I wake up to the slamming of a door. I suspect it's the front door and I check for who went outside. I look out my window and Bella is pulling out of the driveway with her rust bucket of a truck. She pulls out quickly and takes off down the road. I walk downstairs to watch tv and Dad is getting ready with Harry to go hunt the wolves that are killing people in the woods.
"Where'd Bella go?" I ask him.
"She didn't say." He says. If she didn't tell Dad or I where she was going, she must've went to Jake's. Dad and Billy got into it after dinner last night, we both told her to stay away from his house for now. She probably didn't tell me that she was going either unless she was going to do something utterly stupid.
I rushed to my room and threw on some sweats and sandals. Bella doesn't have a phone so I leave mine at the house and I rush to my car and slam it while I pull out.
I slow down on the curves but on the way I'm going 80 mph to try and catch up with Bella. I get up to 90 as I'm almost there. I have to cross a railroad but the lights come on, I debate running it in my head but I'm too late and stop just before it passes.
When I pull up to Jake's house Bella is walking up to four shirtless guys in the middle of the field beside Jake's house. I quickly park my truck beside Bella's and sprint to catch up with her. The ground is dry and I get dirt in my socks while I run.
"He tells me nothing because he's scared of you!" She yells at one of the boys as I reach her. I keep my head down and don't look up, afraid I'll catch eyes with Em. I turn my backs to them and Bella reaches her hand out and slaps one across the face. I don't know what she was thinking but she's dumb as fuck.
"Bella what the fuck!" I yell and push her away from the guys. I hear snarling behind me and mixed commotion.
"Too late now." One teases. I grab Bella's shoulders and push her back as she stares at the guy she just slapped.
"Bella get back!" A deeper voice orders. I still keep my head away from Em's eyesight so I don't have to look at him. "Paul. Calm down now." I hear a loud snarl and the sound of ripping before I'm pushed back into the ground by a pair of familiar hands. They had pushed me farther enough away that I was no where near the huge grey wolf that was beside Bella.
It was crouched, ready to spring. The wolf's muzzle wrinkled back over his teeth, and another growl rolled through his colossal chest. His dark, enraged eyes focused on Bella. In the same second Jacob was running across the field, straight for the monster as Bella was running away.
"Run, Jake run!" She orders as she sprints, in one huge leap Jake dived headfirst into the empty air. One second it was Jacob diving into the air, and then it was the gigantic, russet brown wolf—so enormous that I couldn't make sense of its mass somehow fitting inside Jake—charging at the crouched silver beast.
Jake met the other werewolf's attack head-on. Their angry snarls echoed like thunder off the trees.
The black and white scraps—the remains of Jake's clothes—fluttered to the ground where he'd disappeared.
I watched, frozen, as the two gigantic wolves disappeared fought. My breathing is unsteady and my hands are shaking. There is a huge lump in my throat that I try to swallow.
"Jacob!" Bella screamed again, staggering forward.
"Stay where you are, Bella," The leader ordered. It was hard to hear him over the roar of the fighting wolves. They were snapping and tearing at each other, their sharp teeth flashing toward each other's throats.
The Jacob-wolf seemed to have the upper hand—he was visibly bigger than the other wolf, and it looked like he was stronger, too. He rammed his shoulder against the gray wolf again and again, knocking him back toward the trees.
"Take them to Emily's," The leader shouted toward the other boys, who were watching the conflict like a sports event. Jake had successfully shoved the gray wolf off the field and they were disappearing into
the forest, though the sound of their snarls was still loud. The leader ran after them, kicking off his shoes on the way. As he darted into the trees, he was quivering from head to toe. The growling and snapping was fading into the distance. Suddenly, the sound cut off and it was very quiet in the field.
I closed my eyes and started to try to steady my breath after what I just witnessed. I opened my eyes to look at my shaking hands as I hear a familiar voice start to laugh. My eyes water at the fact that I haven't heard it in so long, it seems like forever since I've heard his voice. I look over to Bella and she's staring at him, not blinking. He laughed harder at her expression.
"Well there's something you don't see everyday." He chuckles. I take a shakey breath as his voice calms my nerves.
"I do." The other guy complains. "Every single say."
"Paul doesn't lose his temper every single day." Em disagrees. "Maybe two out of three." I stare at the ground as he talks and the other boy holds something up that I don't bother to look at.
"Totally shredded." The other boy says. "Billy said this was the last pair he could afford. Guess Jacob's going barefoot now."
"This one survived." Em says, holding up what I'm guessing is the other sneaker. "Jake can hop." He says with a laugh that helps me relax. "Get Sam's shoes, will you? The rest of this is going to the trash." I figure Sam is the leader. He had a slight bigger build than Jake but Jake looks like he's about to catch him.
Em and the other boy gather the clothes and Em gets a pair of cut off shorts and shoes from the woods and comes back. I'm still on the ground trying to process everything in my head. My thought are spinning and my stomach feel like it dropped. The other boy was questioning Bella but I was too zoned out to listen. I put my head between my knees an closed my eyes to listen to my heartbeat.
"Jake should have warned us." Em says. "What did he expect, bringing his girlfriend and Cay into this?"
I looked up when he said my name because I haven't heard him call me "Cay" in weeks. "Guess the wolf's out of the bag now."
"Way to go Jake." The other boy complains. Bella glares at both of the boys.
"Aren't you worried about them at all?" She half yells. Em brinks in surprise and looks over to the other boy.
"Why would we be worried?" Em genuinely wonders.
"They could hurt each other!" She claims. I'm still trying to figure out how this is possible. I shake my head in denial. I don't think I'll be able to look at Em the same again, or Jake.
"I hope Paul gets a mouthful of him." The other boy says. "Teach him a lesson."
"Yeah right!" Em disagrees. "Did you see Jake? Even Sam couldn't have phased in the fly like that. He saw Paul losing it, and it took him, what, half a second to attack? The boys got a gift."
"Paul's been fighting longer." Jared argues. "I bet you ten bucks he leaves a mark."
"You're on." Em says. "Jake's a natural. Paul doesn't have a prayer." They shake hands and Em suddenly looks to me, as if just remembering I was there. I think about the two wolves fighting and my stomach starts to churn and my head spins. The moment keeps replaying in my head. "Let's go see Emily." He walk over to me and offers me a hand. I shake my head, not ready to get up. "C'mon Cay." I shake my head again, not looking up at him. He shrugs his shoulder and picks me up and swings me over his shoulder. My stomach is against his right shoulder and he's holding onto my legs while walking towards my car.
"Put me down." I choke. "I'm gonna puke." Then he starts running just to mess with me and I punch his back. He opens my door and sets me into the passenger seat. He slams my door and gets into the drivers seat. I don't say anything and just let him drive.
"You okay?" He asks me as he takes off speeding down the road. I nod my head and try to swallow but my mouth is too dry. "You didn't say anything to me when I slammed your door." He jokes.
We get to Emily's before Bella and the other boy because Em loves to speed. I don't understand how good he is at speeding when he doesn't even have a licence.
"This is Emily's house it's where we all hang." He explains while we wait for Bella with the car turned off. I nod my head. "Emily knows too, but don't stare. It bugs Sam." I nod my head and Bella's truck pulls up beside us and we get out. "Mmm. Emily's cooking." He as he gets out and stretches but I can't smell anything. Em and the boy walk into the house without knocking and Bella and I follow behind them.
I sit at one of the chairs at the table and a woman is placing muffins on a paper plate. I don't see any reason to stare until she turns around to reveal three thick scars on the right side of her face. I turn to look at Bella and she's still gawking at Emily and I kick her from under the table.
"You guys hungry?" She asks. Even though she's scarred she is still a very beautiful woman. Then she looks at us with suprise. "Oh. Who's this?" Her voice is soft and silky.
"Bella Swan." The guy says. It seems like Bella has been the conversation topic before. "And Cailyn Peters. Who else?"
"Leave it to Jacob to find a way around Sam's gag order." Emily grumbles. "So you're the vampire girl?" She asks, staring at Bella.
"And you're the wolf girl?" Bella replies. I thought that she called Bella the vampire girl because she was so pale but what Bella said in response confused me. Emily smiles and turns to the other boy.
"I guess I am." She says. "Where's Sam?"
"Bella, er, surprised Paul this morning." Emily rolls her good eye.
"Ah Paul." She sighs. "You think they'll be long I'm just about to start the eggs. You girls can have some muffins if you like." Bella reaches for one and start nibbling on the edges while I feel too sick to eat. Em shoved his third into his mouth and Emily smacks him on the side of the head with a wooden spoon.
"Save some for your brothers." She scolds and Em just laughs. He's always been one to hog all the food. When we ate at the diner he would eat off of his and keep stealing food from my plate.
"Pig." The other boy comments and I giggle. The noise surprised me and Em comes and sits in the chair next to me and I lean on his shoulder.
"You okay?" He asks. I nod my head. "You haven't been really talkative." I shrug my shoulders.
"Just processing everything." I mumble. Bella is leaning on a post at the edge of the kitchen while Em introduces me to his friend.
"Cay this is Jared," He says. "Jared this is Cailyn." I give him a small wave and cross my arms over my chest as I lean on Em.
"Aren't you point guard for Forks?" She asks while mixing a humongous batch of eggs, several dozen, in a big yellow bowl. She had the sleeves of her lavender shirt pushed up, and I could see that the scars extended all the way down her arm to the back of her right hand. I already guessed where the scars came from.
"Yeah." I say. "I'm gonna point guard for La Push pretty soon though." The front door opened, and Sam stepped through.
"Emily," he said, and so much love saturated his voice that I felt embarrassed, intrusive, as I watched him cross the room in one stride and take her face in his wide hands. He leaned down and kissed the dark
scars on her right cheek before he kissed her lips.
"Hey, none of that," Jared complained. "I'm eating."
"Then shut up and eat," Sam suggested, kissing Emily's ruined mouth again.
"Ugh," Embry groaned.
This was better than any romantic movie; this was so real that it sang out loud with joy and life and true
love. I watched with envy at them, it was sweet and it made me smile.
Jacob and Paul came through the door, and then shocked when I saw that they were laughing. While I watched, Paul punched Jacob on the shoulder and Jacob went for a kidney jab in return. They laughed again. They both appeared to be in one piece.
Paul scanned the room, his eyes stopping when he found me looking back at him. Our eyes locked and I turned away awkwardly. I still felt Paul's eyes on the back of my head. Em looked back at him and bursted out laughing.
"Oh boy." He laughs, then wipes his eyes as if they're watering. "This is tooo good." I stare at him and then look back at Paul who is still gawking at me. I shrug my shoulders and Em is still grinning stupidly. I looked to Jake who was standing beside Bella, he looks a little mad and he shakes his head before returning to Bella. Paul sat at the opposite end of the table from me and I covered up with my jacket on Em's shoulder, trying not to look at him.
I'm trying so hard to forgive Em right now, because I know it wasn't his fault that he had to stay away. They have orders, and I see what happened to Emily so I understand. It's still so hard to forgive him.
"Fifteen dollars Jared!" Embry yells, pointing to a scratch on Paul's huge bicep. The scratch looked weeks old, but I assume it was from the battle with Jake.
Hey, guys." Sam says, standing by Emily who's cooking a huge batch of eggs in a skillet. "Jacob has information for us."
"I know what the redhead wants." Jake says. I pull my head from Em's shoulder and look at him confused. He just shakes his head at me and I cover up with my jacket and go back to resting my head on his shoulder. Jake glared at Em and Jared. "That's what I was trying to tell you before." He kicked the leg of the chair Paul was in and Paul growled.
"And?" Jared sneers. Jake's face got hard and serious.
"She's trying to avenge her mate." Jake said. I was still trying to process everything in my head so I wasn't really paying attention. "Only it wasn't the black-haired leech we killed." I furrowed at the lingo that I didn't understand. "The Cullens got her mate last year and now she's after Bella." This time I spoke up since my blood is being threatened.
"Who is after Bella?" I ask. Everyone sits in silence for awhile and they exchange glances. Paul clears his throat and start to speak until Sam stops him.
"Embry take her outside." Sam orders. Embry nods his head and I get up from my seat and push my chair in.
"But-" Paul starts.
"Embry. Take her outside!" He commands and Em leads me outside and I shut the door behind me. We sit on the steps and I unfold my jacket and cover up with it as he takes a seat next to me. We sit in silence for a bit while I get comfortable on the once brown wooden steps.
"We all have a certain gene." Em starts. I nod my head and meet his eyes while he talks. "Our tribe is descended from wolves. We were able to transform into the wolf to protect ourselves from other tribes. Now we only have one thing we need to defend ourselves from." I look at him with curiosity. "Vampires." He grits and I laugh. I stop laughing when he looks at me seriously. "Bella's boyfriend was among a clan that we have a treaty with. Now a different one is after Bella. I don't fully understand it either but I think it'll be best if you hang around La Push for now." I nod my head and swallow. Vampires are real. Werewolves are real. "Foods ready!" He cheers as he gets up and helps me stand up.
"I think I'm gonna head home." I say pointing to my car.
"I tell you that a vampire is on the loose and you want to go home." He jokes I nod my head and he gives me a hug before running inside. I listen to the radio on the drive and asleep in my bed when I get there.
I tossed and turned in my sleep, waking up every hour or so. I didn't have time to dream. I just kept thinking about Em in those woods, turning into a ginormous wolf to hunt vampires.