June 19th

"Shhh," Jacob said. "Be quiet. They'll hear us." He closed his car door quietly. I just pushed mine closed until it clicked.

"Phil's not here and Talia thinks you're cute," I said in a quiet whisper to him. "She'll cut you some slack." He moved to my side of the car to hold my hand. "You're too tall to try to tiptoe anywhere," I giggled.

"Just hold my hand, missy, I've got you," was all he said. We didn't usually get home this late but tonight we did. We were trying to sneak into my backyard without being noticed by my guardians. It was way past my curfew of 11 pm, but Phil was away on business. Talia didn't mind too much, she knew that Jacob was my imprint. And I was his, so they understood.

"It's dark out here," I said.

"I can see fine. Just follow me," was the last thing I remember him saying that night. He had me by my right hand as he was pushing thru the underbrush, trying to tiptoe.

Then he stopped.

He didn't breathe.

He didn't move.

I knew not to move.

He let go of my hand.

I felt him go warm from deep within to his outside. I knew what that meant. I felt the air shake and crackle. He began to shake. Then standing beside me was a deep russet brown wolf. He didn't move. He was using his body to shelter me – I didn't know why. I knew not to ask. I felt him shudder. I knew whatever it was . . . was terrible.

After what seemed like forever I felt a nudge at my back. Another wolf was behind me. Yet another beside him. They were the wolves we'd all seen in our backyard since we moved to Forks 5 months ago. They were not the problem but they would solve whatever the problem was.

Jacob looked over his left shoulder at me. That one big brown eye. Maybe he expected me to be afraid of him. Why? I trusted him. I had no reason not to trust him. After a moment or two, he moved silently ahead of me. When he cleared my field of vision, I saw what he was reacting to. On our backyard picnic table, where we would sit and giggle like 3rd graders, was a pile of arms and legs. Human limbs. They were lit by the security lights on the back of the house. And there was something moving on the other side of the table, closer to the house.

GOD NO! I bit my own hand to keep from screaming aloud. The wolf that was at my back moved closer to my right side. He lowered himself to the ground. He was taking a defensive stance, I knew. Even that close to the ground this wolf was big. The other, slightly smaller wolf circled wide to my right. Jacob was moving forward slowly in the underbrush . . . waiting for correct moment.

I decided to give him his moment.

I jumped out to the middle of the back yard before my protector could do anything to stop me and I started screaming, "Who are you, YOU ANIMAL? You vile beast! You soulless monster! You stupid Motherfucker!" I leveled my arm at the thing behind the table and continued, "You will die and your ancestors will shun you. We who remain will make sure your descendants will not claim you as theirs."

As I spoke a Kodiak bear raised its head. Then it stood on its hind legs. A piece of a human leg hanging from its mouth. It dropped what was in its mouth and raised its hands before it shifted in to human form. "There you are, you stupid little bitch," it addressed me. "I was getting tired waiting for you. Would your mother approve of you coming home so late? Shame on you, Kamali'i."

"How dare you! . . . you asshole. I don't have the words to describe you. I don't know the words to curse you," I screamed at him as I moved into the center of the clearing of the backyard. This is where Jacob would have the best chance to take this animal down if Jacob was the man I hoped he was.

The beast laughed at me. He laughed at me! "You're young. You won't put up much of a fight. They didn't," as he motioned to the pile of bodies on the table.

"All gone . . . the hell I condemn you to will include their screams. Generations we've survived. Generations. And you do this." I was watching him carefully. He was moving behind the table to be directly opposite me. He was priming to pounce on me. I could feel it. I knew it was the time for me to decide what to do when he put his right hand on the table. He was going to shift and leap at the same time. I hoped Jacob was paying attention. Just then the animal in my backyard pushed off the table and began to shift back into a bear heading toward me. I ducked and ran forward so he would overshoot me. As I moved forward, something big moved from my left over me. Jacob leapt over me to catch the bear in mid air. They landed. It sounded terrible, a bone crunching terrible. I looked to my right and I saw the russet wolf was standing over the bear. I put my hands down to steady myself and felt warm blood on the table top.

Then a scream from the house shook me from the horror all around me. I moved around the table and headed to the back door of the house. The wolf that was my protector moved with me into the house and faced me at the top of the stairs. "Help me or get the fuck out of my way" was all I said to him. He moved and headed toward the scream. The wolf nodded at the only door that was closed. My room. The wolf broke the door open and there was Talia, my guardians' wife on the floor in a pool of her own blood. On my desk near the window there was a figure trying to shift. I leap at him. So did the wolf. The 3 of us hit the wall of the house that held. The 2nd story window did not. I didn't care. I wanted it – HIM dead. Arms, legs, paws and talons we headed to the concrete patio beside the picnic table.

I'm sure I'm dead now.