Disclaimer - The fabulous characters of my story, with the exception of a few, belong to the wonderful Stephenie Meyer and come from her Twilight series.

Jacob walked swiftly, quietly through the forest, brushing past the trees with an unnatural grace. The woods were where he felt free. He could breathe in the moist, clean air and push away the thoughts he hated most.

He thought about phasing, but quickly decided against it. He wanted his thoughts to be his own, not shared among the others. His heart was pounding in his chest. Though his steps were quick, he knew it had nothing to do with his racing heart.

He stopped for a minute, raising his head to the sky and taking a long, deep, calming breath. He stared for awhile at the lush green canopy covering the ever present clouds, letting the rain that made it through the treetops run down his face. Finally he hung his head and continued at his brisk pace. He listened to the water crashing against the rocks and let the constant rhythm calm his nerves.

It had been almost two months since Bella married him. She'd done it, gone and married the bloodsucker. At least before the wedding he could tell himself she might change her mind. Every day he woke up thinking that today might be the day, the day she would run to him and tell him she couldn't do it, she wouldn't marry Edward.

But that day never came. He thought of going and watching; not attending of course, but watching the ceremony from the sidelines. But he knew if he were that close he wouldn't be able to control himself. He knew he would have gone and grabbed Bella and run as far and as fast as he could. Or worse, torn the bloodsucker apart right there and then. But he'd promised Bella; he had told her he would let go, that he would stop pulling her in two different directions. He'd told her he would just be her friend.

But that never happened. He hadn't spoken to her since that last day in his room, when he promised her he would stop pulling and let her walk out his door. He had heard nothing from Edward since he sent him that dreaded invitation. Jacob shuddered and pushed the thought of that day from his mind.

The day of their wedding he woke up and went straight into the forest, pacing and running all day long. When he had finally come home, one look from Billy was all he needed. One look told him that Billy had spoken to Charlie; that Bella had gone through with it. His life since that day had gone by in a haze. He went day to day not really paying any attention to what he was doing. He patrolled when Sam told him to patrol, trying desperately to keep his head clear of the thoughts he didn't want the others to hear.

He hated being around them, seeing the look of pity in their eyes, listening to the insults they hurled at the bloodsucker, all in an effort to make him feel better. When school started he went, never really focusing, just going through the motions like everything else he did. At least the others seemed to be giving up now. They had stopped trying to cheer him up and take his mind off of it. Now they just said hi, made small talk, and walked away.

All except for Leah, of course, who had been annoyingly persistent at their friendship since he'd saved her the day of the big fight. She drove him nuts, always talking a mile a minute about things he could care less about.

He knew Billy was worried about him. At first Billy had tried to talk things through. Then he was just quiet for awhile. Then he got angry and tried to yell. Now he just sent worried glances every now and then. Jacob knew Billy talked to Sam, asked what thoughts Sam had been able to hear. But what little Sam could hear was never anything new. His thoughts were Bella; always Bella. Billy would talk to Charlie and update Jacob on what was happening with Bella. He was just waiting for the day Billy told him that she and Edward had gone off to some faraway college. But surprisingly that day hadn't come yet.

He had been sure that right after the wedding they would have left, but as far as he knew they were still in Forks. And Bella was still unchanged. Some tiny part of him hoped that she'd changed her mind, that she wouldn't let Edward change her into a vampire. But, truthfully, he knew that she would never change her mind, and that eventually it would happen, and the Bella he knew would be forever gone.

He kicked his bare foot against the wide tree trunk. He hated that his thoughts were always her, that he couldn't get her off of his mind. He wondered how often she thought of him, if she missed him; if she ever regretted choosing Edward instead of him. Instead of a normal life where she didn't have to give up her humanity.

The thought of her being bitten, of her dying, of her being one of…

He had to stop thinking about Bella. He took in a deep breath to stop the quivering. When he wasn't just going through the motions he felt angry. When he didn't feel angry he felt nothing.

He stopped walking and just stared ahead, seeing nothing. He was pretty sure the pain would stop one day. He just didn't know when that day would come. He wanted that day now. Now that he knew he had no chance with Bella, that her life would forever be with Edward, he wanted her out of his mind. He wanted to stop picturing her face, her smile; he wanted to stop hearing her voice. But he never could.

He sat down on the moss covered ground and put his head between his hands. He leaned his back on a massive tree trunk and just sat, trying to force the unwanted thoughts out of his head.

After a few minutes of deep breathing he felt better. Well, not really better, just not angry. Dead again, empty. He thought back to the year before, to the day Bella had come to see him. She had looked horrible, sad…dead, like he felt now. But she came back again, and again, and slowly he had watched her come back to life.

He wondered what, if anything, would bring him back to life. He longed for those days, when he would sit in the garage and work, when he and Embry and Quil would just hang out; there was no patrolling, and they weren't werewolves. When the Cullen's were gone, and Bella came, and she wasn't his; but she wasn't Edward's either.

But he knew that wasn't true. He knew Bella had really always been his. He closed his eyes and tried to think of something, anything else. He tried to think about school, but he couldn't really remember what he was studying. Or rather, what he was supposed to be studying.

He tried thinking about the guys, but he realized he had no idea what was going on with any of them. It had been so long since he had talked, really talked, to Embry or Quil; or anyone for that matter. He was so desperate for a distraction that he tried to remember the last useless thing Leah had babbled about. He thought it was some movie she wanted to see, but he couldn't remember the name of it.

It was while he was sitting there with his head between his hands, his eyes closed, trying to force his mind to remember the name of the movie; grasping at anything that wasn't Bella, when he heard the rustling in the brush. His head snapped up, looking off to the south. He held his breath to hear better, and the rustling continued. He sniffed the air, trying to figure out who, or what, was making the sound. He knew it wasn't a vampire. He'd be able to smell the thing from a mile away.

He stood up and started walking toward the sound. Maybe someone was patrolling in the area? He tried to remember who had been scheduled to patrol that day, if anyone had even been scheduled, but of course he hadn't paid attention.

Phasing and patrolling wasn't even something he enjoyed anymore. He had to try so hard to keep his thoughts away from Bella, to try and keep them private from the others. Usually he would sing some random song over and over in his head. He knew it drove them crazy, but he figured it was better than them hearing about Bella. At least the song changed day to day.

The rustling became louder; he knew he was getting closer to the source of the sound. He kept walking in the direction of the rustling. He wasn't scared; he knew there was nothing out there that could hurt him, nothing that he couldn't take.

Maybe he would prefer if it were a vampire; tearing it to pieces would be a great way to get his anger out. He came up to a line of trees, and froze mid step. He looked through the trees ahead at the girl walking through the forest alone. She was walking slowly, parallel to him, looking up toward the sky.

She wore brown hiking boots, blue jeans, and a black t-shirt. She had no raincoat, instead just letting the moisture that made it through the canopy of treetops soak through her. She had brown hair, cut short, the pieces all different lengths.

She was short, more than a foot shorter than his six foot six inch frame. She wasn't thin, but it was obvious that she was very athletic. Her body was compact and toned. She had a symmetrical face, with a narrow, thin nose, high cheekbones, and thin lips. Her face looked open, peaceful, like she was completely at home in her surroundings. Her steps were slow and purposeful. She stopped, continued to look up, and closed her eyes. She took a long, deep breath and smiled.

But none of this was what caught Jacob's attention. He stood there, trying to calm himself, trying to make his breathing steady, to make his heart stop racing. His head was swimming and he felt dizzy, like he might fall over. He looked away from her and grabbed the trunk of the nearest tree for support. He had never seen this girl in his life, but whoever she was, this lone girl walking through the forest, this girl who looked so calm, so peaceful; whoever she was, she had answered his dilemma.

He knew that thinking of Bella was no longer his biggest problem. Because whoever this girl was, Jacob had just imprinted on her.