Author's Note: Gah! I left you on a cliffhanger for ages! I'm so sorry. Thank you to those of you that checked in to make sure I am well – I am, thankfully: just dealing with a lot of birthdays and socials this past week! I hope you guys are keeping safe and well too!

Shout out to Amy who mentioned a while ago about model/actor Michael Hudson as a good fit for older Jacob! There's an image of him with short hair and stubble, and it's almost an exact match in my mind! Crazy!

But here it is! Finally! For you!

I hope you enjoy…

The splintered pieces of Daisy's being seemed to recognise each other again, and with heavenly serenity they knit themselves back together seamlessly at the sound of Jacob's voice, and she really could have cried then and there at the sheer relief of feeling whole again, her knotted muscles looser and head a little lighter just by being near him.

Daisy supposed it had something to do with her sodding soul or whatever. Really, it didn't matter. She couldn't deny being with him made her feel like she wasn't broken. Still a mess, but a more purposeful one. A less messy mess.

When she turned to face him, stood in the middle of his garden, shirtless and beautiful and looking at her with that bloody wonder in his eyes, she couldn't help but smile in her relief, calling out as she moved closer to him without thought, leaning folded arms on his porch railing, "I have this sort of standing invitation from the owner. See, I'm allowed to break in any time I want, and steal as many hoodies as I want." She explained casually, fingers tapping absently along her own arms.

Jacob's grin was sparkling, healing the cracks inside of her that the memory of his broken expression on the beach had caused. "Is that right?" He responded, striding closer to her, something slow and deliberately in his movements, as if he was approaching a frightened, skittish animal. As if she might turn tail and run at any second.

Daisy supposed she couldn't really blame him for that.

"Mhmm." She hummed, tilting her head with faux nonchalance, "Something to do with us being – gosh, what was the term he used?" She knitted her eyebrows playfully, looking up to the sky as if calling forward a word from the tip of her tongue. Daisy pinned him with a sudden enlightened, unwavering stare, impish in her tone, "– oh yeah: soulmates."

"Soulmates, huh?" Jacob played along, stopping himself a couple of feet from the porch railing, shrugging with raised eyebrows, "Sounds kind of…"

"Sketchy?" Daisy offered with a grin, biting at her lower lip when Jacob laughed a little, nodding in concession, his hands coming up to rest on either side of her folded arms. The temptation to run her fingertips in soft circles over the rough knuckles of his giant hands was great, but she curbed it, breathing in his peppermint scent and the tender caramel of his eyes.

"I was going to go with 'special'."

Daisy rolled the word over her tongue, tasting it slowly, "Special… I guess so." She agreed with soft surrender, watching his smile widen slowly, blindingly, feeling a blush come over her and settle in her chest and cheeks at his unwavering attention. So she glittered with playful distraction, "And it comes with all these added perks you see, like unlimited hoodies. And this guy is pretty wonderful: all handsome and strong and clever, with the most adorable car." She teased, reminding him of the Saturday he had bristled at her categorisation of his truck, making him rasp a laugh that shot right to the core of her. With honesty and a matter-of-fact tone, she admitted, "I'm a very lucky girl."

Jacob moved closer, and she couldn't help herself from gazing – longingly, she was sure – at the fullness of his lips, watching them work out the words with a welcoming depth, wondering at the feel of them, "From where I'm standing he's the lucky one."

He was so close now. Too close for rational thought. And Daisy still had so much to say. So she stood up straight, hands brushing against the searing heat of his as she moved them along the railing, before she folded them around herself and paced back a step or two.

Daisy was earnest, vulnerable, keeping her gaze on the confused expression Jacob wore, "He might not think so. After all, there are some sort of, uh, well - ground rules, I guess, for soulmating with someone like me." That didn't sound right, "Soulmating? Is that a word?" She shook her head at her own stupid question, "That doesn't sound like a word."

Jacob grinned, something akin to reprieve in the pureness of his joy, "I don't think it is, but I like the sound of it." His stare and response made her smile, and she jumped a little at the sudden and smooth way he jumped the railing between them, leaning back against it, arms casually folded, a somewhat safe distance of a metre between them. Daisy took another step back, just to be sure, the wall of the house almost against her. "And I can do ground rules." He explained with deep truth, affection and light in his gaze, "If you're planning to stick around I can do just about anything."

Daisy cleared her throat. God, it was hard to think with him there. Blissfully difficult to form thoughts and hindrances and reasons as to why they weren't already kissing and stripping and – shit. She needed to focus.

She breathed deeply, holding up her index finger to begin the count, "Rule one: Michael. I know he's my brother but in a weird way he's kind of my son too, and he supports this – you and I – but, you know, he has the right to change his mind or be discomforted, and I love him and he's my priority, so he's always going to come first with me, and there's nothing anyone can do to change that." Daisy explained, wringing words from the confusion of her determined mind.

Jacob smirked, licking his lips briefly and cocking his head, eyes dancing with amusement, "I already knew that one, gorgeous." Jacob placated smoothly, understanding a confirmation in his voice that eased her twisting nerves, "Michael comes first. No argument here." The wind ruffled at the longer pieces of hair atop Jacob's head, and Daisy felt the urge to run her fingers through the softness of it, distracting her until Jacob raised an eyebrow in question, "Rule two?"

Right. Rules. Clear lines. Good things. Daisy tucked an errant curl behind her ear, voice stronger than she felt. "Rule two: I know everything happens at an accelerated pace with you wolfy people, with the growing and the running and the metabolising, but I'm not ready for a one hundred mile an hour relationship." She sped out, blinking as she pulled her eyes back to Jacob's, not realising she had wandered from his gaze, admitting with raw openness, "I need human speed."

"Human speed?" Jacob asked, unsure as to her meaning. And really, who could blame him? This wasn't exactly how she pictured this going in the half an hour she'd been pounding aggressively at his front door.

Daisy nodded, sifting her weight anxiously, feeling somewhat ridiculous and silly, "Yeah, like hanging out and – I don't know – in England we call it 'seeing each other' but I guess you might call it 'dating'? Spending time and getting to know one another, I suppose." She trailed off, pulling at the oversized knitted sleeves of her jumper and looking at Jacob nervously.

Jacob smirked, amused, and Daisy wondered what he was finding so damn funny about the whole thing. But his words soothed her, and she felt a little flushed and warm at the intense way he stared into her, "I have absolutely no objection to spending more time with you. In fact, it sounds like fucking heaven to me."

"Oh." Daisy answered stupidly, looking at her still bare feet, pale against the dark wood of the porch floor, "Ok." She flickered her gaze up, looking through her lashes as Jacob nodded, affection and anticipation in his voice.

"Ok. Anything else?"

Daisy ran her hand over the back of her neck, more embarrassed about her next confession, less able to meet Jacob's gaze, her back finding the wall of the house for support. "I – uh, yeah." She nodded, clearing the catch in her voice, "Just one more thing." She swallowed, looking up at the awning over the deck before meeting Jacob's concerned expression, feeling far too naked. Feeling revealed. "I'm probably going to be really bad at this." She confessed delicately, "And if what I'm offering or what I give you isn't good enough or doesn't make you happy or live up to this whole, uh, imprint thing then, you know, I'd understand if you'd want to, um, annul? This? With me?" Daisy flinched at the use of her chosen words, and at that familiar thought of not being good enough for Jacob, who looked shocked and appalled at her words, "But if you do –"

He insisted roughly, shaking his head with resolution, scoffing at her implication, "I won't."

Daisy insisted, voice stronger, harder, "If you do, tell me first." She implored, her throat constricting at the images her next request conjured, "Please don't just start up old habits and find more Staceys –"

Jacob propelled himself away from the railing and moved nearer her, roughly shoving his hand through his already tousled hair, before using it to hold his weight above his head, leaning over Daisy, palm against the wall of his house. She stuttered in her breathing, tilting her head to meet the intensity of Jacob's gaze, overwhelmed by him, inhaling him. God, he was bloody irresistible. "Daisy. You're fucking perfect to me. There is nothing you can do to make me walk away from you: not if you don't want me to." He explained, his words forceful but a gentleness in the way he hovered over her, keeping her calm in a situation that could be terrifying. "Honestly? If it didn't break rule number two I'd marry you tomorrow to prove it to you."

Daisy sucked in air at the thought, panic setting in, "Jacob – "

"Kidding." He grinned softly at her, before tilting his head and murmuring with contemplation, "Mostly." Daisy slapped the back of her hand against the firmness of his chest, gentle with herself so she didn't break any fingers, and Jacob caught her hand in his free one, bringing her palm to rest over the hypnotising thudding of his heart, "Listen, the only thing you could do that would make me unhappy is leave. Stick around and let me fucking cherish you." He implored, and something melted into goo inside of Daisy at his exposure, his honesty, "It's that easy, I promise."

Daisy believed him. She truly, honestly did, but the thought made her sad in itself and she shook her head, "I don't want to just take from you, like some succubus parasite thing that drains until it's full and happy and you're empty and sad."

Like Caleb had been. Like he was now. A leech, Jacob called him.

Nothing new there.

Jacob leaned a little nearer, his minty breath casting over her face, cooling the heat of her cheeks, causing her heart to hammer so quickly she worried it would break through her ribs. "What I want to give you I have an endless fucking supply of. Take it." He asserted, "It's already yours."

Daisy tilted her head, soft amusement in her eyes, trying to move around the idea that what he had to give was more than she knew how to handle, "Are we talking about hoodies again?"

Jacob laughed, a glint of mischief in his amber eyes as he nodded, pinning her with a meaningful look, "Among other things." Daisy grinned, her breath catching as Jacob's gaze darkened, his hand moving from the wall and his body stepping closer into hers, a hair's width between them. Daisy arched a little, subconsciously, her eyes keeping with Jacob's of their own volition, her tongue feeling dry and a heady warmth pooling through her, "So, these ground rules." Jacob almost growled, rough and hot and effective in the way it made Daisy sigh, "Is there anything in the fine print that prevents me from pressing you up against this wall and kissing you so fucking hard that you forget how to breathe?"

Well.

Daisy shook her head slowly, her breathing laboured, tingling from tip to toe and blinking slowly at the force of his words. "No. Actually, the ground rules encourage that. Kissing. Vehemently. They vehemently encourage kissing." She clarified, coming undone, unloosing like a knot at the tug of Jacob's hand, her words breathy and romance-novel-wanton.

He lowered his head, breath hot over her ear, whispering with an almost pained restraint words that she nearly missed, distracted as she was by the running of his fingertips over the sides of her thighs and to her hips, where they gripped her firmly and tugged her impossibly closer.

"Well, thank fuck for that."

Daisy gasped as Jacob lifted her in a swift, easy motion, her back against the wood of his house, the strength and width of him pressed against her, and Daisy suddenly wished she wasn't wearing something so thick and intrusive, longing to feel more of the hard ridges of Jacob's torso against her.

But the thought was fleeting, because when Jacob's lips met hers, demanding and hungry and so fucking soft and warm, Daisy's mind emptied, and all she could do was feel and breathe and enjoy, and Jesus – what had they been talking about again?

Enjoy was right.

Enjoy Jacob's hair through her fingers, soft and silky, tugging gently to hear the appreciative growl rumble through his chest and into her. Enjoy the way his hands seared through the denim of her jeans as they grasped her lower thighs, moving, skimming to her sides and under her loose jumper, rough palms caressing softly over the skin above her jeans. Enjoy the way he pressed the hardness in his thin shorts against the crotch of her jeans, her legs wrapping around him, holding him to her, grinding a little and moaning at the friction, Jacob's fingers digging deliciously against her in response.

God, he tasted amazing, like Christmas and Polos and warm hot chocolate. His tongue over hers was delicious and insatiable and Daisy was sure that even in her imagination nothing could have come close to what it felt like being held against Jacob, running her fingers down the front of his chest, biting at the fullness of his lower lip before soothing her nip with a tender, almost innocent, kiss.

Jacob pulled away, resting his forehead against hers, holding her up with ease. Daisy was breathing heavily, unable to tear her eyes away from his, immersed in his warmth and the exhilaration that vibrated through her, the muscles of her thighs quivering from holding him so tightly between them.

Daisy ran the fingers of one hand through the hair at the nape of Jacob's neck, her other pressed against the shuddering beat of his heart. "Wow." She whispered, and Jacob laughed lightly, nodding his agreement at her assessment. "Is that a shifter thing or a you thing?" Daisy asked playfully, wondering if kissing talents like that were supernatural too, because they sodding well felt it, and Jacob grinned.

He shook his head, "That's all us, dream girl." At his words Daisy fluttered, and she was sure she would be embarrassed at the size of her smile if Jacob's wasn't impossibly wider. "I, Jacob Ephraim Black, fully and wholly accept your ground rules Daisy Rae. As long as you agree to one of mine."

Daisy quirked an eyebrow, entirely too happy that Jacob had yet to let her back down, her fingers tracing over the stubble of his sharp jaw as his thumbs grazed over the curves of her hips beneath her jumper. "I suppose that's fair, depending on the condition." She teased.

"I want to take you out. I want to date you," he pressed a kiss against the pulse point of her neck, his stubble tickling her and encouraging a small laugh that Daisy refused to call a giggle, "and I want to spoil you." He ran his nose to her ear, pushing a kiss beneath her lobe, and Daisy smiled, his nose running over her cheek to nudge hers, his lips tantalisingly close again, "And I want to tell you how I feel about you without you running away."

Daisy met his eyes, shifting her gaze from the temptation of his lips to the insistence of the look he was giving her, turning his head to kiss the palm she had against his cheek, his eyes not leaving hers. Daisy felt hurt – not that he thought that of her; he had every right to. At the fact she'd made him feel that way in the first place. So she nodded, eyes gentle as she promised, "No running away."

"If I'm scaring you, or pushing too hard, too fast again just tell me. I'll make it right." The desperation that cracked through his voice resonated through her, the openness in his expression making her heart ache, and Daisy couldn't help but pull him closer, moving her lips over his with tenderness in a quick kiss.

Pulling away, she assured him, "I will tell you. I won't run. I promise."

Jacob grinned, running his hands down to the base of her thighs teasingly, "Good. Because I have this feeling I need to tell you about…" Daisy gulped a little, running her teeth over her bottom lip, somewhat distracted by the movement of Jacob's hands, missing the teasing grin on his gorgeous face, "It's called hunger. And it's killing me." Jacob laughed at Daisy's confusion, and it took a moment for her to join in, embarrassment tickling her. "Let me cook for you." He entreated, and a rumble of hunger at the realisation she hadn't eaten yet that day fluttered through her.

"You cook?" She asked, slightly surprised, since she'd mainly seen him gorge on crappy take-aways.

"Well, I don't want to brag…" Jacob teased, trailing off, nudging his nose against hers, "I'd much rather show you."

Daisy smiled, moving her hands to his shoulders, preparing to be let back on her own two feet, "Then by all means, lead the way."

But Jacob did no such thing, grinning when she yipped at being carried by him through his front door, her hands gripping his shoulders tightly. Jacob smirked at her, hauling her with ease through to his kitchen-diner where he deposited her gently onto the kitchen counter, pulling back but not quite moving away from her, hands sliding to the back of her knees and pulling her closer to the edge and into him. "So this kissing fine print. Is it a one-time deal, or am I encouraged to kiss you vehemently any time?"

"If you're planning on feeding me then you can kiss me any damn time you like." Daisy teased back, wrapping her arms around Jacob's waist and bringing her face close to his, her lips nearing the victorious smile on his before tasting him again, a kind of heat and passion between them that Daisy had never felt before. He pulled her so he could settle between her legs, sliding his hands up and over her to cup her face with a gentle tenderness that made her shiver, heat pooling in her stomach.

She trailed her fingers down the valley in the centre of his stomach caused by the ridges of his abs and Jacob groaned and rubbed against her in response, his tongue moving faster, more punishingly against hers. When Daisy moaned at the feeling of him, perfect and strong and hard and somehow gentle above her, Jacob pulled away, moving his hands from her and to the counter either side of her hips, both of them breathing heavily, Daisy's face tingling from the rub of his stubble. "Did I do something wrong?" She asked, feeling the loss of his body pressed against hers.

Jacob shook his head adamantly, "No. You're fucking amazing; this is amazing." He confessed, breathing deeply and chasing a hand through his hair, Daisy trying to watch every muscle move through his body all at once, "But I need to stop now, or I'm definitely going to start pushing too far, too fast."

Daisy nodded, trying to catch her breath, smiling at Jacob, "Well, if you need any help with the cooking I think a romance novelist would call my loins hot enough to roast on."

Jacob laughed, nodding, running his hands over his face and Daisy realised with a startle how tired he looked. She was about to offer to cook for them both instead, to let him rest some, when he interrupted her line of thought, moving his hand and pushing a curl behind her ear, asking sweetly, "You want some tea, dream girl?"

Daisy's eyebrows furrowed, "Tea? You have tea?"

Moving away with a smirk, Jacob opened a cupboard door and pulled out a familiar box, and Daisy's jaw dropped a little, "Yeah. Yorkshire, right?"

Feeling incredibly touched, Daisy moved her tongue over her lips, breathing a little deeper and slower in her shock. "Uh, yeah. Yorkshire's perfect. Did you buy that for me?"

Scratching the back of his neck and filling a kettle with hot water, Jacob shrugged, stating simply, "It's your favourite." And he turned round to grin at her, "So should I use this kettle, or just heat the water on your loins?"

Daisy laughed, watching with satisfaction the domestic way Jacob moved about his kitchen, switching the kettle on and placing a teabag in a mug that looked so delicate in the giant of his hand. She didn't even need to instruct him, wondering at how much attention he must have been paying her all this time if he knew just the right amount of milk to add to reach the golden colour she liked. It was entrancing, to see him move so fluidly, decisively, with a grace that his size belied.

When he positioned it on the counter next to her she leaned in to place a gentle, grateful kiss on his warm, stubbly cheek, and murmured a shy, "Thank you."

Jacob smiled, something perky and almost boyish in his face, "Anything for you, dream girl." And he moved over to the fridge, pulling out a block of cheese and some butter. "So, how does grilled cheese sound?" He offered, and she smiled, quirking an eyebrow.

"Is that anything like a cheese toastie?" She asked, hopeful. She loved cheese toasties.

Jacob laughed lightly, "I don't know. Does a toastie involve bread, melted cheese and shit ton of butter?"

"And the key ingredient of love, of course." Daisy teased, cradling her tea and sipping gently, watching Jacob slice cheese over the rim. Perfect. Absolutely bloody perfect.

He shot her a look over his shoulder, a half smirk on his face and a golden gleam in his eyes that made her skin tingle, "Then it sounds like I've got plenty of everything for a perfect toastie." Jacob set a pan on the stove, a nob of melted butter sizzling away, and he moved over to the counter she sat at to butter some bread, looking at her as he asked, "So do you miss it? The land of Yorkshire tea and cheese toasties?"

Daisy tilted her head, frowning in thought, pondering the difference in her life after a month in the USA. "I miss my roll-top standing bath." She said resolutely, smiling lightheartedly, and Jacob grinned, "And my cottage. And not feeling like everything I say is strange or unintelligible. And some of the food, like the pies and pasties." Daisy admitted, laughing a little, before pausing and shaking her head. "But, you know, a lot of not great things happened there too. And I don't miss being reminded about that." She confessed, watching Jacob's hands still and reaching out to pick one of his up and hold it in hers, turning it over and allowing her fingertips to run over the lines of his palms.

She could feel Jacob's eyes on her, and his voice was a little gruff as he hesitantly said, "On that note…" Daisy lifted her gaze, confused, and Jacob sighed, moving to stand in front of her, an arm coming round her waist to pull her closer, holding her, his other hand on the counter next to her. "I saw something in Michael's mind about your past. And you wanted me to tell you when that happened." He confessed lowly, and Daisy blinked, trying to remain expressionless, a white-hot panic shooting through her.

"Oh." She stuttered, placing the palms of her hands on his chest, staring at the hollow formed between his clavicles, watching the bob in his throat, "What did you see?"

Jacob's free hand moved to her neck, fingers threading through the roots of her tied hair, gently tilting her face up to meet his turbulent gaze. There was so much expression in his features Daisy could barely tell it apart, but she knew he was concerned, hurt for her. God, what had he seen?

"Bruises. Marks on your wrists," his thumb stroked gently over her jaw, "Fingerprints on your skin. His fingerprints."

Daisy had to admit she was a little relieved, guilt weaving through her when she saw the raw pain on his face. Pain for her. God, if he only knew that the marks from Caleb were nothing. If he was this pained by that, she dreaded to think the way he would feel when he found out the rest. When he knew the worst.

"He didn't hit me." Daisy assured him, her eyes soft as she attempted to salve his distress, "He would just…" She searched briefly for the word, settling on, "handle me, I guess. Pull me along, grab a little tighter than necessary, squeeze when I didn't behave in a way he agreed with." Jacob drew her closer still, his hands gentle on her waist and jaw.

With his face so close she could see clearly the anguish in his eyes. Anguish for her. And it made her throat feel clogged. Jacob ground out, aching pain in each word, "He hurt you."

Daisy lifted a hand to trace her fingers over his lips, mesmerised by the care he showed her, terrified of the things she had yet to tell him. But that was a long way off. A worry for a different day. For the time being, she just said, "His bark was worse than his bite." And she kissed Jacob softly, gently, moving her fingers to graze sweetly along his cheekbone. And when she pulled away, before he could respond, she smelled past the minty goodness of Jacob and noted something else in the air, "I think your butter is burning."

"Shit." Jacob swore, pulling away and dashing to the stove, dumping the smoking pan in the sink and running the water quickly, sighing and shaking his head, apologizing as he grabbed a fresh pan to start again and moved back over to her. He was earnest in the way he addressed her, voice unyielding and stony, "I'll kill him for the ways he hurt you. I'll tear that fucker apart."

Daisy slid down from the counter, leaning into his chest and looking up to meet his eyes, "I know. And I'm ok with that, since he's a blood sucking demon from the fiery pits of hell that caused my little brother to explode out of his skin." Jacob placed a kiss on her head, grinning half-heartedly at her humorous attempt as he moved back to the stove to shift the butter, putting together the sandwiches to grill.

Well, technically to fry, but who was she to judge?

"Good to know." He snarked, and Daisy finished her tea and placed her mug by the sink, leaning back against it to face Jacob and watch him while he worked. She drummed her fingers against the porcelain behind her, pondering.

"So there must be a lot of vampires around here, right? For there to be so many shifters? Or was there just one that took a while to catch and that's how you all turned?" Daisy asked, and Jacob's movements slowed a little.

His eyes flickered over her, and Daisy's face softened, feeling like she'd touched onto something sensitive. Something Jacob wasn't all too ready to share. But before she could retract her question, dismiss it and change the subject, Jacob was plating the toasties and stating calmly, "Actually, there was a clan."

Daisy's eyes widened in surprise, allowing Jacob to pull her to the table where he laid out their plates for them, her mouth working out silence until she finally sat with a half-gasped, "A clan? Of vampires? Like, many, cultish style vampires?"

Jacob grinned at her comment, sitting down opposite her after crossing to the fridge to grab her a water. God, he was lovely. "Something like that. They stuck around for a while, living just outside of Forks, and having them so close to the rez caused the gene to revive. Most of us shifted within a year of each other."

Daisy bit delicately into the hot, melted cheese, closing her eyes at the delicious taste of it, before tilting her head in question, "I don't understand. I thought you kill vampires. Were you just waiting until there were enough of you to make the win a sure thing?"

Jacob chewed slowly – something he never did – and swallowed a gulp of his own water before responding, voice level and steady, "We didn't kill them. We couldn't. Because they didn't feed off of humans, only animals, a treaty was drawn up about a century ago between the Cullens – the leeches – and my great grandfather, Ephraim Black, whose pack was too small to defeat the Cullens even though he'd wanted to. So we honoured the treaty while they were here, and no shifter would attack them as long as none of them fed from humans."

Daisy knew that drinking from animals was less of a crime, and it wasn't like she was vegetarian, but something about picturing poor blood-drained foxes and bunnies made her a little sad. Animals just survived; humans could be as intentionally awful as they wanted.

Arguably, some humans were more deserving of death than instinct-driven animals.

But that was hardly the point.

Daisy, intrigued, asked, "How could you tell they weren't drinking human blood the whole time?"

Jacob shrugged, explaining softly, as if worried his words would frighten her, "Their eyes. They were gold, not red."

"So they were good vampires?" She asked slowly, confused by the very thought, unbidden memories of Caleb's hard coldness and dangerously smooth movements negating the very notion of 'good vampires'.

Jacob snorted a little, "I wouldn't go that far. But they weren't a threat."

Nodding slowly, Daisy finished her sandwich, unscrewing her water, "How many of them were there?"

She swallowed while Jacob searched his memory, leaning back in his chair. "Seven when they got here. Eight when they left."

Daisy nearly spat her water out, and Jacob half-grinned at the surprise across her face, "They turned someone?"

"Police chief's daughter." Jacob confirmed, and at her floundering shock he laughed lightly, "It was her choice. It was a fucking stupid one, but it was hers. She was always fawning over one of them, and it turned out he was fawning right back. They married and he turned her. Then they left." The disgust in Jacob's tone had a suspicious niggle of jealousy eating away at her, and Daisy wondered at just how well Jacob had known the police chief's daughter, watching him closely as he gathered their plates and stood to put them in the sink.

"You were close? You and the girl that was turned?"

Jacob turned toward her with a sigh and glancing regret in his eyes, moving through the kitchen toward her as she stood, confused. Did Jacob regret losing her? Was that it? Had he loved the police chief's daughter, and lost her to his enemy? To death, technically? God, was this a sod Emily Dickinson poem? "We were friends." He placated, and Daisy could sense the 'but' coming a mile away, a thousand theories chasing through her mind faster than she could keep up with.

Before he could assuage her suspicion a ringing sounded loudly, the high pitched sound and heavy vibration cutting through the pause and her silly, overactive thoughts. Hadn't Jacob already declared his devotion to her? Weren't they talking about something that happened when he had first shifted? When he was sixteen? Why was she being so ridiculous? Lord know she had no affection for the man she wanted when she was sixteen and young and bloody stupid.

Daisy smiled, waving away her silly behaviour and assuring Jacob, "You should get that." When he looked torn between her and the device, she soothed him, easing over the memory of the beach when she had insisted he leave with a certain, "I'm not going anywhere."

It was only then that Jacob kissed her forehead, muttering murderous intent for whoever was on the other end of the phone, moving quickly to answer the offending device with a terrifying growl, "What?!"

Daisy couldn't make out what was being said on the other end of the phone. But by the worry carving its way onto Jacob's handsome face, and the furtive glances he was shooting her, she could tell it wasn't good news and her stomach began to wind and knot in its ignorance. "Yeah. I'll be there in five minutes. Don't move."

And he hung up.

Hesitant, concerned, Daisy moved toward Jacob, the safety he provided her caving a little at the apprehension etched into the look he served her. "Jacob? What is it?"

He closed the distance between them, hands a calming warmth on the tops of her arms as he encouraged with steadiness, "Don't freak out."

Cold shuddered through Daisy. Her face lost all muscle function, and her breathing felt choked and ragged. Horrible images of hazel eyes empty, or bloody, or filled with tears ravaged through her, and Daisy tried to swallow her panic as she gasped out desperately, "It's Michael, isn't it?"

Another cliffhanger? Yes. I am that cruel. Hopefully I'll update quicker this time! Review and let me know what you think? I worry about how effective the romance stuff is.