The Newest Moon

Werewolves

Chapter 24: Werewolves

Bella POV:

'I was annoyed, because... Well... I'm a werewolf, Bella.'

I gasped in surprise. Surely, he was joking, right? It would be next to impossible for the small town of Forks to inhibit not one, but two magical creatures. No, I probably heard it all wrong. Or I misunderstood it. That had to be the reason. A silly joke. And I had thought for just a second that it was true. Oh, how stupid of me. Silly Bella. She believes everything you tell her, haha. Silly girl. I was sure Jacob and his dad would get a good laugh out of this conversation once he told Billy. I signed.

'Haha. I get it. You're large, you have tons of muscles and your hormones make you hairy in puberty. Nice joke, Jake. You almost got me.' I was almost annoyed at him. What a stupid joke! And it wasn't even funny to begin with.

Jacob looked unbothered by my remark. He kept looking at me, to see when I would finally connect all the dots. 'I understand you think I'm joking, but I'm telling you the truth, Bells. I wasn't allowed to tell you, but I wanted to.'

It absolutely couldn't be, could it? Was everyone I grew close with, suddenly a magical creature? I could not believe my ears. 'I absolutely do not understand, Jake. What does this mean?' I asked him.

'I want to tell you, Bella. Tell you everything I know. But please do not interrupt me, because I'm afraid I can't continue if I stop before I've told you everything. I'll promise I will answer every question you still have for me at the end. Is that alright with you?' Jacob looked up, his eyes filled with innocence and hope that I would hear him out. And I felt in the pit of my stomach that even though he had just told me he was different, to me he was still the same.

I nodded.

He closed his eyes for a second. 'Thank you, Bells.'

I did not answer him, afraid that would scare him off.

He opened his eyes and kept looking over my shoulder. 'So... I'm a werewolf. A real one. A giant wolf, so to say. I haven't known about it for too long, actually. And believe me, finding out about it was an even bigger shock to me than to you. I guess that's one of the reasons why I love hanging out with you so much, Bells. You didn't know that part of me, and to you, I was still human. And for a moment, I could pretend I was human. But I can't pretend anymore,' Jacob explained. He made eye contact with me and I shivered.

'Please, don't be scared of me, Bells,' Jacob pleaded, misinterpreting my reaction.

'I'm not, Jake. I promise. Please continue,' I whispered. And I knew it was true. This man in front of me was still Jacob Black, I was sure of it.

He swallowed. 'Alright. So, I can't pretend anymore, since you're now way closer with the Cullens again, so you will learn about it sooner than later. And I'd rather have it if you learn it from me....Bella, I'm sure you saw how Edward and I reacted to each other in the parking lot just now. And I'm sure you wondered why. Do you know why?' He hopefully asked me.

I, unfortunately, had no idea what he was talking about. 'No?'

'Werewolves are the natural enemies of... Vampires,' Jacob explained to me. I was sure all the colour drained from my face as I was shocked to hear Jacob knew about vampires. How did he know? Surely, he didn't know about the Cullens, right? But he already answered my unspoken question.

'I know the Cullens are vampires, Bells. It's a tribe legend that they are. And I know you know that too.' Jacob stared intensely at me. I could not keep my face in check as I was truly surprised with the turn of this whole conversation. This could not be real.