The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter LXX: Jacob's Point of View

I hadn't been sleeping very long when panic started climbing up my heart. But it wasn't my own. I opened my eyes, trying to ignore the smell of leech, letting out a painful snarl. Ryanne was shivering in my arms, but she wasn't cold. The faint sheen of sweat on her forehead gave evidence to that.

"She's dreaming about your death," a quiet voice said from in front of me. I snapped at the leech, even though I knew that he wasn't going to do anything to her. "No; I won't. She's an interesting little girl."

"She's not just girl," I said. "She's nothing to you." No, she would never be anything important to him. I wouldn't allow it.

"She's very persistent," he commented. If he only knew. "She knows that she's dreaming," he said suddenly. It's very interesting to listen to.

"Get out of her head, Leech. Go dig around in someone else's."

"How do you think it is that two girls of the same blood ended up so different?" I snorted.

"Genetics doesn't have a thing to do with their personalities. Isn't there some shit that proved their learned habits make up their personality? You're the genius," I snapped. To compare Bella to Annie was like comparing a snake to a butterfly.

"What happened between you two?" he asked. "I asked her, but she won't tell me." I didn't want to say it. I couldn't let my temper get the best of me. Not in such a small space where my girl couldn't get away from me.

So I let the memory flash through my brain, the screaming, the shouting, the hateful words that I had said to her. If the monster was a man, a real man with a beating heart, I would feel bad for him. He was in love with a girl who was playing him. And, much like me, he wouldn't realize it until he'd made a mistake.

"You're wrong," he said. "I know all the things about her .I'm surprised that she kissed you. And I am sorry for the trouble that she caused your mate."

My arm flexed instinctively around the fit girl by my side, pulling her tighter and trying not to shiver away from Bella behind me. I was here to save a human. I was here to protect a human.

"Trouble is an understatement, parasite. She's almost been killed on multiple occasions and now she's being hunted by an army of vampires. Trouble doesn't even begin to explain it."

Annie wiggled her backside into me, seeking out the comfort she could only find with me. I was, after all, her imprint. Her fingers started to tighten around mine as she sighed in her sleep.

"Jake," she murmured, but it wasn't the sad sound that normally woke me in the middle of the night.

"Those were mental images that I never needed to see," he said, cringing. I smiled. I could only imagine what Annie was thinking about. At least I knew that she wasn't regretting the previous night.

"No, she is showing no sign of regret."

"You could get out of her head," I said. "Maybe you could focus on digging around in your own mate's head."

"Don't you think I've tried that already?" he snapped. "I've tried everything to get in her head, Jacob, but it has done me no good."

"Maybe you could do what was good for her and leave. It would sure make my imprint's life a little easier," I growled.

"I wonder about that, too," he said quietly. "I wonder if you could've made her happier, if you could be better for her than I am."

"You're not wrong there," I said. "But like I told Bella, someone like me might make her happy; but not me. I have my mate and I'm not giving her up any time soon."