Breaking Boundaries | Jacob Black

Congee

Exams came and went and before Natalia knew it, they were over for the year. Snow had fallen in the two weeks they'd been confined to their desks and listening to the statutory clock tick-ticking-ticking to signal the end of every paper and finally, they managed to make it out alive despite the chorus of groans and grumbles about how "I'm totally failing this" and "I don't even know what I learnt".

"Hey Ma, I'm going to Emily's," she called out on the first day of the holidays while lacing up her snow boots. One might have been excited about the prospect of lazing around all day without doing anything. For Natalia though, it was a completely different story.

"Okay, be careful!" Her mother appeared in the doorway and leaned onto its frame, worry swimming in her eyes as she watched her daughter's figure. There was no denying the sense of impending doom that the young Ling girl was carrying around her these days, and despite being kept in the dark about everything, Mrs. Ling knew that it had to do with the wolves and the protection of their lands, "are you sure you don't want me to drive you there?"

"No it's okay, anyway—" the doorbell rung to cut off anything that Natalia might have said next and she turned towards it with a small smile, "—Jacob's accompanying me."

"So are you two..." her mother trailed off while raising a pointed eyebrow, "...you know..."

"Ma seriously?" Natalia rolled her eyes. She reached for the door to open it, but not before saying, "no. We're not."

No matter how much she tried, it was complicated to put a finger on the nature of Natalia and Jacob's relationship. On one hand, they acted like the best of friends. On the other, there still seemed to be unresolved matters that were always brought up at the wrong times and resulted in some friction that Natalia would rather ignore than address.

They'd agreed on settling on getting to know each other better without any expectations, and despite the way Jacob's wolf kept on howling and internally pacing at the distance he was forced to be from his mate, Jacob knew that it would be for the best in the long run. It wasn't that he disliked Natalia. On the contrary, he knew there were possibilities for a future with her, could see himself be as happy as he could be in her presence, but the thought alone scared him. He wanted to take things slow and make sure that this, this relationship, was what he wanted.

There was nothing more to discuss about Bella. She was going to choose Edward, again and again, and Jacob wasn't sticking around to see that happen.

"Excited about the holidays?" He asked as they made the short walk to Emily's. Snow had already covered the ground, ice patches forming in places of puddles. Jacob had never seen her look so cute and had to stop himself from pinching her cheeks; what with the way her beanie was set and how the snow jacket seemed to drown her entire frame.

She looked like a little kid wearing her mother's clothes. It made his heart giddy with emotion.

"Yeah, honestly sleeping without an alarm is going to be a luxury," Natalia replied, swiftly avoiding a frozen puddle like her life depended on it, "what will you be up to during the holidays?"

"Honestly?" He chuckled, "it depends on what happens this coming week."

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, the war is coming up soon," Jacob looked down at her then, hating the way a flash of fear crossed her face. He wished he could erase all of it, "and we don't have much time for training."

"Do you really have to go through with this?" Worry lined her voice and Jacob let out a sigh, pressed his lips together, "yeah. We don't have much of a choice. The Cullens wouldn't make it alone and we—we need to defend our turf. It's the reason why we exist."