The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter CII: Jacob's Point of View

"You're just a silly girl with the stupid idea that you can still save her." It was one of those sentences that leaves your mouth and you instantly regret. The hurt flashed across her face and I instantly wanted to apologize to her. But she was the one that was being stupid. Killing her sister was what needed to be done. Annie needed to be selfish and take care of herself for once.

She shook her head a little and glared at me. "Better a silly girl with a stupid idea than a dumb boy who's too much of an asshole to let me finish," she spat, grabbing her favorite jacket and running out of the house.

"Annie wait!" I managed to get out, but she was already gone. She was just going down to the beach to think. And once she had thought things through, she would realize that I was right. It wasn't very hard to see that I was right about this. Bella had to die. It was the only thing that was going to keep my Annie-girl safe. I watched her dart into the forest then. What was she doing?

Was this just what she lived for? I mean, damn it woman! She was going to get herself hurt. God damn it! I dashed out to the forest line then, staying human so that I could yell at her once I found her. How hard was it to stay and yell at me. I mean, she could get hurt all the way out here.

What if she got hurt? The guys were running patrol. Who knows if she would be anywhere that they could hear her? What if they didn't find her?

"Annie!" I screamed. I followed the scent of sea water and mangos deeper in the forest until I felt a ghostly twinge of pain on my ankle. See what happens when you don't listen; you get hurt!

"Annie!" There was no response. The pain intensified in my skin, but I was more than aware that it wasn't me. Who knows what her pain actually felt like. I was strong, almost invincible. She could have broken something and I wouldn't know because it wouldn't feel that way to me. I had to find her. I followed her scent, sprinting and bending around the trees until I found her. The mud gave under my feet, but it only sent me to my knees.

"Are you okay, baby?" I begged, cupping her cheeks in my hands. How could I have been so stupid? I could lose her at any moment. She needed to know that I loved her at every turn.

"Are you hurt?" I checked her neck, her arms, her ribs. I knew that her ankle hurt, but there could have been something else. God I was an idiot.

"Are you hurt Annie?" I begged her now. She still hadn't said anything. She glared at me, barely any blue peeking back at me through her lashes as she nodded. "Where? What happened baby?"

"Well, besides the fact that I was a silly little girl who got tripped by a stupid tree root, you hurt me Jake." I flinched. I hadn't met to hurt her. I just wanted her to see how ridiculous it was for her to think that she could still save Bella. There was nothing left to save with Bella. She had said it herself: Bella had made her choice. But my words had hurt her, no matter how much I had intended on protecting her.

"I'll take you to Emily's," I whispered, choosing to focus on the part that could be easily fixed. She pushed me away as I reached out to her.

"I'll get there myself. Thanks." And there it was. There was that stubborn, bitchy tone that constantly got her in trouble. She was too damn stubborn for her own good.

"Why do you have to be so fucking stubborn?"

"You already have the monopoly on pig headedness!" she retorted. "If you could get over yourself for a minute and listen to me, you'd realize that you're wrong. Not that you care."

Not that I care? I care about her more than I care about anything in this world. What was she saying I don't care? I spent every damn day of my life, every fucking moment, trying to make sure that she was happy. And I don't care?

"You think I came sprinting out here because I don't care? It's like your personal goal is to constantly remind me how easy it would be for me to lose you."

"Then I would think you would listen to me more!" Whatever it was that she thought I didn't understand was clearly bothering her.

"Fine, say it Annie. Why can't we kill Bella?"

"Because I love you too much to watch it break you!" She was full on screaming at me now, her arms held out to her side like I had made a point that was obvious to anyone.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Annie?"

"I don't care about Bella, Jake. I don't; I can't save her. But I can save you; I can protect you, Jake."

"That's not your job, Annie." I was supposed to be the one that protects her. That's my job as an imprint. I am supposed to love her, to be there for her, to protect her. And here she was, going off about how she was going to protect me.

"It is, Jake. That's what happens when you love someone, you want to protect them. You guys are Spirit Warriors, a Pack of wolves that are meant to protect humans. You aren't supposed to kill them, Jake. It's not what you are made for," she whispered now, her eyes sad as they looked at me. She didn't care about Bella?

"Taha Aki killed a man," I informed her. It was how the legend went. Taha Aki killed Utlapa for his betrayal.

"I know the legends too Jake. Utlapa was killed because he betrayed the people, because he was evil," she whispered. "Bella is not evil, Jake. She's crazy and misguided and a little stupid, but she isn't evil. She hasn't done anything to kill people like Utlapa did."

"That thing is a monster, Annie. We don't know anything about it!"

"I'm not saying that you should let the baby live. Hell, I'm not saying that you should let Bella live. But you cannot kill her while she's human, Jake. It goes against everything that you stand for." I glared at her. I was protecting our tribe. There was nothing wrong with protecting the people, my family, my imprint.

"Soft flesh and blood is a little different from hard, stone vampires, Jake." She was right. We had never tasted blood before, any of us. We had never killed something that had a pulse, a life to it. No, we killed monsters that were already dead.

"I worry about what will happen to you, to all of you, if you kill her, Jake. Even police, the good ones who kill for justified reasons suffer the consequences of the actions. It's still taking a life.

I couldn't bare to lose you like this Jake. It would be slow and painful and I would't know how to help you. This isn't why you guys are here."

"So," I began slowly, piecing together what she was trying to say, "if Bella survives and becomes a vampire, that doesn't matter to you?" She shook her head. "And if Bella dies and we kill the spawn, that doesn't matter to you?" Shook negated again. "So I called you stupid and silly for no reason?"

"Oh yeah; I'm fucking pissed at you for that one," she informed me.

"I'm sorry, Annie; I really am. I just - I didn't want you to think that I had walked away because I was mad that your sister was dying or that she was pregnant. I just... I was pissed about the way that things happened with Edward. He had no right to call here asking you for help. And then I go talk to Sam who tells me that we've got to kill Bella and you tell me I can't. I just assumed that you -" She reached up on tip toe and placed her hand over my lips.

"I know what you assumed. Next time listen to what I have to say. I will always side with you and the Pack, Jake. I will always stand by you and support you. But you have to be willing to listen to me, Jake," she murmured. I covered the length of her arm with mine and tugged her closer, feeling her heart beat against my hand. I had been a jackass and she had been right.

"I'm sorry that I said those things, Annie. You're not a silly girl and you're not stupid." She smiled and kissed my cheek. "I have to go talk to Sam. If I walk you back to the house, will you actually stay there?"

"Don't I usually?" she laughed.

"You did just take off into the forest," I commented.

"I stayed within tribal lines!" I glared at her. "Yes, Jake; I will stay in the house like a good girl."

I leaned down and pressed my lips against hers. "I love you, Jake." My heart stuttered at the soft whisper.

"I love you too."