The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter LXXII: Jacob's Point of View

I was beyond livid that Bella had pushed Annie out of her way and cuddled against me. I pulled my shorts down my legs, still dreaming of my girl. I swear on my life, I had thought that she was going to ask me to stay. And if she had, I wouldn't have known what to say. I could see the pleading in her eyes, her beautiful blue bulbs begging for me to stay here with her. And I didn't want to leave her. I really didn't. No. I wanted to take her into the city, to some nice hotel. I wanted to get her out of here where we could be happy and normal teenagers. I wanted her to be safe, though. And unfortunately, this was what I had to do to make that happen.

She's right here, Jake, Seth promised when after I'd phased in. Through his eyes, I could see my beautiful girl laying down against Seth's belly. I smiled a little, my tongue lolling out of my mouth as I ran.

You protect her, Seth; I can't lose her.

I know, boss. I'm not going to let anything touch her.

"I can't lose them okay?" I heard Annie saying through Seth's thoughts. Seth leaned down and licked her cheek, watching Annie smile in Seth's eyes. She looked happy, like the girl that I remembered.

Focus Jake, Sam barked at me. I shook my head and cleared away the images from my head.

You can't protect her if you're distracted, he added. He was right. And that was what I needed to hear from him. I needed to focus on the task at hand. I needed to end this and get my girl out of here and safe. After this was all over, I could get us back to the way we were before the vampires became the center of our lives.

I sprinted to the clearing, watching everyone crouch down and prepare for the fight. We were waiting, the Cullens in their own circle around us. The disgusting smell of leech burned my nose from every angle, but I couldn't allow myself to fight. Not them; not the Cullens. For once, they were on my side. Working with them was the only way that I was going to protect the girl that I loved more than anything else in the entire world.

"They're coming," the little leech said. All of us tensed, even those of us in the trees. Sam let out a long howl.

Get ready, guys, he said.

The first few of the baby vamps filtered in, bloodlust driving them forward. Maybe Bella was right; her blood was pressed on a few leaves around the clearing. The parasites were running forward, were driven by their desire for the girls.

Let's go, Paul said quietly, snapping his jaws at the bloodsuckers that were coming in. We were all waiting for it. We were sitting, anticipating the signal from Sam. Without Bella's Cullen here to dig around out heads, we had no way to coordinate this attack. Wr had no way to know when everything was going to end. There was no honor code here; if a Cullen was hurt it sucked, but it wasn't going to be something that was going to tear us apart. It would only hurt our chances of winning.

But no matter who got hurt, who was on the ground, I wouldn't stop until the things that were after my imprint were burned to ashes. The first of the leeches, a girl I thought I recognized from one of Annie's old MMA competitions, leapt at the Cullen mom. The motherly leech pulled her away, clamping her arms around the other parasite's arms while the Doc stood and ripped its head from its body.

Go.

That single world was all that I needed. I exploded from my crouch and leapt on the first vampire that I saw, dismembering the little fuck as quickly as I could and starting on the next. This wasn't going to end well for this bitch and her newborn arm. I found another and leapt on it, snarling at the one that found its way to my back. I could hear the snapping of a rib in my chest as Jared jumped forward and ripped the little shit off of me. Jared stood on his chest, the parasite's arms pushing against his throat to keep him off. I bit at the throat, managing to catch just enough of that crystalized skin and pulling head from corpse.