunch line, grabbing enough food to feed at least three people. That's one of the sucky parts of being a wolf, you eat a shit ton. I walked to an empty table and sat down. I listened to my friends talk from a couple tables over.

"Leah, we still doing the fire tonight?" Embry asked.

"Yeah, Emily is coming down to see us. She hasn't been to one in awhile, so I think it'll be fun." She answered.

"Do you think we should ask Jared?" Jake asked.

"No, he's with Sam now. Forget them." Leah said harshly. It stung more than it should have. I pushed away from the table and threw my trash away on my way out the door and towards the trees. I had just hit the trees and gotten my shorts off, when I felt the fire that I'd grown to love, burst through my body.

"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be at school?" I showed him what had just happened in the lunch room, and he left it alone, letting me skip.

We decided to watch over the bonfire tonight. We wouldn't get to close, but close enough to know what was going on.

That night we watched as people showed up, and music started playing. I watched as my friends and little brother had a good time, while I was here protecting them. I'm not complaining, for most of them will know soon enough why I can't talk to them.

I sat there and watching as a girl I had known as Emily, Leah's cousin walking towards us. She looked around, and I heard an intake of breath. I looked over to see Sam almost lost and my only thought was; Oh fuck, Sam just imprinted on Leah's cousin!

Jake POV

When Sam went missing, we had lost part of our group. No one was completely themselves. Always worried about the guy that was like our family. Leah and Jared took it the hardest though. Leah constantly cried, and would barely talk to anyone. Jared started drinking all the time, and became an asshole to be around. Our group changed the day Sam disappeared.

The day that Sam came back, Jared left our group. I had heard he went over to Sam's and ripped into him. But after that, it's like they're best friends again. Then Jared pretty much vanished for two fucking weeks. And when I finally saw them both, they were fucking huge! They grew at least seven inches each, and had muscle that would have taken months if not years to get.

Then things got worse when Sam came back, and broke Leah's heart. I didn't know what caused the sudden break-up. I mean they had been together for forever, and we all thought that they would get married.

Tonight we are having a bonfire in hopes to have some fun, God knows we need some. Leah's cousin was coming down to stay the weekend with her, so she was gonna bring some of her friends. Plus we'd have kids from Forks coming, so it was going to be fun.

I ran home after school to change clothes before making my way to the beach to help set-up. When I got there, the party was already started. Leah wasn't here yet, so I wandered around talking to people from Forks. I wasn't great friends with them, but we got along... well I got along with most of them. Mike Newton needed to grow a pair, and get a fucking clue.

After about an hour of walking around, it was finally getting dark enough to start the fire. I saw Leah walking towards us with a very grown-up looking Emily. I had known Emily since we were little, but I hadn't seen her in a couple of years. And fuck if those years didn't do good for her body.

Emily came walking up the beach in a matching jean skirt and jacket. The jacket had fur around the collar, and underneath I saw a yellow tube top shirt thing. But what really got me were those long tanned legs, and to top it off, those high heeled sandals she was wearing. Oh my god, this girl will be the death of me. I was brought out of my thoughts by someone laughing.

"I see Jacob remembers you Emily." Leah giggled. I really wanted to be mad at her for calling my sorry ass out, but to hear her laughing again, I'd get over it.

"Indeed." Emily mused.

"Let's keep walking shall we?" Leah asked. As they were walking by, Emily stopped by me.

"You don't look so bad yourself Jacob Black." She purred in my ear before walking to catch up with Leah.

I spent the rest of the night hanging out with Embry and Quil. Embry was in a bad mood, I guess him and Steph broke up. But Leah was laughing and having a good time, and it was good to see our group was back to being somewhat normal.

As a couple of weeks went on, things seemed to get more weird. I had just got home from school and heard my father talking.

"Yes, Paul... I think it's best you come home... The sooner the better, no one can know..." Billy grumbled. Paul Meraz?

Paul Meraz was an old friend. He moved away when he was seven, and no one had heard from him since. Hmm . . . guess he's finally coming home. But why can't anyone know about it?

Two days later, I found myself wanting to see Paul. He was to be here at any moment. When he finally got to my house, I couldn't believe it. He looked just like Jared and Sam, well okay not in the face, but the body build.

"Jacob, will you excuse us please?" Billy asked. I nodded and kept my eyes on Paul. He looked much older then he really was.

I sat in my room, bored off my ass. I heard the front door open and figured Paul left. Jumping out of my window, I saw Paul, Jared and Sam standing in my front yard.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Remember, were not good enough for you." I sneered at Sam and Jared.

"Jacob." Sam said shortly.

"Paul, don't tell me your going to hang out with them? They are just a gang into some bad shit!" I yelled.

"Jacob, inside now!" I turned to see Billy in the doorway, glaring at me.

I stomped past Sam, Jared and their new follower Paul. I glared at them the whole way, wishing I could put them on their asses.

"Jacob that was uncalled for and completely disrespectful. What am I going to do with you?" And there it was the disappointment in Billy's voice.

"They have no reason to be here!" I yelled.

Billy just shook his head at me. "One day, you'll know. Until then, your punishment for disrespecting people, you are to clean out the storage room."

I groaned as I started walking towards the storage room of hell. It might as well have been a damn shed. Everything we haven't used in years goes in there. When I got to the door, I actually had to shove to get the door open. Looking into the room from the doorway, I groaned. This was going to suck. There were blankets, boxes of only God knows what, clothes and paperwork.

"Oh Jacob, here ya go." I looked to see Billy dropping black totes down by me. I looked at them confused. He didn't really mean to clean clean this out did he? "Everything in the boxes, move to the totes. I don't want mice to get in them." Again, I groaned.

I heard Sam, Jared and Paul talking to my father in the living room. I tried to ignore them, and it seemed to work as I threw myself into cleaning. I opened the windows and shook out the blankets before refolding them and placing them in one of the totes. When all the blankets were shook out, placed in the tote, lid put on and marked what was in there, I started on the boxes.

I found a box full of photo albums and opened the first one, and saw a picture of my mom holding me. Flipping through the pages, I wanted to cry the more I saw pictures of my mom. I really missed her. My mom died when I was eight from cancer. The only good thing about it was she didn't suffer. I laughed at the page of us at the beach. I looked to be about three or four, and I seemed to be running away from my mom. In the next picture, my mom was holding me by my shorts, and I was hanging in the air. I kept flipping through pages until the last one; the day my mom died.

I carefully put the album in the tote and moved onto the next box. Blowing the dust off the top, I saw the writing of 'Baby Girl'. I carefully opened the box and on top saw a white baby dress with a pink bow. Who the fuck's clothes are these? Moving the dress aside, I saw more girl clothes. I placed them in the box, revealing a photo album. I opened the cover and saw a beautiful brunette holding a baby. The female was smiling lovingly at the baby. Turning the page, I saw Billy holding the baby. Hmm they must be old friends. Flipping through the pages, you could see the baby was in fact a girl.

There was a picture when the little girl looked to be around two years old. She had deep chocolate eyes, and her facial features looked similar to mine. . . What the fuck! She was running around in a yard and the closer you looked at the picture, you could see the front door to my house. I shakily turned the page and my anger flared. There was Billy and this mystery woman kissing, Billy holding the little girl. I grabbed the album off the floor, stomping out of the room.

Entering the living room, Sam, Jared, Paul and Billy looked at me confused. Clearly I just walked in on their conversation.

"What's the matter Jake?" Billy asked. My body was shaking so hard, I felt like I was vibrating.

"Care to explain?" I asked.

"To what am I explaining?" He had the balls to act innocent.

"Who the fuck is the little girl Billy!" I yelled. He still looked confused.

"What little girl?" I held up the photo album for Billy to see. I saw sadness flash in his eyes, before realization set in. "Jake, where did you find that?"

"Billy, who the fuck is the little girl!"

"Calm down, please Jake." Billy pleaded with me.

"Not until you tell me." I seethed.

"Your sister."

That's all it took for fire to flash through my body. Every fucking bone felt like it was breaking, and I was turning into ashes. I doubled over in pain and clenched my eyes shut. What the fuck is causing this pain? When the pain finally eased up, I felt myself sitting and greedily sucking in air.

"Welcome to the pack, Jacob." I heard Sam say.