The Only Exception

I didn’t know how things were supposed to go, honestly. But after the other night with Jacob, things began to feel alright – not safe, but alright. He had become a much lighter person, smiling more often, and he liked to kiss me and hug me more than usual. They were sweet gestures, and I loved it. His kisses did a tremendous amount on my heart. His warm lips gave me hope to some many things, all while his large hands held me close to him, giving me reassurance that I was always going to be safe in his arms.

And it was all because I finally felt what was hiding behind my walls for a great amount of time; and I’d found the courage to speak the right words.

Even though we only had two more days with each other until the war, Jacob and I spent those days together, as much as possible. After he would patrol, he’d had help from Emily and made a sweet little dinner for the two of us at his house. Apparently he had tried all by himself to make us fettuccine alfredo with a side of cooked chicken. But knowing Jacob, he should just stick to cereal and hot dogs. So he’d asked Emily to help him make us that dinner all over again, and of course Emily’s food was fantastic.

But we didn’t just see each other over a small dinner; we spent the majority of the time talking to each other, about everything that was anything. He asked me more about my home town and after the tired look on my face, he stopped, so I began to ask him questions. His smile warmed up my heart, it was all it needed, and my own heart began to smile.

But things changed instantly when I had woken up this morning. Jacob was lying next to me, sleeping like a rock, but it never left my mind that today was the day; the war was going to commence. I wasn’t sure that I had myself pulled together quite nicely for this. No one was pulled together at all. I wasn’t sure about any of this; the war, vampires, wolves, the whole supernatural thing. I was the most scared out of everyone else; I’d never grown accustom to this.

The morning of the fight, everyone was running around, talking quickly and shooting out all different directions to each other. It all sounded gibberish to me; and not only me. The imprints, who I’d met earlier, didn’t understand what the guys were talking about. We could only hear certain parts about the treaty line in mention of the Cullen’s, and patrolling, taking shifts; running eastern and the northern boundaries. I met the small group of imprints that were going to stay at Emily’s while this fight was happening. Kim was a sweet girl, but she mostly kept to herself, which was perfectly fine with me. I kept myself closed off from everyone else. Claire was a little girl, about two years old; she stayed in Emily’s arms throughout the day.

I kept myself closed off, my eyes would move around, watching everyone else prepare for something that I was so unsure of. I sat on the couch with my knees pulled up to my chest, it felt like this was the only way that I could hold myself together. I began to feel dazed and confused as Sam kissed Emily on the lips and told her he loved her. Jared had done the same for Kim, and Quil kissed Claire on her cheek, which made her giggle. Everyone else was used to this, and it made me feel even worse.

I began to chew on my lip, waiting for Jacob to walk through the door, and the instant he did, our eyes connected and I couldn’t move. I could hardly breathe; this boy was taking away every breath I’d ever had. My arms let go of my knees and I stood up just as Jacob made his way right in front of me. I could feel the tears begin to seep through my pores. My bottom lip began to quiver and my hands started to shake. In fault of my weakness, I fell into Jacob’s warm chest and hugged him for dear life. His large arms wrapped around my waist tightly as he began to whisper things into my ear.

When I looked up, I began to feel okay. Staring into his firm brown eyes was like my own safe haven, and I swear I could feel my heart begin to pound out of my chest. “I love you,” I whispered, but it was loud enough for Jacob to hear. His smirk set in on his face and he lowered himself just so he was able to kiss me.

“I love you, too, Braylin. Nothing will ever take us apart.” It was then, when I couldn't take it and I grabbed onto his beautiful toned face and smashed our lips together. It was a short kiss, but it meant so much to me. I gave him the best kiss I could, just in case we would never see each other again. I had few hopes, and several doubts.

“We need to go, the Cullen’s are already at the clearing,” Sam ordered in his alpha voice. “Jacob, come on, you need to carry Bella through the woods so her scent doesn’t attract the newborns.” Sighing, Jacob latched his lips onto mine one last time before him and the others left.

I felt a sob lurch through my throat, the boys had already shifted and ran off into the woods. I fell back onto the couch and began to sob irrevocably. I grasped at my chest as I curled myself up on the couch. I felt Emily’s arms wrap around me as she cooed me, trying her best to calm me down. Claire’s little hands rested on my face as her chocolate brown eyes looked into mine. She looked so strong, she was strong, even for a two year old.

I stifled a sob, and wiped at my eyes. There was no place for this, not when they were all out fighting for us, for the people, for Bella and for me. I sighed, taking in a deep breath and laid back on the couch.

“I’m going to go make you some tea, Bray.” Emily said with a small smile. I nodded and thanked her quietly as she perched Claire on her hip and made her way into the kitchen. While waiting for the tea, the exhaustion from crying had really gotten to me, and my eyes began to close slowly, all the way until I was in darkness.

The crunches of the leaves beneath my feet made it very obvious as to where I was. It was dark and quiet, all except for my steps that I had tried to make as quiet as possible. I knew that I was in a forest, but what forest, it wasn’t that easy to figure out. My hands reached out around me as I tried to feel for something to grab on to, in case I lost my balance or to help lead my way somewhere.

With the exception of being able to feel things around me, I could feel something edging close to me. It was a physical feeling; it held more of an emotional and internal pull. My heart began to pump faster, and I could almost feel the blood pulse throughout my body. Something was telling me to run, and instinctively, I did. I blinked my eyes closed every couple seconds, flinching away from the invisibly images flying towards my eyes.

I was confused on as why I was running in the first place, but soon realized that I had finally trusted my instincts. I began to ignore them though, because there was nothing besides me out in the woods. So stopping for a gasp of air, I leaned against a nearby tree and caught my breath. It was then when I believed I saw something escape out of the corner of my eye. Blowing out a gust of air, I sighed, and turned around quickly after seeing it again. My heart was pounding as my hands began to shake in fear. When I saw the figure move again, I gasped; this thing was getting closer to me, moving in all different spots of the forest, all just to confuse me more.

And when I turned around in my spot, there it was – there he was. I didn’t know who this was, but from studying his speed, his pale skin, the coldness radiating off of him, and his crimson red eyes, I knew exactly what he was.

“We shall be seeing each other very soon, mano meile.”

I was surprised that when I abruptly woke up from this dream, I didn’t scream or shutter and cause attention. My heart was still beating quicker than its normal pace, and I swear I was sweating. After opening my eyes, I looked around to find everyone pretty much doing their own thing. Someone who I had not recognized was now here, speaking privately to Emily in the other room. I looked at the woman, and she showed a resemblance to Leah and Seth. And when she turn to sit down in a chair close to her, I recognized her at Leah and Seth’s mother, and I only knew about her because of being told what happened with the Clearwater’s – and I’d only met Sue once.

Sighing, I sat up and winced at the soreness that I began to feel in my back. Stretching silently, my eyes wandered to the clock where it read 6:20 am. Shocked, I blinked and rubbed at my eyes, and clearly I must have slept for too many ours.

“Oh, you’re up finally!” I turned to find Emily walk over to me with open arms. After hugging her, she offered me tea which I greatly accepted.

“How long has it been?” I asked quietly when Emily handed me the cup of tea.

Emily sighed and sat down next to me. “It started about a half hour ago. We haven’t gotten any news yet, though.” I sighed in frustration; I wanted all of this to end right now, no more fighting just peaceful yet fun time with my new family and friends.

Running a hand through my hair, I placed my cup on the coffee table and stood up. Walking over to the window I sighed, wondering what exactly what was going on out there. I wanted to see what was happening for myself, and I only wished that I could somehow stop this. In the same time that I began to walk back to the couch, a piercing, agonizing howl was heard from the forest. It sounded familiar, yet every howl from the pack was similar to each other’s. This howl sounded too high, the voice seemed younger than and not as deep as the male’s howls. I gasped, reflexively and in shock I began for the door. Once my hand grasped onto the handle, I yanked open the door and leaped off the porch and into the grass.

My heart was pounding rapidly, my legs and arms pumping while I gasped for air, all as I ran into the forest. I could hear Emily and the others yelling for me to come back, but I couldn’t listen. I didn’t care whose howl it was, but I knew that I needed to do something.

And after finding myself in the dark forest, I stopped to inhale fresh air and rest my lungs and muscles. But I pushed myself to keep going, and I did; I ran faster and deeper into the forest, and soon I could hear growls coming from the clearing. And just before I was able to make it out there, a pair of ice cold hands grasped my arms and the last thing that I could remember was crimson red eyes and a sickly sweet voice that whispered,

“We finally meet mano meile.” And that was it; all before something shoved hard against my head and I was knock out unconscious.