Life ✶ Jasper Hale

✶Twelve: Triggered

✦Jasper✦

Svetlana is sleeping peacefully when I arrive inside of her bedroom early Monday morning. Her silky, two-toned hair spread out smoothly across her pillows as she lays on her side, a hand tucked under her cheek. I hear her soft breath moving slowly in and out between her lips. The room basking in her luxurious fragrance, filling my lungs.

It's an amazing relief to be here, to be able to see my mate again. I have come to realize that I'm not truly at ease unless that is the case. Nothing is right when I am away from her.

Moving without a sound, I sit down on her dark purple ottoman to where I have a better view of see exquisite face. I am afraid that if I let myself get too close to her, I would want to be closer still. Everything about Lana calls to me; luring me in. Her lips look very soft and warm. I can only imagine touching them with the tip of my finger. Just lightly...

My eyes run over her face again and again, examining it for changes. Mortals change all the time—I'm saddened at the thought of missing anything. She looks...tired. Like she hasn't gotten enough sleep this weekend.

Had she gone out?

I laugh silently and wryly at how much that upsets me. My mind spinning as I continue to gaze intently at the gorgeous girl that has enthralled me since the very moment she stepped into my life.

So what if she had? I don't own her. She isn't mine. No, she isn't mine—and I am sad again. Though, she did say she has feelings for me. Friday cannot get here fast enough...

After awhile, I try to picture her in the sun on the beach. The picture is incomplete, though, because I've never been to First Beach myself. I only know how it looked in pictures... I feel a tiny qualm of unease as I think about the reason why I've never once been to the pretty beach located just a few seconds run from my home. Lana and Bella had spent a day at La Push—a place where I am forbidden, by treaty, to go. A place where a few old men still remember the stories about the Cullens, remember and believe them.

A place where our secret is known...

I shake my head, pushing my distress out of my mind. I have absolutely nothing to worry about there. The Quileutes are bound by treaty as well. Why should I be burdened by this? Even if Svetlana ran into one of those aging sages, they could reveal nothing.

I'm angry with the sun when it begins to rise. It reminds me of how I cannot spend time with her for days to come. Choosing to shine and keep away from her just when I'm craving to be with her most. With a forlorn sigh, I slip out of her bedroom, jumping off the balcony. I glance back for a moment before I speed off towards home.

✧✧✦✧✧

Once it's almost time for school to begin, I'm exceptionally swift to change my clothing and rush out of the house to join Edward near the high school. That way we can keep an eye on both Lana and Bella. Understanding how much Bella means to my brother and Svetlana, for them, I intend to protect her too. Edward loves Lana, he is utterly grateful to have her watching over his mate. That, and he already considers her as apart of the family; all of my siblings feel this way about her.

When I locate him, he is in the woods that edge the parking lot, watching Bella interact with the Newton kid. Edward hasn't noticed me yet as he uproots a young sapling. Following his glare back to the pair to find Mike tucking a stand of Bella's hair behind her ear.