The Twilight Saga Collection part 2(157)

“Ask me.”

He struggled for another minute and then exhaled. “I shouldn’t. It doesn’t matter. I’m just morbidly curious.”

Because I knew him so well, I understood.

“It’s not tonight, Jacob,” I whispered.

Jacob was even more obsessed with my humanity than Edward. He treasured every one of my heartbeats, knowing that they were numbered.

“Oh,” he said, trying to smother his relief. “Oh.”

A new song started playing, but he didn’t notice the change this time.

“When?” he whispered.

“I don’t know for sure. A week or two, maybe.”

His voice changed, took on a defensive, mocking edge. “What’s the holdup?”

“I just didn’t want to spend my honeymoon writhing in pain.”

“You’d rather spend it how? Playing checkers? Ha ha.”

“Very funny.”

“Kidding, Bells. But, honestly, I don’t see the point. You can’t have a real honeymoon with your vampire, so why go through the motions? Call a spade a spade. This isn’t the first time you’ve put this off. That’s a good thing, though,” he said, suddenly earnest. “Don’t be embarrassed about it.”

“I’m not putting anything off,” I snapped. “And yes I can have a real honeymoon! I can do anything I want! Butt out!”

He stopped our slow circling abruptly. For a moment, I wondered if he’d finally noticed the music change, and I scrambled in my head for a way to patch up our little tiff before he said goodbye to me. We shouldn’t part on this note.

And then his eyes bulged wide with a strange kind of confused horror.

“What?” he gasped. “What did you say?”

“About what… ? Jake? What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean? Have a real honeymoon? While you’re still human? Are you kidding? That’s a sick joke, Bella!”

I glared at him. “I said butt out, Jake. This is so not your business. I shouldn’t have… we shouldn’t even be talking about this. It’s private—”

His enormous hands gripped the tops of my arms, wrapping all the way around, fingers overlapping.

“Ow, Jake! Let go!”

He shook me.

“Bella! Have you lost your mind? You can’t be that stupid! Tell me you’re joking!”

He shook me again. His hands, tight as tourniquets, were quivering, sending vibrations deep into my bones.

“Jake—stop!”

The darkness was suddenly very crowded.

“Take your hands off her!” Edward’s voice was cold as ice, sharp as razors.

Behind Jacob, there was a low snarl from the black night, and then another, overlapping the first.

“Jake, bro, back away,” I heard Seth Clearwater urge. “You’re losing it.”

Jacob seemed frozen as he was, his horrified eyes wide and staring.

“You’ll hurt her,” Seth whispered. “Let her go.”

“Now!” Edward snarled.

Jacob’s hands dropped to his sides, and the sudden gush of blood through my waiting veins was almost painful. Before I could register more than that, cold hands replaced the hot ones, and the air was suddenly whooshing past me.

I blinked, and I was on my feet a half dozen feet away from where I’d been standing. Edward was tensed in front of me. There were two enormous wolves braced between him and Jacob, but they did not seem aggressive to me. More like they were trying to prevent the fight.

And Seth—gangly, fifteen-year-old Seth—had his long arms around Jacob’s shaking body, and he was tugging him away. If Jacob phased with Seth so close…

“C’mon, Jake. Let’s go.”

“I’ll kill you,” Jacob said, his voice so choked with rage that it was low as a whisper. His eyes, focused on Edward, burned with fury. “I’ll kill you myself! I’ll do it now!” He shuddered convulsively.

The biggest wolf, the black one, growled sharply.

“Seth, get out of the way,” Edward hissed.

Seth tugged on Jacob again. Jacob was so bewildered with rage that Seth was able to yank him a few feet farther back. “Don’t do it, Jake. Walk away. C’mon.”

Sam—the bigger wolf, the black one—joined Seth then. He put his massive head against Jacob’s chest and shoved.

The three of them—Seth towing, Jake trembling, Sam pushing—disappeared swiftly into the darkness.

The other wolf stared after them. I wasn’t sure, in the weak light, about the color of his fur—chocolate brown, maybe? Was it Quil, then?

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to the wolf.

“It’s all right now, Bella,” Edward murmured.