Touch in the Worlds - Return to the Beyond

12: The Reservation

He looked at me, his eyes big and dark. Sometimes with his childish behavior it was easy to think that he was still the burly sixteen years old he'd been in the books. I had to remind myself that wasn't the case. He was as old as me and had been through just as much as I had – if not more.

"I promised myself I'd keep you safe." He whispered.

I blinked.

"Jacob, you...you didn't have to do that." I said.

"Why not; you're my friend, right? Friends protect each other. If that Stephen guy can try and protect you, I can do a much better job." He said before he looked sheepishly at me. "God that sounded like something straight out of some cheesy novel," He said.

Oh my sweet summer child, you have no idea...

"I'm sorry about the thing in the forest that day. I guess I must've scared you." He said.

"You didn't," I said, sliding down to sit next to him. "And stop apologizing; I came to see you, not to let you spout off apologies like a garden fountain."

He gave me a dry look.

"Sam told me he had stopped you from seeing Bells and I, you don't have to worry," I insisted.

"Good for him; he isn't bound to some stupid ancient law to not tell anyone." He said bitterly.

"Oh, the Pack Oath; or something like that, huh?" I asked.

"I'm bound to the Pack and I can't give its secrets away. I suppose it's a good thing you already know. Saves me a lot of stress," he said.

I leaned against his side but he was so big, my head only brushed the top of his arm.

"I know where you're coming from." I sighed. "Our lives are weird," I said.

"What happened when you got back?" he asked.

"Bella spilled the beans to Charlie. They are on the lookout for wolves now, not bears." I said then looked intently at him. "Jake...what happened to Victoria?" I asked.

"She took off. Straight over the northern streams, maybe somewhere over the Canadian borders, I didn't see her." He mumbled.

I watched him in silence as he picked up a spanner and began to spin it in his large but nimble hands. His hands somehow reminded me of Edwards'. Both held the same amount of comfort when wrapped around mine. His hair, now cropped short made his face seem more angular, his full lips furrowed as he thought about things I didn't know about. His eyes, I realized with a jolt, looked like mine the first two months I'd been back. Hollow, and lost, he probably felt like the earth had shifted, leaving him with no footing.

I felt closer and at the same time so far away from him, it made me physically reach out for him.

I wrapped my arm around his, grasping his hand with both of mine, rubbing. Although his hands were already so hot, it made some of the cold in mine seep away. He watched our intermingled hands before lifting his eyes up to me.

"How have you been holding up?" I asked.

His face flickered. "I'm handling it, T." he said.

"Tell me," I demanded.

He looked back down at our hands.

"I shifted two months ago. I was lying in my bed and I suddenly start to feel like I'm on fire. I went out to cool down and before I know it I'm down on all fours and covered in fur. Dad found me on the porch, he brought me in, called in Sam and the others and they told me this twisted tale of Shape shifters and vampires. It was a month later when we discovered the bloodsucker. Dad told me...well, he told me about the Cullens and how they were the good ones. He also told me about you and Stephen. He told me not to get my hopes up that you might come back. He said there was a very good chance that you two might be dead..." his fist clenched before he let out a breath.