Golden Hour: A Team Jacob Twilight FanFic

Defection

I nearly fell off my bed as I swiftly spun around to see who was climbing through my window. But Edward was already standing in front of me.

I gasped and scooted backward.

"Edward," I said once I was composed. "Y-you scared me."

"I didn't mean to frighten you. It's okay, please." He reached his hand out to graze my chest. "Calm down, your heart."

A bewildered look ate away at his perfect face, and the deep onyx of his eyes indicated that he was starving. He was still wearing his suit, minus the jacket and shoes, and his tousled bronze hair made him look almost rabid. Though it was impossible for his face to ever change, he looked nearly unrecognizable in the shadows of my room. There was only one other time I remember seeing him like this, unkempt and defeated. Erratic. And it was when he went off to die in Italy.

I've hurt him badly.

I sank further into shame.

"I'm so sorry. I don't even know what to say. I wasn't ready to speak with you yet. I told you, I told you... not to come."

He slowly paced around the room, hands behind his back, eyeing every corner. What he was looking for, I wasn't sure.

"Yes, well, that was yesterday. I wasn't sure if you'd changed your mind. Regardless, I don't think I could've waited much longer." He looked at me with sincere pain in his eyes, a pain I've not yet seen. The agony dissolved his flawlessness, and he looked almost human.

Instantly, he knelt before me, staring at my feet.

"How are your feet feeling? I saw you limping to the car."

I knew it.

"They're fine, healing. Still stings, but I'm walking a lot better. I can ignore it."

He pulled one of my ankles toward him to inspect my sole.

"Want me to wrap this better?"

"No. It's fine, really."

"Or Carlisle can, of course."

"Edward. Why did you come here?"

He released my ankle and went back to striding across my room. The speed made it seem like he was glitching in the casting glow from my window.

"One day felt like a century. I don't get the luxury of sleep like you do. I would kill for 8-10 hours of unconsciousness. Though, I bet I wouldn't have been able to sleep at all knowing you were on the reservation."

I grit my teeth. "They would never hurt me. And you know that."

He stopped in his tracks and stared at me coldly.

"No, I don't know that. Neither do you. Do you not realize that they dislike you? I would say some of them hate you. I've been in their minds."

"Exactly, and you know they wouldn't hurt me even so."

He scoffed.

"You don't understand how difficult it was for me to allow them to take you away from me that day. But I knew you would have wanted to be far from the guests and my family. If I knew you were sleeping at the mongrels' house, I would have never-"

"Stop." I lept off the bed, my hands starting to shake. "Just stop!"

"Did they hurt you?" He floated in front of me, checking my body for injury. He delicately caressed my face. "Are you harmed?"

I stepped back out of his grip.

"No!"

"They're volatile creatures. Their minds work incredibly differently than any others. While working with them fighting the newborns, I've heard their moods change in mere seconds. An excellent ally to have in war, but not to keep as company. They are strong, faster than me, even. Deadly. You should know this by now."