What Hurts the Most

The two were in werewolf form, but that wasn't what scared me the most; Jacob held Seth in a choke hold in his mouth. Diminutive whimpers were being uttered from the younger boy's jaws. He wasn't even trying to escape.

"Jake!" I yelled out and rushed to their side, careful not to interfere and get myself hurt. "What are you doing? Let him go!"

Jake glared at me and, reluctantly, released him from his mouth. He backed away to where I was standing. Seth limped behind an old car (a rabbit, I want to say) and came out a few seconds later as a human. He looked diffidently at us.

"What happened?" I demanded, looking from one to the other with ominous glares.

Seth mumbled something that I was too low for me to hear.

"He decided now to tell me some execrable news," Jake said from behind, startling me. I hadn't realized he had transformed back.

"What did he tell you?" I asked nervously.

He looked at me painfully and grabbed me, embracing me close. He was shuddering uncontrollably, as if he wanted to transform back. He took a deep breath and said, "Remember how I told you I ran away from here because something bad happened?"

"Yeah," I answered, my face smothered in his nice warm chest. I had forgotten that I had almost drowned in the lake and was still a little wet. "And yet you still refuse to tell me what happened."

"You're about to find out right now," he said quietly. He gestured into the house and Seth followed behind. Jacob growled at him. Seth looked bashfully down at the ground, but still came inside. Jake sat on the other couch, Seth was on the floor, looking as if he was in a world of his own, and I was tucked safely back into my mountain of comforters. Jake explained to me about this girl named Bella, and about how she had fallen in love with a man. Jake ended up falling in love with her, but she chose the other guy. He looked hurt just thinking about it.

"And then I ran away," he concluded. "I couldn't handle it anymore."

He loved this girl, Bella, so much. I could see it in his eyes. But then he looked at me with all the love in the world, and I knew the way he felt about me was subordinate compared to what he felt with her. It cheered me up a bit. Only a bit. Then he proceeded to tell me that she married this guy and now has his kid. Holy crap.

"Well, that's, ahem, that's great and all," I began, my mouth dry. "But that doesn't explain why you were trying to murder Seth here. What does that have to do with him?"

Jake glared at the ground. His body continued to shudder.

"Are you gonna tell me, or are you gonna stay pissed at the floorboards?" I asked him impatiently.

"I'm in love with you," Seth said, continuing to stare at the ground.

I stared at him, dumbstruck. The air was so thick, you could cut a knife through it.

"Wha-what?" I stuttered out after a minute or two of digesting this. How was this possible? Two wolves imprinting on me?

"He didn't imprint on you, if that's what you're thinking," Jake snarled. He was extremely tense. "He's just in love with you, like I was with Bella."

"Not my fault, Jake," Seth pleaded. He looked nauseous. "I can't help it. You would've found out eventually."

"You do realize she's mine?" Jake snarled. I saw Seth shrink back a bit. He looked like a kid that was being reprimanded by his father. It was pitiful.

"Yes, I do," Seth answered, taking a deep breath. "And I fully understand that you have precedence over her. But if there is ever a time that you cannot help her, I'll be there. I won't break what you two have, though. I respect you both too much for that."

I would hug him right now, but it was definitely NOT the time. Jake looked at him, his face a mix of emotions. I could tell he wanted to be mad at him, but he was trying to hold it back. He knew that Seth was telling the truth. The shuddering had died out.

"Damn you for being so cute," Jake mumbled rubbing his temples.

Seth smiled triumphantly. "Told ya."

I smiled warmly at Jake, and scrambled out of my cocoon of blankets onto his lap. Seth looked away.

"Thank you for not killing him," I said gratefully, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Hey Seth."

He looked up compliantly. His cheeks were red. I chuckled a bit, and then said, "Why weren't you trying to escape from Jake? You just sat there like a possum."

"I would've normally escaped," he said, laughing. "But if I had found out that another guy was in love with the woman I had imprinted on, I would've tried to kill him, too."

"You're so annoying!" Jake said, shaking his head.

Seth looked at him inquiringly. "How so?"

"You're so frickin' amiable," he yelled, folding his arms. "You're straight out of a Disney movie. Everything you said had something to do with moral and crap."

Seth grinned, but then it was immediately replaced with a frown. "What about the leeches?"

"There are leeches here?" I asked worriedly. Leeches were creepy. They sucked the blood out of you.

Jake rolled his eyes. I hadn't seen him do that in awhile.

"Let's take this outside."

"Doggy form?" Seth asked.

"Ahuh," Jake said, grinning down at me evilly.

"Aw, come on!" I whined. "I want to know what's going on, too!"

"Nope, sorry," Seth said in fake disappointment. "Official doggy-business."

"Don't say it like that," Jake said, smacking Seth behind the head. "It sounds as if we're going to the bathroom together."

"Alright, fine," Seth said, pursing his lips. "Official wolfie-business. That work? It's more masculine, but still immature."

Jake rolled his eyes once again. "Shut up."

I followed them outside, which was completely pointless; they both had transformed and were now having telepathic conversations. I sat down and pouted on the rabbit. Every now and then one would growl or make an unpleasant face. That only made me worried. Finally, they changed back.

"We can't tell her!" Seth yelled desperately.

"Tell me what?" I inquired, jumping up and down impatiently.

"She needs to know!" Jacob argued.

"It'll break the treaty!"

I didn't even bother asking what the heck the treaty was. I knew I wasn't going to get an answer anyways.

"She already knows about vampires," Jake pointed out.

"Yeah, but not about THEM!" Seth shot back. "I'm only trying to keep her safe."

"So am I!"

"I don't want her have any part in this," Seth shouted.

"By being in love with me," Jake said, looking down at me with that look in his eyes. "She already is part of this."